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Can someone tell me Rainbow Dash's top speed?


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Mach 10? Come on now. ^_^

That's 7.6k Mph, which is 10 times the speed of sound. Yeah she's fast, a super hero and I adore her, but, I think Mach 10 is a stretch even for cartoon absurdity.

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15 minutes ago, Mirage said:

Mach 10? Come on now. ^_^

That's 7.6k Mph, which is 10 times the speed of sound. Yeah she's fast, a super hero and I adore her, but, I think Mach 10 is a stretch even for cartoon absurdity.

I believe that calculation is taken directly from Secrets and Pies.

But, the vs wiki would have you believe she is much, much faster than that. http://vsbattles.wikia.com/wiki/Rainbow_Dash

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I believe the mach 10 things comes from another thread on this site however it is flawed in my opinion, this was based on the fact that rainbow dash shattered the visible light spectrum.  I'll make a point that this is most likely the show writers and artist just wanting to show how cool rainbow dash is, but if you were to try and measure things based on frame by frame and the distance the background objects are moving at then rainbow dash is quite a bit slower and inconsistent.  there are some real world vehicles that are a lot faster than mach 10 (HTV-2 reached about mach 17) and don't shatter the light spectrum cause it can't be shattered but giving rainbow dash the benefit of a doubt, lets say the light spectrum could be broken.  it would most likely work like the speed of sound if it was possible so that would mean she would have to go at approximately mach 874493 to be faster than how fast light goes and if that were to happen then rainbow dash wouldn't be able to see and would hit the ground in less than a nanosecond I would think.  visible light is about the same speed as light, if I remember correctly if the sun went out now it would take about 8 minutes before we could even see it go out, that's mostly due to how far the sun actually is to us.  even if speed of light was slower in the pony world, is it really only mach 10 and how would rainbow dash see if she was going faster than what light would register at?  Also not to mention that at speed of light everything would appear as if it were flat if you could see the objects.

so I'm just gonna say that really if it were measured in this world's speed then I'd say, being generous, approximately mach 2 at most.

here's where I found the mach 10 thing and what google cites to be "correct" 

 

Edited by Simcity11100
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Don't trust statements in the actual show or comics (especially comics), they're all pretty inconsistent. For example, in The Best Night Ever, Dash implies she can fly as fast, or at comparable speed, to actual lightning bolts while in Guardians of Harmony, it's indirectly said that Mach 1 is their top speed. Mach 1-10 is a pretty big low ball since Dash has speed feats far exceeding that. As embarrassing as it sounds, I and some friends of mine have done some calculations on her and other ponies speeds before. 

-Applejack dodges a lightning bolt: Calculated at Mach 548

-Dash dodged a lightning bolt from Derpy's cloud: Calculated at Mach 845

-Princess Luna flies to Equestria from the Moon: Calculated at 4% the Speed of Light

-Twilight herself has reacted to beams of natural sunlight: Calculated at 20-46% the Speed of Light

-Flash Magnus and his team dodge lightning while overpowering a storm (not-yet-calculated)

It should be noted that while the speed of lightning tends to vary, the figure I used on the site was 440,00 m/s which comes from this.

Does anyone here watch PowerCrunch/KaijuD or ImaginaryAxis? I've been thinking of doing a video in their styles for either Dash or Twilight for funsies.

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Well she's a Wonderbolt, and they're based off the Blue Angels. The Blue Angels' F-18 Hornet has a top speed of 700 MPH, and a low speed of 120 MPH. Though something tells me 700 MPH is too fast for organic life to withstand without falling unconscious with little to no protection. So I'd say roughly around 300-400 MPH, only reaching the higher numbers when flying downward.

That would be my best guess.

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20 minutes ago, Galaxian Darkanine said:

Don't trust statements in the actual show or comics (especially comics), they're all pretty inconsistent. For example, in The Best Night Ever, Dash implies she can fly as fast, or at comparable speed, to actual lightning bolts while in Guardians of Harmony, it's indirectly said that Mach 1 is their top speed. Mach 1-10 is a pretty big low ball since Dash has speed feats far exceeding that. As embarrassing as it sounds, I and some friends of mine have done some calculations on her and other ponies speeds before. 

