Who Is Pinkie Pie? · 4:57am Dec 30th, 2014
Baby Trixie has had the sniffles all weekend (and passed them along to me, because she doesn't quite understand that chewing on mommy's nose isn't cool when she's sick) so let's have a "Who Is" entry tonight.
Previous Entries:
Who Is Twilight Sparkle?
Who Is Rarity?
Who Is Applejack?
This is one of the most exciting entries. Mostly because Pinkie Pie authors are CRAZY. All of these folks are passionate about the pink party pony (and also alliteration, apparently.) I'm very happy to offer these four different views on Pinkie, because I know each of these authors has thought a lot about the character and can offer different and interesting insights.
So, without further ado, here are JakeTheGinger, Scoots2, xjuggernaughtx, and Donnys Boy to answer the question Who Is Pinkie Pie?
JakeTheGinger (A Pinkie Pie Hearth's Warming, Pinkie and Celestia Have some Tea, The Best Birthaversary Ever):
Briefly describe Pinkie Pie as you see her.
Pinkie Pie is a pink party pony with a lust for life and a good appreciation for the ponies close to her. Her way of thinking is very external; that is to say that she often places ponies and things around her before her inner self. This can lead to very emotional episodes if she feels like she has been abandoned by the friends she strove to make happy.
Also she has an adorably stubborn and even arrogant streak. Not as apparent as somepony like Applejack or Rainbow Dash but it’s there.
What is essential to remember about her that people might forget?
Pinkie isn’t random. She follows her own logic, usually based on the question: “What can I do to make ponies happy?” Given that this is a vague question with many possible answers, it can appear that at times she does act completely random. Try to find the logic in her actions. If you do, you’ll have a much easier time understanding her.
For example, in Green Isn’t Your Color where Pinkie randomly pops up from seemingly the most illogical of places, growling FOREVER! at Twilight. From an outsider’s perspective, this seems like a weird joke or just random shenanigans. But the sole reason Pinkie does it in the first place is to remind Twilight not to break a friend’s trust (remember, this is season 1 and Twilight isn’t so clued up on friendship yet). In Pinkie’s view, she’s simply taking measures to prevent a messy friend break up, in which nopony would be happy at all. And that’s simply a crime for Pinkie.
What to you like to add to her character that’s a stretch from canon, or totally your own invention?
Given that Pinkie represents Laughter, I often view her as a mare of many habits—that what we see in the show isn’t the whole story. Now, I try not to go completely off track with these things so, where I can, I use the show to support my points. So it’s pretty clear by now that Pinkie has a friendship with Vinyl. Thus we can imply that Pinkie has an interest in the clubbing scene. Which involves heavy drinking, making out with random people and perhaps even having sex by the end of the night.
So, yeah, I suppose I imagine her as a bit of a slut. Sex is one way to make a pony happy, after all. But to counter all of that, I always have her as being responsible with this sort of thing. Alcohol, sex and even some drugs (I’m not thinking extreme ones, Pinkie wouldn’t touch them) can be fun but they can also make some pretty huge disasters if not managed correctly.
In addition, I don’t think many ponies would even sleep with her anyway. It’d probably feel odd to them. But all in all, I reckon Pinkie can go to the more extreme sides of partying but she’s always responsible about it. I think that way, you can have her drinking hard and kissing some ponies, yet it still feels in character for her because she still cares for the safety and happiness of her fellow partygoers.
How does it affect Pinkie’s character that other ponies often have a hard time understanding her? Does she notice?
This is a really good question and one that’s tricky to answer, since it honestly depends on the context.
We see in Feeling Pinkie Keen that Pinkie really doesn’t care if Twilight doesn’t understand Pinkie sense. Pinkie tries to convince her friend that Pinkie Sense does exist but in the end, whatever Twilight wants to believe doesn’t seem to put a heavy burden on her.
On the other hand, Swarm of the Century presents Pinkie as getting particularly frustrated when her friends don’t listen to her idea of how to get rid of the parasprites.
