Alright, brahs, it’s time we got to the bottom of this once and for all. I made a ton of Spike posts in the past – some agreed, some didn’t, and some are complaining as to why some of us are so obsessed over him. In this post, I’m gonna talk about as much as I can to answer the question so we can finally understand eachother!
Fair warning – this could get pretty political.
Now, just because alota these problems are now fixed, we can forgive but can we forget? The problems still existed in the first place.
Non-Pony = Second-Hoof Citizen
Of course Spike is a dragon living in a pony world – I’m sure even before the show started, he had such a hard time being accepted to pony society, and Twilight’s the one who kept him safe from all that (yunno how Canterlot is). But even if he did get accepted, he still struggled with identity problems, and was even considered an outsider to his own species because of his pony-like personality.
There are people out there who go through the same thing. Like it’s all one-particular cultural group that go to a particular school, and there are very few, if not one, child from a different culture who goes to that school. You know how cruel people can be towards others that are different from them (I’m not aiming towards a particular culture), and they’d treat the one different kid with less respect, maybe even bully them, all because they look different. Of course there are those that would actually try to befriend the one kid, but could be convinced otherwise by the rotten fruits that try to spoil the bunch, if you get my metaphor.
And you have the dragons who too treat don’t treat him with respect because of his pony-personality. It’s like saying to someone “you’re this culture, but you act like this culture”. I bet if there was a certain kid from outside a culture who fits in better with another culture than their own would have this problem. I haven’t seen it happen first-hand, but I’m sure it has happened.
What really doesn’t help his situation is that before he became Royal Advisor, he was basically Twilight’s errand-boy – something that certain cultures do to immigrants even nowadays. You’d think that there would be certain red flags going up about an outsider species kid being the errand-boy to the common pony citizens of Equestria. He may be happy with it, but do we know if he was happy with it by choice at an older age, or was he raised for labor purposes? We don’t know, the show never told us. He might have a choice NOW, but did he always? You can see that he can sometimes get very annoyed by the tasks Twilight always has him doing, like taking notes in PPOV.
Does he even get PAID, with actual bits with the job he does? If his only payment is “food and shelter”, then that’s basically slavery despite what the show might claim. Just because one may say something doesn’t automatically make it true - you need actual proof.
This doesn’t reflect well with Equestria Girls either. Spike is meant to be the ‘little brother’ of Twilight and Shining Armor, which implies he’s supposed to be the ‘son’ of the Sparkle parents, the brother in-law of Cadance, and the Uncle of Flurry Heart. Equestria Girls makes him a PET, like really, that came waaaaay before Sparkle’s Seven. It makes it seem like the devs saw him as a pet rather than an actual family member. I’m just assuming, of course, I don’t know for sure if that’s true, but EG just seems to imply it. No other dragon character appeared in EG, so let’s see whether or not Ember and Garble are humans or dogs. In Equestria, dragons are a cultural, not an animal, so I dunno how this makes the rest of them look in the human world.
He’s too kind
One of the greatest aspects of Spike is how kind and loyal he is; but much like Fluttershy, that kindness can be taken advantage over, and THAT is something Spike is a victim to a lot. Fluttershy learned to be more assertive, but for some reason, that moral never really stuck with him - he learned that lesson, like, one time at Inspiration Manifestation, and yes, some morals may need to be repeated from time to time, but they just never got back to it. You got people like Rarity and Sludge who use his kindness for their benefits, and the latter got away with it without any known karma haunting him back. I know realistically, you gotta make the best outta a situation like that, and bad guys get away with it – but he’s got so many connections to the ponies, dragons, and changelings, and who’s to say Sludge won’t do it again to some other orphaned dragon?
Usually people start off kind and bitterness is taught, and there are people out there that are usually very kind, but knowing humanity, there are always those jerks that take someone’s kindness for granted and they get away with it. When we look at Spike, we see someone we can count on, and if we met someone like him in real life, what would we do? Treat them how you wanna be treated, or use them and stab them in the back at the last minute because you know they don’t have the guts to come back at you?
