Nov
1st
2024
What went wrong with Sparky? · 3:49am November 1st
Hello pones!
I was reminded today that Sparky Sparkeroni, the G5 dragon, is almost as infamous and widely hated as Caillou.
Let's think about why.
What went wrong
- Sparky is unbelievably ugly; he is the only character who looks better in TYT than in MYM. He looks like a Roblox character with his weird, rounded-cylinder-shaped head.
- The name "Sparky Sparkeroni" is terrible. It sounds like something Izzy came up with, but it isn't - it's Hitch who picks that name. Not only does this miss a bit of beef for Izzy's character, but Sparky's existence ruins Hitch's character compared to the movie by making him a constant source of whinge and cringe.
- Babies and toddlers are unpopular in fiction because, in general, they contribute nothing and are really needy. This is far worse when the baby is really important due to being a living MacGuffin, like Sparky. A regular baby already forces characters to stop developing their characters or whatever else they're doing to go deal with the baby. For a living MacGuffin, the bad guys are constantly endangering the baby, a persistent obstacle to any and all subplots. Early in the series, Sparky's superpowers are a downside as he directly interjects himself to cause arbitrary magic problems like switched cutie marks and stuff transforming into other stuff. By the time he does anything beneficial with his magic this only incites resentment, because the audience feels like they're forced to care about a character they intuitively dislike and will never come around to.
- Sometimes fiction also accepts that babies are absolutely disgusting. Which Sparky embodies by farting. Including unleashing a nuclear blazing heinous anus blast directly into fan favorite Misty's face. The other characters in this show are literally horses. If they are not farting up a storm you have no business.
- As a very similar character, Sparky picks up the existing vitriol that Flurry Heart previously had.
How to improve Sparky
- Make that daffodil less ugly. I don't know how they made him so ugly so I can't really advise how to not do that
- If you insist on the dragon having a dumb as hell name it should be Izzy who cooks it up
- Make all of the characters equally & collectively care for Sparky so the imposition on any one of them is at its minimum and Hitch is not singled out as an obnoxious campy "dragon-dad!!!!!" The characters should all be happy or content to help care for Sparky (except maybe Zipp & Pipp who are whiners anyway); he should not come across as a burden dragging them down
- Remove. the farts. please. Maybe one (1) fart, even Kanna did it, but no more than that
- Show Sparky trying to help characters feel better or do favors for them. If and when he screws up he should be actively trying to help fix it. If he fails that's fine, but it should be clear he does not like to upset his friends/family
- Consider changing Sparky to a female character (if only for variety from all previous dragons being male)
OK that's all for now.
Ember: I was a boy this whole time?!
Flurry Heart: yeah! It's your problem now, the fans finally like me (I think)!
So basically, just like babies and toddlers in real life?
facts
Pipp I can see being a whiner, but Zipp?!
lmfao
5812898
As in, all previous major character dragons - the Spikes. G1, G3, G4 Spike are all male. G3 Spike is notable as he is the only male character in all of G3
5812899
Zipp hates responsibility. She whines about anything prepping her to be the queen and she'd be particularly unenthused and disgusted about taking care of Sparky. She just whines less loud than Pipp does
5812905
I see, thanks for explaining
Doesn't Hasbro realize that creating characters is expensive?