Planned All Along: My Twelve Inspirations (Part 1)

As we come to the end of another year, we can take stock and look back at the previous twelve months. The end of another year is a perfect time for introspection. I felt like doing something different this time around, as a way to close the year and acknowledge these 5+ years during which I’ve been writing this blog. This is a list of 12 inspirations, 12 people I watch (or used to watch) on YouTube and/or who have inspired me in a way or another.

A part of this list may feel bittersweet due to things that happened this year, but I feel that it’s important to acknowledge the impact these people have had on my style, on my life, on my way to do things on here. This list is going to be pretty long, and it may include some odd decisions here and there. My reasoning is that even if they may be odd choices, they were impactful enough to make the list, even if for any reason I no longer watch some of them. There are reasons associated to each one of them, basically. There isn’t a clear order for those, by the way.

Might as well rip that band-aid off right now and start with the one that hurts the most.

1. Doug Walker

I feel so terrible saying it now, but it’s true. Without Doug Walker, this blog would not exist. From when I discovered him in 2011 to when I stopped watching him in 2015, he was an inspiration. And not just for me, either; much like James Rolfe, the Angry Video Game Nerd, he was an inspiration for a lot of people and the reason they, too, started airing their opinions on certain pieces of media in video form online. He was certainly a figure to look up to for most people who joined his site, anywhere from 2008 to 2014.

Doug Walker began as a generic “angry critic”, that style that was immensely popular in the field of reviews of the early YouTube. And many of his fans who jumped into the adventure of online reviewing also took on that style. Mind you, the fun of sites like That Guy with the Glasses was to see all of those different personalities, reviewing different media in their own way, as not all of them parroted Doug’s style. TGWTG was a good starting ground for these creators, garnering fanbases through crossovers and anniversary specials, and most of them have kept on producing content. In fact, most of this list is made up of people who used to be on TGWTG.

Then 2015’s drama happened, and then this year’s Not So Awesome happened. Which, sadly, seems to have done jack squat to Doug’s reputation. I won’t go over the details because I discussed them aplenty before, but I am sad that this movement amounted to so little in the end. I still feel like I have to acknowledge Doug Walker as an inspiration, because he was one of my go-to watches on YouTube for at least three years’ worth of time, and his style certainly had an effect on my own review style. Admittedly, I’ve changed quite a bit since, but then again, so have most online critics. I’ll say more about that later. But I feel like acknowledging the past is important, even if it means looking back on things and people we are now ashamed we once liked. All I will say is: Do not go watch him. Do not give Doug Walker views. He doesn’t deserve them. He has shown no good faith and, thus, has no right to be still as popular as he is now. But his influence still must be acknowledged, no matter how sad it is to do so.

2. Chris Bores

If it’s time to bring out the dirty laundry, might as well get this one out of the way. This is a bit of an infamous name in the world of online reviewing, and there’s quite a bit of history around this guy. First off, most of you might know him better as the Irate Gamer. Yes. That guy who was basically ripping off the AVGN. He rose quickly to fame on YouTube when the platform was looking for people to promote, and while this guy was less popular than the main gaming review channel at the time, he was a little bit more family-friendly with his language and comedy. Which isn’t saying much. And thus, when he became a YouTube partner, his videos always made it to the front page, leading far more traffic towards his videos, and explaining his boost in popularity, even if it was a fairly short one.

I never really watched the AVGN, so I was not made aware of the apparent plagiarism of Rolfe’s content by Bores in the Irate Gamer's videos until much later. In fact, it’s this guy’s rise to fame on early YouTube that made me eventually discover him, when a friend of mine (the Pokémon fan I mention every once in a while) made me watch one of his videos at the time. Yeah, sure, it was nothing special, but keep in mind that this was about 10 years ago, I was 16, and I thought this stuff was awesome. I’ve become so jaded since. What happened to me.

