My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

Here's a comparison: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBc8tRN8CWA&feature=player_detailpage#t=1021s


Note several things:

1. Big Mac and AJ are just as critical of Caramel for screwing up something simple, and it is outright stated that he does it repeatedly.
2. When talking about Derpy, the background pony is worried, not insulting. RD is the only one to criticize her, and no more so than Caramel is criticized.

So basically what that establishes is that a) ponies who mess up important things are going to be mildly criticized (which is still much less than your average human would be subjected to for screwing up something critical), and that b) both of those events are used as peripheral details to establish the magnitude of the mess Twilight is cleaning up, rather than as an examination of Derpy's character.

It's been a while, forgive me for overlooking Caramel's mishap in the same episode;
But you kind of just proved my point.

Flying Dice wrote:both of those events are used as peripheral details to establish the magnitude of the mess Twilight is cleaning up, rather than as an examination of Derpy's character.

Exactly; Derpy's character isn't really explored at all in canon, the ONLY things attributed to her are these negative interactions with the other characters, that are skirting at best. Having re-watched that, one could say the same is true of Caramel. Well, I could argue my subjective point to why that isn't true all day and not get a thing accomplished and just get eveypony riled up, so I'll just explain why it's irrelevant;
Caramel isn't the fandom's lovechild. The internet [or any mass collective] has a way of centralizing itself. Derpy was internet before she made her way firmly into canon, and honestly, that's where the problem is. The internet [or the fandom, if you prefer, they are all but synonymous] took the slightest fragment of something, and then ran with it. In twenty different directions. 'Derpy' took on a life of her own, perhaps several, and because of this, IMO, there was absolutely no way Derpy could have been presented without pissing somepony off; and at this point [changing of the voice, etc] it's almost like choosing sides. I say that the way she was presented was stereotypical and demeaning as a general consensus, because obviously somepony didn't like it. And now that that person/group is being appeased, somepony else doesn't like it. It's a tug of war that I think should have been avoided entirely, either by an absence of the character, or a 'presentation' employed in a much stronger, thought out manner.

Or by the fandom as a whole displaying some sort of restraint or rationality.

Flying Dice wrote:Or by the fandom as a whole displaying some sort of restraint or rationality.

tagg wrote:

Flying Dice wrote:Or by the fandom as a whole displaying some sort of restraint or rationality.

I'm completely serious, I don't think I've ever been part of a fandom that gets more worked up and wanky over things that are so (relatively) insignificant.

Flying Dice wrote:

tagg wrote:

Flying Dice wrote:Or by the fandom as a whole displaying some sort of restraint or rationality.

I'm completely serious, I don't think I've ever been part of a fandom that gets more worked up and wanky over things that are so (relatively) insignificant.

It's just that the chances of that happening are sadly low.

@acid

I can kinda see your point there (a scene where Derpy is forgiven/helped out/something like that would've been pretty cool). However, I don't see how the change to her voice/eyes/name fixes any of that; she still messes up, still is oblivious, still gets no "redemption" or help from other ponies, only now with a better voice, changed eyes, and no name. Any unfortunate implications of a clumsy individual being rejected is still there. Now we have unfortunate implications that something about her voice, name, and eyes were offensive on top of it.


@people getting worked up
Oh I'll agree on the restraint and rationality thing. Never will I defend people attacking others or doomsaying based on this.

But getting worked up over it... that's fine by me, really. I don't consider apathy a virtue; being really, really into something so much that one gets strong emotional responses (positive or negative) is actually something I'd respect. "Taking something too seriously" is an empty accusation to me without backing it up.

It's just restraint and rationality, as you said. Being really angry or sad is no excuse to attack or insult others. One botched scene or PR spectacle doesn't ruin things forever. I sympathize with the Derpy fans and the response made me join their cause, but I'll distance myself from anyone throwing punches at fellow fans/Hasbro as a whole/the PR lady/etc. I'll pity (or outright laugh at, if crazy enough) the people doomsaying that the show is going to somehow be ruined by this.

If this whole debacle is indicative of anything, it's that the showrunners are walking some thin lines. I've always known kids media has tons of tight restrictions, but seeing it actively get in the way of portraying a completely benign character is rather eye opening. Nothing's really different from before, I know, but... I've always seen FiM as being rather revolutionary when it comes to character types (especially female ones). Where else do you see someone like Rarity? Normally vain female characters are completely vilified. They've probably been pushing boundaries since day one (rainbow dash's pranking was already known to raise some eyebrows with the censors), but here's one we, the audience, now see they can't cross. There's more than one way to be a girl, but Derpy is one they can't show without censoring. Sigh.

Yeah, I don't have a problem with people being offended (even if they are projecting onto Derpy quite a bit; all that we know about her in canon is that she has wonky eyes, makes mistakes, and may or may not enjoy muffins). Batshit insanity is not the reasonable response to something that offends you.


