I preordered a copy of the Sandland game and have just been juggled from Bandai GM to GM.
I now know the names of 10 different Bandai GMs including the Lead Representative Hedera whom only replied to me 1 single time; in an email chain of now 45 emails.
My original post was

•12 days agoDo NOT trust Bandai Namco shipping.I ordered their collectors edition Sandland, expected not launch date but 30th. No problem. They send it with complete wrong address to where it cant even be dropped off to a house because they only put number 1 and town I live it. This is their cheap cheap UPS shipping that hands it off to USPS and it never is ok. Eventually it turns out that my package made it my post office but I couldnt get it because of wrong address, then UPS couldn't msg me about it because of the service Bandai uses. Meanwhile I'm in email trying to figure this out getting responses from one GM after the other and finally up to Lead GM Hedera. They received my game back and have multiple times now the correct address. Great all they have to do is send a collectors edition to my house he says and will do so promptly and let me know. Days go by. I reply to email asking for update. I get sent back to one of the the other 8 GMs I spoke to at the start. Including the PLAYER LEAD HEDERA. My email chain with their support staff is outrageous and a disgrace. GM just handing me off to next GM to next GM to next GM to next GM. After they got my money, and my game. The email chain is 25 emails long not including UPS, and USPS emails. ITS NOW GOTTEN OVER 30 COPY PASTA REPLIES FROM RANDOM GMS, IM LIKE BEING TOSSED AROUND LIKE HOT POTATO.

I have watched on tracking my game go around the country, made it to my town, but was returned to sender because Bandai put the address 1 *Town name* and that's it for the address as confirmed by USPS and UPS.
Both USPS, UPS, and Bandai all said that they received my game back.
Even UPS has tried to help me I spoke someone from UPS on the phone AND Instagram, yet Bandai Namco cares less and just replies with the same copied pasted email over and over, tweaked here and there.
I have tried again and again to try and get access to anyone else in Bandai and it is literally like talking to a brick wall. It has now been almost a month and they even managed to release an anime of Sand Land before I got my preordered game.
I am so sick of being tossed around I am about to sue. Yet cant even get the information to give to my lawyer about Bandai.
TL;DR WHERE IS MY PREORDERED $150 SAND LAND COLLECTORS EDITION FOR PS5?

Looking for new friends. I either game, work, sleep or rot in my room. Introverted but willing to make new friends and be more social online. If you’re looking for a loser friend that’s me. I’m pretty clingy if we hit it off well. We can send selfies if you are curious on looks (SFW). I like playing Roblox a lot if you wanna join me. I listen to Flyleaf, Deftones, whatsaheart, pierce the veil, Paramore, Slipknot, Manrryx, and etc! I’m from Canada and speak English, Russian/Lithuanian/khme. I am Russian/Asian (Cambodian), Twin, 13 tattoos, 5 piercings, Car enthusiast, Language learner, 4’11 if that matters

Just ordered a Vita online with the sole purpose of modding it to play this game lol. Not sure if anyone would have the answer to this, but is Vita co-op coming anytime soon? And do you guys think you would be able to play with PC players on Vita?

Hi there! 👋
I'm Gonçalo "Eugini" Oliveira, a passionate Dungeon Master who brings cinematic storytelling to every session, and I'm currently trying to achieve the most immersive TTRPG experience out there – and I would love your help in doing it!

A bit about Eugini – the Dungeon Master:

🎬 F*ilm & TV Professional: *Years of working as a Producer and Writer in the entertainment industry have given me a passion for creating worlds and making them a reality. Check out my credits and see if you (unknowingly) might've seen my work before!
📚 B*it of a Bookworm: *My love for D&D started with my love for books! My first book was The Little Prince, and that book is to this day my first love. You might catch this passion during sessions, where my style tends to focus on the narrative side of things, in both NPCs, storylines, descriptions – you name it!
😂 G*oofball: *I'm a sucker for a laugh. I value serious topics as well as great dramatic character arcs. However, it's my outgoing and carefree charisma that allows me to run NPCs as highly nuanced performances, usually doing voices and acting for the sake of story. When I perform during a session, I try to live each character as they are – serious or not!

About the Campaign:

Step into Barovia, a land ensnared by a vampiric curse. In The Mists of Fate: Strahd’s Legacy, your actions and decisions will shape the narrative in a player-driven saga full of deep storytelling and rich role-play. This Curse of Strahd campaign promises an immersive and cinematic experience like never before.
By taking advantage of Foundry VTT and other tools, such as AI-modules for highly personalized character creation, and creating a short-animated film featuring your characters after each section of the story, I aim to make your character feel real and ready for its own show! 🎥

Why Join Us?

🎬 C*inematic Storytelling: *Experience D&D like a blockbuster movie where immersion is king. State-of-the-art automation and cinematics paired with Foundry VTT will make the Theatre of the Mind feel alive on your screen every session.
🚀 E*xperience Innovation: *Never before seen use of AI for TTRPG will allow you to see your character come alive. After each chapter of the campaign, an animated short-film will let you relive your actions and their impact on the story.
🤝 C*ollaborative Gameplay: *Your choices will significantly impact the story. The way you make friends or foes ultimately decides your fate in this dreary land of shadows.
🌈 W*elcoming Environment: *Ideal for both newcomers and seasoned players. Our goal is to give you the most fun experience possible!
If you're ready to defy fate and venture into the unknown, join us!
Campaign settings in link below!
🔗 Sign Up Here
Working to make your dreams come alive!
Best, Eugini

(This might be a long read, have patience)
If there is anything i’d take from my experience of being blackmailed (Sextortion), it’s too never ever pay! But the irony is that you only learn this afterwards. You realise it’s just a brutal chess game of psychology…the scripts they use are too make you scared for your dignity in the moment & then completely surrender to their demands.
I never heard of this whole scam until after it happened to me, ofcourse you can guess the usual… talked to a girl on instagram casually, ‘she’ (lol) got abit frisky & ofcourse I returned the same energy thinking it was some harmless fun.
Then BOOM a scripted paragraph saying i’ll be exposed, with the 🍆 pics, face pics & my list of followers blah blah blah…
They asked for $ which i payed out of pure compliance (how stupid) then afterwards it was ‘over’, pics allegedly deleted with video proof.
A few weeks later after not responding, lo and behold i’m back too square 1…they still have the pics and trying to put fear into my heart.
Let me tell you this…
NO ONE scares me.
I called his bluff & told him to post it wherever and too whoever, I couldn’t care less!
The realisation i had was: The moment they had the photos, it was all over & they will always hang that over my head if i let them…so the only real straightforward strategy is too give them no hope of squeezing anything out of you. Play boring, broke & dumb.
Yes obviously there is still an element of concern as too what they’ll do with the photos but I’ve accepted that it’s uncontrollable…the mistake has been made.
As much as it’s typical & probably not what you want to hear… in the bigger picture, it means absolutely nothing…even if the whole world seen my 🍆, in 1 month, 6 months, 1 year, 3 years, 5 years, 10 years…no one will care. Plus my life goal is too raise an organic family not involved in the social media world & ofcourse meet a women with those same values. So if the ‘worst’ happens & it’s leaked too all people i know then it doesn’t change my overall goals regardless.
As difficult as it is, just take it on the chin.
Just remember that regardless of who you are and your situation, there’s good people in this world who will help and listen! Your seriously not alone & PLEASE don’t do anything silly like ending your life! It’s not worth it over something like this.
Ofcourse the main thing is preventing your personal family from seeing anything, so for their sake just tell them briefly that a scammer tricked you & has some inappropriate photos of you and tell them too not engage with any accounts they don’t know.
Put all accounts on private & change your account names or better yet create new ones, change any other links like phone numbers or emails…& the most obvious, never ever send your 🍆 too anyone online! Keep it in person lol.
(Bonus points: Get antivirus security software for all your devices, get a vpn service, pay for extra security on your wifi network (from your provider) & block ALL bot accounts you come across)
& you could also pay for a blackmail advisor consultation with a professional but that’s if you have the money to do so.
I’m not trying to say my experience will reflect identically to yours but sharing my experience could give you that extra information you need to make a strategic decision or possibly reassure you.
Good luck & remember in the massive timeline of your life…non of this will matter too you.
You just got to stay mentally resilient & remember they’re just trying to get paid…but there is rare cases of more evil people that will just do it for fun, so like i said…make a strategic plan based on your specific situation.
Understand scammer psychology, understand basic human instinct & you may get an edge to put a lid on the issue.
It’s ashame this exists but it’s happened! Your here! And now you need to adapt to fix it.
(One last point…they could be 1 step ahead and go through reddit to see the advice people give eachother. Not saying it’s true but I wouldn’t leave out the possibility! So be careful with the information and amount of detail you share regarding your experience & strategy.)

I wouldn't mind watching a game on the odd Saturday morning, but I have no idea how to find out when and who's playing. I've had no luck finding anything online, not that I know where to look.

Hello, I have Bonelab on my Steam account and use Quest 2 through Steam VR. I have been searching and searching on how to add mods. I found some posts and when we extract them the way it is described, they never work. Since it is on Steam, I cannot link the headset to the computer to add them into a file and have to manually do it into Appsfoldeetc. I am not sure what file to choose when it is unzipped and have added all or limited files to see what works. Everything I see online doesn't work or it says to hook up the headset. When I have done that, there isn't a Bonelab folder as we have the game on Steam. So I am at a loss and would appreciate any help on this matter. I am not a computer whiz so anything simple would be great, otherwise, I will try and make sense of what information comes my way. =)
​
Thank you again!

So my wife and I each just got our own PS5 so there are two in the house. Do we need to purchase 2 separate plus accounts and 2 sets of the same game to play each other online?

Hi all,
I've been a rotating night shifter going on just about 6 years now. I work 3 on 3 off 12s, and I'm also a full-time student taking online classes (graduating in 6 months ). I maintain my sleep schedule off days so that I'm not dying of exhaustion when I do go to work. Lately, the boredom at night has been killing me. Reading and doing schoolwork for hours on end at night makes me want to fall asleep. I also haven't found a game on my Series S that has been able to pull me in enough from getting bored within an hour. Does anyone have any suggestions for things they do to stay awake in the confines of their apartment?

