Pondering Over Rainbow Dash and Raphael · 2:24pm Jan 1st, 2012
I say in my little profile blurb that I don't have a least favorite pony, and that's true. I don't. I love all of the ponies, because they are all very lovable.
I have a running joke with my Beloved Spouse about Rainbow Dash, however. Every time we watch the show and Dash does something bone-headed/selfish/thoughtless/etc., I'll turn to the spouse and say, "Rainbow Dash is worst pony." Because sometimes, she really does act like it.
So I was surprised when I started writing MLP stories and found myself constantly gravitating to writing Dash. It makes sense, in that I'm a Rainbow Pie shipper of the first order, and RD is one half of that pairing, but it also doesn't make sense because Pinkie is my girl. So, really, I should want to write from Pinkie's perspective, and mostly I don't. I write from Rainbow's. I find that interesting.
I pause here to provide a bit of background. My entry into fan fiction writing was through the Ninja Turtles fandom, and Raphael is a favorite with many writers. People love writing angst with Raph, they love injuring Raph, they love writing him into romance stories, they love having him die heroically. They love having Raph be angry and stupid and reckless, but with a heart of gold underneath the bluster.
Rainbow Dash is basically this fandom's Raphael.*
I always enjoyed writing Raphael and, as time went on, I wrote more and more Raphael. He was never my favorite, though. That was always (and still is) Donatello. That's the basis of my pen name, actually--I'm Donny's boy, so I'm Donny's Boy. (It's cheesy. I know. I'm kind of a cheesy person.) But while Don's my fave, he's not really like me at all, and it's Raphael with whom I emphasize.
And while Pinkie's my fave, she's not really like me at all ... and it's Rainbow Dash with whom I emphasize.
With Rainbow, who is reckless with others' feelings. With Rainbow, who says thoughtless things. With Rainbow, who is angry and defensive and insecure. With Rainbow, who I often joke is worst pony.
I'm not sure how I feel about that. I'm not sure how I should feel.
I think sometimes I keep writing all of these stories in some never-ending quest to finally understand who I am, who my family is, who my friends are, and, while each bit brings me a bit closer, I never quite get there. So I keep writing, I keep trying. And maybe someday, if I write enough, I'll finally learn to do what I tried to teach Rainbow Dash to do--to love myself, and to allow others to love me.
Fan fiction is often dismissed as silly, as ridiculous, and it is. I mean, we're all writing stories about brightly-colored talking ponies, right? But good fan fiction does what any good fiction does--it teaches us about the human condition. And that's not really that silly at all.
Happy 2012.
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*I think Applejack is Leo, Pinkie is Mikey, and Twilight is Don.
In particular, I think the fandom has issues with writing Pinkie as a broad caricature that are similar to the problems I've seen in depictions of Michelangelo. Pinkie and Mike are funny and crazy, and they're comic relief characters, but they're also rich and three-dimensional characters.
Interesting perspective, what an insight. I notice how hotheaded she acts all the time, but I did not hold it against her until the episode with the mysterious mare do well. She made me really angry in that episode, but at the end of it she did learn her lesson. But you are still right about her. But she is 20 % cooler than any of the other characters, so she is best pony.
...and this is why I follow your writing. It's about more than the characters and stories. It's about who we all are -- and the templates you work with, insightfully created by Lauren Faust and co, are the perfect springboard for your ideas on relationships and the human condition. It's just that...instead, they're ponies.
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Thanks! And yeah, I feel like Rainbow's characterization this season has lacked some of the nuances from season one. I'd like to see some more of the Rainbow Dash we got to see in "Sonic Rainboom" and "Over a Barrel."
However. *cough* Pinkie Pie is clearly best pony. I'm just sayin'.
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Oh, wow, that's very kind of you to say. Thank you. I must say, too, that Lauren Faust et al have given us a wonderfully rich playground in which to romp. Hope I've done well by their characters.
Oh, that last comment was me, sorry. For some reason, I can't reply while signed in as myself. It's very odd. *shrug*
~Donny's Boy