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Well, if it's any boost to my credibility, the story I've writing is for a 6-time Pulitzer Prize winning paper, and I'm a member of both the Society of Professional Journalists and the American Society of Journalists and Authors. Of course, this is the Internet, so I could be a dog...

Let me tap into my hidden webcam at Coder's house, let's see here... Ah, here's the feed!

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I should open a store that sells chaise lounges and market them to the outraged bronies.

Market Quills too! Then you'll have your own Quills and Sofas shop! *dodges thrown items*

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On this quote to Gawker:

“The ‘My Little Pony Friendship is Magic’ series has always been about acceptance and inclusion, and the series strives to convey that through the playful antics of a diverse cast of characters,” Hasbro spokeswoman Nicole Angello told us over email. “Some viewers felt that aspects of the episode ‘The Last Roundup’ did not stay true to the core message of friendship which is the heart and soul of the series. Hasbro Studios decided to make slight audio alterations to this single episode.” - Ms.Angello to Gawker

If one couldn't find any information on Nicole Angello, it turned out Gawker spelled it wrong. It is Nicole Agnello, not Angello. Using the right spelling there are Hasbro stuff on her so it looks legit, even if Gawker again goes on the fail boat for misspelling her name.

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One thing is bothering me about all of this. How do you claim to promote diversity when the one representative you have of people with disabilities is changed to look like everypony else? It is saying that everypony should be 'normal'. It is saying that people who are different are bad. Dismissing the fact this is upsetting means you agree with that viewpoint.

I don't love that. I'm certainly not going to tolerate it.

They could have changed the voice and have been done with it - the voice was incorrect to begin with - that's been admitted. I feel the name omission is debatable. I feel that changing her appearance is unbearable. They went too far.

Put canon Derpy back in place Hasbro. Put the original episode back up. If you agree with that then let's politely and in a civil manner communicate how we feel to them. If you love Derpy take action. No matter how small it may be. If you disagree or don't care - then continue on as you were. Love and Tolerate our position. We are not wrong for feeling this way just as Derpy wasn't wrong for being Derpy.

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I feel pretty mixed on it.

I like Derpy's redone voice, in fact it was her old voice that was which that perturbed me originally.

I an neutral on the lose of the name dropping. Depy is our fandom name for her, but I like the idea that in the show they never gave her a name, always allowing that ambiguity to exist.

The only part I am annoyed about is losing the eyes, although she still retains some of the *derp* eyes in that redone scene and her Easter Eye appearances before and after have not been altered.

Other than that, the redubbing is off and it lessens the quality of the scene, which is annoying, but I am not going to let it ruin the episode for me, nor the show.

Personally I think there is still hope Derpy will be fine. If she is just back to being background with the derpy eyes and clumsiness, I will be perfectly content.

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On this quote to Gawker:

If one couldn't find any information on Nicole Angello, it turned out Gawker spelled it wrong. It is Nicole Agnello, not Angello. Using the right spelling there are Hasbro stuff on her so it looks legit, even if Gawker again goes on the fail boat for misspelling her name.

Class act that Gawker. Misspelling a source's name. So, at least we can believe them now... Seems legit. I want to contact her and ask her why Gawker of all places...

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This is almost exactly the same wording I got from my contact at Hub PR today, it's legit.

Coder

Based on what Coder said, I think this response is the one we can expect from all sources; Gawker probably got it and shared it first due to their good timing and nothing more.

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http://www.equestriadaily.com/2012/02/amy-keating-rogers-response-to-derpy.html#more

Response of the person who actually wrote the episode. (Should be legit this time according to EqD)

Spoiler version

Whew, this controversy has been overwhelming and exhausting!

I actually had no idea that fans were really upset about the "Derpy Change" until your email. And I didn't actually know about the change until I got an email last week from a fan telling me about it!

Let me try and put some rumors at rest and calm the fans. And to do that, let's go back to the beginning.

When I first wrote this episode, the character under such harsh scrutiny was named Ditzy Doo. We had already established in previous episodes that she was clumsy (she is not the pony you want on your moving crew). And we named her Ditzy Doo thinking of her as a being a bit dingy.

The scene I wrote was originally longer and had a flashback explaining exactly what Ditzy Doo had done to damage Town Hall. She and Rainbow Dash were "Bucking Bolts" out of the clouds during a storm. Ditzy Doo was bucking too close to Ponyville central. Rainbow kept trying to yell over the noisy bucking for Ditzy to move away from town. But Ditzy could not hear her and thought that Rainbow was complimenting her for her great buck bolting. Ditzy then hit Town Hall with a bolt. And, thus, the damage.

For the second draft, I was asked to change Ditzy's name to Derpy as a "tip of the hat" to the fans. So, not knowing that Derpy meant anything beyond klutzy and clumsy, I did as requested And then I was finished with this episode.

I had nothing to do with the original voice casting. In my mind, she was ditzy, as her original name implied. But that's not anything I was ever involved with MLP. The scene was made shorter because the script was too long and because the story wasn't about Ditzy/Derpy. It was about Applejack.

When this episode first aired, I did not see it until after I started getting emails either thanking me or berating me for Derpy's portrayal. The angry emails really freaked me out because I knew that I had not written a scene that could possibly be interpreted as being insensitive to people with disabilities.

