A DEEP DIVE into Atop the 4th Wall: Channel Awesome Retrospective Part 3

[@VahanNisanian]

The Spoony One documentary is gonna be a great episode!

[@comixproviderftw_02]

It really is so depressing to watch Spoony in those old videos. He seems so genuinely happy and full of life.

[@GumshoeGamer]

That’s gonna be so good and so so sad

[@Grim2]

Man, I can't believe Spoony turned out to be the real CEO shooter.

[@quiltrowave]

BETRAYAAAAAAAL!!!! BE-TRA-YAL! BETRAYED ME. THIS GAME SUUUUCKS. IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH XCOM. NO-THING!

[@leviticusprime4904]

That ceo must've been a fan of ff8

[@Pigpen_YT]

I grew up watching Nostalgia Critic but only watched Linkara a few times over the years. Although I’ve watched all of his History if Power Rangers videos even though I have little to no interest in the franchise. I just love watching long form videos about shows/movies/games made by people who are passionate about what they’re talking about. It’s corny af to say but it just adds a little magic to the video. Because of this I had no idea about what his show’s storyline was like. I was not expecting the stuff with the gun lmao. Anyways fantastic look at his content and I’m looking forward to the Spoony video because I never watched him growing up so I know very little about him other than Insane-O, his “relationship” with Lindsay Ellis and the totally happening Spoony movie

[@lukasvonweidts9681]

Something funny I realised is that since Mechakara got to Linkara's universe, not only has he not successfully killed anyone, but he's also spent three out of his five appearances as someone else's flunky.

[@redjirachi1]

It's the reverse of comic book AUs where alternate universes can litter the land with super corpses but prime timeline supers have too much plot armor

[@Gamewar5OOO]

Your impression of him really was spot on. He writes very much in the same way he speaks, that history of power Rangers rant sounds like a Lewis rant straight out of Angel Armor. 😂

[@TheLoneGameMan]

So much of the Internet treats Missingo No. like some kind of eldritch horror glitch and I'm just sat over here like, "Aw, yeah! Infinitive Master Balls!"

[@theeducatedfool]

Ten year old me getting infinite Rare Candies because grinding is dumb

[@diegodankquixote-wry3242]

I hope this video popularizes Linkara telling missingno to kill themselves twice and it worked both times. Imo both times are linkara's funniest moments

[@dudemankewl6291]

Linkara was hilarious. Shame he fell off. Sometimes I go back and watch his Final Fantasy reviews and the Ring dreamcast review. Last thing he posted was those ultima reviews before "Don't tell me how to play the game. 😢" livestreams. Around the time I subbed unfortunately. Ultima reviews weren't too bad, but, way more potential.

[@Pufstnutbrainofficial]

@@dudemankewl6291 that’s Spoony you’re talking about, not linkara

[@dudemankewl6291]

@Pufstnutbrainofficial Oh... KZbin being crappy or issue with my trash phone maybe. This was supposed to be a reply to a comment about Spoony. I guess I could delete it.

[@cigarettesmoke7636]

Used to love comics back in the day so Linkara was always one of my favorite Channel Awesome members even before the memes. Thanks for the Christmas present, have a comment for the algorithm!

[@DylantheKnightOwl]

Thank you! Lol

[@astorothwarriorofsunlight5471]

Oh no… Dylan is bringing the wrath of the light bringer

[@robertlauncher]

“He seeks help from Film Brain!” Oh no, the Nostalgia Screecher himself!

[@DvsDude7]

I don't know if this has been said before but your Linkara voice makes my day. It's the best next to the one from Oneyplays

[@DylantheKnightOwl]

@@DvsDude7 lol thank you.

[@berniekatzroy]

Linkara, the great Linkara.

[@tylercoon1791]

Great work ethic

[@berniekatzroy]

​@@tylercoon1791Don't you talk about me you son of a bitch.

[@respectedsalmon9390]

1:39:10 Maybe not "needless" anger, but he was certainly anger. Bro can't deny it

[@jewjewsbizarreadventure]

These linkara/channel awesome retrospectives have become my fave series on the channel! Especially excited for when you get to Spoony, it is gonna get WILD

[@GTAMAN77]

Me too man I just have such a odd hyperfixation on tgwtg/channel awesome stuff

[@bigdaddydons6241]

I'm almost excited as I am forcthe spoony movie!

[@MerelyAFan]

The interesting thing about Linkara is that he habitually starts content that's arguably novel in its time only to feel a bit outshined when other creators start doing it themselves. He stood out as a comic reviewer at first, only to have other KZbinrs start making comic/graphic novel focused series of their own to arguably greater success. The long form reviews on seasons/shows worth of content takes off, but then others to generate their own with such frequency and to such acclaim that the public forgets he was one of the first to do it. Even the Power Rangers KZbin scene has begun to be a bit crowded beyond the History of PR show. In that sense it's not a surprise that (infamous mocking memes aside) the ongoing storylines on AT4W are what people often associate with Linkara because actively utilizing that in a review show is one of the concepts that still feels relatively unique to him.

