#maybe watchers too?

[flowers-for-the-grave]

The Clock Is Ticking

The clock is ticking.

Lightning lights up the sky to mark the players that may never come back. They are remembered by the survivors. The threat of death looms over them all.

Eyes are everywhere. Hundreds of eyes crawling over the lands, the mountains, the bridges and the sea. They see it all. They smile and watch in quiet amusement as players perish. Those that watch know that they will succeed. After all, who can defy a game like this, with these rules, with no loopholes? For once, the players must play to perfection. There is no other option.

Bloodlust hit the players. Waves upon waves of the urge to kill. Hands itching for weapons. Bows and crossbows craving an arrow to fire. Blood pulsing through their veins, bubbling under their skin. The newfound reality of permanently dying only provides incentive. No one wants to die just yet.

Alliances fall apart. The so-called "Bad Boys" have been destroyed. Only one of them remains. And now they have joined a new group. So the name Bad Boys is no more than a memory that time has robbed of them.

The end cannot be prevented. No matter how much blood is shed. No matter how hard the players may try. They will die regardless of any efforts to thwart it.

Scott was taken by the sea, now belonging to its domain. The ocean was his and none could take it from him.

Martyn watched the sand of his hourglass. He knew time was running out and he would protect those he cared for until the end.

Grian lost them. Jimmy and Joel were dead. And now they were gone, and he joined the Nosy Neighbours, he couldn't help but curse those that watch for doing this to him.

Cleo feared for her family. She had not only her own time to take care of, but her boys' time too. There was a duty she'd taken up to protect them. And she refused to shirk it now.

TIES had lost Skizz. Now they were just TIE. Deaths were inevitable here, but the loss of their friend hit them. Skizz, who, despite losing over two hours in the first session, despite those that had killed him and despite the revenge that others would've taken, had chosen to instead be kind to the players. He'd made it his duty to complement and assure the others.

The clock was ticking.

For all of them.

[scp-4999]

When this crashes and burns I don't wanna hear the defenders blaming the critics 💀 they could've improved the patron, sold better merch, sold dvd copies of their shows, downsized, literally anything besides alienate a majority of their fanbase

[it-meant-nothing]

I wonder how the fandom would react if… the MCU brings back Evan Peters and Michael Fassbender as Quicksilver and Magneto again… and then finally make them father and son… only for them to have the same unhealthy —fucking dysfunctional— relationship that they have in the comics.

Me personally I’d die but that’s just me ig—

[magnus-glitch-archive]

Sure, doing God's work, but which one's? 👁

[lumiereswig]

I'm still seeing a lot of angry takes in the tags about how excessive Watcher's current costs are and how all fans really want, apparently, is "just shane and ryan sitting in a basement" back again. While I do think Watcher is probably spending over budget and that's a real issue, a lot of the takes I'm seeing show a fundamental misunderstanding of how video production works and where costs actually lie. So a few quick things that I just keep seeing that are bothering me:

It was never just Shane and Ryan in a basement. BFU did a great job selling that conceit and making sure you never saw anyone beyond them and maybe TJ, but they absolutely had other crew members with them on ghost hunts and they didn't do all the work on BFU themselves. This Q&A from Season 2 lists 36 people on staff for Buzzfeed Unsolved. It's fair to make arguments that Watcher may or may not need 25 people, but those arguments should not be coming from a place of "before it was just Shane and Ryan and nobody else."

If you don't know how many people are needed to make a professional video from a TV/film standpoint, you will not have a reasonable grasp of why Watcher wants to keep 25 people on staff. Sure, some YouTubers get by with a ring light and a contracted editor. The Watcher team have stated repeatedly that they do not want to work as just YouTubers and see themselves more as a production studio—so why do people keep referencing the YouTube model to understand their business? This is like asking the local shake shop why it doesn't function like the kids' lemonade stand down the block. The item category is similar but they're not trying for the same products or process.

The "gold dusted food" is not the big budget sink you think it is. On most TV shows I've worked on it's normal to partner with businesses that are shown onscreen and work out a deal where the price of the product (in this case the gold food) is reduced or eliminated in exchange for the free publicity. Watcher very likely made a deal with every restaurant it worked with to make the Korea trip affordable for the company. The real budget spends are on things you're probably not seeing but that still matter: camera and lighting equipment is expensive, insurance for that equipment is expensive, business overhead and paying your staff are expensive. So again—it's fine to critique Watcher for the streaming plan and the perceived budgetary issues, but go into this knowing the costs might not be coming from the things you see onscreen.

