Why, Lauren Faust...

[ponypower 1]

So I was wondering if u guys know why Lauren Faust quit? I was searching it up but I have so many reasons why they said she quit but I just don't know :/

[longgone 873]

She stepped down shortly after the beginning of Season 2. Not that big of a deal to me, as long as Hasbro doesn't butcher the show.

 

I haven't an idea of why she quit though :/

[Pinkazoid 3,493]

She had other shows she wanted to work on, she stepped down as soon as season 2 started.

[Rolls Royce 606]

Sure she stepped down, but I'm glad that everyone is still doing such a great job on the show.  Now let's hope it stays that way.  

[Alex Kennedy 1,228]

My impression is that she still comes in as an advisor sometimes, so I would guess it's just that she had other things she wanted to work on.

[Astral Empyrean 136]

If anyone touches a scale on his little head I will destroy you! Wait... Oops, wrong situation. let me reword this...Ahem! If anyone butchers the show or changes it, I will nuke hasbro! (A saying of one of my good friends "When in doubt... NUKE!" and Murphy's laws of combat "When in doubt, call in an air strike!") I think this fits! Heck I would spray paint the cutie marks of the characters on the plane before I bombed them! hehehe dangerous thoughts... I like...

Edited February 6, 2013 by -General Dash-

[Metemponychosis 1,262]

She was working with the show as an advisor during the second season. She abandoned the show to work on other projects, but if you ask me, she also may not have liked the direction the show was taking.

[Phoenix237 353]

I believe it was because she had another project she was working on.

 

If I recal correctly she had been workin on a project called "Milky Way and the Galixy Girls". Not sure what it was going to be about, but apparently Laurn Faust goal was to make this a series. And hey considering what shows she has done, if this show is made, I will be there to watch a bit of it to see if it's good, in her honor.

 

In case you don't know I love every series Laurn Faust has worked on.

Edited February 6, 2013 by Phoenix237

[Rainbow Dash Loyalty 1,275]

Even though she stepped down, season 2 and season 3 were still just as great as they were when she was still in the show. I think she stepped down to work on another project, but she still acknowledges us bronies and what she has made us into.

[Jadefire 2,798]

I heard she stepped down after a falling out with the executives, but never revealed what the falling out was over. I believe she wants it to remain secret as to prevent misunderstandings and needless drama. After all, she left the show in other people's hands, and whichever direction the show goes now that it's no longer under her control, she probably doesn't want us to abandon My Little Pony just for her sake.

[Anadu Kune 668]

From her statement on Deviant Art it seems very obvious that it was a very tough decision on her part, and that she didn't want to leave. She express as such at her panels as well. I think it was most likely because of the intense amount of time it must have consumed. We cant know all of the details. She and Craig are working on what seem to be great projects, and we should all support them. 
Wander Over Yonder
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgX839ftKO8


 

[Rejiazaioz 6]

She stepped down shortly after the beginning of Season 2. Not that big of a deal to me, as long as Hasbro doesn't butcher the show.

 

I haven't an idea of why she quit though :/

That's kind of what Hasbro does to shows. The original MLP generation was only made to sell toys, and the 3 generations that followed were heavily in-twinned with merchandising. It was only a combination of factors, spearheaded by Lauren Faust's presence, and the excellent animation and VAs that really built the show. Hasbro's been making inroads to take the show in Seasons 4 onward, and made strides to in earlier seasons (Cadence being an alicorn, ect.). Hasbro's just trying to cash in on a property while they can, and unless the show gains it's independence from Hasbro again, Lauren Faust's leaving the show will be the sign of the turning point in Friendship is Magic.

[Rainbow Dash 1,472]

I always thought she stepped down because Hasbro kept sticking their nose into Lauren's creative business just to try to sell more toys. I heard that she was pressured into bringing useless characters on just to sell toys and was pushed to change the characters.

[Prismatic 49]

My understanding was that Lauren had her own plans way before Hasbro had put her into being in charge creating MLP:FiM.  Between the higher workload and her wants to launch her own project she left the team to pursue her goals.

