 Hello everybody who did Cobra Commander 788 here, and this is the rare vlog. We don't do this very often We don't just sit down and talk, but we should we should Every once in a while just sit down and communicate and just talk about Stuff that's going on and that's hard to do sometimes within the weekly video reviews, but I think it's important Now these in-between videos, they don't take away anything from the weekly video reviews But just kind of as a bonus. I think it's good that we just sit down and have a more general discussion every once in a while So that's what we're going to try now, and I've got some notes because I didn't want to forget what I was going to talk about so I did want to talk about how the channel is doing and I wanted to talk about the future so the channel right now We have about 2600 subscribers, which I think is great. It has taken us almost exactly three years to get there And that is to me fantastic. We are Bringing more people in we are reigniting Passion for GI Joe that some people may have forgotten. I can see the comments I can see how excited people are getting about it and that really is heartwarming to me I love seeing that and now the channel has changed. It's changed a lot in The few years that we've done this If you look at those early videos and what we do now is very different from what I did then But it's not just the videos I think the scope and the purpose of the channel has changed now when I first starting started doing reviews I had two purposes. The first one was to share my collection And kind of show my collection as it grows Because I was a novice collector. I was really just getting started out and I really only accumulated a few things but the these reviews would be kind of a Document my journey as a collector as I start out new and not knowing very much and grow in experience So I wanted to share that plus I get more enjoyment out of Having the stuff if I'm able to share it with someone I get a lot more enjoyment out of that than if I just stick it up on a shelf and nobody who doesn't come into my house Ever gets to see it. So sharing these things with you makes me enjoy it that much more The second purpose was to learn more about the toys Now these are toys that I hadn't played with in more than 30 years. My memory is not that great So doing the reviews has been a great excuse to do some research and learn more about the toys And I get more enjoyment out of that out of the toys for that reason as well so that's kind of the impetus that got us started but Things have changed. I mean we have a growing audience We have the capability of doing more and I feel like now we should be maybe a little more Ambitious than that What I'd like to do with the channel going forward is I'd like to bring more of the community together and and I want to promote talent because I like to see talented people recognized and Rewarded for their hard work. And so these are things that I would like to accomplish with this channel in addition to sharing the toys and Reigniting people's passion for GI Joe. I want the GI Joe community to be noticed I want the GI Joe community To be noticed by people outside of the community by people who may not have any special interest in GI Joe I want them to see what we're doing here and Want to pay attention to that I want them to think that they need to keep an eye on what's going on in the GI Joe community because there's some real passion there There's some talented people doing some great work there and I want I want people who Aren't in the community to still feel like This community is important and they want to know what's going on there And now we have a smaller Community than a lot of other fandoms if you compare it to Transformers if you compare it to Star Wars GI Joe is pretty small, but GI Joe was the part of the childhood of millions of people And many of those people have forgotten through our work here We can remind some of those people how much they used to love this stuff And so that's one of the things that I want to do now in the YouTube world GI Joe channels are pretty small There are channels on YouTube with millions of subscribers and even if you narrow it down to the toy focused Section of YouTube GI Joe is still pretty small and pixel Dan has about 180,000 subscribers And even if you only focus on Retro toy focused YouTube channels GI Joe channels are still pretty small if you look at retro blasting They have about 22,000 subscribers At this time as it stands right now There isn't any GI Joe focused channel that has anything close to a hundred thousand subscribers I mean that would be huge in the toy focused YouTube community But I'm not sure that goal is quite attainable at least not for the foreseeable future The way it appears to me is that channels that have a broader focus Tend to do better than channels that have a narrower focus now That's a little bit counter-intuitive because you would think that channels that with a broader focus that don't focus on a specific toy line or a specific fandom would lose out on views when those channels post videos that part of their viewership is an interested in for instance if Channel posts a Transformers video, but a large part of their fan base Is in the Star Wars? Well the Star Wars fans are not going to watch a Transformers video So they're more likely to just skip it now. That's what you would think would happen But it doesn't appear to be the case channels that focus on a Specific fandom are niche and it can be a big niche If the fandom is large but Channels that focus only on vintage toys Within a fandom are a niche within a niche So it's really a smaller range of potential viewers that we are trying to attract so Like fans of say Voltron They don't have any reason to watch my videos because they're never going to see Voltron in my videos But they will subscribe to retroblasting because even if only one out of ten videos is about Voltron at least they will see some Voltron. So a channel like retroblasting with a broader appeal like that has a greater potential number of Viewers that they can attract that being the case I think there is kind of a ceiling for the popularity of a channel like mine And if I were to guess at what the top end of that would be where the ceiling would be I would guess about ten thousand subscribers And at least as I calculated right now, I don't think there is any GI Joe focused channel That has ten thousand subscribers yet. I think we're all all under that right now However, I think It might be possible to