What the hay happened to Spike?

[ManaMinori 4,145]

Ok, this has been bugging me, because I haven't seen anyone talking about it when the episode first aired, and certainly not now. In "Maude Pie", there is no Spike. Now normally this wouldn't me much of an issue- the mane 6 have their episodes and Spike has his. But what really grates on my gears is when there's a group episode that is meant to highlight the closeness of its members, but Spike- who has been there from the beginning- is excluded as one of Pinkie's friends, he doesn't get a friendship necklace, he doesn't get to meet Maud, nor give her a necklace, doesn't have his own little area on Pinkie's obstacle course, and it really frustrates me

thoughts on Spike being MIA in this episode?

[FlareGun45 2,221]

My thoughts? He's drifting away from the Mane Six and forming his own group!

[chaosprincess 1,067]

In my opinion he should just leave ponyville and live with the dragons he should learn how to act and be a dragon since that's what he is, but I don't really care for Spike he is more annoying to me, but I do love generation 1 Spike he was so adorable and he spoke up for his friends which was especially shown when he stood up to Tirek almost getting himself killed.

[Ganondorf8 11,369]

I'm guessing the writers couldn't find a way to include Spike so they decided not to use him in particular episodes.

[DonMaguz 1,023]

My guess is that Spike is seen as a younger brother of Twilight, a child, and although they like him a lot, the group does not includes him. It's kind of sad, but it has happened in more than one episode and that's the interpretation I've had of the situation.

[Frozen The Unicorn 484]

2 hours ago, Ganondorf8 said:

I'm guessing the writers couldn't find a way to include Spike so they decided not to use him in particular episodes.

This has been something that has been happening all the way since Season one Spike's character seems to be on call depending on if he's needed or not. It's sometimes nice when we get excuses about where he is (Hoofball with Big Mac), but there are episodes where he really does just drop off the map.

I mean, it is Spike, the writers rewrite him every season

[Thrond 3,263]

2 hours ago, Ganondorf8 said:

I'm guessing the writers couldn't find a way to include Spike so they decided not to use him in particular episodes.

I'm going to guess this. I don't really see any reason for it in-universe, although this was at a time when Spike was beginning to feel inadequate compared to them, and that might have made him feel a bit distant from them when Maud visited. 

[Aethylynn 45]

As much as many of us like Spike, it is important to remember that he is a sidekick, and not really a part of the group. At best he is a "tag along kid" type. In episodes that focus on the mane 6 as a group, Spike is absent as often as not. You only really see him when the focus is on on him or Twilight.

[cmarston1 5,959]

The writers didn't feel like he was needed for the episode I suppose.

[Ganondorf8 11,369]

17 hours ago, Frozen The Unicorn said:

This has been something that has been happening all the way since Season one Spike's character seems to be on call depending on if he's needed or not. It's sometimes nice when we get excuses about where he is (Hoofball with Big Mac), but there are episodes where he really does just drop off the map.

I mean, it is Spike, the writers rewrite him every season

Maybe they should find some consistency with him and stick with it. Otherwise, the next thing you know is that he could end up being portrayed as something completely out of left field that none of us expected.

16 hours ago, AlexanderThrond said:

I'm going to guess this. I don't really see any reason for it in-universe, although this was at a time when Spike was beginning to feel inadequate compared to them, and that might have made him feel a bit distant from them when Maud visited. 

It feels like the writers want ponies to be the most successful while other creatures are made to struggle.

[Thrond 3,263]

1 hour ago, Ganondorf8 said:

It feels like the writers want ponies to be the most successful while other creatures are made to struggle.

I don't really feel that with Spike, but this has often seemed to me to be a consequence of the show's recent efforts to have non-pony sapient species stand in for specific character traits. Griffons are greedy self-interest, dragons are aggressive hyper-masculinity, etc., most of whom don't understand friendship like ponies do. They need to struggle so Friendship can replace those negative traits. Generally, I'm not especially fond of this.

But that's not really how I see Spike. In season 4, he felt inadequate just because his friends had achieved so much more than he had, and I think that fits with his character. I don't usually see him as "struggling" too much more than the pony main characters, and I think his "Butt monkey" status is because he's an assistant more than because he's a dragon. 

[Ganondorf8 11,369]

7 hours ago, AlexanderThrond said:

I don't really feel that with Spike, but this has often seemed to me to be a consequence of the show's recent efforts to have non-pony sapient species stand in for specific character traits. Griffons are greedy self-interest, dragons are aggressive hyper-masculinity, etc., most of whom don't understand friendship like ponies do. They need to struggle so Friendship can replace those negative traits. Generally, I'm not especially fond of this.

But that's not really how I see Spike. In season 4, he felt inadequate just because his friends had achieved so much more than he had, and I think that fits with his character. I don't usually see him as "struggling" too much more than the pony main characters, and I think his "Butt monkey" status is because he's an assistant more than because he's a dragon. 

Spike is perhaps the one non-pony who does his best to defy the stereotype that other non-ponies have been branded by but the writers tend to make him either the butt of everyone else's jokes or having caused the problem. At least in season six they were able to make him be the star and solving problems that were caused by others.