Spike’s kindness is not a bad thing, and it’s hard getting over sensitivity. With all the abuse Spike got over the years, it’s a wonder he never turned so bitter. That kindness deserves reward! However, if he needs to be mean, then why not be mean to those who really deserve it? Ya gotta prove you’re no pushover – as we seen in Fluttershy’s arc many times, but there is a balance point. If only Spike would find that balance point. Sometimes it’s necessary, because that’s how real-life is.
Being the ONLY target of slapstick in a kid's show
Sometimes this show doesn’t know whether it’s supposed to be a fantasy world where the good guys always win or if it was more realistic where there are times the bad guys win; but we know this show is meant to be a show all about friendship, love, understanding, and purpose. A world where dreams become a reality, and a place where we can learn a lot about how to be better people!
For a show all about all this positive nature, the earlier seasons do a good job at making Spike the target of unfortunate events, whether he deserves it or not. He gets flown across a room in Castle Mane-ia, only AJ seems to care. Rarity gives him a carrot dog as a reward for his hard work, a bird snatches it. He wants to see the breezies, ponies keep blocking his way so he climbs a tree and ends up ruining the alignment of the Breezies with a leaf. Not to mention being the target of slapstick comedy that actually looks painful.
Now if the slapstick comedy was happening to EVERYONE, then it wouldn’t be a problem – it’s like The Three Stooges. If they all hit eachother, then it’s funny! But you’re taking the non-pony orphaned child and using him as slapstick and nopony else – yeah, imagine doing THAT to a real life orphaned kid of a different culture! I know it’s a fictional show, but the brain adapts to what people see on TV.
This ain’t an ordinary Saturday morning cartoon all about slapstick like Tom and Jerry, it’s about friendship, so this kinda show containing this makes it look like abuse – hence why the term ‘Spikeabuse’ came about, and that’s why most people sympathize with him and only want the best for him to make up for all this.
Imagine being in the shoes of Meg Griffin from Family Guy. At least that's a show that's meant to have cruel humor - THIS is a kid's show with lessons that are meant to be taken into consideration at least. If people tend to really listen to the listens of this show, then some people could take bullying the 'orphan outsider child' into consideration too. Yes, people can be THAT stupid sometimes. Not everyone has common sense.
Power Ponies basically made his problem worse before a majority of the problem disappeared in season 6. That's one of the plus benefits of the post-writer transition period.
The Crush
Now this is something A LOT of us have been through at younger ages. We get that one crush on a certain particular girl in our class, or maybe even our teacher, or our babysitter – but that’s all it was, a childish crush. I’m actually GLAD this was talked about in the series due to how common it is for a child to go through, and the crusher would do anything for their crushy!
But just as any kinda childish crush, one of two things happen: it either gets obtained, or they outgrow the crush. It usually doesn’t take that long after so many failed attempts. Seeing as Spike was going through the crush for EIGHT outta the NINE seasons, you’d think the crush woulda been gone a long time ago, like season four or five. After Inspiration Manifestation, the crush for me just lost it's charm. Most of the time, it wasn’t even a plot, it was a cringy gag or Sparity fanpandering.
Why this crush would bother so many people is that it would remind them of their childhoods, knowing that they one time had a crush on someone but only ended up being humiliated in the end, and we wouldn’t want our boi Spike to go through the same thing, yunno? That’s what made alota us love Dragon Dropped so much! Mainly the only people who didn’t like Dragon Dropped are who thought Rarity was written OOC, but really, seeing Rarity so desperate for Spike’s attention was really a great way to turn the tables on Spike’s favor after he was desperate for so long!
If the season 10 comics restored the crush, then we’d definitely have a huge problem there. Sparity’s either gonna happen, or it’s not – I don’t see how keeping the crush around helps anyone; it just gives certain people who went through a similar phase some Vietnam flashbacks.
