iFanboy Video Programming Update

You might have heard on this week’s audio show that the iFanboy Mini is no more. Unfortunately, that is indeed the case.

It’s not that we don’t like doing them (usually) or that they’re not good (we hope), but the fact is the daily video format was an experiment which turned out to be not quite worth the expense of producing them on an ongoing basis for Revision3, which is something we certainly understand. They’ve been incredibly supportive and fantastic to work with for nearly two years. And the good news is, the weekly video show isn’t going anywhere. Revision3 is behind that, and they’re behind iFanboy, which makes Ron, Conor, and myself very happy.

There are upsides and downsides, of course, like any major change. On the one hand, while we LOVED the small format of the Minis, they ate up a ton of time, and delayed us working on growing the site, and adding new features, and all sorts of stuff.  On the other hand, we’ll need the iFanbase’s support more than ever. So if you’re thinking of buying stuff from Amazon through our store, or clicking on the banner ads, or visiting our sponsors, or even donating, we appreciate it, as always. In the near future, we hope to have some new ways to help contribute to keeping iFanboy strong as well. However, as always, iFanboy is free, and will stay that way. We promise.

So what does this mean going forward? Well, you’ll have a full slate of Minis this week, through Saturday, and you can look forward to new content and discussions every single day. And like we said, we’ll have some extra time on our hands, so we’ll have to do something with that, and you know we’ll try our best to keep making this the greatest comic book site on the web. And maybe, every once in a while, we’ll whip up a Mini for a special occasion. Who knows?

Before we wrap this up, we would be remiss if we didn’t thank you deeply and sincerely for your support. You kept us going and driven to get you a Mini five times a week, and make sure they were original, informative, and entertaining, and we think they were just that. As always, you all supported us with more positive comments than a web community has given forth. We did 145 episodes, and didn’t miss a deadline for the past 6 months. If you didn’t care, we wouldn’t have, but you kept us going, as you continue to do. So, from all of us at iFanboy, thank you so much.

But this is sounding way too much like goodbye, and we’re not even close to done with you yet.

 

Comments

  1. well poop, at least you guys are still doing the weekly show. As long as ifanboy.com is still around I’m happy

  2. Sad to see them go, they were great spots of sunshine for my day and you guys made use of the daily format better than any other show on Rev3.  Its not a great bit of news but at least there’s still two kick-ass weekly episodes I can look forward to from you guys.

  3. Can us Canadians support IFANBOY by purchasing from amazon.ca?

  4. Out of curiosity, what was the actual reason for its demise?  Does a show need to have a certain number of downloads in order to be profitable for Rev3?  Just curious about how it all works.

  5. 🙁  thank you very much guys

  6. sad to hear – maybe we can still get a surprise installment of "it came from the storage unit" from time to time? maybe?

  7. awww sad….oh well all good things come to an end…

  8. Understandable but disappointing. I looked forward to watching the mini in the morning while eating breakfast. Thanks for all the hard work.

  9. Thank you for all your hard work.  I enjoyed the Mini’s, but understand Rev3’s and iFanboy’s respective positions.  I am sure that what you bring us next will be excellent.

  10. I’m dissapointed to see them go, but excited to see what else you have planned.  I certainly have no right to complain about content that’s been so good and so free!  I’ll miss the minis though.  I was really looking forward to seeing Connor and Josh’s bookshelves! 

    I have no idea how the relationship between iFanboy and Revision 3 works.  Could someone explain how these shows would have become profitable? 

  11. I’m so behind on the video podcasts anyway that I’m not going to feel this for awhile. But I will be sad to see some of the short formats gone. Will "What Were they thinking?" and "It Came from the Storage Closet" be recycled into the weekly shows maybe? Please?

  12. I’m really gonna miss the minis.  Especially the Tuesday "Books coming out tomorrow" minis.  I’ve picked up and enjoyed many a recommended book that I wouldn’t have otherwise.

    Could you maybe keep those (wishful thinking)?

  13. 🙁  I just wrote an iTunes review mentioning the Mini too. It has been a joy while it’s lasted.

  14. I’m donating because of this post.

  15. That’s a bummer.  I really loved watching those, even if I didn’t catch it each day.  It’s completely understandable why they won’t go on though.  Thanks to you guys for doing such awesome work!

