Over on Gawker, a new article has popped up about our little Derpy extravaganza. They acutally did a pretty good job of digging through the piles of information that has been flooding every aspect of the fandom for the past few days, as well as bugging Cereal for an interview. It is Gawker though, so expect some snide remarks buried in there.
One key point to focus on is the Hasbro PR rep's response:
"The 'My Little Pony Friendship is Magic' series has always been about acceptance and inclusion, and the series strives to convey that through the playful antics of a diverse cast of characters," Hasbro spokeswoman Nicole Angello told us over email. "Some viewers felt that aspects of the episode 'The Last Roundup' did not stay true to the core message of friendship which is the heart and soul of the series. Hasbro Studios decided to make slight audio alterations to this single episode."So there you have it!
You can find the entire article here!
578 comments:
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yay. reasonable solutions
Yes finally
So Hasbro considered "Derpy" to be fairly insulting. I am not surprised since the makers had so much trouble trying to get "egghead" through.
I'm okay with that.
Ewwww. Gawker is largely unprofessional and they do their best to paint us as these forever raging neckbeards.
Finally a little insight.
Another surprisingly well-done brony article from Gawker after the BroNYCon one? huh...
But removing her NAME? I mean, alter her lines or her voice or something, or just straight-up remove her, but remove everything that made her character unique? Shame. More viewers, from what I've seen, think the changes are a worse breach of friendship.
DAMN YOU YAMINO!!!!!!!!!!!!! (joking)
I still can't really say I'm happy with the changes, but it's too late now :/
Adrian Brody, Adrian Brody!
@Nymo
...did you read it?
That was a well written article, I don't think it was snide at all.
I find it hilarious it's Gawker who's doing the best job covering Bronies from a nonfan POV.
Derpy "doesn't fir in with the show's message of friendship and inclusion?" And taking her out because she's different DOES?
The extreme hypocrisy is not lost on me.
Well, that's that. I'm still a little worried by the fact her eyes were also changed, but I remain optimistic and believe they did it simply to make sure no offense could be taken whatsoever.
Hopefully the rest of the episodes remain unchanged. This 'debacle' is over, at last.
In the event of a box set though, I would like to know if we're going to get the edited version, or the original.
Gawker......what's Gawker? (Sarcastic)
And as for Hasbro's response...I guess here we have it. Some news is better than no news I guess. I really don't agree with the reasons they gave, but then again I'm not the one making the calls.
Yeah, my arguments are gone. Hasbro and the article-writer handled the wording of their reasons superbly. It could certainly be seen as such.
As for the name, which still seems a bit odd, it's probably because no parent in their RIGHT MIND would name their child "Derpy", leaving a nickname the only realistic option.
They called Equestria, "Celestia"... wow.
As long as derpy is still an easter egg in the show I'll be fine :P still was nice seeing her named/have speaking lines though
okay, so RD was being mean to the ditzy pony, and that's what the whole fuss was about. I think this means her eyes should stay derped in later episodes. and quite frankly, I like the new voice. If she does talk again( preety, pretty please Hasbro?) I would prefer the new voice. just canon *some* name for her.
So this came from the top. Scoop up those FE DVDs now folks, you can bet your sweet *yay* that future pressings will be altered.
@Flutteryay Agreed.
All Hasbro needs to do to satisfy the vast majority of the fandom is to put Derpy's name back in there.
Doesn't look like that's going to happen, but at least she's not disappearing entirely.
If the name is "unacceptable", I'd rather she remain unnamed. I was looking forward to finally having the chance of buying an offical Derpy toy, but I'd rather go without than have her changed entirely.
@Flutteryay I think its because Rainbow was teasing her.
So Hasbro finally confirms it was "Some viewers".
"Slight Audio Alterations"
So why did they edit her eyes? As far as I know, that's not Audio.
I'm not sure if I agree with their reasoning. In my mind, "acceptance and inclusion" would imply leaving Derpy as she was originally, not censoring her in order to placate "some viewers". Still, it's good that Hasbro finally issued an official statement.
As long as they don't completely censor out Derpy, I don't care.
I assumed that was the reason
so much a-Daring-Do about nothing. I just wish they had kept the name intact when they reworked the dub. Oh well.
@Flutterfan
Are you...really? REALLY?
First let's look at the title.
Bronies Furious After Minor My Little Pony Character Is Changed to Seem Less Mentally Disabled
Yes, that's what we're angry at. We want a retarded character that we can relate to hurr durr! They don't point out the close relationship between the character and the fanbase, besides pointing out that the character is retarded.
Thousands of (mostly male) nerds calling themselves Bronies spread their unironic love of MLP
Seriously. They like MLP. UNIRONICALLY. What is wrong with these losers???
Currently, the Brony hive is waging the "Save Derpy" campaign, after show creators slightly changed a favorite character was changed slightly to be less suggestive of a person with a mental disability.
Yes. That's what we're pining for. Great research.
The hive mind also turned vengeful. They focused on one dedicated Derpy critic, a woman who goes by the name Yamino and who had written a number of Tumblr posts about Derpy's "ableism." The My Little Pony board on 4chan launched a raid on her Deviantart page. Here's just a sample of the abuse:
FUCK YOU DIE SHIT FUCK DIE BALLS YOU MOTHERFUCKER. WHY THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOUR STUPID BIMBO MOTHERFUCKING FACE DIE FUCK AND CUNT BURN DIE I FUCKING HATE YOU.
Painting bronies as a 'hive mind' and pointing out only the worst of our abuse. Seriously, do you guys think this is supposed to be complimentary?
"Some viewers"? Last I checked, "most" viewers around here thought Derpy was fine the way she was. Apparently, "most" of us don't count. Besides, in what fashion was Derpy "uninclusive" in the original version of Last Roundup? I don't see it.
Well, this looks bad...as soon as people start to get negative feelings towards us...this is no good...
a single episode? I suppose that's a good news
>Friendship and inclusion
>Correcting a pony who is implied to be at least somewhat mentally challenged
The fuck is this.