-Applejack dodges a lightning bolt: Calculated at Mach 548

-Dash dodged a lightning bolt from Derpy's cloud: Calculated at Mach 845

-Princess Luna flies to Equestria from the Moon: Calculated at 4% the Speed of Light

-Twilight herself has reacted to beams of natural sunlight: Calculated at 20-46% the Speed of Light

-Flash Magnus and his team dodge lightning while overpowering a storm (not-yet-calculated)

It should be noted that while the speed of lightning tends to vary, the figure I used on the site was 440,00 m/s which comes from this.

Does anyone here watch PowerCrunch/KaijuD or ImaginaryAxis? I've been thinking of doing a video in their styles for either Dash or Twilight for funsies.

Interesting but I do wonder how fast that lightning in the dash example is actually moving as I did take a look at the original video, seems to be quite a bit slower than real life lightning (4 frames for the tip of the bolt to get across the screen at 30fps(32ms per frame));  the moon example is pretty hard to determine how accurate it is because the lack of size information on equestria's moon.

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17 minutes ago, Simcity11100 said:

Interesting but I do wonder how fast that lightning in the dash example is actually moving as I did take a look at the original video, seems to be quite a bit slower than real life lightning (4 frames for the tip of the bolt to get across the screen at 30fps(32ms per frame));  the moon example is pretty hard to determine how accurate it is because the lack of size information on equestria's moon.

It's a common thing in most fiction, where the visual speed of an object/character is slowed down so we can see what's going on while the actual speed is closer to what it really is. For example, I believe their was an episode of Dragon Ball where Goku was fighting Piccolo in the 23rd Budokai and while we could see the fight, the in-universe audience only saw the aftermath of their destruction because they were to fast. In the calculations I posted above, theirs also the instance of Twilight reacting to natural sunlight (I rewatched the clip at least 5 times to determine if it was natural or not and it was), realistically we shouldn't be able to perceive light but we were able to see the beam of light as it shined down in real time.

About the moon. Word of god confirms that the moon and sun in Equestria are as big as they are in real life. I forget who said it, but I can try to hunt it down if you're interested. 

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11 minutes ago, Galaxian Darkanine said:

It's a common thing in most fiction, where the visual speed of an object/character is slowed down so we can see what's going on while the actual speed is closer to what it really is. For example, I believe their was an episode of Dragon Ball where Goku was fighting Piccolo in the 23rd Budokai and while we could see the fight, the in-universe audience only saw the aftermath of their destruction because they were to fast. In the calculations I posted above, theirs also the instance of Twilight reacting to natural sunlight (I rewatched the clip at least 5 times to determine if it was natural or not and it was), realistically we shouldn't be able to perceive light but we were able to see the beam of light as it shined down in real time.

About the moon. Word of god confirms that the moon and sun in Equestria are as big as they are in real life. I forget who said it, but I can try to hunt it down if you're interested. 

I'm pretty interested, however it does seem that these speeds aren't maintained for very long, I do wonder though what their fastest maintainable speeds are.

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On 3/12/2018 at 8:55 PM, Simcity11100 said:

I believe the mach 10 things comes from another thread on this site however it is flawed in my opinion, this was based on the fact that rainbow dash shattered the visible light spectrum.  I'll make a point that this is most likely the show writers and artist just wanting to show how cool rainbow dash is, but if you were to try and measure things based on frame by frame and the distance the background objects are moving at then rainbow dash is quite a bit slower and inconsistent.  there are some real world vehicles that are a lot faster than mach 10 (HTV-2 reached about mach 17) and don't shatter the light spectrum cause it can't be shattered but giving rainbow dash the benefit of a doubt, lets say the light spectrum could be broken.  it would most likely work like the speed of sound if it was possible so that would mean she would have to go at approximately mach 874493 to be faster than how fast light goes and if that were to happen then rainbow dash wouldn't be able to see and would hit the ground in less than a nanosecond I would think.  visible light is about the same speed as light, if I remember correctly if the sun went out now it would take about 8 minutes before we could even see it go out, that's mostly due to how far the sun actually is to us.  even if speed of light was slower in the pony world, is it really only mach 10 and how would rainbow dash see if she was going faster than what light would register at?  Also not to mention that at speed of light everything would appear as if it were flat if you could see the objects.

