• Pony Psychological Character Analysis

    by
    Just how crazy are these ponies?  Space Frog is attempting to answer that question over on his blog! You can find each pony below!

    Rainbow Dash
    Applejack
    Rarity
    Pinkie Pie
    Fluttershy
    Twilight Sparkle
    Tuesday, June 14, 2011 op
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    51 comments:

    1. SnakeJune 14, 2011 at 10:03 PM

      Its easiest to say Pinkie Pie or Fluttershy, but I could see maybe an argument for Rarity or Twilight

      ReplyDelete
    2. fishsticksJune 14, 2011 at 10:10 PM

      second

      ReplyDelete
    3. Roman500June 14, 2011 at 10:13 PM

      The Rainbow Dash one made alot of sense.

      ReplyDelete
    4. Shellsh0ckerJune 14, 2011 at 10:16 PM

      I've been following these since he started posting them. It's kind of scary how well his analyses line up with SaddlesoapOpera's Pony Psychology series, especially the summary in the Twilight Sparkle analysis. They're definitely intriguing, though I don't know if I agree with all of his points. Certainly worth your time, though.

      ReplyDelete
    5. DareDreamerJune 14, 2011 at 10:17 PM

      The Fluttershy one was a good read. If my eyes weren't burning and I wasn't so tired, I'd read the rest. I'll do that tomorrow. Kudos to Space Frog for putting this all together.

      ReplyDelete
    6. Asgard314June 14, 2011 at 10:38 PM

      My only problem,

      he forgot to cover Pinkie's "Breakdown" in Party of One. I read all of the Pinkie page waiting for his views on that episode, only to find it missing... He was on a roll too, I never really thought of Feeling Pinkie Keen having that kind of sub text...

      ReplyDelete
    7. BashfluffJune 14, 2011 at 10:40 PM

      I thought the ones I read were "okay". That is, that's what I thought until I read Twilight's. Genius.

      ReplyDelete
    8. AnonymousJune 14, 2011 at 10:43 PM

      @Asgard314:

      The Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash reviews were written quite some time ago, long before "Party of One" aired. They were posted on here a while back along with his analysis of the show in general.

      ReplyDelete
    9. KrizakJune 14, 2011 at 10:57 PM

      @Asgard314
      Apparently, the Pinkie Pie article was written before Party of One aired. He wrote a follow-up that took Party of One into account later.

      ReplyDelete
    10. NaxtsJune 14, 2011 at 10:59 PM

      I remember reading Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash quite a while ago, but I reread them and I was quite surprised to see them updated.
      I read all of them in one sitting and I am extremely impressed at this guy's ability to analyze the ponies like this.
      And I knew I was going to great a treat for reading Twilight last. Twilight sparkles was just... Great. It kindda had a fanfic vibe to it and I really felt like she was talking to me. I really, truly am amazed at just how great it is. I went ahead a bookmarked it for a future read.

      Really good stuff here.

      ReplyDelete
    11. NaxtsJune 14, 2011 at 11:04 PM

      @Krizak
      I don't remember reading that.

      Oi thats creepy.

      ReplyDelete
    12. AnonymousJune 14, 2011 at 11:18 PM

      @ Naxts I agree completely, after reading these, its actually a very well written show in terms of character design. And yeah, I think that Twilight's was the best simply due to that fanfic vibe.

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    13. AnonymousJune 14, 2011 at 11:21 PM

      Fluttershy's appeal is like, the total opposite for me compared to this analysis.

      I wonder if I'm the only person more meek than Fluttershy who believes she would be the one protecting him instead of the other way around.

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    14. AnonymousJune 14, 2011 at 11:22 PM

      Before even reading them, Pinkie Pie is mentally unstable. Enough said.

      Anyways, I'll get back to reading them tomorrow. :D

      ReplyDelete
    15. AnonymousJune 14, 2011 at 11:27 PM

      Sounds kinda fun (at least to me) to be trading a few really stinging verbal barbs back and forth between someone like Rarity.