Well, an official statement is better than no statement.... I guess? Though it really doesn't explain anything.
And "audio alterations?" What about changing the eyes?
Well that example raid comment was certainly like being shot in the fore-head to me... Really guys?
Before this I merely sympathized with the Derpy fans (and ignored the whiny ones). Past that I didn't really care.
The PR response put me on their side. Why, if the show is about inclusion, are we excluding a character type? What about her exactly was offensive? And you expect me to believe viewer complaints brought about the change? I don't buy that.
Ok, we got another message from Hasbro, can we please all calm down now?
EqD, thanks for keeping us updated on the issue. I just wish it hadn't exploded the way it did :/ Anyways, on with our daily business *goes back to reading fics*
So...Hasbro caved to a vocal minority? Good to know....
Before this I merely sympathized with the Derpy fans (and ignored the whiny ones). Past that I didn't really care.
The PR response put me on their side. Why, if the show is about inclusion, are we excluding a character type? What about her exactly was offensive? And you expect me to believe viewer complaints brought about the change? I don't buy that.
Well...let's look at this in perspective. Nobody really expected Derpy to be called Derpy in the first place. That was a surprise. If it gets repealed...well, she still seems to be making scripted appearances in the show. And if she gets more scenes to herself, I don't think we've got any room to rage.
Fuck the PC Thought Police.
I dislike how the creator's big shout-out to the fans turned into such a disaster. I really don't care about Derpy, however, and it looks like Hasbro doesn't feel like changing anything, so hopefully this'll be the end of this particular drama.
@naahdude I really don't pay them any mind. I did give it a read just to see what exactly they said. And Seth pretty much nailed it with the "snide remarks." So just don't pay any attention to them. Yes, there were plenty of people that went extreme, but we know what kind of people we are. If someone chooses to define us based on just that alone, screw them. They've clearly made up their mind about us and nothing is gonna change that. I'll "tolerate" it, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.
I guess if they had to, they had to... Oh well ...
So the "core message of friendship" must include not becoming friends with clumsy people.
I'm not gonna rage about a show that's not under my control but I certainly don't agree with the logic here.
I don't get it.
I want an indepth explanation for the whole thing!
Sometimes I think that many people that work with the Pony Franchise don't really know any reasons behind things, and if you ask 2 different people at Hasbro you'll get 2 different explanations.
I feels like everyone there makes their own opinions. Even when they are spokespersons. :/
So if we make a big enough stink about anything (and it looks like Hasbro's threshold is around 5 emails) would people be able to get anything altered from any show? Seriously? Show some backbone, Hasbro.
@Nostalgia Schmaltz
Pretty much, and they probably did it so they wouldn't get sued over Derpy.
I'm fuckin fine with this and I hope everyone stops rioting now.
@Flutteryay
My thoughts exactly.
@CityFlyer502
You're missing the point I'm trying to make. People here are saying this article is freaking KIND to bronies when it's literally anything but.
That's a bit hypocritical on Hasbro's part, no?
I really hope that this isn't the only response we'll get. The name was the important bit for one, and they didn't -just- edit the audio for two. They changed her eyes, and that's ridiculous.
... Ugh.
I guess I may be coming around to the idea that this is a compromise. And really, in the bigger scope of the show, I suppose it's not, like, the most important thing I could possibly be crusading for... But it matters to me, and it matters to tons of people.
I just wish we would hear more about the whole situation from someone there at Hasbro, just on principle of... It matters to us.
@Flutteryay
My thoughts exactly. Lame.
Well, as long as we know, and it is only one episode. I'm not mad; they probably did it so they wouldn't get sued. "Derp" is a copyrighted term/word, you know!
I'm not going to harsh Hasbro on this one since they are already kind enough to acknowledge us bronies. Even more so Derpy has been included in several episodes as a where's waldo type of pony which is awesome.
Right now i'm just disheartened that there are people so uptight about things they believe we hate "our" lovable Derpy.
@Magnus the Blue
It is not too late, we can express our offense to Hasbro over their change and request the original episode back. Hazbro mus learn that when they mess with Derpy, they mess with a highly protective fan base
I'm not going to go crazy or anything, but I think I finally hate Hasbro. I don;t hate them for taking down episodes online and downloads or whatever. But this... Wow I mean those reasons are God awful and what they did contradicts the values of the show. Again I'm not going to go crazy and send a whole bunch of hate mail or anything, but I really hate Hasbro. 0h well I shall continue loving the clumsy, silly pony Derpy, despite Hasbro apparently finding my adorable Derpy offensive.
@naahdude Yeah, it was really unprofessionally done. I really hope I'm wrong but I can't shake the fear that our community is coming out of this one looking really bad in some people's eyes. I suppose the few people that acted extremely hatefully towards this situation and their perceived causes of it (Yamino, etc.)were bound to get a lot of attention given how they stand out, a state of affairs which is really really upsetting and unfortunate. I guess its just extra important now that we as a community work to prove negative stereotypes wrong and to once again assert the dominant face of the brony community as being one of love and tolerance. I consider our community's good will with hasbro, the hub, the production team and indeed the rest of the world to be very important and its important to remember that this setback doesn't mean we can't still reestablish that and recieve recognition as an overwhelmingly positive and beneficial force both in our support of the show and to the internet in general.
As I sit here, I know who Derpy is and they can never take that away from me.
Nevertheless, going forward..I'd like to see them work on her voice a little bit and give her future bit parts here and there. Also, I wouldn't mind her being nameless if it was used in some sort of a running gag. A brony community peace move, how about having her embraced a simple hug with some other pony or or in a group (having it make sense with the rest of the story/episode).
Im ok with this...
to be honest..Im just glad this fiasco can be laid to rest.
Hay, Derpy might have a speaking role in future episodes guys. It would be the new voice actor and they just wouldn't say her name. No need to get down in the dumps, look to the possibilities!
The article has an inaccuracy.
They quote
'"Oh, I just don't know what went wrong!"',
when derpy actually didn't say "oh" at the beginning of the sentence.