push that ceiling a little bit higher Now how would we do this? We would do this by making sure that our videos are entertaining They need to be informative. I mean, they've got to have some depth. Otherwise, I mean if I did Videos that didn't have any information in them and that were just only, you know, you know popcorn entertainment I would lose interest in them I've got to produce Videos that in my estimation have some depth videos that I would Want to watch. I mean, this is also you have to consider. This is a visual entertainment medium So we can't just sit here and read technical manuals in front of the camera Nobody would watch that. There has to be some kind of entertainment factor involved so I think it's possible to crack that ceiling a little bit if we can give viewers a little extra reason to want to subscribe and tune in and watch now if any Channel if any GI Joe focused channel is going to break through that ceiling that channel should be Kevin Obviously, it should be form BX 257. I informed BX 257 right now has about 6400 subscribers and he's been doing it the longest He has the greatest store of knowledge. He has a smooth style. That's easy to watch But for me coming up behind Kevin, there's a different perspective I want the community as a whole to succeed and get noticed if Kevin Succeeds and if Kevin breaks through that ceiling Then I succeed because the community Succeeds when that happened. I'm fine being the noisy cricket. All right, that can be my role I'm okay being the obnoxious guy at the party that not everybody likes Because when I make that noise and when I get everybody's attention What I'm gonna do is I'm gonna say hey I'm gonna look at the point in the direction of Kevin and say hey look at how what the great stuff that guy's doing and Look over here. I mean look at half the battle. Look at the great things that half the battle of it Look at GI Joe Berg GI Joe Berg is fantastic. You don't want to miss out on that stuff Look at Joe fan 82 great stuff coming from Joe fan 82 and they all lose other GI Joe focus content creators who are doing some great work some very entertaining work and very informative videos and videos worth watching I I have no problem taking on the role of being a Noisemaker that gets people's attention because I'm going to use that attention hopefully to strengthen the community to Broaden the reach of the community and to make sure that the that the whole community benefits from that if this channel Attains any success at all then I'm not gonna do it alone I've said it all along that we're in this together and so as I move forward I'm taking all of you with me So as this as we move forward as we gain more subscribers It was to gain a greater audience as we get more success I want to take Kevin and Timmer and GI Joe Berg and Joe fan 82 and everyone else on YouTube who cares about this stuff and Say, you know, let's go. Let's all go together. Let's go forward all together and conquer the world And you know, we don't have to live out there on islands just doing it ourselves we are in this together and Working together we can build something bigger than we could ever build on our own So I want to make sure that you understand that that includes you That are watching this everyone who subscribes and watches the videos You are the community every time you watch a video every time you comment every time you share it Every time you turn someone on to what we're doing you are expanding and strengthening the community and you are Bringing to fruition what we are working toward we are going to write our names our own names into GI Joe history and In GI Joe history, my name may only be a footnote But it's gonna be a footnote and all of us together We're gonna be a whole lot more than a footnote in addition to You know trying to create the best review that I can do I'm also I also try to be entertaining and I know that not everybody likes that often They say that they don't like that but the fact is that we're that's not gonna change I'm going to do my best not only to inform, but to entertain as well Because not only do I want to immerse you in GI Joe? goodness, I also want viewers to need to watch the Videos about toys that they don't necessarily care about Not everybody cares about every single GI Joe action figure and so if I'm doing a review of a figure or a vehicle that Most people don't even remember and even if they do remember they never really liked it You still got to watch the video review of that because in my reviews in my videos Anything could happen. I could introduce a new segment. We could have a guest We could have a cameo from another YouTube personality There anything could happen. I could get Get into a lethal battle with a robot. I could go to doggy heaven I could be sent to hell Anything you don't want to miss any videos because if you do you may miss something that has Implications for the future something Surprising something monumental something that you didn't expect Yeah, I do. I want to make some noise I want to make so much noise that people outside of the GI Joe community hear it. I want them to Take notice and when they do When they do yeah, I'm gonna say Look at Kevin Look at GI Joe Berg look at Timmer look at look at these guys Look at all these look at Joe fan doing modern GI Joe toy reviews This is the stuff that that they're producing now. You don't want to miss out on that stuff, too There is stuff going on here and there's a lot of passion in this relatively small community And that's what I'm gonna do And that's what I strive to do every week if the GI Joe YouTube community is going to break through the 10,000 subscriber ceiling and climb closer to the hundred thousand subscriber territory What we need to do is to produce content now that is Worthy of a hundred thousand subscribers We got to do the our best now Not wait till we have reached the great pinnacles of success We need to be worthy of that success now And so that is worth every effort that we can put into it and that is worth, you know banding together and Making sure that and not only is my channel noticed but everything that everybody else is doing GI Joe related on YouTube is noticed as well But that means I have to keep pushing myself to get better It means I need to call upon the support of the community It means I need to make the final product more polished. I need to have better equipment I need to get better toys to review. I need to learn new skills I always have to keep pushing myself Forward and pushing myself to