YouTube channels that declined (and channels that stayed strong)

[lestagio]

What YouTube channels were good years ago, but aren't very good now? Just channels that fell to corporations and money instead of fun, or fell to what people call the "Mr Beastification" of YouTube.

For me, Game Theory is one of the biggest contenders. I used to like watching the videos in the background, but then they sold out and MatPat left and it's never been the same... it started to hit a decline when it was more about lore analysis than actual ridiculous science behind things, but it was still fun. Mark Rober is another big one for me. The videos always felt like they were for all ages and had actual good, fun science behind them. Mark broke down the science well for younger viewers but it was still entertaining. But in the past few years, he's fallen probably the absolute WORST to the Mr. Beast feel. I recently clicked one of his videos and it starts with yelling, fast cuts, previews of the video... Just bullshit and it's really unfortunate.

Hell, Mr. Beast honestly wasn't all that bad 4-5 years ago. I never was a big fan since the videos were still a bit more kid oriented, but the videos were watchable. But once he became the Youtube guy and super rich, he's become intensely grating to watch.

One of the few channels that I feel has stayed true always is VideoGameDunkey. His content and humor has stayed the same for 10+ years. True, some of the new videos aren't quite as good as they used to be, as many of them are just gameplay videos with jokes, but they're still generally pretty funny. Likely due to him having a child and starting his publishing company, but Animal Well was really good. I don't think he's really outright "declined" though. It just feels like he oscillates between lower quality, joke videos with a well thought-out one once a month, which is fine.I also find it nice that his video format has stayed pretty short for the most part, instead of chasing the 10 minutes all the damn time. And he still occasionally releases a good review or short satirical video essay that I always find has a good message below all of the jokes. Just a genuine, funny channel all around.

 

[MorriganW0lf]

Smosh...when it was all about home made sketches with those two dummies it was awesome... not so much today with a whole crew & Morning tv talkshow games.

I still remember when youtubers were affraid of saying they had monetization on because people would say they were selling out, but these days..."Topic that you were here for but...have you heard about this company that gave me money to promote them?"

And one that has stayed strong in my eyes...markiplier is largely the same, still cracks me up, big movies & all.

 

[Tsukishima]

SomecallmeJohnny, my beloved.

I love the man. Not only does his age and mental perspective click so well with me alongside his sense of humour, I've seen so many of his older, and I mean OLDER videos and they still click so damn well. His "FUCK YOU, ECCO!" lives in my brain rent free and instinctively triggers like a Yu-Gi-Oh trap card whenever I see a dolphin.

His recent videos are still an absolute blast to this day, and daresay there's hardly a bad one. His FF marathon is one of the greatest things I've ever watched on Youtube.

I honestly believe Videogamedunkey donwgraded after time. He's such a far cry from his Final Fantasy VII video, his low quality rapid fast uploads have lost all luster of what used to be "Oooh nice! A Dunkey upload!"

 

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

JonTron, man... its decline and constant lack of focus is a proper tragedy.

 

[lestagio]

JonTron, man... its decline and constant lack of focus is a proper tragedy.

Ooh, yup, that one still hurts.

I honestly believe Videogamedunkey donwgraded after time. He's such a far cry from his Final Fantasy VII video, his low quality rapid fast uploads have lost all luster of what used to be "Oooh nice! A Dunkey upload!"

Fair, as I said I don't think he's quite as good as he used to be, but I do find it to be quite a treat when maybe once a month or so, there's a short video packed with good editing and is just funny all the way through. The "Best of Year" videos are great, and his reviews are still great always.

Also he DID say that he was done with making good videos, so can we blame him? (/s)

 

[bombatomba77]

It's funny to look back at channels like Spoony or even better, JonTron, who used to be these giants in their own day. I used to say the whole "Well, now you're just getting sassy with me, that's going to be two kisses now! See what happens when you sass me?" with my kids when they were little.

For staying strong I think there could be a lot of examples. PeanutButterGamer or SplatterCatGaming have stayed strong for a long time, but I'd like to mention Ashens. Stuart Ashen has been going strong for 20 years at this point, sticking with his "tat" coverage as well as some supliments (and movies) as well as his holiday Advent Calendar with NerdCubed since 2018.

EDIT: Oops! Almost forgot the Ashen's video!