Was this the best Spike episode in the entire series?
>Spike is actually useful for once
>Spike actually wins for once
>Spike gets a female character that actually likes and respects him and is actually THE SAME SPECIES
>Spike actually stands up to bullies instead of just being a doormat
>Spike goes the entire episode without getting shit on, cucked, or blamed for something he didn't do
Pretty much, yeah. The salt from people who want to keep the "Spike episodes are shit" meme up is good too.
>>27104515
He has been useful and has won in his own episodes, but yes this is his best.
>>27104515
Spike had to be carried around by a girl, then said girl literally gave him the Dragonlord wand on a silver platter and finally Spike gave away his power to her so he could go back to sort books and wash dishes at Twilight castle.
>>27104515
Just because he was written competently doesn't automatically make the episode great. Even when he's written well, he's not compelling in the slightest.
>>27104589
How's that salt, anon?
>>27104568
Spike likes his assistant role, he always has.
>>27104515
Best Spike episode, yes.
Great episode? No. But good episode. Also, that whole zap from the sceptre better have consequences...Twilight's grown up, Spike should grow at least a little as well.
>>27104625
Jim Miller said that Spike received emotional growth and that should be enough for him.
>>27104568
>"waah waah girls have cooties"
ember was the shit tho
she needed spike as much as he needed her, spike literally saved her life (and rarity's)
spike gave up the title because he didn't want to leave his friends in equestria
spike gave the hot tsundere a somewhat lewd hug and she said she liked it
spike's not a cuck, he's a decent guy who doesn't hog the spotlight or let fame or power get to him
>>27104650
He didn't say that it was enough. He just said that he got it.
People getting pissed at Equestria Games or Princess Spike perplex me.
>>27104700
Princess Spike sucks because Spike was blamed for problems he didn't cause.
>>27104589
He wasn't even well written in this. Making him straight up infallible and heroic is not good characterization. It was corny and unrealistic.
Besides it seems unlikely that after all the threats and monsters that Equestria's ponies have defeated, it's fucking dumbass Garble who ultimately destroys them all.
He's just lucky Twilight was holding back.
>>27104515
Nah, I gave it a 6/10 myself because his heroism felt overplayed and forced.
But then I happened to like Spike beforehand and never projected ideals onto him that he needs to be "better".
>>27104778
I think after everything Spike's been through (hell, after everything ALL of the Mane 7 have been through), the challenges of the dragon lands probably seemed like nothing unusual for them.
>>27104863
That definitely puts it into perspective a bit.
Despite all the action I was still pretty much just bored during the episode. I don't often knock the show for being predictable, but jeez there was just no surprises at all herebesides dragonness waifus, but then this show is built on flavor-of-the-week waifus so that wasn't too surprising.
>>27104764
Remember, it wouldn't just be Garble, but Garble and his entire army of every living dragon in existence.
>>27104764
the criticism I have is that spike was incredibly naive, yet everything worked out just fine. I know this is a kids show about friendship, but still.
it smacked too much of wish fulfillment and everyone getting what they wanted, which is unrealistic and unsatisfying. spike didn't really have to make any sacrifices or grow as a character, everything all just worked out for him because someone bigger than him had his back
>>27104908
oh yeah and this. ember was such a stock "rebellious princess" character to the point where it wasn't even annoying, just boring.
as unlikable as he is, garble is actually a really good villain because he's realistic. he isn't redeemed or redeemable, he's just able to be brought to heel by authority. part of what made the episode feel hollow (other than ember's predictable character arc) is that the actual conflict everyone actually cares about, garble, is too easily defeated. for such a realistic villain it should take a more realistic solution.
>>27105055
Against 4 alicorn goddesses, 6 ponies who wield the most powerful magic in Equestria and a chaos god, they're gonna get rekt.
>>27105243
this is what should happen, but power levels are overruled by plot and inconsistent writing all the time.
look at this week's episode. twilight is an alicorn and rarity has magic too, and they were basically useless and implied to be in serious danger had they been discovered by even a juvenile dragon, despite the fact that they've beaten way bigger and badder stuff a lot of times before.
>>27105184
Ah yes, Garble was probably the highlight of the episode for me. Both his motivation and drive, and the jokes involving him landed well. The struggle between him, Ember, and Spike at the end was also probably the most thrilling scene in the episode.
I wouldn't call him an outright villain though. I see him more as an antagonist and it's just within dragon nature to be an asshole, as Ember was frequently pointing out about the "you aren't allowed to bring friends" attitude.