Disclaimer: I am reposting this so more people get a chance to see the post! If you applied to the previous post, no need to apply again! :)
Hello there! This will be a long post but I do encourage you to read all of it so you have an idea what kinda game you are applying for. This would be a long-term campaign, so be willing to commit to the game! Have fun reading!
Game details:
We play using both Discord for voice and video and Foundry VTT for maps and character sheets! Webcams are mandatory since we all have been using them and it helps a lot with roleplaying when you can see the other people! Make sure that your PC or laptop is capable of running Foundry, here is a link to the Foundry system requirements: https://foundryvtt.com/article/requirements/
Do note that you don't need to buy or download anything! How Foundry works is that I send you a link and you'll join through there so no need to worry about that!
We are here to make the story together so while there is a main plot for you to follow, there will be distractions along the way and of course, things that relate to your characters and what they might find interesting!
During session 0 we will go over the initial plot hooks, how your characters might know each other, safety rules, and so on!
The available days are listed in the questionnaire. The start time for the session regardless of the day would be at 9 pm GMT+3 and when a day has been chosen, we would play consistently on that day every week!
RP to combat ratio:
I would say 50-50 since you as players can with your decisions affect how much combat or roleplay there is going to be but I as a GM, am geared more towards weighting narrative but that doesn't mean that there wouldn't be some cool combat set-pieces ;).
There might be moments in the game where we focus more on the social aspect of the game, interacting in character with the world around them and then there might be some more action-oriented sessions where you get to sit at the edge of your seat!
I will say that how I like to run games, I like to focus on characters and what their motives, goals, and flaws are. This would be a more character-driven game so be ready for that and don't be afraid to get into character and have fun while doing so!
How to apply:
All that I require from you is that you read the whole post and then fill out the questionnaire to the best of your ability. I pour a lot of time into making sure that the sessions are good and that everyone is having fun and you can contribute to that by being genuinely interested in the game!
Here is the questionnaire: https://forms.gle/TAnUSBRAoEpKe1Ra8
Basic rules of the campaign:

• Be consistent: I know that emergencies can happen and sometimes life throws a curve ball. Those happen to me too but if it does, I expect you to let me know ASAP when you know that you are not going to be able to join for the session. The general rule in my table is that as long as we have four people playing, we will continue with the game.
• Cinematics: I like to inject some cinematic in the game and I will let you know when there is a cinematic. This happens usually at the end of the session to show you what happens somewhere else where your characters are not necessarily present.
• Campaign may have mature themes: I like to run narrative games and they usually lean towards a more serious tone and while there are moments of lightheartedness, it's not what I am going for this campaign. This is not a campaign for joke characters or happy-go-lucky characters. I will NOT include SA or intense torture roleplaying in my games and there is no tolerance for that. These will be discussed more during the session 0!
• Be attentive during the sessions: During the session, I would like you to feel that you want to be there so I do put a lot of time into prepping the sessions with maps, NPCs, music, etc. So as a player, all I require from you is to know the basic rules, how your character works, and just generally be respectful towards everyone on the table!
• Don't be a dick: Don't rage quit if the dice don't go your way or if you do something in the game that can result in a bad consequence to your character and then it happens. No PvP, unless both agree to it and it needs to have a good reason! Just be respectful and be able to communicate and I am sure we will get along very well!
• There is always a possibility of death: We are here to make an awesome collaborative story together that we can look back to years later with fondness! This however doesn't mean that I am going to pull my punches in combat so that's why I roll in the open. If the dice decide that it's time for your character, then that's how it's going to be. Of course, sometimes there is something that can save you but those are rare. Also, I am not going to go out of my way to kill you and I will make sure that you always know what kinda situations your characters are going to.
• Have a good mic and connection: Having a good mic is important because most of us use headphones so if your audio quality is so bad that it makes our ears bleed then that would be a dealbreaker :D. Bad mics can also negatively just impact the flow of the game if they keep cutting out!

The most important rule is to: HAVE FUN! We are here to play a game and make a story together and everyone's comfort is important to me! If you have doubts or if something feels off, you can always come to talk with me!
Game Rules:

• Write "One Piece is real" in the final questions so I know that you read this far ;)
• Ability scores are determined using point buy with 28 points or a standard array.
• Death saves are rolled in secret
• We are starting from level 2
• Criticals are maxed damage + die rolls
• If you go down, you get a wound up to a maximum of 3 when you get up again. On your third one, if you fall, you die

The reason for Banned spells is that I like to make mysteries and that players need to think. For example, Remove curse would make a situation where you can get cursed not that tense. I like to make curses into plotlines so thus banning the spell gives us that opportunity.
Here are the banned spells:

• Identify
• Detect Thoughts
• Locate object
• Zone of Truth
• Remove curse
• Goodberry
• Silvery Barbs
• Geas
• Legend lore

Banned subclasses:

• Twilight cleric
• Eloquence bard
• Peace cleric

Races from Eberron, PHB, and MPMM are available minus Tortle, Fairy, and Centaur. Also, flying races are not allowed
Here is a little bit of info about me!
My name is Michael, 22 years old. I have been a GM for 3.5 years now! I have enough experience so I won't fumble around but obviously, I don't know everything.
Something about myself is that I have been a huge fan of TTRPGs ever since I started 3.5 years ago. In that period, I have had the pleasure to play multiple systems such as 5e, pathfinder 2e, Call of Cthulhu, cyberpunk RED/2020, mothership, City of Mist, etc. So I have quite a lot of experience and I know the ropes! I also like to draw, write stories, do worldbuilding, play video games, and watch movies and anime.
I am a huge fan of One Piece, it was also an inspiration for this setting so if you are a fan, you'll notice some subtle references here and there!
I do enjoy Eberron as a setting and have read quite a bit on it! Still, while it's an established setting with its lore, that means that there will be things that I might be unaware of or I might change things here and there. I like to stick to the established lore since it's quite expansive and really good but expect changes at some points!
Final words
Thanks for reading this long-ass post and I do hope that you can see that I am putting my all into this! I hope you do too so feel free to fill out the application! Take it slowly and don't rush it since I am using it to gauge how interested you all are to join in! I will keep the post up for a few days and conduct interviews before Sunday. If you have questions, feel free to comment and I'll answer when I have time!
I hope all of you have a nice day/evening and I hope to talk to you later!

Disclaimer: I am reposting this so more people get a chance to see the post! If you applied to the previous post, no need to apply again! :)
Hello there! This will be a long post but I do encourage you to read all of it so you have an idea what kinda game you are applying for. This would be a long-term campaign, so be willing to commit to the game! Have fun reading!
Game details:
We play using both Discord for voice and video and Foundry VTT for maps and character sheets! Webcams are mandatory since we all have been using them and it helps a lot with roleplaying when you can see the other people! Make sure that your PC or laptop is capable of running Foundry, here is a link to the Foundry system requirements: https://foundryvtt.com/article/requirements/
Do note that you don't need to buy or download anything! How Foundry works is that I send you a link and you'll join through there so no need to worry about that!
We are here to make the story together so while there is a main plot for you to follow, there will be distractions along the way and of course, things that relate to your characters and what they might find interesting!
During session 0 we will go over the initial plot hooks, how your characters might know each other, safety rules, and so on!
The available days are listed in the questionnaire. The start time for the session regardless of the day would be at 9 pm GMT+3 and when a day has been chosen, we would play consistently on that day every week!
RP to combat ratio:
I would say 50-50 since you as players can with your decisions affect how much combat or roleplay there is going to be but I as a GM, am geared more towards weighting narrative but that doesn't mean that there wouldn't be some cool combat set-pieces ;).
There might be moments in the game where we focus more on the social aspect of the game, interacting in character with the world around them and then there might be some more action-oriented sessions where you get to sit at the edge of your seat!
I will say that how I like to run games, I like to focus on characters and what their motives, goals, and flaws are. This would be a more character-driven game so be ready for that and don't be afraid to get into character and have fun while doing so!
How to apply:
All that I require from you is that you read the whole post and then fill out the questionnaire to the best of your ability. I pour a lot of time into making sure that the sessions are good and that everyone is having fun and you can contribute to that by being genuinely interested in the game!
Here is the questionnaire: https://forms.gle/TAnUSBRAoEpKe1Ra8
Basic rules of the campaign:

• Be consistent: I know that emergencies can happen and sometimes life throws a curve ball. Those happen to me too but if it does, I expect you to let me know ASAP when you know that you are not going to be able to join for the session. The general rule in my table is that as long as we have four people playing, we will continue with the game.
• Cinematics: I like to inject some cinematic in the game and I will let you know when there is a cinematic. This happens usually at the end of the session to show you what happens somewhere else where your characters are not necessarily present.
• Campaign may have mature themes: I like to run narrative games and they usually lean towards a more serious tone and while there are moments of lightheartedness, it's not what I am going for this campaign. This is not a campaign for joke characters or happy-go-lucky characters. I will NOT include SA or intense torture roleplaying in my games and there is no tolerance for that. These will be discussed more during the session 0!
• Be attentive during the sessions: During the session, I would like you to feel that you want to be there so I do put a lot of time into prepping the sessions with maps, NPCs, music, etc. So as a player, all I require from you is to know the basic rules, how your character works, and just generally be respectful towards everyone on the table!
• Don't be a dick: Don't rage quit if the dice don't go your way or if you do something in the game that can result in a bad consequence to your character and then it happens. No PvP, unless both agree to it and it needs to have a good reason! Just be respectful and be able to communicate and I am sure we will get along very well!
• There is always a possibility of death: We are here to make an awesome collaborative story together that we can look back to years later with fondness! This however doesn't mean that I am going to pull my punches in combat so that's why I roll in the open. If the dice decide that it's time for your character, then that's how it's going to be. Of course, sometimes there is something that can save you but those are rare. Also, I am not going to go out of my way to kill you and I will make sure that you always know what kinda situations your characters are going to.
• Have a good mic and connection: Having a good mic is important because most of us use headphones so if your audio quality is so bad that it makes our ears bleed then that would be a dealbreaker :D. Bad mics can also negatively just impact the flow of the game if they keep cutting out!