In regards to the whole "Derpy is a negative stereotype" thing: Think about every character on the show. Now think about what they would seem like if their only screentime was about a minute of them at their worst. Say, AJ when she's exhausted, Twi when she's still antisocial!intellectual, etc. Pretty much every character can be taken as a negative stereotype if they don't have a whole lot of screentime to expand on their personality. Maybe if so many people hadn't lost their shit over Derpy's first appearance not being exactly what they wanted/expected, she would have had more speaking roles and screentime, and her canon personality. Now? Never gonna happen. For all that some of these people claim to be motivated by 'protecting' Derpy from discrimination and such, they seem to be doing a pretty damn good job of making sure she never has the chance to be anything but what they're up in arms about.

Hey, look. Someone out there's a little sane.

Spoiler:

B'awww.

Faith in love and tolerate coming back a bit.

D'aww. :3

...
Derpy Day is tomorrow.

Depends which side of the world you're on. Yes, it is tomorrow for me and anyone else on the American continents, but we can wait.

...Maybe.

Slag wrote:Depends which side of the world you're on. Yes, it is tomorrow for me and anyone else on the American continents, but we can wait.

...Maybe.

Derpy day? Last time I checked "Derpy day" was when she was officially named which would be the day before "Hearth's Warming Eve" aired. Or maybe the same day.
My face, it is full of confusion.

Derpy Day should be moved to March 4th. Presidential elections here in Russia. Bound to be the derpiest day of the year.

Sean Mirrsen wrote:Derpy Day should be moved to March 4th. Presidential elections here in Russia. Bound to be the derpiest day of the year.

What percent over 100 do you think ol' Vlad is gonna get?

Necro910 wrote:

Sean Mirrsen wrote:Derpy Day should be moved to March 4th. Presidential elections here in Russia. Bound to be the derpiest day of the year.

What percent over 100 do you think ol' Vlad is gonna get?

Nah, I don't think they'll be quite that egregious this time. But I predict at least 50% turnout among the recently dead. Wouldn't be the first time, either.

Doesn't he have a really high approval rating? Why would he need it?

"Recently" dead?

Spoiler:

Kaijyuu wrote:Doesn't he have a really high approval rating? Why would he need it?

"He" doesn't. All the others who want to overtake him do.

And seriously, the man doesn't even need to do any campaigning. He's Prime Minister now, so all he needs to do is get shown doing his actual job, solving crises and helping people who need help. I wouldn't be surprised if Sergei Shoygu, were he to make a run for Presidency, would similarly have high approval ratings, simply because whenever there's a disaster, he's the man in charge of fixing it (he's the Minister of Emergency Situations now).

Flying Dice wrote:

tagg wrote:

Flying Dice wrote:Or by the fandom as a whole displaying some sort of restraint or rationality.

I'm completely serious, I don't think I've ever been part of a fandom that gets more worked up and wanky over things that are so (relatively) insignificant.

Honestly I agree completely, but to quote a favorite line of mine,

K wrote:A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals and you know it.

What K said. :/

Someone said love and tolerance? I MUST FIND ONE 8[

Hah, no. Even the fanwank over stuff like "OMG LELOUCH ISN'T REALLY DEAD" "YES HE IS THEY SAID SO" or, Luna forbid, the console wars, doesn't get that insane that quickly, and both of those are moderately reasonable topics for dissent.


I guess what really gets me about the whole Derpy thing is how the (non-trolls) that were complaining about Derpy being a negative stereotype of handicapped people or whatever their headcanon of her is were the ones turning her into a stereotype. There was never any implicit or explicit reference to her being anything other than clumsy and absentminded, which goodness knows is a normal enough pair of traits. And the Hasbro response was perfectly normal: a corporation recieves a bunch of email spam-complaints about a character in one of their franchises being offensive to people, they get the creative team to make some changes to remove the source of the offense, and the people complain about Hasbro being insensitive and bigoted against whatever people were projecting onto Derpy because they changed her to be less different after people complained about her being too different.

Oh, and in case anyone is interested, these are the main causes of strabismus (or, in layman's terms, wall-eyes) in adults:
-diabetes
-brain tumors
-stroke
-head trauma
-other diseases affecting the optic nerves

Now, if we assume that the same holds true for ponies (not entirely likely), we can begin to examine this. Brain tumors seem highly unlikely, given that there are a number of other outwardly visible symptoms, and that an advanced-stage brain tumor would likely have hospitalized her. Diabetes, while possible, seems unlikely, given that a large portion of pony diet is apparently composed of fruit (high in sugar) and baked goods (the same), and yet ponies apparently suffer no ill effects from it, apart from tummyaches. Stroke, while possible, seems unlikely, if the risk factors convert to their nearest equivalents, as I doubt that Derpy is an older male or a cocaine user, for example. I haven't investigated further diseases, and am going to apply Occam's Razor to the possible in-universe causes of Derpy's strabismus and conclude that it is likely due to some form of head trauma (remember, one scene has shown her moving heavy furniture and she is known to be clumsy), with a small possibility of it being due to diabetes.

She probably got bonked on the head after knocking over a stack of packages.

THERE, SHE ISN'T RETARDED