Youtube/Internet Washouts

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This was discussed slightly by Arin and Ross in their animation special thing and again by Markiplier while he was drunk, the market has changed so much and YouTube has amplified that. The change in algorithm from view count to minutes viewed has caused the rise in let's players since its relatively easy, long content that means videos are watched for longer and more money/promotion rolls in. Couple that with that whole fiasco of companies false flagging videos and the fact that TGWTG switched to Blip, a sinking ship compared to YouTube thesedays, the people who became popular during the critic boom probably wouldn't meet the same success today when up against the LPers. And I think deep down they know their gravy train is coming to an end, it's made a lot of them desperate and turned them into assholes essentially, they're clutching at what they can while they can since a lot of them left their jobs to make videos full time.
I think thats what's given some LPers an edge too, they've seen first hand the rise and the beginnings of the fall of the critics, they know what to avoid and it seems to be keeping them humble (or in Game Grumps case coming up with more projects as a back up plan). The critics went in blind and didn't know how to prepare to do other things, it's forced them to scramble to get views back up when they don't know why they went down to begin with.
Hope that made sense, I haven't slept in 26 hours :lol:

Edit: dangit, ninja'd by C-No

Maybe this is me just being biased, but I think the surge in popularity of the Red Letter Media reviews completely blew the people at TGWTG out of the fucking water, particularly with the Plinkett reviews. The reviews themselves are not reviews so much as they're proper video essays, and genuinely funny, well-made, and insightful. The fact that the RLM guys have worked in film before gave them a perspective that most of the TGWTG crew never had, as they were just fans who were feeling their way around in the dark. After watching the Plinkett Star Wars reviews, The Nostalgia Critic just pales in comparison.

The bar has been raised for internet reviewers. A dude sitting in front of a webcam with a bad costume making pop culture references ain't gonna cut it if you want to be noticed.
 
Pewdiepie is funny... I you're a 12 year old.
Apparently he actually listened to his critics and stopped screaming rape and making rape jokes every 1.5 femtoseconds. That still leaves us with a babbling man making up weird characters and talking to himself tho.
I don't generally like lets plays where there is only one person, I used to really dig chuggaconroy as a kid, I don't watch him anymore but his videos are generally very informative and high effort, like he commissions artists and shit and has graphics done for each lets play. Now a days I really enjoy game grumps just because it's two people talking and the noise of converation makes me feel less lonely, also their constant upload schedule gives me something to look forward to
 
As we know, Pop Quiz Hotshot, the Channel Awesome's latest attempt at being awesome, has failed hard.

Still, somehow, something good came out. This.


Make sure to turn on the subtitles.
 
Maybe this is me just being biased, but I think the surge in popularity of the Red Letter Media reviews completely blew the people at TGWTG out of the fucking water, particularly with the Plinkett reviews. The reviews themselves are not reviews so much as they're proper video essays, and genuinely funny, well-made, and insightful. The fact that the RLM guys have worked in film before gave them a perspective that most of the TGWTG crew never had, as they were just fans who were feeling their way around in the dark. After watching the Plinkett Star Wars reviews, The Nostalgia Critic just pales in comparison.

The bar has been raised for internet reviewers. A dude sitting in front of a webcam with a bad costume making pop culture references ain't gonna cut it if you want to be noticed.
I've been meaning to get into RLM for a while. Several of my friends swear by their reviews and your take on them sounds really promising I've been annoyed with the direction TGTWG has gone in the past year or two and don't understand what people still see in that content.

Anyway, I'm glad idiots like RWJ and Fred have been pushed to obscurity. youtube still has its problems but it's good to see real talent rise up now.
 
I've been meaning to get into RLM for a while. Several of my friends swear by their reviews and your take on them sounds really promising I've been annoyed with the direction TGTWG has gone in the past year or two and don't understand what people still see in that content.

Anyway, I'm glad idiots like RWJ and Fred have been pushed to obscurity. youtube still has its problems but it's good to see real talent rise up now.

I would highly recommend them. The Star Wars prequel reviews especially articulated so many of the problems I had with them perfectly, and pointed out subtle things I hadn't even noticed.

They're very long though, so make sure you set aside some time for them.
 
I'm kinda sad for James Rolfe. I feel like his dreams were crushed and doesn't want to make films anymore and just wants to settle down with his family.
He was my idol in a way and made me grow more interest in film making and gaming trivia. Atleast he's not a lolcow and seems like a nice guy to hangout with.

I do wonder what Fred is up too, haven't heard of him since 2010
 
Does Neil Cicierega count? Two big Internet hits in close succession - Ultimate Showdown and Potter Puppet Pals - then not much.
 
