@monolyth  
How she is depicted differs by writer. I suppose what I meant was her original concept is a bit deeper than people assume. I don’t mean FiM Part 1 either, I mean the Rarity in Faust’s head before the creation of the storyboard for FiM Part 1 even began.

@thps48  
IDW Rarity has always been a floozy.

@monolyth  
Jawohl. No matter what, though, Rarity’s personality and individuals like her are a bit broader than some people think. :3

Walls of text

Okay, then. Braeburn, Big Macintosh, Cheese Sandwich, Bad Sombra, Blueblood, Flam, Trenderhoof, Iron Will, Donut Joe, Fancy Pants, the diamond dogs, Bulk Biceps, Gustave leGrande, Flim, Hoity Toity and Flash Sentry. Not counting Shining Armor (married), Thunderlane or Soarin’ (met but didn’t talk to), Discord (do I need to explain?) anyone without an official name and Spike (sorry, Sparity supporters wading through all this text, but he’s a child, which is why I can see why Rarity isn’t attracted to him…yet. Also sorry Sparity supporters that I’m not saying more interesting things).
 
Oh, a bargain Jack Sparrow, he is. That wasn’t in question. I’m just saying show-Rarity doesn’t seem the pirate type to me. Also, >>477017. Stubble, bags under his eyes or something, unkempt mane. Without being able to smell him, I’m going to guess he’s not that clean. Even if he was clean for a pirate, this is Rarity we’re talking about.
 
That still sounds like “threats=power”. Which isn’t wrong, ability and willingness to threaten people into doing what you want is a form of power. That much is true. Here’s what I don’t see as far as this conversation; why does Rarity want that in a mate and for herself, by association? Why is this a good thing and why is it such a good thing that it’s so important to her? What’s the draw of someone who bullies others into getting their way to a pony like Rarity? They’re “bad boys”? There’s a difference between charmingly not-nice (Han Solo) and that (emperor Palpatine). Besides, Blueblood was sort of a “bad boy” and she was repulsed by it. Trenderhoof wasn’t even close to “bad” and she adored him right up until the episode’s lesson, if not beyond but to a lesser degree.  
Based on what I’ve seen of Rarity, I think the reason she gets crushes on who she does isn’t because they have power over her or others. I believe she got her thing for Blueblood because he’s handsome, she assumed he was a gentleman (gentlestallion?) and that he could make her a princess. Princesses live lives of luxury, are well-loved and could be viewed by some as the epitome of being a “lady” in the same way that jobs like lumberjack are considered “manly”. It would also turn any dresses she made from fancy clothes to things auctioned off for millions to ponies who would gives their first-born to keep them from being even slightly stained. A lifestyle I can see her liking and wanting, shared with what she once thought was a handsome gentleman. That he could walk down the street and tell every third pony to dance for him is irrelevant.
 
He may be able to do that. But so can Hoity and Fancy Pants. Fancy did elevate her status, at least for that episode. She may very well have made connections because of him. If nothing else, she sold a couple dresses to Jet Set and Upper Crust that she put minimal effort into. We’ll get to Hoity later, but if having that sort of power excited her, why didn’t she flirt with Fancy? Fleur-de-Lis? For all she knows, she’s his sister or business partner. Maybe she’s his unnaturally youthful grandmother, we don’t know. She didn’t ask, even though she could have at any time.  
For show-Rarity, no, some business talk isn’t enough to spark romantic interest. Comics-Rarity gets sparks at first sight, which is kind of my point. When I talk about show-Rarity not flirting with someone, I’m not saying I think she should have. I’m pointing out that she’s not as prone to infatuation, much less instant infatuation, as she is in the comics.  
Hoity offered to bring her into an entirely new market by selling her dresses in a shop that’s apparently a big deal. It’s putting her name out to ponies who hadn’t heard of her and who may not go through Ponyville too often. If they are competing, and I still think it’s only in a very general ‘they both make clothes’ sense, he offered to make them not-competitors. And she seemed quite happy about that offer.  
Yes, but in that case, she was disappointed, left back where she started and Fluttershy couldn’t spend time with her anymore. She already knows where Hoity stands in the fashion world and she wouldn’t be losing her own success in being with him.  
I hate to keep harping on Hoofbeard, but running off with a pirate is way more likely to force her to stop being a fashionista than a review and some tabloid headlines. Come to think of it, unless he does turn out to be a published critic, a lot more ponies heard him say he hated her dresses than heard him say he liked the others.  
As soon as she saw him. All it would have taken was showing him approach, cut back to Rarity looking all like-struck and then snapping back to pre-show nerves.
 
