State of the JoyRide 2025 (Patreon)

Happy 9th Anniversary (Again), JoyBoys!

The exact origin point of JoyRide is as controversial as the parodies we make. This could easily be year 10 as it could be year 12…15 if this was just “LeRoyRide” all along.

Speaking of the devil… hey… Mr. Entertainment himself here... and as of this past Summer, I’ve stepped back quite a bit from JoyRide, reducing my once dream full-time job back to a part-time love affair (as it should always have been). 

2025 was a bad year for EVERYBODY. So don’t cry for me; I found a flexible and peaceful part-time gig that allows me to still run JoyRide comfortably, but differently. Also, remember when late president of Nintendo, Satoru Iwata, took a pay cut to save the company without firing any employees? I basically did the same thing. So you’ll never hear the end of this.

However, my reduced presence has resulted in reduced output this year, which goes in tandem with reduced viewership and reduced Patreon support. Did I already mention shit sucks right now? It was unavoidable, but I’m still taking the blame. JoyRide has survived on my stubborn persistence, but that was also suffocating it. I kept pointing fingers at YouTube’s ever evolving system, but refused to evolve in turn. Two things can be true: YouTube’s system sucks and so did mine.

If the Not-So 10th Anniversary Direct didn’t make it apparent, JoyRide is entering an era of new creative voices. Morning Ramen has come of age and forged an irreverent piece of the My Hero Abridged Universe for themselves in MHAbridged Vigilantes. Spence&Steve will introduce a not-so-new abridging format called “Trash Dubbing” (think of a more edited Real-Time Dub, ala SnapCube). Meanwhile, SlapHappyChaps and friends are working in reverse-order with various anime: starting with Shorts and later compiling them into longer videos (if copyright allows). You already got a taste of this with Zatch Bell ABRIDGED Shorts.

And that leaves dusty old Mr. Unnecessary himself, producing from the back. What does producing mean exactly? I’m still figuring that out myself. I’ve been managing, co-writing, editing, cameoing, etc. between these new projects, but for the most part, continuing to provide my most undeniable contribution to the abridged medium: persisting against all odds. 

I’m also slowly and quietly working on the cinema-sized finales of My Hero Abridged and Spy x Family Abridged. Don’t worry, it’s gonna take more than one video for each, releasing over YEARS (we’re talking BEYOND 2026). After that, if we are so fortunate to rouse and renew significant (consistent!) support on this Patreon ($1000/month is the magic number), I would love to give Dr. Stone Abridged its much deserved swan song as well.

Oh, and I almost forgot! We’ve been playing Dungeons & Dragons in front of a recording device again! It’s not JoyQuest, but it’s the next best thing. One might say… The Best in History!

We’re working very slowly on this one. It felt special, even before we started recording it. So we’re going to give it the polish it deserves and store up a backlog before release. It was only worth mentioning this early because JoyQuest was an indelible pillar for early JoyRide. Its shrapnel is still embedded into the hearts of our hardcore fans, and when we hit our lowest point this year (maybe the lowest in the channel’s history), the mere thought of producing a spiritual successor really brought us out of the dark. We hope that announcement during JoyRide’s Direct brightened up your year just a little bit too.

Another bright spot this year was the modest success of our not-so modest conductroid, Choo-Chan! Building a vTuber from the ground up WITHOUT corporate backing was an exhaustive, but highly rewarding (and ongoing) learning experience. As I’ve begun to tuck my head away from the spotlight, Choo-Chan is becoming the new face of the channel, streaming arm, and benchmark for what JoyRide is capable of as a creative team beyond silly anime parodies that mostly piss people off. From the bottom of my heart, I am thankful for everyone’s support and enjoyment of this personable little train girl, and encourage you to check out her streams if you haven’t yet: most Tuesdays / Fridays + More on Twitch. If her schedule and game rotation doesn’t jive with yours, may I suggest another flavor? 

In case I’ve gone 5 seconds without mentioning it, 2025 was a bad year, but not too bad for a couple of folks who apparently don’t understand abridging. We’re not setting any expectations for the year ahead, at least not beyond what we showed off in the Direct, and the fact that if anything remains consistent: we continue to persist.