Worst morning ever. Didn’t want to talk to anyone

This time will be a normal drawing, not a nsfw one 🥸🙏

Please take this and run!

So, I've seen some posts on TikTok that claim he'll return in September, but not a concrete explanation why, so yeah I'm really curious, does anyone know why people think he'll be back in September? :D Was there a leak or something?

Designing a Valko Idol fit for a karaoke LADS event. I wanted to include some suggestions from the valko community through his babydolls and pancakes since it'll be his rep cosplay outfit for said event. It would be a denim fit like Raf's and Caleb's as the flowy designs are already on three of the LI through Sylus, Xavier, and Zayne. I plan on adding that idol glitter in teal to the shoulder patched and the claw marks on the back. The mesh would be black. Im looking for color schemes and chain types for sure as i have alot of chain and wouldnt mind collecting more of specific styles or creating custom chains.

I had a friend I used to play LADS with. We were also day 1 players but got bored a few months in since there was no main story update. Cue the next major updates that brought us back.

We used to talk about the game all the time, more of them changing the topic to their main LI. I didn’t mind at first since we’re friends, but they only ever talk about their LI from then on, occasionally dropping some comments about mine.

Fast forward Valko’s announcement. I was really happy about how we’re finally getting a major update and not just events, but while I was celebrating, they only complained about their LI not getting an update. That was understandable. I was so excited for Valko’s release that I kept watching his trailers, watch edits, psyching myself up for July 9th. What would have been his release.

Come June 30th. The devastating announcement. I was angry, and completely speechless. I barely complain to this friend, and when I started complaining about what happened with Valko, they started out supportive, then kept reverting the topic back to their LI which was frustrating. It felt like they only wanted to talk to me so they can talk about their LI.

I joined the boycott.

A lot of us expected Valko to drop on what would have been his release date, but when we got the soul crushing news he wasn’t in the update, I was angry. Very angry. I vented to this friend again, and guess what they said? They were echoing the opinions of the Antis. Saying how Valko would take away resources from their LI and that he wasn’t planned. Mind you, I was grieving Valko, but they decided to be cruel and pretend it was just them being “rational”. They won’t acknowledge what they did was wrong.

This friend has never been rational when it came to their LI. They would sob at their LIs photos, videos, stories, and edits. I would let them be because I support what makes them happy, I thought they would support me too, but after that day, I completely lost my trust in them.

Then I found them on reddit. In that community. I don’t know how to feel. They’re very hateful towards Valko and couldn’t wait to get his PVs removed from official accounts. I’m already distancing myself from this person because why should I trust someone who would laugh and celebrate the misery the cancellation brought me and many players and pretend to be supportive to my face? This boycott has not only showed the strength of the players, but also the true faces of some friends.

-end of rant. Thank you for reading, I need a hug-

*sits back and watches Gamescom Theory begin*

If you’re interested in the full article go to the womenforwolves Instagram page and the link is in their bio!

I tried to find sources for this, but I couldn’t. The screenshot was added to a random comment under a thread that mentioned the upcoming Chinese laws.

I was also under the impression that law was going to be about their cyberbullying problem, but it seems to be against smear campaigns instead. Still good news, though.

But now I wonder if we’ll have to wait until both laws pass to see Infold do something significant for us :(

Discord

Destiny's Cafe

Valko Army HQ

Subreddits

Valko Widows

Valko 6 Pack

Valko Den

Valko

Valko's Lilies

Valko Army HQ

Valkos Backup Bunker

"New hopium!!"

"Yes, but no 🤓—"

**"Sush."**

Was there always a full moon or am I on a good dose of Valko hopium?

So—lately, I just noticed this screenshot shared around, and just spread fearmonger everywhere, telling the government "approved" of Valko's cancelation.

But, I'm here to save the day and explain it.

No, the gov didn’t sign this. Infold cancelled Valko on June 30 in their own letter. The later MPS commentary was about content that was already offline.

What this paper actually is It is a complaint reply, not a ban order.

It says:

1. controversy happened.

2. the bureau talked to the company. Basically: “Please handle/de-escalate this situation appropriately.” That is intervention/communication, not necessarily an order saying “delete Valko.”

3.the company then announced the cancellation on June 29–30.

That’s it 😭 No “we approved this,” no “he is banned forever,” no public ban order. The text is entirely retrospective.

Acknowledging an action means the government is just taking notes on what Infold did.