[@bigdaddydons6241]

It's kind of a microcosm of the rest of channel awesome, it seems like so many of them are stuck in this one specific Era of content and locked into this format of videos, Some of them managed to evolve and adapt, but others just can't seem to move on and intentionally or not staying in Doug walkers mold (phelous is a great example of brute force autism keeping this kinda thing going l)

[@EmployeeAMillion]

You’re right about Linkara’s references being confounding even if you’re a fan of what he’s referencing. Since I’m a big fan of Doctor Who, I can easily tell that Linkara’s channelling that show when he dips into self-aggrandizing speeches. The difference is with the Doctor, even during the siller eras of the show, you can buy it because you know the character for being the centuries old hero of countless worlds. But everyone knows Linkara for sitting on his couch and reviewing Iron Man comics. I don’t hate Linkara or anything, but he is such a time capsule of the late 2000s internet, and I wish he was more self-aware and had a sense of humour about it.

[@TheLaLeeee]

Perfect video to end a year and start a new one with. Very cozy nostalgic vibes even though I never watched Linkara. Back when you were allowed to be genuine on the internet without being bullied for it (for the most part). Looking forward to the Spoony video finally, the main reason I subbed when the retrospetive series started.

[@041able]

So, i never watched any Linkara video, in fact, the first time i heard about him was through your Angel Armor series retrospective, that might be my favorite one in this whole retrospective. That being said, i'm fucking disappointed in not seeing that cat girl never again. I just love Louis works are some ultra high effort silliness. This guy's drive is admirable.

[@DantesLament133]

Linkara is really interesting. He has insight and has a genuine drive and passion. There are things I find off putting about him but I always come back. He's an interesting guy and he's got something. But he struggles to nail it. He's an underdog.

[@Unquestionable]

Extremely agree with this. I don't think he's ever going to have wide appeal, nor does he seem to aim for it, but he really loves just doing his own thing and sharing his thoughts on stuff he's passionate about. He's got this weird sort of charisma about him which can make him unbearable even to fans while also having times where he pulls it off flawlessly. I've watched him consistently since Atop the 4th Wall started and it's always been very hit or miss with very few just average videos. That he's still putting out the same kind of content all these years later is comforting and kind of reminds of why I love comics overall.

[@blackchibisan8116]

He struggles to nail it for an entirely tragic reason. Potential limited by self imposed rubrics seeking praise and affirmation from his inner circle as he stagnates because he lacks confidence in himself unless it is given by others in his life. I’ve seen it. I’ve known it. I’ve broken free of it myself. It is… tragedy…

[@MelodiesForTheSoul]

We all like to dog on Linkara but you have to admit the man has work ethic

[@travtotheworld]

These really make you appreciate the quality of Doug Walker's content.

[@FilmNerdy]

Absolutely love your retrospective series and i nearly considered doing one as I use to be OBSESSED with the whole Channel Awesome community! But here is your video and its really well done!❤ I cant wait, and hope, you will do Phelous one. By far my favourite one since post channel awesome. A lot of people say Lindsay, who I have time for, but Phelous just seems genuine...hes grown...i love his Dingo works...and I tend to respect him more for backing his partner and leaving the show as well. Its partly why i get annoyed that people overly praise what "brave thing" Lindsay did when she left the show its like..."no she didn't...she didnt leave for that.." as her own FAQs from her Im leaving statement literally had a Q where she was asked if there was any drama and her reply was 'no drama'. Lindsay is an ambitious person but i would not put loyalty next to her name! Anyway, that was rant...basically Phelous is King and I hope you will do one on him. Great video as always.

[@dvdatkinson811]

If anyone hasn't watched 'History of Voltage Vengers" by one of the Mega64 guys it's one of the best Linkara parodies

[@dvdatkinson811]

You're going to see in your analytics that one person watched this on a SmartTv, that was me

[@deathbutitaint2307]

RIGHT ON TIME! I love this channel with a passion

[@trainszelda3076]

Dylan the night owl dropping the best Christmas gift early this year

[@robertlauncher]

Well uh… as someone who’s only watched Spoony’s Final Fantasy videos out of this, it sure does explain a lot of what was going on with the skits 😂

[@robertlauncher]

I don’t read comics because I’m always scared I’ll miss one and be lost. Before the internet, it was an even worse concern. So Linkara didn’t interest me until much later when I heard about what a character he was

[@SaiScribbles]

2:54:17 The Longbox of the Damned bit is very Tales From The Crypt cheese and I still kinda love it.

[@mathieuleader8601]

never knew Lewis was a contest winner and that's how he got his start

[@nekosatsu7810]

i used to be a huge fan back in the day of linkara, i think if he did tokusatsu videos id watch the shit out of those because im a huge fan of ultraman, kamen rider, godzilla, gamera, etc. that being said i pretty much only watched his comic book videos back in the day.