  16. Expense? How much can it possibly cost to produce a mini? Or is the bandwidth usage of people downloading it too much for Revision3 on a daily basis? Tekzilla and PopSiren do dailies as well, are those going away too?

  17. I’ll miss my the Minis, that’s for sure, but it’s like they say–"You get what you pay for."

    Actually, I typically get half of the value of what I pay for than what I get for free from iFanboy.  I don’t know who ‘they’ are, but they are full of applesauce, if you axe me.

  18. NOOOOOOO…..  Oh well good times while it lasted

  19. Let me finish that comment Lantern:

    OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    No more ‘It came from the Storage Unit’ or Bad DC villians, or anything else that I’ve grown to love on that mini? Why must good things disappear from me!? Oh well, at least it isnt something so dramatic like losing the big video show or worse….the site all together. That will be an even sadder day and hopefully it’ll never happen.

    So are you guys doing anything special for the last mini? I mean I know Saturdays are your POTW mini but you gotta do something special for the very last mini.

  20. Well…that’s crappy but, as always, looking forward to seeing what’s ahead.

  21. 🙁

    Very sad news. I loved the minis and will miss them.

  22. Completely not surprised.  The time it must take to produce those five minis a week, as well as the audio show, as well as the video show, as well as maintain the site… I don’t think that much time actually exists in a week.  They were fun while they lasted.  But this will de-clutter my Podcasts list on iTunes a bit…  Keep up the good work, guys!

  23. First Paul Newman, THEN the ifanboy mini?  Seriously, what a crapo weekend. Rev 3 just kicked me while I was down.  I am glad rev3 gave the idea a shot and I am certainly glad the weeklies will continue.  And I guess I will refrain from bad mouthing recent rev3 decisions here.  Ill just say, I will miss the minis, you guys always do a great job, and I trust your recommendations.  And hey, this could mean more time for even awesomer things.

  24. I have a theory that after the Shelves mini. Josh’s wife Killed him for showing their unmade bed and vacuum in the middle of the hall. so josh from now on will be in the Weekly videos via the use of GC just like the same technique as how they got Marlon Brando in Superman Returns and it would be too expensive to get ILM to do the GC work for the mini’s as well.

    Please don’t let the Secret Teleporter brake down we cant lose Ron too.

    RIP

    Josh Flanagan

    1975-2008

    On a side note if we can’t have video could we have more audio and thanks for all the work you guys do.

    So is Sonia Ghost Writing for Josh now? No pun intended.

  25. I second the comment about the "New This Week" minis. I have on more than one occasion picked up something new because of those.

  26. Conor, the most important question we all need to know is: What random comics were left for ‘IT CAME FROM THE STORAGE UNIT’ ?!

  27. My daily commute just got a little bit crappier.

    Seriously, loved the minis and will miss them. But looking forward to what the future holds! 

  28. That’s a shame.  I love them but I also completely understand not being able to do so much for this site while having "real jobs".  Pfft "real jobs".

  29. Please an occasional "What where they thinking?" in the Audio show.

    cenquist; not just you Canadians but us Brits as well. I occasionally get a few things shipped over but if I could do all my Christamas shopping  via uk amazon then ifanboy could get that too.

     

  30. Very sad to hear this. Honestly, I could never fathom how you guys put out all these things anyway. You’ve really been spoiling us. I’ll really miss "It came from the Storage Unit" and other episodes that featured older comic stories. Thanks for all the good times, guys! I can’t wait for the weeklys!

  31. it’s been great while it lasted. i hope all the fan favorite segments – it came from the storage unit, what were they thinking, etc – can find a home somewhere on iFanboy, whether in written form or in something new. it’d be a shame to never hear of Jakob Whorssman and his ilk again.

  32. @zerodni – You’ve got me a couple years older than I actually am.  Also, not dead.

    We’re figuring out ways to use some of these concepts and ideas going forward.  They were fun for us as well.

  33. First Noble Causes, then Minx… Now iFanboy Mini? This is a sad month for comic news.

    I loved the hell out of the Minis, and will miss the daily dose of fun greatly. If they’re not covering the cost of production then I understand… Oh well.

    You know what, I can’t even imagine what kind of schedule kept those things coming out practically every day, so let me just say Thank You for putting in the hard work to get this amazing free content to us daily. And most importantly, thank you for always making it fun.

