Humanities Directory Vol. 1, No.

1, 5-22, August 2013

The ballad of Derpy Hooves - transgressive fandom in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Christopher Bell*
University of Colorado Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States
Abstract
This study examines the culture of fandom by highlighting a distinct shift in how media creators interact with their fan communities. Recently revamped children's television series, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, inadvertently created a highly devoted group of young-adult, male fans dubbed bronies. Many view this fandom as transgressive - adult men should have no interest in a series targeting young girls. The series producers, however, chose to acknowledge the fan subculture, incorporating a brony-named background character, Derpy Hooves, into the show. This inclusion of non-traditional, transgressive fans marks an evolution in the creator/fan relationship.

Introduction Author C.S. Lewis (1966, p.34) once wrote: To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence. And in childhood and adolescence they are, in moderation, healthy symptoms. Young things ought to want to grow. But to carry on into middle life or even into early manhood this concern about being adult is a mark of really arrested development When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up. Nowhere is this sentiment more palpable in modern popular culture than in the recent phenomenon of the Bronies: adult men, typically childless, that are intense fans of The Hubs My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (hereafter MLP:FIM). Fandom, by its very nature, is a contested space; one of the hallmarks of fandom is that it resists attempts to categorize and/or label it. Henry Jenkins (1992) described fandom as a loosely structured space in which popular culture texts can be interpreted and negotiated, with recognition that the experience of being a fan is just as important as the experience of interpreting and negotiating the text itself. The culture of fandom the relationship of fans to one another can be just as integral to the fandom experience as the relationship of the fan to the text itself. Cornel Sandvoss (2005, p.8) further defined fandom as the regular, emotionally involved consumption of a given popular narrative or text, layering on an element of emotional attachment to the text. In both of these conceptualizations of fandom is an inherent belief that there is a distinction between the casual consumer of a particular text and those who would be considered to be fans.

*Email: cbell3@uccs.edu
ISSN 2050-6171 http://dx.doi.org/10.7563/HD_01_01_01

6. Bell Contemporary fans of many popular culture properties have demonstrated an amazing proclivity toward creative expression of that fandom, particularly online. Fanfiction.net boasts thousands of fan-written episodes of television programs, films, comic books and so forth. DeviantArt.com is full of drawings, paintings and photographs depicting popular cultural icons and texts. Typically, these fan-created properties remain within the confines of their respective fan communities; the originators of the popular culture texts themselves rarely get involved in the production of fan-created properties. However, a distinct change in the fan/creator relationship occurred on January 21, 2012. The Last Roundup, MLP:FIMs 14th episode of the programs second season, aired with a peculiar cold opening. In the scene, series regular character Rainbow Dash interacts with a new character she refers to as Derpy. For one and a half minutes, Rainbow Dash and Derpy play out an innocuous comedic scene. However, the implications of the scene are far from innocuous. In one of the very rarest instances in popular culture history, the fans of MLP:FIM had profoundly influenced their devotional text. Fans had created a canonical character. Derpy Hooves an internet invention of the Bronies community was real. Friendship is Magic In 1981, toy manufacturing giant Hasbro released a small line of plastic horses for girls, dubbed My Pretty Pony. The My Pretty Pony line sold fairly well and, in 1982, illustrator Bonnie Zacherle was contracted to redesign the line. The new My Little Pony line launched in 1983, and quickly became one of Hasbros biggest sellers. To capitalize on the high sales figures, Hasbro teamed with Marvel/Sunbow Productions to produce My Little Pony: The Movie (1986) and the television series My Little Pony n Friends (1986). The series ran for 65 episodes in syndication before its cancellation in 1987. Five years later, with sales lagging, Hasbro reinvented the My Little Pony line with a new television series, My Little Pony Tales. From July to December 1992, the series ran for 26 episodes and featured many of the same characters from the original My Little Pony n Friends. While the My Little Pony range continued to be produced and sold by Hasbro, the lines media presence was all but dark for almost two decades, aside from the occasional direct-toDVD release. Following the success of the Michael Bay Transformers adaptation (2007), Hasbro saw an opportunity to revamp another of its signature toy properties. The manner in which My Little Pony had been previously marketed was deemed out of date for the current generation of girls, and Hasbro approached budding television network The Hub in search of a partnership. Meanwhile, independently, Lauren Faust was seeking a meeting with Hasbro regarding a possible toy line for her Galaxy Girls idea. Faust was a veteran of the animation world, having worked with Craig McCracken on both Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends and The Powerpuff Girls for Cartoon Network. She dreamed of creating her own series aimed at girls, but spent years and years pitching original animation for girls to studios and networks and always hearing This is great, but animated shows for girls dont get ratings, or Girls dont watch cartoons (Faust, 2010). Hasbro was uninterested in her Galaxy Girls concept, but invited her to pitch ideas for a new My Little Pony program. Initially, Faust was dubious, as her memories of the previous My Little Pony series were unfavorable, to say the least: I couldnt tell one girl character from another and they just had endless tea parties, giggled over nothing and defeated villains by either sharing with them or crying which

