Unpopular opinion time

@Wiimeiser  
I don’t think so. Just very different overall. Not sure if he (yes, he) was meant to be reformed or not, but everything up to the end was different anyway.

Sombra is still one of the best villains that the show has ever had. What he lacked in personality in his first appearance made up for in careful future planning in hiding the Crystal Heart where no one could find it and if they did they would’ve gotten trapped. Unlike other villains, he was smart enough to think outside the box and not make any stupid decisions that would’ve lead to the heroes defeating him. He was just defeated by a massive stroke of unfortunate luck of Spike tagging along for the ride and if he wasn’t there, he would’ve easily recaptured the Crystal Empire and started a World War 2 style conflict if The Cutie Re-Mark is any indication.
 
Nightmare Moon had the backstory, Discord had the quirkiness and powers, Chrysalis had the design and woobieness factor, Tirek had the desire for more power, Starlight had her unique ideology and Cozy Glow had her chessmaster skills and manipulatiom that made them unique characters, but I think they all pale compared to Sombra and it’s a damn shame that he had to be killed off on his return and grab the villain ball like every other villain.

@Mildgyth  
Come to think of it, Sombra, Tirek, Chrysalis and Cozy Glow all had little to non existent back stories. Why did Sombra enslave the Crystal Empire? Where did changelings come from? Lots of unanswered questions. Ultimately, all of them were acting self serving and exploitative in one aspect or another. That’s what makes them villains.

@Myoozik  
I think that’s you valuing one villain aspect (effectiveness) over others. He barely existed as a character.

@Brass Beau  
Tirek was the only one who’s backstory made sense
 
The Changelings are either a new species or Celestia was an idiot that didn’t keep an eye on a dangerous enemy country for 1000 years
 
Sombra’s rise and his ties to Alicorn magic were never explored for some reason

@Don’t  
Sombra doesn’t have a backstory to not make sense. (Comics aside.)
 
As for the changlings… well, if any race could go undetected for centuries, it’s probably them. But their history is still a massive enigma.

@Latecomer  
I mean, the other villains also get valued for one aspect and not the others, look at Chrysalis for example where she’s mostly beloved over her appearance and how she lost her hive. And who’s to say that doing that is a bad thing? He might not have been much of a character in his own right, but the execution of that plan just made it seem worth it to me. At least you can say that his second appearance was an attempt to make him into something.

@Brass Beau
 
That’s not a coincidence - the show only gave villains backstories when they were going to be redeemed.
 
@Don’t
 
It wouldn’t necessarily take a thousand years. it’s more likely that Chrysalis just deposed a previous neutral-to-friendly queen less than a century before.
 
Still a glaring oversight, but Equestria seems to have been mostly on a isolationist tip before Twilight was made a princess.

@Don’t  
Was she even aware that such a country even existed in the first place?

@Myoozik  
Indeed. And so none of them really pale in comparison to each other, except to those who favour their aspect.

@Mildgyth  
The other difference is Tirek is more mature, seems to have a more realistic estimation of his own capabilities, and has a better endgame in mind; she had to try either twice or thrice (depending on if she expected the field trip to kill her) to get Starlight out of the way, and not in a way that aroused no suspicion, and her plans seem a bit myopic, focused on a desire to feel powerful, more than anything.  

 
@Myoozik  
The villain who least grabbed the Villain Ball was probably Tirek.

@AC97
 
I was talking on matters of backstory and motivation, not characterization.

@Mildgyth  
True enough. I still think “A Dim Glow” is one of the best pieces on that matter, for “backstory.”

@Mildgyth  

 
Yeh this is exactly why unpopular opinion that at times in this show characters become actually more interesting when they reformed than when they were villains as it made them more dynamic and less one-dimensional.

The incredibly mundane, uneventful way in which RD finally became a Wonderbolt was genius, and I wish the episode had leaned into it more.
 
Like, RD had proven her skills countless times, and the Bolts a professional troupe of flyers, not a superhero team or a mystic order that requires completing some grand quest in order to join. She signed up, went to school, became part of the reserves, then got promoted when one of them retired and an opening became available. I love it.

@Background Pony #6744  
Rarity, too. Which allowed for the show to focus on the new challenges which came with their positions. (Whether or not they did so well…)
 
And wouldn’t leaning into it more miss the point?

@Latecomer
 
By lean in I mean I think if the episode had addressed that becoming a Wonderbolt seemed so uneventful in the end, people might not have been as down on the concept.
 
I’m imagining an episode where RD becomes a Wonderbolt, and has a kind of “Wait, that’s it.” reaction. Then she’d spend the rest of the episode thinking she hasn’t done enough to warrant becoming one. Maybe she does something stupid to try and prove herself. Then the ending could be the Bolts sitting her down and telling her that she doesn’t have ANYTHING to prove at this point. You could flash back to all the episodes laying the groundwork for RD becoming a Wonderbolt, showing that she’s already done everything she needs to do.

@Background Pony #6744  
Well, I suppose some people might well prefer that as a theme to the one we got, at least.

@Latecomer  
That, at the very least, is very true.

@AC97  

 
You know what, you may be actually right. If my memory serves correctly, Tirek did all the right things as he was conquering Equestria down to even betraying Discord and stealing his magic and was about on par with Twilight in the fight and made a trade with Twilight with no setbacks for him. He just wasn’t aware that Scorpan’s necklace was the last key that activated the Rainbow Power so he got defeated out of sheer unfortunate luck just like Sombra.

@CORDZ2000  
Why do you think we wanted half the major ones redeemed well?

@Myoozik  
Tirek betraying discord was grabbing the villain ball because if he didn’t do that unnecessary evil and betray someone who saw him as a friend and faked friendship with, he could have had discord on his side and been unstoppable. And discord would have never gained true friendship with twilight and empowered the medallion.
 
 
@WyrmSpawN  
Well the specific word is at times I do want some villains to stay evil.

It’s interesting that Tirek didn’t gain Discord’s chaos power
 
So he just absorbs Magic as XP

@Don’t  
Yep which is what they meant by they couldn’t handle his magic

@CORDZ2000  
Tirek betraying Discord was really the only logical thing he could’ve done, I don’t think that counts as him grabbing the villain ball. Tirek was hellbent on getting all the power and he would’ve been wary of Discord one day backstabbing him so he had to get him out of the picture. Besides, if he didn’t have Discord’s magic, it was likely he could’ve been curb stomped easily by Twilight in the magic fight.