Well, I'm not surprised.

[Elisto]

I was kind of offended by Pony, but this seems to be an overreaction...Changing her voice, fine. Not calling her Pony, fine for a few reasons, but, I mean, really, both of those things, plus changing her eyes too? That's kind of an established part of her character. I don't think all of that was really necessary, although I'm not surprised.

Bunny-san, please don't blame those of us who were offended for sending a bad message...the complaint was not that she's different, but how she was handled because of her differences.

[lemontwist]

I think it's nice.

Making her cross-eyed and clumsy is one thing, but adding a voice that makes her sound like a token dummy wasn't quite as.... nice. I wasn't personally offended but I know a few people with eye problems who were. Cause it was nice to have a cross-eyed character that everyone loved, until she turned into a, well, "idiot for laughs" character (although in 100% fairness I think that for some people, fanfictions had more negative influence on thinking that than the show. For example I was reallyy really mad at how she was portrayed in some fanfics and it's easy to cross that irritation over into how she was becoming in the show, or to be scared because it seemed like they're slowly trying to make "mentally disabled Pony" canon even though they were just trying to be silly).

Anyways that's my thing. I never wanted her to be a speaking character anyways, I liked her as a cute background character that wasn't so good on her feet/wings/whatevs, lol.

I hope my opinion doesn't ruffle anyone's feathers though! All the Pony arguments make me so sad sometimes. Anyways, I just think it's nice that they might have stepped up and tried to correct something that people found honestly offensive. Maybe it's irritating to people who weren't offended, but it's really nice for people who actually felt hurt, right? That's what matters.

[Wardah]

I didn't see her being any less wall eyed. I think they changed to voice because the voice actor had thought she was voicing a boy so Hasbro gave her a chance to fix her mix up. As for the name I still think it has more to do with Hasbro's legal team saying "You can't use fan names, what are you thinking? You can get us sued!"

[Elisto]

Yeah, looking at the video, I can't really tell if here eyes were changed or not....I think they were, but without the original scene to compare, I can't tell for sure...I have to admit, though, I do kind of like her new voice.

[Talismarr]

I thought the whole idea of " Pony" was ridiculous in the first place! Weren't her eyes just an animation error that got blown out of proportion on the internet, and then she was given an internet name of Pony, as everything on the internet is derp this and herpaderp that. I think that if Hasbro had intended to create a character in the way that " Pony" turned out they wouldn't have named her that. Every other pony in the show is named something based on their symbol (and vice versa). I think that officially naming her Pony, and then giving her the "I don't know what I'm doing because I'm dumb!" voice and personality was way too much. I agree with whoever made the point about how it teaches kids to be rude to other kids who have a disability or a lazy eye or something like that. Sometimes it good to have a character like that to teach kids acceptance and what not, but the fact that they made a ridiculous internet fan character cannon bothered me.


I'm glad they changed it.

[Starbright]

Given that the whole thing started when people made an unnamed background pony into a "thing" to begin with, I think this whole issue could have been easily avoided and suspect we probably won't see many more fandom shout-outs in the future, unless they're already animated episodes at this point.

FWIW I thought Pony was cute, but actually naming her that was where things took a wrong turn and how Rainbow Dash acted toward her wasn't positive. I can see where people were coming from on both sides.

[amenoo]

To me I just want most fans to chill. It's just a background pony that waa blown out of proportions. This just proved that a company can't do anything that the fanbase wants because it just turns out to a lot of drama. i don't care much about Pony, she's cute, but since her personality is all fanmade I don't care much.

And please so everyone who dislikes it, DON'T send hateful or angry emails to Hasbro. Is this really how you treat the company that created the show you all love?

[babystarz]

I haven't seen the show, but I was surprised initially to hear there was a character named " Pony" who apparently had mental challenges. Even if it was unintentional, trivializing or caricaturing mental handicaps is really out of step with the way the world is going and what is being taught to children these days, so the ambiguity with this character's possible problems on a children's show was probably creating problems for Hasbro even aside from the "bronies". I would imagine parents complained too. Having people with Down Syndrome as actors is one thing, and a positive change happening in society because it shows that these people are not only capable of acting, but of being funny and likable and witty. A cartoon character that may or may not be parodying someone with mental handicaps is something else entirely, and I don't think it does anything to improve the visibility or understanding of people with cognitive disabilities. I presume that is part of the reason they changed things around. People get really antsy about what sort of message is being sent on Children's shows.

[Bunny-san]

Bunny-san, please don't blame those of us who were offended for sending a bad message...the complaint was not that she's different, but how she was handled because of her differences.

