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

[NsMLPonies]

Hi!

My question is exactly what the title says: why are g2's harder to come across in the US? Were they not very popular here?

[LadyMoondancer]

In the US only a year or so of ponies were released (the last being the set with Satin Splash, and even she was hard to find here.)  So all the G2 ponies released after that point were never sold in the US.

[NsMLPonies]

In the US only a year or so of ponies were released (the last being the set with Satin Splash, and even she was hard to find here.)  So all the G2 ponies released after that point were never sold in the US.

wow. I never knew that! So did g3 come right after? Or did the U.S. not have mlp untill years after?

[Raindrop]

MLP was sold in Europe from late 1990s to early 2000s, but as has been said above, only the early releases were available in the United States.  G3 was not released until around 2003. 

[NsMLPonies]

MLP was sold in Europe from late 1990s to early 2000s, but as has been said above, only the early releases were available in the United States.  G3 was not released until around 2003.

So America didn't have mlp from 1997 to 2003'???? THE HORROR! LOL.

[Strawberry Swirl]

They stopped selling them after a few years. I cannot understand why they could possibly have been less popular because I somehow got my hands on the PC game and LOVED it.

[NsMLPonies]

That's crazy. How could they of not sold ANY MLP for years? I wonder if people went into a panic thinking that Hasbro was discontinuing them.

[lovesbabysquirmy]

That's crazy. How could they of not sold ANY MLP for years? I wonder if people went into a panic thinking that Hasbro was discontinuing them.

We did... and it was a LONG time...  the Dark Ages!  LOL  but we had the advent of EBAY to sustain us! And then collectors' groups! 
and then it was just chaotic madness when the G3's came out...

[Clipper]

the usa didnt have ponies from 1992-1996, then G2 came out in USA from 1997-1998 and then once again a long dry spell with g3 returning in 2003.

However, in 1999-2000 Hasbro had a webpage called hasbrocollectors.com and they briefly stocked inventory of international releases for pony fans and collectors to purchase in the USA. That's how I got Hip Holly, Silver Swirl, Merry Moments, Princess Morning Glory and a bunch others.

Also,  Toys R Us in the USA bought the entire stock of the G2 line in 1998/99 to liquidate out all the unsold inventory. I remember seeing dump bins filled with Moon shadow and Tipsy Tulip. Also they had atleast a huge section for them down an isle and also an endcap full of g2's as well. 

 

MLP was sold in Europe from late 1990s to early 2000s, but as has been said above, only the early releases were available in the United States.  G3 was not released until around 2003.

So America didn't have mlp from 1997 to 2003'???? THE HORROR! LOL.

[LadyMoondancer]

Well, the idea of an "evergreen franchise" that is always in production and being rebooted is fairly new.  It basically started with strong 80s franchises that people got nostalgic for once they were older.  But before then, it was normal for a toyline to die and stay dead after it had peaked.  So although not having MLPs anymore was sad, it was also just kind of accepted.

[Wardah]

During the MLP drought we had LPS.

Well, the idea of an "evergreen franchise" that is always in production and being rebooted is fairly new.  It basically started with strong 80s franchises that people got nostalgic for once they were older.  But before then, it was normal for a toyline to die and stay dead after it had peaked.  So although not having MLPs anymore was sad, it was also just kind of accepted.

Except for Barbie and Hot Wheels and Mr Potato Head. But yeah evergreen status was a rare thing and I don't think anyone expected MLP or LPS to achieve it. 

[BabyIceCrystal]

G2 was horrifying at the time. Just to paint the picture for you...

Back then on the baby internet it was a small community of almost entirely North Americans because internet was still a luxury. In the UK very, very few collectors had it (I was informed it was too tightly restricted, this is why even common UK ponies were considered rare and ALL were close to $100!). Only a couple people owned a digital camera and if you were lucky, you had a scanner which you used to get a (terrible) image of ponies you had for trade. Mostly you went by description alone. Everypony knew everypony else online. Online petitions were new and all the rage, and we banded together and got what seemed like a massive amount of signatures together to petition Hasbro to start making MLP again. And Hasbro responded! They mentioned the petition when they announced that they would start up MLP again and we were all overjoyed. Back then there were no pony cons or public toy fairs or online previews of upcoming toys. So we literally had to wait until they hit the shelves to actually see them. We couldn't wait to get more of our chubby bodied friends. We had assumed it would just be a restarting of production, using the old molds and design style.

Hasbro had just acquired Tonka, which just made toy trucks, and assigned them the new ponies as their first project. Think about how vastly different G2 is from G1, and no one was expecting any difference at all! Most of the community was too shocked to really give them a chance. After the petition, Hasbro was expecting a market in collectors as well as children. I don't recall much advertising done, I think they were just depending on the apparent popularity to carry it. And most of us boycotted the new line because we were disgusted that they weren't the same as what we'd grown up with. 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.

For the longest time in the community, G2 were treated like fakies were. A few oddballs collected them, but largely they were unwanted. I guess it took the decade or so for the kids who had a couple in childhood to get old enough to want them again. But they had done so poorly in stores, and then been left in thrift shops by collectors, so not as many have made it into the community compared to G1s.

[Stiletto]

I don't find them much here, but the little suckers have grown on me!  I actually think they are kind of adorable and wish I had some in my collection.

[LadyMoondancer]

They did have some commercials but yeah, advertising was really sparse for G2.

But yeah, imagine you have spent a decade thinking of MLP having a very specific 'look'. I mean, the term "G1" wasn't even a thing at the time because there only WAS one type of MLP prior to the '97 ponies.  (I know Dream Beauties existed too but most people did and still do see them as more of a "supplementary" line to the "real" line).  So it was shocking when they looked different.  Today, after have seen the line rebooted several times with dramatic differences each time (as well as Transformers, LPS, etc) it seems naive that we expected something so similar to the originals.  But at the time rebooted franchises were something people really didn't have experience with. Because it just didn't happen a lot.

I couldn't stand the G2s at the time but over time I've gotten used to them and can appreciate them more.  Still not my faves, though, and I regret that they don't have more poses and more non-earth-ponies.  No pegasus ponies with molded wings at all . . . I don't get it.  Unicorns and pegasus ponies were by far my favorite ponies as a kid and I sort of thought this was a common thing.

Some background on the toy company side of things: in the late 90s Hasbro had just acquired another toy company Kenner.  They asked the former Kenner employees to make reboot lines for MLP and Transformers.  Formerly-known-as-Kenner employees made G2 MLPs and, for Transformers, Beast Wars.  Beast Wars was an even more radical change than MLP.  Years ago I found a blog written by an ex-Kenner/Hasbro employee who said the reason the Kenner employees were not happy about being folded into Hasbro and purposely made MLP and TF different from what had come before as a way to assert their independence.

[lovesbabysquirmy]

I remember finding the G2's on the shelves in Fred Meyer and bursting into hysterical tears because, "Mom, they're all BONY!  so skinny!  what is wrong?"  Mom took the pony away from me and hung it back on the shelf and we didn't walk down that toy aisle for a few months because I was just SO UPSET about it... 

but i was easily distracted because the new Star Wars movie was going to be released soon....