Rarity shrine!

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Table of contents:
Who is Rarity? - Why? - Precursors & Successors - Notable episodes
IDW comics - Headcanons - Fanart gallery - Memes

Who is Rarity?

RARITY is a beautiful unicorn pony who has a taste for the finer things in life. Though at times she may seem like a bit of a diva, Rarity has a heart as pure as gold. She's much more at home in her boutique designing gorgeous fashions for her friends than she is on epic adventures, but her friends know that Rarity shines brightest when she's helping others.
- The Art of My Little Pony: The Movie

Rarity is one of the six main characters (Mane 6) in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, AKA Generation 4 (G4). She represents the Element of Generosity and her cutie mark is three diamonds. She is a fashion designer and seamstress for her shop in Ponyville, the Carousel Boutique. Her younger sister is Sweetie Belle and her parents are Hondo Flanks and Cookie Crumbles. Also, she has a pet cat named Opalescence.

Color palette:       

Concept art:

Trivia

  • Rarity's design based on Sparkler and Glory from G1 [x] and named after Rarity in G3.
  • The "Element of Generosity" was originally the "Element of Inspiration". [x]
  • Lauren Faust's biggest influence for Rarity was Audrey Hepburn. [x]
  • She wears false eyelashes.
  • Her accent is fake (as it is in real life).
  • Is a soprano for the Pony Tones.
  • When uncurled, her mane is longer than Fluttershy's! [x]
  • Loves kale. [x]
  • Her parent's didn't understand her interest in fashion. [x]

Why?

I've loved Rarity since I first watched Friendship is Magic in November 2010! (Do the math...) I didn't grow up with My Little Pony, so this was the first time I actually gave the series a chance. I was introduced to it from someone I regret being acquainted with in hindsight, but I was hooked the moment I watched The Ticket Master and starting following the rest of season one. I chose Rarity as my favorite character to be contrarian, because she was one of the least popular characters early on. Of course, that quickly changed in early 2011 when episodes like Suited for Success, A Dog and Pony Show, and Green Isn't Your Color aired. That's nice, but I was here first and was right all along. I was already obsessed with the cartoon by December, but as season one progressed in early 2011 I developed an all-consuming infatuation to the point everyone around me knew about it. I've tried to figure out where my type for elegant, well-spoken women with a neurotic streak came from; Rarity was either the blueprint or driving force behind it. I mean, It's not the worst "first love" someone could have...

This is old news if you've already visited my site, but I more or less based my fursona off of Rarity... Right down to being named after a previous incarnation and having the opposite color coat to match. And she ended up lasting a decade longer than the other characters I made for that purpose. LOL!!! I don't have the heart to change her no matter how much I try. Unfortunately, I can't get myself to be super invested in fan characters despite my effort, so this is a canon page instead of an OC ship page. :( I'm sorry!!! It does feel like an uncanny coincidence or some kind of destiny that Nightmare Rarity was introduced in the IDW comics over a year after I created the redesign with a black coat...

The fandom was fun... Until it wasn't. If you don't live under a rock, you probably know where this is going, but I don't care to spend this space to harp on the issues with the brony fandom. (If you want to know more, Jenny Nicholson has a documentary-length video about the good and bad sides of it.) Especially when it's not "just" the bronies I have an issue with. I did get into some interpersonal drama with them (half of it was my fault), and their awful social skills and locker room talk when it wasn't appropriate was my final straw. After becoming fed up with the boy's club, I immediately ran to the socially aware female-dominated side, but was quickly disenchanted with them too. While the 4chan-native bronies would scream when artists drew humanizations a shade darker than mayo white, these fauxminists were equally rabid about using the correct ever-changing social justice lingo and couldn't express opinions without passive-aggressive cutesy imagery. Their social dynamics was just a different brand of toxic and it made me sick. Except I'm not going to let either of them win. The worst people alive will never get between me and the love of my life!!! I just quietly followed the later seasons in private.

I roll my eyes over how pop culture preaches that you can be badass and feminine (never heard that one before...), I appreciate how Rarity completely subverted the assumption that she's the snotty, shopping-obsessed rich girl at the beginning. Her personality has a mix of traits that are normally wholly negative balanced out by positive ones. She's dramatic, narcissistic, greedy, and manipulative, but she's also creative, empathetic, generous (duh...), and loves helping others. All of the Mane 6 have great character development, but I loved Rarity more as the show went on; Especially when her parents were introduced! Most of the crazies mentioned earlier jumped ship after awhile, so I ended up enjoying the later seasons too, even if some were weaker than others. I like how Rarity finally opens new locations of her boutique in Canterlot and Manehattan, and becomes a teacher at the School of Friendship. When I found out the last episode of Friendship is Magic aired, I braced myself. But it turns out in the finale, Rarity is still on the grindset and opened another boutique in Yakistan! She even rocks the grey hair.