[@HowdyFolksGaming]

I cannot be upset with Lewis over his Power Rangers rant, because I kind of understand his perspective. He was not in the right, and could have handled the situation better, but I am sure that level of audience pressure was new to him at the time, and people are not taught how to handle hordes of internet viewers demanding content from you - you more or less have to learn how to handle that "trial by fire" style. I've been there myself. Even though I have never experienced anything close to Lewis's level of success, I did have a moderately successful Tekkit Legends (modded Minecraft) series around 2015 / 2016, and it almost drove me crazy. Before that, very few of my videos had ever surpassed more than a couple of thousand views at most, so I had a very small audience and very little pressure from said audience. Tekkit Legends was, by far, the most successful thing that I had ever made to that point, with the first episode in the series going on to surpass 300K views. It was great! The only problem that I had was that I did not know how to handle that level of success and the new attention and audience demand that I found myself dealing with. I had not set out to be a Minecraft-exclusive content creator, so I always had at least two other series going up on the channel at any given time. Once those other videos began getting flooded with comments from folks demanding to know "when will the next Tekkit be up?" it started to get to me. Eventually I got bored with Tekkit, but felt trapped with it. I had to keep the series going because it seemed like the only thing people wanted to see was MORE TEKKIT. But they were also hyper-critical of those later videos in the series because I had done just about everything you could do in the pack and was running out of steam. Eventually, I had an outburst similar to Lewis' at the start of one of the episodes, explaining that it takes time to make Tekkit videos, and that people asking for MORE MORE MORE TEKKIT was not helping! Was it called for? Absolutely not. Could I have handled it better? Of course! I came off as an entitled crybaby. I cannot excuse myself, but to explain where I was in that moment... I just didn't know what else to do. I was inexperienced with that level of success and entirely too mentally and emotionally immature to handle it. Thankfully, my audience at the time was very understanding. They offered supporting comments, and even those who were critical of my rant were at least kind and constructive in their criticisms. Looking back on it, I am actually incredibly proud to have made something so successful that many people went out of their way to demand more of it. I could not see how cool that was at the time because I was lost in the stress and pressure of it all. But now, with hindsight being what it is, I take a lot of pride in that small little bit of success I experienced, and I appreciate the amount of mental and emotional development that in spurred in me. I grew a lot as a person from it. All of that to say that I cannot hold Lewis's rant against him. He was young himself and still developing as a content creator. Now, that does not mean that it should be ignored or swept under the rug, but I do definitely think that, looking back on it now, his rant was far funnier than it was harmful. He should have just embraced it as a cringe meme moment that he learned from and grew beyond - there is a lesson in that for everyone, I think.

[@SaiScribbles]

29:26 Honestly I still rewatch The Warrior reviews now and then, it's probably the best thing these two ever did together.

[@toastrave7820]

I'd be curious to see Bennett The Sage because when the early episodes came out i was a young child & anime was still niche with some adults (at least in my city) would make kids fly Japanese naval flags (a.k.a. Imperial Japan flag during ww2) . Most of the kids (including myself) watched it because the stories sounded fresh & unlike anything we had ever seen on TV or even theaters. To this i respect Bennett for getting me into Lupin III, Cobra,Fist Of The North Star & Outlaw Star among others

[@melancholoid]

Awesome Vid! Thank You very much for Your Work! Greetings from Germany!

[@DylantheKnightOwl]

Thank you!

[@melancholoid]

​@@DylantheKnightOwl You`re welcome! Any Chance, You make an Essay about Diamanda Hagan, Lupa/Phelous and Iron Liz? Or will you lump smaller Characters from TGWTG together in one Vid?

[@TheSpoon-AI-1]

Howdy Dylan! I don't know if this comment will get spotted, but, a couple of things I wanted to chuck out there ahead of your planned Spoony Deep Dive. Firstly, love all your TGWTG creator videos! Secondly, I'm working on a channel that's recreating the angry reviewer hayday using AI and with Spoony as the central character. Thirdly, what I've found is that Noah Antwiler is now pretty much just that.... Noah. Not Spoony. His fairly regular addition to Paul and Daniels livestream on the Conversation with Curtis channel see him just being himself, with him being addressed as Noah. I just think it's worth calling out that, despite what many seem to want to stick to, he seems to be happy and in a good place mentally. Every channel and their dog that's made a Spoony Retrospective seem to focus almost entirely on the "Betrayal" rant at E3 (actually a bit of a nothing-burger in truth), the non-existent Spoony Movie and the livestream rants, the latter two being (in my personal opinion) a result of collapsing mental health and should be judged with that in mind. Just my opinions obviously. Look forward to the video!

[@DylantheKnightOwl]

Yo! Thanks for the kind words. Yes I'll for sure check out your stuff and yeah without spoiling too much yeah I'll certainly be painting a different perspective on the whole "Betrayal" arc and so much more on Spoony in general. I was gonna ask, how did you manage to get his voice for an AI thing? I ask because I actually had a funny idea for something like that in the Spoony video using Spoonys voice.

[@TheSpoon-AI-1]

​@@DylantheKnightOwlThat sounds really good, it'd be refreshing to get a more balanced take, looking forward to it! So, I use ElevenLabs and then I've got about 9 samples of 3mins each of Spoony in various modes ie ranting, sarcastic, vlog, positive, roast etc then I either write the script or record myself doing a vaguely American accent (I'm British) and then let ElevenLabs convert my recording into "Spoony". If you get stuck then shout up, happy to record and create some lines or just help you get the right result. 👍

[@mizamelon]

Ew. Recreating someone else's likeness with AI is super gross and creepy. I'd start rethinking that channel premise ASAP

[@elijahtiemens5532]

ITS ME: THE LIGHT BRINGER

[@quiltrowave]

There he is

[@tylercoon1791]

Get ‘im the hell outta here!