 

Needless to say I do plan on reevaluating Seasons 2 and 3 again once Season 3 is over.

[Anadu Kune 668]

 

Hasbro's been making inroads to take the show in Seasons 4 onward, and made strides to in earlier seasons (Cadence being an alicorn, ect.

They don't need to make inroads, they own the show. What they say ultimately goes.  Their influence has been present in huge ways since season one. The only reason Cherilee was included was because Hasbro wanted it. Same with butterfly Rarity, the hot air balloon, and Celestia being a princess instead of a queen. Those are all from season 1 and I might be missing a few. Point is Hasbro has always intervened and they always will. Lauren wanted a show that wasn't stupid, a show with great characters that didn't talk down to kids. That's what we have. She and the show staff knew they would have insert products into the show and have dealt with it since season 1. Its how they deal with it that matters not that its there.

[Scootalove 10,689]

I guess Lauren left to go pursue on working on other projects, possibly with Craig. Pretty much, she left to work on something else. She left the show in the good hands of the writers basically.

[Rejiazaioz 6]

 

 

They don't need to make inroads, they own the show. What they say ultimately goes.  Their influence has been present in huge ways since season one. The only reason Cherilee was included was because Hasbro wanted it. Same with butterfly Rarity, the hot air balloon, and Celestia being a princess instead of a queen. Those are all from season 1 and I might be missing a few. Point is Hasbro has always intervened and they always will. Lauren wanted a show that wasn't stupid, a show with great characters that didn't talk down to kids. That's what we have. She and the show staff knew they would have insert products into the show and have dealt with it since season 1. Its how they deal with it that matters not that its there.

Most of that's aesthetic; Celestia's name, all the Cutie Marks and names aren't that considerably important. All of those things, those  little tid bits are fairly irrelevant; they were just little extras to the show, and Habsro can get along with that. However, Hasbro putting it's boot down on story lines, however, isn't going to be fruitful for the show. This isn't a free-for all for Hasbro to run a series anyway they like; they have to keep their distance and understand what will make the show good, not what will sell toys. Hasbro doesn't own the best interests to the show, nor can it be allowed to own the stories. FiM is beautiful because Hasbro was forced to step down; ignoring that under the guise of Hasbro owning the merchandising of MLP will only lead FiM into a grave, or worse. This is a major situation that bronies have to be aware of and fight back against; Hasbro needs to stay out of FiM.

[kirbyboi 588]

Yeah, I heard she left around season 2, but I'm glad she got to make such an awesome show! Plus, MLP is still awesome, even without Lauren Faust. We still have the same great episodes, characters, and plots.

 

It's too bad she stepped down, though. But she had other things to work on, and she's really busy, so I guess she had no choice. But I'm sure maybe she'll come around sometime to maybe help on an episode. But it really doesn't matter, but her leaving didn't change MLP, thank goodness. So just be grateful for that!

[Twinhead B 482]

Lauren Faust stepped down shortly after the writing was completed for "Return to Harmony" and "A Canterlot Wedding". The biggest reason was most likely to persue her other projects (Super Best Friends Forever & Wander Over Yonder) as well as her Milky Way and the Galaxy Girls toy-line.

 

Despite being the creator of Friendship is Magic, Lauren herself has only written three episodes of herself (Friendship is Magic 1 & 2 and The Ticket Master), so her leaving is no indication of a change in the show's quality as all of the writers from Season 1 & 2 are still working on the show, which has been renewed for a forth season (a full, 26-episode season too).

[XrosOver 613]

Why Lauren left is beyond me but this most likely means that she trusts her previous co-workers to make us happy. Wherever she is now, she is gearing herself to create yet another amazing show that will draw an unlikely fanbase with millions of followers.   

[Anadu Kune 668]

Most of that's aesthetic; Celestia's name, all the Cutie Marks and names aren't that considerably important. All of those things, those  little tid bits are fairly irrelevant; they were just little extras to the show, and Habsro can get along with that. However, Hasbro putting it's boot down on story lines, however, isn't going to be fruitful for the show. This isn't a free-for all for Hasbro to run a series anyway they like; they have to keep their distance and understand what will make the show good, not what will sell toys. Hasbro doesn't own the best interests to the show, nor can it be allowed to own the stories. FiM is beautiful because Hasbro was forced to step down; ignoring that under the guise of Hasbro owning the merchandising of MLP will only lead FiM into a grave, or worse. This is a major situation that bronies have to be aware of and fight back against; Hasbro needs to stay out of FiM.

