Cool character for the boys to identify with so the ponies won't make your son gay
I think it's quite sad that people believe this.
I won't say people believe this, but when you look at dragons or dinosaurs in pop culture, they are always geared towards boys unless they are overly decorated in glitter and have huge eyelashes (Lego Friends, Ever After High). Ponies are always geared towards girls unless they are shown as war horses.
Even Dreamworks Dragons franchise saw need to create a glitter pink female version of Toothless because that is considered appropriate for the girl market. Not Astrid riding a gender neutral dragon design but a glitter pink smooth blue-eyed Barbie dragon
I am reminded of what the creators said about the new Disney Dalmatians cartoon. "We tried to make the female protagonist so that boys will like her" (they really think boys won't like a female dog because female).
Everytime we think girl franchises make progress it's really just them getting geared towards boys.
That's why I think a new Spike would be geared towards boys. Just like Guardians of Harmony was really just Hasbro's attempt at a boy line. It had nothing to do with girls being into action.