      Heh. Would that make me a masochist or something?

      ReplyDelete
    16. Kt KatJune 14, 2011 at 11:43 PM

      Great reads!

      Personally, I don't think Pinkie is emotionally unstable at all. I think she just has repressed insecurity on a level that rivals Rainbow Dash. All part of why she acts over the top in her own way. And when you feel like you've suddenly lost the power to make your friends happy- that they have lost all interest in you- that can feel the worst. Especially if that's your whole shtick! And we all know her penchant for over-reacting. It was the perfect storm. So I don't think that there's a monster lurking inside. Though I must concede she's freaking creepy at rock bottom. o__O

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    17. TrunkyJune 15, 2011 at 12:28 AM

      @Krizak I was disappointed at that follow up.
      He/she focused more on the Cupcakes phenomenon rather than expanding the previous analysis with the episode.

      ReplyDelete
    18. AnonymousJune 15, 2011 at 1:07 AM

      I liked this. Although I think the blogger didn't dig deep enough in terms of fluttershy and Twilight. The Twi's point of view was nice, but a little more outside view would've been nicer.
      Rarity's was done superbly, he made me see some qualities and defects about her that totally flew over my head.
      Overall, it's a nice analysis, I would like it if somepony dug deeper into the issue.(As if this show hasn't been looked too hard into).

      Anyhow, I'll just lurk around some more to see. I think I love the fandom more than the show itself!

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    19. AnonymousJune 15, 2011 at 1:32 AM

      The only thing I slightly disagree with is the Pinkie Pie one, and that's only one section that was released before Party of One came out.
      I'd love to see his interpretation of that.

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    20. AnonymousJune 15, 2011 at 1:33 AM

      Crap. IGNORE THE PREVIOUS STATEMENT AS I APPARENTLY IGNORED THE COMMENTS.

      ReplyDelete
    21. B.June 15, 2011 at 3:09 AM

      Cheerilee probably isn't much older than the rest of the Mane cast-she could simply be new to teaching, putting her at about 22 (in human terms). If she was in Rarity's class, Rarity could be as young as 21 or as old as 23. The rest of the cast is likely in this age range as well. Twilight is a college student, either undergrad or graduate. Rainbow Dash works for the government-weather control seems like a government job to me. Fluttershy is a veterinarian, or worker at an animal shelter. Pinkie Pie is an apprentice at a bakery. Applejack works the family farm.

      I would imagine that they are all in their early 20s in terms of human years. Perhaps 19 at the youngest.

      ReplyDelete
    22. ~X~June 15, 2011 at 3:35 AM

      I wonder if it was before Lauren said she would have changed it if she knew people preceived it as "Science vs Religion"

      If anything, the closest the show has come to that is the point that "God" (that being the female goddess, Celestia) can be seen and communicated with directly by anybody--- not the bullshit prophets, metaphors and preists and middlemen of JudeoChristian dogmatic nonsense.

      Further, the fandom has extrapolated 'the god' as either not all-knowing (parasprites), or an active trickster and manipulator (Trollestia), or a regretful, unwilling tyrant ("The Sun is Tired")--- all positions that christians hate and deem blasphemous-- and are fully supported by the bible itself, as we atheists are wont to point out-- Save for the "regretful, unwilling" part; Yaweh never apologises to a human in the old or new Testament, and the one passage closest to regret is directed at Himself ("why did I do that?"), rather than to those He has harmed ("I'm sorry for doing that to you")

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    23. Tripfag McGeeJune 15, 2011 at 4:04 AM

      >Go to Dash's page
      >ctrl-v Pinkie Pie, since there has been plenty of interaction and development between them throughout the series
      >No results
      >Do vice-vera
      >Only one result, and not even related to their chemistry
      Stopped reading there.

      ReplyDelete
    24. RandomjackJune 15, 2011 at 4:14 AM

      Really, really interesting reads.

