The Flycast - New Year, Same Me But I Might Change? | The Flycast Ep. 174

Episode Date: January 10, 2026

Come see us at Major 1 from January 29th to February 1st! TICKETS: https://OpTic.link/ticketsOpTic Gaming Merch: https://shop.opticgaming.com/Check out the OpTic SCUF collection and use code “OpTic��� for a discount: https://scuf.co/OpTicCheck out the OpTic Podcast here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/optic-podcast/id1542810047https://open.spotify.com/show/25iPKftrl0akOZKqS0wHQG00:00 New Year Same Me02:00 YouTube & Fitness16:00 Hitch 2026 goals 21:00 HItch’s first 2026 video 22:00 Marathon streams 28:00 YouTube in 202644:00 CoD current situation 50:00 Streaming plans for 2026

I was sitting here, like, debating if I, I don't know if you saw it, but I, like, just posted a reel. It's just my back workout with music over it. I was sitting here debating, even like last night or like yesterday. I was like, fuck, should I post it? Like, I don't know. Should I just post this workout? Like, maybe not. Fuck, I don't know what song to use.

I'm just not going to post it. Then I woke up today and it's like, how about I just fucking post it with like a song? I posted James Walk in here. Enough shadows in your video. And why'd you do music? You should just do voiceover. You're like, I fucking knew. Yeah.

Yeah, I know. I know. No, man, we're not starting off with this huffy, puffy shit this year. Welcome back to another episode of the flycast episode. Who cares? 2026. It's a new year. That means it's probably the same.

you but if you work really hard and change everything about yourself then maybe you can become a better person New Year same me but I might change yeah T-shirt go to flycast

dot shop dot optic dot net and we will have that we will have that prepared for you New Year saying me but maybe I might change shipping it will be shipped within the year we guarantee shipping

before 2027 yeah yeah that's just the mindset we're coming into 2026 released in this negative bullshit in the past no more of these where the flycass getting depressing I don't think they were getting depressing

I think it was just like sometimes we would start the flycass and just be like well kind of bad yeah no it was the flycats were getting a little depressing but now you're shredded I'm a millionaire

Yeah Might as well talk about me getting shredded Yeah you're multi-millionaire now From what? Just YouTube ad? Yeah Yeah yeah yeah Those 11K view videos are like They add up man

They add up quick YouTube is so shit No it's not I saw a dude who posted He was like I'm sharing my Or I don't know The title was like

Showing you not what was it was it nine billion i couldn't have been nine billion but he had over a billion views and he showed he was showing his whole channel on his whole channel ever and he was showing his revenue from it and it wasn't that impressive it was like 1.7 million yeah so because a billion views is a lot it's like an insane i look i always thought one million one million views on a video that's 10 minutes or longer i looked at as like seven to 10 thousand dollars Is that not right? So we

So a billion should be like We made Actually you might be right Because I don't know how many views 100 hours of Apex has Can you look up 100 hours of Apex for TST This video The most views I've ever had on a video

And But it is like 40 minutes long Yeah 2.3 And it has 23 there it's 23 minutes long and let me guess yeah guess how much that made

I'm gonna say that would make I would think it would make like 20 to 25,000 let me see let me see and look up I just want to I want to get the exact the exact number

content view all views but yeah my uh haven't been streaming and I guess maybe we can talk about that a little bit. But like I'm taking a,

just, I've taken a break because I'm just, I am fully 100% focused on this, on this fitness journey and documenting this fitness journey. And I still can stream. There's obviously time. But I don't want to just hop on stream than like not stream the next day. And like I've said plenty of times before when I start streaming,

I want it to be, I'm back streaming, boom, we're doing this and we're doing this every day. I'll be live at this time every single day. I don't want to just pop on the stream. But yeah, anyways. Yeah, that video made... What did I say, 20 to 25?

Yeah, that video made $15,000.33. I don't... I swear it used to be more than that. Yeah. Like, only 15,000 for that? Definitely used to be more than that, for sure. Like, only 15,000 for that? Because I swear back in like the scuff house days,

we'd be like sometimes we talk about how many views a month we would get and like i swear it it seemed like it would be like if if you had like a million views a million views over your channel over the month you made about like 10k yeah but i feel like that's not the case i don't think that's how how is it dumbed down so much for youtube but i feel like everything else has gotten we were fucking vlogging we were vlogging before the adpocalypse like before the logan polo Japan Forest thing. Did that fuck up a lot of shit? It fucked up everything.

Like that specific thing, Logan Paul. That was the catalyst of it. Locopal Jacobo. That was the catalyst of it all, right? Matt, I'm not getting that wrong, right? Yeah, yeah. There was... And then after that ads just started...

Yeah, because people... Advertis started realizing what people were watching and getting their ads on. Like, they would watch like... Like, there would be... Just a Japan forest hanging and then Klondike. Yeah, exactly. What you do for a Klon Dike?

And then people started doing research on it, and there were, like, racist videos and, like, I think there was something about, like, Nazis, like Nazi propaganda. And then they would get, like, a Coca-Cola. It's just getting paid. Yeah, just get, like, a Coca-Cola ad, like, right before a Nazi video. And then they're like, well, we're not. So advertising. We're not paying YouTube to, you know, for bad publicity. So now YouTube has to, like, work with, and that's why.

Probably really choose and pick of where these ads go. Yeah, so then the ads stopped for a while. And then when they picked back up, it was like the suitable for kids thing. You know, I have to press that. And then you have to do like, you have to on the back end before you upload. Oh, the PewDie Pie thing. Yeah, people were saying there were anti-Semitic jokes for PewDiePie, which turned out to all be false, I think.

But, you know, you have to like press your like rating on the back end of YouTube. where you have to like rate your video yeah submit your rating that that all came from the adpocalypse and then the algorithm sometimes i'd be wondering i'd be wondering if mine because i say fuck a lot and i guess a lot and i'm like is this effective you can't put it in the title or the thumbnail that's that's all it is that's kind of what i figured but yeah it's uh it's nuts man yeah i'm taking a financially i'm taking a dip but i feel like i'm investing into, I wouldn't necessarily say

a financial investment, but just the return of the financial dip I'm going to take out, prosper in at least some other way. Because I'm just, it's going to happen. It's actually going to happen this year. You're going to try it?