I'm certainly not going to try and fight it anymore. But it's nice to know that the logic behind the change was as bass-ackwards as I thought it was, and then some. Seriously, what in the fuck...?!
And besides, the writers of this show are clearly people who care about being funny and interesting and are a little bit twisted, so I'd be willing to bet Derpy will slowly slide back towards being the same as she ever was without anyone really taking notice until they've already gotten used to her.
And now that we have official word from Hasbro, I feel that I can make a more informed opinion.
I can see why it was altered (Rainbow Dash potentially poking fun at Derpy), but in the same sentence, I can say that altering that scene into what it is now was probably not the best decision.
Not only did they seemingly contradict themselves in the same breath, but they also did it hastily and rather poorly. If they had taken more time to rerecord some of the lines (on top of removing the name) and kept the episode up on iTunes in the meantime, it might not have been so poorly received. The better answer would have likely been to issue some form of statement before removing the episode near the end of the "fix", give it time to settle, and then post the new version.
Really, I'm glad that we have official word now and that this nonsense has closure, but I'm slightly disappointed in how it was handled, though, not for my sake and rather the sake of the fandom as a whole.
Or maybe people shouldn't have been so butthurt about it to begin with.
I just wish critics would realize we weren't laughing at Derpy, we were laughing with her.
The Gawker? good job finding a neutral, unbiased point of view that totally doesn't try to paint complainers as a homogenous mass of complaining raging dipshits. The Gawker, really.
ALSO: how do we know GAWKER, a decidedly negative website, did not filter the PR message so that we would get even more angry?
Yeah, fuck Gawker.
That was one of the most one-sided, insulting things I've ever read. They completely ignore the issue and focus on painting us as a bunch of over-emotional weirdos. They actually used the term "nerds." Obviously, they're only focused on shock value and page views, instead of actually reporting the news. Their senior staff writer must be a trained monkey, because they're basically flinging their own feces at the screen.
Well, at least we have an official statement. Granted, it's exactly what I expected but at least it's official. Highly doubt that it'll change very many people's feelings, though. I don't condone the angry overreactions nor the personal insults/attacks, but fans who are upset over this still have a right to speak out.
Continue to protest, my Derpy-loving friends, but do it maturely and respectfully.
It's also kind of strange and disheartening to see that people are incredibly offended by Derpy's portrayal and not that of Snails.
To me, the eyes are the only thing that really matter. They're what make Derpy Derpy. Who cares if she gets renamed to Ditzy? So what, even, if her voice becomes less Rudolphish? Just including her in the show is acknowledging us bronies. As long as they keep the eyes and keep the character, all this militant talk of Hasbro 'killing' her just sounds melodramatic to me.
@Suroguner
You are literally everything wrong with the fanbase. Seriously, if you think biting the hand that feeds us after we've bitten it so many times is a good idea, then you have serious problems.
...this statement is ENTIRELY contradictory to itself. Who are they trying to fool with this one?
@naahdude No, I got the point all right. All I had to do was see one article from them and I already knew where they stood. And clearly this one is no different. In no instance did I ever imply, or mean to imply, that they were kind to us.
Well, It's better than nothing, and she always did well before that scene aired so I doubt this will affect her too much.
Always look on the bright side of life.
SO does this mean that mean we can call off the attacks on the show ? Becasue Hasbro finally admits that this just for this one episode. :(
Still mixed over this whole thing. The reasons given would of been fine had they just slightly altered the lines and changed RD's tone in the scene. The combination of changes makes it seem like there was a little more than getting more in line with the message of friendship.
At least there has been some official response now though.
im tired of this derpy situation, it just one episode
they did what they though was right with their point of view and then just wrapped this up in fancy words for fans
derpy will still be derpy, bronies, its not like she got cut out completely
pleaaase, no more derpy threads
It's good to hear a response from Hasbro, and a well worded one at that, but the logic is flawed. A show about tolerance and inclusion censoring a character just because she has silly eyes and is clumsy? Last time I watched the episode, Derpy was an accepted and contributing member of the town, so the can't claim it goes against the "core message of friendship".
I have a feeling this "vocal minority" was a concentrated effort by trolls, because there is no way anyone with an ounce of sense would think she's offensive.
@CityFlyer502
I was talking to Flutterfan and Nymo though, who apparently think so.
Sigh...I know it's pretty much done and dusted now, but I seriously cannot understand Hasbro's logic here at all.
How is fixing a character to make her seem 'normal' MORE in line with friendship and inclusion?
Nice one Hasbro, you insensitive hypocrites.
"about acceptance and inclusion"
Oh sweet irony...
@DashAttack
This. If we can tolerate the likes of so many "odd" characters in the show, what's the deal with Derpy? She's a beloved character for goodness' sake, not an offense.
@naahdude
1. The headline is linkbait, I mean "Bronies have a perfectly legtimate reason to protest character change" doesn't have the same ring to it.
2. Is calling our love of the show unironic really that bad? I mean it's true isn't it? I understand where you're coming from but it just seems unimportant.
3. I don't think "character with a mental disability" is misleading. That is what the debate is about, pro-Derpy people of course would argue she isn't mentally disabled but that is (from an objective POV) the issue. Some feel it is some don't.
4. But every newspaper/blog/whatever does that. It's always the extremists that get covered.
I don't think it was complimentary but from a objective standpoint it does great bringing a person (who doesn't know about any of this) up to speed with great background, summarizes both sides, provides links for references and does it all with a minimum of snideness as you can expect from Gakwer.
That in my view is why I call it a great article.
I'm glad to see that Hasbro finally released a statement, but I'm still not buying what they're selling.
Sigh, the only reason people were offended by Derpy, was because they didn't understand her.
And so there we haven't, Hasbro caved to scant few individuals who decided they had to take up a crusade. Fan-fucking-tastic.
Since we can't really do anything about it the least they could do is just axe the parts with Derpy entirely. Least we wouldn't have to watch a fucking hack job of censorship. I'd like to think the production team put up some kind of fight against Hasbro over the edit, but because of the way it all went down something tells me they rolled over at the first sign of trouble.
