1) One reason I’ve got a negative outlook on things is that while always know why I dislike something, I don’t know why I do like something. Why do I love Rainbow Dash? I just do. That means that if I like a character from the start, I usually keep liking them… unless they give me reasons not to. Like Twilight and Celestia did.
2) I like her enough that her antics feel like the writers’ fault rather than her own. One person’s “character assassination” is another’s “yup, called it.”
Say, Spring Breakdown. Rainbow acting like a raging womanchild may seem the logical conclusion/continuation of her character to some but to me, it was out of character. In contrast, Rarity in Dragon Dropped… no surprise from me.
3) The writers’ absolute vendetta against her work in her favor here. Her mission in the narrative is to be wrong, to be the bad guy who needs to be taught a lesson. That’s also why I lean more towards her being out of character. And even when I do consider her wrong, the bullying she gets from the writers makes me cut her some slack.
4) On the other end of the spectrum, the double standards run thick. For instance, Rarity devolved into the diva she was supposed to NOT be in The Legend of Everfree. There, no one dislikes her for wanting to turn the camp into her own fashion show, save Applejack… who ends up wanting to keep the dress anyway. Rarity gets what she wants in the end and isn’t remotely shown as being wrong for forcing everyone else’s vacation to be about her.
Rainbow Dash, again in Spring Breakdown, ruins everyone’s day and everyone hates her for it, as opposed to Rarity. Plus, Pinkie acts like this all the time and only gets enabled or excused with “you’re so random.” And yet, in that short, they probably would have thrown Rainbow overboard if she hadn’t left on her own.
True, she also gets what she wanted in the end, but NOT without ‘for the nth time, Rainbow, your mission in nature is to be wrong, suffer for it, and admit your ‘friends’ were right all along’ thrown in. While basically everyone else who’s not Spike is meant to be proven right in the end.
And then there’s how Fluttershy and Sunset are treated by the narrative… The writers’ can-do-no-wrong waifus.
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So in the end, you’ve got the character I loved from the start still being lovable while being abused by the writers, versus characters I found despicable from the start or became so by the show’s end who’re complete teacher’s pets.
And who’re supposed to champion friendship when most of the time they see Rainbow and think ‘yup, she needs to be taught a lesson,’ which is a mindset I associate with how you treat your enemies rather than your friends.
Chances are I’d like Rainbow less without those double standards… or at least hate the others less.