So, when I got home, I watched the episode. I saw that the scene was shorter, which did not surprise me. That happens all the time. I listened to her voice and it was deeper than I expected. However, I was not offended by any part of the scene in any way.

But I got about 10 emails saying how offended foalks were. People labeled me an "ableist" (a word I'd never heard of) and said that I was being insensitive to the disabled by calling this character "derpy." I then did a search on what derpy meant and the first things that came up were "embarrassing" and "awkward" which is what I thought. But then when I did more in-depth searches, I discovered that one definition is "retarded."

Now, you have to realize that reading that made my heart sink. My son Soren (of Soarin' fame) is severely disabled. We do not use the word "retarded" in our house because it really has become an offensive slur. And while I knew that it was only a minority of people that defined "derpy" this way, it still upset me that I was the writer that put that name out there. It was painfully ironic and goes against the fact that I'm an advocate for the disabled.

I also want to note here that while I got 10 negative emails, I also got about 200 positive ones! I knew that the majority of fans were not offended. I got emails from fans with siblings with disabilities and parents of kids with disabilities and fans who had disabilities themselves and none of them were offended. At first, I tried to answer all these emails, but then I just became too overwhelmed. Still, I want to thank you all for your support!

But I was not the only one getting contacted regarding Derpy's portrayal. Positive and negative feedback was also being sent to Hasbro and the Hub. Someone at the Hub who knows about my personal connection with disabilities contacted me asking my opinion. We talked about various options of what to do.

1. Do nothing.

2. Cut Rainbow saying "Derpy" but keep Derpy's voice.

3. Cut Rainbow saying "Derpy" and change Derpy's voice.

4. Find a creative way to change Derpy's name in a future episode

And I was honestly torn about which action should be taken. I went back and forth and back again. It was a no win situation. Fans were going to be offended no matter what. And while I was not personally offended by the scene, I tried to put myself in the shoes of someone that was. I know that if I was offended by something that I thought was disparaging against the disabled, I would want my voice heard. But then I also knew that an insensitive portrayal of someone with disabilities was never our intention, so why change it?

When that call ended, no decision was made. And it was not my decision to make. I am just a freelance writer here, not a network executive. That decision was up to Hasbro and the Hub. I am sure they weighed what was best for the MLP brand, the show, the network, and they may have even weighed in my personal situation. Maybe they wanted to spare me from getting anymore more hate mail and people calling me offensive names. It may have been only 10 emails, but each one made me feel absolutely horrible If the effect on me was part of their motivation for the change, I think that's really amazing, incredibly sensitive, and very commendable.

In the end, Derpy's voice was re-voiced to be more ditzy. And while, again, I had nothing to do with the casting, this is closer to the voice that was in my head. And as for cutting her name, if it truly can be defined as "retarded," then I am personally glad that name is gone. I wouldn't want my writing to perpetuate foals--our target audience--to call other foals "derpy" with that meaning behind it.

So, I know the fans are upset. But please don't be upset at Hasbro or the Hub or DHX Media or the "Anti-Derpy" fans or me. Let's remember what the message of MLP:FiM is--tolerance, kindness, understanding, and, most importantly, friendship.

All my best,

Amy

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I know this is a little off topic. However, I liked Derpy the way she was. In my opinion it gets people to accept others the way they are. Most viewers described the voice as "mentally challenged", but not everyone can be perfect(not even in Ponyville). If people are complaining about the voice, they are discriminating against people who speak that way. If they are complaining about derpy just because she's ditzy, then they've never seen a single show from cartoonnetwork.

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Before that post, Amy Keaton Rogers was my second favorite writer. Now, she's my second.

O_o was that intended as humor (i.e. no change in her status), or did you mean she was first and is now second?

Also, as I and others have said before, I think we need to step back and accept that this has happened and stop belaboring it... they've released several semi-official statements now, we know what happened, lets give it a rest...

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That is a great response from Amy Keating Rogers. Really a fantastic read, and it is nice to know that she had some input.

I know I have said this before, but my only wish for that scene was that it would have gotten better editing. The editing was atrocious and that, and only that, is what I cannot forgive. Everything else is cool in my book.

On a side note, I would love to see them release a directors cut, or an extra that has the story board for the extended scene!

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That response from Amy Keating Rogers really helped bury this situation, at least for me. She described everything that happened and the reasoning behind it.

So then, the grey mare shall continue on, just with less derp to her name. I'm totally okay with this.

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I do like the name of this topic. I keep picturing one of those old 1940/1950's film strips. "THE FUTURE OF THE ATOM!". But you got Derpy in a white lab coat with a few test tubes at her side. WHERE WILL DERPY BE IN THE YEAR 2000? (Shows Derpy flying around with a jetpack and knocking BUILDINGS OF TOMORROW over.) :P

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Bold words from AKR!

Here, I thought - maybe they could have two versions of the episode; one with Big D, one without! One would be broadcast ahead of the other, no clashing in between! Perhaps I should word that better.

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I do like the name of this topic. I keep picturing one of those old 1940/1950's film strips. "THE FUTURE OF THE ATOM!". But you got Derpy in a white lab coat with a few test tubes at her side. WHERE WILL DERPY BE IN THE YEAR 2000? (Shows Derpy flying around with a jetpack and knocking BUILDINGS OF TOMORROW over.) :P

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