Although we've seen something a little deeper than that, in that he does have a group of if not "friends" then like-minded acquaintances that happen to share similar interests and hobbies, all of whom were represented as being inherently dickish for the sake of it yet are still able to band together under common ideas. Much alike 4chan actually.
But I digress. I actually liked that this episode stuck to the canon established in Dragon Quest. Although it is a bit peculiar that most everyone else really liked this episode despite enforcing that same canon that a lot of people didn't like from DQ. Goes to show most were probably more focused on Spike being an "epic badass" or new waifu material that they overlooked potential reasons the episode wasn't particularly great.
>>27105243
An all out Pony-Dragon war would be a truly apocalyptic event. I'm not sure Equestria would survive such a thing.
>There exists ponies who are able to traverse time
>They could just as easily stop the war before it had a chance to begin if things came to it
>Implying a group of fire breathing mongols can defeat 2 nations worth of armies who are capable of applying tactics and magic
I honestly dont feel that the dragons would win such a war. In fact, I find it questionable that with their current attitude towards ponies and Equestria's lack of contact with Dragon kind that they didn't try going to war already., if only for the sake of more land/gems and whatever else
/r/ing cuckfic with Spike getting cucked by Garble for Ember
>>27105282
Key difference between Dragon Quest and this episode is that Ember shows Dragons aren't inherently wicked, even if they are raised by other dragons.
A lot of people who don't like Dragon Quest claim to like the G1 version of the same story, where Spike's friends tell him that just because those dragons were jerks, doesn't mean they all are, I think to those people, this episode remedies the problems they saw.
Fuck the story. This season has yet to provide an episode with a decent one.
I'm more pissed off about the designs. Dragons, supposedly the most-powerful creatures known throughout the land, and they look like a fucking joke. Remember how they USED to look? Ferocious, feral, fucking ravenous. Compare that to the shittily-designed How To Train Your Dragon knockoffs we've been getting ever since then.
The current team can't write OR design anything decent. I'm honestly hoping Ingram and Anderson deuce the fuck out too, just so the music can complete the shit trifecta.
>>27104515
its not like there are any good spike episodes to compare it to begin with.
but yea, even on its own it was a solide 8/10 thanks to Ember, though
>>27105282
garble really is a realistic and well written character. the way he treats spike is just brutal, and that's how kids actually act, and it's good to see that acknowledged in a kid's show. I just wish it was dealt with in a realistic way, rather than the "everything worked out in the end" ending we got. it's almost disheartening to see problem presented so well, then wrapped up in such an easy way. this show has gone into heavy consequences and darker territory before.
I don't think having clear motivations and being understandable means he can't be a villain, actually it makes him a better one. the way he acts it is just his nature and all he knows, so he didn't completely choose to be that way, so dealing with someone like that is a hard choice, but at some point it has to be done.
on the other hand, despite the fact that it's dragon nature to be selfish, he's clearly worse than most dragons. most are just selfish, he's sadistic, vengeful, and goes out of his way to persecute others. look at his plans if he becomes dragon lord vs burp girl and pillow guy. the guy's actually dangerous.
the fight was pretty good, definitely the most tense moment of the episode, and pretty well executed. although it seemed too deus ex machina, or maybe just too easy. plus, if ember was already there to swoop in, why hadn't she already just grabbed the scepter?
I thought another suspense thing was is spike actually going to grab the scepter himself, or just have ember do it. it was reallt satisfying to ses him take it for himself and give it away, rather than just let let ember take it in the first place.
this is some pretty good show discussion senpai.
>>27105432
>It was really satisfying to see him take it for himself and give it away, rather than just let let ember take it in the first place.Ashamed to admit that I was silently cheering when that happened, even though I knew he would give it to her. But that part didn't really matter.
I agree with the stuff about Garble and it's a 180 from what I expected from this episode. I expected a redemption and I saw an antagonist turn into almost a villain.
>>27105391
the dragons would likely underestimate ponies and get routed pretty quickly. an invading army with little motivation other than to pillage would break apart quickly after the first couple frustrations, and they would be nothing compared to an entire species defending their homeland. that and dragons aren't exactly team players.
plus most of the senior dragons who actually posed a threat wouldn't be down for it, they already have their cave and their hoard and would be loath to leave it unguarded. there are plenty of senior dragons equestria already, what good would conquering equestria do for them? if anything they'd want the noob dragons to get the fuck out
>>27105391
>time travel
Hasn't that already been shown to be useless because the future always ends up the same?