learn more and to do better and to have greater connections with the community at large But I can promise you that I'm working at that every day Some of you have helped me and for that I I have more gratitude than I can express but I Just want to remind everybody that This channel is not just about me. It never has been it's about us And I I know that not everybody is going to continue on this journey I know I know that I'm not everybody's cup of tea and I'm going to annoy people sometimes And that's just a fact and I've learned to accept that that doesn't bother me one bit So, you know anyone is welcome to jump off the train anytime they want to but the train is not stopping We're going forward Never go backward. We only go forward And those who do choose to go with us I think are going to be part of something special something big Something that will be remembered long after we're done I think people are going to discover this stuff and Marvel at what we built here. And so that's what I want to do and that's Where this channel is going now? That's it's a more ambitious Goal than what I had when I started, but you know what? I think it's a worthy goal so right now Jocon is coming up and what I'm trying to do right now is accumulate As big a war chest as I can plenty of cash For the dealer floor And it looks like it won't be quite as much as I had to spend last year But it really I need to stock up on Items to review next year. Jocon has become kind of vital as a you know part of the Process of doing these reviews because I that's where I get a lot of the stuff that I end up reviewing through the year so That's priority number one priority number two after jocon is to upgrade my camera This camera has served its purpose valiantly for quite a while now But there are some things that I need to do in the future that this camera just can't quite do I need a camera with more features. I need a camera with a slightly better quality And so that is the next goal So Supporters those of you who have supported me and continue to do so. I want to assure you your contributions are going Straight into the show You may not see some of the results right away, but that's because I'm being a little more ambitious now I have bigger plans that will take longer to play out, but over the long term My hope is that you will notice increased quality over time in these videos and Your contributions are an integral and important part of that You know, I want to work with I want to do more collaborations I want to work with other content creators because I really want to give you guys a good quality entertaining and informative show every week And if we can keep doing that and keep pounding away every week and keep trying to improve every week then We all of us are going to do something big here something far bigger than I ever dreamed of doing when I first started this channel and Whether we succeed or fail we're going to try and I think it's it's worthy of our best efforts So we're going to try our best and we're going to try to build something that people Remember long after we're gone now one. There's one other thing. I wanted to talk about I recently announced that Eventually this project of reviewing every vintage GI Joe toy Will end when the last GI Joe toy GI Joe toy has been reviewed then this project is is done And I've even announced which toy will be the final one to be reviewed and that will be rock and roll version 2 so That is it makes me feel better to know that there is an attainable goal to work toward It just That motivates me and so that keeps me motivated and focused so That it's important. It was important to set that parameter for the channel now Of course, I could have just announced that I could have done You know a vlog like this or just announced it at the beginning or at the end of a review video You know or I could be killed by Robo Joe Regenerate go to doggie heaven and then go to hell and then return in a bolt of lightning instead of just announcing it in a video like this We did things a little bit more dramatically That's just kind of how we do things around here So what would I do after GI Joe? Well, I mean I have some ideas, but none of it is certain yet I mean there's possibility that I could I could do nothing. I could just retire But the other toy lines interest me There's nothing in my life that even comes close to GI Joe though So I have some ideas, but it's not quite certain That's that's it's a long ways off. It's too far down the road And there's still a lot of years of GI Joe left to do so I'm not going to worry about that right now I've still got a lot of GI Joe left to look at and so I'm going to just keep pounding away every week Toward our goal of looking at everything. That's all I really wanted to say other than once again Thank you. Thank you for sitting to this super long video. Thank you for watching every week Thank you for your communications One of the best things about this has been communicating with you and you know I have tried to keep up with the comments and private messages You know, I do want this channel to grow but as the channel continues to grow It's going to be harder and harder for me to keep up with Comments with emails with private messages and things like that and already it's becoming difficult to keep up with I mean if I get sometimes get comments and get Emails and messages when it's not an inconvenient. It's not a convenient time for me to reply. I do have a regular job I do have family obligations So I'm not always in a position to reply when I receive it and then sometimes when I get back to it You know, it's not easy to go back and find the one that I intended to reply to but I wasn't able to so I apologize about that but That's regrettable. It kind of makes me sad because one of the best things about doing this project is is you and so I Do want the channel to continue to grow I do recognize that can communicating with my viewers will be more difficult as that happens, but As much as I can and as long as I can I am going to try to keep having Like good one-on-one personal relationships with my viewers as much as I possibly can So thank you for your patience. Thank you for your indulgence. Thank you for being here And I will let you all go for now. We've got a lot coming up We've got a big thing going on for the month of April. I hope you like it And I hope you like the direction of the channel going forward And for those of you who choose to sit around Let's do something special. Thanks for watching. I'll see you next time