I haven’t been trying to defend him (outside of basic fairness) and even raised questions to him way back when he first started his patreon push as to the ethical and lawful issues with it and potential outfall to the larger fan editing community.
I also brought it to his attention when he was copping a fair bit of heat in this very thread, in the hope that he could come on here to explain his motives about the use of the money being essentially raised by a fan edit (hopefully more in line with what Ady does with all the funds going towards the edit, not to make a living…) and help smooth things over. Instead he simply cracked the shits and left, not trying in the least to understand anyone else’s point of view and concerns around territory everyone here shares to a greater or lesser extent with some commonly accepted ground rules so as not to endanger the great thing we do have going here (and other places).
Even after that I still felt he was going to finish and release his edit which he clearly has made with enough other people having posted videos on having watched a rough / unfinished version, though for the past 3-4 months even I have really started to doubt that it will ever be actually finished or released. He has actually said that the only thing holding up the edit now is the filming of and editing in the new Kylo vs Luke fight sequence which due to some issues, he is not sure now when that will be able to be done and so he actually announced he would be releasing the edit as is and releasing another version later on once the fight sequence edit was done. He has said this a couple of times now some months ago and still there is nothing nor any further word since. Being a fan edit, there is no actual reason that he HAS to release it, that is entirely his decision and he may end up deciding to keep it only for himself and maybe some close family and friends and there is nothing (normally) wrong with that.
The actual issue stems from the fact that he is now clearly using it to string viewers along and probably has for a long time, if not maybe from the very beginning itself though I think initially it was simply a passion project he wanted to share but as it grew into a bigger and bigger event it has changed his own view on the arrangement, wanting to get more himself out of his efforts and essentially turning the situation into preying on people’s feelings around TLJ and general interest in seeing a fan edit of it. What makes it especially bad and an ethical dilemma is that he is earning money from Youtube and Patreon because of it.
He is free of course to come on here and defend himself and try to justify everything that has happened but that ship has kind of already sailed anyway. Ultimately it would be nice for him to finish and release the edit as much for himself to finish the project as for all the people that joined him on the journey that started out so positive and hopeful. No one is forcing people to watch his videos (I stopped a couple of months back) but they were on board for a reason and that reason seems now nearly nonexistent while still being offered up as bait to continue generating income.
His next move will more or less define how he is remembered. Some examples that I can think of are as:
- a fan editor who has a different interpretation and perspective on what is proper and allowable (still wrong but in his head it’s justified) and doesn’t cope well with the pressure, stress and expectation of the self inflicted publicity OR
- a less than ethical fan editor who wants to be reimbursed for his time and efforts editing someone else’s property (though he’s always maintained that it will be freely available) OR
- an outright scammer
You’re not paying attention. Only a few days ago Ivan put up a thumbnail in YouTube saying the edit was completed and to look out for it. It will be released by the end of the month.