Season 9 Discussion Thread [NO SPOILERS, DF airings only]

Background Pony #E882
So a general question for the patient people in this thread, how do you think the age breakdown differs between the people who have chosen to watch the early foreign airings, and the people who have opted to wait until they air on Discovery Family? I ask because I’ve always had something of a pet theory that older audience members, whose experiences with cartoon viewing as children likely formed around the standard of a specifically scheduled weekly or daily television broadcast (prior to online streaming and other instantly available, endlessly repetitive viewing options), are more likely to choose weekly waiting over the instant gratification a foreign version may offer. And since we have nothing much better to do with our time while Italy ruins the fun, I thought it might be interesting to hear some other opinions on that idea.
 
I should mention I don’t think that’s the only factor deciding who views what, of course. Some people aren’t interested in seeing the episode in a language they don’t know, I’ve heard concerns (no idea how true or not they are, but I have heard them) that some foreign releases have things cut off, and some people just prefer to not rush the final season of a show they like. All that and more are certainly significant parts of the complex decision making process that has brought us here. But I still keep wondering if this crowd skews a bit older than the other thread probably does, and with this being the final season I’m running out of time to actually ask.
 
Also, it should go without saying, I’m definitely not trying to make an argument about which group is better, or even if one group is better. I’m curious strictly from the standpoint that it would be interesting to know if my thought actually holds true here.
Mr.Myoozik
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@rdibp  
I get that.
 
@Background Pony #47E8  
Hmmm, I don’t think age has got anything to do with who watches the early airings and who’ll watch the DF airings. It all depends on whether you have the patience on waiting for the episodes and how badly you want to watch the newest episodes.
Background Pony #5203
@Background Pony #47E8  
As you say it’s certainly not the only factor but I can imagine that it - perhaps subconsciously - influences people and plays a part to some extent.  
Would be really interesting to see some soft of age poll that questions this and see what results this gives  
Q 1: Age?  
Q 2: Do you watch the early releases?
Background Pony #712C
Is there any pre-made filter that would filter out all early release screncaps?
You can always try “this one.”:derpibooru.org/filters/166783
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I have no problems by watching pics about the new episodes, but because of language barriers, I would rather wait for the english episodes.
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The Devil's Advocate
@Twi Clown  
I don’t really mind them ethier, since there is no context to what’s going on, and I’ve already read all the avalible Synopsis.
 
I’d have an issue if there will be some great reveal and people will start spamming it all over derpi tough.
 
I prefere to wait for the DF release, and be able to talk it over with people without excludeing people who might not know the foreign language.
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@Background Pony #47E8  
I’m 41. I don’t watch them because I always do a vector or two for each episode, so I need that time between episodes to work on them, to scan the episode for reference shots, and to upload significant screencaps here.
 
Trying to do all that with multiple episodes airing daily isn’t feasible for an adult with a full time job and other responsibilities and hobbies.
 
I suspect the people who watch early airings are mainly consumers of the show and fandom, and not creators.
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Free the Tantabus
Hey y’all. Ya know who might watch the early airings in Italy?
 
Italians.
 
Seriously, it’s not early for Italian bronies. I don’t think of them as early airings as much as off schedule ones.
Background Pony #5203
I suspect the people who watch early airings are mainly consumers of the show and fandom, and not creators.
 
I agree with that one. On the other hand, many who actually make their living with creating such content (drawing fanart about the show etc) might also watch early so they can create relevant art ASAP, when weeks later there might be less interest, depending on how many watched the early airings.
 
I am also really curious if any “HARDCORE” fans watch early airings or if this is just a thing “CASUALS” do - I don’t use any of those terms in a demeaning way, you know what I mean.
 
If HARDCORE fans do it I really don’t understand their motivation, why would they watch early and see this show’s final content and thus ending it altogether even a second earlier than it absolutely must?
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@ILoveMyoozik
 
It’s really amazing that the show’s budget hasn’t increased much at all since the early seasons, but they’re still constantly improving the animation quality.
Background Pony #5DA8
So friggin dorky and adorable! I also love how fluid the animation was, makes it even more cute.
That is indeed quality animation, but I think what I like best is just how well they managed to convey Sandbar’s emotions in that brief period of only a few seconds. He’s awkward, he’s shy, he’s emotionally vulnerable but trying to look nonchalant so he can pretend he asked as a joke in case she snaps his heart like a toothpick… and they even managed to sneak in that brief moment where you can almost feel him preparing for the possibility of being turned down. Like, seriously, I can practically hear his inner monologue doing the whole “why would she want to go to the dance with a loser like you? stupid! stupid!” thing.
Mr.Myoozik
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@Background Pony #A7EA  
And if you think about it, Sandbar is a pretty flat character. He’s boring, static, has no personality and his few traits is being a surfer dude archetype and being the only pony in his squad. The writing practically knows this and loves to exploit it, like with his story in “The Hearth’s Warming Club” where it was literally about a doll falling into the floor close to the fireplace and in “Uprooted” where his worst nightmare is choosing a type of cake.
 
But then you watch that episode and that moment and you realize that there’s a lot more to the guy. Shipping aside, it looks like he has a thing for Yona and can act adorkable about it, expressing those feelings that you mentioned. That’s why I think that that specific moment is great for him and one of the highlights for his character.
AWGear
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The Devil's Advocate
Can someone tell me what’s the bloody point of “spoiler” tags?
 
Let me explain my issue on example that won’t be a spoiler (altough I got spoiled to early releases due to this):
 
Let’s say it’s before the season 9 premiere and i haven’t seen any trailers or leaks. I’m an artist and I want to draw picture of King Sombra. I have filters set up to hide all spoilers.  
If I go to search, check the the Tag “King Sombra” to find an image to use as reference, I would still see the “SPOILER S09E01” images in the results.
 
What’s the point of spoiler tags then? The most a “screncap without context” can spoil you is the appearance of a character in the episode. But even if you have filter set up, it will spoil you that too.
 
Shouldn’t it be just like in the “not-logged in” default filter and NSFW art? It doesn’t show up, even if you explicitly search for “explicit” stuff.
 
Just a question up for the further discussion.
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And if you think about it, Sandbar is a pretty flat character. He’s boring, static, has no personality and his few traits is being a surfer dude archetype and being the only pony in his squad.
 
That’s more or less how I feel about all the student six with the exception of Smolder, simply because Smolder is the only one who’s been able to stand separately from the rest of them, and she’s also quite kind and helpful, especially for a dragon.
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The Devil's Advocate
@Spinny  
I agree with the Smolder part. We rarely see dragons that aren’t complete jerks, and it was time to change that.
 
I’d also say that Gallus is pretty “deep” as far as characters go. Definately his strongest episode was the “Heartswarming Club”.
 
I kinda find Sandbar was made with purpouse to be the “voice of reason” in the group. At least that’s my guess after “What lies beneath” and “School Raze”, when he is the one who makes “pro-teammate” decisions. He is a pretty smart and loyal pony. Sadly, last episode turned him into this mumbling idiot who is in love with Yona for apparently no reason. His only “explanation” being that he likes her being a “Yak” (which is the last thing I’d say is “good” about Yona).
 
Sadly, it seems that whatever role did Sandbar had was given out to Yona (for some reason?).
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