#everone should have someone like him in their life’s he’s such a b

[blitheringbongus]

Sillies

[hypocrisyofandrewdobson]

Dobson's Patreon: An Addendum to His Monument of Sins

(The following is a submission from @soyouareandrewdobson, meant to be an addendum to the multi-post submission @ripsinfest made a while back. Ironically, this one also had issues when being submitted, so I’ll be copypasting it here with all the images and links originally intended.)

In 2018, user @ripsinfest wrote a multipart series of posts for THOAD, recounting Dobson’s attempt to establish a patreon in 2015 and how it resulted in failure on a massive scale, to the point that his patreon is arguably “a monument to all his sins”.

Personally I think the post series is extremely well researched, rather “neutral” in terms of tone (letting the posts provided as evidence speak more for themselves than the opinion of the writer) and gives a detailed but quick rundown on what went wrong. Primarily that Dobson overestimated his own “value” as an artist and did NOT attempt to give his few supporters what they wanted through his artwork posted around the time.

I do however want to use the opportunity to also point out at certain obvious things that in my opinion (and likely the opinions of others) added to the failure of the patreon account, that were not accounted for in detail and are primarily related to how the internet perceives popularity and Dobson’s inability to understand, how to “sell” and make himself look good to the public.

To begin with, let’s just point out a certain truth about making money via Patreon: To do so, depends a lot on your popularity as a content creator online. That is simply because the more popular you are, the bigger your fanbase is and as such the more likely a certain percentage of people may be willing to donate money to you and your work in hopes they get something out of it, even if it is just the altruistic feeling of having helped someone they “like”. It doesn’t take a genius to see, how e.g. internet reviewers such as Linkara or moviebob (around 2800 and 4400$ earnings via patreon each month respectively) can make quite some money, while other, more obscure content creator or artists barely make money to go by, earning essentially pocket money at best.

In addition, popularity is fleeting. A few years ago e.g. internet personality Noah Antweiler aka The SpoonyOne managed to earn 5000$ a month via patreon, just shortly after establishing his account. But his lack of content over the years AND his toxic behavior online resulted in a decline of popularity and with it people jumping off his Patreon. As such, Antweiler only earns nowadays around 290$ a month via Patreon and most of that money is likely form people who have forgotten they donate to him in the first place anyway.

And Noah is not the only one who over the course of the last couple of years lost earnings. Brianna Wu makes barely more than he does, despite having once been the “darling” of the internet when the Gamergate controversy was at its peak. Many Bronies who once made more than 2k via video reviews on a show about little horses at the peak of its popularity (2013-15) earn less than 300-800 on average nowadays because interest on the show as well as people talking about it has declined.

Heck, in preparation of writing this piece I found out, that one of the highest grossing patreons nowadays is “The last podcast on the left”, a podcast that earns more than 67k a month by making recordings on obscure and macabre subjects on a regular basis.

So there you have it folks: As the interests of the internet users change, so does the popularity of certain people online and -in case they have a patreon account or similar plattforms- their chances of making money via their content.

Which now brings us back to Dobson, who was not popular at all at that particular time and managed to become even less popular as the months and years passed by.

Sure, Dobson had his fans via deviantart, people knew who he was. But the later was more because of “infamy” than popularity and the number of fans he had accumulated online were representing people interested in him at least since 2005 and did not quite represent his actual present day numbers of supporters at the time.

And mind you, the number of supporters was less than 100k, most of them likely underaged deviantart users. And if my research indicates something, then that most content creators with a halfway decent patreon earning need at least 100k+ followers in total. Because of those fans, only around 1-3% will on average then spend money on you, if you actually create content they enjoy and on a regular basis.

Which brings up the next major problem: Dobson did not create content people enjoyed and that in more than one meaning of the word.

On one hand, as pointed out by ripsinfest, he barely released any content at all over 2015 after a few initial months, despite the fact that he was obviously active online a lot, as shown by his presence on twitter. On the other hand, the few things he did create were not the stuff people wanted.

