With the recent departure of a member of the Laser Time family, here’s a look at what’s changing and what’s staying the same.
What up, ya’ll? It’s your favorite Floridian, Chris! I know this to be the case now that Henry has moved onto another full-time gig, and I couldn’t think of a better way to start this here conversation.
Yes, Hank’s gone. It sucks, and yes, things are going to have to change around here out of pure necessity, so we wanted to give you a quick update. You kind fuckers on Patreon will be getting an extended breakdown, but the gist is that we’ve been running ourselves ragged trying for over a year trying to deliver over a dozen new initiatives and unlocked Patreon incentives and we need to scale things back as a matter of reality and personal sanity.
So, yeah, if you’re caught up on your listening, you know by now that Henry’s no longer a full-time Laser Time dude, but he’s by no means gone. Hank’s on Laser Time, Thirty Twenty Ten, Vidjagame Apocalypse and Talking Simpsons last week. He’s good at this, he likes doing it, and I bet if you’re all nice to him, (H-E-N-E-etc. on Twitter!) he’ll continue appearing on shit in spite of not receiving one sticking farthing of your Patreon dollars. But certain things will be going away or scaled down, the biggest of which you already know by know…
Cape Crisis: Hank is the big comic book guy, this was his show (from pre to post-production) and it sadly has to go on hiatus. And we mean hiatus and not “cancelled” because the show is not necessarily dead, just resting! Even though I strongly believe the world very much needs a kickass comic podcast, none of us are the guys to bring it to life right now, both in terms of the man hours and expertise.
Monday Night Movie: We’re scaling the Monday Night Movie back to twice a month. Maybe less, we’ll see. I love doing this, and desperately wish I could watch a movie with you every goddamned day. But due to a ton of stupid things, such as manual syncing, you guys obtaining the movie, 90-plus minute availability (at the least), time zones, etc., the Monday Night Movie has never been all that popular a feature. The least popular thing we do, in fact! Patrons were already kind enough to share this once-exclusive reward with the public in order attract more people, but we spent two and a half hours streaming to twenty people recently, so it just doesn’t seem like efficient use of time every single week. The silver lining here is that focusing on fewer movies means making them more special. Special guests, special movies, special prizes. More on that soon, hopefully.
Cheap Popcast: Dave knows wrestling better than anyone I know, but the sad reality is that Henry was the only one keeping up with the day-to-day drama of the squared circle. Hank was the only one up to date enough to bounce off of Dave’s recaps of Raw, Lucha Underground, and New Japan, since Brett kinda only watches NXT, and I may watch a monthly PPV. So on that note, while we’ll still have a ton of goofy wrestling content here and there on Laser Time (like our insane fantasy fights), we think Cheap Popcast makes more sense going back to being non-weekly show, although now it’s going to be exclusively for Patrons. The upside? Less frequency means more freedom to go back to wackier Cheap Popcast ideas like audio clips and weird games like Kill, Marry, Fuck!
Video Streaming: One of the least popular things we did was add THREE WEEKLY LIVE VIDEO STREAMS to our plate, as well as the responsibility of eight podcasts a week, amidst several other new Patreon incentives. We weren’t expecting to become the next PewDiePie or anything, but we did find the only time people care about what we stream is when we streaming something A) we’re knowledgeable about a game B) we’re genuinely interested in playing it. Here’s how we’re approaching each streaming day:
FOR TUESDAYS: With that said, there won’t be any more obligatory “New Release” streams on Tuesday. Oh, we’ll still stream SOMETHING each and EVERY Tuesday, and it might even be a new release, but only if it’s of express interest to us personally, or you, for that matter. We’re going to open Tuesday up to also playing our favorite old games too, speedruns of the classics, titles celebrating anniversaries, or other weird ideas like our Aladdin SNES vs Genesis challenges.
FOR WEDNESDAYS: From now until I can no longer perform it, we’ll continue streaming the Wednesday Shit Show until I’m probably dead. I don’t care if I have to do it alone, because if I had my way, all I’d do all day is play shit like Batman: Forever Arcade, Homie Rollers, Top Gun, and other horrible licensed games anyway. The “Shit Show” definition may become ever looser, but not a lot of changes for Wednesday.
FOR THURSDAYS: Last year our Patrons unlocked a Weekly Nintendo Stream, but the numbers clearly indicated that A) Nintendo isn’t gonna have a lot of new or interesting releases for the foreseeable future, B) they’re going to issue a copyright violation every time we do stream, and C) there wasn’t much of an audience for old school Nintendo streams. So now we can basically restrict what we play to our favorites on the occasional Tuesday.
