I have nothing to add... but I just can't do this anymore. Like, what the fuck has honestly happened to this dude? People say LA Brain Rot, Anisa poisoning (much like mercury poisoning), sepsis from sitting in his shitty dispers for too long... but honestly, how the fuck did the voice of YouTube Edge (like a bad brand of WWE promoted body spray), become the literal douche of all this cringe? He was an internet-punk faggot back when he was cranking out Content Cop or even his Kickatarter crap, talking shit about obviously cringe shit, but he was OUR breed of internet-punk faggot that shined the light on obviously cringe shit so we could all laugh at it. Now, like what the fuck, he might as well be making "who ships the best in Overwatch" videos. I can't do it anymore. He wasn't an idol, he was just a notification for a new funny video shuffled together with JonTron's erratic posting, OneyPlays, maybe some Summoning Salt and Internet Historian, and other gaming content here and there. Now he's just as cringe or cringier than SpiderMan Baby Elsa Maternity Foot Wear or Magic the Gathering card unboxing videos. I'm out. This sucks.
I believe this video hits close to the mark. There are a lot of variables and factors, but Ian was essentially a mirror image of Sam Hyde, even if I didn't know it at the time. The critical component, I believe, is that Ian stagnated by getting comfortable whereas Sam has never been comfortable (outside of being a trust fund baby).
People remark on how lucky Ian was to get shouted out by Filthy Frank and featured in the hair cake video and build momentum off of that, to showcase his talent. This is essentially the exact opposite of the bad luck Sam had when World Peace was cancelled by adult swim. However, looking at both of their trajectories, one is led to the question of who the lucky one really was. But then again, perhaps luck doesn't have much to do with it.
I've been watching a lot of Sam clips recently and a few stood out to me. In this one, he explains that he lives on the edge of a shitty neighborhood where people crash their cars in his driveway, among other things, because it keeps him in tune with the real world, which is how he keeps his wits sharp for his comedy. Contrast this with Ian, who lives in fucking LA, which is the exact opposite of a place to hone your wits to a razor edge with which to create biting comedy that has real experience behind it. This is a conscious choice by both of them, and it's clear what it does to you in both cases.
There was another clip, where Sam talks about how he wants to stick it to all those limp wristed faggots at adult swim who cancelled his show. It was obvious how angry he was about it, you could really feel how alive he was when he talked about how this one guy who made kinda funny videos will be completely forgotten when he's dead because his shit has no soul. It's like that. Ian never suffered for his art, and so he ultimately had no respect for it, tore it down, and is now trying to pretend he's a changed man, when really he never changed at all. Man cannot remake himself without suffering, for he is both the marble and the sculptor. Ian's suffering is self inflicted because he lives in LA and is slowly being poisoned by complacence. This is obviously pussy tier when compared to being blacklisted by everyone in Hollywood after finding a bit of success in trying to get your project off the ground.
TLDR: Ian being stagnant is a natural consequence of his actions (or rather, inactions) and his mindset.
Big shame, because I loved his old stuff, but it's never coming back on this path he's taken.