If you're unsure of what I'm talking about, yes, I'm counting every calorie. Oh. I'm going to bed hungry. Wow. exercising basically seven days a week i work out a gym twice every every single gym session i do cardio as well but i'll gym gym gym gym day off which is just like cardio or walking or running gym gym gym day off cardio walking and then that's just just keep repeating that and um i feel good about it i've

done you know i've done this before we've talked about this for the past 12 years um i've i've I've talked about it since I was 18. This is the year. This is it, man. I know this is it. I have to. Like, like, you said, if you don't do it this year, your life is over. I was, I'm dead.

I was already at a, I was already at like a bad spot of just like, this thing, this thing in my mind kept popping up. Like, I keep breaking promises to myself and just like, oh, why, why do I feel anxious? Why am I depressed? Why do, why do these feelings? keep coming up and going and it's because i just keep breaking promises to myself and it's like little shit like this and i was like i feel like if i just did this low key like all right this is the like if i didn't publicize it and i didn't say i'm posting youtube videos about it and if i didn't go public with it and start making content around it and just kind of keep it to myself and say it on

the flycass for the fucking eighth year straight um i feel like i wouldn't have that would make me not all in but i i'm just i'm all in i'm not drinking i'm not talking to females i'm not watching porn which i don't know if the diet or the porn is harder is harder are you still beating your beating your shit though like hard and crazy stuff i beat off once but like i didn't have a visual so you just i mean it just it didn't really it wasn't the music It wasn't the same. It wasn't the same. It was like I kind of did it.

I don't know. I just felt horny. And I felt like I just maybe just get one out. But then I also kind of want to try just not even getting one off. But yeah, not, what are we at, day eight? And I don't know if the, I'll still have sex. That's the only, that's, that's, that's, what's his name? Ha ha.

I'm being funny in 2026. That's what I'm doing. But yeah, no more gooning, no more porn. But it's funny. Since I stopped gooning and stopped watching porn, I watch, I watch, like, female fitness vlogs now. So is that gooning? I'm not beating off to them, but I feel like I'm like,

like you know whenever you nut you you're kind of just like oh my fucking just you're just you don't even want to see a female mm-hmm that's how i feel uh but since all this is just still built up inside me it's like this energy i just i'll just watch female fitness foggers and i think it's because like you get that like i do enjoy the content and to be honest i'm kind of stealing their whole fucking flow with how i want to make my videos because i honestly think they do it pretty well um i like but it's really like one girl but I feel like I'm like damn am I watched like

I haven't watched a female fitness person like forever like forever okay like maybe there'll be one person who I'll click on and then they'll kind of pop up on my recommended every now and then because I don't watch movies or TV shows I just watch fucking YouTube so that's the shit

I'll watch but I'm like damn am I like watching this shit just just because like it's an outlet it's an outlet I guess like I can't watch I can't watch much porn or anything like that. Do you need to enjoy the sight of a woman's body?

I guess. I think that is a thing. Like even on Instagram, if they're like, like if you open your, what is it called, browse or search page or something, or just like Instagram.

I don't know what yours looks like. Open the Instagram app, hit the little search. Mine's just like girls in short shorts and like sort of fitness stuff. and I'm even It's all guitar stuff Oh

Well mine's like But cheeks And Jim shorts Um But it's also dudes as well It's just finish it But I'm even trying to like not Look at this stuff

I'm trying to Regroup The purity of my mind Body and Soul So far We're a week in I think this is day Number eight

Um And yeah started at 204 even though I think I was dehydrated I was probably more than that I think I was 201.2 today so we're off to a good start I feel good about it

like just knowing I'm not going to be going out and I'm not really giving myself an option to do anything I just this is the best I've ever felt about it and we don't got to talk about it much more because I know people have heard this many many a time do you want to this will be the time

I'm not doing anything guaranteed this will be the time. You will see me come March. I mean, I'm not going to be shredded. It's only two months. And within per week, I want to lose one to two pounds. That will equal anywhere from like eight to six seven. Eight to sixteen,

17 pounds. So it's not going to be insane for two months. But come March or when I stick to it through March because I'm going to keep going until I get there. I'm not going to just fuck it up just because like I told myself I'm going to vlog for two months.

and like document it for two months and track every calorie for two months but what I feel like once I get to that point I'm not gonna just like boo pizza time like I'm gonna be at a point where I want to keep this going so oh yeah by the end of March man by the end of fucking March

by the end and this just made me this just made me think of something I think I clicked on the on your podcast around the bar and I looked at the comments and so I was like thank God Hitch has this so we don't have to hear a maniac talk about himself.

So I just wanted to let that guy know. That's still in my head. Because I've been sitting here talking about myself on my podcast. Imagine fucking that. But I'm on some positive shit. I appreciate you. I appreciate the criticism. And I wish you the best in 2026, man.

I really do. Yo, I'm in town this weekend if you want to go out and get some drinks. No. You haven't said those words. for one ever maybe something to do with getting a drink

like at the scuff house so no to answer your question two I know that's fake as fuck and you don't want to actually do that there's a test

to see if and you passed maybe what day tattoos tattoos no I do want to get tattoos on Saturday I'm done for a tattoo

I'm to text my guy hell yeah we've got a We've, we, it's, it's the new, it's the year. It's the year of our dreams. It's what 2026 is. I agree. I'm not even like, I'm not even trying to be performative or troll.

Like, yeah, I mean neither. I'm, and I'll see, I laugh when I see you say this, but I think it was like on Instagram and I don't laugh at me. I'm not laughing at you or I'm not laughing because of me. But it's, I think you posted on Instagram. It was like, watch what the. fuck I'm gonna do it's 2026. Watch what I do.

And I just, and it's just like, I was so fucking hype when I did that. I'm like what I laugh because it's like, what was the mental state he's in? Oh, dude. That made him like post something like that. It's about to be,

I'm very excited for this year. I actually to down, going down the bed of yourself route, I, I haven't, I took Uber Eats and Grubhubhub off of my phone first week of December. okay having start it's gone it's good having that for the week of December yeah instead of like 2026 thing yeah so we I've been cooking so no door dash either no nothing you're just like well

yeah I took a really just like not using the other rub hub is just like there no like Alexis like likein I've been cooking fucking turkey tacos and shit like every day she's going crazy with us she's like she's like weighing her food and the scale like this whole scale I saw her doing like I don't know It might have been Pilates or something. Yeah, she's, she's been going, she's been going crazy. Go ahead. I'll, I, I'm doing one thing at a time. Like, I'm like vlogging, doing this vision watch party and not, and not ordering, that's like enough.