Not when she did, when she could have but didn’t.  
Simple. Because show-Rarity doesn’t flirt that often. Not unless there’s produce on the line.  
In Reflections, she was thinking about saving two realities and blocking out the existential chatter going on around her, didn’t stop her from getting crush-y on Good Sombra. From the previews, it looks like things are happening when she’s around Blackthorn, too, but again, I can’t speak on that much. Besides, it wouldn’t have taken much to convey a flirt in those situations. A glance, an extra word of praise for his singing delivered in that certain way.
 
Without a doubt. But is mature-looking worse than missing eye, scar, gold tooth, dirty, peg-leg…jeez, I’m starting to feel guilty for all this Hoofbeard stuff…  
I won’t assume I know whether Rarity is into BDSM or not so aside from saying “wouldn’t it be weird if that were confirmed at some point,” I won’t go into it. But isn’t it also a form of power when you don’t have to threaten others into following you or doing what you tell them? Princess Celestia doesn’t go around saying “obey me or the sun won’t rise tomorrow” and unless it turns out calling Equestria a kingdom wasn’t wrong after all, she’s the most politically powerful pony we know of. Yes, she could threaten. She could probably kill a big chunk of the population, more if other alicorns helped her. But she doesn’t and I don’t think her subjects believe she would harm them. And so far as we’ve seen, there’s never been a coup against her. No assassination or capture attempts by her subjects, nobody tried to run her out of Equestria. She’s powerful, but she’s not all-powerful, a rebellion isn’t hopeless with enough surprise.
 
Yes, this took something of an unexpected turn. Oh, discussions. You so crazeh!

@lasty  
“ Are we talking important whether Rarity “should” have flirted with them or not or just the handsome ones? And are you counting the ones who are important for only a single story or the ones who matter in general?”
 
I’m talking about any male character that plays more than a minor role in the story and whom we see Rarity meeting
 
—––  
“It just seems like it wouldn’t be Rarity’s type, given her aversion to dirt, leaving her friends and family behind and pretty much having to close down the boutique. Or at least because she’d know that a pirate is a nice fantasy, but real ones are probably different than the ones in romance novels.”
 
Hoofbeard is your classic fantasy pirate, in a fantasy cartoon world. I still maintain that he’s bargain Jack Sparrow, and as to his personal hygeine…well, who knows? Maybe he’s remarkably clean for a pirate?
 
––––  
“Their will is enforced by your assumption that they know what they’re talking about and that what they say will help you.”
 
There is a difference power and persuasion. If the doctor tells you to drop your pants and gives you all the reasons why you should do so, that’s persuasion. If one of those reasons happens to be “if you don’t, I’ll split your ballsack with my scalpel”, and if he willed it, he could do it, that’s power. Someone who’s powerful has the ability to bring about these events to punish or reward certain actions in others. If the doctor can’t convince you to drop your pants through words, they have no other recourse but to appeal to future action, to promise to do something more valuable to you than not dropping your pants. Sure, he could get you to do it if he had a gun, but having a gun has nothing to do with being a doctor; anyone could have a gun.
 
“So power means the ability to force your will onto others?”
 
