BREAKING NEWS:

Goatman’s bridge will now cost 6 dollars to walk on

It’s crazy to me that Ryan, Shane, and or Steven still haven’t tried to say anything about the backlash yet. What are they waiting for? The longer they wait the more it seems like they don’t care if the majority of their audience feels like they don’t care about them or even wants them as a part of their audience. Even just a “we hear you and we are working on it” would be better than NOTHING, come on.

Dungeon Meshi - Laios & Falin

So, we all love Gale’s mirror image/simulacrum, and how the ‘certain measure of Gale’s personality’ that he retains is Gale’s sweet, dorky charm…but is Gale himself aware of this?

I don’t believe we ever see Gale actually interact with his mirror image, as it always appears as a replacement when Gale is elsewhere.

It’s possible Gale has always just assumed he’s created this 100% straightforward, serious mirror image who radiates scholarly intelligence…because surely, that’s the aspect of his personality that it would pull from, right?

Imagine if one night, after Gale and Tav are married and living in Waterdeep, they start reminiscing about their romance. Tav brings up their first night together, and mentions how surprised they were to see Gale’s mirror image standing in his place at camp.

Gale is pleased, and says with a gentle laugh that he hopes Tav wasn’t too intimidated by his simulacrum’s stoic nature.

To which Tav responds oh no, not at all! They loved how adorable he was, and they still remember the cute pose he did to represent Gale’s personality!

Gale (perplexed): …darling, whatever do you mean? What pose…?

Cue Tav, perfectly miming this:

Gale:

HE DID WHAT

cricin, an astral projection/ghost looking for someone to help slay the villain keeping her (body) captive in a tower. also, she has an animated skeleton for a mom

twt ppl told me laios should be next chibi so here he is c:

i crawl out of my grave because i found a new blorbo to heat up my heart

since i already got mithrun and laios, this time i offer u kabru... now u can have ur shippy combinations lol

also experimenting with these sort of bg noise. i think its p neat?

No fucking privacy in the Elfsong

long (like ridiculously long) rant about watcher entertainment

Whilst the vast majority of the response to the watcher drama has been negative I still have seen a few people expressing opinions along the lines of ‘oh its just $6’  ‘shouldn't creators be paid for their work’ etc. I also think this situation is getting a lot of attention from people who don't necessarily watch Watcher, or haven’t keep up with them in years so here is my breakdown of why people are unhappy with the announcement that Watcher will be putting ALL upcoming content behind a $6 a month streaming service (with the exception of the premiere episode of each season going to Youtube.) 

The issue is not that it's $6.

The success of other internet companies like dropout and smosh is proof people are willing to pay for content they enjoy and to support independent content creators. I personally have given money to kickstarters, patreons, digital downloads etc in the past. But I do that because I know I’m valued as a fan with and without my money. I still get access to content on youtube for free. Even Dropout, who is a much larger and more expensive operation than Watcher, releasing 5 show a week, still maintains a steady Youtube presence.

The thing with these internet companies is they can be successful in creating something but they do have to understand that you are on the internet. You're not netflix or HBO or hulu or whatever. Watcher’s obsession with creating ‘television-calibre content’ worth $6 a month whilst also only having one show a week is unrealistic. They want to be independent creators but also television producers… but you’re not!  They hate being youtubers so much but YOU ARE. That’s how you gained a fanbase in the first place and you were successful at it! If you’re not happy being a youtuber that’s fine, move on and do something else. But you can’t expect it to be funded by the fans. So many famous artists create content they care less about that has a larger audience, and that in turn funds the stuff they DO care about. If you’re so dedicated to making expensive, high-quality productions you should be using these smaller cheaper shows to save money and fund them, rather than forcing everyone of your fans to pay a monthly subscription fee that I’m sorry, just isnt worth it or is simply unaffordable for the majority of your audience who you have now essentially told aren’t welcome or valued by you. And which one is it? 

