The 50,000 Dollar Vtuber Animation Scam

[@tiersonshideaway]

Update: Bao has won 2 paypal disputes and had 15k $ returned.

[@Roge9]

nice

[@OccasusRaven]

@Roge9 got only half back.. Well, nice but not exelent

[@tuttipuffi1302]

Lessgoo

[@delusionaldogz]

poor bao

[@daiana04]

@@OccasusRavenThat ain't half buddy, 17.5k is approximately half

[@shingshongshamalama]

As if it wasn't already hard enough to be independent, people like this exist.

[@Silasssssssss]

You can hardly call vtubers independent

[@josephpenn1115]

​@@Silassssssssshe is referring to the term known as an Independent vtuber, where it is a sole proprietorship or small LLC rather than a corporation backing them. The vast majority of vtubers are in this category but not many of them grow to a size that competes with corporate vtubers.

[@Silasssssssss]

@@josephpenn1115 even non corpo vtubers aren't independent. And what I mean is that they use each others audiences with collabs etc to boost themselves. Not that there's anything wrong with that, really that's completely fine and I think it's amazing.

[@xvyi]

@@SilasssssssssI would they are pretty independent as they have to entertain their audience with their unique humour.

[@vocassen]

@@Silasssssssss Also that kinda "not truly independent" really doesn't help you solve disputes by letting your companies lawyers handle it, now does it. So this alternate definition of independent is completely irrelevant to this discussion

[@roslolian11]

I think these vtubers being independent themselves make it easier for them to give unknown artists a chance. However if I"m commissioning something major I'd def ask for completed previous works first before I drop say 35k usd for a commission.

[@MxMoondoggie]

Even a small amount of research into the guy would uncover his lies lol. Used a studio name to boost his credibility but only worked there a month and got fired for leaking insider information, not exactly a guy who seems credible.

[@Sin_Alder]

I don't know why anyone gives practically any artists a chance anymore, known or unknown. Most people in any creative line of work these days have little to no work ethic, typically delivering absurdly late, if at all, with no consideration for their clients. Don't get me wrong, I know art can be tough (I was an artist for about 17 years), but if you can't be professional, don't make it a profession. With how I see artists behave now, it's a wonder any can get work.

[@froggycolouring]

@@Sin_Alderthats what I’m scared of

[@itsnooooofun]

@@Sin_Alder i feel like people often forget to check if the artists they're commissioning have actual professional work (or at least big projects) behind them and get blinded by pretty pictures from twitter, or even just fancy names like "(x) studio". as a current illustration student i have friends who i know are trustworthy and manage to organize huge projects by themselves, but they usually also went to art school for at least some amount of time and learned how to maintain a proper work ethic. i wish vtubers and other people looking for artwork would do some proper research on who theyre commissioning and not just think good art = good person

[@gruckusgrackus5815]

​@@Sin_Alder I think its because a lot of twitter artists are unemployed people who still live with their parents, they've never had to develop any work ethic or business acumen. They'll take on a commission and it takes them months or years and then play the victim card. They're super talented at art but have 0 sense of discipline or responsibility because they still live at home. Then they'll ebeg with their Kofi or something else once things go wrong or their parents have finally had enough.

[@edenromanov]

James is more incompetent than evil, dude should have stuck to animating rather than opening up a business. Chances are he's already lawyered up and thats why he's not doing a second part of his confession, hoping the girls also lawyer up to make this moron refund them for all this bs

[@kir7719]

fr i hate scammers

[@SnafuFourTwo]

He doesn’t stand a chance. He only has his own money and the money he stole as a way to fund his legal defense, meanwhile the vtubers have their own money plus donations plus the money & support of the vtuber community. I hope he gets his ass sued and the girls get their money back plus reimbursement for the money they had to spend on legal fees.

[@OmegaF77]

@@SnafuFourTwoThey probably won't get their money back if the guy is practically penniless (the stolen money is gonna have to be used to hire his lawyers) .

[@alexjustalexyt1144]

This guy fumbled the biggest bag of all time. He could've make this his career, be the ceo of his own company, get more popular vtubers on board and and keep getting even more money. All he had to do is do the projects and not take projects he knew he couldn't take. This man had the rare opportunity of already having good credibility, fame, his own company, and good money and he threw all of that away. What a shame

[@saramorin4792]

ego

[@thedesensitizedsympathizer5307]

How?

