• Pony Surveys



    Two independent pony surveyors (IPS) have done studies on various aspects of the pony community, and we're going to feature both of them in a single post for your statistically awesome reading pleasure.

    The first has this to say:
    On December 5th, a survey was undertaken to determine the most popular pony of the “Mane 6” from the television show MLP: FiM. Respondents were asked to rate each pony on a scale from 1 to 10, with a rating of 1 signifying their disdain for a said character, and 10, adoration for a said character. Respondents were also asked for their age and sex. The survey received over 1,000 responses and was ended on the morning of December 6th. The results were compiled from Google Docs into various SPSS datasets for analysis.

    You can find that one, by XX55XX, here.


    The second one goes like this:
    I did a comprehensive study into which pony is the most popular, using both common and not so common search engines, sampling various forum polls (/co/ was a nightmare), and studying the various search engines as well. Graphs galor!


    Cereal will enjoy the final result, if that gives my conclusion away.

    It totally does give it away. This study, by Alligatorguitar, can be found here.

    124 comments:

    1. So Rarity really is the pony everypony should know.

      ReplyDelete
    2. So Twilight & Fluttershy are the best ponies, Rarity and Rainbow Dash are the most polarizing and AJ is the least popular.

      Also female fans consistently rank them lower than male fans. Makes since, women judge other women more harshly. Zing!

      ReplyDelete
    3. this is intresting but how correct are the stats?

      ReplyDelete
    4. It's like the tootsie pop question.... "the world will never know..." The surveys, generally speaking, display a few different ponies as being favorite. This answer is just way too difficult to figure out. Great job on the survey though. For Science!

      ReplyDelete
    5. I have to say that I believe both polls to be somewhat misguided - the former in that it has a terribly small sampling size, and the latter in that the phrase "rarity is best pony" has long been the most common search phrase because it's a meme.

      Still interesting, I guess!

      ReplyDelete
    6. I like the first one a lot, very comprehensive and scientific.

      Sorry to say I don't like the second one. I just don't believe in the validity of search engine results to quantify popularity.

      ReplyDelete
    7. I think the one thing we CAN take away from this is that Applejack is worst pony. Objectively speaking

      ReplyDelete
    8. @Flutterfan
      Women are simply more prone to saying what they believe or being honest, which in a sense is harsher, yes.

      ReplyDelete
    9. Weird. I always thought I was the only one in the world who held RD below the others.

      ReplyDelete
    10. It appears that Twilight wins in the male community, eh?

      ReplyDelete
    11. In the first 1, Rarity was most popular amongst Females. Didn't expect that. Thought it seems our female viewers have an overall lower opinion of the ponies than the males.

      That's...just a tad strange.

      ReplyDelete
    12. No shocker that RD is the swingiest. Shocker is that RD is second worst pony. I rated her the lowest, but I figured that many people would give her 10s.

      I wonder what the data would look like if you tested for how much someone likes pony fanfics and which pony is the best.

      ReplyDelete
    13. Behold Rarity.

      Queen of Google.

      ReplyDelete
    14. Hello,

      This is XX55XX, the surveyor. Thank you to everyone who took the poll. I am thinking about creating another survey in the future, and I naturally welcome feedback, be it on technical nature (I really don't know that much about statistics outside of a 101-level course I took in college), or a more general one.

      Increasing the sample size would not have changed the results by very much. I did examined the results at 500 respondents, and the numbers remained more or less constant.

      ReplyDelete
    15. Interesting that the female bronies voted Rarity highest as a whole, while the male bronies chose Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy most often...very interesting.

      I want to make some assumptions about that, but sadly, without most testing it'd all be assumptions.

      ReplyDelete
    16. Don't use your fancy mathematics to muddy the issue. Applejack is best pony.

      The first study was respectable and professional, I liked it.
      The second, though hilarious, was rather...

      ReplyDelete
    17. Haha, the second one mentions the first one at the bottom.

      ReplyDelete
    18. This is... really odd. To be honest, I've always gotten the impression from everywhere that Rainbow Dash is a consistent contender as the favoured mare. I suppose I could understand Twilight being so high, but I'm still a little shocked to see how low that RD apparently was among that sample base. Especially considering she's a really popular candidate as far as fics, music and art goes.

