(Possibly the Wave 2 Rainbow Shimmer ponies Twilight Sparkle and Princess Cadance are missing too)
The current status
The ponies that are currently missing have been spotted in other countries, including but not limited to the UK, Australia, Canada and Asia. This means that the figures do exist, but have not been found (with perhaps a few import exceptions) in US stores or websites.However, newer releases like the few Cutie Mark Magic merch has been spotted in stores and is available on Amazon. It wouldn't be logical to announce something months after earlier announcements, but release them earlier. At least that's not how Hasbro usually does it.
What Hasbro 'says'
So far I've heard of no official response from Hasbro on the subject. However, Hasbro also maintains various websites listing the products, so, what's going on there?For months now the Hasbro.com My Little Pony website has listed Holly Dash for $4.99. This page however is simply an advertisement for the product, and is not directly for sale. It gives the suggested retail price, some pictures and general information. When we look at the 'Where to buy' section this helps us no further. No online listings and the physical stores that you can search for are simply all stores from Hasbro partners, no actual stock information there.
A few weeks back there was a spark of hope: Hasbro's US web store HasbroToyShop listed the Holly Dash figure as out of stock. Sadly she has been removed after 2 days, never to be seen again.
The possible causes
Something that has been with MLP for a long time, and with other brands too, are exclusive releases. Most of them being US or store exclusives, but there are a few 'International Exclusive' ponies too. Most of these have been released in the original series of MLP G4, but the Crystal Empire line had an international exclusive too. One of the possibilities is that Hasbro releases these few sets as international exclusive Rainbow Power sets.Another possibility is that the strikes at L.A. and Long Beach ports could have caused that the ponies were not able to be distributed in the US. However, the strikes ended about 1.5 month ago. I'm no expert in transportation, but there may be a chance that if this was the cause the containers are still at the ports or have been moved to another port, possibly outside the US. This would mean that there is a certain delay in the release, but chances are that they will ever be released in the US.
Conclusion
Personally, I'm thinking that it's either the port strikes, or something else completely, but not the international release story. Why? Because mayor US retailers like Target, Toys"R"Us and Amazon have received information through Hasbro or a Hasbro distributor, including a price in dollars. This would mean that it was expected that they were to be released in the US, and probably a while ago too as the Amazon and Target listings have been around for months.It would not make sense that it was intended to not release in the US, it wouldn't have been listed anywhere, especially not the US Hasbro website.
Other possible proof that they're not international exclusive is the fact that there has been an English-only packaging. The packaging that has been listed at Toys"R"Us UK contains 4 languages, while the packaging listed on US websites is only in English.
While it's sad that the highly anticipated ponies are not available, it's still possible that they'll be released. If that happens to not be the case then there's still eBay!
If you happen to have any further information on this topic, please leave a comment. We'll update this post when new information has been confirmed.
I bought Holly Dash.
ReplyDeleteI went to Walmart the other day and they did have the applejack and Daisy dreams fashion toys just to let you know
ReplyDeleteThere are a few rare cases of stores that actually carried stock, mostly the Fashion Styles. Do you happen to live in/near Canada?
DeleteYes I do live in Canada
DeleteThe main issue is releases in USA stores, I believe Canada has no/less problems.
DeleteReally??
DeleteI find I think that about the US
We always get things last
According to some friend who works in a toy store that stocks MLP, they said depending on how well brushables sell in a country, they do not get all the brushables of a single series from Hasbro which is not hard to imagine considering that the Wave 1 of Rainbow Power brushables didn't sell well over here because they were too similar to the crystal ones.
ReplyDeleteP.S.: We never got anything of the Neon Single wave over here in Austria, according to some german friends they never got any of those too.
Deletewhat about the bakery with mrs cake and such? any info on that? me and my friend really want it but we havent been able to find it!
ReplyDeleteI've seen that at a Toys R' Us in the North Texas area, actually.
DeleteThat's because they are from the Princess Celebration line, they don't get made anymore since years and if you find them somewhere it is only luck.
DeleteI live in Canada and have not seen Holly Dash in stores. When I emailed the Hasbro shop to see if she would come back, they actually told me to go to a third party like eBay. ><;
ReplyDeleteI odered Holly Dash from ebay :\
ReplyDeleteI bought holly and rarity but i think they're only available in the uk and also i think ive seen the twilight snowglobe
ReplyDeleteI bought Holly Dash in Toys R Us London.
ReplyDeleteThey had the whole series
Holly Dash is in the uk because i got her and Rarity from Sainsburys and i might have just seen the rainbow shimmer Twilight but sadly no Cadence.
DeleteNone of my stores have had holly dash yet and I really want her because she is my favorite OC.
ReplyDeleteI've bought the holly dah months ago in the UK and there's also all the new rainbow power and old ones as well as the apple jack and daisy fashion styles Also found in the Uk nearly all the new rainbow/Cutie mark magic stuff eg snow globes and also charm wing things Twitter: @FluttershyFIM ;P
ReplyDeleteOhmy... so sad to hear that there are still Ponies missing from previous lines. =(
ReplyDeleteI do hope they'll become available to you soon!
Regards from the Philippines!
The UK release of Holly Dash and Rarity are on English only cards but they are marked as Hasbro UK, not Hasbro Inc (with Hasbro UK posting details and such on the back). They are UK packaged, they are just single-language versions which seems to be the current norm with this set and subsequent (CMM) rather than the multilingual ones we had in the past.
ReplyDeleteHolly Dash and Rarity are less common than the others here but they are still on sale here in the UK in stores around the country. At least once in February they even went on discount clearance in Entertainer, because I got Holly Dash and Cheerilee from the set on discount back then. It's worth finding someone in the UK to get it for you for cost and postage if you can, rather than paying ebay hiked prices.