Were you satisfied with King Sombra as the antagonist?

[Mr. Jaguar 1,403]

Well, he had done evil things in the past (enslaving a nation of ponies, then when he was imprisoned he put a curse on the nation to vanish for a thousand years), but in the two parter, he really didn't do anything. All he did was block out Shining Armor's magic, and laugh manically as he tried to take over the city, but completely failed to do so just as he almost accomplished it. Other than that, he did nothing, NOTHING, villainish. Add to that the fact that he was completely devoid of any personality (no personality is fine if there's a justification for it), or motives (if he was crazy I could have let it pass, but there was no implications that there was anything mentally wrong with Sombra) and you've got the most bland MLP villain of all time. He was just bad for the sake of being bad, it seemed.

[ColdhardSilver 7]

I loved Sombra! Having heard all these bronies' thoughts I took sometime and thought back about King Shady.My conclusion is this:

King Sombra is an intelligent monster. He symbolized fear and hatered quite nicely. I've always saw and expected Sombra to be MLP's first direct abomination, a creature with no remorse, sympathy, or motive but to see all life fall before him. What really made his status as a monster was his death ( no redemption, no imprisonment, no fly-a-way) which is most fitting a monster don't you think?

 

So to me King Sombra is best Evil Monster. And ranks 1st next to Chrysalis and Discord.

[RazzyJam 1,519]

IMO, the door was a better villan. He played a good role in keeping you in suspense, but there was minimal involvement of his character in the actual story. He didnt even have that many lines.

 

Only thing I could think of after the whole episode was this:

 

 

Edited November 10, 2012 by WingedRatchet

[Victor van Dort 202]

King Sombra was, as many others have said before, a good villain with not enough parts. I think part of the reason that he was shallow and swat so easily was the fact that the ponies had an easier way to defeat him, whereas the other villains took more work: Discord hid the elements and corrupted the mane six, NMM was always one step ahead. and Chrysalis's defeat was almost pure luck. The Crystal heart was in the Crystal Kingdom, no surprise there, and the mane six had the help of Cadance, Shining Armor, and the Crystal ponies. It sucks, Sombra had so much potential. Aside from all that, am I the only one who thinks The Crystal Empire has a slight relevance to Over a Barrel?

[Lacey Shadows 164]

Am I the only one who thought he'd work better if he was a gorilla? I dunno, probably because he had a MANLY beard and only said like one thing.

 

Many he hung out with Nemesis too much...

[BlackWater 53]

I think I'll say that I was satisfied with Sombra. I understand why some people wanted more because I also enjoy the show's action, background, and character development. However, I like that they did something that most other shows never do. Of course, this is only my perspective and opinion but that's basically what these discussions are for. Most shows throw out a villain for the action. Maybe they give some background to help you understand the villain or at least to help drive the main character's own development. Therefore, most shows (or stories) will make the worst case scenario happen and then make the characters fight their way out of it. Rarely will you see a "close-call" like what happened in these first two episodes. The reason is obvious: people want the action and hopeless-but-they-find-a-way-out plot. Sometimes this is the best thing to do but I occasionally disagree because it doesn't always makes sense story-wise. Shining Armor, Cadance, and the Elements of Harmony were all present. Taking into consideration the power we've seen from them in previous episodes, it would be awkward if they were incapable of preventing Sombra's takeover. Well...I guess it would only be awkward if you don't let the Dragonball-effect (eternal escalation) come into play. Also, I think Sombra would be too much like Chrysalis if they dragged it out.

Ugh. Sorry for the long post.

[SonOfTheNorthe 412]

What kind of villain puts their most-guarded treasure on the top of an open-topped tower, I ask you? Sure, he set traps to stop just anyone from taking it, but any old unicorn and pegasus working together could easily have gotten it out

Well, you have to consider that everyone in the Crystal Empire is an earth pony. He knew they wouldn't try to climb up his tower and take it, and even if they did, he's got all sorts of traps. Also, he probably didn't think any pegasi or unicorns would travel all the way to the north, entire his domain, and try to take the heart.

 

As for my own thoughts...

I really like King Sombra. He's easily the strongest villain (Aside from Discord, but he's OP.)

I like how mercilessly cruel he is. How he single-handedly enslaved an entire empire. I love his dark crystals and magic and traps.

If Spike hadn't come down, who knows how long Twilight would have been there. It's possible that door traps you inside your worst fear until you starve to death. But he REALLY needed to be more fleshed out. And I was really hoping for a one-on-one between him and Twilight.

The problem is time constraints. (With this episode and A Canterlot Wedding)

 

But why was he so focused on the Crystal Empire when he could have gone after anywhere else in Equestria?

And why did the power of the crystal heart destroy him, instead of turning him crystalline just like everypony else? I'd understand if it dispelled darkness, thus keeping his shadow form out, but at the time it went off, he was back to pony form.

Edited November 10, 2012 by SonOfTheNorthe

[Nothing&NoOne 695]

I was kinda disapointed with King Sombra...he was very underwhelming. He would've been much better as a character if he had more speaking lines and maybe an acual showdown with someone.

 

I liked his character design though. He looked very badass.

If only he could've used it more.

[MorningFlash 214]

I have to say, out of all the MLP antagonists, King Sombra was definitely the worst.

Seriously, he had no lines or anything, all he did was just "muahahahaha" "roar" "come slaves" which deeply annoyed me, because there has been so many good antagonists in the past two seasons, and this was a disappointment for me.

[Snowfeathers 43]

While I was watching the episodes, I was thinking to myself, "The greatest fear is the fear of the unknown". It's slim, but maybe that's part of the reason they kept him in such a little role? Since all the ponies are terrified of him, and he's portrayed as a huge, wall-like black cloud, maybe you're supposed to just be afraid of what he could do, given the chance.