      What shocks me the most is Rarity, to be honest. I love her, but she's never seemed as prevalent in fan-works as... pretty much most every other pony. Aside from Applejack, obviously. Poor girl.

      Perhaps it's her consistently high caliber episodes. I do have to admit that there's something about Rarity that can bring out some of the best in the writers.

      ReplyDelete
    19. I liked the first study, it was quite scientific. I disagree with the second one though. I like applejack the best, but i've never typed "Applejack is best pony" into a search engine before.

      ReplyDelete
    20. Was there ever any doubt about who was the best pony?

      ReplyDelete
    21. First Survey as professional and Legitimate.
      Second Survey felt rushed and pointless without any actual research being done.

      Fluttershy is best pony and what is Canada.

      ReplyDelete
    22. Here is my psuedometairrationality of which I explain away the grand question of 'bestness' :


      Every pony, from Twilight Sparkle to Scootaloo to Big Mac and back across the board to Trixie is...

      -100%- pony.

      All of them. every last one. even the least seen background ponies are 100%. I suggest to take from this truth that there cannot in fact be a worst pony, and that all ponies are simultaneously best pony At The Same Time.

      I put 10's across the board for the Dec 5th survery. Trying to quantify mane cast and than measure them against one another was too hard for me.

      ReplyDelete
    23. SCIENCE! Proving who is the best Pony since 2011. Interesting results, I'm still curious as to the why behind most of the answers.

      ReplyDelete
    24. Applejack is the lowest rated because she doesn't really have a funny gimmick. She's just trustworthy and hardworking which is great in real life but doesn't translate into jokes on a cartoon.

      Fluttershy is a funny character but doesn't have the negative aspects like Rainbow and Rarity have. So she doesn't have as many "haters" if you will.

      Rarity and Rainbow have a loyal fanbase but also have their share of detractors.

      Pinkie and Twilight, I have no idea. I thought everyone loved Pinkie. Apparently some find her annoying.

      Twilight is nice but I find it surprising she placed so high. Maybe the adorkableness + magic is a great combination?

      ReplyDelete
    25. I'm surprised everypony hates RD. She seems like she would be one of the most popular.

      ReplyDelete
    26. The first survey appears quite cleanly compiled. I'd be curious to know the source of survey participants for the first survey. One notable difference I'd venture between the two surveys would be that the first only looks at dedicated fans of the show that chose to take the survey (strong sampling bias - eg if Rainbow Dash fans were less eager to take the survey since they were already confident in their choice for best pony whereas the less popular choices were more prevalent). The second looks at a broader view, but with a less reliable data source.

      If these results were considered accurate, I'd presume that Rainbow Dash fans are much more vocal about their choice for best pony, but are less numerous than supporters of other ponies.

      ReplyDelete
    27. @Perry Hi, great job.

      If you're thinking of doing another pony survey in the future I would love LOVE to see this methodology used on the Pony episodes. I would love to see which episode is rated the highest.

      ReplyDelete
    28. I've never seen so many misspellings of Twilight Sparkle before! Ponies should just copy pasta the name so there won't be anymore typos =]

      ReplyDelete
    29. I'm a bit skeptical of that second one; using a single phrase isn't really a good indicator of who likes which ponies the best, only which ponies get that particular phrase applied most often.

      The 2nd one looks pretty well thought out, although a larger sample size would have been nice. But as the surveyor noted, it might not have changed much.

      And Twilight is definitely best pony.

      ReplyDelete
    30. @Parallel Logic

      I asked respondents on Equestria Daily directly. Check the Nightly Roundup post a few nights back, it was posted there.

      And, I plan to create a more comprehensive survey in the future to see what the "best" episodes and songs are.

      ReplyDelete
    31. Wow, these totally line up with my own opinions... Twilight is my Favorite Pony, and Rarity is Best Pony. I am completely and utterly average among fandom.

      Shut up about age already.

