MovieChat Forums > X-Men: Evolution (2000) Discussion > What do you think about Spyke?

What do you think about Spyke?

posted 16 years ago by ekpyrosis-1
42 replies | jump to latest

I must admit I don't like him as a character - pay attention: I'm not saying I don't like him as such, he's nice but as a character of this cartoon. Apart from his black skin and love for skateboarding, he doesn't show too much characteristic features making him easily distinguishable among the other X-teens. He is only a politically correct (black skin) addition to more interesting young members of team.

Even his power was neither strong nor very useful and in the end it turned into his curse.

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[–] cup_of_cheese 16 years ago

He's all right, my feelings about him are indifferent. In my opinion, it would barely make a difference if he was added in or not (or at least not a huge difference). As for his powers, I suppose in maybe.. a couple situations it came in handy. Except for the fact his spikes look like graham crackers.

[–] morninglory2504 16 years ago

he was boring and annoying until he joined up with the morlocks.

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[–] TexasChainsawMassage 16 years ago

Powers were all right, but I didn't like his character. He's that kid who thinks he's really cool but gets made fun of a lot for being a prick (or at least he reminds me of those kinds of kids).

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[–] Viltrumite 16 years ago

Spyke was treated badly, both by the writers and some of the other characters. Xavier blackmailed him into joining the X-Men, despite the fact that he was perfectly happy at his old school. The writers couldn't decide if he was a mechanical genius or not, with Kitty's help, Evan fixed the Middleverse projector. Plus they gave him awful dialogue. He was always treated like some kind of delinquent, despite being no worse than Kurt and certainly not as irresponsible as Bobby or Jubilee, I mean, does skipping class compare to stealing a supersonic jet?. Even when the girls went out at nighttime playing vigilante, they never got into trouble. If I recall, he once got into trouble when Jean, Little Miss Perfect herself, telekinetically slammed him into the principal.

As for his powers, they were damn cool, even before they got augmented. They seemed to give him enhanced strength and agility, although they might have been the result of training rather than his mutation. He always had a weapon at hand, plus as most people forget, he had a healing factor that was almost on par with Wolverine's. It was only the fact that the X-Men have a minimal violence policy thatmade his powers look lame.

[–] ekpyrosis-1 16 years ago

as most people forget, he had a healing factor that was almost on par with Wolverine's.

I never thought about it, I admit. But I wonder if his healing factor really concerned other injuries than those caused by his spikes when they were going out of his body - if he sustained injuries during an ordinary accident, would his healing factor help him get better instantly?

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[–] Viltrumite 16 years ago

I suppose he would recover from regular injuries. Maybe the writers didn't even think of it.

Another thing that bugged me was the fact that Morlocks were never recruited by Xavier. Does he only like pretty mutants or something? He could have reached out to Toad, but didn't seem to give a damn when he left, yet he was all for Lance joining the X-Men. One thing's for sure, this incarnation of Xavier was a sly old bastard. I even recall Storm having a superior attitude when talking about them; "Evan, you don't have to go back with them" It's sickening to think that even among mutants there's an underclass, with those who are deformed, or not particularly powerful being shunted aside.

[–] ekpyrosis-1 16 years ago

Maybe the writers didn't even think of it.

The thought of Spyke's possibility of recovering from injuries faster than an average person didn't dawn on me as well before.

Another thing that bugged me was the fact that Morlocks were never recruited by Xavier. Does he only like pretty mutants or something? He could have reached out to Toad, but didn't seem to give a damn when he left, yet he was all for Lance joining the X-Men.

I guess Xavier looked at this issue realistically and understood that it would be difficult to keep in secret what his school for the gifted youngsters really was if there was a bigger number of folks with altered looks - but here, on the other hand, Kurt couldn't be mistaken for a regular human being as well without his holoprojector so I think it could be done to them as well - constructing holoprojectors wouldn't be such a big deal. Maybe he suspected that Morlocks wouldn't adapt well there after living in sewers for years - they had used to a different life.

Speaking of Toad in the context of Xavier's prejudice towards those mutants that weren't too pretty - Todd COULD pass for a normal boy with ease (apart from his tongue but this organ is something one is able not to expose, keeping it in the mouth), his ugliness wasn't a part of his n but seemed natural, normal - unattractive people happen everywhere even without the X gene - so here I am leaning towards a theory the real and only reason why Charles didn't want to recruit him was simply Toad's irresponsible and malicious behaviour. Well, Lance didn't belong to the nicest nor most cheerful inhabitants of the Earth either but he at least had some intelligence Tolansky rather lacked to tell the truth. Anyway, Lance had a crush on Kitty so Xavier could suspect the boy wouldn't do anything stupid because he wanted to be close to her and get her heart.