      ReplyDelete
    25. AnonymousJune 15, 2011 at 6:50 AM

      RD having inferiority complex...?
      Stopped reading there.
      As much as there are many things that I can agree with, this is one of the things that I can't.
      Rainbow Dash, just like me, is very passionate about what she's doing as pointed in Cutie Marks Chronicles. I have to point out that Rainbow Dash even though she cares about how she appears in front of people, it is not the reason why she does what she does. She does it for the same reason we play games, just because you're trying to be better that some people doesn't necessarily mean you have inferiority complex, especially if that refers to one game that you constantly play.
      I, just like dash, am very proud of myself, but whenever I lose I don't grieve, but learn from my mistakes and from Fall Weather Friends, when she lost, shows that even though she loves winning, there are things she cares about more.
      Going back to the first episode when she refused the proposition of joining the shadowbolts, she wasn't yet embodied with element of loyalty, so her actions came purely from her own heart. Now, why would she do it? She could have bathed in fortune and be loved and admired by everyone. Why? Because being admired isn't her main goal, her main goal is to be the best she can be (she doesn't want to be better than wonderbolts, but be part of the wonderbolts). You could compare it to these young guitar-beginners who want to be like their favorite rockstars, or young footballers that want to be like their favorite football players, it doesn't come from inferiority complex, but passion.

      I hope what I wrote makes sense, because I have this weird sensation that I might have messed it up a little bit.

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    26. AnonymousJune 15, 2011 at 7:23 AM

      Hey everyone, Cosmic Space Frog here....(I really need a better alias)

      Thanks for everyone's great feedback. You have pointed out heaps of stuff that I really should have included or changed, so thanks for giving my nonsense a chance to impress you.

      I guess at the end of the day, you cant pin their personalities down to any one aspect. They hold different appeal for different people, any everypony interprets them in their own way, so please dont think I am trying to lay down concrete facts with these articles, because that would be silly.

      Currently writing a crossover fanfiction involving Pinkie and a certain king of a certain type of town.....

      ReplyDelete
    27. AnonymousJune 15, 2011 at 8:03 AM

      Party of One gave me a strong feeling that Pinkie Pie might be a narcissist (I've written about it in forums and stuff.) Not in the way we typically use the word narcissist, someone with a bloated ego, Rarity would fit that better. No, for Pinkie Pie it is much worse. She appears to have narcissistic personality disorder, which basically means she has almost no self-esteem and relies entirely on other's views for her self-image. This makes sense when you consider the psychotic breakdown she had in Party of One when she honestly thought nobody liked her anymore and it also explains why she is always acting like a clown and breaking norms (to try to foster attention towards herself.)

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    28. DavidReinoldJune 15, 2011 at 8:12 AM

      I find it odd that the concept of Fluttershy potentially having Asperger's Syndrome never came up. I mean, guys can relate to Fluttershy too, and a lot of the time, this is why (I know it's true for myself and several of my friends). The anti-social tendencies, the lack of confidence, the lack of self-awareness, but the underlying good intentions are all strong indications towards something along the lines of Asperger's syndrome, and perhaps even mild tourette's syndrome.

      Maybe I'm just reading too far into it though. Maybe I'd just like to think Futtershy has Asperger's so it's not weird for a male high schooler to relate to her.

      ReplyDelete
    29. AnonymousJune 15, 2011 at 8:25 AM

      @DavidReinold

      I highly doubt Fluttershy has Asperger's. Maybe a mild type of avoidant disorder if anything at all (I honestly don't think there is strong enough evidence to say she has some kind of disorder or syndrome, if she does it doesn't seem like Asperger's.)

      ReplyDelete
    30. Interrobang PieJune 15, 2011 at 8:35 AM

      These are nice little reads. I especially like the style in which the last one is written.

      ReplyDelete
    31. ZoviJune 15, 2011 at 8:48 AM

      I'll just repost what I said about this on the Reddit thread for this...