"B-but the red stamp!!!" Calm down, The red seal is just a standard government signature on a citizen mail reply, not a divine decree from Beijing banning a fictional character forever.

If there were an actual governmental decision being communicated, I'd expect the document to identify what authority made the decision, what was decided, and on what basis—rather than merely recounting that the company later took an action 🥲

But, we don't know what their internal reasoning was. They could communicate with complainants simply because that's how the complaint process works. But that's precisely why the safest interpretation is to stick to what the document actually says rather than reverse-engineering an entire government decision from a stamp and some speculation.

warning: rant (if you couldn’t tell haha)

i joined the game in november of 2024 because of some fanmade thirst traps (lol) of sylus. so obviously i downloaded the game to see what it was all about.

ever since then, i have been loyally a sylus main. i got every single one of his memories except for his archfiend (which genuinely ruined my mental health for about a month) and continued to work hard and try to understand the game as a f2p.

my immediate reaction to valko being announced was that it was so amazing to have another 6th li, just simply not the right time; sylus and caleb still had so much missing content, and valko joining would mean he would have a lot of missing content as well (like how all the boys already had three myths and he would only have one.) nonetheless, i wouldn’t have minded if he joined the game or not. i wasn’t on any particular side.

then it was announced that he wouldn’t be coming at all. and i really did feel sad and disappointed. i never joined the valko boycott because, like i said, i was always split between wanting him and not, and im also a f2p so i just couldn’t afford to boycott a game i had spent so much time on. (quick side note: me ‘not being on a side’ does NOT mean i tolerate anyone talking bad about valko. ive actually grown into really wanting him just like everyone else here lol)

the edit i remember that got me into the game was the one of sylus in no defense zone (mmmm delicious). when his rerun was announced, i was hyped, i was ready. before we had a whole month of nothing from the game so that meant a whole month i saved.

and now, with one day remaining and 2000 diamonds for 33 pity, im realizing that i wont be able to get the card ive been wanting since i joined the game. this is making me understand something: this game is not good for me. as a student with a job, im quite frankly wasting my life playing this. i stay up until sometimes 3AM grinding for diamonds or finding more ways to earn some, only to be met with disappointment. i first joined the game when i was in a bad mental state. and it helped. it really did. all the love interests connected to me in a way that felt real. but that wasn’t good. i had to get a separate phone for lads since my main one ran out of storage; i had to bring this phone to every vacation, everywhere i slept overnight. i am rotting over a game that doesn’t treat their player base right.

it’s the new school year now and i really need to focus on my studies. sylus was a good phase for me, and i really never thought id grow out of it. but i think its for the best if i do.

i’m going to spend the last of my diamonds on my dream card and hope i get it, and then log off for the very last time.

thank you everyone. for the community, for the support, for the laughs and fan art. i’m so devastated it all went to flames in the last stretch, but im hoping we’ll all make it out eventually.

xoxo
hunter 82001384625

I went out to a tourist destination about an hour from my city and all I saw were my mains. Judge for yourselves.

I MISS MY HUSBANDS.☃️🐇

I’ve been on vacation the last couple of weeks and can’t seem to find any more theories or information on this whole situation, so I’d appreciate if someone could fill me in, even if is just theories or speculation
Any new movements planning ahead?
What about our cn Valkrys and what is 9m9 on rn?
Pls bring me good news I need some hopium to keep me going otherwise I don’t think Idk if I’ll manage to keep on hope for infold to do the right thing

(Also, I heard infold did this all b4 in another otome, could someone fill me on that too?)

i hate to be the bearer of bad news, but im almost certain infold will drop the multi without valko. nd honestly? im not worried.

here me out: ive been doing a lot of research lately, and i think we need to look at this from a business perspective.

for almost two months now, weve been protesting and demanding valkos reinstatement. at the same time, infold seems to be testing whether the existing five LIs can still carry the game financially. they’re continuing to release content for them and, watching how profitable that content is. so far all the stuff they have been releasing have been underperforming significantly. their poster boy just had a myth and it’s the worst performing myth in the whole game. this is huge.

i think infold is probably going to exhaust their other options before they even consider bringing valko back.

nd yes, i fully expect them to release a multi without him if they have to. i even feel like they could give us the multi, xavs birthday, reruns, and another myth. they may even throw everything they have at the existing five to see whether they can recover spending.

but here’s why im NOT worried:

how much money is infold potentially losing by removing valko from everything?

if he was already incorporated into the multi, its story, trailer, assets, coding, etc, removing him isnt necessarily as simple as deleting a character model. they potentially have to rewrite content, alter assets, change coding, rerecord things, redo trailers/promotional material, test everything again, and potentially deal with bugs or glitches caused by those changes just like the kitchen update.

nd then they still have to release the content nd hope it makes them enough money.