Because I have a tendency to be like, I'm going to change everything about me tomorrow. Right. And then I do it for four days. And then I'm on the, and then the fifth day, I'm on the couch with the whole pizza. Why did I just run 16 miles these past four days? Right. My legs hurt. Fuck this. Yeah.

Yeah, exactly. So I'm trying to pace myself, change what I, what I think is most important, which was definitely my eating. And also, whatever I'm going to do this year that's, like, new as far as work is concerned. Because I'm not going to be streaming, you know, hardly at all. Maybe I will. Maybe I will be streaming here and there. But, yeah, a lot of YouTube, a lot of around the bars and, you know, bettering my physical health. That's what 2026 is.

Are you going to get back into running? Yeah, yeah. The biggest part is the food, though. I think you should really focus on just like. Yeah. I think it'll be way easier if I start running. Because when I, I usually hit rock bottom and then start running. So I'm like 228 fucking bouncing around.

Yeah, that's just. Brin, bling, bling, bling. It's running sucks. Like, let me, when you're not at a good spot. Yeah. Just starting to run. Just feel my titty's fucking bounce, like hitting me in the face, like, because they're big and volumptuous and juicy. Yeah.

So you're going to not start running yet. You're going to just worry about the diet first? Yeah, yeah. Just worry about the diet. And I'm getting good sleep for the first time. And I don't know. How do you do that? 12 years.

Because I don't do that. How do you get good sleep? My sleep is, I think, the number one issue with me. Uh, I mean, I just kind of. Well, I, I'm not. streaming at night anymore. So I edit. So I edit or I record videos and then, you know, by the time like 1030 hits, like I'm pretty

much done. And then I get in bed. And then I just fall asleep now instead of because when you would stream till, and I used to say this when you were streaming till like 2, 3 a.m. Or 3 a.m. Yeah. When you're streaming, you don't like get tired on stream. Like there's like a, is it adrenaline or something?

There's just something. Maybe it's staring at the screens and the lights and you're always talking. Like, I get like worked up when I'm streaming. Like when I get off, it's genuinely, when I get off, when I would stream late and then have to get off and like take chewy to the dog park, I'm like wired. Right. Like I'm like, I feel like, I feel like, I don't know what that feeling is and it sounds maybe more serious than what it was. but like, like, I'm not falling asleep for, like, it's going to be hours before I even fall asleep.

Yeah. So, I think that's helped a lot too. I'm just like, I don't have that. Like, I've been recording for like a main channel video, but all I'm doing is just like playing video games. And dude, when you record, like, when was the last time you recorded like a live commentary or something? I know you, you didn't really dabble into those very often.

I might have made like one or two. But like, those are so much better than streaming. Like you're not like amped Like fucking the video you like the vlog kind of thing you did No no no the like kind of like the I'm recording for another like Remember like the 40 hours of video games video I made Recording one of the another one of those

Okay So I'm playing like four or five hours of a video game And recording it all But I'm just like writing down what happened So I can like make a script later and not I'm not like Oh my God! Like I play you play so different whenever there's no camera or whenever there's you're not on stream yeah dude i will say

for this video so what i'm doing i'm playing every game of the year that's the video and so i i'm kind of going out of order a little bit but i played the the last game of the year the one that just won it's called expedition 33 bro i know you don't like story games so you'll probably never play this it, but it's the best video game I've ever played. It's fucking unbelievable. Expedition 33. It is unbelievable. Just like a...

What kind of game is it? It's... I mean, you're going to get pissed off, but... It's a story game, but... There's bosses and stuff as well, kind of like Eldon Ring, but... The combat system is, like, turn-based, and you have to parry it. So, like, you have to... like you have to know when the attack is coming and you have to hit parry at the right time and then you'll get a counter but sometimes the big bosses will swing like five times and you have to parry all five in order to get like a counter on it so it's still like it's still pretty tough but it is turn-based combat turn-based kind of like Pokemon yeah like I'll attack then you attack then I attack okay but

Really? Best video game of all time. Better than Eldon Ring. The story 100% is better than Eldring. And the combat, like when you get going, it gives you that same feeling as like Eldon Ring does because... I said, Eldon Ring was such a blessing for me to discuss. But I think it was just doing it marathon-wise. For sure. I don't know if this, this might be a good marathon game. I don't know, though. It would be. I think you would have to play it on the highest difficulty in order for it to be a good marathon game. Like I would just kind of breeze through it if it... Well, it's more like the story is definitely the best part of this game

and the combat is also really good. The combat in Eldon Ring is the best part of the game. But the story is also pretty good. So it's kind of like flipped in that sense. I feel like Eldon Ring, the best... I don't know about best part, but just being like, fuck, I don't know if I'm going to kill this boss. Yeah.

But then, like, and then you finally get that. I did that with this game. Because I was under-leveled. I didn't realize you can even get over-leveled in this game because I was just kind of like going boss to boss. But I was under-leveled like crazy. And but as long as you learn the attacks, it's the same kind of mentality as Eldon Ring

because you have to learn their attacks. So, like, they'll be like, boom-boom. And you've got to be like, pop, pop, blah, blah, and block all five of them on the right time. but regardless that I think everyone if you don't like this game

I think everyone in the world should play the first 30 minutes I think the first 30 minutes of this game are so I mean at that point you've bought the game so you might as well play it but or just return it

by this game play the first 30 minutes until the epilogue is over and then if you don't like it return it but you got to experience that part I feel like my brain is so prologue how does that mean

is it prolog or epilogue which one's before epilogue don't know I said epilogue and then I prolog everybody should play the prolog

everybody played prolog yeah jabolog jabolog is a long time away what's I gonna say my brain is so if I like if I could turn on my stream and

half people be like oh shit he's on expedition 33 oh yeah play play play it And like I like how it kind of was for outer me. This is going to be so funny. Ah, so bad. Ah, you're fucking horrible. Ah, you're not going to be.

