Spike Rant: Cathy Weseluck is a treasure and I am very sad · 7:41am Oct 19th, 2019
Guys. Gals. Nonbinary pals. I’m going to be dramatic for a bit here because I’m writing this and I’m so sleep deprived and my anxiety is driving me nuts. And honestly, just skip this whole blog—it's just crazed Spike fan angst.
And and… okay.
Let me just preface this by saying that the finale we got was quite excellent. It did a lot of things really well and honestly I'm happy we even got this far. And that I cried so much in that scene when literally every creature shows up in the big endgame final showdown. So it was good, not perfect.
And that please, no matter how much you might dislike someone, don't complain about it directly to show staff on Twitter. It makes the whole fandom look bad. For background on the sadness that is creating content in the age of the Internet, see Lindsey Ellis's video on the subject.
And with that preamble of "no one that worked on the show is going to see this, and I'm going to be sad in a public way in only the way that hiding behind an avatar can" let me just talk about some feelings.
Season 09 wasn't the best :(
I mean, I liked the premier, and the finale, and there were some really good episodes here and there ("The Big Mac Question" was incredible). But for the most part I just felt like I was watching Old yeller die and hoping they were gonna shoot this poor thing down soon.
And those feelings mostly stem from feelings of a lot of wasted potential. The show was ending—like full-on "everything is going out of business—everything must go" ENDING. And really interesting questions about the lore, or good character interaction and moments just didn't happen.
Why did we never get at least one episode for each of the student 6?
Why did we never see sets of harmony interacting? (Can you imagine if the various Elements of Magic got an episode together? (Starswirl, Gallus, Twilight))
I guess my main disappointment is that we kept so much focus on the Mane 6 when there were so many interesting, intriguing non-Mane 6 characters that didn't get enough love.
Crazily enough, the only character I feel was at the top of their game and absolutely incredible the entire season was Starlight Glimmer. She shined in whatever episode they put her in.
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Alright, I'll just jump right into what's really eating me up inside.
What did they do to my poor boy, Spike!?
We end the series with him having:
THE BAD:
1) No biological family relations
2) No clue where that egg came from
3) Teasing all of this in that absolutely horrid "Father Knows Beast" episode in season 8.
4) Not... exactly the best looking adult form (I find it crazy seeing fanart of adult Spike and the fanartists immediately are able to adjust Spike's design to look better.)
THE GOOD:
1) At least he got wings in season 08
2) Friendship Ambassador—continuing to be Twilight's Assistant (The dude is vice president/dictator of a country! That is pretty sweet!)
THE UNKNOWN:
1) He's possibly ace? (Who knows, it's just conjecture on my part since Rarity, Twilight and Spike are all romantically alone at the end. So maybe they're all asexual?)
THE WTF!?:
1) How the heck did this end up in the final episode!? Chrysalis threatens to pluck Spike's wings off? I mean—absolute YIKES D:
Were the writers trying to drive home that these characters were irredeemable with this action? Because that sounds like what they were going for. (It seems contrary to the themes of the show to turn all those villains to stone. The lack of redemption of villains in MLP, just makes me appreciate Steven Universe more, to be honest)
That almost-wing-pluck scene got me to publish a story for the first time in the year. So you can read a story about Spike having PTSD because I'm having PTSD because of that scene—holy crap)
So I'm not the biggest fan of some of these shafts for Spike. The most egregious being that awful tease the "Father Knows Beast" episode was. And how absolutely agonizing it was to see much filler in season 09 and not do something to throw this Spike a bone.
I think my heart broke three times over seeing this Tweet from Big Jim about it:
Really? Nothing? No plans? At all? Then why even have that episode? That was so much worse than not getting an episode at all. The entire time felt like a tease for an episode in season 09 that resolves the arc.
And speaking of Big Jim (the guy is awesome and he had a hard job and it's over now and it all doesn't matter. Nothing has ever mattered. Death will come for me eventually)
I don't know whether to rejoice or be really depressed with the onslaught of "Shrug of God" to absolutely every question he's being asked. He's purposely making everything open ended for fanfic writers. Which... that's nice? I think? I have mixed feelings on it. On one hand that's nice for fanfic authors. On the other, it makes me wonder if he or any of the staff writers had the background worldbuilding in mind for all these things? It just feels like very little was thought all the way through.
I have concerns D:
Which... *sigh* I can't blame the show staff for this. I mean—look at Pixar, if you've read Creativity, Inc., it's an absolute nightmare to plot out a story from a bajillion different angles and get every single piece fitting just right and especially at the scrutiny of critics and people that care about these things a lot. I don't think Big Jim or any of the show staff was paid enough to care for this level of detail. The economics and constraints of 26 episodes a year for a decade are beyond the scope of human ability and I have no right to complain.