As an example: If you go to a restaurant and pay for a pizza, you expect the cook to give you a pizza. If however for some reason he just gives you a soda, you get ripped off and never come back. In Dobson’s case, the thing people wanted was not pizza but comic pages. But what he delivered was mostly bland fanart, such as of Disney and Marvel characters crossing over or KorraSami. Sure, a few strips of “So…you are a cartoonist” were still released at the time, but not really many.

To give an overview: Taking the release dates on Dobson’s official SYAC site into account, he released around 16 strips of it between March and August of 2015, the last two being “No Leia” being titled “Zip line”

Afterwards, the next official strip released was “Anything at all” in October of 2016.

Now to be fair, there was at least one more strip at the time Dobson released via patreon, that is also save to see on kiwifarms and other plattforms, which has not been uploaded to his official SYAC page. Likely because he simply forgot about it.

But I think that in itself should tell you something about Dobson’s work ethics when it comes to his webcomics. He promoted his patreon in his own video as a way to ensure he can make comics in a timely fashion again for others to enjoy, but in an environment where certain artists are capable to create multiple strips per week at minimum, Dobson could overall not manage to produce more than 16 over a course of six months, which means an average production of 3 strips per month.

For comparison, Tatsuya Ishida of the infamous sinfest webcomic (a garbage fire of epic proportions from a TERF who I think should be put on a watch list) has produced on average 4 strips per week, including full page Sunday strips, for years and nowadays even releases stuff on a daily basis to pass the covid crisis. So a mad man who wants to see trnas people die, has better work ethics than Dobson.

In other words, people expected Dobson to actually get back into creating comics (with some even expecting a return of Alex ze Pirate), but he got in fact even lazier than before, releasing only SYAC strips and random fanart as a product. Which he then also tried to justify as his choice to make because a) he had mental health issues and b) no one can tell him what to do.

And sure, people do not need to tell you what to do. But when people pay/donate money to you expecting to get a certain product in return, they should get the product. Linkara e.g. by all means doesn’t NEED to review comics to have a fullfilling life, but he got famous for his reviews, people want to see his reviews and they pay him for those reviews. So obviously, he will continue those things.

Then there is also the fact that despite Dobson’s claims how he wants to create comics for everone to enjoy and that he aims to keep his artwork online for free so anyone can view it…(his exact words in his promotional video AND text on his patreon once upon a time)

…the reality was, that he wanted to use patreon as a paywall. Something I actually kinda pointed out at on my own account (shameless self promotion) once, but want now to elaborate a bit. Basically at the time Dobson opened up his patreon, he also was on the verge of leaving deviantart as a platform people could look at his work behind. Which he eventually did.

Meaning that the only major platforms for people to watch any “new” stuff by him were his patreon or art sites such as the SYAC homepage or andysartwork. Which granted, he did EVENTUALLY put his stuff on.

But unlike other content creators who would put “patreon exclusive” new content up on more public plattforms often within a few days, weeks or a month after making them “patreon only” at first, Dobson waited longer and did barely anything to promote his sites as places to look his stuff up for a public audience. In doing so creating a “bubble” for himself that hurt him more than it helped, as Dobson made himself essentially come off as a snob.

A snob who did not create content for everybody to enjoy, but ONLY for those willing to pay him at least one dollar per month. As evident e.g. by the fact that as time went by, certain content was never released outside of his patreon at all, such as a SYAC strip involving Dobbear screaming at the computer because he saw a piece of art that featured tumblr nose.

Lastly, there is the issue of his patreon perks and stretch goals.

See, his perks were essentially non existent. Aside of the beggars reward of “my eternal thank you if you donate 1 dollar”, two other perks that come to my mind were the following: If you donated up to 5$ at minimum, you got your name thrown into a lottery to potentially win buttons and postcards of his artwork. Unsold cheap merch from years prior he failed to sell at conventions basically. There was just a problem with that thing: That lottery thing, which he also was only going to initiate when he reached a stretch goal of 150 dollar a month? It was illegal!

