Which pony least lives up to her element?

[Hemlock_Conium 46]

Actually, Applejack only sold one treat - she gave away two to Rarity and Prince Blueblood.

 

That being said, Rarity enjoys making dresses, and does little else, despite making terrible dresses for her friends, it's what she does. 19 dresses is really nothing, considering that she made 20 for Sapphire Shore alone.

Terrible dresses? TERRIBLE DRESSES?! TERRIBLE DRESSES?!?

 

*ominous rumbling in the distance*

 

Her friends were being hella picky! SHE MADE AND REMADE THE DRESSES SIMPLY BECAUSE THEY DIDN'T LIKE THEM IN FULL!!

[Stellafera 3,836]

Alright, I'm willing to concede that the rest of the Mane 6 don't live up to their elements occasionally.

 

But still, what's the most generous thing Rarity's ever done? Give away dresses? Applejack gave away apple treats in The Best Night Ever and some other episodes. Twilight helps out her other friends in generous ways as well. Giving away dresses doesn't really seem to be much of a sacrifice to me personally, considering that Rarity can find gems at-will and could, theoretically, have near-infinite riches.

 

And she has done some pretty nasty things - like stealing Rainbow Dash's thunder in Sonic Rainboom.

 

First of all, it seems like the gems that Rarity finds are semi-precious at best. Second of all, as somebody who has been learning how to sew, making dresses would take QUITE a while.

 

The things you brought up are far less of sacrifices than the TWO different occasions where Rarity has given up her dreams (either to run a successful business or to be famous and have high social status) just for her friends. Rarity gets my vote as the most generous of the Mane 6, easy.

[Capt. Snuggle Gruff 101]

I can't really think of any times when Rarity is generous.  To me personally it seems weird that they would give that element to her.  I can't think of any other elements for her but the one she has doesn't really fit.  Same with Raindbowdash, her "Loyalty" is really expressed at the shows premiere, but from then on it seems to have disappeared.  Such is the way with Rarity I think, that both of their elements were used in the beginning then kinda just went away.

[Batbrony 16,051]

I personally think that generosity, especially in Rarity's case but in general as well, means a lot more than just being generous with one's material resources.  Rarity has shown time and time again that she is generous with her time to a tremendous extent for those ponies whom she deeply cares for.

 

That's of course not to say that she doesn't enjoy finer things, and thus is often prone to either getting distracted by her work or something she herself wants, but I think it's fascinating that the Element of Generosity would have a catch 22 such as that for her character.  It means that she's essentially constantly at war within herself; on the one hand, she wants to be this wildly successful fashionista, and that means devoting a lot of time and energy to herself, but on the other hand, at the end of the day, she has a generous spirit that, no matter how much it might conflict with her goals, she simply cannot ignore.  This hasn't gotten highlighted nearly enough in the show, but when it does it's awesome; probably the best canon look at it has actually been in the recent Nightmare Rarity story arc in the MLP comics.  It was a fascinating look at just how insecure she really is and why she is so generous to her friends and family.

 

Now, back to how exactly she is generous.  As I said before, Rarity has certainly shown she's willing to be generous with material wealth; a good example being the obvious case in "Art of the Dress", her sacrificing her tail of all things for Steve Magnet, and finally, one that I think gets overlooked quite a bit, her spa days with Fluttershy.  The episode "Putting Your Hoof Down" suggested to me that Fluttershy is not necessarily that well off, but regular trips to the spa are hardly an inexpensive habit.  Therefore, the logical conclusion to me is that Rarity most likely pays for the two of them, just so she can keep having these spa days with her friend.  May be completely wrong on this point or looking into it too much, but that strikes me as the most logical scenario based on a number of things we've seen in the show.

 

However, above and beyond material generosity, Rarity is generous with her time!  While her first episode, "Art of the Dress", revolves around a particularly generous effort on Rarity's part, two of her other episodes, "Sisterhooves Social" and "Sweet and Elite" focus on when she struggles with devoting time to herself and her friends or family.  However, most of the time when we see her in a supporting role, when she's not being played up for comedic effect, what is she doing?  She's right there alongside the rest of the Mane 6 or even doing something for her family, like camping with Sweetie Belle.  While helping her friends may not seem like a big deal since the rest do so quite easily themselves, think about it; Rarity, with her disposition to further her business and build her reputation, would generally be considered as the last pony anypony could rely on.  And yet she is there almost any time her friends or family need her!  This I can only attribute to her generous spirit, and it is in my opinion both the most blatant and regularly highlighted, although sadly neglected, proof of her generosity and qualifier of her as the Element of Generosity.