That phrase is dense with meaning, so let’s unpack it. Let’s say we have two people, perhaps Twilight and Spike. And let’s say Twilight wants Spike to do something he wants not do, let’s say cleaning the library. Twilight has power over Spike if she can bring about a future set of events Spike wants not to happen even more than he wants no to clean the library, like taking away his comics (we call this “enforcing one’s will over another’s”), or if Twilight can bring about a future set of events Spike wants even more than he wants to not clean the library, like dropping him off at Rarity’s.
 
Hell, it doesn’t even have to be that. Twilight has power over Spike if Spike THINKS Twilight has power of him. If Spike THINKS that Twi can make those things happen, then Twi has power over him.
 
Thus, doctors generally have no power over Rarity or others, and neither do the guards.
 
“Doesn’t that make Trenderhoof powerless? He can’t force ponies to care that he thinks Fillydelphia is cool at the moment. Blueblood’s demands could most likely be overturned by any princess, maybe including Twilight.”
 
But Trenderhoof has power, over Rarity, if not your general pony. He can persuade others to think a certain way, but he has no power over their thinking. He DOES have power to ruin or make ponies like Rarity, who make their living from their art, if he so chooses, as his opinion’s carry a lot of weight in the world. People readily believe him. A stroke of his pen and he could launch Rarity into stardom, or crush her into oblivion, and he could exploit this. I’m not saying Trenderhoof does this, but that he could if he wished.
 
It’s the same with Blueblood, except the influence of his opinions may be more localized among the elite. And the trappings of royalty give him the ILLUSION of power. He couldn’t do anything bad without the other Princesses putting down their hooves, but regular ponies would think he could. It’s like if the Queen of England came to your house, you could tell her to GTFO, and she wouldn’t be able to do much to you, since she has little influence over the happenings of another nation, but the fact that you know she’s royalty, and all the implications that seems to carry would make it difficult for you to treat her with anything except deference.
 
––––  
“That would get anyone a bit down. But nothing he said was aimed at her. The ’amateurish designs’ weren’t hers, she just assembled them.”
 
The publicness of the put down definitely magnified Rarity’s anguish, but a good part of her distress comes from HT’s comments putting down the entire dress. The design may not be hers, but those dresses were still a product of her hooves, and she had a huge impact in their final form. She definitely wouldn’t have been willing to engage in any flirtation immediately after that.
 
“ he later praised her very highly to the point that she was more than happy to talk to him.”
 
Talking a bit isn’t enough to establish romantic feelings nor wipe away the harm done earlier. Rarity was being polite, not flirting, and she was generally enthused at not having her career ruined.
 
“Are they competing? He wanted to sell her dresses at his boutique and unless Hoity has a franchise in Ponyville (or Rarity in Canterlot), they’re in different markets.”
 
But Rarity is constantly looking to expand, to bring her art to a larger stage. HT is in direct conflict with that.
 
Plus, he’s still the more successful, famous, and prestigious designer. Remember the envy she showed Fluttershy whom Photo Finish chose over her?
 
HT’s problem is that he has too much power over Rarity’s dream of being a renowned fashionista at this point. One bad fling, a couple scathing reviews, and Rarity’s done. Couple that with her envy and his success blocking her own, and you have poor soil to plant the seeds of romance.
 
Even if they were romantically compatible, there have there been any situations where Rarity could have flirted with HT? Right after the fashion show can’t be one, there’s too little time and Rarity is generally too occupied with having her reputation restored.
 
——  
“In a flirty way? Seeing off Applejack in Last Roundup, when he helped haul the MMMM, several scenes in Filli Vanili. The dance at the end of Equestria Girls, if we’re counting it.”
 
These are scenes where Rarity flirted with BM? I looked at them and couldn’t find anything.
 
Unless you meant these are scenes where the two are together. So why don’t we see them flirting?
 
I suggested that it’s because Rarity doesn’t find him attractive, and you say that she does. If she does, then maybe it’s because they’re already a couple? Or maybe Rarity knows BM is taken (Cheerimac?)? Or BM has rejected her advances?
 
