Worst Villain: The Poll

[Winona the Dog 1,984]

If anything, Sombra is the opposite of cliché. If he spent his time loudly announcing his plans to take over the world and laughing maniacally right in front of the hero crew, that would be cliché. But King Sombra understands what other antagonists don't - to be a successful villain, you have to be tactical. He kept his identity - and consequently his weak points, if any - secret to his opposition, and kept his distance. He's like a hitman.

Exactly, I think King Sombra wanted to mostly stay hidden and let his planned traps to stall for time while he waits for Cadence to run out of energy to hold up the shield.

[Jokuc 8,173]

Well I would say Sunset Shimmer because I don't really understand her or her plan. The whole idea behind her plan was kinda stupid and she was just boring to me. Plus she failed..

 

I would also say Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, though I don't really have a reason for it. I am just annoyed by them.

[Dark Qiviut 22,428]

 

Worst Villain?

I've made blunt critiques about how poor a villain Sombra is. Just because he does evil deeds doesn't mean he's a good villain. In this series, you need good, thorough, unique characterization to counterbalance his actions. You can't sacrifice characterization and merely have his actions tell who he is. Sombra has a personality equivalent to cardboard with no motive to be evil. He's just a mysterious presence and therefore relies on exposition to remind us how evil he is. The Door was living proof on what he can do, but that, the worry, and actions in the flashback aren't enough. You need more, especially for a villain who's supposed togreatly  impact The Crystal Empire. Show, don't tell; Sombra tells too much, and that's bad writing (therefore, a bad villain from an execution standpoint).

 

However, despite my scathing criticisms to how bad a villain Sombra is, he's not close to being the worst villain.

 

This is the worst villain:

 

 

Sombra's a bad villain because he's a badly written character who's not utilized to his fulest potential. But Sunset Shimmer sucks as a villain.

 

Why?

 

Here's what I wrote about her in my review for Equestria Girls:

 

Sunset Shimmer is a TERRIBLE character! There was so much criticism for King Sombra for being flat and boring, with nearly nothing to make him a full-fledged, developed character. However, Sombra still has plenty of potential to become such a dastardly villain that Discord would squirm.

 

Sunset Shimmer is just bland and uninteresting. As a personality, she is the typical, high-school-clichéd, one-dimensional bitch. What could've been a highly manipulative, calculative, cocky, greedy, proud villain is relegated into a cardboard with the typical bully, with bright colors and a black jacket dressing her. Swap the shared "personality" Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon had from One Bad Apple into Sunset Shimmer, and you have the same characters with only a different character designs and voices to separate them.

 

Also, if she was interested in obtaining magical genius while studying under Celestia's tutelage, then why would she decide to venture into Canterlot High, a place where magic is much more obscure and difficult to conjure, in the first place? Instead, wouldn't she venture to another area to study harder, like a restricted section in the school library or another school where she feels she can study to her very best? Celestia describes Shimmer as hardworking to a huge fault, greedy, and thirsty to be the best sage. Greed and pride describe Shimmer fantastically, but it wasn't used properly for her because the concept of the alternate world suppresses magic, and she behaved dimwittedly. Instead of shutting down her perceived intelligence to make Twilight and the rest of the characters better, use her intelligence to make both Twilight and Sunset equal rivals, and use Twilight's own intelligence to problem-solve.

 

For that matter, how the hell was Sunset Shimmer able to know where Twilight's crown was located, anyhow? That wasn't explained, and there was one perfect place to reveal how and why: their encounter under the broken light. If she explained how and why she knew the crown was there, chances are it would've made more sense.

 

Her "master plan" to turn every student in Canterlot High's Fall Formal into a zombie army is stupid. If they were all monsters like Sunset Shimmer, then chances are I could give the plan the benefit of the doubt. But once they cross into Equestria and encounter Celestia, Luna, Cadance, and the rest of the Mane Six, they'll be transported back where they came from.

 

Then there's her excuse why she became cruel and dishonest:

Quote

Sunset Shimmer: Uh. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't know there was another way.

 

Twilight Sparkle: The magic of friendship doesn't just exist in Equestria. It's everywhere. You can seek it out, or you can forever be alone. The choice is yours.

 

Sunset Shimmer: But... But all I've ever done since being here is drive everyone apart. I don't know the first thing about friendship.

Her reason for becoming so evil is flimsy and shallow, making her a flatter, dumber character, and inorganically shoehorning the Magic of Friendship in the canon. Her cruelty needs to have much more basis than this. If she's going to be evil, don't throw in a rushed two-liner. Give her evil a basis to make her evil solid, logical, and empathetic. In the ending, Sunset is at her most vulnerable. Show us why we should feel sympathy for her. That throwaway line doesn't give her character justice. Instead, this bullshit stomps on any remaining integrity her concept once had.