He's never beating. Like if I, if I could turn on this. It's almost like my enjoyment for the game will come out of people's enjoyment from seeing me play it. Or like just their interest in seeing me play. And I don't know. I know if I played off stream, I wouldn't. I don't, I don't think it'd be possible for me to just like enjoy it. Say I had a, is this on PC or like PS5 or?

I think it's on everything. Say I have a PS5 and I'm just on my couch and I play this. Like I don't think I'm going to like sit there and be like, fuck, I don't want to get off, but like I need to go to sleep. Like I don't think I can reach that point. With Eldon Ring, it kind of was getting to that point. But I think a lot of it was like. Because of the chat.

Because of the chat. See that. I kind of agree with you. This is the first game in my entire life. since I started, since like I started streaming. So I guess not in my entire life. But since, since 2013, this is the first game I've ever played off stream. And I literally played it until I was like so tired.

Because I was only going to play four hours of it. Because that's what kind of what I'm going for like the four or five hour mark. But I got five hours deep. And then I went to, I stopped the recording, went to bed, woke up. And I was like, holy shit. I want to keep playing it. then I played for 15 hours like I beat the game

and that hasn't happened to me ever I don't think it's just the how the story starts is so fucking good can I see like a or will we get like copywritten just like the first

the first balls fight or something uh yeah look up Expedition 33 first boss fight I don't know if the first boss is going to be a I mean it doesn't need to be cinema i just want to see how like it moves like how the thing did formal play this probably

we can't hear it but here it but it doesn't really matter oh there it is but it is kind of like out and ring where you're going just like boss the ball's yeah yeah it's linear it's linear it's not open world well i guess it it's technically linear i like open world i like i like i like my or world craft kind of things like world war yeah where you can just wander off go level You can still do that in this game. So yeah. Build your character up certain different ways. So here's the spell that comes in.

And you cannot go and you cannot dodge. Yeah. So whoever's playing is messing up their dodge right now. So you could dodge all of those. Or you could parry it. And you play co-op. I don't think you can play co-op. I feel like that'd be kind of cool.

That'd be kind of sick. It's like, fuck. Like, bro, you fucked it up. Achoo! So now she doesn't attack. And then you have like you can do like a normal attack or you can So this takes way less skill? Uh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I would say it takes less skill than Eldon Ring, but once you get to the big bosses... The attacks are just automatic. Yeah, but it takes a lot of strategy. It definitely takes more strategy than like hand eye coordination. But it also takes a lot of hand eye coordination because when you get to the bigger bosses, they swing like seven times. And so you have to you have to parry like every one of their of their hits. So, like, you would have to hit, like, right now, and it would parry, and then you would get a counterattack.

And you also can't, like, run away to see what moves they are doing, if that makes sense. I fought the final boss on this game, like... What's decent? 30 times. Because it took... Because I was underlevel, so I wasn't doing, like, a lot of damage, but, like, the combat's really cool, and I like to combat a lot. It's definitely not the selling point of the game. Selling point is how fucking good, like, the story is and, you know, the graphics and shit.

So 2026, you around the bar, these kind of videos? I kind of want to do like what, like four or five. Nice topic. New Year, new, yeah. New year, new year. You knew that was just. I want to, I want to, I have that like optic hitch channel, which everything that goes up on that channel is something that I made. like exclusively me like you edit it i i filmed it i edited it uh edited it most of the time i did

the thumbnails sometimes uh for the visionary watches i'm getting thumbnails made you see my thumbnails yeah are you making those oh yeah cap cut cut cap cut templates um but if anything goes up on the hitcher eye channel then that'll be like a something that took me a while to edit And I've got some pretty good ideas for that. But I want to do like kind of how like the 100 hours of Apex video like got like two million views. Like I'm trying to do that. I'm trying to tap into that like solo. I've never done.

I've never gotten a million viewed video by myself. I mean, I don't know if you count around the bar. But I'm saying like that style of YouTube. Yeah. I've never been watching. Like you watch all the. Is it Colin and Samir? Yeah.

Those guys that like interview you big YouTubers. Yeah. their whole thing is figuring out the how to the best thumbnails you can make and they give tips of best thumbnails, best titles, what, how to capture your audience in the first seven seconds

and then after that seven seconds within the first 30 seconds you need to be, after 30 seconds you got to switch to a whole other but the, but I didn't like I was watching some of their videos because I was like, okay,

I could definitely like, if I'm going to start like doing YouTube stuff again, but then I just start hearing their shit and I'm like, bro, I'm not trying to like yes I want the first seven seconds to be like sort of

I'm not aiming to like capture the audience and then within 30 seconds but this is going to happen in the vlog or like I don't know I just those aren't the videos I even watch yeah

and maybe they are I just don't even know it and that's what maybe the videos I do watch they're doing that without even be knowing it but like those aren't even the videos I watch nor do you watch i will say like you so you watch well first of all you've been watching uh girls do squats and stuff on youtube yeah but but but if you want to there's always somebody in every aspect that's doing it like like a YouTuber like a like a like a calling in some years like there's someone in fitness doing that yeah what's his name his he goes to like different gyms um yeah there's

plenty of people that do that yeah but i'm thinking that one but like that's not gonna be me yeah So it's like if that style is not going to be me. Like I was even, I uploaded, I put all the footage from my SD card into my PC last night. I was like, let me see if I, let me see what we got here. I'm going to bring a few clips into the beginning and like make like an intro. So they see this is going to first like seven seconds. This is going to be like what the blog's about. And then like boom, start my blog from that.

It was over like two hours of footage. And I was just like I'm not. That's just not, I'm just going to edit this like a regular vlog. Yeah. And obviously you want to think about your content. You want to think of ways to make it better. And I'm, this will be my like third vlog or something. Yeah.

That's far in the last few years. So it's like I shouldn't shouldn't even stress about it that much. I'm not stressed about the op. About my channel that I've been uploading to, the optic hits channel. I'm not stressed about the viewership on that at all. Like I saw some people would be like, you know, I know the views aren't as high as you think they probably should be, but like, don't sweat it. Like, keep doing it.

