Happy Pride!

Posting one Octopunk queer character a day until I run out. Today is Lazzo Fratello from Detroit Evolution and the upcoming Lazzo short film!

I wanted to make an edit of Lazzo purely to put that line in the intro for the LONGEST time because it’s hands down one of my favourite parts of DE

Nobody warned me how hard it is to edit a character who is only in a single scene rip 💔 oh Detroit absolution how I mourn you… at least I have the Lazzo film to look forward to

This month's Octopunx VIP Box has some major exclusives! Enroll before Dec 1 to get your hands on this! Includes:

LIMITED RUN BLU-RAY of both Detroit Evolution Noir and Detroit Reawakening Noir. These will not be sold. You can only get them in this gift box.

"I FEEL PLENTY" Hand stamped and adjustable aluminum bangle bracelet

2026 WALL CALENDAR featuring some never before seen photos from our Detroit Reawakening heels and cosplay photoshoot

HANDWRITTEN NOTES from the making of Detroit Evolution

LIMITED RUN "If you're alive, then you're free" Reed900 die cut sticker

In addition to this box, becoming a VIP includes another themed box in May, yearlong access to all Octopunx paid exclusives, and a VIP Discord role! No additional shipping costs required.

Go here and enroll in VIP by 12/1 to get your hands on it!

It'll be a windowed release:

1. Few months on the fest circuit to give premieres to some bigger fests, so perhaps it'll screen near you!

2. Then digital release exclusively for Octopunx members, which anyone can become for five bucks. I owe it to the folks who help me keep my mortgage paid, so exclusives and early access are the most sensible thing to offer there.

3. YouTube...eventually, hopefully on a bigger channel than my own.

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I'm also going to answer the question behind the question - not just for anon, but for everyone reading: "why can't you just give it away for free?"

So I'm gon level with y'all that this may be my last "real film" because of how financially gutted all avenues of indie film is (thanks late stage capitalism). Social media is completely pay to play. Distributors aren't buying. Studios aren't buying. And finally, audiences aren't buying - people are broke and streamers have joined hands to pretty much destroy the market for video-on-demand and Blu-Rays.

But heres the problem - Tubi and YouTube and all these platforms aren't compensating us to give you a free movie. I think I make like three cents per view on Tubi. Bezos takes half my royalties for Amazon VOD, and Amazon Prime pays out a single penny for an hour of movie watched. I have 31,000 views on Livescream on my YouTube channel and that's paid out about $40. And obviously, Detroit Evolution is non-monetized.

To put it into perspective, I made more on my final month of Patreon than I do on Tubi, Amazon, and YouTube every month, for my ENTIRE back catalogue, combined.

And thats for features - Lazzo is a short, so it won't have the benefit of collecting anything from a physical or VOD release. Literally its only chance to help keep some bills paid will be Octopunx before we grab some lunch money off YouTube ads. Bearing in mind that it's probably my only big narrative "release" in 2026, because of how much labor it is taking to finish. With stats like these, there's no question why it's more sensible to make seven episodes of Breakout Rolls in a few months than grind for years on a narrative film. I just don't see a path forward to keep creating stuff as ambitious as Lazzo.

To be clear, I'm never upset with anyone because they can't afford Octopunx, just like I never got mad at anyone for not joining Patreon. We're all out here pinching pennies and it is only going to get worse, I fear.

Equally, just because some folks can't afford something doesn't mean that thing should just be given away, especially when it's a thing that took two years to create. Not saying that's what you're suggesting at all, but I think part of being in community is sitting with the tension of "people can't afford non-neccesities" and "artists deserve to be compensated" and recognizing that both things can be true at once.

I've spent a lot of my career trying to find the balance between these two things and while it gets harder, I continue to. There will be plenty of Lazzo BTS that will make it to Youtube for free, for example. Perhaps I'll do a free livestream of Lazzo at some point, if I can find a way around piracy. TBD!

Picture of Lazzo's latest stock model (not his final hairstyle) to at least to give y'all something to tide you over. I'm upgrading the entire project to Unreal 5.6 right now which inspires me a lot to continue onward. The out of box quality is bonkers!