C.Discord's Mane Six Cuteness Appeal Traits Discussion

[poniesforfun 716]

Been meaning to reply to this all night, but I kept falling asleep; my bad!  CD, this is a phenomenal analysis of the particular types of cuteness displayed by each of the Mane 6!  You hit the nail on the head with each and every one of them, and I appreciate the time it must've taken to think this through and put it together.  If I may, I'd like to actually expand upon your earlier findings by breaking down the particular brand of cuteness displayed by each of the Cutie Mark Crusaders.  While it's a little harder to do so with them, since they don't have quite as distinct personalities yet as the Mane 6 do, being younger and less developed, I still believe that at this point their personalities are distinct enough that each of them does indeed display their own brand of cuteness that makes them all the more likable and adorable for it.  Before I begin, I will mention that, being young fillies and having blood or surrogate older siblings, they all have an endearing cuteness to them that stems from their being younger siblings, which anypony who, like myself, have younger siblings will understand.  So here it goes.

 

~Cutie Mark Crusader Cuteness~

 

Apple Bloom:

'Headstrong' Cuteness

 

Apple Bloom is generally adorable in most everything she does, so this was a hard one to nail.  However, after some time thinking about it, I've come to the conclusion that her most distinct brand of cuteness stems from her headstrong, can-do attitude and mannerisms.  She is usually portrayed as the leader of the CMC, if only because, like her big sister, she's good at organizing and coming up with ideas (albeit not always good ones).  Most of the CMC's ideas for getting their cutie marks, or any other activities they pursue, originate with Apple Bloom, with the rare exception of a few of the more extreme ideas (such as ziplining) that Scootaloo has come up with.  She displays this same willingness and energy in her activities at Sweet Apple Acres, always ready to help out Applejack and the rest of the Apples with their farming activities, and excited to learn new ones, such as Zap Apple Jamming, or, most recently, helping to set-up for the Apple Family Reunion.  Heck, one of her first cute lines in "Bridle Gossip" was "I AM a big pony!" and she proceeded in the very same episode to very cutely display her take-charge attitude in her attempts to contact and become friends with Zecora before anypony else.  All in all, this is an adorable personality trait, and it also explains why she's had more screen time than any other CMC; with her can-do attitude and penchant for coming up with and pursuing her ideas, Apple Bloom is undeniably the leader of the CMC, and all the cuter for it.

 

Sweetie Belle:

'Energetic' Cuteness (to say the least)

 

You'd think that Sweetie Belle, being arguably cuter than either of the other two CMC (which I personally do believe), would be the hardest to nail down, but honestly that wasn't the case for me.  Instead, I quickly realized that one particular trait of Sweetie Belle's distinguishes her brand of cuteness from the other two: her energetic personality.  Now, let me start by saying this is somewhat similar to Pinkie's 'bubbly' brand of cuteness; however, it is not quite the same.  While both certainly give them a "naturally cuddly" appeal, are incredibly outgoing, and display a wide variety of emotions, Sweetie Belle's energetic personality seems to stem more from her youth than anything else.  Pinkie's bubbly personality IS her mature self (if that makes sense), but Sweetie may be a little more mellow as a mare than she is now, and really, we all know this kid.  There's always somepony in our youth (if it wasn't us that is) who's just always bouncing off the walls and just full of energy and excitement all the time.  While she doesn't generally lead the CMC in any of their activities, or come up with many of their ideas, Sweetie possibly pursues their activities with more exuberance than any of the other CMC, and always with a smile on her face.  She just wants to have fun, and fun generally means whatever strikes her fancy at the moment, whether it be doing whatever activities she can think of with her big sister Rarity, just trying to get her cutie mark for the fun of it with the CMC, whether or not she actually gets it, or even singing an outlandishly long campfire song, just because, hey, why not!  Heck, she's so excited that half the time her words come out as squeaks!!!  Overall, Sweetie Belle has a bright, energetic, exuberant, and very, well, bouncy personality that simply makes her stand out from the other two CMC, and quite frankly, in my book, the most adorable of the three.

 

Scootaloo:

'Semi-Ironic' Cuteness (a.k.a. "I Just Can't Wait to be Rainbow Dash!!!")

