@Background Pony #FF8F
I haven’t read it completely so idk but I really don’t buy into the Twilight is Spike’s mom headcannon anyway so I’m not as invested in any of these characters. Just go along for the ride and enjoy the art.
I don’t especially dislike it, no, it’s just that, like I said, the author clearly introduced each of these elements knowing full well the implications of them. Which leaves me in the position of “Okay, you’ve clearly set it up this way on purpose, so…are you going somewhere with this…?”
Of course, it could be quite some time before that question is answered on way or the other - there’s no telling how much of the story is left, if the author plans of continuing it, or how long it will be before they do (the blog is currently on hiatus, it looks like).
This is the most detailed construct I’ve seen of this blog, and I agree with just about all of it.
Twilight does eventually learn somewhat. Probably the biggest growth in the comic is when || she feels comfortable calling herself mama to Spike.|| Cause like you said, she’s a big part of Spike’s life.
For the comic to call this entire scenario as you said, a apocalyptically stupid idea would be a sharp turn, but not out of place. Every time they hint at the fact that Twilight is in over her head, it usually ends with Twilight hugging it out with Spike, and he feels better. Twilight needs to realize how important she is to Spike, and she does learn as it goes on.
But like, what would’ve been next? We had the prologue segments. Two days of pre-school. And then || The mineralogy field trip. Another day of school followed up by a drama filled play date with Lilian. ||
In a now deleted post, the mod of the blog said they already had a definite “end” to this comic in mind. But what ending they had in mind wasn’t elaborated on, and thus is a mystery to us all.
In one of the last posts, Twilight tries to adopt a new system where she rewards Spike with gems for not calling her mama in public. But that has ‘bad idea’ written all over it, and we never saw how it would have been implemented.
Probably what would have been next would’ve delved deep into Lilian and her situation. Lilian’s mother Violet would have yelled at Twilight even more than she did initially, and really made Twilight realize just how bad of an idea it was to let an 14 year old filly raise a 3 year old dragon all by herself. Violet would have forbidden Spike from seeing Lily, and maybe some amends later, some kind of resolution is made. Maybe a dragon was planned to appear. Maybe not Spike’s parents, but even a dragon visiting Canterlot would’ve thrown a serious bone into the situation. But that’s just speculation on my part.
This is one of my favorite blogs, because it’s just so fascinating to see Twilight struggle through this whole thing, and seeing no matter how much Spike is unintentionally “abused” (for lack of better word), it makes the heartwarming moments feel EARNED. And of course it explores a part of the lore that the show barely touched on. And characterizes Spike and Twilight in a such a believable way (not necessarily positive, like you said, everything here attributes to a disaster for Spike) given the situation.
TL;DR If the story ever continued, it probably would have been more bleak. Of course a 14 year old student raising a 3 year old dragon shouldn’t work. But when Twilight defies the odds and truly helps Spike, oh it’s so sweet.
You know, I do wonder if the comic is ever going to reckon with how bad Twilight is at this, and how bad an idea it was to let her take on this role. Celestia has stated in another post from this blog, that Twilight has been given access to potential help in raising Spike, but we haven’t really been told or shown what that entails, and Twilight’s habit of refusing help when she clearly needs it has just been…allowed to continue.
And, like, I don’t want to be the “No Fun Allowed” guy, I’d be perfectly happy to ignore the realistic implications of the premise (that Twilight at this stage of her life is both incredibly neurotic and generally disregarding of other ponies, and is also a child) if it were the sort of comic that wanted me to (I’m a superhero fan, pretending things that would realistically happen somehow don’t is something I have experience with) - except that the comic (and the comic’s author in out-of-character text posts) has directly (and intentionally) drawn attention to it.
In another post, which I don’t think has been reposted here (yet?), Twilight sees Spike doing some parent-child play with Smarty Pants, during which he puts her in time-out. Twilight wonders why he did that, so she asks him “She’s bad”, and when asked to elaborate, he can’t - “I-I don’t know. She’s just a bad dwagon so she’s in timeout.” Which prompts Twilight to wonder, in the text section below the art, “I’m not…“abusing” him…am I?” And the blog used an ask answering that question in the negative for one of its follow-up posts, but honestly…yeah? Kind of? I know the word “abuse” is an extremely loaded one, which is why I seem like I’m hedging here, but I don’t know if I should be - the blog’s mod themself notes that Twilight’s timeouts are perhaps not the best idea, since Spike lacks the mental capacity to reliably connect being put in timeout with whatever it was that he did. And she’s doing so with the best of intentions, she really is, but that doesn’t change that the effect things like that have. Abuse isn’t always on purpose.
