I've been quietly watching this one with concern for awhile but I'm very unsurprised at the outcome.
Last year when this was all getting started, Vex and I were approached to meet in person to discuss Luminara. Genuinely, we were curious about it and wanted to learn more, but given how vague a lot of the posts by the organization were, we had no idea what Luminara was actually offering.
The meeting in person was friendly enough. Camana seemed like a nice dude with some genuine dreams at the time to run... some sort of organization. But we've also seen genuine people lead to absolute disaster in indie management firms if they don't really understand what they're getting into, and so Vex, in her infinite wisdom, slipped in probing questions to figure out what the heck they actually offered.
By the end of the meeting neither of us understood. They wanted to put on events, and they wanted to provide youtube editing, but they had no intention of taking any form of payment from their clients. When we asked how they were going to pay their editors, they just said that everyone would be paid, and they had investors. One of the investors right away we'd had issues with in the past, so that was a large red flag in itself.
Red flag two was having absolutely no plan to sustain the organization, no matter what questions we asked. All the money was coming from investors and basically having talents host events, which I assume the hope there was to attract sponsors to help fund the costs of.
Red flag three was Camana continuing to bring up his connection to Zen and also bragging about how he'd signed multiple talents that weekend. It was very "look who I know!" heavy and immediately flagged to Vex and I as leaning on someone's name, probably without their knowledge, to gain influences on others.
Halfway through the meeting where we still had absolutely no idea how their organization would function, Vex was asked if she was interested in joining. "So what do you think? Do you want in?" or something like that. We were so shocked Vex had to do a double take and ask for clarification that we were indeed being asked on the spot to join. She politely declined and said she'd need to see contracts and understand more about how the organization would work before we could proceed in either direction. We could tell immediately the conversation turned after we declined, and became more about pleasantries - which was fine, it transitioned into being a comfy convo and a walk back to the convention in the end. They didn't seem like bad people at all, just very misguided in how any form of management organization should run.
But we later found out through other friends that they had also been approached, or had been sent contracts online and then pressed about joining IRL before anything could be reviewed or discussed. People we had been told had been signed had not, in fact, been signed, and a few other tales of behavior and uncomfortable situations, actions taken at others' expenses that I'm not at liberty to discuss, ultimately left us with a very sour taste in our mouth.
In my experience, organizations without this kind of plan but with ideals to run merch, run events, and promise the world to their talents are often set up for disaster when it comes to paying contractors, or when an investor realizes they're not going to make any money off this venture. Once the well dries up, money gets stolen from others, until nothing's left, or talent begin to talk, and everything falls apart. When that happens, talent are typically isolated from each other to prevent said talking, threats about career damage and legal action loom overhead, or the owner up and vanishes without a word to protect themselves. Legally speaking, it's often prohibitively costly to get those amounts of money back, so when they run, they often get away with it.
We absolutely did not want to be a party to that kind of fallout, so we declined and moved on with our lives, while watching the organization quietly and hoping for a different end.
So this outcome ultimately doesn't surprise me at all. It sucks seeing people hurt. I hope everyone can land on their feet.
But I want to express two important, relevant things I have learned from my time in this industry and on this planet.
1: Management organizations are incredibly difficult to sustain. Be very careful and really study an organization's track record before you consider joining.
2: If something seems too good to be true, such as someone offering you free management services, it absolutely always is. DO NOT TRUST THIS. DO NOT ENGAGE.
Wishing nothing but the best for everyone moving on from this phase of their journey. <3
I thought because you can find someone's name in some round about way its fair game @vexmlk/@vexmlkirl and @SilvyPersonal?
Now its bad because its against Vex and not Kodiak?
Im not saying this is good. I dont like it...but at least be consistent and take responsibility for your shit too Vex.
Also you know coordinating a massive reporting is against TOS?
Whatever you do guys PLEASE do not give @vexmlk anymore money, she just blew hundreds on a Lamborghini rental and is now begging for her community to pay for her dental appointment.
🚨 AI Haters Exposed 🚨
VTuber Ironmouse raged, dropped her NTE sponsorship, and screamed about the game using AI (after claiming Hotta lied to her team).
Yet she’s completely silent on Genshin, Honkai, Fortnite, and Resident Evil Requiem, all of which are accused of using AI too.
Pure hypocrisy.
Notorious Piracy Streaming site AnimeKai will be shutting down, with developer ending the project following the data center catching on fire
"Sorry, our data center has been burned :( We're no longer able to provide the file hosting service."
So… like I said… Ironmouse lied.
NTE admitted to using Gen AI before launch, IronMouse played the game and got her money for the sponsorship, then virtue signaled and pulled the ladder up behind her.
It’s actually crazy how people ignore the egregious behavior of these streamers.
Hideki Kamiya, the creator and director of the Bayonetta video game series, recently replied to a user on X.
The fan described Bayonetta as an absolute “LGBTQ icon” and criticized Bayonetta 3 for trashing the legacy of the games, and asked for Kamiya to return.
Kamiya quoted the user post and responded:
“Idiot, disappear…”
People, I'm gonna be direct because I'm honestly exhausted.
A small group in the fandom managed to get my account suspended recently. Now that I'm back, they're still threatening to suspend me again. How far do they plan to go? Since when does simply wanting to enjoy a game become a reason for censorship?
I know fandoms can be toxic sometimes, but this shit has crossed a real line. Just for writing this, they'll probably mass-report me for "inciting hate." I can't defend myself properly and I can't fight back either... it's this horrible feeling of complete helplessness.
I thought the Snowbreak case was just a one-off thing with those radical feminists in China, but seeing the same kind of people on this side of the world with the exact same shitty intentions is depressing as hell.
If the game doesn't adapt to their "modern tastes" or preferences, they want it to EOS and they don't want to let anyone else enjoy it either. They just want to force their vision and ruin the fun for the rest of us.
Whatever happens, happens. But I'm going to keep doing what I like. I won't leave NTE even if they silence me again.
NTE 4ver.