MLP: Fighting is Magic is down guys

[Nine Volt]

Hopefully the rest of the fandom will chill out and try to support Mane6 without making fools of themselves.

Too late.

[Sonarch]

Hopefully the rest of the fandom will chill out and try to support Mane6 without making fools of themselves.

Too late.

I saw this response coming before I typed it.

[Nine Volt]

Hopefully the rest of the fandom will chill out and try to support Mane6 without making fools of themselves.

Too late.

I saw this response coming before I typed it.

Am I that predictable?

[Sonarch]

Am I that predictable?

No, I just totally set myself up for that response, given what has already been said in this thread.

[Sonarch]

And didn't they have a bunch of recolors of all the ponies made up? Couldn't they just remove the original ones and alter the names of everything? Of course, that's only if they're determined to make something out of their work even after Hasbro enforces their C&D, I don't know how they'll want to proceed in that situation.

[Makkon]

The very shape of the characters is hasbro's intellectual property. Making pony OCs is an equally bad move.

They have a fighting game with core mechanics that are polished. If they make new characters, let them NOT be ponies. Let them be completely original. Kickstarter, original designs by Lauren Faust, Mane6 development team. They could become a real company, and make a lot of money because they have a following and a good product that people want.

[soultensionbenjamin]

uhhh ...Makkon I hate be biased but I think the whole reason I liked this game was because we could have the My little pony characters fighting each other, if we went with your idea (no offense)

It would be like Smash bros with generic characters

[Makkon]

I'm sorry the only selling point to you was ponies. And if you think Lauren Faust makes generic characters, I'm doubly sorry.

[Nine Volt]

Mane6 really could've handled this better. Makkon's right, they could've easily made a good fighting game without using MLP characters.

[vladnuke]

Guys, as some one who's actually played the game (EQLA, whoo!) I'm going to say this:

It's good, like crowd pleasingly good. It's a very nicely made game, far more than a BlazBlue mod.

They just need some new sprites and combos and they're good 2 go.

[Magnitude Zero]

I'm sorry the only selling point to you was ponies.

It's not just him. The selling point to a massive portion of the people following the game was ponies. Without them, it's just another fighting game which would interest people that like fighting games, as opposed to people who don't but would be willing to give it a shot because ponies. Well-made as it may be they'll lose a pretty decent-sized chunk of players if they roll with non-pony characters.

It's the same as with music. Some people listen for the ponies and not the music itself - how many comments have you seen that went along the lines of "I don't normally like rap but this pony rap is amazing"?

[Fimbulin]

This fandom is not populated by mostly babies, but apparently babies obsessed with ponies. O_o

I mean, don't you all feel a bit weird that you can't wait to play a game in which you are a colorful pony trying to beat up the other ponies? I personally liked the project because of it's zaininess, but ultimately, what does it come down to? I'd personally pick a transformers game in the same style.

I will have to ultimately side with Hasbro in the end, because it's them, not the Mane6, that hold this fandom together.

I would also have to say that I am definitely excluded from that group of people that listens to "only pony music." It's cool sometimes, but there's so much music out there, why limit yourself?

Why am I even in this fandom?

O yea- ponies.

[Raddons]

They can port it for Xbox Arcade and PSN if they get a Kickstarter started and if Faust does characters for them and god DAMN that would be rad.

[Freewave]

It's the combination. People want to hear songs inspired by the show, they want so see art inspired by the show, and they want to play games inspired by the show. If the music, art, or game isn't that good then people won't enjoy it but saying they should do something completely irrelevent to ponies and we'd still care is wrong. There were fighting combos for different characters and themes songs for them and realistic vectors. Again it was a good quality, fan-made creation, about the show. Maybe they should have been fighting changeling versions of themsleves to explain why they were fighting each other. Or made it clear that it was a parody work. Again they made plenty of mistakes in how they approached this (just like brony documentary did similar mistakes as well) and being naive about Hasbro would react. Honestly if they can work it out with Hasbro and give them the rights i wouldn't feel bad either about it being an official paid for game if Hasbro would authorize that. Regardless I'm not going to blame the video games production team and our fanbase for wanting to do something with ponies because that's what the point OF THIS fanbase is. It's stuff that's inspired by ...ponies.

[Sonarch]

I just hope they find some way to make this whole thing work out alright.

[Motivfs]

I was going to contribute my thoughts, but most of you are being really immature about it, so I won't bother.

Actually, reading this whole thread, I don't quite see anyone acting immaturely. If anything this is probably the most on-topic (and mature) thread in the community forum in a while, so why make the comment?

Also, I kind of agree with Ben that one of the driving forces for the game probably would've been the fact the sprites were ponies, as well as the fact they were the main characters from the show. However the game is designed so well from where it started that I can also see people respect the hard work and effort put into the game to give it a try, ponies or not.

[Sonarch]

Yeah, I would be willing to give a non-pony game a try, if Mane6 were to go that route. Especially if they kept that ballin music.

[Evine]

People always looking at things like it's a complete disaster -- ok it kinda is. But on a more positive note lets discuss their options moving forward. And it will probably land on either of two things.

Number one, Mane6 gets a deal with Hasbro and they continue developing the game. Continuation of story.

Number two, Hasbro denies Mane6 the use of pony. Now is their chance to move towards a professorial carrier as an indie studio. They have a big audience that is interested in what they could make, Lauren Faust is interested in helping them, further expanding their audience. So i see it very viable for them to raise 300-500k from Kickstarter. Remember, they are know for "what could have been" not what they actually have delivered. Which is not something I've seen before, in relation with a game studio.

