S05:E10 - Princess Spike

[BlackWater627 700]

I just wish the writers could give a little depth to Spike. He seems to fall into the same rut quite readily. He has the potential to be an interesting and fun character, but it seems the writers just want to keep him down. On a side note is "princess" a gender neutral term in Equestria?

 

Agreed. To answer your question, I do not believe so. Given everything I have seen and heard throughout the show, there are very strong "gender roles" or what-term-you-prefer. It's unfortunate but it is expected given everything involving the show's category, sponsor, and norms for similar shows.

 

When it comes to how this episode factors into the overall strength of the show and fan interest...I actually don't think much needs to be said. The show is stronger than ever and anyone who thinks this is a downtrend is jumping the gun in the extreme. Much like how people leaving the fandom because of the last episode are just a statistical norm for any fandom (just like Magical Mystery Cure jumpers). I didn't care much for this episode but I await the next one with the same bated breath. 

[Shawn Parks 1,798]

I liked the nerdy geology pony.

[CM Pony 30]

This was a pretty average episode.  I was a bit let down because Spike has been so underutilized lately and the episode they give him was kind of average.  But oh well, not every episode can be spectacular.

 

The most aggravating thing was knowing that Fancy Pants' voice was sounding exactly like something else I had heard.  I know he is supposedly supposed to sound similar to John Cleese but he doesn't at all to me.  Every episode I hear him in, it drives me bonkers.  Finally, about half an hour after watching this, it finally came to me.  He sounds like John Hurt's character in King Ralph.

 

But as far as the episode goes, it had its moments.  I liked how the bird saluted and walked backward away from Twilight.  And I thought it was funny when Cadence was all wet.  Other than that, it didn't do much for me.

[Fawkes The Phoenix 737]

The most "meh" episode of the season. Far away from being the worst (that would be Tanks For The Memories), but it's just too forgettable.

 

6/10

[cuteycindyhoney 13,283]

I love the Marge Gunderson pony!

(I took the liberty of changing the Family logo)

 

But Phil Spector pony is likely to give me nightmares!

[Lexamena 391]

I liked the nerdy geology pony.

Looked like female version of Snails, huh.  Related? If not, ships to come? Who knows.

 

 

 

I haven't read the whole thread so maybe it's been mentioned, but has Trollestia struck again? Working Twilight for 72 hours straight and then her and Cadence charging Spike with keeping Twilight out of the picture and then both of them either refusing to help or even be present while Spike struggled? With the exception of Cadence showing up to criticize? 

[Dolphanatic 298]

Not the best episode, but I did like it more than the last episode

 

 

You've got to be kidding me.

Edited June 21, 2015 by Dolphanatic

[Sidral Mundet 1,666]

Don't you think it's really unfair to put the blame on the bronies, because the episode sucked? If you want to put the blame on someone, put it on the writers, because they are responsible for this episode, not us.

 

We would like Spike in an important role, if his episode would be atleast decent.

Well everyone's praising the 100th episode because of bronies, so the reverse can be equally as true. 

[PittyPaws 118]

It was rather interesting to see an episode where there was a conveniton representing all the cities of Equestria. 

If I counted the gems right then there are 125 different cities in Equestria. 

 

It seems that many of the Spike episodes deal with Spike feeling he is not as important as everyone else and this one seems no different. 

[Dolphanatic 298]

Well everyone's praising the 100th episode because of bronies, so the reverse can be equally as true. 

 

Not really. At most, Bronies are an influence on the writers and nothing more. In fact, the writers aren't even allowed to read fanfiction due to the fact that they don't want to be accused of pandering. Ultimately, it's still the writers who are responsible for how well the episode was written. As far as I'm aware, nobody's saying "We Bronies sure did a great job writing Slice of Life."

Edited June 21, 2015 by Dolphanatic

[cider float 2,535]

Spike was only doing as he was told to do. The responsibility fell on all of them that were asking for Twilight for help because you know Spike could be doing the same as well.

 

I think the reason a lot of the other ponies couldn't figure what to do with their jobs was too much reliance on Twilight... maybe that should of also been one of the lessons here.

[Guest]

God damnit Spike, you had ONE JOB SPIKE, ONE JOB! I didn't really care for this episode, the way spike acted isn't at all how anyone would act normally that situation, I would've handled things completely differently, I'd have stood guard outside twi's room, and that's it. That's literally all he had to do. WTF spike? Did he not understand how disturbing the maintenance work could backfire? Why would anyone do that? He's like a stupid little kid. And you don't give stupid little kids big responsibilities. In fact, cadence shouldn't have had spike do anything frankly.

