It's all Hasbro's fault . . . that you got what you wanted

I know it's popular among some people to blame everything on Hasbro. If it's a good idea, it was the writers. If it's a bad idea, it's Meghan McCarthy. And right down at the bottom, BLAME HASBRO. Hasbro and their evil toyetic ways crush Bronies' dreams, forcing MLP to be --shudder--a little girls' cartoon.

Think again.

Yup. M.A. Larson didn't want to write Episode 100. (It was Amy Keating Rogers who thought of Cranky and Matilda's wedding, bless her heart.) Nope, it was Hasbro who thought up the episode and demanded all the fannish stuff. Hasbro demanded that Vinyl Scratch and Octavia be roommates. And they're the ones who came up with the panda design for the bugbear.

Evidently, there won't be lots more of this. Don't expect Doctor Hooves and Muffins to have greatly expanded roles.

Now don't say they never did anything nice for you.

Expect a blog post or two today a bit later, but this is fresh off the press.

Comments

[New Spark]

And it makes perfect sense for Hasbro yo do so too. Bronies make up a huge amount of their fanbase, are the most devoted members, and probably spend the most on mlp stuff. If we stopped being fans they'd lose at least half of their income base.

[_____________]

Interesting, thanks for pointing this out (I had no idea). I was okay with the episode anyway, but it's good to hear that the writers at least wouldn't pander to the audience this heavily on their own.

[Derpator]

A French Gummy, though...

Part of me wants to see how that would've turned out.

[Summer Dancer]

Ah, Hasbro, you never cease to amaze us

[scoots2]

3160269 Sorry--there is no way they would lose half their income base. Half? Bronies buy fan works and licensed merchandise. Little girls and their parents buy TOYS. See applicable EQD polls.

It doesn't hurt, and they do want to keep adult fans, but HALF is a gross exaggeration. If Bronies really made up half of their income base, Rainbow Rocks would never have been made.

[Drifting Heart]

It was just a filler episode nothing more.

[New Spark]

3160320 Makes sense.

[Captain Wuzz]

It seems everytime a new episode comes out people complain about something. And yet they keep watching...

[Bookish Delight]

I remember just a scant few years ago (before licensed merch had really gotten off the ground) when we were convinced, and not unjustly, that Hasbro thought we, the older fandom, were parasites. Now an episode built from the ground up to say the exact opposite, a true metaphorical olive branch, surfaces, and people riot.

I swear, so often I just do not know why I stick around.

Q: Was there ever a moment where they considered adding Applejack as a joke?

No, really, I don't.

As an aside: it probably was just as well that Flash Sentry scene didn't make it in. If it had, it might have pushed my enjoyment of the episode past "surprised satsfaction" and into full-on zealotry.

[Walabio]

¿What is with the whiners who get a fun episode showing what the background ponies do while the Mane 6 save the day, complain? They sure are ungrateful to Hasbro. It reminds me about something Phil Plait said:

If one gives people on the Internet a 100-Dollar Bill, they complain that it is hard to break. If one exchanges it for a strap of singles, they complain about the bulk. They are never grateful that one gave them 100.00 U$D.

[Harmony Charmer]

I am not about to reopen the can of worms about pandering. Nope. I did that the other day and I got it out of my system with a ranty blog post. Something I do want to rant about is some of the stuff they could have left in or that maybe they could have gotten a different writer who was more in tune with the characters personalities to do it. I am also going to take a moment to talk about the things they cut.

In the first draft Vinyl Scratch's talked, but they told him she doesn't talk, so it was removed in phase 2.

Please tell me she's mute. I would love to have at least one canon character with a disability.

The original Vinyl Scratch and Octavia scene involved Vinyl crashing at Octavia's house and destroying her sofa. So she goes to Quills and Sofas to buy a new one.

I am kinda glad they cut this. I don't like some of the fanon personalities given to them and how everyone assumes they have this love/hate thing going on. It's not a real healthy thing... And this is coming from someone who ships SombraPie, which is definitely not the healthiest relationship in this fandom. I like how they interacted in the episode because that is how friends should be towards each other: helpful and respectful.

Flash Sentry was originally in the script. He was following Cranky asking why no one likes him.

Because bronies are scared you're gonna take their waifu. Also, you have no personality outside of that armor.

Another cut scene was a group of ponies coming in, and a group of their recolor ponies running into them, followed by awkwardness.

I PROBABLY WOULD HAVE PEED MY PANTS, THAT SOUNDS HILARIOUS.

His original reason for not wanting to bowl, was because he had trauma as a kid where he couldn't figure out the physics behind it, which lead to his science focused career.

Oh, but making him a ripoff of the Doctor was a better idea? Lovely stuff.

Sombra appears in front of Octavia, and a "Devil went down to Georgia" song battle starts up.

...Someone draw this. Please. I beg of you. I would die from dehydration because I'd be crying from laughing so hard. Also, it was almost canon that Sombra can play the cello.

There was a scene where Derpy is saying "I don't know what to do doc! I don't know what to do!" and the camera pans over to reveal Dr. Caballeron, revealing Derpy at the wrong table with the wrong doctor. Gags like this were throughout the entire original script.

I just let out a very loud "HA!" when I read that.

After everyone is gone and in the town hall, the bat ponies and royal guards are outside doing silly impressions of Princess Luna and Celestia. "Every day shall be cake day!".

I cannot believe they cut this, that would be hilarious. I guess it'd be overkill.

At one point, Lyra tells Bonbon to "stop using that ridiculous voice!" to make fun of her other voices.

I figured it was because Bon Bon had to learn different ways to manipulate her voice for her job...

In the script, Gummy had a french accent.

Why did they cut this, this would have been great.

The original ending had the hugging scene with the mane 6 being their usual end-of-episode corny selves, but the camera pans to the sunset where a changeling army is flying in...

OH COME ON, THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN overkill, seriously, calm down Hasbro.

[Jordan179]

Okay, but who thought of the Lyra and Bon-Bon "good friends" dialogue, complete with obvious bedroom eyes? It was both sweet and utterly-hilarious, because if you just read the transcript (as a Moral Guardian might) you might think they were implying that they were merely friends, while in context with the tones of voice and body language, they were implying that they were best friends in love with each other.