I still like the show, but my view of the production team's artistic integrity has been lowered. For what little it's worth, I'm very disappointed in how all this played out.
Kind of a mealy-mouthed PR response... not that I expected more.
Now mostly I want this whole thing over. I will say Hasbro would've been much better off to have said this when they actually did it, not three days after. Not a great way to engender trust from their fanbase.
So the issue with giving a legal version of the Derp mp3 to purchase is because??!
At least we'll get to see her again.
"The hope is, fans will understand. Especially when it comes to something this small. They’ve already told us she’s not going to be banished, so I guess it comes down to preference. So, do we understand, fans? After all, Derpy was a gift already; do we want to look her in the mouth?"
~Me, from my article "Gas prices, Derpy back up".
Not buying it. *lights torch* Back to protesting.
That sounds alright, it means that, if they want. They can try to make Derpy again, but they will change her portrayal into something maybe a bit better, still don't know if she would be called Derpy next time though...
Boy Seth you were right about the snide remarks thing.
Finally, the Derpy Crisis is over ! Now let's get back to watching ponies...
Meanwhile, watching the DVD...
i think someone in fandom thinks that Hasbro is just a bunch of freaks who loves to mess with theirs fans
its just stinky thinking) they surely had a whole bunch of reasons to underp derpy for this particular episode, they did what was right for company politics or something
I appreciate the official statement, but that article is filled with so much garbage it's hard to take them seriously.
So Hasbro says My Little Pony can't have Derpy, but Transformers can have Skids, Mudflap, a leg humping robot, and giant robot testicles.
Love and tolerance love and tolerance love and tolerance love and toleranceloveandtoleranceloveandtoleranceloveandtolerance AUUUUUUUGGGGGGHHHHH! WHY ISN'T IT WORKING!
Well, the good news is this means Derpy is safe at last.
The bad news is that it pretty much shoots down any chances of getting another talking scene for Derpy.
But as long as she stays on as an easter egg background character with occasional scenes like the ones in Luna Eclipsed & Hearth Warming's Eve, then I would be completely ok with this.
@statoose
Eh, not really. The offended party in question probably felt that the way Rainbow Dash was treating a character who seemed, to them, disadvantaged, was what was "untrue to the message of acceptance and inclusion". They figured the easiest and most painless way to remedy this (Dear Celestia, imagine if they took her out ENTIRELY!) was just to redub the audio and make her eyes more subtle. (It's still there, if you look. Derpy's still alive and "saying hello" to us, no matter what Hasbro's forced to do.)
*looks at comments*
ONWARD TO SHITFEST ISLAND!
*da da daaaa
da da daaaaaa
DA DA DA DAAAAAAA
DA DA DA DA DA*
Hypocrites!
@Fengor
That's a bit hard on the team, I think... 'Artistic Integrity's' nice, but it doesn't pay the bills. Hasbro does.
Besides, we can't assume there was or wasn't a fight over this behind the scenes unless we hear something from the team.
One bad thing is, that it'll always stay as a problem for us. We will never really forget about it as we will still watch older episodes. And this one is of the most popular ones.
I will never feel very well when watching it until there is a satisfying explanation for the changes.
And with "satisfying" I mean an explanation that is thoughtful and that I don't neccesary will agree on.
Afterall, they must have very, very good reasons to make these changes. It's not like this was cheap.
Or was it just a product of unneccesary and ridiculous executive meddling?
@autobotgodzilla
BIG difference: My Little Pony has a G/PG audience rating. The Transformers movies were PG-13, so they could get away with more stuff.
This is why we can't have nice things.
Maybe you might have heard, but no one spoke a word, the day the fandom cried. The day that Derpy died. Each day another dream killed by the Hasbro queens. All access was denied the day that Derpy died. We paid for everything, but back not a single thing. Our hopes were all sucked dry the day that Derpy died. We saw it on EQ, on tumblr and twitter too. We thought the news had lied the day that Derpy died.
This is make believe. This is not for real. This won’t last forever. This won’t last at all.
Eliminate the scene. It’s illegal now to sing. Bronies ask the reasons why. The day that Derpy died. Now imprisoned for my craft, I smile and have to laugh. In my head our Derpy’s still alive. The day that Derpy died. As all our hopes were Dashed, seems that all our throats were slashed. How could our fandom survive? The day that Derpy died. Greedy fat bureaucrats care only for sales and stats. Woke up with dollar signs in their eyes, the day that Derpy died.
This is make believe. This is not for real. This won’t last forever. This won’t last at all.
One thing you have to remember is that it's not just us reading that response. Parents are going to be reading it too, so they can't just say:
"We're sorry we had to remove Derpy, but she was a liability."
They have to cover their asses on both sides, so overall, I think this is a fair response.
Even though we finally got a response from Hasbro, some comments still make me facepalm. v.v
That bitch on DA deserved all them insults she's a bitch anyway. If she truly had a problem with Derpy she would of first said something about Snails so she did it for attention, and she got what she wanted, just not in the way she wanted.
Gawker is just pure and utter shit.
And, es expected, they could not leave out an implication that 4chan is evil. Typical.
Everything I wanted to say has pretty much already been said.
It's good to FINALLY get some official word of what's going on, but that article was terrible. I'm disappointed that this is what ended up happening, especially when Hasbro says that Derpy did not fit into their ideals of "friendship, acceptance, and inclusion".
Altering a clumsy pony with strange eyes and a goofy voice to be more "normal" is a perfect example of refusing to accept individual differences.
Always Remember, Derpy is Best Clumsy Pony.
"Hasbro Studios decided to make slight audio alterations to this single episode."
What, so that is supposed to make it okay? That was their excuse. I do not feel less upset because they censored only ONE episode; I was upset because they censored a character with a mental deficiency to begin with. Then the number of times doesn't make much of a difference.
...I'm gonna stop bitchin' about it now, though. I've got some pony episodes I could be watching.
