About A Dragon · 9:48pm May 3rd, 2014
I'll go ahead and put a spoiler jump under this one.
Show? Fandom?
Let's talk.
Putting this up front: I am someone who genuinely loves Spike. I know there are people reading this who put him in the same boat as Flash Sentry. I am not one of those people. However, I am also someone who, through multiple encounters, has been conditioned to give 95% of Spike fans a wide berth. As usual, I'm in the wishy-washy middle of affairs.
A long time ago, I wrote this. It was the very first thing I ever wrote that got featured here. I have written better stories since that one, but I still consider it amongst my best. In it, amidst several writer's mistakes that I have since excised from my style, you will find my full thesis on Spike's relationship to Twilight Sparkle, as well as his full role in the show. I never felt the need to expand upon it. It is a capsule.
Eventually I did expound on it. It's far more compact, so if you save the story for later, at least read this.
Last week, the show had my curiosity. It tackled Spike's thoughts on Rarity head on while simultaneously getting rid of some of the really dumb subtext around it (the more of the show aired past "Secret of My Excess," the more I was starting to see an unsettling "Nice Guy" sentiment being expressed by fans, and sorry, just... no), and allowed Spike to grow and realize that he has to be his own person, even if it means saying "no" to someone he would really like to see him in the best light, all the time. (Been there too many times to count.) And while I know there were people who had wished this had been Sparity come to a head, I was so far from being one of those people it wasn't even funny. It was a great episode for Spike, but I was kind of scared it might've been a fluke. New writer might not have been fully indoctrinated on Missing The Point On Spike.
...which brings us to this week. This week, the show has my frickin' attention. I'm still at a loss for words, and I am so damn happy to have been wrong.
Yes, on the surface, the world finally gets an episode where Spike, on camera, undeniably gets a Big Damn Hero Moment. I rewound that moment about ten times. It was a thing of beauty.
But beyond that, this episode cemented that at last, the writers understand Spike the way I do. Maybe with some slight variations, but hear me out, if for no other reason that this is likely the part where I make scandal happen:
I have never thought that Spike needed huge moments in the sun. I have never thought that Spike needed Rarity. With the latter I merely saw your standard Western kids' show stock romantic runner (and only the comic has been, for a fleeting moment, ever made me able to see it as otherwise. That comic, is good stuff. Handles romance 10 billion times better than show! You should read, yah?) As for the former, I thought Spike was pretty awesome enough already, but I'm a big proponent of Spike being the thing that holds things together from the background/sidelines. The ultimate support. The retainer. The one who has his head on straight when all the headliners are losing theirs. The failsafe.
The trouble with this, however, is that playing this sort of role doesn't tend to come with much fanfare. It doesn't get talked about much. It doesn't come with much "respect." It doesn't come with much fawning, it doesn't come with you being treated as well as you think you should. Sometimes you are the workhorse, the one that's taken for granted. Sometimes it's worth it.
I've been used to playing this role all of my life, both in career and hobby. I'm still NDA'ed like crazy on a fair amount of video games you've played and loved that I and my friends have had a hand in the production of. Sometimes I have my weak moments, but for that matter, the connection Spike and I have is that we're unsung heroes -- and that we're proud of it. That's the thing. I have ultimately never thought that Spike needed to get mad or fussy at his position in life. Because that position does so many great things that he could never do if he were somewhere else. There are things Spike can do that magic can't. We've seen them.
But while this role does not come with a torrent of immediate rewards, it is not devoid of them. It's very much a quantity over quantity deal. Rewards in life come when you're not consciously thinking of them. They come in ripples. They come in the little things. Seeing a child smile over a game you helped bring to life, whether or not your name isn't in the credits for it. Helping with the marketing so that a game you believe in makes it to a larger audience than it would have normally. As far as hobby goes? I've been in this fandom day one. I've watched so many people lap me in terms of both popularity and infamy. At the same time, I've found my niche in the production of a certain type of story that doesn't get produced in this fandom as often as a lot of people would like. I like my niche, and if you're reading this, odds are you dig it too. That means the world to me.
Sometimes, those people who you're sure don't know your name, actually come back and say thanks. Verbosely and profusely. Sometimes you end up worshipped in a far-off kingdom you forgot about. For those who are not used to playing this role, they may think it's thankless, they may think it's not getting your dues, but no. It's great. And it's hardly complacence. It's true pride.
I think what I'm trying to say is two things. The first being that I've watched way too much Kamen Rider. The second is that I suppose I needed this episode. To that 95% I mentioned earlier: please take it to heart. I don't know what else can be done at this point. Spike's pretty good how he is, and I'm glad the show remembered that. What happens when you thrust someone used to gettin' it done from the shadows into the limelight? Here's your answer.
