Rainbow Dash is an incredibly weird character

[Dark Qiviut 22,472]

Many people above already explained, but I'll get involved, too. Ever since Wonderbolts Academy, her characterization has taken a major hit. I don't know why, but when she's the main character of a solo episode, her best qualities and sense of maturity have taken major steps back. She's the Bearer of Loyalty, but to echo weesh, they often handle it really poorly. When it has nothing to do with loyalty, it's because they have no idea how to write her correctly.

Rainbow Dash in ND had some bad characterization problems, too, but to echo Kyoshi, one of the bigger problems was putting in a new writer in who didn't understand the massive scope of her coming a WB. Another fatal flaw was a horrible moral.

She's a helluva character. Unfortunately, her episodes of today are like Spike's: excellent as a secondary or co-main character, awful as a solo main character. Her characterization post-WA is hideously inconsistent. It can be really good one episode and really bad the next.

Edited August 16, 2016 by Dark Qiviut

[Prospekt 11,021]

Why does everyone hate Newbie Dash? I never can understand. I think she is quite a great character. Flawed, but can be a sweet pony. I am biased though, as I love her character.

 

I think more of the hate toward Newbie Dash is directed toward the Wonderbolts and their hazing. I love Rainbow Dash's character too but the fact that she still cares about those jerks just baffles me.

[Unlikeable Pony 2,699]

Why does everyone hate Newbie Dash? I never can understand. I think she is quite a great character. Flawed, but can be a sweet pony. I am biased though, as I love her character.

 

Because This is the kind of stuff that LIGHTNING DUST was pulling in WA that dash was calling her on.

 

Pulling a dangerous stunt that could endanger others only to try and prove yourself for no other reason than EGO is EXACTLY what the climax of that episode was about and why Dash almost quit the wonderbolts over.

THEN we have dash go and do that exact same type of thing at the end?

 

 

 

Seriously. WA is beloved for a reason because it shows serious character development for dash, and they went and did exactly what dash was shown to NOT be about for Newbie.

[Thrond 3,263]

Rainbow Dash is one of the show's most complex characters, so it pains me that so many episodes don't seem to understand her. Even those which don't directly contradict her development (which "Rainbow Falls," "Newbie Dash," and "28 Pranks Later," among others, do), they seem to misunderstand what makes her fun to watch ("Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3," "Tanks for the Memories"). She gets vague suggestions of depth more often than any other pony, though, so that must count for something. And at least this particular season we've gotten "Stranger Than Fan Fiction," which actually characterizes her pretty damn well - not unexpected, given that it's written by Josh Haber, who is generally an exquisite slice-of-life writer.

[heavens-champion 1,905]

 

You should see the Sonic fanbase. Sometimes, I wonder if we deserve Sonic games.

Edited August 16, 2016 by Jeric
Removed quote from deleted post

[Justin_Case001 4,907]

She has both the best (Sleepless In Ponyville) and worst (Newbie Dash) episode in the series IMO. She is highly inconsistent in her characterization.

Well, I definitely don't think that Sleepless is the best, (coughcoughManeAttractioncough), nor would I say Newbie is the worst, (coughPrincessSpikecoughcough), however, Sleepless is absolutely in my top list, and Newbie is in my bottom, so I'm really close with you there.  I agree; she is very inconsistent.

 

Nearly every character is inconsistent in their characterization at this point. Season 6 seems to have taken our main characters in nearly every direction but forwards. 

 

They've gone backwards (Rarity in Spice Up Your Life, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity in The Cart Before the Ponies) and in circles (Applejack in Applejack's "Day" Off, Rainbow Dash in Newbie Dash), but rarely forwards. 

 

And it's so irritating....

Boy, you said it.  It feels like the characters have become caricatures--flat, one-dimensional stereotypes of themselves.  Perhaps that's a slight exaggeration, but this whole season has felt like they just hired a new team who have never seen the show, and then just handed them a piece of paper that looks like this:

 

• Twilight - Nerd
• AJ - Country Bumpkin
• RD - Arrogant athlete
• Rarity - Diva
• Fluttershy - fraidycat
• Pinkie - comic relief

And then said, "Okay, that's it.  That's all you need to know.  Now get to work."  Actually, it feels like the team let their kids write this season.

[M'gann M'orzz 745]

You should see the Sonic fanbase. Sometimes, I wonder if we deserve Sonic games.

Im talking within the Pony fandom. I don't even want to get INTO the Sonic Fanbase. 

[cmarston1 5,959]

The only good writer who writes the movie, is Mccarthy.