And I'm like, bro, the fact I've, the fact that a channel I've never posted on got like 20,000 views or whatever, like that's, that's, I thought the first video was going to get like 5,000 views, 6,000 views. But like, I'm glad. I'm glad it is where it is. And, and, you know, obviously there's going to be a lot. The vision rewatch is going to be fun for some episodes. And some episodes, people are going to kind of fall off.

come back like i know i know that that that channel is more of just like i'm i'm putting shit out because i like to do it but i am going to stress about the like if i'd spend a lot of time on a video right i'm going to stress about those like try to try to do the like hook yeah you're gonna yeah i mean that that i understand um and i'm i'm i'm sort of in the same mindset as well to where i've already said i'm going to be doing this so it's like i'm going to try to put out a good video i'm not just gonna i'm not gonna just put up a video to put up a video like i'm going to try to make it like a decent little funny vlog switch up the scenery good like try to find someone to fucking hang out with get some other people in in the vlog and stuff but the main focus i guess

is just like tracking the progress here's week one here's week two here's week three yeah this was my workout this is what i ate today this is how many and that's the main focus and i i don't know if a of like optic people find interest in that but i already made the promise that i'm going to be tracking the progress and i'm going to be putting out at least uh one at least one vlog a week and then probably more than one real a week yeah um but i'm i'm just tracking the progress and i'm trying gonna try not to like stress about views and stuff and my first video already did exceeded my expectations. I told myself, I think I told myself, as long as it hits 20K, I'm not going to stress. And then I think now it's at like 40K. And then for the second video, I was like,

as long as it hits 20K, like I won't be stressed and it's not a 20K. So now I'm stressed. So now I'm stressed. But yeah, that's where we're at. But I'm trying, like I'm, the videos are going to be uploaded, um, edited by me, thumbnails by me. Yeah. Everything's shot by me. I have borrowed a camera though. And yeah, I'm, I'm just going to be posting regardless, so I'm not,

I'm not going to stress about it. The people that fuck with it, they really fuck with it. And, yeah, I just, I hope people enjoy it. And this will be something, I think this will be something six months from now.

You know, hopefully, hopefully I continue this. I had to make a problem. I know if I said, like, I'm going to, I can't, I couldn't make the problem.

I'm gonna do this for six months. Six months of video every single week. Yeah. That's just too much for my fucking lazy ass. So it's like, okay, what can I do? I can promise myself, I can promise two months. Two months, I'm away myself every day. Track everything, every single thing I eat.

Make a video, make a vlog per week, make multiple reels, blah, blah, blah. That I can do. And now I'm hoping at the end of these two months that, uh, that I just keep going with it. And then hopefully six months from now, I look back and I'm like, You see my thumbnail six months from now and I'm just, yeah. And then I get to look at the first ones and I'm like, see, I fucking knew it, man. I'm so glad we did this.

It doesn't matter about the views, the likes, the comments, the subscriptions. It's about the fucking journey and the people being able to watch the journey and be a part of it with you. And I was also, I was telling myself a little bit, this a little bit. And I even mentioned it in my vlog. I was like, man, how many years did I have to clutch up? and didn't it and I just know if I would have there for sure would have been

one singular person out there that would have been inspired by it and probably did it themselves well like I could have changed someone else well you the good thing is is you've choked for like 10 years and you've still inspired people so like imagine what I imagine how many people hey N BPAHs

first of all there's a guy in the YouTube comments on flycast that whenever I say stuff like that he's like he's always hating on maniac and it's fucking weird Wait, when you say stuff like what? What I just said, like, chokingly was like, you've been choking for 10 years and you've still inspired people. Obviously, you haven't been choking for all 10 years, only some of them.

I mean. So I'd fucking banter, you fucking weirdo. Damn, that shit, that shit was, that should bother me, dog. That was the one that got me. You think I, do you not know what it's like to have a buddy that you just fucking riff with? You think I scrolled down and saw that and was like, hmm, he might be right. I don't know. I think it was late and I was like.

I was like, you thumbs it down? Yeah, I did. Fucking pussy. Next to Matt Craig to delete it. Bro, my first, literally, uploaded that first vlog. Biggest change of my life. At YouTube.com slash maniac watite.

First off, I am not clutching when it comes to my titles and thumbnails. I sit there and I'm like, fuck, what do I make these? I just need to give. Luckily, I have a cheat code for how I, do my vlogs which is also not what you what you should be doing on YouTube you know I got a shot see on the thumbnail no I just like take one sentence that somebody said in the vlog and make it the title yeah I've always done that well I'm sitting there trying to think like

okay what's something that can like yeah but my very first vlog I posted posted it like like home all right hopefully like people are gonna be hype and like I felt like the the intro is good and like I was fucking with all the color gray I blah blah blah blah Within maybe five minutes or something, what was the comment? It was something that... Can you click on the video, Matt? It wasn't even that serious. I deleted the comment.

Oh, you deleted it. Oh, okay, never mind, never mind. But it was something like... Very proud of you for coming out. How many... 1.7K likes. But within the first five minutes of me posting, I was like, all right, let me see all the real ones that are in there cheering for me.

I check and it was just some dude. What did he say? He was like, he said something like, whatever maniac, you'll be quitting again soon or like, just something like that. Yeah. It was, I think it was a little more mean than that. But I was just like, come on, the first five minutes, you didn't even finish the, the time, the time to even finish the video hasn't even fucking. Bro, people say that about me all the time. They're like, yeah, well, Hitchlake doesn't really commit too often whenever he,

You know, whenever he does start something. I'm like, what? I fucking, I feel like I do. On YouTube? I think so. I uploaded it on TST for four years. I mean, to be honest, I'm so unfamiliar with your YouTube. I've been uploading on Around the Bar for it.

I watch your vlogs and that's about it. Two years. Yeah, maybe that's what it is. Maybe there's people that like watch my vlog and then they didn't watch anything else that I do, which is fine. Well, they'll probably. But then they're like, oh, well, he's not going to do it because he doesn't ever, because he doesn't vlog anymore well they'll probably watch one of your like i ran 30 miles yeah for a prank and then the next video that kind of style isn't up for four months yeah okay yeah maybe that's yeah maybe that's right

maybe that's right but maybe that's their their fucking thoughts behind it yeah man i'm going crazy this year with um with around the bar for sure i think i want if you're vlogging we should go we should go LA for a week. So you can around the bar with people? Yeah, I'm just trying to get like an Airbnb build a little bar in there and then just invite

to do that. Invite like three or four people throughout the week. Take Bose because he always wants to go to L.A. for some reason. I might be down for something like that. There's just a bunch of people in L.A. I want to go to L.A. and I want to go to New York.

