How are mane 6 not mane 7?

[Eloquence 2,076]

To give a reason other than "because merchandising" I think that Spike isn't an Element of Harmony mainly due to his age. People seem to forget that he was introduced at the start of the series as a baby dragon, and less than two years have elapsed since that time. Spike is important, but he isn't a part of the mane six group because the mane six are adults, and being an Element of Harmony is too big a job for someone so young. It would be like if I had a 6-10 year old brother, much as I would love him I wouldn't consider him a part of my friend group that consists of people my own age.

[CastletonSnob 3,045]

To give a reason other than "because merchandising" I think that Spike isn't an Element of Harmony mainly due to his age. People seem to forget that he was introduced at the start of the series as a baby dragon, and less than two years have elapsed since that time. Spike is important, but he isn't a part of the mane six group because the mane six are adults, and being an Element of Harmony is too big a job for someone so young. It would be like if I had a 6-10 year old brother, much as I would love him I wouldn't consider him a part of my friend group that consists of people my own age.

Would you say you like him?

[Unlikeable Pony 2,698]

I can't imagine Spike is popular with fans.

Adult male fans I think he's good with, but not the little girls.

And at its core, this is a merchandise driven show; money talks, and if you can't move toys you won't be an element bearer

 

 

Spike has his own seat at the table with the Cutie Mark Map so the Tree of Harmony must feel that he's important.  Maybe he's destined to do something epic in the future.

Eh, more a consolation prize since it senses that he's important to the OTHERS, but not really missions; he's utterly incapable of utilizing/being utilized by the table due to lacking a cutie mark which is the mane method of control the table exerts over the mane six for missions. (his chair's blank after all)

 

 

he's hardly unimportant

And he's a pony on the inside.

This sounds horribly racist against dragons! ;p

 

 

Because he's not a element of harmony, or a pretty pony to make a doll out of he's just unimportant ken.

This 100 times is why he's not an element. Merchandising.

Look at sunset for example; if they want a new seventh member, they're going to make up someone whole cloth for the express purpose of selling toys.

 

[ManaMinori 4,144]

Could you perhaps give some examples of this?

 

look at the competence of Apple Jack in "applebuck season", "somepony to watch over me", third act of "Spike at your service", and the chaos and consequences her actions had. (Over propelled pegasus, terrorized a bushel of brand new baby, bouncing bunnies, neglectdd her pie delivery duties, caused her baby sister to go into a flame geyser with no protection, to get nearly killed by chimera, concoted an asinine scheme to shake Spike off her tail, which attracted a pack of timberwolves that nearly killed HER.

Or Twilight's competence in "lesson Zero", "swarm of the century", "Magical Mystery Cure", "Bats!", "it's about time" with all the reprecussions from her seeking magic as a quick fix to problems (or her neurotic concocted problems) and all the chaos it caused.

Or Fluttershy's competence in keeping the last Parasprite and being part of the problem, in "Swarm of the century, or "best night ever". Any one remember her little episode started all the chaos in the first place? Disrupting the entire gala with stampeding animals? Yeah.....

Or Pinkie's competence, in "too many pinkie pies", Rarity's in "inspiration Manifestation", RD's in "Tanks for the memories", or how competent the ponies who needed to be told everything from a Princess, without coming up with solutions on their own, in "Princess Spike", and how they, not Spike, caused the problems in the first place. Or the competence of the Princeses, all the time....

Adult male fans I think he's good with, but not the little girls.

And at its core, this is a merchandise driven show; money talks, and if you can't move toys you won't be an element bearer

Hmmmm. I see Vinyl Sratch, Derpy, The CMC, The Princesses, Lyra, Bon Bon, Big Mac, Cherilee, Octavia, Trixie, And Lemon Hearts have quite a few toys made after them. But how can that be possible? Surely, not ALL these ponies are element bearers! Hmmmmmm........

 

To conclude that the mane 6 are mane 6 just because they have toys is riduculous.

[Rocky 68]

Would you say the majority of fans dislike Spike?

Yeah but it's because of things that aren't his fault. 

[child of the night 271]

It's all in the name when you think about it, they are the main 6. Spike is considered to be a secondary characters in the writings and not the exact focus of the story.

 

On another note: main 6 -> mane 6 -> does spike have a main? not really. So even with our socialization of the main 6 spike couldn't be a part of it.

[CastletonSnob 3,045]

But he isn't popular with fans.

[Eloquence 2,076]

Would you say you like him?

 

Sure I do. I just also recognize that he's a kid, mentally the age of the CMC or even younger. I'd say that makes him less relatable to me as an adult, but that doesn't mean I dislike him, I think he's very cute and sweet and I like the dynamic between him and Twilight.

[Black Sabbath 2,484]

or how competent the ponies who needed to be told everything from a Princess, without coming up with solutions on their own, in "Princess Spike", and how they, not Spike, caused the problems in the first place. 

No, Spike caused those those problems because  he made the choice to not wake up Twilight. It was he who made the choice to started making decisions under Twilight's name. 

Rarity's in "inspiration Manifestation", 

But it was Spike who gave her that book, so by your own logic it was he who started the whole problem and not Rarity.  

[Gestum 2,493]

Spike has no mane, and can therefore not be a member of the mane six. 

[Mesme Rize 15,681]

look at the competence of Apple Jack in "applebuck season", "somepony to watch over me", third act of "Spike at your service", and the chaos and consequences her actions had. (Over propelled pegasus, terrorized a bushel of brand new baby, bouncing bunnies, neglectdd her pie delivery duties, caused her baby sister to go into a flame geyser with no protection, to get nearly killed by chimera, concoted an asinine scheme to shake Spike off her tail, which attracted a pack of timberwolves that nearly killed HER.

Or Twilight's competence in "lesson Zero", "swarm of the century", "Magical Mystery Cure", "Bats!", "it's about time" with all the reprecussions from her seeking magic as a quick fix to problems (or her neurotic concocted problems) and all the chaos it caused.

Or Fluttershy's competence in keeping the last Parasprite and being part of the problem, in "Swarm of the century, or "best night ever". Any one remember her little episode started all the chaos in the first place? Disrupting the entire gala with stampeding animals? Yeah.....

Or Pinkie's competence, in "too many pinkie pies", Rarity's in "inspiration Manifestation", RD's in "Tanks for the memories", or how competent the ponies who needed to be told everything from a Princess, without coming up with solutions on their own, in "Princess Spike", and how they, not Spike, caused the problems in the first place. Or the competence of the Princeses, all the time....

 

It's funny that you list off all of these things, without actually telling about Spikes incompetence in all of his episodes, while the Mane 6, eventhough sometimes they screw up, they don't act like idiots and proved themselves to be competent.

 

Again, Spike at your service wants to have a word with you.

[Cleverclover 1,525]

Spike at your Service would like to have a word with you.

 

Using Spike at Your Service as a measure of Spike's competence is inherently flawed. That episode was deliberately intended to paint him as incompetent simply for the sake of the plot. And it certainly took it beyond the extreme by making him fail at tasks he has previously been shown to have a skill for. 

 

For example, in the episode he bakes a pie and burns it without somehow even being aware of it, yet previous episodes have shown him to have at least decent baking skills and can definitely tell when something is burnt. 

 

The fact that an episode can exist simply for the sake of running him into the ground whilst also trivializing his sense of self-worth is exactly why I consider SAYS to be my least favorite episode of the show.