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Ending April with a small parting gift. I’m gonna miss this.

Anyways, an announcement of my own.

The short of it

I’m leaving the Watcher fandom. Don’t worry, I won’t be unfollowing anyone, but I will be ceasing the creation of art for Watcher and interaction with the community at large. Thank you all for this short but meaningful ride. Feel free to unfollow me if you were here for Watcher art, and for those who stick around…

Thank you :]

I hope to not disappoint with this new era of mine.

The long of it

It’s been a couple of days since a certain channel dropped an announcement that imploded its fandom. It was… a mess. A lot—and I mean a lot—of us didn’t handle the news well, and we made that known to everyone. The impact was so massive that YouTubers, who are nowhere near the niche that Watcher operates under, covered the situation, and some of them explained very well why the decision went over so poorly. Meanwhile some of them made fun of the situation, and some were just there for the clicks, but that’s the cycle of YouTube drama for you.

With the amount of ears waiting for even a peep out of their mouths, Watcher couldn’t ignore the backlash any longer and released an apology video three days after the announcement. By all accounts, it was a pretty good response. The reception was mixed, but it was definitely more well-received than their first video, and they actually listened to their fans who gave them valid criticism over the sudden shift to a streaming service.

However…

For as much as I appreciate their response, I still can’t find it in myself to continue following Watcher. I really mean it when I say this disaster soured any enjoyment I had for them. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to watch them again for a long time without thinking about this situation or remembering the people they have hurt, even if unintentionally, through their poor execution of a business decision.

Do I believe they could’ve pulled off moving their content to a streaming service? Absolutely. However, so many factors doomed this decision and their announcement from the start from them believing that $5.99/month was “affordable to everyone” (seriously?) to them insisting that this was for the fans even though the fans have vocalized that they were never there for the high production value. They were there because the three guys who run Watcher were enjoyable!

I feel like if they had been honest about the fact that the TV quality they are aiming for was more for themselves than anyone–hell, it’s the mission statement in their About page, and, I don’t know, considered the idea that $6 is not cheap, especially for international fans, people wouldn’t have gotten so angry at them. Now, there are still numerous issues plaguing this business model, but to go through all of the arguments would require a separate post, and I’ve already expended too much energy on this situation. Needless to say, Watcher has burnt their bridges, and it will take a while before they can build them back up again, let alone get people to trust them enough to cross them.

On the other hand, I can’t blame Watcher fully for my departure. Despite my heavy disagreement with their initial decision, I understand why they thought this decision was a good idea in the first place as YouTube is a very unstable career path, and it would rather hurt its creators with its relentless demonetization, censorship and restrictive guidelines than give up just a tiny amount of its profit. Besides, they’re in control of their content, and they could do what they want with it even if their fans disagreed with them.

Speaking of the fans, my god. The situation revealed a side of the fandom that I never thought I would see, but in hindsight, I should have seen it coming. To see fans resort to anti-Asian racism and death threats so quickly was extremely heartbreaking, and as an Asian person, it made me feel very unsafe and unwelcome in the community.

Moreover, using Steven as a scapegoat to absolve Ryan and Shane of any wrongdoing was unfortunately a very common response. Yes, he is the CEO, and yes, his series being centered on traveling and eating expensive food really doesn’t paint him in a positive light, but need I remind you that RYAN AND SHANE ARE GROWN ADULTS. They’re the founders of Watcher, and they both have to agree to the initial plan for it to be implemented. You can’t assume that Steven was a boogeyman terrorizing your precious little boys just based on a 15-minute video. You don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes.

All of this to say that the initial announcement combined with how the community reacted violently to the announcement really nipped my interest in Watcher in the bud. It was a shame too because I really did love Watcher, and I still do. Had it not been for the time I invested in following them, I wouldn’t have made great friends, regained the joy in creating art–even reviving a hobby/skill that I assumed was long dead, and had a reason to be able to laugh or smile even in terrible days. I truly am grateful for Watcher, and I do not regret ever getting into them at all. However, I think it’s time for me to go.

Thank you all for this weird and wonderful ride, but at some point, you’ll have to hop off. I just didn’t expect to hop off it so soon.

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@crispycreambacon and I are mourning right now

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// this is gonna be a personal post regarding my feelings towards Watcher. It’s gonna be selfish. Just a heads up

I’ve calmed down. I’ve read through both sides of the Watcher Announcement debate, and ultimately, as much as I’m devastated that I can’t view Watcher anymore, and as angry as I am at this decision, I wish nothing but the best for them. I understand why they ultimately went with leaving YouTube despite how deeply unpopular that decision right now. Still, I don’t know how to feel about this. I don’t know whether to leave the fandom or not, whether to continue making art for Watcher, etc. I had so many ideas, and now I don’t know what to do with them. I can’t just toss them away, but at the same time, I feel dirty if I make those ideas considering I can’t support Watcher (at least monetarily, and at this rate, I don’t know if I’ll be in this fandom much longer or not 💀).

I don’t know. I’m gonna sleep on this maybe. I don’t wanna make final decisions such as leaving this fanbase and Watcher behind just yet, not when I’m having such a visceral reaction right now. There’s a lot of feelings to sift through. I don’t know. I’ll just sit on this for a while.

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I can’t believe just a few days after I announce my hiatus, Watcher dropped an announcement so terrible I had to crawl back here again

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They are neither platonic or romantic. They're family.

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as promised heres the abc guys!!!!!

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Hi y’all! I’m gonna go on hiatus due to

🎉🤪💥 A-Level Exams 💥🤪🎉

[plaintext: A-Level Exams]

So I probably won’t be on Tumblr much, and if I do go on here, I likely won’t respond to messages. All art that gets posted from 17 April–22 May is done in advance (though I may be cheeky and do art during exam month or reply to comments on my queued art) (please y'all I need something to anchor me from going bonkers)

Until then, I’ll see y’all later!!

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if anybody needs to hear it:

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Unmute !

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young artist posting your work online, heed my warning. im holding your face so gently in my hands, you have to stop caring about numbers right now and start caring about making the weirdest and most self-indulgent art you possibly can

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I think part of why alt text + image descriptions is so intimidating to write for people is because of the assumption that you need to list every single detail on the photo. You don't! In fact, a lot of screen readers would rather not listen through walls of text. This photo is a great way to break down alt text into what's important, and I hope this will encourage more people to write alt text :]

yknow i never noticed the sheer rareness of images having ids or alt text on this website until i started adding alt text to my art (and trying to remember to add it to any images i post in general, especially text screenshots) and that makes me kinda sad

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happy valentines day to no one. im a hater.

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do you the silly the do YIPPEE

GIF ID: an animation of the autism/TBH creature blinking. The eyes close separately /End ID

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Palestinian activists get their message across on Londons iconic Tower Bridge landmark- one of the cities most historic buildings. We need a ceasefire now.

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Update: Eid Celebration!

For Eid, Hussam hired some entertainers and bought some chocolate, biscuits, and flavored milk to put into a goodie bag to help bring a bit of joy to Rafah camp children.

He managed to put together 200 goodie bags for the kids, which you can see being put together in the video! After that, they gathered all the children to enjoy a celebration with music and dancing while also hiring entertainers to help them out.

The kids loved it! Thanks to your donations, you helped put a smile on these children’s faces, yet again!

[ID: First part of video is of people putting together goodie bags. Second part is various shots of the Eid celebration while they sing songs and a clown helps entertain the kids. At the end they distribute the goodie bags.]

HelpGazaChildren Notion Site || #helpgazachildren tag

GoFundMe Link

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Palestinians in the West Bank tearing down the apartheid wall.

Credit to @caniscathexis for showing me this