      ReplyDelete
    32. There wouldn't be a 'best pony' without the mane cast

      ReplyDelete
    33. "Rainbow Dash and Applejack were the least popular ponies across all demographics."

      The only two ponies that I can truly appreciate ಠ_ಠ

      ReplyDelete
    34. Pfff... Who cares. Rainbow Dash is still the best, most awesome pony. I love her!^^

      ReplyDelete
    35. I also find it amusing that the second survey notes that forum surveys are inaccurate by giving the example of Pinkie Pie being most popular on TvTropes. There was just a "best pony" poll in their MLP thread a few days ago, and Twilight was the runaway favorite, with Pinkie ending up in last place.

      ReplyDelete
    36. @Skyline14

      Yes, Rainbow Dash is forever best pony.

      ReplyDelete
    37. This comment has been removed by the author.

      ReplyDelete
    38. These are fun, but the methodology on both of them is suspect if people want to take it as a serious analysis of the show's fanbase. It's not. In the case of the second one, why should be obvious.

      For the first one, the key piece of missing information is how the survey respondents were found. A statistically valid survey requires random sampling of the population. There's no indication of here of how that was done. If it was, great.

      If it wasn't, then the whole thing falls to Selection Bias and is pretty much exactly as accurate as the weekly poll here on Equestria Daily. I'm pretty strongly questioning that simply by the 82% male aspect of the responses. That just doesn't seem right for a proper sampling of the show's audience, but it DOES fit much better with the demographics of bronies who might have stumbled upon the survey page.

      ReplyDelete
    39. Celestia, the more I think about some of the placement with this survey the more gobsmacked I get. Not that I mean to say I don't believe the statistics, and I'm reasonably sure that they'd hold relatively consistent over a larger sample base, it's just how I perceived the fandom's perception of the ponies has been kinda flipped around for me.

      Especially given that RD has always held constant as my best pony.

      ReplyDelete
    40. @Tridus

      The survey was posted on Equestria Daily, in a Nightly Roundup post. I believe that since most bronies read EQD, that it would offer the most representative sample size of the brony community.

      If you have a better idea on how to get a more representative sample size, let me know.

      ReplyDelete
    41. Applejack is best pony to me.

      That's all that matters.

      ReplyDelete
    42. @http://www.blogger.com/profile/00887679707200662186
      second that

      ReplyDelete
    43. @Flutterfan

      Oh, I know quite a few people who dislike Fluttershy, for the same reason people dislike any one particular character - they tend to focus on what makes them one dimensional. People who dislike Rarity dislike her because she is "fashion obsesssed and arrogant." People dislike Pinkie Pie for being "random." People often dislike Fluttershy for being "a moe, for the sole purpose of being cute."

      None of these are valid criticisms, but it's what people think.

      ReplyDelete
    44. Oh, Rainbow Dash
      The rising disapproval of your character just makes me love you more.

      ReplyDelete
    45. Oh Applejack, I still love you the most uvu

      ReplyDelete
    46. Gotta love some RD fans. Element of loyalty indeed.

      ReplyDelete
    47. @XX55XX

      Unfortunately if you want a sample that's valid for being representative of the entire population of EQD readers, you need a random sample. What you'd have to do is take the emails of all the people who visited in the past say six months, and pick 2000 randomly to do the survey.

      If you want something representative of the fandom in general, you need to widen that to include people who visit other sites. To cover the entire show's audience, you'd need people who only watch it on TV, etc. Obviously, that's not very practical.

      As I said, this stuff is fun, and you presented it well. But statistically speaking, you can't use the results to represent the population you sampled, due to selection bias.

      ReplyDelete
    48. 99% of those searches were conducted by Cereal.

      ReplyDelete
    49. @Tridus

      I did post the survey on three other MLP: FiM messageboards. You might be right on the random sample, however.

      But you are right, there is heavy selection bias when it comes to surveys like these. Unfortunately, I don't think the methodology will necessarily change, because of the difficulty of getting a truly random sample.

      ReplyDelete
    50. Okay, the end result of the second survey is just stupid.

      Just how many polls did you go take a peek at? Because I'm pretty sure you'd need a whole lot to make up for only a QUARTER of the search engines saying Rarity was best, And you yourself said polls are unreliable!

