Wasted potential for Spike.

[CastletonSnob 3,089]

I hear a lot about how Spike had a lot of potential as a character that was wasted. What potential of his was wasted, specifically?

[Megas 28,097]

His background was the biggest one. Both times they teased(Dragon Quest and Father Knows Beast), they ended up blueballing us. That said he still got the royal treatment once Haber became in charge

[Evil Pink One 13,550]

His alright nothing much wasted... He is a kid... And kids with too much or too great of a character.... Would make him too much... I like how he is.

[Denim&Venöm 20,395]

Leaning how to be the level headed voice of reason and the straight man to the ponies on a more consistent basis. But aside from his heritage, another missed opportunity was him growing up a boy in a largely female dominated world. Who were his father figures? Who were his big brothers? Did he have any fellow boys his age to be his friends? Did he ever get to be a big brother figure?

Nope. They squashed all that by having him hang with Discord and Big Mac out of the blue. 

[Megas 28,097]

48 minutes ago, Denim&Venöm said:

Who were his father figures? Who were his big brothers? Did he have any fellow boys his age to be his friends? Did he ever get to be a big brother figure?

Closest he ever got to any of this was Grimlock 

[JMTV99 1,359]

The reason why people thought Spike's potential character growth was wasted was because we didn't get know much about him outside being a baby/kid dragon. They are so many opportunities that the show writers could've explored with, but they never did. It's a shame, to be honest.

EDIT: I forgot to add my opinion on this. Do I see Spike's potential character growth wasted? Not really. As much as I would love to see Spike's backstory, but at least he's a great character on his own.

Edited May 4, 2021 by JMTV99

[Thrond 3,271]

I don't really agree that his potential was wasted. I do wish we got a bit more from what it was like being raised by another species; we only got a few episodes here and there that vaguely hint at his relationship with Twilight, then two episodes at the end that skim the surface of that topic. Could have been more there. Otherwise, I felt like we got a lot out of him. 

[Tom Gallagher 33,625]

Hey, no more Spike bashing!  I don’t think everycreature needs a backstory so I was perfectly fine with the little teases we got but also the fact that it was left vague. 

[Misty Shadow 8,197]

His potential being wasted, I disagree. Spike's character arc revolves around his conflict with self-acceptance, realizing that he can still make a difference as Twilight's assistant, despite only being a baby dragon. And in this character arc, he rescues his friends, saves the Crystal Empire, sacrifices an opportunity to be the Dragonlord, and gets to be Twilight's advisor in the end. Him not having that much of a backstory or many moments to prove his heroism through fighting, that can be said for most MLP characters. 

[JMTV99 1,359]

2 hours ago, CloudMistDragon said:

His potential being wasted, I disagree. Spike's character arc revolves around his conflict with self-acceptance, realizing that he can still make a difference as Twilight's assistant, despite only being a baby dragon. And in this character arc, he rescues his friends, saves the Crystal Empire, sacrifices an opportunity to be the Dragonlord, and gets to be Twilight's advisor in the end. Him not having that much of a backstory or many moments to prove his heroism through fighting, that can be said for most MLP characters. 

THIS!