      As one who identifies most with Pinkie Pie and shares some of her character traits (tastefully, I assure you), I must say I took some offense to your demotion of her to a mere event or even prop, not a character herself. Yeah, I know you tried to give her some merit as somepony important, but it sounds like you mostly skirted around the idea that Pinkie could very well be an operating member of pony society and not just a plot device.
      The mind of somepony like Pinkie Pie is perhaps somewhat difficult to explain to somepony who does not think as she does. Let me attempt, though. Imagine that one day, in the midst of your ordinary childhood, you were enlightened one day by something that you found very special. You found your purpose in life, or so you thought. In reality, you found your drive. With that newfound energy comes acceleration, and a wealth of new avenues of thought appear.

      Sometimes, though, they just don't stop appearing. Your avenues become highways and those become giant messes where all your thoughts, as your chariots and horse-drawn trains, get jumbled up in a giant traffic jam. This could either lead to depression or a snapping point, you think, but there's another way to manage this. It is to diffuse your many-direction mind with the simple pleasure of absurdity. People who have this type of mind, like me, find absurdity and generally acting like a Cloud Cuckoo Lander (sorry for linking you to tvtropes in advance) incredibly natural, and it gives the feeling of flow and internal harmony. Now, with this in place, somepony like Pinkie Pie can focus, through the absurdity, on intellectual endeavors far above what it seems that pony is capable of, and ultimately can gain unique experience and wisdom in areas that are otherwise deemed fruitless or just extraneous (a la Luna Lovegood from Hoofy Potter lore). The effect is that you may be thinking about a whole host of things that "normal" ponies don't think about, but your mind is full regardless and you are completely happy with that fact. Even better, you know others don't think the way you do, and to screw with them, you don't let on that you do until you are needed, and you go on your cheerful, merry way with a smile on the outside and an even bigger grin on the inside.

      tl;dr I propose Pinkie has more on her mind than anypony of the mane 6 except for possibly Twilight.

      ReplyDelete
    32. NinestempestJune 15, 2011 at 9:55 AM

      @Zovi
      Well fuck, thanks for clearly defining what half of my interpretation of Pinkie Pie was (the other half being from cosmic frog).

      @Anonymous
      I don't know if you read fanfiction or not, but if you read the Pony Psychology series, you'd see this is almost exactly what Pinkie Pie was like there, actually.

      ReplyDelete
    33. AnonymousJune 15, 2011 at 11:37 AM

      The pinkie pie one doesn't really get the gist of her, and doesn't even mention Party of One. There's another one out there were someone compares Pinkie to traits she sees in herself and the reasoning behind it.

      ReplyDelete
    34. AnonymousJune 15, 2011 at 11:45 AM

      @Asgard314

      I totally agree. Pinkie Pie usually seemed more of a force of nature than a true character until that episode, which is what made it so great. It was her Psychoshy moment. We realize how fragile she is and that she relies on people enjoying her presence to function. You can only imagine how bitter she must have been living on a rock farm.

      ReplyDelete
    35. AnonymousJune 15, 2011 at 11:48 AM

      Here's the post a girl did from her personal experience vs Pinkie Pie
      http://kyraiee.livejournal.com/39498.html

      ReplyDelete
    36. JoshJune 15, 2011 at 12:18 PM

      I enjoyed reading the Applejack one. It was near flawless and there's no way I could have done better. I do have some criticisms for the other ones, though.