But I need to at least be sad because my anxiety won't let me sleep until after I've written all this down apparently?
Okay, let me talk about the shining jewel of the MLP:FiM staff, her majesty herself: Cathy Weseluck. This woman is amazing, I want to see her TED talk, she is incredible.
So last Saturday a big giant huge leak happened. You may ask what on earth is there left to leak when the show is over? LOTS apparently. Different versions of songs, old scripts that never happened, email correspondences. Basically a lot of things that are not meant to be read outside of DHX and yet I can't help myself from lurking in places that are discussing all these leaks.
The most intriguing thing I found was the notes the voice actors had for the 200th episode. The voice actors were partially involved in pitching an idea, and these were Cathy's:
And there it is, in quadruple stars.
****Spike to find a REAL relation – even a second cousin of a second cousin
SHE GETS IT!
Spike has always had an arc of wanting to belong and he tries so hard to fit in among ponies but it is not ideal. And because he's raised by ponies he cannot relate to dragons and so he's just stuck in these two worlds feeling terrible. It would have been lovely to have something biologically related to Spike that was positive for once.
If anything, the best end that Spike got was his friendship with Gabby. Both characters heavily influenced by ponies, living mostly separate from the rest of their society. (Yeah, I ship it)
In the end, everyone that works on the show is like a politician, and we are all lobbyist craving and hoping for the thing we want to be made into law canon. I think they did a pretty good job at getting what most people wanted. So all-in-all good job. I'm gonna go continue to write stories about suicidal ponies and not post most of them because that's how I cope with life.
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Bonus thoughts because I guess this is now my MLP finale final thoughts I guess!? Is my anxiety gonna let me sleep, now? No, I guess not? (I guess at this point it's no longer anxiety, it's just mania. Huh.)
Discord being Grogar was really anticlimactic and a really bad plot twist (Here's a good podcast episode on how to write a great plot twist instead)
Fluttercord is implied canon! (But according to Big Jim it's all open to interpretation anyway?)
Where the heck are everypony's kids!? Pinkie Pie is literally the only one of the mane 6 to breed? Or at least adopt? Be foster parents? Something?
Twilight has a thing for Royal Guards. Gallus—another element of magic—is captain of the Royal guard. I SHIP THEM AND LOVE THEM SO MUCH!
Twilight will outlive her friends I guess? I mean—Rarity literally has a streak of gray in her hair and Twilight is full Alicorn majesty mode. So... the fandom was right to write all that angsty immortal Twilight stuff. It's all canon now.
Did anyone ever ask Twilight if she wanted to run a country?
Based on the leaked end of Wallflower Blush's song, she's implied to be a little suicidal. "Won't be long before I'm gone"
Count Rockhoof and Wallflower Blush as two canon characters dealing with suicidal thoughts in MLP! (I know I look like a maniac being happy about that, but it's really incredible to see representation in My Little Pony of all shows)
On a personal note, I disbanded the university Brony club I was a part of. Only 2-3 people were coming to weekly meetups so we went out with a bang for the series finale. And somehow TWENTY-FIVE people showed up!!! Holy moly! I never imagined we'd get more than ten.
I'm a little sad because I met my wife in that club. But well... 90% of the people there were alumni and we haven't gotten any new members in ages. It wasn't gonna last the hiatus until Gen5. Might as well go out with a bang. Still sad though.
I love you all, I'm going to go to sleep now.
I honestly don't envy Big Jim or anyone else. If they do one thing, the fans will be death-threat mad, and if they do another, their corporate overlords will quash it. They were stuck, so we got a few wishy-washy seasons of not committing to anything. That's what happens when there's no one to stand up for a creative vision.
And I feel like you're one of the few people who gets this. :B It's not a fun situation to be in.
Wow, that really sums it up.
Yeah. I mean—in my head being a creative director of a TV show would be amazing! But in reality, it's just another politician job with many, many constituents and stakeholders at all levels.
Being alive is so hard for literally everyone and they all did their best and I can't blame them.
But they did a pretty good job all things considered.
Great ideas for what could have happened. I guess Mane 6 episodes were always the easy sell to Hasbro, though.
I'm disappointed too when the mean 3 were turned into stone. I guess watching a lot of Steven Universe has influenced me to see them as lost, confused, and misguided, especially Queen Chrysalis.
Also, I can definitely sympathize with Spike for being an odd one out.