[Analysis] The Hasbro Investor Event 2021: A Male Mane Character for Generation 5? + A First Look at Generation 5 Toys and Merchandise!

A couple weeks ago, Hasbro's investor event happened and it's high time to look into it in more detail and to write about it! There was surprisingly little information about Generation 5 during the event's livestream, but a few interesting observations could still be made.
Like in my analysis of the Leaked Generation 5 Storyboard Animatic and my analysis of the First, Concrete Generation 5 News, I will go through all the noteworthy details bit by bit.

The relevant Generation 5 information began with a little promo animation that gives a first impression of how the Generation 5 movie and show will look animated:
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Getting an animation was a surprise, I didn't reckon there would be one, not even a silent one. When I first saw it on the livestream of the investor event, I was a little shocked and was thinking "Oh, god, this looks like 'Filly Funtasia'!". I calmed down again soon and reminded myself that I could only see it for a split-second and that I have yet to take a closer look before I can judge the quality of the animation.
And when I could do that, I saw that the animation is much better than the animation of "Filly Funtasia", despite full CGI. It is hard to make out during the animation, because everything happens so fast, but it can be seen much better with this picture from later in the event:
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You can distinguish the hairs in manes and tails and even see the individual hairs in the coat, which looks surprisingly fluffy considering this is full CGI animation. That's a vast improvement over "Filly Funtasia" in which manes and tails look like they are made of modeling clay that has been glued onto ponies. I make a wild guess that we won't have to see horns that look like they've been stuck onto the head of a unicorn in Generation 5~
Still, even with these improvements in CGI animation, you won't hear me talk much about the animation of Generation 5. Full CGI is objectively worse than 2D animation and it's nothing but a complete shame that Hasbro didn't reach for this to give Generation 5 an animation upgrade compared to (most of) Generation 4. It's all there, Hasbro, and you only had one job. One job.

For happier news, we now know how the unicorn filly (?) from the leaked bedding is called: Izzy.
This name has already been used as tag on Derpibooru, together with the name "Sunny" for the earth pony filly (?) and the name "Pipp" for the pegasus filly, because of some 4chan leak, as I learned from a comment on EQD, but the synopsis of the Generation 5 Movie has confirmed her name now, as well as Sunny's name. I probably shouldn't talk about this here yet and keep it for the analysis of the movie's synopsis, but it feels silly not to use their confirmed names here considering how the news that officially dropped their names came out just a day prior to the investor event and how I read it on the day of the event.
Their names are confirmed now, but what has become a mystery is their age. Izzy looks more like a mare in the promo animation from the investor event and so does Sunny. But Sunny was clearly seen as a filly in the leaked Generation 5 Storyboard Animatic:
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And the bedding has shown that Sunny and Izzy, as well as Pipp, are of the same size, which is an indicator for it that all of them are fillies:
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The bedding could be wrong, of course, merchandise for Generation 4 hasn't always been accurate and Generation 5 merchandise probably won't be, either. But the leaked animatic is harder to refute. Is the footage in the animatic from a flashback that shows Sunny at a younger age or does the full CGI animation make them look older than they are? We probably have to wait until we see the movie to get answers on that. But until that happens, or until their age is clarified in a different way, I'll keep referring to them as fillies.

The age of the new pony we see in the promo animation is more clear. We have no previous pictures of him that we need to compare with his appearance in the promo animation, so we can definitely say that he is an adult stallion. Unless he is also made to look older by the full CGI animation..... after all, he isn't bigger than Sunny. Maybe we should wait a little longer with making a decision here. But no matter if he is a stallion (I'll refer to him as that for the time being) or a colt, he is possibly the first mane character of a "My Little Pony" show who is male. Which isn't too much of a big deal and I don't understand why many make a big deal out of it, because it isn't exactly necessary that one feels represented in their gender by a character of the main cast in order to enjoy a certain TV show, but it's regardless of that a thing that happens for the first time.
However, what I'm wondering is, do we really know that he will be a mane character in Generation 5? It is something that the news on EQD call him, but he isn't officially mentioned as a mane character anywhere, neither in the synopsis of the Generation 5 Movie nor during the investor event livestream. The latter goes for Sunny and Izzy, as well, but they have been (if anyone really had doubts after the leaked bedding) confirmed as mane characters of Generation 5 by the movie's synopsis. The stallion also isn't seen on the bedding, unlike Pipp, and he doesn't have much presence among the toys and merchandise that were seen in the investor event livestream. The merchandise is dominated by Sunny, Izzy and Pipp, which makes it seem like this stallion isn't very significant for Hasbro. And some stallions who are secondary characters in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic have still gotten toys, like Shining Armor.
So, is this stallion really a mane character of Generation 5? I'm a little sceptical about this, so far.

