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* Apple Bloom was originally to find her cutie mark on her own without any help. Lauren Faust was asked to add Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo to be her friends, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders were born. Oddly enough, Faust always thought they should have their own [[SpinoffBabies spin-off show]], but Hasbro suggested that the Crusaders should be used in the main series first.
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* Apple Bloom was originally going to find her cutie mark on her own without any help. Lauren Faust was asked to add Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo to be her friends, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders were born. Oddly enough, Faust always thought they should have their own [[SpinoffBabies spin-off show]], but Hasbro suggested that the Crusaders should be used in the main series first.
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Fails to mention how this or the change was caused by executive meddling.
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* Season One had that [[EdutainmentShow E/I label]] on the upper-left corner of the screen on TV, in compliance with a broadcast television standard (cable is exempt). In Season Two, ''it's mysteriously removed.'' It's not clear why this is, but bronies sure are satisfied that the show appears to be hindered by the standards much less now, though it still maintains the preschool show rating of TV-Y. On the flip side tho, the move angered a number of SliceOfLife fans who were drawn to the show as they feared that the removal of the logo meant that the show would focus less on slide of life issues and more on adventure, as well as introduce scarier villains (they were not wrong), and resulted in these fans denouncing the franchise.
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* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''. According to WordOfGod, executives have been mostly hands-off for the show, and the writers have been allowed a lot more freedom than expected, with some exceptions. The length of this section is due to how open the people who work on the show have been about talking about it, rather than an unusually [[ExecutiveMeddling high amount of interference]].
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* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''. According to WordOfGod, executives have been mostly hands-off for the show, and the writers have been allowed a lot more freedom than expected, with some exceptions. The length of this section is due to how open the people who work on the show have been about talking about it, rather than an unusually [[ExecutiveMeddling high amount of interference]].
----
* Season One had that [[EdutainmentShow E/I label]] on the upper-left corner of the screen on TV, in compliance with a broadcast television standard (cable is exempt). In Season Two, ''it's mysteriously removed.'' It's not clear why this is, but bronies sure are satisfied that the show appears to be hindered by the standards much less now, though it still maintains the preschool show rating of TV-Y. On the flip side tho, the move angered a number of SliceOfLife fans who were drawn to the show as they feared that the removal of the logo meant that the show would focus less on slide of life issues and more on adventure, as well as introduce scarier villains (they were not wrong), and resulted in these fans denouncing the franchise.
* Princess Celestia was originally to be a queen, but was made a princess because apparently, Creator/{{Disney}} has supposedly made it so that little girls affiliate queens with evil and princesses with good. After all, this was several years before [[WesternAnimation/Frozen2013 Queen Elsa]] became Disney's pop-culture icon.
** Executives forced all of Princess Celestia's toys released for the first couple of years of the show's run to be pink, even though she has a white coat in the series. Even after her body color was corrected to white, she often still had hints of pink included somewhere in her toy designs, such as on the tips of her wings.
* Prince Blueblood was supposed to be a duke, but again, kids can't grasp the subtleties of royal hierarchy.
* Apple Bloom was originally to find her cutie mark on her own without any help. Lauren Faust was asked to add Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo to be her friends, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders were born. Oddly enough, Faust always thought they should have their own [[SpinoffBabies spin-off show]], but Hasbro suggested that the Crusaders should be used in the main series first.
* One of the most common forms of executive meddling was the demand for specific, popular characters from previous gens to appear in the show in a prominent enough fashion to sell the toy version of them. Thankfully, no specifics about ''how'' those characters would have to appear, so the writers could deal with this fairly easily (for instance, Cheerilee becoming the teacher of Ponyville).
* The episode "Suited For Success" can be viewed as a {{satire}} of executive meddling, as Rarity's artistic vision of {{Pimped Out Dress}}es for all her friends is compromised by their [[ComplainingAboutThingsYouHaventPaidFor nitpicking]], despite the fact that [[ChekhovsSkill most of them]] don't have any clue what they're talking about, and with Rainbow Dash offering absolutely no advice other than "[[MemeticMutation Make it 20% cooler]]." The [[DarkReprise second take]] on [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSbXGsysAAk&feature=related the song in the episode]] (to begin with based on another song about executive meddling) even contains lines that make some sense in the context of the story but really work in such a satire: "Make sure that it stays within our budget." is an example of one of those lines. It makes sense in the story, because the ponies naturally don't have unlimited money to spend on the dress, and even more ironic, as they impose many lavish changes to their respective dresses, but still demand that "even if [Rarity] simply has to fudge it, make sure it stays within [the ponies'] budget". It also works in respect to the satire as well.\\
\\
Executives were mostly hands-off for the show, but one thing [[http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2010/12/24/my-little-non-homophobic-non-racist-non-smart-shaming-pony-a-rebuttal/ mentioned]] by Creator/LaurenFaust as a "requirement" was "to incorporate fashion play," which was handled by making it a matter of Rarity being an artist. The episode [[Analysis/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E14SuitedForSuccess can be seen as incredibly meta]] if you think about it like this. Ironically the episode itself fell slightly to a bit of Executive Meddling, the episode title was originally to be "Dress For Failure" but was altered because it was considered too downbeat.
