S03:E11 - Just for Sidekicks

[WishingtotheStars 15]

I thought this episode wasn't put together that great. It got a little boring after awhile. At least Spike learned a lesson though...

[Danny9889 2]

This has got to be one of the best episode's I have ever watched! Spike barely listens and look what situation he ended up in

[CMC-Applebloom 3]

If you ask me this is the worst episode of season 3, I really like all the pets and the idea of having thema all together but I really didn't like Spike on this episode 

[n1029 224]

Fun episode. The one real bright spot of last season for me post-Sleepless in Ponyville. 

[NomDeSpite 452]

This episode wasn't as good as "Spike At Your Service", which I found hilarious. There was one really funny scene in this episode, where Winona gets flattened by the giant hairdryer, but other than that it was simply "meh". I think more than anything it reveals Spike's limitations as a character. We already had an episode dealing with Spike being greedy ("Secrets Of My Excess") and we don't really need another one.

[Rainblow H. Ash 5,090]

Honestly, i don't mean to be a contrary opinion to the masses, but I actually really liked this episode as I tend to like episodes focused on Spike.

 

I thought the interactions with Spike and the pets were pretty funny, and I liked how we got to see Zecora again as well as see Spike interact with the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

 

Good stuff in my opinion. Not one of my higher rated episodes, to be truthful, but I rather enjoy it. An easy one to just sit back, enjoy, and laugh a bit.

[BlueEyedPegasus 59]

I know this has been an issue even for me in the past couple of years of this series' run, but looking back at all the mixed views on this episode, I'm really getting tired of all the complaints about Spike not being invited to the Crystal Empire to help welcome the games inspector. Honestly, I really don't think Princess Cadance deserves any of the hate she gets for not inviting Spike. So what if she didn't invite Spike? Maybe she had good reason. Since I don't really feel like explaining in full detail, I'll let the opinions on the following TV Tropes pages, to which I've contributed myself before getting banned, do the talking:

 

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSeason3

 

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/FridgeBrilliance/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSeason3

 

The recap pages of this episode and "Games Ponies Play" have also justified Cadance's actions:

 

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS3E8JustForSidekicks

 

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS3E12GamesPoniesPlay

 

But of course, I'm real MIFFED that the YMMV pages don't want to agree with my opinions, or even see the subtleties employed within the plot!

Anybody have any say on this?

[Rainblow H. Ash 5,090]

Spike is a baby dragon and is pretty much still a kid. Why would she invite Spike to the Crystal Empire?

 

I mean, yes, the guy pretty much saved the entire Crystal Empire, with a bit of help from Cadance herself and Twilight in solving Sombra's tricks, but he is still a baby and there's no reason to invite him when it was really just a trip to help and convince the Equestria Game's Inspector that the Crystal Empire was the place to be.

 

It was a team effort. Spike stays behind and watches the pets, and the Mane Six go and take care of the Equestria Games.

 

Honestly, I'm surprised there's an argument over this at all. Not everypony can go, next you'll have people arguing over why the Cutie Mark Crusaders weren't invited or something.

[AlicornRegulars 12]

Why do they keep making spike episodes when everyone knows he is the least liked characters. He is soooo annoying. He earns an Oscar or whatever for being dumb. Though I do love all the pets! Angel is my favorite.

[Pastel 7,627]

Spike is horrible and immature in this episode.

The 15 first minutes are unpleasant to watch. The episode gets better when Spike finally gets his lesson.

 

Overall I find it quite average.

[Justin_Case001 4,855]

Y'know, Spike can really be a greedy, irresponsible ass sometimes.  Not my favorite episode.  I'm not crazy about the ones that barely feature any of the six.  The whole time I was thinking about Secret of My Excess, and wondering why Spike wasn't going all superf*ck crazy like he did before when he got greedy.  But I love how they kind of covered that with Zecora's appearance, and they way she took a gem away, telling him that no good will come of his greed.  Zecora is awesome.

 

Did anypony else notice Big M. and Cheerilee walking together in the background in this episode?  I wasn't actually sure if they were really seeing each other or not.  I guess they are?  I wanted to see more of them, not Spike and the pets.

[Rainblow H. Ash 5,090]

Spike is a dragon and greed seems to be ingrained into their blood. The fact that Spike can resist his natural urge at all is an impressive feat and I feel so bad for the little guy since the fandom has been ragging on him lately and saying that he's the buttmonkey of the show.

 

Seriously, are flaws that bad of a thing for a character to have? People had aneurysms over Rainbow Dash and her ego, people complained about Pinkie Pie causing Fluttershy panic attacks, and now people complain about Spike being greedy and such. I just don't understand why people are so against characters acting out or being a bit antagonistic, even our heroines and heroes in the show. I mean I know I consider myself a jerk pretty nice guy and I ain't nice 24/7, how can the same be expected of the characters on the show?

