Dragon Dicks II: The Dickening · 7:09am Sep 30th, 2014
The Internet is a scary and powerful thing. Apparently, IDW listened to the feedback from their readers. Ted Anderson's deal with IDW is rumored to have been terminated.
(Note: This email was not sent to me, but several emails from different sources have been confirmed as sent. IDW has yet to release an official statement.)
Assuming that this report turns out to be accurate, I have mixed feelings regarding what happened. I'm saddened by the part I played in ending Mr Anderson's career with IDW. I'm saddened that his actions forced the fans of the comics to speak out in protest. I'm saddened that he was unwilling to treat a majority of his audience with respect. I'm saddened that he used his job as a means of promoting sexism and bigotry by including a self-proclaimed misandrist in a comic he wrote. Free speech doesn't mean that people are free from the consequences of what they say.
Ted Anderson's stories weren't some of my favorites, but I did like the Pinkie Pie Micro comic he wrote. 
The description for that issue on IDW's website is a little ironic in hindsight, considering what happened to Anderson.
"When the famous clown Ponyacci comes to Ponyville, Pinkie Pie learns a startling secret about him that could ruin his career!"
While metamfiezomaiophobia technically applies to clowns and mimes, Ponyacci believed that, in practice, metamfiezomaiophobia can really only refer to fearing mimes more than clowns. "Clowns aren't capable of experiencing the same level of discrimination and persecution that mimes have endured over the years."
I'm concerned by what the firing of Ted Anderson means for the My Little Pony comics moving forward. I hope that the ponified pop culture references aren't eliminated. I would hate it if they were omitted in future issues because the writers were afraid that such cameos might be too edgy and result in them getting fired.
We need to let IDW know that we appreciate their willingness to resolve the issue regarding Ted Anderson's actions in a timely and professional manner. I don't want the other contributors of the comic to worry about offending their fans. All we want is to be treated in a respectful manner, which is a lesson that Ted Anderson learned too late.
Of course, now that the public outcry has resulted in the termination of Ted Anderson, Cutosphere and her ilk will cite this as an example of "bronies using their bully pulpit to silence a champion of social justice." Metamfiezomaiophobia is a fear of mimes, clowns and people in disguise. Social Justice Warriors would certainly apply, since they wear a mask of compassion in order to protect themselves from the consequences of their hate speech. For those looking for a real example of promoting gender equality, check out Emma Watson's speech to the UN.
I can watch a movie and enjoy it even if I disagree politically with everyone who worked on the film. The same philosophy applies to comics. I don't care about the political ideology of the people writing the My Little Pony comics. They can be Republican, Democrat or Communist, etc. I don't care. They can be pro-life, against the death penalty or advocating for legalized marijuana. The only time there's a problem is when the political opinions of the staff are reflected in the content of the comics.
Keep politics out of My Little Pony.
"Fame is fleeting, but the Internet is forever." -Ferb
ha
Been hearing a lot of grumbles about the comics.
Most people I've seen hate the references... Dunno why, I'm with you, I like them.
~Skeeter The Lurker
wait what did he do? id like a link to the story please
unless its pretty obvious ._.
I absolutely do not approve of the SJW "Kill all men" style of feminism, nor do I lend myself to anyone who would hate on an entire fandom for such contrived reasons, nor do I approve of general dickery, but I still don't like the idea of someone losing their job over it.
I think a lot of people, especially the younger crowd in the MLP fandom, won't recognize the weight of losing a job, or won't think it matters because this guy is "the enemy", but I would much rather have seen some better resolution than this. For lack of a better phrase, I would rather Ted Anderson had "seen the light" than get fired while still being in the dark. It doesn't matter what cutosphere thinks of the situation, but Ted Anderson, regardless of whether or not what he was spewing against the fandom, is now going to go away thinking that we're hateful and close minded, and generally isn't going to be open to any message coming from anyone who claims to be a brony.
I think he should have been fired, not for the beliefs in question, but for the simple fact that no company should have on staff an individual who, even if it is in his free time, posts (or reposts since it has the same affect) something that directly attacks the market-base for the companies product.