That post, by the way, is why I’ve suggested that the author knows what they’re doing - in the out-of-character section, the author point blank says “[D]discipline is something that Twilight (unknowingly) doesn’t do very well.” This isn’t an E.L. James “LOL 50 Shades doesn’t depict abuse what are you talking about” situation - that author knows what’s going on.
And this was entirely predictable. Twilight is 14 in this blog (and Spike is 3, meaning she was 11 when he was hatched). She also switches back and forth between being oblivious to, and sometimes intentionally ignoring, the ponies around her. She adheres almost religiously to the advice of parenting books, not quite taking int the account the possibilities that the book could be outdated, or the author may have an agenda of their own, or maybe the author just sucks at their job - and, of course, the fact that said books were written about pony children, whereas Spike is, quite noticeably, a dragon. This is not a healthy combination of traits to have in a parent. This is an obviously unhealthy combination of traits to have in a parent. Which raises the question, who the frick signed off on this? How did nobody, not Celestia, not Twilight’s parents, not anybody see that this was a apocalyptically stupid idea?
The backstory of this comic posits that Twilight imprinted on Spike (or…he imprinted on her? Not sure what’s the proper order there) as a result of her hatching him, and that prolonged absence from him as a newborn resulted in both psychological and physical distress, and therefore Twilight needs to be a major part of his life in order to ensure his physical and mental health. Okay, so far so reasonable. But…surely there’s an option other than “let the infant experience perpetual distress thereby warping his wind at a crucial stage of development” and “let an 11-year-old take on all the responsibilities of parenthood”. Celestial says in one post that “I can’t make this decision for her,” but…hecking yes you can. She is a minor, this is textbook case of a situation where the state has the right (and, arguably, the obligation) to intervene, especially if Twilight is refusing help which she obviously needs. And between Celestia admitting in that post that she “made a mistake” and the blog’s author being occasionally critical of Twilight’s parenting (the mod introduced the current storyline by saying “Twilight is about to do something really stupid.”), it’s abundantly clear that this isn’t the result of authorial carelessness. Which leaves me wondering if all of this is ever going to come to a head or what…
Blagh. Sorry for writing that novel. TL;DR - Twilight’s not very good at this, nobody should have signed off on this, and I wonder if the comic will ever address it all or not.
I haven’t read it completely so idk but I really don’t buy into the Twilight is Spike’s mom headcannon anyway so I’m not as invested in any of these characters. Just go along for the ride and enjoy the art.
I don’t especially dislike it, no, it’s just that, like I said, the author clearly introduced each of these elements knowing full well the implications of them. Which leaves me in the position of “Okay, you’ve clearly set it up this way on purpose, so…are you going somewhere with this…?”
Of course, it could be quite some time before that question is answered on way or the other - there’s no telling how much of the story is left, if the author plans of continuing it, or how long it will be before they do (the blog is currently on hiatus, it looks like).
This is very interesting analysis! But does that mean you don’t like this blog? Is this subject just too problematic?
This is the most detailed construct I’ve seen of this blog, and I agree with just about all of it.
Twilight does eventually learn somewhat. Probably the biggest growth in the comic is when || she feels comfortable calling herself mama to Spike.|| Cause like you said, she’s a big part of Spike’s life.
For the comic to call this entire scenario as you said, a apocalyptically stupid idea would be a sharp turn, but not out of place. Every time they hint at the fact that Twilight is in over her head, it usually ends with Twilight hugging it out with Spike, and he feels better. Twilight needs to realize how important she is to Spike, and she does learn as it goes on.
But like, what would’ve been next? We had the prologue segments. Two days of pre-school. And then || The mineralogy field trip. Another day of school followed up by a drama filled play date with Lilian. ||
In a now deleted post, the mod of the blog said they already had a definite “end” to this comic in mind. But what ending they had in mind wasn’t elaborated on, and thus is a mystery to us all.
In one of the last posts, Twilight tries to adopt a new system where she rewards Spike with gems for not calling her mama in public. But that has ‘bad idea’ written all over it, and we never saw how it would have been implemented.
Probably what would have been next would’ve delved deep into Lilian and her situation. Lilian’s mother Violet would have yelled at Twilight even more than she did initially, and really made Twilight realize just how bad of an idea it was to let an 14 year old filly raise a 3 year old dragon all by herself. Violet would have forbidden Spike from seeing Lily, and maybe some amends later, some kind of resolution is made. Maybe a dragon was planned to appear. Maybe not Spike’s parents, but even a dragon visiting Canterlot would’ve thrown a serious bone into the situation. But that’s just speculation on my part.
