Rosewind

There are several different angles you can come at this. The initial founding of the show was initially graced with negativity, and it's possible that the chan brony "precursors" probably watched the first episodes so they could make fun of how bad they thought the series would be. This was, of course, based on the expectation that FiM was just another version of the last three generations. To a parent that possibly grew up on older ponies, this notion has not changed, and they might be hesitant to expose their kids to a 25-minute-long toy commercial -- hence the unreasonable initial dislike. This paradigm and expectation is part of the enigma that perpetuates the brony culture. I would even go so far to call it a surprising sort of counter-culture, because I never in my wildest dreams expected a huge group of older, predominately male people to get so passionate and hyped about My Little Pony. If you told me this surge in popularity would happen two years ago, I'd have called you a liar and laughed. This occurance sets an exciting benchmark for other creative projects to try to match: even if something is specifically designed for a target audience, if the quality and design are good enough, everyone can like it, even the most unlikely of groups. People are allowed to dislike this series. Maybe they don't like cartoons. Maybe they don't like the characters or the bright characters, or the stories -- but they are allowed to dislike the series if they wish, and it doesn't really matter if they give it a chance or not. Maybe they choose to dislike it because of its community aspects that celebrate it, and they don't want to be seen as part of that. Maybe they're embarassed about liking it, watch the episodes in private, and denounce the show in public. Or, maybe they say nothing at all. It's their loss, yes, but if they choose to dislike it, what does it matter to you, or anyone else for that matter?

Here you go! I'd like to see the CMCs get their cutie marks. My prediction is they'll all get them at once, and it'll prolly get an episode or two centered around it...but not for a while yet. Maybe. Studio B is getting good at surprising us lately. It'd be interesting to see some of the beasts return in some way -- Ursa, Hydra, Red Dragon, etc. I'd love to see Trixie return, but of course only if it really made sense to the story. Baked Bads. More of the Mane Six's parents -- there's a lot of them we haven't seen yet; Fluttershy's parents would be very interesting to see! I'd really like to see Pinkie's sisters make an appearance -- they'd be fillies now, of course, but imagine what kind of episode that could be!

A petition to make Studio B apologize? Really? That's extermely disappointing. I think my biggest fear is they might decide to yoink out any future inclusion of Derpy if this sort of reaction is something they want to avoid. Some folks really are too sensitive to stuff like this, and they're too caught up looking for reasons to be offended when they should be happy that the brony fandom got a concrete brohoof from the creators with a character that was OUR creation.

The U.S. has a current population of 309,000,000 (which is actually higher, since that was from the 2010 census). A lot of them can't vote because they're not of age, some are abroad, and the international brony community can't add their votes -- bronies are outnumbered by a huge margin. The voting system here isn't that simple, but my basic point is that the non-bronies out-number the bronies in each state, so a chance we'd get Vermin Supreme into office is statistically about zero.

A group for that might already exist -- you just have to find it!

Has anypony heard about this? Apparently McDonalds Germany holds a vote to name their products, and a chicken sandwich by the name of "Scootaloo" is winning. Link (German)

I totally see what you are saying, but I'd also like to point out that the change from traditional animation to Flash and CGI-based animation has both helped and hurt the cartoon industry. Then FiM came along and changed it up again. I really do think it set a new benchmark that other series in the future should try to live up to, or go beyond. Maybe we really enjoy it because it gives us that nostalgia of the old animated series we really used to enjoy as kids. Also SWAT Kats. Yeessss. (I used to have the biggest crush on Chance.)

I love your tumblr blog. What, you mean you're not that Velvet? Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooh. Welcome!

Very well said. I stand corrected! However, I think I'm referencing the trend that governing systems are going to be subject to the scrutiny of the internet based off of stuff like this -- which isn't entirely a bad thing, as awareness in any form is good (though I'm sure it could start to get annoying if the internet has to fight every bill du jour). Don't fear any law. Challenge it to perform in a way that benefits everyone fairly.