Say what you will about how annoying it was when ponies went viral in 2011-2012 and how deranged the fanbase is, Friendship is Magic was a game-changing cartoon with a lot of depth for a children's show. It's not a surprise that it aired for an entire decade, and even the Equestria Girls spinoff and the IDW comics are equally good. Nothing lasts forever though, because now we're at the fifth generation of My Little Pony (G5). ...But most people are still talking about the previous ones instead. A New Beginning was pretty good, but it also threw all of Equestria's worldbuilding and everything Celestia and Twilight worked for in the trash. At least the evil Rarity in the opening sequence got a laugh out of me.


I get it, they're not going to live forever. But was this really necessary?

Precursors & Successors

My Little Pony has been around since 1981, and Friendship is Magic was its fourth generation. Plenty of other characters have come before (and after) Rarity!

Table of contents:
Glory (G1) - Sparkler (G1) - Ivy (G2)
Rainbow Dash (G3) - Rarity (G3) - Rarity (EQG)
Rarity (Pony Life) - Velvet (TFH) - Serena (Poppet Magazine)

Glory (G1)

Glory was one of the first few unicorns released in 1983, alongside Twilight (!), Moondancer, and Sunbeam. Glory's personality varies by the media she appears in. In the Rescue at Midnight Castle pilot, her design is on the tomboyish side and rides in the scene on rollerskates. Meanwhile, her backcard story describes her as "the most elegant of all the earth-bound creatures" and that "she moves from place to place with a magical stride, almost as though she had wings". It's clear which version Rarity is based on. I always liked Glory and have some merchandise of her, including a weird read-a-long story book. Despite not caring about the G1 baby clones, I even find Baby Glory cute because she has a slightly different design.

Fun fact, unlike other characters listed after, Glory is married. To who? Moondancer, according to a porcelain figure named Wedding Prance. It's never been referenced again, but you can't argue with something Hasbro officially released. I've seen some old fansites mistakenly identify Glory as male, but you can't fool me. This is gay. I'd love to own this, but I don't trust myself with something made out of fragile material. If Hasbro is on the coporate pride train, why can't they re-release this?

Sparkler (G1)

(No, not that Sparkler.) Even though I always liked Glory, Sparkler ironically took longer for me to come around on. Her animated appearance in Escape from Katrina was so bitchy and unlikable, it completely put me off her. I started warming up to Sparkler a lot more after I started reading scans of the UK comic, where she has a much nicer personality and a cute friendship with Queen Majesty. Weird trivia: Sparkler was never released in the UK despite appearing in the comics a lot, and Majesty never had an animated appearance despite being important in the printed media.

Anyway, it's clear that Rarity is a fusion of G1 Glory and Sparkler. She has Glory's elegance and color scheme, and Sparkler's knack for collecting shiny things. Fun fact, Sparkler has Italian-exclusive variants with the exact same color scheme as Rarity. Sparkler also doesn't have a baby clone of herself... In the west. There's an Argentina-exclusive Baby Sparkler, a baby earth pony with completely different colors. Maybe Sparkler and Majesty adopted an orphan...

Ivy (G2)

(No, not that Ivy.) This is speculation on my end, but Ivy has a lot of superficial similarities to G3 Rainbow Dash and later Rarity. But Hasbro exiled the poor G2 ponies to Europe, so I doubt there will any acknowledgement of the potential inspiration. Still, Ivy fits the bill of a Rarity precursor. She's the designated glamour girl hip on the latest styles and runs the Pretty Parlor in Friendship Gardens. G2 never had a cartoon, so its cast is one-note and don't have much about them that isn't already shared in their backcard stories and comics.

That said, Ivy does have an interesting difference that no other character listed does: Ivy has a kid. In 2000, babies were introduced and multiple ponies were re-released in family playsets with an adorable brat packaged with them. Ivy's little brat is named Baby Fern. Isn't she cute? I sure think so. I'm more favorable to the G2 babies of the "core" characters because they're not clones like half of the babies in G1. The Friendship Gardens has a tiny male population, so if you're nosy enough it's probably easy to figure out who the father is. My bets are Clever Clover.