[@Falling_Down]

The worst part is how hard he fumbled with already big vtubers lol

[@trevorweisberg8470]

Good write up, the whole thing is just frustrating. For me it's the badmouthing Merriweather that pissed me off the most.

[@tiersonshideaway]

That bothers me a lot too, especially because I really enjoy most of his comics.

[@thesaddestdude3575]

@@tiersonshideaway the most damming evidence of james wick being shady is the fact that he broke NDA's and was asked to leave the company, thats really unprofessional, he also ran a side hustle while still being employed by the company and using THIER resources for his own projects. He also frequently posted about himself on twitter with self portraits and stuff, he clearly thought high of himself. So the fact that he attempted to "un alive himself" and was depressed is unlikely, there was also some evidence that he wasn't in the hospital at the time at all. And this is a lie to gain sympathy. If you ask me he seems like a narcissistic who overextended. Jealousy, grandiosity, manipulation.

[@2ui3yUmeKEyYtP6fxVkzpu]

To be honest, he had it coming. It's Karma when he badmouthed someone else without knowing the full story.

[@Cyberweasel89]

Eh, not like Merriweather is some angel. James is still worse, though.

[@isfunart]

this dude just should focus on 1 project until it finish, then open again for commission, take all project, stress, all mess up, dont be so greed and know you limit. but it red flag he bad mouth and lie to other studio.

[@chaon93]

I mean, that's not ideal in terms of correct project management either, while working a single project you should open a SINGLE slot for the next project so there is no downtime, and not take any down payment (other than maybe a token reservation fee) for said project. With large project negotiating details can take weeks and its best to have one project in production, and one project in negotiations and pre-project planning. THAT SAID, this guy is inept at best, and a scammer at worst.

[@rimaevenstar]

I liked that you turned some old drama into a coherent video that's interesting to watch even now. Nice narrative, production and editing too

[@TuberoseKisser]

This isn't really even that old tbh

[@BerryBabaBear]

We need to send John Wick to James Wick

[@SpoonHurler]

"Go get your little brother John."

[@hectopascal4846]

christ the amount of victim blaming in these comments in unreal lmao the dude did, in fact, have completed work, and not just in what he did for Tonari. its just that his previous clients were corporations, i.e. people who you absolutely cannot string along in this way. its really not unreasonable for them to assume he was trustworthy considering how well he'd managed to hide his less savory elements until this blew up

[@spencer6736]

This seems to be a pretty common thing you hear with artist/commission scams. Most of them don't seem outright malicious and mainly negligent and incompetent mixed with ego and fear of backlash. It's pretty easy to end up taking more and more tasks when you're already overwhelmed and then it results in you not completing anything. I wish there was something like community business workshops or something for artists to help them avoid stuff like this cus so many people are falling into it and it ends up giving parts of the community such a bad name.

[@OsakanaNemu]

Saw this in my reccomended. Well put together and explained~ Always good to see a clean wrap up on drama stuff like this. Unfortunately, stuff like this is pretty common when it comes to the indie scene and this is just a major case of it 🙏🐟Thanks for making this video! P.S. I got a good laugh out of the pic you used for me 💙

[@tiersonshideaway]

Thank you! I'm glad you liked it. Hopefully, someday I can get up to your level.

[@ねこ男の子]

@@tiersonshideaway You won't because you limit yourself. She's human, as are you. Work hard and be in the right places, don't kiss ass.

[@ねこ男の子]

@@tiersonshideaway And by be in the right places, you were just now, because said person is on your channel. Don't limit yourself.

[@MoltarTheGreat]

I'm assuming he took on as many projects as possible and it was impossible to keep up, i.e. if he wanted to do it full time he needed a certain amount of money. If that is the case he likely would have spent the money on himself and so has trouble refunding even if he wanted to.

[@callmeandoru2627]

This feels like less of a case with malicious intents, but more of one where the guy's just bad at what he's doing

[@Pertilious]

yea that guy needs some karma to come his way too after paying them back even.