I'll be to the point. if they'd maybe minimilised how Rarity and Twilight were involved this would have been almost a solid 9 out of 10
>>27105391
A war of Pony vs dragon will cause a lot of damage to both nations. In a war it isn't about who's right but about who's left?
>>27105465
yeah, it was a pretty mature episode until the happy ending (which wasn't even all that bad, just too easy more than anything). it's nice to see these two writers got it and looking forward to more from them.
wasn't the part where spike grabbed the scepter great? rember how down spike was on himself at the end of equestria games? he would really make for a great reluctant/conflicted hero if they spend more time developing him, especially given his gentle nature
>>27105495
>The future always ends up the same
>Multiple different alternative realities just because Glimmer kept interrupting the race
Were you paying attention to the finale, anon?
>>27105520
Ah, ye olde fourth-grader's understanding of war, complete with ye olde fourth-grader's understanding of basic punctuation.
>>27105520
So would any other war. The question would be whether they allow the dragons to raze Equestria (assuming Garble is even capable of leading them to that "victory") or whether the ponies end up making a preemptive nuke on them.
>>27105558
I agree, war is almost always bad, (Sometimes a necessary evil but still.) Garble would not see this, not till it was too late. His army would stand no chance against all four Alicorns, but he could do a lot of damage to the ponies before a counterattack.
>>27105583
>Hence why I also brought up time magic. If desired, they could always jump back to a time period of the current dragon lord's corronation and just take him out stealthily. Wouldn't be hard considering how easily Rarity and Twilight managed to stay incognito for so long.
>>27105495
no time travel ever please. plus time travel is usually a cheap cop out which destroys any tension or character development, cause if anything goes wrong you can just go back and fix it. it basically just erases story people have been reallt invested in and molests narrative structure. for time travel to work there has to be some trade off, it has to be coupled with some kind of sacrifice or loss, and has to be thematically appropriate. time travel where you change elements of the present that existed before the story started work (see chrono trigger), time travel where you just retcon a large chink of the story ruin it (like homestuck,fuck you andrew hussie)
>>27105421
I agree that a lot of the dragon designs are shit (almost like they're TRYING to be ugly), but Ember is not one of them. She looks like a small version of the Season 1 dragons.
>>27105599
Takes out Garble and leave the dragons. A assignation of a lord causes all the monsters to unite under the dragon banner, One of Garble's sidekicks leads a march against Canterlot, burning whatever is in there way.
>Great episode
>DragonTsundere for ONE episode
CHOOSE One, and ONLY ONE
>Captcha:
>>27105524
He only wanted to be Dragon Lord to protect Equestria, and he was willing to give up ever seeing them again to do that.
>>27105555
It's called Mutually Assured Destruction, or a Mexican Standoff. Although it remains to be seen if dragons perceive a war with ponykind as being so costly as to not be worth it.
>>27105723
Therein lies why I felt his heroism in it seemed forced. How quickly he trusted Ember or turned his attitude around to protect Equestria, despite only hearing what a few dragons planned to do though it could be chalked up to the 22 minute run time limit the writers had to work with. Though if he didn't step in Garble would have surely won because presumably Ember wouldn't have made it as far as she did without Spike anyway and Garble despite bearing the brunt of a number of slapstick jokes managed remarkably well alone except the one instance Spike apparently helped him. It all just seemed so contrived and I hate using that word, but it just came across as by-the-book plot convenience.
>>27105793
Nah, see he cares about his friends so much that if protecting them means doing something where he will never see them again, he'll do it. That's not forced heroism at all. That's just him doing the right thing and being willing to take sacrifice. He just happened to find Ember along the way.
Sure it's slightly contrived that Garble was the one that would have gotten it without Spike and Ember there, but I think the whole aspect of them being opposites is interesting, especially when Ember took Spike's words to heart.
>>27104515
>Spike episode
>best
Woah there junior, don't get ahead of yourself now
>>27105757
>MAD is bad
One would think the fact that we're still here proves this meme wrong.
>>27105860
best "spike" episode memelord.
>>27105243
>STILL thinking alicorns are gods
Just stop this meme already. The Sun and Moon are not like ours. Moving them is not a godly feat as normal unicorns use to do it in the past.
The M6 are no longer the Bearers of Harmony either, or did you forget they gave up the Elements?
>but muh rainbow power
That was a one time power-up that was spent and cannot be accessed again. If it could, the M6 would have tapped into it already on several occasions.