Well, at least Hasbro's trying not to veer us away from FIM, and back towards guy stuff like TransFormers, with the Hasbro Movies they've been doing, don't be surprised if Hasbro teams up with Dreamworks or another animation studio to do a CG Animated MLP Movie based on the original, with a human girl named Megan saving the day. Besides, the only transformer I'd want is neither Autobot or Decepticon - It's an Eidolon, named Odin.
There was absolutely nothing NOTHING offensive about Derpy. Not even remotely..
How in the FUCK would thought like that even cross someones mind?
Nows the time for an episode where Rainbow Dash learns not to judge others or be mean to others, after Derpy saves her from a situation she got herself into.
Hasbro's statement makes no sense. Acceptance and inclusion...
I don't think Derpy is mentally handicapped, but even if she is, she's is being an active member of society. Inclusion. Rainbow Dash accepted Derpy's help, albeit she sounds a bit annoyed with her antics. Acceptance. What was wrong with it?
This
We as human beings are FAR less accepting and inclusive of people with disabilities.
@crazyredemu
Leave Yamino alone! It is not her fucking fault. God fucking dammit. People like you are the reason Gawker made us look like insane zealots in that very article.
>inb4 gawker would have done it anyways
You know... You would sell hundreds of "Hug Derpy" plushies just by using that sad Derpy video as the commercial.
Besides, Derpy is NOT dead. she's still in all the episodes she was already in. She still talks in that one episode, but she's not referred to by her name. And seriously people, Derpy is not a retard; just ditsy. She may show up in future episodes anyways.
@Railgun
Yeah, but they're still selling the toys to the same age group.
I just picked up my copy of the DVD with the unedited Derpy in it, I still have my unedited iTunes version, and I have a download of the original broadcast version.
Hasbro can change it all they want, cause I have the version I want. I don't even mind them changing it, they did what they felt they had to do. I would also bet that by the time a blu-ray version comes out it will have the original version as well, since a bluray would be more aimed at adult collectors and not parents.
i like this. I like this a lot.
Oh well. I have the original version so I'm happy. The edit doesn't seem as good as the original but being pressed for time would do that.
I'm just glad they made the original version even if it did get removed later. I just hope they don't give Derpy a new name and leave her in the background.
The article was a terrible piece of journalism. It seemed rather infantile.
Ah another Derpy thread.
I've finally been driven to commenting. On these threads, there always seme to multiple comments about how we should have not been negative/not looked a gift horse in the moute/etc. I don't understand these. The community is not a hive mind and individual members have no control over others. It seems to be a self-induced guiltfest by people who didn't complain in the first place. *WE* didn't do anything. Some people did.
On another note, I feel the change sends several bad messages. It's not OK to be different. Being clumsy and/or deep voiced means you are necessarily mentally disabled. Mentally disabled people should be hidden from view. I think it's particularly sad that the complainers have actually managed to induce behaviour that was much, much worse than what they were cmoplaing about.
Finally, the article is stupid and is basically trying to presend the bog-standard internet troll flamer as representative of this community. That's just shoddy reporting.
Anyway that episode put me in a good mood for a week.
Derpy FTW!
You know Hasbro, you'd have had much less hassle if you had the smarts to realize since Derpy was the fans mascot that changing her would evoke very angry feelings.
A press release as you decided to do this would've gone a long way to quelling the anger the fans are feeling about it.
>"The 'My Little Pony Friendship is Magic' series has always been about acceptance and inclusion, and the series strives to convey that through the playful antics of a diverse cast of characters,"
That is the most bullshit fucking stupid statement I have ever heard uttered.
If the show is about "acceptance and inclusion", then why the fuck did they take Derpy out at all? I guess it's about acceptance and inclusion as long as you look exactly the same as every other pony. No differences allowed in Equestria.
Also, her statement about it being "only audio changes" is full of shit too, because they changed her eyes too. Last I checked, audio means they only change the sound. Changing a characters eyes is changing the video/visuals.
Such bullshit and hypocrisy... I can't stand it =(.
The only good thing to come out of her statement is that it is only a "single" episode, so at least it is supposedly not across the board that they changed Derpy.
But given the way Hasbro has outright lied to us lately, I take that statement with a grain of salt.
Well now wait a minute, is our only source for the response Gawker? If so I'm not inclined to believe this is real.
As for the Derpy issue, at least I got a first print Friendship Express DVD, Complete with the Derpy scene unaltered. And the only flaw is that the first episode's audio became unsynced by the third act. If Shout Factory fixed the discs for that, I'm afraid they'll fix MORE than that, by replacing the Derpy scene with the edited version, where Andrea Libman voices her.
Хватит бугуртить, смотрите поней.
The Derpy Crisis will only be over when our beloved mailmare's eyes are re-derped and her name restored.
"The Last Round-up"=the MLP version of "Star Wars: Phantom Menace" Sure it caused alot of fanrage. But its not gonna end the world. And this protest will not end the world.
@TheDoktor Whether the team's silence is self-imposed or orders handed down from Hasbro has not endeared me to them. They may have been forced to censor it but their patch job was sloppy and degrades the overall quality of the episode.
Artistic integrity can still be maintained even when the one signing your check forces you to do something that undermines your work. Sometimes the simplest solution is the best; Hasbro doesn't like Derpy's scenes? Just fucking delete them from the episode, it would hardly suffer without her scene and it would spare future viewers from the awkward delivery of dialogue they now have.
They're better than that, and their prior work proves that.
"The 'My Little Pony Friendship is Magic' series has always been about acceptance"
Yet they did not accept the way she was. Silly people just ate those words. Oh well.
@snowfi6916
Exactly what I was thinking...
They will never say Derpy's name again... Sigh
Oh god, everyone calm down. I'm seriously weirded out by all the drama.
Well, looks like Derpy will no longer be referred to by the fan name. Guess we'll have to stop watching the show forever.
BUT! No need to give up just yet! We can still convince Hasbro to un-kill Derpy!
I'll be in charge of posting angry messages on the Deviant Art profiles of MLP writers. Does "BUCK YOU TO THE MOON BLOOD AAAARG" sound alright?
Everybody else, go spam Hasbro! Make sure to swear a lot, they love that!