Just like New York City? Yeah. There's some people in New York. That would be fun. getting a little a B&B in New York. Yeah. Except we would end up getting one just like 35 minutes outside the city in the middle of nowhere.

I'm just not. I'm thinking I'm walking outside and I'm just in the city, but that is not the case at all. I'd be down for either, to be honest. Yeah, I'm not staying back for any. Yeah. No Halo watch parties. Matt can come too because the flycast and stuff.

Yes, we can record a flycast and talk. I'm square. Yeah. Set it up. Oh, dude, the weather's getting good. We should do the outside ones again. And Matt's full time on a fly cast again. January 7th.

Do you live here now? You're just going to be here every week. He's still here every week. But Riley, rage, quit. Riley has watch party. Watch party's back. Yeah. Watch party's back.

So the flycast at 11 a.m. on a fucking Thursday. impossible can do it watch party back shout out to Riley shout out to watch party I guess

yeah you gonna pop on the watch party hell no no I you begin you get anxious on I get anxious as fuck when I sit down

and I sit down they start talking about the P3 rotations I'm like get me the fuck out of here yeah that's kind of how I feel but then they tell me bro no one cares man

we love you for you man but then you be you but then you be you but then they don't love you anymore so they don't love you for you they love you for sitting there they do not love me yeah and now this like big change has happened to where like i'll see comments like all they do is read donations and subscriptions it's like can't even enjoy the game anymore and then even formal said something about like he just felt like there's too many people talking yeah and like he's out of his element when he kind of does it so it's like when i'm

in there. If I get a fucking subscription you're reading this shit. That's my that is, that is me. That's me. That's fucking half of my stream right there. It's just going crazy for subs and shit. Going crazy for a five bomb.

But I don't know. I'll probably end up but I haven't played the game since Race the Master Prestige. Haven't downloaded. When you asked me to play. Yeah, I've asked you four times to play. First you asked me to play and I was like, hmm. And then, and then, but it was on like Wednesday or something.

But I was like, there's content Wednesday and then I plan on vlogging all day. So it's like, I'm not just going to go to content, come home, get on the game, and then I have nothing to vlog. So I was like, in my head, I was just, didn't text you that, but in my head I was. Yeah, you just kind of. But then you said it was Tuesday and then you showed me I'd be teaming with formal and highs or something like that. And I was like, damn, this would be a good team. But I'm not getting fucking. I don't know where the bombs.

are like and imagine foremost P-O-V just foremost dead and they're watching me I don't know the maps I don't know where the bombs you would have been replacing hex though but looking at the other people Pommage Raxi

and fucking whoever else was on that or like Pommage was like Daltouche Waxie Wait Pommage Nubes Alman I'm like these mother that's three people that just grinds

the game. Like, Pumage grinds the game. Replacing hex, yes. Like, I would be a better attribute for that team. But, like, when I saw the other teams, I was like, I don't even know the bomb plants. I don't know the maps. I don't know the guns. I don't know how, with the timings. Like, I did, this is the most I've ever not been into a cod, I think, when it dropped. Yeah. And it's

crazy because I told myself, this would be the year that I'm going full time when Cod comes out. And that did not happen. That did not happen. So do you think that's going to happen with you getting shredded too? This is the year I'm getting shredded. No, because I didn't make a promise like I did with this. Okay. So this is not going to be what I said, what happened with Cod.

And I feel like a lot of, I don't know, I feel like Cod is, I wouldn't say, no, I wouldn't say losing its height. But I feel like for more casual players, I feel like the pro scenes still kind of lit. Challenger's is lit. the streams for the big streamers are going really well uh you know that fucking group of the octane scumps zinny's formals like it's going very well for them and challenges is lit but i feel like for like casuals i feel like not many people i feel like the population is probably probably the lowest in a long time the lowest it's been in a very very very and i wonder what it is i'd like to see a chart i don't know if it's burnout it's it's it's four years straight of back-to-back

cods like monorfer two then monorephor three then black up six then black up seven and so the general public believes that they're just releasing the same game over again because like not everyone's a cod fan where they know the i i know the differences between black up six and black up seven one you can fucking wall bounce off the walls and you know the maps are a lot better and the gunplay i believe is better than black up six but like the casual doesn't isn't going to know all that shit like they don't care they don't they don't really care at all they want i think the they were the the glory years of cod it was they were so different it was like world war two game and then there was a modern warfare game and then there was a a game in the cold war like they were so different but now it's kind of like

They're very similar games that are being released. And if you're not a codhead, you don't care about the little different intricacies between them. I feel like the only way for me to have any sort of success on Call of Duty, streaming Call of Duty right now would be like to get in the circle of the skums. And watch party. And like act like I fucking care. Right.

Because like if I was just to get on and like I used to get on play podcast. Pubs. I mean, this was also peak, like, scuff house days. But just, like, get on, thrown on the stream, play pubs, snipe, and just, like, talk. And it was a, it was a thing. Yeah. People would just get on and do that and talk to their chat, and their chat enjoyed it. Yeah.

But, like, now it's like, you're either watch partying challengers. And amongst the discord of the Cod elites. Yeah. or you're not really doing shit. Maybe you're like a big war zone streamer. No, war zone's the worst it's ever been. I know war zone's not doing good at all, but I'm saying like those are the only people

like making it in Cod right now is that ex-pro elites doing watch parties. Right. Or the people who maybe in their eyes they're not doing that great, but like the top war zone players. Yeah. Not the war zone streamers, I should say.

Like but besides that There's not really like Anything else going on Dude like a thing about all the people That would be playing cod Like Nade shot symphony Swag

Like Oh when new cod came out And these motherfuckers aren't even touch They're playing They're all playing Arct Raiders Like all of them And apparently Arc Raiders

Is having a little bit of issue Right now with cheaters and stuff But I would like to get a squad And try that out Try Arc Like if if me Say me you in

Matt Craig Matt Craig me you Matt Craig say you Matt Craig say you run you know next two weeks let's

play our craters five six days a week at this time like I'd be down for that I'd be down to try it out and like see if we could get something going like I mean I'm

the streams wouldn't fucking pop off I don't want to do that okay see that would just be me doing what I what I was doing the last 10, 5 years. But you got a new team. I don't want to do that.

