I've been wondering what he thinks of S9 retconning away his Sombra arc. Today I found out he sides with the critics:

https://twitter.com/jrome58/status/1334240853775278089

https://twitter.com/jrome58/status/1413227201403789313

7541913
And I'm siding with him. Comic!Sombra is an interesting character and genuinely tragic, whereas S9!Sombra was a Generic Doomsday Villain and a bully. The latter was entertaining to watch, and undeniably dangerous, but given how that season turned out, well, I prefer the former, and even have some mental gymnastics prepared to reconcile everything.

7541913
Personally, unlike Whitley…I was actually happy with Season 9 retconning “Siege of the Crystal Empire”. Sombra’s overall portrayal in the comic as a tragic figure was cringy, and his redemption in the story completely wasted him as a villain. We already have a long list of reformed villains in MLP, we never needed him on it.

7541922
Honestly, I thought Sombra’s portrayal in the comics was mediocre compared to his portrayal in Season 9. Cringy even.

7541913
I agree with him.

Heck, I'm going as far as saying that the King Sombra we saw in Season 9 was nothing but a fake. A Neo version of him even!

7541929
Even if his character in the comics didn’t align at all with his appearance in Season 3? Or was basically being wishwashed into some boring cliche?

7541931
Because unlike some.... I care for the IDW comics. :/

Well scratch that.... only a few arcs that I don't like, like say.... The Good, The Bad, and The Ponies arc as well as Season 10 for obvious reasons. :/

I'm going to pretend Discord brought back Sombra 'wrong', as that wasn't the same character.

7541932

Well scratch that.... only a few arcs, like say.... The Good, The Bad, and The Ponies arc as well as Season 10 for obvious reasons. :/

What do you mean by that?

7541935
Neo King Sombra like I stated to call him as? :3

7541935
Sombra wasn’t the same in the comics either. As a matter of fact, he was hardly Sombra at all.

7541937
No, no. I mean are those comics you mentioned ones you like or dislike.

7541936
For the former: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/YMMV/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicIDWIssue25To26

See the 2nd trope below the first one for reasons.

And as for the latter: Well... still not following things correctly like more Tree of Harmonies? That's bullshit. :/

7541941
Even so. I honestly disliked the comics because of the openly questionable storyline. The Main Six, Spike, and Shining Armor were extremely out of character and unlikable in that story, and the concept as a whole wishwashed Sombra into a cringy tragic figure and a cliche reform. Radiant Hope was likewise an irritable new addition, and the Umbrum were forgettable.

7541945
Suit yourself. :/

Haha, I think I caused this.

Whether you like the comic or not, Whitley has a point here. A story he cared about was retconned in a horrible way, the character he put personality and a backstory into was turned into a throw away villain and was killed off. I'd be mad if that happened to me too.

Now, I like season 9 Sombra. He was fun, and had a personality that his original self didn't have. But I can't ignore the fact that comic Sombra was handled better, given a motive, backstory, and a proper send off. Heck, the message in Siege of the Crystal Empire was more worthwhile than what Beginning of the End gave us, assuming we can call what that ended with a message.

That’s the thing about friendship though. Your friends are friends because they can see the great things you have inside. They can look past looks and family and even your own worries.

And they can see the goodness inside of you, even if you can’t see it yourself.

Good to know this message wasn't worth the time. Murder is so much better, right? Sure, he's evil, but that's his only personality trait so it's okay!

Ugh. Siege was special to me, it's what got me into pony in the first place, so I'm going to be opinionated. But it's not going to take an opinionated person to know that taking someone's work and trashing it is a horrible thing to do. Sombra's return and death felt like a jab at the comic fans, and at Whitley himself.

7541966
For sure.

7541966
I already explained why I disliked “Siege of the Crystal Empire”, but…for quite a long time, I’ve been formulating in my head a concept where Sombra is the main antagonist and Cadance and Shining Armor are the protagonists, with Radiant Hope and the Umbrum being part of the story in some way.

I’m hoping to make my story even better than the comics.

7541973
I see.

7541974
7541966
The story itself would also shed more light on who Sombra is as a character and what motivates him. One thing’s for sure, he’s definitely not someone who wants to be controlled or puppeteered by another.

