Rainbow Dash

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Rainbow Dash is introduced in the series premiere as a pegasus pony who assists in maintaining the weather and clearing the skies in Ponyville. She is portrayed as a boastful and athletic pony who aspires to join the elite aerial acrobatics team, the Wonderbolts. Throughout the series, Rainbow Dash helps defeat various villains and encounters challenges that test her loyalty to her friends.

In the episode "Sonic Rainboom", Rainbow Dash performs the extremely difficult Sonic Rainboom move, creating a rainbow-colored sonic boom. In "The Cutie Mark Chronicles", it is revealed that Rainbow Dash's performance of this move as a filly simultaneously helped the other main characters discover their special talents.

Although she displays an antipathy towards reading and intellectual endeavours, she becomes an avid reader of Daring Do novels, an Indiana Jones-esque Pegasus. She meets the real Daring Do in the season 4 episode "Daring Don't" and occasionally participates in her adventures in later seasons.

Rainbow Dash also becomes a surrogate big sister to Scootaloo, a younger Pegasus and member of the Cutie Mark Crusaders who idolizes her.

In later seasons, Rainbow Dash continues to pursue her dream of joining the Wonderbolts. She is acccepted into the Wonderbolts Academy in the season three episode of the same name, gets accepted into the Wonderbolts Reserves in the season four episode "Testing, Testing 1, 2, 3" and eventually becomes a full-time member in the season six episode "Newbie Dash." By the series finale, she becomes the captain of the Wonderbolts.

{{Main|My Little Pony: The Movie (2017 film)}}

In the 2017 movie, Rainbow Dash helps Twilight Sparkle prepare for the Friendship Festival in Canterlot before the city is attacked by the Storm King's forces. She journeys with her friends beyond Equestria, using her speed and aerial abilities to help overcome obstacles and enemies they encounter along the way, and notably helps convince Captain Celeano and her pirate crew to defect from the Storm King become their allies.

{{main|List of My Little Pony: Pony Life episodes}}

Rainbow Dash appears as a main character in the spin-off reboot series My Little Pony: Pony Life.

{{main|List of My Little Pony: Equestria Girls animations}}

Rainbow Dash's human counterpart appears in the Equestria Girls spin-off franchise as an athletic student of Canterlot High School. In the first film, Pinkie Pie states that she is the captain of every sports team at the school. Rainbow Dash is also the founder, lead vocalist, guitarist and songwriter of her friends' band The Rainbooms, introduced in the second film, and obtains superhuman speed as her geode power in the fourth film.

File:NYCC 2013 - Rainbow Dash (10311599436).jpg in Rainbow Dash costume]]

Rainbow Dash has been praised for breaking gender stereotypes by being competitive, athletic, and ambitious while still maintaining friendships.{{cite journal|last=Amon|first=Maria Patrice|title=Candy coloured ponies and pastel uniforms: Military Bronies and masculine innocence|journal=Journal of Fandom Studies|volume=4|issue=1|year=2016|pages=89–104|doi=10.1386/jfs.4.1.89_1|publisher=Intellect Ltd}} Critics have noted that her character provides a positive role model for young girls by showing that they can be both athletic and feminine.{{cite journal|last=Licari-Guillaume|first=Isabelle|title=Expect the Unexpected: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and the Creation of a Double Audience|journal=Transatlantica|issue=2|year=2019|doi=10.4000/transatlantica.14963|doi-access=free}}

During the early development of the series, there were concerns among the creative team that Rainbow Dash's tomboy characteristics might be "too boyish" for the target audience to relate to her.{{cite thesis|last=Krause-Milliken|first=Nathalie|title=The Influence of Fandoms on Video Game and Animated Series Content|year=2022|publisher=Ryerson University|location=Toronto, Ontario, Canada|page=}} Faust struggled to find a suitable aspect for Rainbow Dash's Element of Harmony, seeing the character as "self-absorbed and rather irresponsible". She eventually settled on the Element of Loyalty because it "brought out [Rainbow Dash's] positive traits".{{cite book|last=Snider|first=Brandon T.|date=2013|title=The Elements of Harmony: My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: The Official Guidebook|location=New York|publisher=Little, Brown and Company|isbn=978-0-316-24754-2|page=80}}