>>27105243
Rainbow Power is ded at this point m8. And do the words "collateral damage" mean anything to your autistic mind? Even if the ponies came out on top, the sheer devestation an entire army of dragons would cause would take years to recover from.
>>27105431
plus their good effort in animating a lot of things outside of the familiar grounds full of ponies.
>>27104515
I don't know about that. Ember and Torch acted inconsistent at best. I'd say the best Spike episode is still Secret of My Excess.
>>27107343
>>27105243
>4 alicorn goddess,
Im sorry anon but the alicorns are shit compared to a full grown dragon. Never the less an army of dragons. Twilight and cadance where barely able to defeat that flower monster back then.
And the elements are gone friend. That plot device isnt around anymore.
>>27104515
The episode would've been better if Rarity and Twilight hadn't been there. They served no purpose at all. We didn't even see them most of the time, because 'lel disguises'.
>>27104515
the best Spike episode, just for finally cucking up Rarity. Have you seen her sad expression when she realised that Spike like another dragon?
>>27107544
But she wasn't sad at all. Spike even went home than to stay by her side.
What have you been smoking?
>>27107551
>sparityfag everyone
>>27105687
Are you high? That makes no sense.
>>27106562
>>27107245
>>27107525
Y'all just gonna ignore plot device discord then?
>>27107578
He didn't lift a hand when Starlight was messing around. Unless he see Fluttershy's life being threatened he will pretend that he doesn't see anything.
I like the episode but am i the only one that hate the shitty dragon designes?
Season 1 dragon was awesome. He looked straight out of a Tolkien work. These new dragon designes are like an anoying how to train your dragon with a smedge of punk thrown into them.
>>27104515
> best Spike episode in the entire series
Nope.
>>27104515
Maybe? Still think Secret of My Excess and Inspiration Manifestation are top notch.
Would have to rewatch all three when the hype from this one has cooled down to know.
>>27104568
>Spike had to be carried around by a girl
Kinda hard to fly without wings eh? Also let's not forget that Spike was the girl's SECOND SET OF EYES watching her back.
>>27104700
Princess Spike is a shit episode.Yes he got the blame for shit but how the fuck was he supposed to know about the background information while he didn't even go out of Twilight's room that much? Oh and let's not forget the whole "Oh no Twilight is asleep BETTER HAVE THE WHOLE OF CANTERLOT HAVE ISSUES WITH HER EVERY 10 SECONDS RIGHT NOW AND ALMOST NEVER AFTER THAT"
>>27105275
Okay to be fair Twilight did promise Spike to be there just to cheer him on, she was holding back, since she didn't want Spike to be disqualified for cheating.
>>27107525
>elements are gone
What is Rainbow Power?
>Inb4 why did you make me remember
>>27107743
Stop damage controlling bad episodes.
>>27107544
>Have you seen her sad expression when she realised that Spike like another dragon
I haven't, actually. Could you point me to a screencap?
>>27107748
>Damage control
Dude i'm bashing the episode, what damage control? Please look up the meaning of a meme before you spout it newfag.
>>27107749
I'd like to see that too, i've seen that post in several threads already with no proof.
>>27107578
Discord has proven himself unreliable when it comes to defending Equestria.
>No Elements
>unreliable Discord who may or may not stab them in the back
>who knows about Rainbow Power
The ponies are fucked.
Yes. There has been a ton of lulzy butthurt from fags who cannot accept spike got a good episode.
>>27108524
I seriously doubt Garble is capable of manipulating Discord into betraying them. Plus he's grown too close to Fluttershy now for him to do nothing if she's in danger. He'd do it for her alone.
>>27107525
The combined magic of 4 alicorns was enough to match Tirek, who was a far bigger threat than any dragon army.
And all they need to focus on is the dragon lord. Take him out, and the rest are directionless.
>>27104515
I'm not one to bash the writing of this series, but I truly thought this particular episode was bad. The sisters' lines were plain and boring, and it seemed like the writers didn't even want Twi and Rarity there. I suppose Spike's line were good enough but the dragon's designs were garbage, and the whole friendship concept in this episode felt forced and impassive. Ember was generic, Torch was generic, the backgrounds were plain, and the entire episode lacked drive. You say "he's being useful", but the entire point of competing in the Gauntlet was to win and save Equestria, which I suppose he did in the end, but he nor the other characters progressed much. I think it's just here so the show can say it has another Spike episode.
