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Champions of Equestria

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I haven’t upploaded much this week, so I made you a meme in compensation :P

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AWGear
Solar Supporter - Fought against the New Lunar Republic rebellion on the side of the Solar Deity (April Fools 2023).
Roseluck - Had their OC in the 2023 Derpibooru Collab.
A Lovely Nightmare Night - Celebrated the 12th anniversary of MLP:FIM!
Elements of Harmony - Had an OC in the 2022 Community Collab
Non-Fungible Trixie -
Twinkling Balloon - Took part in the 2021 community collab.
Ten years of changes - Celebrated the 10th anniversary of MLP:FiM!
An Artist Who Rocks - 100+ images under their artist tag
The Magic of Friendship Grows - For helping others attend the 2020 Community Collab
Friendship, Art, and Magic (2020) - Took part in the 2020 Community Collab

The Devil's Advocate
@Dark Dash  
What Meta-humor was in that episode?
 
The “greatest” treat was so Grea that it was gone in about 20 minutes. Which doesn’t sound that good, especially if you compare it to this fragment from wikipedia:
 
The Anglo-Zanzibar War was a military conflict fought between the United Kingdom and the Zanzibar Sultanate on 27 August 1896. The conflict lasted between 38 and 45 minutes, marking it as the shortest recorded war in history.
 
And now think that Sombra’s taking over lasted for about 20 minutes :/
 
—————————————————————————————————————  
Also, about Young 6.
 
I don’t hate all of them, tough I gotta say it’s a very mixed bag. I think 3 of them are good and 3 are bad
 
Good:  
Gallus - Cocky, but unlike Rainbow, in a good way. Very “belivable” character,  
Smolder - The only dragon besides Spike who isn’t ethier abnoxious or a total dick to everyone else,  
Sandbar - Pretty much just a “normal” pony, but that small hint of a “cool surfer dude” sells the character for me.
 
Bad:  
YONA - OBNOXIOUS YAK, UNFUNNY, RUDE. She feels like someone was attempting to make a pony version of a red neck. Also, her broken english is just annoying. If she is supposed to be new element of Honest, then that kinda sucks for the element.  
Silverstream - I always said that if there were ever to be made a MLP Teen Slasher movie, Silverstream would be the one to die first. She is kinda like this stereotype of a dumb blond girl that ever shool seems to have. She reminds me about Lindsay from “Total Drama” series. Jokes made purely on character’s stupidity are funny for about 5 minutes :/  
And that one Changeling which after one season I still cannot write or ever pronounce the name of. - To be honest, nothing really bad about her. She just isn’t interesting. Most of the time I ethier forget that she is there, or am annoyed at the “Changeling Lore” retcons that she brings with her.
 
If I were to say one thing that annoys me the most about Young 6 is that most of them are done based on stereotypes:  
Yona - country/red neck girl  
Smolder - manly girl  
Gallus - rebelious student  
Sandbar - “Cool dude”  
Silverstream - good yet stupid girl  
Ocelous(?) - the nerd
 
I think that stereotypes are good things to base characters on (Mane 6 was based on many stereotypes), but young 6 didn’t have the 7 seasons to develop from those stereotypes. Which hurts quality of those characters :/
Dark Dash

@AWGear  
The reasons I’d heard were more from a viewer’s standpoint than one of a critic. One person mentioned that they loved it for the ‘Action and Meta-Humor’, as well as how it ‘had the greatest threat by far’ in regards to Sombra taking over, the Tree of Harmony being destroyed and so on. I’ve actually heard that last part quite a few times and it kept bothering me because I was just thinking “Does no one remember when Starlight literally erased entire universes just by screwing with the timeline?”
 
 

 
As for your views on Season 8, I personally loved the Young Six (though I also wasn’t a big fan of Yona). I particularly enjoyed watching Gallus and Silverstream. I also definitely loved some episodes that you didn’t, but as you said - just your opinion.
AWGear
Solar Supporter - Fought against the New Lunar Republic rebellion on the side of the Solar Deity (April Fools 2023).
Roseluck - Had their OC in the 2023 Derpibooru Collab.
A Lovely Nightmare Night - Celebrated the 12th anniversary of MLP:FIM!
Elements of Harmony - Had an OC in the 2022 Community Collab
Non-Fungible Trixie -
Twinkling Balloon - Took part in the 2021 community collab.
Ten years of changes - Celebrated the 10th anniversary of MLP:FiM!
An Artist Who Rocks - 100+ images under their artist tag
The Magic of Friendship Grows - For helping others attend the 2020 Community Collab
Friendship, Art, and Magic (2020) - Took part in the 2020 Community Collab

The Devil's Advocate
@Dark Dash  
The fact that people are calling this premiere as “one of thier fav” is what proves my point. It objectively messed up villians who were much more threatning before that, turned Sombra into a “Gay icon” (quoteing Michael Vogel) and had non-existant paceing. The fact that people call it “fav” or “best” is what allows for Hasbro to continue giveing us mediocre stories written by people with no qualifications.
 
