So the 16k is as good as collected. I was hopping for a long and arduous begging season. Emerald is taking all the fun out of the shit show, Phil is at his best when backed into a corner. The only thing we can hope for is Phil's habit of spending every thing on some stupid stuff and not paying his taxes.
But I have to say, I am interested in seeing what kind of mental gymnastics he will pull to justify his begging after this rain fall.
I agree Phil usually puts out the best content when he's backed into a corner. But, I think that's still coming up soon, just in a different way. Phil's whole begging scam largely relies on making himself look like the underdog and claiming detractors and stuff are keeping him from making the money he deserves. In reality, Phil is awful with money and is too greedy to manage his savings.
Phil being successful backs him into a much larger corner because, like you said, he's going to go right back to begging after this because he'll burn through the money and need/feel entitled to more. I think seeing him try and justify that begging and seeing what lies he spins to his audience is going to be pretty entertaining.
There was speculation earlier that Phil is lying about the 16k and purposefully set such a high goal so he could make himself a martyr and after this begathon talk about how he didn't make enough to pay his taxes, but he's still staying positive you guys and needs your help and lets show those haters and detractors and how even though he's struggling, he's still there to put out quality content etc. Basically, Phil's whole gimmick work because he's so good at being a total failure, but if he actually succeeds at something for once, his narrative falls apart. We all know it certainly won't be the end of Phil by any stretch of the imagination, but I think it'll lead to some interesting spergouts. Even some of his fans (though rarely the big ones) were pointing out how Phil's narrative didn't make sense after the Tut sub spree, so I expect a few more to comment on it after E7.
Shifting gears to Phil being in communication with E7, I wouldn't be surprised if he wasn't. I think the reason Phil keeps insisting E7 isn't coming back only to have E7 show up later with 100 more subs is because Phil is trying to guilt other people into donating, especially if they tip instead of do the gift sub thing.