Question then is, are they willing to jump on such a chance, throwing away 2 years of work and turning their personal life upside down by starting game development, professionally.

Either way i doubt there will be many suitcases involved. So I won't bother to discuss any legal issues here but, you guys don't know the law so sthap, pl0x.

[Sonarch]

People always looking at things like it's a complete disaster -- ok it kinda is. But on a more positive note lets discuss their options moving forward. And it will probably land on either of two things.

Number one, Mane6 gets a deal with Hasbro and they continue developing the game. Continuation of story.

Number two, Hasbro denies Mane6 the use of pony. Now is their chance to move towards a professorial carrier as an indie studio. They have a big audience that is interested in what they could make, Lauren Faust is interested in helping them, further expanding their audience. So i see it very viable for them to raise 300-500k from Kickstarter. Remember, they are know for "what could have been" not what they actually have delivered. Which is not something I've seen before, in relation with a game studio.

Question then is, are they willing to jump on such a chance, throwing away 2 years of work and turning their personal life upside down by starting game development, professionally.

Either way i doubt there will be many suitcases involved. So I won't bother to discuss any legal issues here but, you guys don't know the law so sthap, pl0x.

but im expert in law i red an article on it once

[Nine Volt]

ANONAGEN I KNOW YOU POSTED SOMETHING

[K3WRO]

I'm rather surprised you are all on Hasbro's side on this. Hasbro literally has had since the beginning of the development of that game to shut it down. But instead they waited until now, after all the time and effort put into the game to shut it down. Honestly, this is a really dick move on Hasbro, and not good for the rest of the fandom. If Mane6 has no chance of negotiating trademark rights with Hasbro, then no one does.

This was what I was going to say, wtf hasbro, this game was popular in development from early on

I'm sorry the only selling point to you was ponies. And if you think Lauren Faust makes generic characters, I'm doubly sorry.

If it was so important, why did'nt they make non-pony characters? But "pony" is the hook to the game

[Sonarch]

I'm sorry the only selling point to you was ponies. And if you think Lauren Faust makes generic characters, I'm doubly sorry.

If it was so important, why did'nt they make non-pony characters? But "pony" is the hook to the game[/quote]

I think what he means is that ponies should not be the only thing that makes people want to play the game, even if it's being made for the brony fandom and all that.

[Navron]

I guess I'll be the first to say it, but I'm not ticked off over the C&D itself.

No, what ticks me off is Hasbro still doesn't quite understand how to handle a (mostly) late teens/adult fanbase, and while this may be seen as a move to prevent their company from losing money, they avoid many opportunities to make LOTS and LOTS of money, and in a way, have shown to prefer staying in their own, "comfort zone," with the franchise.

Allow me to elaborate:

How long have fans been making suggestions and pleas to create a toy line with show-accurate models? How long have fans been asking for complete season box sets? How long have fans overseas asked for ways to purchase the episodes legally?

They sit on top of a gold mine, yet are not willing to take the risks associated with mining it.

For example, doing an overhaul of the toy lines to be gen4 accurate in color and shape will obviously cost money, and from a risk vs reward perspective, Hasbro is only looking at the current sales of toys and determining it isn't worth it. Now, little girls don't really care too much about the differences between the show and the toys, so we can assume that the sales among the target demographic will remain the same. Bronies however, do care about those differences, and have shown to seek out and prefer fanmade toys vs the official ones. Therefore there shouldn't be any doubt on Hasbro's part whether or not Bronies will buy an updated toy line.

Same goes for full season box sets, although this question was actually responded to by Hasbro a long time ago, which confirmed that they don't think bronies are a profitable group, by underestimating how many people would actually buy a full season box set. I haven't met many bronies who said they wouldn't buy a box set if it was available. It's pretty much the complete opposite.

Lastly, regarding fans overseas, obviously you have different legal issues, but Hasbro has not taken any kind of initiative to improve that system, which is the #1 complaint in response to YouTube DMCA takedowns of the episodes. For many fans overseas, YouTube is the only way they can watch the show.


Business 101: The most successful businesses and companies realized a specific demand, and created a product to satisfy that demand.

Examples:
Facebook
YouTube
Sound Cloud
Google
Netflix
Twitter

Hasbro doesn't meet the demand, but fellow fans do, which is why you see many bronies shelling out upwards of $200 for a small plushy. People realized that bronies were a profitable group, so they met the demand themselves, and are making a fortune, albeit not legally. However, instead of being a smart company, who should go against the people making money off their IP, they choose to go against the non-profit projects, the YouTube series, etc.

In other words, why doesn't Hasbro go after plushy makers, and then sell plushies themselves?

In the end, however you look at it, all it really comes down to is that Hasbro simply isn't willing to take the risk. They see us as a small fringe group that won't make them much money, and instead prefer to see us as simple-minded consumers that will blindly go out and buy their toys as is, and watch new programming they push at us (ex. Littlest Pet Shop). They place us in the same league as the main target demographic. We just happen to be older. Hasbro sees us as 20-30 y/o little girls in other words, which is partly at the fault of those who act like children towards the company, but they've always treated us like that, even before the first angry letters ever got sent to them.

[Matthew N.]

TL;DR

Hasbro didn't and still don't give a d.

[KingTrollestia]

The only thing ManeSix can hope for is that they can argue fair use, though I have strong doubts they have a case in that. However, it seems like /mlp/ is going to continue the project where ManeSix left off. They just need a lot of help.