Aaaaand GO! FOR FRIENDSHIP!
@White Ink
Whatever arguments you had before, this article probably doesn't refute them. I mean, just think about what they said. They... took a character who was different away.... in order to promote the message that you shouldn't be excluded for being different. Sounds a bit off, does it not?
Also, what pony in their right mind would name their kid HALF of the names in the show? Snips, Snails, Pound, Pipsqueak, Diamond Tiara.... there's a lot of names in the show that wouldn't play out well in real life.
Oh, Hasbro... You've once again proven you have no frickin' idea what you're doing. Ignoring the fact that it took them two and a half days to finally release some sort of official statement on this fiasco, (and is only a small paragraph), let's start with the obvious: Censoring a character for potentially being mentally disabled IS NOT ACCEPTANCE. It is, in fact, the opposite of acceptance and inclusion. You're basically telling us that people that may or may not have disabilities have no place in this world. THAT does not stay true to the core message of friendship. Next: 'Slight audio alterations'? I could accept that if they had only tinkered with her voice, but what about the changes in the script? What about the changes in the animation? Are you just hoping that we didn't notice you removing possibly the largest shoutout to the fandom to date? Please. And yes, they decided to change this single episode. For now. What about in the future though, when people find something else to complain about? Are you going to cave in and let yourself be bullied by a vocal minority again? And besides showing that Hasbro is not used to dealing with this, the only real information we get in this paragraph is that it was, in fact, Hasbro that ordered these changes, not Apple.
Wait so does this mean that Derpy was just changed for that ONE episode?
@TengenFlare
You got the wrong Star Wars parallel.
It's the "Han shot first moment", not the "Phantom Menace".
The difference is that the Han Solo and Greedo scene was altered in the "special edition" to make Greedo shoot first and Han shoot in self defense, whereas in the original version, Han shot before Greedo could.
Phantom Menace is widely regarded as just plain bad.
@Fengor
Just out-and-out deleting isn't really an option if they have to fill a 22 minute time slot for TV. They'd have to produce something else to fill, and that could be prohibitively expensive.
Mind you, I don't agree with what Hasbro did, I don't, I just feel that Jayson and Co. shouldn't have to take the flack on it.
This show is dead to me.
Maybe they should have called it My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, But Only If You Are 100% Normal.
Gawker? REALLY HASBRO?! Could you have chosen a WORSE outlet for this? Know what? I want to see the press release they sent Gawker otherwise I'm calling this a troll attempt to gain clicks from the Brony community, something that Gawker has been known to do in the past.
Always good to see the community being represented by an all-caps message telling someone to go die. Celestia forbid we be represented by reasonable people.
I'm disappointed in a lot of people as a result of this mess: The people who responded with all-caps rage to Derpy both before and after the change, the writer of this article for making Bronies seem to be filled with nothing but blind fury, Hasbro for not realizing why this whole mess made so many people unhappy, and the people who wanted Derpy to change in the first place (not the people who were offended. I can understand that).
This whole thing could be fixed by just releasing both the edited and unedited version of the episode and having parents choose which version they want their kids to watch.
It's going to be a long wait until Saturday, when I can hopefully forget this fiasco.
Here is what I learned from this post. Gawker is ran by a bunch of jackasses who are just as bad as Fox with baseing their arguemnts on really bad examples, Hasbro took advice from some random people and can't come up with a good excuse for the change, and editing animation is "slight audio alterations". Wat.
@Fengor
Actually, getting rid of the scene would have brought more problems and even a bigger shitfest. First of all, getting rid of the scene would have completely removed the reason for why Applejack did anything (or least made it confusing), unless there was a dialogue change, which would itself have completely changed the episode's moral to something about pride again.
That is not a profesional article. It seems that some of you have not read it. Seriously, it pisses me off more than the Derpy changes.
But, oh well, now I know that gawker is a silly page.
What a sensationalist title. I didn't even bother to read more than that and the Hasbro PR quote. They're grasping for pageviews, nothing more.
Meanwhile, Ed, Billy, Goofy, Dopey, and Musgy continue to receive zero complaints from society at large despite being much worse offenders and having more longevity.
"Acceptance" my ass. Stay hypocritical and out of touch, Hasbro.
I had to do a bit of a double-take when reading Hasbro's response.
First: "The...series has always been about acceptance and inclusion, and the series strives to convey that through the playful antics of a diverse cast of characters," and THEN: "Some viewers felt that aspects of the episode 'The Last Roundup' did not stay true to the core message of friendship which is the heart and soul of the series."
I'm sorry, WHAT? I don't know about anyone else, but those two sentences seem COMPLETELY contradictory to me. It seems to me that acceptance and inclusion would be including Derpy the way she is, not censoring her.
Even though they claim this is the only episode that will be affected, I'd take that with a grain of salt. They may just want to avoid situations like this entirely in the future, and never mention Derpy again.
I think there is a bigger issue still at stake here, and that's censorship. Big companies would rather play it safe and be boring than upset a minority of people. I think we do need to keep up the pressure on Hasbro, to at least air the un-edited version on TV, and encourage them to not cut Derpy out of future episodes. What's offensive is censorship, not a kluzty, loveable pony.
here's to EQD getting fooled again
I fail to see how GAWKER of all places could be the ones to get a response from Hasbro. They're like the tabloids of the internet.
-Observes everypony complaining.-
Yes because no TV show or cartoon has ever been edited for syndication ever....
Am I happy with this? No not really however to those complaining like this is the end of the world and we should stop supporting Hsbro and 'It's okay to edit those who we don't approve of' I have this to say.
This is a cartoon, one made by a company who must always focusa on staying out of legal trouble or losing money. As such it is easier for thme to edit soemthing to fix complaints than suffer the slings and arrows of negative publicity.
This is an unfortunate thing but its not the end of the world. Sometimes shows get edited, sometimes its before they air, soemtimes after, it is a fact of life.
Derpy isn't GONE or anything, she's the same pony we know and love, no amount of bad editing will ever change that.