      1. There is little focus on why Rainbow might embody the loyalty and how her need for admiration is at odds with her loyalty. For one, she shines most when her friends need her most (the end of Sonic Rainboom and Fluttershy's story in Chronicles, her persistence to see Pinkie get to her party in PoO). The loyalty she possesses could also explain why she stuck to Gilda for so long.
      2. There is little mention of Rarity's patience with Sweetie Belle and the CMC. She gets nothing but headaches from them, yet she is still sweet and motherly to them.
      3. The follow-up to Pinkie Pie's entry felt it was more about fan reactions than it was about Pinkie and her breakdown.
      4. The way Angel Bunny is disparaged in Fluttershy's entry was short-sighted. Angel is both a foil to Fluttershy that demonstrates her tolerance and a force that gets her to be assertive when she doesn't have her friends' backing.
      5. I felt having Twilight call herself a bitch was rather rude and that her entry focused too much on her negatives and not how those focused on her positives and how they interact. Also, an analysis on her actions in Look Before You Sleep and how they reflect an inner-loneliness would've made it much better.

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    37. DarthVaderJune 15, 2011 at 12:45 PM

      I love the series but unfortunately the one I was most interested in turned out to be the one that did the lest for me. The final one for Twilight was cool but I just couldn't get into it with its sudden shift to its in-universe first person. I think it would have been better just to keep it as the same format as the other 5. I still greatly enjoyed reading this whole series of articles. It helps me realize how much I love all of the mane 6.

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    38. AnonymousJune 15, 2011 at 1:37 PM

      @~X~

      That's not true the bible doesn't support any of that. Besides Why would God apologize if he never did anything bad....

      Celestia isn't like Adonai in any way...

      ReplyDelete
    39. RockaboreJune 15, 2011 at 2:13 PM

      @Josh
      I felt the same way regarding those points. The one I thought felt a bit nitpicky was Rarity's since she had a lot more good qualities that weren't pointed out. He was a little harsh on Rarity in Suited for Success since he neglected to mention that her designing credibility was almost ruined because of how much she wanted her friends to love their dresses. She wanted them to be happy more than she cared about her reputation.
      Also in Sonic Rainboom, she might have started to be selfabsorbed after getting compliments on her wings, but remember she was probably the most supportive when it came to cheering Rainbow Dash on.

      @B.
      Ive always thought Cheerilee was the same age as the mane cast seeing as they all have jobs.

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    40. lozJune 15, 2011 at 2:49 PM

      Very well thought out and fun to read, but I think he missed a point in Fluttershy's analysis. Specifically, Angel. While yes, he can be a bit rude to Fluttershy, he also acts as a much needed id to her superego. Just watch "The Ticket Master."

      ReplyDelete
    41. Star WhistleJune 15, 2011 at 2:50 PM

      @Anonymous
      Fluttershy has no problem comprehending social norms or other ponies' emotions. She's not an aspie.

      ReplyDelete
    42. AnonymousJune 15, 2011 at 8:24 PM

      All the reflexions were great except the Pinkie pie´s for what I think about Pinkie Pie is that she actually has a lot of personality she isn´t an elemente but yes she is used as an elmente.
      The fact that she is always jocking and jumping around is a view of how she is, what I mena is that she does has a personality and she is someone that just cares about been happy and don´t pay attention to the little stains but when something really bad happens she actually get terribly mad/sad only becuase she cares

      Her randomness, the way she cares about her friends and how she acts about good things (enjoing) or bad stuff (don´t giving to much attention and sometimes if is important scraching in deppresion or anger) is something you can easily relate to your own personality (at leas I do...cause I´m RANDOM)

      So she is actually a believable personality

      Sorry for the lengh but is my favorite pony and I´m really relate to her, leave coments if you like my way of thinking or what I miss
      (sorry fot the bad english..don´t be trollestias)

      ReplyDelete
    43. AnonymousJune 16, 2011 at 12:57 PM

      After reading all these comments about pinkie pie, i feel that she can be both a character and element, and have a view about her randomness.

      First off, about the randomness. I feel that she is showing her true colors here, and that because when pinkie was litte, since her creativeness was supressed, it's all flowing out of her, maybe a bit to much at a time. This is how i feel she really is, a go happy, an over outgoing pony.

