Why does the fandom think Applejack is the voice of reason?

[A Talking Dragon 257]

I've notices that AJ is often given the title "the voice of reason" of the mane 6, and is commonly refer to as such.

 

Now, I'm not saying she should or should not be (actually, I'm more likely to agree that she is), but for fun, I want to challenge the common assumption and see what other people still think afterwords.

 

 

There are several factors that people are forgetting:

 

- A.J is stubborn: she tends to stick by tradition/more familiar methods of doing things, even if there's another way to accomplish something (Applebuck Season, Winter Wrap Up, SSCS 6000)

 

- She's always hard on herself and believes everyone will think her a failure if she's not. Such thoughts nearly lead to her sacrificing the very life she loves in The Last Round Up, and running herself into the ground for the sake of a perfect harvest season and family reunion. Extreme acts like these are not done by a normal person. 

- With an exception to Fluttershy, A.J has fought and has pissed off the rest of the mane 6: Twilight (Applebuck Season, Winter Wrap Up), Rarity (Look Before You Sleep), Rainbow Dash (Fall Weather Friends), Pinkie Pie (The Last Round Up). Heck, most of season 1 she's been fighting with her sister and they even quarreled before going to pick up Babs. Not even Rainbow has that kind of record. How can someone who fights so much be considered reasonable?

 

- She's brought a private room for a tree and read bedtime stories to it

 

- A.J doesn't understand social norms. Work boots to a ball? Having trouble with just a sleepover?

 

- It's likely that A.J didn't grow up with parents, so unlike the other 5, she didn't have their guidance to help her in life. Her best role model was someone that many others don't see as all there (Granny).

 

- Work runs her life. Nightmare Night she was the only one working. Everyone wants to have fun at the Gala, and what does she want to do? Work.

 

- Finally, Twilight is around. Twilight is always seeking the pursuit of knowledge and is the one coming up with solutions whenever a crisis comes around. She organizes her life and is the pony with the plan. When Zecora came to town, Twi was the only one not to panic, yet some seem to consider A.J the reasonable one over her.

 

- There's a song about her being silly

 

 

^ Even if the fandom haven't considered all this, they must of realized some of it. So, has this argument changed your mind? If not, why is A.J still considered the voice of reason despite this?

 

[Pinguino~ 85]

I have never seen her as the voice of reason just honesty, I do see your point but, why does she need anything outside of honesty in the first place?

[Shanks 10,816]

In many cases Applejack has been the voice of reason and as far as voices of reason goes she is a good and believable one because she is the most mature of the mane 6 because the death of her parents at a young age forced her to grow up faster than the others. But this of course does not mean Applejack is by any means perfect; people have this misconception that because Applejack is the most mature and makes a good voice of reason that she is a boring character because she is too perfect when that is clearly not the case which does bug the Applejack fanboy in me.

[Rainblow H. Ash 5,091]

To be fair on that first point, Twilight didn't exactly make a good case for using magic in Winter Wrap Up.

 

Regardless, I agree on all those points, but remember who Applejack is friends with here...

 

Twilight Sparkle, who freaks out over not being able to deliver a letter on time and causes the whole town to fight over a doll.

 

Pinkie Pie, who goes crazy and starts talking to inanimate objects when she thinks her friends no longer want to hang out with her.

 

Rainbow Dash, who developed a vendetta against a hero who was saving everypony and chased her around town to try and demask her.

 

Fluttershy, who became a huge bully and became so violent that she literally tossed a tourist for yards by biting his camera and hurling him.

 

Rarity, who acted insensitive toward Sweetie Belle on multiple occasions and treats her harshly from time to time.

 

To me, Applejack is reasonable by comparison to her friends. And I probably could've picked better and more examples when it comes to her friends, but I think I made my point.

[javethe13 40]

she is more mature I think, that's a huge factor when you need to think calmly and make a decision. Now, she's also really stubborn so sometimes she is more crazy than her friends, but then again the main six is not the most calm group around.  

[NavelColt 22,882]

Because she's usually the cautious one when it comes to situations, and has demonstrated maturity and even wisdom a few times.

[Sugar Cube 4,843]

She's the most mature pony of the group, and is the most down-to-earth. Meghan McCarthy has described her "even-keeled" nature as being a challenge when writing Applejack because she is not sure hot to get AJ into trouble.