[@chaptereight3406]

Didn't expect a Soulworker OST here

[@Holopscion]

I spent 5 minutes trying to match the bgm music because it sounded so familiar to me lmao

[@EisteeMango]

@@HolopscionInteresting who you see here

[@HiLordReilo]

so true, kinda nostalgic as well

[@lumifoundation]

Why does always have to be 50k when we are talking about scams?

[@tiersonshideaway]

It's a nice round number.

[@yami_yomiel]

Makes me wanna… _hideaway_

[@buttermanaws4693]

I remember reading about this while it was happening so its nice to get the consolidated story on all those involved

[@gamingguru2k6]

I'm sure at one point he thought he could handle it, but became overwhelmed and decided it would be easier to just take the money and run. I'm not saying the guy isn't a scammer. I'm not trying to defend the guy in anyway. It's just that, most people start with good intentions. The bad people find it easier to hurt others than to admit their failure.

[@ambulancekun3142]

people who admit their failing don't try to garner sympathy.

[@icebox1954]

@@ambulancekun3142 Sure they do, those two things aren't mutually exclusive.

[@Vysair]

that's just called fraud buddy

[@possumguts]

i used to work for a studio like this, it's horrible for everyone involved. i feel so bad for all parties here (except james)

[@MewDenise]

People need to get lawyers and create a contract when ordering a product

[@danbrit9848]

its called sue him...if you dont fight back there is no hope

[@harperna3938]

my man literally out here running saw con

[@someonenotme8821]

It has become reality and is no longer a joke

[@XiaoMingXing]

Damn, that's a hell of an exit scam.

[@anonymousassassin14]

Poor GirlDM who just wanted to do an occasional identity v stream with nice overlays... the Identity V community takes a large loss today and we will pray for GirlDM to receive unending support during these tough times...

[@joeyghostx]

As a person who has been scammed before with sob stories with high quality arts, this event shows how distrustful all of us with high paying normal jobs are of commissioning independent artists. While my event happened on a similar time for a measly $1500 in total and only got sob stories instead of work or a refund, I have to advise that these scam artists have made us all distrustful as a whole after dispute window avoidance attempts with this guy getting the biggest blast so far due to who they scammed. Be very wary of who you commission these days and do very thorough background checks.

[@Lava-x3t]

Not the only animation that cost 50k.

[@lego174]

History is repeating itself

[@muff1n36]

Why is 50k so common with animation?

[@diovani-g8t]

Hide away ♪

[@everyonethinksyoureadeathm5773]

This is why paying a lawyer 200-500 dollars is a good idea. Having things in contract, making the studio take a loan out to complete the contract and putting the payment in a eacrow account prevents this kind of thing from happening.

[@novasiri7809]

And this.. is why I make my own model and work independent. Sure it's not a fancy live2dmodel.. it's a PNGTuber model.. but damn it's easier than getting straight up scammed.

[@Fringewonder]

As someone that lives in Louisiana. It pains me to know this guy was in a position in any con around these parts.

[@ShadowYetSleepy]

Ren Zotto's avatar looks like Rin Okumura from Blue Exorcist to me and so even though Rin is one of my top favourtie anime characters, I can't unsee it now

[@lemontea.mp3579]

godot's theme for the bgm!!

[@garrettcarlson6835]

5:50 That checks out. Looks like a classic case of someone who's in over their head, and they try to fund older projects by opening new ones. Typical downward spiral. Sucks O hope the best for everyone

[@Power-9Hunnid]

It is nice to hear that each of the girls were refunded. If I recall, one of the initial worries regarding this situation was the fact that how would those who were scammed receive their money back when many of them have different currency systems. Also, wasn't there another situation of this year regarding Bao allegedly being scammed by a certain manager that she trusted and assisted her during last year's situation????

[@Xylem3Keys]

7:44 James really had it coming lmfao.

[@KimidoriGreen]

James, if you read this, you're a god. Please continue to do gods work and scam these creatures ❤

[@soulsquest]

I never knew this was so expensive.

[@jeonghutamilim2259]

This won't end well. One does simply not fuck with eWaifus.