      I don't see how you could possibly come up with the end results when three of the four engines said Rainbow was best! (And she is)

      All the second poll does, Is help prove Rainbow Dash is better than everything.

      ReplyDelete
    51. on the first one the oldest person who voted was 65....and the youngest was 7.


      how did that 7 year old get here? O_O

      ReplyDelete
    52. Here are the factors, as I see them, affecting each pony's popularity:

      Twilight: Working against her is the fact that, on average, her role is to play the straight man for the more zany supporting characters to bounce off of. To some, that makes her bland. To others, she is by far the most well-rounded as a result of being featured so often. Despite being the "leader" and over-powered, she still manages to come across as an underdog because of the Charlie Brown levels of abuse heaped on her, which wins a fair amount of viewer sympathy.

      Pinkie Pie: She is so random. Actually, she did little for me until "Party of One" made her much more sympathetic and added some depth. I like the fan interpretation of her as not just zany, but actually insane and holding it together by being positive. To some, she's probably among the "love her or be annoyed by her" picks, though.

      Rarity and Rainbow Dash: These are the two most obviously "flawed" ponies when it comes to personality. They can both be self-serving and steamroll over the others. I think where Rarity gets the edge here is that her quirks are more clearly defined as flaws which she seems to actively struggle to overcome and is more often mocked or punished for them. Rainbow Dash remains largely oblivious to her self-aggrandizing nature and often mocks or berates well-loved Twilight and Fluttershy. Now, personally, I love both these ponies *because* of their flaws, as it makes both of them comedy gold more often than not, but I could see where others would find them less endearing.

      Fluttershy: She ignites a fierce protective streak in her fans. She's sweet and innocent and fragile. There are those who find her too fragile, however, and being quite so helpless can be a turn-off. When her repressed nature claws out into Flutterrage or Flutterbitch, however, it's such a great comic payout. She's likely impossible to hate, but fans of stronger characters may be frustrated by her.

      Applejack: Poor Applejack isn't zany enough to stand out among the crowd. She's another straight-man alongside the more dominant Twilight. She plays a hugely important supporting role, but is likely to remain overshadowed by the others. If there were more adventure episodes, however, I think she would shine as she's the most capable and often most physically heroic of the bunch, both in attitude and actions.

      Regardless of how things turned out, I was very pleased to see that all of the Mane Six finished relatively close to one another. There really isn't a weak link in this cast, and no one or two characters tower above the rest. They truly are all legitimate Best Ponies.

      ReplyDelete
    53. @ponponpinkie

      I invalidated several votes for ages that seemed implausible. It's possible that a 7-year old could have taken the survey. Plus, she was the only one. Another 9-year old did take the survey, and from there, it was only people 12 and up.

      ReplyDelete
    54. Poor Applejack. She definitely needs a few episodes of her own, doesn't she? I'm surprised she ranked so low, myself... Maybe it's because to me, she's best pony?

      It probably is. Oh well... She's still number 1 for me! Despite everyone else being awesome as well.

      SO MANY CHOICES! And such riches aplenty... Not a bad problem to have if you ask me.

      ReplyDelete
    55. @XX55XX

      Yeah, totally understandable. :) One thing you might want to add in the future is just to mention the data collection method as part of your methodology section.

      But I enjoyed reading the results a fair bit, so good job. :)

      ReplyDelete
    56. I for one was highly surprised by the results, most specifically the gender to age ratio. I am just glad I am not the only young male watching this show. I guess I was also surprised about the low ranking of Rainbow Dash. And the whole Twilight being the top shocked me even more, I see less talk about her then even Flutter Shy. I am very interested, but then again we should of noticed that same result in the "What pony would you rather be locked with during a thunder storm?" Came back with Twi' domenation the score.

      ReplyDelete
    57. But...But Applejack is my favourite pony ;_;

      ReplyDelete
    58. I think some of you need to calm down a little. Ranting about it here will do you no good, and it makes us look bad a a whole.

      ReplyDelete
    59. The first survey is correct: Twilight is best pony.

