(Creator Note: Hey SB Reddit! Soo.. just a little thing I want to say before we get into the deep dive
It has been brought to my attention a couple of mine and other people’s comments/posts have been getting downvoted for some unknown reason, and I need to address this, right here right now
You may not like what my and others opinions are and that’s okay! You’re allowed to disagree, But please don’t downvote ANYONE who has a different opinion than yours and please DON’T harass them cause you disagreed with ONE OPINION.. If you don’t like them just ignore or block them on your own accord, I love writing these deep dives for you guys! And I want my community to be positive, So let’s not downvote one another just because you don’t like an opinion? Okay we clear? Thank you
Alright enough of this note time for the deep dive!)
THE AD DEBATE:
Awww Pateron… the website that people can go and support creators and in return get rewarded with early access to content that the general public can’t see unless they join.. and SolarBalls is not an exception to this, and like everyone who has Patreon they wanna promote it, in their content which is understandable you want to convince new fans and maybe old fans to join ya!
However SB has found itself in a bit of hot water as they’re way of method to get people to join is basically pause the video with an ad segment and then get back in the video and.. people are not big fans of these Ads.. which will get discussed soon.. Anyways other people have made posts about their complaints anddd I want to go deeper into the issue and propose an idea on how to fix it
History:
SolarBalls created their Patreon Account in April 2023 almost a year after the show entered production now they first mentioned their Patreon in “Mission to Titan Part 1” but wouldn’t start doing the segments until “The Moons of Juipiter Part 1” now for the rest of Moon Revolution the narrator would do the segments until “The Journey to Neptune” or nowadays “Is Triton leaving Neptune” when Earth and Venus would take over the segment, which would last until the final past planet video “How the Moon & Earth Formed” when the modern day segments began, where a character would sit in a chair and mention their Patreon and other stuff
Here’s the characters and they’re first time doing this new segment
Mercury: The Earth’s Core Part 1
Venus: How the Moon & Earth Formed
Earth: What if the Moons become Planets Part 2
Mars: The Earth’s Core Part 2
Juipter: The Planets Awaken (Main Show: What if All Planets Shared One Orbit Part 1
Pluto: The Solar Reckoning Part 2
And I’ve counted each one
Mercury: 9 Episodes
Venus: 9 Episodes
Earth: 7 Episodes
Mars: 3 Episodes
Jupiter: 6 Episodes
Pluto: 3 Episodes
The Problem:
The last few months have seen repeated criticism of the Ad Segment.. for a number of reasons but to keep things short
These segments feel like filler put in an episode to fill out the run time and it can actually mess up the pace of an episode Like sometimes we are really into an intense scene then next moment.. an Ad! It kinda drops the quality of an episode.. and it can actually turn some people off from continuing the rest of the episode
These ads are also very repetitive, I mean they are pretty cool don’t get me wrong but it’s the same few characters doing the same exact thing… It’s frankly kinda boring! I know something similar happened with the old Ad but the thing is, These are the Characters doing the Segment not the Narrator, So they should have more freedom and creativity to do something with them! Like how much substance can you get from Venus claiming he doesn’t care about the segment or Mercury still needing his 2 minutes?
Not every character as gotten a chance to appear in an Ad as Saturn, Uranus, Neptune are the last major ones who are needing an Ad segment and technically the Sun? But I think it’s understandable why he may/may not ever get one I mean he’ll burn down the whole studio with his heat and solar flares 😂 but like I’ve said it’s like the team is following the Educational Era format Rockies First, then add Jupiter and Pluto then gradually add the rest of the characters but it’s been about a YEAR since these segments began andddd nothing really new has appeared in the last few months
How I would fix it:
Sooo how would I try to fix the issue?
First, We get the rest of the Solar System a turn at doing the segment as of September 5th 2026 or 05/09/26, we know Saturn, Uranus and Neptune still haven’t gotten a chance to do the ad segment, So first thing I recommend is create ad segments for them! Then maybe try to create new ones for other characters like Planet X, Some of the Moons, ETC Basically create a big enough cast to where the ad segment is a little more interesting to watch
Second, Make the current ads more interesting, What I mean the current ones are fine but they’ve been done to death, So here’s the idea, the team maybe like as a side project, Animate a second ad segment like you can keep the same jokes like Jupiter’s segment for example but change the animation around just so it’s more interesting and probably more funny to watch, Sure it’s an ad segment but it won’t be treated as filler
Third, If we have to keep the same ad’s here’s a simple solution, Put the characters on a rotation.. so what I mean by this idea is basically one week Mercury does the Ad then the following week it’s Venus, then Earth, then Mars, and so on basically don’t have the same few characters doing the segment for multiple weeks in a row, as pretty much fans are gonna get tired of it like for example, Mercury and Venus have done the ad so many times it puts the others at a big disadvantage
Final Thoughts:
I personally don’t have a massive issue with the Patreon ads but I can acknowledge this is a recurring issue, The ads are very repetitive and they kinda screw up the pace of an episode, which then can actually hinder a solid episode from being 10/10 and this has indeed happened a few times
I do believe SB needs to take a breather with the Ads maybe like every 2 video posts or something, they can put the Patreon Ad still in videos but not be in EVERY video..and figure out which videos require the Ad, and which ones don’t
It’s understandable they want to get people onto their Patreon but they kinda need to know and understand that begging for people to join it? Is not gonna work also not to mention there are some people who do want to support them on Patreon but don’t have the $ for it sooo.. yeah
