The current top dog for show-accurate My Little Pony plushies right now is Symbiote Studios here in the west. There are many companies still vying for our hard earned brony bucks, but these guys have by far the most expansive lineup, bringing on characters that have never received any plushie love out of the various licensees that have tackled the medium over the years.
They sent a mailer out a few weeks ago, and I noticed a section looking to do interviews for anyone interested, so I jumped at the opportunity! I've been very curious about how things are run there, how things have been going sales-wise, and what we might expect from the future. Their CEO, Joseph Reiter, answered pretty much all of that!
Time to learn all about Symbiote, and get hype for some very cool upcoming pony ideas they are working on. Head on down below for the full FAQ style interview! And feel free to drop any suggestions you might have for them below in the comments.
Q: Over the years, lifesize plushies have become increasingly popular among fandom creators, with many collectors spending thousands of dollars to obtain some of the highest quality and largest ones. Typically, these plushies range from 35 to 45 inches in length when lying down. Are there any plans to create something like this on your end?
A: Definitely, this is something we are actively working to create. We think a good size point for larger ponies is about 24 to 30 inches. This allows people to have ponies they can cuddle with and also allows a price that parents or fans can be happy about.
Q: Many fans are thrilled to see plush lines expand beyond the Mane 6. Does this indicate strong sales for the expanded lineup? How well have they performed overall?
A: Sales have been good on all our ponies so far. Our goal is to create a plushie of every pony character that has a spoken line in Friendship is Magic. This is a big goal and will depend on the continued support of the MLP community of fans. The short answer is we want to do it, but we will see if the demand is there. Obviously we will be making more versions of the Mane 6 compared to side characters, but we will continue to add other characters as we go.
Q: Are there any plans to do Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, or Apple Bloom?
A: You may not need to wait much longer to find out. :)
Q: Which characters have been the most popular from your perspective, and what poses tend to resonate the most with fans? Conversely, have any ponies struggled to sell well?
A: Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie have been the stars no matter what pose they are in. I personally am a big fan of Trixie and she has sold surprisingly well. In fact her sales have been enough to create a third version in 2025. I suppose Sweetie Drops is the character that sometimes sells less than the others. Also our "Cuddle" (sitting) ponies did not reach the same sales as our regular standing version. I think this has to do with some design improvements that we need to make in 2025. Overall we have been very happy with the support of the community and look forward to taking their suggestions to make the next releases even better.
Q: Are there any conventions you plan to attend in 2025—whether they’re pony-specific or general pop culture events?
A: We always have a big showing at San Diego Comic Con. This show is where we showcase all the new products that will be arriving during the holiday season. This year we want to go to Penny Arcade Expo/PAX West in Seattle, since we will be expanding our video game lineup. We have considered going to My Little Pony specific conventions, but for whatever reason those haven't worked out for us to this point.
Q: Will we be seeing anymore variants on existing plushies, such as closed and open wing options?
A: Yes, this is something we are working on and hope to have something to share next year. These would be ponies that come with clothing, accessories and or smaller friends from the show. We also will be working on revisions to all our ponies. The biggest one will be the rounding of the faces or as we like to call it "code name dimples."
Q: The Luna revamp took many collectors by surprise. Is there a story or inspiration behind that redesign?
A: We are perfectionists. Every single pony we have ever made we think can be made better. Luna was a great example of this. The original face was too mean and the mane was too stiff. The head was sunken in and the outline of the eyes seemed not detailed enough for our standards. The first version of Luna is not a bad plushie and we are proud of the work, but we always want to continue to improve. The goal is to make a plush that looks like the show. Another good example of this is Rainbow Dash. We are on version 9 of her plush. Nothing has ever really been wrong with her, but we just thought we could do better. The next version in February/March will have a rounder face, better color fabric and as mentioned before dimples.
Q: What’s the typical timeline for developing a new plushie—from selecting a character to making it available for purchase? We’ve heard from companies like 4DE in the past about the challenges of obtaining Hasbro approval for licensed products. Has that process become more streamlined?
A: Hasbro has been a great partner. It is hard to believe 2025 will be six years working with them. They are very easy to work with and we appreciate the freedom they give us to continue to push the limits on the product's design. We start all of our products with basic 2D concept art. This art is directly inspired from the show. The next stage is creating a prototype. These first prototypes are oddly colored, weirdly sized and in short look like Frankenstein's Monster. Once the basic shape is perfected we move on to matching fabric to the correct pantones of the ponies from the show. This can be hard to do because shading changes a lot from episode to episode, so we do our best to find the color that we feel matches each pony. In total the prototype process takes us about 2-5 months.
Q: Are there features you’ve wanted to add to plushies but haven’t been able to due to the limitations of mass production?
A: Yes, but it is not the limits of mass production, but more the limits of what people want to spend. We could make every pony look exactly like the show and include every accessory anyone could ever want, but the price point would be so extreme that only a few people could afford it. This is why we use the revision process to keep slowly perfecting each pony. Eventually we hope to get to a point where we say this is all we could possibly do and the pony is perfect. If that ever happens we would just start a new line with new features and begin the process all over again.
People often think that mass production is putting a pattern into some giant machine and pushing a button and plushies come out. The truth of our process is we have teams of seamstresses that work with their hands to cut the patterns and hand stitch the pieces. This is also why none of our ponies are exactly the same. Each pony is touched by several people who by hand assemble it. Really the only machine that does anything that doesn't require a person is embroidery. The stitch lines that hold the pieces together and the details that make the roundness of the face are by an actual team member.
Q: Can fans expect to see kirin, bat ponies, changelings, or other sub pony races in future plush lines?
A: 100%. We would love to expand out. We have lots of ideas. Firstly we want to make as many of the Friendship is Magic cast as we can. We haven't even launched any of the male characters...yet. I personally am interested in a larger plush Discord.
Q: Do you have plans to create G5 plushies, or will you be focusing exclusively on G4?
A: The honest answer is that G4 is much more popular than G5. We are working on one G5 character currently as a test. If feedback is good we will expand out to others.
Q: Have you ever considered using crowdfunding to produce less popular characters or even fandom-favorite original ponies?
A: We do not really need to do crowd funding. Our company is structured so we can take many more risks than larger companies. We are the company making the actual plush unlike other companies you see who are paying a factory to do the project for them. Combine that with the fact that we only sell direct to consumers and not wholesale. This means we are not having to make only the Mane 6 out of fear that a big box store wont buy enough inventory. We have the true freedom to make whatever we want and we want to make as many ponies as possible.
