Learning about past controversies after joining the fandom

[MadPointer 75]

Did you watch all episodes of the show for the first time before getting involved in the fandom or the other way around? If it’s the first case, after joining the fandom you might have discovered that there were controversies in the past. I’d like to know which controversies you became aware of.

 

Were you surprised to know that there would be a controversy or you were expecting it would be very controversial?

What was your opinion on the matter before and after you learnt about the controversy?

How strongly do you feel about the controversy?

 

Major controversies:

• Feeling Pinkie Keen
• The Mysterious Mare Do Well
• Derpy
• Spike at Your Service
• Magical Mystery Cure
• Equestria Girls

[GreyScholar 1,584]

I roll my eyes at the supposed 'science vs religion' controversy with Feeling Pinkie Keen

 

I personally liked The Mysterious Mare Do Well and I do not feel that Rainbow' friends wer in the wrong as they did try to talk to her before becoming the The Mysterious Mare Do Well. Sure there are small little details that could have been changed that reinforce the ending message better but I don't feel they're out of character or being jerks.

Edited October 15, 2013 by EquestrianScholar

[Bucky McGillyCuddy 956]

I watched the show before I entered the community and I'd also consider 4 of the episodes you listed to be my top favourites. I never heard about the controversy with feeling pinkie keen though probably came in a little late for that one. After reading about some of them one might think that these aren't controversy's in the first place but purposeless topics for people with too much spare time to debate over, also known as Bronydom.

[Megas 27,069]

Feeling Pinkie Keen - Was surprised that this episode got the hate it did, it was seriously the episode that made me a fan of the show. Besides, the whole Religion vs Science flamewars always looked silly and worried ma about how the fandom percieves things.(especially since I got none of that stuff out of the episode)

 

The Mysterious Mare Do Well - Despite the fact that Merriwether doesn't deserve the hatred she gets from the fandom, I though pretty much all of the criticism this episode got was more than justified

 

Derpy - I thought it was a nice fandom shout out, but both sides(the fans, and the supposed offended soccermoms) are both in the wrong imo

 

Spike at Your Service - I didn't find this episode controversial, though I can see why some would hate it

 

Magical Mystery Cure - The only thing that worried was how Princess Twilight would be handled

 

Equestria Girls - Which helped calm my fears for AliTwi. It still utterly depresses me that many bronies resorted to death threats over this

Edited October 15, 2013 by Phoenix Trite

[Forlong 1,725]

I watched the show before I entered the community and I'd also consider 4 of the episodes you listed to be my top favourites.

 

Feeling Pinkie Keen

The "controversy" of religion vs. science is fundamentally flawed.  First of all, pinkie sense is superstition, not religion.  Second is that the episode was flawed in it's representation of the topic.  Without even representation, it isn't a valid information source.  Still think it's a good episode, though.

 

The Mysterious Mare Do Well

The episode stinks.  Next.

 

Derpy Hooves

I believe one of the digital retailers preemptively asked for the change to avoid complaints.  Hasbro didn't have a problem, there was no dumb parent that complained.

 

Magical Mystery Cure

There is an entire sub-forum on this topic.  Yeah, that's getting crazy.

 

Equestria Girls

Hasbro noticed that fans made a lot of humanized fanart, thus decided to do this spinoff to compete directly with Monster High.

[GreyScholar 1,584]

 

The Mysterious Mare Do Well

The episode stinks.  Next.

 

The episode did not stink, though it could perhaps used a couple of edits. For example take a bit more time to show the Mane Six actually trying to talk to Rainbow Dash first... though it should be noted that they did try talking to her first but she wouldn't listen just it would seem not enough for a lot of people to notice.

Another edit would be during the scene where the group complimenting the Mysterious Mare-Do-Well they would complement each other not themselves.

Both changes could have taken very little time and would be small in scope, as well as help reinforce the final message.

[MadPointer 75]

I asked about the past controversies which you learnt after joining the fandom not the ones which you see yourself as they were unfolding.