 

Cadence could handle twilight's affairs while she was sleeping.

Edited June 21, 2015 by Guest

[skysweep 541]

Its rather...interesting to say the least. The volume of politics present in a diplomatic forum is nuts, and this is no different. As much as Spike did let power go to his head, he couldnt exactly stand around and do nothing. Especially the arbitration cases. To any diplomat, the sovereign or the representative of the sovereign refusing to settle a dispute is a sign that you are unimportant. That isnt a very good tone to send across to a gathering of such people. 

 

Of course, Spike just tries to settle the issues as best he can. After all, Twily wasnt.....functional enough to answer questions. But in the end, there are many ways to look at it, but in the end, I would say the blame should be equal amongst all parties. Twily should have rested more, Spike could have deferred to other authority(Cadence did have enough time to check on him....) The delegates could have paid a little more attention to the state of the Princess, and the other Princesses could have managed the situation just as much by removing the stress load on Twilight. 

[Dark Qiviut 22,173]

In fact, the writers aren't even allowed to read fanfiction due to the fact that they don't want to be accused of pandering.

Not quite. The writers can't read fanfiction because they, Hasbro, or both could get sued for plagiarism or copyright infringement, thus getting some compensation. It was one of the reasons why EQD kept the "no fanfiction" tag beyond its original purpose.

 

moral of the story: NONE of this would've ever happened if ponies (and Bronies) appreciated Spike more, instead of not wanting him around, not wanting to hear his opinions, not giving him a chance, treating him like a buttmonkey. All the poor guy wants is to be appreciated and needed; to be given a chance to feel IMPORTANT, as shown in this episode.

Well everyone's praising the 100th episode because of bronies, so the reverse can be equally as true.

 

Both of you are wrong here. Older bronies are a huge inspiration for the making of Slice of Life, but they never made the episode. Larson did. If the episode was low in quality, it'd be his fault, not older bronies.

 

Likewise, it's ridiculous for anyone to scapegoat bronies as A or THE reason why Princess Spike failed both critically and in quality. Spike fans like myself are still waiting for a great Spike episode (one that transcends his character rather than be contrived and out of character), and I hope this happens. But when nearly every one of them use story-breaking clichés, stereotypes, or both, then the Spike episodes feel more wasteful than joyful.

Edited June 21, 2015 by Dark Qiviut

[cuteycindyhoney 13,283]

The episode was fun, but how come Spike centric episodes always make him look like a dork?

[Sidral Mundet 1,666]

Not really. At most, Bronies are an influence on the writers and nothing more. In fact, the writers aren't even allowed to read fanfiction due to the fact that they don't want to be accused of pandering. Ultimately, it's still the writers who are responsible for how well the episode was written. As far as I'm aware, nobody's saying "We Bronies sure did a great job writing Slice of Life."

 

True but I was more making note that some fans are using the excuse that because it was an episode dedicated to bronies and is a gift to the fans, that it somehow negates any criticism one has for the episode. I, for instant, have run into that when I expresses dissatisfaction with the episode and personally don't care for the 100th episode at all. 

[Pastel 7,627]

I thought that episode was pretty good. It was maybe a bit boring, but I enjoyed seeing Cadence and all these new ponies.

 

However, I'm getting a bit tired of Spike's role in the show, he always makes stupid mistakes and that's really getting repetitive. Hopefully it's the last episode like that.

Edited June 21, 2015 by Blobulle

[Rainboom Dash 1,055]

An alright episode, but still a stock-standard Spike story. I really want a more developtive story for him. This still had a few good moments however.

[Scootaloo Is Best Filly 576]

In fact, something occurred to me about this episode, why didn't Cadence step in? It seemed like she had an idea that all this decision making was going to his head and that he'd get too greedy. So I am just wondering if you had an idea what was really going on, why didn't you at least prevent it from happening?

 

As much as Spike caused these problems, isn't Cadence just as guilty for not taking charge when she basically realized what Spike was doing?

[Cuddly 43]

I hate Spike. And I don't like, when entire episode is about him. But this episode isn't so bad.

I totally understand Spike behaviour- he feel bad, that ponies didn't want listen him. But his behaviour was wrong. He should send ponies back to Cadence or other princess. He had to take care abut Twilight, not take over her duties.

