Do you think Tirek was a great villain?

[Lightning Bliss 1,674]

Lol. When I watched the last episode of season 4, it was kinda like watching dbz when Goku fought Freeza for the first time.

That's exactly what my friend said, heck it's what I was thinking in a way. It was like BAM WHOOSH BOOM AND HOLY COW!!! Ahh just totally epic...

 

And growing up with G1 that's saying alot.

[NomDeSpite 452]

Tirek reminds me of:

 

 

That said, he has a pretty terrifying presence. In a way no other villain in the show has managed. It's enough to overcome his one-dimensional personality.

[Glike 487]

He was no doubt the most badass MLP villain, and the fight was a lot more action-y than I expected.

 

Also, is it me or do the villains get increasingly threatening? I mean, Nightmare Moon only brought eternal night, Discord mostly kept his world of chaos in Ponyville, Chrysalis attempted to lay siege on Canterlot, Sombra nearly destroyed the hope and friendship in Equestria, and Tirec took over all of Equestria for a good while. What's next? A villain who tries to crash the sun and moon into Equestria? XP

[Adorkable 2,737]

Tirek actually was a very good villain. I think he could have actually taken over Equestria if he has just gone back on his word and not given Twilight Sparkle back her friends. But even if that did happen, I'm sure Twilight would have found a way. ^^

[DashingoveraRainbow 2]

I think Tirek was definitely one of the stronger villains. And well, the fact that Discord actually trusted him made me pretty upset and showed that he also could be vulnerable, but I applaud Twilight for forgiving him anyways. Tirek, in my opinion, was the second greatest villain. (Despite what Discord did in this episode, he still remains my favorite even though technically he's not a villain anymore...)

Edited May 11, 2014 by DashingoveraRainbow

[NavelColt 22,878]

More menacing than Sombra, had a bigger scope than chrysalis, got even farther in taking over Equestria than Discord, and through all of his absorption, became more powerful than any of them x) I'd say he made a damn good villain, yeah.

[Zekromic 1,054]

OH MY GOD, IT WAS AWESOME. Yes, he was quite predictable, but he had enough screentime to know him as a character, a backstory, he's terrifying, he was progressively stronger, AND THE FREAKING PONY BALL Z FIGHT WAS THE LAST THING I EXPECTED TO SEE. I couldn't help but listen to this music during the battle, just like Mario and Sonic vs Mecha  Sonic in Super Mario Bros Z 

[Thespian 78]

I liked him purely from a dialogue/voice acting perspective. His voice actor was amazing. He went from a calm, weak individual to basically manically shouting every line with more power he got. It seemed the power was driving him more and more insane. Best villian so far. I wish we could have seen his brother as well but maybe for a future episode. Besides the stupid rainbow power stuff, this has been my favorite moment of MLP.

[Swirl 90]

I did love Tirek as a villain. The fact that the Princesses were so terrified of him was pretty impressive. What I want to know more of is his brother though...I know the G1 version of him also had a brother in the show, but in G4 he's only mentioned but doesn't really add much weight to Tirek's back story, only that he hates his brother for not taking over Equestrian with him. Season 5 character possibly? It'd also be really interesting to see the land he came from, it'd be nice to expire outside of Equestria a bit more.

[Digit 321]

Buddy came in as I was watching the fight scene between him and twilight and now he is intrested in the show lol

[SasQ 1,356]

It was like BAM WHOOSH BOOM AND HOLY COW!!! Ahh just totally epic...

 

And also not quite smart move by Twilight, since it was making easier for Tirek to suck in her Magic She would do better by hiding her powers (and herself) from him.

 

Hahah, but I loved how Twilight was overloaded by Magic like a boiling teapot I just waited when she sneezes and starts randomly teleporting throughout all the galaxy  Like this:

 

Edited May 11, 2014 by SasQ

[Forlong 1,726]

I liked him purely from a dialogue/voice acting perspective. His voice actor was amazing. He went from a calm, weak individual to basically manically shouting every line with more power he got. It seemed the power was driving him more and more insane. Best villian so far. I wish we could have seen his brother as well but maybe for a future episode. Besides the stupid rainbow power stuff, this has been my favorite moment of MLP.

True.  Mark Acheson provides an excellent performance.

[Rift enchanted 380]

If he had taken twilight's magic when he had the chance and not have to free her friends, he probably could've taken over

[NavelColt 22,878]

I altered your title slightly, OP, I believe it works better for grabbing people's attention.

 

A few more, detailed afterthoughts about Tirek. Not including Discord seeing as he's reformed, Tirek easily takes my top villain spot, and for a number of reasons that I'm sure his many other new-found fans will agree with.

• His design as a villain of MLP is brilliant in and of itself, something that worked really well in his G1 appearance, and that DHX ran with once more, and improved upon, IMO, for modern animation. To a species of equines, a centaur is probably one of the scariest things you can encounter, because it takes what you're familiar with, and twists it into an abomination. Especially when that centaur's upper half can only be described as a demon, or devil.
• Everything about G4 Tirek's design is incredible. I enjoyed his feeble appearance as well as his powered up appearance(s), loved his voice for both as well, and am ultimately glad DHX stuck with the 'Demon Centaur' look, instead of *god forbid* making him more human-like, or using something like a monkey, like a lot of people thought he was from the teaser trailer, originally. He also has a unique and bad-ass way of using magic *shooting death rays from a mini Eye of Sauron between his Two Tower horns, hurr hurr*
• He's taken the worst aspects of FiM's villains thus far, combined them, and turned them into a threat seen like no other. Tirek has the indomitable and completely dark-set goals of King Sombra but on a larger scale, he has the cunning, treacherous mind and will to dominant all life as Queen Chrysalis, and is now the second overall character and second villain besides Discord to display the powers of a neigh-deity or demi-god. In short, he's a fucking boss, and has easily earned the title as this show's most dangerous singular threat, so far. A trait that he shares with his G1 self, as well. Tirek was always famed as being G1's most sinister villain as well, for those who never watched it or read anything about it.

