This was another one of those videos where I had to leave a lot of information out for the sake of brevity; this is in no way a "complete history." This also was a very self-reflective one, for obvious reasons.
LordKat’s tirade about how Noah cost him an interview with Notch was so fucking overdramatic. I was just waiting for him to say “And at Summerslam I will prove to the world just how much of a fraud you are!”
Honestly I think his story about his ruined "opportunity" was complete bullshit. I don't see how spoony being loud at E3 would somehow upset Mojang or E3 at that random guy years later.
LordKats entire argument hinged on having his identity mistaken for Spoony. My feeling is how about you get pissed at someone mistaking you for someone else or even yourself for being so not memorable people confuse you for other people. It was obviously Lords best attempt to burn a bridge while attempting to make it look reasonable i.e. not about burning a bridge. Pretty pathetic in my opinion.
"In early 2008, RU-vid abruptly began suspending the accounts of numerous high-profile video creators... they also were flagged for having inappropriate content, though the definition of 'inappropriate' seemed inconsistent." The more things change, the more they stay the same, eh?
So that's what happened to Armake. I wondered at the time what was going on. He then got a second account; "NicotineAlien." I recall _that_ account got suspended and he got a third account but I don't recall its name at the moment.
War has changed. It's no longer about nations, ideologies, or ethnicity. It's an endless series of proxy battles, fought by mercenaries and machines. War--and it's consumption of life--has become a well-oiled machine. War has changed. ID-tagged soldiers carry ID-tagged weapons, use ID-tagged gear. Nanomachines inside their bodies enhance and regulate their abilities. Genetic control, information control, emotion control, battlefield control…everything is monitored and kept under control. War…has changed.
Yeah that dude did nothing to help his own case. Tells someone else to act like a professional then proceeds to swear and call him immature insults such as "retard".
He makes shitty video game videos and was pissed when someone was being unprofessional. Spoony was expressing his opinion on a new game and everybody got pissed because they wanted sponsorship deals. If anything I respect him for being honest rather than lying like every other journalist out there. He's a relic from before youtubers were as worried about getting advertisers and review copies of games. I'd rather watch videos of a loose cannon than whatever Lordkat was trying to be.
I feel like online content creators are the new child stars. They get big early on on an unregulated platform that puts them in the public eye and then either destroy themselves, get destroyed, or walk away.
God, absolutely. There's so many cases like Spoony's that it's driven me to want to use them as some sort of case study. There's both a morbid fascination and real cause for concern among watchers that I think should also be addressed, especially since we could have a WHOLE discussion about how content creator/fan relationships impact both parties.
He admitted that he was violating a NDA with Channel Awesome by talking about this. Despite the incompetence (at best) of CA, no wonder a gaming company wouldn’t trust him!
I will always be amazed at how Spoony saw the writing on the wall for TGWTG earlier than anyone else, left at the perfect time, and still managed to come out the worst of anyone.
I agree, dude/lady. Most of the people who weren't up their own asses, had left Channel Awesome, some notable examples being Spoony, the subject of this video, Angry Joe, The Rap Critic, ToddInTheShadows, and many others, and I'm not saying the people who're currently there ARE up their own ass, maybe some of them are, or maybe they're planning to leave Channel Awesome, because it's becoming a disaster. I'm still a bit upset that things turned out the way they did for Noah, but, there's no turning back now. It's sad, things had to end like this for the guy, and I WAS one of those hopeful fans, awaiting a comeback of some sort from him, but it seems like, just as the writing was on the wall for That Guy With The Glasses, it's there for Noah as well. I've read updates, as of December 2019, his website's gone, his girlfriend April left him weeks prior, he's rambling incoherently on twitter, his house is in foreclosure, it's hard for me to say this, and to say goodbye to one of my favorite content creators this way, but it is what it is. Spoony ain't coming back. A sad story, with a sad ending. I'll always remember the great videos Noah made, my favorites being the retrospective on FF8, even if I disagree with his negative feelings on the game, the review and videos themselves were funny enough. A few more of my favorites were the Ultima videos, the playthrough of Phantasmagoria 2, and Ripper. It's too bad, what happened to him. A real tragedy, he had talent, but he just kept getting smacked down, repeatedly, and, now he's gone for good, it seems. Gone, but not forgotten. Sorry, for the long rant.
@@philipweber9545 Yeah, pretty much... it really is sad what happened to Noah. The guy had legit talent, like I said a month ago, but he kept getting smacked down, at every corner, everywhere he looked, he just kept getting knocked back. There was just no way he could recover from these horrible events, one, after another, after another. He didn't deserve that. He even got berated by his ex-colleagues, like what we just saw in the video, his girl left him, AGAIN, he's sadly, rambling incoherently on social media, his website's gone, and his house is in foreclosure. How do you recover from ALL of that happening to you, at ONCE? But, life's just unfair sometimes, dude. And there's nothing we could do about it. It really sucks, having to leave like this, but we have to face facts, and the writing on the wall, Noah Antwiler, ain't coming back this time. Sorry. As much as I'd love to be wrong about this, like I was wrong about ProJared, it doesn't seem like it this time. It's sad, tragic, and just straight up unfortunate, what happened to Noah. It's also sad he couldn't see the writing on the wall a 2nd time, for his website, his relationship, and his house, as well. Yep. He fell, face-first, into a landmine, and got sent flying, Smash Bros style, into the screen, and lost his last stock; sadly enough.
@@shawnfields2369 he seemed to have done most of the bad parts himself, and although some people deserve what they have coming to them, this guy lost it all, and there's an underlying tone of sadness throughout.