 

For example, Magical Mystery Cure and Equestria Girls are very controversial for old timers and it would be interesting to know what new bronies think about these controversies. Unlike old timers, new bronies watched the show the way it was intended to be experienced without worrying about the Lauren Faust original vision, executive meddling and other things which spoil the fun for us.

[SBaby 660]

I'll address the ones that I think people might have taken an issue in.

 

 

Feeling Pinkie Keen

 

I won't really go too much into this, because I honestly didn't see this episode as controversial.  Only a small fringe group of extremist Catholics ever complained about it, and I promise that a majority of them probably never even saw the show.  They were just complaining because their preachers likely told them to do so.  Anyway, it's a non-issue for the simple reason that most cartoons (and even most video games) get these types of people complaining about them.  I look at it as a sign that the show or game is popular enough to get the attention of those people.

 

My point is, I wouldn't worry about this issue too much.  Especially since the episode is supposed to just be silly and fun.  If this episode hadn't aired, they would've likely found something else from the show to complain about.

 

 

The Mysterious Mare Do Well

 

Yeah, this was a pretty bad episode, mainly because of the fact that a majority of the cast was acting completely out of character, and for once, it wasn't because someone stole from the party.  Not to mention the fact that all those bad things happening in Ponyville suddenly (that would never ever happen again afterward) was more than a little suspicious.  But I wouldn't say it caused controversy.  On the contrary, most people agree that it was a bad episode, so there was nothing controversial about it.  The thing people have to realize is this.  Every show ever made, no matter how good it is, has episodes like this one.  It's inevitable.  Even shows like Avatar: The Last Airbender had bad episodes once in awhile, where the cast was acting out of character.  It doesn't mean the whole show is going downhill or anything.  It just happens, and it's best not to worry about it.

 

Now if you get a marathon of terrible episodes, then you might want to start worrying.

 

 

Derpy Hooves

 

This was probably the one most people are going to get.  While I do agree that both sides did act over-the-top during this situation, it was massively provoked on the brony side of things.  Bear in mind, many people became bronies because of Derpy, and most of the people who complained were haters who didn't even care about the show and were only doing it to spite bronies (one of them even came on this site and openly admitted to doing this).  Now I do believe in the whole 'love and tolerance' thing, but I also believe in tough love.  What a lot of people forget is this.  Even the mane 6 have used the Elements of Harmony as a weapon to defeat bad guys and save their world (or in one case, to save their friendship).  Now isn't that interesting?

 

However, since she is still making occasional appearances, I don't really consider this to be an issue anymore.

 

 

Magical Mystery Cure

 

Honestly, I think this whole thing was blown out of proportion.  Fortunately, a majority of fans seem to have accepted the change.  So this really isn't a major issue anymore.

 

 

Equestria Girls

 

Well, to be honest, the 'controversy' surrounding this sort of petered out after the movie was released, and people realized it's actually a lot better than they thought it was going to be.  On top of that, they aren't going to make a series out of it, and likely won't reference it in the show.  It was just a one-shot movie.  So this really isn't even an issue anymore.

Edited October 16, 2013 by SBaby

[Sylentmana 271]

I watched the show before joining the community. At the time, season two had just ended.  I thought all of the "controversies" surrounding the show were and still are stupid. 

-I had no idea there was a controversy about Feeling Pinkie Keen. I like that episode.

-I also didn't know there was a controversy over The Mysterious Mare Do Well.  I heard Derpy's retconed voice first and actually like that one better than her original voice.

-I didn't know there was a controversy about Spike at Your Service. It was kind of a boring episode.

-I was aware of the whole Twilicorn controversy. Her becoming an alicorn surprised me but I wasn't upset about it. I actually think it somehow makes her even cuter.

-The controversy around Equestria Girls was also dumb. It's not a bad movie; its not great, but it isn't bad.

 

It seems to me this fandom has more "controversies" than a corrupt government and sometimes I think we deserve some of the hate we receive from others.