 

-

 

 

Secondary Antagonist?

My vote goes to the Diamond Dogs. While they're very funny and somewhat sympathetic as characters, they're conceptually useless. The Diamond Dogs are collectively stupid and an obstacle just to make Rarity's intellect appear better. Instead of making characters stupid to make the other side look better, how about making the Dogs intelligent and seeing if Rarity can figure out how to get out of her mess by using her intelligence more uniquely? The moral of the episode is just because Rarity is a lady doesn't mean she's a damsel in distress, helpless, or useless. Well, the fact that she accomplished this by outwitting a group of morons undermines the entire message.

Edited July 29, 2013 by Dark Qiviut

[fimdash 1,196]

I'd say Sunset Shimmer was the worst villain. Although I wouldn't say she was a bad villain in EqG, the other villains seemed way more powerful. The thing about Sunset Shimmer is that she had so much potential for being a formidable villain. With the whole backstory about her being Celestia's former student and all, I was expecting a pony who rivaled Twilight in intellect. I expected intelligence to be Sunset Shimmer's true strength, not her being a bully and turning into a demon. Sunset Shimmer really did have a lot of villain potential, but she turned out to be a Trixie rehash.

[Pinkie4eeeever 38]

I like Sunset Shimmer but she got my vote because of the army of teens plan. Unless she was planning to turn them all into demons (which I doubt) she wouldn't have got very far in taking over Equestria. It was a stupid plan and after having such a cool transformation. Total let down.   

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 41,558]

I voted for Discord and Gilda.

 

Now wait, do not kill me just yet. The reason for this, is that I truly never seen Discord as a true 'villain' at heart. Sure, he made the mane 6 go anti mane 6 and he caused a lot of problems, but it seems that he never really hurt anyone. Nightmare Moon wanted to rule over everypony and bring eternal night, Chrysalis wanted to rule Equestria and actually DEFEATED Celestia. Sombra, while his overall execution was poor, has a very dark atmosphere around him. Oh, and he enslaved an entire kingdom for a long time. That is a bit harsh. Sunset Shimmer, which she has the most votes of course, also wanted to take over Equestria and actually tried to KILL Twilight. Discord just seems like a very over the top prankster and that is why I am glad he is 'good' now. There is just so much more they can do with him that way. (Random note: I actually really liked Sunset Shimmer, so meh.)

 

Gilda, yeah, she is just generic. She does her role though and I do love the message that Rainbow Dash learns, but that is attributable to the overall episode, not just Gilda. I actually like DT and SS to an extent and they have much more potential than Gilda. So she gets my vote.

[Castle Bleck 19,366]

(EDIT: Please ignore this.)

Edited September 7, 2014 by A.V.

[Megas 27,672]

While Sunset Shimmer was a huge disappointment, and probaby had the worst plan in the history of plans, I will give her this; at least she had something going for to keep me interested, being Celestia's former student, she had loads of potential to be a good baddie, but they royally screwed up by making her appear as a generic bully/mean girl.

 

However, Sombra was boring from the start. "He was an evil king who enslaved his people" GEE, I WONDER WHERE I'VE HEARD THAT BEFORE? On top of that anytime he was on screen all he really did was throw himself around, growling. I don't care if he's supposed to be some big force of nature based off of Sauron, it doesn't make him any less boring. Plus he doesn't look menacing, he looks like a elementary school boy'a attempt to make an edgy OC 

 

As for the worst secondary villain, Garble. He's has the worst parts of both Sunset Shimmer and Sombra

Edited July 29, 2013 by Godot

[Lateon 589]

My order of villains goes like this:

 

Nightmare Moon - traditional fanboi bias, extermination of all life on the planet doesn't hurt.

Discord - He almost won just by dicking around with the girls and being himself. Imagine if he really tried.

Chrysalis - Good plan, bad execution.

Sombra - Looming doom can only go so far in making you a badass. Traps suggested a cunning mind, but I'd have liked to see more of him.

 

Waiting on Volume 2 of the MLP comic to come out on September 23rd before I buy it, so I have no information on NMR (no, not nuclear magnetic resonance).

 

So, that leaves Sunset Shimmer. I have not watched EqG. I may in the future. But, from what I've heard, she is simply Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon coalesced into one pony (person?), had a poor motive, poor execution, and poor means to get what she wanted. I got spoilers in this thread, but an army of zombie teenagers? Really? Also, the supposed demon form could have been substituted for a myriad of other transformations. I've seen a picture of her alternate form, and jesus, where'd they come up with that? It could have simply been a reversion to pony form, then transformed into like a dark unicorn thing, complete with Sombra dark magic. That's all I'll say, because I honestly can't say any more because I don't have the information required to make a more informed opinion on it.

