Hey peeps! Hope you’ve had a great couple of weeks, filled with rainbows and butterflies. Probably not, what with midterms and stuff, but as Adele says, who wants to be right as rain? Moving on, last week, I promised to review the Duck Song and related variations. I shall do so now in twelve words: It is super-freaking annoying and serves as a good offensive weapon. Well, that’s it for this week! No? What? You want your money back? You’re not even paying us, though! Ok, I’ll compensate by reviewing some fancier YouTube shizz, just for you.
The Guild
A lot of pop-culture nowadays is based on video games and the culture of gaming. This includes a large number of gaming-related YouTube shows. One of the most successful web series based on gaming culture is Felicia Day’s The Guild, which follows a random group of people who collectively play a fantasy MMORPG as part of a guild known as the Knights of Good, and have their dreary existences turned upside-down when they decide to meet face-to-face rather than maintain anonymity behind their online avatars. Cyd Sherman (Felicia Day), aka Codex, is the protagonist and serves as the narrator for the series, in the style of a vlog. While she grapples with her gaming addiction, she also has to deal with the strange (although at times stereotypical) personalities of her fellow guildies which include an insecure momma’s boy, a neglectful mom, a broke bachelor, a manipulative, obnoxious girl, and a narcissistic pervert. Each of these characters lends a different comedic element to the show, from slapstick to dark humour. The Guild recently completed its sixth season and the production quality has seen a progressive rise over time, with significant character development and engaging plots. The Guild encompasses a variety of references to geek and gaming culture and successfully demonstrates the perils of tech addiction.
Video Game High School
Freddie Wong along with his partner Brandon Laatsch have earned a reputation as VFX wizards through their YouTube channel, with their videos gathering millions of views each. A lot of their videos relate to gaming, especially first-person shooters. Video Game High School is a creative web-series that aired on the freddiew YouTube channel last summer. Brian Doheny, aka BrianD (Josh Blaylock) is an ordinary high school student who earns the opportunity to attend the elite Video Game High School (VGHS) after fragging a high ranked player known as ‘The Law’ in an FPS. Once he gets there, however, he realizes that The Law attends VGHS as well and is bent on humiliating him at every turn. Brian quickly makes friends with fellow newbies Ted and Ki, and is also attracted to sophomore Jenny Matrix, who specializes in FPS and also happens to be The Law’s girlfriend. Along the way, he has to deal with intense competition from fellow students, regular visits to the principal, and constant fear of being expelled due to a falling rank. The best parts of VGHS are the game scenes, where the actors play their respective avatars in the game, making it highly engaging and fun, all the more because of the excellent VFX. Besides FPS, the show has characters playing racing, rhythm, and dance-pad games. Season two of the show was recently funded by a Kickstarter and is now in production, and if it’s anything like season one, then it definitely should be something to watch out for.
COPS: Skyrim
The Nerdist is a popular podcast as well as TV series on BBC America, and they also have a YouTube channel with a bunch of cool content. COPS: Skyrim is among some of the funniest shows produced by them. Officer Jenkins and his men patrol the fabled land of Skyrim and go about implementing the law of the land and dispensing justice, though using questionable methods to do so. Situations involving everything from dragon invasions and hostage situations to domestic disputes and orc attacks are caricatured. Each episode is divided into multiple shorts that each depicts a different situation. The references to Skyrim are of course abundant and the dry, sarcastic humour makes for a great watch. The officers are mostly well meaning, but are unfortunately not very competent and, as a result, hilarity ensues (possibly along with blood and death). Two seasons of the show are complete and the Nerdist channel is now showing other Skyrim spin-offs produced by the same group of people. Hopefully COPS: Skyrim returns to the Nerdist channel soon.
Thanks for reading this week’s edition of Tube in to This. I will be vacationing in Hawaii for the next couple of weeks, so I am not too sure if I can write a review for the next edition. If I don’t get enough time, I shall be reviewing the ForndogNoms channel, where one man elegantly consumes various kinds of foods. Until then, Mahalo and Stay Tubed!
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