      And as usual, Applejack gets no love...

      ReplyDelete
    60. This has shown what most of the community thinks is best pony...
      Well now I know most of you are Dash haters(I mean haters)

      ReplyDelete
    61. @ThePonyWithoutAName

      I think it's because Twilight gets so much more screentime than the other ponies. Plus, she's easy to like. She is considerably blander than the other characters (which makes her easy to relate to), and does not possess any quirks which may rub off of poorly on some people.

      I will design a more comprehensive survey in the future (including questions about favorite song, CMC ratings, episode ratings, etc.)

      ReplyDelete
    62. Dont get me wrong xx55xx, I am a big fan of Twilight as well, but I am just surprised that so many are. Then again, looking deep into the results, from past and this survy, she has surpassed the other ponys. Even if she cant dance. Hahaha. I do look forward to more surveys from you, I could agree that the results where rather accurate. Though I believe the playing field is not fair, their is a lack of Apple related episodes, so its no wonder why she is liked the least. Their is not enough out their so say the least.

      ReplyDelete
    63. @Travis Smith
      Oh, don't be melodramatic. The survey clearly indicated that Rainbow Dash is a divisive character, which I agree with. Just because she's ranked lower than most of the Mane 6, doesn't make the community somehow hostile to Rainbow Dash. It means what it indicates: RD is less popular than the most of the Mane 6 (aside from Applejack, it seems).

      ReplyDelete
    64. @Parallel Logic

      "I'd presume that Rainbow Dash fans are much more vocal about their choice for best pony, but are less numerous than supporters of other ponies."

      This wouldn't surprise me. As a Rainbow Dash fan, at most of the meetups I've been to, I've been given a somewhat critical look by a lot of people when I say that Dashie is my favorite.

      This combined with the fact that people usually have their favorite pony as the pony they are most like personality-wise, could lead to a lot of one-upsmanship on the part of the Dashie fans, leading to more Rainbow Dash-related content. I know I've (unfortunately) found myself engaging in it before.

      ReplyDelete
    65. meh atleast one of my top 3 Fluttershy got in the top 3 but still Rainbow Dash is best pony because without her the Mane6 would never of gotten there marks why is that so hard to understand. Without that rainboom Pinkie Pie wouldnt be Pinkie Pie,Applejack would prob become a fancy mare,Twilight would suck at magic,and Fluttershy might of grown up mean 0.o, and Rarity would never of found those gems and inspiration to make dresses.

      ReplyDelete
    66. @DXLelouch

      That's a bit of a stretch -- the other five ponies were the ponies before who they are today, but the Sonic Rainboom was simply the triggering event. There would've likely been something else if it weren't for the Rainboom. Your argument is fallacious but I forget which fallacy it is. Oh well.

      ReplyDelete
    67. I agree with Twilight being the pony most would actually want to hang out with if given half a chance to live in Equestria. The others would be fun for awhile, but would probably drive you nuts or bore you to death after too much exposure, but with Twilight you could visit and converse for days with her about so many things. I'm sure she would have tons of questions about Earth, humans and technology, and likewise she'd be the most knowledgeable about ponies, Equestria and magic.

      Eventually, all that time spent getting to know each other would foster a warm relationship as you and Twilight gain a deeper trust and closeness. Your mutual curiosities would begin to intertwine as the barriers of culture and species break down, and you would soon find yourselves spending less time talking and more time simply enjoying being together.

      I think if another poll were done including side ponies many would choose Lyra for much the same reasons. I can imagine she'd be thrilled to meet and talk with a human after all.

      ReplyDelete
    68. Heh, my top 3 is top 3 in the first survey, too. Not in the same order, but still.

      I think one method for getting more responses for surveys like the first one is to have them remain "open" longer. This one lasted one day? There might be people who don't check EqD or other sites daily. Maybe leave it on for a week or so?

      Also, as others have said, the second one can't really be taken seriously. I mean, it does show what people are searching for but it does not tell anything about the popularity of the characters, really.