 

Worst secondary antagonist went to DT and SS, though I wish there was an option to separate them. Diamond Tiara has a character as demonstrated in the Gabby Gums episode, but Silver Spoon is merely the minion to the Alpha Bitch. She is there to echo DT's sentiments and accusations, and nothing else. She has zero character, which is a shame. If they were separate, I would vote for Silver Spoon, hands down. With Diamond Tiara carrying the pair, they came verrry close to being better than Garble or the Diamond Dogs.

Edited July 29, 2013 by HandMan

[Toa of Ponies 259]

I don't Hate Sunset Shimmer, It's just that she's not as great as all the other villains, Because she's  just got so much to live up too, and also...an army of teenagers? C'mon.

 

Hrmm least favorite Secondary villian, I'll go with....Gilda

[MarbellaLotus 17]

King Sombra.  As others have said, he's boring and I feel that they could have developed his character a little more.

 

I also voted Diamond Tiara because I've always disliked the antagonist that's the "popular princess" and I feel like it's used way too much. 

 

I haven't seen Equestria Girls yet, so I wouldn't feel right voting for Sunset Shimmer.

Edited July 29, 2013 by MarbellaLotus

[Lamer 11]

Gosh, will you bloody hell EVER stop thinking of Babs as a "bad" character. After all, she reunited with CMC after all she did to them, and you STILL can't forgive her!?

Edited July 29, 2013 by Lamer

[ReverseFaller 2,483]

Sunset Shimmer and the Flim Flam Brothers. I just found Sunset uninteresting, and for some reason I really didn't like the Flim Flam brothers. They reminded me of the monorail salesman from that one episodes from the Simpsons. 

[Shift 4,272]

@@Lamer, 

 

I forgave her, but she was an antagonist in one episode, so technically, I have to put her on there. If I let her slip by, then that means I'd need to let Discord slip by too.

[Mzukiller 233]

Wow OP, great job putting Sombra himself as one of the tags. Guess there's no need to have to dig and find your opinion.

 

Honestly, I don't see how anyone could like Sunset Shimmer. Maybe I'm just projecting because I hated the movie itself, but SS is pretty lame as far as villains go. She's basically Chrysalis mixed with Sombra in that she's just straight up evil and has a "tragic" backstory. People say that they hate Sombra's lack of personality, well Shimmer has too much. And of course they cap it all off with

 

"Oh, my life sucks! Please forgive me!"

"okay" and everyone lives happily ever after. LAME

 

At least Sombra died.

[RrVPfX9cPtw59FpC 1,304]

It would depend on how you define "Worse". If by the most super-villany, I'd say discord, easilly. However, if you meant the most boring one, I'd say King Shimmer (Though they were all pretty interesting). 

Also... Who's Nightmare Rarity???

[Wardaddy 470]

Seriously?  More people have voted for Sombra than Sunset Shimmer?!?!  OK, before this madness goes any further, let me clear some things up...

 

King Sombra did not end up doing too much, yes, I will concede that.  BUT he was a real and present danger to the Crystal Empire the entire time!  He clearly had and displayed the power to re-enslave the Crystal Ponies, and was on the brink of doing so before his plans were foiled by the Mane 6 and Spike.  Plus he showed himself to be a pretty genius, if somewhat paranoid, villain with the many devious and rather ingenious traps and puzzles he'd left behind in the Crystal Palace to foil anypony's efforts to find the Crystal Heart.  All in all, he was a pretty dang good villain; even if he ultimately didn't do that much, he was a clear and present danger that presented a very real and serious threat to the Crystal Empire.

 

Sunset Shimmer, on the other hand, has the worst, I repeat, THE WORST plan of any villain to date on the show!!!  Details under the spoiler tag below for those of you who still haven't seen EQG, but those of you who have, you know exactly what I'm talking about.  The following excerpt is taken from my review of EQG:

 

Sunset Shimmer was... absolutely wasted. Hands down, she's the worst villain the show's had yet. Every other villain thus far has had (1) clear motivations and (2) come across as a real and dangerous threat. Sunset had neither. Her motivations were not revealed until the VERY end of the movie, and since her background was very poorly explained as well, we just got a villain who I had no bucking idea why she was doing ANY of what she was doing other than to be a jerk, which DOES NOT make for a threatening villain. All we got was a bully, and a really cliche bully at that. On top of that, she has one of the worst plans I've ever heard of!!! She basically planned on taking over Equestria with, if I'm being really generous, 50-100 zombified minions, who wouldn't have even been that much of a threat even if they were turned into hellspawn like Snips and Snails. Here's exactly what she said:

"I want Equestria! And with my own little teenage army behind me, I'm going to get it!!!"

 ...

 ...

 ...

"My own little teenage army..."

"TEENAGE ARMY!!!!!!!" 