About Season 8:
 
Let me do a quick recap of what we had in that season(you’re free to dissagree, only my opinion):
 
School Daze (by Michael Vogel and Nicole Dubuc) - A poor introduction of new characters a season before show’s end. Plot is rather nonsesical and the new characters are so unlikeable (Mainly Yona) that the “WHITE UNICORN RACIST” comes of as the most likeable.
 
Maud Couple (by Nick Confalone) - As much as I don’t agree with people saying that Maud is boreing, I can see where they are comeing from. Hasbro seems to see that too, so they decided to make Maud 2.0 who is bland, boreing and his “smart-ass” remarks are there to only annoy people. Stick-in-the-mud is probably the worst pony to date and seems like a middle finger to everyone who already disliked maud.
 
Fake It ’Till You Make It (by Josh Hamilton) - Probably the only Fluttershy episode I ever enjoyed, probably because Fluttershy doesn’t act like Fluttershy (which is always good in my book). Enjoyed this one, was probably one of the best.
 
Grannies Gone Wild (by Gillian M. Berrow) - A fantastic episode over all. Good lesson, nice character development for all the ponies present (except for AJ, who only loses on this one) and over all a fun episode to rewatch.
 
Surf and/or Turf (by Brian Hohlfeld) - One word, FORGETABLE. Besides world building, this episode done nothing of any importance and I managed to forget about it twice. It wasn’t particularly bad, but wasn’t good ethier, which doesn’t help it in standing out in the croud.
 
Horse Play (by Kaita Mpambara) - Why does this episode exist in season 8? It seems like Hasbro just woke up and decided in past 2 seasons “Hey, we forgot about the princesses! We must give them more screen time”. As much as memorable this episode is, it doesn’t serve any purpouse. Lesson about honest has been done before IN THE SHOW a few times already and if they wanted to “show that Celestia is a pony too”, “A Royal Problem” was much better in that regard.
 
A Parent Map (by Dave Rapp) - Altought this episode was cringeworthy soo many times, I actually enjoyed it. Maybe because I like to see Sunburst and Starlight together. Thier parents weren’t soo bad ethier. It was fun, even tough it definately wasn’t best.
 
Non-Compete Clause (by Kim Beyer-Johnson) - Lesson that we already have seen back in season 1 (“Fall Weather Friends”) + “AJ competeing with someone. Like that never happend before” + Yona (yes, she is always a valuable reason why episode suck, like every yak). Suffice to say, bad episode.
 
The Break Up Break Down (by Nick Confalone) - The only saving grace of this episode is Discord and Spike. Sugar Belle is as boring as ever (thanks Becky Wangberg) and has no place to be relationship for Big Mac. Episodes like this are just to show how much Marble Pie, Cheerlie or Fluttershy would be better in her place. Plot has been done before in MLP (I belive) and it’s as generic as can be. I take piece of cardboard over Sugar Belle anyday.
 
Molt Down (by Josh Haber) - this time, the F is for Fan-service. It felt like Hasbro just wanted to give Spike wings, but had no idea how. Instead of keeping him wing-less, which made him stand out aginst all other dragons, they made this basic episode which in the end was pointless.
 
Marks For Effort (by Nicole Dubuc) - Hasbro: HEY, DO YOU STILL NOT SEE THAT COZY GLOW IS EVIL? HERE, HAVE A HINT THE SIZE OF A TITANIC! (This episode gets an F)
 
The Mean 6 (by Michael Vogel) - Idea stolen from “Return of Harmony”, with a spoon of Mane 6 loseing braincells and a pinch of turning Chryssi into a doormat.
 
A Matter of Principals (by Nicole Dubuc) - Story was dumb, message was soo convoluted it’d would require Sherlock to find it and also Yona was there. Another (after season 7) “SUBTLE” hinting (read: shoe-horning) plot for the finalie. The only saving grace was Starlight, Spike and Discord who managed to make this episode watchable with thier performance.
 
The Hearth’s Warming Club (by Brian Hohlfeld) - Another episode I enjoyed (even tough it had Yona in it! YAY!) Tough I can’t forgive how it has turned Changelings into creatures with one brain cell sloshing around inside of the empty space in thier skull. Also, Yona and Yaks were there, and as alaways, they were dumb, annoying, offensive, insulting and I wished for thier death since the time they first appeared.
 