      @DXLelouch
      At least for my "ratings" it doesn't matter that RD was the reason they got all got their cutie marks. I rate them based more on their personalities. To each their own, though.
      Also, I'm sorry for this, but "of" =/= "have". I don't mean to attack you, that mistake just annoys me greatly, especially because it has become so widespread...

      ReplyDelete
    69. Finding out who is best pony is serious business.

      Off course Twilight is the best pony.

      ReplyDelete
    70. we dont live in a world of what ifs though do we, think about it Twilight sucked at magic before that rainboom, the rainboom broke the rock that contained the gems for Raritys dresses,the rainbow from the rainboom led Applejack back to Ponyville, and the rainboom changed depressing Pinkie Pie with flat hair into cheerful Pinkie Pie with frizzy hair, i mean cmon they were Amish for god sake Amish aka the most depressing people ive ever seen,Fluttershy though ill admit got hers without the rainboom, also Spike wouldnt of been hatched.

      ReplyDelete
    71. @hurristat

      I was actually trying to figure out how to say that but left it out when I couldn't. But anyways, I agree, the triggering event could have been anything, it just happened to be the Rainboom.

      ReplyDelete
    72. lol i think the rainboom has magical properties or something how else would it of triggered Twilights latent powers or maybe given her great magic

      ReplyDelete
    73. @Altercation
      I'll admit I do say/ write more about Das than others, although I am a big Luna fan.
      I know standpoint of RD supporters and the others, try being in a relationship when your girlfriend is a die hard Twilight fan...now Im gonna hear it :I

      ReplyDelete
    74. @DXLelouch

      Okay, now you're just trolling.

      "the most depressing people ive ever seen"

      Here's the fallacy I was looking for: affirming the consequent.

      Essentially, your argument is this:

      1) P, therefore Q.
      2) Q
      3) Therefore P is true.

      The ponies had those abilities from the beginning, and it took the Sonic Rainboom to awaken those abilities. (The Sonic Rainboom -> awakening those abilities).

      You're saying "those abilities were awakened, therefore the sonic rainboom was the cause of those abilities."

      Which is an invalid argument.

      ReplyDelete
    75. damnit cereal for posting over 3 million rarity posts/pictures/threads, i call shinenigans

      ReplyDelete
    76. @DXLelouch

      Conversely, one could argue that Rainbow Dash could only achieve the Sonic Rainboom because of the magic of the Elements of Harmony linking them. The idea being that the Rainboom wasn't the cause them all getting their cutie marks, it was another effect as their destiny as the next element bearers was set.

      So the rainboom likely didn't give Twilight massive magical abilities... She and Dash both came into their abilities at the same time. The Rainboom was simply the most visible effect to all of them of this moment of destiny kicking in.

      ReplyDelete
    77. @DXLelouch
      @hurristat
      To end you argument
      1. The sonic rainboom did enable the others to find thier abilities, but if it hadn't then it would have just taken slightly longer.
      2. The rainboom is just an atmospheric thing Dash does, it has no magical abilities whatsoever, for Twilight it just scared her and snapped her out.

      ReplyDelete
    78. or choice C Celestia caused it all to happen somehow

      ReplyDelete
    79. I like the first one it's well thought out, and every thing there. tho the sample sise in low.

      I have my concerns about the second. Due to just how much rarity has over the rest. Probably due to the word being used searched for other thing's besides the pony.

      ReplyDelete
    80. Srsly, I must be the only one who thinks EqD polls are more accurate surveys than any others.

      Last time we had one about "favorite ponies", Fluttershy was in first (that's almost obvious), Pinkie was in second and Rainbow Dash got the third place, if I'm not mistaken.

      ReplyDelete
    81. Fluttershy is cuter than Twilight, sorry survey is wrong, because that is pure fact.

      ReplyDelete
    82. These are always fun but very contentious for many. Allot of fans hold a very guarded opinion of their favorite characters.

      RD's my fav but I love them all. The mane 6 compliment and play off one another all very well. It always irks me to actually see bronies arguing the merits of one pony in the mane 6 over another.

      ReplyDelete
    83. @Rafasde

      This survey was never meant to be a popularity contest. Just because your favorite pony did not "win" doesn't mean that you can't like her any less than you already do. It was meant to satisfy a certain curiosity.