TLDR, stop complaining and enjoy the darn show, it could be worse after all.
@Demon Tamer
It may not be professional, but it's the first official response from Hasbro. So why would Hasbro choose Gawker of all places to make their response. That's what people are getting all worked up about.
What's up with deleting the "Friendship is Witchcraft Alternate Lines and Bonus Content" post being deleted? It was here, but not anymore. http://www.equestriadaily.com/2012/02/friendship-is-witchcraft-alternate.html
Anyway, I'm glad to finally get some official word on this, but I still disagree with censoring the name "Derpy".
Huzzah most people see us more like raging Trekkie fans!
@Vipera
Yeah, at least we finally have some information on what happened. Maybe this will help calm down people...or maybe it'll inflame them even more.,
At this point, I think I can stop even remotely caring about what happens to Derpy and just enjoy the show for what it is.
All I'm trying to say is that if they wanted to do a total hatchet job on us they could've. They could've filled half the article with terrible inflammatory quotes from Bronies.
If it was just to be make Bronies look terrible why even ask Cereal for quotes?
And they got a response of out Hasbro which was enormously helpful to us. Even a small statement from Hasbro is better than nothing.
Thank God,can we finally drop this now? They altered a single appearance of her that may have been funny, but also reeeeeeally offensive. One appearance. It's not like they killed her off or something. She was meant to be a background gag.
Hasbro's response to the Derpy... thing is more annoying to me than the removal of the character itself. It's the sort of weak wishy-washy PR line you'd expect from a company or Government trying to placate people. It's a cop out, and a something of an insult to the older viewers of the show to be honest.
@StratusTrot
More than that, I don't recall anyone ever saying the Derpy scene "did not stay true to the core message of friendship". Other than the fact that the psuedo-friendship-good-relations bronies have with studio b is EXACTLY what brought about the Derpy scene, they are WAYYYYY off base in making the claim that they're making.
Don't bother reading the comments section over there. There's a LOT of anti-brony hate. For every post supporting us, there's at least 5-6 hating on us.
>give official response Gawkers
>mention only audio alterations when the animation was changed too
seems legit
@servirare
Completely agree. That people still can't see this makes my brain hurt.
you know what? I'm fine with that. saying that derpy's original experience as a person whose special circumstances made her a danger to others and herself might possibly not be the best way to portray a person in that considered is reasonable. no, taking out that interpretation isn't saying "different people aren't welcome" it's saying "we really don't like the implication that she is an actual danger to herself and others."
they didn't "just cave" and it wasn't "just a few" people complaining. they had a lot of people complaining on both sides and they didn't know what to do, so they did what they felt was the least damaging. get over it, it doesn't mean anything more than that.
@Vipera
Yeah, at least we finally have some communication. Who knows, maybe this will calm down people...or make them all the more angry.
Anyway, I'm at the point where I've stopped caring and loved the show for what it is.
to Gawkers*
Yea I'm calling troll on this one until I see an email or some form of Hasbro confirmation on this. I seriously doubt Hasbro would report this to the people who absolutely seem to hate bronies or at least try to paint them as horrid trolls from 4chan.
@Trillionage Nah, just say some zebra slaves did it. Or those buffalo savages. Or maybe it was Twist--can't trust those funny-speakin' folk, y'know.
WHAT'S IMPORTANT IS WE NOT BE INSENSITIVE
Did it ever occur to ANYBODY that DERPY MIGHT BE OFFENDED by her being portrayed as a klutz? They just took the day she fell horribly ill and made her look like a fool! SAVE DERPY, CENSOR THE EPISODE!
(this post is not meant seriously, or even ironically. It's just goblin-style nonsense. :D)
If hasbro want to do it than do it but I still want Derpy back that we all love.
This action's obviously way worse than those MegaMan fans who were raging at Capcom for cancelling MegaMan Legends 3! I bought a 3DS for MORE reasons than just that! Kid Icarus, Sonic, Smash Bros, and Kingdom Hearts 3D - THOSE are good reasons to get a 3DS! And I bought Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 to support MARVEL COMICS, NOT just Capcom! I support Hasbro by buying anything Avengers or Super Hero Squad! I don't buy any MLP Toys for myself, because my sister questions it! And MODOK says "WATCH YOUR STEP! THIS ISN'T OVER!
My issue with the scene had everything to do with her voice being (what I know FULL WELL was one hundred percent UNintentional) too close to someone with Downs. No one's saying that Hasbro or the MLP team did this to make fun of people with Downs! It was just a really unfortunate mistake.
I wish they had re-recorded Derpy's lines, given her a bit of a silly voice in a way that was more definitively female, and just been on their way with it. Or if they had her in the future, not had her voice the way it was in the original Last Roundup.
But mostly I'm just upset that the community became so rabid over this issue, to the point where Hasbro felt the need to crack down on it. I'd be much more interested to hear from people who actually have experience with Downs and THEIR opinions of the scene...
I'm glad Hasbro's taking a stance of trying to stick with a policy of non-offense, but this just rubs me the wrong way. This was mishandled, and that blame falls pretty much exclusively by the angry members of the community.
Oh yeah that thing Derpy. Something that makes all the bronies feel loved.
Dear Princess Celestia,
Today I learned that sometimes the bad guys win.
The whole derpy drama has gone on for weeks hopefully it will come to an end soon.
Man, it's good to know that despite the fact that Hasbro has provided us with so much joy and happiness over this past year, they've been one mistake away from being hated by the entire fandom.
Seriously. Grow the fuck up, every single one of you that's still complaining. You should be ashamed of yourselves. I'm honestly sickened to think you'd act so childish over something to petty.
Love and tolerate until things don't go your way. Wonderful creed to live by.
While I'm very happy to see that we will still be seeing Derpy in the background, I'm still upset about some things. No, I'm not going to rage to Hasbro, but their decision does still bother me
For one, they went with the minority on this. I understood taking the episode down and looking into this more, but they should have noticed that there were many, many more in favor of keeping Derpy then there were against her. Look, I understand there's a reason for political correctness, but now it's just being exploited to death and ruining the entertainment industry.