 

Larson might never comeback and Amy Keating Rogers works for Disney now. So who is left?

Which is why the show really should end with the movie.

[Thrond 3,263]

Why does everyone hate Newbie Dash? I never can understand. I think she is quite a great character. Flawed, but can be a sweet pony. I am biased though, as I love her character.

Now, I don't hate the episode as much as many others, but I feel Dash should be more humble and mature at this point, and I feel like the episode really wasted the opportunity to show Dash at her best. Plus I don't find it funny.

 

It does have a clever ironic undercurrent with the "Rainbow Crash" nickname, though, and I admire that a lot. If only it were clearer.

Well, I definitely don't think that Sleepless is the best, (coughcoughManeAttractioncough), nor would I say Newbie is the worst, (coughPrincessSpikecoughcough), however, Sleepless is absolutely in my top list, and Newbie is in my bottom, so I'm really close with you there. I agree; she is very inconsistent.

 

Boy, you said it. It feels like the characters have become caricatures--flat, one-dimensional stereotypes of themselves. Perhaps that's a slight exaggeration, but this whole season has felt like they just hired a new team who have never seen the show, and then just handed them a piece of paper that looks like this:

 

• Twilight - Nerd
• AJ - Country Bumpkin
• RD - Arrogant athlete
• Rarity - Diva
• Fluttershy - fraidycat
• Pinkie - comic relief

And then said, "Okay, that's it. That's all you need to know. Now get to work." Actually, it feels like the team let their kids write this season.

Where the hell have you been these past couple of seasons? We just gonna ignore "Flutter Brutter," where Fluttershy displays oft-unseen assertiveness? We gonna ignore the strong takes on Pinkie and Dash in "The Gift of the Maud Pie" and "Stranger Than Fan Fiction"? We gonna pretend that seasons 3-5 were bastions of consistent, 3-D characterization? I don't get you people.

[cider float 2,538]

I guess when they put Rainbow Dash in almost every episode ever there will be lots of inconsistencies made. That's what you get for trying to shove her into every episode.

[Zel 56]

I don't really understand some of you o_o

 

For me season 6 was great, with great stories and consistent characters except 28 Pranks later and The Cart before the ponies. There was two meh episode in a row so a lot of people seems to give the show no future and critic all season 6 as a failure when just before the hiatus and these two meh episodes aired the general consensus was that season 6 was a pretty good one so far...

 

As for the characters...

I was perfectly fine with Newbie Dash, I enjoyed this episode in fact, a cool moral which not a lot of kids show do, and Dashie was right on point. I know RD did the contrary in Wonderbolt Academy, but... It's exactly why RD was consistent in this episode. RD was always shown having a very high sensibility about her ego and how others perceived her, and this is a fact that will never change because it's the core of her personnality... Also she is a pony who don't always thinks things through, especially when she wants to resolve an unbereable situation for her. So the fact that she had the feeling of being bullied, the fact that some traumatic experience was put in the mix and fact that she wanted to resolve the situation the fastest she can, made her take wrong and silly decisions... but that's not bad characterisation, she's been like that since season 1 and resolving these problems of her completly would be the same as changing who she is.

So yeah for me there was no problem in Newbie Dash, at least concerning RD. All her actions were quite understable and made sense in this particular set and with the events happening around her.

 

But hey... I think that Rarity was perfectly in character in Spice uf your life too, so what did I know ? u_u

[ph00tbag 108]

It's really not just Rainbow Dash. I'd say the writers have a lot of trouble getting Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie right, as well. Rainbow Dash has just been at the forefront lately because missteps in her characterization have been sore points in several episodes this season.

There are really two points where writers have chosen to continue with the bad decisions of previous works, rather than retcon them, in my opinion. And both of them, near as I can tell, stem from MMDW (every time I talk about the things I don't like in MLP, somehow this episode always comes up). For one thing, Rainbow Dash at her best is self-conscious to a fault. She shouldn't fall victim to dramatic-ironic self-humiliation, which many refer to as, "cringe," because she, as a rule, is intensely aware of when she's being humiliated. She doesn't do stupid dances and make a fool of herself trying to open a goddamn jar of relish, because she'd realize these things would make her look ridiculous, and that is anathema to her. So when Rainbow Dash partakes in these kinds of activities (like she does in Rarity Investigates! and Newbie Dash), it just. Feels. Wrong. The other thing that MMDW gets wrong is that Rainbow Dash doesn't save the day to make herself look good; she does it because it's the right thing to do. And it goes a bit deeper than that;Rainbow Dash is one of the most self-sacrificing ponies in the cast. At her best, Rainbow Dash deprives herself for those she cares about, and doesn't go out of her way to be cruel. Rainbow Dash's relationship with Fluttershy should be summed up by her letting Flutters go in front of her in the line for cider, not by her scaring the shit out of Fluttershy, then mocking her for being too easy.