That's the stupidest, most unthreatening line and plan I've EVER heard!!!!!!!!!! Sombra was more threatening with his crystal fetish!!!!!! And it's such a shame, because I absolutely LOVED Sunset's pony design!!! It was very different from what we'd gotten in the past with villains, and she as a whole had a lot of potential to be a good villain. Two students of Celestia face off, that should've been AWESOME!!! Instead, she was LAME!!!!!! Just utterly lame, stupid, and cliche. Her rushed redemption at the end, which made Trixie's look like it was balanced and drawn out, did not help, since it was too fast and poorly explained. Overall, I'm very disappointed in how Sunset turned out.

 

 

So yeah, there you have it, basically every reason Sunset Shimmer is the worst villain MLP's had to date.  And again, I cannot emphasize this enough, I'm really mad about that because I loved her pony design and thought she could've been something new and fresh for the show!

 

As for secondary antagonists, I voted for Jet Set and Upper Crust, just because, eh, I don't know, they're the least troublesome of any of the secondary antagonists.  I never even really thought of them as such; they just looked down on Rarity and the rest of the Mane 6 and made a couple of snide remarks about them and Ponyville.  Not very villainous really, so I guess if we're counting them among secondary antagonists then I'd have to say they're the worst secondary antagonists.

Wow, you nailed every reason why I voted Sunset Shimmer as the worst villain in the MLPverse. She had so much potential, it was almost a crime to witness how badly she was handled in the movie. A disgruntled former student of Celestia out to take back the crown that should be hers against the new student (Twilight) that had proven herself to be worthy of the princesshood of magic, as well as control over the Elements of Harmony as the Element of Magic. How awesome a showdown that would've been! In fact, personally I think the idea of Sunset stealing the crown throws the whole point of Equestria Girls into question. Sunset could've just put on the crown then and there, before going on to wreak havoc across Equestria, mind-controlling the combined multitude of villians and royal guards to form her personal army. But no, instead we get coloured humans, a typical bully/bad girl character for SS, a rushed ending with Sailor Moon references, complete with wings and hair extensions, and an even more rushed redemption. Overall, we got 72 minutes of pointlessness, when you think about it.

 

Personally, I voted for Sunset Shimmer for the same reason as above, and I also voted for Jet Set and Upper Crust. They didn't have much effect as secondary antagonists, other than shooting down Rarity, the Mane 6 and Ponyville just because they're so high and mighty. Very poor offshoot as secondary villains, says I.

Edited August 4, 2013 by Firebolt Blitz

[Darker 1,351]

Thank god no one has voted Tirek. I finally found common sense in a thread.

[Deathstroke 1,564]

I would say discord, he was an idiot to let himself get shot with the elements of harmony, that's like staying out in the open in the middle of a firefight, the top of idiot logic

Edited September 4, 2014 by GLA commander

[Khaoios 1,970]

I've gotta say Sunset Shimmer as the worst villain and Diamond Tiara & Silver Spoon as the second antagonist. 

[rpc8169 238]

I voted Sunset Shimmer as the worst villain and DT/SS as worst secondary antagonist. I don't find Sunset Shimmer that interesting or memorable. DT/SS don't really grow throughout the show, so they're just kinda annoying.

[ghostfacekiller39 23,860]

I voted NMR because it was stupid and I'd rather roll around in broken glass and barb wire naked than endure that steaming pile of fecal matter pressed between pages again. 

 

Oh, and Fleetfoot, because why not

[Zekromic 1,054]

Shadow... I mean, Sombra, definitely. This Sauron type of evil just for the sake of being evil don't work for me. Sunny is in second place for worst villain of FIM, since taking over Equestria by being a popular HS bitch is kinda silly. I love her design though

[Odyssey 5,716]

Worst main villain is Sunset Shimmer. She has a lot of potential, but all of it was wasted. She also isn't as threatening as the other main villains. I also dislike Nightmare Rarity for how forgettable she is, but not as much as Sunset.

 

Worst secondary antagonist is Jet Set and Upper Crust. I don't think they're that antagonistic, really.

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,161]

Poo on those who voted Sombra. POO I SAY!

 

Seriously though, you guys know of my biased love for Sombra, but when it comes down to the worst villain...I'd have to say it is Sunset Shimmer; who just barely beats Chrysalis for that mark.

 

Which is funny as Chrysalis is usually my second favorite villain behind Sombra, but her plan just kinda falls apart on her thank to her freakin' ego. Granted, she was much better in the comics.

 

Sunset, on the other hand, was planning to use students to wage war against Celestia? Unless she had future plans of converting entire human armies then I'd give her some slack, but if she was only using students...then yeah, BIG idiot.

 

As for secondary...probably Gilda as she was just a bit too predictable. At least Lightning Dust was interesting.

 

As for Caballeron, don't anyone DARE vote him down.