Such a large percentage of your audience are casual viewers too. Why cut out that completely? What fans are you expecting to follow you to this ? Your most dedicated fans are there because they like Ryan and Shane, so why not push that? Are you trying to appeal to your fans or are you trying to make the content you want. There’s no clear creative direction that makes sense with this move and that’s why people aren’t supporting you. 

Also I’m sorry but how can we suddenly trust the content is gonna improve once we start funding it when there’s already been so many missteps both in their content and their business. Look at how many fans have said Ghost Files and Mystery Files have started feeling phoned in. Their patreon has been mismanaged for years, they barely promote it and the perks on there aren't really worth it (but they have 6000 paying members because people can and do want to support them!). They go months having barely any merch. There are ways to make money on youtube, they’re just not doing it well . 

And I’m sorry. But there is just absolutely no reason to have 25 employees. Shows like Survival mode should be cheap and easy to produce, and help bring in money to support larger ventures like ghost files. So why are there 18 people credited for a video of you playing Minecraft? And of course I don’t want people to lose their jobs. But continuing with this is going to cause EVERYONE to lose their jobs regardless. 

They also barely have a plan for their new content. People watch for Ryan and Shane, you KNOW THAT. So why is your first new big show hiring the worth it boys and doing a globe-trotting, crazily expensive show. Are you even really expanding your content if you’re still sticking to a one-video-a-week schedule with no present plan to change that? They have a survey for subscribers to vote which past show to bring back, but there’s obviously a major budget difference between filming something like Weird Wonderful World and something like SD&D&D… or at least there should be but there isn't when you employ 20 people to make one video. There’s such a clear lack of thought put into it that makes me even less likely to want to support. 

I want to say that they probably expected a negative backlash and thought they could just wait it out… but did they? Because WHY did they hype this up like it was an insane new announcement fans would go wild for. WHY do this several days before you have live shows where you let fans ask questions live to your faces? So much of this roll out makes absolutely no sense and makes Ryan, Shane, and Steve look so ridiculously out-of-touch with their fanbase, which only makes fans feel even less supportive. 

I think their defenders think we want to see Watcher crash and burn but the majority of us don't. I want them to be successful but this isn't the way to do it and I truly do believe it’s going to ruin their company. Unfortunately as much as I love them, I wont be supporting them. 

I just found out they have 18 people credited for one episode of survival mode and it’s blowing my mind honestly. There are so many creators who mainly do let’s plays by themselves and get tons of views. It’s literally all about the game choice and the commentary. I watch one guy who just films himself sitting on his couch while he plays and records the screen because he’s funny!! It doesn’t have to be fancy and aesthetic and amazing looking. If Ryan and Shane sat down and played a game like until dawn and just passed the controller back and forth, it would get tons of views with very minimal editing. Why is 18 people required for a let’s play? That’s why I’m convinced they just expanded way too quickly and just don’t know what to do now. It’s like they are trying to reinvent the wheel and no one asked them to. These things already work on YouTube stop trying to force it to be something else. Also expecting people to want to pay 6 dollars a month for a let’s play is insane when they are all over YouTube already.

what also concerns me is this: how are they expecting to gain viewers. obviously they will lose most of their current subscribers so it's already going to be less. but those people buying subscriptions are most likely fans from before, who have been familiar with their content already.

so no one outside of this already existing community is going to go "I should pay 6$ for this streaming platform I just found out about that gives me 4 videos a month."

I'm just genuinely so confused by what their strategy is. probably a lot of advertisement. but. let's be so fucking for real. a few food shows, a ghost hunting show, and a muppet show, (all starring essentially the same 3 people) are not enough for a random normal person scolling through their phone to think "oh that's sounds so interesting that I'm willing to pause my dopamine stream, click on that add, and sign up for 6$."

it's just not that level of entertainment yet, and I'm sorry to say that, but it is the truth.

stardew valley bachelor beta portraits vs final portraits!!!

prints: here and here