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Everyone take a deep breath for me. Drop your shoulders. Unclench your jaw. Stretch your neck. Relax.
I know this is hectic and stressful, but the world is not ending. Get yourself out of survival mode. Go outside, listen to some music, read your favorite book. Eat, hydrate, and rest. We're in this together.
DO NOT LOG IN. DO NOT SPEND. DO NOT PULL. The metrics matter now more than ever. Cards will always rerun.
Don't stop posting. Hashtags: #NoValkoNoMoney #BringValkoBack #BringBackValko #ValkoIsLoved #ValkoIs6th #Valko
Email! Here is my post with the updated email template. If you choose to write your own, here are the main points:
ā Demand Valko be reinstated as the 6th LI
ā Demand communication from Infold
ā Emphasize you will stop all spending until these demands are met
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
DO NOT CONTACT federal/government agencies, national news networks, or foreign media. This does not need to become a geopolitical conflict.
DO NOT TRUST UNVERIFIED INFORMATION. Rumors and speculation are not going to help us at this point. I will still give you my thoughts and educated guesses, but take everything without a source with a grain of salt. No proof, no truth.
As of right now, the HA texts and Valko's WU story are still in the game following an update last night. The servers will reset for Caleb's new card tonight/tomorrow morning, so I will update you on this again tomorrow.
Personally, so long as these two things exist (specifically the WU story), I'm not worried at all. If the texts are removed, my hopium could chalk it up to Valko being re-announced at a later date. The WU story, to me, is the most important.
Rumors have been surfacing that one of the pro-Valko articles was purchased by CN fans, not Infold. This could be trueāI have no real way of verifying it. But, I do have a few opinions about it.
ā Who cares? I couldn't give less of a shit who funded it. The bottom line is that it benefits us either way. The article was published. It cleared up misinformation and supported our protestāthat's all I care about.
ā This user on X has a great evaluation. I'll include a few points here.
ā "The state articles have a DISCLAIMER stating that the article was sponsored. If the article contains a disclaimer (for example, 'Sponsored content,' 'Partner information,' or commercial publication tags), it means an official commercial PR contract was signed. Corporate approval is required: Chinese media companies and PR agencies (such as GGW, Sina, and others) require verified corporate data, tax identifiers, and official signatures to conduct a soft PR campaign on behalf of a brand."
ā "It is prohibited to impersonate a third party: The agency cannot take money from an anonymous fan group or a fan community admin for placing sponsored advertising representing Infold/Papergames. Doing so without the company's explicit consent is illegal commercial misappropriation of data and fraud."
ā I'm still firm in my belief that, while Infold may not have purchased the article, they did fund the Valko Supertopic on Weibo. It would take someone with a fat wallet to do this (estimated $90k). I highly doubt any of the CN girls have the means to do this.
Rumors have surfaced that there is a lot of infighting going on behind the scenes at Infold. Some users have said that the PR department was pushing for Valko's cancellation.
Let me speak on this as someone with a business degree: the PR department has absolutely no control over what the company chooses to release. Even if PR execs did want Valko cancelled, they are not in a position to make that happenāespecially in a place like China, where hierarchies are enforced and highly respected.
Not to mention, why would a department be against releasing a character that would surely increase the business' revenue? Like I said yesterday, the only language that businesses speak fluently is money. They want a return on their investment. Valko's development took over two years and millions of dollarsāno executive in their right mind is going to push to scrap a character like that.
I'm calling BS on those rumors. Whether or not you believe them is up to your own discretion, but they don't make logical sense.
Do not believe anyone that says the situation is dire/this is our last day/this is urgent/etc. This is not a decision Infold is going to make overnight. It's been a month. Let's assume they have a plan in place at this point. They can't continue to ignore us and expect everything to be fine.
Creating a sense of urgency or impending doom is the fastest way to get a movement to crumble. People get sloppy, unfocused, and angry. Stay the course. Don't let yourself fall victim to chaos and uncertainty. Keep doing what we've been doing.
LADS following:
ā Instagram: 906k
ā X: 651k
ā YouTube: 323k
ā TikTok: 877.5k
Petitions:
ā iPetitions: 251,400+
ā Change.org: 98,200+
ā JP Change.org: 8,500+
ā Total: 358,000+ signatures
LADS ranking on CN iOS App Store 8/4
Valko's Supertopic is still at number 6 on the character leaderboard. Currently (8/4, 10:00AM CDT), the ranking is:
1. Sylus
2. Xavier
3. Zayne
4. Rafayel
5. Caleb
6. Valko
CN fans are still flooding the LADS Weibo with comments demanding Valko's return.
(Note: I cannot confirm nor deny if LADS has "sunk" Valko comments. The shorter comments are typically about Caleb, while the longer ones and the ones with green hearts are about Valko. Regardless, most comments are demanding communication.)
From what I've seen, we have three groups currently.
ā Pro-Valko fans demanding his release and communication from Infold.
ā CN Caleb fans who are extremely unhappy with the card. They've been asking for Colonel Caleb content and MS updates, not solo cards. Many plan to skip this banner.
ā The minority that is actually content with the situation. (Wild.)
I'm always going to preach positivity and optimism on my page. No matter how dark things may seem, there is always light at the end of the tunnel. Never lose hope.
Once again, please take care of yourselves. Your mental and physical health should be the priority. There are hundreds of thousands of usāyou are not fighting alone.