 

As a side note, I will say that when you get down to it, each of the Mane 6 really have something about their goals, dreams, nature, or dispositions that should really prevent them from spending or helping each other as much as they do.  And yet, because of those great elements of harmony that they embody, the magic of friendship stays strong between them and they can always count on each other to be there for them in their times of need.

Edited July 16, 2013 by Batbrony

[RockinRarity 1,605]

I am going to share some things that I notice about Rarity that have not been brought up at all yet.

 

So you know how Rarity made all of those dresses for the Gala and how they had a whole episode about those dresses? Those dresses were the first of many. Think about it. Did their dresses from the Royal Wedding or Twilight's coronation make themselves? Did they buy the dresses from some other designer? Of course not! Rarity had to have made those dresses too.

 

The poster above me mentioned how Rarity is generous with her time. I want to say that in Dragon Quest, Rarity's generosity and care for Spike is what drives her to follow him with Twilight and RD. Not only does she follow them, but she makes a giant dragon costume for them to wear. Whoever said that dresses are easy for her to make and therefore it is not difficult for her to be generous with them... I am pretty sure that Rarity had never made a dragon costume before, considering how ridiculous it looked. But she made one anyways so that they could watch over Spike.

 

Stuff like that doesn't seem to connect with people unless they see her actually performing the task. Off-screen demonstrations of generosity are still demonstrations of generosity.

[Radiance64 7,053]

Well, of course Rarity's not perfectly generous all the time, if she was her character would be really boring and we'd be back in G1 territory.

But, I can think of a lot of moments where she was quite generous:

-she helped out Twilight, a pony she didn't even know at the time in the first episode, heck she was willing to do so much for her that Twilight ran away!

-gave her tail to the serpeant for his moustache

-offers to make all the nests for Winter Wrap Up

-the whole of Suited For Success

-offers herself to test Twilight's wing spell

-doesn't tell Fluttershy she's jealous of her fashion career to protect her feelings

-made dresses for her class when she was little(although that was probably more of an assignment)

-in the end goes to be with Sweetie Belle at the Sisterhooves Social

-despite getting distracted she still makes Twilight a dress for her birthday

-makes capes for her friends in Secret of My Excess

-makes bridesmaids dresses and the bride's dress in A Canterlot Wedding

-helps Twilight out in the Crystal Empire(although so did everypony else I guess)

-tried her best to help Cadance with her head dress when the hair dresser was sick

 

I guess that's all I can think of, but it's still a lot. Point is, she is pretty generous a lot of the time I think, but she also still has a lot she wants to do for herself here and there, so she doesn't have to be generous all the time.

[MichaelxXxTrixie 433]

Rarity like other ponies demonstrates flaws. Rarity although representing generosity can fall into greed at times. However, if they made her character 100 percent generous and always out for good, it would damage plot and it would damage her image as a character. I personally find Rarity likable and interesting the way she is.

[Blique 211]

In response to those who complain about Rarity's greed, I'll quote a post I made in a separate thread regarding the same issue.
 

Yes, Rarity is vain and greedy, but only about certain things. Gems are her favorite, and it's not necessarily because they're expensive. People likely wouldn't see her as "greedy" if her aesthetic preference happened to be apples or flowers. Just look at how upset Applejack gets when anything messes with her apple trees, or before that, look at how many apple trees she has in the first place! Greedy! You could argue that apples are her livelihood, but so are gems for Rarity. She loves gems because she can use them for dresses, which she sells, as part of her clothing business. She doesn't hoard all the gems she finds, and she takes every opportunity she sees to stock up on dress materials, because that's her livelihood.

 

She enjoys the company of high-class folks in Canterlot because they happened to be more interested in her work than others. Throughout the series, Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow and Pinkie Pie have very little respect or interest in her dresses/ability, and the only reaction we get from Fluttershy is when she looks down on Rarity once, thinking she can't even sew a dress properly. Of course Rarity would be happy when she's surrounded by people who understand her vision and respect her skils.

 

Furthermore, the decision Rarity had to make between Canterlot parties and Twilight's party wasn't just a "will she be enticed by greediness?" situation - it was a serious dilemma. High society wasn't "yay look at me I'm high class now" for Rarity - aside from the warm, rare atmosphere of being recognized for her talents, socializing with such perfect customers is a way to not only skyrocket sales, but also achieve the ambition she's had since she was a filly.

