The Under 800,000 Subscriber Special!

I wish you were my friend JS. You are in my top five human beings ever. I'm frightened about how trans people are being treated. It's difficult, it's lonely. Transitioning is hard. You are not a different person. I love your work going back a decade or more and I would miss you bitterly if you were gone from my life.

I have increased my monthly pledge. Know that you are appreciated, and that you give a voice to many who have none in these times. Thank you, for being you in such a public way.

That video made me into a patreon, finally :)

Steph being happy makes me feel happy, upping my pledge as well since my life is better for them and thank god for James Stephanie Sterling!

omg jonathan...

Upped my pledge a little bit! I've loved your work for years now and your public transition has been incredibly inspiring.

I subscribed to your channel last week. Sorry to impede the incredible trajectory of your YouTube career.

Longtime fan on youtube and such, decided it was the right time to pitch in here - late, I know, but happy to be here all the same

Just saw the video and started my first sub here. You are great!

In 1985, Transformers: The Movie opened up with, "it is the year 2005, the treacherous Decepticons have conquered the Autobot's home planet of Cybertron..." In 1985 when this movie came out, the state of imagination was that Earth would be in full cooperation with a race of intergalactic artificial lifeforms by the 2005. 38 years later, here we are still struggling over basic human rights. All I can say is my support is not going anywhere because the quality of your work has only improved with time.

Finally joined as a patron after watching since the original Slaughtering Grounds Saga of 2014. Glad to see you're doing well in spite of the BS around.

Stupedenium being in there was a amazing treat. I like to think of how funny it is that to some people, the cornflake homunculus was fine but being trans was somehow a step too far?

Glad to be Patreon subbed, glad to be supporting monetarily. Also: looking at the clips from a couple years back you really do look great now.

This is a sad video. I'm sorry. You keep being you and for that alone, I will not stop supporting you. It took way too long for me to start putting up money for queer and minority streamers and I have a lot of time to make up for. Thanks for being that inspiration that so many people need.

Sending love from the Midwest. We love that you have found happiness. <3 - Sarah & Tim

Upping my pledge. Thank god for you.

Congratulations on the momentous achievement! Have been enjoying the show quality upward trend from best to bester.

I've been a lurker of Sterling for years. Now I've joined up in support of what you have to say and who you are.

the last 3 years have been hard on the economics, but they are stabelizing for me, so this vid seemed like a good time to rejoin the patreon. We love and support you Steph

I'll never unsubscribe and aside from your physical changes, you're exactly the same person that I have watched for years and will continue to watch hopefully for many more years 🍻🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️✌🏻🖖🏻🤘🏻😎

Congrats from your newest patron. :)

Well I still love ya, Never underestimate the amount of good you’ve done (and continue to do) by highlighting the multitude of problems and abuse across an industry that would rather you just be distracted by the pretty colours.

It's wonderful to see Steph purge their subscribership of unwanted pillocks so efficiently.

Nothing more satisfying than shedding an audience of bigots and half-wits. Keep being you, will always love your content.

Love you hun, wish I was in the UK to catch a show. And since youtube isn't supporting you any longer, then I'm here to throw my dollar in! You are amazing, keep it up!

Also felt the urge to join after that last episode! F*ck all those selfish/closed minded humans!

I, like a number of people, crossed a tipping point to send you money on the 800k vid. Damn fine video work, great job with the collab folks (seriously, that intro was fantastic), and overall a yoeman's work, Steph (and editors and friends)! How do we give you more than $1/mo?

Saw this and subscribed to Patreon. Thank God for you!

<3

There is only one video I genuinely look forward to every week. Good to know that when Youtube doesn’t notify me of a new release, I can rely on your consistent work as a consolation... Seriously though, I cant think of someone I would rather support more. Keep being awesome and thank you for the years of amazing content. Second best aint to shabby. :)

Being trans myself this episode hit a bit hard. But I'm really glad you are still around; your content has only gotten better over the years and you've been responsible for a lot of my own hard looks at the game publishers I used to support but no longer do. I know my small subscription each month doesn't mean much in the grand scheme of things but I'll try to keep it going as long as I can because we need voices like yours in the industry.

Fuck transphobia

"But it just breaks my heart that.... that was the only smile they could choose. And it really shouldn't have been. The world we have now...it doesn't give us the choice to smile. If the world won't let us choose outside these narrow bounds, I want nothing more than to rip this world apart."

