Venom The Last Dance in theaters. Its extremely cool that of all the characters to make a youtube show about, after struggling to build an audience with Transformers, Lego, and others, that I landed on Eddie Brock. Big thanks to Tom Hardy for that.
I knew who Venom was, of course, but I didn't know how interesting and relatable this guy could be. I also didn't realize how cool and passionate of an audience and community that talking about Venom would bring me to.
The fans, who go by many names; Venomheads, Venomaniacs, Venomites, symbiotes, and the list goes on, (I called them Parasites, as a nod to the first film) have been extremely welcoming and awesome to me over the years.
I too find it ironic that I talked about a guy who says "we" when describing him and his alien other, only to now speak about myself in plural as well, due to my own set of "others."
Let this be a lesson to anyone who embarks on an adventure in life, maybe even this is a reminder to myself as well:
As much as I love Transformers and toys and all of that, when I made YouTube videos about those things, as popular as they are, I struggled to build a following. We had like 200 subs, which was dope, but we never really went beyond until we talked Venom.
Venom built us to over 3k subs. Not just cause he was popular, but because I wasn't a know-it-all about him. I was learning, exploring, studying and understanding, with great respect, and I think fans appreciated that.
We talked about how filming is done, how comics are made. We talked about merchandise, reviewing it, discussing why things sell and don't sell, why books and movies make money vs not, how marketing works.
We went BEYOND the character while making the show and discussed the HOW and WHY of each aspect of this tremendously fun, yet tragic character.
By doing the Venom Vlog I also learned how to edit, how to create music, how to use PowerPoint and Excel and Photoshop, how to brand myself, how to make thumbnails, learned about SEO & algorithms, and so much more.
We grew. In the best ways. And we did it without being negative. We made it family friendly, like Mr Rogers (who I am a huge fan of) and made it about educating an audience about film, comics, and toys while they educated me about Eddie & Venom.
The point here is:
Aim to do what you love, but if it fails, be open to pivot and try something else that you may end up loving as well. It works out. Trust me.
Big love to the Parasites, to Tom, Kelly, Andy, Ruben, David, Todd, Erik, Mark, Donny, and all who have contributed to Venom over the years. Thanks for keeping him alive, relevant, and interesting. We love you all, human and symbiote alike.
Siike Donnelly
A year ago...
Venom The Last Dance in theaters. Its extremely cool that of all the characters to make a youtube show about, after struggling to build an audience with Transformers, Lego, and others, that I landed on Eddie Brock. Big thanks to Tom Hardy for that.
I knew who Venom was, of course, but I didn't know how interesting and relatable this guy could be. I also didn't realize how cool and passionate of an audience and community that talking about Venom would bring me to.
The fans, who go by many names; Venomheads, Venomaniacs, Venomites, symbiotes, and the list goes on, (I called them Parasites, as a nod to the first film) have been extremely welcoming and awesome to me over the years.
I too find it ironic that I talked about a guy who says "we" when describing him and his alien other, only to now speak about myself in plural as well, due to my own set of "others."
Let this be a lesson to anyone who embarks on an adventure in life, maybe even this is a reminder to myself as well:
As much as I love Transformers and toys and all of that, when I made YouTube videos about those things, as popular as they are, I struggled to build a following. We had like 200 subs, which was dope, but we never really went beyond until we talked Venom.
Venom built us to over 3k subs. Not just cause he was popular, but because I wasn't a know-it-all about him. I was learning, exploring, studying and understanding, with great respect, and I think fans appreciated that.
We talked about how filming is done, how comics are made. We talked about merchandise, reviewing it, discussing why things sell and don't sell, why books and movies make money vs not, how marketing works.
We went BEYOND the character while making the show and discussed the HOW and WHY of each aspect of this tremendously fun, yet tragic character.
By doing the Venom Vlog I also learned how to edit, how to create music, how to use PowerPoint and Excel and Photoshop, how to brand myself, how to make thumbnails, learned about SEO & algorithms, and so much more.
We grew. In the best ways. And we did it without being negative. We made it family friendly, like Mr Rogers (who I am a huge fan of) and made it about educating an audience about film, comics, and toys while they educated me about Eddie & Venom.
The point here is:
Aim to do what you love, but if it fails, be open to pivot and try something else that you may end up loving as well. It works out. Trust me.
Big love to the Parasites, to Tom, Kelly, Andy, Ruben, David, Todd, Erik, Mark, Donny, and all who have contributed to Venom over the years. Thanks for keeping him alive, relevant, and interesting. We love you all, human and symbiote alike.
1 week ago | [YT] | 13