Board Thread:Lion Guard Discussion/@comment-30969686-20180505143213/@comment-27958222-20180720124332

RadSpyro wrote: SimbasGuard wrote: I personally do not understand how a T.V. that was so successful in it's 1st season to be renewed for two more seasons. could take such a nosedive in popularity when the 2nt season has upped the quality bar so much. I'm still baffled at this myself. Incoming personal theory!


 * I do believe that Disney only truly made this show for the same reason they made Puppy Dog Pals - to compete with PAW Patrol.


 * Now, although the series was a huge success, the merchandise didn't sell well. I personally believe that a lot of this has to do with poor marketing and poor decisions, especially on Just Play's part. Releasing Mtoto before Jasiri? It was obvious that lil Mtoto would never obtain the level of popularity as Jasiri, Makuu or even Dogo. Whoever made that decision, whether it was JP or Disney, was clearly thinking of the 80s when that type of character might have sold well.


 * I want to point out that whereas PAW Patrol had many different outfits and figures available in unique poses, the Lion Guard merchandise mostly stuck to the Guard themselves, with little to no variation on poses, especially with JP's figures. PAW Patrol also had the good fortune to be made up of entirely dogs, whereas TLG went for the diverse approach with different animals. This backfired on the merchandise though, because the big sellers were the big cats - Kion and Fuli. Finding a box full of Beshte and Bunga toys isn't uncommon. The Janja plush was also selling well, but again, there was a lack of affordable merchandise for him.


 * Speaking of affordable, have I ever told you all how hard it was to find cheap TLG stuff? Because it was. Pound stores sold out of the TLG coloring book pack super quick. All other Disney Junior shows were given discount cups and plates. But TLG? Just that single pack. You either paid a hefty price for TLG stuff or you went without. In an era where parents look for bargains for their kids favorite shows, not offering cheaper substitutes can hurt. Especially when your big rival IS offering that cheaper solution.


 * Then there's Bunga. It's quite obvious that Disney had anticipated him to be the most popular character. But unfortunately, this also backfired, since too many people, both children and adults alike, found him to be the Scrappy Doo of the show.


 * By the time S2 rolled around, Disney were still failing to PAW Patrol on the merchandise side, and eventually stopped caring for TLG. This is evident by the lack of care in programming times and schedules (which resulted in poorer ratings), and the obvious disinterest in engaging promo material (remember those rubbish 'teasers' we got for The Rise of Scar?). The merchandise at this point was no longer selling at all, likely due to poor distribution (many people struggled to find the Jasiri/Kion packs for instance) or since people at this stage wanted different characters to play with.


 * Also, while not necessarily related, I'm an admin on the DuckTales wiki. When that show didn't hit off as they had hoped, you know what they did? Advertised it everywhere. Know what else they did during a hiatus? Worked with the Wikia admin staff to not only give the DuckTales Wiki a complete overhaul, but also gave them ALL the upcoming episode titles and dates, ahead of every other site. I don't know how often Disney do this, but it sure would be nice if they could let us know what's going on with TLG right now.

Well done if you actually read all of that. Bravo. That is an excellent theory, and I especially agree about the Bunga merchandise. A poor character assumption on their part.