I don't plan on having a huge G2 collection due to import costs, but Ivy and Baby Fern are on my wishlist. If any Britbongs or Europeans happen to have either buried in your closet and want them gone, you know who to call... When I have enough disposable income for it. *cries*

Rainbow Dash (G3)

I really like G3 Rainbow Dash! I think more people would if they treated her as separate to Rarity and the other Rainbow Dash. G3 Rainbow Dash gets compared to a shittier version of Rarity, but in reality she's not the snooty shopping-obsessed girly girl either. G3's cast may be one-dimensional, but she's more of a wannabe older sister figure and isn't particularly fashionable at all. She just likes plastering rainbows on everything and says darling a lot. Not to mention a complete poser who doesn't even know where rainbows come from or how they're made, although she later on finds out in The Runaway Rainbow. (Interesting trivia, she's more adventrous in the G3 comics and literally rides on rainbows on her toy's backcard stories.)

You might be thinking when reading this, did you really say that G3 Rainbow Dash isn't fashionable?! Yes, I did. Emphasis on early G3. The meme that "Rainbow Dash always dresses in style" is from her G3.5 incarnation, also known as Core 7. G3.5 Rainbow Dash's catchphrase goes from "rainbows, darling" to "how dashing", has a different accent, and now has the personality trait of being the stylish one that wants to dress up. Blegh. Okay, THIS is where the shittier version of Rarity comes from. I think I'm a G3 purist... Everything after 2007 is a waste of plastic. Twinkle Wish Adventure was pretty good, but I'd rather have a million characters with varied designs and little personality, than seven characters with boring designs and shit personalities.

Rarity (G3)

I caught Friendship is Magic in late 2010, before there was much information online about it (better times, IMO). Since I had no previous knowledge of older generations, I often found G3 Rarity when searching on Google. My first thought was "THAT'S NOT RARITY!" When I tried to watch G3, my feelings were the same... Who is this little brat? To be frank, I really hated G3 Rarity for almost a year, until I didn't. She ended up worming her way into my heart... Maybe it's because I have an occasional soft spot for kid and tween characters (see: Fae). Yeah, I forgot to mention that. G3 Rarity's toys use an adult unicorn model, but she's a kid in the cartoons.

This drives in more how she has little in common with the Rarity we know, besides name and species... And you know what, that's fine. By the way, her name is Rarity because she's the first unicorn to appear in Ponyville! She appears there by complete accident, too, which leads to some silly antics in The Runaway Rainbow. G3 Rarity is supposed to be princess, but she wants to have fun and be a kid without getting wrapped up in responsibilities. Her catch phrases are "That was fun, let's do it again" and "It's not my fault, it was [X]"... But by the end she realizes that sometimes it is her fault. She also has an adorable friendship with G3 Rainbow Dash, which is why they both became my favorite G3 characters after forcing myself to buckle down and watch the cartoons. Predictably, my personal favorite G3 cartoon is Greetings From Unicornia, which is a short where Rainbow Dash visits Unicornia to see Rarity!

Rarity (Equestria Girls)

No, they're not the same character, at least not in my book. Early into this site's existence I reviewed the main Equestria Girls movies, but I never got around to reviewing on the other media (trust me, it's drafted...). TL;DR, Hasbro wanted to cash-in on Mattel's Monster High by releasing a high school AU fashion doll line of their own. I'm far from a doll person, but the Equestria Girls line doesn't compare to Monster High. I got one doll out of curiosity, and I don't have it anymore for a reason. (It's complete crap.) The first Equestria Girls movie was a major guilty pleasure for me, but I expected it to just be a weird one-off movie and crappy toyline. It ended up evolving into its own spinoff series that's also pretty good!

Equestria Girls Rarity just isn't my Rarity, though. Mainly because I was already in my 20s when it was running. I'm not going to be invested in an AU version where Rarity is a teenager in high school! Despite what detractors claim, the Mane 6 aren't children. Rarity lives alone and has a full-time job, for fuck's sake! That said, Equestria Girls is an interesting peek at what Rarity would be like as a human teenager. She has the same core personality, but being human has facets the pony version either doesn't have or was only brought up a few times. More emphasis on musical talent, for one. (Because she has hands...) Her chosen instrument was initially going to be a grand piano (!), until she was convinced to stick to a keytar. Another significant difference is Equestria Girls Rarity is implied to be wealthy, unlike her pony counterpart. Which makes sense if you remember her father Hondo Flanks has a football cutie mark, a talent that would be more useful in the human world than Equestria...

Rarity (Pony Life)

There's been this weird trend since 1992 where the very end a generation introduces a short-lived flop era before the next one. My Little Pony Tales wasn't so bad, but I'm sure it was a whiplash for original fans to see G1 go from a toy commercial with a fantasy setting, to a toy commercial about ponies that act like preteen girls. 2008 introduced the nightmare that was G3.5, where the insanely large cast of G3 were reduced to the Core 7 and transmutated into horse-duck hybrids. Friendship is Magic's finale aired in October 2019, and shortly after the first wave of Pony Life toys were found in stores. Just in time for the pandemic, huh? Not unlike how I still found G3.5 toys in stores in the early 2010s, I see just as much Pony Life merchandise alongside G5...

