Viewing last 25 versions of comment by Ignorance on image #1367706

Alright, let's calm all the drama here. Both sides of the argument have points.


 
First off, Spike is most definitely under no responsibility to let a villain get away with her villainy. Especially when said villain threatens his family. There might have been better ways to go about it but as far as attempting to publicly oust her and fleeing to someplace where he and his daughter could be safe then I'd say he did nothing wrong there. Some folks call that backing Shine into a corner, but the comic did mention that Equestria was pretty much split on its opinion on whether Spike's story was the truth or not. Shine escalated the conflict from there by opting for executions of those questioning her rule over countless other possibilities such as, I don't know, forging evidence that would have disproved Spike's claims. She was the one in power and Spike was a thousand miles away and opting for a smear campaign. Shine must have had tons of options that didn't involve murder and chose to go with that regardless. In good conscience, it's hard to hold Spike accountable for the fact that Shine Bright was a monster that decided murder was the most effective way to silence her detractors over any of the non-violent and not-obviously-evil ways to do it.


 
But, on the other hand, Spike is totally in the wrong for escalating this to a war. It once again comes down to options here as, between his alliances with Changelings and the Crystal Empire, there was ample opportunity for Spike to build and present a case. Gather proof and support and get enough folks onto his side that eventually the rest of Equestria and probably even the army has to realize he's right and turn on Shine Bright. Especially given the executions should have pretty much swayed anyone that had any doubts over whether Spike's story was true. Granted, as powerful as she was, there's a chance Shine was using magic to keep the ponies of Canterlot on her side. In which case that makes the war even worse as Spike and the others would be killing soldiers that aren't in control of themselves. Besides, the infiltration powers of the Changelings would make getting to Shine Bright and kidnapping or (if it came to it) assassinating her a piece of cake, Cadence's word as an actual alicorn and princess should have carried way more weight than some upstart student that's murdering her subjects left and right...


 
And all this boils down to one major problem: Mass executions to silence detractors and starting a war to kill one individual are not actions taken by actual sensible individuals. The problem is less the characters themselves (as the Spike presented on the show would never carry things this far, especially not in Twilight's memory or name) and more the fact that the creator of this comic is obviously really wanted this war to happen and didn't think about whether it was truly in character. Given the presentation in the comic I'm guessing the creator is trying to make Spike look like a bad-ass, but has fallen into the trap of a Protagonist Centered Morality where it's okay for Spike to trigger a massive war because he's the "good guy" in the story. And for any fanwork for any character in any fandom that's doing them a massive disservice.

Alright, let's calm all the drama here. Both sides of the argument have points.

First off, Spike is most definitely under no responsibility to let a villain get away with her villainy. Especially when said villain threatens his family. There might have been better ways to go about it but as far as attempting to publicly oust her and fleeing to someplace where he and his daughter could be safe then I'd say he did nothing wrong there. Some folks call that backing Shine into a corner, but the comic did mention that Equestria was pretty much split on its opinion on whether Spike's story was the truth or not. Shine escalated the conflict from there by opting for executions of those questioning her rule over countless other possibilities such as, I don't know, forging evidence that would have disproved Spike's claims. She was the one in power and Spike was a thousand miles away and opting for a smear campaign. Shine must have had tons of options that didn't involve murder and chose to go with that regardless. In good conscience, it's hard to hold Spike accountable for the fact that Shine Bright was a monster that decided murder was the most effective way to silence her detractors over any of the non-violent and not-obviously-evil ways to do it.

But, on the other hand, Spike is totally in the wrong for escalating this to a war. It once again comes down to options here as, between his alliances with Changelings and the Crystal Empire, there was ample opportunity for Spike to build and present a case. Gather proof and support and get enough folks onto his side that eventually the rest of Equestria and probably even the army has to realize he's right and turn on Shine Bright. Especially given the executions should have pretty much swayed anyone that had any doubts over whether Spike's story was true. Granted, as powerful as she was, there's a chance Shine was using magic to keep the ponies of Canterlot on her side. In which case that makes the war even worse as Spike and the others would be killing soldiers that aren't in control of themselves. Besides, the infiltration powers of the Changelings would make getting to Shine Bright and kidnapping or (if it came to it) assassinating her a piece of cake, Cadence's word as an actual alicorn and princess should have carried way more weight than some upstart student that's murdering her subjects left and right...

And all this boils down to one major problem: Mass executions to silence detractors and starting a war to kill one individual are not actions taken by actual sensible individuals. The problem is less the characters themselves (as the Spike presented on the show would never carry things this far, especially not in Twilight's memory or name) and more the fact that the creator of this comic is obviously really wanted this war to happen and didn't think about whether it was truly in character. Given the presentation in the comic I'm guessing the creator is trying to make Spike look like a bad-ass, but has fallen into the trap of a Protagonist Centered Morality where it's okay for Spike to trigger a massive war because he's the "good guy" in the story. And for any fanwork for any character in any fandom that's doing them a massive disservice.

Alright, let's calm all the drama here. Both sides of the argument have points.

First off, Spike is most definitely under no responsibility to let a villain get away with her villainy. Especially when said villain threatens his family. There might have been better ways to go about it but as far as attempting to publicly oust her and fleeing to someplace where he and his daughter could be safe then I'd say he did nothing wrong there. Some folks call that backing Shine into a corner, but the comic did mention that Equestria was pretty much split on its opinion on whether Spike's story was the truth or not. Shine escalated the conflict from there by opting for executions of those questioning her rule over countless other possibilities such as, I don't know, forging evidence that would have disproved Spike's claims. She was the one in power and Spike was a thousand miles away and opting for a smear campaign. Shine must have had tons of options that didn't involve murder and chose to go with that regardless. In good conscience, it's hard to hold Spike accountable for the fact that Shine Bright was a monster that decided murder was the most effective way to silence her detractors over any of the non-violent and not-obviously-evil ways to do it.

But, on the other hand, Spike is totally in the wrong for escalating this to a war. It once again comes down to options here as, between his alliances with Changelings and the Crystal Empire, there was ample opportunity for Spike to build and present a case. Gather proof and support and get enough folks onto his side that eventually the rest of Equestria and probably even the army has to realize he's right and turn on Shine Bright. Especially given the executions should have pretty much swayed anyone that had any doubts over whether Spike's story was true. Granted, as powerful as she was, there's a chance Shine was using magic to keep the ponies of Canterlot on her side. In which case that makes the war even worse as Spike and the others would be killing soldiers that in control of themselves. Besides, the infiltration powers of the Changelings would make getting to Shine Bright and kidnapping or (if it came to it) assassinating her a piece of cake, Cadence's word as an actual alicorn and princess should have carried way more weight than some upstart student that's murdering her subjects left and right...

And all this boils down to one major problem: Mass executions to silence detractors and starting a war to kill one individual are not actions taken by actual sensible individuals. The problem is less the characters themselves (as the Spike presented on the show would never carry things this far, especially not in Twilight's memory or name) and more the fact that the creator of this comic is obviously really wanted this war to happen and didn't think about whether it was truly in character. Given the presentation in the comic I'm guessing the creator is trying to make Spike look like a bad-ass, but has fallen into the trap of a Protagonist Centered Morality where it's okay for Spike to trigger a massive war because he's the "good guy" in the story. And for any fanwork for any character in any fandom that's doing them a massive disservice.