The Complete Series 18

Joy of joys! The Complete Series 18 is coming later this year! It's being released in June - a great month for me already since Tekken 7 and Crash N. Sane Trilogy are released either side of the DVD - and its RRP is £7.49. Sounds great! So why am I writing a blog post about it now? Well...

My issue with this cover isn't with the stock standard Thomas image on the cover (series 1-9 had the exact same image on them until they were re-designed). What baffles, and annoys, me is that tagline at the top of the box art and the ridiculous justification for it.

Yep. For some reason, Mattel have decided to split the televised and direct to DVD episodes up and use a two year old DVD to sell a brand new release! Why? Series 17 had 6 episodes that were direct to DVD, yet when The Complete Series 17 came out, all 26 episodes were split evenly between the two discs. So why not do that with this release?

Well, the "official" justification is:

Sorry, but I call BS on this.

You are selling 26 episodes in a complete series DVD for £7.49! This could be even better value depending on where you get it from! How much more value for money could people possibly want?! Slapping a two year old DVD on the top of the release isn't going to have any positive effect whatsoever. If anything, it could turn people away since they're needlessly segregating the 6 "DVD exclusive" (they've since aired on Channel 5, so that's bollocks) episodes and bundling that 2 year old DVD (that some kids may already own) with the other 20.

...did I mention Dinos & Discoveries is 2 years old?

Don't get me wrong, I like that they're trying to add value to releases. The problem is that they're trying to add it to a DVD that really didn't need the help. If they want to add value to new releases, they should instead be focusing on adding more to the ones that have 6-7 episodes on them. Fact is these complete series compilations put other releases (except the specials) to shame in terms of value and that needs to change.

What can they add to the 6-7 episode releases? I honestly don't know. Maybe increase the episode count to 10? Maybe add bonus features that aren't on other releases (sometimes they do, sometimes they don't)? Heck, with the lack of frequency that Channel 5 has in terms of airing episodes, why not beat them to the punch and release a couple that haven't aired (or have, but incredibly recently)?

To sum up, The Complete Series 18 will be a great DVD tainted by a really stupid business decision. If they keep this up, don't be surprised if The Complete Series 19 becomes a 3 disc release, bundled with both Full Steam to the Rescue! (meaning there'll be series 20 episodes in a series 19 release) and Start Your Engines separately. Because hey, they're "DVD exclusive episodes that will add value", right..?

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