Good riddance to transphobic rubbish. Staying unhappy and unfulfilled just to please a bunch of joyless edgelord bigot c*nts for the sake of YouTube would have been an awful idea. Keep shining bright, WE LOVE YOU STEPH!!! ❤️

You're awesome Steph! I've been a fan for like 9 years, and as a fellow queer, I relate to the feeling of finding your true self!

Slay!

Congratulations! And in your words "fuck 'em!"

Huzzah!

Congratulation! Below 700k here we come!!! And lovely fancy new logo. Justin should make the logo fancier for every 100k lost.

I didn't realize u started writing reviews again so im going through them and its impossible to not read them in ur voice lol (audio book format review readings when)

Hey Steph been a long time follower since the destructoid days, congrats on another-100k followers, I’m increasing my donation every 100k you lose, so stop it, thank god for you

Congrats on gaining another -100,000 transphobic subscribers, Steph! I would kill to gain that many negative transphobes.

※\(^o^)/※ 🥳🥂🥳🥂🥳🥂 ※\(^o^)/※

me too

I joined the Patreon because of this special <3

Holy fuck Stephanie congratulations!!! Like a collapsing star, as your atoms condense (in your chest) you shall explode like a supernova! Spewing rainbow star matter in every direction! Rocking the orbits of galaxies far outside your little solar system, baking the surface of nearby planets in a cloud of radiation that many call smoking hot, and my God crush me between those Themstress milkers.... where were we? Oh yeah, congratulations! Like the lone survivor of a house fire, dangling precariously from a window, I cannot wait till the day I too can let go and watch the whole lovely thing implode as I fall to my impending doom

I know the episode wasn't about that and it certainly wasn't for that purpose, but you reminded me that it is this revenue stream that "keeps the lights on". And now that you are in UK with the cost of living crisis, it's high time to account for the inflation in my pledge, so that you can continue being the Cassandra of Video Games. Monday is always coming!!!

Pretty much the only thing you can do in your videos that would get me to unsubscribe is to say that the worst thing about Fallout 76 is the 'Country Roads' cover. Until then Steph, keep doing what you do and I'll keep watching the videos every Monday. Thank God for you.

I've been following your work since the Destructoid days, and have been a proud patron since you joined Patreon. Seeing Jonathan was a treat. The guy is still as funny as ever. Congrats on cleansing the chaff! Keep on fighting the good fight!

"Happy subscriber reduction" is an odd thing to say. Not that anyone asked for it, but here's what kicked around my mind watching the vid: For me, there is actually something about the show that changed with JSS' transition, and it's not the obvious. The thing is, the show has always been political, and I always liked it for it. I also don't see myself as transphobic. The thing is though: Since their transition, JSS has made a lot more content about things like abortion and trans rights than they used to. And the problem for me is this: I don't live in the Anglosphere, English is my second language. I live in a European country where trans rights are taking a different direction, our current government has vowed to modernize our trans laws in favor of easier access to official changes of the gender entry of trans people. When JSS used to criticize the video game industry and capitalism as a whole, that's issues that were things in my country as well as the Anglosphere. But when the topic becomes things quite specific to the Anglosphere, I am (sorry) a lot less interested, as there is honestly very little I can do about trans issues there other than donating to trans charities (something I have done). Listening to takes about things that I am utterly powerless to do anything about is just not informative. In addition, some of the JSS' takes are, well, things I strongly disagree with, like their take on Hogwarts Legacy - and I really don't care about wrestling (though that has been a thing for a long time). That said, I am still here, and still intend to keep being here longer. Ultimately, JSS has given me many hours of entertainment and information already, and it honestly warmed my heart that they said that they're feeling better than ever now. Ultimately, I may not care about as much of the content anymore, but some good content by a happy person seems better to me than a lot of good content by someone miserable. So keep on going, JSS, and I hope you will remain happy and things will turn out better for trans people in the Anglosphere than they do now. (also, please keep up the written reviews, they're great)

Congratulations Steph! Let nothing stand in your way! Everyone will thank God for you!

This was a fun video :)

Errr... Congrats? Keep up the good work. Also love the reviews of late.

I will never unsubscribe! NEVER!! Your quest for zero is futile

Congrats! Here's to the gradual road to 0!

current cosmological data doesn't actually favor a big crunch (when the universe collapses back to a point) for our universe, but that's okay it obviously does now