Rainbow Dash's tomboyish character traits and distinctive rainbow-colored appearance resonated with many LGBTQ+ fans and allies during the show's early seasons, inadvertently establishing her as a symbol within certain communities while also drawing criticism from some conservative groups.

Rainbow Dash's character has been documented to resonate strongly with children on the autism spectrum, providing a point of connection and communication for therapists working with these children.{{cite book|year=2024|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|last=Propp|first=Louis|title=Notes from a Child Psychologist|isbn=978-1-5381-9037-1|pages=20–21}} Rainbow Dash has also been the subject of academic analysis regarding gender and sexuality representation, with some authors noting how fans debate her sexuality based on her "butch" coding and rainbow-colored appearance while challenging heteronormative assumptions about children's media.{{cite journal|last=Ellis|first=Bill|title=What Bronies See When They Brohoof: Queering Animation on the Dark and Evil Internet|journal=The Journal of American Folklore|volume=128|issue=509|year=2015|pages=298–314|publisher=University of Illinois Press|doi=10.5406/jamerfolk.128.509.0298}}

In March 2014, a 9-year-old boy was bullied for wearing a Rainbow Dash backpack to school, including being physically assaulted by classmates. The school initially asked the boy to leave the backpack at home, calling it a "trigger for bullying," but reversed this decision after public outcry and media coverage. Commentators noted that the backpack primarily featured Rainbow Dash's face and mane in blue (traditionally associated with boys), rather than featuring overtly feminine design elements.{{cite book |last=Connelly |first=S. |title=Ponyville Confidential: The History and Culture of My Little Pony, 1981-2016 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E3VPDgAAQBAJ |year=2017 |publisher=McFarland, Incorporated, Publishers |isbn=9781476662091 |lccn=2016044897 |pages=179–180}} The brony fandom, along with voice actors and celebrities, defended the boy's actions, and the school ultimately reversed its decision.{{Cite news | url = https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2014/03/18/my-little-pony-backpack-banned-school-north-carolina/6565425/ | title = School bans 9-year-old boy's My Little Pony backpack | first = Lori | last = Grisham | date = 2014-03-18 | access-date = 2014-03-18 | work = USA Today | archive-date = 2017-08-13 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170813135824/https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2014/03/18/my-little-pony-backpack-banned-school-north-carolina/6565425/ | url-status = live }}

Critics have pointed out that Rainbow Dash's character evolves noticeably throughout the series across seasons. In "Read It and Weep", she discovers a love for reading adventure novels despite her initial mockery of Twilight's bookishness. During "Wonderbolts Academy", her encounter with the reckless Lightning Dust teaches her an important lesson—that being technically skilled means nothing if you put others at risk. These episodes highlight Rainbow's journey from a somewhat one-dimensional athlete to a character with greater depth and maturity.{{cite book |last1=Edwards |first1=Patrick |last2=Chadborn |first2=Daniel P. |last3=Plante |first3=Courtney N. |last4=Reysen |first4=Stephen |last5=Redden |first5=Marsha Howze |title=Meet the Bronies: The Psychology of the Adult My Little Pony Fandom |year=2019 |publisher=McFarland, Incorporated, Publishers |location=United States |isbn=9781476663715 |pages=291 |date=September 11, 2019}}