[@leviticusprime4904]

Don't give him back his jack

[@mathieuleader8601]

Missing no 1 could be a Goosebumps foe

[@donnylurch4207]

I saw this and audibly went "OOOH!"

[@ystin]

you were right on the money about jarris actor by the way he did indeed move away for a good few years and was unable to do anything more for the show thus the rushed ending of the rebellion. He did come back eventually though

[@DylantheKnightOwl]

Oh sick, glad to know my intuition was right there, sad they had to rush that plot line but cool he eventually comes back at some point.

[@marvelfannumber1]

You basically nailed my biggest issue with Linkara's reviews towards the end there. It's one of the main reasons I haven't watched his videos consistently for years. His videos rely on the Family Guy style of humor where he'll frequently cut away from the review to do some kind of silly joke or reference. It's not a style of humor that ages very well, and it honestly detracts from the review itself. I used to put up with it because, for a while he was like the only online content creator that made videos about comics. But these days there are tons of fantastic ones (ComicTropes, mattt, Alex Lennen, Salazar Knight etc.) that all do a way better job than Linkara has ever done at the kind of retrospective comic review type of video. So while I agree this would be an improvement for him, there is just so much more content out there that does it better now. His reviews tend to shine when the material he's covering is ripe for insight and humor. Which means he doesn't need to rely on as much lame cutaway humor. Some of my favorite videos of his were his Secret Origins videos where he would take a well-known comic character and cover their first story. It provided a lot of neat insight into characters people are familiar with and since a lot of these comics are old as fuck they have a ton of good material for jokes (His The X-Men #1 review still cracks me up).

[@TheAlexSchmidt]

Yeah The X-Men #1 is really weird in retrospect with all the X-Men hitting on Jean Grey (I mean that continued to some extent but Professor X egging it on? Yeah I dunno about that)

[@marvelfannumber1]

@@TheAlexSchmidt Let's just say that the Lee/Kirby era of X-Men has *very* little to do with why the X-Men are popular today. The first issue in particular is...uh, yeah, it's rough. Not their best work.

[@theeducatedfool]

College me thinking the MissingNo. reveal was the wildest shit

[@YourGuyAlex]

You absolutely hit the nail on the head as to why I really don’t like AT4Ws structuring It’s literally - talk about history of the book - read panel - joke - read panel - joke For like 30 minutes with occasional insight and opinion as to why he likes or dislikes a certain plot element. I literally know every time a bad joke is coming because the Rythm is so repetitive!!! Tnank you!!

[@YourGuyAlex]

I like his Patreon sponsored reviews more due to him not fully going by the structure as much it acc has some cool insights and opinions not bogged down too much by bad jokes

[@DarkOverlord96]

That's LITERALLY what a review is, what the hell are you talking about? Or what, are you going to say "I don't like Phelous' reviews because he first talks about the story of what he's reviewing, shows a clip and then makes a joke"?

[@YourGuyAlex]

@@DarkOverlord96 don’t even know who that is 😂 But yea people will know what I mean.

[@skibot9974]

I mean doenst that describe a lot of CA stuff

[@YourGuyAlex]

@ pretty much 😂😂

[@JVM485]

I only ever watched a little bit of Linkara back in the day. Not as much as NC or Phelous. I do appreciate Linkara's storyline! There's something about a long winded story arc that you just had to be there to understand or at least at the beginning of saga or whateve! It reminds me of the stupid stories I made up with my toys as a kid.

[@quiltrowave]

Great work ethic

[@ProgSnob14]

I still can't believe there are actually Angry Joe fans out there among us.

[@DocOmaley98]

Cinema Snob is gonna he really interesting. He’s one I still watch and someone who could be interesting I think behind the scenes. Plus he stills hangs with Doug now.

[@respectedsalmon9390]

Let's see where this goes

[@AGdesigns878]

The reason why Linkara is not a big fan of Super Sentai and I also guess more Tokusatsu shows also is because in college he called super Sentai power rangers to a bunch of Asian students and he was humiliated and became of that he doesn’t want to talk about it. My source for this was from TUG (That Umbrella Guy) live stream from some time in 2020 when he brought in 2 of Linkara friends on his live stream. To where to find this livestream of his friends saying this I do not know that’s something you will need to find on your own sadly

[@DylantheKnightOwl]

Interesting, I'll try looking for it.