[FoxyCryptid 4,327]

I'm in agreement with what's been said here about Feeling Pinkie Keen, I think the people complaining missed the point of it entirely and let the moral go over the heads(and no offense to atheists, but complaining about perceived pro-religion/supernatural overtones in a show that has two physical goddesses as supporting cast and magic use as a everyday fact of life is pretty short-sighted and nitpicky.). I think the moral was more drawing the line between healthy skepticism and close-mindedness to things you can see right in front of your face because you can't explain how it's happening(Twilight was doing the later).

 

On Mare Do Well, it wasn't horrible and had some redeeming traits, but it did flanderize Rainbow Dash pretty bad to shoe-horn it's moral in. She never exhibits narcissistic behavior quite as bad as she does here on any other episode I can remember. I wouldn't call it bad, just really sub-par compared to the show's usual quality.

 

On Derpy? This one was just a mess all together. It basically started because one person with really bad attitude towards things that offend her rallied her followers to raise hell about it. It's worth noting that NONE of were disabled themselves and many people that actually had disabilities actually loved her.

 

Mystery Cure? I liked it, it was just a deal about being worried about change, same with EqG.   

[Scootalove 10,684]

So much controversy over all of that, in which the controversy was not needed at all. I wasn't really happy with The Mysterious Mare Do Well for how it was played out for teaching Rainbow Dash a lesson and Feeling Pinkie Keen for the moral. But, it is still not needed for many reasons.

[Taviscratch 453]

I watched most of the show before becoming involved in the fandom and I gotta say that I was one of the people who hated Feeling Pinkie Keen because of the message it appeared to convey (whether intentionally or not). I, however, was not aware that there was a controversy surrounding the episode; it was merely my own perception of the episode that meant I was very much disturbed with its "moral" payload. It may be because I'm English and so being religious isn't seen as being laudable in any way. Many people would argue that the message isn't religious but it can obviously be interpreted that way because so many people have done so.

 

Anyway, lets not debate Feeling Pinkie Keen, this is about controversy in general. The whole Derpy debacle was a farce and completely unnecessary. I didn't see anything wrong with Derpy's original voice as there are people in this world with disabilities but Hasbro and the (mainly American public) would seemingly rather they didn't exist.

[Shanks 10,811]

Feeling Pinkie Keene: I didn't even know this was a controversy until I saw a post on here mentioning it, when I found out I just facepalmed and chalked it up to the fact that some people really have nothing better to do than just read into things that aren't even there.

 

Mysterious Mare Do Well: Again I didn't even realize this was a controversy until I saw a post on here mentioning it, I have noticed that the writer of this episode does get a lot of unjustified hate. Okay I could see people not agreeing with certain directions some episodes take, but the only episode that made me want to slap the writers was Griffon the Brush Off.

 

Derpy: I remember the conversations me and the friend of mine who introduced me to ponies had about Derpy back when he was trying to convince me to watch the show, I had no strong feelings one way or another at the time because I figured that I would better be able to make my decision once I actually saw the episode and scene in question. So when I got into the show and saw both versions of the scene I got seriously pissed. Here are all these fans who like Derpy many of them because they are seen as different maybe or maybe not because of a disability and she gets a minor speaking role and all these people butt in most of which aren't fans of the show rudely claim to speak for disabled people by saying that Derpy is offensive when many of them actually like Derpy. But Snips and Snails who are as stereotypical dumb dumb characters as you can get are somehow not viewed as offensive by these same people. And all this despite the fact that Derpy was never confirmed one way or another to be disabled, people only assumed this was the case because of her walled eyes, clumsy child like nature and voice which is what I think is really offensive in this whole fiasco. Yes some Derpy fans overreacted, but I am sick and tired of people getting so high and mighty just because a few crazies did something stupid. As much as I would like to tell the complainers to take their smug attitude and shove it, I am doing the best I can to remain calm because I don't want to create a backlash that will make it less likely for characters like Derpy to appear in this or other shows. I may hate the complainers but I love my cause far more than I hate them.

 

Spike At Your Service: At first I was just happy to see another Applejack episode and was blind to alot of the episodes flaws but after seeing it again a few times I can see the critics points. Spike has been shown in the episode that he can't even perform the simplest of tasks many of these tasks he has shown he can do quite easily in other episodes. I could understand Spike making screw ups like this later in the episode because he overworked himself or something, but from start to finish seems a bit inconsistent and out of character for him.