The most important rule is to: HAVE FUN! We are here to play a game and make a story together and everyone's comfort is important to me! If you have doubts or if something feels off, you can always come to talk with me!
Game Rules:

• Write "One Piece is real" in the final questions so I know that you read this far ;)
• Ability scores are determined using point buy with 28 points or a standard array.
• Death saves are rolled in secret
• We are starting from level 2
• Criticals are maxed damage + die rolls
• If you go down, you get a wound up to a maximum of 3 when you get up again. On your third one, if you fall, you die

The reason for Banned spells is that I like to make mysteries and that players need to think. For example, Remove curse would make a situation where you can get cursed not that tense. I like to make curses into plotlines so thus banning the spell gives us that opportunity.
Here are the banned spells:

• Identify
• Detect Thoughts
• Locate object
• Zone of Truth
• Remove curse
• Goodberry
• Silvery Barbs
• Geas
• Legend lore

Banned subclasses:

• Twilight cleric
• Eloquence bard
• Peace cleric

Races from Eberron, PHB, and MPMM are available minus Tortle, Fairy, and Centaur. Also, flying races are not allowed
Here is a little bit of info about me!
My name is Michael, 22 years old. I have been a GM for 3.5 years now! I have enough experience so I won't fumble around but obviously, I don't know everything.
Something about myself is that I have been a huge fan of TTRPGs ever since I started 3.5 years ago. In that period, I have had the pleasure to play multiple systems such as 5e, pathfinder 2e, Call of Cthulhu, cyberpunk RED/2020, mothership, City of Mist, etc. So I have quite a lot of experience and I know the ropes! I also like to draw, write stories, do worldbuilding, play video games, and watch movies and anime.
I am a huge fan of One Piece, it was also an inspiration for this setting so if you are a fan, you'll notice some subtle references here and there!
I do enjoy Eberron as a setting and have read quite a bit on it! Still, while it's an established setting with its lore, that means that there will be things that I might be unaware of or I might change things here and there. I like to stick to the established lore since it's quite expansive and really good but expect changes at some points!
Final words
Thanks for reading this long-ass post and I do hope that you can see that I am putting my all into this! I hope you do too so feel free to fill out the application! Take it slowly and don't rush it since I am using it to gauge how interested you all are to join in! I will keep the post up for a few days and conduct interviews before Sunday. If you have questions, feel free to comment and I'll answer when I have time!
I hope all of you have a nice day/evening and I hope to talk to you later!

Hi Everyone,
I found a pre-built on an online auction site (not eBay) currently going for €350 with the following specs:

• Motherboard: ASUS ROG Maximus XI Hero
  
• CPU: Intel Core i9 9900KS
  
• CPU-Cooler: NZXT Kraken X72
  
• RAM: Corsair Vengeance 64GB 3200C16
  
• GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti ROG Strix O11G Gaming (Asus)
  
• SSD: Samsung 970 EVO Plus 2TB m.2
  
• Case: Lian-Li PC-O11DW Dynamic
  
• PSU: Corsair HX1000i (1000W)
  
• OS: Windows 11 Home
  

It apparently works perfectly and they're getting rid of it as they recently received a new PC.
I think it's quite a good deal but was wondering how high you guys think I should/could follow this for.
Thanks in advance!

It honestly feels like every superstar gets compared to MJ. Here are some names I’ve heard:
Grant Hill
Kobe
Lebron
Wade
Dirk
KD
Steph
Anthony Edwards
Obviously Kobe is the only one that came that close to being MJ since he modeled his game after MJ, but I do recall these other names being compared to MJ at certain points.
Can you think of any other names?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGRTRt2NWZg
OK, so there's a long theory here that got deleted while I was on my phone while posting this, but I'll summarize briefly...
Kanako is The Key to Monsterkind's Salvation using Determination Extract, Because Determination is In The Ketsukane Household's Names that describe the 3 routes: "Devoted, Decisive, Determined", meaning that The Ketsukane Family is not too dissimilar from Humankind, what with their roots being based in Kitsune Folklore & Whatnot.
That aside, I think I know why...
When the Determination Extract was leveled enough to be put into Kanako at an extractable level capable of not harming a monster, Chujin had almost perfected the perfect serum to protect Monsterkind against Becoming Amalgamates when they have too much Determination in their body, the keyword being "Termination", whereas "De-termination" is the eradication of...something, depending on what, it eradicates it, "Terminating" it as if it were a terminator of sorts. I am not saying that all humans are terminators, rather that "Determination" itself is a terminator by it's own proxy of it's own usage in how it is actually used, the keywords being, "Determined", as in, willing to go the distance to accomplish your own goals, as a Player.
However, something struck me as odd when Kanako got hurt by the bubble impact by the Needle not having the air pushed out of it properly... When the air impact struck, it likely hurt Kanako the same way as if a bullet were to accidentally hurt Clover or Frisk, since Bubble Impacts CAN kill, if inserted into a normal, living being!
Such to the point where it can kill, if not handled correctly!!! There's a lewd "1000 Ways to Die" episode that explains how she died was because the woman in that episode was so horny, that a huge air bubble impacted her veins, & suffocated her using her own veins against her, ceasing bodily functions from not having enough oxygen to the brain.
Now, if Monster's Organs work anything like Monster Magic Do, it's probably because they are made out of Monster Magic, but that is a topic for another day at another time or so ago later on today probably. Right now, we need to analyze Kanako's Critical Condition of Being An Amalgamate.
The fan-animation explains that Kanako did not Melt strangely enough, & I explained why: Because Ketsukanes, much like Humans, are Determined. Determined, being a reference to UT Vanilla's "Determination", which also likely means that Kanako's Experiment Ceroba knew next to nothing about when researching Chujin's Analysis on his Experiments, likely means That Chujin Almost Found A Cure to Stop Monsterkind from Becoming Amalgamates with too much Determination! And I think I know what happened next...
Deltarune, happened, or some sort of AU of Undertale where Monsters DO IN FACT BLEED, From Being Lightners. Lightners, being, The Gods of The Darkners as well, since all Darkners are objects that exist somewhere in Deltarune. "Why am I bringing this up?", you may think I am asking myself. To answer that, we first have to Analyze What Happens to Monsterkind once the cure serum is created...
MONSTERS. BLEED. Yes, you heard me right! With enough of a minimal amount of Determination, Monsters CAN IN FACT BLEED, which would explain why Sans bleeds in Undertale as well, since Deltarune & Undertale are likely a Timeloop of events that keep unfolding & surrounding each other, if Deltarune isn't actually a type of AU Sequel to Undertale as well. The main point being that which, we as Monsterkind have an obligation to fulfill that All Monsterkind is Looked After While Being Experiments on. Meaning, The True Lab is actually a type of Hospital for Amalgamates. I can already hear many people typing as soon as they've read this far saying "But Talon! That isn't what happened! We see Monsters DIE in The True Lab!" Not really, since they are more than likely resting, since even Snowy's Mom, Snowdrake dies probably long after Undertale, as indicated by Deltarune. However, you can talk to her before beating The Pacifist Route in UT Vanilla by going back through The Underground & Talking to Her & Her Family about what's going to happen next for them right away as well!
Things are...going grimly for Snowdrake, so much that she will die if nothing is done: The context right there is the key, that "Determination... Can Kill too as well."
[Insert Genocide Determination Theory Here As Well] The point being, that when taken to the extreme, Determination CAN Kill. We also see that Clover's Level of Violence is one that is from rage, a Deadly Sin. However, it raises an interesting point in us as humans... Can we get too angry that we gain temporary Levels of Violence? Depends on how VIOLENT you are being in UT Yellow. By that I mean, COMPLETELY SLAUGHTER MONSTERKIND IN A GENOCIDE ROUTE. Otherwise known as... The Vengeance Route. Vengeance being an unlawful for violent revenge used as justification for fulfilling a sense of Justice that just "feels deserved" when done right in UT Yellow, since it feels so earned as well. In UT Red & Yellow, Clover first depletes our Hopes by Half, & then Justice Blasts us so hard, our game crashes, & our save file is erased from existence, except that Now, Clover wants us to try a Pacifist Route Instead, & calls us out when we do it again over them.
By this point, Clover is clearly trying to steer us on the right path of our own Determination using Justice, which also means that Clover only wants what's best for everyone as well, Justice for Monsterkind using Pacifism in the True Pacifist Route of Undertale R&Y or UT Vanilla as well.
Meaning that regardless of whether Clover knew about Ceroba & Kanako, one thing remains certain... With Enough Determination, Monsterkind can potentially become somewhat normal & also mortal in Deltarune, as we also see in several versions of Deltarune Yellow as well, which also means that since Kanako lives in that timeline from no Amalgamates existing, Amalgamates weren't created because The Experiments were a complete success!!! Which also means that in Deltarune, Chujin actually made the perfect Serum that Ceroba tested on Kanako to make sure if Chujin's work efforts were correct or not, regardless of if she disobeyed Chujin's Instructions to use Another Boss Monster Instead, or even just by being convinced by Kanako that IT WOULD WORK... Almost.
Kanako does not change forms as an Amalgamate, Alphys explains. She stayed the same, likely because Ketsukane's Are "Determined", meaning they have Determination! The Ketsukanes are The Key to Monsterkind's Salvation, once Kanako was discovered that she neither died nor changed forms, & remaines stable, because NOW we know that Kanako can provide a Clue as to How Much Less Determination that Monsterkind would have needed!!!
Looking again at Snowdrake, Snowdrake Monsters are actually quite large, so you'd think she'd have a lot of Determination injected into her, right? Well, you're right about that, but the key-wording is "how much", since we also know that Snowdrake, Snowy's Mom was also injected A LOT OF TIMES with A LOT...of DETERMINATION as well. Which also means that depending on the size of the mass, it must be proportional the size of the monster, just like in-real-life medicine would be applied to conduct experiments on people & animals as well, because we all know that science provides experiments with human test-subjects, which also explains Why Kanako Needed Less Determination than What She Was Given to Become More Like a Human & Be able to bleed, & also become more like a Deltarune Monster.
• • • TL:DR: Uh Oh, Spaghettios, Kanako had too much Blue Determination Lasagna for lunch, & now has a bad tummy ache from almost dying & choking on an air bubble by becoming an Amalgamate after almost dying...!
Yes, these are 4 sentences explaining what happened very shortly to Kanako in my theory, why do you ask? Thank you for reading. Hope you like my theory! ^w^

1. You could block them on social media and on your phone if you would like to. You can divert their emails to special folders if needed. Be careful with this if you need some communication from these people.
   
