Yeah I see what you're saying and agree with that.

To be quite fair, you hear all this about how Hasbro are interfering and driving the show from the toys from "bitter anonymous employees" in both companies but that's the point, they're anonymous and usually posted on places like 4chan which are notorious for people making stuff up for attention. For all we know everything is rosy between them (though some interference just seems realistic)
Thanks.

Yeah, if that's the case it could just as easily be people making stuff up, but who knows. I've seen a lot of people on the FIM wikia (which I can't edit on my own computer, or even reply to people on) saying that they are in someway "connected" to Hasbro, so it's really dificult to know who to believe unless you know for a fact it's someone from the show.

Ohh right? I didn't know she'd planned it herself and from that early. Seems I share ignorance with those parts of the fanbase on that one. I guess people didn't realise and just made assumptions. As they do. Another thing to make you wonder whether people are just being overly cynical to bring up all these supposed cases of the toys influencing something in the story they don't like
Lauren loved MLP since she was a child, and often wrote fanfiction on it (do you still call it fanfiction if it was never posted online?) many episodes of MLP:FIM is based on her old fanfiction.

I'm not surprised that people judged the episode, and once again ignored Lauren's imput (I am not accusing you of this, nor am I accusing you of what so many bronies do...) Lauren seems to get very little respect and acknollegement from bronies where it really counts in my eyes - the following are examples of how our fandom tends to get wrong about her;

1. That she only wrote two episodes (or three if you split episode one).
2. That she had nothing to do with season 2 (or even most of season 1)
3. That she hated the previous gens.

For items one and two; Yes, she only wrote the script to two (or three) epidodes, but a lot of episodes of season 1 (and some season 2 ones, but not as much) were based on Lauren's old fanfictions, and she was still involved in the episodes that weren't - so she was like the ultimate co-writer or something. In Season 2, she was less involved, but didn't leave - she stayed to advice the writers (basically things like "That pony would never say that, but this pony would." she basically stopped the show from going OOC to many times, and still suplied a lot. She did so much for MLP:FIM and very few bronies appreciate her for it... (sorry, I just really respect her). For item three, she loved G1 as a kid, and clearly has fond memories of it (she even wanted far more G1 ponies in FIM than she actually got*) and understood the potential of G3, though she watched it as an adult after pitching FIM (as is my understanding). She clearly respected G3 enough to include some blatent G3 tributes in her episodes, as well as G1 ones that may have even been there from childhood (two episodes of FIM are directly based on G1 episodes),

(personally whilst these characters were a bit out of the blue and could have been introduced more gradually and eventually married, I enjoyed the episode and what they made of it.
I agree they could have done better introducing them, from what I remember they just showed us them half way through season one (outside the show) saying these are two new characters, and then did nothing with them until the end of season 2. Like I say, if they had realized they were going to make one of them Twilight's brother they could have at the very least mentioned him every so often, and then at the end it's like "Oh my God, her brothers getting married.". I'm pretty sure that the reaction most bronies had when they saw that scene when Twilight read the letter was "What brother?"


guess we'll see tomorrow! I've noticed a lot of new merch coming out still has (SPOILER)unicorn Twilight so what I'm wondering is whether it's even permanent or whether works a bit like *thinks of a parallel*... equipping a dress sphere. I.e. she (SPOILER)puts her crown on and gains wings, takes it off and they go away again. So she'd only have them for royal occasions.
We'll have to see if it's permanent or not, but I can still provide back up that it isn't synomynous with being royal, but I will wait until the episode airs to avoid spoilers.

What really staggers me, is all the fanon writers saying how it ruins their fanmaterial - couldn't they just make their fanfictions non-canon? That's what I'm doing.

Completely agreed. Let's just see, all this business of Hasbro suddenly going nuts could well be negativity from a worrying bunch of fans. People love their show and really fear it being messed up, so they dream up all the worst case stuff in a panic. Something that is seen in fandoms for everything.
Amen, to that.

Indeed. I dare say a tastefully done spinoff could be done well.. my friend came up with an interesting idea in that maybe because they've learned so much about friendship they're sent through to a human world to guide others. E.g. one episode might be about a new girl struggling to integrate herself into a new school because she's too shy so maybe Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash go in to help from experience and encouragement angles respectively. And then I figured that they could be Mirror Lake clones, as a way not to interfere with the original show.
That actually sounds like it could work.

Yeah in G1 they were in there from the start, so it's different. I can totally understand the concept, it just doesn't seem to fit in G4 where the entire world right up to the sun and moon are based on ponies. Maybe they could have humans as a non-dominant species that are just hanging out, like real ponies in our world, but it'd be kind of odd. Easier to just have a separate world (and preferably much like if ponies cross into the human world they transform into humans, the opposite should happen too)
Yeah, I see what you mean. I think the idea of humans becoming ponies sounds like the best way to go about it (if any went to the FIM world). I personally think that FIM is set on a completly different planet to ours (with one episode confirming that Equestria is just one country supporting this) So I think that the best way to introduce humans (in canon or fanon) is the way you said; if humans go to their world they are made into ponies. It kind of works that way (btw; that fanfiction I mentioned, the pony who goes to our world, she stays as a pony - she gets younger, but she's still a pony...)

I can't believe I forgot to do this for you last post;

(\