 

Magical Mystery Cure: I have said it many times and I will say it again this is the worst of the entire series, it makes no sense whatsoever and makes a complete and total mockery of Twilight Sparkle who is one of my favorite characters by arbitrarily shoe horning a change that didn't have nearly enough plot development especially with the rest of the season having almost nothing to do said change aside from vague hints. I was one of the harshest critics on this site of this episode and this "change" and while I still hate this episode and probably always will, I became neutral on twilicorn after seeing Equestria Girls which turned out to be a bit better than I thought it would be. It dosen't let this episode off the hook but it does give me some degree of hope that this change even if its introduction was god awful can still work out.

 

Equestrial Girls: While my expectations were low I just saw it as little more than a spin off and didn't see any reason to panic. I saw it and I am glad I did, the move itself was while it could have been better actually pretty good and the whole experience seeing it with several other rather enthusiastic bronies (one of them being the same friend who introduced me to ponies) in the audience was a lot of fun.

Edited October 17, 2013 by EarthbendingProdigy

[Castle Bleck 19,167]

Equestria Girls: I knew it wasn't going to be as bad as people were saying. Above all else, I actually CARED about whatever happened to the human versions of the Mane Six. The downside, however? The villain; she was WAY too similar to NMM/Luna and Trixie. And while the new comics have fleshed her out some, they still haven't changed the fact that even Gak was a better planner.

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 40,306]

I was a bit late to some of these but I will give my two bits.

 

Feeling Pinkie Keen: This one is not worthy of controversy but I will admit, it is one of my least favorite episodes moral wise. I am not going to get into that because I still loved the episode, I just thought that the moral was iffy. It isn't even close enough for me to even think 'controversy'.

 

Mysterious Mare Do Well: So.....there was controversy over this episode? I started watching the show over a year ago so I know I missed it, but...what was it about exactly? Personally I really liked the episode.

 

Derpy: I think the controversy of this one was somewhat justified. Whether or not it was soccer moms, or some digital retailer, the fact is that someone was either needlessly offended or was afraid of offending others. It is just stupid, the idea that even acknowledging mental handicapped people is automatically offense. Apparently that is how they see it. Sure, some bronie may have went too far, but you will have that in every fanbase. Still, that stuff pisses me off too. The good news is that Derpy is back, in the same way she was before, so now this is basically over entirely.

 

Magical Mystery Cure: I will fully admit that this episode has its flaws in pacing and whatnot, but I truly think it was a good episode. It was just time that hurt it the most. Celestia's Ballad was beautiful in my opinion and really made me reflect on the show and it's characters, Twilight mainly in that case and it was a great feeling. Truly, I think this episode mainly gets flack just from the fact that it introduced something that is a big change. Some have said this: "It isn't the change that I hate, it is how it was introduced here!" Well, I really don't think MMC was the intended true test for it, again, due to time constraints. I think the episode did what it was supposed to do and it had some really good moments as well. Plus, this episode opened the doors to so many great things and gave us the start to further character advancement. I absolutely love the Twilicorn thing so maybe I am a bit biased, I just think it was quite good. Not the best, but still very good.

 

Equestria Girls: The controversy here was pretty damn. Non-canon, a one shot thing, an obvious way to get into a certain market, and still actually pretty good despite all of that. I don't see the problem. Plus it showed Alicorn Twi in a great way so that cannot be ignored. I really love the film for what it was.

 

Also, wasn't there controversy over The Royal Wedding as well?

 

Most of the controversy in the fandom does seem incredibly pointless and it is. This show is so fantastic and there are good parts to the fandom that I really wish some people would see the positive side to things here. I don't see how some can be so negative about this show. There are many that are STILL bitching about Twilicorn and EqG if Equestria Daily is anything to go by and it is really depressing how some act about it and they are insanely nitpicky. That is one thing that can ruin the enjoyment of the show, if you are that nitpicky and negative about it all. This is coming from me, I am usually very pessimistic but not about this show. I can't be. I am just looking forward to the show's future now as I believe it is very bright. I personally think Alicorn Twi is one of the best things that could have happened to show.