My source is that I work in TV and film and actually have a clue on how the industry functions. Again, 36 people worked on Unsolved (and those were the people mention in Season 2—who knows how big the team blew up past that in later seasons). Entertainment work is real work, and demands decent equipment, competent staff, and the same types of business and budget problems you'd find in any other business (overhead, staffing, etc.). Feel free to critique Watcher's business model, but first try to understand where that model is coming from and what goals it's attempting to serve.

[clockworkbee]

Kinda love it when writers address the readers in their books.

[gingermaple]

design concepts for the watcher etho au!

[yousaytomato]

OBSESSED with Shane's floral jacket in the new Mystery Files, does anyone know where it's from ? 👀

Edit: it's now linked in reblogs !

[solargeist]

this is sooo Grian and the Watchers core

[rojekte]

seeing people's takes about the whole watcher situation is just a bit.... mind-boggling.

i think the apology they posted was good in the sense that they admitted to fucking up and walked back on their decision, and i think the model they've settled on now is a lot more reasonable (having content be released earlier for those who choose to subscribe), but like.... that doesn't mean that no one should've ever been mad at them in the first place???

like seriously, why does it seem like people are looking at a "good" apology and thinking "huh! they sure did apologize well! i guess that means that it was ridiculous for people to be mad in the first place! no one should have ever complained!!". if no one complained, they wouldnt have walked back their decision! they would've kept going with their dumb completely paywalled option!

and thats not even getting into the fact that their financial woes seem to come from completely mismanaging their money - hiring people when they can not afford to and spending more money on "high quality productions" when they cant afford to.... these are core issues that im not sure will be completely fixed by this? but idk.

also, this situation i think has really helped my own self come to terms with the fact that i do not enjoy many aspects of their content. i sorta already knew that considering i can not remember the last ghost files video i watched because i find that shit incredibly boring and overproduced, and even things like too many spirits have become a chore to watch bc they decided to extend the Not That Funny drink making portion when i just wanna hear some funny spooky stories.

anyway i guess my ultimate point here is: im glad they acknowledged they fucked up, but i also am not sure how interested i am in their content anymore in the first place. oh well

[riverrunscold]

Since we're sharing youtube comments, I wanted to share this underrated one

[vialae]

Not to add another point to the ‘Gortash is cartoonish levels of fucked up’ or anything, but with how his Steel Watchers operate, there is a possibility that a civilian of Baldur’s Gate had a friend/family member/partner go missing, and then they unknowingly go past a Steel Watcher that has the zombified decapitated body of said missing person in there.

[bergoozter]

welcome mom and dad to puppet history! today, we’re taking an ever winding look at yet another chapter in the not-all-that-heavy-yet book we call ‘history’ while you two ruthlessly compete for the coveted title of history master. i’m your beloved son, the professor! thank you!

[yoihino]

I can't get over the fact that both times the canary and miner curse has taken effect (Jimmy and Mumbo dying one after the other) it has been because of Grian. In Last Life he directly killed first Jimmy for trying to kill him and then Mumbo just a few seconds later for the same reason, and in Secret life they both died because of the Warden which Grian brought to the surface. Directly or indirectly, their deaths were caused by him.

And then you get Wild life, were if Mumbo hadn't decided to spare Jimmy he would have been eliminated first once again, and then Mumbo would have died, both of them to a contraption once more created (in the server) by Grian. We are all talking about canaries and miners in coal mines, but what about the dust that eventually kills them both?

[diskusaurus]

The Watcher apology is cool. I really thought they wouldn't apologize or change things for a hot minute there and I am happy to be proven wrong. I'm glad they listened, realized their mistake and took action.

However, this whole thing really made me realise, personally, that I didn't enjoy their content anymore before this either. I think I continued watching and supporting them mainly because I wanted them to succeed and because I was hoping to relive the fun I had with Unsolved. I may still drop by for some shows here and there, but otherwise, I'm out.

[notnewtothescene]