2. Tell them you decided to seek other job opportunities more aligned with your interests or goals
   
3. Say you would like to take the time to research your options, or you will let them know at a later time what you would like to do
   
4. Tell them you decided that you would prefer to do things differently or that things aren’t as expected
   
5. Say you would like your privacy or confidentiality
   
6. Let them know that you won’t be returning since the situation is different than you thought it would be
   
7. Just leave and don’t return
   
8. Find a room to rent or your own hotel room to get away from creeps if needed
   
9. Don’t let them know much about your personal or professional life
   
10. Tell them you decided to focus on your own goals, and that you would like to find different options for using your potential
    
11. Say your lifestyle and other interests aren’t aligned with what others are assuming or would like to see happen to you
    
12. You might want to write reviews online with as anonymous or with a pen name
    

PRICE IS $3500 (Less than half of what steam account is worth)
These are just the games in my library. I have lots of dlc and in game purchases. If you have a question about a specific game or anything else just dm me
Aimlabs AirMech Among Us Apex Construct Apex Legends ARK: Survival Ascended ARK: Survival Evolved ARK: Survival Of The Fittest Awesomenauts Banana Shooter Batman: Arkham Asylum GOTY Edition Batman: Arkham City GOTY Batman™: Arkham Knight BattleBit Remastered Blade & Sorcery Blood and Bacon Bloons TD 6 Boring Man - Online Tactical Stickman C Brawlhalla Call of Duty® Chivalry 2 Combat Tested Conqueror's Blade Contractors Showdown Contractors VR Core Keeper Cortex Command Counter-Strike 2 Crossout Cyberpunk 2077 DAVE THE DIVER DAYZ DayL CAYZ DayZ Experimental Deadside Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The H Destiny 2 Devil May Cry 5 Dishonored DOOM Eternall DRAGON BALL FighterZ DRAGON BALL XENOVERSE 2 Drunken Wrestlers 2 Duck Game Dying Light Dying Light 2: Reloaded Edition ELDEN RING Emily is Away Enshrouded The Escapists 2 Factorio Fall Guys Fallout 4 Fallout 76 Fallout 76 Public Test Server Fallout: New Vegas Fallout Shelter FC3 Far Cry® 3 5 Far Cry 5 THE FINALS Fistful of Frags For Honor For Honor - Public Test For The King Formicide fpsVR FreeStyleFootball Full Metal Furies Galactic Junk League Gang Beasts Garry's Mod Gauntlet™ Ghost of Tsushima DIRECTOR'S CUT Gladio Mori Playtest Going Medieval Goose Goose Duck Gorilla Tag Grand Theft Auto V Gray Zone Warfare GUILTY GEAR -STRIVE Half-Life: Alyx Halo Infinite Halo: The Master Chief Collection Happy Wars HAWKED Issue #2 Playtest HELLDIVERS™ 2 Hellish Quart Heroes & Generals Hero's Hour Human Fall Flat Hunger Dungeon Hunt: Showdown Hunt: Showdown (Test Server) IdeOn - The Idle RPG Infestation: The New Z Insurgency: Sandstorm Insurgency: Sandstorm Community Test The Jackbox Party Pack 3 The Lab Last Man Standing Left 4 Dead 2 Lethal Company Lost Ark LuckCatchers Manor Lords Marvel Rivals Playtest Marvel's Avengers - The Definitive Editic Marvel's Avengers Beta Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Marvel's Spider-Man RemasteredMechWarrior Online Middle-earth™: Shadow of War™ MORDHAU Mortal Kombat 1 Mortal Kombat 11 Muck Murder Miners MY HERO ULTRA RUMBLE NARAKA: BLADEPOINT NARUTO SHIPPUDEN: Ultimate Ninja STI NARUTO TO BORUTO: SHINOBI STRIKEF NBA 2K23 No Man's Sky Omega Strikers Operator Ori and the Blind Forest Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Editic OUTRIDERS Outward OVR Advanced Settings Oxygen Not Included Paladins Paladins - Public Test Palworld P.A.M.E.L.A. Party Animals Passpartout: The Starving Artist Pavlov VR PAYDAY 2 Phasmophobia Pixel Gun 3D: PC Edition PlanetSide 2 PlanetSide 2 - Test Pogostuck: Rage With Your Friends Project Winter Project Zomboid PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS PUBG: Experimental Server PUBG: Test Server Pummel Party Raft Ravenfield Ready or Not Rec Room Red Dead Redemption 2 - Update Queue Remnant: From the Ashes Resident Evil 5 Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality RIFT RimWorld Ring of Elysium Risk of Rain 2 Robocraft Rocket League ROUNDS Rust Rust - Staging Branch Satisfactory SCP: Secret Laboratory Scrap Mechanic Secret Neighbor Beta Shotgun Farmers The Sims™ 4 Slappyball Slime Rancher SMITE SMITE - Public Test Sons Of The Forest Source Filmmaker Space Engineers Space Hulk: Deathwing Space Hulk: Deathwing - Enhanced Editi Splitgate SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikir Sprint Vector STAND OUT Star Trek: Bridge Crew Star Trek Online STAR WARS™ Battlefront™ Il STAR WARS™ Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy STAR WARS™: Squadrons STAR WARS™: The Old Republic™ Starbound Starbound - Unstable Stardew Valley Stellaris Stick Fight: The Game Street Fighter™ 6 Subnautica Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League Super Animal Royale Super Crate Box Tactical Craft Online Teeworlds Terraria theHunter: Call of the Wild™ Time of Dragons Titanfall® 2 tModLoader Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege - Test S Toribash Totally Accurate Battlegrounds Trove Ultimate Chicken Horse UNO Unrailed! Unturned V Rising Valheim Vampire Survivors Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodhunt VRChat VTuber Maker Wallpaper Engine War Thunder Warface: Clutch Warframe Warhammer: Vermintide 2 The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt World of Soccer World of Tanks World of Tanks Blitz World of Warships Your Only Move Is HUSTLE Zero Caliber VR

So i have a model that I received made in bedrock entity format or whatever. And it also came with animations and i got the model and textures in the game but the animations arent working. I've tried renaming them to the name of the model, I've tried downloading them off the original model but nothing is working. It is because i Used the entity wizards still model preset or what?

Backup account because people know my main.
I (M22) have been unhappy for years now. When I lived in my home state, I was homeless and using pills regularly after my parents passed away. Long story short, I met someone (M23) online just before they passed, and he would come to visit me once in a while even though he was about 3 hours away, he's the sweetest and kindest person I've ever met. When my parents passed and I spiraled, he took me home with him. His family has been so amazing to me, and I can't thank them enough for everything they've done.. I have a roof over my head, I haven't taken any pills, I have a full time job and a part time job.. but I feel like such a burden every single day.. I don't make enough money to have my own apartment, even if my partners income was involved, I don't have a car or even a license for that matter.. the average rent in our area is around $2,400 a month. I only make about $2,200 a month between both jobs, and with my secondary insurance, personal items, phone bill, rent, and groceries, I have about $200 left at the end of every pay period (biweekly) to put towards my savings. My partner has student loan payments, car payments, gas, groceries, phone bill, rent and car insurance to pay.. I don't know how much he has left at the end of the month, but he doesn't make much more than me so it can't be a lot. I know this makes me sound like an ungrateful asshole, but I feel like all I do is take up space and cause problems.. I just wanna get on a train and leave, go somewhere out west and wander the streets again.. I was in bad shape last time, but I wasn't a bother to anyone, just the people walking over me on the sidewalk.. maybe I'll find a job out there, change my name, live by myself and leave everything I am right now right here.. I'm so sick and tired of being dependent on other people and making them feel like I'm their responsibility.. I just wanna start over again and keep to myself, I don't want friends anymore, I don't want love I don't want people anymore I'm so sick and tired of caring about everything.. I just wanna go away.

ive been on a pokemon kick here recently and ive been going through playing the old ones through emulators. ive recently tried setting retroarch up and ive gotten everything to work as far as getting the game to load up but when i start the game i cant even get past the main menu. im pretty sure its because the key binds arent set up but i have no clue why it wont let me set them up. whenever i go to the settings to try and set them up i cant figure it out. everything ive found online is just setting up controllers but it doesnt even show me that option. anyone know what im doing wrong?

