Civil War: Should Eljay Remove His Mask for Video Recordings?

Yeah, a lot of people seem to Enjoy us… I don’t like it either! How could they?

Something I don’t like about the channel is this constant pressure to show my face, specifically from the others. Recently, you may have noticed I wasn’t on the podcast this week. Or TTVT. Or really anything that isn’t a Recap Review. Lately, Kahi and I have been getting into some debates regarding my mask and the fact I wear it, largely stemming from the BioTalk BookClub series.

For those unaware, on Vessel, BookClub’s format is different than it is on Youtube. You see our faces on Vessel, while on Youtube it is only audio. Of course, because of this, I wear my mask during the recording of the show. And because that, my audio is slightly worse off due to it sounding muffled.

Well, that, plus the fact that I really do not like how Kahi and Var wants us to wait to read a chapter until right before a recording session has led me to getting pretty fed up with the whole situation. The ultimatum I’ve been presented with has been to either take off the mask for good, or never be on another BookClub or webcam-related series again.

I understand that many people like my mask as much as I do. So I refuse to remove it. I’m bringing this to the public eye so that Var and Kahi see that this will not be pushed quietly into the night before they hear everyone now involved.

@IllustriousVar and @Kahi, if you have anything you wish to add, please do so here.

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-checks watch-
-6 days away from april fools-
(Ok, that’s probably just really bad timing honestly)

How much does the Mask of Victory muffle your voice? Because that could be a nice alternative if it’s still constructed. (Plus it’s got the mouth function, so it would probably be a considerable upgrade from the miru, quality-wise.)

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It’s hard enough to schedule with you and Kahi as is, especially with you having a history of delaying our book productions. The mask thing is really just the icing on the cake when it comes to video making and is just another annoyance that could be avoided if we just cut it out altogether.

Personally speaking, I understand that everyone loves the symbolism behind the mask but I just don’t think it’s worth the reduction in quality that it causes when you’re on recordings; and this is coming from the person that made it. I think it’s perfectly understandable for you to sit out of webcam related videos if it means we can avoid the terrible muffled audio that you, yourself, have admitted to being hard to listen to.

Webcam related videos are currently only a minimum of our content, so this issue isn’t really of great importance until we decide to begin making our faces the forefront of our content. Which is something I wish we could do, but your mask situation is holding us back significantly.

This may actually be an acceptable solution, because if I recall correctly your audio was fairly clear during the one episode we recorded with it.

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I think it’s a pretty harsh decision to ban Eljay from being on webcam-related content just because of the mask. He’s had the mask (or a variation of his mask) ever since we met him and brought him onto the channel. He made his stance regarding the mask pretty clear when we formulated the idea to start putting our faces out into the public, so I think if we had any opposition we probably should’ve voiced it back then. In addition, one person having sub-par audio shouldn’t block them from participating in any of our shows, especially considering the storyline is Eljay’s schtick. I think quality of discussion should come before quality of audio, especially in a show like that.

That being said, I also think arguing about his mask and the bad audio, at this point in time, is pretty stupid considering Book Club’s been on hiatus for like 2+ months now. Seriously. How about we actually release Episode 2 and then go from there?

-Mesonak

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So what if he doesnt want to show his face? Not everyone’s comfortable with showing their face on the internet and that’s normal considering there are predators or whatever ._.

The muffled audio isn’t terrible. I mean it’s not crystal clear but you can still understand everything he’s saying. Besides, you’re the one who edits the audio so shouldn’t you also be at fault for not being able to clear his audio up?

What are you even talking about? If anything it’s how long it takes to edit that’d be holding you back.

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Well one of two things are happening here. Either you guys are serious about the mask thing, or y’all are setting up some April fools day type thing that would basically put the cast against each other in a type of civil war situation.

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Set up your barriers, April first approaches…
Honestly, I like most of the channel, but, as much as @Eljay is cool, I wish the recaps came more often. (Waiting for the Axalara…)

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Listen, we need to be more relatable. We’ve talked about this. We’re increasing our online presence, we’re appearing at conventions. It’s a nice little mascot, but like, it honestly brings down our content quality every time you do it. We’re celebrities now. We need to do it.

You want to keep your privacy for whatever stupid reason, then sure. You can do that. But you can’t have it both ways. Your audio quality is terrible, you don’t like wearing it for a long time so we can’t always do livestreams or video interviews…you can’t have your cake and eat it too.

This is where this channel is heading, man. Get onboard, or get out of the way.

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You’d look pretty silly at the conventions wearing your Mask, tbh.

