Jeremy Whitley and The Continuing Decline of IDW

    

Jeremy Whitley is no stranger to controversy. Be it Dragontown that was an allegory for racial tension in the US, Twilight "For the Right Reasons" Sparkle, Radiant Hope waifuing a redeemed Sombra, or even just his tendency to textwall, there is no shortage of drama whenever he releases a comic. However, a continuing saga on Twitter shows that we have entered a new era of obsession and it signals further the decline of IDW's MLP.


 The story begins like so many stories do, at a drunk panel at BABSCon. Jeremy Whitley, already well known in the community for his tendencies towards heavy allegories in his stories, insisted that Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy should come out as a couple. When the fandom heard this around twelve hours later, obvious questions arose. When questions about the representation that already exists, Lyra and Bon Bon, was brought up, Whitley stated that it merely was not enough:


One of the later comment threads, Day 3

Whitley later commented that it wasn't specifically Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, but that merely any lesbian pairing would do. This launched Whitley off into a three-day-long and, as of writing, still continuing saga of him obsessing over the sexualities of the characters. Unhappy with the discussions that were being generated from these statements, he reblogged a Tumblr post of a person wishing physical violence on those who dared to question his views of sexuality in a children's cartoon.

Whitley, writer of the Eisner-nominated comic Princeless, was obviously upset. As a part of his Twitter statements, he made numerous claims about the sexualities of certain characters as well as implying several times that Shining Armor and Cadance's relationship was not loyal. That last comment is worthy of note because the existence of heterosexual relationships in the show is seen as a reason to include homosexual ones. On one hand he feels at ease to comment that a heterosexual relationship is proof that homosexual ones should be included, but on the other he denigrates it and seems unaware that much of the fandom doesn't like relationships period.



This writer would welcome inclusion of more diverse groups within Friendship is Magic. Arguments such as Jeremy Whitley presents for them however are incredibly fallacious and show a complete lack of ability to see a larger picture outside of his small group of supporters. Homosexual couples could be represented in FiM, and it would be nice. As long as Jeremy Whitley does not write them.

As for IDW and Jeremy Whitley's continued relationship with them, it sadly seems like he is on it for the long run. IDW is infamous within the fandom for rejecting fan critiques, and the sole source of direct contact with fans, IDW's forum, has been down for months at the time of writing. Given the tendency of IDW to protect its writers and artists at all costs regardless of their actions, emailing them will likely have little effect. That is not to discourage those who try, but to merely warn: after all,  IDW handles controversy about as well as their average MLP writer handles a character.


Nice going, Jeremy.

Comments (35)

  1. >be me
    >implying
    >no hooves
    >cuck
    >kek

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. >i want to come inside Rainbow Dash
      >rape
      >gay bathhouse
      >2016

      Delete
  2. just another day of stupidity for the regressive left and their bitch boy jeremy

    ReplyDelete
  3. Why do they think that it's the right thing to do to stack a comic for children with a bunch of political bullshit? That's what I want to know.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And, on top of that, FlutterDash. Of all the available ships, they want to pick the shittiest one.

      Delete
    2. *best
      Fixed!

      Dunno about politics per se.. I think he's running with the 'you can be born gay' theory (I don't think it's been disproven or proven categorically) so his intention is representation for gay kids so they feel all normal and accepted and such. Not that I had any interest in the same sex til like 15 or so, but I suppose it's laying the foundations so that if it does come up later it's not like "well you're over the age of 13 so we're allowed to tell you it's okay to be gay now"

      Delete
    3. Sexuality is plastic, as is the brain. It has it's basic function, but is still molded by experience. I think this idea that "you're born X" is ideological hogwash pushed heavily by liberal agendas.

      Why do you think we're here fapping to cartoon horses, or that there are people in the world who want to fuck corpses, kids, or anything besides adults of the opposite sex? Do we want all of these special groups of snowflakes to feel normal and welcome? Of course not.

      Delete
    4. He's in an ideological cult, and part of their mandate is to convert others when they're young, so that they can't resist the programming with critical thinking skills.

      Delete
  4. This needs to be brought to the attention of the higher ups at Hasbro. These bozos have shown they shouldn't be a ten foot barge pole near this licence any more.

    ReplyDelete
  5. PURPLE TRANNY!
    U
    R
    P
    L
    E

    T
    R
    A
    N
    N
    Y
    !

    ReplyDelete
  6. Erm, Itsthinking, my love, why should we care about this little rectal squirt?