At the world’s top college of magic and technology, every day brings a new discovery -and a new disaster. The advanced experiments of the college students tend to be both ambitious and apocalyptic, with the end of the world only prevented by a mysterious time loop, and a small handful of students who retain their memories.
Surviving the loops was hard enough, but now, in his senior year, Vell Harlan must take charge of them, and deal with the fact that the whole world now knows his secrets. Everyone knows about Vell’s death and resurrection, along with the divine game he is a part of. Now Vell must contend with overly curious scientists and evil billionaires hungry for divine power while the daily doomsday cycle bombards him with terrorists, talking elephants, and the Grim Reaper himself -but if he can endure it all, the Last Goddess’s game promises the ultimate prize: power over life itself.
[Previous Chapter][Patreon][Cover Art]
“Should I be worried?”
Why would you be worried?” Kim said. “Dean Lichman loves us.”
Dean Lichman had asked the two of them to stop by his office, though his brief message had not said what for. That left Vell to concoct nightmare scenarios in his head.
“He doesn’t love all of us.”
“Alex doesn’t count as ‘us’,” Kim said. She was a looper in purely a technical sense, mostly due to her own refusal to be a team player. “Besides, she’s been behaving lately. She’s only been an asshole, not an active liability.”
“That we know of.”
“If we don’t know about it, Dean probably doesn’t either,” Kim said. “It’s fine, Vell, he probably just wants to ask us for advice or deal with some problem he has.”
“That’s not much better,” Vell said. “How weird would things have to be that the Dean is asking us for help personally?”
“Only one way to find out,” Kim said. She gestured to the door to the Dean’s office.
Kim entered first, and found it in much the same state as it always was. The desk piled high with paperwork, a small bowl of assorted candies shoved into the corner of the desk, and Dean Lichman behind it, frantically tapping away on a laptop. Vell had not been in this office for several years, and it was vastly different than the last time he’d been here.
“Ah, there you are, come in, have a seat,” Dean Lichman said. “Unless you’d rather we have our conversation elsewhere, Vell.”
“Why would I want that?”
“Well, it’s my understanding you haven’t been in this office since my, uh, predecessor,” Dean Lichman said.
“Oh, right, the kidnapping,” Vell said. “No, I’m good, I don’t really get traumatized by things anymore.”
Vell had been killed too many different ways in too many different places to have a functional trauma response. A few days ago he’d gotten his legs chewed off by a vending machine, and still stopped by it to pick up a soda on his way to the office.
“That’s a very concerning response, Mr. Harlan.”
“Yeah. Anyway, what did you need?”
Dean Lichman gestured for the duo to take a seat, and both did so. He folded desiccated hands in front of himself before beginning to speak.
“I would like to ask you two to take a look at an experiment that will be occurring later this week,” Dean Lichman said. “I don’t have any reason to believe it poses a threat, but I would like to be assured it is a safe and ethical environment, and, well, you two have a knack for identifying trouble spots.”
“You could say that,” Kim said. It was more accurate to say that trouble had a way of identifying them -and then leaping at them and ripping their heads off.
“I’d appreciate it if the two of you could simply examine the laboratory and give it your approval, or disapproval, as the case may be,” Dean Lichman said. “Though if you’re too busy, I fully understand.”
“If you don’t think this is dangerous, why are you asking for our help anyway?”
“Simply for my own peace of mind, frankly,” Dean Lichman said. “The school’s policies on animal experimentation are...satisfactory, I suppose, but I do want to take extra precautions when the subject is a creature as smart as an elephant.”
“An elephant?”
“Yes, a resident of a reserve in Thailand,” Dean Lichman said. “An older elephant by the name of Mae Noi. She has cancer, apparently, and she is submitting to experimental treatment in the hopes it will be useful for younger elephants.”
Kim’s digital face briefly flashed with a facial expression of concerned skepticism.
“‘She’ is submitting to treatment? As in the elephant?”
“Yes. Apparently the elephant can talk,” Dean Lichman said. “No, I don’t know how it works, they said it was ‘more impressive in person’.”
“Well now I kind of want to go just to see the talking elephant,” Vell said.
“Same.”
“Well, do try to take a few glances at the experiment’s safety while you’re there,” Dean Lichman said.
“Sounds like a plan,” Vell said. “Thanks for the heads up.”
“I’ll be there too,” Kim said.
“Excellent. Thank you both, and I’ll try not to take up too much of your time,” the Dean said. He then bid them both a polite goodbye and returned to his mountains of paperwork. Vell took a step out of the office and then took a sip from the soda he’d recently retrieved from the evil vending machine.
“So, what do you think?”
“I think I really do want to see the talking elephant,” Kim said.
“Obviously, yeah, we all want to see the talking elephant,” Vell said. “I mean the whole situation. You think the elephant thing is going to be the daily apocalypse for that day?”
“Well, on the one hand, an elephant seems like the kind of thing that would kill us,” Kim said. “But on the other, I feel like the fact we have advance warning means it’s not going to happen.”
“True. The universe probably wouldn’t make it that easy for us.”
“Yeah, but the elephant thing still feels pretty threatening,” Kim said. “Only way to find out is to wait a few days, I guess.”
A FEW DAYS LATER
“Hello you two,” Dean Lichman said. “And Hawke.”
“Hey,” Hawke said.
“He also wanted to see the talking elephant,” Kim explained.
“Well, that’s not a problem, it was an open invitation,” Dean Lichman said.
“Thanks. Still, sorry for not saying I was going to show up in advance,” Hawke said. “It took me a long time to make up my mind whether I was more interested in or afraid of a talking elephant.”
“They are rather large, aren’t they? I suppose that could be intimidating.”
“I’m okay with elephants on their own, it’s the talking part that doesn’t sit right with me,” Hawke said. “What if the elephant doesn’t like me? What if I’m the first person to ever get insulted by an elephant?”
“You’re less afraid of getting trampled by an elephant than insulted by one?”
“I’m a little afraid of trampling, but elephants are chill,” Hawke explained. “They wouldn’t attack unless provoked. I kind of feel like one might call me a dipshit unprovoked, though.”
“You have oddly specifics fears, Mr. Hughes,” Dean Lichman said.
“Yeah.”
In spite of those fears, Hawke happily stepped through the door to the zoology lab. It did not take a long time to locate the elephant in the room, as it was a literal elephant. The towering pachyderm was in a makeshift pen in the center of the lab, with an ample supply of food and a strange pedestal in front of her.
“Dr. Chanthara,” Dean Lichman said, with a polite wave to one of the researchers in the room. “Good to see you. These are the students I told you about.”
“Hm. Nice to meet you,” Dr. Chanthara said. He was, perhaps not unreasonably, skeptical of why three seemingly random students were in charge of a safety inspection. The fact that one of the three was a robot made him even more skeptical.
“Hi, nice to meet you too, and, uh, don’t mind us,” Vell said. “We just have an eye for weird things other people might miss.”
“Sure. I- wait. Aren’t you that kid who got chosen by a god?”
“Yeah, that’s me,” Vell said. “And her too, technically.”
Kim shrugged. She didn’t care for any extra attention on that point.
“Right,” Chanthara said. He was beginning to see why these students might know their stuff. “I suppose we should start by introducing you to Mae Noi. Say hello, Mae.”
The elephant shifted on her feet and poked her trunk at the wide pedestal in front of her twice.
“Hello. Friends,” a synthesized voice droned. Vell stepped a little closer to the pedestal, just enough to see that there were an array of buttons on the side facing Mae Noi.
“Oh, it’s kind of like a keyboard,” Vell said. He’d seen similar things used with dogs, though usually in a much simpler fashion. Mae Noi seemed to have a few dozen buttons at her disposal.
“Smart,” Mae Noi said, with another prod of her trunk.
“We initially put it into our sanctuary as a bit of a novelty, something elephants could choose to interact with,” Dr. Chanthara explained. “Mae Noi took to it a bit better than most. Especially once she found out she could use it to ask for food.”
“Food. Pumpkin. Pumpkin. Pumpkin.”
“No, Mae, no food until after experiment,” Dr. Chanthara scolded.
“Experiment,” Mae Niko said with a prod. “Pumpkin.”
“Yes, experiment then pumpkin,” Dr. Chanthara said.
“That’s not really a talking elephant, is it?” Hawke said.
“It’s more talking than most elephants,” Dr. Chanthara said.
“Elephant. Smart,” Mae Niko said. “Smart.”
“Yes, uh, right, elephant smart,” Hawke said. He took a step back, to avoid any further offense and any further risk of being insulted by Mae Noi.
“You’re very impressive, Mae, don’t mind him,” Kim said. “How many words does she know?”
“Our platform back home has around three hundred words, though she’s still learning some of them,” Dr. Chanthara said. “The ‘travel’ version we put together only has a hundred, just enough to make sure she can get her basic needs met and communicate about the experiment.”
“Right, speaking of, I do believe we should put some time into our reason for being here,” Dean Lichman interjected. “You’re welcome to stick around afterwards, at Dr. Chanthara and Mae Noi’s discretion, of course, but we should get underway.”
“We probably should get to business, yeah,” Kim said. She tapped the side of her metal head. “I’m going to scan the lab. Vell, you talk to the elephant and make sure everything’s above-board.”
“Abov- oh, right,” Vell said. “Sorry, not exactly used to being able to ask animals if they agree to animal experimentation.”
“Experiment,” Mae said.
“Yeah, experiment,” Vell said, as he turned to Mae. “So, Mae Noi, this experiment might hurt, do you know that?”
“Experiment. Hurt. Elephant,” Mae Noi prodded. “Experiment. Help. Elephant. Help. Baby.”
“Help baby?”
“Baby. Baby. Elephant. Sick. Baby. Sick.”
“We’ve explained the nature of her condition to Mae Noi as best we can,” Dr. Chanthara said. “She has several children, and is concerned they might be similarly affected.”
“Help. Baby,” Mae Noi said. “Experiment. Help.”
