Derpy Hooves vs Snips and Snails (A question)

[Fractured 2,684]

I was set to defend Derpy on another thread by comparing her to other characters that are commonly hated, and Snips and Snails automatically came to mind. I tried my best to come up with reasons why the two are different... and I can't.

 

I really can't.

 

Replace Snips and Snails from Boast Busters with Derpy, and it's exactly the same.

 

Replace Derpy from The Last Round-Up with Snips and Snails falling out of the sky, and it's still exactly the same, only this time, i'm annoyed. 

 

I've always been ambivalent-positive towards Derpy(not really interested, but I don't hate her), but I absolutely despise Snips and Snails, and I believe the show would be better if they didn't exist... which is obviously a problem if they're both so similar to each other.

So help me out; disregarding fan canon, is there any quality that separates these two? Is there any reason we find her endearing, but them obnoxious?

[Darker 1,351]

That Derpy has an adorable behaviour and design, while Snips and Snails were created and act just to annoy the audience with their stupidity.

 

Derpy is just a goofy character, but not an annoying one.

Edited October 7, 2014 by Darker

[Andaasonsan 3,205]

Probably because they get a lot more screen time and lines. Take a moment to imagine Derpy getting as many lines in her original voice. Really try to imagine it.

 

Also probably because they don't have the emotional attachment of a fandom creation.

So I guess in a way, the Last Roundup fiasco probably saved her character. She can continue to show up in the background as a nod to the fandom without getting lots of speaking roles and making everyone ultimately grow to hate her.

[Banul 3,831]

I actually like Snips and Snails, I think they're funny ><

 

When those two show it, its almost always to cause some kind of trouble. When they do it , its usually in a way that people will dislike or find annoying. That's different then Derpy in the Last Roundup, where Derpy caused trouble but its endearing because shes clumsy. 

[Melody Word 237]

Derpy, through the eyes of the fandom, is funny, kind, and a bit clumsy. This means that many people like her, and can sympathize with her. Not to mention that the many different stories about her amazing. Then there are Snips and Snails. *sigh* They were created so that when they mess up, no one cares, because no one likes them. They have no amazing personality like Derpy. So in all, they are so much different. If there was no Snips or Snails, that would be great. If Derpy were gone, it would be a sad day for many.

[Buck Testa 5,505]

Derpy from what we have seen of her means well even if she is a bit clumsy and cross eyed. She is a nice pony with some disabilities.

 

Snips and snails are at their worst mean spirited dumbasses looking for a bad guy to be goons for and even at their best they are still an insult to boys everywhere.

 

Maybe they will grow into likable characters (they made tiny steps in Rr) but they are bland as they come right now.

[Fractured 2,684]

 

That Derpy has an adorable behaviour and design, while Snips and Snails were created and act just to annoy the audience with their sutpidity.

 

Derpy is just a goofy character, but not an annoying one.

This seems really subjective to me. For instance, you could say this:

 

Snips and Snails have adorable behaviours and design, while Derpy was created just to annoy the audience with her stupidity.

 

Snips and Snails are just goofy characters, but not annoying ones.

Exactly the same.

 

I actually like Snips and Snails, I think they're funny ><

 

When those two show it, its almost always to cause some kind of trouble. When they do it , its usually in a way that people will dislike or find annoying. That's different then Derpy in the Last Roundup, where Derpy caused trouble but its endearing because shes clumsy. 

This too. The plot of Boast Busters was created through their innocence, in that they truly believed Trixie could fight an Ursa Minor, and they wanted to prove that she could. They don't mean to cause problems, they just do, same as Derpy.

 

Derpy, through the eyes of the fandom, is funny, kind, and a bit clumsy. This means that many people like her, and can sympathize with her. Not to mention that the many different stories about her amazing. Then there are Snips and Snails. *sigh* They were created so that when they mess up, no one cares, because no one likes them. They have no amazing personality like Derpy. So in all, they are so much different. If there was no Snips or Snails, that would be great. If Derpy were gone, it would be a sad day for many.