Friendship University (by Chris “Doc” Wyatt & Kevin Burke) - And the significance of that episode was? Except of “Hey, Remember Star Swirl? We should probably use him again!” Boring and bland episode, ruining all the character development that Flim and Flam has gotten in “Viva Las Pegasus”.
 
The End in Friend (by Gillian M. Berrow) - P for pointless. This episode had no reason to exist, is completly skippable and the lesson was done soo many times by this point that it was phisically painfull to watch.
 
Yakity-Sax (by Michael P. Fox & Wil Fox) - Even tough I enjoyed the return of Pinkamena, it’s still a Yak Episode. You know what that means? To the garbage it goes.
 
Road to Friendship (by Josh Haber) - Even tough story is a bit poor, Starlight is at times just a complete bitch and overall paceing of this episode is meh, I still liked it. Great song, good character development and a nice part of world building. It was a good episode.
 
The Washouts (by Nick Confalone) - Even tough message is bad (kids should be able to learn from thier mistakes, not being kept away from making them), Rainbow Dash is for some reason overprotective and Spitfire is played for laughs with a speach that after it’s first repetition gets annoying, another good episode. Lightning Dusk is finally back and hopefully will come back this season too. Also, I vote Rolling Thunder for the best pony.
 
A Rockhoof and a Hard Place (by Kaita Mpambara) - Hasbro: “Hey, Do you remember those bland as f ponies we introduced last season? Why not bring them back and make episode based on the most boring one of them?” F for Forgetable.
 
What Lies Beneath (by Michael Vogel) - Even tough I liked the Saw-like concept of the episode (especially Gallus’s trap) due to Yona, Smolder (who hit her lowest point in this episode) this episode is as mediocre as it gets. Also… HeY Do YoU SeE tHaT CoZy gLoW Is a ViLlIaN oF tHe SeAsOn?!?!
 
Sounds Of Silence (by Gregory Bonsignore) - Hands down Best Episode of Season 8. Great characters, catchy song, new race of characters that ISN’T AS ANNOYING AS YAKS, but instead is actually good. Fluttershy and AJ are finally enjoyable characters. Nothing bad to say about this one. This episode gets P for Perfect (and PORN, because it sure as hell spawned alot of it)
 
Father Knows Beast (by Josh Haber) - Gotta be honest, I saw only first 3 minutes of this episode before I cringed out and wasn’t able to continue. I think that says enough about it.
 
School Raze (by Nicole Dubuc) - You want to know how to lose braincells? Ask every pony in this episode, seems they know the method as they were played BY A FUCKING KID. Probably the worst finallie we ever had. “Shadow Play” was bad, but it wasn’t so insulting to every other character in the show. This episode made everyone to look as a fool. Also, it’s nice to know that new Mane 6 is a bunch of Marry Sues. Oh, and nothing like ruining probably the most powerfull antagonist along the way. Great job, Nicole. Why you still work at Hasbro?
 
BONUS ROUND
 
Best Gift Ever (by Michael Vogel) - this Episode get’s an dishonorable mentoin on the list of WORST MLP EPSIODES OF ALL THE TIME, only due to that one scene with Marble. Seriously, presenting heartbreak in a Christmass episode? Fuck you Michael. Fuck you Hasbro.
 
In the end, if not for Yona, bad plots and lessons that were done better before, this episode could be quite decent.
 
My top 3 fav episodes would be:  
3. Fake It ’Till You Make It  
2. Grannies Gone Wild  
  1. Sounds of Silence
     
    My top 3 least fav episodes would be:  
  2. The Break Up Break Down  
  3. Marks For Effort  
  4. The Maud Couple
Dark Dash

@AWGear  
I’d disagree about Season 8’s writing being terrible. Honestly, Season 8 was the best since Season 5 for me, as Seasons 6 and 7 had me on the verge of quitting the show. I think the fact I forgot Stygian ever existed is a testament to that, as I remember my reaction to the S7 Finale when it aired was “That was it?” because I was disappointed.
 
Anyway, I think that the show has gotten back on track since around the start of Season 8. I do prefer earlier Seasons (1, 2, and 5 in particular), and I’ve been watching since December of 2010, but I’m not upset with the show’s current quality. Not to mention that, as far as Grogar goes, I hadn’t seen anything more than the images of G1 Grogar before his appearance in the S9 Premiere, so I have no idea what he was like in G1 beyond the fact that he was a major villain. Yet he’s the only villain other than Starlight that I took a liking to almost immediately. The build to his reveal was severely lacking, but now that he’s here I do take him seriously, as I did with Starlight when she first appeared. Which is more than can be said of my first impressions of others like Sombra and Chrysalis, where it took time for me to take them seriously.
 
