Another Testimony of a Former Irate Gamer Fan by marston

Hey everyone. I know new posts have been slow, but the last two videos barely contained content worth bringing up (I'll address them when we get a video with meat to it). Instead, here's another fan contribution. This one coming to us from TVTropes user marston. After I showed him the blog, more specifically, Robert's testimonial back in October, he wanted to share his own story on how he fell out of favor with the Irate Gamer. Enjoy.

Back in 2007 when I was age 12 years old, I discovered YouTube for the first time and had loads of fun with it, especially when it came to watching videos about various Video Games. I came across AVGN's Friday The 13th review and absolutely loved it. I watched it along with all his other videos that were out at the time. There was one point for a while where he stopped uploading the reviews on YouTube and kept them on Screwattack.com. Before I got the totally ingenious idea of just going to that website and watching his new videos {From my experience, when your young enough you don't always have common sense}, I started looking up other "Angry Video Game Reviewers" and came across people like Wizwar100 and Armake21, finding them just as hilarious as AVGN. Eventually I ran into Irate Gamer's videos, and that's where this story really begins. 

When I watched Irate Gamer's videos, I thought the guy was fantastic. The random jokes, the edits he'd make to video games, the fast-paced Family Guy style of humor, even the side characters {Yes, I liked some of them, with Evil Gamer being my favorite one out of what I thought was a colorful cast of quirky and funny characters}, I loved it all. I would get excited whenever he released a new video. And much like fellow ex-fan Robert, I also believed IG whenever he said a game was shitty. I really did think that Super Mario Advance was better then the "Crappy" NES version of SMB 2, just because IG said so, even though in the end the only huge differences between the two are updated graphics, some voice acting and the ability to save your progress. He's also the guy who got me into Indiana Jones via his video on the Temple Of Doom video game, as I was inspired to check out those awesome films because of said video. 

There was something that annoyed me though. Something that, in hindsight, I really should have listened to much earlier. A lot of people were accusing Chris Bores of ripping off AVGN. I didn't take them seriously though, and there's another reason for that besides my blind fanboyism towards IG back then. See, back in 2007-2008, there were a LOT of douchebags in YouTube comments who gained the insulting nickname "AVGN Nazis". These people were fanboys who would go and accuse nearly any Angry Reviewer, and possibly even just any video game reviewer in general, of being an AVGN rip-off. Even if your style was different and you didn't take a single joke from the Nerd {Or even cover the same games as him}, you would get accused of ripping his show off just because you reviewed a video game. I remember that at one point even James Rolfe himself told these guys to knock it off. As a result of these annoying twats combined with me hating when people bashed something I liked, I didn't take legit criticisms towards IG seriously and just wrote them off as being more AVGN fanboys. There were some signs that should have been telling, however. I use to follow a ranter known as BigAl2K6. One of the subjects he ranted about was these very same AVGN fanboys. Yet he also did several rant videos on IG and detailed how the guy really was ripping off James as well as giving examples of how he blatantly lies in his videos {For example, Big Al is a huge fan of Kinnikuman, and he showed actual proof on how you can do way more things in the NES game based on it then what Bores showed off}. But being the huge fan of IG I was, I didn't listen to him or even watch more then one of his IG Rant videos. I was baffled at Al's supposed hypocrisy on the matter. "What, he hates AVGN Nazis and yet accuses poor Chris Bores of ripping off the Nerd? Why do so many people hate Irate Gamer? He just wants to entertain people just like AVGN does!" were my thoughts at the time. Looking back now I understand the whole situation, but that's the power of hindsight I guess. 

I continued watching IG's videos for a long while after that. I can even name what were once my favorite reviews of his too {Jaws, the Temple Of Doom, and Tetris, especially since I grew up with that last game and the fact that his review of it was actually positive}. At some point though, I just kind of stopped watching his videos. Not for any particular reason that I can remember though, I just stopped going out of my way to watch any more Irate Gamer stuff. Somewhere down the line due to my lack of interest in IG now, I finally started listening to the negative things people had to say about this guy, and not only did I find myself agreeing with them, but also shocked at how much of a douche Bores really is, especially with that message that showed how huge his ego is and even accusing AVGN of ripping HIM off. I think it might have started when I watched some videos from the "I Can't Believe It's Not AVGN" riffing series. The whole reason why I've even been looking up more stuff about Irate Gamer lately is because I recently not only watched a ton of those aforementioned riffing videos, but also due to watching Third Rate Gamer's hilarious parodies of IG. As for Irate Gamer himself though, nowadays when I look back at his series, these videos I once use to love and laugh at, my thoughts on it are similar to how people view the terrible Monster A Go-Go movie that the MST3K crew mocked: It's completely unwatchable without someone riffing on it. None of his jokes are funny, most of the characters are annoying, and his acting is absolutely terrible. And nowadays he's been bashing even more classic games just because "Wah, it's too hard, I hate challenge!". And I've noticed just how badly he's ripped off AVGN too, especially with those terrible DVD's of his. I can't believe that I use to actually like this asshole. 

I can thankfully say that I'm still a fan of AVGN though, even to this day. His acting, comedy, insight and just about everything about him is far better then what IG has ever done, including James Rolfe being a far nicer guy then Chris Bores. I still watch his videos every now and then and get a huge kick out of them. Even most of his new stuff is still good too. Maybe someday I might even buy some of his DVD's. That's far more then what I can say for Irate Gamer, who as I said before I won't even touch with a 10-foot pole unless it's a riff video. It is kind of sad though, having once enjoyed IG's stuff. His actions as well as me growing up over time ruined my view of him being a hilarious guy who just wanted to make people laugh. If he had changed his style and wasn't an asshole, maybe I would still be watching his stuff to this day. But he's mostly been just doing the same thing since 2007, and I outgrew it. Nowadays when I watch a funny reviewer it'll be someone like Cinema Snob, Linkara or the aforementioned Nerd. I doubt I'll ever watch an un-riffed Irate Gamer video ever again. 

Sorry if this story isn't as insightful as the previous ex-Irate Gamer Fan. My memory isn't as good as his, and both his story and mine cover some of the same stuff to begin with. I will say this however: I've noticed that a fair amount of his current fans are roughly around 12 years old or younger just like I was. This was even pointed out in one of the "I Can't Believe It's Not AVGN" videos. They might annoy you severely, and you can get pissed at them {IG fans or not, kids on YouTube tend to be rather annoying}, but keep in mind that they're tastes will likely change over the years. It happened with me, after all. Try not to hold it against them. Hindsight and Growing Up can really help people see things in a different perspective. They might end up going through something very similar to what I did. Thanks for reading my story.