The difference in how she reacts can be attributed to how these examples affect others. In the former, whatever Twilight thinks isn’t going to harm anypony at all. In the latter, however, the whole town is at stake and that means ponies’ livelihoods. So Pinkie getting frustrated is understandable.
Unfortunately, we haven’t really had a Lesson Zero episode for Pinkie. An episode in which Pinkie has an issue, tells her friends about it, but they shrug it off as Pinkie being Pinkie. Granted, you could make the point that maybe the reason Pinkie doesn’t make her problems apparent is because she fears this very scenario could happen. (Although it’s more likely she doesn’t want to make her friends upset by seeing herself down in the dumps.)
Ultimately, I think Pinkie knows she’s different and uses that to her advantage by making ponies smile with her antics. It would only seriously affect her if her friends were to show no sympathy for any plight she may have, or if she starts to get discriminated for it.
Do you include meta-humor (fourth wall breaking, genre savvy, etc) or cartoon physics when writing Pinkie? How much is too much?
Fourth walling in general is a big no-no, since that can easily break the reader’s immersion. Genre savviness is acceptable, just don’t go too far with it. Pinkie has been shown to pick up on things the rest of the Mane 6 don’t, after all.
Cartoon physics is trickier, since they work better in the show considering it’s a visual medium. So I’d advise anyone to just keep it simple with Pinkie. Leave the outrageous stuff to show, since it’ll likely fit better. (Or not. Sometimes I disagree with how the show writers present her at times… a lot of Season Four comes to mind…)
What real world comedian or style of comedy would be Pinkie’s favorite?
Comedian? I wouldn’t know, really. I don’t watch much stand up or comedians and the ones I do wouldn’t be Pinkie’s favorites.
As for style comedy? Parody, definitely. Anything in the vein of Monty Python, the Naked Gun trilogy or Airplane. The sheer absurdity of these comedies would easily attract Pinkie and they appeal to a broad audience by putting in a wide variety of jokes (some crude, others physical, others wordplay etc.), which means they’re perfect for watching with friends.
Scoots2 (Swear on Camembert, Party of Two):
Briefly describe Pinkie as you see her.
Pinkie is the One Who Runs Before The Dawn, The Living Spirit of Laughter, The Joy-Bringer, The Laughter-Bearer, The Great She. She’s also a small, plump, cuddly pink mare with a cute giggle and a velvety coat, who likes baking cupcakes and making ponies laugh. Basically, she’s both a goddess and a very ordinary pony.
What is essential to remember about her that people might forget?
Pinkie is very smart, and she’s not random. Her intelligence is intuitive rather than linear. She might veer off on a tangent, but she has her own internal logic. She’s very much like Luna Lovegood: dismissed as eccentric, but who has wisdom other characters don’t, and who values friends above everything else. Pinkie also seems to know things other characters don’t, including magic unknown to Twilight. I suppose this means that Pinkie is a Ravenclaw.
What to you like to add to her character that’s a stretch from canon, or totally your own invention?
I made up my own version of what I call Party Pony Magic, Pinkie as The Laughter Bearer, and the magical connection she has with Cheese Sandwich. Some of it’s been influenced by the IDW Pinkie Pie micro and Matt Garner’s Ask Vaudeville.
Party Ponies:
Party ponies have a very rare and obscure form of magic. There are only about four or five at any given time. These humble itinerants wander Equestria as simple entertainers, throwing birthday parties, juggling, telling jokes, playing musical instruments or performing as clowns. What they’re really doing is maintaining Joy, the magical force which powers Equestria. When happiness levels are low and discontent threatens Harmony, there you will find the party ponies. They appear, seemingly from nowhere, wherever they are needed. Funny is serious business.
You can’t organize funny, and you can’t teach it, so there is no Party Pony Council or Academy, although Ponyacci’s school now trains ponies in the skills party ponies need—pie throwing, party cannon construction, etc.—should it happen that the rare gift chooses them. Their rules, the code by which they live, are:Never use your magic to profit yourself or hurt other ponies
Never accept more than you need
Travel lightly, give freely, and spread happiness wherever you go.Their resemblance to early Franciscans isn’t a coincidence.
