I don't like the phrase, "I just grew out of it" most times it is used. Generally, people don't say this about clothes (though it does happen)...more often than not they are talking about something in media: music, comics, a literary genre, etc. When I stopped listening to Rebel.FM's podcast YEARS ago (literally, like...nearly 10 years ago now?) I never would have said, "Yeah, I just grew out of listening to Rebel.FM" because I made an active decision to stop listening as I had become annoyed with certain hosts every episode. Podcasts have become a strange thing for me now given my subscribe list is, in my opinion, quite large and for many of those podcasts I actively pick and choose what episodes I listen to. There are certain podcasts, like Hardcore History, where I do listen to every episode released no matter what...same for The Fifth Column and The Good Friends of Jackson Elias. That's it though...but I subscribe to nearly 20 podcasts (some of them narrative fiction).

Wait a minute, I was talking about "growing out of things"...yeah, back to that and the main thrust of this blog post: Giant Bomb and me not "growing out of it" but simply being disinterested with it. Many things around the site have changed for me due, specifically, to work. When I started working for Volkswagen I couldn't access GB's site given firewall restrictions so I migrated to the subReddit for discussing things with the community...strangely it was apparent that the GB Reddit community was far more "defense forcey" about everything than the main site's community (but that's irrelevant). Anyway, The Beastcast and the Bombcast, before it, were my "Oh crap, listen to the episode right now" podcasts. When did that change? Well, with the Beastcast that changed when the podcast ended! With the Bombcast? That happened pretty much a week or two after Jeff Gerstmann was fired.

Clearly something had happened, no matter what anyone was, or wasn't, saying. Jeff certainly seemed like someone who would want to move away from the site without too much fanfare...but he's also been the one guy who knows the community, knows what they want, and would certainly have done a goodbye show given the chance. Many of us who had a brain knew he didn't just put in his two weeks and quietly bow out in an announcement made by someone else with a legalese post on the site the next day. While Vinny, Alex, and Brad leaving was a massive blow to the site, in my opinion, I still had Jeff to fall back on. As soon as Jeff was gone? Honestly...no one on the site was really going to keep me there. Jeff B really soured on me when he came to the main Bombcast, Jan I can take or leave, Jason (I love) but doesn't really talk enough, Rorie (I love) but since Screened ended he's been a behind the scenes guy, Jess doesn't really click with me, Jeff Grubb is fine, etc, etc. For the first time since the podcast was a thing I didn't listen to Giant Bomb immediately...then before I knew it I had not listened to an episode in weeks...then months. Right now I haven't listened to an episode of Giant Bomb since about a months after Gerstmann was fired. I get bummed thinking about it but I also get bummed thinking about how I don't have any interest in going back to it. But hey...there's still the premium content on the site to go to, right? Well...no, there's not (at least for me).

Premium Content on the site became, for me, non-existent and inconsequential a few months into the pandemic. No live content really hurt the site but the fans stuck around. The pandemic forced people to stay home, obviously, and they did their best (for a month or two) creating remote content...but it just didn't work. There was clearly a funk at the site...I mean, it must have been a sweet gig...getting paid for basically doing nothing at all (from my perspective). Obviously, any of the crew who were in management roles had a rough go of it (Vinny has made mention of this) but not everyone was in that role. Content dried up...the mood changed...things were getting stale but they persisted and the bulk of the community was there with them. Then, the exits began.

The first exists were Ben and Abby (from Brooklyn). Ben never clicked with me but he added a welcome voice to the site. Abby also had some weird quirks when it came to actually talking about video games (Good Lord, the 2018 Game of the Year discussions) but she was hilarious and had great chemistry with everyone, also bringing a welcome voice to Giant Bomb. That said...they weren't legacy members. Then, several months later, the pillars of Heaven shook with Brad, Vinny, and Alex all choosing to leave at the same time. Shocking, saddening, and distressing them all leaving at the same time showed me that there was something going on behind the scenes. Jeff's firing only proves that more true.

So, what now? Did I "grow out" of Giant Bomb? No, that would mean something changed with me. Giant Bomb changed, I don't care for what it is now and the content they produce, so that's it...I didn't get fat and become unable to slip into my pants but I did wake up one morning and find that my pants turned into Jello shots and I don't want to wear those. I signed up for pants.

Giant Bomb was never the biggest. The fact they chose to be independent, I think, meant their size was always going to be smaller. Kinda Funny (ugh) gets bigger because they are more than willing to make business deals with publishers, like EA and Square, so they get lots of money from that and their community...it also means I can't trust anything they say (Especially Greg Miller, gaming's used car salesman). That's OK, we're talking about Giant Bomb.

Also the bummer? Ending my premium subscription means that I no longer access that classic GB premium content (legally). I will more than likely be able to find that content online by doing crimes but the choice to lock down the legacy premium content but leave the new content free means, to me, they know what people are paying for. Whatever.

So now I find myself here, rambling, with podcasts I don't listen to. Nextlander was good for a bit but it felt very clinical to me compared to their previous output with Giant Bomb but I am ecstatic that Vinny is in a better place mentally and physically for leaving. Jeff's podcast? Well, its long that's for sure. Jeff's always great to listen to but 3 hours of just one person talking about video games just doesn't play with me the same way. I love Jeff. I love Jeff talking about video games. I love Jeff, more, when he has other people to riff off.

So yeah...for the first time since The 1Up Show and 1Up Yours Podcast I don't have a video game podcast in my feed and for the first time since the Arrow Pointing Down podcast I don't have the crew in my ears. I hate it. Maybe I'll turn around and jump back into Nextlander and be more into JG's new content...but I don't know.