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The same person who made you the opinion police.

But seriously, just because I’m critical of a lot of fanon concepts doesn’t mean I just flat out hate the stuff the fandom comes up with. I love fanon, I run a tumblr that’s features exclusively fanon, I just hate it when people fall into the same tired tropes. “Oh she’s a villain, so obviously she’s just a misunderstood sadsack who just wants to be loved as opposed to say, an interesting character, or god forbid what the writers actually made her out to be!” GAH! It’s too much!

Even worse is when the uninspired, contrived fanon is inevitably destroyed by the actual continuity and it’s followers refuse to accept it. They come up with the laziest explanations as to why their ideas are still better then the writers’. It’s disrespectful to the characters, to the writers, and to the rest of the fandom who’s willing to move on.

I love fanon, why the hell do you think I hate bad fanon so much. If no one bothered to be critical of other people’s ideas we’d be swimming in a sea of bisexual Nyx clones!

Gigatoast, You’re being a regular frantz fanon

I kid, I kid.

@Verbose

I expected more from you, young man!

@Giga

I can easily refute your argument in two words: Twilight’s Parents.

Nightlight and Twilight Velvet look the exact same age as their kids, which they also did when Twilight was a filly. And by then, Shining was already in his teens at the very least. So there.

@Jacob below

No time travel is needed if ponies simply have a propensity for long life. I’ve also used Granny Smith’s possible age of hundreds of years to support this notion, not to mention the royal sisters themselves. And yes, they count, because I happen to see them as normal ponies, not as deities of any kind.

@Giga again

Now wait a minute, this is kinda starting to sound like Derpy simply doesn’t conform to your idea of what a mother of two should be like. Silliness does not a childless pony make, and I really don’t see how her innocence and lightheartedness would be affected by giving birth. And since we don’t have too many example for how “middle-aged” parental ponies’ voices sound, I don’t think that really has much bearing.

@Dac

Because it is amusing. Do we really need more reason than that?

Gigatoast “Based on Derpy’s appearance and voice, both of them, there’s no way she’s that old, in fact there’s no reason to assume she’s any older then Rarity.”

She does show up in the flash backs of the the Cutie Mark Chronicles, looking the same age as she does now. If you go with the idea of time travel, stuff like how can she be that old then, and still look as young as the mane 6 is less of an issue (as well as showing up in the present day as a filly/ having an image looking nearly the same as her in a book describing events in the paleo-pony period). Especially since she gets involved with Doctor Whooves in many Fan Adventures, I look at it similar to River Song and Amy Pond from Doctor Who

…

I guess it is a bit contrived when I see it written out.

Found out I didn’t flunk a quiz, and actually made a high score on it…

Got COD: Black Ops II…

Watched Apocalypse Now…

…

My two cents on Derpy:

It really doesn’t matter. It’s a bit like Doctor Whooves, Lyra, or Bon Bon. Characters strong in the fandom; not so much the series. Derpy was an outreach, but now they feel she’s best as a background character. They didn’t kill her; she’s just going back to being the background pony. Perhaps when things cool down in the world, they’ll be more open to things like before. I suppose the new Midtown Comics series is going to be an outlet and tool for reaching out to the bronies. I mean, that’s like for the bronies and older (by older I mean 8 – 13 year old females) fans. Ones who have parents who won’t complain about stuff. Even if so, I doubt they’ll pay much attention to something as trivial as a comic book.

But just for the record: I think she sounds more retarded changed. But that’s just me. I’m not starting another crusade over it

>Frantz Fanon
>I literally just posted a picture of Frantz Fanon on the last page like at most an hour ago
>mfw

Well cut it out, it’s irritating, and honestly, ever since the election I’ve been in a horrible mood and your being the fanon police is not helping.

@Dan: Like I said, appearance is only one of the factors in determining the age-group of a pony, another is voice. Derpy doesn’t sound like a middle aged mother of two, she doesn’t act like a middle aged mother of two, and she doesn’t look like a middle aged mother of two.

Now this is strictly my opinion, but the concept alone kind of takes the lighthearted and innocent nature from the character, it’s not fitting and it feels wrong on many levels. And I’m positive if given some thought the vast majority of people would agree to that sentiment, including the DHX staff.

Now like Jacob said, there’s another side to the idea that goes along with the ongoing Dr. Who parody. Like Fallout: Equestria it’s more of a crossover fic then a legit fanon belief so I can’t really see any fault with it.

@Exudes
Fo real nigga?

I started watching the first episode of this season, but I stopped pretty early into it. The time between seasons didn’t do me any favors, I’ll try again later. Maybe I just wasn’t in the mood.