Party pony magic itself enforces these rules. The ability to materialize nearly anything apparently from thin air can’t co-exist with greed. Being a party pony requires radical detachment from material things. This is why they can’t remember their own birthdays: they can throw parties for anyone except themselves. They exist to make you happy.
Party ponies are a very rare subset of earth ponies. You have to have your hooves rooted in the earth to be able to rise above it. The deeper the roots, the higher the heights, which is why Pinkie Pie, the Joy-Bringer, was born on a rock farm. It's also why her disciple Cheese Sandwich comes from Neigh Jersey. It requires being down to earth, or humble--humus and humility coming from the same root word.
The Party Pony steps off the cliff of reality, one hoof happily dangling in the air, and thinks, "Oh, what the hay. I might as well tell the truth." This is why sensible rulers of the pre-United Equestrian kingdoms kept a permanent party pony. A unicorn king needs a funny looking earth pony with a balloon to say, "hey, King! You're being even funnier than I am!" Otherwise he can let all that power go to his head, and the next thing you know, his functional vocabulary has shrunk to about seven words plus evil laughter.
Pinkie, The Joy-Bringer: Pinkie is in a class by herself. She doesn’t just maintain Joy; she is Joy, the Living Spirit of Laughter, somehow packed into the body of a small, plump pink mare. When Pinkie Pie goes offline, the well-being of Equestria itself is threatened and other party ponies have to work like mad just to keep happiness from going critical. Pinkie herself isn’t aware of this. Her magic depends on being unself-conscious. That’s true of party pony magic in general. Observe it for too long, or try to find the sense in it, and you will break it.
Pinkie and Cheese: Dante and Beatrice, except with party ponies
Dante Aligheri saw his Muse Beatrice for the first time when he was nine and for a second time when he was eighteen. His secret passionate courtly love for her eventually led him to write the mystical Divine Comedy.Cheese, like Dante, encounters Pinkie when he’s still a boy—well, a colt. He pushes away something obscuring his sight—a jester’s cap—and has a vision of Pinkie. He recognizes her for what she truly is: the radiant Bringer of Joy, the Laughter-Bearer, the Great She, and also a cute filly with pink curls. This moment determines his future. She gives him Boneless; he is transformed into a party pony, acquires his cutie mark, and sets off to spread Joy with Pinkie as his inspiration.
Pinkie is the only one of the Mane Six whose Key is a gift that's made a complete circuit: she gave it to Cheese, he gave it back, and it's directly attached to Cheese's cutie mark and his magical gifts. In my extension of canon, this fuses a magical connection between them, which may or may not be a romantic one.
Beatrice, by the way, means Joy-Bringer.
How does it affect Pinkie’s character that other ponies often have a hard time understanding her? Does she notice?
Pinkie knows that other ponies don’t understand her. Sometimes it is very frustrating when she is trying to help and she’s dismissed as “just Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie.” Sometimes that’s Pinkie’s fault, because she can be a very poor communicator. She really did mean to tell Fluttershy she was great. That’s what she said, right? My Equestria Girls Pinkie feels similarly frustrated when someone makes her feel childish or “dumb.” It’s a big relief to Pinkie when somepony “gets it,” but she’ll settle for feeling fully loved and accepted, as she is by her sister Maud.
Do you include meta-humor (fourth wall breaking, genre savvy, etc) or cartoon physics when writing Pinkie? How much is too much?
I use cartoon physics all the time. My Pinkie is forever popping in from the ceiling, jumping up and staying suspended, or inflating lighter-than-air balloons by simply blowing them up, even my Equestria Girls Pinkie. Physical comedy is hard to convey, and I work very hard using things like the metallic sound of Pinkie putting on the brakes when she wants to stop quickly. I rarely use meta-humor or awareness of the audience. I think it works in theatrical formats, but is very hard to pull off in prose.
What real world comedian or style of comedy would be Pinkie’s favorite?
