Why is Daring Do a recoloured Rainbow Dash?

[NegaRen 13]

Daring Do's design has always bothered me ever since I watched the episode Daring Don't. Does anyone know why she was designed to look like Rainbow Dash?

[Lektra Bolt 2,336]

My theory has always been that RD imagined herself as the protagonist in the first DD appearance, and it was meant to be a one time thing. Then when DD came back they had to keep it that way.

 

People do that in books all the time. You put yourself into the book pretty much. DD had the broken wing, similar voice, and was also a Pegasus.

 

And before you say look at the cover of the book, pretty sure we only saw the cover clearly toward the end of that episode. In universe this might make sense, but from a writing perspective it seems like they did it according to my theory. THEN toward the end the cover was shown, making it look like a coincidence they looked the same.

 

Edit: Nevermind on last paragraph. Forgot cover was shown early, but it's still a plausible theory cause storyboard and animation are always done later.

Edited April 8, 2015 by bronislav84

[RarityFan01 2,444]

I think it's because they want Daring Do to be like Rainbow Dash, just as Twilight described, so they gave her a similar appearance.

Daring Do's design has always bothered me ever since I watched the episode Daring Don't. Does anyone know why she was designed to look like Rainbow Dash?

That's a nice theory, but the reason Rainbow imagined Daring Do like that is because a picture of her was on the cover.

[Adorkable 2,737]

I can't add much more to what BroniSalv said, I think he hit the nail on the head there. It's just how things play out, I suppose.

[RarityFan01 2,444]

My theory has always been that RD imagined herself as the protagonist in the first DD appearance, and it was meant to be a one time thing. Then when DD came back they had to keep it that way.

 

People do that in books all the time. You put yourself into the book pretty much. DD had the broken wing, similar voice, and was also a Pegasus.

 

And before you say look at the cover of the book, pretty sure we only saw the cover clearly toward the end of that episode. In universe this might make sense, but from a writing perspective it seems like they did it according to my theory. THEN toward the end the cover was shown, making it look like a coincidence they looked the same.

This is a screenshot from the very beginning of the episode before Rainbow Dash actually gave the book a chance. 

 

[Ziggy + Angel + Rain 11,298]

I think it's pretty obvious: Daring Do is secretly an enormous Rainbow Dash fan and had her mane styled and streaked to resemble Dashie's.  Sure, she behaved as though she didn't want Rainbow's help in "Daring Don't," but in reality she was ecstatic to finally meet the mare she so admired.  In order to save face, Daring played it cool; cold, even.  She'd always hoped that Rainbow would notice her books and become a fan, and she purposely delayed the release of "The Ring of Destiny" in order to cleverly lure Rainbow to her.  So that they might embark on an adventure together, lift heavy rings, and then embrace.

Edited April 8, 2015 by Ziggy and Angelbaby

[RarityFan01 2,444]

I think it's pretty obvious: Daring Do is secretly an enormous Rainbow Dash fan and had her mane styled and streaked to resemble Dashie's.  Sure, she behaved as though she didn't want Rainbow's help in "Daring Don't," but in reality she was ecstatic to finally meet the mare she so admired.  In order to save face, Daring played it cool; cold, even.  She'd always hoped that Rainbow would notice her books and become a fan, and she purposely delayed the release of "The Ring of Destiny" in order to cleverly lure Rainbow to her.  So that they might engage in an adventure together, lift heavy rings, and then embrace.

I was actually going to say it was because Daring Do was a Rainbow Dash fan, but I was on my phone, and I don't really like to write much on my phone. I had to get on my computer to actually post a screenshot of the episode here.  

[Lektra Bolt 2,336]

This is a screenshot from the very beginning of the episode before Rainbow Dash actually gave the book a chance. 

 

Ok? You forget that a lot of this is the writers. Clearly it was written with RD inserting herself in mind. Storyboarding/animation is always done later.

Edited April 8, 2015 by bronislav84

[Wind Chaser 4,767]

I have to go with the visual metaphor of Rainbow Dash seeing herself as that character also. When "Daring Don't" made the character and her adventures real, it pretty much broke the illusion of Rainbow Dash living through this (believed to be) fictional character, so them actually looking alike can't really be explained other than the fact that this probably wasn't the intended direction for her when "Read It and Weep" was written.

[ArDee 100]

I think it's pretty obvious: Daring Do is secretly an enormous Rainbow Dash fan and had her mane styled and streaked to resemble Dashie's.  Sure, she behaved as though she didn't want Rainbow's help in "Daring Don't," but in reality she was ecstatic to finally meet the mare she so admired.  In order to save face, Daring played it cool; cold, even.  She'd always hoped that Rainbow would notice her books and become a fan, and she purposely delayed the release of "The Ring of Destiny" in order to cleverly lure Rainbow to her.  So that they might embark on an adventure together, lift heavy rings, and then embrace.

