I was thinking about King Sombra while I was showering yesterday, and it occurred to me, while Sombra looks really tough and vicious in his armor, "I will crush you, you pathetic worms!", the (unfortunately infrequent) times I have seen Sombra as he usually looks, but without armor, he looks more like what his powers feed off of. Something to fear, radiating cold hatred and merciless power, " I will make you suffer in darkness". Anyway, that's my reaction to Sombra without armor vs. with, so now I'm curious what yours are, imagine a fully solid Sombra, eyes burning with his dark magic, and in a powerful pose, vs the same, but without armor, and tell me what you feel different

To add on, what would you think of Sombra with less armor, his look toned down in some way to look (a little) less intimidating.

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I love how characters who are using large amounts of magic always get odd eye effects. It usually looks amazing. Sombra's eyes glow green and red with the purple mist coming from them, magic originating from the elements of harmony makes the mane 6's eyes glow white, etc. It even works in other universes. Like Undertale's Sans and Undyne, Asura from Asura's Wrath, and many, many other characters from all sorts of series.

5062403 Without the armor but with the burning eyes he would still be a pony with a powerful presence. He would have a strong, muscular body, there is no doubt of that, wearing that heavy armor and greaves all the time. His glare and strong posture alone are powerful - especially in The Cutie Remark.

And when you say without his armor...well...Evehly's portrayal says it all:

Oh yeah...that's our King, armor, trappings or no. He is still a charismatic presence and I find it hard to see him as less - except when I'm reading Wiggle's Ask King Sombra comic. There he definitely looks less intimidating.

Made of mithril and platinum, it is an incredibly resistant armour forged by the grffons out of fear for their "parts" and families

5062403 In most fan created artworks and a lot of stories (including mine), Sombra without his armor is usually described as a really well-built and muscular stallion (probably also inspired by the Reflections comic).

Think of him as a sort of Firelord Ozai (if you've seen Avatar the Last Airbender - if not google it :) ). With his armor he indeed looks like a final boss, but without it he still radiates evil while also being a very good looking character, with nice firm muscles, above average height and sleek dark fur.

With or without armor the king would always have this commanding deadly presence, the armor just adds to his already intimidating looks.

Now he actually has a third form, the shadow form and..... yeah that's probably when I will make an attempt to run for the hills. Heck all three would probably prompt me to try and run for the hills. Seriously, King Sombra has the honorary title of being one of the few cartoon villains who have managed to genuinely scare me.

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5063032 I am sure he would enjoy what we've said, and yeah, he is terrifying...sometimes, when I wonder if I'm actually one of the villains minwiped and banished, I wonder if I'm him...I do have his sense of cruelty and lust for power...

I also wonder if his cape is as soft as it looks

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He defeated an empire with nothing but a fluffy cape. He fluffed the Crystal Empire into submission.

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5063231 (giggle)

5063222 his cape is made of ponies who betray him

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... Stop that...

You know what I mean...

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Pbbfft...

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Without armor: Extremely good looking, well built and athletic from doing cardio and stair climbing for many years.

5063507 Mmm-hmm.