 

That said, Applejack has gotten into plenty of trouble, because she's human enough to have limits to just how far she can go before she starts to lose her cool. Yet, up to this point she's the only one who hasn't had some kind of meltdown. (Pinkie Pie in Party of One, Rarity in Suited For Success, Fluttershy in The Best Night Ever, and Rainbow Dash in Sonic Rainboom.) And that's just the first season.

 

Twilight Sparkle is the only one who can really challenge Applejack as the voice of reason, but Twilight simply isn't always reasonable. She went absolutely bonkers over her failure to send Princess Celestia a friendship letter. That speaks volumes about her inability to be rational when she over-analyzes a situation. She actually thought she'd get sent back to magic kindergarten of all things. Plenty of other episodes demonstrate how much of a panicking worrywart she can be: A Bird in the Hoof, It's About Time, Swarm of the Century, etc. With Twilight, it depends on the situation at hand. In dire situations, she is always the one who knows just what to do, and sometimes her over-analyzing can be used as an advantage, such as in A Canterlot Wedding when she was the only one who knew something was up with Cadance. And even then, she went around calling her evil, which isn't something a rational person does. In Ponyville Confidential, Twilight was the mature one who realized that what Gabby Gums was doing was not right, whereas Applejack saw no harm in the gossip.

 

Now to address your bullets as best as I can:

 

- Being more traditional in her methods is a way of life for her, but I don't see how that affects her as a voice of reason character. If anything it shows that she's down-to-earth and simple rather than high-tech and complicated.

 

- Extreme acts not done by a normal person? As far as I am aware, she only left her Ponyville life long enough to make some money. It's true that her behavior wasn't rational, but her actions in Last Roundup aren't any more nutty than what the others have done. This episode really took Applejack out of her comfort zone and showed so many sides to her that we never saw before. And while I'm always seeing some criticism of the episode and her characterization, it just shows that Applejack is as multifaceted as any other character.

 

- You're exaggerating when you say Applejack "pissed" any of them off. Her personality does tend to clash with Rarity and Rainbow Dash, but with the others you mentioned, I don't see how she's ever had that big of a fallout with any of them. And when she does anger Rarity and Dash, she's always the first to admit she's wrong.

 

- Reading stories to a tree is definitely silly, which again, shows that Applejack can be humorous like the others. And you can tell by her body language and speech that she knows deep down her actions were silly. Really, it's just her love and pride for her apple trees, that's all. Voice of reason characters can have some fun too!

 

- Having no sense of fashion doesn't mean she's not a voice of reason.

 

- On the contrary. The fact that she didn't grow up with parents means she had to grow up quicker and take charge. Big Mac is too shy, and Apple Bloom is too young. She acts more like a mother to Apple Bloom than a sister at times. (Her overprotective nature in Bridle Gossip; her reassurance of no olden pony in Sleepless)

 

- Work also puts food on the table. She wasn't "working" on Nightmare Night, she was being a responsible adult and watching the kids.

 

Applejack has the most rational disposition overall, but it's true that Twilight takes the role as the voice of reason in many situations as well.

Edited May 7, 2013 by Sugar Cube

[IronPonyApplejack 318]

Pissed off? I think you misunderstand what that phrase means. While she does get VERY frustrated with Rarity due to her need for perfection, and Rainbow's over-competitiveness angers her, I'd say that's as far as it goes. Twilight wasn't pissed at her in Applebuck Season. When you're pissed at someone, you don't drop it the moment they ask for your help. You'd more than likely throw their request back in their face.

 

Like Rainbow Hash said above, she is the most level-headed of the group. Twilight is usually level-headed, but can be overly obsessive (Lesson Zero, It's a Matter of Time) to the point of a borderline psychotic break.

[TasteTheRainboom 82]

Applejack might be a bit stubborn and she isnt really as open minded as someone like twilight (shown in bridle gossip and the cutie pox) but she is the wiser then most of her friends, Twilight migh be the smartest, but she tends to overeact whenever anything related to Celestia or organizing is happening. She is titled the most dependable pony by the town, isn't she? This is because not only does she help anybody she can, but shes always there to talk some sense into her friends (like she often does with RD).

[RWB 229]

Actually, I would argue Twilight as the main voice of reason, with AJ as the backup when Twilight either snaps or is not available.