[@staplestack]

*sigh* should have hired Merryweather…

[@tripleaa7371]

Doesn’t look like a scam, looks more like a guy who bit off more than he could chew, and just kept on going.

[@OOZ662]

"Scam" does feel a little far, here. A guy who done goofed not accounting for the fact that his team couldn't work on 15 top-level projects at once, perhaps some management failures at keeping said team from hating each other, and comissioners that didn't look deep enough and weren't careful enough about dropping tens of thousands of dollars into his bucket without being sure he could carry it.

[@miguelmontanez6342]

Really sucks for animators that might want to do some independent work for vtubers but now even experience isn't a sign that your not a scammer.

[@nya4495]

Thank u for the nice video the editing information and and nice voice

[@maxis2k]

I have no idea of the specifics, but it sounded like he did a fairly common thing. He asks for money up front, then uses that money to hire people/resources to make the promised product. This works...if nothing goes wrong. But if something does go wrong and you can't finish the project, you're up shit creek. You don't have extra money to fix it and you don't have the original money to refund. In this way, I hesitate to call it a scam. More like a risky investment. But he wasn't up front with his clients that this is what they were investing in. And it was stupid for him to take on so many projects at once.

[@acceptablecasualty5319]

I'm sorry, but offering a product which you have no basis for providing is not a regular deal, it's an investment pitch if you're honest about your lack of capacity and fraud if you're not. And this was absolutely the latter.

[@flymist23]

I'm guessing what you are calling an investment, the vtubers are calling a purchase. Big difference

[@maxis2k]

@@flymist23 Like I said, if this was the case, then he wasn't honest about how he was using the money. And this is just a theory.

[@miyoko8380]

If you're not having any capabilities to do what you promised, but you still promised people you can and go for it anyway, that's a fraud.

[@officialvoodoobeats]

ah yes, john wicks brother

[@staplestack]

Lol i knew i recognized something in that name

[@storm_103]

good stuff my guy 👍

[@Itsappuru]

Oh my god, the brother of John Wick, better not mess with him...

[@Joe_334]

The scammer's PFP looks like someone's father, or they killed someone using Fishing Wire as a timed delay...

[@arcadius3257]

Has there been an update on this situation regarding the vtubers that haven't gotten their full money back yet?

[@Taiyou_154]

1:07 BLUE LOCK SPOTTED OMG BLUE LOKCK

[@PillowyMound]

I feel bad for all of them. Except Saruei because of obvious art contest and hiring editor reasons.

[@mrksimka1159]

Yup. For Saruei it's just karma, for other girls it's a tragedy

[@nilouspants]

Wait who is she and what did she do

[@PhoenixAce]

@@nilouspantswas a scammer too

[@gavinkemp7920]

It doesn't sound like he intended to scam them. A scammer wouldn't try to clear their name, essentially confess or attempt suicide. It sounds like he tried to honestly tried to run his own studio and failed to his poor management and dug him self deeper when he tried to dig himself out. This doesn't excuse him in any way, but unfortunately this mean that the girls probably won't get their money back in a timely manner unless there is insurance, which I don't think there is. Most likely he doesn't have it and any money he manages to get will go to his employees first.

[@peppermintgal4302]

Some scammers will try to clear their name. That isn't to say you're not wrong, just that theres a lot of variance in how grifters grift.

[@LDAR]

"biggest scam in vtuber history" i mean. that can't be hard to beat right

[@tiersonshideaway]

It's not hard to beat Because Vtubing is only like 4 years old. It'll probably be beaten soon.

[@LDAR]

@@tiersonshideaway yeah lol that's what i meant. hopefully not though!

[@kylegraham3192]

I just hope these vtuber will be okay

[@oussamaxd197]

35k ? that's 3 years of income for me.

[@KingPinguofDingu]

Tonari may have had a good reputation, but that doesn't mean this scammer was reputable. In fact, I'd have tried to look into why he was even fired. If there was that little information on the dude and nothing that shows that he's trustworthy, I wouldn't trust thousands of dollars with him to for any commissions. It doesn't matter if the dude wasn't originally a scammer, and tried to do legit work. At the end of the day, he chose not to complete any of the work, was dishonest, and kept the money. That's a scam at the end of the day even if he didn't initially intend to scam from the getgo.