In 2021, researchers from Universitas Trisakti examining visual character design in My Little Pony: The Movie found that visual elements such as color choice directly correspond to character traits. Their analysis claims that Rainbow Dash's predominantly blue coloration symbolizes clear thinking, professionalism, and trustworthiness, directly reflecting her element of loyalty within the story. Meanwhile, her rainbow-colored mane visually reinforces her cheerful disposition and energetic personality. The researchers noted that these design choices, combined with her pegasus physiology enabling flight, create a cohesive visual representation of her brave, assertive, and tomboy character traits that helps younger viewers immediately understand her role within the friendship group.{{cite journal |last1=Adzani |first1=Fachrina |last2=Murwonugroho |first2=Wegig |title=Pentingnya Kesesuaian Visual Karakter Tokoh dalam Film Animasi "My Little Pony: The Movie" |journal=Jurnal Penelitian dan Karya Ilmiah Lembaga Penelitian Universitas Trisakti |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=68–84 |date=January 2021 |issn=0853-7720 |eissn=2541-4275 |doi=10.25105/pdk.v6i1.8630 |url=https://trijurnal.lemlit.trisakti.ac.id/lemlit|doi-access=free }}

File:Antoine dodson roflcon3 rainbow dash.png giving a talk about Rainbow Dash in a Q&A session at ROFLCon in 2012.]]

Rainbow Dash's catchphrase from the episode "Suited for Success", "20% cooler", became an Internet meme. This phrase has transcended the show itself, appearing in fan works like the song "20 Percent Cooler" by Ken Ashcorp{{cite book|last=Coppa|first=Francesca|title=Vidding: A History|year=2022|publisher=University of Michigan Press|location=Ann Arbor|doi=10.1353/book.99672|isbn=978-0-472-90259-0 |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/166/oa_monograph/chapter/3104760}} and appearing in shirts sold at Hot Topic. Rainbow Dash is a popular character in merchandise and collectibles, with items like the Kotobukiya Bishoujo statue series featuring humanized versions of her character.{{cite web|last=Roberts|first=Tyler|title=Kotobukiya Reveals My Little Pony Rainbow Dash Bishoujo Statue|website=Bleeding Cool|date=2022-05-23|url=https://bleedingcool.com/collectibles/kotobukiya-reveals-my-little-pony-rainbow-dash-bishoujo-statue/|access-date=2025-04-05|archive-date=2022-06-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220625173414/https://bleedingcool.com/collectibles/kotobukiya-reveals-my-little-pony-rainbow-dash-bishoujo-statue/|url-status=live}} In September 2023, she was one of the four Friendship Is Magic characters included in the Magic: The Gathering charity Secret Lair collection "Ponies: The Galloping 2", alongside Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack. This special card collection benefited the Extra Life charity program, with half of the proceeds going to the Seattle Children's Autism Center.{{cite web |last=Carter |first=Chase |title=My Little Pony's return to Magic: The Gathering brings Rainbow Dash, Applejack and more to a charity drop |url=https://www.dicebreaker.com/games/magic-the-gathering-game/news/magic-the-gathering-my-little-pony-extra-life-secret-lair |website=Dicebreaker |date=2023-09-20 |accessdate=2025-04-07}}

In 2014, an infamous incident known as the "Rainbow Dash Cum Jar" gained notoriety when images of a Rainbow Dash figurine submerged in semen left to boil near a radiator were shared on 4chan. The images spread across various social media platforms and became an Internet meme.{{cite web|last=Broderick|first=Ryan|title=What This Guy Claims To Have Done To A "My Little Pony" Figurine Will Horrify You|website=BuzzFeed News|date=2014-12-01|url=https://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanhatesthis/the-pony-cum-jar-project|access-date=2025-04-05}}

According to a July 2015 report in Bustle magazine, the most popular character in clop on Pornhub was Rainbow Dash, followed by Rarity and Pinkie Pie.{{cite news |last1=Fellizar |first1=Kristine |date=24 July 2015 |title=Millennials Are Masturbating To 'My Little Pony' Porn, Says New Survey, And Rainbow Dash Is The Fan Favorite |url=https://www.bustle.com/articles/99659-millennials-are-masturbating-to-my-little-pony-porn-says-new-survey-and-rainbow-dash-is-the |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211109201200/https://www.bustle.com/articles/99659-millennials-are-masturbating-to-my-little-pony-porn-says-new-survey-and-rainbow-dash-is-the |archive-date=2021-11-09 |access-date=2022-01-06 |work=Bustle |publisher=Bustle Digital Group |language=en}}

