vikingerik

Rainbow Dash's mane bothers me that it's hard to accurately represent. It's nice to look at as a Flash sprite or in 2d artwork. But a real physical representation is problematic, for toys and for any 3d animation like SFM. Are the colors arranged side-to-side or bottom-to-top? Why is the rainbow out of order (green is next to red, not yellow)? How does it transition from the head hair to the back of the neck? You can't really see since RD isn't often drawn from behind, only flying where the blue-green section blows out to obscure it. Not a fan of Twilight's either; don't like bangs in real life or on ponies. Fluttershy is probably my favorite. It adds to her personality the way it adorably frames her face. Pinkie's is good too. Oh, and Big Mac, since my hair in real life is just about the same color and length and style.

Just noticed this in Sonic Rainboom: Rarity's hair passes through her arm. It's common to see clipping problems in 3D animation, but how did that happen with a 2D Flash character rig?

I'm as big a Rainbow fan as anyone, but can't help but think she's not the right answer here. RD was trying to make the gala about herself, about showing off... not so much what you'd want in a partner for an evening. You could make a much better personal connection with somepony else, say Fluttershy or Pinkie. If we can think outside the mane six, how about Cheerilee? She'd enjoy the spectacle, wouldn't wreck it by making a scene, and we know she doesn't already have another special somepony.

Rainbow Dash, since she's obviously got more than enough force to just lift off and take me flying with her. Or Spitfire or Soarin.

Best for plushie making: 1. Pinkie Pie, the poofy hair is great for plushies. 2. Twilight Sparkle, simple and standard (non-alicorn at least.) 3. Fluttershy, always adorable, if the mane frames the face right. 4. Applejack, though the hat is a distraction unless removable. 5. Rarity, her unique eyes and prim bearing don't come over well as a plush. 6. Rainbow Dash, it's really hard to get the rainbow mane looking right. Most likely to become a princess: 1. Twilight, obviously. 2. Rarity, by marriage if not by magic. 3. Rainbow Dash, the most talented after Twilight. 4. Fluttershy, could see her earning it by Flutterraging to save the kingdom or something. 5. Applejack, totally the opposite of royalty, though would serve if asked. 6. Pinkie Pie, just about the last pony this side of Trixie you'd want to add to a royal house. Best at being a princess: 1. Applejack, natural organizer and leader. 2. Twilight, she can always figure out what needs to be done. 3. Rarity, can and would drop the vanity when need be. 4. Rainbow Dash, also a leader but not so great people/pony skills. 5. Pinkie Pie, great in peacetime but she better figure out how to use cannons for something other than partying. 6. Fluttershy, could you guards defend the castle, please, if it's not too much trouble?

In Sonic Rainboom, when we see the flyer competitors backstage, there's a pegasus who reuses the same brown color scheme and hourglass cutie mark of Doctor Whooves / Time Turner. The pegasus has since been retconned into being a different character (appearing in Hurricane Fluttershy), but it was an error at the time. It's arguable whether the error was in animation or design, simply forgetting that Whooves was already established as an earth pony in Call of the Cutie.

The sonic rainboom has to happen a lot slower than the speed of sound. The timing in Sonic Rainboom is all wrong for it to actually happen at Mach 1. Terminal velocity for a falling human in air is about 120 miles per hour, and would be about the same for a pony body too. Rarity falls for about 50 seconds, and Rainbow Dash starts diving after about 20 so chases for 30. RD covers the same distance in 60% of the time, or 1/0.6 = 1.66 times faster, so her average velocity for the dive is only 200 mph. If RD actually reached Mach 1 at 768 mph, she would cover the distance to catch Rarity in about eight seconds instead of the 30 it actually took. Also consider the implied altitude of Cloudsdale Coliseum. Rarity falling at 120 mph for 40 seconds after passing through the coliseum gives an altitude of 7040 feet or 1.33 miles, which is actually just about right, cumulus clouds really exist around that height. Rainbow diving near Mach 1 for 30 seconds would instead yield an altitude of over six miles, which has lots of problems: the air would be too thin to support breathing, or wing-based flight, or clouds, or the mane six's balloon. And also Rarity would have to be falling at Mach 0.6 or 420 mph which is far faster than terminal velocity and unachievable without active propulsion. The other appearances of the sonic rainboom are also more consistent with occurring much slower than the speed of sound. The one in Cutie Mark Chronicles has the same problem of an impractical altitude if RD is really moving at Mach 1, and the one at the end of Canterlot Wedding happens far too quickly for RD to accelerate to anywhere near that. So given that the rainboom occurs at more like 200 mph than 768, it's not nearly as powerful as a sonic boom or a jet fighter. 200 mph is more along the lines of a Formula 1 or Indy car. Still enough to demolish a barn, but that would be about the upper limit of its power.

Ha, I even saw your thread when searching for RD plushes, and failed to put two and two together to see I was posting in the same place. Ah well, everybody has derpy days. Mine has the mane less tightly wrapped than yours, so it doesn't look like it's choking her. And it's attached at the bottom by only a couple stitches; it looks like that could be cut for the mane to fly freely. I might try that if I can get up the courage.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Little-Friendship-Magic-Figure-Rainbow/dp/B008PD0OG4/ So, a new Rainbow Dash plush appeared on Amazon. There was a post on Equestria Daily a few days ago mentioning that it seems to be from mysterious unlicensed Hong Kong origins. I bought one before seeing the ED post and realizing that. It came today and I figured I'd mention it here in case the note helps folks. It came in a plastic wrapper with no labels or tags or anything. She DOES have a cutie mark, on only the left flank. Somehow the pictures on ED were taken with the wing at just the wrong angle to cover it. The cutie mark looks fine, except that it's flipped left-to-right (the red stripe of the rainbow-bolt should be towards Rainbow's front; on this one it's towards the back.) The toy isn't very big, barely 10 inches tall from hoof to hair. The eyes and cutie mark are machine embroidered. It's made pretty well, sewn solidly and stands up on its own. As mentioned on ED, the wings are a bit weird, looking like leaves; my guess is that some other pattern was reused for this purpose. So it's not perfect and certainly not up to quality with the best homemade plushies. But it definitely looks better than the Target ones and it will do if you really want a RD plush on the cheap. (There are several listings on Ebay asking $60 for what looks like exactly the same one for $38 on Amazon, so don't do that.)