It could also be that in all these scenes, Rarity is occupied with something else. In “Last Roundup”, she’s seeing off AJ, in Filli, she’s rehearsing, performing, or trying to salvage a performance, so she’s under too much pressure. In MMMystery, she’s protecting the cake which BM is busy hauling. I don’t see the EqG scene you mention, unless you mean where Rarity is leading a dance train.
 
—–  
“So it’s not the age that matters, it’s their looks?”
 
I suppose not. I still don’t think Filthy’s anything to look at. He’s not ugly, but he’s not handsome, and I really do think that physical attractiveness is big for Rarity.
 
“Haven’t you heard that you catch more flies with honey than vinegar? Besides, if the one who refuses him is an employee, he can fire them.”
 
“Which sounds more like the kind of power Rarity would find attractive: “I get good service because they know I tip well” or “I get good service because they know what’ll happen if I don’t”?”
 
Yes, Filthy has power of to reward or punish with his employees, but with non-employees like Rarity, he really only can reward…legally. Maybe the threat of punishment is necessary and sufficient for Rarity, maybe Rarity needs both punishment and reward? Damn, this is starting to sound BDSM-ey. The danger of the punishment excites, and that’s one of the reasons why BDSM play is so popular. If you just have rewards, well you’ve basically have those rich guys with pretty gold-diggers.
 
And while Filthy could screw Rarity over by paying others to ransack her shop, I don’t think he has it in him, and if he does, Rarity wouldn’t think he has it in him. Having the power to punish is one thing, but what’s more important is having others think that you have that power, and that you are willing to exercise it. If I were to have a gun, I could influence others a lot more if they all thought I’d use it than if they didn’t, and one of the best ways to make others think that is by using my gun. But that’s troublesome, because if I’m too public, I run into trouble with the law. Filthy is in the same situation. If he does abuse his power, he can’t be conspicuous, which would mean that Rarity probably wouldn’t know about his abuse unless she was the direct object of it.
 
—–  
I love how an OoC discussion morphed into a delightful dissection of the nature of power.

@ichingdivine  

 
That’s easier to discuss, but also isn’t. Are we talking important whether Rarity “should” have flirted with them or not or just the handsome ones? And are you counting the ones who are important for only a single story or the ones who matter in general?
 

 
I might. I wouldn’t assume they’d leave their post to make out with me, but where’s the harm in trying? Especially if I’m good friends with the ones they’re guarding. That kind of “in” would be hard not to use.  
The same reason I didn’t expect her to flirt with a pirate, I guess. But yes, after some thought and what you said about her likely knowing the guards to be a futile cause, I admit that she probably wouldn’t bother with them. Also, usually when they’re around her, she has more pressing concerns.
 

 
It says that he told ponies “I know about a treasure, who wants some of it?”. They wanted wealth and didn’t give a horse-apple about him. I understand that to some women (or mares), there’s an allure to scoundrels who wander the world living by their own laws. I’m not that blind. It just seems like it wouldn’t be Rarity’s type, given her aversion to dirt, leaving her friends and family behind and pretty much having to close down the boutique. Or at least because she’d know that a pirate is a nice fantasy, but real ones are probably different than the ones in romance novels.
 

 
The pants thing was a joke, but the life-saving wasn’t. The lesser help medical practitioners give wouldn’t have been either, if I’d included it. Yes, you can ignore your doctor’s advice. It’s stupid, but you can do it. Their will is enforced by your assumption that they know what they’re talking about and that what they say will help you.
 
So power means the ability to force your will onto others? Doesn’t that make Trenderhoof powerless? He can’t force ponies to care that he thinks Fillydelphia is cool at the moment. Blueblood’s demands could most likely be overturned by any princess, maybe including Twilight.
 
