Why are g2's harder to come across in the US?

[Skeen]

I didn't have the internet at all when the G2's came out, so I was completely floored to see them in Target.  After looking over the packaging to make sure they were "real" MLP's I was seeing, I was in love.  <3  I loved their slender, stylized vectors, their simple colors, their eye crystals, and their accessories.  It was near my birthday and between my aunt and my mother I got the entire first wave all at once.  I was thrilled ponies were back in production!

[Wardah]

I assumed that parents buying for their kids felt the same way, because they flopped horribly in North America. It was like what G3.5 was. Only a few characters, which stores couldn't really sell. I remember the same ones on all the store shelves for months and months. I'm guessing that stores didn't order more after the first wave. Hasbro didn't push them and just sortof gave up.

I think the main reason G2 didn't catch on is because a certain toyline featuring small animals that were interactive. Also the lack of a show didn't help. Even if G3 didn't have a tv show everyone and their cow had a DVD player in the early 2000s and direct to DVD kids movies were all the rage because a parent could pop them in without having to wait to rewind.

Formerly-known-as-Kenner employees made G2 MLPs and, for Transformers, Beast Wars.  Beast Wars was an even more radical change than MLP.

I do find it funny to read how G1 TF fans were upset that they were animals instead of vehicles when Hasbro had done dinosaurs in the original line.

[Foxtale]

I remember when G2 ponies came out. I was disappointed at how they looked but ecstatic to have ponies on the shelves again.

Remember, not only did we not have ponies for a time after G2 BUT we didn't have ponies from 1991 - 1997. That was a formidable part of my childhood and the reason I collected them even at a young age.

I was on the older side of kids for G2 but I loved them anyway and bought every single one of them. I was so sad when I couldn't find the last two to be released according to the package (Secret Tail and Satin Splash). I searched EVERYWHERE but they never made it to my area. I also didn't have the internet at the time so I had to rely solely on the back of the packages to know the releases.

It wasn't until I got a computer in 2000 that I realized there were more G2 ponies overseas! I wanted them all but was too young to buy online (and it's not as commonplace to online shop as it is now. ;p)

We have been lucky since G3 to not have a gap... but you never know.. another pony blackout may happen one day.

[BabyIceCrystal]

Right, Kenner, not Tonka! Still wasn't a very girly girl company at the time.

[Wardah]

Right, Kenner, not Tonka! Still wasn't a very girly girl company at the time.

Tonka bought Kenner in 1986 and kept it as their own separate division. When Hasbro bought Tonka in 1991 they got Kenner as part of the package. I can't imagine there being any hard feelings about that unless Hasbro had shut down or taken over projects they were currently working on.