End of 2024 Update (Project progress+promises)

 Hey Gang!

 That’s another year down. 2025 is fast approaching, which makes this a good time to look back on what I’ve done so far and everything I plan to do next. Was a fairly up and down year, worked on a lot while not hitting every target, but I think a lot of good progress was made and figured it might be a good idea to frame this around those achievements. So let’s gooooo

 7 video essays!

 This year saw me create 7 video essays, on extremely varying topics which, after the Frasier video became such a success, was a bit of a risk, but I think they came out pretty good. 

 - We Visited Eisner’s Disney

 - The Secret Meaning of Return to Monkey Island

 - Fargo’s Happiest Season

 - Inspector Gadget 2 is what we wanted

 - Rayman 3 was Madder

 - How Sound completes Saul’s Journey

 - Disney’s Dark Opera (The Music of the Nightmare Before Christmas)

  Two had been a long time coming (Monkey Island and Saul), two were ones I’d always wanted to make (Inspector Gadget 2 and Rayman 3) and two were very much building on recent experiences (Eisner’s Disney and Fargo.) The one outlier was the Nightmare Before Christmas Musical analysis, which only you lucky patrons got to see thanks to Youtube’s copyright system. As we speak there are still 24 days remaining for them to drop the disputes with no sign as to when or if that'll happen, and I have no idea if I want to really make it public in January, just seems kinda wrong.

 That said I was fairly happy with everything I made this year, and out of everything I think Inspector Gadget 2 worked for me the most. Seriously, I know it’s a weird pick but it’s one I wanted to do for ages and surprisingly came together really easily. Gave me a lot of confidence moving forward and honestly, was probably the reason you saw all the video essays that appeared after that while I spent time drafting other projects. Once I saw I could put that together and get a good reaction, I figured I needed to be even less precious about every idea and carry that energy through everything else I wanted to try, especially given I knew both Saul and Monkey Island, which were long overdue promises on my part, felt like they had more pressure behind them. Spontaneously deciding to try and complete a Nightmare video essay was a hundred percent fuelled by that confidence- right down to recording all of the PS2 game for footage on the 23rd (figured I had just enough time after finishing everything else!) I already have a couple drafts under my belt I want to finish with the same mindset, and I’m grateful to Gadget for letting me hit that sweet spot, which is not a sentence you’ll see from me again any time soon.

 You’ll have noticed two things of course- none of these videos were over an hour, and I never really cashed in on the success of my Frasier video. I did have plans to do both of those things, and I’ve talked here a few times about the drafts I’ve been putting together for bigger projects, but they have naturally taken a lot longer to complete between everything else I’ve tried to achieve, needing to keep the channel alive instead of waiting for those bigger projects to be done because, well, then I’d have nothing to put out. However, because of that work, you’ll see much longer videos in 2025. One of those was from the roadmap- you know the one I put out, like, two years ago?- and was always being thought about and worried over and worked on. This year has to be the year. I can’t put it off any longer. 

 But we know what big project I’ve been spending most of my free time on…

 I started making the Marvel Project!

 All was finally revealed- my Marvel project, a 5 part series called ‘The Real Thunderbolts Story’, at long last started production. I was able to achieve all of the following this year-

 - Complete the scripts for all 5 episodes

 - Cast, direct and record 95 percent of the audio for those episodes

 - Edit the complete audio timelines of the first and second

 - Produce the final audio mix of the first

 - Assemble 40% of the final visuals for that first episode

 That essentially accounts for a lot of what my time was spent doing this year, and there’s still quite a bit to achieve, with a final set of recording sessions in the first half of 2025 and some more art to commission with the funds I’ve received during the fundraising campaign. Marvel Studio’s announced their own Thunderbolts movie for May the 2nd of this coming year, and I think, based on the speed at which everything else has been coming together, that gives us just enough time to release before they do.

 Am I still nervous about that happening though? Absolutely. 

 I’ve had this on my mind for a very long time and as usual there are some doubts about if I can hit my deadlines on everything I’m planning to do, even with so much accomplished already. I don’t know if the movie is going to do something unexpected that changes the conversation around the Thunderbolts before I get to make this public, and I don’t know if something is going to come up in my own life that’ll derail me or make things more difficult. As you’ll see, visually, I’ve taken an extra step in putting this one together, and while it’s very feasible to complete in the time given, it has given me a lot of extra work I might need to start asking for more help on. A few extra hands would absolutely see this finished sooner.

 But the bottom line is that this is now my priority for the next four months. I’ve already been managing to work on both editing this and my other projects, and I’m hoping to keep that balance until March when every day will be about getting this finalised. Rest assured, this will be the year, and I’m truly excited for people to see this team and their story the way I always have. Once the ball gets rolling, there’ll be no going back. 

 Oh, and I spent a lot of money on the project as well, BUT-

 I didn’t go bankrupt!

 Time to pull the curtain back a little here.

 As mentioned in an earlier post, last year I had to move out of my apartment after a steep rent increase and move back to my family’s home. In some ways this was for the best, because I was able to fund a lot of the Thunderbolts project without worrying about rent, as well as produce other videos in-between. I won’t lie to you, a lot was spent, but as we round the corner to the end of that process I think people will agree it was worth it. Spending on the whole series in advance was very deliberate, to do as much of it as possible while the funds were there and then not worry about the costs rolling into the future, where later episodes quality could benefit from any extra income.

 But this isn’t totally normal. I’m a single guy in my early 30’s pursuing a crazy thing that I promised myself I’d do, and while I’m so close to achieving that goal, I’m still short of proper financial independence and a clear path forward once this is over. I’m not stopping making videos because I still have so many to make, but there are some other things I want to pursue that I think I need to explore again this year. To tell you the truth, I didn’t realise how much Covid had impacted the way I thought about going outside- when it started I buried myself in work for the channel and kept my head down to pull through it, and left London before things finally eased off. Now I’ve been back I’ve only just started to think of everything as properly open again, and that some of the things I wanted to achieve are actually possible. 

 So there’s a few other options I’ll be exploring. The videos are my rock, weirdly enough for such an unstable industry, so that gives me a boost in taking those risks. I’m keeping it vague because I don’t want to make any promises but yeah, there’s stuff going on in my life around this that I need to figure out, so do bear with me while that all happens, as I navigate it through everything I'm doing with my videos.

 And I couldn’t have achieved the ability to keep making those videos -indeed any of the stuff i've done the last few years, actually- without your support. I really don’t take for granted how generous you’ve all been to let me go on this crazy quest to make videos, as well as the gargantuan project you’ve helped me not lose my shirt on. Patreon has been a lifesaver in putting this project together and again, I am so excited to show you what you’ve helped me create. As with the Fantastic Four video, the plan is for Patrons of all tiers to feature in the credits of the TBS episodes to commemorate the milestone as well. Hopefully that first episode will live up to the promise and justify your investment. It’s a biggie.

 So, a huge thank you, to all of you, once more.

 Oh, one last thing. 

 My sister got involved in something really exciting earlier this year. It was extremely funny when she explained it to me, an absolutely incredible coincidence, and something very relevant to me and this channel. I absolutely can’t tell you what that is yet and need to keep it as vague as possible, but just know that I said this now so you have something to anticipate in the news quite a few months from now. Sitting on this has been killing me but when all is finally revealed you’ll understand, I promise. 

 Til then!

 -B