* According to [[http://comments.deviantart.com/4/1603670/2371989638 this]], Big Macintosh was planned to get his own episode, but it was rejected. This later came to fruition in Season 5, where he's given an episode that mainly focuses on him.
* In season 1, he could only be called Big Macintosh in-show instead of [[InSeriesNickname Big Mac]], due to the latter being an obvious usage of a trademark from another large company. This seems to no longer be in effect, however, as he has been called "Big Mac" several times in season 2 and a couple times in online printables.
* The character [[EnsembleDarkhorse Derpy Hooves]], a MemeticBystander grey cross-eyed pegasus who's largely looked at as the [[PeripheryDemographic bronies' avatar]] was subjected to meddling. When she was first given a slightly larger role in the show, MoralGuardians complained that the character portrayal resembled an offensive caricature of a mentally challenged person [[note]]due to her confusion, clumsiness, FishEyes, unusual voice, and name - they had interpreted the name "Derpy" as a slur against neurodivergent folks, rather than its more common use as a net-speak term meaning "wacky"[[/note]], something completely inappropriate to include on a children's television show--and they complained to Hasbro to fix it. Apple removed the [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E14TheLastRoundup episode of her appearance]] from iTunes, only for it to come back with a completely edited version of the infamous scene, which wound up replacing the original version of the episode nearly everywhere (apart from the early DVD "The Friendship Express"). Derpy has a more normal voice (since Tabitha St. Germain got the gender mixed up at first), her eyes are less crossed, and Rainbow Dash doesn't call her by name. Needless to say, [[BerserkButton bronies were not happy about the edit.]] Derpy then went on to have very few appearances, causing fans to be worried she was being phased out, up until she returned properly in the season 4 episode "Rainbow Falls". Later word confirmed the character "wasn't going anywhere", and that the "cameo drought" during previous episodes was intentional, to build up her return.
** Hasbro [[http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NXGaStFehEE/VXyErX6i88I/AAAAAAACSQA/1nE58947aqI/s1600/Capture.JPG crediting]] Derpy as "Muffins" in [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E9SliceOfLife "Slice of Life"]] was confirmed to be due to "legal reasons", and '''not''' executive meddling, by director Jim Miller.
* Lauren Faust originally intended for Princess Cadance to be a unicorn and was surprised to see her changed into an alicorn. However, this allowed Hasbro to continue selling a pink alicorn toy while allowing them to produce show-accurate WHITE Princess Celestia toys, because [=ToysRUs=] thinks PinkMeansFeminine (and apparently, only pink).
* Twilight becoming an alicorn has been speculated to be the result of executive meddling, considering that a very large number of Princess Twilight Sparkle toys were launched with the episode.
** [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E12BabyCakes "Baby Cakes"]] likely exists because Hasbro demanded there be baby ponies at some point in Season 2. The show's crew weren't specified ''how'' to use them, though.
** Same could be said for a lot of other MerchandiseDriven stories like "A Canterlot Wedding" or "The Crystal Empire", each with more or less of a confirmation.
* For the finale of season 4, "Twilight's Kingdom", they did get one note that they couldn't do in that episode: [[spoiler:show Twilight punching Tirek in the face]]. A bit weird when one considers that the second episode of the series was allowed to show Rarity kicking a manticore in the face on-screen and later in season 5 where Rainbow Dash is shown hitting several Changelings in the face in a dream.
* Before season 4 aired, Meghan [=McCarthy=] promised that Flash Sentry wouldn't be a character on it. Despite this promise, he appeared '''twice''' and after the backlash following the second time, Big Jim (Series' co-director) confirmed that Flash was added "by request" ''and'' admitted the fans shouldn't trust any staff's promises anymore. '''Ouch.'''
* [[https://youtu.be/Kfm0089to2A?t=1h29m28s According to M. A. Larson]] Hasbro was the one behind the idea of having the 100th episode be a LowerDeckEpisode that focused on background characters and included many [[AscendedMeme fandom in-jokes]].