[Washougal_Otaku 1,020]

While a decent episode, it needed a lot of work.

[TheJLeeTeam 914]

I thought this episode was dull. Spike was going to make a jewel cake but eats all the jewels, and he takes care of the pets. I just found most of this episode to be average. Though one thing I should point out is that I saw Big Macintosh walking with Cheerilee. Maybe this means we will see another episode revolving around them.

[CC_Maud_Pie 6,431]

The episode was okay for the most part. This moment stole the episode in my opinion because it was funny:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXaG1dKm06Q

[JonasDarkmane 19,777]

I loved it, I just completely loved the idea of Flutterhulk 

[powerpuff-tsubasa 447]

spike is still annoying. at least he got his comeuppance

Edited May 19, 2016 by LotusPeony

[cmarston1 5,951]

Even though this is not one of my favorites, I still found this to be a funny and entertaining episode.

[Brainstorm 4,092]

I have a theory, I think the reason why Spike wasn't invited was because the crystal statue of Spike wasn't finished yet, so they wanted to wait until the games to show Spike.

[Bricks_Ahoy 860]

Okay, this is one of the guilty pleasure episodes of the 3rd season. Corey Powell proved that she can write both emotional and boisterous episodes. Very funny episode and I liked that it played along with Games Ponies Play.

4/5

 

[Moony the Cat 3,695]

I thought that Spike already learned a lesson about being greedy, but...maybe he forgot about it in this Episode. It was still entertaining enough and the Animals were cute, specially Winona. Or however her name is spelled.

[Thrond 3,257]

More fun than "Magic Duel," honestly. There's some really phenomenal slapstick here, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders have never been better. It's one glorious manic set piece after another, and I love the way it ties in with the next one. I can't really defend the storytelling here, as it's very much a rehash of "Secret of My Excess," and even its moral has major overlap. This one's much more contrived, as well, and Spike acts poorly pretty much right out the gate, so it's harder to accept "dragon greed" as the reason he descends into selfishness. He doesn't even transform. But all of those contrivances are genuinely creative, much more so than "Magic Duel," and I find all of this a total blast to actually watch, even with the story deficiencies. We'll see if the other half of this story grows on me at all, but right now I'm calling this as the better one. Wish the show would try this kind of thing again. 

Score:

Entertainment: 9/10

Characters: 5/10

Theme: 6/10

Story: 4/10

Overall: 60/100

(this is a case where my scoring system feels really insufficient. Wish I knew a way to weight "Entertainment" higher.)

(also, I originally posted this in "Spike at Your Service," because for some reason I get those two titles confused all the time.)

Edited February 22, 2018 by AlexanderThrond

[bigbertha 410]

This was a very entertaining episode. It has a lot of good jokes, funny animation, and interaction between Spike and the CMC (why there isn't and Spike and CMC episode already I don't know). Spike may be unlikable, but that's the point. We're not supposed to like him so his suffering feels earned. You could argue that Spike is uncharacteristically selfish, but I think this episode is funny enough that it doesn't bother me.

Score: 8/10

[Meushell 52]

Spike seems to lose IQ points when an episode is about him. He can’t not eat gems long enough to make his cake.

Still, I enjoyed the episode for the most part. I can even understand his trying to bake when looking after the pets. I just wish they left out the overly compulsive. That was going beyond his normal behavior.

On 3/15/2014 at 7:23 PM, BlueEyedPegasus said:

I know this has been an issue even for me in the past couple of years of this series' run, but looking back at all the mixed views on this episode, I'm really getting tired of all the complaints about Spike not being invited to the Crystal Empire to help welcome the games inspector. Honestly, I really don't think Princess Cadance deserves any of the hate she gets for not inviting Spike. So what if she didn't invite Spike? Maybe she had good reason. Since I don't really feel like explaining in full detail, I'll let the opinions on the following TV Tropes pages, to which I've contributed myself before getting banned, do the talking:

 

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSeason3

 

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/FridgeBrilliance/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSeason3

 

The recap pages of this episode and "Games Ponies Play" have also justified Cadance's actions:

 

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS3E8JustForSidekicks

 

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS3E12GamesPoniesPlay

 

But of course, I'm real MIFFED that the YMMV pages don't want to agree with my opinions, or even see the subtleties employed within the plot!

Anybody have any say on this?

Without reading the links, maybe Spike just didn’t want to go, or Cadence figured an invite to Twilight would automatically include him.

As for TVTropes, I enjoy it, but I’ve been disappointed in them as well. This is off topic, so I’ll keep it short...there was a character on a show that I felt would not have gotten so much fandom hate if she wasn’t a black woman. Seeing a bit of that in TVTropes as well was very disappointing. Bringing your own bias into a wiki is just not appropriate.

[qwerE 95]

Why is this episode the eighth episode on Netflix? this confused me a bit. Just an okay episode, I think.