Edited October 17, 2013 by Kyoshi

[Freewave 1,145]

You guys are completely forgetting about Lesson Zero

 

That's a love it or hate it episode for a lot of people as Twi really does over-react and make a whole lot to do about nothing. For someone who is the most logical and carefully organized a lot of people felt it was completely out of character. Would this be an additional contoversy (it does have some of the zanniest humor and brony shout outs)? At least as much as Pinkie Keen i would say which I'm not sure really desreves that award either.

[duidamasterXD 9,626]

I was a part of the fandom for the past three controversies listed, and I've already made my views on them pretty apparent elsewhere so I won't go into them much here. SayS wasn't a controversy, just a bit of a shoddy episode. Games Ponies Play was way worse. I have a love-hate relationship with MMC, considering that while it had loads of powerful moments, there were also things that I really didn't enjoy as well. My dislike of Alicorn Twilight probably doesn't help . There was a lot wrong with EQG but it was still better than I thought it would be.

 

Now then, as for the things that happened before I joined the fandom:

 

Feeling Pinkie Keen: The moral could have been worded better, but I don't have an issue with it so long as it's "Don't reject things simply because they don't fit into your worldview". Still a pretty meh episode regardless. I really didn't need to see Twilight randomly turned into the universe's chewtoy just to try to prove a point, and I could see how it could come off as obnoxious. I just write it off as a sub-par episode and don't really take it beyond that point. Eyes were rolled, but no jimmies were rustled.

 

Mare Do Well: The moral of this was exactly what Dash needed, for sure. The way it was taught came off as needlessly passive-aggressive and insensitive. Either Scootaloo was a bit OOC towards the end of the episode, or she's not the character I'd thought she was beforehand. Some excellent points made by Stellafera about the episode have moved it into love-hate territory along with MMC, since I don't deny that it was packed with some great Dash moments, but the rest of the Mane Six's response to the situation still feels, eh. Even if it was well-intentioned.

 

Derpy: I watched the series in a bit of a bubble, so I had no idea that Derpy was popular when I watched the episode. I can't really make myself get worked up over the issue. From what I've heard, both sides overreacted. Nothing else to say from my end.

Edited October 17, 2013 by ~Lawful Mami~

[I used to be a stranger 7,989]

I more or less "overheard" the controversies from the earlier of the mentioned matters, but made a point of not being involved. They're all the fodder of opinionated teenagers with a scruple to found and time on their hands with which to found it.

[Radiance64 7,051]

I wouldn't call episodes like Feeling Pinkie Keen, Mysterious Mare Do Well, and Spike at Your Service controversies really, more like love it or hate it episodes really.

Anyway, joining the fandom around December 2011, I definitely have bore witness to all the major controversies, with the Derpy voice change thing being something pretty bad and the main reason I refuse to watch The Last Roundup on television, that one was certainly justified.

MMC and EqG... yeah, they were both hell for the fandom, but I loved MMC and mostly liked EqG, and I really don't want to talk any more about it...

[Cantankerous 106]

Feeling Pinkie Keen- It's a shame, because with just a bit of rewording near the end it would have been a decent episode. Yes, the moral is awful, but not because it supports religion, not exactly. Framing the issue as science vs. religion obfuscates the real issue and alienates many religious people who might otherwise even agree with us. No, the real problem is that the message supports anti-intellectualism. I do appreciate the intended message, that one should accept a phenomena or event as real once the evidence is sufficient to establish it regardless of how unsavory they find it personally, and if that and only that had been the actual message of the episode it would be, again, decent. For further explanation, read this. 

 

The Mysterious Mare Do Well- Worst episode of the series, many others have explained why it's so bad better than I would be able to. 

 

Derpy- I should probably be more upset about this than I am. Honestly, I hardly care. 

 

Spike at Your Service- It was just a lousy episode. 

 

Magical Mystery Cure and Equestria Girls- I'm an ardent supporter of both. 