so I'm just gonna say that really if it were measured in this world's speed then I'd say, being generous, approximately mach 2 at most.

here's where I found the mach 10 thing and what google cites to be "correct" 

 

 

On 3/12/2018 at 10:20 PM, Galaxian Darkanine said:

Don't trust statements in the actual show or comics (especially comics), they're all pretty inconsistent. For example, in The Best Night Ever, Dash implies she can fly as fast, or at comparable speed, to actual lightning bolts while in Guardians of Harmony, it's indirectly said that Mach 1 is their top speed. Mach 1-10 is a pretty big low ball since Dash has speed feats far exceeding that. As embarrassing as it sounds, I and some friends of mine have done some calculations on her and other ponies speeds before. 

-Applejack dodges a lightning bolt: Calculated at Mach 548

-Dash dodged a lightning bolt from Derpy's cloud: Calculated at Mach 845

-Princess Luna flies to Equestria from the Moon: Calculated at 4% the Speed of Light

-Twilight herself has reacted to beams of natural sunlight: Calculated at 20-46% the Speed of Light

-Flash Magnus and his team dodge lightning while overpowering a storm (not-yet-calculated)

It should be noted that while the speed of lightning tends to vary, the figure I used on the site was 440,00 m/s which comes from this.

Does anyone here watch PowerCrunch/KaijuD or ImaginaryAxis? I've been thinking of doing a video in their styles for either Dash or Twilight for funsies.

 

On 3/12/2018 at 10:51 PM, Snow Frostflame said:

Well she's a Wonderbolt, and they're based off the Blue Angels. The Blue Angels' F-18 Hornet has a top speed of 700 MPH, and a low speed of 120 MPH. Though something tells me 700 MPH is too fast for organic life to withstand without falling unconscious with little to no protection. So I'd say roughly around 300-400 MPH, only reaching the higher numbers when flying downward.

That would be my best guess.

My answer for how these feats are possible since it's in Equestria: Magic. Motherbucking MAGIC!!!

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Her pre-Rainboom top speed is calculated to be 3658.1 mph (1635.31m/s (or roughly mach 5)) in this video:

As the Sonic Rainboom doubles her speed at the time she reaches her pre-Rainboom top speed, then 7316.2 mph or roughly mach 10 would be her top speed.

 

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  • 2 months later...

Less than Mach 1 when flying normally and past Mach 1 when performing a Sonic Rainboom.
All this Mach 10 rubbish is based on calculation that are fundamentally flawed as they are attempting to calculate the physics of flight in little girl's show about magical ponies where physics is very often thrown out the window.
A Sonic Rainboom is just a fancy Sonic Boom hence the name.

As for dodging lightning, well it appears to not be particularly fast in the first place. Besides if one could actually dodge lightning then they would be unbeatable. The show takes liberties because its a cartoon.   

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Please note the following figures are purely speculation:

 

rainbow_dash_filly_by_posey_11-d71bgwn.p

      Base Rainbow Dash (Filly)

  • Cruising Speed - 50~100 mph
  • "Sprint" Speed - 150~300 mph
  • Max (Rainboom) Speed - 600-700 mph

 

Rainbow-Dash-Flying-PNG-Photos.png?resiz

Base Rainbow Dash (Adult)

  • Cruising Speed - 50~300 mph
  • "Sprint" Speed - 500~600 mph
  • Max (Rainboom) Speed - 1,000~1,500 mph

 

medium.png

 

(Ascended Rainbow Power) Rainbow Dash

  • Cruising Speed - 100~800 mph
  • "Sprint" Speed - 1,000~2,000 mph
  • Max (Rainboom) Speed - 4,000~5,000 mph
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  • 1 year later...
On 5/30/2018 at 4:06 PM, Tenebrae said:

Less than Mach 1 when flying normally and past Mach 1 when performing a Sonic Rainboom.
All this Mach 10 rubbish is based on calculation that are fundamentally flawed as they are attempting to calculate the physics of flight in little girl's show about magical ponies where physics is very often thrown out the window.
A Sonic Rainboom is just a fancy Sonic Boom hence the name.