I was thinking like me, hex, Bose. You hex and Bose, I would watch. Me, Bose, Pam. Yeah, yeah. But, like, I know they would, Bose loves Call of Duty too much. Yeah. He just plays tournaments, doesn't stream.

Well, that's what I'm, even for Bose, him streaming these cod tournaments, like, he's not even going to get views like that. Yeah. And, like, he used to, but it's like people just don't care anymore. They want to watch watch partying challengers or watch partying real matches.

That's like, that's kind of it. Yeah, it's crazy, man. Yeah, it's, it's just sort of change.

I think, so when it comes to streaming this year, what are your plans for streaming? I mean, right now for the foreseeable future, I don't have a plan. Obviously, I'm going to figure something out.

If there's going to come a point where I'm just, I'm going to be turning on the stream, whether it's fucking shit or not. Yeah. Um, wouldn't mind stream in the gym but every time I do that it's not like it goes that well anyways

um so that probably be inconsistent I would just do it out of like hey guys come to the gym with me yeah um probably just stream my whole morning from like apartment to going to the gym coming home cooking boom and stream uh but besides that man

I mean arc raiders kind of interest me but I don't want to just like sign on hopping it solo but maybe that could be it I don't know. I just have one goal right now. I have to accomplish it. It's going to be accomplished.

And that's just locking in next two months with this fitness stuff, used to stuff. I would like to kind of put out more Instagram content, YouTube content, yes. But obviously, Instagram is just way easier. And sort of figure out. something like that. So I don't know as far as streaming goes, but we'll figure out something soon.

I'm not, I'm definitely not done with streaming. I was saying this in my vlog as well. Like, I actually, I enjoy streaming. I enjoy the community. I enjoy the BTH community.

Fucking the combos we get that, the person I get to be while I am streaming. Like, I do enjoy streaming. But then there comes a time where, like, I can't just turn on my stream every day and just yap. Yeah.

Or if like, like it, I've said this a hundred times, but it's like, I want to turn on my stream and people know, like there came a point last year where it's like, hex and maniac playing Minecraft in the mornings. And that happened for like a few weeks. And I fucking loved it. Like, and hex would even get off. And next thing you know, I'm live for 12 hours.

Like I just got, I got sucked into it again. Yeah. And I'm just trying to find that next thing. I don't want to just turn on my stream to turn on my stream. Yeah. I don't want people click it and be like, oh, this is stale if i turn my stream on this year well i mean i will i'm not saying if like i am not going to be just like hopping on and playing something like it'll be something like like our

greater stream yeah it won't be an art grade stream macraig it won't you know unfortunately i know people want that but well you dropped me, Matt Craig and I have some good ideas but mostly I want to ideally I want to stream to upload on YouTube

so I want to like kind of live stream a something that we'll put into a video and put it on YouTube and like it clips out of or something no like if I

if I like like if you and I streamed every morning and played skyblock until we beat Minecraft I would make that entire that all of those streams

until we beat Minecraft into a video I do that I mean I'm down all right I'm down I won't even take the YouTube video well I know you won't I might copyright it you didn't upload any of your Eldon ring stuff and now it's all in the ether where am I gonna upload it to

I'd make a make a make to have somebody make some clips out of it do like a highlight video there were so many good moments yeah atlas the fuck no not atlas atlas it's already busy you know definitely should have did something with that yeah

I'm just not good at like getting someone to do that and I've had people kind of do that before but I never liked I was never impressed with like okay yes that is what I that is what we did great job on this clip right here or like it was

I never I was like fuck man like dude you didn't like you should have ended the clip a second sooner for like the comedic timing or like why didn't you include this part there should have been a and I can't I'm not going to do it well why don't you just do it yourself

idiot God you're the lazy because I don't fucking know how and I would have to research everything how to do this and how to edit and bring this and no it's just I'm not I guess creative enough for that someone that knows the game of clips would have to clutch up

And then it's like, how much do I pay you? Do people on your Instagram? Am I going to make money to even? Do I, am I making money from this to even pay you? Or do I just dig into my fucking? Are you getting DM requests on Instagram? That's like, yo, I'm a clipper. I've gotten like nine of those.

I don't really look at my Instagram. Yo, I'm a clipper. And I could hit you or I could, I could turn your. A good clipper, man. If you find one. I mean, it probably, sometimes they can turn nothing. into some fucking... I'm just saying there's some people out there

that are grinding, just clipping. I think we should have had a couple clippers on hand during the race. 100%. Just like, oh, you won't believe

what Skump said here while riding this and the clip that goes to the clip and we're all just kind of like silent. The whiteboard is in the back. How the fuck do I?

Yeah, fucking number one app crab cakes. kind of figure out how to even go what the fuck do i go to my requests yeah i never check my yeah i just get the yo i'm a clipper yeah i don't think i get any of this i can see why you would get them maybe it's around the bar stuff i don't know though i have no clue yeah you have like a who is it true someone someone does like clips and stuff or around the bar uh yeah his name's wampas oh okay he's the fuck he's the fuck fucking man.

Yeah, your clips do decent though, right? Yeah. Around the bar is done pretty well. Yeah. A peanut episode's at 1.1 million. That's the most viewed, obviously, right? Yeah, there's two. Yeah, you made peanut.

People need to start realizing, like, I mean, where he was at comes on around the bar and then suddenly he skyrockets to that. Yeah. Like, people got to start realizing, like, you are the stepping stone. You know, like, if you really want to, if you really want to make it big. Like what was Wildcat doing before that?

You know? Like what, like before around the bar, like what really what was he doing? Like we've seen Nate shot success since. Yeah. Nate, I mean, he came on. Ash, he went back to back. That's what I'm set down. This is, I'm the, you know like that student, you know that guy, that video of the guy, like if, if you, the girls would sleep with him because they, they would find their true love after.