 

 
It was a public shaming (it was really hard not to call it a “dressing down”) by someone whose opinion she cares about which she thinks has ruined her career. That would get anyone a bit down. But nothing he said was aimed at her. The ‘amateurish designs’ weren’t hers, she just assembled them. It wasn’t personal. He didn’t yell “Die in a fire, worthless c***!” when the camera left the scene. Probably. Also and again, he later praised her very highly to the point that she was more than happy to talk to him.  
Are they competing? He wanted to sell her dresses at his boutique and unless Hoity has a franchise in Ponyville (or Rarity in Canterlot), they’re in different markets.
 

 
I’d offer a ‘less is more’ possibility, but apparently, when to simple, that’s not the case. lousy…that happening…  
In a flirty way? Seeing off Applejack in Last Roundup, when he helped haul the MMMM, several scenes in Filli Vanili. The dance at the end of Equestria Girls, if we’re counting it.
 
 

 
So it’s not the age that matters, it’s their looks? In that case, I’d like to put my “Filthy Rich is probably okay-looking” theory back on the table.
 
If the government wants you to do or not do something, they have to threaten you with prison. If jail doesn’t scare you or you can escape the cops, they’ve got nothing. Just because Filthy uses rewards rather than punishments doesn’t mean he has no power. Haven’t you heard that you catch more flies with honey than vinegar? Besides, if the one who refuses him is an employee, he can fire them.
 
Yeah, you have been mentioning political power, I notice. Even though so far, only 3 of her known crushes have had any and Blueblood probably has very little actual authority (would you trust him with power?).  
Let’s say Rarity is in it for the power, as we’ve been defining it in this discussion (ability to enforce your will and ability to convince others to listen to you). Which sounds more like the kind of power Rarity would find attractive: “I get good service because they know I tip well” or “I get good service because they know what’ll happen if I don’t”?

@lasty  
“I think I could match every comics-hunk with one or more show-hunk,”
 
I misspoke. By “hunk”, I really meant “important male characters”, of which there are more in the comics than in the show.
 
—–  
“It’s that she doesn’t make an attempt or consider it that I question.”
 
Would you go up and flirt with one of the Red Coats if you were into guys? No? Then why would you expect Rarity to do the same? I would expect that Rarity already knows about their demeanor, as it’s either common knowledge or she’s tried in the past.
 
And all this assume Rarity would be interested in the guards in the first place, which I challenge. Guards, unless they’re the Captain (and he’s taken), aren’t politically powerful or important.
 
—–  
“Tofu is just a guy who hauls crops for room and board. When Rarity met him, Hoofbeard had no crew. He just owned a boat.”
 
Tofu was just anomalously good looking. He had mares crawling over him, and Rarity is a connoisseur of stallion beauty.
 
Hoofbeard’s lack of a crew doesn’t detract from the fact that he’s still the captain of a pirate ship. That’s something to be said about his ability and effectiveness that at one point, he was in charge of a group of ponies. And even disregarding all that, he possessed had a Jack Sparrow like attractiveness. The looks would have caught Rarity’s eye and charisma would have kept it there.
 
———  
“Doctors can tell anyone to take off their pants and they’ll do it. That’s power. Also, the life-saving and whatnot.”
 
They have no real power because they have no way to enforce their will. You could refuse their request and they’d be able to do nothing. That’s not power. They have as much power as a tailor telling you to lift up your arm so that he can get your measurements.
 
And I don’t think general practitioners like the type you find in clinics deal with urgent ICU conditions. I think that would be more of your hospital physicians. Even if they did, medical skill isn’t the same as political power. They have no means of influencing your behavior, and that’s the keystone of power.
 
 
——  
“He criticized the dresses that she hated too, then soiled himself over the ones she actually designed. Which may balance it out.”
 
Rarity may not have like everything about the first set of dresses she made for her friends, but she cared enough that his destruction of her dresses sent her into a crisis. And if he’s also a designer like her, that would make a romance even less palatable to her, like she’s getting in bed with her competition, and that’s not to mention the issues with envy she’d have to grapple with having a more successful, more prestigious designer as a BF.
 