I marathoned Friendship is Magic during lockdown, so of course I watched season one of Pony Life. It's exactly what I expected it to be. Pony Life Rarity has her moments, but she's just a distilled meme version of her namesake. (Also, she wants to be an actress for some reason.) If Friendship is Magic is a 9/10, then Pony Life is a 5/10. Don't bother unless you want to watch the cartoon equivalent of drinking two energy drinks and a pack of Skittles at the same time. I personally like the headcanon that it's just a fanfic Pinkie Pie wrote about her friends. If you're a babysitter or a neglectful parent with an iPad kid, let the brats watch Friendship is Magic, G1, Tales, or even G3. Gen Alpha is fucked if they're growing up on this.

Velvet (Them's Fightin' Herds)

Once upon a time, a team of bronies named Mane6 wanted to make a Friendship is Magic-themed fighting game. Let's call it... Fighting is Magic. It went well, until Mane6 were DMCA'd by Hasbro. God forbid people have fun, right? On the bright side, Lauren Faust offered to design Mane6 new characters (all clever homages to the original cast), and the Skullgirls' Indiegogo campaign hit their stretch goal to give Mane6 their engine. Them's Fightin' Herds because the spiritual successor of the copyright-striken Fighting is Magic, and arguably a sister game to Skullgirls. The first two characters publicly introduced were a cow and reindeer; It's obvious what the cow is supposed to be, but who is the latter? The reindeer was originally going to be Rainbow Dash's expy, until it was decided she suited Rarity more. During the crowdfunding period, Mane6 released a new Book of Lore chapter introducing Velvet.

I wanted to like Velvet. I really, really did. During the crowdfunding period, I was excited when Lauren Faust described Velvet as a "bad version" of Rarity in livestreams. It turned out she meant that literally, because what I've seen of Velvet is Rarity's bad traits cranked up. Ironically, her cousin Cashmere is the fashion-inclined NPC who appears in story mode. It seems like Rarity's negative traits were transplanted to Velvet, but her positive to Cashmere. Okay...? I bought Them's Fightin' Herds during early access, but the WIP status was why I didn't stick around. I figured I'd come back to see Velvet when story mode is finished... But just like Skullgirls, Them's Fightin' Herds has been fucked over by its new publisher. The ambitious Mane6 were laid off from their own game, and story mode will never be finished. Poor Velvet... Now we'll never know if she has hidden depths or redeeming features.

Do not buy Them's Fightin' Herds, the price is not worth it for an unfinished game. Fuck Maximum Entertainment, pirate this shit.

Serena (Poppet Magazine)

HUH? WHO THE FUCK IS THIS?! Look... it technically counts. I was into Moshi Monsters for awhile in the early 2010s. Unfortunately for me, all the cool merchandise was for literal children and Britbongs. One of those things being Poppet Magazine, a short-lived spinoff to inspire young girls pursue interests such as coding, technology, and creative arts. It ran for ten issues from March 26th 2014 to January 14th 2015.

Poppet Magazine caught minor attention from adult fans on Tumblr because The Poppeteers are literally expies of the Mane 6. (Minus Applejack, for some reason...) Just look at them, if you don't believe me. Serena is, predictably, the fashionista who loves "turning shabby into chic and snoresome to ROARsome". I wish The Poppeteers had their own cartoon, but we'll probably never see them again now that Moshi Monsters was discontinued in 2019. Which is a shame, because the Moshi Monsters Movie was pretty good. A Poppeteer sequel would've been perfect. Consider this blurb a memorial for poor Serena.

If there are any characters created after 2010 who are obvious expies of Rarity, feel free to let me know.

Notable episodes

For marathoning purposes. This is both for episodes that center on Rarity or she has a major role in them. Episodes marked with a 🔹 are favorites, ❓ are episodes I haven't seen and am going by wiki.

IDW comics

I mostly focus on the TV show, but the comics are very good too.

Main series

There's 102 issues of this, and I haven't even read half of them... These are the notable issues I've either read or going by wiki:

Micro Series

Friends Forever

Friends Forever is a spinoff series where each issue focuses on two characters, some are canon interactions (ex. Applejack and Pinkie Pie) to more unheard of (Fluttershy and Zecora). Rarity has her share of stories.

Headcanons

This is a WIP lol I know I have more buried in my head...

Fanart gallery

Mostly old stuff!

Other characters

Memes

Teehee! All found on Derpibooru and/or Tumblr.