First of all: Lay your peepers on this gorgeous tarot card artwork from our very own @sizzypheanloop! Izzy kindly allowed me to share it for this announcement post (and just LOOK AT THE COLOURS Y'ALL SDLJFBSDJHK)
Thank you for blessing us with the such breath-taking art of the most disastrous disaster gays to every disaster <3
2. BONUS EPISODE RELEASE
The first A Day in the Life bonus episode, 'GOSSIP', is available to listen now on the MERCY feed! Prompted by @sizzypheanloop (sans Mrs. Herrera, but d/w her time will come).
In this episode, Lila & Paxton enjoy tea and gossip and all the womanly-doily things, much to Sawyer's chagrin.
It's short, but it was super fun to record, and we aim to get the next ADITL on the feed next week if stars align.
[See below the cut for future release schedule & context on what's happening behind the scenes]
3. FUTURE RELEASE SCHEDULE & A BIG THANK YOU!
Finally, we'd like to thank you for your ongoing patience during this break. While initially we intended to return in June/July with Episode 11, it's looking more like end of September or early October instead.
We do have a special Prologue episode that will be released before then, however, and other bonus episode and content as well.
I'd like to explain the reason for the new schedule - not to make excuses or to justify our decision, but rather to contextualise why we need the extra time. I know I don't owe anyone an explanation, but I do value our lil' flock/community, and I think it would be the right thing to let y'all know what's going on. This will probably be the last time I make a post like this however, as I'm sure many of you already have a good idea on our workload & process by now :)
If you're not already aware, each episode of MERCY takes around a month to record and a month or two to edit (editing at first took a couple of weeks, but that got longer with the increasing complexities in the sound design & lengths of the episodes).
We are a very small team with jobs, other daily responsibilities (eurgh), and disabilities/illnesses with a limited number of spoons. This unfortunately means there are only so many hours we can dedicate to MERCY on a daily/weekly/monthly basis.
The latter half of Season 1 is also a larger story in scale, scope, cast, and...well, everything. And we pride ourselves on producing the highest quality episodes - at least, to the best of our abilities - with every release.
It is possible for us to speed things along, yes, but we are reluctant to do so if that means having to cut corners or not pour as much care into every episode we put out. This also means our listeners all possess the grace & patience of a bodhisattva (and y'all actually do fr 😭🙏).
Anyway, I hope that explains what's happening behind the scenes a bit, and I sincerely mean it when I reiterate how grateful the team and I are to have your ongoing understanding & support.
We aren't the best at keeping up with social media things, but we do see your beautiful posts and artwork and writing, and every single one of them is so so special and dear to us💕
In the meantime, keep an eye on our Tumblr and the MERCY feed for more content to come. If you have any concerns, comments, or questions, feel free to leave us an Ask or shoot us an email at [email protected]
If you made it this far, thank you for reading this novel (egad)! And take care of yourselves & each other, friends 🐦⬛💕💕
It will likely sound incredibly corny but I am a huge ball of emotions rn and I was so overwhelmed and did chicken out during the livestream AND you can leave it up to me to make things weird so here it goes!
I am so SO incredibly lucky to have found this podcast when I did. The story means more to me than you'll ever know and trust that each of the characters is precious to me in their own way (even if it does seem like I play favorites). It's testament to how incredibly talented y'all are and you continue to blow me away with every new episode.
So to you Jae, to Austin and James, to Aurora and Sneha, to Matt and Madison and every other incredible person involved - you're utterly amazing and deserve the world! ❤️
That being said - I actually wanted to thank you for the opportunity to leave my mark on the show. The realization that my silly lil voice is part of it now makes me ridiculously happy and yes, I did cry listening to the montage of everyone's answers 😅 and yes, I'm reeling from it today still (and will likely continue to for a while). Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!!
Dearest Izzy. First of all there's nothing weird about being sincere. And in turn, I'll be responding in full sappy sincerity.
This message is beautiful and appreciated beyond measure. Thank you for giving us the privilege of including your voice and words. We really appreciate everything you do to support the show and lovelovelove the MERCY memes & fanfics you create (I'm still convinced you're our dimension's Madame Ruin).
When we started production, I honestly had no expectations of having more than a few listeners - and tbh, this was really just an excuse to create A Fun Thing with awesome new friends.
But very quickly, the show started meaning more than just A Fun Thing. For context, over the past year or so, I learned I was neurodivergent, was made redundant, and started medically transitioning. MERCY has since become a vital space to safely explore authenticity, and to find healing and catharsis. I'm sure others in the team would echo similar sentiments as well.
So to have listeners like you fully embrace us with the love & passion as you have - I hope you can understand just how much you mean to us, and that there really are no amount of words to properly express the full depth of our gratitude.
All that to say, thank you so very much for your heartfelt message and for being an integral part of our beautiful lil community. You will always be our honorary producer <3
Y'all!! The wonderful @izzymarksthespot has generously taken the time to put together the official soundtrack for MERCY!
Aside from a couple of original songs, the rest of the music used in the show is sourced from a wide range of extremely talented & skilled artists courtesy of Epidemic Sound. Please go and show the artists your support if you enjoy their work!