Patreon itself has in their user agreement a rule that forbids people from offering perks that essentially boil down to “earning” something via gambling, which this lottery by Dobson was.

(THOAD chiming in here to add that, in addition to all this, he fully admitted he would be excluding Patrons that he “knew were clearly trolls” from the lottery. Which made the already illegal lottery also fixed, so...yeah.)

The next thing coming to mind was his “discount” on previous books of his he offered online, if you donated at least 10 bucks per month to him. Or to translate it: You would get a bare minimum discount at pdf files of books such as Alex ze Pirate and Formera (you know, the permanently cancelled Dobson comics) if you paid up 50-75% of their original price on Patreon already. And considering the quality of his early works, he should have given you at least a book per month for free if you dared to donate him that much.

As for the stretch goals… lets go through them, shall we:

100$: A wallpaper per month. Something he did provide with eventually, but barely. And after less than five of those he stopped to make them overall

150$: Monthly Gift basket Lottery, which as I stated, was illegal and almost got him into serious trouble with his account. Also not an initial stretch goal he made up but instead came up with a few months into his accounts existence. Finally it got temporarily replaced by Dobson playing with the idea to use 150$ per month to open up a server and art site where people could upload stuff for free similar to deviantart, but under his administration. Promising a “safe space” for other artists. Which considering Dobson’s ego and inability to accept criticism or delegate responsibilities would have likely ended like this:

175$: Establishing a Minecraft server for him and his fans to play on. Meaning Dobson would have just wasted time he could spend on creating comics to endulge in his Minecraft obsession.

200$: Writing a Skyrim children book. Aside of the legal nightmare that this could have been (I doubt Valve would have been happy of someone else profiting of their property) I have to ask, who was even interested in Skyrim by 2015 anymore? Sure, Skyrim was a popular game and it had its qualities, but it was also a trend that had passed by that time. So in other words, there was not a market to cater towards here.

300$: A strip per week guaranteed.

… are you fucking kidding me? 75$ per strip essentially? Something people expect you to produce anyway if you want to be considered a “prolific” creator worth supporting online? Imagine if certain internet reviewers would do that, telling you that if they do not earn at least a certain amount of money, they will not produce anything, period, or less than usual. And Dobson had already proven that he can release more than just one comic within a few days, if he is motivated by enough spite.

600$: Starting a podcast with his friends to talk about nerd culture. In my opinion could only work under the assumption that people even like the idea of listening to Dobson and his opinions. Which considering how very little people like talking to him sounds doubtful. Also, considering how Dobson tends to be late to the party when it comes to nerd culture, likely tending to be out of date faster than he could upload. Finally... what friends?

700$: Returning the love, as he says it, by donating some of the money patreon users gave him to other content creators. This in my opinion is the most self defeating cause possible. On one hand sure, being generous and all that. But essentially Dobson admits here he would blow the money people give him to support HIS art on others, essentially defeating the purpose of HIS own account. He also does not clarify how much of that money he would donate, meaning there was a high chance that he would spend less than 10% of it on other creators, only creating the illusion of support while putting the actual earnings/donations into his own pocket.

2000$: A massive jump ahead. 2000$ per month would result in him getting better equipment (as in a new computer e.g.) and as such “potentially” make more comics. Mind you, only potentially.

This goal in my opinion is also the most fucked up one. Primarily for the following reasons:

Lets say Dobson would have achieved the goal and actually earned over 2000$ per month for at least a year. His annual earning would have been 24k, minus whatever he had to pay as taxes and payment for using the patreon service. And what would he do with this money? Get himself a better computer and equipment by paying a minor fraction of it once. Then he could use that computer for years to come while still having over 10k in his account, plus his monthly earnings. And he may still just produce 3-4 comics a month of a series that has as much depth to it than Peppa Pig if not less.