The problem is, fan Derpy and canon Derpy are different things. What we gave to her makes her endearing, but there's not much of that in the show.

 

Derpy from what we have seen of her means well even if she is a bit clumsy and cross eyed. She is a nice pony with some disabilities.


Snips and snails are at their worst mean spirited dumbasses looking for a bad guy to be goons for and even at their best they are still an insult to boys everywhere.

Maybe they will grow into likable characters (they made tiny steps in Rr) but they are bland as they come right now.

Snips and snails aren't mean spirited, outside of the Equestria Girls versions, which is completely outside of what we've seen on the show itself. Near as I can tell, they really just want to be noticed...

[Buck Testa 5,505]

Snips and snails aren't mean spirited, outside of the Equestria Girls versions, which is completely outside of what we've seen on the show itself. Near as I can tell, they really just want to be noticed...

I said AT THEIR WORST they are mean spirited dumbasses, usually they are just run of the mill dumbasses. The point being, from the ground up, they are designed to be negetive male stereotypes while Derpy is someone who is kind but clumsy due to implied disabilities. The only comparison between them you could argue is disabilities

 

So what are you trying to say exactly? Cause I get the feeling you are lumping them together cause you think "all them impared ponies are the same"

 

Or as you put it "there is no difference"

Edited October 5, 2014 by Buck Testa

[Fractured 2,684]

 

I said AT THEIR WORST they are mean spirited dumbasses, usually they are just run of the mill dumbasses. The point being, from the ground up, they are designed to be negetive male stereotypes while Derpy is someone who is kind but clumsy due to implied disabilities. The only comparison between them you could argue is disabilities

So what are you trying to say exactly? Cause I get the feeling you are lumping them together cause you think "all them impared ponies are the same"

Or as you put it "there is no difference"

I could certainly see how you would arrive at that conclusion. But that was never my intention.

 

I don't view Derpy as disabled, mentally or otherwise. Those that do, can, but i've always felt it's wrong to just label an entire character on a generalization. Derpy Hooves, to me, is just a mare who wants to help, but has a habit of screwing up sometimes.

 

I suppose it's mostly intention? Derpy does things out of kindness, while Snips and Snails do things for attention. Though they both mess up, Derpy's was at least built out of a willingness to help, while Snips and Snails came from a selfish attitude.

[Buck Testa 5,505]

 

 

 

I could certainly see how you would arrive at that conclusion. But that was never my intention.

.

 

I suppose it's mostly intention? Derpy does things out of kindness, while Snips and Snails do things for attention. Though they both mess up, Derpy's was at least built out of a willingness to help, while Snips and Snails came from a selfish attitude.

DING DING DING! You win a cookie!

that is right.

 

Derpy is a likable character cause she shows a willingness to help and is a nice pony while the intentions of those two are far less empathetic or pleasent.

Edited October 5, 2014 by Buck Testa

[Coco before Pommel 679]

I'm one of the few who actually likes Snips and Snails - they're not my favourites by a long shot, but I enjoy them in their own failtastic way and think they can be funny (especially with Trixie). I think it's kinda hard to compare them to Derpy though because they a. have had more actual speaking roles and plot significance and b. are supposed to be mildly antagonistic characters. Plus, though this is more subjective, Derpy's character design is cuter/more conventional in that she looks the same as the other ponies (apart from her eyes, but they just make her more unique), while S&S are...a little more weird-looking, and their behaviour in canon doesn't help to make them more endearing.

