Hmm, well yes, he does do well at comic relief, but I get tired of seeing him as the constant punching bag. Granted, there have been a few Spike-focused episodes, but they never really succeed in actually growing his character. He basically just resets and keeps on doing what he's always been doing. The problem is the writers haven't given him any real goals to work towards, and without any goals, attempts at character development (like Princess Spike) just don't really work.That said, I personally think that his role as a support character got a nice boost in the season 5 finale. He had the presence of mind to keep grabbing the map to bring along through all the time jumps, and overall, he had a decent amount of dialog, which was often helpful to Twilight, and then he got out of the way when he wasn't needed. That's one of the few times, if not the ONLY time, where he's played a significant role without being pushed into a main character focus (which doesn't work) and without just being there purely for comic relief. I honestly don't have a problem with him remaining a support character, just give the guy a little bit of maturity, you know what I mean?