I think the Luna episode did a pretty good job of avoiding most people's fanon interpretations of her and somehow not angering anyone.

And the same with Luna's introduction. A surprising number of fanfics survived that interpretation, even with YE ROYAL CAPSLOCK. And best of all, they did it while surprising the hell out of all the fans.

edited 5th Dec '12 6:02:39 PM by CDRW

They probably weren't too knowledgeable about the fanon in the first place.

Aren't the writers not allowed to read any fanfic?

They knew about Derpy...

Since when does she fail lol

They may not read fanfic, but they do look at artwork, so they get a pretty good idea of what background ponies are popular and what sort of fanon there is about them.

Let that be a lesson to us all

Yeah, there's a difference between reading fanfic and being aware of the general fandom attitude towards the characters. They're almost certainly aware of the latter on some level.

I wonder if any of the staff sneak looks at the fanfics.

If I ever write something that generates such a large volume of fanfiction, I would definitely read it.

well they can claim deniability since everyone knows they aren't allowed to read fan-fics, so long as it's not blatent, they could read and use a little.

if it's an ongoing series you can't, once it's over yeah, but all sorts of regulations prevent creative staff of ongoing works from reading fan-fics or asking for fan idea to much, since it can cuase legal hell if something they use later looks like it came from a fic and they stole it, even if they had the same idea on their own

edited 5th Dec '12 6:24:31 PM by Seraphem

Is it just me, or is there quite a bit of Spike/Dash on Derpibooru lately?

Wait, why aren't they allowed to read fanfics?

@CDRW: They wouldn't if they want to keep their jobs. There are legal reasons for them not being allowed to read fan fic.

So, going by the general pattern of how big fanon has been effected by episodes directly related to them, I speculate that we will find out that Scootaloo doesn't actually live with her parents, but some other family like her grandparents or an aunt and uncle couple.

There is no real basis for that, other then how other fanon has fared in potentially destructive episodes.

A fan fic writer could sue them for control of the work if they can prove that they stole an idea from one of their fics. And in case your wondering, yes that has happened.

edited 5th Dec '12 6:27:38 PM by Mio

becuase JMS once particpated in fan threads and helppd talk to them about fics and ideas, and then a fan purposd an episode idea that JMS had already writeen and he ended up having to go through legal hell to prove HE had the idea before that person told it to him and he wasn't just claiming credit.

edited 5th Dec '12 6:26:19 PM by Seraphem

Writers in general aren't allowed to read fanfiction of whatever they're writing for, for plausible denialability. That way, they can't be sued for swiping someone else's idea.

Oh, really?

Aw.

Legal issues, man.

Sepcificly it as a B5 episode "Passing Through Gethsemane" about a mind wipe criminal who was living as a monk, ith no memeory of his life as a serial killer. The families of his victims track him down and slowly begin working to make him remeber so they can have their own vengeance.

Derpy ain't fanfiction. She's an omnipresent fanon force. There's a difference.

She is pretty much gone beyond the fandom by this point, actually.

Transcending into a physical form and walking amongst us?

My little sister cut out this picture of Derpy and hides it in places where you'll find it unexpectedly.

Like, she peeks out from behind knick knacks or she's taped to the inside of the cabinet or something. It's fun.

That is the most adorable thing ever.