This is one of my favorite blogs, because it’s just so fascinating to see Twilight struggle through this whole thing, and seeing no matter how much Spike is unintentionally “abused” (for lack of better word), it makes the heartwarming moments feel EARNED. And of course it explores a part of the lore that the show barely touched on. And characterizes Spike and Twilight in a such a believable way (not necessarily positive, like you said, everything here attributes to a disaster for Spike) given the situation.
TL;DR If the story ever continued, it probably would have been more bleak. Of course a 14 year old student raising a 3 year old dragon shouldn’t work. But when Twilight defies the odds and truly helps Spike, oh it’s so sweet.
I agree with this entire post and I can hear present-day Twilight screaming at her younger self to fucking listen
And, like, I don’t want to be the “No Fun Allowed” guy, I’d be perfectly happy to ignore the realistic implications of the premise (that Twilight at this stage of her life is both incredibly neurotic and generally disregarding of other ponies, and is also a child) if it were the sort of comic that wanted me to (I’m a superhero fan, pretending things that would realistically happen somehow don’t is something I have experience with) - except that the comic (and the comic’s author in out-of-character text posts) has directly (and intentionally) drawn attention to it.
In another post, which I don’t think has been reposted here (yet?), Twilight sees Spike doing some parent-child play with Smarty Pants, during which he puts her in time-out. Twilight wonders why he did that, so she asks him “She’s bad”, and when asked to elaborate, he can’t - “I-I don’t know. She’s just a bad dwagon so she’s in timeout.” Which prompts Twilight to wonder, in the text section below the art, “I’m not…“abusing” him…am I?” And the blog used an ask answering that question in the negative for one of its follow-up posts, but honestly…yeah? Kind of? I know the word “abuse” is an extremely loaded one, which is why I seem like I’m hedging here, but I don’t know if I should be - the blog’s mod themself notes that Twilight’s timeouts are perhaps not the best idea, since Spike lacks the mental capacity to reliably connect being put in timeout with whatever it was that he did. And she’s doing so with the best of intentions, she really is, but that doesn’t change that the effect things like that have. Abuse isn’t always on purpose.
That post, by the way, is why I’ve suggested that the author knows what they’re doing - in the out-of-character section, the author point blank says “[D]discipline is something that Twilight (unknowingly) doesn’t do very well.” This isn’t an E.L. James “LOL 50 Shades doesn’t depict abuse what are you talking about” situation - that author knows what’s going on.
And this was entirely predictable. Twilight is 14 in this blog (and Spike is 3, meaning she was 11 when he was hatched). She also switches back and forth between being oblivious to, and sometimes intentionally ignoring, the ponies around her. She adheres almost religiously to the advice of parenting books, not quite taking int the account the possibilities that the book could be outdated, or the author may have an agenda of their own, or maybe the author just sucks at their job - and, of course, the fact that said books were written about pony children, whereas Spike is, quite noticeably, a dragon. This is not a healthy combination of traits to have in a parent. This is an obviously unhealthy combination of traits to have in a parent. Which raises the question, who the frick signed off on this? How did nobody, not Celestia, not Twilight’s parents, not anybody see that this was a apocalyptically stupid idea?
The backstory of this comic posits that Twilight imprinted on Spike (or…he imprinted on her? Not sure what’s the proper order there) as a result of her hatching him, and that prolonged absence from him as a newborn resulted in both psychological and physical distress, and therefore Twilight needs to be a major part of his life in order to ensure his physical and mental health. Okay, so far so reasonable. But…surely there’s an option other than “let the infant experience perpetual distress thereby warping his wind at a crucial stage of development” and “let an 11-year-old take on all the responsibilities of parenthood”. Celestial says in one post that “I can’t make this decision for her,” but…hecking yes you can. She is a minor, this is textbook case of a situation where the state has the right (and, arguably, the obligation) to intervene, especially if Twilight is refusing help which she obviously needs. And between Celestia admitting in that post that she “made a mistake” and the blog’s author being occasionally critical of Twilight’s parenting (the mod introduced the current storyline by saying “Twilight is about to do something really stupid.”), it’s abundantly clear that this isn’t the result of authorial carelessness. Which leaves me wondering if all of this is ever going to come to a head or what…
Blagh. Sorry for writing that novel. TL;DR - Twilight’s not very good at this, nobody should have signed off on this, and I wonder if the comic will ever address it all or not.