Why are we arguing about fanon? It’s just pure speculation and not meant to be taken too seriously. If you don’t like someone’s fanon, just ignore it.

Okay, now that I can actually type instead of texting on my smart phone so I’ll post my thoughts on Trixie.

I don’t mind if she turns evil. As it was pointed out, her attitude and Twilight showing her up could push her over the edge. What worries me is what might happen to her at the end.

This series hasn’t exactly been friendly to the villians and I’d hate to see her banished to the moon or turned to stone like Discord.

Dan wrote:

No time travel is needed if ponies simply have a propensity for long life. I’ve also used Granny Smith’s possible age of hundreds of years to support this notion, not to mention the royal sisters themselves. And yes, they count, because I happen to see them as normal ponies, not as deities of any kind.

This is what I’m talking about, once you reach the point where you’re literally bending the laws of time and space to make up for the fact that Sparkler was seen running with Dinky in the Sister Hooves Social it seems like you’ve gone too far. Especially when you could do this:

ahem Dinky really wanted to take part in the race, but she didn’t have an older sister, so she asked he mom’s friend Sparkler to pretend to be her older sister so she could compete.

That is literally exactly what Sweetie Belle did in the exact same episode it’s not that big a stretch. How is that hard to run with? How is “I guess Derpy’s a middle aged mother of two” the first thing people think of?!

@Coily
From what I remember of some of the images before the premiere, Trixie gets her hands on some sort of evil artifact. If I where to guess she uses whatever it is to beat up Twilight and take over Ponyville, she’s probably being influenced by A: her desire for revenge and B: the evil artifact.

I like the idea of her getting redeemed at the end of the episode when things start getting out of hand and she’s made to do things she doesn’t want to. That’d make for a great story and some even better character development!

Yes, that’s what I was thinking. Her amulet swag (though I like her hat and cape better, glad she has them in the iOS game) was probably working off those negative thoughts about Twilight and yeah, what’s allowed her abilities to be well, powerful.

@coily

Just be happy this isn’t a Disney movie, or she will be hung on tree vines, sucked into a jet engine, fall from a blimp, or hit by a subway train.

Who’s bending the laws of time and space? I’m basing my ideas of what is possible directly on elements in the show. Is it really so hard to believe that a mother of two would be undifferentiated from younger, childless ponies?

Edit to response below: This is fanon we’re talking about, so who says she has to be single? Maybe she and Time Turner are a happy couple with two kids. Problem solved, fanon crisis averted, no sadfic required. That is of course already an interpretation that exists within some stories, and I think it’s perfectly viable. Suffice it to say, I think you’re being way too harsh, especially when you go so far as to call it “rock-stupid”; their big ’ol family is fun and cute, so boo to you neighsaying.

I think they hit that territory already when they made Sombra explode.

Dollars to donuts (lol I actually said that?) I’ll bet that’s what happens in that episode. It’s a great setup to be sure and I’m confident they won’t gak it up.

@Dan again:

I wouldn’t say I’m an expert in the field, but I’m pretty sure raising two children by yourself at a very young age while suffering from some fairly severe mental quirks would take something out of anybody. And that sounds more like a setup for the Lifetime movie of the week then a silly and adorable comic relief background character.

That’s a terrible, terrible idea in every respect! It’s like giving Applejack a miscarriage, it’s bordering on some of the worst weepypasta the internet has to offer. And think about it, the only reason this fanon exists is because someone was desperate to keep the Dinky fanon alive after 205 and jumped to the first thing they could think of.

@Gigatoast, um, IRL, yes, single parent like Derpy raising two kids on her own may be extremely difficult. In magical cartoon universe, this is not such a big issue, and not really comparable to that.

That’s assuming Trixie is a “Discord level villain”, and I doubt she’ll ever reach that- amulet or not.

Introducing Windigo’s evil hierarchy (with respective punishments):
God:(death, moon banishment, etc.) Sombra, Nightmare, Discord, Windigoes
Villain:(regular banishment, Rari-whining, etc.) Chrysalis, Diamond Dogs, Trixie (at most)
Jerk:(leave on their own) Flim & Flam, Gilda, Trixie (currently)

I’m not debating the fact that it’s possible, within the loosely defined universe of magical cartoon ponies anything is possible. For all we know the whole series could take place on the inside-out surface of Mars, Game of Thrones style.

What I’m saying is it’s an incredibly bad idea. Yes it’s my opinion, but every opinion has a certain level of objectivity to it, and if you described this fanon to any random person on the street they would probably agree that it’s a rock-stupid concept. And once again, think about the alternatives, they’re incredibly simple and they work just fine.

