2025...

Well, with 2025 just around the corner, I figured I'd outline the plans, as January is usually my 'reset' month, where I apply some changes to keep content relevant, fresh and tailored to what folk enjoy.

Pricing:

I get asked this a lot, especially with the cost of living, etc. But this remains a hobby, not a primary source of income for me, with pledges reinvested in other content makers, or purchasing assets or commissioning out models and upgrades, so the costs of all tiers will remain the same in 2025. So no worries about increases or changes. There are no plans for a forth tier. It was suggested, but I think I have a nice harmonious balance of content, so not keen to change for the sake of it.

Content:

The content for 2025 will remain largely unchanged from current set up, as I think it is a nice medium, and gives everyone a chance to access what they want, when they want. Therefor, content per month will be 4 image sets containing 8 images, with a Tier 3 exclusive bumper image set. In the event of Commission Posts, Debut sets, or other content, these'll be available to ALL TIERS as usual.

There are some revisions.

• MEGA PACK:
  Everyone who comments on posts will get their name entered into the randomizer regardless of interactions. The winner will be announced on the 1st of the month, so keep an eye out! Selected winners will only have four days to respond, otherwise another Patreon will be selected instead!
  
  In the event the Patreon isn't on Tier 3, then the pack will be sent to them directly via Patreon Direct Messaging. Only posts on premium posts will qualify due to content allowed on 'free public' postings cannot be age verified or contain NSFW content. Patreon T&C sorry! To make it easier, I'll 'like' the comment on all qualifying posts.
  
  Thanks to feedback, the selection process will change slightly starting from January.

  • Winner will pick the 'star' of the show. They will then pick 10 desired characters. They want their star to have fun with. All characters listed on dantejackal.com are available, even if they have since been 'retired' from active use.

  • The Randomizer will select 5 desired characters from the list that remaining Patreons will vote on the same way as present. In the event of a tie break, then both (or more) will feature in the pack. This stage is here, just to keep character rotations moving, so that we don't have potentially high probability that a character will appear month after month and get boring.

  • The winning Patreon member will be omitted from the following month's selection to increase odds for others before posts are included once again.

  • The Mega Pack will also increase from 14 images... to 16 images. So it'll once again be double the size of the current packs!

  • To give the Mega Pack for even more value, you will also contribute towards the commission earning!
    
    The idea behind the pack is to increase engagement on my page, so I can get to know fans, tailor content etc. So to incentivise, those lucky winners, will also receive a discount on their Commission Earn. Currently those on Tiers 1 - 3 have a counter that awards a 2 piece commission option after 12 consecutive months. If you win a mega pack, your tier number will now earn you a discount!
    
    - Tier 1 at the time of Mega selection, a commission will open after 11 months.
    - Tier 2 at the time of Mega selection, a commission will open after 10 months.
    - Tier 3 at the time of Mega selection, a commission will open after 9 months.
    - Tier 0 at the time of Mega selection, will give you a discount based on your next tier.

    IF you're lucky enough to be picked twice, then the discount stacks!

  • Keep an eye on Discord too as if your very lucky, the boy you picked may send you a thank you message via my audiodeck!

• PATREON VOTE PACK:
  The way the Patreon picked set will feature is going to change slightly too with more options. Currently the packs are divided between a selected boy being paired with any three boys, and/or any three monsters. This will increase from three to four. This gives more chances for other characters to appear, wilder combinations, and potential crossovers.
  
  Again, in the event of a tie break, then both (or more) will appear with the random selected character.

Characters:

So reviewing the line up, it is obvious based on polls and interactions, that characters are more popular than others, whether this is because they're obscure or not, I don't know, but hazarding it's a factor. A lot of the older models now, compared to the new tech behind Blender, means realistically they need a total rework.

As I commission these out to others to build and some are 3-digits to do, I need to be totally convinced they're going to be a hit otherwise it's a struggle. As a result, I've made the decision to retire some of the models from the current line up rather than upgrading them. So what does this mean?

These characters will still be available for the Patreon and Mega Pack picks, and commissions. It just means they wont appear in the three base packs, giving space for others and new characters. If they get lots of reactions in the three above then I may review at a later stage.

The characters I've decided to retire from the main packs are:

• Biggs

• Prompto Argentum

• Ronin

• Twyn

• Death Claw

• Prowler

• Werewolf (Werewolf Apoc Version)

• Wisp

As said, the characters listed will be available for the Patreon and Mega Sets, and the Commissions, so if you want any of them to appear in your Mega Pack, or if you want a character to have fun with a Wisp or have Briggs with a Death Claw, you still can!

In terms of new characters in coming! Miles Morales is looking to drop in January after a long hiatus as a new modeller has commissioned him for me, and with the departing Fortnite characters, a couple more are going to drop in, to see if they can win your hearts and give a bit of a refresh to the offering!

As for monsters... We'll see who can Outlast the others when they start appearing from January... (There maybe a hint there, you may have to 'Walk' about a bit if you missed it), else I'm sure Doomlight will tell you as he is very good at cracking riddles.

DISCORD

Discord has a Patreon VIP area, it was just an area for all to chat, but I'm going to look at subdividing it a bit. Folk seem to enjoy chatting to the boys via RP and an audio deck with the guys voices loaded into it, so a specialist channel will be in there, so you can have personal messages from Damian telling you how he's better than you, Dante telling you about his exploits the night before, or the boys reactions as you swoon over them.

A subchannel for suggestions will be there too, so if there is an idea you love, Drift having the Mindflayer all over him as a recent suggestion as an example, can be dumped on there and who knows, maybe it'll become a content set! It's happened before numerous times, but it's all about growing the DanteJackal Universe, it's fanbase and the content tailored to stuff you love.

ANIMATIONS

The animations will remain on Tier 3 as usual and viewed as a bonus extra to the Tier. The current road map, is 1 BIG animation (IE Regen Subway) length (20+mins) and 4-5 DJShort Episodes/year. With this in mind, the planned releases for 2025 are:

• DJShort S02x05 - MediEVIL Times 2

• DJShort S02x06 - It Came from Outer Space

• DJShort S03x01 - Untitled

• DJShort S03x02 - Untitled

• Sexual Resistance Chapter 3

With the lack of Gumroad, I'm also going to look into the store front Patreon has unveiled last month as a place non-tier 3 can purchase and keep without a Tier 3 sub to watch. I need to do some research and work with Patreon and their T&C about this first though.

With the DJShorts Season 3, like Season 2, there will be a Patreon vote. This Season will have 2!

Vote 1 will include ALL the Mega Packs from 2024/5 + Debut packs from 2024/5 in one set.
Vote 2 will be 25 image packs over 2024/5 picked by the Randomizer as Patreon only supports 25 entries.

A competition for everyone will run the same as Season 2. This wont be exclusive for Patreons, but Patreons, Tweeters, Discordians and other Jackalites whomever they are will be able to enter. Details on this'll drop once Episode 6 of Season 2 is in production.

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In closing, thank you for another amazing year of support, whether you've been here a month, since January, or from way back when. I'm very humble for everything and what started as a couple hot characters in compromising/passionate positions, has evolved into it's own universe of characters where you guys are backing certain 'ships', shaping the content, getting involved in the story telling elementals, and yeah... here's to another jam packed year of content :)

Much love

DJ x