My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S2/E10 Secret of My Excess/YMMV

Accidental Aesop:
- Spike, never hit puberty. Always stay small, cute, and manageable or your society will hate you.
- Though it wasn't the actual puberty that turned Spike into a greedy giant dragon, but the greediness Spike developed from the fun of receiving presents.
- Adding onto above, Spike's episode could be the result of some sort of 'hoarding heat', along with not having any other dragons around to keep him in check, and his instincts being unnaturally jump-started by having loot forced upon him. Once he knows what he's capable of, then he can probably keep that particular bit of his persona more restrained, since other Dragons seem to be reasonable if you're not harassing them or stealing from their pile.
- Another thing is that although giving into his greedy dragonish instincts may be the fast way for Spike to grow up it's not the best way. He'll still grow up eventually sticking to his old, nice ways but it'll just take more time. This actually makes it a great lesson for boys who watch the show as puberty in males leads to a spike in testosterone which can cause aggressive tenancies similar to those Spike shows.
- Some would say Spike wasn't to blame for his greed and this episode has a Family-Unfriendly Aesop but if you pay attention, Spike himself gave his instincts the push the needed to emerge.
Alternative Character Interpretation:
- Did Spike give Rarity the fire ruby out of his own generosity, or did Rarity seduce it out of him?
- The bit of Rarity biting her hoof, clearly trying to resolve her internal moral dilemma of using her Filly Fatale to seduce the gem from Spike, is hard to miss. However, Spike did turn it over rather quickly without too much over-the-top seduction, leading to Rarity's gushing on Spike's generosity; she would have had to play hardball if he had refused.
- Did Spike's maturation cause his greed or did his greed jump-start his maturation? The debates started raging before the episode even ended. Some people assume his lack of wings, something all adult dragons thus far have had, is an indicator of the latter and it was an imperfect adult stage.
- Spike kick-started his greedy instincts, the instances with Lickadesplit and Junebug were clearly done out of his own free will and everything after that was involuntary greed.
- Another thing worth adding to the above is that Spike wasn't used to recieving gifts; prior to this episode, the only gifts he'd ever gotten were from Twilight, and they were always books. Now, suddenly gifts are being heaped on him, and his Draconian instincts start to kick in as he realizes "Hey, this feels pretty good. I wonder who else I can get stuff from?" And it just snowballs from there.
And the Fandom Rejoiced:
- The scene after Spike gets his hat. Lyra and Bonbon appear in the background, Bonbon with an almost sultry facial expression and Lyra grinning. They even lean towards each other, only for Derpy to ruin the moment. For a three-second background gag, it managed to be one of the highlights of the episode for the fandom.
- Slightly smaller rejoicing but still: One of the Wonderbolts that shows up looks a lot like Surprise from G1 - also known as the character Pinkie Pie was supposed to be - and one of the more popular "Ask Ponies" on tumblr.
- In all the episode is considered one of the bests of season 2 by a lot of fans. The episode was a pleasant surprise, as not many expected much to come out of the episode judging only by its brief DVR summary.
- Rarity knew! Pretty much any Spike/Rarity shippers celebrated that one scene.
Anvilicious:
- Don't be too greedy or you turn into a jerk.
- Space Whale Aesop: Demonstrated by Spike turning into an evil dragon.
Genius Bonus:
- Most people in the target demographic won't know the connection between the aforementioned airstrike siren and the Wonderbolts' appearance.
- It can be noted that several details have been changed in Spike's flashback. These changes are actually a very accurate depiction of how memories can change on their own. It was also a mix of the main details of an event colored by the emotions experienced during said event and changed by Spike's current emotions, which makes it a very accurate depiction of how the mind handles memories.
Harsher in Hindsight: Not that Sugarcube Corner getting totaled wasn't bad in and of itself, but according to Baby Cakes, there could have been toddlers in the house at the time. Or at least a very pregnant Mrs. Cake.
- "Owl's well that Ends Well" where Spike becoming dangerously jealous of Owlicious and becoming a villain was played for laughs.
Hilarious in Hindsight:
- It's kind of funny that this is the second time that the Wonderbolts attempt to perform a heroic feat and fail (the last one being rescuing Rarity in "Sonic Rainboom"). Now they try to take on a giant Spike but they still get beaten. Maybe the Wonderbolts are better off being performers instead of being a rescue team.
  - Or Rarity is bad luck for them...
- This was made a good 2 months before this episodes airing.
Painful Rhyme: In one line uttered by Zecora, she put the AcCENT Upon the Wrong SylLABle: "He is going to turn into a monSTER."
Tear Jerker: Spike is probably not going to get birthday presents next year. And he was so happy to get gifts from his friends, which he'd never gotten before...
- Not necessarily. He could receive gifts next year but the party is proceeded by a gentle but firm lecture by Twilight on how he's not to like the pleasure he gets from receiving gifts overcome his gentle and generous nature. Depriving him of gifts would just be mean.
- For a straight-up tearjerker within the episode itself, how about the "falling scene"?
Visual Effects of Awesome: The iris zoom probably had to be manually done in Flash, and the fact it doesn't look like a wreck shows how far these guys have come.