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You really think he would? I’ve seen weirder…

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people wear fullbody cosplays and you think a mask is silly? have you even been to a convention before? :stuck_out_tongue:

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I dunno about you guys, but I’ve never heard too many issues with Eljay wearing his mask on BioTalk Bookclub.

I don’t see why Eljay would have to remove it, since it’s never detracted me from enjoying the show. In fact, I find it to be a good example of commitment.

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Exactly. If @Eljay were to take off the mask, I actually would like him as a cast member less, because having the Miru adds something. A mystery is always intriguing.

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Besides, it’s not like Eljay has caused any harm to the channel or boards in the past.

Oh wait he has hasn’t he? cough April Fools last year cough

Oh well. Regardless I think this is a silly issue. Eljay shouldn’t have to remove his mask. Why can’t we make up and be friends here?

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Alright here’s where I’m gonna have to disagree. You guys are pretty popular, fine, but just because you’re popular doesn’t mean you need to change up your formula. That’s what got you this far right? So, yeah, while Eljay’s mask may be hurting the production value a little, but I’m sure there are ways to work around it that let Eljay keep his mask, which is sorta like his signature at this point. Plus, if I remember correctly, he wears the mask to keep anonymity. And if you’re getting more popular, that almost strengthens the reason to keep the mask on. Because the more people watch you, the more people are gonna be annoyed by your content. And there are some pretty twisted people online.

So while yeah, I can see why you’d want better quality content, Eljay brings a lot to the table, and you guys saw last year what happened when he was “fired”. That wasn’t pretty.

Also, y’all know this is prob for april fools right? It’s the plot to Civil War. Eljay and Prpl want Eljay to keep the mask (Cap’s side) and Var and Kahi want the production value to be kept in check (Iron Man’s side). So far, those are the sides. Let’s see what happens over this next week.

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Yeah, there are nasty people on the internet, and That’s why I don’t reveal my name; Eljay has even more right to, because people actually know who he is, and he has fans. Keep your anonymity, @Eljay.

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Well Kahi if he wants to keep the mask on there is a simple work around for the audio, all he would have to do is aquire a headset that fits under the miru. I may be completely wrong however, this may be impossible it may be too expensive. All I’m saying is it’s a possibility

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#KeepEljaysAnonymity

##I will live by these words.

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I think we’ve gotten this far in spite of only having our voices on, not because of it. We’re at an interesting point, because we’re on the higher end of the Bionicle channel spectrum and the lower end of the LEGO channel spectrum.

I think showing our faces a bit more helps makes us more distinct and brings more relatability to our content. And I feel like Eljay is holding us back from doing that because he doesn’t want to wear the mask for everything we do - which is fine. But he also doesn’t want to appear on the camera without the mask.

So the solution is, until you come around on this, you’re just not on everything. It’s too much of a hassle.

Not saying there aren’t, but that’s what nearly every other YouTuber deals with on a daily basis. We knew what we were getting into when we made the channel. I don’t think showing our faces is actually going to change that to the point where it we would be in actual danger.

Eljay isn’t fired, he’s going to do everything he normally does. He’ll just be gone from the productions that we’re adding video to in the future.

That’s a pretty outdated way to look at the internet. You know why I’m always so open about my name? Because I don’t know how long “Kahi” will exist. I don’t know if I’ll always be doing Bionicle content. In fact, I know that for certain - Bionicle isn’t going to last forever.

I have people that follow me that actually know me, so, if I have a career elsewhere, I don’t have to rebuild my brand from scratch. “Jonathan Juan” returns on the top page of Google results. So does my LinkedIn profile. It helps my visibility, which in turn will aid me in getting a job in the future. The first thing a tech employer does with an applicant is Google them. I’m making sure they find what I want them to see.

GameTrailers recently shut down, and the guy behind the voice for all of the videos, Brandon Jones, said that the worst decision he made in his life was have his Twitter handle be “GameTrailersVO”. He built his following on that brand, and when it was gone, he realized that a ton of people didn’t know who he was.

That’s the kind of thing you should plan for. Me and Var have always planned to be professionals, that’s why you can find our names pretty easily. It’s the best move going forward, and it would be a shame to waste this opportunity given to all of us.

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Maybe that’s the case for you, but honestly I don’t see how that applies to Eljay.

Does Eljay even want to have this as part of his professional career? I know he has different jobs. He is building up his resume. What happens for your careers really shouldn’t affect him.

Really, Eljay should just be as silly and as a character as he can be. I don’t see what would hurt about it.

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