hbomberguy – Plagiarism and You(Tube)

hbomberguy videos tend to come few and far between with new releases dropping just once or twice a year, but when they finally arrive they do so with meteoric impact. His ‘quality over quantity’ approach provides brilliant feature-length deep dives into a variety of subjects ranging from games and television to social discourse in a manner that deftly balances contemplation and gravitas with endearing whimsy and hilarious wit.

Last year saw the release of ROBLOX_OOF.mp3, in which an initial focus on a split-second sound effect from a popular game quickly descends into a captivating rabbit hole investigating an unbelievable web of far-fetched lies, wild exaggerations, and delusional self-importance fabricated by a moderately accomplished video game composer. Their habitual false claims include repeatedly taking credit for other peoples endeavours and one segment of the production expands on this point, highlighting the broader issue of the erasure of individual workers within the gaming industry through a lack of acknowledgement for their contributions.

Plagiarism and You(Tube) loosely continues this theme, this time considering lesser-known creators having their work stolen without proper credit or permission by prominent YouTube channels. It’s a ruthless evisceration of several notable offenders, shining a spotlight on their lazy, unethical, and self-entitled practices along with the disregard and disrespect shown to the original sources. This examination culminates in – to plagiarise a line from the video itself – hbomberguy ‘Berserk-Eclipsing’ the career of a particularly egregious individual as a legitimate YouTuber, with a denouncement so devastatingly brutal that the person in question hastily deleted all their content and social media accounts in the aftermath.

Despite a topic that may sound dry and dull on paper, Plagiarism and You(Tube) is deceptively engaging, energetic, and entertaining throughout – an achievement made all the more impressive by its near four-hour runtime. Anyone already familiar with hbomberguy should not be surprised; he’s been among the most acclaimed videographers on YouTube for some time, and this latest effort is a prime example of why.

Super Eyepatch Wolf – The Unreality of Pro Wrestling

Super Eyepatch Wolf excels at conveying an infectious sense of wonder and enthusiasm for the media he covers, with his enthralling analyses routinely pinpointing exactly what makes the material so alluring. He possesses an inspiring ability to recognise and underscore the significance of subtle details, with the insight and perspective offered frequently so compelling that it further elevates the work by deciphering a deeper meaning or purpose. I also love the presentation, with each script delivered in a tone of understated charisma and impassioned sincerity (wrapped in a silky, luxurious Irish accent) – the effect is thoroughly convincing.

Some of my favourite Super Eyepatch Wolf videos include Why You Should STILL Read Berserk, an earnest and engrossing exploration of the revered dark fantasy series; What The Internet Did To Garfield, a startling descent into an online subculture of bizarre and disturbing artwork spawned from the ubiquitous lasagna-loving cat; and The Simpsons is Good Again, a cerebral analysis of the protracted decline of a cultural juggernaut and its recent low-key renaissance.

However, perhaps the best content on the channel is a series of videos demonstrating the magic of professional wrestling. While many people dismiss wrestling as nothing more than meaningless fake fighting, Eyepatch Wolf contests this misconception by explaining the medium’s unique capacity for mesmerising storytelling via blurring the line between reality and fiction. Following on from Professional Wrestling is Stupid and Beautiful and I Love it, The Undertaker: Long Term Story Telling in Wrestling, and Villains in Wrestling: Making People Hate You, The Unreality of Pro Wrestling is a riveting journey through the career of WWE superstar Roman Reigns, astutely narrativising the rise, fall, and subsequent resurgence of his popularity, and unravelling the complex and contentious relationship fans have with the character.

Sarah Z – You Should Watch Buffy Season 6

Sarah Z is one of those creators with a bewitching gift for talking at length about topics in which I have no prior knowledge or interest, yet eliciting curiosity and seizing my attention nonetheless. Having previously enraptured me with tales of fervent niche Tumblr communities, strange and obsessive fandom culture, and her charmful passion for musical theatre, in her latest video Sarah turns her focus to a subject I’m keenly familiar with – one of my all-time favourite television shows and its controversial sixth season.

Season six of Buffy certainly isn’t perfect and I don’t regard it as highly as seasons two, three, or five, but it remains a thrilling, challenging, and emotionally powerful piece of art. Despite frustrating missteps in characterisation and metaphor, season six is responsible for an array of unforgettable moments and several of the best individual episodes of the show’s entire run, and I’ve always considered it to be vastly underrated.

I was therefore delighted to see Sarah Z (assisted by her equally adept co-writer Lady Emily) present an evaluation that fairly interrogates the aforementioned shortcomings but ultimately affirms and celebrates the work in question. Flaws are sharply identified and eloquently elucidated, contextualising the disapproval commonly expressed within the Buffy fanbase, before the overriding joys and triumphs are laid out with gleeful conviction. Sarah and Emily have done a fantastic job of illustrating the highs and lows of this rollercoaster ride of a season, while emphatically declaring respect and recognition for an underappreciated gem in this sophisticated and absorbing appraisal.

Daryl Talks Games – Stories That Use Time To Hurt You

Daryl Talks Games is a creator I discovered relatively recently, but his incisive inspections of psychology in gaming have rapidly garnered my intrigue and admiration. His videos display intelligent and perceptive observations of design, presentation, and metaphysics in entertainment media, cutting precisely to the core essence of how and why they resonate as they do.

Stories That Use Time To Hurt You was the first of Daryl’s creations that I stumbled across, and endures as an indelible highlight amongst his rich catalogue. This vibrant half-hour rumination on the creative employment of temporality as a source of emotional turmoil examines an assortment of examples – including science fiction epic Interstellar, beloved role-playing adventure game Final Fantasy X, and beautiful romance anime Your Name – delving into the striking poignancy in stories of people and love separated by time, and reflecting on the haunting ramifications of sudden indeterminable skips into the future.

Jacob Gellar – Games that Don’t Fake the Space

A remarkably articulate wordsmith, Jacob Gellar crafts video essays with such elegance and flair that they often feel closer to poetry. The quality of his carefully composed scripts is matched by a deliberate and assured cadence in their execution, breathing life into each subject matter in hypnotic fashion.

Studying an eclectic range of uniquely specific topics, you never know quite what to expect from Jacob – his diverse, idiosyncratic offerings include Fear Of Cold, a chilling perusal of fictional and factual accounts of people struggling to survive against the extremity of freezing temperatures; The Decade-Long Quest For Shadow of the Colossus’ Last Secret, a gripping narration of an online community’s fanatical devotion to decoding a mythical gaming enigma; and Perfect Moments in “Bad” Movies, a studious and scholarly dissection of exceptionally profound scenes in otherwise underwhelming films.

Of his more recent work, a particular standout entry is Games that Don’t Fake the Space – an intellectually provocative pondering of gaming worlds with overwhelming scale, and the artistic and technical marvel they represent. In order to immerse players in massive environments without actually manufacturing such elaborate and resource-intensive digital realities, developers often utilise clever tricks and techniques to merely imply their wonderous size. In this video, Jacob embarks on an enlightening expedition into games that use such illusions – and more fascinatingly, games that don’t, instead opting for the simple yet ludicrous approach of constructing the space without feint or facade.