Important Update for Patrons (Relaunch in October!)

Hey! It's been a while. 

There's no excuse for keeping you all in the dark about what's going on with Explode When Defeated, especially when it's been a little over two months since the last update. I thought there would be a chance to provide a little something to tide everyone over, but even that proved to be a difficult task for someone as burnt out as I was. I have to say though, it genuinely shocked me to find that none of you withdrew your patronage in the time it's taken to come back to you all. That really touches my heart and I want to express my gratitude for that alone, even if your decision to keep up your patronage changes after this update. 

In the intervening months a lot of real-world stuff has happened that feels like its aged us all for several years. Hell, it feels weird to even say that it's only been a couple months. It feels like I haven't been doing Explode When Defeated for years. I wasn't totally unproductive though, I decided to exercise a couple creative muscles that I had been neglecting in favor of this project for a couple years, one of which turned into the EP I released with a friend earlier this month. I'm really proud of where my musical ventures are going and I intend to keep them up over the next however long. 

I don't want to neglect this either though. While Explode When Defeated was going, I was so excited to be talking about cool art and contributing to a hopeful community that enjoys that same cool art. However, I couldn't do it the same way as I did before. That is to say, I am not resuming video production. While I grew to enjoy the process as it was... processing, the thought of starting back up and trying to get back in the groove feels impossible, and not only that, just straight up unappetizing. I consulted my good friend and podcast cohort Wyatt for ideas and moral support and here's what we came up with.

Explode When Defeated will be a (bi-weekly!) podcast from this point forward. It will push forward the initial idea of the project in being a long form examination of a collection of art, whether that take the form of a series or genre or whatever. The podcast will take different forms and tackle different subject matter in the form of series with a definitive beginning and ending. The first of which being Discuss All Monsters!!, the series Wyatt and I have been doing on Toho's entire monster catalogue. After this series is done, Explode When Defeated will move onto a different topic and we'll be presenting a new series about it to our listeners. We have also applied to a podcast network, and been accepted to that network! Upon our official relaunch on October 9th, Explode When Defeated will be a part of the Greenlit Podcast Network, home to shows like Retronauts and Apocrypals!

Our joining Greenlit should have no real bearing on the show other than a couple ads in the episodes appearing on Spotify and Apple Music or whatever. (We will be offering ad-free episodes here!) This is a move we made purely to grow the show further than we could take it ourselves. While this might come with some extra cash for us, it still won't be enough to pay rent or whatever so your patronage will still make a huge difference. It should also be said that Explode When Defeated will not be purely based around tokusatsu anymore. We have a few different ideas for where to go after Discuss All Monsters!!, which will be... well, discussed at a later date. Since the format and subject matter will be changing, so will the perks for you patrons. 

These perks are visible on the page but I'll line them out here: At $1 a month we will be offering a one-time thank you message, access to our weekly off-topic show, as well as access to new episodes of Discuss All Monsters!! ad-free, one day before they go up on all the different platforms. At $5 a month we'll be offering to you all of the above as well as access to all Patreon-exclusive miniseries as they're released. These miniseries can take on whatever topics we choose (or leave up to YOUR choosing!), they're just mini because for whatever reason they won't warrant a full exploration on the scale of our main show.  Also, at $1000 a month you get everything above and we'll say thanks to our Boss Hog (You!) at the end of every show. (This tier is a joke. Unless you're rich, then it's serious.) There are also a couple new goals that you can take a look at!

As a special thank you to all of our original backers and as tribute to the series' 50th anniversary, the first Explode When Defeated Patreon-exclusive miniseries will be on the original Kamen Rider series from 1971. We'll be recording these episodes and putting them up exclusively on this Patreon starting in early 2021. 

So yeah, that about covers the current game plan. We have some more ideas but they're just ideas at this point. We're excited to fully relaunch here as a podcast-focused effort on October 9th, and I hope you guys are as well. 

However, I am also realistic and that's why you guys are hearing about this a couple weeks early. I want to be transparent about what's changing and I want to give you guys a chance to decide whether or not to continue backing this project. With these changes, Explode When Defeated will become a fairly different thing than it started as; if you were in it for the videos, to hear my extensive thoughts on Kamen Rider Hibiki or Carranger or whatever then this is likely pretty disappointing. I know that. 

Maybe there's a chance I can tackle those shows again in a way that works for me and satisfies those of you that came to this project for that very thing, but unfortunately I'm not ready to offer that to you all at this time and I don't plan on it for the foreseeable future.

In any case, Explode When Defeated will be rolling forward on October 9th with a brand new episode of Discuss All Monsters!! on King Kong VS Godzilla, as well as a bonus off-topic podcast the next day to welcome everyone back to the ol Patreon. I hope you guys stick around to see what we've got in store and if you are taking your leave as a patron as a result of this, then I understand completely and want to thank you for sticking with Explode When Defeated this far. 

(ALSO: Because of the format change, charging will resume on October 1st and go by a monthly basis rather than per-episode like it was before. So please decide if you wanna stick around by the end of the month!)

Thanks for reading all this, and I hope to see all of you in October! Let's get back to it!