Biggest controversies in MLP

[Wolffie 212]

Derpygate was horrible. Some people are way too sensitive. It was a harmless joke, and the character suffered because of it.

[Stellafera 3,836]

Derpy, definitely. First of all, the controversy actually had an impact on the show itself. Second of all, we didn't have huge previous examples of such a thing at the time so people thought that it was the end of Hasbro's tolerance. I mean, Lesson Zero drama, which obviously came before (it was the comedic style and lack of Lauren Faust, by the way) was about Equestria Girls level, but not that big.

[Mzukiller 233]

Equestria Girls, Twilicorn and Derpygate were the biggest examples of the fandom wigging the fuck out and "controversy" Cloppers and Brony missionaries aren't controversial, they're just annoying.

[RDashFan85 46]

I don't think those are annoying I like the fact they made this movie. It looks like a good movie and I like the style of the movie as well. 

[~StatesTheOblivious~ 1,795]

Speciesism? I mean, the pony tribes 'overcame' racism in the historical events of Hearth's Warming Eve and now we have talking sheeps and cows that are treated like animals... Fail?

Stereotypes? Teenage dragons act like stereotypical boys.

 

And my personal number one, because I am very interested in politics myself: Consequences of a failed leadership.

Remember a Canterlot Wedding? You wanna know what was totally wrong? Celestia and the royal Guard totally failed in their protective function, Luna was like 'happened anything at all?' and there were no consequences. But that whole thing was somewhat messed up. I mean, nopony noticed that it appeared like fake Cadence never met Twilight before. Bad research there, Chrysalis.

[Dr. Eggnog 203]

Well, I personally wasn't attached to Derpy and I loved Magical Mystery Cure, plus cloppers don't bug me, and it's been said Equestria Girls won't change anything.

 

The one for me is Lesson Zero.  Oddly enough, I went into the show long after the hate for Lesson Zero had subsided and it became one of the shows most beloved episodes.  I hated the episode, but it was a long time before I found out anyone had ever agreed with me.

Edited May 30, 2013 by Dr. Eggnog

[Megas 27,622]

Equestria Girls, Alicorn Twilight, and Derpygate is where I've probably seen the fandom at it's worst. Runner up goes to the Mysterious Mare Do Well because it was the first shitstorm I experienced when I first got into the fandom, but pales in comparison to the other 3

[RDashFan85 46]

I loved Derpy when I first saw her. She is a great character to everyone who is different that it's okay to be different. And that is what makes her a great character.

[hawkflame 3,310]

Can you elaborate on what made these episodes controversial in the day? I know that some episodes did have some drama (Lesson Zero being love it or hate due to Twi's over-reaction, Bridle Gossip's cliched race relations, Maybe 3 of the ponies for eating Mrs' Cake's Mmmmmmmmmmm) but I'd like to know more about what the ones you outlined and why there was drama involved.

 

With regard to Feeling Pinkie Keen, there was a lot of discussion in the fandom that the episode was basically a Science vs. Religion argument, and many felt that it taught the wrong moral from that perspective.  Not sure about the rest, though MMDW was just a generally hated episode, as many felt all the characters acted like jerks. 

 

With regards to the original question, i'm going to have to go with most here and say Equestria Girls.  In terms of both volume of shitstorm and degree of overreaction (you do NOT take out your anger on the production people, guys!) it's really at the top.

[Astrobrony 655]

I think I should add the "Fighting is Magic" C&D fiasco to the list.  I had never seen an entire group of fans lose faith in a company so fast until then.    Show related, however.  Equestria Girls was pretty bad.

 

As for me, the actual issues don't bother me that much.  I'm just amazed on how much these things get blown out of proportion. 

[Harmonic Revelations 8,835]

Anybody who takes real time out of their lives to deal with any of those issues makes the fandom look bad. I didn't always realize that, but I do now, which is why I avoid such petty squabble.