His first appearance already gives us an idea of his personality, though. He grins, pearly-white and with lots of slime, then rears up, lowers his eyelids and puckers his lips like he tries really hard to impress somepony, lifts his right backleg and left foreleg, rears up a second time, keeps his left foreleg lifted and lifts his left backleg again, then he lifts only his right foreleg, smiles smugly, winks with his left eye and grins like before.
He's obviously trying to show off to somepony and seems to be very arrogant and full of himself, the kind of pony who thinks he is better than anypony else and that nopony can reach up to him. Unlike Rainbow Dash, though, he clearly uses that belief to flirt with other ponies. His entire behavior is a flirty one here, so he is a charming, but also really slimy, stallion who flirts with mares/fillies and tries to impress them in the hopes that they fall for him.
Also, I think he is something like an officer/sheriff/guard. There is a belt around his chest that has a silver star surrounded by a horseshoe on it that looks a lot like a sheriff star. Being an officer of some sort, that's an occupation that is quite suited to impress mares/fillies. He probably portrays himself as the great hero all the time to have romantic success. It will be exciting to find out if he is actually such a big, strong hero or if he just shows off and regularly fails with his efforts.
Another question the promo animation brings up in me, is, has he already chosen the mare/filly of his dreams? Sunny and he act quite close in the animation, with how they look at each other, how she bumps into him, laughs and how he bumps back into her. He also looked very concerned after he flung Sunny to the side with his bigger strength and was worried if she got hurt. They seem to be really close friends, at the very least, or is there maybe more? Maybe Sunny is the filly/mare he is in love with and tries to impress? That could be completely wrong, this is just a promo animation so we can't tell how accurately it reflects the relationship between two ponies who we will see in Generation 5, but either way, this scene with the two of them already makes me want to ship them.

The promo animation also gives us a better impression of Izzy's personality than the bedding did. Her portrayal on the bedding was very vague and didn't really allow to draw conclusions about her personality. But here in this promo animation, we see her popping onto the screen from the side, smiling at the camera, waving, biting her lower lip and giggling like something's really funny and then smiling another time before disappearing out of the frame again, all of which feels very crazy and a lot like Pinkie Pie. Perhaps a bit toned down compared to Pinkie's personality, but the similarities are there.
In my analysis of the leaked bedding I had, after making the prediction that her special talent is plush-making, somehow the idea that she can craft plushies at a mysterious, extremely high speed similar to how we see Pinkie Pie conjuring up objects out of nowhere and that she is similarly crazy and hyperactive and will maybe even give Pinkie Pie a run for her money. Which was really just an idea based on a sudden feeling I had, not a theory, but now this promo animation makes it look like I was right with the crazy personality?
Basic personalities of the ponies who will be the mane characters of Generation 5 are likely correct even in a promo animation, as such an animation is supposed to introduce them to the audience and make them hyped for them. How close she and Pinkie Pie actually are in their personalities is something only the Generation 5 Movie, or a trailer for it, can tell, but they definitely feel very similar.

Lastly, the investor event gave us a first look at some toys and merchandise (other than the bedding from February 22nd, which got leaked and wasn't intentionally shown by Hasbro) for Generation 5!
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What instantly catches the eye here is that the brushable of Sunny on the right side has a lot of accessories. Brushables from Generation 4 didn't have many accessories, if any, and if we look at this brushable of Sunny, this seems to change with Generation 5. It's a great thing to change about brushables, this will allow for many more creative ways to use them and play with them.
The mold of brushables has also slightly changed. Compared to Generation 4 brushables, their bodies are a bit longer. Which unfortunately gives them an awkward, stretched look (when will we get a "Long Sunny" meme?) that doesn't do the brushables any favors and doesn't make me a fan of them. The shorter and slighty chubby bodies of Generation 4 brushables looked much better and cuter and I would greatly prefer that mold again. But what we have seen in the investor event are very early pictures of Generation 5 toys, so it's possible the picture of the Sunny brushable shows only a prototype. I cross my hooves for that.