The way Mae Noi frantically tapped the buttons tugged at Vell’s heartstrings, but he choked those emotions down.
“So you want to do this experiment to help baby, got it,” Vell said. “Even if it hurts you?”
“Elephant. Old,” Mae Noi said. “Hurt. Okay. Help. Baby.”
“Huh. Well, that does sound like informed consent to me,” Vell said. “Passes ethical muster, at least.”
The campus rules allowed students to be experimented on, with their consent, so Vell saw no reason not to apply the same standard to an elephant.
“You speak up if you change your mind about the experiment, okay?”
“Stop. Stop. Stop,” Mae said, mashing the same button a few times. “Yes.”
“You got it. I’m going to go help my friends check things out,” Vell said. “Good talking to you, Mae.”
“Good. Talk. Friend,” Mae said. She waved goodbye with her trunk, and Vell waved back. He wandered away from Mae Noi’s pedestal and found Kim and Hawke carefully examining rows of beakers and various other supplies.
“Nothing sus yet, boss,” Hawke said.
“Nothing caustic, mutagenic, or explosive?”
“Well, something mutagenic, but it’s supposed to be,” Kim said. She had scanners built into her body much like those that had once been in Vell’s glasses, allowing her to analyze the complex chemical formulas at a glance. “They’re going for some gene editing similar to what we’ve tried to do on human cancer patients. Low success rate, but not harmful. Some adaptations to work on elephants, of course.”
“Run it by any of our chemistry and biology student friends yet?”
“A few,” Kim said. “Haven’t gotten anything back yet, though.”
“Maybe run it by Skye, too,” Vell said. “She’d recognize anything that’d mutate an animal.”
“She does love to mutate things,” Kim said.
“Benevolently,” Vell insisted. “Just show her. I’m going to check for any stray equipment.”
The presence of an unusually large test subject had resulted in the lab being rearranged and reshuffled, so Vell did a quick scan for any misplaced equipment that might pose a threat. He found, to his surprise, a tidy and well-organized environment, with any and all extraneous materials securely locked away. There wasn’t so much as a shrink ray out of place. Vell did another loop just to be sure, but returned to his friends empty-handed.
“This place has less safety hazards than my lab,” Vell said. Hawke stared at him for a while.
“Why does your lab have safety hazards?’
“I do runecarving, there’s like, hammers and chisels,” Vell said. “Those can hurt people.”
“Mm, true,” Hawke said. “So you really didn’t find anything?”
“Nothing,” Vell said. “This place is secure as I’ve ever seen a lab be.”
“It’s like I said,” Kim began. “We got an actual warning about it, so obviously nothing’s going to go wrong. That’d be too easy.”
“Maybe,” Vell said. “Things can get teleported in, or someone could cast a spell, or something.”
“Yeah, but that applies to anywhere, at any time,” Kim said.
“Kim’s right,” Hawke said. “I say we go business as usual.”
“I guess,” Vell said. “We have to branch out a little, at least. Can’t keep an eye on one room all day.”
The trio stopped sulking around the outskirts of the lab and returned to Dean Lichman and Dr. Chanthara.
“Everything looks good,” Kim said. “Probably the safest lab I’ve ever seen.”
“I’ll choose to take that as a compliment,” Dr. Chanthara said.
“We have very high safety standards here at the Einstein-Odinson,” Dean Lichman said, defensively. “Relatively speaking. Innovation requires some risk.”
“I understand perfectly. So does Mae.”
“Hurt. Okay,” Mae said.
“Not that okay,” Vell said. “Nice meeting you, Dr. Chanthara. You too, Mae.”
“Wait.”
Mae prodded one of the buttons on her pedestal and then pointed her trunk at the three of them. Hawke looked deeply concerned, but stepped forward alongside Vell and Kim. Mae Noi appraised them with massive brown eyes, and then moved her trunk back towards the pedestal. Vell noticed a distinctive scar on the bridge of her long nose just as Mae Noi pressed another button.
“Joke.”
“...Joke?”
Dr. Chanthara sighed and rolled his eyes.
“Just go along with it,” he said. “She likes to tell her joke.”
“Uh, okay,” Vell said. “Let’s hear it.”
“What. Elephant. Favorite. Part. Tree.”
“Umm...I don’t know, Mae,” Vell lied. He’d heard this joke from a kid, once. “What part?”
“Trunk,” Mae said. She gave a loud bray of amusement and then slammed her trunk down a few more times to emphasize the punchline. “Trunk. Trunk.”
“Oh, ha, I get it,” Kim said, hoping her feigned laugh was convincing. She’d never tried to lie to an elephant before. “Good one, Mae.”
Mae Noi shifted from side to side, looking pleased with herself, while the trio took a step back and stopped their feigned laughter.
“Did you give her buttons just to tell that joke with?”
“She gets upset,” Dr. Chanthara said. “I’m not even sure she understands the pun, she just likes people’s reactions.”
“As long as she’s having fun,” Hawke said.
“We’ll get out of your hair now,” Vell said. “Good luck with the experiment, feel free to let us know if you need a hand with anything.”
“I’ll keep it in mind,” Dr. Chanthara said. Some of his earlier skepticism seemed to have softened, but he did not seem entirely onboard with three strangers mucking about with his experiment. Vell and his friends left before they stretched what little goodwill they had any further. Mae Noi waved her trunk goodbye as the three left the lab and stepped back onto the quad.
“I’m going to try and sneak some classes in,” Hawke said. “Later.”
“I’ll check some of our usual hot spots,” Kim said, before she too left. Once again alone, Vell headed to one of his own classes, and called up Samson.
“Hey, Samson,” Vell began. “See anything interesting while we were playing with the elephant?”
“Well, I thought I clocked someone acting suspicious, but it turns out he was only sneaking around to go see his boyfriend,” Samson said. “Nothing apocalyptic, but I did get called a homophobe, which is pretty emotionally devastating.”
“I’m sure you’ll recover someday,” Vell said. “Keep an eye out. Usually the safer things look, the more dangerous things end up being.”
“Will do,” Samson said, before saying goodbye and hanging up.
***
Vell got increasingly nervous the longer the day went without its daily disaster. He thought about checking in on Mae Noi again, but then recalled Kim’s warning about it being too obvious, but then remembered that nobody had seen anything suspicious anywhere else, but then remember that Mae Noi’s lab had looked perfectly safe-
“Vell.”
“Huh?”
“You’re spiraling,” Kim said.
“I’m not spiraling, I’m just,” Vell said, with a pause for contemplation. “Considering multiple options.”
“In a spiral fashion,” Kim said. “Eat the damn french fries. Honestly, what’s the point of ordering so many if you’re just going to let them get cold?”
“It’s not like they’re going to go to waste,” Vell said. The same time loop that allowed him to eat massive amounts of french fries without fear of gaining weight also allowed him to avoid food waste. One of the upsides of life in a time loop.
“Just eat, Vell,” Kim said. “You worry too much about all this shit.”
“I’m in charge, it’s my job to worry about it,” Vell said.
“It’s your job to handle it,” Kim said. “There’s no point thinking about this shit before it happens, you spend all day thinking about an elephant and then the universe drops, like, a bat with tentacles on your head. Just deal with as it comes, Vell.”
Vell leaned on the table and managed to chomp down on a french fry or two.
“You know, next year, when I’m not running the show anymore, I’m going to call and see if you still think it’s that easy.”
“I sure hope so,” Kim said. “I’m saying all this shit trying to make myself believe it too.”
“Oh good, you’re lying to both of us,” Vell said. “That’s cool.”
“Fake it ‘til you make it, Vell, that’s how it goes,” Kim said. “Eat your damn french fries.”
Vell rolled his eyes and returned to his fries, which were now starting to cool. Thankfully he would not have to worry about finishing them. A loud crash from across campus interrupted him mid-bite and nearly made Vell choke on his fries. He painfully swallowed the half-chewed food and then looked over his shoulder.
“Son of a bitch, finally,” Vell said. A few years ago he’d found it weird whenever he was relieved about a disaster, but now he was just genuinely glad to get it over with. The waiting was as killer as the apocalypse. He tossed his fries in the trash and headed toward the sound of chaos, with Kim right behind him.
“Already told everybody?”
“Well, I may or may not have left Alex and Helena out of the loop…”
“Kim.”
“They’d find out anyway,” Kim said. “I got to use my brain parts to get in touch with them, even over wi-fi that shit feels dirty.”
“Just get in- stop.”
Vell held out his hand. Kim froze in place and did not move. Not intentionally, at least. There was a small amount of unintentional movement. The ground was vibrating.
“Always love a good earthquake,” Kim said.
“That’s not a quake,” Vell said. “That’s...footsteps!”
Vell grabbed Kim and dove out of the way just in time for something to barrel through the walls of the dining hall and stampede across the room. Tables, chairs, and more than a few students were crushed under the feet of a hulking, brown-furred behemoth as it charged. Kim picked herself and Vell up off the floor and tried to trail its progress.
“That’s a- oh fuck me,” Kim said. “Please don’t say you told me so.”
Vell got his bearings and looked across the room at the titanic form of a woolly mammoth. Though it was definitely recognizable as an archaic mammoth, the ancient creature was also heavily mutated, unnaturally large even by mammoth standards, and with multiple curled, jagged tusks protruding from a slobbering maw.
“Well that could be unrelated,” Vell said. “Mammoths can come from a lot of places, cloning accidents, time machines…”
The mammoth reached a wall, and rather than barreling through, turned around, facing directly towards Vell. A prominent scar covered the bridge of its broad trunk.
“Oh, nope, that’s definitely Mae,” Vell said. The scar was in the same place and at the same angle. Even a clone wouldn’t have an identical scar.
Once the revelation had struck, Mae took her turn. Vell found himself staring straight down the barrel of a very angry mammoth coming right at him at Vell-squishing velocity. Luckily he’d been charged at by a lot of creatures over four years of looping.
Vell jumped up and to the side, and latched on to one of the curled tusks, which made for very convenient handlebars. Kim did the same on the opposite side of Mae, and punched her in the head.
“Wait, wait, hold off on the violence for a second,” Vell shouted. He tried to wave at Kim to stop, but Mae was thrashing so violently he had to grip the tusks with both hands.