The ballad of Derpy Hooves 7 miraculously inspired the villain to turn nice. Even to my 7-year-old self, these shows made no sense and couldnt keep my interest (Faust, 2010). The show that Faust pitched back to Hasbro was conceptually different from anything Hasbro had previously attempted. In fact, it was a new frontier for thematic programming aimed at American girls. Faust decreed: Cartoons for girls dont have to be a puddle of smooshy, cutesy -wootsy, goody-twoshoeness. Girls like stories with real conflict; girls are smart enough to understand complex plots; girls arent as easily frightened as everyone seems to think. Girls are complex human beings, and they can be brave, strong, kind and independent but they can also be uncertain, awkward, silly, arrogant or stubborn. They shouldnt have to succumb to pressure to be perfect (Faust, 2010). This distinctly feminist ethic infused the new program, dubbed My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. The Hub debuted MLP:FIM on October 10, 2010 and the series has just finished its third season (as of this writing). It is one of the highest rated programs on the network, and one of the highest rated programs among children aged 6-11 on cable television (tvbythenumbers, 2012). But along with those children aged 6-11 came a new and interesting segment of fandom - the bronies. Birth of the bronies The bronies naissance is tied to the rise of 4Chan as a home for a vast array of fandom communities. In 2003, Christopher Poole launched a small image-sharing website he dubbed 4Chan. Since then, 4Chan has become one of the most vibrant and often bizarre spaces on the internet, where visitors can anonymously post and discuss everything from pornography to professional sports. One of the subforums, the Comics and Cartoons forum (the/co/ board), hosted a post by Amid Amidi in October of 2010, wherein he laments the death knell for creator-driven animation (Amidi, 2010). Citing the launch of MLP:FIM , among other Hub programming such as G.I. Joe: Renegades and Strawberry Shortcakess Berry Bitty Adventures, Amidi lambasts the network for prefer[ring] established properties over original ideas, and dislik[ing] dealing with individual artists who have a clear creative vision (Amidi, 2010). Interestingly, the vast majority of posters that rose to the defense of MLP:FIM were adult men. In fact, by February 2011, nearly 6,000 Pony-dedicated threads existed on /co/. Moderators grew tired of the constant stream of Pony talk, and decreed that all Ponyrelated postings would result in a one-day ban from 4Chan. Instead of quelling the stream of Pony posts, the moderators inadvertently incited an uprising. Thousands of Pony pictures and posts began to appear on every 4Chan subforum, not just /co/. Banned users would instantly create new accounts in order to post more Pony pictures. These Pony Bros launched an all-out assault on 4Chan, and eventually, Poole was forced to fire the moderator who started the controversy and issued a public apology, stating: We fucked up and turned our back to one of the largest subcultures in 4Chans history. This was not out of malice, but ignorance, and responding to general upset from the rest of the community when pony threads began to overwhelm their respective homes (4Chan Adds a Pony Board, 2012). Thus, the bronies were legitimised and the community grew from there, eventually expanding to several websites of their own, including Equestria Daily, Herdcensus.com and Bronies for Good. Herdcensus.com has recently undertaken the task of categorizing the bronies community in order to find out who, exactly, the bronies are. Using a self-selected sample, largely through