The situation seems to be the same as its been for a while now. Hasbro says "guys we need this put into the show, we dont care how but it needs to be in there." The production team then does their best to incorporate it. As much as I would like hasbro to step back, they wont. They do this with the transformers series and it will happen here as well. We just need to hope the talent staff can continue to make this an enjoyable show.

 

I would call the forced incorporation of an entire character pretty intense. We cant know what parts of all these decisions where influenced, and to what extent. All we know is that Hasbro wanted them in the show. Was Tank a marketing inclusion? I seem to remember a rainbow dash toy being packaged with a turtle. Though again its impossiblew to know the whole process.

[Wingnut 7,005]

Lauren Faust poured a huge amount of time and effort into laying the foundation for My Little Pony:Friendship is Magic. When Hasbro accepted her proposal and agreed to give her team a wide degree of creative freedom, it was one of the biggest professional successes of her career. Lauren was the biggest player in launching a girl's cartoon with the greatest crossover appeal since the Powerpuff Girls.

 

Lauren always knew that, despite a good deal of ability to control the direction of the show, MLP:FiM is a tool to advertise toys. Lauren, Hasbro, and the studios are too politically correct to give a real reason for the split. The threat of legal action also keeps behind the scenes misgivings under wraps. Here's my hunch. Lauren foresaw increasing meddling from Hasbro and she couldn't tolerate that. Her labor of love was being turned into a giant corporate advertising agency. Fortunately, her fellow staff members were very talented and she knew they would do a good job spinning all of those products, including Alicorn Twilight Sparkle, into a respectable program. That made the decision to leave an easy one.

And, in a way, this outcome may not be a bad one. In another recent thread, we critiqued all of the show's writers and the consensus is that Lauren is very average when it comes to producing episodes. Her forte is creating character bios, world building, underlying themes, and the like. If you have a cartoon concept and you want to hire a very good series bible writer to flesh it out, Lauren's name should be at the top of the candidate list. But as a day to day episode writer, she's nothing exceptional. I'll leave you with this metaphor: Lauren is better at building a fine car than she is driving it.

[Rejiazaioz 6]

The situation seems to be the same as its been for a while now. Hasbro says "guys we need this put into the show, we dont care how but it needs to be in there." The production team then does their best to incorporate it. As much as I would like hasbro to step back, they wont. They do this with the transformers series and it will happen here as well. We just need to hope the talent staff can continue to make this an enjoyable show.

 

I would call the forced incorporation of an entire character pretty intense. We cant know what parts of all these decisions where influenced, and to what extent. All we know is that Hasbro wanted them in the show. Was Tank a marketing inclusion? I seem to remember a rainbow dash toy being packaged with a turtle. Though again its impossiblew to know the whole process.

That was old Hasbro motif when Lauren Faust was still running the show. With Lauren's vision in place, and influence strong enough to keep Hasbro's politics out of the show in large part, Friendship is Magic broke away from every previous MLP series to be an incredible show. With Lauren gone, that's removed the check that's been slowly drifting away from the past 2 production seasons. Hasbro's slowly leaching it's influence into the show, not just with mixing in more advertising tools, Hasbro's been launching itself onto FiM, attempting to control characterization, openly forcing plot-lines on the writers, and taking control of the show from all angles.

 

This isn't just a few benign marketing slicks like in Season 1; Hasbro's trying to take over all of production of the show, and dictate all levels. Derpy was only canned because of Hasbro's influence; the writers were fine to ignore all criticism, and, had the controversy sprung up at the end of Season 1, Derpy would still be on the show because Hasbro would have lacked the leeway to control the show in the way they see fit. 

 

 

It is, however, sure that Hasbro will keep up it's efforts. I of course couldn't foresee the extent of the power usurped by Hasbro; but I do know one thing, it will get worse, and that's a bad thing.