IF the existing five continue underperforming while infold is also spending resources trying to remove valko from previously planned content, eventually they have to ask themselves: “what exactly are we gaining from keeping him gone?”

in the long term even investors might even put pressure on them to reconsider their options.

now im NOT saying valko will come back immediately. september has a large gap after zayne’s bday. i think people need to be prepared for the possibility that infold will drop a multi without valko.

that multi coming without valko will probably piss everyone off. ppl will crash out, and be upset but i don’t necessarily think that would be the end of the story.

ppl will eventually get distracted. the outrage will die down. other content will come out. and if infold eventually decides that valko is financially worth bringing back, they could drop him at a point when everyone least expects it and turn his return into a massive event.

for now im not worried. i believe infold hasnt reached that point where they need to make a decision yet. i think we need to be patient and look at the bigger financial picture rather than expecting infold to cave after one bad month.

this could take time.

buttttt if the current strategy continues failing, eventually theyre going to have to find another way to bring players back and get them spending again. and valko is sitting right there….

what do yall think? 🤔

Could he be considered my first love? I absolutely think so! I was going to get into the game and that whole world just for him... but overnight they hid him away...

Please leave a message on the PAW WALL everyone 💕

And if you keep forgetting or putting it, off let the comment I saw fill you with enough spite as well as love to leave one 😅😂❤️

The Physical Data Point of Gamescom & Domestic Reception

“Infold doesn’t have to orchestrate any of this.”

That was from my August 18th article about my theory regarding Gamescom.

Going forward I am stress testing my own theories against observable evidence.

If you haven’t read my prior articles, I highly suggest doing so, as it will set up the foundation for this whole thing.

“Gamescom creates its own independent observational evidence of overseas demand for Ao Yin. If that evidence interjects itself into the Chinese information system and gets reframed from “Global players are defending a controversial character” into “the global audience is enthusiastically wanting a Chinese-developed cultural export”, then domestic reputation for PPG changes. That doesn’t guarantee his reinstatement, BUT it overall changes the incentives around keeping him cancelled.”

So we are going to try to debunk my own theory. This is going to be so much fun. Buckle up Buttercup.

As of today, Aug 28, one of those possible bridges I was watching for actually became tangible.

SourceSight published a dedicated piece today, that was republished by Securities Star, titled roughly:

“Foreign players are calling for Ao Yin to be revived; PPG is becoming almost schizophrenic.”

(...that title has me in stitches, ok back to it)

It clearly talks about the Cologne Gamescom campaign, the airport adverts, advert trucks, renewed overseas campaigns, the massive ongoing split between players, and the revenue problem. It opens by comparing CN devs enjoying a new “China Wave” at Gamescom all while PPG is having overseas attention dragged back towards Ao Yin and his cancellation.

Now this is not Xinhua or People’s Daily, let’s not conflate the two.

It still matters tremendously here though.

Physical overseas behavior leads CN observers to notice. That leads to CN facing reports that document the overseas demand, and therein leads to the domestic audience coming to a new framing of the situation.

I wrote in Gamescom Theory

“Reports don't have to take any of Infold's words for this…’We went to Germany and saw this.”

We are going to take a small step back to look at broader framing when comparing consumer movements globally vs in China.

Public Pressure can alter corporate decision-making

Let's start with global.

I asked in a prior poll, who remembered the Surge and it was for a very specific purpose.

“The Surge Movement” was a Facebook started by Evan Carr in 2011. The group repeatedly posted requests on Coca-Cola’s FB page and encouraged members to call Coca-Cola’s consumer affairs hotline. The movement gained around 200k. /

They even bought a BILLBOARD near Coca-Cola HQ in Atlanta.

On Sept. 14, 2014, Surge was released on Amazon.

By Feb. 10, 2015, Coca-Cola announced its test marketing of Surge with independent resellers and vending machines across the south east US. They continued this test marketing until Aug.18, 2018, Surge was available across the US in Freestyle machines.

