Welcome to Easy Allies Phase Infinity (Patreon)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKsTgEZbbuo

Today Easy Allies is 6 years old. EZX is back to celebrate all week long, and we have a huge list of important announcements to share. Check out the video above, or you can see them here in written form.

Brandon Jones is Retiring

Brandon’s last day at Easy Allies and in the business of video games coverage is May 1st, 2022. This is due to a number of personal reasons, but also because this May marks the 20th anniversary of GameTrailers, which means Brandon will have participated in this industry for almost two decades. He’s ready to ride off into the sunset and go on new adventures. He will still be available to do voice over for whatever we’d like. He will be a guest on the podcast at least once before May 1st, and he will be on May’s Community Showcase. That means there are only 5 episodes of Cup of Jones left for $1 patrons before the show ends forever. Yee-ha!

We Have an All New Logo

We have a new logo!  We wanted it to be fun and exciting but not too huge of a departure from our original logo.  The colors are complementary colors of our original deep red, but they’re a little more zesty and fun!

Business Talk

Effective two months ago Isla and Bloodworth were named co-heads of Easy Allies. We felt we needed a more solidified structure so we could navigate the business a little quicker than we have in the past. We have many improvements in the works, and many that we’ve already implemented.  Whether we introduce something new or take something away, we want to Follow the Passion and base those decisions on what our team is most interested in pursuing and gives them energy. We want to continue to make Easy Allies engaging and authentic.

Damiani and Brad will be taking the lead on planning and overseeing streaming–expect lots of fun weird ideas, more betting and interactions with chat, and generally more streaming!

Ben Moore will be joining Blood in copy editing reviews, and we have some new ideas in mind for reviews too, more on that in a second.

Our thumbnails, titles, Patreon, and Twitch are all getting improved looks. AND we’re using Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube shorts now! We’re also introducing new Twitch emotes and stream alerts, and we’re working on updates to the website. To help with all of this, we ‘re hiring a community manager! It’s long overdue and we think it’ll be a huge help for the company!

Changes to the Podcast

Now that Bloodworth is permanently in the hot seat, the podcast is going to change a little bit. Instead of always adhering to a set rotation, we’ll be looking to pull in the allies most qualified to discuss the news of that particular week, or when that’s not possible, we’ll try to look for stories that are more tailored to the panel’s interests. This will ensure more passion and expertise on the podcast, allowing us to speak with more confidence on each week’s news. You’ll notice a few other changes too, keep an eye out!

Changes to Reviews

We love our reviews. So we’re not re-inventing the process that’s worked so well for decades. That said, we’re one of the few channels that use the editorial “We” and that has a separate person doing the narration. So with select reviews, we’re going to try out a new take with the writer doing their own VO, expanding that process as we get more practiced and comfortable. In these reviews, the writing will be more personal as well to allow a stronger individual voice. Ben will also be editing some of his own reviews, again to make them more distinct. As long as he’s willing, we still anticipate calling on Brandon’s golden pipes when we need them, but this should give us more variety.

Patreon Goals are back!

A while back we took away Patreon goals, and since then we’ve felt their absence. We think it’s fun and beneficial for us to have something to aim for, and to make it clear that direct support is the fuel that keeps this engine running. So we’re bringing back Goals!  We’re going to start with just three.  $35k, $40k, and $45k.

Our $35k goal is Called Easy Allies Engaged and is also related to a new stream series we’re going to be introducing! Say hello to Hang Out Streams! These will be at 11AM, and will be a chill hang out with an ally for an hour or so, chatting, reacting to the news or trailers, and generally just having a relaxed nice time with the community.  These will start with Tuesdays and Thursdays, but if we hit the goal, they’ll be every weekday.

The $40 thousand dollar tier is a little less easy to define. We’re calling it Easy Allies Endures, and speaking frankly, this is the amount of money we need to confidently maintain this company as you know it for the long haul. We’ve been able to survive the last two years on savings and tightening our belts, but let’s say if Scrooge McDuck took a dive into our Vault right now he’d get a mouthful of floor. To weather future storms, maintain our space and gear, and continue as a full-time studio team, we simply need to be meeting this amount. When we reach this goal we’ll have a big marathon stream to celebrate, but this goal is less about being flashy, it’s about meeting day to day needs and not adding new tasks.