      When I have time, I'll run another poll in the future.

      ReplyDelete
    84. ...I can't belive how much bronies are labeling AJ and RD "worst ponies" just because of their lack of popularity on a survey with 1000~ bronies.

      Really? Do we have a "worst" pony personal rank? "Worst"? That looks a little like... hating, if you ask me.

      ReplyDelete
    85. The second survey appears to be broken - the text and the graphs do not match. Also, if the text isn't lying about colour->number correlation, theyseem... strange.

      ReplyDelete
    86. @XX55XX

      Oh sorry, I didn't meant to say that your survey it's not accurate, neither that EqD polls are the "truth". I just like those direct answer polls for some reason... maybe it's their simplicity. Anyway, your survey details were excellent, in my not-so-modest opinion.

      ReplyDelete
    87. You can prove anything with statistics 67% of the time.

      One thing it did prove; it's possible to get the giggles while reading a statistics report...

      ReplyDelete
    88. @NinesTempest

      Pinkie, I'd say, is the only one to whom that criticism is legitimately applicable. I was not a fan of Party of One's approach to just sweeping the entire problem under the rug at the end, and though there have been hints about Pinkie's two-dimensional-ness in Season 2 (The Discord balloon scene, for one), there really has been nothing substantial.

      So I'd say that while the potential is there, Pinkie is still pretty one-dimensional. Until Pinkie actually, say, writes her own friendship letter (something I'm eagerly looking forward to), I think that criticism is valid.

      (That they've set up the show so that Pinkie can have an episode in which she writes her own friendship letter thing is a stroke of genius, because that is basically exactly the catalyst she needs for chardev, I think. "Pinkie" and "friendship letter" feels like such a mismatch of concepts that they'll have to do interesting stuff to make it work.)

      ReplyDelete
    89. We already knew that most fans were younger adult males, it's been pretty obvious. So that's not big news. Though like I said before, it can be hard to get a truly accurate representation of which pony is considered the "best". Both studies seem to conflict a good bit with eachother too. Though I'd go with the first one, myself. Even though I know Dash has quite the following. A while back I would have said Fluttershy would have won hooves down in most popular. With Dash coming in second. Though some of the other ponies have been gaining a lot more popularity lately such as Twilight and Rarity. So it's hard to say. With changes in the episodes and characters causing people to shift their views, it's kinda variable with time.

      ReplyDelete
    90. So I'm not the only one that uses Steam as my main method of communication! (Screw you, Skype!)

      ...Yes, oddly enough his contact info excited me the most.

      ReplyDelete
    91. The second one is obv. True and just. I for one welcome our new best pony oberlord Rarity.

      ReplyDelete
    92. Something is wrong with these search engines. For some reason "Applejack" is spelled "Rainbow Dash" and vice versa.

      I mean it's obvious that Applejack is best pony.

      ReplyDelete
    93. Ah well AJ's my fav still. Though these were interesting polls to read.

      ReplyDelete
    94. I think the biggest problem with these is that ultimately nopony is better than nopony else, so it's hard to pick one as the "fan favorite," because people will complain one way or another about it anyway.

      ReplyDelete
    95. @all

      I am the author of the second one. While I agree that my method of saerch results is not nearly as indicative and reliable as the unbiased survey group taken by XX55XX, I do feel obliged to clarify that it is a set of SEARCH RESULTS, not to be confused with NUMBER OF SEARCHES. And hopefully you figured out that it was written with about 20% comedy anyway. At the bottom, I even told you to check out this one because I saw the poll in the Nightly Roundup.

      ReplyDelete
    96. Wow, very interesting! And the results meet up almost exactly as my favorites do, but I actually like Applejack.

      ReplyDelete
    97. AJ is best pony. Followed closely by Pinkie and Fluttershy.

      Twilight is the most boring of the bunch, at least RD and Rarity make me laugh.

      Yep come at me bros.

      ReplyDelete
    98. Herpyderpy, you took the words right from my mouth. Applejack is still best pony.

      ReplyDelete
    99. Statistically speaking, I suppose Twilight *is* best pony after all.

