This is kind of fringe pony news, but still somewhat important for pony as a whole. Toys R' Us as of yesterday has offiically filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. This doesn't mean they are immediately going out of business. This type is primarily about restructuring debt, of which TRU has 4.9 billion of. It hasn't announced any store closures yet, but with a bit more financial freedom we will probably see some pretty heavy changes coming soon.
On the pony side, Toys R' Us has always been a big deal with companies like Hasbro. We've seen countless exclusives come out of them, with some of the first "brony" focused toys way back in the early 2013-2014 seasons. They adopted the dark purple packaging, edgier ponies (like Chrysalis and Nightmare Moon), and had an entire section that looked straight out of Hot Topic.
Hopefully they will get through this, but in a world where kids are increasingly more interested in tablets over toys it's going to be a challenge. Companies like Hasbro are weathering the change via pumping resources into countries that can't quite afford to buy every kid a tablet and fill it with pay2win apps. They have drastically increased their media presence, following the behemoth LEGO into the digital age where young eyeballs will be more easily swayed into purchasing toy versions of what they see on their favorite movies, shows and games. Hasbro and Mattel took a tiny stock hit as of the bankruptcy announcement.
As for me, time to dump some gift cards!
Thanks to Jason, Jeremy, Lucas, and everyone else for the heads up.