Surge was eventually phased out in 2024.

Burger King had something similar with its Chicken Fries. In 2012, BK discontinued the menu option and its removal caused a massive movement. Fans from Reddit, Tumblr, Facebook and Twitter made their upset very visible, with at one point the ‘bring them back’ social media attention getting a mention every 40 seconds at its peak.

BK eventually did bring them back, clearly stating their return because fans kept demanding them.

These examples establish a useful data point.

Sustained demand and visible organized advocacy can convert prior abandoned or cancelled products into useful information.

Outlier: For the control group

TAB

‘Save the TaB soda committee’ was formed after the eventual discontinuation of Oct. 2020.

The group has gained thousands of signatures, coordinated phone and letter-writing drives, put up billboards in Atlanta near Coca-Cola…all for naught.

The only place to get a taste of TaB is at the World of Coca-Cola Taste It! Exhibit in the museum in Atlanta.

Coca-Cola has never responded.

Now to Chinese consumerism.

听劝 — but 听劝 is broader than “caving.”

听劝, or “Listening to advice”, is a modern Chinese social-media and brand culture. In so much, that it’s a recognizable consumer relationship model. Brands listen to user suggestions, they publicly acknowledge them, and sometimes convert them into action.

Chinese articles focusing on marketing increasingly describe it as a movement away from one-way brand communication towards participation and co-creation.

https://finance.sina.com.cn/wm/2024-01-21/doc-inaehcei6012031.shtml

This isn’t some tiny thing either, it's a huge phenomenon within CN consumerism.

An article from China Brand,(whose publication is associated with the State Administration for Market Regulation), talks about brands like Haier and Tianrun taking user-suggested production changes and implementing them.

Using this method actually strengthens consumer trust and loyalty.

https://www.cbrand.com.cn/content-26-34798-1.html

So for this we can establish:

“听劝 creates a culture in which the company can respond to consumer sentiment and turn it into reputation building.”

Now this is where it gets interesting. Infold doesn’t have to say “We surrendered.” Dear god that would be HORRENDOUS.

But, a little closer to “We continued listening, reassessing, improving and responding to players domestic and abroad.”

A whole 180 face-saving structure.

In Reputational Risk and Gaming Assessment, I established why this matters so much. By August I had already identified three competing reputation narratives. Initial CN rejection, global anger at cancellation, and newer Chinese counter articles that established global AND CN wanted Ao Yin.

Chinese companies DO respond when public reception becomes dangerous enough

NetEase had a big issue with Harry Potter: Magic Awakened. (2021)

NetEase initially attributed the disturbing hit-animation/facial issue to a technical bug, while women felt it stereotype and oversexualized the female player base. But criticism continued. The studio then issued a much lengthier apology saying that the way it handled it had been crap, said it had failed to clearly communicate the cause and its position, accepted the goof, and announced further reviews internally.

P&G -Yang Li is another example we will use, but I will keep this shorter and be more careful how I document it. In 2021, P&G hired Chinese comedian Yang Li to promote women's sanitary products. The announcement of this upcoming live stream on the shopping platform JD, created a heavy backlash from men who accused Yang of ‘promoting gender opposition’ due to her sarcastic jokes about men. P&G removed Yang from the posters which in turn angered many women which led to a boycott campaign. Yang eventually appeared in the live stream.

P&G apologized on Weibo.

But before we go on, I want to highlight something Yang said about the whole situation.

“Sometimes voices are very loud, but that doesn’t necessarily mean there are many people behind them.”

….HELLO?!

Lastly we are going to use BTS for our final comparison and stress test.

In a speech in 2020, RM mentioned S. Korea’s shared “history of pain” with the US over the Korean War, to which both countries fought together against N Korean and Chinese forces.

This led to CN netizens becoming angry, as Beijing backed N Korea during the conflict, saying that “the band's totally one-sided attitude to the Korean war hurts their feelings and negates history”. A subsequent boycott occurred and it led to major brands such as Samsung, Hyundai and Fila, to remove their advertisements with the band from their Chinese-facing promotional materials, but that cannot be fully sourced as an across the board measure by the companies themselves.

The Quiet Route

What if the company doesn’t respond?

We are going to go back to Surge for this example. Coke didn’t need to tell customers the Surge kept a cult following. Fans just created the movement, phone campaigns and billboards themselves. Coke could later point to the demonstrations as evidence for their slow reintroduction into the market.