“Good plan,” Kim shouted. “Can you get Mae on board?”
Another set of tables got crushed underfoot. Thankfully the other students were out of trampling range by now, but Mae Noi’s feet were still coated in the blood of earlier victims.
“Mae’s smart, maybe we can calm her down,” Vell said. He then ducked to dodge a swat from Mae’s mutated trunk.
“Call me crazy, Vell, but I think this is more than just a bad mood,” Kim said, as she climbed up Mae’s seven jagged tusks like a ladder.
“We have to try,” Vell said. The loopers rule against hurting other intelligent life forms had some flexibility for blood-crazed mutants on violent rampages, but they had to at least try to reason first. Vell climbed up on of Mae’s tusks and looked into one of her bloodshot eyes for any sign of recognition. “Mae! It’s Vell, do you remember?”
The only response Vell got was an enraged trumpet, which he didn’t think was a “yes”.
“Come on, bud,” Vell said. “What’s an elephant’s favorite part of a tree, right? The trunk?”
The massive brown eye staring at Vell blinked, and he felt a brief glimmer of hope. He then felt a brief glimmer of his lungs being crushed as Mae swung her head and slammed her tusks into the wall, and Vell along with them. Kim punched Mae in the throat and then jumped across the tusks to grab Vell and carry him to safety.
“You okay, Vell?”
He opened his mouth to respond, and a pint or two of blood came out instead.
“Apparently not,” he mumbled. “I might be down a few ribs. And a lung. Or two.”
Kim carried Vell a safe distance from the fight and set him down on the ground, where he promptly spat out another mouthful of blood.
“Okay, uh, you just lie there and try to die peacefully, I guess,” Kim said.
“Way ahead of you.”
***
“Was that last bit as funny as I thought it was?” Vell asked. “I think the blood loss was affecting my sense of humor.”
“It was kind of hard to appreciate in the moment,” Kim said. “But as far as dying jokes go, it was pretty good.”
Vell and Kim walked into the lair for their morning meeting and joined the loopers that had already gathered.
“Okay, what’d I miss while I was dead?”
“Well, after Alex was done getting herself killed,” Samson began.
“You’re saying that as if it’s something to be ashamed of,” Alex said. “Vell also died.”
“Yeah, but he got killed trying to do something good. You got killed trying to do something stupid.”
“Trying to eliminate a threat is not stupid,” Alex said.
“We don’t kill intelligent creatures,” Hawke said. “Sometimes we punch them into a coma, but we don’t kill them.”
“When a dog bites, you put it down, I don’t see why the same principle doesn’t apply to a mammoth that’s crushed seventy people.”
“That wasn’t Mae’s fault,” Vell said. “She got mutated, or something. On that note: did you guys figure out what happened to Mae Noi?”
“Nothing,” Hawke said. “Looked like Mae smashed up the entire lab, trampled everyone involved in the experiment too. Nothing left to investigate, and nobody left alive to interrogate.”
“Typical,” Vell sighed. “At least we have an easy out. Dean Lichman was really concerned about the ethics of that whole experiment. We raise some kind of complaint, we could probably get the whole thing shut down.”
“The problem is getting the complaint,” Hawke said. “That lab was airtight, Vell.”
“Apparently not completely airtight,” Kim said. “I can camp out in the lab and raise an entirely justifiable stink whenever something capable of making a murder-mammoth shows up.”
“And what if it happens so suddenly you can’t complain about it?” Samson asked. “For all we know that could’ve been some kind of dimensional rift, or time anomaly, or something. It might not be as simple as somebody just putting in the wrong syringe at the wrong time.”
“He’s got a point,” Vell said. “We might want to shut this down before it gets there.”
“Seems like our best option is to plant evidence, then,” Alex said.
Everyone else at the table spent a few seconds brainstorming ways to prove her wrong, and much to their frustration, could not.
“Okay, fine,” Vell said. “But it needs to be something incidental, not something anyone would get blamed for. We want to cancel the experiment, not get anyone in trouble.”
“I could have a seizure on some sensitive equipment,” Helena offered. “It’ll break something and nobody would dare get mad at me.”
“Can you fake a seizure?”
“No, but I’m allergic to elephants, so I’d probably have one anyway the moment I stepped in the lab,” Helena said.
“I don’t feel entirely comfortable sending you into anaphylactic shock for a bit,” Vell said.
“Offer’s on the table,” Helena said. “I’ll live. Wouldn’t have made it through that trip to the zoo otherwise.”
“Anybody have any non-medical emergency suggestions?”
“Seagull in the air vents,” Kim said.
“Will that work?”
“It happens now and then,” Kim said. “Seagull gets in, and Dean has to close down the whole lab for potential material damage and biohazard risks if they shit in the vents.”
“Really? We’ve never had to deal with anything like that,” Hawke said.
“It may shock you to learn that sometimes minor, tedious bullshit happens that we have nothing to do with,” Kim said.
“That is kind of surprising, actually.”
“Enough. Kim, can you grab a seagull?” Vell asked. He shouldered his bookbag, and stuck a hand into the extradimensional pocket that existed within it. “I can probably smuggle it in with my bag.”
“Yeah, I can get you a seagull,” Kim said. Since she did not need to sleep, she had to find ways to keep herself entertained at night, seagull-grabbing being among them.
“Alright, we’ll go grab one and put it in the bag,” Vell said. “The rest of you, be ready to meet us when I call.”
***
Roughly three minutes later, Vell put out the call and they reconvened in front of the biology lab.
“Yeah, that was much faster than I thought it would be,” Vell said.
“I’m great at grabbin’ birds,” Kim said. Seagulls were among the easier birds to snatch, even. They were suckers for food, and many of them were attracted to her shiny metallic body anyway.
“Let’s just get this over with,” Vell said. “I want this thing out of my bag ASAP.”
Even though the seagull was safely within a pocket dimension, Vell would swear he could still feel the bird thrashing and squawking inside his bag. He tightened his grip on the shoulder strap and led the way towards the zoology lab entrance. He grabbed the handle and held it as he froze for a second.
“Vell, what’s up? Is this bird escaping?”
“No, the handle’s vibrating,” Vell said. It was shaking the same way a wall near an incredibly loud speaker might. He pressed his ear to the door and listened closely. He opened the door immediately, and let all his friends hear the frantic trumpeting of a panicked elephant.
Inside the lab, Mae Noi was stomping her feet and trumpeting as loud as he long trunk would allow. She swayed from side to side in her pen, bumping against the walls not quite hard enough to damage them, but hard enough that it was clear she was doing it on purpose.
“What the heck is happening here?”
“Ah, Vell,” Dean Lichman said. He hustled over to Vell’s side and gestured to the entire room. “Maybe you can figure out what’s going on.”
Mae Noi stopped braying long enough to start mashing her trunk against her pedestal, mashing out the word “Bad” over and over again.
“Our test subject, Mae Noi, has been throwing an absolute fit ever since she got here,” Dean Lichman said. “Dr. Chanthara, these are the students I was telling you about earlier.”
While Vell reintroduced himself to Dr. Chanthara, Kim and Hawke stepped up to examine Mae Noi and her enclosure. It was a far cry from the peaceful, orderly scene they had examined on the first loop. They were half an hour earlier this time than before, but Kim found it unlikely that they had been able to calm Mae Noi down, clean everything up, and get back to work in such a short amount of time. They hadn’t mentioned any of this panic on the first loop either. They were soon joined in their confusion by Chanthara and Vell.
“We’ve tried everything; food, water, her favorite toys, even videos of her children,” Dr. Chanthara said. “We’ve even offered to call off the experiment, but she won’t listen.”
“She is an animal,” Alex said. “Sometimes they do things arbitrarily.”
“Not Mae,” Dr. Chanthara said. “Some of our sanctuaries residents from traumatic backgrounds can have outbursts, but Mae was injured in the wild. She’s never been like this.”
“Maybe some experiment on the island is upsetting her,” Vell said. “A sonic experiment only she can hear, or something…”
Vell stopped and thought about it. If there had been such an irritant, it would’ve been there on the first loop too. Everything always repeated exactly the same, except for-
“Could you, uh, take a step back for a second?” Vell mumbled. “I want to try talking to her.”
“Don’t get close,” Chanthara warned him.
“I’m not, I’m not,” Vell said. He didn’t need to get very close to tell a joke.
The massive brown eyes of Mae Noi stayed locked on Vell as he approached, and she continued to mash the “Bad” button on her pedestal.
“I know, I know, bad,” Vell said. “But, uh, do you want to hear a joke?”
Mae Noi stopped. She locked eyes with Vell for a few seconds, and then cautiously tapped a button on her pedestal.
“Joke.”
“Right, joke,” Vell said. He tried to recall the exact sequence of words Mae had used on the first loop. “What elephant favorite part tree?”
Mae didn’t blink.
“Trunk,” Vell said.
After a moment of contemplation, Mae Noi let out one final, fervent, trumpet, and then started mashing buttons on her pedestal again.
“Bad. Help. Help. Experiment. Bad. Help. Bad. Help.”
“Yeah, bad help, one second,” Vell said. He turned away from Mae Noi to look at Dean Lichman. “Hey, uh, excuse me, Dean? Hey, uh, if I remember correctly there are some pretty complicated rules on having intelligent animals on campus, yes?”
“Well, yes,” Dean Lichman said. After hearing of some questionable ethical practices involving an octopus back in first year, he had instituted a few clauses into the school’s ethical code of conduct regarding intelligent animals like elephants, octopuses, and dolphins. “Mae’s presence here is a bit of an outlier, but there were workaround, given her apparent consent to the experiment.”
“Yeah, about that, is she, uh,” Vell began. “Is she registered as a student?”
“Yes.”
Vell pursed his lips. It took a few seconds for his friends to catch on.
“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” Samson snapped. He turned his back on the crowd and leaned against a wall while Hawke put his head in his hands.
“The first rule of looping,” Alex said quietly. “Loopers are randomly selected-”
She looked up and locked eyes with Mae Noi.
“From all registered students.”