As for dodging lightning, well it appears to not be particularly fast in the first place. Besides if one could actually dodge lightning then they would be unbeatable. The show takes liberties because its a cartoon.   

You say using equations and physics is pointless because it's a carton, but you then go on to say lightning isn't impressive because it looks slow basing that opinion off of the same base values used to calculate speed, just not using numbers? And even if they could dodge lightning, (Which Rainbow Dash definitely can.) so what? In a show where Unicorns shoot beams of light, which we have to assume are travailing close to, if not SoL, Dodging lightning wouldn't really help. Light is much faster than lightning, like, by a huge margin, so it wouldn't be unbeatable. 

She has to be flying at least past Mach 1 before entering the Rainboom state, because she already has a Mach cone around her every time she does it. Mach cones don't form unless you're already moving faster than sound, so to say it's just a regular Sonic Boom with pretty colors doesn't add up. Showrunners have given no statement, so we have to go off of what we know and see. 

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On ‎7‎/‎29‎/‎2019 at 10:52 PM, LegendConductor said:

You say using equations and physics is pointless because it's a carton, but you then go on to say lightning isn't impressive because it looks slow basing that opinion off of the same base values used to calculate speed, just not using numbers? And even if they could dodge lightning, (Which Rainbow Dash definitely can.) so what? In a show where Unicorns shoot beams of light, which we have to assume are travailing close to, if not SoL, Dodging lightning wouldn't really help. Light is much faster than lightning, like, by a huge margin, so it wouldn't be unbeatable. 

She has to be flying at least past Mach 1 before entering the Rainboom state, because she already has a Mach cone around her every time she does it. Mach cones don't form unless you're already moving faster than sound, so to say it's just a regular Sonic Boom with pretty colors doesn't add up. Showrunners have given no statement, so we have to go off of what we know and see. 

When characters can dodge lightning but are generally portrayed as slower and the like is when it becomes clear that there are certain inconsistencies that aren't meant to be taken too seriously due to the nature of the show itself.

When do Unicorns shoot beams of light? They shoot beams of magic which don't move anywhere close to the speed of light.

Your ignoring external context.
Like Simcity11100 said the animators probably just used those visuals in order to make the scene look cool without really knowing the physics of what they are representing (a common error among writers/animators).
The reason I believe Rainbow doesn't go much further than Mach 1 is that its pretty clear her Sonic Rainboom is supposed to be the equivalent of a Sonic Boom. The name is basically the same as and the sound used for it is basically the same.
You say that we have to go off based on what we know and see and that is exactly what I am doing, but I always try to maintain the perspective that the animators/writers are not infalliable and that it is very possible (and common) for them to fail to represent what they truly meant to portray due to a lack of knowledge in science.

That being said it is clear that those like you and those like me just view this too differently to come to an understanding. So unless the showrunners decide to explain themselves we will never consensus on this topic.

 

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On 5/31/2018 at 3:10 PM, Kai-rouken said:

Please note the following figures are purely speculation:

 

rainbow_dash_filly_by_posey_11-d71bgwn.p

      Base Rainbow Dash (Filly)

  • Cruising Speed - 50~100 mph
  • "Sprint" Speed - 150~300 mph
  • Max (Rainboom) Speed - 600-700 mph

 

Rainbow-Dash-Flying-PNG-Photos.png?resiz

Base Rainbow Dash (Adult)

  • Cruising Speed - 50~300 mph
  • "Sprint" Speed - 500~600 mph
  • Max (Rainboom) Speed - 1,000~1,500 mph

 

medium.png

 

(Ascended Rainbow Power) Rainbow Dash

  • Cruising Speed - 100~800 mph
  • "Sprint" Speed - 1,000~2,000 mph
  • Max (Rainboom) Speed - 4,000~5,000 mph

I can approve of this

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