Pinkie’s style of humor is physical, rather than verbal. She’d like silent film comedians, and she would love the Marx Brothers. Heck, she’d be Harpo if Harpo talked.
I've adapted bits of this from my story Goodbye, Boneless and from my responses to FanofMostEverything's blog entry To Rise Above, his own headcanon of Party Pony Magic, which is brilliant and which I recommend to anyone who wants to know how party ponies "work."
xjuggernaughtx (A Door Jam, Easy As Pie):
Briefly describe Pinkie as you see her.
Pinkie is a layered, complicated pony. To me, she’s insecure and desperate for approval, but not at all shy. Combined, these things drive her to ever more alarming, in-your-face style behaviors until she achieves what she’s set out to accomplish. Then she can relax and feel secure in the space that she’s created for herself.
Party Pone revolves around fun and happiness, but much of her self–worth is tied up in the reaction of others to it. Pinkie is not a pony that shrugs off throwing a party that no one comes to. That sort of rejection hurts her deeply and drives her to extremes. However, this does not mean that Pinkie is wholly dependent on the approval of others. It’s all about goals. She could have a perfectly great day chasing butterflies in a meadow because she was only trying to make one pony happy: herself. But if she’d invited Rainbow, and the pegasus skipped out on her, she’d be crushed.
Pinkie lives to make others happy. That’s a great thing, but it’s also a burden, just as Applejack’s hard work ethic can be a burden, or Twilight’s obsession for things to be ordered and understandable. It’s easy to dismiss Pinkie as a carefree pony, but I think she cares just as deeply—if not more deeply—about things as any of the others.
What is essential to remember about her that people might forget?
Pinkie seems like a pony that lives in the moment, but she’s actually a meticulous planner and is incredibly organized. She arranges parties for all of Ponyville, has balls stashed away in case of emergencies, remembers everyone’s important dates, is a successful baker, and on and on. Too often, Pinkie gets written is this crazy, bouncing-off-the-walls pony who basically sows chaos in her wake without a thought in her head, but she’d never be in the position that she’s in if that were the case. Pinkie is more of a lateral thinker, so that leads to some odd views and decisions, but the important thing is that it works. She’s likely to have some sort of Rube Goldbergian-style events calendar, but she’d have it, and it would be accurate.
What would you like to add to her character that’s a stretch from canon, or totally your own invention?
I think Pinkie has been shaped by rejection in her early life. In my mind, she picked up on the hint from her parents that she just wasn’t a good fit on the rock farm/family, and that she ought to find someplace more suited to live. This is plainly true, but also would feel a lot like being disowned. Pinkie doesn’t like to upset other ponies, so I think she’d be much more likely to agree and just carry that hurt with her, rather than have a fight about it. I could see her somber, plain-spoken parents not understanding that they’d hurt their daughter dearly by trying to do what they thought was best for her. Pinkie lives with the Cakes and doesn’t talk about her family very often. I think there’s a good reason why.
Because of that, rejection really affects her. Skipping out on her parties, breaking Pinkie promises, not bonding with her sister. It all shakes her more than it would others.
How does it affect Pinkie’s character that other ponies often have a hard time understanding her? Does she notice?
She absolutely notices. Pinkie has to understand ponies in order to make them happy. I’m sure she’s well-versed in body language, and she can pick up that ponies think she’s weird. But Pinkie’s not a pony to make a big stink about things until she’s reached her breaking point, and as we’ve seen, that’s a pretty far push. She’s much more likely to beat herself up over it later. However, like I said previously, it’s about goals with Pinkie. She can bounce by Applejack and Twilight and throw a random one-liner at them that leaves them speechless, and she’d think it was hilarious. The goal was to tilt their world a little bit. Try the same thing when she’s trying to save the town from parasprites, and it leads to frustration. Just because she understands everyone else doesn’t mean they understand her, and that imbalance has to be grating.
Do you include meta-humor (fourth wall breaking, genre savvy, etc) or cartoon physics when writing Pinkie? How much is too much?