So I would’ve been on board with you during Season 7, but I’m alright with Season 8 and Season 9 seems alright. Not to mention some people already naming the S9 Premiere their favorite of all the premieres so far (I still prefer S2 and S5’s premieres personally.)
AWGear
Solar Supporter - Fought against the New Lunar Republic rebellion on the side of the Solar Deity (April Fools 2023).
Roseluck - Had their OC in the 2023 Derpibooru Collab.
A Lovely Nightmare Night - Celebrated the 12th anniversary of MLP:FIM!
Elements of Harmony - Had an OC in the 2022 Community Collab
Non-Fungible Trixie -
Twinkling Balloon - Took part in the 2021 community collab.
Ten years of changes - Celebrated the 10th anniversary of MLP:FiM!
An Artist Who Rocks - 100+ images under their artist tag
The Magic of Friendship Grows - For helping others attend the 2020 Community Collab
Friendship, Art, and Magic (2020) - Took part in the 2020 Community Collab

The Devil's Advocate
@Dark Dash  
You forgot Stygian(Shadow pony) :P
 
What makes me mad is not the fact that Hasbro’s writting is garbage(It has been for 2 seasons already), but the fact that there is nobody in the community to call them out on it.  
From what I have seen, no major MLP youtuber has called out Hasbro for thier substantial drop in quality. Letting completly fresh writters write important things like relationships between characters (“Hard to say anything” was written by someone who had no previous expirience in writting MLP) is outragous and should be called out when It happend.  
It’s purely because of this that we are in sytuation like this now, with no respectable villians for the Season 9 :/
Dark Dash

@AWGear  
Yeah, I get that. I guess the reason I’m more receptive to Grogar is that I feel that all the other antagonists had become jokes or reformed. Luna, Discord, and Starlight were all brought over to the side of Equestria. Sombra was beaten twice already (which has him losing four times now), Tirek was ruined by the fact that he was tricked by a filly, and I honestly never liked Cozy Glow that much as a villain. Honestly the only character I ever wanted as a long-term villain was Starlight, but that didn’t happen. I was never the biggest fan of Chrysalis, but she could’ve worked, but we all saw how that turned out by mid-Season 8.
 
So I feel like we needed a new villain to make things believable. The storytelling up to his appearance wasn’t the best, and I wish we could’ve seen him physically appear in some capacity at least once before, but I’m not angry about it and I’ll be fine with the series ending with him as the final villain as I’ve enjoyed watching what little we’ve seen of him so far.
AWGear
Solar Supporter - Fought against the New Lunar Republic rebellion on the side of the Solar Deity (April Fools 2023).
Roseluck - Had their OC in the 2023 Derpibooru Collab.
A Lovely Nightmare Night - Celebrated the 12th anniversary of MLP:FIM!
Elements of Harmony - Had an OC in the 2022 Community Collab
Non-Fungible Trixie -
Twinkling Balloon - Took part in the 2021 community collab.
Ten years of changes - Celebrated the 10th anniversary of MLP:FiM!
An Artist Who Rocks - 100+ images under their artist tag
The Magic of Friendship Grows - For helping others attend the 2020 Community Collab
Friendship, Art, and Magic (2020) - Took part in the 2020 Community Collab

The Devil's Advocate
@Dark Dash  
Something that is an important for every story teller to know, is always how to end your story, even if you’ll have to do it at any time. I’m currently working on a project, and I already know how I would like to end it, even tough I still don’t have well developed center of the story. This way, If it would ever some to me haveing to wrap it up quickly, I already know what direction I have to drive story towards.
 
In case of MLP and it’s (mixed bag) writers, It’s more understandable that there was no “one idea” for how to end the series. Then again, if you know the deadline, then instead of introduceing new (rushed) characters just to please the fans, you should work with what you have established already. Viewers don’t want a bigger lake with a dept of a puddle, but a puddle with the depth of a lake.
 
As I said before, Instead of introduceing Grogar, they could leave him for G5 (or the movie) and have Sombra (who was already introduced character of formitable skill) take his place for this finallie. I don’t think that anyone would complain if instead of half-baked Grogar we would get a treat of tasty King Sombra for the final season :/
Dark Dash

@AWGear  
I like it. In some ways it reminds me of how I described how Starlight could’ve become the ‘big bad’ following Season 5 a while back, since for a long time I greatly preferred her as a villain.
 