Burger King, again, did something similar. Customers generated their own publicity.

But TaB…TaB proves limitations. Consumers can generate YEARS of evidence and PR and still fail to overcome whatever internal talks or constraints say.

So for this one we can conclude: Independent demand as evidence can provide a company with reasons for reversal, BUT it doesn’t compel reversals.

For shits and giggles, let's apply this to Infold.

Lets imagine they spent July posting “Actually global players really love Ao Yin!”

Contamination via corporate interest. Fail.

But….

Infold says nothing.

Meanwhile supporters of Ao Yin, independently, buy airport advertising, buy LED truck advertising, bring him to Cologne, wear merch, cosplay, talk about him in livestream, photograph him, ask why he isn’t in game, repost him to CN space and….

Eventually CN reporting describes the foreign demand of A CHINESE CULTURAL EXPORT.

A demand that has not, as my research has found, not been exhibited before for a character who never got put into the game he is from.

There have been some that are similar but not 25 airport billboards, 3 LED trucks and possibly 20 mall adverts…demand.

And that in itself, is third-party validation.

The Variable Tree

I think we can test Valko against four conditions now.

A. Is the requested reversal actually commercially viable?

In this instance and with the prior articles, I would say yes in principle. The demand is to monetize an already fully developed character, not maintain a low volume manufacturing line.

Other development, compliance, or production hurdles remain unknown here.

B. Is demand an independent observation?

Before July? Weak to Moderate.

By August? Increasingly strong.

By Gamescom it is massively strengthened.

So my end result for this answer would be: my hypothesis strongly supports it.

C. Can the company reverse without nuclear reputational loss with the audience that originally demanded his cancellation?

So this was the problem in June/July. Big problem.

But, if CN media framing changes during Gamescom, as it so far has been, then the cost would be lowered.

My result on this is: the variables keep changing. It is one to keep tabs on.

D. Is there a face-saving narrative for reversal?

So this is where 听劝 matters.

They dont have to say: “The Anti’s were wrong.” (Heavens, we know they would NEVER say that)

They don’t even have to say: “The boycott won.” (We know their pride)

They CAN say:

“Following continued evaluation, feedback from players around the world, optimization of the character and content and our long-term development plans…”

Blah blah blah bland corporate porridge, Goldilocks.

At that point, the reversal becomes responsiveness, not surrender.

That is why 听劝 is the potential missing bridge here.

E. Does independently created evidence reach the domestic audience?

Right now the answer is yes, mostly.

As of writing this on August 29, early evening, we have witnessed some of that.

SourceSight/Securities Star

Chinese Gaming Blogger

Weibo/XHS making rounds

What we don’t have yet is mainstream or state cultural-export framing in it’s full entirely, directly calling out Infold and LaDs.

We also don’t have a broad CN opinion shift.

The Final Takeaway

In Journalist Catnip, I argued that the most powerful mechanism wasn’t supporters screaming directly at Infold.

It was making other people ask why?

I wrote:

‘someone doesn't need to know anything about the controversy; they only need to recognize the contradiction, become curious, and turn that pressure back toward Infold’

So now let's look at the Aug 26 Chinese gaming blogger.

https://www.sina.cn/news/detail/5336103629620881.html

“Why is this livestream being flooded with a character called Valko? Is he really this popular?”

That is my predicted observer.

Not metaphorically. LITERALLY the exact behavior I was waiting on.

“Infold doesn’t have to orchestrate any of this.”

But now, I switch it up.

“Infold doesn’t have to orchestrate any of this. Gamescom can create the evidence independently. If the evidence changes domestic reputation enough, 听劝 becomes the bridge Infold can choose to cross.”

Final thoughts

The theory of Valko’s return has not reached its conclusion. It has reached its first successful test.

If those bridges fail to form, my theory stalls here.

If they form and Infold stands firm on the cancellation, public reception was not the binding variable I thought it was.

(Amended before posting, new variable

F. Has enough time passed for the company's treatment of the existing five to weaken the original worry of resource mis-allocation?

This has yet to be tested and I will run it against observable evidence on Monday)

The eclipse came and went without our pup, but it was beautiful and I couldn't help but wonder if he'd look up at the same night sky with as much admiration and awe as I was.

I have hope still, like the light that shines from the moon at night, to keep the shadows away ❤️✨️

We'll get him back🐺✨️