What's more interesting to think about the Sunny brushable is her cutie mark. We couldn't see it well on the leaked bedding, but here, we get a first, clear view of Sunny's cutie mark! Which makes it turn out that my interpretation of her cutie mark was wrong, it's not a flower with a stem, it's a comet with a tail and two stars next to it! Which is great, because my first interpretation of Sunny's cutie mark was that it's a shooting star, so my initial instinct there was right! Apparently, Sunny's special talent isn't gardening, it's astronomy. Which is even better! Being someone who loves the night and night sky, and therefore the stars, I can only love her special talent as well. I already liked Sunny the most of all the three new Generation 5 fillies, but now I like her even more and that feeling has deepened. Sunny is best member of the Filly Three!
And to make it even more interesting, this brushable of Sunny has a rainbow mane, even though she doesn't actually have a rainbow-colored mane. This might just be an invention for the toys as pony toys during Generation 4 have often interpreted something in the show with a lot of freedom, which is a trend that will probably continue in Generation 5. But, I am still wondering if there's something deeper to that mane color of her brushable.
Will something happen that makes Sunny's mane look like that eventually, if only temporary? This makes me think of the Essence of Harmony that Twilight and her friends defeated Tirek with, which did change the color of their manes and tails while they were infused with it. Could this possibly mean that the Essence of Harmony still exists in the future? Or that there's something left of the magic of the Elements of Harmony?
This might not mean anything, but it's a detail we shouldn't forget. Maybe it will become important once Generation 5 arrives.

Above Sunny, we see two figures of the stallion and Izzy, which are from a different toyline. They have posable legs and come with accessories that seem to be permanently attached to their bodies. Izzy wears a sun hat and pink saddlebags, the stallion's saddlebags are brown and he wears boots. The latter is interesting if he really is a sheriff or officer of some sort, boots are commonly worn by officers, so this accessoire his figure wears could be a creative interpretation of his job. This supports my theory that he is a sheriff or officer a little.
The sun hat of Izzy is more generic, though, like we have seen lots of toy ponies wear random clothes during Generation 4, so I think this will not have any deeper meaning. But the boots of the stallion feel significant, I will keep those in mind.
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The last interesting screenshot of the investor event shows a few pieces of merchandise that are planned for Generation 5. We see a hoodie with Sunny on it, which is apparently a girls' hoodie as it comes with a skirt, a Thermos bottle with the same picture of Sunny and her cutie mark on it, something that looks like a lunch box, shoes, a backpack shaped like Izzy's head (which I'm already dying to get, it reminds me a little on the Derpy Hooves Hug Me Backpack and gives me nostalgia) and heart-shaped pendants with the faces of Sunny, Izzy and Pipp on them, as well as two more things that I have trouble identifying.
Generation 5 merchandise seems to be very random and to come in a lot of variety again, just like it was the case with Generation 4 merchandise.
There isn't much that can be said about these pieces of merchandise, but if you look closely at the lunch box next to the Thermos bottle, you can see that it shows a pony we haven't seen before yet at the bottom! A white pegasus pony with a red mane and tail, the former looking like a punk mane by what little shape of it can be seen, and with blue wingtips. And the eyes look like each has a different color, but this is hard to make out with the small size and it could also be that one eye is closed and that the pony is just winking.
Who could this be? I haven't seen anyone else pointing this out, not on EQD and not anywhere else, but the male stallion is not the only new pony we could see in the investor event! The unique, two-colored wings bear resemblance to Pipp's unique white and fluffy wings. Both of them have in common that their wings look different from the average pegasus wings, so could Pipp and this pony be related? We lack confirmation for this, but it's an obvious thought to have. Let's wait what the future says about it.

And that was Hasbro's Investor Event 2021! I actually expected this analysis would be very short, as the amount of Generation 5 content wasn't all that big. I know for a long time that a lot of details can be found in everything if one just looks deeply into it, but how much I could gather from so little here surprises even me. We definitely live in exciting times right now.
I will analyze the synopsis of the Generation 5 Movie and the two exclusive screenshots next, so if you liked this analysis, keep an eye out for more Generation 5 analyses by me in the coming days!

Stay easy as a filly!

~ Fluttercheer