 

 Do you even willing suspension of disbelief m8 

 

I'd probably still read a fanfic of that, to be honest.

 

On-topic:

Because asset recycling, that's why. Why do you think ponies like Blossomforth ("hornless flying watermelon Twilight") exist?

Edited April 8, 2015 by RCTM

[The Awesome One 1,314]

They probably did it because it saved them the time of having to design a completely new character and instead they just had to recolour Dash. Maybe it is just a coincidence that they look like each other in universe though.

[RarityFan01 2,444]

I'm stupid. It's obvious Rainbow Dash imagined her to look like her, so that's the actual reason. I hate being wrong, but everyone agrees with bronislav

[Shanks 10,811]

It is deliberate but the reason it was done is actually a good one. Twilight recommended the book because she thought Rainbow Dash would like the book because she would relate to the character and the fact that she was a re color is a rather significant hint of this.Daring do was never intended to be a reoccurring character but she got popular so they couldn't really change the design.

[Red Cedar 1,407]

Daring Do doesn't actually "appear" in her first appearance. It's Rainbow Dash's imagination of the book's story in her head. So, of course, to make her forget that she's stuck in hospital,she imagines herself in the novel instead.

 

Then she came back, so they left her like that. I think it works, personally.

[SunflowerPrincess 345]

Obviously, they're secretly related. As a matter of fact, Daring Do is...

.

.

Rainbow Dash's mother!

 

 

 

Just kidding, the animators were just lazy.

[Omar 692]

Probably just because there very alike. Or they just didn't want to bother creating another character with a unique design.

[Blackshirt Brony 415]

I agree that it was weird, especially considering that I believed Daring Do to be a fictional character up until the episode where Rainbow Dash actually meets her. If I recall correctly, there is also a scene where Daring's mane flashes rainbow for a few seconds.

 

My guess is that the writer's were attempting to illustrate how Rainbow Dash can relate to the character and also how she has influenced her. This would make sense because Daring Don't largely seems to be a developmental episode for Rainbow Dash.

 

Also as @Black Adam and @Red Cedar suggested, it may be that Daring Do was never intended to be an actual character to begin with. My only problem with this suggestion is that while Rainbow Dash may have only imagined Daring to look like her, we can clearly see on the cover of the book that she actually does.

[Silver Letter 1,830]

I hadn't taken it into consideration that the covers might have shown her in "Read it and Weep" which was written by Cindy Morrow. In that case, it doesn't change a whole lot necessarily with my overall theory. Cindy probably conceived of Rainbow reading the book with her personality in mind. The animation was a completely different story and it only proves that the animation is nothing but amateur hour if they can't even come up with one new model for Daring Do. I know that lots of animators are really lazy like the people that make Disney films but this really takes it to a whole new level. They can't even be bothered to make a new model. Maybe the person in charge should be fired for it.

[Grepper 3,192]

I don't understand why some people try to explain things like these in-universe. I think it has a real-life explanation; the animators were lazy.

 

Do people try to explain things like this in-universe just because it's fun?

[Silver Letter 1,830]

 

 

Do people try to explain things like this in-universe just because it's fun?

Maybe or perhaps it's so hard to believe that these supposed "professionals" can be so amateurish.

[Banul 3,831]

The animators wanted to save time. Its not the first time that they have done this. Photo Finish is a recolor of Twilight. There is a screenshot somewhere that even has Photo Finish with Twilight's cutie mark because they forgot to change it. 

 

All of the ponies use the same base body anyway. 

[Twilight Frost 271]

Why? Because ponies are just like people. They all look the same.

 

The character designs only go so far until you need to cut down on time for designing a pony with a completely unique hair and tail style. They are both athelets and get a lot of exersise, so its only natural that their hair would be similar. 

 

 

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 40,276]

I see it as a way to connect her and RD together more, in Read it and Weep at least. Daring Do's personality was pretty much exactly like RD's in the story, so they gave her nearly the same appearance to further that connection I think.

 

I don't see it as laziness or something 'in universe', I see it as an intended further connection between RD and the (at the time) storybook character of Daring Do.

[Winona the Dog 1,981]

It's simply because the writers wanted Daring Doo to look like her to reinstate the fact that they have similar appearance as well as personality in a sense

[Silver Letter 1,830]

 

 

The animators wanted to save time. Its not the first time that they have done this. Photo Finish is a recolor of Twilight.

They look similar but she's not  a recolor. They do have differences.