All Hail Lord Tirek and his bandwagon of best Modern MLP Villain *who isn't reformed*!

Artwork by CosmicUnicorn, DeviantART

[Captain Brony (MG11) 218]

Though Tirek lacks chemistry with characters which Discord has Tirek is certainly a good villain.

He had presence, intelligence, power, and a great voice/portrayal. Which is pretty much the Evil Villain checklist aside from evil laugh, which he also had.

[yayayayayala 1,668]

Holy freaking derp moon, was he the evilly-epicest villain or what?! His transformation was quite shocking, and my mom even said before he was even remotely done with growing that she didn't like him XD! And she's never said that about a cartoon villain before!

 

And that fight scene. Seriously. I mean, you can't get much more epic than that. Now I know what Meghan McCarthy was talking about when she said on Twitter that the two things she was most proud of writing on MLP were the lyrics to This Day Aria, and the season 4 finale!!

[88888888888888888888 129]

One of the best villians in the series. Loved the reference to G1 ^^

[Megas 27,551]

He's probably my favorite villain in the entire series so far

[Yellow Diamond 7,565]

I was really sad when Discord started helping Tirek. I really thought that this would be the last of Discord, and that he'd be banished or turned to stone forever or something. Thankfully, he came to see the error of his ways and really, for one of the first moments in the show so far, seemed truly good. 

 

Expanding on your tangent just a bit: I initially thought Discord was playing some sort of gambit to either trick Tirek or come out on top regardless of who was ultimately victorious. That Tirek betrayed him wasn't too surprising, but that he curb stomped Discord without using the Elements or something like that was a breath of fresh air.

[Jeric 46,850]

Already mentioned this in my the official episode thread, but he was a villain that MLP was missing. A non sympathetic powerful high stakes old school big bad.

 

That said both Discord and Chrysalis are my favorite antagonists. But that just shows the quality of the threats. Even the low stakes antagonists are decent (Trixie, Suri, etc)

[DiscordAnarchy 770]

As the self-imposed master and overlord of villains and evil, I can say that Tirek is a perfect version of the "PowerMad" villain. He isn't blinded by his strength but he also isn't satisfied with what he has. He wants total and complete control of everything and will destroy or sacrifice all those who dare cross his path. He manipulates, he imprisons, he fights, and he breaks the will of his enemies and he is able to hold his own.

 

Unlike the others who have their own greedy intentions that are very narrow minded (Discord - whom I love - wants chaos but only to play with. Chrylasis only wants love to grow in power but on a small scale. Sombra...meh). Tirek wants world domination and will achieve that not through speeches or elaborate plans, or even through trickery. He plans on it through brute force.

 

He is a PowerEvil character and a perfect protrayal of that type of villain. I just wish he didn't lose so easily with the rainbow power. He should have won until season 5 and deserved another 2 episode finale.

[SasQ 1,356]

He also has a unique and bad-ass way of using magic *shooting death rays from a mini Eye of Sauron between his Two Tower horns, hurr hurr*

This idea is actually older than Sauron's eye. When I saw this orange plasma ball forming between his black horns, it instantly reminded me this:

 

This is Hathor, one of the Ancien Egyptian goddesses (Neteru). She was holding the sundial behind her cow-like horns, and she had a lioness head (ritual mask? because other times she was depicted with human head).

 

Edit: Also note the ring-shaped silver necklaces around her neck. Tirek has got a similar one.

Edited May 12, 2014 by SasQ

[NavelColt 22,878]

This idea is actually older than Sauron's eye. When I saw this orange plasma ball forming between his black horns, it instantly reminded me this:

 

This is Hathor, one of the Ancien Egyptian goddesses (Neteru). She was holding the sundial behind her cow-like horns, and she had a lioness head (ritual mask? because other times she was depicted with human head).

 

 

One can find earlier and earlier sources for ideas the farther back they go. I'm sure Sauron's tower was based off that too, as it too had the same design. I used Sauron's eye because, I borrowed that observation after reading it in another comment from elsewhere.

[ghostfacekiller39 23,860]

My favorite villain remains Queen Chrysalis, and Discord (if he still counts) has always been a close second. 

 

Depending on whether I count Discord or not (I'm leaning towards not) that'd place Tirek at either 2nd or 3rd in the series

However, he was still a great villain; possessed the ability to suck all the magic out of anything he came into contact with, had brawn and brains, and was a master manipulator, capable of manipulating Equestria's Master of Puppets himself, Discord.

 

In an act of unparalleled evil, however, Tirek stole Rarity's butt diamonds.

 

Has he no laws? 

 

That kind of evil would make any villain proud. He's...so...EVIL!!


 

[Java Jive 440]

The guy looks like a powerhouse, and sounded like one judging from the weight of his hoofsteps, which added to his threatening presence. Very intimidating in his later stages, manipulative, cunning, ruthless and confrontational, he didn't say a word when he approached the three princesses, he busted the doors open and just tried to take it away without monologuing, wasting no time. To a certain degree this guy was more effective than his villainous predecessors.

 

In comparison with (for example) the rather underdeveloped Sombra, although a brute, he's ahead of the pack.

 

"Give my regards to Cerberus..."