I've never thought about Cupcakes as conversion material. That's living on the edge!

That image with Zecora is great. I think the term "autism" is used way too much around the internet, and it only suggests ignorance of the person that uses it to define mental retardation. There's a HUGE difference between mental retardation and autism spectrum disorder. Mental retardation means that your brain thinks slower than usual -- it's defined like "thinking in molasses." A person challenged with autism has a brain that thinks and processes information differently. When they have trouble doing that, they might perform a coping behavior which might be negative or socially awkward -- and the range of this developmental disorder is absolutely huge. I find it interesting that one goofy background character gets a voice, and there's outrage about her mental status. Entire series are designed around goofy characters with lower-than-average intelligence. Remember Two Stupid Dogs? Ed Edd And Eddy is another contender. Howzabout Ren and Stimpy? There's dozens -- if not hundreds -- more characters that have similar traits that Derpy has, and I don't see anyone crying "autism" about those.

Nice one, Ginger! I have to agree with Shadowdeath too -- if it's the correct mythological term for what it is, that's what it is. I suppose some people could argue that "wyrm" is a better term for "dragon," but we know dragons are referred to as dragons in FiM canon/lore (probably for the sake of simplicity, and most kids watching it might not have any idea what a wyrm is).

It's trending off the SOPA crap. It's all a PITA if you ask me.

I never got the vibe that Derpy was mentally retarded in any way. She's clumsy and accident prone. When I'm clumsy I personally say I'm "derping out." I suppose my counter-argument to the folks saying Studio B was taking a swing at mentally handicapped is that they're following a horrid stereotype and not even realizing it. If she didn't act that way, a lot of fans would be mad that Studio B ruined the character for us. They couldn't win in either case, so they indulged it, and I think it made a greater positive stir with the fans in the end. I know that I've been thrilled since last Saturday, and more excited about FiM and what we can expect in the future (easter egg or in-our-faces) as a result.

I've seen some fans say "Oh my Celestia." I've used that phrase myself, too, cause I think it's cute. I'm thinking it might be another nod to the fanbase, which makes it that much cooler. Is Celestia a goddess? She's immortal (as far as we can tell), and has the ability to raise the sun. She's wise and interested in the well-being of her subjects. Her sister Luna also has divine powers. I think the design philosophy is geared more toward Greek mythos where certain divine beings rule over certain aspects of the universe, than the modern-day singular religious understanding of what makes a divine being (or several).

Um...no. What I wrote was this: The second sentence reinforced the tonality of the first statement that I shared -- I said the unexpected happened with Derpy, and it was positive. I made it very clear that if Trixie came back, I think it would cause a big stir in the fandom. This was to emphasize my point that the background characters can cause a big stir if they're introduced to the series in unexpected or surprising ways. Vinyl Scratch/Pon-3 would probably get just as much reaction, as would the dozen or so other BG ponies. Octavia had a recent reprise, if I'm not mistaken, and it garnered positive response. Now that's all clarified, I don't think you speak for "Anyone outside looking in," but just yourself and something that you -- to my misfortune --misunderstood: Please don't put words in my mouth (and then call my opinion immature). I'm all for having an intelligent discussion about pony, but I feel that goal is going to fall short if you're making wild assumptions about what you think was said and what was actually said.

Mmm I'd say it's okay, with reservations. The episode assumes you know a lot of the character dynamics between the cast already, and the inclusion of Derpy at the start won't really mean anything to someone who doesn't know who she is. I suppose it would be good since if I was viewing it for the first time, it would make me curious about the characters and wanting to know more about them. My personal favorite infection material is Applebuck Season. Hooks them every time.