I even recall Storm having a superior attitude when talking about them; "Evan, you don't have to go back with them"

It might have been caused simply by the fact that she didn't trust them for some reasons, not by her negative attitude having its source in some kind of "rasism". Or perhaps she was led by a rational assumption that the mansion with all conveniences would be much better choice than living in the sewers so it didn't have anything in common with Morlocks as such.

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[–] oewnaynailf 15 years ago

Yeah, he wasn't that interesting. But take notice, there aren't really any Asian characters either. Unfortunately, X-Men is very invested in only white characters, with minor exceptions like Storm (from Africa). If there are people from other countries, it's usually white European places (Nightcrawler, Gambit, etc).

[–] Leonhart_v2 15 years ago

He was just created for the purpose to have diversity on the young team. The writers thought it would've been ridiculous to add a young Bishop.

[–] Hackmanfan100 14 years ago

Actually there are quite a few Asian Mutants: Sunfire is the first that comes to mind. Also look up his team called the Big Hero 6 which includes the Silver Samurai. There's also the strange case that is Psylocke an English woman's brain trapped in a Japanese Assassins body.

[–] xoOrgullosaox 13 years ago

Jubilee? Mariko Yashida? Silver Fox is Native American.

[–] BennyEggs7 15 years ago

I never liked how the writers did him until he got stronger in Season 4. The writers seem to have no clue on developing a Black male character. He was very unreal when u take away him being a mutant. A Black guy with a blonde hair punk hair cut who plays basketball, from NYC without a NYC accent, skateboards, etc. Its clear the writers wanted a black male character but did not know how to handle him. Did u notice that when Spyke has his shirt off, u can see his boxers showing(like the stereotypical ghetto youth), yet they did not sag his pants...LOL......He was much better in Season 4 as the no nonsense bodyguard to the Morlocks.

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[–] Viltrumite 15 years ago

I wasn't aware there was a handbook on how black guys shold act. And if memory serves, Nightcrawler wore his pants in exactly the same way as Spyke.

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] BluBlac2 15 years ago

I think he was a decent character. He was probably the worst of the originals but still better than most of the new kids. He became so much better once he joined the Morlocks though. I dont think his personality is strange either, as alot of black people from new york (guys especially) have weird styles and tastes that are FAR from that of a stereotypical black.

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] Livana_Faolan 15 years ago

He was annoying and his power was lame.

[–] Viltrumite 15 years ago

I kind of thought about that too. Like maybe the writers never really dealt with too many black youths. So they didn't really know how to deal with spyke. Because I never seen a brotha witha a blonde punk mo hawk, who likes to skateboard.

Once again, how are black youths supposed to behave? I've been skating since I was about 9 and I still do today. It's something I love doing, and I'll be doing it for as long as I possibly can. Why is there some narrow definition of how black people are meant to act, and anyone who deviates even slightly is considered "weird", or "trying to be white". It pisses me off to hear that kind of crap from white people, but from other black people, who should know better, it just makes me angry. Once a white guy remarked how funny it is that I listen to "white music", so I pointed out that he listens to "black" music, and asked him why he should get a choice, and I don't.

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] Viltrumite 15 years ago

I used to be a black youth with blue dreadlocks who skated, what's your point? You may as well say the writers know nothing about Germans because Nightcrawler was constantly cracking jokes, and was never once seen drinking a beer or eating sausages, all things that run counter to his nationality's stereotype.

[–] jtdam09 15 years ago

Spyke was a lot better when he joined the Morlocks. He was mature and his powers were used greatly.

The blond hair was a bit of a turn off. I understand that very few African-Americans don't go by just black hair, but it wasn't just the hair color I didn't like. It was the stereotypical hi-top fade, but it would seem hard to pick a better hairstyle for Spyke. I just can't picture him with a buzzcut.

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[–] Viltrumite 14 years ago

He was underdeveloped. He had no love interest, no real angst, no 'past'. His intro episode said he had a lifetime rivalry with Quicksilver.

Like I said before, the writers were lazy. Granted, he didn't really need a love interest, or angst, for that matter. In some ways, he was the most normal of the kids. He just wanted to lead a normal life. A couple of times, one of the adults were all like "Oooh, Evan's cut class again!", but if you've helped save the world a few times, crap like who's going to the prom with whom must seem completely irrelevent (yes, Scott and Jean, I'm talking to you). His reaction to the situation when the mutants were "outed" was probably the most realistic, too.