How long do you think someone working for Chevrolet would last if all they did in their free time was re-blog posts about how bad gas-guzzling vehicles are and how anyone who buys them is an idiot?
2495556
The cliff notes version is that, in a recent issue of the comics, he gave a cameo to a fan OC of an infamous misandrist who he's a fan of.
2495556
Click "the feedback from their readers" at the top of this post to learn more about what happened. (Or just click the link in this comment.)
2495552
2495559
True. I never advocated he should be fired, even though his actions warranted an immediate dismissal. What would happen to an employee if they spent their free time standing outside where they worked with a megaphone and insulted their customers as they walked inside? What if they used their job as a means of promoting their personal agenda? How long would it take for the employer to fire that individual?
It's a tragic story that didn't need to happen.
2495561
Exactly right. Ted Anderson apologized for putting an OC in the comic, but that's not what offended people. It's what the OC represented, which is something Anderson has yet to acknowledge or apologize for.
2495559 He is publicly insulting paying audience, and adding references to political(/social) extremism in his works.
I know people who were fired for way less.
While I can understand why some people would find it saddening that he lost his job over this, I can't say that I share that sadness. Yes, losing ones job is never fun, I've been there myself and it's a genuine kick in the gut when the news comes. Having said that, with the way he's acted I still feel it's completely justifiable, because things like bigotry and hatred simply cannot be ignored. It'd been one thing if he kept it to himself, then I have absolutely no problem with it (mostly anyway). But when he more or less advocates on behalf of Dragon Dicks, meaning that he probably has no issues with what that person says or does, there needs to be a reaction, and if that means losing his job, then so be it.
This is exactly the sort of response I would expect from just about any employer. Public figures do not have the luxury of separating their personal social media from their work, and the publisher can't afford to be connected to someone expressing those kinds of views on the internet.
I would not be surprised if this incident ends up being severely damaging for Mr. Anderson's career. It's not that I want the man to have difficulty finding work -- I just suspect that it's going to happen.
I try to live by the following set of rules, and I have recommended others do the same on a number of occasions:
1. Don't do anything stupid
2. If you can't avoid #1, don't take pictures
3. If you can't avoid #2, don't post them on the internet
I only actually codified the above after a series of events at my high school made international news and were turned into a Lifetime TV movie. Both the cheerleaders at my school and Mr. Anderson broke all of my rules.
2495602
That's not the point, though.
2495606
I'm not sad that he lost his job. I'm sad that his actions left his employers no choice but to fire him.
2495616
Ah, misreading on my part, then.
Out of curiosity though, what would you rather have seen them do?
2495611
The question is, who will play Ted Anderson in the Lifetime movie?
2495625
Move him off of My Little Pony. If IDW wanted to punish Anderson, they would've assigned him to work on Danger Girl.
recalledcomics.com/DangerGirl1RubyRedIDW.jpg
All that sexual objectification of women would drive any SJW crazy with rage.
Phineas and Ferb are most awesome. I'm sad to say I've only seen like maybe 12'ish episodes. But that "Don't say or do anything you wouldn't say in real life" is something of a mantra of mine.
Thankfully, real life rarely gets me that in your face unless it's something unavoidable or someone's being abused in front of me.
I actually didn't want him fired. Reassigned, yes, but removed from work entirely? That's gonna leave a rather nasty stain on his record of why one was let go, if he really was fired from IDW. Granted, I've yet to go through the Pinkie Pie micro, mainly since the clown it references and the spoilers I was given when speaking with friends, but I enjoyed the art in it. I just couldn't stomach the writing, personally. I wasn't aware he wrote that one though. I guess I was just anticipating something more exciting than Pinkie goes to a circus.
LPS had actually ran a similar story about meeting a famous comedian, a character's idol, in person. Also turned out to be my least favorite LSP episode. It's probably just ingrained in me to dislike those troupes I guess. Having grown up with cartoons from the 80's and 90's that did similar takes if not very much the same as that Pinkie Pie micro. So, I can honestly say I didn't dislike it solely on his writing it, but I didn't like the premise. Maybe it's because the comic got overhyped and led me and others to expect more on a subconscious level? I can't say.
