I am so freaking upset because I was robbed the opportunity to see more ponies in hijab. Damn you!
 
Well, at least they stopped in the village of Nambula de Som and we actually saw more of this pony  
 
so I can partly forgive it.

@neo4812  
Please the only people that will be offended will be the sjws

@Lynx318  
Pretty much. While Saddle Arabia would have made for some nice eye candy, there’s honestly no real purpose for it in the story the writers had in mind for the episode.
 
@neo4812  
While real world politics might have also played a role, I don’t think that was their main concern nor a major hurdle for them to overcome. The show has already depicted locales inspired by Chinese, Egyptian, and Central Asian cultures with no major issues, after all.

plus id imagen that they didn’t want to offend any middle-east people or rise the anger of sjw’s

@northern haste  
Would have dragged out the episode too long.

One more thing I think if they did actually get to saddle arabia in the episode not much would have happened anyway

@Background Pony #9ABB  
@mycarhasaMoustache  
it’s almost like companies like making money

I am just happy the episode confirmed its existence and implied that there may be saddle arabians of all three pony tribes.

@Background Pony #9ABB  
Except that’s not what he said. Why put in all the time and resources to create a new location when it isn’t even necessary for the story? The plot of the episode worked just fine without it. Frankly, I think it made much more sense for Starlight and Trixie to cut their losses and head home instead of traveling and then performing in that exhausted state.

Jim is really bad at answering these. There are plenty other ways you could’ve worded this

@mycarhasaMoustache  
He may as well have said “We just didn’t care lol” See DHX, THIS is why Hasbro is dropping you and going with a different animation studio for G5

Wanted to see if they would introduce Abyssinian cat tribes, Capper in the movie is the closest so far.

For someone like me who is obsessed with desert fantasy characters and settings, it was a bit of a shame. That said, I took in stride.

I just hope they show Spike’s real parents by the time the show ends.

@FLUTTERBADASS  
In other words why spend money developing an entire kingdom for 1 scene that isnt even in the script.

@FLUTTERBADASS  
You’ve clearly not seen the latest episode if you think they are unwilling to introduce new races and locations in season 8. It’s only been out for 3 days now, but ya should maybe look into things a bit more before makign such statements.

@FLUTTERBADASS
 
Animation budgets, they are a thing.

Aw.

RRRREEE, BIG JIM

“We”?

Nuts.

MURDER! RIOT! FIRE! RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE!
 
edit
 
@FLUTTERBADASS  
OR (and hear me out on this!) it just wasn’t critical to the story they wanted to tell.

In other words gen 4 is ending soon and they don’t really care anymore.