 

AJ is more level-headed than the other four pretty much all the time, but with Twilight, only when the latter goes nuts. And AJ has just as much nuts as Twi does, really.

[Circadian 1,273]

She grew up way too fast and now there's nothing to believe. Reruns all become our history. A tired song keeps playing on a tired radio. And I won't tell 'em your name.

 

Edited May 8, 2013 by Circadian

[Shanks 10,816]

Applejack might be a bit stubborn and she isnt really as open minded as someone like twilight (shown in bridle gossip and the cutie pox)

Yes Applejack is stubborn and there have been maybe two cases where she has been a bit closed minded but there have been a few cases where Twilight has been fairly closed minded as well. In Bridle Gossip though Twilight was the voice of reason in that episode at first she did say "there is no such thing as a curse" which is a very odd thing for a magic user to say as curses have been a part of magic for a very long time. And after everypony got afflicted with the poison joke, Twilight literally judged a book by its cover by refusing to look into this one book that could have cured her and her friends and eventually did thanks to Zecora.

 

And in Feeling Pinkie Keene though I can understand her initial skepticism she refused to see the evidence in front of her because there was no explanation for it which again is also bizarre considering that she is a magic user and there are a lot of things in magic which cannot be fully explained.Twilight is extremely intelligent no doubt about it but she often over thinks things, lacks basic common sense which can sometimes causes her to fail to see the big picture. Applejack may not have Twilight's booksmarts but she is the most grounded and common sense minded of the mane 6.

[A Talking Dragon 257]

These are a lot of good points. I wonder what episode made up people's minds on A.J being the voice of reason? Anyways, allow me to explain more on some of my points.

 

 

Pissed off? I think you misunderstand what that phrase means. While she does get VERY frustrated with Rarity due to her need for perfection, and Rainbow's over-competitiveness angers her, I'd say that's as far as it goes. Twilight wasn't pissed at her in Applebuck Season. When you're pissed at someone, you don't drop it the moment they ask for your help. You'd more than likely throw their request back in their face.

 

 

^ Twilight has gotten angry at Applejack. In Applebuck Season, she was so frustrated at A.J that she was at the verge of shouting, and would have done so if A.J hadn't finally given in. In the season 2 premier, Twilight actually physically attacked Applejack, than latter just plain tackled her. In A Canterlot Wedding, Twilight shoved the hat, A.J so loved, right up her muzzle. Now, I'm one of those that believes that A.J and Twilight are closer friends, but A.J has pissed off Twi, and Twi her.

 

 

You're exaggerating when you say Applejack "pissed" any of them off. Her personality does tend to clash with Rarity and Rainbow Dash, but with the others you mentioned, I don't see how she's ever had that big of a fallout with any of them.

 

^ I'm not exaggerating. While, Fluttershy in Putting Your Hoove Down is probably one of the biggest fight scenes for any one mane 6 pony, Applejack has affected everyone in the gang the most.

 

The Last Round Up - No one has ever being able to truly get under Pinkie's skin and get her that angry (not even Gilda's actions). True, there's Party of One, but that was group effort. Heck, to a lesser extent, Rainbow was also upset at A.J here, enough so to take the lead from Twilight in planing, continually chase A.J after two of her friends fell, try to knock A.J off the carriage, and tackle her full force.

 

Twilight, I've already explained above, Rarity had a own episode of fighting with A.J and R.D argues with A.J all the time.

 

While, many can say, Applejack is the rock of the group, she also affects them the most with her actions. Can A.J still be reasonable in their eyes after pulling at their emotional strings so much?

[Rainblow H. Ash 5,091]

@@A Talking Dragon, 

 

Actually, maybe that's the reason Applejack was able to tick them off so badly: they also view her as the reasonable pony of the group, so when she does something unreasonable it's unexpected and they react in an unexpected way. After all, everyone expects Pinkie to be kind of annoying and a handful, but no one expects the same from Applejack.

[FruitRiver 355]

I dont care whachu say bout mah jack, she is the best jack evar.

*ehem* Well, Applejack is a bit more practical then the others but I wouldnt say she is the voice of reason. I wouldnt say any of them are the voice of reason. I would say Twilight since she is also practical and is kind of the leader of the group but at the same time, she goes crazy when something isnt organized enough or she thinks something isnt going to work out.

Edited May 8, 2013 by Pinkie