AutisticTorch welcomes you to... whatever this
Welcome to the home of Customize to Compare — and whatever other bullshit I happen to make along the way. Updates, videos, random thoughts perhaps, and probably an insane amount of autism can be found here.
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When Shit Goes Wrong
Sometimes things go wrong when you record and edit videos. Anyone who's done YouTube any further than recording on their phone or console's recording feature - like editing (even basic editing) and adding sound effects like how I started, should know that. So it should come as no surprise when I say that Customize to Compare has had it's fair share of fuck-ups.
Most of these have been pretty big - losing whole episodes - while some have been salvageable with a bit of extra effort (I'm looking at you, Dustin), and I'm going to talk about them.
There's been three episodes that never made it to YouTube; two of which were my fault with not properly setting audio settings and the other was because of GTA Online's needless restriction of only one class in a race. So we'll talk about that latter one first.
Season 1, Episode 3 (or S1X3); The GTA Special
Recorded just before we recorded the Primo episode which would actually become S1E3, we recorded the GTA Special - planned to be Revicarrus's debut and then the Primo episode would've been Episode 4. it was basically us stealing cars off of the street and customising them. Both myself and Revicarrus ending up choosing a Sabre Turbo while Dustin went with a Schafter.Season 1, Episode 9 (S1X9); Ruiner ZZ-8
This was going to be Dom's second appearance, and as such I'm quite disappointed that we (sorry, I) fucked this one up. He's great on camera even though he'd say he sounds retarded all the time if you asked him that. Also he was high during the recording too, I feel like it's worth mentioning that.
It's legal in Maryland, don't worry - he's got a prescription or however the fuck that works over in America.
Season 2, Episode 1; Albany V-STR
This one's weird, I know I said there were three and not four but this one doesn't quite count. I've got a scene for it and a script was written because it was apart of a fancy intro to start Season 2 (this isn't overambition because I was fully capable of it in a timely manner) but it was ultimately scrapped for the Karin S95 because not only were we on Enhanced so I wanted to do a vehicle from that version but also despite being from the Diamond Casino Heist update (which had some quite customisable cars like the Sultan Classic) had little customisation. Sure, the Albany Primo had that issue plus a monetary cap and still turned out to be a pretty good episode but not only does that feel like something you can only do once, a big part of selecting cars for the series after we ditched the Prize Ride connection (and apart of the reason for doing so) was that a lot of the cars just have shit tuning options. There's a reason we haven't done a sedan yet after all this time - Rockstar's laziness.
Don't worry, the next one's a sedan.
Season 2, Episode 5 (S2X5), Seminole Frontier
The most recent one, also a microphone issue due to me having streamed Grand Theft Auto III the day before so I still had my stream audio settings - we lost what was meant to be Revicarrus's final episode and had to then rush to get the next one out as soon as possible. There's not much to say about this one other than Revicarrus having a worse looking car than Dustin... for once. I mean, what the fuck is that shit?! Gold?! (yes) At least Dustin's blue and white look... okay, I guess.
Dom's customisation section from S1X9
V-STR intro (no sound)
The Comparing of the GTA Special
The Comparing of S2X5
Worth noting that Dustin's entire customising segment during the Calico GTF episode was entirely faked and was actually recorded after we realised that his footage completely corrupted. Great acting, Dustin.
Machinimas and Overambition: Part I
Today I figured I'd tell about my original plans for the Interlude and how my overambition led to it's massive delay. First, we've got to start at around this time last year; just before Episode 10 of Season 1 came out.
Basically, the original plan for the epilogue of that episode was going to have a small scene where Ricky and I held each other at gunpoint, before the LSPD N.O.O.S.E surrounded me and I had to surrender. Now, this was going to lead into a storyline that would go along side the traditional Customize to Compare format - at the end of every episode you'd have an epilogue (think S1E10 and S2E5) where you'd have me doing some odd jobs in order to regain my captial that I lose in the Interlude (which is still mentioned) and Revicarrus's flight in S2E5 was originally going to be him getting locked up in prison for something relatively minor by Ricky - who was actually an undercover cop and had pulled some strings to get Revicarrus imprisoned since he was unable to get me. I had some other ideas floating around when it came to the odd jobs and what would be the finale but before I scrapped it all, I had two scenes.
The first was one of the odd jobs; stealing a TARV (a modded in lore-friendly Bearcat) from the LSPD station in Mission Row or La Mesa - with assistance of eCoJ on a laptop hacking and catsmackaroo as a sort of decoy with a car. The other was the finale, basically fighting Ricky on my yacht (the most expensive thing I lost when I got hacked, which is the reason my character got arrested in the first place) to 'Where's My Money' by Busta Rhymes.
A concept of saying goodbye to cat before the TARV theft
Photo recreation of this SAMP screenshot; connecting the lore
Cut trip scene from Interlude with Ricky
A screenshot of Dustin at Wigwam, about to hear some not good news
Now, with the Interlude - it was meant to have a couple more scenes, taking place after it ends in the final video. It was meant to have me waking up at Revicarrus's the next morning, we chat a little, I reveal that Ricky arrested me to him. Then, we'd end up at a Wigwam in Vespucci Canals and I'd tell Dom and Dustin that news before we drive off to CNT - because the lore was that we went from an internet series (like in reality) to getting picked up by a massive television network! Also, pictured above was a cut section of the trip from the Interlude with Ricky - inspired by Black Ops 1, I actually have a work in progress audio file to accompany it, but I'll give you a volume warning before you click it. It's a tone that gets higher in pitch, along with Dom and I saying "Vengence isn't something we need to bother with." (a line that would repeat later on) and the ringtone that wakes me up. It was cut for two reasons. One; when I trimmed the lore from the series I didn't want to include it because I felt I'd have to commit to a finale with Ricky and then I'd want to give it a story instead of appearing seemingly from nowhere and two; the trip was already long enough. It's somewhat cringe-worthy, but this was before I learnt soundscaping for Extended Frequencies. (go check that out btw)
Also a noteworthy mention, the whole 'getting shot thing' was spawned by a one-off joke by someone. The original plan was just to be arrested and bailed out (which makes a lot more sense in hindsight, but whatever - GTA has respawning at hospitals, I can have this) but I decided "No, me getting shot is more interesting"... and then the overambition started.
Likely sometime next week is when I'll cover that overambition, and also how I was going to connect the lore between catsmackaroo's Westside Minions trilogy and the Customize to Compare saga. Stay tuned.
New Episode: Season 2, Episode 5
Season 2 Episode 5 is out, the final episode featuring Revicarrus! We cover the Dinka Blista Kanjo, and it even has a little machinima section.
Touching Grass
I've got a job, after exactly 250 days of not having one. Funny how things work out sometimes. This will likely affect uploads because it'll create more schedule conflicts with almost everyone except maybe Dom and Dustin. But the future is uncertain. We'll just have to wait and see.