—––  
“Big Mac’s story shows that mares find him quite appealing.”
 
Hmmm, seems Big Mac himself is a bit of a hunk as well, but I think he’s just a bit too simplistic in his looks to be Rarity’s type. Tofu and Hoofbeard had a flamboyance to their aesthetic that BM doesn’t have.
 
Still, have there been scenes where Rarity and BM could have interacted, but didn’t?
 
—––  
“Besides, Good Sombra was well over 1,000 when she met him”
 
GKS didn’t look it his age at all. He looks half the age of Filthy, thanks to his magical ruler blood or something.
 
“Maybe inheriting a business isn’t what you mean by power”
 
If Filthy wants somebody to do something, he has to pay them, but if that doesn’t sway them, there’s really nothing he can do to punish thme., whereas someone like GKS has both the carrot and the stick.
 
That’s one explanation, but I think the more likely one is that Filthy hasn’t applied his wealth into the public, political arena. His sphere of influence is only in his area of business.
 
Or Rarity just likes power that is based on political institutions or force of character instead of just money?

@ichingdivine  

 
I think I could match every comics-hunk with one or more show-hunk, but I kinda don’t want to start talking about which ponies I consider hunkiest. I’ll just say that hunk is a judgment call and both cartoon and comics have them.
 
@ichingdivine  

 
With the guards, I would understand if she flirted and they didn’t react. Like you said, they’re strict and dedicated to their duty. It’s that she doesn’t make an attempt or consider it that I question.  
Tofu is just a guy who hauls crops for room and board. When Rarity met him, Hoofbeard had no crew. He just owned a boat. Who has less political power than a hippie farmhand and a lone sea-drifter? I’m glad we agree they’re not ideal for Rarity, but she did flirt with them.  
Doctors can tell anyone to take off their pants and they’ll do it. That’s power. Also, the life-saving and whatnot.
 
@ichingdivine  

 
He criticized the dresses that she hated too, then soiled himself over the ones she actually designed. Which may balance it out.  
While MLP Wikia does list his occupation as “fashion critic”, a search of the transcript for Suited For Success shows only one use of “critic”, as part of Twilight saying the word “critically”. Hoity himself is described as a “bigwig fashion hotshot” and he mentions owning a boutique. He was critical of the ugly dresses, but so were Opal, Rarity herself and to an extent, everyone else at the fashion show.
 
@ichingdivine  

 
Big Mac’s responses are more simple, but the subjects he can use them in are broader.  
That’s debatable, especially if the comics come into it. Big Mac’s story shows that mares find him quite appealing.
 
@ichingdivine  

 
I don’t know that I’d call the guy old just because he’s got a line under his eyes and a filly with a cutie mark. Older than Rarity, sure, but I’d guess he’s the equivalent of late-30’s, early 40’s. Whether he’s too old for Rarity is up to Rarity, but he’s not old-old. Besides, Good Sombra was well over 1,000 when she met him, probably closer to 2,000 if he was an adult when Nightmare Moon was banished, and she didn’t mind.  
Or basically, “money is fleeting and unimportant; real power lasts and matters to people besides you”. Kind of like how Barnyard Bargains, “the cornerstone of retail in Ponyville” (and beyond, if the comics are to be believed), has existed for generations? Maybe inheriting a business isn’t what you mean by power, but I’d say it’s closer than “Check out me boat n’ eye-patch”.

@lasty  
“Okay, granted, her in-show choices aren’t much better, but it’s the frequency of the crushes that feels out of character.”
 
I posit two reasons why there seems to be an over-saturation of Rarity romance in the comics.
 
I counted 277 words over the first 3 pages of issue 27, which begins on page 5 ends page 26. 22 pages. That’s 2031 words per comic, roughly.
 
After pasting the episode transcript for “Simple Ways” into Word and doing a count, Word returned 2700 words, so even subtracting 500 words for character names and unspoken stage directions, that’s still more than the comic.
 