      ReplyDelete
    100. Funny how many people are proclaiming their love for AJ, considering these "Polls" rate her as the least popular.

      It always cuts me deep whenever I see that AJ is the least loved. BRONIES, Y U NO LIEK APPLEJACK?!

      She will always be my favorite pony, and that's all the data I need

      ReplyDelete
    101. I'm actually surprised that Rainbow Dash is rated so low across the board in that first survey. Always seemed like she was the most popular around these parts.

      ReplyDelete
    102. Also shocked by RD's relatively low ratings. From the amount of stuff she gets used in, she's practically a secondary mascot for bronies. I guess her fans are just really productive when it comes to content.

      I completely agree with Twilight being best pony, followed VERY closely by Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy.

      ReplyDelete
    103. Also shocked by RD's relatively low ratings. From the amount of stuff she gets used in, she's practically a secondary mascot for bronies. I guess her fans are just really productive when it comes to content.

      I completely agree with Twilight being best pony, followed VERY closely by Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy.

      ReplyDelete
    104. Second one is flawed. He should have also taken into account that people don't always use the full names for Pinkie, Rainbow, and Twilight.

      ReplyDelete
    105. And don't even get me started about whether he put the phrases in quotes when searching. 'cause if he didn't that whole thing is invalid.

      A quick Google search of my own puts Twilight in the lead (168,100), followed by Pinkie Pie (153,100), Fluttershy (117,000), Rarity (95,500), Rainbow Dash (93,520), and Applejack (58,200).

      That's accounting for shortened versions of the names, and with quotes added to ensure other uses of the words rarity/pie/rainbow/pony/etc don't get caught in the search.

      I'm a Rarity fan myself, but Google likes Twilight.

      ReplyDelete
    106. Also, Luna's pretty high up there (141,000), in between Pinkie and Fluttershy.

      Celestia is nowhere close (3,230), Discord actually beat her (4,620). XD

      ReplyDelete
    107. If you use correct grammar, Rarity gets even better results compared to the other ponies.

      ReplyDelete
    108. Wtf

      How did the internet lie to me.

      If you browse the internet it gives the impression rainbow dash is the most popular. Though lately i have noticed a bunch of haters.

      I like rainbow dash because it's my personality. Capiche. Now i'm going to go listen to heavy metal and be a badass.

      ReplyDelete
    109. Here are MY faves:

      1. Rarity. She's such a lively and lovely character. Plus, being the lady-like figure she is, she has a good sense of humor. I love her. She made it big in A Dog and Pony Show and she's had so many great episodes in season 2.

      2. Pinkie Pie. Pinkie Pie is so hillarious and I'm surprised she ranked that low. As much as I love Rarity, I felt like she would rank higher. She's had great episodes. She's super cute and a great, fun character

      3. Fluttershy. Oh, she is so freaking adorable! I just want to take her home with me, so sweet, plus she can be funny, and I LOVED her in Dragonshy. She's so cute. :)

      4. Rainbow Dash. WHOA. Did NOT expect her to get that low. Sheesh. In my opinion, Rainbow Dash has been totally awesome since the first episode. I love her.

      5. Twilight Sparkle. I have nothing against her, it's just that these other four mares have made such an impact on me that Twilight hasn't so that's why she's so low here.

      6. Applejack. No good character in her whatsoever. Plus in The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000, might I say how COCKY she was?! I'm mean seriously, proud much? And yet she has the nerve to scoff Rainbow about being modest in The Mysterious Mare Do-Well. I'm not surprised she's the lowest. Just not enough from her at all.

      ReplyDelete
    110. Ok the first survey is way to small to take into account, Rarity's results are more than twice what they would normally be due to the meme(i searched and 2/3 of the ones i checked were about the meme_, and its barely more then twice RDs so I'd guess her actual rating would be around 4-5. which would put RD as 1st-2nd best, giving room for error on his searches

      ReplyDelete
    111. All this shows is that rarity fans searched 'rarity is best pony' the most. I am obsessed with luna amd never once have I searched 'luna is best pony', only 'luna' and 'princess luna.'

      ReplyDelete