    Can’t wait to see what the future holds, and once again… Thank You! 🙂

  34. Sad sad sad…you guys are one of my favorite sites on the web.  I know you guys continue to provide excellent content via whatever medium you choose, and from now on all my Amazon purchasing will be via your links.

    Oh, hell…I’m going right now to pick up a few trades just to get the ball rollin’…

  35. Any chance we Brits can support through Amazon.co.uk?

    I guess it’s understandable. Those shows must’ve been busting you guys, time-wise. Kinda sad to see them go, but at least you’ll have the time to build up the main videocast.

  36. Well darn. Now I’m going to have to find something else to do while I eat my cereal every morning.

    But I totally understand how those little things could take a lot of time to produce. Plus, now this opens the door to new projects!

  37. Let me confess by saying I didn’t always watch them but I NEVER missed a “pull list” mini. I’ve picked up a lot of good books due to the recommendation, books I would have never thought twice about.  I’ll miss that – LAME.

  38. Curse I say, curse! but I’m all for the growing of the site.

  39. @THEBRODYMAN – You’re absolutely right… iFanboy Minis were the perfect breakfast companion.

    The Minis were great guys and I appreciate you taking the time to make them.  Your site is great and if it’s only going to get better I can acept the loss.

    Keep up the great work! 

  40. Like the death of mini Superman, the death of iFanyboy mini has upset me deeply.  But I trust you guys will continue to deliver the goods.

  41. This IS the best comics website/podcast/vidcast already.  Sorry you guys had to shut this down, but be encouraged that the overall product is still quite awesome.

  42. "What Were They Thinking", "It Came From the Storage Unit", and "Bad DC Villains" (which is really sort of just "What Were They Thinking" with another title) are all things that I’d love to still see from time to time.

  43. Can you guys still make analogies fairly often?

  44. Sad to see them go, but if it will give you more time to make more audio stuff like the Talksplodes I guess I cant be to sad about it.

  45. Thanks for while they lasted guys. I did enjoy them over tea in the morning

  46. Well u guys could just record some of the fan favorites from the minis, and then throw together a monthly. *Hopes*

  47. I guess I be a negative nancy and say that I’m actually happy to see the format go.  Not that there weren’t some good ones, but the format just didn’t work for me.  There was just too much.  Half the time, iTunes wouldn’t pick up the main show because 2 minis had already been released by the time it updated.  I’d prefer to see some of these ideas return as segments within the main show.  Or maybe have the occasional mini, but not one every day.  Just my personal preference.

  48. This was mentioned before but is their so way to buy comics from amazon.ca on the site to help support you guys?

  49. You know, there was a feed to get just the Minis or just the Weeklies.  In the future, if anyone’s having problems, just ask us!

    I’m still not sure on those non US Amazon sites, but as soon as we can find an answer, we’ll let you know.

    Thanks everyone.

  50. Thanks for all the hard work on the mini’s. While I will be sad to see them go, but totally understand. I was always amazed at the ability to put together that much content. I was beginning to think you weren’t human.

    Go take a well deserved nap!

  51. Thanks iFanboy for the minis. I am sure whatever you do in the future will be great.

  52. So we won’t be seeing Conor’s or Ron’s stash…that’s too bad.  I’m gonna miss the minis.

  53. I knew that it wouldn’t last forever but I loved it while it did!

     

    I am also with mistersizzle, I was looking forward to seeing Conor’s and Ron’s collections of Comics, the one with Josh was a ton of fun.

  54. I love the AUDIO show and the VIDEO weekly. I never watched the daily because they just seemed like ads and I’m already loving your site. I’m really looking forward to improvements with the website and the main shows. I will NOT miss the minis and I’m glad it’s freed up your time! I love you guys and would prefer one awesome show to 4 or 5 sorta good shows.

  55. Hey everyone – just got done traveling today and saw all these comments- thanks for the support and comments both positive and negative.  I just wanted to address a couple of the themes that I see being discussed here.