[Delzepp 2,939]

pretty laid back episode to complement last week's madness

 

I liked it

[maarlepoo 6]

Well, another episode showing Spike's  tendency to abuse any power, however small, he obtains. I'm quite sure we've seen enough of this theme of greed before...no wonder people don't usually rank Spike high up in their 'best pony' list - he lacks character and whatever traits he has seem to be bad as a whole...

[UnknownFry 169]

Probably the best Spike episode as of yet.  Good world building with the whole Summit, simple but entertaining plot that was well placed, and excellent characterization through and through. Sleepy Twilight was probably the funniest part followed by Fancy Pants leading the angry mob, and it was great to see more of Canterlot for a change. This is the kind of the episode the show needed after Slice of Life to set things back to normal.

 

10/10

[Justin_Case001 4,855]

The Twilight Hate Club is gonna have a field day with this one.

Good morning, Equestria!

Princess Spike...where to start.  This is the first episode of the season that I marked as "didn't like", or indeed anything other than "like" or "love".  I can already tell that all the folks who dislike the purple princess because she's "too perfect" are going to have lots of ammunition with this episode.  And....for the first time...*sigh*, I have to admit I kind of agree.  Sort of.  We'll circle back to that one.

I think that Spike has faired the worst at the hands of the writers as the seasons have gone on.  In fact, for the most part, I really like what they've done with every other character.  But poor Spike hasn't been treated well.  I, like many of you, have long been wishing for a bit more maturity from the little guy.  But it seems like every Spike spotlight is just a Spike-screws-something-up episode.  It didn't feel so much like that in earlier on.  In the earlier episodes, I felt like there were more scenes and lines showing Spike's skills as an excellent assistant and cook.  But now, every time I see it's going to be a Spike spotlight, I just go, "Oh gawd, what's he gonna f*ck up this time?"  And that's not right.  Every Spike episode could be summed up with a gif of him tapping his claws together, a maniacle grin on his face, and a caption saying "Hehehe.  How can I exploit this power for personal gain?"  How many episodes like this do we need?  Could he do something right for a change?  That'd be nice.  I've always been a fan of Spike, and he deserves better.  He has so much more potential.

Let me be clear, though--the episode wasn't bad, per se, in and of itself.  It's just a trend I don't care for: a trend of writing Spike as nothing but comic relief, and a screw up.  He just doesn't seem as competent as he used to be.

Circling back, as promised; I believe this episode will provide the Mary Sue club with a lot of fuel, and maybe justifiably so.  I have always been a defender of all things Twilight, and still love her to pieces, but for the first time, this episode kind of made me feel a bit annoyed at her portrayal of perfection.  It wasn't so much her being overly perfect as it was Spike being a screw up, yet again.  But at the same time, it felt annoying that everypony in Canterlot was treating (what they believed to be) Twilight's decisions like the Word of God.  Man, it's really like she can do no wrong.  I mean....geeeeeze.  I've never agreed with the folks that say Twilight makes her friends out to be morons, but this time...idk, man.  This episode threw her perfection into sharp relief.  Poor Spike can't do anything right on his own, should have left it to Miss Perfect who would have made all the right decisions.  Uggghhhh.

They missed the boat on this one.  I still love Twilicorn, and I still support her, but I really, strongly think they need to do just one Twi spotlight this season where she screws something up, then fixes it and learns a lesson.  I can see where the hate club comes from.  Every other character still gets screw up episodes where they learn a lesson, but not her.  Oh no.  She could still have so much to learn about being a princess, and that's how they should write it.  This episode would have been a perfect 10 for me if they had made it Twi's screw up, not Spike's.  I think they should have had her make some bad decisions, and piss off a few ponies, and then realize that this decision making stuff is harder than it looks, and she still has a lot to learn.  (After all, she has a lot of monster fighting experience, but how much diplomacy and decision making experience does she really have?)  Celestia could give her some wise council, thus brining back Celestia's role as a useful advisor, and then Twilight could fix the situation and learn from it.  That would have been a much better route to go, imo.

I just want to state again, I'm still on Team Twi, and I'm glad she's grown and evolved, I just think it would go a long way if the writers had her screw up once in awhile.  Y'know, like everyone else does.

I'll end with the pros:

 

• Always welcomed Cadence screen time
• Twilight is impossibly adorable when exhausted/asleep

 

Thanks for brohoofing and commenting on this post.  You know what time it is.

Edited June 21, 2015 by Justin_Case001

[SparklingSwirls 21,261]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSxD7ANFONM

 

You've got to be kidding me.

No, I'm not kidding. However, I understand that different people have different opinions on the episodes. Personally, I hate when shows do fanservice.