So what do we stream on Thursdays? We’ll see! We’ve got a little something planned, but one of the things I’d really like to do (and our rigorous post-Patreon schedule never allowed for), is more short-form videos like Best Tiny Toons games, or Stupid Things Superman does in Games… even though there are probably more of you reading this than have ever bothered to view those videos. They’re painstaking to research, capture, produce and edit, but I find them much more rewarding and I’m much more interested in doing more of those instead of streaming a 15 year old GBA game just because it recently released on Virtual Console.
Anything else?
We asked you guys what you wanted most from us and the answer was a resounding: PODCASTS. It’s tough to talk about cutting even low-viewed initiatives in a Patreon world, one where we don’t need to worry about numbers because folks are paying upfront. However, we’re a man down and we need to renew our focus and scale back just a tad. Fortunately, that also means we have more time to keep up the quality of our remaining podcasts, both in terms of production, as well as alleviating a lot of the stress involved in producing so much stuff in so little time. We’re as determined as every to keep Laser Time, Vidjagame Apocalypse, Talking Simpsons, Thirty Twenty Ten, and of course, our Patreon exclusive show Bonus Time at the highest quality, and more time can only make them better, IMO.
As always, we want to continue upping our video game as well, hopefully with more consistent content unique to us. We’ve just wrapped a multi-part look at the 1990s Marvel Cards Series, we’re going to be making fun of more video games in our weird little Ending Theater segment. I have dozens of partially completed projects I don’t have time to address because of both how generous you guys were on Patreon, and how generous we tried to be with the rewards we invented.
And you better believe I’m going to see through this complete MLG Kingdom Hearts playthrough, and we’d like to consider more Laser Time Long Plays in the future. Is that something you’d like to see? Let us know! I like working for you guys, but the views don’t lie: sometimes what I want to do and you want to see doesn’t exactly gel. But I’m sure as shit gonna keep trying. More than anything, especially from you Patrons, I want you to trust that we’re resolutely committed to bringing you fun, goofy shit, on a regular basis, even if it’s a surprise! Trust me?
If you’re upset by the loss of any of these things, you’re 100% justified. 1,000,000% justified if you’re a Patron! The kindness and generosity shown by you people on Patreon is something I’ll never, ever take for granted or forget. I’m humbled every day that I’m able to survive based on the support of people who like what we do, but you also need to know we live in the most expensive city in the United States, I personally have encountered a little tax debt due to Laser Time. Nothing too crazy, but certainly a new, slightly unexpected thing for me. Nobody’s fault, just a reality.
What I really want to impress upon you is that even though I love what doing here and never want to stop, every voice you hear on a microphone is making sacrifices to do it, and that’s why we have to ask you once again to please consider supporting us on Patreon, especially if you like what we do here and haven’t already. Nobody is out to get rich here, but we can’t continue to doing this without your continued support. We also need to ask that people remain Patrons even though there’s one less mouth to feed.
Can’t support us on Patreon, that’s cool? I’m sure you have your reasons! We still appreciate you listening/watching/reading, and have a lot more in store for you too (although, you’ll obviously get more as Patron). But you can still help us out too. US residents can help by shopping through our Amazon links (BOOKMARK THIS), and if you’re using an Ad-Blocker, please consider whitelisting Laser Time or our YouTube channel.
And once again, the absolute free-est and easiest way to support your pals at Laser Time is simply telling a friend about us. Some of our favorite vids are here in this article!. Share us on your favorite social channels, like Facebook and Twitter. I’m confident your friends will like us so don’t be embarrassed. If none of these free options appeal to you, again, consider supporting us on Patreon. For the price of a cup of Starbucks coffee a month you can ensure Laser Time lives another day.
Thanks for being cool,
Chris
PS: Patreon supporters will find an unique update over on, uh, Patreon. God, I wish all of you could see it!
Everything sounds alright to me, ^_^
Anyone who is a non Patron please consider giving at least $2 a month.
I want to make a recommendation. I really want to see more Let’s Plays from you guys. Here are some recommendations. (not critisms!)
1. Choose a game that you love and you think the community loves. I’ve seen others sites do a survey to great results.
2. Choose a game that you think you can play well without thinking about it (because playing and talking is hard!). This makes it easier to keep the conversation going.
3. I recommend something with little very little reading and can be beaten in about 8-12 hours. This lets you cycle games quickly and keeps the flow going.
As a long time fan and patron I’m fine with everything happening. I’ll still have my fun videogame streams, and MNM though less frequent but no biggie. Keep up the great work guys. As for long plays do whatever y’all want. But I’d love to see Brett get mad at an N64 Zelda like in the old GR Zelda Faps, I’m sure Dave has a long play idea up his sleeve, and I think all want an Antista MLG Mario playthrough. Honestly I don’t care what you end up playing I love the content.