Being the ‘seventh’ wheel
This is MY personal empathy for Spike. People have different point of views on Spike’s role in the show – whether or not he’s a main character, whether or not he’s part of the Mane 6 (and why is it 6 and not 7 then, I don’t care if he doesn’t have a mane, that’s not the point).
The Mane 6 all became friends because of Nightmare Moon and the Elements of Harmony which binded them together, so that shows us that those six ponies are the main characters of the show, and that the six of them are best friends, that’s the group. Then we have Spike who, I guess is part of the group too, and for some reason is called a main character despite not having an Element of Harmony.
But that’s not really the point – the finale told us the Elements are just Symbols (hello big babies), however it’s more of the point of the Elements that brought the six friends together. Now look at Spike, what necessarily is his connection to them, besides Twilight? When I see Spike with them, looks more like ‘those are my older sister’s best friends’, I don’t necessarily see his connection with them. Yeah, they’re his friends, but he hangs with them more than anyone else.
When you compare his friendship with the Mane 6 with the OTHER friends he made, Ember, Thorax, Starlight, Big Mac, Discord, Smolder, and Gabby, you see his friendships with them are more natural and feel more real, which is why I very much prefer seeing him hang with them, and creating his own group of friends.
Regardless of the Mane 6 even claiming that he’s an ‘important member of the group’, there are certain times where I feel they’re just BSing him to make him feel better – I can tell from personal experience that I had a group of friends who said I was very important to the group and they always left me out of stuff like hugs and get-togethers, so this might be my own personal perspective on how important Spike is to the group. There are times when what they’re saying is true, like Best Gift Ever, or Summer Sun Setback, but then you have episodes like Rainbow Roadtrip or Mean 6 or Sweet and Elite where he’s left out of very important events for his friends like Twilight’s birthday and Rainbow Dash’s ceremony.
It’s like the show can’t agree on Spike’s actual position on the show other than assisting Twilight, cause that’s not what being a main character is all about, that’s what a supporting character does. Supporting characters support the main cast on their quests; main characters are a central influence on the main story, and Spike is not that – despite how much I really want him to, the staff calling him a ‘main character’ is basically a lie, and that’s what makes me really sympathize with him. The group was always called the ‘Mane 6’, not ‘Mane 7’, not ‘Mane 6 and Spike’, just ‘Mane 6’. And that’s why it really feels like he’s a seventh wheel in the group – just there for support. His position is no different than Starlight Glimmer’s, and yet she’s not called a main character, regardless of playing a central role in one finale, something Spike never gotten. Hell, even the Student 6 got a central role in a finale - Smolder, another dragon got a central role before him! What were the odds?
He's left out of alota merchandise as it is - each Mane 6 gets their own chapter book, even Starlight, Trixie, each princesses, and even Discord, but not him (I Like Spike isn't a chapter book). The Gameloft game forgot about him for the longest time before adding his model in, like, many years after, and not to mention fan projects too. It's one thing to leave him outta the Mane 6, but then we got Starlight, the princesses, and the CMCs, and Derpy, and Trixie included, then alright, it's still fine cause maybe no guys in the pic. Oh wait, there's Shining Armor and Big Mac - well, maybe it's just ponies then. Wait, Discord and Zecora too?! Alright, I give up. There are people out there who feel left out alot, and seeing him left out of all these things despite his role in the show feels pretty unfair and makes us empathize with him; us, the people that get left outta stuff on a daily bases.
Of course life isn’t fair, not even in a fantasy world full of friendship.
He’s okay with it
With all that he’s been through, him being just okay with it is like the WORST thing the writers could do with him! You could push him around, you could leave him outta stuff, you can make him an outsider to his species and as a second-class citizen of the one he hangs with, all of that wouldn’t be as much of a problem… if he wasn’t just OKAY with it. If it ACTUALLY bothered him, then odds are, it woulda ended up somewhere.