The $45k tier is called Easy Allies Enhanced, and it’s the party tier.  If we hit this consistently it means we can invest on wilding out. Quarterly parties and tournaments, more diverse content, hire freelancers to help out on other projects, Post Shows on more of our content. This is Easy Allies bigger, badder, and better.  Let’s get there.

Patreon Tier changes!

Our patreon tiers are getting a big overhaul! Our $1 tier is changing to be a general thank you tier for supporting the dream, and it will still  include Fast & Loose and the extended ad-free version of the podcast. We love and value our exclusive content like Spoiler Mode, Achieve it Yourself, and Trash Babies, and after a long hard look, we felt that we were undervaluing some of our hardest to produce content.

Our $5 tier is our bread and butter. It will still have all the great benefits it already had, like early access and getting in on comments for many podcasts, including Love and Respect, but now it will also have our exclusive shows, and our upcoming Patron only Discord, which our new community manager will help us manage.

The seven, ten, and fifteen dollar tiers will be largely the same, although we’re always looking for more ways to make these exciting and more interactive. One minor change is that Tiermaker will be moving from monthly to quarterly.  At the $20 tier we are officially retiring the Q&A, Fast and Loose kind of ticks this box as it is, and many of our other tiers at lower levels allow for questions and answers.  Now we are introducing Behind the Scenes! Patrons will be privy to private behind the scenes live tapings of our shows.  We’ll start with just the podcast, but if it goes well we’ll loop in live tapings of other things like Fast & Loose, Reaction Shots, and other podcasts as well. Post Shows would also go here too, if we unlock that goal.

The $50 tier will still be monthly digital fan mail sent out from each of us to each person at or above this tier, but we’re also excited to announce that this will also include physical gifts as well.  Patreon will handle the shipping of items to anyone eligible, globally. Patreon requires three consecutive months at a tier before they ship merch starting now, that’s just how they do it, but these will be unique and interesting items with fun weird art from artists we find in our community that you can’t get anywhere else!

We’re going to retire Blood Pact at the $60 tier, but for $100 Brandon Jones will read just about anything. (Think of this like a private Cameo.) Get his Golden Voice to say whatever you want (within reason.) We reserve the right to refuse any line read, and you'll be notified to provide a different line.

It’s been a great run with the people at the $200 tier but we’re retiring DnD and changing this to a twice monthly private gaming session with the allies. How many people and what games we play will vary depending on who is available and how many players the game allows, but we think this should be a lot of fun!

Our $250 Shout Out tier is sticking around just as great as ever before, but for the discerning patron, we’re also presenting the “Everything* Producer” Tier! For $500 we put your name after Everything.*  That’s right, every show, podcast, preview, and heck we'll even slap the card on the end of REVIEWS! Call us crazy, but we think it just might work.   *Includes fully produced content only, not stream archives, clips, social media, promos, etc.

But what if you really want to shine? What if you want to soar through the internet like a glammed out rockstar? What if this mortal shell is not enough and you want to ascend higher than ever before and live on forever in the annals of our videos? What if you’re a GODDESS? The $1000 Goddess Tier is much like the Everything Producer tier except your name is on a card all by itself and it’s in ridiculous big shiny sparkly letters on every video and we’ll also do doodles for you every month.

EZX Fundraising Goals

Now let’s get on to EZX!  We’re here all week doing lots of streams. Soon you’ll be able to see our full schedule on EasyAllies.com in your local time zone. We’re also doing a fundraiser with some great incentives!

$2,000 Chat picks whose hands go where for Elden Ring

$4,000 Live Food Review on Friday during EZX

$6,000 Ben continues his Pokemon Nuzlocke after EZX

$8,000 We’ll buy a vocal booth for the studio

$10,000 Balan Wonderworld dance party during EZX

$12,000 Mission Impossible II Watch Party

$14,000  Black Desert Character Creations Competition

$16,000 Jones Builds a LEGO Tallneck

$18,000 Ben Spends Money on... Genshin Impact? Or perhaps something new

$20,000 Resident Evil Welcome to Raccoon City movie audio commentary

$22,000 Hardcore Hyper-Intense Pog Tournament

$25,000 Sonic 2 - All Allies Spoiler Mode

We hope you're as excited about the future of Easy Allies as we are! Now let’s enjoy EZX!