    I wouldn't get too mad at the person who posted 'this look into the bizarre world of Bronies' for thinking we were all being homophobic, annoying it may be - I mean if Whitley said 'We need gay relationships!' and I said NO PLS THAT SUX GODDAMN IT GTFO that's going to sound a bit like homophobia on the surface. Or to worry about the 'I want to punch them in the face lol' too much, although yeah, GG Shitley.

    Nevertheless, pretty diligent reporting there. You even kept track of it by day. Very noice.

    I would like to see this, as long as it makes sense for the characters and the overall show story, and is done well. Because LOOK AT IT

    https://derpiboo.ru/30633?scope=scpe9ed33dadd8bba2e1c47a7f4bcb13c077e10616ad

    Shit's like Lady and the Tramp, dawg.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hm, interesting. Agreed with the initial comment that Dash being lesbian would just reenforce stereotypes, but then he makes a fair response about diversity and that Flutters isn't stereotypical. Much like the mane 6 themselves and representing females - reenforcing girly stereotypes would be bad, but saying girls can't be a stereotype would also be bad. Which is why you have everything from Rarity (fashionista stereotype) and Pinkie (colour stereotype) to AJ and Dash so everyone is included. Same with the pairing.

    Admittedly though Rainbowshy is best ship :3

    I don't see the problem here though, why the drama? It's just an opinion. It's not like he's going to influence what Hasbro does anyway. They wouldn't dare have anyone come out explicitly as gay in the show as there are too many far right bible wielding homophobic wackjobs in the US (*cough*George Cain*cough*) and they'd hit the media making a whole other level of drama. The most you'll get out of them is an open-to-interpretation nod from the animators (i.e. Lyrabon EQG scene)

    Also when did we start taking every comment like "I'd love to punch soandso in the face" out of context and spin it literally as an incitement of violence, like some kind of borderline strawman thing? Isn't that exactly what anti-SJWs are usually complaining about SJWs doing? "Argh! My kid let the cat out, I'll bloody kill him!" has been a throwaway comment since forever, it doesn't mean his mum is literally plotting murder.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The problem is that he's being paid by Hasbro.

      Delete
    2. I'd say the larger problem is that, as stated in the article, fans don't give a damn about the relationship angles at all. Candence and Shining Armor and Mr. and Mrs. Cake get away with it by being secondary and tertiary characters at best.

      And when it comes to Whitley himself, the point that instead of wanting to just write the best stories he can, he wants to add his own soapbox to them and then attack those that don't share his views exactly (I mean even others have tweeted that its easy to just do what he does and write about lesbianism on using analogies as he has with race and everything else he wants to bitch about during that day).

      Also: when someone goes "no I've never threatened harm to anyone" and then goes "I want to punch X in the face' that is in fact a threat. Even if it's a mild threat like saying "give me the strength to not kill my family over the holidays". While it's not seen as a direct threat of actual violence, it's showing that the attitude in place is clearly hostile.

      Delete
  8. I just love that if you say anything remotely against the narrative (even if it was to make a valid point that using LBGT characters doesn't work in all circumstances) to Jeremy he just blocks you. Hilarious considering he supposedly all for inclusion but can't take even a modicum of legitamate criticism.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Nearly every study done shows that it is harmful introducing gender and identity politics to young children.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This is stuff most adults should know from experience.

      Delete
  10. Honestly, if you want to throw in queer characters, MAKE YOUR OWN. Let the mane 6 be dealt with by the people who write the mane 6.

    It honestly isn't hard to have a casual gay couple in the background, hell even the foreground, of a comic.

    But even more of an issue is making the sexualities more important than the characters. He doesn't want to write in queer characters, he's trying to write queer INTO characters. That doesn't work.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well put. It's not just that these people focus so much on it that instead of writing a character that is X, they write X character, and that's what they are, X being anything from sexuality to race, to whatever is their pet crusade. And it's a writer coming into established characters and saying 'these need to change to fit my agenda.'

      Delete
    2. It's how these cultists act. It's iconoclasty. They don't create new things, they just corrupt, twist, alter, or destroy existing things.

      Look at what's happening in Marvel's side of the comic industry for a clear example. The infestation is at an earlier stage in Magic: The Gathering, and it's in the early stages of destroying Warhammer 40k.

      Delete
  11. What this fuckwit doesn't understand is that he's advocating creating a gay couple out of two existing characters who have otherwise shown no inkling of attraction to ANYONE, much less each other, just for the sake of having a token gay couple in the main cast. This is the wrong way to do this.

