The general advice I've always heard is you don't need a fancy model to start, not succeed. Once you're comfortable streaming and have found your groove then you can start investing in models and stuff. It's also possible a lot of the vtubers who are successful now that started with free models have survivorship bias and don't realize they are outliers.
Another thing, in my opinion, is that a nice model will get you clicks, but your personality and energy are what people stay for.
The general advice I've always heard is you don't need a fancy model to start, not succeed. Once you're comfortable streaming and have found your groove then you can start investing in models and stuff. It's also possible a lot of the vtubers who are successful now that started with free models have survivorship bias and don't realize they are outliers.
Yknow I think you're right...