There’s very little to be thankful to Chris Bores about. He was, after all, a poor man’s version of something that was much more appreciated. And yet, it’s weird to think that he was the first online critic I actually watched, showing me the genre, showing me what some people decide to do online. I guess I can thank my friend for that. And not in an ironic way, either, since this may have been the reason why I latched onto Doug Walker’s videos later on. Nowadays, little really remains of the Irate Gamer, and nobody’s clamoring for more. However, he may not have been the first contact with online video reviews for me; Bores may have been the first online video reviewer that many people have come to know about, in part due to his short YouTube fame. I guess… I guess we can thank him for that? And hey, plagiarism’s not cool, but at least there isn’t a 70-page document listing all the times he was a jackass…

3. François Pérusse

I am not entirely sure how you English readers could pronounce that name (it would go “Frah-swa Pay-ruse”, I guess?). All you need to know is that this man is one of the most influential Quebec comedians of all time. And this, in spite of hardly ever stepping on a scene.

François Pérusse rose to fame in 1990, when he began doing audio sketches for a Quebec radio station. He would write the script, then record all of his lines, even play music if necessary, and then edit all this into a two-minute sketch. That doesn’t seem like much? Now, imagine that he did this five times a week, most weeks, and has done this for over twenty-five years. Even when he thought he was done, he decided to keep going sometime later. He has released 14 albums in total (12 in Quebec, 2 in France) of his best material, including complete songs. He may be best known for his use of wordplay and pun, which are all over his sketches. He is such an icon of my generation that practically everyone I know in Quebec can quote at least one or two of his most famous jokes.

Back in 2000, ten years into his career, he had already accumulated quite a bit of material, which was then adapted into a TV show: An hour-long special and 13 episodes. I don’t actually need to remember the sketches; I can go watch them over and over and over on the man’s YouTube channel. He posted them all, in all their hand-drawn animated glory. It doesn’t look like much until you realize he really did all of the voices and all of the music. Mind you, in 2000, I was eight years old. I was barely old enough to understand that the world is more complex than good and bad, and I was watching that cartoon that had many jokes I just couldn’t get. In part because so many of these jokes were actually pretty adult. On the other hand, some of his best material can be shared pretty much everywhere. Good luck singing along to it, though…

This man has had more of an influence on my type of comedy than probably anyone else ever had, or ever will have. I actually got to meet him in person in 2018, too. He’s a great guy! And if you’re learning French, you might love his content. (He has some stuff in European French too, if you prefer that to Quebec French).

4. Nash Bozard

This guy hosts the weekly Radio Dead Air stream on Monday nights. He used to be on TGWTG / Channel Awesome until 2018 (prepare to read that line a lot on this list). I even remember discovering him around 2013/2014, thanks to some crossover events on that site. Again, a trait shared by many on this list.

Nash is one of the first content creators that I truly started following on social media, after I began watching his show. Radio Dead Air plays on Mondays, 9 PM EST, and ends at 2 AM (you can watch it on this website). During the show, Nash discusses various geek topics, from pop culture to electronics, and sometimes current events. He pays a lot of money each year so that his show can actually play music and videos from YouTube, many of which are sent to his request e-mail address by fans who want to see their favorite song/video make it onto the show.

Nash is a very outspoken person, and that is probably what I like the most about him. He takes a stance on important topics on his Twitter account, and isn’t afraid of sharing his opinion. I listen to him frequently through the reposted videos of a segment of his weekly show. That segment, titled What The Fuck Is Wrong With You, is hosted by him and a guest (mostly his friend Tara Deenihan,  sometimes someone else), and he spends the following 30 to 45-ish minutes sharing six crazy news stories that actually happened during the previous week. Stories of nudity, drugs, insanity, anything that makes one go “What the fuck?”, hence the name.

It’s not a show for those who wish to keep their idealism intact. A lot of these stories involve complete and utter jerks, whom then get called out by Nash and Tara. That’s something we should all do: Call out the assholes. Maybe if we called out the jerks and other awful people instead of merely accepting that there are assholes out there, the world could become a better place. Also, Nash actually displays journalistic integrity, as he makes sure the stories he features on his show really did happen, in comparison to some news outlets that would share any sufficiently crazy news story if it looked real enough. Nash may be saying the four-letter words a lot, but he’s an example to follow.

5. Lewis Lovhaug

Yet another producer who rose to recognition through Channel Awesome, Lewis Lovhaug (better known under his character name Linkara) reviews comic books on his show, Atop the Fourth Wall. I don’t read a lot of comic books, but his videos are very interesting. He often has unique takes on the stories he reviews. Rob Liefeld and Frank Miller are frequent targets of his, but don’t worry – if you ever had a bad comic published, it’ll be your turn!

