I wanted to wait until after furry fiesta to write about this. Yes I know about the change ever since Saturday. I have been asked repeatedly about if i'm upset, in rage, going to send angry letters ect without actually saying anything myself. My response was just "I don't want to talk about it." I heard it so much at the con and online that I got sick of the subject.
For those of you who do not know, the character Derpy Hooves was finally allowed to have a voice in one of the recent episodes of My Little Pony: Friendship is magic. Not only was this character given spoken dialog, but was also referred by name from Rainbow Dash. Why is this such a big deal? Well fanon became canon. :) Basically Derpy is a symbol more or less of the Brony fandom. Fan's noticed the little animation error and gave her a back story since episode one. She was this mail mare who, despite her disability, became an affectionate character. She had a daughter as well, (Dinky) and a large taste for muffins almost as much as Sorain's taste for pie.
The animators, the nice, cool fillies and gentle colts they are, took much of this personality as canon. The bumbling, accident prone pegasus became something for fans to look forward to. A character in the background for those with sharp eyes to see. It is one thing to have perfect A's in magic kindergarten or have a successful business like apples, dresses or cupcakes. It is another to be the underdog, the ones in the background that don't get noticed by many.
The issue came when itunes(apple) took the episode, The Last Roundup, off of the itunes store for weeks without explanation. After fans heard her speak, most were overjoyed, some didn't like the voice, so much so that they started petitions, complaints, sending hate mail and such. Hasbro feeling under pressure interviewed the animator's and Tabitha, who did the voice of Derpy, to find out what was going on. Finally last Saturday the episode was re-released on itunes.
The episode was released with edits to the scene, Derpy was given a new, more feminine voice, and Dash's lines were altered. The change to Derpy's voice isn't what concerned me. In fact a more female style voice actually wasn't that bad. What concerned me however was the fact that Dash didn't call Derpy by name, worse was that they un-crossed her eyes during the scene. Why was this bad? Basically >In my opinion< this gives the statement that having disabilities is wrong. It was a form of censorship, and I basically don't approve of censorship. This may be going too deep into the meaning but it is what I got out of it.
The animator's didn't want to edit the scene, Hasbro didn't want to edit this scene. As far as I can tell it has only effected the itunes release. The dvd that was released today, has the episode unaltered. The episode is also unaltered on the hub's website. When I saw the altered scene, I did not write angry emails to hasbro or the animators, send death threats, call them spiteful names. I am sure fans did and have. Kerros, one of the animators of the show, had to publicly come out and explain a few things on their side. This is one of the first few times I can think of where animators really try to talk to their fanbase on this level.
I only felt sad, a little sick and disappointed but not angry. It was kind of ironic that it was it happened when I finally wore my Derpy t-shirt at Furry Fiesta on Saturday. By the way that is got to be the most comfortable t-shirt I've ever worn. I have no idea what they used to make that stuff.
I eventually got over it within a day and decided to enjoy the rest of the con, that's what cons are for. I will continue to watch the show and support it. Like Kreoss said, the show is about the the mane 6 and spike too! Derpy even will continue to be in the show with her normal, cross-eyed expression. I don't really talk about myself in journals, if at all. Basically this show makes me happy, it's something I enjoy, something to take my mind off of my current job filled with depressing stories and angry customers who like to repeatedly blame me for ruining their lives. I'll remember how happy I was when I first saw it, i'm still happy they put her in the show and gave her a voice.
No tl;dr or whatever it's called. If I offended some with this rant, it is not my intention and sorry if I did.
Words of wisdom. I also did not send angry letters or hatemail, but I did contact Hasbro in mild an d respectful manner, and just let them know that Derpy to me was an important character and a gesture from the production team of the show that made me happy to be fan of the show and ever more likely to purchase Hasbro products in quantities, so this censorship has harmed this sense of unity and relationship I had to Hasbro.
I only hope that Hasbro itself has nothing to do with it, but quite frankly, Derpy's name did get scratched out from the episode and Tabitha's blog to mention another example. As much as I love ponies from the mane 6, Derpy to me has been now for a long time, almost from episode 7 of season one when I discovered the ponies has been a character to me that has been a heartwarming and valuable part of the show, as her presence in the show is like a visual hug from the team who make that series.
Seeing her eyes "fixed" and her name removed and voice changed all just seems like a gift, a precious gift given to me has been taken away just as I was about to enjoy it. Sure I still have the original episode but it was the GESTURE that mattered and now it has been "taken away", and that hurts, and it does give me an inescapable feeling of disappointment. I wish I could be a better brony and just shrug it off, but the implications of that edit to the scene are too ugly to ignore, hence I did send my mail to Hasbro and signed the pointless petition.
Words of wisdom. I also did not send angry letters or hatemail, but I did contact Hasbro in mild an
I would sign the petition also but don't because I would have to sign up for something. I think it was twitter? I can't remember. It is fine to send a letter of concern. I only mentioned the hate mail part(which you said you didn't send) because I don't want people assuming i'm doing that as well.
I would sign the petition also but don't because I would have to sign up for something. I think it w
Yes, I only can hope that people refrain from being their usual asshats and put a cork on it instead of acting like screaming monkeys. Customer feedback is what Hasbro needs to fulfill our wishes, rage and all caps death threats are not customer feedback ^^
Yes, I only can hope that people refrain from being their usual asshats and put a cork on it instead
Well, that's iCrap for you, especially in this modern and "enlightened" age of "There might be ONE person on this planet who MAYYYY get butt hurt over something as silly as an animated pony in a cult cartoon.". I seriously think that political correctness has gone way too far, have for a long time. People need to get over themselves. It's a fucking blueish-grey, flying, (now) talking pony that delivers the fucking mail in a CARTOON! But there's always going to be someone out there with a stick up their ass about anything and everything on the planet who just has to screw things up for everyone else.
Well, that's iCrap for you, especially in this modern and "enlightened" age of "There might be ONE p