[@skibot9974]

Maybe that was his attitude at one point but Linkara has been positive on Super Sentai whenever he’s covered it as a Patreon sponsored review Based on what he’s said in videos and his generally dislike of reboots it seems to me he’s just less invested in Sentai because each iterations continuity with each other is far more nebulous and wishi washy than Power Rangers (with Gokaiger being the obvious exception) Notably Lewis said he stopped watching as a kid with Power Rangers Lost Galaxy, the first show that didn’t have any Rangers from a previous team carry over. While Lewis said in his Lost Galaxy review a part of that was just him getting older, he did note the lack of direct links (at the start of the show, Lost Galaxy would become more interconnected with the Zordon Era by its end) turned him off as a kid. Furthermore, Lewis said in his review of Cosmic Fury he didn’t plan to cover the then-upcoming Power Rangers reboot on his show because it would no longer be continuing the narrative he grew up with (the reboot would get canceled a few months after that video released making it a moot point) I belive that story but I don’t think it’s why PRESENT DAY Linkara doenst cover Sentai

[@DuskNinjaKenji]

So not sure if you have any interest, but Linkara does have a few videos that are retrospectives of certain comic book characters like Cassandra Cain (in case you wanted context for that Lightbringer reference), but I’d imagine you’re probably all Linkara’d out after all this. Either way, fantastic video! I used to watch Linkara and Channel Awesome since 2009, up until the whole Change the Channel stuff, and you brought up stuff even I didn’t know. Your scholarly knowledge for obscure internet lore is impressive. Keep up to good work!

[@DylantheKnightOwl]

@@DuskNinjaKenji thank you!

[@DuskNinjaKenji]

@ you’re welcome!Merry Christmas!

[@dwitefry4157]

I've been watching LInkara on-and-off for years and my conclusions are ultimately this: 1) he's better at the serious reviews parts of the review than the comedy 2) He WANTS to be good at taking criticism and does try, but isn't in fact very good at taking criticism (and no I'm not saying that because I critcized him and he didn't take it, the ony time I criticized him and he responded he ended up arguing a different point to me completely which isn't really a good judge of how he is at taking critcism, just his reading comprehension/my legibility) 3) he really wants to be an ally - to everyone - and does try, but he just can't think like someone other than a straight white man with the expriences of a Lewis Lovhoug. He understands that you should be kind to, say, people with mental health issues and sort-of why (if only because if you're not your viewership will flood you with angry comments) but he doesn't understand what being, say, a personal with mental health issues is like. This can lead to him overcompensating and/or doing and saying silly/unhelpful shit. 4) just about every review has him saying one thing where I stop and go 'what the fuck are you on about, Lewis?' 5) his knowledge of comic books is nowhere near as comprehensive as people think and some of his (often very good) TIIIME FOR BACKSTORY segments would have you believe - at least he admits that to this one though.

[@dpglounge4900]

Fat Grandma is my favorite most underrated 🐐 linkara character

[@battango]

I genuinely wanted to hear you continue going through all of the season storylines, even though I’ve never watched Linkara. Is there something wrong with me???

[@jotarofatso5743]

Someone actually did a video with all Linkara comic review lore

[@Specter227]

Santa Christ delivered this year

[@Steviec2k6]

I hate you for compulsing me to actually watch a complete lore dump of Linkara's universe. I watched Lewis back in the CA days but admittedly skipped all of the storylines. It's nice watching them now though, because the fact that all of these mid-tier Pre-KZbinrs generally all had their own universes is oddly nostalgic. It's fun to meme on them, but it calls back to a simpler time on the Internet. Cringe as it may be, it shows creativity -- or at least a reverence for the things they liked. Looking forward to the Spoony video, as I think he is one of the more tragic figures of the CA days. He was genuinely a great entertainer, and seeing his mental deterioration was kind of heart breaking as a fan of his. Thank you for the content! Merry Christmas!

[@MelodiesForTheSoul]

It was a simpler, innocent time. We were all just having fun...

[@altrovic815]

Am I missing something or have you stopped putting music titles on screen at some point? I don't see any lists anywhere in the video or in the description either. What's the name of the treack at 3:24:35?

[@lukasvonweidts9681]

Just pointing this out, all of his most popular videos are full looks at subjects (full event reviews, character/team retrospectives, History of Power Rangers), so you have a point that he should focus more on that than single reviews of issues. Seriously, what am I going to get out of his latest Youngblood review that I wouldn't get from his earliest?

[@nintendobl00d]

Cant wait for the Spoony episode bro, keep it up

[@DylantheKnightOwl]

Thank you! I shall.

[@hijanks]

1:47:50 I never understood why breaking the 180 degree rule was a bad thing until seeing this just now.

[@JimMilton-ej6zi]

What i find off about linkaras serious writing is that he doesn't shine in the "show, don't tell" department. So many serious things rely heavily on conveying exposition and story without words, but he seems to think he can make up for it by using words

[@lukasvonweidts9681]

It's a problem that extends from his oldest works to his newest. From Lightbringer's purple prose to Winter of 83's extended lecture on signal hijackings

[@NightpireVideos]

That's gonna be a good one

[@comixproviderftw_02]

After the books, the webcomics, we finally delve into the main course.

[@SaiScribbles]

50:11 I always thought the "I'm a cloooone" one was funny lol.

[@patlaplante1470]

I think linkaras great iv been watch then for a long time now 6 or 7 years it feels like

[@Smokerkun]

It's really obvious that he only used Spoony to boost his own career. He dropped the friendliness after Spoony stopped making videos and was still friends with Brad Jones.

