Derpygate

[yamino 1]

people just decided to get offended about her "making fun of the mentally disabled"

I just don't understand the way people think.. Their are much more derpy characters in others shows and they don't get butthurt over them.

 

Well obviously that means there is an epidemic of ableism in children's cartoons and that we have a good reason to complain.

[Johny Farenheit 34]

I had no opinion either way, and i want to know how people now feel, about this old piece of history. I just want to know how you feel now, considering the voice change.

[kyeran441 32]

Honestly, I think they overdid it the first time. I feel like the voice they picked is universally known as a "retard voice." That being said, I do think people overreacted, mainly because they didn't understand what a Derp face is, or that most of our community is rather well adjusted (the more undesirable of us get the most exposure.)

 

I don't like the new voice, and I treasure the fact they called her Derpy in the first place. I think she made more people happy than upset, because we all have those moments where we feel like we can't do anything right, but people still love us anyway.

[Pencil J. Doodle 242]

No offence, but "opening old wounds" is exactly what you're doing by starting this thread

 

Anyway, i always felt that Derpy's (older) voice could be considered offensive by people who have real mental disabilities, but i always thought that people overreacted when it was changed.

 

I never got how they thought that 'Derpy was killed', she was only censored. She's the same old Derpy, just with a voice that doesn't sound like a Family Guy character

 

*Edit* I did think it was stupid that they cut her name out. I never thought that the word "Derp" was offensive, i just thought it was a funny word people said.

That's the only real thing that annoy's me though

Edited July 27, 2012 by Pencil J. Doodle

[Titan Rising 2,156]

I heard that the voice is only changed for the tv channel, not for the official show or something like that. If that's not the case then.... BOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 

And it's so hypocritical of the people who complained about not wanting to be offended when they're basically saying Ditzy Doo was not normal enough to be in the show... They're basically discriminating against clumsy people

[Mcayon 24]

Well, I have heard of that Derpy's voice was changed.. but I don't really care actually... as long as it is good at least...

[Nanniro 39]

Ever think that maybe they mistook the uproar of love for Derpy for negative publicity? Maybe when people were like, "Woo! Derpy!" the producers may have just seen that tons of people were talking about the character....Maybe it was just a mistake and then they're realizing, "Oh. You...actually liked that character." but they're still afraid of offending people....Just a bit of speculation.

[Pinkazoid 3,493]

Well, to be honest I really didn't give a single flying feather about the change or the censor..... ._.

[Fluttermedic 86]

Hasbro: Herpdee durr, we got 50 angry calls about Derpy and 5,000 calls thanking us about having her name Derpy. What do we do? CENSOR IT.

 

And besides, there were other times that Derpy was in plain site and nobody said it was offensive.

Did she have to talk to make them think 'THATS SO OFFENSIVE SINCE SHE TALKED'

 

Hell, I remember her saying muffins in an episode back.

 

I dunno, let's see what Hasbro does in S3

[SapphireDragon 10]

i don't really think the voice change thing was a whole big deal... i could say that the first one was kind of offensive to people with mental disabilities. jus sayin

[Flutter 42]

i dont really mind either way, i can always watch the old version on youtube if i want to. i dont wake up at 6am to watch the show on the hub so it doesnt really effect me

[PonyEcho 1,610]

well this isnt exacly an old wound because i found it offensive because the word Derpy means Retard and since this is a kid show i could see some poor kid with a lazy eye being called derpy by the other kid and as someone who was bullied for having lazy eye up untill i got them fixed

here was also the fact they made her too much like a clutz and Rainbowdashes attitude was uncalled for

[kyeran441 32]

well this isnt exacly an old wound because i found it offensive because the word Derpy means Retard and since this is a kid show i could see some poor kid with a lazy eye being called derpy by the other kid and as someone who was bullied for having lazy eye up untill i got them fixed

here was also the fact they made her too much like a clutz and Rainbowdashes attitude was uncalled for

 

I'd agree whole heartedly that the way Rainbow Dash interacted with Derpy didn't exactly defend the stance alot of pro Derpy people had, so thats a great point. On the other hand I'd say while her name CAN mean Retard, I still don't think it does; it refers to making a weird face, or rather, getting caught making one.

 

As for bullying, I think people with no discipline or civility will always take good or benign things out of context. This happened with the Ginger episode of South Park. Anyone who would think it's good to emulate Cartman doesn't understand the purpose of his character. He's not a role model, he's basically a villain. The same goes for bullies, but I guess we just have to set the example on the part of our community.

[PlunderSteed 1,252]

I liked the original (and bought the DVD of it, since I figured the iTunes version would get...well...derp'd).

