Smugdash meme · memes.md

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The definitive Smugdash face, a vectorized close-up of Rainbow Dash's smug expression that became the meme's iconic image.
Alternative gold-toned rendering of the Smugdash scepter fan art, presenting the smug pony face as an ornamental staff figure.
A meme variant pairing the Smugdash face with the confrontational 'U WOT M8?' catchphrase in ransom-note lettering.
Fan-illustrated take on Smugdash, showing Rainbow Dash in a softer painterly style while retaining her characteristic smirk.

History

Smugdash, also known as Rainbow Dash Dreamworks Face, is a pair of self-satisfied smirking expressions from Rainbow Dash in My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. The screencaps came from two back-to-back Season 4 episodes airing in December 2013, and brony art communities on Derpibooru and DeviantArt turned them into a go-to reaction face and photoshop template.

Origin

The first Smugdash frame comes from "Daring Don't", the fourth episode of Season 4, which aired in December 2013[1]. Rainbow Dash pulls the smirk after eavesdropping on the villain Ahuizotl trading threats with adventurer Daring Do just before their fight over a plot MacGuffin[3].

The second, near-identical face shows up in the very next episode, "Flight to the Finish", giving fans two interchangeable versions of the same expression to clip and reuse[2]. No single artist is credited with coining the name; the term spread through fan tags on Derpibooru and DeviantArt as bronies started saving and remixing the screencaps[3].

Platform: My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (source) / Derpibooru and DeviantArt (viral spread)
Creator: Unknown
Date: 2013

Overview

Smugdash, alternatively called Rainbow Dash Dreamworks Face, refers to two nearly identical smirks that Rainbow Dash pulls in back-to-back Season 4 episodes of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic[1]. Both frames show her eyebrows cocked, mouth pulled into a knowing sideways grin, and eyes flicked off camera in the exaggerated pose animation fans nicknamed after the DreamWorks cover-art squint[3].

Bronies use the screencaps as a reaction image for anything sarcastic, self-satisfied, or gotcha-flavored. A big chunk of the surviving art traffic is photoshop work rather than pure reaction posts, with the face pasted onto other characters or scenes[3]. The best-known variant is a crossover with the Twilicane meme, where Twilight Sparkle's head in the Twilicane image gets swapped out for Smugdash's smirk[3].

TV Tropes filed Smugdash under its My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic character memes page, grouping it with other single-frame Rainbow Dash reaction faces that circulated on brony art hubs[4].

How to Use

Typical Smugdash posts drop one of the two screencaps as a reply when a comment or thread feels smug, sarcastic, or vindicated. A common convention among MLP artists is to photoshop the face onto other ponies or into unrelated scenes rather than post the raw screencap, with the Twilicane crossover being a recurring template[3].

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Smugdash?

Smugdash, also called Rainbow Dash Dreamworks Face, is a reaction image of Rainbow Dash from My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic wearing a smug, eyebrows-raised smirk[3].

Where did Smugdash come from?

The face comes from two consecutive Season 4 episodes, "Daring Don't" and "Flight to the Finish", which aired in December 2013[1][2].

What does Smugdash mean?

It is used as a shorthand for smugness or sarcastic self-satisfaction, borrowing the DreamWorks-style raised-eyebrow squint that Rainbow Dash pulls in both frames[3].

How do you use Smugdash?

Fans typically drop the screencap as a reaction image or photoshop the face onto other characters, with a common crossover pasting it over Twilight Sparkle in the Twilicane meme[3].

Is Smugdash still popular?

It stayed a fixture inside brony art communities like Derpibooru and DeviantArt rather than crossing into general meme circulation, and TV Tropes lists it among the MLP character memes[4][5].