* The suits at Hasbro were the ones who came up with [[TakeThatAudience the premise]] of "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS7E14FameAndMisfortune Fame And Misfortune]]", and handed it to M.A. Larson. [[https://www.equestriadaily.com/2017/10/ma-larson-explains-fame-and-misfortune.html?m=1 He immediately didn't like the idea]] of [[EnsembleDarkhorse the fan's favorite background ponies]] grabbing the JerkassBall and showing the less savory sides of the Brony fandom, because he knew that the episode was going to feel like it was attacking them. However, Larson was forced to go through with the episode, and [[CreatorBacklash he later admitted that he hated it because it was very needlessly mean-spirited for an otherwise light-hearted show]].
* [[https://derpibooru.org/1689958 According to Jim Miller]] the higher-ups mandated that they did the School of Friendship which the writers "tried to make fit as organically as possible".
* [[https://derpibooru.org/2168594 Jim Miller]] also said Hasbro didn't feel comfortable with the brief ShipTease Big Macintosh had with Marble Pie in "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E21Hearthbreakers Hearthbreakers]]" due to the vague implication that [[KissingCousins they may or may not be distant cousins]].
----
* Season One had that [[EdutainmentShow E/I label]] on the upper-left corner of the screen on TV, in compliance with a broadcast television standard (cable is exempt). In Season Two, ''it's mysteriously removed.'' It's not clear why this is, but bronies sure are satisfied that the show appears to be hindered by the standards much less now, though it still maintains the preschool show rating of TV-Y. On the flip side tho, the move angered a number of SliceOfLife fans who were drawn to the show as they feared that the removal of the logo meant that the show would focus less on slide of life issues and more on adventure, as well as introduce scarier villains (they were not wrong), and resulted in these fans denouncing the franchise.
* Princess Celestia was originally to be a queen, but was made a princess because apparently, Creator/{{Disney}} has supposedly made it so that little girls affiliate queens with evil and princesses with good. After all, this was several years before [[WesternAnimation/Frozen2013 Queen Elsa]] became Disney's pop-culture icon.
** Executives forced all of Princess Celestia's toys released for the first couple of years of the show's run to be pink, even though she has a white coat in the series. Even after her body color was corrected to white, she often still had hints of pink included somewhere in her toy designs, such as on the tips of her wings.
* Prince Blueblood was supposed to be a duke, but again, kids can't grasp the subtleties of royal hierarchy.
* Apple Bloom was originally to find her cutie mark on her own without any help. Lauren Faust was asked to add Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo to be her friends, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders were born. Oddly enough, Faust always thought they should have their own [[SpinoffBabies spin-off show]], but Hasbro suggested that the Crusaders should be used in the main series first.
* One of the most common forms of executive meddling was the demand for specific, popular characters from previous gens to appear in the show in a prominent enough fashion to sell the toy version of them. Thankfully, no specifics about ''how'' those characters would have to appear, so the writers could deal with this fairly easily (for instance, Cheerilee becoming the teacher of Ponyville).
* The episode "Suited For Success" can be viewed as a {{satire}} of executive meddling, as Rarity's artistic vision of {{Pimped Out Dress}}es for all her friends is compromised by their [[ComplainingAboutThingsYouHaventPaidFor nitpicking]], despite the fact that [[ChekhovsSkill most of them]] don't have any clue what they're talking about, and with Rainbow Dash offering absolutely no advice other than "[[MemeticMutation Make it 20% cooler]]." The [[DarkReprise second take]] on [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSbXGsysAAk&feature=related the song in the episode]] (to begin with based on another song about executive meddling) even contains lines that make some sense in the context of the story but really work in such a satire: "Make sure that it stays within our budget." is an example of one of those lines. It makes sense in the story, because the ponies naturally don't have unlimited money to spend on the dress, and even more ironic, as they impose many lavish changes to their respective dresses, but still demand that "even if [Rarity] simply has to fudge it, make sure it stays within [the ponies'] budget". It also works in respect to the satire as well.\\
\\
Executives were mostly hands-off for the show, but one thing [[http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2010/12/24/my-little-non-homophobic-non-racist-non-smart-shaming-pony-a-rebuttal/ mentioned]] by Creator/LaurenFaust as a "requirement" was "to incorporate fashion play," which was handled by making it a matter of Rarity being an artist. The episode [[Analysis/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E14SuitedForSuccess can be seen as incredibly meta]] if you think about it like this. Ironically the episode itself fell slightly to a bit of Executive Meddling, the episode title was originally to be "Dress For Failure" but was altered because it was considered too downbeat.
* According to [[http://comments.deviantart.com/4/1603670/2371989638 this]], Big Macintosh was planned to get his own episode, but it was rejected. This later came to fruition in Season 5, where he's given an episode that mainly focuses on him.
* In season 1, he could only be called Big Macintosh in-show instead of [[InSeriesNickname Big Mac]], due to the latter being an obvious usage of a trademark from another large company. This seems to no longer be in effect, however, as he has been called "Big Mac" several times in season 2 and a couple times in online printables.
