Greetings everyone! WeAreBorg here, EQD's newest editorial writer, pony merch collector extraordinaire and the cutest of Borgs. Resistance is futile.
So, last time we asked what previous generation antagonist you would love to see in Friendship is Magic, the go-to answer was the Smooze. Well, a lot of you got your wish when none other than the ‘Ooze with Moves’ appeared as the dapper, music loving, sticky friend of Discord. While the draconequus totally stole the spotlight as the main baddie mastermind behind our favorite green, living stomach; that does fall in line with the 1986 My Little Pony ‘n Friends episode when the smooze was released by the witch, Hydia.
Writers for the show regularly pull in mythological creatures from a variety of cultures but every once in awhile they bring in the bad guys from decades past. So who’s next? Join me after the break for a look into who’s left and theories on how they’ll disrupt the harmony of Equestria! Oh and by the way SPOILERS ahoy for those who’ve yet to see the previous gen cartoons.
#4
Catrina
The History:
Catrina, an anthropomorphic cat with an obvious substance abuse problem and unmanaged anger issues, originally appears in the second and the last standalone episode before the launch of the first
My Little Pony television series. The episode titled “Escape from Catrina”, aired almost a full year after the previous My Little Pony episode in 1984. Her evil stems from her keeping slaves to operate the machine that refines the Witch Weed liquid that gives her her fix. The cranky cat harnesses a confusing set of powers from imbibing in her weed drink, including growing in size, shooting lasers out of her eyes, controlling the weather, as well as blowing and sucking icy wind.
With a sudden need for more slaves, Catrina looks to the ponies to fill the roster and the episode takes off. Her main henchman is a changeling lizard named Rex who has mixed feelings about Catrina. The two share a rather strange relationship as emphasized by Rex’s desire for getting his “cute and cuddly kitten” back. Between a rock and a pit of goo during an intervention, Catrina chooses the right path and uses the last drop of her weed water to destroy the machine that makes it...using her laser eyes. The end of the episode gives us a Grand Galloping Gala sort of event where Catrina and Rex arrive dressed to the nines and share a cute moment together. In the end Catrina is redeemed and no longer has a craving for the nip.
How She could be in Gen 4:
Catrina’s main driving force is continuing her addiction. Her catnip weed soup and the power that she obtains from drinking it, are honestly the only goals she needs to be a compelling villain. Addiction is a serious problem and issue in today’s society, so this sort of conflict and resolution could definitely add to the moral portfolio of Friendship is Magic. While she probably won’t be anthropomorphic, she can still offer a sort of predatory scare to ponies. Instead of needing slaves, she could become the antagonist by destroying nature to get her fix. If we want a real moral crisis for our heros, she could be destroying the everfree forest. You know? That scary place where hydras eat ponies? As a gen 4 character I foresee her being more guile and less easily defeated foe. I’d also hope Pinkie brings out a cucumber to fight Catrina.
How We’ve Already Seen Her:
We’ve seen cats, most notably as Ahuizotl’s henchmen ...henchkitties? Heavy addiction is something we see more in Fallout: Equestria rather than FiM, however Rarity’s brush with that dark magic book draws a very close parallel to Catrina’s story. Rarity is clearly addicted to not only the rush of power but the feeling of accomplishment in instantly beautifying everything she comes across. With a feline taste of glamour and style perhaps Rarity and Catrina are more alike than we know.
#3
Lavan
The History:
Arguably not the most annoying character in his episodes, Lavan, Ruler of the Lava Demons appears in the four-part premier of season 2 of the original My Little Pony ‘n Friends. He’s the classic cookie cutter antagonist who wants power to have power. Stealing magic wands from their guardians, the pony princesses, Lavan set out to not only steal the artifacts’ power but transform himself, Ultron style, into a more perfect being. He was a reckless villain who didn't mind the world ending consequences of stealing the ponies’ magic and got too lost on the power high of his new form to be careful. Before his transformation though, he was a hulking blob of marinara surfing on waves of lava. He wielded heatmiser like waves of radiation he shoots from his hands,and then, after his transformation, ironically shoots Elements of Harmony-like rainbows of pain and punishment. In the end, the ponies use their recharged artifacts to reflect Lavan’s own rainbow laser beams down his own throat. He then explodes. Once.
How He Could Be in Gen 4:
I have no doubt that Lavan’s character could be fleshed out more, given the fantastic talent of Friendship is Magic’s writers. We won't hold his two dimensions against him. Lavan’s strategy of stealing pony magical artifacts to use is actually a plot we’ve not seen before in the new generation. Sure, someone has sucked the magic out of ponies, but what if the Lavan we’re after the Crystal Heart to convert it and himself into something twisted. The end result could begin to unravel the magic in Equestria.
What he could do after he achieves his goals holds the possibility of anything. For our heroes to wrap it up, they could either activate the magic that lies within him and destroy him from the inside out, or trick him into consuming other magic that essentially make him sick. If he’s made with Crystal Pony magic could Friendship Rainbow blasts effect him? How We’ve Already Seen Him: First let’s talk about the setting around Lavan. His residence is below a crystal desert far away from the series’ regular “Ponyland.” To me, that was starting to draw parallels to the Crystal Empire. In the last of the 4 episodes however, we see there is actually a crystal heart that is the source of ponies’ magic. The magic in the crystal heart is used to defeat him just like King Sombra. And Sombra was definitely interested in keeping the crystal heart to himself.