    Why is this happening?  As we said, it was an expieriment to see if it could find an audience.  And while the minis (and the weekly show) has found an audience in all of you, unfortunately simply just not enough people watched the minis.  We saw about 1/3 of the weekly show’s audience watched the mini on an episode by episode basis.  While we loved doing great content like "It Came From the Storage Unit" and other things like that, it just didn’t prove out in the business model.  And while we love comics and talking comics, there is a business aspect that we cannot ignore.

    How can you help?  Well as Josh mentioned, Donating and Amazon (more below) and clicking banners on the site helps, but what helps the most is watching the Weekly show, listening to the audio show and TELLING OTHERS ABOUT IT.  While the weekly show is proving to be a good business and we have sponsors etc., we can always use more audience – so if we can each reach out and get a few more of our friends or comic store fellow customers to watch and listen, that would help immensely.

    Regarding Amazon – I’m working on figuring out how to make it so our friends in Canada and the UK can purchase through Amazon and help us out.  so stay tuned

    Finally stay tuned as well as many more and exciting stuff is on the horizon.  I for one, am psyched every day that I get to wake up and work on iFanboy and delighted that everyone here enjoys it (or enjoys critcizing it 🙂 ).  That makes all this worth it.

    thanks.

  56. Too bad.  BUT, hopefully this might save me money, as the more podcasts and mini’s you guys posts usually means an increasing pull list.

     

    Bravo!

  57. I apreciate you guys not ending the mini during the summer when I was bored off my fanboy keister. Now that I am employed, I find I no longer have time for it. Though I will miss catching up on the weekend. Keep the podcasts coming and I’ll be happy.

  58. I just realized, I’m really, really going to miss the minis…

  59. I am typing with my right hand and tipping my forty for my mini homey with my left.  Try it sometime.  It’s not as easy as you think.

    I don’t know how often you are thanked, but you deserve much thanks for all the hard work you do.  You’ve pretty much earned a free pass for life with me in whatever other content you put out there, whether it be podcasts, videos, comics, whatever. 

  60. @Josh — I did some digging and found that you were indeed born in 1975. The reason you believe you are younger than you really are. Is because in 1976 you were Cryogenically frozen for a few years. In a underground facility in Nevada. During these years you were genetically modified in to a secret super solder sleeper agent for use in the secret war between Canada and Greenland.

    Your Trigger word is snookie-poo

  61. Can’t complain about something that was free is going away, but that doesn’t mean I am not sad about it.  I enjoyed the minis and it was actually how I started off my work day.

    Here’s to you guys and all the work everyone puts into this site and that shows!  Your hard work does not go unnoticed! 

  62. " Don’t know what you got till it’s gone.

    Dont know what it is I did so wrong.

    Now I know what I got, it’s just this song.

    And it ain’t easy to get back, it takes so long."

    Lot’s of love going on in here. It’s a beautiful thing!

  63. Sorry to see those go, I usually watch(ed) all of them.

  64. Guys…thanks for the mini’s…they were a shot of comic book and comedy gold on a daily basis.  Lets grow the site to the point where you can afford to do them again.

     

    Ok iFanbase…support the boys and buy through the AMAZON store and click on the banner adds to support Ron, Conor and Josh 

  65. I’ll really miss "It Came From the Storage Unit".

  66. just like most of the folks on here, i’m sad to see the mini go – it was a nice way to take a couple minute break from whatever work task i was involved with and recharge my batteries with some fun comics talk – and i didn’t have to worry about getting in trouble with the boss due to the short run time.

    regardless, i’ll be there wherever the guys take us and can’t wait to see what they come up with.

    excelsior! 

  67. I like carrots.

  68. I don’t mean to be the only dissenting voice – but I won’t miss the mini’s.  My relationship with my ipod is purely aural – I love hearing the normal show, but I did not feel seeing the guys chatting to be was adding to experience.  Longer shows can have some merit mind you – just the 3 minute mini’s just did not fill my ifanboy needs!

     I look forward to what is coming next.

     I also would like to support the show via .co.uk! 

  69. I will miss the daily ifanboy fix but i understand…

  70. Well I had already decided to buy all my trades thru the iFanboy store but this just makes me want to do so even more.  I’ve loved everything that I have downloaded since I found the website in July.  I will miss the mini’s because I could watch one on my drive to work.  But I guess I will now have more time for the other podcasts I listen to.  Might even be able to get to the Audio show before Tuesday of the next week.

