And he fully deserved the awards last year, but I don't see how or why he should win creator of the year when his out put on OF has been so little this year, however the few collabs he has put out have been excellent, however 2 decent collabs don't win awards.
It's interesting with him, I think he's one of the last big legacy studio porn stars who was fairly prolific about 15 - 10 years ago, prior to fansites existing or being as generally widespread / popular as they are now and has been able to coast on that legacy.
He did the traditional route back then, a few solos and then many topping scenes before eventually bottoming and flipping so he had quite a strong back catalogue and name recognition before he quit. Looking at IAFD, his original run was from 2010 and tailed off around 2019 / 20 (actually longer than I remembered), which is not long before Covid hit and the fansites really took off.
I think that period from 2020 - 2023 was enough of a break from him and assuming maybe it had run its course or he had found other employment and a lot of people didn't necessarily expect to see him back. Then in 2023 he did start appearing on some fansites and then fully back to studio work and thankfully topping and bottoming rather than start off on the same solo - top - bottom trajectory that some actors will try to revisit from their debut and milk rather than pickup where they left off.
He's still very handsome, extremely fit body and masculine so I think there had been a lot of renewed interest and I think his studio scenes so far have been pretty good. However his fansite content doesn't seem to be that generous in terms of number / frequency of scenes and I think the repetition of partners and I don't think the quality is peak in terms of camerawork, editing, lighting etc. I know these things are not as crucial as in studio work (or
should be in studio scenes) but they are still relevant, and there are some great creators with frequent releases and good quality of scene.
I think his history and looks will carry him so far but it seems like his success is more based around his studio work and the fansite is just a minor thing. It's unusual because anecdotally most creators describe it as the other way around, but maybe with his name recognition and popularity he is able to command bigger fees from the studios so it's more lucrative for him than it would be for others, and more so than his fansite work.
It's a shame because I do absolutely believe with his talent, with a bit of investment of time, money etc. he could absolutely make a real success of the fansite scenes alongside the studio comeback. But I think it often seems like an afterthought to some creators who are making money on studio work and thus do the bare minimum for their fansites, or worse still in some cases, actively misrepresent or scam using their fansites.
I think the awards, attention etc. was very much focused on his comeback but I don't think it will be sustained unless there is a certain amount of delivery as there is so much competition now. To be fair I think his studio work has been good, and the issue of a limited group of rotating actors is not unique to him or any one studio.