I do include these things, but I try to apply them with light touches. In order to stay true to her unique character, I think things like cartoon physics really go a long way, but they can also easily yank you out of a story. It’s pretty rare for Pinkie’s abilities in those departments to actually impact the overall plot of an episode, so I generally just use them to create a momentarily humorous situation and then get back to the plot. I’ve so far avoided fourth wall breaking, though. I don’t have anything specifically against it, but I’ve never found it to be amusing when I read about it in other stories, and I haven’t found a way yet to really make it funny in my own.
What real world comedian or style of comedy would be Pinkie’s favorite?
Like most ponies, Pinkie is kind. I see her having a hard time with a lot of comedians/comedies in the modern era. Quite a lot of comedy is based around laughing at the misfortune of others. Pinkie and Dash are guilty of this, but like everything, there is a line. I think we’re generally far over that line nowadays.
I also think Pinkie might get a little bored with talky stand-up routines. I can’t really see her listening to a Johnny Carson monologue, but she probably would have liked the manic energy of someone like Robin Williams. Pinkie would want someone kinetic up there.
To me, Pinkie would really dig someone like Buster Keaton or Harold Lloyd. Physical comedians who got themselves into zany situations. I don’t think she’d care as much for a group like the Marx brothers, who often took advantage of people, or the Stooges, who were violent (I’d just like to add that I love the Stooges). But easily understandable and relatable silent stars seem like they’d be right up her alley, and I think she’d be happy that she could share the fun with all ages.
Donnys Boy (Between Chaos and Creation, Our True Colors, Seeking Beauty):
Briefly describe Pinkie Pie as you see her.
Pinkie Pie is a pony who has no greater and no lesser desire than to make everyone around her happy. It seems like a simple thing, and sometimes it is, but a lot of times it's not. She always means well, and she cares deeply about everyone and everything, but she's not always the best at empathizing with others--that is, with understanding the thoughts and feelings of other characters, when those thoughts and feelings don't match up with what Pinkie would think or feel in a similar situation. A lot of Pinkie's journey in the show has been about learning how to interact and understand characters who are very different from her.
An alternate answer: Pinkie is funny, smart, silly, dumb, joyful, sad, and the best darn party-planner in Equestria. (No offense, Cheese.)
What is essential to remember about her that people might forget?
Pinkie isn't just the comic relief character. In episodes where she's not the focus character, she sometimes is, but in episodes that are about her, Pinkie really is wonderfully three-dimensional. She's not just a mindless "PARTY PARTY PARTY" machine. For some good examples of Pinkie having depth, I'd point to the scene ins "Griffon the Brush-off" where Pinkie complains to Twi then goes for a walk afterwards, Pinkie's striving to prove she's responsible in "Baby Cakes," pretty much the entirety of "Too Many Pinkie Pies," and "Pinkie's Lament" from "Pinkie Pride."
What do you like to add to her character that’s a stretch from canon, or totally your own invention?
In my story "Our True Colors," I made Pinkie an orphan who'd lost her parents as well as all her sisters. Obviously, that's no longer in sync with canon--and I'm not complaining, because I love Maud as much as the next guy--but I still like the basic idea in that story that Pinkie's devotion to fun and laughter and friendship come not from being empty-headed but from her having known pain and tears and loneliness. I don't think that's an entire stretch from canon--see, "Cutie Mark Chronicles"--but I like to explore the specifics of just what exactly our pink pony's life might have looked like before Ponyville.
How does it affect Pinkie’s character that other ponies often have a hard time understanding her? Does she notice?
I think sometimes she notices and sometimes she doesn't. Further, I think that mostly it's in the episodes where she's the comic relief that she doesn't notice. She seems much more aware in the episodes where she's the focus character. In "Griffon the Brush-off" and "Baby Cakes"--when Twilight blows off her concerns about Gilda and questions her ability to be responsible, respectively--Pinkie reacts in a very hurt and offended way.