8. Bell a series of unscientific internet polls, Herdcensus.com has created a sort of snapshot of the bronies community. Its 86-page 2012 report details the self-reporting of over 9,000 respondents although no mention is made of the number of solicitations necessary to yield such a number of respondents. The report does state that requests for participation were advertised on Equestria Daily, ponychan, canterlot.com and other brony-friendly websites, and that the responses came from around the world (My Little Pony: Statistics are Magic, 5). Nearly 60% of respondents were identified as being between 18 and 29 years of age, and 66% reported either pursuing or possessing a college degree (My Little Pony: Statistics are Magic, 2012). Interestingly, 96.74% of respondents reported unmarried status clearly not a necessity for having children, but the particular question of parenthood was not raised by the survey, and this was the closest indicator (albeit not a very reliable one). The anonymous author of the report acknowledges that the survey measures are inadequate and categorizes the report as represent[ing] the demographics of English-speaking, internet-savvy bronies who participate actively in MLP fandom online (My Little Pony: Statistics are Magic, 43). In any case, the report does appear to indicate that the average brony is adult, male, educated and most likely does not have children at all. Having children would somewhat mitigate the transgressive nature of MLP:FIM fandom for adult males; one might expect parents to be interested in what their children are viewing. As most bronies are (at least, inferentially) childless, the transgressive nature of their fandom is somewhat amplified they do not even have the tangential entre of parenthood as an excuse . Clearly, when Faust and company created MLP:FIM , they had no idea that some of the most dedicated fans of their property would lie so far outside of the target demographic. Adult single men are not supposed to enjoy the same properties as the stated 6 -11-year-old target market of this program. Whither the bronies? Bronies and transgressive fandom In his seminal work Fan Cultures, Matt Hills presents modern fandom as both a product of subjective processes (such as the fans attribution of personal significance to a text) and simultaneously a product of objective processes (such as the texts exchange value or wider cultural value) (Hills, 2002, p.113). These processes combine to create what Abercrombie & Longhurst describe as a type of skilled audience that helps people construct particular identities, although they do stipulate that these audiences are an imagined community on the part of media producers (Ambercrombie & Longhurst, 1998, p.121). However, the internet boom in fanboy communities in the 14 years since Abercrombie & Longhurst first advanced this conceptualization may temper such descriptions as imaginary. Jenkins (2006a, p.133) notes: Fans are the most active segment of the media audience, one that refuses to simply accept what they are given, but rather insists on the right to become full participants. None of this is new. What has shifted is the visibility of fan culture. Fanboys have become a very visible and dominant force in cultural production in the 21st century, as evidenced by Jenkins characterization of them as, elite consumers [that] exert a disproportionate influence on media culture in part because advertisers and media producers are so eager to hold their attention (Jenkins, 2006a, p.23). Fanboys participation in convergence culture, i.e. the desires of media conglomerates to expand their empires across multiple platforms and by the desires of consumers to have the media they want where they want it, when they want it, and in the format they want (Jenkins, 2006b), have repositioned the emotionally-invested fan away from earlier, traditional conceptions of

The ballad of Derpy Hooves 9 intense fans as basement-dwelling nerds to a highly coveted demographic market share. As Adam Sternbergh (2010) notes: Once, a fanboy was defined by isolation: a taste for films, or comic books, or pulp novels, or TV shows that flourished in the shadowed cracks of the culture, ignored or dismissed by the mainstream. You loved what you loved, in part, because it spoke directly to you, and in part because most other people didnt feel the same way. That was the whole point Now, of course, fanboys all hang out on the Internet, and they are legion. And if there is one thing the internet is good for, its bringing together like-minded people, then convincing them that their opinion is the only valid one in existence If you are wild about Christopher Nolan films, you can easily find others who are nuts about Nolan, and soon you will wonder how anyone else could possibly feel any different. To use a fanboy-approved metaphor, the internet is like the Tree of Souls in Avatar: a place to plug in and feel as one. But this polarization along with the fanboys newfound cultural clout has led to a kind of groupthink. Once the outcast underdogs, fanboys have become the new bullies. In an effort to cater to fanboy culture, media producers have elevated fanboys to opinionleader status. However, media producers still see fanboy participation as something they can start and stop, channel and reroute, commodify and market (Jenkins, 2006a, p. 169). Thus, when fans behave in ways media producers do not expect, there is a mad scramble to co-opt and recontextualize the fandom. If, as many contend, fandom is a performative act (Duchesne, 2010; Guschwan, 2011; Walker, 2012), then fandom is inherently an exhibition of the procurement and presentation of expertise. The casual fan is not admitted to fanboy status; fanboys must, as earlier mentioned, demonstrate skill by way of close textual reading and in -depth interpretation of the media property. While, on the surface, this may seem like yet another example of Katz, Blumler and Gurevitchs (1973) Uses and Gratifications theory, fanboy culture is less about what fans do with media and more about how fans feel about media the emotional investment in the media fans consume. True fanboys are not only demonstrating their knowledge of the property; they are demonstrating their love for the property. Thus, the wide range of behaviors that mark insider fans as distinct from outsider fans: how long one has been a fan, intimate knowledge of storylines and/or how those storylines came to be created, and so on. Media producers, in their attempts to commodify this fan behavior, provide this type of insider knowledge - through DVD commentaries, for example, or deleted scenes or exclusive content. These allow fanboys to engage with these texts not in a rationally detached but in an emotionally involved and invested way (Gray, Sanvoss & Harrington, 2007, p.10). Television programs such as Lost (2004) and Heroes (2006) went out of their way to cater to the fanboy population, with hypermythologized storylines that required both regular viewing and a regular online presence in order to fully understand the narratives. Fanboys are thereby encouraged to attach themselves to these properties as personal statements an outward representation of devotion. When fanboys attach themselves to cultural properties which were not intended for them, it can be easy to write the fandom off as a sort of ironic statement. However, bronies exhibit much of what could be thought of as neo-sincerity. Watercutter (2010) notes: There was this very strong sense in the 90s of irony, of everyone being in the theater and being really ironically funny, and that they were smarter than the movie calling something a guilty pleasure or saying I only like it ironically was a way to avoid ridicule Following the Sept. 11 terror attacks the detached, sarcastic smartass stance just didnt seem appropriate its increasingly becoming less and less popular for critiques to be framed in the smart-alecky tone of someone dead-set on proving theyre smarter than Dancing With