[@skibot9974]

Lewis’ falling out with Brad came SEVERAL years after Spoony quit

[@Smokerkun]

@@skibot9974 Yes, and when Spoony noticed Marzgurl blocked him, he didn't know why and found out it was for still being friends with Brad. Lewis also stopped being friends with Spoony for this.

[@TheAlexSchmidt]

Maybe you've already got comics on this but Linkara has done retrospectives going over the whole histories of some characters like Blue Beetle and Cassandra Cain.

[@the_door_opener2622]

Mechakara is so intimidating… Also I’m curious to see if Harvey Finevoice was intended to be ironic or not

[@Razkunn]

Waiting on Spoony

[@ocean_mage]

back in the day (during my dumbass teen years when i was more into spoony), i tried getting into linkara starting with the pokemon review. *i was so fucking lost*

[@ocean_mage]

also, i could never get into him even tho i enjoyed dumb storylines in reviews at the time. i’m not a comic book fan, so i only watched the parts of his videos that spoony was in. if anything, *this* is the most ive watched of his stuff.

[@comixproviderftw_02]

7:05 - 8:35 Good lord, all those people are probably in their late 30’s to early 40’s by now…

[@RottenBuick]

So I missed the boat on this era of the internet. Well. I just didn’t watch Doug Walker stuff at all. But I enjoy your videos. I think you should do one on Dom Deluise. And EVERYTHING he did. It’s alot..

[@vinylecapejawa]

While I find Lewis Lovhaug to be problematic; he’s arrogant & egotistical and prone to virtue signaling, I unironically love the Atop the 4th Wall storylines. I won’t defend their quality issues and tropeyness but there is something about the the idea of an ambitious DIY Star Trek/Dr. Who series that I find compelling and fascinating.

[@Caldinovin]

I like the copyright owl

[@nightlyoko626]

Ngl despite me falling off of Nostalgia Critic and CA in general this video intro brought back so many memories

[@DylantheKnightOwl]

I'm glad.

[@MelodiesForTheSoul]

I gotta say the last time I watched a critic video has to be 2014 or earlier. My entire teenage years were spent idolizing all those guys, what happened? :(

[@GTAMAN77]

Lmfao i got an ad during the advertisement segment of the video

[@DylantheKnightOwl]

Lol

[@andrewoliver7095]

In Kickassia, Linkara has awesome screen presence tbh

[@DylantheKnightOwl]

That is true, he did shine in that, I think Kickassia is a lot of their best performances.

[@GTAMAN77]

@@DylantheKnightOwlSpoony was good in Kickassia too I think

[@andrewoliver7095]

@GTAMAN77 Yeah Linkara and Spoony probably gave the best performances in Kickassia. Oddly enough, Linkara's acting is way worse in his own ATFW movie. Angry Joe is great in that, though.

[@Punpun6745]

Sometimes I wonder how much money it would take to convince Linkara to do a 3 hour retrospective of the fate franchise.....

[@DylantheKnightOwl]

@@Punpun6745 probably a lot but I'd ironically lock in to watch his takes on that series lol.

[@toastrave7820]

If i recall he said during this year's charity stream that it would be around $3k

[@Punpun6745]

@@toastrave7820 tempted to hit the man up. 3k is a lot but not impossible 😤😤😤😤

[@Punpun6745]

@@toastrave7820 $3k is a lot but....not impossible

[@tylercoon1791]

36:58 Silent Hill take worse than the circumcision ‘theory’

[@comixproviderftw_02]

Never forget the Circumcision “Theory” 😂

[@Go_away_loser]

It's so funny in hindsight how stupid that "ad block" controversy was. Like, I don't really like Lewis as a person based on how he portrays himself online, but holy shit the TGWTG fanbase was bunch of whiney nerds. 30 seconds for an ad wasn't that big of a deal, especially now that videos have preroll ads, midroll ads, ending ads, AND ad reads by the creators themselves. Honestly, looking back at the Channel Awesome controversies and how overblown everything was all the time (Linkara, Spoony, Doug, etc)...half the issue with their downfall was the weird ancillary people they employed and the psycho fans those people attracted. Imagine a Channel Awesome community that didn't consist of 80% Tumblr users.

[@mylifeisadumpsterfire5194]

1:51:05 I wonder if Linkara's pokemon opinions are worse than Lily Orchard's

[@Delundon]

Yes!!

[@Usereatingusrrs_666]

I'm the light bringer! I'm the f*king universe!

[@jimtreebob2096]

I never realized that Linkara used to be relatively handsome. His terrible taste in eyewear and weight gain have not helped him in the slightest.

[@HumblyArtsy]

29:53 I’m pretty sure this was filmed during the TGWTG year one brawl. But I’m not 💯 certain

[@TheFatestPat]

When are we getting the next History of Power Rangers! I demand satisfaction!

