My thoughts

Hey guys! This is going to be more blog of just my recent thoughts but I'll try to call out the important bits as I type this out.

First I'd like to start with some positive, and end on some positive. To start things off, I am now (finally) monetized on YouTube. It took almost a year and I believe I'm the last of the miniature painters to get there, but I finally made it!

I am also fast approaching 5,000 subs which puts me as the fastest growing miniature channel that I can tell (that is, faster that Watch It Paint it (1 year, 5 months), Miniac (1 year 4 months), and about even with Sorastro (I can't go that far back, but first video was Dec. 15, 2013 and he had a bit under 10,000 subs on Nov. 9th 2015, so about 5k per year, but usually it snowballs, so second 5k is faster than the first 5k when you are relatively unknown.)

Either way, that is something I am incredibly proud of and hopefully it goes to show that commitment and hard work, even from a single person like myself, pays off. It also means that you guys all deserve a huge thank you! You've been here "since the start" and have believed in and uplifted me more than you know.

Switching gears, I'd like to quickly discuss the "Trash" video. I say quickly because I'm tired of writing about it actually. Here's the gist of it though:

• I began having a "Hot Take" initial opinion section in my Kickstarter videos that have had a ton of positive feedback for including. Before this, my Kickstarter videos were more "curated" in the sense that I would only cover Kickstarters that I myself would back and be happy to recommend. If I wouldn't then I simply didn't make a video. This is why there was never a video for The Everrain for instance. I started doing this with CMON's Blood Rage Digital KS.
• In my video for Tainted Grail I explained that I was a happy backer at the core pledge level, but cautioned against getting the miniature expansion as A) they aren't needed in the game at all, leaving their only real use for painting and B) Awaken Realms has not made exceptional miniatures before for pure painting purposes. Additionally I've known and seen, both in person and online, a very wide range of quality.
• That caution did not sit well with Marcin, the developer and owner of AR who responded by mostly assuming I didn't know what I was talking about (which I found offensive as I'd hate to steer someone wrong) and claimed that they were as good as CMON and that the 32mm size prevented a lot of detail.
• I made my second, unplanned video where I borrowed my friends copy of The Edge so I could explain what I meant in my original video.

Needless to say this sort of blew up, which is too bad for AR mostly. On the positive side, I did help create enough pressure for AR to hire their first Quality Control personnel which hopefully means we see improvements in their future products.

Swapping to another positive note to end this post, I am now on vacation for the rest of the year and hope to catch up on some of the Patreon stuff that hasn't been kept up with (that is, some voted for miniature painting videos and shipping a few "surprises" out). Auriana - I assume you get a break as well so I better see some minis painted! :D

Lastly, if you haven't yet please go ahead and watch my "Upcoming 2019 Kickstarters" video and then let me knowhere if there's something specific that I either didn't cover, or that you'd like me to cover out of that bunch so I can make sure to take note of it. https://youtu.be/ztzzi0DmtOQ