10. Bell the Stars Neo-sincerity is a move away from this brand of irony. Bronies do not engage in, appreciate or enjoy MLP:FIM ironically. They consume the property sincerely, which makes them a target of attack from the endangered species of ironist still hanging on to a 90s sensibility about popular culture. So -called anti-bronies groups have popped up on Facebook; typing Anti -Bronies into Google produced 229,000 results, as of this writing. The majority of anti-bronies postings read to the effect of, I figured Id make a sanctuary for anti-bronies. Those of us that believe its disgusting how middle-aged men watch, and enjoy, a show meant for little girls (Lavafrost, 2012). However, the ironists fail to grasp the nature of Brony fandom. As Defpon3 (2012) commented: Most anti-brony attitudes stem from the simple fact of not understanding what being a brony is really about. They think of bronies as people who only like to sit around and watch colorful talking ponies. The truth is, for many bronies, the show is not the only part of the fandom that they enjoy. There are incredible pieces of artwork, music, and literature that can be enjoyed without watching a single second of the show ... Some people cannot see the show for what it is. All they care about is the fact that it has to do with My Little Pony. They think of bronies as people who watch a show that is meant for little kids. Never mind the fact that it is chalk [sic] full of incredible animation, dynamic characters, great humor, clever scripting, and important life lessons. I guess they also might as well ignore the fact that Lauren Faust said herself that she created the show with the intent that it would be watched/enjoyed by absolutely everyone. Bronies, quite simply, do not care that MLP:FIM is not for them. While this type of sincere attachment may be viewed as transgressive on several levels male interest in a girls property, adult interest in a childrens property, sincerity in a world of irony in practice, there is very little that is transgressive about the manifestations of brony fandom. Brony fanboys love MLP:FIM for much the same reasons that Trekkies love Star Trek or Denver Broncos fans love John Elway. As Grossberg (1992, p.59) explains: By making certain things or practices matter, the fan authorizes them to speak for him or her, not only as a spokesperson but also as surrogate voices (as when we sing along to popular songs). The fan give authority to that which he or she invests in, letting the object of such investments speak for and as him or herself. Fans let them organize their emotional and narrative lives and identities. In a world in which it is increasingly difficult for men to emotionally attach to other men, where female same-sex friendships provide more emotional and informational support, experience more self-disclosure and trust, and engage in more support, openness, and interaction maintenance behaviors than in males same-sex friendships, (Hall, 2011, p.725) adult men have sought and found those qualities in a feminized surrogate Ponyville, the fictional home of the MLP:FIM gang. The ironist asks, Why would a bunch of grown men sit around watching a television show for little girls about cartoon ponies? The brony simply responds, Because its nice. And good. Fan creations are part and parcel of the insider fan experience, from manga cosplay (Bryce, Barber, Kelly, Kunwar & Plumb, 2010) to new versions of existing music (Sen, 2010) to extensive back stories for relatively minor characters (and, often, major characters) through fan fiction (Land, 2010). Lancaster (2001) points out that fans create their own personal texts in order to perform, enact, share in, and see scenes that the canonical author never created (p.131).