 

Anyone would take that over a friend's casual birthday party any day, but Rarity's generosity is so strong that in the end, she was willing to give up her lifelong dream for the sake of her friends.

 

 

But still, what's the most generous thing Rarity's ever done? Give away dresses? Applejack gave away apple treats in The Best Night Ever and some other episodes. Twilight helps out her other friends in generous ways as well. Giving away dresses doesn't really seem to be much of a sacrifice to me personally, considering that Rarity can find gems at-will and could, theoretically, have near-infinite riches.

 

It takes me one hour to make two dozen apple tarts. It takes me a week to sew one mediocre dress. Applejack doesn't have to take everypony's measurements, brainstorm design concepts, search all the shops for unique materials, and labor over a sewing machine for hours on end to make an apple pie. Besides that, food expires. Selling nothing, Applejack likely didn't see any point in making her friend pay for one or two sweets when she was prepared to throw out a dozen others.

 

And just because she makes dresses all the time, it doesn't mean she can sew like she's breathing air. I drew 30 pictures in two days for a deadline once, but that doesn't mean I didn't stay up 40 straight hours to do so, nor does it mean I could breeze through any artwork I drew afterwards. 18 dresses in three days likely means that she must not have slept at all...and I most certainly wouldn't call that "really nothing". Not to mention she had to make such awful looking dresses, which must have made her extremely distressed all the while.

 

 

 

Rarity has strong dreams and ambitions for herself and is very self-interested when she focuses on them, to the point of forgetting about the feelings of others. However, once she remembers, she gives up anything she has to help them. An example is in Lesson Zero when Rarity laments over the "worst possible thing", so caught up in her sewing project that she barely even notices Twilight's existence. However, at the last moment, Twilight's downhearted tone snaps her out of it, and Rarity realizes that there might be something bothering her friend. When she ignores Sweetie Belle or takes advantage of Spike, it's because she's focused on what would make things most efficient in her work, too absorbed in it to notice anything else.

 

Within Rarity is a struggle in which she is self-interested by nature, but she also wants to be dedicated to her friends. Her main problem isn't that she's greedy - it's just that she considers her work and her friends as equally important but separate matters that vary in priority as need be, and she doesn't know what to do when she finds herself stepping on one for the sake of the other.

[RockinRarity 1,605]

 

 

Within Rarity is a struggle in which she is self-interested by nature, but she also wants to be dedicated to her friends. Her main problem isn't that she's greedy - it's just that she considers her work and her friends as equally important but separate matters that vary in priority as need be, and she doesn't know what to do when she finds herself stepping on one for the sake of the other.

 

Boom.

 

You win the thread.

 

See, this is why I love this show. Not only is it cute and happy, but it has depth like this. These characters are not always easy to see for the entirety of who they are at first glance. Rarity, arguably, is the most different from a first impression to her core, with Fluttershy being a close second. And the best part is that the mane 6 have a lot of depth, too, not just Rarity. Rarity's depth just may be the hardest to notice among younger guys. 

[LordDiscord 289]

I do agree to some extent, that Rarity can be greedy but she is rarely selfish. Before anyone points out how she uses spike or sweetibell, I would just like to say that on most of the occasions were we see Spike or Sweetibell doing something  laborish for Rarity, they have always been willing to do those task and would likely offer to do them whether asked or not. Also they do receive some form of payment, which just because it may be small to us, could be much more to them. I mean there have been numerous occasions where Rarity kissed Spike for his actions regardless of what they may be, and that kiss could easily be worth more to Spike than anything Rarity could ever pay him. Also most of what Sweetibell does for Rarity is her trying to get her cutiemark and Rarity is repaying her with the opportunity to try and get it. some one is only truly selfish when their gain is a burden or even betrayal of someone else's trust. 

[TailsIsNotAlone 3,695]

Here's another way of looking at it. Apart from the valid points about Rarity not being perfect and expressing generosity the best way she knows how...

 

Rarity is the only one of the of Mane 6 who runs her own business. Pinkie helps the owners of Sugarcube Corner, Mr. & Mrs. Cake. Applejack has her family to help her on the farm. Rarity has only herself to depend on. She thinks up new fashions, designs everything on paper, cuts and sews all the fabric, keeps up the Boutique, and markets and sells everything herself. And since her world is fashion and fashion is always changing, there's no guarantee that she'll turn a profit. Despite this, she has given dresses away and is not preoccupied with money. Nopony else in town does what she does, and few ponies have to do that much work everyday on something not everyone takes seriously.