@Dan:
But then you’re venturing back into the Fallout: Equestria style Dr. Who crossover fic territory, which isn’t fanon, it’s a parody. I can’t have a problem with parody, it’s not meant to be taken seriously as part of the expanded universe.

I don’t know, Trixie has somehow managed to take over the town, unless that’s a dream segment or something.

Get on my level…

As for derpys kids,

She doesn’t have time for kids with all the muffins in the world that are still uneaten, also she’s a shameless drunk.

Yeah, I know, I saw that scene in Tarzan, trust me, they edited it so he was squashed by a Heartless in Kingdom Hearts.

I still think the Crystal Ponies making Sombra is pretty brutal for this kinda show. Granted, he might come back, and might still be said influence on Trixie…maybe.

Also, Derpy’s not the drunk one, Berry Punch is.

Taking over Ponyville =/= Discord’s Escher land or Sombra’s Chrystal dictatorship
It’s evil sure, but it’s evil on the level of someone like the Riddler, not evil on the level of Cthulhu.
And like the Riddler she’ll only get a slap on the wrist (hoof?) before she escapes.

I don’t know, Riddler in Arkham Asylum/City was pretty nasty.

How can a fanon pairing of Derpy and the Doctor be parody? That’s just straight-up shipping, and we’ve got plenty of that lyin’ around. (Don’t pay too much mind to the image I posted, it’s only tangentially related and I used it cuz it’s awesome.)

@Jacob

Well, that’s why in my other post I even used his officialish name, Time Turner. No parody here.

Its a parody of Doctor Who, and (at least the way I watch Doctor Who) not inherently shipping, more of just having Derpy as one of his companions.

@Dan: Neighsaying you say?

Either way, I’m still interested in seeing how they handle the Trixie situation come December. A bit worried, yes, but still interested.

@DerpyXDoctor discussion

Parody huh?

Search Doctor Hooves right here on KYM and tell me those two aren’t being shipped to Antarctica and back

[edit]

Oh and while I was looking there I found an old favorite. But quite relevant to what we’ve been talking about

@DerpyxTimeTurner: I would still call it shipping, inspired by the Who universe. There is a decent bit of straight-up shipping, if occasionally more on Derpy’s side than the Doctor’s. Besides, there is such a thing as platonic shipping (like a lot of Vinyl Scratch x Octavia or even Derpy x Carrot Top). Personally, I consider it a straight ship, and one of the few that I support at that.

@Derpy’s Age, Her possible motherhood, and other temporal concerns.

Usually I compare the various ponies to a Pathfinder RPG Race of similar… Erm… “Theme” I guess. So, I’ll also assume that their aging works similarly as well.

Now, as Pegasi are essentially attuned with air, weather and stuff, I assume an appropriate comparison would be the Sylph; people with the blood of air elemental running through them. They grow to full adulthood at about 60 years, and reach middle-age at 150.

Unicorns are in some sense comparable to Elves. Which reach full Adulthood at 110 years. And don’t reach middle-age until 175.

Now, if you remember that the Mane six are described as “Young adults” and assume this means that young adulthood could be anywhere bellow these figures, just that they’re kinda immature for their species. One could Assume That Derpy had a chance of it working, but that may be a stretch for some of you.

However, it may be unfair to Compare Sparkler or Dinky to Full Elves, considering that if they were indeed her children, that would make them closer to Half-Unicorns. And thus Half-Elves might be a better comparison.

And since Half-Elves only take 20 years to reach adulthood, and 62 years to reach middle age; one could make the mileage that Sparkler and Dinky could be her children.

Now… These comparisons may not be right for the show. But they satisfy me so. Eh. I’ll keep running with them, see where it gets me.

And it does lead to a little bit of a way to angle it the various ponies’ maturity levels. Especially if one assumes that they’re all around the same chronological age. Which I’m going to arbitrarily place at 18.

-Twilight (Powerful Unicorn=Elf [Full maturity: 110 years]): Although quite well educated, she is known to stress out to incredible degrees when placed under the pressure of… Well… Her studies, time management, etc. So while definitely intelligent, she’s not as mature as she tries to make herself seem. And compared to the others, her freak outs are pretty much legendary. This comparison makes sense.
-Dash (Pegasus=Slyph [Full Maturity: 60 Years]): One does notice that Dash is placed firmly in the grounds of adolescent behavior. She’s loud, brash, arrogant, a little excitable, a need for attention, overconfident at some times and not confident at others. Yep, makes sense here.
Applejack (Earth Pony=Human [Full Maturity: 15 Years]): Well… She does seem to be the most mature and “Wise” of the group. Makes sense.
-Rarity (Low Level Unicorn=Half-Elf [Full maturity: 20 years]): Well, she is almost as mature as Applejack, however she has quite dramatic moments of utter… Well… Just remember her whining? or her drama queen nature? The first was something of an act she put on remarkably easily, and the second is within the realm of a young adult doing. Makes sense to me.
-Fluttershy (Pegasus=Slyph, [Full Maturity: 60 years]): She’s a scaredy cat… Calling her immature for that seems natural, if a bit mean. And considering her freak out reaction at the gala, its probably appropriate. Still less of a freak out than Twilight though.