      Here is why i think she is used more as an element. She has her morals set and she follows them and that's why she isnt used as a character, she's more of a role model that is not understandable untill certain events play out and her morals shine, so she doesnt learn because she's set on her morals. (only counter example i can think of is at the gala)

      The last topic i want to talk about is the episode, "Party of One". you may be saying, "FearTheBeans (my internet persona), isnt this proof that she's crazy?". But here is how i see it, Imagine you find your true calling, and you share it with all your friends. then imagine that your closest friends say that you arent good at what you love. That's how i think pinkie felt, it made her sad and snap. I think she went crazy with sadness.

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    44. AnonymousJune 16, 2011 at 2:56 PM

      Actually I never thought that way awesome observation
      You are right, she does has her morals well seated so is harder to make histories with she staring cause normally the episodes goes around faults and learn morales so you see thats a problem when she already has her morals well done
      But I don´t agree with the Party of One view cause I thinks she got so mad/sad because her friends not that she wasn´t bad making parties

      (sorry the bad english, don´t be trollestias)

      ReplyDelete
    45. GarrickJune 16, 2011 at 5:03 PM

      I am forced to seriously disagree with this person on at least two counts.

      Firstly, just because AJ thinks ponies should be themselves, doesn't mean she can't think that someponies are shitty. I can respect someone for holding fast to what they think is true, and then smack them upside the head because what they believe is stupid.

      The other was in Pinkie's page. When he talks about the episode "Pinkie Keen" and about Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie's differing reactions to Pinkie's twitches and their supposed meanings. I found that Twilight's reaction was far more logical than Pinkie's. Twilight wanted to find out what caused the twitches, as opposed to Pinkie just accepting that they happened. I may be a tad biased when I speak about this episode, because I absolutely hate it. It essentially teaches kids to believe blindly what others tell them without wondering about the why's and the how's.

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    46. AnonymousJune 16, 2011 at 6:36 PM

      Pinkie Pie:
      U MAD BRO?
      U Jelly?

      ReplyDelete
    47. mangaturtleJune 16, 2011 at 10:58 PM

      I'm not a psycologist or anything, i mean i took a class in college, and i;ve had a pretty good ability to anaylize people and thier perosnalities.

      this guy is pretty good. he make s a lot of good points, and like he says, it;s his opinion. if you have a problem with it, great, you do that and back it up.

      personally I'd like to see him make profiles on other characters, like the cutie mark crusaders, etc...

      ReplyDelete
    48. AnonymousJune 18, 2011 at 2:00 AM

      Cutie Mark Failure Insanity Syndrome. When their talents seem to fail them, they go off the rails. what's more, their personalities invert.

      Fluttershy goes from quiet and sweet to ragebeast ("Best Night Ever"),
      Rainbow Dash turns into a quivering wreck ("sonic rainboom")
      Pinky Pie becomes angry, suspicious and grouchy ("Party of one")
      Rarity, the born spotlight hog, turns into a recluse ("Art of the Dress")
      Applejack overshoots her own ability to handle the farm, and goes from MOST reliable to LEAST reliable pony in Ponyville ("AppleBucking Season")
      And Twilight, whenever her talents as a studious student or as a magician (same thing, from her perspective), goes completely IRrational ("swarm of the century, a bird in the hoof, feeling Pinkie Keen, etc.") and starts making hysterical paranoid claims or completely unfeasible plans....

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    49. RivkaApril 7, 2013 at 8:46 PM

      @DavidReinold

      I really feel like she has Aspergers.

      ReplyDelete
    50. RivkaApril 7, 2013 at 8:50 PM

      @Star Whistle

      Many adult Aspies have no problems comprehending social norms or other people's emotions. Some are really good at it. But we are not always good at responding to those things. We do feel like we don't fit in, despite comprehending those things. So some of us avoid social contact, while others simply put in extra effort to successfully appear normal.

      ReplyDelete
    51. RivkaApril 7, 2013 at 9:06 PM

      @Anonymous How well do you understand Aspergers? David has it, and therefore probably understands it pretty well.

      ReplyDelete

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