Heard of that. I'm, sleep with me. Yes. drink with you drink drink drink with me drink because you will find success is what i'm saying yeah like maybe just it's just nothing but bangers do you how much do you prep for this because i know flycass you just fucking wake up pick the fucking boogers out of your eyes and stroll on over so compared to the around the bar not showered half the time but compared to around the bar how much do you i obviously it depends on the guess but for someone like peanut like

how many notes do you have written down a lot yeah a lot like the next episode is with jing any single thing that pops into your head you immediately just write it down yeah and like kind of phrasing framing the question is like the most important part because you want to find like general questions about like you don't i don't want to ask i don't want to ask peanut actually peanut's a bad example I don't want to ask Wildcat, like, what's the intricacies of making a YouTube video? More than, like, what's the idea of being a YouTuber questions? Like, little things that, like, I don't know, like, little things I asked him. Like, one of my favorite questions I asked him was like, you know, is it weird that you guys are called the Vanos crew?

Was anyone ever butt hurt because you guys have called the Vanos crew, you know, even though Vanos isn't always there? Like, is it weird being behind your lead singer? like we're not called the scump org we're called optic and he just happens to be the biggest and you know that was a really interesting conversation that i had with him but like stuff like that is the stuff that i like to ask but yeah i do i i pretty much just like watch everyone's videos and you know peanut peanut wasn't uploading to youtube at the time when we did our uh podcast so i had to like what i was rewatching his streams on like two-time speed And it's just a bunch of uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh,

He is like, bro. And then I bet there's people out there that are like, bro, it's fucking pathetic. People will really just put a peanut on their face and like just go viral because of it. Dude. Bro, you don't like, you just, you don't get it, man. When I watch his shit, like, I click a stream and it's like he's saying something, his, what's the, what's the word I'm looking for? just the way he enunciates and talks and his the slang that he uses it just immediately you click his stream and it like kind of sucks you in yeah and then it's like okay where's this guy fucking like is this really how he talks and then it's just it's just it's a character that just like draws you into his stream and he's you know you got to be very witty you got to be smart you got to be consistent like to be consistently funny and

you know, what to say at certain times and people want to be around you and they want to play with you and capitalizing, like, he'll see a moment in game and he knows like, I got to capitalize on this. Yeah. Like, and so he'll say something, run up, kill him. Like, he just, he just knows what he's fucking doing, bro. It's a fucking skill. He is probably the best, I think he's the best gaming streamer probably ever. like as far as as far as like

wit yeah I mean there's community I think I think Koso's also I think he's up there too I think he's like one of the best ever that's why so many people watch these guys

like there was such a there was such a time where I don't know I don't know it's it's been very interesting this is what we could have been man we could have been that fuck no we just

I just don't have what it takes I don't either I don't either no if you would have stayed consistent man just could have been no it couldn't have bro i'm not that good same with like when people are like how do people i can understand if you don't watch kaisinet or if you don't watch speed yeah but like for people to like say it that what they do takes no skill or what they do takes no talent i'm like no people just you just don't get it speed was racing against the cheetah last week and just the reactions to

like shit that happens to them and being able to be, you know how exhausting that would be to go from like country to country where people was constantly surrounding you scream like how much fucking just effort that takes or Kai sleeping on stream

nonstop like he has to be getting shit sleep every single night like dude I saw someone say so speed it was like a speed speed was racing the cheetah and somebody quote retweeted it and said I can't believe they compared this guy to the guy who sits on this web

all day probably talking about Kaanat yeah and I'm like that is such a crazy thing to say like Kai didn't have Lincoln Park performing in his living room like you can't just like take the little nuances and just like make it the yeah this is and then they just put it out like this is fact now all Kai does is just sit on stream I wish I could sit in front of my web game and make millions and that's the kind of shit that Twitter like pushes on the 4U page and that's why Twitter is so fucking ass right now. Like it's so annoying, bro. I was like, how do you just

say that? And like you, I don't know if you say that just to like, how do you type that, but you still have to hit post. I can understand thinking that in your hater head, but like you move on. Dude. But like to actually type it out, people are a then you hit post. I think people are like addicted

to hating. Like, like it's a drug. It's just like they're projecting. They get the little hit. My life sucks. This guy's life's great. but I work hard at my job and he sits in front of a fucking webcam, man. And then that makes him type this fucking sentence,

this hating ass sentence out. Yeah, people try to downplay that kind of stuff. Yeah. There's some, there really is some talented motherfuckers. Who's next for, or can you say who's next for around the one? Yeah, I'm doing an episode with Genji this week.

I'm really excited about that. Probably. Is she big? Yeah. Yeah. Like massive. Is she a streamer? Yeah.

She replied to her. Something went wrong with her flight and she replied on like New Year's Eve and I was sitting there like replying to her and Alexis is beside me like watching Twitch. She was like, is that the girl you're talking to right now? And I looked up and she had 13,000 viewers. And I was like, yeah. What does she do? Place Tarkov.

She's buddies with peanut. Okay. Did they play together? Yeah. So. But yeah, that's, I'm excited. I'm really excited about that one. She's been playing Targov forever.

Well, it's going to be an exciting year. Yeah. It's only up from here. Yeah. I wonder if we're going to have a guess next week. Fuck, yes. We don't even need the fucking guess. This is a guestless podcast 2026.

They can ask to come on. Yeah. If you really want to come on, ask. And we'll give you the rate. Yeah, give you the rate to join To join us Because we know the eyes that we get And then they get on you

That comes with a price Sleep with up I mean Come drink with us Come and sleep Come in your sleep with us And you'll make it You'll great things

Are coming Appreciate you guys watching another episode of the Flycast episode. Who gives a fuck? 2026, baby. 2026 is the year of you. Fuck all the other letters in the alphabet. It's the year of you.

And then we are coming up on our nine-year anniversary of the Flycast. We're going to have to do something special for it, huh? Yeah, we are. Probably not. We're just going to walk in here. Probably forget it's a thing and start the pot. No, I think, uh, Matt's going to have something prepared for us.

Hell yeah. He's got us. Yeah. All right. That's going to do it for the fly guys. Thank you guys so much for watching, man. Leave a like, leave a comment. Help us out on the Algo in 2026.

Fazed down, by the way. Damn, we didn't talk about that. Fuck. Should we talk about it? Nah, next time. Next time? People aren't going to care next time. They already don't care.

They already don't care. Fuck, we missed it. Ah! All right. so much for watching. Matt Craig, play the outro.