The Back Log, vol. 66 - It's 2025... Somehow

I don't like this thing called time and how it passes.

And that's not even getting to the fact it's already February! But as scary as that may be, the good thing about January having passed so quickly is that Back Pocket is now back for the new year! We had the first of many episodes last Thursday with our old friend Bajo (who some of you may or may not know), and everything's properly kicking back into gear. We even had a new one of our Patreon-exclusive ads air for the first time, as you can see in the screenshot above - or in full in the VOD! Given that you haven't heard from me in over a month, however, there of course is a bunch of housekeeping to run you all through. So, let's get cracking.

You may remember that we delayed our Anniversary stream last year in order to find a better timing for it at the start of the year. Well, we're still planning to do a celebration akin to that in the near future, but it's not quite ready just yet (and we may have another particular milestone in mind to line it up with). But in the meantime, we'll be having our first Patreon Town Hall of 2025 next Monday, 10th February. And as part of that, we'll be talking about some loose plans we have for it, and specifically chatting to those of you who can make it about what you want to see from that stream (and by extension, the show for the rest of the year). We'll be putting a lot of emphasis in this Town Hall in particular, so expect more to come later in the week - but in the meantime, chuck it in your calendar and make sure you're at the Gold Pocket tier to join in next Monday.

I also wanted to shout out one of our wonderful mods, Lisdalia, who you may notice is around less from this week, for the foreseeable future, as she has her baby! I'm shouting her out in particular because if you're at all an active member of the community, you know how much Lis does for it and how dedicated she is to her mod role, and I think it's more than prudent to wish her the best in this very significant little time in her life!

This has, however, brought to the fore a consideration we've been talking about behind-the-scenes for a while now, as many of our mods have had their responsibilities and lives change significantly from when they first accepted the role, and naturally as the role is voluntary, have had to prioritise those things. So, in order to spread out some of those responsibilities for the existing mods, we'll be taking applications for new mods in the very near future. I'll share more (including a Google Form) likely later this week, both here and in the Discord, but if you think that's something you may be keen on, are an active member of the community, and have the time to assist - make sure to keep an eye out!

You'll also notice we've pretty much stopped posting to the Back Pocket Highlights channel. Unfortunately, that channel just hasn't been picked up as much as we'd like, and so we're simply planning to lift the content we were posting there and putting it back on the main Back Pocket YouTube channel. That means Shorts, Playbacks and yes, the smaller segment cuts out of the show, will be appearing on that channel again. Ultimately, it should be a similar amount of content but simply in the one spot (where a lot more of you are), but we very much appreciated all of your support while we experimented with the extra channel.

And finally, Merch Pocket patrons - don't worry, we haven't forgotten about the latest batch of merch that y'all are owed! Due to the timing of the break, we weren't able to share the design before the Nov-Jan window closed, however you'll be able to see the design you're getting this Thursday, and I'll begin to process them from early next week. Going forward, we're still planning to show these designs well before the time they're due to go out, but we hope you'll pardon our dust on this one.

Oh boy - that was a lot, wasn't it? Start of year housekeeping is always hectic. But that's not all the Back Log we've got for you today...

LAST WEEK ON BACK POCKET

Back Pocket Tonight's Back for 2025 w/ Bajo!
Last Thursday night wasn't just our first episode for the year, but it was also the first episode with none other than TV's Bajo himself now back living in Sydney! We, of course, had to get him back in the studio with us, and even managed to rope him into our big Pocket League competition for this year. We also had a look at the games we'd all been playing over the break, including Streamer Life Simulator 2, Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap, The Roottrees Are Dead and MiSide! And in the spirit of Good Game alumni, our very inconspicuously named A Very Good Gameplay segment featured a return to Use Your Words, but this time with its newly released sequel, Use Your Words 2. And boy, were some Bajo-fuelled shenanigans afoot...

Welcome Back (Pocket) 2025 w/Bajo! | Back Pocket Tonight

Post Show (link to locked post)

THIS WEEK ON BACK POCKET

As we get back to our regular content cadence for the year, this afternoon is our first Game Night stream of the year! This week, Gus will be jumping into Citizen Sleeper 2, a game I simply cannot believe is real but couldn't be more happy that it is.

And of course, we have our weekly show on Thursday night! This week will see the return of Austin, who you might know from the Skill Up YouTube channel!

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Did many of you get through parts of your personal gaming back logs (hehe) over the holiday period? Remarkably, I managed to get through both Dragon Age: The Veilguard and Nine Sols - so, that's two whole games down, and an infinite number to go... hmmm, never mind, back to FFXIV to do my dailies.

• Blair ?