Edited May 31, 2013 by Harmonic Revelations

[Guest]

I remember when everyone was freaking out about derpy and then I hear about this Equestria Girls stuff and it seems like the one thing they both have in common: overreactions to things that don't really matter.

[Paleopony 701]

Derpy, Twilight becoming an alicorn, Equestria Girls, The Friendship School, Applejack and Rainbow Dash being a couple, and Twilight's and Spike's design changes at the end of the series.

[Savy 5,077]

Derpy is the biggest one I can think of really.

I don't really see anything else being a controversy, except maybe Twilight becoming an alicorn.

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,824]

For me, Derpy is at #1. 

This was a case of overreaction by a minority of parents who found the portrayal of Derpy offensive. Let's be honest, FIM wouldn't be FIM without the realism and the injection of today's society. Derpy represents the character that no matter how bad her disability is, she's still loved. Sure she gets into a ton of shenanigans but let's face it, we all cheered and had a great laugh when it happened. 

#2 is Princess Twilight

I felt that Hasbro pulled a major blunder with this, because the fact that the episode was a simple 22 minute episode unlike the finales and premieres, it diminished the excitement and took away that cliffhanger in between episodes. Plus, the promotions gave it away. I had a friend who refused to watch the episode because he was spoiled by the commercials on what was The HUB network. And don't forget about the "Thanks M.A Larson" thing...

[Tom Gallagher 33,588]

People always complain about Alicorn Twilight and I don’t understand why. I loved it and think it was perfectly natural. 

I think the School and the Student Sh*ts were the worst controversy. 

[ExplosionMare 18,062]

The episode Fame and Misfortune drew up a lot of controversy but I believe that was the point. It was supposed to show the over-invested/over-argumentative side of the fandom and how that may affect content creators and other people in general.

[Splashee 28,563]

On 2013-05-30 at 7:15 AM, Wolffie said:

Derpygate was horrible. Some people are way too sensitive. It was a harmless joke, and the character suffered because of it.

I remember only hearing about it from Bronies React. I still don't know what went wrong... I mean I don't know if I saw the edited version or not, so I can't tell if it was bad or... worse?

[Steve Piranha 29,424]

16 hours ago, Courageous Thunder Dash said:

 

#2 is Princess Twilight

I felt that Hasbro pulled a major blunder with this, because the fact that the episode was a simple 22 minute episode unlike the finales and premieres, it diminished the excitement and took away that cliffhanger in between episodes. Plus, the promotions gave it away. I had a friend who refused to watch the episode because he was spoiled by the commercials on what was The HUB network. And don't forget about the "Thanks M.A Larson" thing...

They did, but it wasn’t fault of the developers. It was planned as the series finale, but a fourth season was green lit far in development. Still, I would have handled the aftermath differently. Twi felt like a princess in name only most of the time 

[CypherHoof 26,483]

6 hours ago, Splashee said:

I remember only hearing about it from Bronies React. I still don't know what went wrong... I mean I don't know if I saw the edited version or not, so I can't tell if it was bad or... worse?

Hasbro were making fun of Derpy, in a way that was not helped by her VA giving her a fairly boyish voice; Derpy as a character though was a nod to the early fandom, who embraced her, eyes and all, just as they did Princess Luna (and Woona, of course, who has never appeared in the show.) But poking that particular lion was a controvertial choice, as a bunch of people (mostly as I understand it not the fandom, but random parents) were NOT happy at the perception of a disabled pony being made fun of, and complained.  Hasbro then reacted by removing the name "Derpy" from the dialogue, re-recording her lines with a more girly voice, and "fixing" her eyes in some scenes. The fandom of course then complained; Derpy was THEIRS, and was loved for her uniqueness, so this "nerfing" of her character for political correctness didn't go down well. It was a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" moment for Hasbro though.

I think they got the balance better in later seasons; Derpy is seen to be accepted and loved in Ponyville as she is in the fandom - not in spite of or because of her disability, but as a unique character for whom that's just part of who she is.
 