[@George-vf6st]

With Linkara everything is a bit of a mixed bag regarding taste. It's hard to object to a lot of his gripes regarding 2000s comics for example but at the same time he's easy to resent since he's basically the target audience for neutered post 2016 capeshit, which he seems to barely even read. He's one of those cape dorks who get mad when characters die, and while in the mid 2000s it was definitely excessive the artistic backlash has resulted in DC in particular feeling akin to one of those kids shows that are written specifically for Tumblr users. Ironically he's come to like Sentai and a lot of Japanese stuff, particularly visual novels. I think ED types tend to exaggerate how much Lewis's feminism and the like impact his views, he's has more of a general pearl clutching moralist streak. A personal point of dissonance for me is his review of Phonogram: The Material Girl, which is a comic about a coven of indie music powered magicians. He has some objection to the characters for perceived moral myopia or the like, which admittedly makes sense for the first volume of the series but otherwise confuses me, especially since Material Girl focuses primarily on the series' most traditionally sympathetic character. I think he's basically a fine promoter of whatever he's reviewing but 80% of his points of criticism consist of kvetching over perceived slights by whichever character. It's honestly fairly watchable though since even with his infamous skits he tends to lean on the terse side.

[@RichardWatt]

As a fan of Linkara, some (but not all) of his anger at the character deaths is where the creative teams will not use that death to tell other stories and will then resurrect some characters but not others just because the fans of those characters "shout" the loudest in their writing campaigns.

[@skibot9974]

For context I only started watching Linkara in 2019 and I honestly think he’s one of the most overhated people on KZbin His content isnt anything exceptional most of the time but it’s pretty good. Yet because he said he didn’t like OneyPlays the internet is constantly dogpiling him for doing the same thing after over 15 years (despite most CA alumni having done next to nothing to evolve thier styles after a decade plus). In fact Linkara has admitted where he’s wrong disavowed his past behavior of attacking creators even editing his theme song Yet for some reason Lewis seems to be the third most hated person was ever on Channel Awesome besides Obscurus Lupa (twitter behavior and being the spearhead of the movement that would kill the website) and The Distressed Watcher/Amazing Atheist (bullying a rape victim and Bannagate) I’d say at the very least Lewis’ content is stronger than Phelous since around 2021 or Erod ever was

[@respectedsalmon9390]

While I never subscribed to him (I prefer hovering about his channel), I did enjoy his comic videos as background noise while I did other things. I think some of my favorites were the anniversary specials like One More Day and Holy Terror. I think I generally enjoyed his coverage of Marvel and DC stuff. I believe the first video of his I watched was Planet of the Symbiotes. While I might look at some of his newer stuff like Heroes in Crisis, I think some of his view points just turned me away like the all art is political point in his Dark Knight Strikes again video. There was also the 2020/2021 Top 15 Screw Ups video where during the first part he went on about how he would review more Mister T comics if it meant Trump wouldn’t be elected again (should’ve read them more, huh?). He has been somewhat political in the past given his feminist views, but something about that felt off like more anger was coming through. Besides that, who knows, maybe I’ll watch some of his newer stuff at some point.

[@thusspokethestruggler]

I think it's genuinely wild how you actually reviewed Linkara in a fair, analytical way. The Channel Awesome group can be pretty cringe, especially those that branched from the main members and the copious AVGN clones. But many people forget that JonTron was, by technicality, a AVGN clone. I'm not a big fan of Linkara. I was always more of a Nostalgia Critic and AVGN guy (I know, big shock). But I had grown bitter about Linkara over the years like others form the channel due to their hubris and ego ignorant cringe. But it was shocking to actually hear someone talk about him from a relatively neutral standpoint. It really helped me shift my perspective a little. I feel.. sorry for the guy. He genuinely has a passion and enjoys that content, even if I find it cringe. But it's a tale as old as time. Hubris and ego ruined it. Too much attention and a flow of money drives greed and indolence, killing the soul. That's what so many from Channel Awesome feel like. Clones and tropes that flew too close to the sun and burnt out.

[@JimMilton-ej6zi]

Linkara is someone i can't say i ever wanna watch but i find him interesting because of his bitter failures, how his writing style is and how he could change it for the better but chooses to be bitter about it instead

[@DylantheKnightOwl]

Thank you for your thoughts and kind words. I agree, I think Hubris and ego play a big part in why he's looked at so badly these days. If he allowed himself to chill out some and learn to laugh at himself once in a while i think it would go a very long way in people changing their perspective on him, because as it stands he is a very creative and passionate person that I is capable of making good things sometimes, even if a lot of it is still cringy lol.

[@mavarisnotmusic]

Moviebob/Game overthinker lore video when?

[@DylantheKnightOwl]

@@mavarisnotmusic I'll for sure do a Moviebob video one of these days.

[@quiltrowave]

Dylan's retrospectives have not set schedule. The videos will be done when they're done

[@jordyundieground3270]

lets gooooooooooooooooooooooooo

[@CherriNGT]

Last rizzmass, i gave you my gyatt oh btw love the more experimental thumbnails lately (especially as someone that wants to be more experimental with them myself cuz i draw them myself LOL).

[@animationunlimited2958]

Yeah, most of his own characters are just him in another outfit. Bob Chipman is even worse when it comes to this.

