To explain, let's compare him, and other lolcows like Boogie, to someone from way-back-when who did NOT become a joke: James Rolfe. I know we do this a lot, but there's a pretty good reason. He's the best example of what happens when your iconic character is NOT literally you. That's the problem with folks who become a meme, as opposed to merely inspiring memes. Angry Joe turned a lot of people off many years ago by demonstrating that his shtick wasn't just that, he really is an asshole at times, and even Total Biscuit managed to soil his rep a bit towards the end of his life with a few instances of getting into it with critics of his behavior (not the least of which being when Trump won the election and all his talk of "let's handle this with dignity and grace" went right out the fucking window).
But even those two obviously pale in comparison to the people who have entire sections of this site to themselves, because the former apparently started getting his shit together and the latter was admittedly not doing well since he was dying of cancer. Boogie, the Spoony One, Phil, they've all shown their true colors and they're ugly. Just plain fucking ugly, and what's more is that, thanks to having folks like James Rolfe to compare them to, it shows that their "acts" aren't acts. Francis isn't a character, he's what Boogie really is deep down inside, and Phil wasn't kidding around when he behaved like a toddler, he is one.
How the pigroach has managed to avoid being where Spoony is now, I'll never know, because he deserves it every bit as much. More, even.
Basically what I'm saying is that people can find a childish person endearing if it's a deliberate joke, being done by somebody who is NOT going to go on to charge 2k to reveal a cat, or lie about everything, or talk all kinds of shit after losing a match in a fighting game because they can't stand losing. The AVGN is somebody you can laugh at or with, either one is okay because he isn't real. It doesn't matter. Phil wasn't on his level, but he still could've held onto some popularity if his on-camera persona had been a fictional character instead of him being himself.