I was hoping that the comic had more, much more words per issue than the episodes had, so I could argue that the comic had more dialogue, or “time” to work with per issue, but this rough analysis blows that completely out of the water. I thought I might as well put this here since I went through the trouble to collect the info.
 
Instead, I counted 210 different times a character spoke in that episode, for instance, if a dialogue had AJ speak, then Rarity, then AJ, then Rarity, I counted that as 4 separate character speaking instances. The comic equivalent would be the number of speech bubbles. I was hoping that the comic had more than the show, so I could argue that characters in the comic had more opportunities to interact with other characters. That comic had 223 bubbles, so both are pretty much equal in that regards. This is turning out pretty bad, so I concede that the comic and show have about the same length of content, meaning that an episode would fit well as a 22 page comic, and a comic would fit well as a 22 minute episode.
 
So I move on to my second point, that the comic has been featuring important male characters at a much higher rate than the show. Reading the comic, Equestria doesn’t seem at all like the mare-dominated society it is in the show. Think of how many comics have introduced important male characters, then think about how many the episodes have done the same. With the increased abundance of hunks in the comic, we’d expect Rarity’s opportunities for flirting to also increase as a result. We don’t have to attribute the increase to OoC.
 
——  
“I still don’t think Tofu or Hoofbeard would be good matches with her.”
 
I’m not saying that they’re ideal suitor material, but that they do fall into Rarity’s established type.
 
––  
“If all it took to melt canon-Rarity’s heart was ’handsome, interesting pastime and maybe power, criminals welcome’ (if Hoofbeard isn’t doing crimes, he’s just a sailor, not a pirate), why doesn’t she flirt with every unattached stallion in Canterlot?”
 
Because they don’t fit her type.
 
The guards aren’t politically powerful, not like Blackthorn, who not only was military, but also second in command after Aspen, and was royal, technically, after Aspen abdicated. And I imagine that they’re much like the Red Coats in front of Buckingham, so when they’re on duty, they adopt a very strict persona.
 
Soarin’s just an athlete.
 
Doctors aren’t powerful.
 
Hoity-Toity’s a critic in Rarity’s field, and artists already don’t have the highest opinions of critics. He’s absolutely chewed her out in the past, so HT’s definitely out of the running.
 
Fancy Pants is actually a very interesting example. He pretty much fits Rarity’s type to a T, and I think there’s been hints that Rarity’s interested in him, but he’s pretty much hooked up with Fleur at the moment.
 
Big Mac is even more one track than Tofu in his conversation, and he’s just super big and strong, not a hunk like Tofu.
 
As to Filthy, he’s old, he’s not all that good looking, and as to his wealth, well, I’ll just let the POTUS take it from here.
 

@OptimusPrimevil
 
Yeah, that always is problematic. Would be quite nice if society wasn’t like such.

@Ardashir  
Thanks, but as far as I’m concerned, every pairing name is as good as any other. Until one is decided on, then all the names but that one are the worst ever. Especially Rarilthy.

@lasty  

 
Your choices aree definitely better than mine.

@Background Pony Number 17  

 
First, Di’ was like  

 
@Background Pony Number 17  

 
…but then Di’ was like  

@PonyPon  
Actually, that’s a stroke of evil genius. If Rarity married Filthy Rich and became Diamond Tiara’s step-mom, then Sweetie Belle would be DT’s aunt.

@PonyPon  
Oh, but the chance to turn that, erm…misguided filly into a proper lady. To ensure that the next generation of high society has at least one truly dignified mare in it. That could be hard to pass up.
 
@Ardashir  
Rarifilth or Richity.

@lasty
 
While she had serious crushes in the show (she built a shrine for Pete’s sake!), I don’t think anything in the comics went beyond a bit of flirting or finding someone attractive.

@Ardashir  
So THAT was the only name you could think of for the Filthy Rich/Rarity shipping. God, that sounded awful. XD

@PonyPon  

 
Does this mean that Rarity/Filthy Rich will be the next big ship of the fandom?
 