* The character [[EnsembleDarkhorse Derpy Hooves]], a MemeticBystander grey cross-eyed pegasus who's largely looked at as the [[PeripheryDemographic bronies' avatar]] was subjected to meddling. When she was first given a slightly larger role in the show, MoralGuardians complained that the character portrayal resembled an offensive caricature of a mentally challenged person [[note]]due to her confusion, clumsiness, FishEyes, unusual voice, and name - they had interpreted the name "Derpy" as a slur against neurodivergent folks, rather than its more common use as a net-speak term meaning "wacky"[[/note]], something completely inappropriate to include on a children's television show--and they complained to Hasbro to fix it. Apple removed the [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E14TheLastRoundup episode of her appearance]] from iTunes, only for it to come back with a completely edited version of the infamous scene, which wound up replacing the original version of the episode nearly everywhere (apart from the early DVD "The Friendship Express"). Derpy has a more normal voice (since Tabitha St. Germain got the gender mixed up at first), her eyes are less crossed, and Rainbow Dash doesn't call her by name. Needless to say, [[BerserkButton bronies were not happy about the edit.]] Derpy then went on to have very few appearances, causing fans to be worried she was being phased out, up until she returned properly in the season 4 episode "Rainbow Falls". Later word confirmed the character "wasn't going anywhere", and that the "cameo drought" during previous episodes was intentional, to build up her return.
** Hasbro [[http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NXGaStFehEE/VXyErX6i88I/AAAAAAACSQA/1nE58947aqI/s1600/Capture.JPG crediting]] Derpy as "Muffins" in [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E9SliceOfLife "Slice of Life"]] was confirmed to be due to "legal reasons", and '''not''' executive meddling, by director Jim Miller.
* Lauren Faust originally intended for Princess Cadance to be a unicorn and was surprised to see her changed into an alicorn. However, this allowed Hasbro to continue selling a pink alicorn toy while allowing them to produce show-accurate WHITE Princess Celestia toys, because [=ToysRUs=] thinks PinkMeansFeminine (and apparently, only pink).
* Twilight becoming an alicorn has been speculated to be the result of executive meddling, considering that a very large number of Princess Twilight Sparkle toys were launched with the episode.
** [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E12BabyCakes "Baby Cakes"]] likely exists because Hasbro demanded there be baby ponies at some point in Season 2. The show's crew weren't specified ''how'' to use them, though.
** Same could be said for a lot of other MerchandiseDriven stories like "A Canterlot Wedding" or "The Crystal Empire", each with more or less of a confirmation.
* For the finale of season 4, "Twilight's Kingdom", they did get one note that they couldn't do in that episode: [[spoiler:show Twilight punching Tirek in the face]]. A bit weird when one considers that the second episode of the series was allowed to show Rarity kicking a manticore in the face on-screen and later in season 5 where Rainbow Dash is shown hitting several Changelings in the face in a dream.
* Before season 4 aired, Meghan [=McCarthy=] promised that Flash Sentry wouldn't be a character on it. Despite this promise, he appeared '''twice''' and after the backlash following the second time, Big Jim (Series' co-director) confirmed that Flash was added "by request" ''and'' admitted the fans shouldn't trust any staff's promises anymore. '''Ouch.'''
* [[https://youtu.be/Kfm0089to2A?t=1h29m28s According to M. A. Larson]] Hasbro was the one behind the idea of having the 100th episode be a LowerDeckEpisode that focused on background characters and included many [[AscendedMeme fandom in-jokes]].
* The suits at Hasbro were the ones who came up with [[TakeThatAudience the premise]] of "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS7E14FameAndMisfortune Fame And Misfortune]]", and handed it to M.A. Larson. [[https://www.equestriadaily.com/2017/10/ma-larson-explains-fame-and-misfortune.html?m=1 He immediately didn't like the idea]] of [[EnsembleDarkhorse the fan's favorite background ponies]] grabbing the JerkassBall and showing the less savory sides of the Brony fandom, because he knew that the episode was going to feel like it was attacking them. However, Larson was forced to go through with the episode, and [[CreatorBacklash he later admitted that he hated it because it was very needlessly mean-spirited for an otherwise light-hearted show]].
* [[https://derpibooru.org/1689958 According to Jim Miller]] the higher-ups mandated that they did the School of Friendship which the writers "tried to make fit as organically as possible".
* [[https://derpibooru.org/2168594 Jim Miller]] also said Hasbro didn't feel comfortable with the brief ShipTease Big Macintosh had with Marble Pie in "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E21Hearthbreakers Hearthbreakers]]" due to the vague implication that [[KissingCousins they may or may not be distant cousins]].
