4095970 Who's Spike?

4095970
It's about time.

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He and Rarity are destined to be together.

OK, you Sparity haters can downvote this comment now.

4095983 He's one of the background ponies like Applejack.

4095993 So Spike's a pony?

4095970 Depending on the episode, I either love Spike or hate him. He's either a selfish dunce or a reasonable, helpful, and sometimes hilariously sarcastic guy who's sometimes the only sane character in an episode.

But whatever the ep, I kinda' believe that MLP would be less fun without him.

4095997 Obviously, what else would he be?

4096008 I guessing it would still be My Little Pony.

4096010 I thought he was like a lizard or something.

4096008 At his best, Spike plays off Twilight's moments of madness perfectly. 'Exasperated Spike' is my favourite kind of Spike.

I think that there are many episodes of MLP that greatly benefit from Spikey-wikey. Others, not so much, but you take your wins where you can find them.

4095970

Just that is he is adorable! I will hug him and squeeze him and call him George!

What should we do next: Something good, something bad? Bit of both? - Starlord

4095970 He's my waifu. And best character.

4096003
He also sells propane and propane accessories.

Or wait, is this Spike Appreciation Day or Hank Hill Appreciation Day?

4095970 Spike is the best character in the show and he needs this kind of day because he is awesome

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It's the former, but it should really be the latter. Hank really needs more appreciation for all he's done for us and our propane and propane accessories.

4095970

I was expecting it to be Grogar Day in honor of the Year of the Ram...

But in honor of Twilight's #1 Assistant, some good Spike-centric fics:

Role Reversal and Flipside - Spike and Twilight swap lives in both of these, but with different results.

Mistletrapped - OK, it's not finished yet, but so far, so good.

4096036
Eeyup.

4095970 he's really underappreciated by the fandom. Yes, he can be clumsy and not focused, but there's 1 thing many people overlook.

He's a DRAGON

4095970 Have you noticed that the acronym for Spike Appreciation Day is S.A.D?

4095970 I don't appriciate Spike at all. I do appreciate him, though.

Spike is there more for comic relief than anything else. I don't mind him, but he's not exactly my favorite.

Spike sure is Spike. Not a character in the show as Spike-like as Spike is.

OK but seriously, I think Spike is a good character. The first episode I ever watched was It's About Time and I remember finding Spike's comedic moments and jibes at Twilight to be absolutely hilarious. He was actually one of the first things I considerably liked about the show (besides the animation, which I instantly thought was fantastic.)

Nowadays, I realize that most of the main cast is much better then Spike but credit where it's due, Spike is one of the reasons I finished watching It's About Time in the first place. I can't say I like Spike as much as I did when I didn't know any other characters, but I still do think he's funny. Although he suffers a similar problem as RD in my opinion, where his potential is limited by the episodes being relatively sub-par.

So there's my little ode to Spike.

4096055

I love the sousaphone plant that the pony is playing in your icon. That is awesome.

Anyways, there should be more Spike stories. He rocks.

I've made my allegiance to Spike clear, but admittedly, his episodes to have a tendency to drag on.

Eh?

Eh?

I'm sorry, I'll go lurk somewhere else now.

4096012 I resent that! There's a clear difference between my kind and dragons.

My fire comes from my hands, not from my mouth, and it's used to roast chickens instead of deliver messages.

4096106 Which also happens to be the tentative title for an original IP of mine.

Illuminati confirmed.

4096218

most of the main cast is much better then Spike

Only because they've been given more screen time and purpose. Give Spike the same amount of both and he'll prove he's on par with everyone else.

4096249 Which is what Season 4 tried to do and everyone whined about. I agree completely, more Spike screen time would be good.

4096106
Ouch... poor guy. Good thing I gave him an upgrade in my last story or I'd feel bad...

4096228
No, bad! You go sit in a corner and think about what you did!

Spike... sometimes feel sorry for the kid, the writers simply cannot make-up their minds on his characterization. The way he is shown as a poor house keeper and sometimes pegged down few notches in maturity always seems to bother me. Anyway I think that he could become something of himself, something great, but I think that going to the royal guard is a waste of time. (My head-canon is that the royal guard is basically the joke of every organized professional military in the western hemisphere.) So he would be better off trying out a little freelance Monster Hunting. Just a thought.

But you can argue that as well.

4096238 Fire from hands!? You've sold it to me.

Right, season 5, replace Spike with a lizar—no, even better, replace everyone with lizardmen.
– 'It's like Skyrim Argonian mages, but better' ~~ 10/5 IGN

4096221

Everypony should have a tatzltuba. They're like Happy Fun Ball, only happier and more fun.

4095970 He's underused, under-appreciated, underdeveloped, has a ton of potential that is being wasted, is always given the short end of the stick, is always being left out, is always being used or ignored, and has the potential to be a great and deep character and a good addition to the main cast but I doubt he will be.

