Hello & welcome back to Trotting Through Life and today, we start our next mane character retrospective as we start a A Dash of Awesome. Now, for those wondering about my Trixie retrospective, I just couldn't get into the book and wanted to move onto this one as it's been awhile since I've done an MLP blog. And I always knew that after Pinkie, I wanted Dashie to be my next character-focused retrospective. For those, that remember how I did my previous, character retrospectives, I will look at Dash's voice actress, First Appearance, Personality, How Rainbow Dash Got Her Cutie Mark, EQG Counterpart, and finally Is Rainbow Dash A Good Character? With that outta the way, let's board the awesome train as things are about to get 20% cooler.
Voice Actress
Ashleigh Ball
Ball brings a lot of fun to the role of Dash and takes the character beyond just the girl that is into sports as when you listen Ball's performance, you realize Dash like a lot of good characters has insecurities and while Dashie may not want to admit it, there are moments where she feels vulnerable and Ball makes you believe in both the strength that Dash can portray and the weaknesses that she exhibits. As shown by this image, Ball also voices my former least favorite character, AJ and we will be talking about the relationship that these two have off and on. And for that remember, the Rarity Retrospective, you'll recall my strong dislike of the AJ and Rarity relationship in early FIM stories, I don't have that same disdain for the Dash and AJ relationship as it comes across these two are on equal hooving.
First Appearance
We first see Dash in the pilot of Twilight enters Ponyville and she crashes into her.
The interaction between Dash and Twilight is great here and it shows that she can be brash and impulsive and doesn't always think before she acts. So, yeah not the greatest introduction for Dashie but it did give us this.
Easily, one of my favorite Dash moments.
Personality
Now, as I mentioned Dash is a bit brash and can be a bit impulsive when it comes to making decisions but as we've seen through her interactions with her friends and the Wonderbolts, she is very loyal. After all, this was her element.
Now, there is one other element (heh) to Dash that in the early seasons, she may not have admitted but I think it's something that Bronies can relate to, she's a fangirl. Just think about the times that she met the Wonderbolts before she joined them, her calm and cool composure was gone as she let out a rather adorable squeal or at the Daring Do convention, when she got into a debate with the so annoying Quibble Pants about the quality of later Daring Do books. I've had similar arguments in 2 of my other fandoms regarding the quality of CGI Disney movies and while it's okay for Lego to make sets based on films and TV shows. Now, while the fangirl part may not be the most highlighted part of Dashie's character, it is one of my favorite aspects of her character. But my absolute favorite is her relationship with Scootaloo. They're my favorite sisters on the show and they're not actually related but they to me have the most unique sister bond.
In many ways, Scoots started out as mini-Dash idolizing her in the same that best sister idolized the Wonderbolts but around the time of Sleepless In Ponyville, you do get more as you finally see Dash takes Scootaloo under her wing. And their relationship has had a lot of great moments as Dash has always been there to lift Scootaloo up.
Scootaloo: I didn't want to ruin their chance to win just because I couldn't fly.Rainbow Dash: And who said you had to?
Scootaloo: But flying's what Pegasus ponies are supposed to do! You flew when you carried the flag in the games!
Rainbow Dash: But that was me! You're you! And it just doesn't matter if you can fly or not. Your routine was amazing 'cause it represented exactly what makes Ponyville special. You do still know what that is, right?
This is such a great moment as it shows that Dash does love the little filly but realizes that the orange daredevil doesn't need to be like her big sister. You can also see how far their relationship has come at the end of Crusaders of the Lost Mark.
This is especially observant in the lyric from the reprise of We Made Our Mark.
I'm so proud of you, little buddy You've taught me a thing or two
This moment is so key in the relationship that these two have as it shows that Dash doesn't see Scoots as just the squirt that she adored in the early stages of their relationship. As it has developed beyond that point and for many Dash and Scootaloo fans as myself, this is a moment that we had wanted for the longest time. Because so many people in the Brony instantly latched onto the sisterhood of these two. And for the show to give us a moment such as this is great because it highlights the fact that you don't have to be related by blood to love someone like a sibling.
How Rainbow Dash Got Her Cutie Mark
In many ways, Dash is responsible for the rest of the Mane Six getting their cutie marks as her Sonic Rainboom inspired the rest of them as fillies and that helped them to understand what they were meant to do.
And to think that this all came from Dashie racing against a couple of bullies but Dash, even as a filly wanted to prove herself and boy howdy, she did.
EQG Counterpart
While I've given a lot of praise to Dash, I'm not the biggest fan of her EQG counterpart. She's not bad but I think my biggest issue with the Equestira Girls of Dash is that while she has all of the same qualities of her Ponyville counterpart, she hasn't had the same development as pony Dash and EQG is more focused on Sunset Shimmer's relationship with the girls after the first movie, so we really never get any sense that this version of Dash has the relationship that I adore with Scootaloo in the show. And as a huge Dash and Scoots fan, that's disappointing. Sure, there's this moment from the EQG movie but it felt more like fan service than anything meaningful for the characters.
When I saw this at the end of the first Equestira Girls, I had some hope but unfortunately, nothing really has come from it.
Is Rainbow Dash A Good Character?
Yes, if we look at her original show version and not bring the Equestira Girls counterpart into the equation, which I think is a fair thing to do. So ignoring, Equestira Girls is Dash is one of the best characters on the show. She may not be my favorite character but she has a lot of wonderful attributes that always make her a joy (most of the time) to watch. Join me next time as we look at Fall Weather Friends.
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