The Saga of Derpy Hooves

[TheSHAD0W]

Many of you may already be familiar with this story, but it's gotten so enormous even non-bronies will get a kick out of it.

Back when the premiere episode of the animated series "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" aired, the animators made a minor error and one of the background characters was cockeyed...



Well, some of 4chan's /co/ board adopted her, named her "Derpy Hooves", and created a fictional background for the character. The animators, seeing how popular she was getting behind the scenes, gave her cameos in more episodes. Things changed recently, though; she was given a secondary character role in an episode, where she was called by name, and acted and sounded "derpy".

The fans went wild.

Unfortunately, shortly afterwards, the episode was yanked from TV and iTunes. Fans feared the worst. When it was put back up, it had been edited, de-derping the voice and removing her name.

And now the fans are crying.

[Aethian]

Funny I thought they had agreed to not change derpy...bah...

[DaDairyDruid]

The whole thing reminds me a bit of when they added "Timmy" to South Park. The main difference is the intended audience.

Timmy and Derpy are there. They are a part of the gang/herd. They are not meant to make fun of anyone. Because we laugh at their antics does not mean we are putting down disabled people.

[Dreamstalker]

Some people will find anything to get offended about... I'm not a brony, but I kinda like Derpy. Not every character needs to be perfect.

[Seraph]

....I'm a total Derpy Hooves fangirl. I signed the petition, sent letters to Hasbro and WeLoveFine, and even posted on the Hasbro FB page about this.

Broke my heart when they decided to bend for the tiny minority.

[Raveni]

Wow. I can't say that I've watched many of the episodes since John de Lancie was on, but I think that Derpy's big day could have been handled better.

Not every character has to be perfect, but on her first speaking role, her voice actress doesn't even know the gender of the character? Also, if they were trying to convey "ditzy airhead/accident prone" and not "disaster who is mentally challenged and doesn't understand the destruction she is causing", that scene could have been framed differently.

And hey, if they wanted her to be a mentally challenged character (which all of the notes I have seen say isn't the case), she should have been more involved in the main episode. Again, she doesn't have to be perfect, but needs to be shown that she is a complete character and not just a walking/flying/falling disability joke.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Oh please. Derpy is not mental challenged/retarded/whatever.

She's just dumb. An equine equivalent of Beavis and Butthead. She just does dumb things.

There are so many other cartoon characters that one could call insulting if they choose to be offended by them. Like the Jakovasaurs in that one episode of South Park. I think one could make a better case for them being a characture of the mentally handicapped, but then again their creators specialize in shock value.

[Jay 2K Winger]

I'm only a carrier of bronyness (not a full-blown brony), so I don't have this insane attachment to Derpy Hooves as the fandom envisioned her. I can understand why the fans are upset at the changes, but the ponies are still the creators' characters and not the fans.

The bronies need to calm down, is all.

[HappyFun Ball]

I started watching this show because of Derpy, I bought 5 vinyl Derpy car window clings off eBay.