Anyway, I like the idea of him leaving things to test the villains and so on. Would make every time he appeared a moment when everyone watching would start paying very close attention to see what the figure’s next move would be. Perhaps leaving a scroll in the area where Chrysalis was hiding, just for her to find it and create her failed dopplegangers. Among the other ideas you had. Never appearing to them physically, but just leaving things for them in places they’re bound to stumble upon.
 
I could imagine the reveal, even. The episode beginning with the villains being set free, and some sort of clue, maybe even a map, for themselves to follow if they wanted to take over Equestria. Eventually they’d all arrive around the same time at the same place, a sort of subterranean fortress of sorts - This being all that remains of the Lost City of Tambelon. Little more than a sunken and decaying castle being left. They start questioning each other about who led them there, getting heated like they did at each other in the actual premiere. Then a bell sounds, something like the bell of a bell tower, and maybe it dawns on Tirek in particular where they are, and then the cloaked figure appears before them. Sunken red eyes peer out from beneath the hood of the cloak and Grogar finally reveals himself.
 
Now, while I enjoy the sound of what you’ve thought up here, we have to take into account how the showrunners probably weren’t sure how long the series would run for, and they probably didn’t have a clear answer until around Season 7 when they dropped the story of how Gusty the Great fought Grogar and the like, treating it like a myth. While there could’ve been more hints at Grogar’s presence as a real entity in Equestria, perhaps other stories about him being mentioned here and there, I think that if the showrunners wanted to keep him a surprise I wouldn’t blame them too much for not mentioning him that often across only two Seasons. Perhaps he could’ve appeared once during either the S7 or S8 Finale after his first mention in that story, but I don’t think they could’ve done much more given the time they had if they wanted him to be a surprise. So I can understand why he didn’t appear sooner if their plan was to have him be the one at the end.
AWGear
Solar Supporter - Fought against the New Lunar Republic rebellion on the side of the Solar Deity (April Fools 2023).
Roseluck - Had their OC in the 2023 Derpibooru Collab.
A Lovely Nightmare Night - Celebrated the 12th anniversary of MLP:FIM!
Elements of Harmony - Had an OC in the 2022 Community Collab
Non-Fungible Trixie -
Twinkling Balloon - Took part in the 2021 community collab.
Ten years of changes - Celebrated the 10th anniversary of MLP:FiM!
An Artist Who Rocks - 100+ images under their artist tag
The Magic of Friendship Grows - For helping others attend the 2020 Community Collab
Friendship, Art, and Magic (2020) - Took part in the 2020 Community Collab

The Devil's Advocate
@Dark Dash  
First of all, I’d start teasing him here and there since at least season 4. Appearing in the background, watching important events happening in equestria (probably just a cloacked figure in some scenes; kinda like we have been teased with Thorax, or the “alicorn ponies”; nothing major but easy to spot). I’d put him in most major finallies of the seasons, doing stuff like picking up Sombra’s horn, watching Chryssalis escapeing from her Hive. Ofcourse, he would still be only a cloaked figure, with no name being said yet.
 
I’d have him interact with some of the major events in the story of the show (Giveing Sunburst the Star Swirl’s Journal, “giveing” Chryssalis the spell that’d create Mean 6, Atempting to trap M6 by giving Spike the magic comic book). Again, he wouldn’t be namedropped untill season 9, which would keep fans asking about “Who is this cloaked character”. All those attempts wouldn’t be to “beat” Mane 6, but instead to test them. Grogar would be like scientist observing his test subjects. Thier weaknesses, thier good sides. What makes them tick.
 
He’d appear in one or to finallies, in a post credits scene saying stuff like “Everything goes according to plan” or something along those lines.
 
Then, in season 9, he’d have all the previous vilians find him on themselfs (by giveing them hints ofcourse) and have all of them gather together.(this would show that he is not desperate for “teammates”, but that he can still “toy” with them a little)
 
He’d offer them a deal. If they help him defeating Mane 6, he’d make thier wishes (Chryssi’s hive, Tirek’s power, Cozy’s Friendship and Sombra’s kingdom) come true. If any of them would object to it, Grogar would use his “high charisma and speech” to explain that there is very little room for failure with all the reaserch he has done. If that wouldn’t help, perhaps he could demonstrate his power by momentarly turning sombra into “a walking corpse” before reverting it (kinda like did Calypso to Barbossa’s arm in Pirates of the Caribbean: At world’s end), which would show that he is both skilled at talking, as in dark magic.
 
If we talk about his desing, I’d definately gravitate to his G1 version more. I’d definitly would make his head way bigger, as now it looks smaller than his neck in some shots. I’d leave the completly red eyes, irregular “busted” teeth, lack of “mane”. Probably give him some sort of a robe. Instead of always being stooped forward, I’d have him sitting, in a straight posture. I’d give him more imposeing voice (something more similar to Quan Chi from Mortal Kombat X).
 