How is my point of view "immature"? You're assuming too much on your end. When I said "I'd bring back Trixie just to see the fan freakout," I meant more as a cameo, not a full-blown character that will perpetuate in pony canon forevermore. Have her peek out a window or something. Would Trixie's inclusion send negative waves to people? Of course. Nobody will ever be satisfied with anything. There are some neighsayers against Derpy's new and updated role in the episode last Saturday. Also, everyone has their own set of standards of what constitutes a good episode. My Party of One could be your Mare Do Well, it's all a difference of opinion regarding that. If people are ready to "abandon the fandom" over the inclusion of a background character, maybe they need to reevaluate what the series is to them, and why they enjoy it. It certainly makes no difference to me if you stop liking the series over something that happens in the show. I'll still enjoy it. That said, I think you're wrong about what FiM is. Is it created to entertain? Yes, it is. It does this very well, by design. Is it created to educate? Not specifically, but it always has a message with something good to teach behind it. Is it created to sell stuff? Yes, it is, but that is not its focal point like the previous generations before it -- Ms. Faust saw to that when she insisted that merchandising only be placed in episodes where it makes sense. Twilight's balloon is a great example of this. (I'm sure somepony else can confirm the former point I just made, I'm too tired to dig it up tonight.) For these reasons, I believe your statement about what FiM wasn't created to be isn't as validated as you might think. Is Trixie a villain, or an antagonist? I think she's an antagonist. She's not really evil, and she doesn't hurt anyone. She even makes friends with Snips and Snails (one-sided as it was). I think she is a pretty neat character -- we didn't see much of her, but I personally would like to see her gain some sort of redemption. While that might be out of the scope of some big story arc, FiM does practice a light form of continuity -- a good example would be pets. Twilight's owl didn't reappear (unless I'm mistaken) until Find a Pet, but he did make a reappearance from an episode from last season. Also Luna got an episode after, what? Five seconds of face time in the second episode of season one. By that token, if it made sense for Trixie to reappear to help tell a story, I think it would be really neat to see how the fans would react. I hardly think that is an "immature" or undeveloped opinion.

It gives me the feeling I got when a long time ago I'd wake up early on Saturday mornings to watch cartoons. It hits all the things I find compelling in a quality animated series: interesting characters, fun visuals, superb voice acting, a special brand of comedy...and some sort of intangible "x" factor that just makes it all work.

I'd bring back Trixie just to see the fan freakout. We never expected Derpy to ever have a voice of her own...but here we are!

I was thinking about this, and I was wondering if I needed to change my view. I actually liked how the episode opened with Derpy and Rainbow. The only real character development is that her name, Derpy, is 100% without a doubt canon, and she has a voice now. There's not really any character development that could spoil her as a character to speak of, as the other background ponies get a few lines now and then, too.

I've done some thinking about this, and here's my current take: G1-G3: 1. The characters are designed to sell toys. They have shallow, undeveloped personalities, and the writing isn't interesting. 2. The central message in every episode isn't skillfully integrated, and is seldom relatable to an older audience. 3. The characters look odd (bringing in that Uncanny Valley argument). G4: 1. The characters are all different, but still relatable to us in different ways. We all have a bit of the Mane Six in us. 2. The message behind every episode is still relevant (maybe even more so) to the older crowd, as well as children -- but it's not in our faces. 3. The artwork, fluidity, and love put into the production is self-evident. Everything about it is fun, colorful, and interesting to look at.

Donkies are now canon. Oh, wait... Sounds like an interesting episode. I'm interested to see if the design is the same from the first time we saw a donkey in the series.

Cupcakes was better.

My favorite episode of the season so far. The whole opening scene with Derpy was beyond Celestia tier. First I was like...then I was like... Wait...did Derpy just speak? Nah it was probably just Rainbow. OH MY GAWD SHE IS SPEAKING! Great story, involvement of all the mane six, nod to I Love Lucy; I loved the design of Cheeries Jubilee. We have several more rodeo ponies to fanonize. Plenty of Pinkie Pie goodness. There's nothing about this episode that wasn't amazing to me. Well done, FiM team! Bravo!