Do you include meta-humor (fourth wall breaking, genre savvy, etc) or cartoon physics when writing Pinkie? How much is too much?
Sometimes I do, but as I've gone on, I've included it less and less. I tend to prefer to leave it out, on the whole. In general, I think including the meta-humor and cartoon physics works better in comedies and not quite so well in dramas and other "serious" stories. Though I will say that Krizak's "A Different Kind of Magic" treats the cartoon physics in a serious way and does some really neat world-building with that, so, y'know, rules are made to be broken.
What real world comedian or style of comedy would be Pinkie’s favorite?
Oh, wow, that's a toughie! I'll say first off that I think she wouldn't like the styles of comedy that are rooted in excessive meanness or embarrassment humor. I also think she'd really dig physical comedy, especially slapstick. So maybe The Three Stooges and the like?
Obviously, Pinkie Pie's favorite modern comedian would be Weird Al.
Donny! You're on BP's blog!
Oh, Pink Pony. You are so the best pony.
I feel pretty in tune with different aspects of everyone's descriptions. Surprisingly to myself, I think I agree with the largest number of points in juggernaut's piece. Though everyone had very good thoughts.
Pink pony is not random! Pink pony marches to the beat of her own drum. And it's a very special antique drum that the pawn shop has never seen the like of in all their days.
Yeah, but we love those little pitri dishes, even when they're a little green and fuzzy, and you have to use the little nose-snorkel. (So glad mine are 18+ now).
(On Pinkie: Now you're going to make *me* write one, particularly since I have a Pinkie shipfic in production.)
Curious- I just bought a Ponkie mini figurine today.
She knows...
Heh. Scoots2's ideas on Pinkie pretty much mirror mine exactly[1][2]. When it comes to Pinkie's "abilities", I follow the following rule, which I have dubbed the "second rule of Pinkie":
This rule[3] generally makes for a good Pinkie Pie, I think.
[1] Except he can actually fornulate it well =P
[2] Also except the "ravenclaw" part; that's just wromg :v
[3] Tigether with my "first rule of Pinkie"
Pinkie is a terrible communicator, and in the end she can hurt other ponies as much as she helps them.
In Swarm of the Century, she knows what parasprites are and the danger they represent, knows how to get rid of them, and doesn't tell anyone. All she says is, "Great! Now I need a trombone." Never says what for or why, just that she needs an accordion, banjo, etc. It'd five seconds to say, "Girls! These things will eat the town, but music can hypnotize them! Help me gather instruments." Instead she does things that make sense to her but never explains to anyone else what she's doing or why, which nearly leads to the town's destruction - not a joyous event. Was she worried they wouldn't believe her?
Is this why she let Twilight drive herself to exhaustion and frustration in Feeling Pinkie Keen? Does she hide the depth of her insight, thinking Twilight won't believe her? Or does she truly not realize what impact she's having on ponies around her? I doubt letting Twilight get crushed under a falling piano made Twilight feel happy.
In Luna Eclipsed Pinkie knowingly did things that were actively hurting Luna, and by extension Twilight. You'd think "new pony in town who really needs to be shown what happiness entails" would merit a little more consideration, but she does so again and again. She could have taken Twilight aside and whispered, "I'll get the foals to pretend to be scared of Luna. You explain to Luna that sometimes it can be fun to be scared, if we're with friends and it's all make-believe." Instead she does what (again) makes sense to her without explaining to anyone what she's doing until others have already been hurt.
I'm never sure whether she covers her true thoughts and feelings in a mask of randomness and physical comedy, and is far more insightful and intelligent than she lets on, or if it really is a serious character flaw.
Pinkie is a fascinating entity. I love seeing different character interpretations, and few characters offer as many different possible interpretations as she does. Whether she's a rock farmer's daughter enjoying a belated childhood, an avatar of Joy, or a benign eldritch horror, she's very fun to work with.
2687942
I think that all of the mane 6 have some moments or episodes that don't do their character well at all. (And Spike especially.) It's not that characters shouldn't have flaws, but that that writers have been too often willing to reduce a character to a simple, flat role in an episode.