Pinkie is an Anomaly… So I’m probably going to go with some Logic bending here and compare her to Gnomes, which are the eccentric race among the fantasy races, often thought of as crazy, and known for a penchant with odd abilities; and considered to be related to the fey. (40 years for full maturity).

If one ignores her crazy antics and focus on emotional maturity, she’s only had one major freakout we all remember, but it was exceptionally minor compared to the others. In fact, compared to the others her freak out looked tame in comparison. Closer to being regularly depressed (Eccentricity of talking to herself aside) And she took it better than Dash or Fluttershy took their freakouts. And while still not as mature as Applejack or Rarity, she definitely has more emotional resilience than the rest of the group… And considering that with Pinkie, being “Mature” seems to entail being able to take anything in her stride without loosing that “Childlike innocence”, I’d say this interpretation works well.

And speaking of the dark side, Sombra is the third antagonist of the series who’s been colored black (I’m counting Luna during her Night Mare Moon time). I’m not thrilled with the racial implications of this, especially considering the apparent lack of other similarly colored ponies on the show. On a series that’s generally good about positive representations, this is an odd oversight.

Let me go ahead and hit this on the head.

I’m black, and I do see the merit of being politically correct. Sometimes, inadvertent, negative portrayals can occur in children’s entertainment, and they can have an affect on young viewership. That was my Derpy case, but I’m not going back there. We just came from that topic.

But this won’t likely be associated with black people or other people of color.

Characters like Zecora and Sapphire Shores are more likely to draw that comparison due to being stereotypically black, and neither have negative portrayals. In fact, Bridle Gossip was about dispelling stereotypes and being afraid of someone who looks different. That’s because the characters Nightmare Moon, Sombra, and Chrysalis are black. I be dark, but that be a dark brown. Not actually black.
 
I do appreciate the aim, but I don’t think that will be a problem.

@Verbose: Valid point there.

@Derpy’s Age: I believe that anything beyond 100 for ponies that are not alicorns (Presuming alicorns have a really long life/ immortality) it’s a bit too much. Maturity is also a very vague idea. You can be adult and have fun and make jokes in childish way.
If we take that Elf-life argument, unicorns may live more indeed. So, in my opinion, it works like this:
Pegasi: Maturity: 20
Life span: 80+

Unicorn: Maturity: 20
Life span: 100+

Earth Pony: Maturity: 20
Life span: 60+

Alicorns: Maturity: ???
Life span: 1000+

@Verbose’s article:

I really hope he’s joking. It’s not a matter of race; as a western culture, we associate pure black with evil (although Sombra’s really more of a mid-grey with a black mane, really, unless he’s talking primarily Shadow Form). If this was a Japanese show, he could have been white. Would westerners in Japan have taken offense to three white ponies? No, probably not. Which reminds me, they’re ponies. I honestly can’t see why this is an issue, especially when Zebras have been set up as a correlation to Africans/African Americans, in my opinon.

He wasn’t joking, this is a comment that the author made in response to a comment that started similarly to yours and made the very good point “Sombra wouldn’t be as intimidating if he was bright pink”

No, not joking.

Just because black has always been associated with evil doesn’t mean that creators have to continuously reinforce that, especially, again, that the show has a surprisingly lack of black-colored ponies in the series who aren’t associated with the attempted destruction of Equestria.

I wonder if he ever thought about Zecora’s existence in the show. Also, if you worry about the colors of ponies when the creator herself said that there isn’t supposed to be any connection between fur color and race then you are truly wasting your time.

About the pony race issue:
First, people are over thinking it.
Second, the issue of there not being that many darker colored ponies: I always felt this was due to them just looking more jarring compared to the mane cast and not being able to sell as well if toys of them were made for the target demographic. Besides, there are some darker ones that are not evil.

The only real “race issue” that ever bothered me enough to think more than a second about was when AJ said Zecora was not a pony in Cutie Pox. However, considering that there are plenty of other sentient species that are not ponies I didn’t think much about it for too long.