Sure, many patreon users have 2k+ as a stretch goal on their accounts to signify that if they could make that much monthly, they could have the necessary financial security to focus their time primarily on their content instead of a regular job. And if the content they create is actually well made, many people would support that or be okay with it.

But 2000 dollars to buy ONE computer and not account for how this money will add up over time? And that in light of such profits people may actually expect you to create more than you barely do already? That is either a case of narcissism, plain stupidity because you can't look further than 5 feet or just shows how Dobson did not understand at all the tool he had at his disposal.

Bottom line: Dobson, like many times before, fucked it up. He overestimated the potential support and resulting profits he could make, he expected that his name alone would be enough to assure gainings instead of creating content to justify support and he was unwilling to really give his supporters anything worthwhile back.

And while I am sure that there were also many other factors guaranteeing his failure, those at least to me, were his "common" mistakes most other people familiar even with the basics of internet popularity would ahve avoided.

[sleepycouchspider]

Morgan Stark and big brother Peter.

When Morgan Stark is born Peter is 18 years old, just graduated high school and ready to start college life.

Tony and Pepper didn't hesitate to give him the title of Morgan's elder brother and Peter was more than honoured, he cried and hugged Mr Stark and Pepper before holding his sister in his arms for the first time.

She was so tiny, Peter almost started crying again and for a solid minute just stared at her, eyes memorising her light brown hair and face scrunched up in a adorable, peaceful expression. Her heartbeat was normal, and Peter felt connected with her entire being.

He missed the smiles on Tony's and Pepper's face, so entranced by the baby in his hand.

Peter spent a lot of time with baby Morgan and his presence had become a constant in her life that she always knew when he was around. Peter was her favourite person as a baby after her parents.

He babysitted Morgan a lot with Rhodes help sometimes and sometimes when he was alone with her, he would read her stories or listen to songs with her, dancing with her in his hands and loving how she giggled, her tiny arms wrapped around his neck. (Tony and Pepper loved those videos)

Then when Peter went to college, the Stark family realized how constant his presence had become in their life and everyone understood why Morgan would cry about wanting Peter.

But Peter made up every time he came back, spending his entire holidays with them and May, not leaving Morgan's side until the last day and felt the same heart ache when she sobbed in his arms every time he had to go back.

"I'll be back soon, M. I promise" he hugged her close to his chest and looked over her shoulder to look at Tony who looked just as upset and had a pinched look on his face, but once Morgan was in her mother's arms, the man hugged him so tightly and Peter smiled, his throat tight with emotion.

"Stay safe okay? And call us." Pepper brushed his hair away from his face and looked at the 20 year old who smiled down at her and her heart squeezed.

God, how Peter has grown. He was already taller than Tony and he looked older, his baby face was morphing into a handsome man's face and Pepper felt the same emotion she felt when she looked at Morgan.

Then a year later, someone leaked the picture of Pepper, Tony and Peter with Morgan in his arms coming out of a restaurant, Morgan's hands squishing Peter face and Tony grinning at both of them while Pepper looked like she was trying to hide her smile and suddenly the world exploded, theories about Peter being Tony's illegitimate child the top theory but was quickly squished down.

The next day SI released a statement about how they were waiting for the right time to announce it to the world that SI's hire until Morgan is grown up is Peter B Parker, Tony's intern who he has been training for years.

It had been a huge controversy until People meet Peter and obviously they loved how sweet and gentle his nature was and things went back to how they were except Peter was always in the spot light.

After graduating MIT, May and Peter moved to the tower and Peter started learning the trade from Pepper and Tony and Morgan was 5 years old now, who was more than happy that Peter was living with them now.

Tony and Peter became the most talk about topic for a while, seeing how close Peter was to the hero and obviously, when ever they were out Morgan was always with the young adult.