    First off, I'd like to know why this even matters. The sexuality of the characters in the show has absolutely no bearing on the story at large. The only announced hetero couples in the show don't even kiss, and the plots regarding their heterosexuality amount to a relatively small count of episodes spread over the series so far. Do we need Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash to suddenly have the urge to cuddle and nuzzle all the time just to convey the message that they're gay? Does this need to be a focus in a broader scope story full of adventures about friendship? I say no.

    Secondly, why aren't Lyra and Bon Bon enough? Why would an episode dedicated to their struggle in coming to terms with their feelings not be enough? Hasbro and DHX haven't outright said they're a couple, but they really don't have to since it's pretty clear to anyone watching. This pairing is already accepted and other than outright saying it, it exists.

    Thirdly, I'm a firm believer in the notion that sexuality belongs in the bedroom. The only member of the mane 6 who has ever shown interest in anyone is Twilight, and that's been contained within the Equestria Girls movies and never demonstrated in the show itself. Rarity has had girl crushes on a couple of occasions, but it's been played largely for rule of funny because the interest has never been mutual, and she always moves on afterwards. Rarispike doesn't count, as Rarity doesn't consider Spike a potential lover (sorry Rarispike fans, but he's a baby dragon, she thinks his crush is adorable and nothing more) but rather as a friend.

    Finally, just keep the shipping out of the show! Bringing in characters as a couple to begin with doesn't make it seem forced. Big Mac has been shipped in-universe with two different mares now and nothing has come from either of them besides copious amounts of fanart. Flash Sentry has become the butt monkey thanks to the backlash. Aside from Cadance and Shining, and Mr and Mrs Cake, there are a dearth of couples period. Why? Because CREATING a couple from established characters is a MASSIVE CHANGE, especially in a cartoon world where status quo is god. DHX has admitted they aren't fond of making changes like that, and understandably so because changing the environment enforces something new to remember for the multiple writers.

    At the end of the day, it doesn't matter what we (the fandom at large) or Jeremy Whitley or anyone else thinks should be done. Nothing related to MLP gets publicly released without a rubber stamp from Hasbro. And I'd have to figure that Hasbro probably doesn't care about what Jeremy Whitley thinks. They care about money, and while the fandom generates a lot of drama based around Hasbro's marketing decisions, it's unlikely they're going to think making FlutterDash canon will be profitable because it's not a new toy to sell.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bless\ this\ post.png

      Delete
    2. Some people think Lyra and Bon Bon aren't enough because THEY AREN'T CANONICALLY GAY and bronies are somehow incapable of comprehending this fact.

      Delete
  12. Am I the only one who realizes that guys like this are right-wing trolls? Think about it. They're white, straight, cisgendered men who:

    -Spin tokenism and stereotyping as "representation"
    -Say white people are superior (i.e. "privileged")
    -Think white, straight, cisgendered men are qualified to talk for women and minorities
    -Lump together all non-whites and calling them "people of color"
    -Call gay people "queers"
    -Ignores the very existence of bisexual people
    -Whine about political correctness
    -Think violence is a solution to problems

    Clearly, Jeremy Whitely is a radical conservative who hides his hatemongering behind a thin veil of so-called "progressivism". The whole reason he was pushing for Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy to be a couple to reinforce tired old stereotypes: Tomboys are gay, every lesbian couple is a "butch" and a "femme", etc.

    ReplyDelete
  13. "the same way a MLP writer handle a character"
    Sorry that your fanfic have been rejected by DHX once again and that the show didnt transform into the Spike Show And His Dragon Pals,ItsNotThinkingWhenItsMadAsFuckWhenTheWritersAreNotBendingOverToItsNerdsWhim
    Also your hateboner and obsession on IDW rejectiong the oh-so precious feedback from loosers who dont even buy their comic and just bitch about it on 4Shit threads is still cringy as fuck,be it on Derpibooru or here,with the other channers fuckheads

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey Jeremy. Don't let the door >rape you on the way out.

      Delete
  14. Rotten IDW line-up?

    Remember Ted Anderson? I do.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I don't care what this guy thinks or does with his comics. I don't take them seriously anyway. This guy is a attention whore who likes to annoy his readers. Thankfully i'm not a comic reader.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Huh, Jeremy Whitley is a shitty writer anyway. Siege, or "Seige" of the Crystal Empire pretty much made me avoid any comic with his name on it.

    Hasbro, just kill your partnership with IDW. Try another comic company like Boom! Studios, they've done a cool Mighty Morphin Power Rangers series!

    He actually reblogged a post, essentially just giving out a violence threat to people who don't agree with him? Does this homophobic minger know that violence threats are against the law, and can go to jail? My God, the childish GO!ANIMATE FANBASE is better than this guy, and when they don't like opinions, they rage in caps lock!

    ReplyDelete