The ballad of Derpy Hooves 11 Those creative fanboys Often, these non-canonical texts are created with little or no regard for copyright or intellectual property laws. For example, J.R.R. Tolkiens estate operates a website in which it clearly states: You are of course free to do whatever you like for your own private enjoyment, but there is no question of any commercial exploitation of this form of "fan-fiction". Also, in these days of the internet, and privately produced collectors items for sale on eBay, we must make it as clear as possible that the Tolkien Estate never has, and never will authorize the commercialisation or distribution of any works of this type. The Estate exists to defend the integrity of J.R.R. Tolkiens writings (Tolkeinestate.com, 2007). According to US copyright law, the Tolkein estate could sue the producer of a fan property for as much as $150,000 (17 U.S.C. 504 (c) (2)). Clearly, Tolkeins estate is not interested in actually exercising those legal rights; there are literally tens of thousands of Lord of the Rings fan-created properties on the internet, none of which appear to have been litigated against. In fact, the number of fan fiction cases that actually go to court is remarkably low; most fan fiction archives have disclaimers on their sites that clearly state that a fan fiction will be taken down at the original authors request (Lady MacBeth 2006). If fact, as Cathy Young (2007) points out: [Fan fictions] legal status may be a bit precarious, but fan writers are generally left alone. JK Rowling's decision to welcome Harry Potter fanfic undoubtedly has helped boost the genre's legitimacy, and recently even some anti-fanfic writers have softened their stance. [Anne] McCaffrey, who once threatened legal action against fanfic sites, now permits them with the same stipulations as Rowling: They must be noncommercial and nonpornographic . However, the option of legal action is still available, and the threat of such suits (in the form of a Cease and Desist letter) is often enough to force a fan producer to remove his/her work from the internet voluntarily. Fans, however, find ways to fight back. Attempts to impose copyright laws on the creative work of fandom have often resulted in severe backlash toward media producers from fan communities. Some media producers simply do not want fan fiction (and fan-created properties) to exist at all. For example, Anne Rices notorious demand that no one create fan fiction containing her characters is internet legend. Rices (2012) website states: I do not allow fan fiction. The characters are copyrighted. It upsets me terribly to even think about fan fiction with my characters. I advise my readers to write your own original stories with your own characters. It is absolutely essential that you respect my wishes. Fan response was swift and sharply negative (Croatoan, 2000), and is often used as the case study for how not to engage fan-created work, as Rice is seen as somewhat of a pariah in online fandom (EmmaStory, 2004). More recently, both GRR Martin, the creator of Game of Thrones (Martin, 2010) and Diana Gabaldon (Gabaldon, 2010), the creator of the Outlander series, have come out hard against fan created work based on their respective properties, with Gabaldon going so far as to liken it to someone selling your children into white slavery (Gabaldon 1998) and stating that it makes [her] want to barf whenever [shes] inadvertently encountered some of it involving [her] characters (Gabaldon 2010). In contrast, some of the biggest media properties in film history have embraced fan creator culture. George Lucas, once notoriously anti-fan-properties, now holds an annual Star Wars Fan Movie Challenge, in which he encourages fans to submit work that later screens at Comicon. Awards are given in categories such as Best Sequel and Spirit of Fandom, with

12. Bell the grand prize handed out in a category titled George Lucas Selects (starwarsblog, 2011). CBS has continued to uphold Paramount Pictures long-standing policy to allow distribution of fan-created Star Trek work as long as the creator does not make a profit (Shuster, 2006). This policy has led to hundreds of fan-made films, and even one fan-made internet series (Star Trek: The New Voyages) that eventually included original Star Trek cast members George Takei and Walter Koenig as guest stars (Shuster, 2006). To be certain, Derpy Hooves is not the first time fan culture has influenced the media property it embraces. For example, the collectible card game Legend of the Five Rings allows fans to submit everything from new card designs to tournament results that have lasting effects on the game itself (L5R.com). Video games such as World of Warcraft and City of Heroes have repeatedly hosted events in which the actions of players change the storyline of the game completely; the storyline of Eve, for instance, is entirely player-produced based on in-game events. Games are, by their very nature, transitive, though the storyline is designed to differ, in ways both large and small, each time the game is played. Similarly, fan efforts have repeatedly been used to save or resurrect their devotional properties, most often in television. For example, in 1968, fans demonstrated outside NBC Studios in protest of the cancellation of Star Trek; the show was given one more season before its eventual demise in 1969 (Boucher 2008). In 2001, the WB received over 6,000 bottles of Tabasco sauce (the favorite food of one of the programs main chara cters) in support of Roswell; the show was kept on the air an additional two years (Hollander 2001). In 2003, Fox cancelled the series Firefly in one of the most well-known mishandlings of a popular culture launch in television history; in 2005, fan petitions, email campaigns and letter writing campaigns led to the production of the feature film Serenity (Beatrice 2005). More recently, fans have gotten the sitcom Arrested Development resurrected from its 2006 cancellation with new episodes streamed directly through Netflix (Itzkoff 2013), and fans of Veronica Mars are privately funding, through Kickstarter, a feature-length Veronica Mars film (Beard 2013). Fans have certainly influenced the production of popular culture. However, in the annals of fan-creation history, there is little indication that fan producers have ever incorporated fan work into a canonical property the size and fiscal scope of My Little Pony for obvious reasons, including threats of plagiarism/derivative work. MLP:FIM stands alone in this new frontier of fan-producer interaction. The Origins of Derpy Hooves On October 25, 2010, a poster with the handle Dr. Foreigner posted on 4Chan, Go to 17:18 into the first episode and look at the ponies in the background (amazonaws.com, 2010). The background pony to which he was referring is a grey-colored pony that, due to animator error, has one of its eyes drawn upside down. In noting the animator error on the background pony, Dr. Foreigner posted, And so the legend of Derpy Hooves was born (amazonaws.com, 2010). The expression derp was coined by Trey Parker and Matt Stone in their feature film Baseketball, but was significantly advanced in a 1999 episode of their Comedy Central program South Park. In The Succubus, Parker and Stone introduce Mr. Derp, a character satirizing television catch-phrases by hitting himself on the head with a hammer and shouting, Derp!. The wall-eyed expression on Mr. Derps face became known across the internet as Derpface and spawned several spinoff internet memes, such as herpaderp and Derpina. Derpy Hooves is an extension of that meme, although Lauren Faust (2010) insists that particular pony was never intended to have a name:

The ballad of Derpy Hooves 13 I lurk around a bit and I noticed the Derpy phenomenon. As far as I know, her wall eyed moment was an accident --- or perhaps a layout artist entertaining him/herself. Who knows? Background ponies have no names, and their butt symbols are picked at random, so she can be Derpy if everyone likes. A later episode references a less-than-intelligent local pegasus named Ditzy Doo so maybe she can be her if we ever need to show her. But I would not want to step on everyones Derpy love. In response to fans, Faust posted a sketch on her own DeviantArt page (Fig. 1), which she labeled derpy11.jpg. Subsequently, Derpy Hooves made several Easter egg appearances throughout Season 2, including bobbing for apples in the Halloween episode and appearing for a moment in an argument with the mayor of Ponyville. In the meantime, MLP:FIM for the first time acknowledged the presence of the Brony community in an advertisement for the program. Entitled Equestria Girls, the 30-second spot parodied Katy Perry and Snoop Doggs California Gurrls and included the lyrics, Our Bronies hang out too, cause they know were awesome fillies (equestriagirls.com, 2012).

Fig. 1: Lauren Fausts Derpy Hooves Sketch

As Derpys popularity increased online, so too did her extensive backstory. In the space of a few months, Derpy Hooves was given a job Ponyvilles mail mare (DarkonShadows, 2011) part-time work as the assistant to Dr. Whooves (UniqaChica, 2012), and even a daughter. In Call of the Cutie (S2E12), Derpy is seen with a small, purple filly fans began to call Dinky Hooves. The culmination of this clever interaction between brony fan fiction creation and the MLP:FIM team is a 57-second scene in S2E14, The Last Roundup. In the episode, main cast character Rainbow Dash is shown decorating the town hall. Her tail is struck by lightning and she turns to the grey pegasus and clearly says, Now, careful Derpy. You dont want to do

14. Bell any more damage than youve already done. The roof of the town hall then collapses. Derpy is shown bouncing up and down on a rain cloud, throwing small lightning bolts around haphazardly. Derpy responds, I just dont know what went wrong . She continues to accidentally wreck the town hall for the rest of the scene. Not only was Derpy Hooves canonized by being given a name, but she was given lines and voiced in the episode by Tabitha St Germain, the voice actress of main characters Rarity and Granny Smith. The selection of St Germain to voice Derpy indicates this was not a throwaway scene with some extra character using an unknown voice a main player was chosen to represent transgressive fandom. Bronies flooded Equestria Daily with posts (equestriadaily.com, 2012) in support. The bronies had created fandom history. Again, to be sure, this is not the first time fan culture has influenced the production of the canonical text. However, fans actually creating canonical content is incredibly rare, indeed, and normally limited to much smaller, more niche properties. The demise of Derpy Hooves When The Last Roundup was released to iTunes in late January of 2012, fans were greeted with a shocking surprise the voice of Derpy had been rerecorded. Additionally, the name Derpy had been removed from the episode, and her eyes had been redrawn so that both faced the same direction. It was soon discovered by the bronies community that the studio, the writers, the voice actors and Hasbro had all received complaints about Derpy, contending that the character was insulting to the mentally handicapped (Gallant, 2012). A DeviantArt post by Elena Barbarich (under the handle Yamino) stated, I dont see how people can still try to make the argument that the majority of fandom doesnt treat [Derpy] as one giant retard joke, when pictures like this are so rampant in the community. Its not even funny. I honestly dont get the appeal (Barbarich, 2012). The picture in question (Fig. 2) was drawn by a poster named K -Bo. Chungyen Chang (2012) penned a letter to Lauren Faust (although, at the time of her writing, Faust was no longer involved with the show) stating: I have seen people being bullied for having a derp face, back before it had a name. I have heard of people with disabilities being harassed, in public, on multiple occasions, with the derp meme (or similar sounds). Im sure that weve all seen it happen, long before the meme labeled it Making fun of people for not being able to interact and express themselves in the same way as the rest of us is ableist and extremely hurtful for those of us who deal with it every day. It doesnt mat ter if it came from South Park or started out in some innocent way what matters is how it is actually used now. In addition, the official source of bronies merchandise, welovefine.com, was ordered to remove all use of the word Derpy on all merchandise and to discontinue any merchandise containing her likeness (Gallant, 2012).