It’s a bummer as I was just starting to get into Cape Crisis and enjoyed the profiles.
Totally understandable though and at least you’re being upfront about what’s going on and why.
At least I can still listen to VGA, my favourite show!
You’re doing your best. Make adjustments if you need to. I’m off to read the Patron update!
It’s all good Chris. Hope this makes life a little less stressful for you!
This is what I really worried about when Henry announced leaving. More than the obvious Cape Crisis, Henry was so often the second guy of so many projects/episodes, even to the point of being the only other guy at times, it was going to ripple across everything. I’ll stress, this isn’t ill will toward him, but ill will to stupid reality and its stupid laws of physics.
Writing was on the wall for Cheap Popcast and that really blows to be honest. I feel like it was hitting its stride and, do body slam me through a table for my pessimism, but I just don’t see it really working out with this new plan. Going from one of the most interactive podcast with a weekly live segment to behind a paywall, semi-regular show is quite a bit of Mikey Whiplash.
Moday Night Movies, I can live with this a bit easier. The barrier to entry to get to enjoy these is kind of absurd.
Tuesday Streams: This is an improvement. Perhaps something should get rolling somewhere where we can put in request and/or vote.
Wednesday: I’d just like to say that ugly, dark Playstation 1 games make for sleep inducing videos. A lot of flashy arcade games are shit by a different virtue.
Thursday: I think it’d be fun if this was combined with the idea of doing more long-plays. Find games that are suitable to be digested in small chunks and stick to that one game every Thursday until the end is reached or everyone gets sick of it. We could keep a tally of End Games vs Failures.
Finally, since you didn’t mention VGMPire, I’ll open up discussion on it with this suggestion: Daily VGMPire episodes, sometimes twice daily.
That’s enough venting from me, I’ve been saving it back since henry announced just because I didn’t want to put a damper on him getting a great new job. I know you guys will get your groove back. Stella did and you guys are twice as good as that movie.
You guys take care of yourselves too. It’s all cool. I think we’re all here for the podcast, the rest is bonus. Plus I have no time to watch the streams anyway. Like they say over here, “asi es, todo bien, chevere!”
CHANGE PLACES!!!!
I think a Monster Hunter stream with with some co-op Brett and Christ trying to take down some monsters would be fun. Maybe do that as a Thursday stream?
You’re right about the streams. When you guys are enjoying a game you actually like it’s much more fun to watch. You should get Bret on to show you Doom Chris, I’m sure you’d love it.
The loss of Henry is tragic but understandable. I have a friend that lives in SF and he makes very good money but he still has to live in a rough neighborhood because the cost of living is so high. You guys must be really sacrificing in order to make ends meet.
Cape Crisis really hit me hard. I love all the podcasts but CC had the unique quality in that it actually got me into something I hadn’t been into in a very long time. Really, really wish I could partake in the streams but I work nights so I miss pretty much every one. I try to catch up on them in youtube later but it isn’t quite the same as watching it live. IMO the best video work you guys have done is those Marvel cards. Amazing.
I’ve had some pretty horrible things happen in the last year (both financially and physically) but I can finally join the patreon. Thank god. Thanks for making all of this guys. It’s helped me out during the worst time in my life.
Huzzah! A winner is me!
We got my girlfriend’s mom a smart TV for Christmas, so I end up using it when we visit on Saturdays to watch the Marvel cards bits and other bits on YouTube. I think more people will find the stupid crap on YouTube on smart TVs in the future, it’s good for lying on the couch wasting time. The interface isn’t great, but it’s easy enough when you’ve found a few channels you like.
I still wonder if Patreon is a better way to go than just having a $50 membership, or something. Will fewer people pay a smaller one-time fee than pay $60 at $5 a month? Maybe the young’uns who never subscribed to magazines don’t have the same experience of paying now to get a whole year of content.
I think MP3 commentaries are better than streams, the guys get more time to do some research, and the comments from viewers usually weren’t enough to make it worth the hassles and dead air that came along with watching live. I never watched the stream, but listened to every one later on.
You guys are still my favorite. I’m glad the streams are still there and you are only going to improve them. I’m cool with MNM being around once or twice a month. it starts 2 am for me. Thats a shame about Dave’s show but I’m sure the newer episodes will be just as good or even more so.
And yes definitely do more long plays after KH. I enjoy watching you guys on Sunday morning when I have my tea ^^
Fine with all of this, it sounded on Bonus Time like you were all struggling so anything to take the strain of you all is a good thing.