*deep breath in, deep breath out*

I apologize for that. I love Spike and I feel he could be so much more than how the show portrays him.

4095970

or...

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I really do think Spike is underplayed in the show. He's a fun character, but since he's male in a female dominated cast, it's difficult to work him in without taking from the mane six (wow, yeah, let's counteract male dominated shows by doing the same thing they do to females! Awesome!). But, I think Spike could have some serious room for development, and while he has a good amount, it still pales in comparison to the others.

Plus, I think Spike's whole perception is that he's the hero of the story, which in a way, is relatable. Everyone likes to think they're the hero of their own story, and since Spike has that same perception, I guess this ties in with why being Humdrum in the Power Ponies comics bummed him out so much. I think it'd be pretty fun to see an episode focusing on Spike where he isn't the cause of trouble or he isn't just tagging along for the ride. It'd really make for expanding this show into being for children of all genders and might even make boys and girls feel in relation to his character.

“Everybody wanted to be the hero of their own story. Nobody wanted to be comic relief.”
― Lev Grossman, The Magician King

I feel like this quote really applies to Spike... I actually had a fic planned for it, but I never really got into writing it, unfortunately. Too bad, since this is supposed to be his day and all.

4096251 No one whined because Spike was given more screen time, rather, because he wasn't treated with the dignity he deserves, at least for two of the three episodes dedicated to him.

4096276 You're all looking at Equestria's newest ultra sexy lady magnet head monarch. Kneel before me peasants, or taste the power of psycho-pyrokinesis!

4096505 What the show needs is male characters that the target demographic wouldn't mind watching for minutes on end. I can think of a few characters who have extremely large fangirl followings to use as inspiration, the biggest one being Gaara from Naruto, or even Meta Knight from the Kirby series.

Little girls should be made aware that guys have feelings too...

4096737
Yeah, I agree. The same problem that affects shows for boys affects this show as well; the opposite sex of the dominating gender is oftentimes degraded or put into boxes that they rarely can get out of, making it extremely difficult for someone of the same gender to relate to them. Most male characters in MLP are either

dumb,

painfully generic,

evil,

or some crazy combination of the two. Seriously, the only two male characters that are given actual character aspects are Spike and Discord, but even then they get little screen time and sometimes are limited to being the cause of trouble or just being there for the sake of being there.

4096766 At least we'll always have fanfiction to remedy that problem.

Who is Spike really? I wrote this this to explore who Spike is inside. Filial. Please let me know if you agree!

He's good comic relief. Other than that, not much about him stands out.

4096766
Mac's pretty cool. Albeit he is kind of the generic country boy, but at least he's had some form of positive development.

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In other words--he's a kid brother. 'Nuff said

4097318 Huh. Nice way of putting it.

Sweet.

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I think he's a fantastic supporting character. I'm not sure he's ready for a starring role yet (at least, not until the writers can figure out something that doesn't make him look bad before he fixes things), but he's a great grounding figure. In times of everyone freaking out, he's the one keeping calm and pointing out much they're overreacting. Especially Twilight. The two need each other just to stay sane. While I think their mutual reliance does end up getting stretched by the fandom (seriously, guys, Twilight goes out with her friends all the time, and Spike never complains. He's got his own hobbies!), I do kind of miss seeing Twilight and Spike play off of each other. I don't recall there being as much of that this past season.

As far as his interactions with the rest of the Mane 6, I think I'd like to see more one-on-one interaction between him and the others. Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Applejack haven't really interacted with him too much. (Sure, there was Spike at Your Service, but that was an incompetent dunce, not Spike. He couldn't even cook in that episode, for crying out loud!) Rarity could still have some great episodes with him, but I'm hoping there's no overt Sparity fuel. As great as their chemistry is, I think Spike needs to do a little bit more growing up and establishing who he is before his relationship with Rarity can grow into something more than friendship. It'd be unfortunate to see that end up rushed and giving us this hackneyed, forced arc where he finally earns enough nice guy points to receive a relationship without actually, y'know, bonding with her or anything else real relationships start from. As it stands now, Spike's characterization would most likely end up overshadowed to make way for Sparity, which is a shame, because as I said, he's a fantastic supporting character. He just needs a bit more development and maturity, and then he'll be able to stand on his own and do all these amazing things the fandom has imagined for him to do. Right now, that development is mostly DIY.

4095970 Spike WILL marry Rarity. It would be interesting to have Spike becoming Sweetie Bell's brother in law

4095987 Site doesn't allow linking. Mirror on imgur.

4095970 Spike is best dragon

4120939

4097084 I will see in the far future.

Or was it the distant past? Wait a minute... Say, is this Tuesday? No... Definitely the future then. I think.

4120806 It does seem that Spike and Rarity will eventually be shipped. Maybe in a future season