7541973
Yeah, I saw your explanation. I chose to ignore it, because I don't agree with it. I could argue about it, but I'm choosing to be the bigger person and not doing that.

So, in my opinion, your story will not be better than Siege of the Crystal Empire. I like Sombra more as a tragic character I can connect to.

7541986
Same. :P

7541986
7541989
I like him more as a villain.

7541990
Like I said before: Suit yourself. :P

7541986
7541991
And like I said, I am hoping to improve over the comic. To give Sombra, Radiant Hope, and the Umbrum something far better than their underuse in the comics.

7541998
k.

7541966

Haha, I think I caused this.

*Checks your Links (About), and recognizes one of your usernames.*
That, you did.

7542022
Heh. =3

7541913
To be quite honest, I'm on neither of their sides. I think both Hasbro and Whitley did Sombra dirty.

Sombra should have been a pure evil dark lord type, plain and simple. Whitley shouldn't have redeemed him, and Hasbro shouldn't have made him so...whiny.

7542079
The only nitpick I really have regarding his appearance in Season 9 was his voice. The way voice actor Alvin Sanders portrayed the character was hardly what I’d call the most fitting, and there are many celebrities in the world whom I think would’ve been perfect for voicing him.

7541966

That’s the thing about friendship though. Your friends are friends because they can see the great things you have inside. They can look past looks and family and even your own worries.

And they can see the goodness inside of you, even if you can’t see it yourself.

Honestly, that moral is openly forgettable. Not to mention terribly executed.

7542306
Agreed. If it hadn't been for that, I would have actually liked it.
7542312
Also tell that to anyone who bends over backwards for others but gives hardly any thought to themselves, like virtually everyone with low self-esteem.

7541923
Nor did we need yet another "Monologue about everything, don't finish the heroes when I can and should, and lose because overconfidence." (To be fair, that kind of villain still works. But only if they're self-aware about it; problem was, S9 Sombra played it straight.)
Especially when his appeal had always been the opposite: his seriousness compared to the other villains. Even Whitley's version managed to get that right, if nothing else.

7543364
The only problem with the comic version of Sombra is that he didn’t have much of a personality. Even with the supposed depth and background presented in the comics, he still seemed like too much of a stick character and was kinda bland. He didn’t really have much of a motivation either, which is what makes all kinds of antagonists click.

He’s an Umbrum and Father of Monsters, so what? What else helps him to click?

Sometimes…a backstory alone isn’t enough to make a villain compelling or three-dimensional.

On a side note:

I’ve been formulating in my head a concept where Sombra is the main antagonist and Cadance and Shining Armor are the protagonists, with Radiant Hope and the Umbrum being part of the story in some way.

I'll be sure to check it out.
I'm always up for more material about FIENDship #1 and/or Siege.

7542079
While I enjoyed his comic backstory, I will agree that redeeming him was a big mistake.

7542565
On the bright side of it all…with the revelation that Discord turned out to be Grogar, I actually theorized that the reason for why his voice sounded the way it was in Season 9 was due to some of Discord’s chaos magic slipping into the spell he was using. It’s something that makes me enthusiastic about the Grogar twist, because if it turned out to be the real Grogar I would’ve been like, “Really? That’s what he sounded like before getting banished for 1000 years?”.

On the subject of Sombra’s overconfidence…I believe that was very in-character of him because he proved to be an intelligent threat even in that very episode. He obviously used himself as bait to lure the Main Six to him so that they could unwittingly lead him to the Tree of Harmony.

7544069
And then did the dumbest thing he could do by leaving them alone in the cave, especially since his later actions proved he had expected them to escape. Sombra was supposed to be a no-nonsense villain. That was his original appeal. It would have actually been very interesting for him to mind control the Mane Six and make them his generals to turn them against Ponyville, forcing Discord to save them, which Sombra wouldn't have predicted, and still manage to lead to his undoing while making Discord actually feel like he was needed.

And don't even get me started on that mother of all ass pulls. That revelation just made the whole finale even worse. To this day, I still refuse to watch the whole thing.

Season 9 was just terrible and you could really tell Hasbro didn't care anymore and just wanted to move onto G5.

7544292
Honestly, I still think what was done with Sombra in the comics was way worse than his appearance in Season 9.

7544395
I hated both of them equally, for different reasons.

7542022
7541986
Quote Idea I Have for King Sombra