 

It's unfortunate that such a small thing apparently stirred up enough controversy to get Hasbro to change it. A small thing to me, anyways. Then again, it takes quite a lot to make me truly feel irritated or insulted. It's tempting to roll my eyes and tell people to "HTFU, it's just a goofy cartoon". I think people expect too much from the world around them. Hurt yourself doing something careless? Sue the city/company/person who was closest! Get your feelings hurt by something someone said? Demand that they give a public apology, and retract their hurtful words! And so on.

Edited July 27, 2012 by NLR Soldier

[Viscra Maelstrom 3,718]

i think it was a fair overreaction on both sides of the spectrums. the people vouching over how Derpy is an offensive stereotype, making the scene being re-done as a cause of it all, and the people who went to such lengths as to call out and send hate-mails to the woman and her family on the team who lit the greenlights to change the scene. all it ever caused was just boatloads of unnecessary hate that could have been kept down calm had everyone just remained level-headed. instead, people went into a giant hatefest against each other and hurt many people in the process with all this bile arrogance.

 

in short, it was just a big, giant hatefest, and there were no winners on either side. nothing of value was lost, nothing of value was gained, boatloads of hate were spawned. a thing to be learned from, i'd say.

[kyeran441 32]

in short, it was just a big, giant hatefest, and there were no winners on either side. nothing of value was lost, nothing of value was gained, boatloads of hate were spawned. a thing to be learned from, i'd say.

 

Very well said. I forgot about the backlash against the parent. But that rolls into my previous comment of just being good role models, especially for people new to the fandom. Just like any community, the influx of members will change the dynamic unless our culture is fully grounded in our core values of love and tolerance.

[Half-Note 273]

I feel like if they want to Censor Derpy for being offensive to mentally dissabled people then why isn't anyone complaining about. Ehem...

 

Patrick Star - Spongebob

Ed - Ed, Edd and Eddy

Cosmo - Fairly Odd Parents

Dee Dee - Dexter's Laboratory

Billy - The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy

[Cupcake Ice Cream 436]

I feel like if they want to Censor Derpy for being offensive to mentally dissabled people then why isn't anyone complaining about. Ehem...

 

Patrick Star - Spongebob

Ed - Ed, Edd and Eddy

Cosmo - Fairly Odd Parents

Dee Dee - Dexter's Laboratory

Billy - The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy

 

wow...I never thought about it like that..especilly Patrick Star...he is far more of an offensive character IMO...but you're right we never had a backlash like this

 

I still have my original Derpy episode and I shall keep it that way

[Starshine 16,333]

Don't really care whether they changed derpy or not, I just love reading about those people from both sides whining their asses out.

 

It's quite entertaining to see a whole lot of bronies attacking the minority few that support those changes on iTunes

[Batbrony 16,054]

Here are my full thoughts.

 

First, the voices themselves; I love the first voice, I feel that it perfectly evoked how I've always thought Derpy should sound, in a lovably cute sort of way. As for the second voice, I frankly have no distaste for the voice itself; if it had been used as Derpy's original voice, I would have probably liked that voice just as much. The only reason I dislike it is because of the precedent that was set in changing the original voice to that second voice. But more on that later.

 

Second, Hasbro's decision to change the voice; I do not blame Hasbro itself for making this decision. How could they have thought that Derpy's harmless original voice and behavior, compared to the countless other cartoon characters in animation history far more incompetent, clutzy, or just plain stupid than Derpy, would possibly be offensive to anybody? Face it, they were blindsided by these *grrrrrrrr* petty soccer moms, and really did the only thing they could think of doing in the face of such unprecedented complaints and criticism. I still don't think it was the right decision, but I don't blame them for that decision.

 

Finally, the change itself. What can I say? A few of the words that come to mind when I think about this change; ludicrous, insulting, petty, ridiculous, to name but a few. But I think it was especially a mark of just how easily offended our society has become, to the point that we are at risk of losing one of our simplest yet most precious traits; our sense of humor. Think about it; as recent as 20 years ago, the Looney Tunes, probably the funniest animated program ever, still showed on the air regularly. These cartoons lampooned political, historical, racial, sexual, and current events of their time, and for decades were accepted without question by U.S. households as being in good humor. In the last two decades, unintelligent characters such as Patrick Star, Ed, Cosmo, Cheese, and many, many more have made their television debuts and always been received without any complaint as simply funny, lighthearted, and entertaining. But now, we must truly live in a petty and overly sensitive society that would find Derpy Hooves of all characters, certainly a clutzy but hardly mentally-incapable character, offensive!!!! Derpy is simply too innocent, sweet, funny, and kind of a character, in what she does and represents as a character, to possibly be offensive in any sense of the word!!!!

 

I'm sorry if this post may come off as a bit of rant; as I'm sure is quite apparent to anypony reading this, I am quite the Derpy Hooves fan. But I'm sorry, I value our society's sense of humor and passing it on to the next generation too much to let such a petty but also dangerous precedent pass by uncriticized. Here's hoping that Derpy Hooves has a speaking role again next season!!!!!!