Edited October 21, 2013 by ByTheTides

[Buttonmash1973 1,024]

The Mysterious Mare Do Well is one of my most watched episodes of Season 2. I rememeber way back then how I got unraveled by Derpy stealing the show.

[Mand'alor Dash 2,224]

Being an early 2012-er, I've had my fair share of controversies to catch up on. But watching the show for the first time, I honestly hadn't the foggiest idea that these controversies even existed. Even Mare-Do-Well held up decently until I re-examined it with a more critical eye.

 

I'm in agreement with what's been said here about Feeling Pinkie Keen, I think the people complaining missed the point of it entirely and let the moral go over the heads(and no offense to atheists, but complaining about perceived pro-religion/supernatural overtones in a show that has two physical goddesses as supporting cast and magic use as a everyday fact of life is pretty short-sighted and nitpicky.). I think the moral was more drawing the line between healthy skepticism and close-mindedness to things you can see right in front of your face because you can't explain how it's happening(Twilight was doing the later). 

This. This right here.

 

Good golly, ghoulies, how are people not seeing this? Why are people trying to falsely impose a religious message when one simply does not exist?

 

Twilight Sparkle clearly says in the end of the episode that just because you can't explain something doesn't mean it's not real, especially when you've seen it happen with your own two eyes time and time again. This has jack-all to do with religion, it's about keeping your skepticism healthy and not irrationally dismissing what is right in front of your face just because of your confirmation biases.

 

It's a wonderful moral! And it's one that I'd like to see explored more.

[MichaelxXxTrixie 433]

I joined the Fandom almost exactly when Equestria Girls was released. I watched all of the episodes and really the only one that caused a tad bit of controversy for me was "Feeling Pinkie Keen." 

 

Other than that I was really confused why people were getting mad over all of the other episodes, I thought they were all great. I also thought Equestria Girls was a great idea and it was very well done. 

[TailsIsNotAlone 3,694]

 

Did you watch all episodes of the show for the first time before getting involved in the fandom or the other way around? If it’s the first case, after joining the fandom you might have discovered that there were controversies in the past. I’d like to know which controversies you became aware of.

 

Were you surprised to know that there would be a controversy or you were expecting it would be very controversial?

What was your opinion on the matter before and after you learnt about the controversy?

How strongly do you feel about the controversy?

 

Major controversies:

• Feeling Pinkie Keen
• The Mysterious Mare Do Well
• Derpy
• Spike at Your Service
• Magical Mystery Cure
• Equestria Girls

 

Feeling Pinkie Keen...silly. People who look at it through the lens of science vs. religion are missing the point. At the same time though, the entire lesson of the episode was unnecessary. It tells us that not everything can be explained and proven, and not everything in life makes sense, but most kids don't think like that to begin with.

Mare Do Well...totally justified. The episode was badly written, had a bad moral, it was hypocritically enforced...how did it ever get out of the writers' room?

Derpy...went beyond silly into the realm of the ridiculous, a self-contradictory nightmare of politically correct posturing. Bronies had way too much emotional investment in Derpy to begin with, and in retrospect they probably never should've given her a voice or a scene. It distracted people from what was a great episode otherwise and ignited a pointless debate.

Spike At Your Service...that was a controversy? A controversy would involve some level of disagreement. Pretty much everyone agreed it was a very weak episode and the "dragon code" was just a lazy plot device. This is the first one in the list I personally witnessed.

Magical Mystery Cure...I've never seen a controversy that was so exaggerated by a fanbase. People acted like bronies were at war over this. Since when? Some people like Twilicorn, some don't, others are on the fence. There's nothing wrong with that. We don't have to agree with everything the show does.

Equestria Girls...don't really care about that one either way. I haven't watched EG. I stand by my claim that I have no interest in humanized ponies or any media depicting them.

Edited October 26, 2013 by TailsIsNotAlone

[Pomfritter 165]

I learned about the major controversies after watching the show, but after I watched the shows that were at question I understood their problems. While I don't want to get involved in arguing over these trivial matters, I do understand why people do.