 

And even with all she has to deal with, she will drop everything to be with her friends and help them in their time of need.

 

Rarity is plenty generous.

Edited July 18, 2013 by TailsIsNotAlone

[Motion Spark 7,807]

These threads of Rarity not being like her element really bothers me, it's always another one after another one after another one, no one ends up pleased. Why don't we get why Rainbow Dash is not loyal or Pinkie doesn't laugh as much as she should?

 

I pretty much agree with what said, good points there. But in my opinion what makes this show attractive is how complete each one of the mane6 are, they have strenghts and weaknesses, and good and interesting ones that you feel indentified with!. Rarity doesn't need to be generous 24/7 in order to be generous, if she were like that she would be a boring one dimensional cliche character.

I think, not only me, but several brony vloggers, said that Rarity has the most complex personality of all the mane6, you need a little bit of time to understand how she really is, so the people saying that Rarity doesn't 'act' generous is because they don't take the time to watch her in the show, and that's because characters like Rainbow Dash or Pinkie Pie are pretty easy to get.

Edited July 18, 2013 by Motion Spark

[hawkflame 3,310]

It should also be noted that she is consistently shown to be willing to go outside of her own comfort zone for the sake of her friends and family. She labored on making the ugliest dresses she ever made despite her better judgment because that made her friends happy. She was openly supportive of Fluttershy's modeling career in spite of her jealousy. She ran through the obstacle course at the Sisterhooves Social while covered in mud. And she ended up going camping with Sweetie Belle in spite of the fact that she hates camping.

 

It's one thing to do things that you like to do for the sake of others, it's another to do things that you *hate* to do for the sake of others. I don't know if that's exactly generosity, but its pretty close

[Galen 1,354]

Rarity's generous side tends to come out mostly in the episodes that focus directly on her, but it can sometimes be mixed with her vain, shallow and even greedy sides. A good example of this is the episode Sisterhooves Social in large part because Rarity was acting fairly selfishly toward Sweetie Belle at first. Sweetie Belle was causing some damage but she did mean well and Rarity did neglect her a bit at first. But she did the right thing at the end by entering the Sisterhooves Social to make her happy even though it was the last thing Rarity actually wanted to do. I feel that in episodes where she is a supporting character her vain and shallow side can be laid on a bit thick for comedic effect which can sometimes work but for me falls flat a lot of times. Rarity has a great deal of potential as a character but it seems in a lot of cases that the writers aren't sure what to do with her.

 

This is on point. The issue with Rarity's portrayal as the element of generosity only ever comes out in episodes that focus on her, which leads me to blame the writers for the way she's been since her last episode. No focus was on her during season 3, and due to the writers' penchant for portraying her as this shallow, high maintenance and selfish narcissist when she's really anything but. Yes, vanity is one of her greatest flaws, but I don't believe for a second it's genuinely her fault but an inconsistency on the writers' part as a result of their obsession on stereotypes. Rarity has committed generous deeds in all the episodes that did focus on her, after all. To me, those are the ones that represent her true character.

 

Pinkie's been shown out of this element a few times, like in Party of One, and The Last Roundup when AJ breaks a Pinkie Promise.

 

Also, Applejack has been dishonest a few times as well. She wouldn't tell Pinkie why she was in the barn, she didn't tell them "at breakfast" in The Last Roundup. (Yes, I know you said almost always)

 

The characters don't follow they're elements all the time, and that's okay. They're not supposed to be perfect.

 

Party of One was pretty much the only episode where Pinkie was out of character other than Magical Mystery Cure. Applejack may have been dishonest on several occasions, but Last Roundup was the only episode in which she was dishonest for her own personal motives. I agree that lies are never good, but I also don't know if it's the right thing to adopt a no tolerance policy.

[RrVPfX9cPtw59FpC 1,304]

Yeah, I never got this. It'd make more sense to me if she was the element of appreciation or something. I think there's a thread about what the mane six's secondary elements of harmony could have been.

[brony2008 22]

I can recall only 3 times Rarity does anything generous (giving spike the fire ruby (Secret of My Excess), giving spike gems for helping her find gems (A Dog and Pony Show), and making the mane 6 dresses (Suited for Success)) and many times she does something selfish (almost every other episode with Rarity in it)

Given a second choice I suppose I'd say RD. AJ is almost tied though.

edit: I just realize how long it's been since the last person posted on this thread. oops. I got here from the "Welcome to Show Discussion" thread and assumed a pinned thread wouldn't link to an inactive one. silly me.