 

Scootaloo, like RD, does not aim to be cute, and, as a result, when she's trying hardest not to be cute, she generally comes across all the cuter for it.  However, her brand of cuteness is slightly different from RD's 'ironic' cuteness, largely because she's not trying to not be cute simply for the sake of being awesome, competitive, and looking tough like RD does.  That's part of it, but the other part, and I think this outweighs the former, stems from Scootaloo's desire to be just like Rainbow Dash and, as such, try to do everything she can to impress her.  Heck, her first episode revolved around this very desire, and let me tell ya (not that I really have to) she was pretty bucking adorable the whole time she was trying to impress RD.  She's always been cutest whenever she's either been trying to impress RD or is fangirling over RD (a great example being when she headed up the RD fan club, with rainbow wig and everything, or even when she volunteered to throw away RD's apple core!).  Needless to say, it's quite obvious that Scootaloo's immense love and idolizing of Rainbow Dash is her cutest (and possibly most distinct) personality trait, and this is probably the reason it took so long to have a Scootaloo episode in the first place, because, unlike the headstrong AB or immensely energetic Sweetie Belle, it's proven a little harder to build an episode around Scootaloo, since her possibly most distinct personality trait is her idolization of another pony.  I don't like her any less for that, that's simply an observation of mine.  Now that she finally has an episode under her belt, we might get to see a more distinct personality and character get fleshed out for Scootaloo, but for now, her brand of cuteness largely stems from her love of Rainbow Dash and desire to be just like her, and frankly, you won't hear me complaining, cause it's been bucking cute as it is so far, especially now that Scootalove is canon.

 

If you like these analyses enough Chaotic, feel free to add them to your original list in the OP; heck, I'm interested to see if the original list might grow to include other ponies outside of the main cast, considering that plenty of other ponies have and display their own brand of cuteness in the show, including plenty of the background ponies (although plenty display some of the very same brands of cuteness as the Mane 6; for instance, Luna is arguably adorkable like Twilight, albeit in her own unique way, but still somewhat similar to Twilight).

 

Anyways, once again, great thread, and thank you for the excellent analyses of each of the Mane 6's brands of cuteness.  As for myself, I cannot decide on my favorite or least favorite preference, and that is, once again, because I find myself unable to decide on a preference for any of the Mane 6 at all, as I have stated before.  I love each and every one of them for their unique personalities and brands of cuteness, and simply can't decide which one I favor the most.  But thank you for further defining why I, along with all other bronies, love each and every one of them for who they are!!! 

 

Scootaloo's cuteness would come from the "fangirlism" and wannabe cuteness. And any reason for her to avoid appearing cute is partially due to her trying to imitate Rainbow Dash more.

[An Old Head 4,816]

The main reason Pinkie Pie is so outstandingly cute is her spontaneity. There's so many things going on in her head - you never know what silly little thing she'll occupy herself with next, so that when she does it's all the more adorable. Then once she has something serious on her mind, she tries to suppress her own randomness and bounciness to take things earnestly, but can't help little bouts of impulsive heedlessness. Here's an example - Too Many Pinkie Pies, where she's ensuring that she knows the words to the special chant in the Everfree Forest, but has to let out inner desire to be extemporaneous and energetic by totally over-reacting to her echo. Stuff like that is why I love her as much as I do.

 

Also, you're bang-on there with Rainbow Dash. It's how quickly she can go from this:

 

to this:

 

 

 

[Sugar Cube 4,843]

I just wanted to say that both the OP and Batbrony are pretty spot on on this. All of the main characters are so cute and appealing in their own ways.

 

Fluttershy is most commonly accepted as being the cutest one of the group, and while I can't argue that she's adorable, I definitely think the other five have a brand of cuteness that makes them every bit as lovable. It's just that the Fluttershy cuteness is the kind that really pulls on the heartstrings of many viewers. When we see Fluttershy struggling, in danger, or crying, we feel a need to be there for her, and that makes her a special character.

 

Applejack's "charm" is so dead on. I've always found her appealing because of her cowgirl persona and because of how well-rounded she is. Her dry sense of humor and sarcastic nature make her all the more lovable. Her cuteness is definitely my favorite type, because it reminds me of the kind of charismatic people I know in real life.

 

Twilight's adorkableness is my favorite aspect to her character. Whenever she gets excited, that perkiness always puts a huge smile on my face. Episodes like Sweet and Elite and Look Before You Sleep demonstrate this behavior well.