The ballad of Derpy Hooves 15

Fig. 2: K-Bos Dare to be Stupid, posted by Yamino

The bronies community was outraged. Hundreds of posts appeared on bronies forums, contending that Derpy Hooves was not mentally handicapped and had never been referred to in that manner by insider fans. She was simply clumsy. Two pieces of evidence belie that claim. First, Tabitha St Germains voice characterization of Derpy was distinct ly unfeminine. St Germain herself claimed that she had no clue that Derpy was female, and that she had based the voice on a neighbors son (Gallant). While masculinizing the voice does not necessarily indicate Derpy as mentally challenged, coupled with the slowness with which St Germain voices the character and fan knowledge that Derpy Hooves is female, the interpretation is certainly not out of the question. A comparison of the two versions of Derpys voice can be heard at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v= SdZvrs6lp3o. Secondly, and certainly more damning, one of the first responses to Dr. Foreigners initial Derpy Hooves post stated: ahahaha, is that a retard pony in the back? (amazonaws.com, 2012). Yamino received hundreds of irate emails, containing everything from mild irritation to death threats. Bronies sent emails to anyone they felt would listen. The #SaveDerpy movement on Twitter and Tumblr gained momentum, castigating Hasbro, The Hub and the small number of anti-Derpy fans online for censorship and claiming it was Yamino who redefined the term derp to equate with mentally handicapped. A more interesting line of defense began to mount for Derpy on DeviantArt. Artists came out of the woodwork to rebuke Yamino for misusing the word ableist . Artwork began to appear, essentially stating, So what if Derpy is mentally handicapped? Does that mean she shouldnt exist? (Figs. 3, 4 and 5). Appropriating memes such as Condescending Wonka , the bronies fought back ferociously against claims Derpy was being made fun of at all. On the contrary, bronies love Derpy and want her to be included, which turned Yamato into the villain, trying to hide Derpy away for her own good . Yamato was painted as worse than

16. Bell ableist, for wanting to normalize Derpy just because she is different. In their attempts to combat what they saw as ableism, the anti-Derpy crusaders were labeled as offensive themselves, as condescending outsiders trying to save someone who neither needed nor wanted to be saved.

Fig. 3: PixelKitties DeviantArt (http://pixelkitties.deviantart.com/art/Derpy-Poster-One-283028491)

The ballad of Derpy Hooves 17

Fig. 4: Supergaias Condescending Wonka (http://supergaia.deviantart.com/art/Derpy-Meme-2-287327665)

Fig. 5. Getanacocunttheysaids DeviantArt (http://getanacocunttheysaid.deviantart.com/art/ Derpy-is-a-very-pretty-pony-287454126)