Instead of Sombra being clearly a fool and and egomaniac, I’d have him follow Grogar’s orders, but behave very sassy about it. Which would “still” lead to Sombra loseing his fight with M6 (only once, because twice for one episode is way too much), and then Grogar would betray Sombra, leaving him for death at M6 hoofs. He’d show that to other villians, and tell them that this would happen to them if they ever got on his bad side. He’d essentially keep them around out of fear.
 
Then again, this is my (and may be too dark for a kids show) version of Grogar. An Imposeing, ruthless villian who can fight both with magic and words. Who wants a team, but wont let other’s to disrespect him.
 
I actually think it would be nice, if my idea of him betraying Sombra could be cannon. Especially if he would say “Long Live the King” to reference first part of “The beggining of the end”, as well as “The Lion King”. I think it would be much more fitting, and for everyone who liked Sombra (like me) would direct much more hate towards Grogar instead of the writters. The main antagonist of MLP should be hated (for what he does, instead of quallity of his character) by people watching, as it would make the final battle even more awaited.
 
Then again, this is only my toughts about how I’d fix Grogar, changeing as little as possible. If I were to do some more significant changes, I’d have him written out of the show completly, and have King Sombra take alot of his character traits, as he was pretty much a blank slate before this episode. Maybe in G5 I’d have both Sombra and Grogar being “the deadly alliance”, giveing him time to shine since episode one.
Dark Dash

@AWGear  
I feel like you’re being way too hard on this. I’ve got a few more points, but I want to ask you this - If you were writing for the show and were setting up Grogar as the final villain of the series, what would you do differently to make his first physical appearance better? What would make him more legitimate for you?
AWGear
Solar Supporter - Fought against the New Lunar Republic rebellion on the side of the Solar Deity (April Fools 2023).
Roseluck - Had their OC in the 2023 Derpibooru Collab.
A Lovely Nightmare Night - Celebrated the 12th anniversary of MLP:FIM!
Elements of Harmony - Had an OC in the 2022 Community Collab
Non-Fungible Trixie -
Twinkling Balloon - Took part in the 2021 community collab.
Ten years of changes - Celebrated the 10th anniversary of MLP:FiM!
An Artist Who Rocks - 100+ images under their artist tag
The Magic of Friendship Grows - For helping others attend the 2020 Community Collab
Friendship, Art, and Magic (2020) - Took part in the 2020 Community Collab

The Devil's Advocate
@Dark Dash  
Let me approach this step by step:
 
We’ve already seen several demonstrations of Grogar’s abilities. In past Seasons, they’ve established that it takes a great deal of magic to gain access to Tartarus, Grogar was able to summon Tirek and Cozy on a whim, as well as transport Chrysalis as though it was nothing.
 
Did we, really? We had de-powered Tirek escapeing Tartarus (“Twilight’s Kingdom”) and Mane 6 entering useing, what is essentially, a lockpick (“School Raze”). Only once we have seen “alot of magic” being used to open the doors, and that was when Mane 6 was trying to FORCE them open. We also have to take into concidaration the fact that Cozy was able to contact Tirek somehow, during the time he was in Tartarus, which means that is in no means a hard place to breach.
 
Not to mention that he was able to resurrect King Sombra, something that Twilight didn’t even think was possible while the Crystal Heart was in place.
 
Through what we were shown in the episode, Sombra was freed by drawing that symbol on the ground. As we have seen ealier, magical artifacts and symbols have quite a big meaning in the show, allowing even the weakest unicorns to do great things (Trixie and the Alicorn Amulet). It’s safe to say that the drawing on the floor did more than did Grogar.
 
And of course his ability to casually grant Tirek enough magical energy to transform when before it had taken many ponies for him to grow that much.
 
Again, this proves that Grogar has combined power of at least 31(counted from Twilight’s Kingdom) earth ponies, pegasai and unicorns. By any means, that is not a huge number, especially since we are shown on multiple ocasions that “background ponies” aren’t very “strong in magic”. Seeing how much magic does the creatures in Tartarus posses, it’s safe to assume that Tirek could reach his level 2 by “sucking off” one Cockatrice (This sounds much more dirty than I tought). Then again, this is the only thing that we could “give” to Grogar as “showing his power”.
 
He was mentioned in prior episodes, the one everyone seems to focus on is during Season 7. In that Season, there’s a scene where Twilight is telling a group of foals at the local hospital about Gusty the Great, and how Gusty and other Unicorns fought against Grogar. Of course it was thought to be just a story at the time.
 