One thing I will say is that I hope it doesn't have any huge impact on him getting another job. I don't like his views but I don't want the man to lose risk losing his home.
You know? You actually linked my favorite moment in that Chrysalis arc with Rarity that was a Rarijack. And honestly made me love and respect the writers for keeping her a cut above the rest and in line with her characterization from Sweet and Elite. You know what that was? She's NOT superficial to a point she'd dislike you for not having the most attractive of facial features. That made me really love and respect Katie's writing even more than I've been loving it throughout the first three comics and the moments in that fourth! xD
I'd be truly sad if this led to a ban on referencing characters. I'm not a huge fan of times when it gets overdone, but look at the Bookworm arc in which is a prime example of references that make sense to have so many thrown in. It it's always cute to see the comic and show staff get inserted from time to time, I have no issues playing Where's Waldo with "Name that character's identity!" which me and many of us love these comics for, maybe not the main reason but it heightens the love we have in the effort the artists put in to the scenery!
I won't apologize for my feelings towards Ted, but I do hope he'll be okay. People do stupid things all the time. Doesn't mean they deserve to suffer for those mistakes. Long as they learn their lesson or put effort into trying to be a better person, that's fine and dandy. But I don't have to like someone to enjoy their work, as my following a few people will prove; not you Bronystories, I love and respect you as a person who just happens to enjoy writing very mature works like 120 DoBB. Your blogs passionate and really shine a lot of light on things more people honestly should strive to talk about more.
But still, don't feel bad. I'm sure everything will work out. I will, and hope many will too, send out word about how much we love references, why they should stay, and that they should probably just explain to the staff that they should keep all forms of hate references that promote political views or attempts to insult a whole race of people or gender.
Sorry for blowing up on your last blog, but at least I avoided responded to the attention whore who quotes shit rather then argue stuff in hopes it makes him feel superior in some way to others when in reality the person is still very much seen by the rest of the world as a brony and no two ways about it is actually a brony by its base definition of the word.
I just like talking ponies. I like being expressive. I like letting my honest opinions out there. And I was genuinely disgusted by certain things they said, true, but I type things things with a level of calm and demeanor that belays what one sees on a screen. I hope I didn't offend you, I can be a bit passionate in my speeches/rants. But I'm not one to just lose my temper or hate anyone for their viewpoints.
P.S. To that one person: Yes, yes I did mention you. You silly person you. And no, you are a brony. Yes, I am perfectly okay with pointing that out.
2495614
It's good enough of a point. Regardless of what we would rather have happen, such as him realizing he was being fairly stupid and thus fixing the error of his ways - the reality is that he was not forced into his newfound cult of man-haters. He chose that path. He chose to identify with them, and he chose to abuse the abilities granted to him by his job and the trust of his employers to spread hate-speech.
It does not matter that it will be difficult for him to find a new job. I would agree with you if he was fired for something harmless, but the circumstances in which one loses their job is more important than the fact it is lost. If you deserved to lose your job, abusing your position for personal interest in some fashion - yes, everything is right with the world. If the job screwed you over, for nothing more than a toe out of line or just because they could - then this is a horrible thing and entirely unfair.
Hate-speech is something definitely worth losing a job over. Especially when working under an IP that originally targets children. I don't want to think about how much worse it might have gotten had he continued to spread such a message to the next and very impressionable generation. The man's views and willingness to abuse his job made him a threat, and for that he no longer deserved it.
Were it up to me, every such threat would be shown the light and in a better world they would realize what they did was wrong and work against their former vocation's errors. But this is not that world - there are corrupt persons in it who choose to do wrong, knowing the consequences. With that in mind, they must have accepted those consequences when accepting their course of action or one can certainly not call them mature adults.
He knew what he had to lose, and he abused his position, his employers, the customers, and those loyal to his work and the work of his colleagues for the praise of the crony (Cuto) of a crazy woman who only hates men because she scared her boyfriend away with her insanity (PP).
Justice is done.
Wow, that escalated quickly.
