Hololive star Hakos Baelz explains why VTubers can’t share off-collab info early

Hololive star Hakos Baelz has opened up on the VTuber agency’s recent off-collab in Japan, saying the surprise element is there for a reason. There’s a safety risk around these events, so talents can’t risk letting people know their location beforehand.

Hololive’s English talents shocked fans when they, one-by-one, announced their arrival into the agency’s home base of Japan, getting rolling on plenty of off-collabs (offline collaborations) and special appearances.

No matter whether they were from Myth, Council, or standalone star IRyS, everyone was getting in on the action. Mori Calliope even eluded to the fact graduated member Tsukumo Sana was in town ⁠— although not on official Hololive business given her departure.

The fact it was a surprise disappointed some viewers, who were hoping for a bit more build-up and hype towards the affair.

Council VTuber Hakos Baelz opened up on this fact on stream, trying to nip speculation in the bud and set ground rules for future offline collaborations: “We need to talk about something serious… It’s not really serious, I’m just making a big deal out of it. But I do want to clarify something with you guys.

“I noticed that there were some viewers who were upset about the fact that we didn’t tell you that we were coming to Japan and that we suddenly surprised you guys with an off-collab.

“Although I understand that you’d want to have a heads up, we physically can’t say anything. We can’t.”

The reason for this is simple. The people behind each Hololive talent are meant to be private individuals. If they were to share information publicly, before the trip started, there’d be an obvious risk of being mobbed by fans on arrival, or worse.

That’s a chance Hololive, and Hakos Baelz, are never going to take.

“For those who watch me, I just want to let you know now, I will never ever tell you guys beforehand if I’m going somewhere for safety reasons obviously. Just never expect that from me. I may tell you plans a year in advance, like ‘this year I want to go here,’ but I would never tell you ‘I have a flight tomorrow.’ Okay?”

After setting the ground rules for future collaborations, Bae thanked fans for their support of the initial streams, and promised more great work from Japan in the future.

“I’m also really happy all you guys enjoyed the off-collab, and that’s just something I wanted to clarify before we move on.

“I may be staying in Japan for quite a while. I am going back [home], but I am staying here for quite a little bit of time.”