  71. If only I had stopped you guys in Baltimore this weekend and told you how much I love the mini and start every day with it, maybe the guilt would have been enough.

  72. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!  I so enjoyed the mini format.  It was a lotta fun (especially Josh’s guided tour of his shelves! Like how tidy are you?!)  I’ve been impressed with your stamina at keeping this schedule up for so long and have really appreciated those little bite sized chunks of comic book love 5 days a week. Oh well.  As long as you keep going and I get to have my regular weekly helping of full sized iFanboy video fun and the Pick of the Week Podcast I’m as happy as Larry (whoever he is!). 

    Looking forward to plenty more iFanboy goodtimes in the future.

  73. RIP Mini – you were truly loved.

    Can we see George Clooney the French Bulldog get his own slot in whatever you guys come up with next? (Pretty please!) 

  74. Well since no mini’s how about more Talksplodes ?

  75. I really enjoyed the minis. I’m going to miss them a lot. I really enjoyed the shelf episode Josh did. It made my book collection, not look so bad.

  76. I don’t think this is too bad an idea, a lot of the features of the minis can be wrapped in to the weekly episodes no problem (and some like where the dude pulls an old comic out of the box and tries to figure out what it is can die a quick death). I would like to see you continue with the weekly pull list, your insights are informative and helpful.

  77. I can’t imagine how much time these took out of you busy schedules.

    Thanks for trying.  Can’t wait for you’re next big suprise.

     

  78. AWWW…… imini was responsible for giving me Hellboy Library Edition & Starman Omnibus… Oh well at least u guys arn’t going under cause that would be way worse.. Hey have u ever thought of having Blair Butler on as a guest host??? cause basically the only thing missing from yer show is a hot comic lady hehehe!

     

     

    Love u guys!

  79. I really enjoyed the mini’s.  I will be sad to see them go.  I was thinking maybe you could just cut down the minis to one a week or one month — sort of a side topic thing?  Anyway, thanks for all the hard work, and I wathced every single one of them at least twice!

  80. My initial reaction when the minis were annouced were "…the hell?" Absolutely noble endeavor, I just couldn’t imagine it being sustainable production when you guys had real jobs too. I hope once a month or bi-monthly you’ll just make a 20 minute show full of bits and were usually reserved for some of the mini-topics. Either way, they were great while they lasted – thanks for all the hard work, guys.

  81. Oh, and I don’t think I’ve expressed this anywhere else, so I’ll use here. Talksplode is the single greatest new podcast/feature I’ve had in a long, long time. Did anybody used to listen to Horcast? Yeah, that’s the void that Talksplode fills in me. Please don’t discontinue those.

  82. I’m going to miss the weekly "New Comic Preview" the most.  I don’t know how many books I have picked up because you guys put them on my radar.  For example, I most like would not have picked up "Four Eyes" if it wasn’t mention in this week’s mini.  It’s now my pick of the week. 

  83. Sorry if someone has alread segested something similar, but perhaps you could think about adding a suplimental podcast.

    As I see it, the weekly podcast is for the new weekly comics and the videocast is for large topics. The Mini served a different function, it allowed you 3 as individuals to talk about whatever you wanted.

    Perhaps semi-regular or even not so regular short (10-15min) podcasts could allow you to rant on more ‘out there’ topics that an individual but not all 3 care about. Also with Sonia filling in on Ep151, perhaps these shorter pieces could also be an audio forum for other staff members who have something they want to say.

  84. Well…after checking every setting on TVTonic and my PSP, refreshing the feeds and anything else I could think of to get the minis to download…I finally find the reason why I haven’t been getting them.  I really looked forward to these on almost a daily basis. 99% of the content was super-fun and I really enjoyed the awesome segments that have been mentioned multiple times in these comments (PLEASE incorporate some of this stuff in the video podcast!). I’m really happy that the weekly show is still up and running but I am a litle concerned. Not to be TOO down on Revision3, but I’ve been questioning some of their programming decisions in the last few months. That shiny mask of home-brewed, community driven content is starting to slip, and ugly, corporate scars are showing underneath.  I get that there is a business aspect to all of this, but if anyone doubts that what you guys do is good for business, they only have to look at my trade collection which has pretty much tripled based on various topics you’ve covered. At any rate…keep up the good work.