 

This is an issue that will only inflame itself if left unchecked; the loss of any freedom on part of the writers will undoubtedly results in progressively worse storylines, and suck the life from the show with increasing vigor as time goes on, With more Hasbro, anything Hasbro wants gets into the show, and anything they distaste for gets obliterated. Hasbro isn't a semi-apathetic host that just says to meet the quota for toy placement in the show before it airs, it's becoming a monster that wants to control all aspects of the show, and it will ruin the show if it's allowed; they'rs just too much money out for grabs, and Hasbro's greed sense is too strong to fight if left unchecked.

 

Plus, here's another factor; Lauren Faust quit the show for the main reason being Hasbro's interference; her baby was being abused, and she's couldn't stand to see it. If you can't see any other writers leaving for this reason, you're not really looking hard; and once the good writers go, the show is finished.

[Anadu Kune 668]

Hasbro politics have always been in the show. Another major thing only included at hasbros request was the inclusion of Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. Thats right the Cutie mark crusaders were not originally intended. Again we have major influence, the inclusion of entire characters.  Again evidence that major influence has been present since day one. There probably hasn't been a drift, people are merely more aware of the influence now. The inclusion of major characters is not mere marketing slicks. 

The Derpy thing is an assumption, and one that is probably wrong. Hasbro has final say, Lauren being there most likley wouldn't have brought Derpy back. Though this is a mere "what if" scenario that lacks a solid foundation as there are way too many gaps in knowledge of how the interaction in production goes.

 

Lauren wanted a show that first and foremost to quote her"wasnt stupid". She wasn't striving to create a show free from network/higher up marketing interference  because she knew full well that wasn't going to happen. That's the one place we have a confirmed conflict, in creating the show hasbro wanted to limit how dark the show could be, and wanted perfect cutsie characters lacking any flaw or conflict as per their other shows. If anything the show has moved even further away from this than it has before with season three. The dark tones including an enslaved pony race, a viilian who was ripped to pieces, Dark magic, and deep seated fears have been more visually present. We haven't seen any indication that the characters or the show will become "stupid" All we have seen is a marketing ploy, which we have seen before. 

 

Plus, here's another factor; Lauren Faust quit the show for the main reason being Hasbro's interference; her baby was being abused, and she's couldn't stand to see it. If you can't see any other writers leaving for this reason, you're not really looking hard; and once the good writers go, the show is finished.

This is nothing more than an assertion on your part. Lauren has never stated this at all.  There are various factors that could lead to her departing the show. We know she is now working on other projects which could have been a reason. There is also the fact that being in that position is a lot of work and takes a lot of time. One thing is abundantly clear, it was a difficult decision on her part, one which she has stated she has some regrets about. You probably shouldn't be using this to support your argument as there it is not a given fact. Even if that is a contributing factor, its almost certainly not the only one. 

Edited February 7, 2013 by Anadu Kune

[Rejiazaioz 6]

 

Hasbro politics have always been in the show. Another major thing only included at hasbros request was the inclusion of Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. Thats right the Cutie mark crusaders were not originally intended. Again we have major influence, the inclusion of entire characters.  Again evidence that major influence has been present since day one. There probably hasn't been a drift, people are merely more aware of the influence now. The inclusion of major characters is not mere marketing slicks. 

 

The Derpy thing is an assumption, and one that is probably wrong. Hasbro has final say, Lauren being there most likley wouldn't have brought Derpy back. Though this is a mere "what if" scenario that lacks a solid foundation as there are way too many gaps in knowledge of how the interaction in production goes.

 

Lauren wanted a show that first and foremost to quote her"wasnt stupid". She wasn't striving to create a show free from network/higher up marketing interference  because she knew full well that wasn't going to happen. That's the one place we have a confirmed conflict, in creating the show hasbro wanted to limit how dark the show could be, and wanted perfect cutsie characters lacking any flaw or conflict as per their other shows. If anything the show has moved even further away from this than it has before with season three. The dark tones including an enslaved pony race, a viilian who was ripped to pieces, Dark magic, and deep seated fears have been more visually present. We haven't seen any indication that the characters or the show will become "stupid" All we have seen is a marketing ploy, which we have seen before. 

