Monday, February 25, 2013

Derpy Hooves (or Ditzy Doo)

Hello again! Today on Gate to Bronydom, we are going to talk about a very importent character in the Brony fanbase. That character is...

Derpy Hooves (or Ditzy Doo) !
(Vector by TheDarkestDayDream)

Derpy Whooves on the show is nothing more than a background character, but in the Brony fandom she is a mascot! She was first spotted in the first episode of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Ever since fans spotted her, her popularity exploded!

Ever since then, Bronies have been drawing fanart of her, writing fanfics of her adventures, given her a family and most of all a personality. Of course the creators of the show noticed this activity. So in response, the creators put her in each episode (Up to most of season 3. Their is a reason why.), but not in blatantly obvious places . It was kinda like playing "Where's Waldo?" except with a grey Pegasus.
 
The creators also dropped hints about Derpy in the show and in the products they sell. For one, her job is delivering mail to other ponies and the other is that her favorite food is muffins.

Why all this attention to one Pegasus with silly eyes and a streak of clumsiness? Like for the many reasons people like to watch My Little Pony: FiM, their are many reasons why people like Derpy. For me, I felt like I could relate to her. We both have a disorder of some kind (Derpy with her eyes. Me with my Asbergers) and we are both clumsy. Also her crossed eyed expressions are adorable!

Things were looking great for the grey mailmare. That was...until the episode "The Last Roundup" aired...
  
Oh my goodness the internet exploded when Derpy talked! Actually, it exploded twice, because Rainbow Dash referred to Derpy by name! This was a momentous event to Bronies everywhere! The creators of the show actually cared about the Bronies! This was like a love letter to us!

Now of course, parents and other bronies had a problem with Derpy talking on the show. They said that Derpy's voice made her sound like she had special needs. They also said that Rainbow Dash was speaking way to harsh to Derpy, being "special needs" and all. Their was a giant flame ware between Bronies who like the original scene better (I'm in that camp) and Bronies (along with parents) who thought the scene was immorally wrong. So the creators went back and redid the scene...
   
This action only put oil to the flame war. So the creators decided to just put the redone scene on the itunes store, and just use the original scene for the DVD and future episodes (As in repeats). Derpy has not been seen much for the rest of season 2 and  most of season 3. She reappears in the season 3 finale though!

So why exactly am I talking about Derpy, when I could be talking about something else? Well, for one I'm a fan of Derpy, and two their is actually a day completely dedicated to her on March 1st called Derpy Day 2013: Operation Indiscriminate Friendship. On this day, you eat muffins, write someone a letter, and take a picture of yourself cross-eyed. Well I'm going to take it a step further! I'm going to be giving all my friends at college muffins (and maybe my teacher if their are any left.)! I'm going to make this the best start to the longest month of the year!

Thanks for reading! Have a very Derpy Day!
    (Painted by shinodage)



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