 

The disability thing is trickier because I don't think any of them were intentionally written with those implications? They're all basically comic relief characters, the main difference being that S&S are antagonistic (but not "evil", I read them more as just not particularly smart and very eager to please/get attention, which usually means going along with the ~popular kids. but I do personally see them as less mean-spirited than, say, Diamond Tiara) while Derpy isn't and also has a more conventionally cute character design. Nopony's "wrong" to like Derpy and dislike S&S, or vice versa - it just comes down to personal preference, and in this case it makes a lot of sense that people latch on to Derpy more both because of the qualities she has in canon that S&S don't but also (mostly?) because of her status in the fandom, how she's written and percieved by lots of fans and the disability angle making her a kind of "underdog" character it's easy to relate to. that's what I think anyway! ^^

Edited October 7, 2014 by Coco before Pommel

[deadprofile 1,122]

Snips and Snails sadly fit the stereotype of comic relief characters...in every sense of the word. They are solely  there to grab attention and be comic relief, why else would they be the only ones to truly eat up their own humiliating article in the school's paper? They turn generic henchmen in EQG....They are there to serve the plot....I don't dislike them, but they definitely don't break any new gound in terms of character tropes.

Derpy on the other hand...had an animation glitch in Episode 1, was not canonically confirmed to be the pony in Applebuck Season as the pony who says, "Muffins" (just has the same colouration and design but we do not see her cutie mark. This is a fanon thing), was shown to drop stuff in Feeling Pinkie Keen (which minorly served the plot, but for slapstick humor and her appearance just explains to the audience why stuff was randomly falling on Twilight Sparkle), and from there, her fanon personality mingled with the canon personality to make her what she is today...From Season 1, we just know she has her unique eyes and is a klutz.... can't really get a CANON personality with that without expanding on her like they did with Snips and Snails in one episode alone, Boast Busters. You can't really switch them unless you take the fanon personality into account, and the OP didn't want that for the explanation.

The pony we know as Derpy today did not have enough groundwork to be on par with Snips and Snails as far as characterization goes in Season 1. By Season 2, Derpy was a flow blown character in the fanon and that made its way into the show, so by Season 2 and beyond, this is all a moot point.
 

[Shanks 10,816]

It is because Snips and Snails were intended to be the stereotypical dumb dumb characters and arguably exhibit some stereotypical signs of mental retardation while in Derpy's case a bunch of people freaked out and jumped to conclusions due to her name, voice and walled eyes. People can argue that her first speaking role should have been handled better and that is true but at the same time it is clear that Derpy was never intended to be that kind of character but more like a slightly clumsy yet lovable character. A lot of people including me probably wouldn't hate Snips and Snails so much if there wasn't this hypocritical double standard of people freaking out over Derpy yet nobody even bothering to say anything about Snips and Snails as well as many characters in other shows which are way more stereotypical than Derpy ever could be.

[WindShear 543]

Derpy is a clumsy, but lovable and kindhearted character. Yes she does sometimes cause some damage, but it is obvious that she is trying to help out and be nice.

 

Snips and Snails however seem to only exist to be idiots, or minions to whatever minor villain happens to come along.

[ShyPie 164]

I don't see how Derpy and Snips & Snails are the same at all 

 

For one thing we know only a little about Snips & Snails as they're very small supporting characters, who only ever get a line or two and usually for comedic effect. Derpy is a background character and we know even less about her (other than fandom theories).

 

But if I had to boil down to what either represents; Derpy is clumsy and a bit quirky, all in a very cute manner. Snips & Snails are a pair of idiotic, typical "boys". You could say that both are clumsy/bumbling but when it comes to that it's all about presentation and context. Derpy is presented in her moments of awkwardness as being cute, the boys as hapless buffoons.

 

What we do know is that the boys clearly have aspirations of being popular; they sided with Trixie thinking that by attaching themselves to someone so great and powerful they could ride on her coat tails and after making the headlines when they got stuck together with gum they went out and deliberately done the same thing again in the hopes of getting more attention. We've never seen Derpy try to make herself more popular and get more attention, so she's not as self centred as the boys.

[Thespian 78]

I'm confused. Are you trying to ask why people got upset over the portrayal of Derpy but not over Snips and Snails?

If so, Snips and Snails are two young boys who are a little dim witted and easily influenced by people wiht more power than them.

"Derpy" was viewed to be a total cluts with a voice that is viewed as making fun of the mentally handicapped. Derpy has a lot more going for her in terms of implied offensiveness while Snips and Snails are just idiots.