[@shurahighwind9045]

so they all fell for the same thing? i find it dumb that they didnt just notice how bad he was after the first issue

[@Veritanky]

its good you make vids after stuff settle, as often those who report on stuff happening now miss/use wrong info

[@sOoSGrinds]

Following that Ludwig recipe well made video tho 👌👌

[@tiersonshideaway]

My goal is to someday be as capable as the people I cover.

[@ichigoclover420]

Verbalese ORIGINS

[@luketeal1076]

crazy thing... They get the money within a week from all the donations and other revenues. Don't be deceived that this is much money for most of the big vtubers... jesus.

[@IstyManame]

8:14 What is "woman paypal dispute window"?

[@CyrilCommando]

I’m so distracted by the soulworker music in the background. YOU PLAY SOULWORKER?

[@tiersonshideaway]

I played it when it first came out. Music stuck with me.

[@anhmai5269]

Reason why I don't trust some 'adults' :)

[@SaiTaX_the_Chile_boi]

being a hundred percent fair, it might be terrible management of economics, careless or clueless to be specific, not a great individual anyways, even if what I say its the truth, and I give it 50/50 chances to be or less, we are talking of anything but an angel, even if not a devil, just hope folks get at least a partial refund.

[@remomareno]

Thanks for making such a good clear video on this

[@CorinaSha]

Why are people in the comments acting like HES the victim 💀

[@ItsNamedArci]

toast

[@aidenquinn19975]

God this is hilarious

[@diovani-g8t]

I think there's only 1 guy doing the animation lmao

[@MxMoondoggie]

Taking on new projects when they have not even started on the projects they already have is kind of a red flag that something is not right lol. I honestly have no idea how these Vtubers didn't communicate sooner that things were not going right and more of them were slamming money down on the table, like did the people getting no progress actually recommend giving him money? lol. If you're spending thousands of dollars then you should probably do your due diligence first to figure out who you are entering into a contract with. The guy used a well known studio as credibility when he only worked there a month, why not ask all these people who work there about him? The fact he had already proven he can't be trusted with a pair of scissors would be quickly uncovered. I wouldn't trust that sort of person with my money. The fact he already had a bad reputation in the industry before all this makes me wonder how some Vtubers survive in life earning and spending that kind of money because it seems they are easy to take advantage of.

[@applepie8841]

They probably just have frivolous amounts of money from coomers donating to them

[@ToniAiraksinen]

What is the background music playing? It sounds so magical.

[@altaccount648]

RIP Bozo

[@intensemotion2422]

Whats the music used in the video?

[@tiersonshideaway]

I don't quite remember. I skimmed through it real quick to remind myself, and i hear Godot's theme from Ace Attorney, Dire Dire Docks from Mario 64 and Rucco Town theme from the (small) mmo SoulWorker.

[@alixsprallix]

great video

[@dion8723]

why did they sign any agreement with this "james wick" if he doesn't even have his background publicly available lol sounds like it's their fault for trusting random people

[@mesmorrow]

Kids playing virtual dress up and starting drama and pretending to take their own lives, what a nice healthy and happy community to be part of.

[@wizardsmix7961]

Lmaoooo get rolled

[@H3xCore]

the fact that 5 more got scammed again after nemu and girldm getting scammed tells plenty about their intelect lol

[@Andytlp]

Lol. Well they are autistic or something. The whole vtubing thing. Some of them are genuinely autistic, you can tell straight away. But not all.

[@K.L.-]

I’m confused…. How did he reel in more people when he wasn’t producing results…? What am I missing? I mean I don’t want to blame stupidity but um, this looks stupid. I want to feel bad for the vtubers but I also don’t understand how this was possible to begin with. I feel bad for the people who gave their money for it all to be lost because of lack of awareness. Tell me what I’m missing for this to make sense..

[@Zoey--]

These Vtubers having this much cash to throw around because they've got cute online avatars. I'm in the wrong business lmao

[@kushkungvivo744]

Your ignorant mindset of belittling others achievement is what's actually wrong with you, if anyone can just be rich from having a "cute online avatar" then give it a try and see how you fail miserably.