Lewis’ show is not quite unique in featuring story arcs in which his character faces various threats, in a spoof of common comic book stories, but he's certainly one of the most dedicated to building this interesting storyline for his viewers. He sure ends up fighting a lot of alternate versions of himself, geez. He listens to fan output and makes sure to correct in the next episode whichever plot holes were found, based on points raised by viewers. I don’t think I saw anyone else pull off this type of story arc with such devotion and attention to detail. Not to mention some of the more impressive moments he creates through special effects.

It’s weird how I keep coming back to his videos even if I don’t actually have much of an interest in comic books. It goes to show that a sufficiently entertaining person will make you interested in the topic they’re covering, no matter what it is. That’s the most important element of video production for YouTube: Be entertaining.

That alone would be enough of a lesson, but there’s more I could say about Lewis. Comic books have a long and complex history. A great amount of work goes into a single issue, but the constant retcons make it often difficult to keep track of what’s going on. To top it off, like a lot of online reviewers, Linkara dives into mediocre-to-bad comics, and is not afraid of questioning plot holes or any awkward elements in the story. If something doesn’t make sense, it’s okay to ask questions about it. We can assume things based on the context, but it doesn’t change the fact that we, the readers, needed to come up with those assumptions. And in a well-written story, that shouldn’t be necessary. It’s an odd thing to learn from a show about reviewing comic books, but it’s one thing I take from Atop the Fourth Wall.

A final thing: This year's storylines acknowledged that Lewis left Channel Awesome, yet keeps souvenirs and memories of those days. It's important to remember what we did, even if the memories have gotten bittersweet with time. These events shaped up who we have become, and thus it's better to face them, accept them, rather than avoid or ignore them.

6. Jim Sterling

He’s Jim Fucking Sterling, Son, and he knows it. One of the more controversial people on this list, also one that I may have started watching later than the others. I remember discovering his show, The Jimquisition, around the time of the release of No Man’s Sky. Jim is not afraid to speak his mind, served with a hefty dose of brutal honesty and vulgarity, topped with the larger-than-life personality of the character he portrays. I mean, he goes far – but he’s right.

To recap, Jim does The Jimquisition, which is a show where he comments on the gaming industry at large;  he reviews many games, on Steam and on every other console, in other videos; he often goes to try some odder titles that exist out there; and he is now a wrestler, to top it all off. You can see every extra pound on this Brit’s body through his latex Sterdust costume.

I learned a lot about the gaming industry through his videos, but there are other lessons I’ve learned from the guy. First off, he may be playing an exaggerated version of himself, he remains honest and sincere in his beliefs regarding the industry.

Second, he has stated multiple times that he may not always know everything about every genre of games that he covers, but in his own words, “he knows what he likes”. Or, in other words, he might not always be aware of every gameplay mechanic and special element of every game, but he’ll review it based on his own tastes. If something’s good, it gets praise. If it’s bad, it’s pointed out. If it’s especially bad (as in, morally insulting or horrible), it gets called out strongly. Even the best games have flaws, and even many bad games have a few decent elements to them.

Then there’s the topic of fandoms, something that Jim has had troubles with more than once – his site was once DDoS’d because he gave a lower (yet still positive) score to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild in comparison to most other reviewers. And he never hesitates to call out those people as well. One of the first videos of his that I watched was when he covered the hype around No Man's Sky and how extreme some fans became while waiting for the game's release (by sending death threats to Sean Murray, among other joyous things). That kind of behavior should not be considered acceptable! In short: Don’t be only critical of games and the industry; it’s fine to be critical of fans, too, when they go too far.

Oh, and a last thing to learn from Jim: It’s okay to repeat points over and over when it’s a subject that especially matters to you. When discussing a topic as large as the gaming industry, some problems are going to pop up repeatedly, often in new flavors, and with new reasons as to why these elements are problematic. Therefore, even if it may tire some viewers, it’s better to repeat points over multiple videos or reviews if it’s something that you feel needs to be acknowledged or changed. Anytime there’s a new element to add to the discussion, it’s worth bringing up.

See you this Monday for Part 2.

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