Does Neil Cicierega count? Two big Internet hits in close succession - Ultimate Showdown and Potter Puppet Pals - then not much.

He's still doing pretty well. He wrote a song for a Gravity Falls episode last year and still maintains a pretty large Tumblr following. Dude never stops producing content.

Don't tell me you didn't at least see BRODYQUEST.
 
For most CA critics I see them either fading away in a few years, having their own little niche on youtube, or become full blown lolcows. Brad I could see existing in his own little corner of the internet. Linkara I see going full blown lolcow in a year or so, especially if his movie doesn't take off. He's one twitter breakdown away from it.

Doug and Rob I see trying desperately to save their form of business but just kinda disappearing. You might here peeps from them every once in awhile or something but I don't see them becoming lolcows or doing anything insane. Maybe a few more failed business ventures but after awhile they'll kinda fade into internet history. They'll be remembered as the people who started the critic craze, had a massive opportunity to make money but dropped the ball immensely.

Mike michaud will try to jump into the LPers trend wayyyy to late and not really understand it. Infact I see him trying to jump into internet trend after internet trend and failing horribly each time.
 
For most CA critics I see them either fading away in a few years, having their own little niche on youtube, or become full blown lolcows. Brad I could see existing in his own little corner of the internet. Linkara I see going full blown lolcow in a year or so, especially if his movie doesn't take off. He's one twitter breakdown away from it.

This. As much of a douche as he is, and as many rumors that swirl around about him, Brad pretty much avoids lolcow status simply because he doesn't even attempt to acknowledge said rumors.
 
I admit I like some things about TGWTG. My favorite reviewer is Film Brain, for his knowledge on the production and technical aspects of the films he reviews; I'm unsure if he, like the RLM guys, has an actual background in the industry but at the very least he seems to know a lot more of the "how" of filmmaking than the average ranting critic.

Least favorite? That's easy. The effing Blockbuster Buster. He reviews bad sequels, remakes, and adaptations, and he talks about absolutely NOTHING except how they're not like the originals. There are a multitude of reasons a sequel or adaptation could be weaker than the original. He addresses none of them, instead nitpicking the differences between it and the original. Also at the end of each review, he literally destroys the DVD, which seems just plain mean to me. Also he apparently hates Lemony Snicket's books so he gets no respect from me.

Also not fond of Linkara. Whatever he's actually like in real life, I think his reviews have some serious pacing issues and his voice is annoying.
 
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IIRC, Fred has pretty much retired his character and tried to keep his distance from it, as even *he* realizes the character was hella annoying.

Lucas Cruikshank cashed out via some shitty direct-to-DVD movies and sold the rights to some company. At least that's what I heard.
 
He's still doing pretty well. He wrote a song for a Gravity Falls episode last year and still maintains a pretty large Tumblr following. Dude never stops producing content.

Don't tell me you didn't at least see BRODYQUEST.

Or the lovely video made from a user on the old forums about Chris based off it.
 
IIRC, Fred has pretty much retired his character and tried to keep his distance from it, as even *he* realizes the character was hella annoying.
Just to add to that it looks like the dude had a grip of work going with Nickelodeon as recently as 2013. As annoying as the character may have been kid got a pretty decent paycheck out of it. Good for him he left all that behind on his own terms.
 
Just to add to that it looks like the dude had a grip of work going with Nickelodeon as recently as 2013. As annoying as the character may have been kid got a pretty decent paycheck out of it. Good for him he left all that behind on his own terms.

Oh no doubt. I give him props for taking it as far as he did, despite how annoying it was.
 
Where are they now:

Fred - He made a few TV movies with Nickelodeon, tried making an animated series on YT, and eventually tried moving on. He still occasionally makes Fred videos (including a LP show), but focuses more on all different videos and series's.

Shane Dawson - He's been making the same kinds of videos he always has. He made a straight to Netflix (what a time to be alive) movie that only like all 3 of his fans left watched. He gets caught up in drama a lot, mostly on Twitter, but nothing really notable has happened.

AVGN - As most of you know, he finally released his movie which which was stuck in development hell for a long while. It's mediocre, but if you are or were a fan, you might want to torrent it. He does James & Mike Mondays, a gaming show where you get to watch James, his annoying sidekick, and a guest play games. It's not to interesting, but it spiked up in popularity a bit when JonTron went on the show a few times.

Mike Matei has his standalone videos, which are usually crappy. As for the AVGN reviews themselves, they're okay. They come out very infrequently, and he mostly jumps on the bandwagon of a hated game at the time (Big Rigs, Desert Bus). He's doing, okay, but he has gotten into a few scandals that ruined his image a little. I think he's okay, I hate Mike though.
 
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