Something I was thinking about when I watched the final moments of the most recent EFAP was Mauler’s observation that the internet content creator landscape used to be different when AVGN clones ruled Youtube and his question of how that shifted into video essayists and commentary channels. I thought about that for a while and I thought of some reasons why the landscape changed that I would like to share.
Managers
Something that people might not be aware of is how many Youtubers have people managing their content in the form of things like setting up brand deals and other services that I am not familiar with. Some of them are very public about what they do, some of them are more private. The important thing is how managers worked in the past.
One thing that I liked about Machinima, ScrewAttack, and Channel Awesome that the creators probably didn’t like is that they forced the older creators to stick to a set schedule of uploads and some of them forced creators to follow a set formula. This meant that the manager would make sure that if a creator uploaded a video every Friday at 2pm, they would have an upload every single Friday at 2pm.
How would this work if the creator wanted to take a week off? Well, the creator would have to have a video to upload in advance. What if the creator wanted to spend 3 weeks on a super-duper big video? Well, they could absolutely do that, but it would be a passion project and they’d still have to follow the set schedule for regular uploads.
This created a content landscape that I actually enjoyed a lot as a consumer because it’s probably the way it should be for reviewers. Every week, or every day in rare cases, a movie reviewer would need to review a different movie, which meant that a reviewer might have to force themselves to sit through a movie they don’t want to see like Fifty Shades Of Grey to give it a chance to subvert their expectations and earn a glowing review, or dig deep to find a new indie movie to review to fill that quota if they really didn’t want to sit through Fifty Shades Of Grey.
The promise of Patreon and creators becoming more independent was that creators would exclusively make videos on topics they wanted to do, but I personally think that was the wrong way to go. I’ve maintained a position that I prefer it when content creators are encouraged, or even forced, to talk about things that they don’t want to talk about because oftentimes that’s when reviewers are most interesting. Some of my favorite Roger Ebert reviews were when he reviewed a children’s movie like Space Jam or Pokemon: The First Movie, and some of my favorite Zero Punctuation reviews are when he has to pick out a random indie game and commit to reviewing it regardless of what the indie game turned out to be, like when he reviewed Hell Pie.
What I think has happened is that the lack of managers has encouraged content creators to upload whatever they want, whenever they want, which has usually translated to videos about ‘easy’ topics, like videos about Disney movies, being uploaded weeks, or even months, apart, which has made the content creation landscape, at least for reviewers, a lot less interesting, and a lot less engaging.
It’s actually one of the reasons why EFAP has been losing my interest lately, because although they upload a stream every week the topics they choose are generally ‘easy’ topics because I genuinely think the hosts don’t have the ability to make an EFAP on something more obscure, or even just ‘difficult’ like Baby Reindeer, very interesting, or they just won’t do streams on those topics because, as Rags said: “This is our show, and we can do whatever the fuck we want.”
Honestly, my hot take is that I liked you better when you couldn’t do whatever the fuck you wanted all of the time. In fact, one of my favorite Rags moments on EFAP was when he clearly didn’t want to be involved with the debate with Twin Perfect.
Sponsors
I remember the Adpocalypse and how Youtubers transitioned to sponsors over relying heavily on ad-revenue. What that event transpired into is that audiences were far more accepting of basically any form of making money that Youtubers would use. Patreon became a very dominant part of Youtube, but sponsors also became extremely common and audiences would even cheer in the comment sections when creators would have their first Raid: Shadow Legends sponsorship.
Sponsors are what I want to talk about because I have seen Youtubers show that they have a bunch of videos on their computer that they simply aren’t releasing to the public because they don’t want to upload a single video without a sponsor on their main channel, as well as Youtubers having a second channel where they upload ‘slop’ content without sponsors that most of their audience is usually unaware of or isn’t interested in.
The problem is that the appeal for pretty much all content on Youtube is the personalities of the people creating the content, which is less about the actual personalities and more like “That’s an actual person doing what they actually want to do, that’s so cool,” but that is usually undercut by the presence of sponsors. The fact that Youtubers will sit on a video they made and not upload it unless they can get a sponsor to pay for it always seemed strange to me, especially for Youtubers where the image they present is “I’m just a normal, chill guy who makes Youtube videos for fun,” which needs the caveat of “Uhhhh, I’m actually really poor and if I don’t take this BetterHelp sponsor I can’t afford my rent this month. Please understand, I’m barely making any money on Youtube,” when a sponsor is included in the video.
As weird as this sounds, there are communities of creatives online that don’t expect to ever make any money putting hours, days, weeks, months, and years of work into a project. There are modding communities, bloggers, game developers, fanfiction writers, and artists that only want comments saying “You did a good job,” and Youtubers used to be that way, or they used to present themselves that way before sponsors became as common as they are now.
I don’t say this often enough, but I remember when Youtubers would make videos about not just random pictures on Deviantart, but on fanfictions and pornographic videos. They’d do those videos for things like clout, which is something that I don’t see too often on Youtube.
People might say that there are a bunch of Youtubers that talk about obscure media and Youtubers that make things without any expectation of earning money, which I say “Well, yeah, but that’s not what I’m talking about,” and then I’d point to things like AVGN’s Atari Porn video, and old videos where commentary Youtubers would branch out from their niche to say “Hey, just for fun, we’re going to check out this weird fanfiction story,” or how Yahtzee would include fun projects he created at the end of his Zero Punctuation videos, like how he’d dub over scenes in video games like Half-Life and Painkiller, or how he made a slideshow with Garry’s Mod that depicted a love story between Heavy and Medic.
What I’m saying is that a large part of what made Youtube fun was that not every video from an established creator with 100k subscribers needed to be monetized, or even created with the expectation of being successful or well-received by the community. There was a time when the expectations people had for, say, Jim Sterling was for a high-quality Jimquisition video to be produced and uploaded to the main channel once a week, and for the other days to feature a minimally-edited video where he showed himself trying out a game or reacting to a trailer on his main channel.
In the past I said that I would like it if EFAP would talk about comments and read fanfictions on-stream and I was mocked for it, but I stand by that statement because, although EFAP clearly doesn’t want to do it regularly, when they do read comments on-stream it tends to result in some of the best content because it showcases a side to them that I like. Instead of being totally normal dudes talking to each other about a movie they saw or reacting to a video, they have to use text-to-speech or read the comment using a silly voice or, well, use just a little bit of creativity when reading those comments out-loud.
What I’m kinda saying is that, yes, I think we all like professionally-produced content, and we all accept that sponsors for videos are necessary. But, like, I don’t like how for most successful Youtubers only the monetizable content, often with sponsors, is presented on the main channel, while the other content doesn’t exist, is uploaded to a secondary channel, or is locked behind some kind of paywall.
It just feels strange that these normal, chill, relatable people have gotten themselves into a position where they can earn real money, in some cases a lot of money, to stand in front of a webcam for 10 minutes talking about their favorite movies, chat with a group of friends, or even just play their favorite video game, and in quite a few cases they won’t do any of those things unless there’s a way to monetize it. Imagine how it looks to say “Well, I can’t talk about this cool fanfiction story I read on my main channel to my audience that enjoys my content about that franchise because I can’t get a sponsor for it.”
I wonder if Rags, a regular host of EFAP, appreciates the irony of him criticizing Chris Stuckmann for advocating that filmmakers “Get as much time and money as possible to make their films in the ideal circumstances and for the process to be easy,” when he’s in the position that he’s in where, on EFAP, he has as much freedom as he wants in the ideal circumstances to make money with EFAP, and it’s easy, yet he still will complain if he’s asked to step out of his comfort zone, even a little bit, on stream.
Insecurity
A while ago I had a theory about Cancel Culture which was that usually Cancel Culture is incredibly exaggerated by the audience of the people being canceled, and that most of the people being canceled are perfectly fine. The go-to example is the poor lady who made a joke about AIDS before going to Africa that got off the flight and got fired from her job due to her joke going viral. What people often don’t mention is that she got fired because it’s a terrible look for the company’s PR person to be involved with such a massive PR disaster, and that she got hired at another company a very short time later. Plus, like, she made a racist joke and people were calling her a racist, it wasn’t like she was targeted for absolutely no reason.
My theory is that people think that Cancel Culture absolutely ruins the lives of celebrities and influencers online because of their intense reactions to being canceled. An early example being Seth Macfarlane, who was mocked for his poorly-received hosting of the Oscars and who seemed incredibly bitter about it, making Cancel Culture a plot point in multiple episodes of Family Guy, talking about how bitter he was about it in interviews for years, and even apparently getting emotional support from his friends and family after the ordeal, even going as far as to ask celebrities to say “I liked what he did and I thought he was hilarious, and very handsome.”
What I’m saying is that I think that in the early days of content creation on Youtube the people making videos were more willing to appear on camera and embarrass themselves, like with Spoony screaming at a big gaming event on camera, because even though they were aware of Cancel Culture being a thing they weren’t going to be reduced to tears by someone saying “You’re totally cringe and annoying,” and even went as far as to incorporate those kinds of comments into their video because it was extremely easy content to create. You probably know what I’m talking about, where a creator would read out “This content creator is SOOOOOOO CRINGE,” in a video in a silly voice which you can’t really do as easily with “OMG, I love your content,” and make it entertaining.
That’s changed a lot today with content creators seeming to project an extreme amount of insecurity in every video they’re a part of, which gets even worse in formats like podcasts. It feels like every commentary creator is a chill dude that isn’t offended by anything and only wants to have a good time talking about things they like because, well, that’s what they need to be to avoid being criticized too severely, but they constantly allude to being a very immature and thin-skinned person that is mainly concerned about earning money, to the point where they’ll say “I’m not even having fun producing content at all.”
In college I remember one of my professors saying: “When you were high school kids you were insecure and weren’t confident in your abilities enough to volunteer when you were asked. You’re adults now, and when you graduate you can’t do that at a real job. Part of growing up is being confident in yourself, and if you don’t want to do that, you can always work in fast food where you never need to grow up, while the other adults in your friend group are becoming doctors and construction workers.”
It’s something that I realized with Youtubers which is that a decent amount of them started their careers young and never had to ‘grow up’ the way that my professor said that we needed to. Even with millions of subscribers you still see a lot of Youtubers struggle to commit to any statement they make, and I hear “I’m just a dumb Youtuber who doesn’t know anything and is stupid and socially-awkward and is fat and smells bad,” too many times from rich and successful people.
The thing is, when you’re a teenager, or you’re in your 20s, that insecurity is charming and relatable because you're trying to find a place in the world and discovering the role that you will fill in society. But, when you’re 30 and your role is “I tell people about the latest internet drama and make references to Spongebob,” or “I talk about Star Wars for hours at a time,” even if you make $2 million every day there’s likely a part of you that says: “I don’t like who I am. I don’t like what I do for a living. Yes, I’m rich, but I don’t like why I’m rich, and I don’t like my audience.”
I think that this insecurity leads to people trying to make their content more ‘mature’, but the way they do it isn’t by presenting themselves as a more confident person, or by making a clear separation between the personality in their content and their actual personality so that they can have a good work/life balance, it’s by creating the same content with very superficially mature elements. So, you end up with the video essayists of the past that gained fame by describing the events of a movie and then giving their opinion on whether they liked or disliked it doing the same thing but with quotes from smart people, like Socrates, and making conclusions like “Some people are gonna like this movie, some people are going to hate it. The important thing is that everyone involved with this movie tried really hard and had fun.”
The thing is, teenagers and 20-year-olds get value from a relatable person that comes across as an insecure loser who is too afraid to take a proper stance on anything to commit to a statement. When someone is actually mature they find more value in someone who is willing to do a good job and defend the job that they did, even if they’re like Neil Breen who thinks they did a good job but clearly did a terrible job. A 20-year-old might declare that Twin Perfect’s debate with EFAP wasn’t embarrassing because he was just being himself or something, but a 40-year-old might not tell Twin Perfect that the debate was embarrassing, but they would no longer respect him, and I imagine a lot of 40-year-olds don’t respect a lot of Youtube video essayists because of how eager they seem to be to engage in self-deprecation.
Conclusion
Despite everything that I’ve said, I do think that the content landscape on Youtube is generally ‘better’ than it was in, say, 2010. We weren’t getting a 4+ hour video by The Little Platoon about Rebel Moon, for instance, in 2010.
What I would compare modern Youtube and classic Youtube to is the 1970s movie scene vs. the 1980s movie scene, which Quentin Tarantino has labeled as “The worst period in movie history,” which the EFAP crew have pushed back on.
The thing is, in the early 80s we got Blade Runner, in the same way that nowadays we got the 4+ hour Little Platoon video, but the theatrical release of that film was famously sabotaged by the company that wanted Harrison Ford to provide voiceovers for the film that ‘ruined’ it, or at least, ruined the ending of the movie.
Throughout the 80s films were made which satisfied audiences more than films from the 70s did because Spielberg was producing hugely successful films that are still highly regarded, but there was also a bunch of shady practices going on and a bunch of notoriously poor studio decisions made in order to appeal to a wide demographic, such as the fiasco with Supergirl and Masters Of The Universe, or changing the ending of Brazil.
In the 1970s we not only got more challenging films, but there was also a thriving independent cinema scene that gave us Death Race 2000, Eraserhead, THX-1138, and Duel. There was also Jaws, Star Wars, and A Clockwork Orange, which were big-budget movies that took serious creative risks that paid off immensely which just wouldn’t happen in the 1980s, or would happen very rarely.
I think that I do prefer Youtube back in, say, 2015-2017 when it seemed like we generally got the best of both worlds, challenging content about a diverse range of subjects with production values comparable to what we have now.
To close this, I would like to include a paraphrased interaction I saw on a podcast featuring a pretty big Youtuber that I think illustrates why Youtube has changed in the way that it has.
Youtuber: Look, I don’t need to work as hard on my videos now because not every video needs to be an event. I just want to take it easy now, pump out a video whenever I feel like it, get paid by the sponsors, and then spend time with my family, is that so wrong?
Host: It kind of is. I know your audience of teenagers will be like “He just wants to spend time with his family, dude, have a heart,” but a lot of Youtubers, especially younger Youtubers look up to you for inspiration. If you’re in that position and your attitude is “I’m going to half-ass every video that I make from now on and if anyone calls my content lazy I’ll use my 8-year-old daughter as a shield against criticism,” that’s the attitude that a lot of young Youtubers are going to have. They’re going to half-ass their content and when criticized, they’re going to find their own excuse, like “I have a kid now,” or “I have to eat,” or something.
Youtuber: That’s not my fault, though. I never asked to be a role model.
Host: That’s not how that works. You don’t get to decide whether or not people look up to you, have expectations of you, and emulate your approach to content creation. You only release 2-3 videos a year, and with your status every video should be a major event, but instead every video is half-assed, as you admitted, and then you use your daughter as an excuse for why you don’t put as much effort into your content as you used to. I think you need to have someone in your life, like a friend, that actually makes you feel some shame for your content and encourages you to do better, rather than your social circle being composed of supportive people like your family and the people who pay you through Patreon.
Host 2: He did have that. He fired him two years ago, remember?
Host: Oh, yeah, you fired your friend, or made him quit, whatever the story was. Did that not make you feel bad at all?
Youtuber: Friendships end, that’s just life.
Host: That’s the attitude that I hate that comes across in your content. You can’t just brush aside everything and bumble through life, except if you’re an internet personality, apparently.
Host 2: It worked for the MCU.
Host: It’s not working for the MCU anymore, though, and it isn’t working as well for this Youtuber. It’s probably going to get worse and when he decides to do more work and make better videos, like he used to do, it’s probably going to be too late, or he’ll need to make really good videos to get the views he once did.
Youtuber: My videos are really good, though.
Host: You admitted to half-assing them.