@Timstuff
Which is a very, very sad reality to face, because up until this point (or at least, up until they began planning these changes several months ago), Hasbro had seemed to understand that this franchise's greatest strength has been its massive cult following.

They used to be more open to content posted on youtube (according to a couple EqD articles, their expansion into other countries has meant that they're beginning to activate bots to sniff out and flag content for copyright infringement), they were coming out with new toy lines for the ensemble darkhorses (NMM, Vinyl Scratch).

Now, they seem to be moving backwards.

It's really, really too bad that this has happened. I always figured that the downfall of MLP would be external, perhaps a gradual slowing down of content creation, then the slow fade following the show's cancellation. But if Hasbro keeps pulling shit like this (and as you said, if they're willing to go so far as to make Twilight an Alicorn, who fucking knows what else they'd be willing to do), I'm worried that the fandom will simply get tired of putting up with the constant Fandom versus Show drama.

Now, what I've just laid out is probably the worst case scenario, I still have plenty of faith that things will not work out that way. I'll wait until after the finale to judge the state of things, But it just worries me. I was hoping this fandom would survive longer than the show, not the other way around.

@PikaRobo:

The thing is, Derpy being removed from the show's cast was a gradual thing. Everyone got angry about the censorship in The Last Roundup, but they didn't realize how bad the situation was until now. The only reason we were able to confirm the leak that Derpy has in fact been dropped is because Alicorn Twilight was also part of the same leak, and obviously, the news that Twilight is being changed to sell new toys has completely drowned out whatever discussion there may have been about Hasbro banning Derpy from the show.

Sadly, since those two aspects of that leak have been proven correct, it also means that the behind-the-scenes part is likely correct, too. Hasbro got tired of the show's crew pandering to adults, and are taking more and more direct control over the production away from them so that they can use the show to more aggressively promote their new toys. If they are willing to permanently change (and in some fans' eyes, ruin) the show's main character to sell a new line of toys, nothing is off limits for them.