[@thirsty1629]

⁠@@kushkungvivo744Meanwhile people pay $9 to see an anime boy with long hair bounce around to a prerecorded song

[@danverss6176]

Xqc having that much cash to throw around because he can barely speak and gamble.

[@K.L.-]

By all means, you’re free to become a vtuber if you want. No one is stopping you. That’s the beauty of it.

[@Zoey--]

@@K.L.- Nothing except the fat up front investment.

[@d.3521]

"Bao lost all the money through the days of the year where she earns the most" Subathons can have different lenghts but I dont think that really harmed her She can take it

[@onikrux]

No offense... but I've never seen a VTuber animated in quality that would require value upward of 10kUSD... the whole situation is wild no doubt.

[@tiersonshideaway]

I've looked into how much vtuber models cost, and wow they can be really expensive. From what I understand, one model can take up to three months of time to make, if not longer. alongside all of the fancy additions and addons that vtubers ask for. And then there are artists who specialize specifically in drawing and rigging models who are in super high demand and have really good reputations for delivering the product and they charge more because they have such good reputation in an industry where scams are common. And then sometimes a vtuber puppeteering the model doesn't properly set up the model in vtube studio/whatever software used and the model looks funky only because of bad setup. (Which is a problem for me right now actually, cuz I have a basic model that I didn't setup right, and it looks a bit funky.)

[@hello-jz6cv]

Every single vtuber model you see on any corpo or big name vtuber was AT LEAST 10k. At least. Making a vtuber model is so difficult… and the demand far outreaches the supply, which drives the prices higher and higher.

[@incongruous4]

Agree, when you compare the time and skills needed against any other form of animation such as tv shows or video game animation it's really not that impressive. It's just supply and demand, people are willing to pay stupid prices because they get ez donation money for sitting in front of a computer playing video games and yelling nonsense all day and get paid 6+ figures for it and have no value for money because they never worked that hard for it in the first place.

[@rainyarts]

30k for a 2-3 minute music/lore video seems wayyyy to much for me

[@ArDeeMee]

It depends on how many details are in the video, and the pacing and choreography of the dances. The more you want, the more expensive it becomes.

[@kelmirosue3251]

And this is why I request half the work to be done with daily/weekly update before I even PAY the people. If it takes a month to complete it or longer then I'm gonna just flat out assume they scammed me and will do whatever I can to get my money back. I've had people say "Well I can't do that because you might steal my work" meanwhile my thing has always been "Yeah, because I want to make sure you're actually working on it and showing proof. I meet in the middle, do half the work, I'll then pay for that half, then do the other half, and I'll pay for the rest. And if it's extra good I may pay even more". Those that did work with me with my method have been awesome folk, and the background I use I gave an extra $100 because I thought it was that high quality (originally it was $30)

[@alicebissonnet457]

That’s not how animated production works . You cannot compare a BG commission and a music video project involving a whole team. I’d like to see you tell a whole crew that they won’t be paid until half of the work is done and only if you like it

[@csquaredgaming]

This isn't how it works... nobody gonna work for free bucko

[@Sofisasam]

half the work before paying anything? Not with a person who knows their worth

[@carrotisalie]

If any artists see this, don't do work before any payment and accept clients like this. easiest way to get scammed

[@sabeytee]

Mortified! JAMES 5:4 Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. JAMES 5:4 BEHOLD, THE HIRE OF THE LABOURERS WHO HAVE REAPED DOWN YOUR FIELDS, WHICH IS OF YOU KEPT BACK BY FRAUD, CRIETH: AND THE CRIES OF THEM WHICH HAVE REAPED ARE ENTERED INTO THE EARS OF THE LORD OF SABAOTH. [This is a confirmed case of {FRAUD; fraud}!]

[@lunix3259]

He defaulted. I wouldn't say it's a scam yet, but it looks like there are elements that would be considered as scam.

[@T-h-a-t_G-u-y]

You know why there's no information on James Wick? It's because it's a fake name.

[@tiersonshideaway]

If this is true, i want a source. So I can look into this again.

[@T-h-a-t_G-u-y]

@@tiersonshideaway Just a speculation, but a very believable speculation from my pov.

[@Chuck8541]

lol Paying people money, before getting product first? At least have a 3rd party manage the funds!