It feels like Rainbow Dash has developed down two very different paths, depending on what parts of each episode you're watching. Down one path, she is a cruel, self-aggrandizing bully who is totally self-unaware. Down the other, she is a selfless, but self-conscious, idealist with a fragile sense of pride. Since Rainbow is terrible at self-analysis, and never really lays this out, I can see how it's easy to get the two confused on the surface, but the distinction is huge, because one interpretation of her is utterly unlikable, and the other is relatable and endearing.

[Photon Jet 5,491]

Despite everything, Rainbow Dash is still best Pegasus.

[silvadel 1,393]

I said back in season 4 when they removed her implied interest in the history of the wonderbolts and pegasus history in general that they have been draining her pool.  She had some depth and a lot of potential depth through season 3.  They have made her more one dimensional by removing all of the possible interests she could have had in addition to her surface personality.

[Thrond 3,263]

I don't really understand some of you o_o

 

For me season 6 was great, with great stories and consistent characters except 28 Pranks later and The Cart before the ponies. There was two meh episode in a row so a lot of people seems to give the show no future and critic all season 6 as a failure when just before the hiatus and these two meh episodes aired the general consensus was that season 6 was a pretty good one so far...

 

As for the characters...

I was perfectly fine with Newbie Dash, I enjoyed this episode in fact, a cool moral which not a lot of kids show do, and Dashie was right on point. I know RD did the contrary in Wonderbolt Academy, but... It's exactly why RD was consistent in this episode. RD was always shown having a very high sensibility about her ego and how others perceived her, and this is a fact that will never change because it's the core of her personnality... Also she is a pony who don't always thinks things through, especially when she wants to resolve an unbereable situation for her. So the fact that she had the feeling of being bullied, the fact that some traumatic experience was put in the mix and fact that she wanted to resolve the situation the fastest she can, made her take wrong and silly decisions... but that's not bad characterisation, she's been like that since season 1 and resolving these problems of her completly would be the same as changing who she is.

So yeah for me there was no problem in Newbie Dash, at least concerning RD. All her actions were quite understable and made sense in this particular set and with the events happening around her.

 

But hey... I think that Rarity was perfectly in character in Spice uf your life too, so what did I know ? u_u

I feel like Rainbow Dash ought to have been a tiny bit more self-aware and mature in "Newbie Dash," though I just wish the episode where she joins the Wonderbolts emphasized her most positive traits more in general. She's not entirely out-of-character, but she does feel a bit too arrogant for this point in her development. I think the episode tries to imply that she's boasting as an attempt at overcompensation for her anxiety and insecurity, but I wish the episode emphasized that more. 

 

And I don't really see "Spice Up Your Life" and "Canterlot Boutique" as contradictory, so I'm right there with you. Not the deepest understanding of Rarity, but it's not confusing to me why she made the decisions she did, and I guess I don't care how well it captures her when she doesn't grow much in the episode itself. 

[Ruthborn 55]

While I will admit that her hardcore pranking Fluttershy was a bit off (specially when it was mentioned in a previous episode that she considered 'Shy a "No Pranking Target") I would like to point out that sometimes people do regress to their bad habits IRL. And 'Dash is definitely full of herself enough to classify a successful prank as one that she finds funny and not consider the feelings of the other person (because if you did, you wouldn't really end up pranking people at all).

The Mare Do Well episode and 28 Days had two different lessons; one was not being too full of yourself and the other was to consider what your actions are doing to other people.

Plus, the Newbie Dash episode was accurate. There is hazing for team bonding purposes as it allows your team to learn what you are like when under duress. Yes, sometimes hazing can become carried away but that was not done here.

The girls' behaviours in Cart Before The Pony, also realistic.

 

I get the feeling that people are really complaining because they're fav character is exhibiting negative traits (like real people do). Is this limited to the 'Dash fanbase or does every Mane 7 fanbase do this?

[Thrond 3,263]

While I will admit that her hardcore pranking Fluttershy was a bit off (specially when it was mentioned in a previous episode that she considered 'Shy a "No Pranking Target") I would like to point out that sometimes people do regress to their bad habits IRL. And 'Dash is definitely full of herself enough to classify a successful prank as one that she finds funny and not consider the feelings of the other person (because if you did, you wouldn't really end up pranking people at all).