#2
Squirk
The History:
Like many of the villains here, Squirk was the final boss in a four-parter episode. He was a once great dictator of a watery kingdom. His greatest obstacle, however, was in fact, planetary evolution. Unlike real octopi, Squirk has an incredibly long life, able to watch the world transform around him and shrink his noble kingdom to a fraction of the size. Before he wised up and did something about it using his powerful amulet - the Flash Stone, It was stolen from him. The amulet was broken in half and the pieces scattered; one in deepest part of the water and the other in a valley. Fast forward hundreds of years and Squirk has kidnapped an old changeling bird and is holding the ransom as the return of his amulet. In desperation, the bird’s granddaughter does some pretty wild things to get it back, including terrorizing foals and vaporizing the ponies’ home by turning into a giant sun reflecting mirror. Eventually he regains the two halves, remakes the Flash Stone, and floods everything he can see. In the end, he had one too few tentacles guarding his trinket and it was taken from him and his madness undone.
How He Could Be in Gen 4:
I really like the sea creature aspect of him that gives him different physical needs from ponies. Turning Equestria into an ocean is quite the ambition. Also a creature getting dropped back into the game after 1000 years is one thing but what about an older evil predating Celestia and Luna who watched the continents shift? A creature who had passed from legend to myth into oblivion? A creature so old no book or being could help Twilight and Co. defeat him. Sounds dark.
While he has henchmen of his own, I love that he goes so far as to threaten harm on loved ones, like Tirek does with Twilight’s friends. In his Gen 1 appearance he doesn’t seem to have planned ahead, and that would be a great flaw to fix in a reappearance. A being who could match Celestia play for play, with a tentacle in everything. In addition, his M.O. of kidnapping as leverage over others would add some spice to the Friendship is Magic universe. With a plan to drown all of Equestria to reforge his kingdom, Squirk sounds like a great match against the Friendship brigade. Also, who doesn’t like tentacles?
How We’ve Already Seen Him:
Discord drowned Applejack’s farm once, right? That’s a big stretch. Actually, we’ve seen a bit more Squirk in Discord than just that. Discord wanted to reshape Equestria to suit his needs which involved quite a lot of chaos. This new Equestria and its Chaos Capital was entirely uninhabitable by ponies. Also like Discord, Squirk’s overconfidence led to his downfall. By not closely paying attention and thinking he had all the upper hand, Squirk got blind sided and lost it all in an instant. After Squirk’s defeat, his watery devastation was undone with some rather rainbowy looking magic.
#1
Grogar
The History:
Grogar is an evil ram sorcerer, with a bell of power and a double eye infection. Originally appearing in episodes 26-29 of My Little Pony n‘ Friends’ “The Return of Tambelon”, Grogar was first introduced as just a flash of a couple frames as part of a dream.
Now before I get further into the episodes and His Goatness, let me first introduce you to the writer of these episode- Michael Reaves. Michael wrote for a few other animated series including Gargoyles, Batman: The Animated Series and He-man and the Masters of the Universe to name a few. He’s also written a few novels whose plots range from a young girl giving birth to a demon to Star War’s Darth Maul killing everyone he meets. An evil goat sorcerer for the enjoyment of children is what this man gives us. Only sporting a few minutes of screen time in the first episode of his appearance, he doesn't waste any breath on exposition, merely blasting magic at his lead underling for completing his assignment.
We find out that this dude is cruising around in his own personal parallel universe / kingdom known as Tambelon. In the second episode of this four-parter, he finally gets off his throne for a few minutes to recapture the escaping ponies. If his eyes weren't solid blood red, you’d probably see him rolling them. With zero effort, he pops cages around the ponies, and does the stereotypical “yelling at henchmen” for letting them escape. With unclear motives, he wants to rid the land of all ponies and send them to the ‘Realm of Darkness’.
He also posses a Lyra-level desire for hands, displayed when he orders the capture of the series’ humans as slaves because obviously, hands are more useful for doing just about anything. In the end, Grogar's “hiding his weakness in plain sight” approach backfired when a massive bell was rung that destroyed the power in the one about his neck. This ultimately wound up sending him and Tambelon back into the Realm of Darkness.
How he could be in Gen 4:
Grogar holds a rather unique set of goals. Rather than use ponies for magic, power, or love, he just wants them gone. Not to rule over, not to puppeteer over. Nope, just gone. He wants Equestria in his image and that’s painted without ponies. Without being kept around the mane 6 would have less time to pull out a victory before they are banished to a realm of darkness. And when dealing with a realm of darkness, I can think of no better ally than Princess Luna herself which could offer either a unique escape for our heroes when they’re in trouble, or a diversion in the race against time. Another possibility would be him just going after cutie mark bearing adult ponies, leaving old friends like Gilda, Discord, or even Spike to save the day. While a go-to defeat for this character could center around the Friendship Rainbows, I like the bell weakness if it’s not so easy to get to this go around. With the right writing, Grogar could pose a serious threat to Twilight and her friends.
How we’ve kind of already seen him:
Grogar’s kingdom of Tambelon reappearing after a few hundred years is a pretty close parallel to the Crystal Empire. A kingdom popping out of the ether after a few hundred years? It screams Tambelon. What little we know of Sombra includes his enslavement of crystal ponies and we clearly see some of that same slave master in Grogar. We also see a bit of Grogar in Tirek. While Tirek is a gen 1 badie of his own accord, and masterfully rewritten for gen 4; in his original form, his magic came from a sack about his neck. It was actually the demon ram who shoots magic from his horns like the gen 4 Tirek. We can also see that Grogar’s multi shade palette of blue is reflected in Iron Will’s. Coincidence? Maybe. Finally, Grogar holds his power in a bell about his neck, and while magical wearables are an oft used plot device in storytelling, Trixie used a similar one in the form of the Alicorn Amulet.
So there you have it; four baddies with big potential! Do you agree with the list and the insights? Were you surprised to see a new blog pony? Discuss below!
Twitter - Weareborg