And besides that, this is fanfiction and we're fans. We want to celebrate these characters, and if that means writing them just a little bit better than the show writers have, then that's a price we're willing to pay.
2688255 I disagree; this is a recurring trait of Pinkie's: she's not good at actually talking to other ponies. This is not only true of the episodes 2687942 cited, it's true of her in pretty much every episode where she has more than a couple lines. She's also not particularly good at reading faces, which is why she's so awful to Cranky Doodle Donkey. She doesn't realize that she's making the problem worse. All she knows is that he isn't smiling. So she tries harder, which only backfires more.
She does the same thing yet again in the A Capella episode (pardon me for not remembering the names) with Fluttershy. Pinkie is obviously trying to help, but she's not actually looking at Fluttershy, so she doesn't see that Fluttershy is getting more scared, until Rarity steps in. You could describe that as 'not writing her well', but if she's like that in every episode, then you'd be saying that she's always OOC in canon.
Dismissing Pinkie's communication / facial expression reading would be like ignoring Rainbow Dash's arrogance or Fluttershy's shyness just because they're your favorite pony. It's part of who Pinkie is: she's on a completely different wavelength from everypony else, and that is her biggest challenge, her biggest flaw, and occasionally her biggest strength.
As an aside; I like how all of the interviewees noticed that Pinkie makes perfect sense to Pinkie: if you knew what she knew and didn't know what she didn't know, you'd do the exact same thing. She just has a very different knowledge base that the rest of Ponyville, especially when it comes to earth pony lore. She's neither irrational nor stupid. Just not using the same base facts.
2688255
2688339
Both right. Pinkie's actions make perfect sense to her, and if we could see the world through her experiences and perceptions, they'd make sense to us too. We can't, so her reasons aren't always clear. She doesn't do a good job explaining herself, again, because to her it's all Pinkie-logical. The rest of the cast has the same problems. Twilight doesn't understand (through the first 3 and 12/13th seasons, anyway) that book-learning and logic don't mean to others what they mean to her. Applejack relies on folksy homespun wisdom and stubborn personal experience, Dash gets frustrated when everybody doesn't "get it" immediately, Rarity couches everything in terms of what's proper and fashionable, and Fluttershy simply doesn't communicate at all, if she can help it. Communication issues aren't a Pinkie-specific problem, they're a hurdle that friends (animated and otherwise) have to overcome to become and stay friends.
2688339 2687942
I don't understand what the problem is. I just don't see her the same way you do I just see my favorite character who messes up now and then.
2687942
2688339
The way that I see it, Pinkie is very focused. She often doesn't see the forest for the trees. In Swarm of the Century, she's busy thinking about saving the town, so she's not doing a very good job thinking about how to communicate that well. In Luna Eclipsed, she's busy thinking about the foals experience that night, so she's not thinking about her impact on Luna. I don't really have a good explanation as to her behavior in, say, Filli Vanilli. Every character has episodes that make you scratch your head.
I think Pinkie is a great communicator when that is her primary mission, but I agree that she's really bad it when she's focused on anything else. Even her time with Cranky is like that. She's so busy going through her welcome routine that she's not paying attention to him. It's apparently always worked in the past, so she doesn't really feel the need to actually read him and see if it's working this time or not.
But as always, it's just how I see her. We are really just filling in the blanks for writers that are often times not doing a stellar job of characterization, and that's one of the things that makes Pinkie particularly challenging. Her character gets subverted to make way for comedy a lot of the time, and that makes her act up in ways that don't always make sense.
Yay! PINK PONYYYYY. :D
I really liked everyone's answers here. What a great discussion.
One thing that I like about Pinkie is the sheer diversity of style and character traits given to her in episodes and in these written stories. While all characters get some variation Pinkie seems to have even more variation which is interesting but also difficult when they seemingly conflict with each other.
2688339
i.imgur.com/IXE7XeI.jpg
2695769
Just a tip: if what you have to say can be said with a meme, it's probably not worth saying.