In 2020, researchers from Google, UC Berkeley, and Georgia Institute of Technology named a four-legged robot "Rainbow Dash" that successfully taught itself to walk using deep reinforcement learning. The robot demonstrated the ability to learn to walk backward, forward, and turn on various surfaces without human instruction or labeled training data.{{cite web|title=Google's robot learns to walk in real world|website=Tech Xplore|date=2020-03-04|url=https://techxplore.com/news/2020-03-google-robot-real-world.html|access-date=2025-04-05|last=Harper|first=Jelani}}{{cite journal|last1=Yao|first1=Ligang|last2=Yu|first2=Hao|last3=Lu|first3=Zongxing|title=Design and driving model for the quadruped robot: An elucidating draft|journal=Advances in Mechanical Engineering|volume=13|issue=4|year=2021|pages=|doi=10.1177/16878140211009035|doi-access=free}}

Rainbow Dash was among the first character voices implemented in 15.ai, a generative artificial intelligence text-to-speech web application that allowed users to generate speech of fictional characters. In 2022, it was revealed that the company Voiceverse had generated a Rainbow Dash voice clip using 15.ai, pitched it up to sound recognizable, and sold it as an NFT.{{cite web |last=Phillips |first=Tom |date=January 17, 2022 |title=Troy Baker-backed NFT firm admits using voice lines taken from another service without permission |url=https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2022-01-17-troy-baker-backed-nft-firm-admits-using-voice-lines-taken-from-another-service-without-permission |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220117164033/https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2022-01-17-troy-baker-backed-nft-firm-admits-using-voice-lines-taken-from-another-service-without-permission |archive-date=January 17, 2022 |access-date=December 31, 2024 |website=Eurogamer}}

Rainbow Dash is a main character in an infamous My Little Pony fanfiction titled Cupcakes, in which she is murdered by a serial killer Pinkie Pie. Offering someone a cupcake has become an inside joke within the fandom; the story begins with Rainbow Dash eating a drugged cupcake offered by Pinkie Pie.{{cite thesis|last=Palmer|first=Zachary|title=Gender in Equestria: an examination of reconstituted forms of masculinity and their consequences for gender relations in the brony community|year=2019|publisher=Purdue University|type=PhD thesis}} She is also a main character in the infamous fan fiction Rainbow Factory, where she manages a secret facility where pegasi are harvested for their "spectrum" to manufacture rainbows.{{cite web|title=Animation with Alesha: Horror-ifying children's media is going too far|url=https://www.thepostathens.com/article/2024/02/horror-tiktok-childrens-media-trauma|first=Alesha|last=Davis|website=The Post|date=2024-02-11|access-date=2025-04-12}}{{cite web|url=https://www.trillmag.com/entertainment/infection-spreads-across-my-little-pony/|title=Infection Spreads Across My Little Pony|date=2024-04-20|access-date=2025-04-12|website=Trill Mag|first=Riley|last=Miller}} She is also the protagonist of Austraeoh, a 212,744-word long adventure fan fiction.{{Cite book|last1=Ask|first1=Krstine|last2=Søraa|first2=Roger Andre|url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Digitalization_and_Social_Change/QyHnEAAAQBAJ|title=Digitalization and Social Change: A Guide in Critical Thinking|date=2023-12-20|publisher=CRC Press|isbn=978-1-0038-2127-4|language=en|quote=For example, the series Austraeok (Imploding Colon, 2012), a My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic fan fiction, is 212,744 words long.|page=220}}

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