Thrond

Well, apparently Berrow was responsible for "Grannies Gone Wild," so maybe she could pull it off after all. Her work on this show tends to be incredibly simplistic, but as long as we get the backstory confirmed I don't need too much else. 

Kinda annoyed that we've gotten to the point of recycling villains now. 

I don't really ask for more from the Crystal Empire, which in my eyes appears about as often as any other non-Ponyville setting, but I absolutely would watch a whole show of Cadance & family. 

I can see what you mean, but it feels kind of akin to a cop-out for me after the show invested a two-parter premiere with a fairly cinematic scale into introducing it (and an entire arc into backhandedly promoting it further). You don't get that much with, say, Yakyakistan, the Dragon Lands or even the Changeling hive. 

And yes, reviving Sombra is kind of dumb (although reforming Tirek is a lobotomy by comparison - so we're saying that he could be a Discord-style recurring character in season 9 then? Isn't that kind of uncomfortable, considering his portrayal as basically a giant antithesis to Twilight in TK - at least Discord reforming made logical sense), but it's not outside the realm of possibility that they'll do something interesting with it, particularly if Grogar (whose G1 appearance was one of that generation's show's finest 40 minutes) is affiliated in some way.

I'm pretty comfortable with the two-parter stuff being one-time occurrences, so that doesn't bother me much. 

No comment on Tirek until I actually see it. I'd like to remain in denial that this is happening until it happens.