Reiterating from my comment on the previous post, I feel really gratified that the folks at IDW took this so seriously, and acted so quickly to remedy the problem. As for whether or not firing him was the right thing to do... I wouldn't have asked them to terminate him (simply because that's not how I do things), but the folks at IDW evidently thought it was the right thing to do, and that's good enough for me.
Of course they will. One thing I've come to learn is that folks like that will twist every single thing that they can to try and improve their own standing and/or debase the people that they don't like. No matter what they group they hate does, they'll always attempt to portray it as something bad. Even if said group actually does a genuinely good deed (like donating to charity or something), they'll try to argue that they only did that good deed in order to improve public opinion of themselves, and not out of any actual desire to do good.
I didn't just make that up, either. When bronies donated money to help Michael Morones, one of the sjw crowd (I won't name names) accused them of only donating in order to look good. It was one of the more despicable and deluded things I've ever seen...
2495642
For of all sad words of tongue or pen,
The saddest are these: "It might have been!"
More sad are these we daily see:
"It is, but hadn't ought to be".
Anderson's dismissal was an avoidable tragedy. His termination was appropriate, given the circumstances. I'm just sorry it had to happen.
Thanks again for your insightful feedback!
2495616
This I can agree with. The only sadness I feel for him is that his choices led him to this end. I feel it is a just and deserved end due to those choices, but I do wish he had not made them to begin with.
2495630
Nicolas Cage.
2495640
Maybe. I haven't read that one, but the character seems to be able to handle herself quite nicely. Maybe instead they could've put him to work on some über-stereotypical girl comic where he got to write and draw nothing but tea parties, cake baking and talk of boys.
2495583
It is, as you say "a tragic story that didn't need to happen."
I actually just posted a comment on the previous blog post about how sad all this is. Ted Anderson appears to be more deluded than malicious, but that doesn't change the fact that his actions have consequences. I don't think him being fired was the best outcome, though I can see why IDW went for it - it would have been nice if someone could have explained to him exactly why he was/is in the wrong. Unfortunately, life doesn't always work like that.
2495677
The difficulty exists in the fact that sexists seem to think they are so correct that using perfectly plain logic to show them differently must be some form of heresy. They immediately forget they heard anything at all, and if they are 'polite' enough to let you finish speaking, will immediately spit out rehearsed out-of-context information that, to them, proves you wrong. Or they will simply break down into a fit of childish 'Nuh-uh'-ing. I've seen both in my own discussions with the sort, trying to show the light of human harmony to misogynists and misandrists alike. You know, in the middle of the latter telling me my mother should be strangled with her small intestine for the crime of birthing a son. That was literally said.
I used a sweeping generalization there, it is true. But I believe it is not -so- sweeping as it first appears. If they could be so easily swayed, I truly believe they would have done it themselves simply by having the thought of turning around the genders in one of their arguments, even if on a whim. That way they could see the hypocrisy involved in everything they thought they stood for, and then see themselves out of the cult before they get in too deeply.
Okay, the Shining and It references that you put up there are actually kinda funny.
Play with us, Rainbow...
Come, Pinkie! There are balloons down here, and they all float!
2495640 Top fucking kek
So we can all agree he fucked up and got his just desserts?
In an age where we have access to a boundless amount of platforms in which to voice ones opinions, you have to remember that your audience is as empowered as you are. Free speech works both ways, and now in the age of social media where everything is recorded for posterity, what you say will come back to haunt you.
Disagreeing with part of a fanbase is not inherently a bad thing - level-headed and reasonable debate is a vital cog of understanding, but when you start treating the other side with plain and open contempt, you'll end up with a response just like what happened.
2495611 Very similar to one of my own rues - If you don't want it being seen, don't record it. It is as simple as that.
2495900
Things are getting pretty serious. Even Equestria Daily is commenting on Ted Anderson's termination!
SJW is just the biggest flaming bag of hypocrisy I've seen in a long time. It's sad when madness like this happens. I'm sad to hear a man lost his job for including a reference in a comic, even if the reference was to SJW or something with certain agendas. Here's hoping to more love and tolerance.