All I will ask is to keep the long plays going! I’m really enjoying the Kingdom Hearts ones and would love you to continue with Kingdom Hearts 2, which removes most of the problems you seem to have with the first ones.
If you don’t pick that, I trust your judgement to pick an entertaining long play and I agree the best ones to watch are when you are more knowledgeable or very engaged.
hm… okay. this isn’t horrible, I just don’t want y’all to get burnt out and stop all together, the world couldn’t handle that kind of tragedy. no. NO I SAY! honestly I always thought monday night movies should be once a month, so that we went through fewer movies and the event was more special in that you had to wait a whole month for the next one. just scale back to something more reasonable and get back to core LaserTiming spread yourself too thin and you get all taffy like and yummy and fruit chewy and oh gawd I WANT TAFFY!
seriously though, you do you. you guys are champs!
Oh shoot, I think my Patron sub lapsed when I lost my debit card; I’ll fix that if it’ll help.
Cape Crisis going on hiatus makes me sad 🙁
Good luck Henry, love ya!
The problem with the streams is that its hard to focus and watch something for an hour in a place with an internet connection. Podcast is subscribe, download, and listen anywhere. Maybe you could just drop the audio of the streams on a feed but that’s probably not as lucrative or just will lose too much. Same thing with the movie stream. I usually work at my part time job monday nights while you’re doing that and I miss it and don’t bother to go back to the audio despite paying for it.
Still a patreon even if I’m crappy about listening to the things.
I wont lie, i’m pissed about cheap popcast. All due respect to Hank, he is a passionate wrestling fan but he is mainly a WWE guy and apart from Lucha and NJPW had very little time for any other promotion, and honestly i was hoping his future endeavours would lead to CP branching out with its content abit more. There’s some great promotions out there like PWG, Progress, Rev Pro, Stardom and to a lesser extent ROH that dont get much coverage. Seriously PWGs Battle of Los Angeles events are the fucking best but never get a nod.
That sounded way more dickish than i intended 🙁
Gonna add myself to the pile of people disappointed about Cheap Popcast. The non-weekly format isn’t too big a bummer, as I felt the show was always better when it was hyper-focused around a single PPV. It’s just that it’s basically the only way I keep up with wrestling when I’m strapped, and putting it behind a paywall edges me out of the loop entirely. Y’all do what you have to, I just thought I’d throw in my outlook.
Henry was my favorite one! It’s like Beyonce leaving Destiny’s Child. kidding Laser Time could use more guest podcasters. I hope Cape Crisis continues. Why not get some recurring guest podcaster to host it?
I love the podcasts but don’t really care for the streams, not because they are bad (although sometimes the audio is a little rough) but because they just don’t fit my schedule. Podcasts can be with me on my drive or at home doing chores, etc. but steams need my whole attention and generally I just don’t have enough time for them. Personally I think the cuts seem fine as all my favorite shows remain mostly unaffected but I wonder if maybe cutting some of the streams would make it less stressful and open up time for the projects that have more interest. Just my 2 cents. Hopefully Hank will stay on for the main shows (Laser Time, VGA, Talking Simpsons, TTT), sometimes I find his nerd bragging a little irritating but in general I think he seems like a nice dude and I have enjoyed listening to him on the shows, I’m sad to see him go.
I’m bummed about Cape Crisis, but in all honesty, my Patreon donation is more as a “thank you” for giving me tons of things to listen to while I commute to work. All I want is Podcasts. Anything else is just gravy.
I kinda wonder if Johwahizzle could Skype in as a host to a podcast for comics… time allowing of course. Dude knows his stuff.
I’ll miss cheap popcast.
Cheap podcast hurts the most. I hope we get the kayfabe segments in videos or something.
I’ll second comments about streams. My life and work don’t really allow to do the streaming thing. I’d actually prefer if you movie commentaries didn’t have the streams and focused on you guys talking. You guys talking shit is why I loved talk radar and followed you to lasertime.
like others have said, I also tend to look for ‘Let’s Play’ type videos from you guys, longer gameplay videos etc… I hope you continue doing that
Cape Crisis is dead like Superman was dead in the 90s… i.e. it’s now a teenager, a weird metallic Shaq, etc
Super bummed about Cheap Popcast getting scaled back and put behind a paywall, but I am still a huge fan of you guys so you still have my support obviously.
I used to support patreon but then had to pull it because we ran into some financial crap.
Long Plays I’d like to see from you guys:
Until Dawn
Alan Wake
Paper Maro TTYD
Okami
Deadly Premonition
Dead Space
Bioshock