Victor Graves didn’t believe he was a user of people; he believed in tit for tat. You help me, I’ll help you. He believed this was one of the cornerstones of human civilization, so keep that in mind as we progress into the lore further. He explained this much while he was talking to the Gravers on the day he first rallied them.
What did he want from the Gravers? For now, he just wanted them to work as his distribution network for Victor and Gloriana Graves’ Music Video Extravaganza. What was he promising in exchange? A few things. He offered both concrete things as well as pie in the sky. He told them that he believed the music videos he had made would be unlike anything they had ever seen before, which was true.
He understood this was a big ask for his Gravers, wanting them to drive to the area where he had the physical copies of the movies and drive them back to their local movie theater. That’s a lot of time and gas. He sold it as a journey to take, a modern day quest to complete. It was like in World of Warcraft: an NPC requires you to go fetch something for them and they give you a reward. In this case it was more experience rather than gold.
He said that he’d have a little convention set up for them when they arrived at the location of the physical movies, where they’d get to meet the two of them. He also prepared something a little interesting, a collector’s item. What was it, exactly? A piece of paper. It would be an IOU. For those Gravers that found the time to come collect the physical copies of the Extravaganza, they’d receive a piece of paper. They would be able to buy the paper piece for whatever price they’d like, even 0 money and it’d be marked down in a database. This would then be used to send them a mystery collector’s edition item.
Victor rather liked this idea, the idea of not having to overproduce something while trying to divine what the market would bear. Instead, he was just able to produce the exact amount he needed (with a few spare just in case). He would use this strategy quite a bit over his life, as he was big on the idea of producing less waste. He also liked the idea of being able to buy a collector’s item based on the amount of money you currently had to spend on it.
The Gravers listened to him talk and were amused by the idea, for the most part. A decent sized chunk of them agreed to come, although there was a significant portion that couldn’t due to obligations or finances. Victor advised them to carpool and make a genuine adventure out of it, and, if the movie was a success, and if the Gravers enjoyed the time they spent doing it, he’d do it again in the future. He told them that he didn’t intend for his star to set until he was an old man, and that he’d be around for decades to come. Then he sent them a link to his website that allowed them to purchase an official Graver’s Membership Card, again for any price, including zero.
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This would formalize the fan base, making them an organization, an institution. A club, united by an interest in art and V&G’s own charisma. This was the beginning of the Gravers, and when that name was first used officially.
Their first goal as Gravers, however, was getting the movie theaters on board with his idea. Most were already open to the idea, having read the news and having seen their video for Kanye West’s Power themselves, but there were holdouts. There was a method to doing things in the movie business, and V&G were going above and beyond it.
V&G advised his Gravers to socialize with one another a bit and then elect a temporary speaker amongst their group, it didn’t really matter who, just a single person to speak with V&G’s voice. There was a pause in the speech for a few minutes as they did this. When Victor came back on, he gave them the instructions. He advised them to find the mover or shaker that was in charge of their local theater, or as high of a person as they could, and to have them play a YouTube video that had just been uploaded. That video outlined his plan, which he’d go over during the live broadcast with the Gravers.
There were several points he brought up, but the most important points was that the movie theaters were allowed to show the Extravaganza at no cost. They didn’t owe Victor a cut of the money, but they were strongly encouraged to do so if turned out to be profitable for them, and that they could do so through V&G’s Patreon or PayPal account, which had been set up in the early days of their Minecraft. This was a gamble, but one Victor wanted to take. First, he’d see if it actually worked, and second, he didn’t really have the infrastructure to negotiate with the over 2000 movie theaters across the country. That and he really wanted every theater to play it. It was also good press.
He also said to the movie theaters that if he was as successful as he currently hoped he was going to be, that he had plans to continue this sort of thing for the rest of his life, making movies, and so it was good to establish a mutually beneficial arrangement now. Victor said that those theaters who sent their fair share of the profits to V&G, which he didn’t specify specifically what it would be, would be remembered, would be given favor.
When was all this going to happen? There was always a sense of urgency with Victor Graves, he was dying, you see. Not because he had cancer or any disease, but simply because all human beings die eventually. Everyone was in the process of dying from the moment they were born. Victor felt this far more than most others in the world, he was determined to do something with his life, and to, with any level of luck, return from the dead one day. That sense of urgency compelled him to always push himself, and others, as much as possible in as little time as possible. The Gravers were to come pick up the physical copy that very day, once they confirmed with the theater owner that they’d allow the movie to be shown.