Guess I have to come out and say... I'm sorry he got fired.
I was against Brendan Eich being hounded out of the industry, so despite my personal dislike for his political views, I feel like I should be against punishing Mr. Andersen for having them.
But... if the boot was on the other foot, would he do the same for us? In the SJWs we have an enemy that's fundamentally opposed to the concept of liberalism. They "no-platform" anyone who disagrees with them; even allies with insignificant ideological differences get fire alarms and bomb threats for trying to hold meetings.
If I have to be illiberal to defend liberalism against anti-liberals, what does that mean about the strength of liberalism as a philosophy?
Why do ponies have to get wrapped up in this?
If what happened to Mr. Anderson is true, then, while it is unfortunate, it was expected, especially with PR being so critical to companies nowadays with the Internet and social media. He should have either been warned by corporate to keep his views out of the material or just reassigned altogether. It's a shame that it takes something like this for him to learn that pissing all over your audience is like spitting in the wind.
As for Emma Watson, I had no idea about that speech or movement. I knew she was elected UN Women Goodwill Ambassador but I'm just hearing about this HeForShe movement. I used to err on the side of caution by treating any feminist I meet with slight suspicion until I got to know what her feelings really were about gender equality, since almost every feminist I met wasn't really about gender equality and was actually for male oppression. I know it's not good or appropriate, but unfortunately, my experiences have simply made me start doing that. I'm glad that a woman like Emma is standing up and saying that these people are not truly feminists, and that she's calling on both genders for equality. It gives me hope for our species.
Hooray Hermione!
Reminds me of the Zoe Quinnspiracy, except the guilty member has had direct-authoritative action taken against them for their indiscretion.
I'm seeing quite a few people who regret that Anderson may be facing termination as a result of this. Unfortunately it's extraordinarily hard to keep such examinations from blowing up into an angered, bitter crater.
- Matthew 18:15-17
This was was not done. It was mass public message boards first, and now I can only simply express a disappointment at Dragon Dicks, Anderson, and ourselves.
Bloody ballocks.
2496788
So, now we treat Anderson like a tax collector?
2496804 In other words, be friendly, and wait patiently for them to have seen the error of their ways, but acknowledge that they've done wrong, and not pretend like they haven't.
- Mark 2:13-17
2496818
No, no, no. You're supposed to come back with a witty one-liner taxman joke, not a bible quote. It's funnier this way, I promise.
2496945 Not a taxman joke, but it is a one-liner.
[youtube=azKfAfZeSpM]
2496965
You're no fun
2496788 Wellll, people have been talking to them individually for a while. And you can consider going to IDW kiiiind of like complaining to the church.
Which just leaves treating them like tax collectors, and I'm all out of tar and feathers.
2496439
Hooray, indeed.
For the life of me I will never understand how a small group of bronies, denying agency they never had, to cartoon characters could ever attract enough hatred for something like Cutosphere to even exist.
Surely feminists can appreciate complaining about real problems for real women over some dude having an Octavia body pillow? I swear it seems like some feminists are trying as hard as they can to look worse then the MRA's.
2520927
MRA?
Magnetic Resonance Angiogram?
Marketing Research Association?
Michigan Reading Association?
Motorcycle Racing Association?
Massachusetts Restaurant Association?
Metal Roofing Alliance?
Mutual Recognition Agreement?
Oh, I know! MRA must stand for Molestia Rapes Assholes!
2521084 I refuse to believe a net savvy individual such as your self would not me familiar with the Men Rights Advocates (MRA). In case you you really aren't, they're basically guys who complain that feminism has progressed to a level were they are actually making it hard to be a man. I'd say more, but I'm sure I've given you enough to laugh about.
Short answer : A group of guys on the internet that only exist because of extreme feminism made up of butthurt dudes that can't get laid. Does that work for you?
2523146
My previous response was made with my tongue firmly planted in my cheek.
2523177 Just checking.
I wonder what happened to those guys anyway? Finally routed by the rest of the internet I hope...
I know it's an outdated topic, but no, Andersons still writing for the comic.
And I'm not buying anything he's writing.