The Mare Do Well episode and 28 Days had two different lessons; one was not being too full of yourself and the other was to consider what your actions are doing to other people.

Plus, the Newbie Dash episode was accurate. There is hazing for team bonding purposes as it allows your team to learn what you are like when under duress. Yes, sometimes hazing can become carried away but that was not done here.

The girls' behaviours in Cart Before The Pony, also realistic.

 

I get the feeling that people are really complaining because they're fav character is exhibiting negative traits (like real people do). Is this limited to the 'Dash fanbase or does every Mane 7 fanbase do this?

I'm not even gonna pretend that's not what I'm complaining about, but the problem is that Dash so rarely gets episodes that really show off her positive strengths. Dash episodes are at least not repetitive like Fluttershy episodes so often are, but it feels like we almost never get to see her good side, especially compared to the likes of Rarity and Pinkie, whose episodes generally do a great job of balancing their positive qualities with their flaws. RD episodes tend to overemphasize her faults, and while I'm at it, Twilight episodes used to overemphasize her strengths, although lately the writers seem to have her buckling under her own self-expectations. Even Fluttershy at least gets to display her kindness most of the time; any glimpse of RD at her best is a rare treat. 

 

Although, part of the problem is just that the presentation is too simple and doesn't dig enough into the underlying motivations which RD episodes frequently imply. RD episodes are most frustrating because it seems so easy for them to be better. 

[FrozenTear7 40]

Welp Dashie is the weirdest one of the Mane 6, but at least there will always be something new to learn about her personality. We can get to know her different states and watch some awesome episodes that always bring something fresh.

[Jeric 46,866]

Guys let's keep the discussion a little on topic here. This isn't an OC discussion thread. Thanks all.

[Justin_Case001 4,907]

Where the hell have you been these past couple of seasons? We just gonna ignore "Flutter Brutter," where Fluttershy displays oft-unseen assertiveness? We gonna ignore the strong takes on Pinkie and Dash in "The Gift of the Maud Pie" and "Stranger Than Fan Fiction"? We gonna pretend that seasons 3-5 were bastions of consistent, 3-D characterization? I don't get you people.

Well, I didn't say that previous seasons were perfect.  And not every minute of this season has been bad, but I'm not going to pretend that S6 has had generally good characterization.  There has been a stark, noticeable drop in the quality of characterization this season, which, from what I've heard, is probably due to new, inexperienced writers.  That said, I'm not all "the show has jumped the shark" yet, either.  I'm still all in.

[Ponies4Bronies 394]

It depends on how the episode is written. Dash is a complex character. They all are supposed to struggle with the element they represent, its how episodes are written, they create a problem and they find the solution. It's the element that they represent that brings about both the problem and the solution in most cases.

[Prospekt 11,021]

It depends on how the episode is written. Dash is a complex character. They all are supposed to struggle with the element they represent, its how episodes are written, they create a problem and they find the solution. It's the element that they represent that brings about both the problem and the solution in most cases.

 

That's one of the only reasons why I like Rainbow Falls. Yeah, the Wonderbolts (besides Soarin') are selfish jerks, but it's refreshing to see the Mane 6 in an episode where their element isn't necessarily easy to live with.

[AmberDust 1,118]

Nearly every character is inconsistent in their characterization at this point. Season 6 seems to have taken our main characters in nearly every direction but forwards. 

 

They've gone backwards (Rarity in Spice Up Your Life, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity in The Cart Before the Ponies) and in circles (Applejack in Applejack's "Day" Off, Rainbow Dash in Newbie Dash), but rarely forwards. 

 

And it's so irritating....

 

I know what you mean. I feel like this season, characters have been more like...caricatures. Like, they've lost some of the subtleties present in past seasons, and have forgotten some of the lessons they've already learnt for the sake of easier/lazier storytelling. The characters are being used as TOOLS now to tell a story, rather than the story being a tool to develop character.

 

 

Although frankly, season 5 wasn't so great either. They got in too deep with fandom references and such.

Edited August 14, 2016 by AmberDust

[heavens-champion 1,905]

 

Although frankly, season 5 wasn't so great either. They got in too deep with fandom references and such.

Slice of Life was proof of that.

[Thrond 3,263]

That's one of the only reasons why I like Rainbow Falls. Yeah, the Wonderbolts (besides Soarin') are selfish jerks, but it's refreshing to see the Mane 6 in an episode where their element isn't necessarily easy to live with.

That struck me as the primary theme of the key episodes overall, and in this regard "Rainbow Falls" might have been the clearest of them.