Postby mechana2015 » Sat Feb 25, 2012 10:08 pm
I really don't think it's done that. Ditzy was in the most recent episode, and any rift would be the fans reacting poorly and throwing a fit at Hasbro, though I wouldn't be surprised if Hasbro put a damper on adding more 'fan inspired material' to the show due to the insensitivity accusations, or at least slowed it down so they could take a harder look at it before they set it loose. I think they'll probably stick to aiming toys and external product like a white Celestia at 'older fans' while they regain their footing, since I expect they didn't expect the backlash they got.
The way the change was made indicates to me it wasn't to make older fans happy, otherwise it would have been left alone as about half the older fans were happy with it, but to respond to complaints more along the lines that I pointed out. The voice and name were also the target of the people who were pointing out that it was a negative stereotype, as I pointed out briefly in my first post, and being told it's a negative stereotype sort of thing would hold a lot more weight to a corporation than 'the fans' (who aren't their target market, as has been stated by Hasbro and the creators myriad times) complaining. Media corporations like Hasbro, especially ones in the business of entertaining children are the most sensitive to any accusations of stereotyping or other wrongdoing of that nature out there, merely due to the nature of their product, and from the view of a corporation, reacting to angry parents and anti-stereotyping activists takes high priority over the complaints of a periphery demographic that the show was designed to be tolerable to, but not the primary target.
Her name and voice were the prime complaints, with her actions being cited as backup evidence, so the fact they cut those specifically makes sense. In addition, they couldn't cut the scene, because A. without the voice and name, she is just clumsy, as originally intended. B. There would be no reason for the entire episode without it.
Hasbro has been well reasoned and responsive, if a little caught off guard by the fan phenomena, so I see no reason to cry doom over the whole situation, and I expect that they will remain cautiously positive towards older fans and throw a few bits their way while maintaining a strong focus on their target market. If they really wanted to overreact they'd just pull the entire episode, and Derpy/Ditzy would never appear again, white celestia would be cancelled and they'd be hitting Equestria Daily with a Cease & Desist nuke. That hasn't happened so far and the animators have stated ditzy/derpy isn't gone (and she wasn't cut from the next few episodes), so unless other things happen I'd say chill out.