Summer Update (blog post)

Hey folks. I have been having a busy ass summer and in lieue of having a video anywhere near ready, I thought I'd share what I've been up to and what I've been planning for what comes next.

At the place I do video game stuff, MinnMax, our fearless leader is off on paternity leave this summer and so I've stepped up in a couple ways (for money and because Ben Hanson is my friend who I want to support).

I went on a week long trip to Summer Games Fest and Nintendo World and most of my work hours since then have been put toward editing an absolute behemoth of a travelogue. The short, free versions are here and here and the 10 hour canon version is behind the $10 paywall here. If you're interested in some slice of life, day to day in the games press, I really think the extended version is a worthwhile second monitor watch. Extremely behind the curtain stuff.

I've also been prepping/running New Show Plus, our weekly show where the community votes on whether we launch a new ridiculous show or continue last week's ridiculous show. It's a lot of fun, the last episode was an extra meta look into the Google Doc Hanson left us of show ideas. This is my favorite thumbnail I've made for NS+ so far:

I'm hoping to have a video out in August, featuring some new characters I've been planning to introduce since last fall. The idea is that my producers (Manton and Sam) have so many great interjections and thoughts during shooting that end up as funny bloopers, but when they're some of the best footage I get, I always wish I could include them in the main video. Some say I could toss the lore aside for a few gags and it wouldn't be a big deal, but my personal philosophy is that if I lean into those constraints it becomes a kind of free idea generator. So long story short I want to represent them with these two puppets:

Manton (left) and Sam (right) and I (middle) had a blast brainstorming what type of little creature would represent them, and I truthfully have no idea how natural it'll feel for these guys to chime in or if it'll really work at all. But I spent $1200 of your money on custom puppets and I love them with all my heart no matter what happens. I always enjoy pushing into new territory for myself, and we'll see how it goes. Or maybe it's not that new after all, maybe it's full circle from my GADAFK days, except this time they're from talented Etsy artists instead of the "Extra Used" bin at Goodwill.

I love MinnMax to death, but it's been really hard giving so much of my energy to it and not having much left to work on this stuff, my one true love (content-wise). Even before this summer, I've been well compensated there so it's easy to sign up for a lot of content, and that's great. It's an important 1/3-1/2 of my income. But I think after this summer, it's really important for me to clear my schedule to work on these videos more. When I feel like every Leo Vader video pushes me forward in some way, I can't help but feel like I want to keep pushing and see where it takes me. This is versus the comfort of MinnMax and video game personality coverage, which is fun and straightforward but maybe not fully where my heart is right now.

I'm turning 30 this year! With a milestone like that I can't help but feel like it's extra important to make sure my priorities are being prioritized. And I love these videos, and I love you all, and what we're doing here. I'm ready for a Leo renaissance.

Thanks so much for your continued support and patience. I remember even with our dinky GADAFK patreon being so stressed about doing enough for the patrons. Your kindness has really helped me free myself of that, and focus on doing what I want to do at a rate that keeps me sane. What a fucking blessing.

TLDR: Love you so much!!!!