I think Phil might actually be getting pinched by something real.
As
@Surly Muppet (and others) have pointed out many times, Phil crying poor and lying or hiding cash flow is nothing new, so trusting his word on needing money needs to be taken with an unreal amount of salt. And as
@actually/
@Piece of Peace & Friends have documented, what Phil describes as being broke is dramatically different from what most middle class Americans (to say nothing of most people on this planet) would call broke.
But it's very interesting to me that we've had a new tips goal (one which he's fought before and forced him to switch up part of his autistic gaming setup), a marathon (which he tends not to break out too often because I think even he knows the whale milk can run out) and, very surprisingly, a tips streak that would give the audience some measure of control over the scheduling/playing of games (even if that list will certainly be tightly governed by Phil).
Ceding control and giving into viewer demands is something Phil fights tooth and nail, if anything because it can set precedent. There's a measure of mild desperation in this which points to one of three possibilities.
Option 1- Something moved "Behind the Scenes" which is putting some pressure on him, but in a way that he can't talk about because it would "feed the trolls", so something related to Kat (he's shirking on quality of life stuff for her- eating out, new games/toys, upkeep for Jasper, etc) or debt (he's already racking up payments on a new credit card, which considering he's high risk, will likely have insane interest rates). He's flagrant about talking about almost everything in his life if he needs money- Taxes, lawyers, mortgages, so it would have to be something special for him not give a specific reason for a marathon event.
Option 2- His gambling/mobile game addiction is killing him. I noted a number of pages back when he lost his Twitch partnership is that the protected nature of his subs/cheers money was probably more valuable than raw cash. A gambling addict chews through money at a rate that's hard to explain to someone who isn't another addict, but Twitch was effectively protecting his monthly expenses from him; Twitch payment comes in, Phil immediately pays mortgage, internet, etc, and everything else that comes in through can be wasted on whatever he craves in that moment. However, when that system changed, he was going to need to save some of that money, which is almost impossible for someone who's really hooked. It's always going to be "One more pull, one more pull" and then the money you knew you needed for the mortgage payment is gone, but you'll definitely save tomorrow's tips. Rinse, repeat.
Option 3- Both. He's racking up debt to try and keep the addiction going while not failing behind on the mortgage, but he knows this will be catastrophic long term, so he's trying to (ineptly) stay ahead by breaking out some of the old tricks. He's worried, but his narcissism thinks that he can still pull this off without major disruption. This would explain why we're seeing mild desperation, but not full-blown "$50 Sonic Hat", "2 Tips Goals Streak for Multiplayer" panic mode.
I'm not saying "We've finally got him where we want him" and I'm certainly not saying that someone making a 6 figure salary who's going out to eat every day is in real financial straights, but it really does seem like something has unsettled him and he's attempting to react accordingly.