Please don't misunderstand at all, I don't blame those offended by Pony for the message being sent by Hasbro. I Blame Hasbro for the message being sent by Hasbro. The situation in it's *entirety* is being poorly handled from start to finish, from the initial treatment of the character, the portrayal of her (which honestly wasn't truly terrible, there are some people that are disabled that look and sound just like her. What's wrong with that? I thought it made her loveable.) But I think what needs to happen is just a rectification of Pony as a WHOLE. She needs an episode that shows her being what (in MY head canon) she is: a good kind pony who makes mistakes from time to time, but has all the best intentions at heart, has friends, a good job, and is a productive and contributing member of ponyville society. I would LOVE to see an episode where Pony is the HERO.

[Elisto]

This just proved that a company can't do anything hat the fanbase wants because it just turns out to a lot of drama.

No, this doesn't show that at all... it shows that Hasbro doesn't know how to handle sticky issues tactfully. I don't think anyone was calling to "ban Pony" or anything like that, just for a better portrayal if they wanted to use her at all. Instead, they cluelessly stuck her in in the worst way, upsetting one half of the fans, then tried to completely undo it, upsetting the other half. If they had just put some thought into how they were using her in the first place, this could have been fine.

Also, I don't love Hasbro. I love MLP, although I won't be writing any hate mail over this. Seems a little pointless for me. However, I don't think people are wrong to be upset and want to tell Hasbro so.

Also, Bunny-san, this was your exact statement: "Those who were offended by her are now sending the message to differently abled kids that there is no place for them in normal society." I think you were pretty clear.

[SuniMoon]

Okay, guys, why is it all about the voice? I'm not offended by the voice change, I saw it coming. The poor acting of the change? Yeah, that bugs me, but I think there's a bigger issue.



They fixed her eyes. Notice that? They're minorly cross eyed, a little spacy looking, but not outright wall eyed...

THAT honestly offends me. And my best friend, who has strabismus, got really upset last night when she found out. And how hurt she was just fueled my anger on the matter.

Like I said... Her voice change isn't an issue.... But taking away her eyes upsets me, not just as an adult fan who thinks Pony is cute, but as someone who cares about the target audience too:
It's not exactly a great message there, to take away a characters visual impairment. Voice change? Fine. Name change? Fine.

But not loving and tolerating the wall-eyed pony? Not cool.

Even if all her other cameo scenes still have her eyes, what are we saying, by fixing her eyes in this scene?

But, apparently nobody here seems to care about that either.
You know, while bronies disappoint me a lot, with their rude behavior and close minded bigotry.... The arena is also disappointing me more and more every day. ): ... Quit acting like selfish bronies are the only people who care about this, and, therefore, their opinions don't matter. *sigh*

Obviously this isn't directed at the whole arena, but still.

[Syri]

THIS

http://shondrea.deviantart.com/art/Puhleeease-287023803

THIS is what I think. Please take a look at it, so all you OFFENDED people can have a look and see how you destroyed the happy bubble of dreams I've had since childhood that FINALLY came true, about having someone on tv who not only LOOKED like me, but ACTED like me too.

But hey. I guess that since I'm blind, wall eyed, and clumsy, that I'm OFFENSIVE, POLITICALLY INCORRECT and should be fixed. Why did you have to speak for me, and for people like me? You don't have a right to do that. You don't have a right to say that something is offensive and could hurt people! I'm not mentally challanged. I can speak for myself, thank you.

You literally broke my heart. I hope you're happy, those of you who felt a need to stand up and "defend" children like me

[Bunny-san]

Maybe a little by proxy they are: had there not been such an outcry, there never would have been changes made to the episode, and therefore the message being sent. It is completely unintentional, not by any means their fault, and not the results that they desired, but it's what's happened So as I said: I blame mainly Hasbro. Thank you for letting me clarify. I appologize for mis-wording my first post. I'm pretty upset by this.

[Syri]

Also, WHY do you all assume she's mentally challenged? She's wall-eyed, clumsy, and her voice actor didn't know she was a girl.

Tell me something. If she had JUUST been clumsy, and didn't have misaligned eyes, would you STILL be making claims that she's a special needs pony?

If you ask ME, I'm more offended by this automatic assumption you have that clumsy and Pony eyed equals special little cupcake pony. It just goes to show that you really DON'T know anything about what you're claiming to defend.

Pony acts like me. She looks like me. With my drawl, she sounds like me when I get excited. Does that make ME special?

[amenoo]

Elisto: The fanbase have made her into a silly and clumsy pony. Most images (I don't read fanfics) shows her doing something silly, like flying upside down or crashing stuff without her knowing what she's doing. So , atleast to me, the way Pony acted in the episode is how I alway's imagined her, and yes that might be offensive to some people. To me, that Pony part should never have been made. It was just fine to just have her as a silly background pony. Now they wanted to please the fanbase, but it went totally overboard. Yes they could have made the Pony part much better, but I don't think they ever could have imagined how out of proportion it would blow up.

And well yes, fans have the right to be angry, but they don't have the right to threat Hasbro to bomb them, or to threat one of animators who didn't like Pony with murder.


Sure you can be angry about it, but in the end, it's not the end of the world. FiM will carry on, and Pony will still be around as a background pony.