@Scrounge  
I know. I meant perfect as in a perfectly written character. I mean, just look at the number of divisive characters where for every person who’s like “they’re an awful piece of crap” there’s another person saying “they’re the best character!” :D
 
@Scrounge  
@SuperSupermario24  
To me a big part of making flaws work is to have them acknowledged in the show in some way. Like, if I can say one good thing about Starlight, it’s that when they have her be this massive hypocrite about not giving other bad characters a chance at redemption they also have these little blink-and-you-miss-it moments where she REALIZES her hypocrisy and steps back. And no, the world is not ending :P

@Scrounge  
Lol, yeah. We did see his reaction to her getting devastated by a crush not liking her back, though. Trenderhoof and all.

@Cirrus Light  
I’m not saying there’s a snowball’s chance in hell of it actually happening, just that if it somehow did, Spike’s reaction would be priceless.

@Scrounge  
Must we constantly always entertain the possibility that any friendship at any time is just waiting to be sexualized?
 
…Oh, right, I remember the fandom this is…

@Badumsquish  
That would be all kinds of fantastic.

@M-DitzyDoo  

 
Spike’s reaction to that would probably be hilarious, since it’d basically be his crush hitting on his mom. XD
 
 
@Badumsquish  
I’m not saying anyone should be perfect, I’m just saying that because character flaws are meant to show that a character isn’t perfect, it kinda makes sense if they’re things some people might not be particularly fond of.
 
And I 100% agree that a little scene like that could go a long way.

@Cirrus Light  
I don’t think she goes too far with it, she’s usually there with him doing it too.

@Scrounge  
There’s no way to write a perfect character though. Every flaw will have people who find it endearing and people will find it repulsive. I’ve even heard people describe Rarity as a terrible person but a terrific character :D
 
@Cirrus Light  
I think it would make all the difference if she got called on it by a tertiary character and kind of had a “oh man they’re right” realization. Like, it doesn’t have to be a big moment either; have her call someone out for leading someone else on, have them reply “Like you with that baby dragon, when you need someone to carry your bags”, and have her make a face like this :D

@Pagan  
Is it manipulating if a guy likes being manipulated so manipulates the girl into manipulating him?
 
“Haha. I manipulated you!”  
“Trick’s on you, that’s my fetish!”  
“Bamboozled again!”
 
More srsly, though, yeah, Rarity’s level of it is not endearing. Leading someone on is just cruel.
 
And funny enough, what little experience I have with a girl trying to manipulate, it was pretty darn obvious. But what’s funny is I wasn’t gonna really respond to it even before I recognized it, lol. I’m like a bloody Vulcan in my decision making so you can’t really convince me of anything by trying to get an emotional response.
 
Except for cookie points. You can still get those by being kind.

@Ihhh  
I didn’t say they all do that, jeez.  
It’s a well known occurrence and culturally accepted thing that the women in the relationship are tended to and get their way in most instances.
 
To say women can’t be manipulative in a relationship is naive.

@Pagan  
Seems like quite a sexist generalization.

@Scrounge  
I brought up wives because I’m using an example of people who are in love but still manipulate, one does not override the other.  
Yeah exactly, there are plenty of explanations, that’s my point. There’s no way to say Rarity isn’t interested beyond a reasonable doubt, personally I think you’re looking too much into this and trying to look at the worst possible outcome.

@Pagan  
Why bring up wives? Rarity’s not married.
 
It could be just an act, it could be something she doesn’t realize she’s doing (there are certainly no shortage of moments where her normal mannerisms cold easily be misinterpreted as flirty if you’re not used to them), she could just be a giant tease. Maybe in Spike’s case she doesn’t want to flat-out turn him down because she does care abut him, just in a non-romantic way, an doesn’t want to hurt his feelings. but there’s plenty of explanations.
 
@Badumsquish  
Yeah, but again, the difference is that Spike is young and impressionable, particularly early on. (And I’d question his monetary value early on, too, but eventually he becomes a big deal in the Crystal Empire, with the big statue of him going up right in time for the big boom in tourism from the Equestria Games, so she could theoretically make a nice side business out of licensing him.)
 
But yeah, if she’s genuinely like that, it’s a perfectly valid character flaw. Doesn’t mean I have to find it endearing, hence the word “flaw”.
 
@M-DitzyDoo  
You don’t think she’d have already tried sometime between Twilight getting her wings and the coronation? XD
 
…Might also explain why she seems to get so many shippable moments with AJ. Girl’s got business connections and her family founded the town, she’s probably wealthier than she realizes.

@Badumsquish  
Which makes me sad we’ll never have an official moment of Rarity hitting on Twilight because she suddenly remembers she’s royalty now XD

@Scrounge  
You never know. Pretty much all the Mane Six have flaws like that so maybe yeah she IS just sort of a golddigger at heart. Not to a point that it makes her a bad person, but she’s put on the charm to get things out of several different characters and was only into Blueblood because he was a prince :P

@Scrounge  
I lot of women do that though, most wives act the same way, it doesn’t prove it’s just an act.

@Ihhh  
Do I need to make a list of times she’s used Spike’s crush on her as a way to get him to do favors for her? Because she does that fairly often, particularly in earlier seasons. It’s possible she thinks it’s mostly innocent and that Spike won’t read too deeply into it, as anyone else she’s done this to has been a grown stallion who presumably understands what’s going on, but if so I feel she may be misjudging the situation, and either way it’s one of the less charming aspects of her characterization and I’m glad they’ve toned it down as time has gone by.
 
 
@Badumsquish  
Well, yes, there’s obviously that too, but then we’re entering ““Watsonian vs Doylist[](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WatsonianVersusDoylist) territory.

@Scrounge  
Really I think it’s just a meta-reason, like they’re just hesitant to take what’s basically a relationship between an adult and a little kid any farther than just a crush. Like, people are SUPER sensitive about that kind of stuff right now XD

@Scrounge  
She doesn’t do that.

I think the other foals are just jealous of his magnificent chest floof. :)
 
@Badumsquish  

 
I’m pretty sure Rarity is just stringing Spike along so he’ll do chores for her, and doesn’t intend to ever actually put out. I leave it to your judgment whether that’s better or worse.

@Prometheushunter2  
Just that we really don’t know how sapient the manticore is OR how young Spike is. For all we know the manticore could be like Steven Magnet but just can’t or doesn’t talk and Spike could be like 18 by now :P

@Badumsquish  
We have a dragon, a member of a sapient species  
A manticore, non-sapient to semisapient, you see the problem  
Or are you referring to the fact spike is a child

@Prometheushunter2  
She’s no worse than Rarity, really :P  

Because your mama is a sexual deviant

This made me laugh out loud. Been a while since I saw something funny enough to warrant that reaction.