I leave you, fellow Spike fans, with his (and our) official theme song. Someone make a PMV of it involving the last two weeks' episodes, please. It's kind of screaming for it.
Next week: The End of Friendship is Magic.
~B
P.S. Has anyone made an "I Believe In Dave Polsky" button? Unlike that other button that got made last year, this is something I would wear unironically.
wait what?
2074367
Near as I can tell, we lose the FiM subtitle after this season. WE GOIN' RAINBOWS, SON
2074386
oh, wait why do we lose it?
and will this place still be called fimfiction?
2074389
1) According to scuttlebutt from toyfairs and such, Twilight apparently inherits a "Rainbow Kingdom" next week. Google "my little pony rainbow power." I actually don't know for sure if the actual subtitle replacement will carry, but as usual, the silliest jokes I make tend to knock people off their rockers the most. :P
2) Heck if I know! Probably. We geeks hate change.
I have to agree BD. This week and last week's episodes were some of the best Spike time in seasons. I'd say they were in the top few episodes this season overall too.
THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS TOO MUCH KAMEN RIDER! That is like saying you enjoy too much Sailor Moon, it doesn't happen
A Spike blog that doesn't call him a useless piece of shit?
thepiton.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8345200e269e2017d43050c47970c-800wi
2075393
Show's been on fire since then. Have fun, dude!
2075350
(though not as much as I should)
...b-but I do enjoy too much Sailor Moon
2075113
Yeah, another couple of these and I might not fear new Spike episodes anymore.
...
2075393
I think I watch this show too much, I keep reading that as 'Mareathon' and while playing amazing Spider-man last night, I said 'protecting Manehatten.'
2075544
Oh, I've been expecting the worst all day.
Starting to believe I might have just broken everyone's weird-o-meters, stunning them into shocked, disbelieving silence.
Haven't lost any followers yet, though!
I have to admit, I've had trouble really feeling Spike for a long time; prior to last week, certain prevailing attitudes in the Fandom regarding his place in the show* made it increasingly difficult for me to enjoy the character the way I used to be able to, and before "Inspiration Manifestation" came along, the only Spike episode this season was...*groan*..."Power Ponies", which didn't exactly help matters. But as the latter half of Season 4 has been doing pretty consistently, this episode managed to surprise me, and pleasantly so, by reaffirming in all the best ways what I used to love about Spike so much, and indeed still do; it's just that now, I feel a lot better about embracing that again.
It helps that the episode is so strongly built, too. Unlike the last time we had the culmination of a season-long storyarc (and no, "Magical Mystery Cure" emphatically does not count), this feels like the right sort of conclusion to the ongoing "Equestria Games" storyline introduced last season, doing a nice job of recalling all the little bits used to build up to it, but also including lots of nice, little touches that keep the whole thing grounded in the characters rather than the scenario (a particularly impressive feat given Season 4's tendency to go the opposite direction), while also including lots of nice little world-building details that fortify the whole thing without overshadowing the stuff that really matters. Better still, the story does a really good job of tying the two main storylines-the Games themselves, and Spike's crisis of confidence-together in a nice, organic fashion so that each reinforces the other.
Spike's the star again, though, and as I said, he manages to really worm his way back into my heart this time. Like "Leap of Faith", we're working with a conflict that's ingenious in its simplicity, and perfectly suited to the character: little Spike, used to working on the sidelines, finds himself thrust into the limelight, only to find the ample pressure that comes with being the center of attention more than a bit tough to weather. Admittedly, there are times where the episode realizes that conflict a bit too well; Spike trying to sing the anthem in particular is just genuinely hard to watch. But that also means we get a good, believable look at Spike's emotions and reactions, too, which is what really fuels the story and makes it work. Plus, yeah, that BDH moment was pretty epic. And just as last week's episode highlighted the strength of Spike's friendship with Rarity, so too does this one do an excellent job utilizing his relationship with Twilight. Even as the episode seems to view it as slightly misguided, her efforts to protect and support Spike throughout really touched me.
(Oh, also, a little detail but I loved it anyway: Twilight refers to Spike helping to activate the Crystal Heart as "the last time you were here", meaning she still doesn't know about his secret trip to the Crystal Empire from "Just For Sidekicks". >w>)
So yeah! Three cheers for good ol' Spike! The unsung hero who finally got to get sung a little bit! I'm glad we end the pre-Finale run of the Season on such a pleasant note too, 'cuz next week? I'm hunkering down for yet another potentially-'fic-destroying change to the show's status quo that also threatens to reinforce all the worst implications of last season's finale. lD; So...um...yay...? 8D;
*specifically the idea that he was somehow maligned by the writers or some such nonsense and deserved to be treated with more respect, because heaven forefend a male character be involved who isn't the center of his show's universe lD;