6 hours ago, ExplosionMare said:

The episode Fame and Misfortune drew up a lot of controversy but I believe that was the point. It was supposed to show the over-invested/over-argumentative side of the fandom and how that may affect content creators and other people in general.

I think the only segment who really felt butthurt from F&M were those who felt it was a personal attack on them... at which point, if you recognise your behaviour in there, perhaps they had a point?  Seen comments though that the "Once Upon a Zeppelin" episode was a better one "for the fandom" (by which I guess it means made certain indivdiuals feel less butthurt over the whole thing)

 

6 hours ago, Steve Piranha said:

I felt that Hasbro pulled a major blunder with this, because the fact that the episode was a simple 22 minute episode unlike the finales and premieres, it diminished the excitement and took away that cliffhanger in between episodes. Plus, the promotions gave it away. I had a friend who refused to watch the episode because he was spoiled by the commercials on what was The HUB network. And don't forget about the "Thanks M.A Larson" thing...

The elevation of Twi was handled badly and in a rushed manner; it was a short season ( the only 13 episode season in G4) and meant to wrap up the show ready for syndication; I think they did surprisingly well with S4 given how badly they mangled S3.  But I also think the same S4 gimmick (one unique item per Element) would have worked well for Twi - with the "chest" unlocking Twi's elevation to Princess, not a combat mode for the Mane 6....

[Evil Pink One 13,506]

I see no fault in mlp fim...the fandom is a bit sensitive and nitpicky is all.

[Cash In 22,299]

Off the top of my head, Twillicorn was the big one. Honourable mention to the whole Derpy fiasco.

[JMTV99 1,353]

Oh boy. Where do I begin?

 

The Derpy Fiasco: Why these sensitive snowflakes has to change somepony that wasn't? It wasn't like Dashie saying something incredibly ableist to Derpy on purpose. Derpy is one of the most pure and beloved characters of the MLP franchise, period. The fans love Derpy for who she is. Once you change her to make her less derp, you're gonna piss off a lot of people just to please a vocal minority. It also doesn't help that the fans going after Amy Keating Rodgers for that incident (which is very disrespectful considering that she has a disabled son).

While I'm glad that Derpy still continues to live on throughout the show's lifespan, but this incident shouldn't happen in the first place.

 

The Twilicorn Incident: Okay, now this is most infamous incident out of all them. We all know Magical Mystery Cure and Princess Twilight and how Hasbro handle it very very badly. I feel bad for MA Larson since he become a laughingstock in the MLP community over something that he had no control over. I think it's a situation of very bad timing. Magical Mystery Cure was supposed to be the series finale and FiM was originally going to end after 65 episodes so they rerun in syndication. When Larson finished writing the final script, Hasbro renewed the show for a 4th season and greenlight Equestria Girls. So you could see why Magical Mystery Cure is the way it was.

Even though I'm not a big fan of Alicorn Twilight at all, I could see why Hasbro would do it in order to continue the show, even if the idea comes off as corporate shilling.

 

Equestria Girls: That was also a situation of bad timing and corporate driven. Not to long after the Twilicorn fiasco, Hasbro announced Equestria Girls. Everyone is upset about it because it feels like Hasbro was trying to cashing in Monster High. While it's true that fans blow this whole thing way out of proportion, but at the same time I kinda don't blame them because the idea of having candy colored horses turned into high school girls and place them in a generic high school setting was a major turn off.

Although, nowadays, a lot of people don't hate Equestria Girls anymore after Rainbow Rocks came out.

Personally, I wasn't to crazy about Equestria Girls all that much, but at least I'll say it somewhat better than later seasons of FiM, but that's not saying much.

 

I could go on, but I don't wanna talk about it anymore.

 

Edited October 15, 2021 by JMTV99

[Pearly Marshmallow 399]

The whole Derpy thing takes the first spot for me. I believe it was one of the first things I learned about the show back in 2012 / 2013.

[Megalobronia 137]

Two words: Starlight Glimmer