And what should iti be called? Filthity?

@lasty  
Maybe the thought of having to be a mother to Dt negates any benefit to pursuing him.
 
Although, I’d love a series of images depicting her trying.
 
All this assuming Filthy is indeed single.

Okay, granted, her in-show choices aren’t much better, but it’s the frequency of the crushes that feels out of character. According to MLP wikia, the animated Rarity of canon has been involved in 78 stories (73 aired episodes [adjusted for 2-parters], 2 released movies, 3 shorts; episodes and shorts she isn’t in, haven’t been released yet or which shows her as background only aren’t counted) and has had two crushes or one every 39 episodes. Compared to, by my count and with the help of some summaries for the ones I haven’t read yet, 11 comics stories (including Neigh Anything, which is like saying Fred Savage was ’involved’ in The Princess Bride) with four crushes, or about one every third story. Even if my math is off, that’s still a big difference. Also, you can throw all the numbers and comparisons you want at me, I still don’t think Tofu or Hoofbeard would be good matches with her.
 
If all it took to melt canon-Rarity’s heart was ’handsome, interesting pastime and maybe power, criminals welcome’ (if Hoofbeard isn’t doing crimes, he’s just a sailor, not a pirate), why doesn’t she flirt with every unattached stallion in Canterlot? The Royal Guards? Soarin’, Hoity-Toity and the doctor at Ponyville Hospital? Why wouldn’t she at least ask Fancy Pants if he’s available? He’s pretty much Blueblood if he traded his political power for not being an ass. Big Macintosh is a far better Tofu, plus he’s a fellow Ponytone. Or why not Filthy Rich? He’s a bit older than she is, but he’s probably considered okay-looking as ponies go, he owns a successful business (that might sell clothes), has an accent (fillies love accents!). His name_…is _Filthy Rich! She was thinking about marrying Blueblood, she can’t throw Filthy a wink?

@cheezedoodle
 
Now that you mention it, she doesn’t really flirt with him in Sweet and Elite, but I was probably thinking of this scene:

@dynamicv
 
She never seemed to be romantically interested in Fancypants though. Perhaps because of the assumption that Fleur is his wife/SO.

@ichingdivine
 
This is a good analysis. I would also include Fancy Pants on the list.

@PonyPon  
“When it happens in the show, it’s someone she initially admires for their position or their job. In the comics, she’s seems to be fine with anyone cute, male, and breathing.”
 
@GekkanShounen  
“In the comics, her only criteria seems to be “anyone cute, male, and breathing” as PonyPon said.”
 
@lasty  
“Also, everything @GekkanShounen said, which I couldn’t have said better.”
 
––––  
Let’s look at the qualities of Rarity’s show interests. Blueblood: handsome, male, breathing, yes, but also held in high esteem, royal, and powerful. Trenderhoof: handsome (in kind of a metrosexual way), male, breathing, but also an artist of sorts like herself and successful, and also held in high esteem and powerful (his singlehandedly sets trends of what’s fashionable through his writing).
 
Now let’s look at the qualities of Rarity’s comic interests. Good King Sombra: handsome, male, breathing, but also royal, powerful, highly esteemed, and all around sexy mofo. Blackthorn: handsome (for a deer), male, breathing, but also powerful, highly esteemed, and practically royal. Hoofbeard: basically pony Jack Sparrow (and the ladies like Jack Sparrow), male, breathing, charming, and powerful (pirate captain). Tofu is the odd one, but the comics have made it clear that the dude’s a walking mare magnet…until he opens his soy-loving mouth.
 
It seems to me that her romantic interests have been pretty consistently translated over from the show to the comic. Clearly, Rarity has a very high standard for what an “eligible male” is. Sure all her targets have been handsome, but with the exception of Tofu, they’ve got to be more than than to hold Rarity’s attention. So let’s not be so quick to play the OoC and flanderization card.