@Background Pony #B386
 
Whoa.  
It’d be all easily explained as well.
 
-Spike grows a bit older.  
-Grown Spike (as we saw) is pretty buff compared to other adult dragons.  
-Now set the idea that Spike might be considered “handsome” by dragon standards.  
-Humanize this grown Spike.  
-Look at this pic.  
-Profit!

….oh, I’m sorry, I think I will come back later. You didn’t have to open the door if you knew it was just me….just make sure that Sweetie Belle doesn’t see this, or Gabby Gums will all of a sudden begin her comeback….

@Background Pony #B386  

@pia-chan  
Well said!
 
^{Wait, that sounded so gay from me…}

@SquiggyBomb  
that’s the only thing that really matters! duh!

@Background Pony #B386  
Who cares? Human!Spike’s got a sexy chest.

@Background Pony #B386  
Duuuude, relax, it’s just fanart…  
How can you even browse Derpibooru with that attitude?

@Background Pony #B386  
you take this too damn seriously…

@Background Pony #B386  
Well, I think it would help you if you read the context of this pic, which is a fanfic I wrote (I’m not the best writer int he world though), and perhaps you’d change your viewpoint of this thing. And I’m not gonna explain anything else, as my view of Spike may be different of others, and I have my right of drawing him the way I want, without others calling my work “shitty” or stuff, right? AND I prefer to draw him this way, as adult form, as I imagine he’d be, because I don’t want that pedo-shit over me because that bothers me to no end.

@pia-chan  
@RIG
 
Eh? This isn’t obvious enough; I have to explain it? The odious essence of a self-insert escapist fantasy isn’t necessarily authorial, though it often is. When you write self-inserts for readers or viewers, it is basically the same thing. You invent something for them to live vicariously through, rather than for you to live vicariously through.  
An example of this would be “second person” fanfiction, where that second-person - say - makes out with their waifu of choice. “You do this” “She loves you” “She does this to you” etc.
 
In this case, now, Pia creates a character that is supposedly Spike, but is only identifiable as such because she tacked on an out-of-place purple tail and wings. The same as if there had been a sign pointing to him saying “This is Spike, guys. Spike. Really. This is really Spike.”  
Contrast this with the Rarity, who, even if shifted to grayscale or changed color or reduced to a silhouette, would still be distinct and identifiable. As always the problem is taking one character and totally re-inventing it into what you want it to be. Which is what a lot of Sparity pics and people do, admittedly, but as parents tell their children, if “everyone was jumping off a bridge, would you?”
 
Spike himself eventually shook off his fantasy of being a “comically handsome, muscled knight” and it was shown as an adolescent fantasy because that’s what it was. Some of his fans, too, should see him for what he is, rather than what he daydreams of being.
 
Pia, you’re a very skilled artist, capable of a range of styles, human and pony, but this isn’t Spike. It is only superficially him. It baffles me, honestly, how people can watch the cartoon Spike and get this from it. It is akin to someone drawing the “hunchback of notre dame” except instead of being a hunchback, he’s a beautiful blonde superman, as pretty on the outside as he is on the inside. From a narrative point of view, you’re completely throwing away the essential conflict of the relationship and the dynamic. That part is what irked me enough to comment.
 
And now, look at this stream of text. Well, I was all but asked to explain it, so I did. Just as well, I do “make my own shit as I want it to be.” But do you want honest responses or just sycophants who agree with you? I’d hope for the former.

@RIG  
that’s actually another point, and Spike is fanservice for myself… xD

@Background Pony #B386  
how can be a self insert if the artist is female?

@pia-chan  
This is why I love you Pia.

@Background Pony #B386  
you could also do something, make your own shit exactly like you want it to be, just like I did ; )

Want to upvote for Rarity, but had to downvote for shitty vaguely-Spike-colored self-insert OC

I think Spike is gonna rip that towel.  
And he won’t need to move a muscle for that.

I can see his root

Caught in the act?

My god. Dat chest.

Spike: (“Don’tbonerdon’tbonerdon’tboner…”)

next time closed the damn door.

I feel like I’ve intruded on something.