Rarity (My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic)

Rarity is a fictional character who appears in the fourth incarnation of Hasbro's My Little Pony toyline and media franchise, beginning with My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (2010–2019). She is a close friend of Twilight Sparkle, serving as a core member of the group of main characters collectively known as the Mane Six. She is voiced by Tabitha St. Germain.

Rarity is depicted as an elegant, sophisticated, and dramatic anthropomorphic unicorn with a passion for fashion design and beauty. She owns and operates the Carousel Boutique in Ponyville, where she creates clothing and accessories. She is characterized by her stylish purple mane, her refined trans-Atlantic accent, her meticulous attention to detail, and her occasional melodramatic tendencies. Rarity represents the Element of Generosity in the Elements of Harmony. Despite her preoccupation with appearance, she demonstrates her selflessness toward her friends throughout the series.

Appearances

Fourth My Little Pony incarnation (2010–2021)

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

Rarity is introduced in the series premiere as a unicorn with a talent for finding gems and creating fashionable attire. In "The Cutie Mark Chronicles", her backstory reveals that she discovered her special talent for fashion design and gem-finding during a school play when her horn unexpectedly pulled her toward a large deposit of gemstones. Shortly afterward, she witnessed Rainbow Dash's sonic rainboom, which caused her magic to activate and lead her to the gemstones, earning her cutie mark of three diamonds.

Throughout the series, Rarity works to establish herself as a renowned fashion designer. In "Suited for Success", she designs dresses for her friends for the Grand Galloping Gala despite her friends' increasingly impossible demands. The episode "Rarity Takes Manehattan" explores her competitive side as she enters a prestigious fashion competition in Manehattan, learning important lessons about maintaining integrity in the fashion industry.

Rarity's relationship with her younger sister Sweetie Belle is developed in episodes like "Sisterhooves Social" and "For Whom the Sweetie Belle Toils", where they navigate typical sibling conflicts while strengthening their bond. In the episode "Sweet and Elite", Rarity is torn between attending an elite Canterlot garden party and celebrating Twilight Sparkle's birthday with her friends. As the series progresses, Rarity opens a second boutique called "Rarity For You" in Manehattan in the episode "The Saddle Row Review". She also achieves her dream of designing for Canterlot's elite and royalty on several occasions.

My Little Pony: The Movie

In the 2017 feature film, Rarity helps Twilight Sparkle prepare decorations for the Friendship Festival in Canterlot before the Storm King's forces attack. During their adventure beyond Equestria, she uses her charm and generosity to help win over potential allies, particularly during their encounter with Capper, a con artist cat whom she befriends by fixing his damaged coat. Rarity's generosity is highlighted when she willingly gives away her collection of gems to persuade Queen Novo to help them save Equestria. During the final confrontation with the Storm King, she uses her unicorn magic to help defeat the villain and restore harmony to Equestria.

Development

In developing Rarity's character, creator Lauren Faust sought to balance studio requirements for fashion play with her desire to avoid stereotypical fashionista tropes. Faust deliberately portrayed Rarity as a businesswoman and fashion designer who created and sold her own designs through her shop, Carousel Boutique. According to Faust's social media posts, the original design for the boutique was called "Carousel Couture" and featured a working carousel with the horses serving as clothing mannequins. This proposal was ultimately rejected by executives, one of several creative constraints that eventually contributed to Faust's departure from the series during Season 2.

Faust originally intended for Rarity's Element of Harmony to be "inspiration", but the production team changed it to "generosity" because they felt inspiration was "too much of a thinker, especially for kids." Faust welcomed this change, noting that it "really helped pull [Rarity] away from the stereotypical, unlikable debutante." Faust cited Audrey Hepburn as her biggest influence for Rarity's character and praised voice actress Tabitha St. Germain's performance, which "added a humor to Rarity that was unexpected and wonderful."

Reception and analysis

Rarity's speech patterns have been the subject of linguistic analysis. A 2016 study from the University of Vaasa identified that her most notable speech features include her transatlantic accent and occasional use of French words (code-switching), both contributing to her characterization as glamorous and sophisticated. The research analyzed how these linguistic features were preserved in international dubs, finding that while her distinct accent was often lost in translation, her use of French expressions like "pièce de résistance de la haute couture", "soirée", and "magnifique" was generally preserved in Swedish, Norwegian, and Finnish versions of the show. The study noted that despite only five instances of code-switching in the first season, these foreign words stood out significantly in her speech pattern and were important in establishing her character's association with fashion, refinement, and education.

According to a study done on the brony fandom, fans of Friendship Is Magic who selected Rarity as their favorite character were more likely to identify as both artists and cosplayers compared to fans of other characters; these fans scored lowest on measures of both general show appreciation and community involvement, though they also reported the highest willingness to openly disclose their interest in the show to others. The research also indicated that fans of Rarity were more likely to report experiencing discrimination related to their fandom participation. Additionally, the study found that this group scored highest on psychological measures of depression, narcissism, and Machiavellianism compared to fans of other characters.

In popular culture

Rarity is a popular character in merchandise and collectibles, with items like the Kotobukiya Bishoujo statue series featuring humanized versions of her character.

According to a July 2015 report in Bustle magazine, Rarity was the second most popular character in clop on Pornhub, after Rainbow Dash and before Pinkie Pie.