Morgan leaned more towards Peter, his kind and gentle demeanor and happy self was always uplifting and she loved her elder brother. Peter was there to drop her off for her first day of school, he organised her birthdays with mom and dad, he brought her gifts almost every week and he let her be part of his movie nights with his friends, MJ and Ned.

Petey was a protective brother, who would, as kindly as he could, tell the paparazzi to not crowd the 8 year old. Who took care of her when his mom and dad were away. He let her play with his hair and do his make up, let her touch his inventions, toys and was more than happy to bring her with him if she felt lonley.

Then years went by, Morgan was 10 when Peter got married to his highschool Girlfriend / one of the most badass women in the business industry, Michelle Jones and she was the flower girl at his wedding, Tony had literally become Peter's father at this point and no one argued that Peter was not related to the man.

Morgan was 13 when she became an aunt of a young boy, Antony Jones Parker and Morgan still remembers seeing her dad cry and hold his grandson in his arms, choking on sobs.

She thought the baby might replace her in Peter's life but her brother never let that happen. Peter, even when exhausted after a long day at work, always made time for his family, always present for dinner, movie nights, her school functions, playing videogames with her with AJ in his lap and Michelle curled up between them.

Their dad had insisted Peter as secondary guardian in her school after uncle Rhodey and Morgan doesn't think she will ever forget that day in her life.

She went to the same High school as Peter and encountered her first bully who for months had taunted her a lot, a girl name Innana. It was three months into her junior year when Morgan's patience snapped.

Innana commented how she was just a rich brat of a lame hero. How her family was so boring that her brother was not even her real brother.

Usually Morgan ignored her, but Peter made Morgan have always been a team and she was not going to let a jealous bitch say anything about her brother so she snapped and made her thoughts just clear to her bully.

One thing led to another and the two girls were sitting in the office waiting for their parents, Morgan nursing her hand and Innana her almost broken nose.

Innana's parents came first( obviously) and using the skills her dad taught her, she ignored how they screamed at the principal to expel her.

She rolled her eyes and picked her perfect manicured nails, when someone else entered the office and Peter was standing in front of her, in his three piece suit and a amused smile on his face.

"Hey." He kneeled down in front of her, ignoring everone else and she grinned at him.

"Hi." The relief she felt seeing him here.

Principal Morita looked at Peter with a strange sense of emotion, almost looking proud but wiped it of his face when Peter turned to meet his eye.

"Sorry for being late. " He smiled sheepishly at his old principal and sat down next to the girl's parents who were staring at him with wide eyes.

The principal got down to business and both side of the stories were heard. Peter squeezed Morgan's hand when she told them how Innana always bullied her. Obviously Innana's parents didn't believe her and snapped at them.

"Just because your father is Ironman does not mean you can do what ever you want!" The mother glared at Morgan and she was about to say something back when Peter pinned them down with a cold glare.

"I am sorry, but Morgan was clearly provoked. You saw the footage. It was your daughter who attacked my sister first and Morgan had every right to defend herself. If anything, your daughter should be apologizing to my sister." His voice was clam, like Pepper's but the edge in it was like their dad's when he was pissed.

Even though Morgan was suspended for a day and Innana for a week, she knew that Peter would have done more, like going Tony Stark on the girl's parents but stopped when Morgan squeezed his hand hard.

She looked at him, as he drove them back home and Morgan felt tears prick her eyes realising just how much he loved her.

He was literally the best brother in the world, who held her close when she was hurting, who stood by her with their parents when she needed backup.

She thanked her mom and dad for making Peter her brother and smiled when dad looked at her with that soft smile and caressed her cheek.

"He is the best, isn't he?" Murmuring softly, the retired hero looked at Peter who was laying on the couch, playing with little AJ while MJ ran her hands through his hair a smile on their faces and feeling their eyes on him, Peter turned to look at them and grinned.

Morgan loved her brother so much.