[@DiegoMayz-g1k]

Linkara has to be the biggest example of the old generation of NG and AVGN copycats, missing the mark with what was making those two so fun, and that is James and Doug were just simply roleplaying as over the top personas that didn't have much to do with their real personalities and that their reviews, while being genuine in their opinions, weren't supposed to be taken THAT seriuosly,, that's why they were full of skits. Like, Linkara's trademark gun being powered by the soul of a death girl? Holy shit man, you are just doing sketches for your comic reviews, chill... Also it's like he never let go his old teenage dream of becoming a fiction writer, but wasn't completly sure to do anything NOT related with his Linkara videos, fearing another failure. Extra ironic considering how the last of Channel Awesome movies, where he was the protagonist, turned out to be failure too

[@joakimsen87]

It's just a "what if james was really extremely autistic". That's exactly what he is, a guy with Aspergers watching something he likes and said "I could do that"

[@FlatStanleysFinalSacrifice]

I try not to dunk on any of these people *too* much (except the ones who are genuinely gross people) but man, 5 Panel Comics is just so bad fundamentally. He somehow totally missed that 5 Second Movies' whole shtick was...being 5 seconds long and instead you get like a full minute of Linkara gurgling purple prose at you.

[@blackchibisan8116]

Dylan… Do you mind if I use your videos for resource material? I intend to make an effort. This means I’m going to be explaining why and how Linkara became… I want to say boring but it is even worse than that. He lost his soul at some point and slipped into self-assured contentment, choosing encouragement of his inner circle and self soothing egotism over harsh internal scrutiny that befits a proper artist. Not in a retrospective as you are doing but as a creative peeling away his mask of self deception.

[@DylantheKnightOwl]

Sure! You can use my videos as a resource if you like I don't mid at all.

[@blackchibisan8116]

@ I appreciate it. Honestly, my first video leading into my planned vids on him will likely just be one aimed at Linkara himself kindly requesting him to not watch the videos. He wouldn’t be able to handle what I have to say. He has shown through the Oney situation that he doesn’t have a very thick skin and that he tends to ego surf. Odds are he knows who you are too and likely has strong opinions on your vids that he speaks of in private from time to time, not speaking publicly out of a belief that he would only be drawing attention to your videos. What he has become makes him a very predictable sort, and despite my assessment being a harsh one, I do admire the man underneath what he has allowed himself to become.

[@SonicStantz]

For years, I was a fan of Linkara largely because it was refreshing and engaging to have a comic reviewer, since I love comics and even write my own. I would watch Linkara religiously, even donating books for potential reviews and always wishing I could get the seemingly impossible to snag Patreon slot where people could request reviews from him. I even met him at Power Morphicon and...well my behavior was sort of like when Bruce Wayne met Edward Nygma in Batman Forever, I'm ashamed to admit. But then, a combination of constant delays in his videos, his writing skills getting weaker, and how he blocked me on Twitter solely because of who I voted for, I can safely say that I am not a fan anymore. I'll still occasionally get curious enough to peak at a new video, like when he covered the Boom Studios Power Rangers storyline "Shattered Grid", but I now view Linkara the same way I view AVGN; he was a big part of interests back in the day, but now I see him as someone who is clearly spinning his wheels. Though in Lewis' case, the fact that he's genuinely obnoxious and rude on social media definitely makes me view him in a negative light.

[@TheAlexSchmidt]

Maybe you've gotten this but Linkara's robot is named Pollo not Puyo, unless that's just how you're pronouncing Pollo.

[@DylantheKnightOwl]

@@TheAlexSchmidt yes I'm aware, I'm only pronouncing it that way because that's how Linkara pronounced it through out the series.

[@TheAlexSchmidt]

@DylantheKnightOwl alright yeah, nice to know it's not a mistake or anything.

[@donnylurch4207]

​@DylantheKnightOwl I don't mean to nitpick, but you're saying it like "Puyo" as in Puyo Puyo Pop, but "pollo" is pronounced like "poy-yo" because double-L is pronounced like the letter Y, in Spanish. It means chicken. I don't know why the robot is named Chicken.

[@TheAlexSchmidt]

@donnylurch4207 Honestly probably a Robot Chicken reference

[@Sourrags7]

When i watched this guy so so many years ago i always skipped his story. Its legit funny how he makes himself super powerful with a spaceship.

[@Sourrags7]

Also the chip tune do you remember love was wild

[@JimMilton-ej6zi]

To me the thing that feels scummy about the "watch ads pls" thing is that he has no care or considerations for the customer. He didn't try to reach out to the hosting site to address the issue and solve it, he didn't give people incentives to donate directly, he doesn't care about why they even felt like they had to do it in the first place, but he then wants those same people to care about him and make it their responsibility even though it is fully the hosting companys fault. He should've just done merch sales or dvd releases as a way to say "thanks for helping me out" rather than "i don't care about you, here's why my problem is your responsibility"

[@dvdatkinson811]

The Spoony Video wouldn't have as much lore?? Are you forgetting Wrestle Wrestle

[@Smokerkun]

It's not Puyo, it's Pollo, the Spanish word for chicken.

[@DylantheKnightOwl]

I know, but he pronounced it as Puyo the whole show so I did the same lol.

[@Smokerkun]

@@DylantheKnightOwl Must be a midwest accent thing then

[@RUINERS]

I unironically liked long box of the damned