I don’t want to sound pretentious, but I watch every episode of MLP and generally I rarely forget something. As much as I can blame it on my memory, on the other hand it shows how forgetable were those “hints”. They surely wasn’t as memorable as the yellow-eyed thing from the end of “Castle Mane-ia”
 
As for him being ’pushed around’ by Sombra, I took it more as an example of how Grogar is different from another power hungry character like Sombra. I’ll admit that they did Sombra wrong in a few ways because he was a means to an end to show how the King’s arrogance and overconfidence in being able to do things alone were his undoing. On the other hand, I think it did well for Grogar in showing how he’s level-headed and cautious in enacting his plans, in contrast to Sombra’s rash actions.
 
Problem with that, if the fact that it portrays him as someone weak. If he were all powerfull, he surely would put Sombra in his place, before the King could say much. We see at the end of the episode that he wishes that Sombra wouldn’t do such a thing, because now he may not have enough of “villians” for his group. If he were skilled at combat, he’d put Sombra in his place with force. If he were skilled in words, he would talk Sombra into cooperating. We weren’t shown any of this, thus, giveing off image of Grogar as a “once powerfull old goat” and nothing more.
 
No matter how much we would theorize about him, it doesn’t change the fact that he was shoe-horned into this last season as fan-service due to his popularity in fan work. Over the years, we have seen a few other antagonists who would fit better as “last season villians” due to thier history with ethier Equestria as a whole, or Mane 6. :/
Dark Dash

@AWGear  
He was mentioned in prior episodes, the one everyone seems to focus on is during Season 7. In that Season, there’s a scene where Twilight is telling a group of foals at the local hospital about Gusty the Great, and how Gusty and other Unicorns fought against Grogar. Of course it was thought to be just a story at the time.
 
We’ve already seen several demonstrations of Grogar’s abilities. In past Seasons, they’ve established that it takes a great deal of magic to gain access to Tartarus, Grogar was able to summon Tirek and Cozy on a whim, as well as transport Chrysalis as though it was nothing. To drive the point about freeing Tirek from Tartarus home, Chrysalis mentions that it would take a very powerful being in order to do so. Not to mention that he was able to resurrect King Sombra, something that Twilight didn’t even think was possible while the Crystal Heart was in place. And of course his ability to casually grant Tirek enough magical energy to transform when before it had taken many ponies for him to grow that much. We haven’t seen any real demonstrations of his combative abilities, but we’ve already seen some actions by the ram that are impressive within the universe of MLP i.e. Necromancy, Freeing Lord Tirek from Tartarus, et cetera.
 
As for him being ‘pushed around’ by Sombra, I took it more as an example of how Grogar is different from another power hungry character like Sombra. I’ll admit that they did Sombra wrong in a few ways because he was a means to an end to show how the King’s arrogance and overconfidence in being able to do things alone were his undoing. On the other hand, I think it did well for Grogar in showing how he’s level-headed and cautious in enacting his plans, in contrast to Sombra’s rash actions.
 
His combative abilities have yet to be seen, so offensively we can’t really gauge where he stands yet. So we don’t know if he could produce magical beams to the same degree that Starlight could. Also, one could argue that if he’s so powerful, why can’t he go back in time and prevent his defeat by Gusty the Great (though I’m also curious if Starswirl’s scroll used both by ‘Future Twilight’ and Starlight is necessary for time travel)? So we’ll have to see in time what he’s capable of in a fight.
AWGear
Solar Supporter - Fought against the New Lunar Republic rebellion on the side of the Solar Deity (April Fools 2023).
Roseluck - Had their OC in the 2023 Derpibooru Collab.
A Lovely Nightmare Night - Celebrated the 12th anniversary of MLP:FIM!
Elements of Harmony - Had an OC in the 2022 Community Collab
Non-Fungible Trixie -
Twinkling Balloon - Took part in the 2021 community collab.
Ten years of changes - Celebrated the 10th anniversary of MLP:FiM!
An Artist Who Rocks - 100+ images under their artist tag
The Magic of Friendship Grows - For helping others attend the 2020 Community Collab
Friendship, Art, and Magic (2020) - Took part in the 2020 Community Collab