Hey guys, do you remember that completely insane article that called Lauren Faust a racist because Celestia is the color white and Nightmare is black?

Why wouldn’t Nightmare (night based) and Sombra (shadow based) both be black anyway? The whole “the color black is evil” thing has nothing to do with race, it’s because black is the color of darkness, the absence of light. Discord was a mishmash of color because both he and his kingdom represent confusion. The windigoes are white and blue because they have snow powers. And Chrysalis is black and green because she is a decaying bug thing. The day any of this has any racial subtext is the day I’ll eat my hat.

Oh, and from Faust herself:
“Color has never, ever been depicted as a race indicator for the ponies. When your characters are purple, blue, orange, yellow, black, white, red, green and pink, who’s to say which is supposed to signify a white person, a black person, an Asian person? The only races in My Little Pony are Earth Pony, Pegasus and Unicorn, and they are all treated equally, ruled by a leader who embodies the traits of all three This leader is white only to signify day, and she co-rules with her sister, who is purple to signify night. Additionally, I’d just like to assure anyone who might still question the guards at the foot of the Princess’s throne that their colors were picked arbitrarily–and they are paid for their service.”

Missed the 100th page celebration, but I’ve noticed something.

Has anyone seen the Y7 (FV) rating on the bottom of this video.

I wonder what it means?

Wow, I’ve never even thought of the ponies having “races” like that. They are divided into unicorns, earth ponies, and pegasi (and alicorns, I guess), but nothing beyond that. They are all sorts of colours, shapes and sizes! Heck, they’re like housecats in that manner!

Is this cat evil just because it’s black? No, of course not. All superstition aside, it’s no more inherently evil than this one:

Black is just the colour of darkness. As in, “night,” or “dark magic.” Night isn’t even all that evil per say, since there are plenty of “non-villain” dark ponies with cutie marks of constellations or something. Their colours partially reflect what their talents are, they have nothing to do with race.

Oh dear, I’ve mixed cats and ponies… What have I done?

I thaught about posting this quote as well, because I was rolling my eyes hard when I read that part, especially because it is right at the bottom of the review. At least Celestia’s colour wasn’t included, but would have been really fitting for the argument.

Seriously that black and white metaphor has such a long history and just tells at one glance if a character is “good” or “evil”. Basically it shows you right away that Sombra is the bad guy, the villain here and the one to fear. This color coding also helps saving time, because you don’t really have to explain to the viewer that he is evil – no extra lines needed…

If you want to start argueing about these good and evil colours, you would really have to do it at every instance. It is a part of western culture and has no racial subtext at all.

Finding racism in a show like this is just silly.

Since we are already talking about differences in ponies, are crystal ponies considered their own distinct group (separate from Earth, Pegasi, Unicorn), or are they considered a subset of Earth ponies (with the possible exception of Cadance)? Or is it more of a “condition” (obviously the mane six + the royal couple turned crystally when the power was restored, as did Spike, I’m referring before the final climax of the episode) where they are just normal ponies but look they way they do because of other reasons relating to the Crystal empire?

Seriously, bringing race issues into it due to the villains having black coats?

Here’s the last thing I’ll say about pony aging. A lot of fans seem more comfortable with the idea that all ponies age exactly the same way as human beings. I understand, people often prefer the familiar in cases like this. However, I’ve seen very little actual evidence to support that, nor have I seen any proof of “pony years”, which some people bring up on occasion. I have, however, seen several indicators of general long life, possibly depending on internal magic levels, so until something comes along which specifically disproves that, it’s the theory I’m sticking with.

As for the Crystal Ponies, I think they are just a very minor variation of normal earth ponies, much the same as the different ethnicities of the human population. It looks to me like it’s their proximity to the Crystal Heart that makes them actually look jewelled.

Oh, and I’m not even going to bother with this coat color issue.

To those who are discussing race concerns (again), we’re clearly missing the more important issue!

The villains keep being given darkness based powers! As a scion of the night, I am a little offended…I’ll get over it though; I’ve still got Luna.

…Also, that dark blue constellation pony is awesome.

Distracting from the current topic of racism, let’s move on to SPOUSAL ABUSE!
Yay!

Yeah, it is already a game.
Play it here: CADANCE TOSS
CHUCK YO WIFE!

Already played, didn’t make it a long distance. Cadance was pissed.

With sombra, it’s the other way round.

He’s a dark pony enslaving a race that when depressed looks almost white, before turning colorful.

…and that folks, is why race concerns don’t play in. Because if the race argument is right, then it would be strange that they got it the wrong way round to real history.

Just typing this out makes me want to pound my face with my iPad.

But it’s funny how they “conveniently” missed that part.