[@luni.um1]

Thats how 100% of commisions works

[@TiberianFiend]

It's hard to feel sorry for someone who spends more money on cartoons than I make in a year.

[@Kurppalumppu]

Especially when she earns that much money in 30 days at most. I don't know how long a "subathon" lasts but I guess she earned just shy of 40 grand within two weeks at most. So to Bao, losing 35k is just a slight sting. Not completely inconsequential but hardly anything worth making a fuss over either. Though I'm sure her simps have pumped up her bank account far beyond what she initially lost.

[@zin2828]

Damn, how insecure are you all?

[@Hetsu..]

@@zin2828 Even if they are insecure, if somethings stupid then its still stupid. Losing $35k as a fucking vtuber isnt too big of a deal when simps donate $10000 a night

[@justin.g25]

​@@Kurppalumppu"losing 35k","not worth making a fuss" What are you saying here my guy? Scams should be legal or something?

[@Kairos_Akuma]

​​Money is money. If you pay for something you either get it delivered or you get a refund. It doesn't matter how rich you are. or if it's 5 bucks or 5000 bucks. smh

[@mk8_it]

or just learn to make your own content and hire people you personally know and trust its funny how vtubers can speed hundred's if not thousands of hours talking or just playing games when they can spend that time learning to make their own content ofcourse ppl will target you when they see you know nothing of the medium you are using no one deservers to get scammed but at what point do you ask yourself how much and what would it take to make this content myself

[@Eibarwoman]

Even learning how to make the stuff can end up proving costly as rigging is time consuming and the person may not have the aptitude to be both a model maker and rigger of their own models.

[@mk8_it]

@@Eibarwoman it would be more expensive to always commission the work out and as much as trends change you be better off just learning the craft yourself and you will always have that knowledge to use in any field and industry when vtubing first started it was done by creators and artist now its done by posers who try to pass off as artist that's why the models are starting to look more and more generic

[@K.L.-]

Learning a skill like this will be a full time thing, or span over years, assuming you want to be as good as the dedicated riggers and artists. Vtubers have their own wants like being more of a performer or entertainer. Bao for instance works with music which is also a skill that takes time. While I always viewed things the way you do, as someone learning rigging and drawing my own model, it takes ALL the time. Best I can do in terms of streaming is streaming art and rigging and let’s face it, that is not nearly as entertaining and potentially distracting from the work. You gotta be realistic and look deeper than “they should just do it themselves”. They make enough to pay people while getting to do what they want. That’s how things work in this world, you either do it yourself or you have money to hire someone else so you can do what you actually want. That said, there’s no excuse for not vetting someone before spending thousands of people’s money. That, is just being stupid unfortunately.

[@Eibarwoman]

@@mk8_it As in there's enough saturation in English language content in particular for it to be where only the worst of the worst of self-made attempts might even be remotely unique art-wise and achievable by a novice without years of constant effort being put into it. And if one becomes good enough with years later, then the amount of time put into a model and make ends meet would make the unique model cost prohibitively expensive.

[@lukeshioshio]

Can't relate, I dont have 35k to burn on music videos

[@cubanspy1231]

lmao vtubers

[@redfire123]

dont become vtuber ez game

[@CrumblingCrumbler]

the saddest part is they have that much money to throw away and just keep going on like nothing

[@Quanbe77]

you can thanks the simps and the modern western world who make so much dude become beta who throw their money to fake anime " waifu" lmao

[@greeny.official]

what ?

[@gundalfthelost1624]

It's "sad" that they have money? What?

[@AngryShrymp]

it's called an investment. using their money to make their product, in this case their streams, a much better experience. this drama is a clear evidence of not "going on like nothing". they are legitimately in distress when the events happened. no person in the world who works a job throws money away like its nothing

[@anusaukko6792]

Bro graduated from kindergarten and has never heard of business expenses or investments

[@KippoKupo]

well they are vtubers. Obviously they arent smart. It's the modern version of clowns and carnivals.

[@opticdarkrider9089]

vtubers arnt people

[@d.3521]

Some Vtubers gain a lot They can live with it

[@ZabZabZabie]

are people really that interested in virtual thirst trap drama?