Edited August 7, 2013 by brony2008

[Foreigner And Lover 207]

I don't know if this has already been mentioned, but Faust said somewhere that Rarity was originally supposed to be the element of inspiration, but Hasbro vetoed it because they thought the concept was too complicated for little girls. I think that Rarity would be perfect for the element of inspiration.

[Forlong 1,726]

I love Rarity (not in THAT way, you weirdo), but she just isn't shown to be generous in the show.  In the comics, they show how generous she can be, but not in the show.

[Super Derpy 535]

Rarity. Easily. I mean Pinkies always making me laugh,  Fluttershy is always nice to everyone, AJ is honest all the time (okay maybe not all the time but most of the time), RD is extremely loyal, Twilight is amazing at magic. And Rarity shes generous maybe once or twice. I mean in Spike at your service she gave Spike the smallest gem she could. That's not generous. It's the exact opposite!

Edited August 7, 2013 by Super Derpy

[Crazydud619dx 30]

 

 

AJ is honest all the time,

Not true. Look at the episode The Last Roundup, she didn't want to admit to her friends that she didn't win first place in the rodeo competition. But, I do agree that Rarity is the only one from the mane 6 that shows qualities the opposite or unlike her element the most. She was jealous of Fluttershy in Green Isn't Your Color and seems to have some greed problems (not like Spike's greed, but to a lesser-extend).

[hawkflame 3,310]

Rarity. Easily. I mean Pinkies always making me laugh,  Fluttershy is always nice to everyone, AJ is honest all the time (okay maybe not all the time but most of the time), RD is extremely loyal, Twilight is amazing at magic. And Rarity shes generous maybe once or twice. I mean in Spike at your service she gave Spike the smallest gem she could. That's not generous. It's the exact opposite!

People keep pointing this out, and people forget or fail to realize that the gem she gave was valuable enough to purchase an industrial strength pet hair dryer.

 

Rarity has a generosity in spirit that a lot of people seem to brush off because it's not in the form of "giving/doing stuff for others for free".  She is the most likely to go out of her own personal comfort zone for the sake of others (Sisterhooves Social, Green isn't Your Color, Sleepless in Ponyville), and then there's Sonic Rainboom.  People remember that episode for her being an attention whore, but they also forget that she was the first one to notice Rainbow Dash's nerves, was the one who suggested Twilight find a spell so that they could all visit Cloudsdale and show up to support her, and she volunteered to be the test subject for the wing spell, for Rainbow Dash's sake. 

[Silver Letter 1,832]

Not only is Rarity the least like her Element, she is the only one that has acted in defiance of it. The others mostly keep true to their Elements. Even Rainbow Dash is not disloyal to her friends when her loyalty is needed.

[Sugar Song 6]

Rarity!

 

I thought that the title said, 'Which pony lives up to their element?'

I accidentally put Pinkie Pie. Oops! LOL

But I deleted that vote and put Rarity XD 

[Sunny Fox 5,950]

Not only is Rarity the least like her Element, she is the only one that has acted in defiance of it. The others mostly keep true to their Elements. Even Rainbow Dash is not disloyal to her friends when her loyalty is needed.

The only who has acted in defiance of their Element? I disagree. What about Fluttershy's behaviour in "Putting your Hoof Down"? She certainly wasn't being very kind in that episode. AJ has shown dishonesty, which is also in defiance of her Element. Rainbow Dash took a bite of the Cake's cake in "MMMystery on the Friendship Express", even though she knew Pinkie Pie was extremely protective of it, which is very disloyal. Even Pinkie herself acted against her Element in "Party of One". Only Twilight really hasn't gone against her Element (Magic) which makes me wonder how exactly one can defy such an Element. It's not a personality trait like the others.

 

As for how Rarity is depicted, certain episodes do show her generosity. It's just that generosity doesn't make for very many jokes, while her drama queen, fastidiousness and greedy tendencies do. So in episodes where she is not the main character, that aspect of her is focused on more.

Edited August 8, 2013 by Full Spectrum

[PeachiePaws 36]

LOL! Wow. Rarity is the biggest walking contradiction! She always has a great idea to do the right thing, then she's just overwhelmed with the need for attention! She suggests to Twilight that all of them go to Cloudsdale to support Rainbow Dash, and then when she gets there, she turns into the biggest attention whore EVER! 

Edited August 9, 2013 by PeachiePaws