 

 

 

This is nothing more than an assertion on your part. Lauren has never stated this at all.  There are various factors that could lead to her departing the show. We know she is now working on other projects which could have been a reason. There is also the fact that being in that position is a lot of work and takes a lot of time. One thing is abundantly clear, it was a difficult decision on her part, one which she has stated she has some regrets about. You probably shouldn't be using this to support your argument as there it is not a given fact. Even if that is a contributing factor, its almost certainly not the only one. 

Always been isn't the same as it is now. Hasbro's politics were kept out of the show by Lauren and her writers; with her gone, Hasbro's influence is increasingly detrimental to the series. The writers are already in a deficient for development because Lauren hosted the entirety of the process in Season 1, and held onto influence in Season 2; the more time that passes, the less FiM remains in the show. We're already seen Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie's characterizations take a nose drive since Lauren left, especially season 3 Fluttershy; she's now presented as a 3 way switch between shyness-calmness-anger, without any of the balance, or pacing that kept Season 1 Fluttershy in perfection. Couple all the factors, and more Hasbro influence will cripple the show.

 

It's widely known the CMC weren't an original design of Lauren; but were they were a design of Lauren, not Hasbro. It was only at the request of Hasbro that Applebloom have friends; everything was left to Lauren's creativity. At this point, Hasbro is openly declaring new characters without any word from the writers; you don't think that will increase with time?

 

Two, that isn't major influence; that's an overhead that Lauren had to fill; Lauren and the writers had complete development of the story-lines. and the decisions of the characters; Hasbro did not hold that much sway against Lauren's team early on.

 

I'd personally say a balloon is a marketing tactic rather than a rather story-device, but to each his own.

 

Derpy was canned because of Hasbro, not because of writers. You can't argue what Lauren would have done; that's heresay that we can't speculate on, because it came 9 months after she left. Hasbro was concerned of the backlash that could have strung around Derpy; one crazed parent group that decides not to mind their own business and sticks it's head into a show can cost a company considerable amounts of money, an investment to fans Hasbro is not willing to make.

 

Also, Hasbro can make the final decision in a show if it's allowed that leniency, which means it can make a terrible blow to the show. One parental group interjects their distaste, and an empowered Hasbro can murder the show, something that wouldn't be allowed with a Lauren Faust MLP.

 

I never said that Lauren would be so bold; but she did manage to keep Hasbro out of FiM; the previous generations are just too bad to say that she didn't.

 

Well I couldn't argue with that point; Lauren certainly has won a victory with that, and a lasting victory that's continued to spread subsequent of her departure; but that's only one aspect. We have seen that characters continue down the same un-winding paths, which, just isn't what made the show great. Pinkie Pie had a vast and assorted personality in Season 1, and her exponentially variable personality was tempered with robust nature, those little things that kept her slightly cemented to Equestria.

 

Rainbow Dash especially; as the seasons have worn on, she's worn down from a vibrant, outstanding, and dashingly cute character, down to a Rainbow Dash who's more arrogant jock, with her sporty cuteness increasingly becoming a breath of air from a drowning Dashie. The characterization have increased down the same path, and, while they can be cute now, another season down this same path, and they'll quickly devolve into the Spongy model of character hell.

 

 

This is, however, the major factor in her decision to leave the show, even if she continues to maintain her vow of silence on the issue.

 

Lauren, being a professional, and a kind hearted individual, is too polite to bring up the real reason she left. Lauren would never go against Hasbro in some media frenzy to discredit a major corporation; it's too big a damage to her, and it wouldn't accomplish anything. If Lauren had publically stated she left FiM because Hasbro had interfered with her show, she's just be seen as an artsy bitch by Hasbro, and that image would spread far and wide. There would be nothing to gain from Lauren saying her real reasons to quit, only things for her, and her show, to lose. She had other projects to work on, and she might even try to consider that was a silver lining to the whole fiasco; but it's not the reason she quit, and she knows that too.