“If I’m neglected and abused, and have the closest thing I have to a family member use me as monster bait, I should just accept it!” That’s what I got outta that. He barely complains, or when he does, it mostly gets ignored. It’s like his word doesn’t matter. Twilight barely listens to him anyway when he’s helping her. So after all that, he never snaps, he never tells the ponies off, and he never quits. There’s a difference between pure loyalty and being a push-over.
I get that Spike is a nice guy and only wants his friends to be happy, and that’s okay! He’s right, he IS the bigger dragon! He proved his maturity in Sweet and Smoky, and that’s a time where his kindness is done right! But then you have moments where Twilight uses him as monster bait in BGE, and I already mentioned the slapstick abuse earlier, and for some reason he continues to hanging with the group of ponies he’s not equal to.
To those of us that go through the problems Spike goes through, it is one thing to make the best outta a negative circumstance, and another to just let yourself be pushed around and forgotten about half the time.
Now luckily, Spike’s patience finally paid off in the finale, being the Royal Advisor to Twilight! But then think about this for a sec, when we see the season 10 comics, what’s his Royal Advisor role gonna be? Is he actually gonna be the second-in-command to Twilight, or is this gonna be no different than his assistant role? And how is he gonna feel about all that?
So everything he received in the finale really paid off! And to all of us that felt like he deserved more, we really were proud of what he accomplished! But it all depends on how those roles are executed, and it depends on if we feel his new jobs are as serious as we think. Actions speak louder than words! So hopefully the comic writers will really treat the role really differently than the assistant role. Otherwise it’s just the assistant role with a better title. Imagine getting a promotion in your job that’s no different from your previous. Your job doesn’t get better by just adding the word “executive” on it.
Imagine how we woulda felt if he didn’t get this Advisor job or the Ambassador job in the finale - cause then everything he went through wouldn’t paid off in the end!
The people who disagree have fair points too
Don’t think I haven’t thought of the point of view of those who disagree and that Spike has always been fine no matter what. It is true that some of the Spike obsessions do go a bit overboard, mine included. But like I said, it all depends on the point of view, and how Spike’s character reflects on the viewer. I feel I can relate to Spike in many different scenarios because I been through similar circumstances like him.
I’m not an orphan like him, I’m not as nice as him, but I know what it’s like to feel left out and not given enough credit where it’s due. And if Spike were treated as a serious character since the beginning, instead of starting at season 6, maybe things woulda turned out differently for him.
In a show with morals that are supposed to be taken seriously, having a comic-relief character like this is not a good idea. Every character should be taken seriously but also have a ton of comic-relief moments.
Even so, the devs did the best they could on Spike, even if there were a ton of flaws on his character. But let’s not forget, EVERY character has their flaws. Some of us just see more flaws in one character than others because we care about them a lot. I’m probably overlooking all the flaws that Rainbow Dash has in her story arc, and Rarity, look at the final episodes THEY had this season! Spike had it a bit better than them in the final season, I’ll admit that.
Conclusion
So the point of this post is looking and thinking about the different points of view of the viewers and how they might see each character of the show, and how people feel they have allegiance to them.
Not just Spike, people are obsessed with these characters for a reason. There is no stupid reason to be obsessed with a character. It’s no big deal if anyone disagrees. The REAL people with the problems are the ones that get openly annoyed by people’s obsession with a certain character, like they’re too ignorant to try to understand the other side of the tracks.
Spike is awesome in my opinion! I say he had a good ending and a good arc, even if there is still a lot to be desired. I just hope in the season 10 comics, they don’t degrade him. Spike does get that problem a lot, but then again, so do alota other characters. And what’s done is done. So I hope the devs learned from their mistakes for their future projects. So let’s make sure G5 Spike doesn’t get this same problem! See what happens when you work with a major company that care more about merchandise than story?
Anyhoo, I hope everypony has a very Happy Hearth’s Warming! I hope you enjoyed the last editorial of 2019! :D
