Was Inspiration Manifestation a Spike or Rarity Episode?

[SolyWack 482]

This seems to be something that's debated on much more than I thought it would be. On topics discussing Spike and his terrible characterization and episodes, the two main points that are brought up in support are Equestria Girls 1 (highly underrated, but that's for a different topic), and inspiration manifestation.

 

People retaliate with these:

 

EQG- Its not canon, so that doesn't count

 

Inspiration Manifestation- That was a Rarity Episode.

 

Saying that EQG isn't canon is stupid and dumb, and doesn't require arguing back, but the second point is much more debatable. Was Inspiration Manifestation a Spike or Rarity episode? Spike was the one who saw and confronted the problem, but Rarity was the one who realized she was doing something wrong.

 

There is valid arguments for both side. What do you guys think?

 

Edit: and don't say both. That's no fun.

Edited August 13, 2015 by AppleJack_Wack

[Jeric 46,866]

Spike episode, with Rarity playing a large role. The set-up, conflict, and resolution/moral were all Spike centric. Rarity was also not quite herself.  

[碇 シンジン 27,434]

It was more of a Spike episode, why?  Spike, had the most lines in it 69 Rarity only 59. Also the lesson was for the Spike to learn. And Spike was in every major scene iirc =)=)=)

 

[NezPPTS 36]

I think it was more of a Spike episode, as he was the one who, IIRC at the end of the day, learned the lesson from the circumstances the episode brought him through. Rarity was just the plot device used to have Spike learn that lesson.

[Sidral Mundet 1,666]

Always a tricky thing when talking about episodes that have Rarity play a substantial role in them.  Personally I say there are only three "true" Rarity episodes, (Suited for Success, Sweet and Elite, Rarity Takes Manehatten)  where the focus is solely on her.  Most other times she usually has a foil of some nature or is in a secondary role.  Inspiration for instance was the latter as it was primarily a Spike centered episode, but for the former an example would probably be Simple Ways. 

[Sugar Cube 4,843]

The narrative more closely followed Spike and his perspective, thus he received the majority of the screen time. Rarity really wasn't herself throughout the vast majority of it, so it's hard to consider it a Rarity episode when it's not really her. On top of that, it was Spike who received the lesson at the end of the episode. Suffice to say, it's a Spike episode, like everyone else said.

[MLPFanatic34 3,235]

I think it was more of a Spike episode that featured Rarity, but Spike was the one that learns the lesson in the end.

[Eloquence 2,076]

Spike was the one who learned the lesson of the episode, and for that reason it could be considered a Spike episode, but despite not being told to do this I would be more inclined to say that the episode is for both of them. A common yet often overlooked episode type in FiM is what I would call the "relationship study"; an episode heavily featuring two characters that explores one or both of them individually as well as the relationship between the two. Look Before You Sleep was a Rarity/Applejack episode, Three's a Crowd was a Twilight/Discord episode, and Inspiration Manifestation could easily be described as a Spike/Rarity episode.

 

Any way you slice it though, I for one would really not describe this as a Rarity episode 

[cider float 2,538]

Yeah there's episodes like this and people say that it's this pony's episode when it's not.

 

The same goes for Bats! and Make New Friends but Keep Discord being called Fluttershy episodes but they aren't. MNFbKD is definitely a Discord episode it even has his name on it.

[FrozenSpark 47]

This episode was a challenge for Spike to save Rarity and a lesson when not to use magic and always be honest with your friends.

[cider float 2,538]

One interesting thing is this is like the second spell that Rarity learns that is special for her. The other one was the gem finding spell. Of course she discards this spell in the end because it possesses her.

[FrozenSpark 47]

  On 2015-08-14 at 11:31 AM, cider float said:

One interesting thing is this is like the second spell that Rarity learns that is special for her. The other one was the gem finding spell. Of course she discards this spell in the end because it possesses her.

The finding gems spell is necessary, how else can she find them, but using magic to create instantly without any work comes with a price.

Edited August 14, 2015 by FrozenSpark