The Journey into Vtubing

Becoming a Vtuber has been an exciting journey. Never have I been more confident in myself, how I present myself, and even discovering more things I would have never thought of doing anything else. I'm sure if I was streaming without a Vtuber model I'd eventually connect with others, but I would have probably missed an entire community this way.

Of course, it had to start somewhere, right? Why not start at the beginning and what it could lead to? This is what the post is about.

This will probably come off as a cheesy post and I'll probably be slightly embarassed about it, but I feel it'd be fun to look back.

Pre-Vtuber

Before Vtubing, I primarily watched a few streamers on Twitch. Most notably, the streamers from Pit Crew. I did not really make an attempt to watch others on the platform. After all, I felt comfortable watching these people regularly and enjoyed what they made -- and still do! However, I also felt like doing this did not let me explore and see more, and it did make me feel streaming could only be done a specific way with no other way being fun or entertaining.

Around the end of 2019 and the start of 2020, I began to get into Hololive a little bit. Of course, that's not much of a surprise; I did enjoy clips of Ai Kazuna saying "Fuck you" quite a lot before this. One of the first of Hololive members I remember seeing was Fubuki, where she was talking about a Wendy's menu in Japan. Around that time was the start of Hololive EN, and I followed along via clips and such. By the end of 2020 I still followed via random clips and such, but I was not really that into the idol side of it all and only really kept up when a new group was added. I was also made aware of Nijisanji around this time, but the only one I followed at all was Lulu Suzuhara.

I did, however, upgrade to a significantly more powerful computer that would allow me to stream more things right at the start of 2021. I could stream much more modern games without issue! While I would stream off and on through this time, there was no set schedule or consistency in this, mostly due to not having anyone watch me. In the background, though, I was formulating a design for what I wanted as a Vtuber. Something about having an online persona to represent myself felt like a lot of fun.

I began drafting up ideas in the back of my head. The first idea was to go for a demon of some sorts, based around the Disgaea kind of demons: silly, casual, maybe some demon elements. I didn't have too many details other than just having horns and wearing a hoodie, but I did get art commissioned for a first idea.

Clearly, this was not meant to be.

Either I never felt the initiative to get it commissioned in full or I never found the right style and design to make it exist. I was still a bit defeated in trying to get people to watch or anything of the sort, so taking a dive into a Vtuber model just did not seem like a solid idea. After all, a full Live2D model is a huge investment and you are pretty committed to how it looks for a while.

At the start of 2022, I just decided "fuck it, I'll stream every week this year and see where it takes me" and started streaming a bit more regularly, at least once a week. Of course, I was still window shopping for a possible Vtuber model and somehow forgot the easiest method to get one: Vroid.

The First Model

I downloaded Vroid and immediately saw what options I had. Without knowing the specifics of how to edit anything, I crafted a model using the preset assets and created a very very rough draft of something I liked in Vroid. It... needed a lot of work.

The plan was simple: make a single change every day possible. It did not need to be huge, either. A simple color change. Adjust the texture. Look at booth for some assets to try out. As long as a single change was made each day, it was a success.

In the end, I created a catperson persona for myself. Purple hair, yellow eyes, shorts, hoodie, a primarily Purple/Gold color scheme with black and white accents -- which is funny considering I did not plan for it to match my gender identity. It was finally complete.

I adored what I had changed with it, but something was missing. Something that felt like I could be happy with it standing out, and it was the hair. I couldn't figure out what exactly until I looked at my Astolfo figure and saw it immediately: hair color highlights.

I added a single yellow highlight, but it looked off to me. Was it too thin? I made it bigger. Now it looked too much. Would white work? I altered a bit of the highlight to white and was planning to remove the yellow, but then it hit me: I could just put the non-binary flag colors in my hair since that was already my color scheme by complete accident!

And that was the Vroid model! I was not expecting to stick with it at all but the viewers I had loved the look enough that I decided to keep it at all times and I think that's one of the more interesting style choices I made this whole time.

In this time, I had only began to start branching out a little bit. I began learning the Super Metroid/Link to the Past combo randomizer and doing things related to that for a while with others, and as time went on I was getting recommended channels of other Vtubers that ended up being friends! I basically began to branch out and got to hang out with cool people and learn that there are so many cool ways to stream that isn't just simply playing video games.

Live2D Time

I had always wanted a Live2D, so after a while of streaming with my Vroid, I decided it was time for a change. With Lina, I decided to take my Vroid model and add some extra details I could not do on my Vroid easily. Most notably, the bell collar, the USBs, and -- arguably the most important -- a tail. I had these ideas lined up for a bit and thought about it, as most of the time streaming I had not had a very cohesive theme. This was a start to get something I thought was more appealing without changing it completely.

In the end, it came out good!

It was nervewracking a bit. Live2D models are quite the committment, but being able to see Lina's art come to life is much more exciting. Considering my current predicament in my life at the time -- no job, limited income from streaming -- it made me happy.

Ever since then, I started doing more collabs with other streamers, changing up what I streamed from time to time, and trying out more and more things. Balancing it with getting a job and needing to move unexpectedly was a bit of a challenge, but I was happy with the direction things were going with this Vtubing thing!

It took until this year to really start getting a lot of art outside of my usual circles. In this case, skeb. This actually worried me a bit, since this whole time I wanted to keep a more adrogynous look. With skeb, though, there was a language barrier. Obviously it was bound to veer one way or another depending on the artist, and I was very paranoid if I was... well, given certain assets. Would I want this? Is this something that everyone I know would be fine with? Would it really be that bad?

Well, it happened, and it was good for everyone, especially myself. It got me thinking more about my own gender identity and what it means, as well as how I present myself. Kind of silly to find that out, but I also figured out I was non-binary from seeing "gender ambiguous" video game characters so I guess that makes sense.

The Future?

I honestly can't say what is on the horizon for me at this point. Clearly I will be continuing to stream retro games, as well as play more variety Indie games and collab with others doing absurd things. I have lots of plans already. I also want to get a 3.0 model with a possibly new outfit, or at least adjustments to my current one. Lots of planned, and who knows what will come to fruition.

Whatever happens, streaming is cool. Vtubing is cool. Yippee!

Kind of a sappy post to start things out, but hey, that's cool I guess.