18. Bell There is an argument to be made that the Bronies reaction to the attack on Derpy Hooves was not about Derpy herself. Derpy Hooves was the creation of the bronies community and her inclusion in the canon of the MLP:FIM universe was a tacit inclusion of the bronies in the MLP:FIM fan community, not as strange, interloping outsiders, but as just one of the ponies. It was a nod from the shows creators and writers that there is nothing wrong with transgressive fandom - that the bronies were welcome, too. Through Derpy Hooves, the brony community was accepted and legitimized by the very focal property to which they were so devoted. Derpy, as a metonym for the bronies, was a clear indication to the rest of MLP: FIM fandom to, essentially, back off. Synecdochally, Derpy was the perfect image to represent the bronies: Derpy was clumsy, but essentially like every other pony. She was different, just like the bronies. They were different, but essentially the same as every other fan. Initially, Derpy Hooves existed only in the background, where she was seen but not heard she was a part of the community, but not one that anyone knew or cared about. In positioning her as a speaking character with a real name and lines, interacting with the main players, the animators also brought the bronies into the open. Clearly, some people viewed the brony community as a threat; transgression, whenever it occurs, is by its very nature counter to the status quo, and any challenge to any hegemonic structure will necessarily meet with resistance from the majority community. Derpy Hooves (and the bronies) could exist as long as she was silently operating in the background, but once she was put front and center, it was an open invitation for assault. Derpy needed to know her place . In attacking Derpy Hooves as a caricature of the mentally handicapped, Yamino and company were, in a very real way, attacking the bronies themselves. Again, Derpy stood as a synecdoche of the brony community itself; if there was something wrong with Derpy, then there was something wrong with the bronies. Derpy Hooves didnt belong on a childrens program and neither did the bronies. Therefore, when the DeviantArt bronies community asks, Why do you hate me? (Fig. 5), its a question just as much about the bronies as it is about Derpy. Derpy Hooves, v. 2.0 In response to letters from #SaveDerpy, Amy Keating Rogers, the writer of The Last Roundup, issued a statement stating that at the time the episode was written, the character was named Ditzy Doo and confirming that she was clumsy and a bit dingy (Rogers, 2012). In the second draft of the episode, she was asked to change Ditzy Doo to Derpy and, not knowing that Derpy meant anything beyond klutzy and clumsy , agreed to the change (Rogers, 2012). Rogers had no knowledge of the backlash until she began to receive emails, at which point, she watched the episode. She offers, 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 (Rogers, 2012). Although many emails categorized Rogers as ableist, her own internet search of the term derp returned definitions of embarrassing and awkward (Rogers, 2012). It wasnt until much later that she found any reference at all of derp to retarded . Ironically, Rogers is the mother of a severely disabled son and an advocate for the disabled, and had never heard the term derp associated with mental disability. She also notes 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

The ballad of Derpy Hooves 19 Offended (Rogers, 2012). That said, Rogers (2012) ends her statement siding with the removal of Derpy: 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 children - our target audience to call other children "derpy" with that meaning behind it . In all rebroadcasts of The Last Roundup, the name Derpy Hooves has been replaced with Ditzy Doo, and the iTunes version of the episode remains re-voiced. However, due to the overwhelming response from the bronies community, welovefine.com has been allowed to sell Derpy merchandise again. One of the shows animators, DeviantArt handle Kreoss (2012) stated on his own DeviantArt page: Derpy has became more than just some fancy Easter egg in the show. She's became an Icon, a symbol to the fans of MLP:FIM. Though Derpy was created in a studio, her character was created by the fans. You can probably say that she represents all Bronies everywhere. Fans have enjoyed Derpy whenever they see her in the background until the point when she talked. The entire studio loves her as well On the issue on Derpy whether she'll have the same Derp face expression and stuff. As an animator of the show, rest assured, she'll be fine. It is important to note that even during the height of the controversy, the animators of MLP:FIM never even considered removing Derpy Hooves from the program. In fact, a viewing of every episode of MLP:FIM reveals every Derpy Hooves sighting is still perfectly intact, including her appearances with Dinky and her dialogue scene with Rainbow Dash. The name has been changed to alleviate the concerns of negative connotation with the mentally challenged, but the animators have resumed drawing her with crossed eyes, and have gone back to replace the eyes they had earlier changed during the controversy. Despite the best attempts by some to ostracize (and banish) Derpy (and, by extension, the bronies community) from Ponyville, the creators of MLP:FIM appear to have sided with legitimating transgressive fandom. The changing of Derpys name indicates that, in order for the bronies to continue to participate, they must conform, to some extent, to the parameters established for all MLP:FIM fandom (no derogatory terms allowed, even if unintentional), and that seems like a perfectly reasonable compromise. For all intents and purposes, Derpy Hooves lives on. Conclusion That this controversy and subsequent resolution stemmed from the recognition of a fan subculture by the media producers of a popular culture text is a new frontier for the study of fandom. While the producers at Studio B may not have fully understood the historicity of their creation, its impact is in no way diminished by the decision to alter Derpys reality ; for the most part, none of the alterations were permanent, at any rate. The very existence of Derpy Hooves is an evolution of the producer/fan relationship and an acknowledgement that transgressive fans can be as important to the producers of a popular culture text as the intended target market. There is probably some truth to the contention that bronies are simply a nouveau novelty in a long list of fanboy communities, but for one shining moment, a singular message was crystal clear: in a land where friendship is magic, everyone is welcome even those who arent supposed to belong. It is no subtle irony that such an inclusive stance toward transgressive fans was met with claims of discrimination. Whether that claim is valid is debatable, but the victory achieved by the bronies legitimation of their transgressive fandom is patently undeniable.

20. Bell References

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