But that's just speculation- I do think he could have done a little more stuff at least. He seemed to just fade into the background most of the time, save the few times he was shown. And when he was shown, like when he went for the heart, I just somehow knew that no matter what the twist, he didn't have any chance of winning. Appearance-wise, he also seemed pretty quickly cobbled together, too. :I

[kirbyboi 588]

Well, I love his design. I'll say that.

 

However, he definitely needed more lines and a better plot than just being 'the scary shadow that enslaved us all'. He'll never be a Discord, that's for sure, but hopefully we'll see more of him later. Also, I was pretty dispapointed how Twilight alone had to save the Empire, while in the end Spike did it all for her.

 

Well, I guess I can understand why. The creators can only fit so much into two episodes. But anyways, I really expected more from this villian as a whole. I was really disapointed that he didn't do much. I mean, if that was going to happen, they shouldv'e used Chrysalis's ghost or something who tries to take revenge on Cadance/Shining Armor. That would've made a bit more sense....

 

But, I'm gald overall how the special turned out. Even though it seemed a bit rushed, you could tell the creators put as much effort as they could into it, and I respect that. I think that since this season will only have 13 episodes, that they would make this season a whole continual story on the mane six saving the Crystal Empire. Then in season 4 it would resume to regular special + regular episodes. But, then again, I kinda wouldn't want that...maybe just have this special being 3 episodes instead of 2. But you know what I mean.

 

Well, I'm glad to see season 3 start! Feels great that I can now type in 'season 3' and have REAL legit results come up....wow, it's finally here, and I'm already getting impatient from waiting for the next episodes to come out....

[CaptainLuna 50]

He was a good troll but he really said or did nothing but watch from the sidelines though its possible that the writers made him to Overpowered that if they had him break though at the start of the second episode everyone would have been royally bucked i mean he had the ability to trap people in unbreakable black crystals and prevent unicorns from using magic though he still could of had more lines though

oh but the worst fears door was pretty cool

Edited November 11, 2012 by CaptainLuna

[Circadian 1,273]

This episode wasn't really about Sombra. It was about Twilight's progression as a character, and the test was Celestia seeing if she had the capacity for self-sacrifice. She's definitely preparing her for something big.

[SBaby 660]

This episode wasn't really about Sombra. It was about Twilight's progression as a character, and the test was Celestia seeing if she had the capacity for self-sacrifice. She's definitely preparing her for something big.

 

There's no question about that now. I admit, I'm sad to see a villain that looks as awesome as Sombra be relegated to such a minor role, but what Celestia said about Twilight being 'that much closer to being ready' in the beginning of the episode, coupled with the fact that Spike got to do something heroic for once, really did cement this as the season premiere in my mind.

 

I'm really starting to think my theory about succession for Twilight might not be far off.

Edited November 11, 2012 by SBaby

[Thunderstorm 120]

I think he had a lot of potential, but instead they just needed a villain to fill a spot, not to be a big bad villain like Discord, so they just used him as somepony to just fill the spot..

[N8C8 56]

I actually didn't like him that much. He never really had a personality. If he did, we never saw it becuase he never talked. He could have been good, but they ruined it with him not talking at all.

[Arcus (Silver Lining) Wind 983]

I get the feeling we'll see him again later on in the season. If not then,yeah he was seriously under done. Barely spoke and was defeated way to easily. For the season opener he should have been one of there most difficult enemies.

[The-Master 1,176]

Personally, I wanted his voice actor to be none other than Sir Christopher Lee. But that is just me being picky. I Certainly am picky when it comes to my voice actors.

[Zygen 6,066]

Well most people have already said they are not satisfied with king sombre. Its pretty well known I think that he is a bland villain. It doesn't bother me as much as the next guy though, just because the episode was still awesome.

Point is, despite him being a bland villain it doesn't ruin the episode at all. Its still a really great episode.

 

The dark magic concept was cool though. Which was somewhat related to him. The particles for the dark magic where kinda strange in my eyes at first, but I got use to them.

[Jokuc 8,174]

I kinda agree with you. I thought that he would do something else than just look at them as a shadow. I thought they wild fight him or something x) Diamond dogs are still the worst "villains" in my opinion.

[Xievie 498]

DAMMIT HASBRO. Make him look cooler than even Discord, and gets no lines.

 

I'm highly disappointed, and this is on the top of my pile of complaints of this episode.

And these others are HARDLY major. This is my only problem I'd complain about. Oh well..

[Illusion 100]

I really didn't see the point of him :/ all he did was laugh, say 'crystal' occasionally and roar a few times.. He didn't do much either, he was mainly fog with glowing eyes D: and when he actually became a unicorn in the flesh... he was destroyed XD The crystal ponies feared him so much and yet we didn't even get to see what he could accomplish :/

Edited November 11, 2012 by Illusion

[Flicker Sweet 3,391]

I'm perfectly ok with him, he obviously wasn't meant to be anything more than an insane source of dramatic pressure. Had they tried to make him like they had Chrysalis or Discord, the episode would have, in professional terms, sucked.

[Kelvocity 211]

No, not really.

 

Frankly, Discord's two-parter was the only one I actually liked, featuring both villain and character equally. Nightmare Moon mostly evil laughed, talked, and threatened, while the ponies were a bit more featured. Chrysalis was a pretty cool villain, but her episode didn't focus on all of the ponies enough, just Twilight, and it lacked consistency in Shining Armor and Cadance appearing out of nowhere. This episode almost featured the villain as a background character, while our mane ponies took the spotlight.

 

In conclusion, Sombra was a background villain. His premise was promising, but he was just played out poorly. At least he was animated well.

[Vega 107]

No. He does and says effectively nothing. He's the smoke monster from Lost, except with a underdeveloped and dull backstory. Not a fan at all.