 

Edited July 28, 2012 by Batbrony

[null1 606]

I like the old Derpy voice. Never liked how they bowed down and changed her voice so quickly because of a few 'offended people'.

[Thunderstorm 120]

I honestly thought it was really stupid.. I don't recall it meaning retarded; To me it ment silly, I thought that was the proper definition. :/

 

It doesn't really affect me though. Both sides overreacted in my opinion.

[Apple Bloom 2,933]

I had no opinion either way, and i want to know how people now feel, about this old piece of history. I just want to know how you feel now, considering the voice change.

 

I merged your thread with this one. Please keep all discussion relating to the Derpy voice change fiasco in this thread.

[CommadorTheCyborgPony 53]

SORRY FOR THE BAD SPELLING! Its just that this is a lot to write, and i just woke up and dont feel like Proof reading this whole thing, Ya know?

 

Now i am a big Derpy fan and of course i like her. But today i wondered what it would be like viewing it from a neutral perspective, seeing what the MLP Crew meant and how people made it out to be.

 

Name: Now at first her name was going to be Ditzy , but due to massive amounts of fan requests it was changed and everyone liked it. The writers and animators meant it to be "clumsy" and "embarrassed"

that's what i think it means. But them some people think it means "retarded" and are related to s mentally challenged person and are offended by this. The thing is, it was never suppose to mean that, she never was meant to be viewed as mentally handicapped. Its a children show, why would to think that?

 

Eyes: Her eyes rotate in an irregular way, and often "derp". People saw this as putting extra meaning to her being "retarded". Now the MLP crew wanted to use old Derpy who was subject to an animation error while she was in the background. They kept the eyes for the FANS, not to because THEY wanted to. most of the people against Derpy loved her in the background, her eyes made her stand out. Then they hate them because of her name. I mean maybe Derpy has a Lazy eye, that's like saying some one named Tom had a lazy eye and everyone loved him. Then he changed his name to Bob and now some people dislike him because they think bob is a stupid name and they think a his Lazy eye makes him look stupid too. Because of that name change they think he is mocking challenged people. That just doesn't seem right.

 

Voice: Derpy was added pretty late in the process so they quickly has someone do a voice. Now to some people her voice sounded idiotic for lack of better term and added even MORE to the fact they thought she was a mockery of a mentally handicapped person. but to some other people it was funny and just added to the fact that they loved Derpy. It was just a funny voice for fun character, Hasbro never meant for people to tie it to being STUPID.

 

Behavior: Now when we DO see her she seems to be accident prone and sometimes acts clumsy, and her lazy eye doesn't seem to help with that. She was CLUMSY, they meant for her name to be CLUMSY, see what i mean? she was named after the way she acts. RainbowDash is a good example. Her mane is the color of RAINBOWS and she flies really fast, hence DASH.

 

Impression on Kids: Derpy was never meant to be taken like a serious charterer, the whole series wasn't meant to be taken seriously. People who were sometime made fun of because of their lazy eye or disability did not want kids to be made fun of like they were. I feels ya bros. So since they though that the more impressionable viewers (5-8) were going to view that as encouragement to make fun of people with differences. Not necessarily and highly unlikely. NO ONE, and i mean NO ONE makes fun of a mentally impaired person. It's common sense and even if they do, some one is almost always with that Person to make sure they are safe. Then people might make fun of kids with lazy eyes. Probably not, i dont think they will make the connection of Derpy to a lazy eye. If they do i highly dbout they will make fun of someone, yet again if they do this will be what goes down based on they fact they are 5-8 years of age:

7-8 year old conversation:

"Hey Johnny(kid with lazy eye)"

"Yea Sally"?

"your derpy"!

"whats that mean?"

"I think it means having a lazy eye, i saw it on a TV show"

"Oh, well that's cool, i guess i am derpy"

You see they probably won't take offense because the probably dont know what it means.

Therefor there is a highly unlikly chance that a kid 5-8 will make the connection to Derpy and a lazy eye and if they do the other person won't know what it means and wont take offense.

 

Now for kids to pick up on derpy who are above 9 by now they have the common sense NOT to call people names and or offended them and even so they probably still do not know what it means. So really is Behavior even a problem with Derpy Whooves?

 

I hope this at least made you THINK about why you dislike derpy and maybe you should view her as Hasbro intended you too. If Hasbro viewed her as you have to do really tthink they would have put her their? No because they meant her for the fans is all good clean fun! just think about that for a moment or two.

Edited July 28, 2012 by JayFeather~

[Brony365 6]

Save Derpy... I never really got it. Do they mean put her back in the background? Or does it mean that the one episode she spoke in should be changed back to regular her? I also heard she might be kicked out of the show for good but, they changed her to be normal... So why would they do that?