@Zennistrad  
damn typing here from phone is pain. Anyway no matter what he does he can’t rewrite rules of the universe, and rules of the universe say that there cannot be violence and evil always loose.

@ClownDicks
 
First off, it’s a show for little kids. Do you really expect them to show the crystal ponies being brutally enslaved and tortured?
 
Second, it’s arguably scarier if they didn’t show it. Trying to imagine what he could have done that left them so broken is far more disturbing than actually showing what it is.

@Zennistrad  
But what did he do? Show us how he got that reputation, don’t just tell us he’s scary.

@Ninoyiya  
SS fighted him, only effect: inability to cast spells for duration of episode. Lawl. Cadence weakened by his power. I am weakened by medicine all them threat. TS and spike hurted emotionally… congratulation Sombra, you are now Diamod Tiara leve threat.

@Ninoyiya
 
Not to mention the Crystal Ponies were so completely emotionally broken by Sombra that his mere presence was enough to send them into a screaming panic.

@marxon7
 
Shining Armor was hurt.
 
Cadence by proxy of Sombra existing was being hurt.
 
Twilight and Spike were emotionally hurt by Sombra’s trap.

@Zennistrad  
Was he credible threat? No, nopony was hurted. We exactly knew that he will be owned in the end by plot device or if it fail by deus ex machina. Was Sombra entertaining? No, because he had no personality and was never a threat.

@marxon7
 
King Sombra did have the upper hand for most of the episode, he attacked the Crystal Empire the moment the barrier fell, and was constantly thwarting Twilight by nature of his traps. The only thing that ended up stopping him was a little tag-along dragon.
 
Even then, he was only moments away from catching Spike’s fall and presumably killing him, and was only barely stopped by an impromptu Princess Cadance javelin toss.
 
And no, you can’t call that a Deus Ex Machina because we knew that Cadance, Shining Armor and Spike were there, so his defeat didn’t come out of nowhere.

@Zennistrad  
In good show when villain gots upper hand someone is going to die or get seriously wounded. Heroes have to earn their victory, not get saved by deus ex machina. If you want to make villain entertaining but rules of show doesn’t allow violence you eiter make him comic or tragic. Only idiot would write complete monster in show like that. It will always end like this: Rawrrr!!! lol nope deus ex machina time.

@marxon7
 
You’re supposed to take villains seriously, that is the purpose of a villain by its very definition.
 
Villains exist to provide conflict and tension. You know they’ll lose in the end, as villains pretty much always do, but they pose enough of a threat to the heroes that you find yourself wondering how it will happen.

Watches cartoon where villains can’t achieve anything no matter what. Gets angry when you refuse to threat those villains seriously.

@SpacePaladin
 
Well, yes, but the Crystal Empire is populated entirely by earth ponies.
 
Sombra had no reason to believe that he’d be dealing with unicorns at all until Celestia and Luna came in out of nowhere and curbstomped him.

These traps could be thwarted by a decent mixed-race party.

It’s just that the character isn’t exactly fleshed out, it could be any design at all with the same story it would still work.

@thps48  
That ‘random architect’ had a name, George Trevor.

King Sombra is BEST villain!

@Princess♠Molestia  
That’s one way for an AI to wig out… >:3

@Prof.NightJack  
I…I…I…
 
EXTERMINATE!!!!!!! EXTERMINATE!!!!!!!!! EXTERMINATE!!!!!!!!!!!

@Princess♠Molestia  
On… in that case, enjoy your meltdown from logical paradox.  
The following sentence is true.  
The previous sentence is false

@Prof.NightJack  
Yes
 

@Trickquestion  
Godawful execution. But he had an incredible architect.

@Zennistrad  
“King Sombra… REBORN!”  

@Itsthinking
 
Well, his horn did survive, and given how he’d basically become a wraith by the time he appeared in the show, it’s possible that he could somehow “regenerate.”

@Princess♠Molestia  
Hmm….  
Are you so kind of robot?