Yeah, if the real Grogar was to have a role in the show, they should have used him way sooner, and also by having him (at least the first time) work on his own, and then maybe summon the other villains after his first defeat or something. That way, him being some kind of final villain would have at least been somewhat earned.
 
Heck, I would have been fine if he’d been the villain in the season 9 premiere (basically having Sombra’s role), who was then defeated, then he summoned the other villains, told them to work together…and then they betrayed him in the finale to become the final villains themselves. At least that’s how I’d use him if I was mandated to have Grogar make his debut in season 9 and not sooner.

Of all the ways they’ve found to nerf Discord out of being able to instantly solve the Big Deal in a season finale… this was definitely one of them.

@Beau Skunky  
I did also point out that it possibly could we move guild luna and Celestia.  
also something like that should be said early on in the series not at the very end. Again Thanos comparison it would be like saying he was the reason loki was bad in the first thor movie

@northern haste  
Yeah… Not to mention, some fans hate that “Nightmare Moon was never evil” idea, so fans would be divided on that too.

@Beau Skunky  
I did see someone give a pretty lame counter argument saying they could have just said he was involved with older villains like being the reason Luna turned evil.  
Which wouldn’t change that he still just some guy who showed up and would also kinda be like if Thanos was never mentioned before infinity war

@Background Pony #6592  
Eh, while I didn’t like the twist at first, the more I thought about it, the more I can understand why they did it. It kinda answers a question fans have had if Discord was secretly watching/protecting the cast during events like the Sombra incident, and the betrayal kinda helps Discord realize he doesn’t always have everything under control, and ensures he doesn’t do anymore “tests” for Twilight, or try to orchistrate events again giving his character closure.
 
Also, even if Groger was real, or somehow overpowered the trio’, and became the final boss, then he’d just be a generic doomsday villain out of nowhere, and he honestly wouldn’t of done anything any differently then the villainous trio did, and honestly the fandom seems to like them better. (Though, some fans seem to like them too much.)

Okay, man, no one thought the legion betraying Grogar was surprising. It was clearly telegraphed from pretty much the word go, we all saw it coming. It still doesn’t change the fact the “Discord was Grogar” reveal was still a weak twist (which was also properly set up, but still really lame)and they still pissed away the concept of Grogar as a character, or any of the other innumerable weaknesses in the writing of the series finale.

@HIEfan36  
open up your eyes and see that no one is falling for your thinly-veiled propaganda ego trip

It wasn’t advertised as a subversion of expectation. That was more the fact that Grogar was Discord.

@Background Pony #1643  
Additionally, Grogar had next to no connections with the main cast (the closest thing we got was Twilight reading a story about him and Gusty the Great to children) And all of a sudden he despises Twilight as if they were life long enemies  
His status as the final boss is unwarranted

It’s hard to consider it a subversion of expectations when Grogar got practically no development this entire season, while the trio got two whole episodes focused on them learning to work as a team. Of COURSE they were going to take center stage in the finale. That’s what EVERYTHING was building up to.

Such a stupid plot point. This will be one of many things that Hasbro will have to revise.

Ahahah! Mine is an evil laugh!