Second, even if we will still be seeing Derpy in the background, this was the one chance we got to see her speak and be named. There probably weren't any plans to give her a full blown speaking role again, and even if there were, those probably went out the window (They said they wouldn't edit any more episodes, don't think I missed that. I'm talking about any ideas to in the far future of the series, in episodes that haven't been made yet).
Lastly, yet another time the staff tries to give a shout out to the fans, everything goes south. We all remember the Tara Strong incident. I'm sorry, but no kid that's that ignorant of the world is going to go on Twitter and find the account of a voice actor in a cartoon they like. But no, someone had to bitch, and she had to take down the post and apologize for it. While I will admit this is a much more obvious thing for kids to see, you really have to look into it WAY too much to even conceive the idea that she's meant to be insulting to the mentally handicapped.
I still respect Hasbro for all they have done in the past for us, and I did agree with them on the whole Ponyarchive incident. But, I really think they took the wrong course of action with this. I do kind of see why though. To us who were there when it happened, we know what's really going on. However, for those that have no idea what's going on, the first side their likely going to hear is the anti-Derpy side. While they are the minority, groups like that are EXTREMELY vocal and will go tell everyone their biased view, and knowing society, they will instantly take the side apparently "defending" the name of those being "insulted." And that will do MAJOR damage to Hasbro's reputation. As a buisness, I do understand they can't risk that, especially since their focus is on family products.
As for haters, yes it's very much their fault beleive it or not. "You know who" is right when she says she alone didn't do it, though. No one person can make that big of a difference. However, the haters as a WHOLE are the exact reason why Derpy was removed. You can't call any one person out, but you can indeed blame them as a whole.
@The Derider
Here's a response from someone who actually has "derpy" eyes.
I'm really not too upset about the changes. The new voice fits a bit better. Removing her name is also a minor bummer, but removing the name is better than replacing it.
So, her name is still derpy. But derpy won't be called by her name so the people that are irrational enough to find Derpy offensive won't be offended either. That part is win-win to me.
But then again we do know that at least half of the people "offended" by derpy were just trolls.
I know of one pony hater personally, who went and signed his name on every "Derpy is offensive, remove her" petition. when he found out how much it meant to the brony community and how much some bronies would be hurt by a removal.
Hasbro's overall reaction has been the "Safest" path that we've all come to expect from corporations.
Also we could debate the merits (or lack thereof)to the gawker article. But why bother? Gawker couldn't be any less relevant than they are so why does it matter what a gawker article says?
I must say, I do find this to ba mixed message. One of the main reasons I like Derpy so much is the specific fact that she ISN'T perfect, and yet they talk about friendship and acceptance in the same breath as their decision to censor those imperfections. How disappointing.
Community before Hasbro response: HASBRO IS GAY NOBODE LIKES THM ANYM0RE11!!!!
After: What a lovely bunch of enthusiastic people.
I'm as tired of this whole Derpy scenario/fiasco as anybody, but Hasbro's response really left me feeling disappointed. I mean, say it was a legal issue, say it was a massive backlash, say it was the censors and higher-ups - but don't say that having a character on the show that might be seen as mentally disabled is *against* the show's message of inclusivness and acceptance.
Just... no. Look, I understand Hasbro's a company, and all that, and I'm not going to write angry letters or boycott them or anything. But this has all left a really bad impression on me, and if I ever see anything official with Derpy again it'll be too soon. That statement... I find it too offensive to ever care again about this character. I just want it all done with and forgotten so I can go back to enjoying ponies again.
The article is funny because it's true.
@The Derider
She actually took that post down after she received a few too many creepy comments. Yeah, pretty sad huh.
@DerpGarde
they didn't change her because she was flawed, they changed her because the way that scene played out, it made it look like people with mental disabilities are a danger to themselves and others.
it really isn't as simple as you are making it out to be.
@MikeOShay
This.
What sort of message is "That kid looks funny, let's not call him/her by name!"
@Adrian Brony
This. So much this.
Okay so let me get this straight... They removed Derpy's name, not cool with me... The word "Derpy" has nothing to do with being mentally retarded or anything like people say it is. To "derp" is to make a mistake, and the whole idea was that Derpy ISN'T RETARDED, SHES CLUMSY. Being clumsy is not the same thing as having a mental illness.
So then they changed her voice, which.. Okay I can understand. The new voice sounds generic to me, and I prefer the old one however. If I have to deal with the new voice, fine I can live with it.
Here is what really bugs me though about the whole thing other than unnaming her. They changed her eyes! Derpy got her name from the fact her eyes were a "derp" or a mistake in the animation if I'm remember this right. So to correct her eyes and remove her name, she becomes just any other background pony does she not?
Lastly, another thing about the scene is Rainbow's voice. The original scene, the slight hostility in her voice, just her general tone of voice fit her character. The new voice work has a very concerned tone to it, and to me it doesn't fit anymore.
Oh and before I forget, they said "Hasbro Studios decided to make slight audio alterations to this single episode." But how about the fact, this is the only episode she's spoken in? This obviously is the only episode they have to alter. I hate to be bearer of bad news, but what about future episodes?
Can we expect to see Derpy back in the future with crossed eyes? They fixed her eyes in the redone episode, so what's to say that all future episodes will have her eyes uncrossed too? I'm not sure we really got any actual info we didn't already know... This sort of just seems like we are being lead on...
Yeah, I signed the petitions but that's it. I'm not trying to start anything with anyone. I'm just honestly curious to where this is headed now for future episodes. Most of us have the original episode, so it's not going anywhere. It's the future episodes that I'm curious about.
They are trying to sugar coat this as best as they can. And I'm glad most of us can still see that.
@Magrok it wasn't that she appeared to be mentally disabled, it was that she was portrayed as a danger to herself and others. it's one thing to have her being that way just in general, quite another to imply her antics make her a danger.
Well, Bronies are officially at the bottom of Hasbro's totem pole. It feels bad, man. I almost want to stop watching the show because clearly Hasbro resents us.
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