The Devil's Advocate
@Dark Dash  
Tirek being scared of someone means absolutely nothing. On a few ocassions, he is shown scared by Cozy Glow. There is no reason to fear Grogar, as he hasn’t shown anything particularly powerfull or scary. All we had of him is just bringing together past vilians, which is something that doesn’t speak much “power”. At this point in time, he comes out as a whimp in comparasing to Starlight (Time traveling magic is something that we’re told time and time that is difficult) or even Cozy Glow (Who for some reason managed to trick everypony into beliveing her, and opened some sort of magical portal). Then, Grogar also let’s himself being pushed around by Sombra, who (sadly) is portrayed in this episode as a egocentric and a complete whimp. Grogar hasn’t done anything worthy of applause yet. He wasn’t even mentoined before this episode. If he “for whatever” reason comes out now as “THE MOST POWERFULL BEING IN ALL OF EQUESTRIA”, it will be just another lazy “deus ex machina” moment in the show. :/
Dark Dash

@AWGear  
Personally, I’m curious to see how he matches up with Discord more than anything else. We’ve established by this point that Discord is probably the most powerful entity up until now within the show’s universe. Tirek needed to trick Discord until he was strong enough to trip the draconequs of his powers, and Sombra was nothing to Discord. But if Tirek is scared of Grogar, then that says something about how legendary the ram’s power must be. So I’m intrigued by the prospect of Grogar and Discord facing off with each other.
 
As for the team of villains, my first impression was that he wanted to gather a group of villains to strike fear into the populace of Equestria, since fear gave him power in the story that Twilight told Flurry. Then, when he’s at his most powerful, he turns on the other villains and their fear of him only pushes him to even greater heights. In many ways, his team represents the opposite of the Mane Six. While elements are together out of friendship and care for each other, Grogar’s team is held in place by their fear of him.
AWGear
Solar Supporter - Fought against the New Lunar Republic rebellion on the side of the Solar Deity (April Fools 2023).
Roseluck - Had their OC in the 2023 Derpibooru Collab.
A Lovely Nightmare Night - Celebrated the 12th anniversary of MLP:FIM!
Elements of Harmony - Had an OC in the 2022 Community Collab
Non-Fungible Trixie -
Twinkling Balloon - Took part in the 2021 community collab.
Ten years of changes - Celebrated the 10th anniversary of MLP:FiM!
An Artist Who Rocks - 100+ images under their artist tag
The Magic of Friendship Grows - For helping others attend the 2020 Community Collab
Friendship, Art, and Magic (2020) - Took part in the 2020 Community Collab

The Devil's Advocate
@Background Pony #4B89  
If Grogar is such a powerfull enemy, why he bothers gathering a group of ponies who proven inefective towards Mane 6? Why would he wait till equestria is at it’s finest to make a move with his plans? Why he bothers to keep Cozy Glow around, when she has no special powers and is just a kid? If he is “poweful”, then he is a fool. His excuse of “we must work together” sounds so painfully “forced” (because, you know “Friendship is Magic”) and makes very little sense, in context of MLP villians. Like or not, but characterization of Grogar in MLP G4 is garbage. His addition to the series is nothing more than fan service. IF he were to be hinted at during previous seasons as the “mastermind” behind everything, then yes, I’d admit that he is a serious antagonist. But as it stands, he is just another last minute addition to the series that nobody seems to actually have put much tought in. It’d make much more sense for Sombra to be the “main vilian” of MLP, especially since we know that he has been around since season 3.
Background Pony #8888
@AWGear  
Yada Yada Yada. I hear nothing more from you. You don’t think there is a reason that Grogar doesn’t restore Tirek to his full power? Alone the fact that he brings Sombra back and just a tiny ball of magic let Tirek go in his second stage. And yet he is not at his full power.
AWGear
Solar Supporter - Fought against the New Lunar Republic rebellion on the side of the Solar Deity (April Fools 2023).
Roseluck - Had their OC in the 2023 Derpibooru Collab.
A Lovely Nightmare Night - Celebrated the 12th anniversary of MLP:FIM!
Elements of Harmony - Had an OC in the 2022 Community Collab
Non-Fungible Trixie -
Twinkling Balloon - Took part in the 2021 community collab.
Ten years of changes - Celebrated the 10th anniversary of MLP:FiM!
An Artist Who Rocks - 100+ images under their artist tag
The Magic of Friendship Grows - For helping others attend the 2020 Community Collab
Friendship, Art, and Magic (2020) - Took part in the 2020 Community Collab

The Devil's Advocate
@Eroraf86  
By “scary” I mean an enemy that can be concidered a threat to main characters, due to ethier being serious or powerfull. Now we have:  
  • Bug Queen who went nuts,  
  • Once powerfull being, now pushover for a kid,  
  • A kid,  
    And an enemy who (instead of attacking equestria during it’s weakest) decided to wait till there are elements of harmony, 4 princesses and a God of Chaos on pony side.
     
    Ofcourse, we could have also a monarch with a power to hypnotize and enslave anypony he wishes, but I guess Hasbro didn’t wanted for there to be any actually good antagonist for the series.