 

Pinkie's bubbly cuteness is a pretty common type of cuteness amongst fictional females, but Pinkie does it in a way where she's so goofy, random, and zany that you can't help but laugh at her and love her. She's so unpredictable and versatile. 

 

Rarity's drama-queen antics help redeem some of Rarity's more obvious flaws. After Pinkie, Rarity is easily the second funniest character in the show, at least in my opinion, and she has delivered so many memorable lines that just make you melt.

 

And Dash is cute because she always tries to act tough and is overly concerned about maintaining her "rep" when deep down she has a heart of gold and a very sensitive and loving side, and that makes her an endearing character too. Ironic, but definitely endearing.

 

I don't really need to talk about why the Crusaders are cute, because they're sweet little fillies, and that should be obvious.

 

But yeah, bumped this topic because it's awesome.

Edited June 18, 2013 by Sugar Cube

[Superstars111 79]

I'm going to be cliche and say Fluttershy is the one that I find to be most adorable. I saw it said somewhere in here that her cutness feels somewhat forced sometimes. I would agree with that, but I actually think the same is true of all the characters, in their own ways. Fluttershy is vulnerable and sweet and adorable and snugglable and so on. I think Sonic Rainboom was the episode where it introduced her quiet scream. In that episode, that scream was so adorable. But I think that later on, it started to be just more of the same when she would do that. So it was a bit forced. But even if it is forced, or even cliche, it's still cute.

 

Twilight Sparkle is also adorable, in my opinion. She's the bookworm, so I can relate to her, but she's also super organized, so I can't. But she tends to have these panic attacks (at least until she starts to get them under control), and I find those adorable.

 

I think that the main factor in cutness when I'm measuring it personally is how vulnerable they are. Fluttershy is naturally vulnerable. Twilight also tends to be vulnerable rather often. The other characters aren't what I would describe as cute, though, except when they're sad and possibly crying. Each of them have had situations where I just want to hug them and comfort them and be with them... (Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom are also pretty high up there, if you count the CMC) But this means that Rainbow Dash has always been the pony that I like the least. She's very tomboyish, very tough, and often, rather arrogant. She has her cute moments, but since she's hardly ever vulnerable, I find her to be less cute than the others. Rarity is similar, in that she's not very vulnerable. More so that Rainbow Dash, and she's certainly very dramatic, but not very vulnerable. That doesn't mean that I don't like Rarity for her own reasons, I just don't find her to be very cute.

[cider float 2,538]

The stereotypical cute never worked on me. But Fluttershy took cuteness to a supernatural level that the daaaaw's came. Fluttershy is the cutest thing I saw animated.

[The Awesome One 1,315]

Fluttershy is hands down the cutest of the bunch but that is not to say that the others aren't. Fluttershy just out-cutes them in this department in my opinion.

[manic 121]

They're all cute in their own way, but AJ has the best expressions

 

also

 

[cider float 2,538]

 

I think if I could rank the cuteness in the Mane 6 it would go like this:

• Fluttershy
• Twilight Sparkle
• Rarity
• Pinkie Pie
• Applejack
• Rainbow Dash

But for the Cutie Mark Crusaders:

• Applebloom
• Sweetie Belle
• Scootaloo

 

Wow your list for the mane six is almost like mine.

 

Mine goes.

 

• Fluttershy
• Twilight Sparkle
• Rarity
• Applejack
• Pinkie Pie
• Rainbow Dash

[ShadowPhoenix 153]

Cute (that doesn't mean not beautiful):

1. Fluttershy
2. Rainbow Dash
3. Twilight Sparkle
4. Pinkie Pie
5. Applejack

Not Cute (but beautiful):

1. Rarity (She's refined, dramatic and unyielding. I love it!)

[Lambda Lumis 23]

OP pretty much sums it all up. The makers behind MLP really have nailed how to make so many completely different characters yet still make them super cute in their own different ways. I disagree with what the OP said about Fluttershy though, classic cuteness will never get old or boring for me! 

[FlutterIsBestAlicorn 21]

Mane six

1. Fluttershy
2. Pinkie Pie
3. Applejack
4. Twilight Sparkle
5. Rainbow Dash
6. Rarity

 

CMC

1. Sweetie Belle (Cutest)
2. Scootaloo
3. Applebloom (Meh)

Edited July 19, 2023 by FlutterIsBestAlicorn
because