Tara StrongMy Little Pony Friendship Is Magic: Season 2

OK, season II.. Some of the best moments of the series (So far, anyway. Hear that Season IV writers??) Anyway, we had two of the best episodes EVER in "Lesson Zero" and "Luna Eclipsed" plus the super-popular unofficial brony anthem "Smile, Smile, Smile" Of course we can't forget that finally, in Season 2, DERPY SPEAKS!! At least until she didn't. But everyone knows that story. So let's get to the reason for the title of this review; "A mite confused.'When SHOUT! released Season I to DVD, I thought; "Yay!, I can't wait to go buy one!" then I heard that it was going to be sold exclusively on Amazon. It was still yay, and I still bought it. "But why," I wondered; "Sell it exclusively online, when selling it at stores like Wal-Mart, Target, etc, would generate tons more sales?" It wasn't as if other MLP DVD products weren't already available at these places, because they were."OK", I thought; "Since Hasbro/Hub/DHX/SHOUT! are obviously for-profit companies, and putting the boxed set in general distribution would probably generate ADDITIONAL profit, there must be another motive." So what was that motive? After quite a bit of thought, I came up with this;"Ever since the brony phenomenon exploded out of 4Chan, Hasbro, (and to a lesser extent, Hub), have been at sort of a loss about what to do with all us bronies, and how to handle us. In Season II we began to see nods to the fandom in things like more frequent appearances of Derpy, the actual mentioning of Bronies in the extended version of the "Equestria Girls" song, and so on. Then Derpy-Gate happened. Derpy was suddenly persona-non-grata, and her appearances were drastically reduced in Season III. From this we can deduce that Hasbro is very image-conscious in relating to the public, and anything that casts them in a negative light (such as being "insensitive" to those with certain disabilities,) will cause them to retreat and/or retract the perceived offensive material. No surprise here, I imagine most corporations do that.However, most corporations don't have a huge, obsessed, definitely NOT the target audience fandom surrounding a "product" like Hasbro has been blessed with. And here once again we come to the subject of money. Hasbro and hub I am CERTAIN keep an eye on the brony community. They know we spend an amazing amount of money on pony-related swag. Just look in at a typical brony convention. young girls are not usually the ones buying the $200.00+ plushies. However, most of that expensive merch. isn't licensed by Hasbro. What Hasbro DOES have is the ability to create licensed DVD boxes sets of the series. And I am sure they know bronies will buy thousands of them. In fact, the Season I DVD set broke several sales records.But why sell it ONLY on Amazon? I think the Big Brains at Hasbro wanted to separate the sales to bronies from the sales to parents of the target demographic. if the Set was sold everywhere instead of just Amazon, you would never know how many were sold to bronies who came to the store LOOKING for the DVD, and how many were sold to families who happened to come across the DVD while shopping.Selling it on Amazon, however, would pretty much guarantee that whoever bought it there was there because they knew about it, and was willing to buy it online, if that was the only way they could get it. And while I have no doubt some purchasers were the parents of young kids, they would compose a much smaller percentage then if it was sold at Wal-Mart. So, Hasbro wanted to know how many they could sell to mainly bronies. Why? well, Since Hasbro is aware of the extensive amount of merchandise bronies buy, and the amounts of money we are willing to pay for it (See above), and the less than stellar quality, shall we say, of many MLP products sold in stores (not counting, of course, the excellent vinyls sold through Hot Topic), Hasbro is looking into launching a new high-quality, animation-correct toy line.But to do this they wanted a fairly accurate estimate of how many bronies would spend the extra money to buy such items. Selling S.1 exclusively online would give such a number. And while it might hurt profits in the short-term, it WOULD generate enough money later on, if the merchandising were done correctly. And of course launching a new semi-exclusive, fairly expensive toy line is a gamble, and Hasbro wanted to make sure the numbers would be there to justify the expense.'Proud of my powers of deduction, I confidently expected, if S.1 sold well on Amazon, Season II would, when released, be available everywhere. And S. 1 would be re-released at the same time to general distribution. Apparently, this is incorrect. S. 2 will be sold only on Amazon, just like S.1. So I am a mite confused. Why do this when selling it everywhere would net them a LOT more money? I don't know yet. I'll try to find out. Anyone who has an alternate idea or theory is welcome to comment on this post, and I'll be glad to read them.

The DVD was perfect and I recommend it for people who wish to watch the show while offline

The 2nd Season of Friendship is Magic is even more magical than ever thanks to the release of Season 2 on DVD.The moment I saw the pre-order for this, I wasted no time, and pre-ordered this without hesitation. This 2nd Season Set is the same as Season 1 as it has the same total number of episodes being 26. The front of the box art, and DVD case is a beautiful image, because it's not just Spike and the Mane 6 on the front anymore. This time, they share the spotlight with their friends, including the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Princess Celestia and her sister, Luna. Also on the cover are Twilight's brother, Shining Armor and his bride, Mi Amore Cadenza, or as Twilight called her back when she was her foal-sitter, Cadence.The Bonus Features in this are pretty much the same, Printable Coloring Sheets, and some new Sing Alongs. However, unlike Season 1, there are no Commentaries on this for any of the episodes. On the back of the box art, and case, we see the Changeling Queen, her minions, and Discord. It looks okay. Only problem, Discord's tail has been cut off, and is missing. This art must've been rushed. No big deal though.And one other downside, well, for some, or most of the Bronies anyway, while the DVD release entitled, "The Friendship Express" has the first-aired uncensored version of "The Last Round-Up" with Derpy Hooves' name spoken out, and herself still intact, the version in this Set is the edited version which left her name out, and both her eyes, and voice changed around; this was due to the response of the Pony Fans who felt that the character was pretty much offensive to the mentally disfigured; hence something called, "The Derpy Hooves" Controversy.For you Bronies out there who like the first-aired version, and not the edited version, if you have a copy of the "Friendship" Express DVD in your posession with only THAT first-aired version, I suggest you hold onto it. For those of you, however, who like the 2nd version, this Season 2 set has just that. Me? I would've liked it better if Hasbro and Shout! Factory had BOTH Versions of that episode, but I think I can handle what they were able to put into this.Regardless of the exclusion of the Commentaries, the flaw in the art work, and not including BOTH versions of the Last Round-Up, this DVD set is still worth checking out, especially if you get it from Amazon, which I did. Now we all wait to see how Season 3 turns out.I give this DVD Set 5 stars out of 5.Stay Brony, Friends.