@@philipweber9545 Yeah, there is, hence why I mentioned how it was a sad and tragic story. He lost everything, and I'm not saying he did deserve what happened to him, but seemingly, all the bad stuff that happened, seems to have happened because of Noah himself, apparently. I'm only saying, dude, it was mostly awful what happened to Noah. But I just liked his videos. I didn't know most of the bad things that happened to him until I saw this video, and heard about the bi-polar thing. Which were 2 different things. I saw the video at a different time, and heard he had bi-polar disorder somewhere else. Still, it kind of sucks, to be in the position he was in, and to know that most of it was your own fault. I can't say I don't feel at least a little bit sorry for the guy, but yeah, you're right, dude. There was an underlying tone of sadness throughout his story. I agree, completely, dude.
"Honey, what are you doing?" "Shut up mom! A man on the internet told me to film myself stabbing the grass with my katana. If I win I get a picture of him!"
motor man are you trying to green text on youtube? or are you saying that "motor man" (is greater) with my katana? does that also mean "motor man" (is lesser) without my katana? *mfw he tried to green text on youtube*
I don't know man, something must be up with my browser because none of that text is green. It's really weird, I'll see if using a different browser helps.
The only concession I'm willing to give LordKat is that Noah's behavior reflected poorly on his coworkers while he was with Channel Awesome. That is a fact of life for any business. Everything else, however, the whole "Noah screwed me out of an interview", calling Noah unprofessional while jabbing at his breakup with Scarlett and name-calling like a middle schooler without a hint of self-awareness just makes him look like a petty asshole who needed a bad guy to project on.
however, with the benefit of hindsight, it has been shown that Noah was quite unprofessional, maybe a bit of truth mixed with his envy and hate - seeing someone who didn't put forth the effort of others being successful is frustrating, but that's the nature of popularity
Could yall imagine how it must feel to gain a bit of internet fame from some RU-vid content, then have shit downhill and a few years later you end up watching a well-made documentary about your own rise and fall. How terrible.
Could you imagine how it must feel to become famous on RU-vid, lose it all, and a few years later you see a video on your rise and fall, and then you see a comment about how it would be terrible to experience becoming internet famous, having shit go down hill and then seeing a video chronicling your rise and fall? How atrocious
"He lived with his parents for 27 years" It's so sad to think that back then it would've been seen as pretty pathetic, but with the ridiculous housing costs nowadays, it's actually pretty normal for people to stay with their parents until their late 20's.
@Mac Matheson you dont go outside much lol. There's a very subhuman undertone with saying that compared to white male. Blame history (not slavery literally 2000+). People use white male as a descrption of privilege not anything dehumanizing. Didnt think you needed an explanation on that fake woke one
Update on Spoony: -His website has been broken for about a year but it's still on his twitter -He ran a red light and was in an accident that hospitalized 2 people -April broke up with him and has cut off all contact with him. (Honestly good for her) -The bank has foreclosed on his house and he's being forced to move back in with family -He rarely if ever streams and when he does he's mostly just silent and ignores chat where he's obviously aggravated by them -He's on twitter and he complains every day that his life is a mess and there's nothing he can do to change it, any time someone offers advice he tells them to fuck off
@@srazysnake0221 His mental state definitely isn't better. He definitely needs help but he insists he's on medication/therapy and that it does nothing. He also seems to love telling people how miserable he is on Twitter for sympathy but like I said any advice is ignored.
I know someone like that. Creative guy with some talent but he's held down by severe mental illness and years of failures and rejections. He has completely given up, rejects therapy, rejects advice and seems to have accepted that his life is completely fucked and that change is impossible. It's heartbreaking because there's nothing you can do about it. Once you reach a state of utter hopelessness there's no way back.
Even with mental help, he'd still be a smug asshole. What Noah wants (I hesitate to call him Spoony anymore) is free money and a random girl to knock on his door and proclaim her love. Although, that Rachel girl that obsesses about him on Twitter is so crazy even NOAH doesn't want her.
Love that LordKat literally went on a personal attack spree on Noah and then follows up with "Why don't you be a professional for once?" Gives me a good chuckle
I love too how he starts out somewhat calm and “professional” saying he doesn’t really want to comment too much on it and by the end he’s yelling FUCK YOU into his mic
He's a complete and total lazy sell-out and shill. He constantly complains about having "no time" even though he hired screen wave media to do all of the work for him...
@@85wastedyears oh nooo a man with a wife, kids, and a life outside of RU-vid doesn’t have time to make videos anymore guuuee 😭😭😭 guuu 😭😭 guuueee guee. cry harder.
He doesn't make videos, he reads monotone scripts about games he's never played written by fat fucks from Rental Reviews. Cinemassacre is dead, James is a zombie who doesn't care about his channel or making quality videos, and would rather say he has no time despite the fact that he has no other job and most dad's do triple the work and still are good parents.
Regardless of how much you hate Spoony, you can't possibly do as much bad to him as he does to himself. Lesson of the day folks, sometimes you live in the same body as your worst enemy.
taking a sledgehammer to his own career, for one. not regretting it doesnt mean that wasnt a bad idea, hes just not self-aware enough to realize what he's done, or i guess angry enough that he doesnt care
Even more so when you have an actual mental illness, as he does. Although I don't know much about it, I can only imagine that living with bipolar disorder (in addition to whatever other ills he has, both mental and physical), can't be easy to deal with, and the fact that he quit seeing his psychiatrist can't be good. Where the hell are the parents he admits to living with for so long? Don't they know their child is suffering and needs help?!
I appreciate how kind your videos are. You are neutral, but sympathetic. You present the facts, but also the context of the facts, and always emphasize that these are people, not things to gawk at for entertainment. You are a star, sir.
About the post on his website at 12:15 - there's actually some context lost there, and I don't blame you for not knowing, as few people outside of those who were there at the time remember this. Originally, the day before he posted "An appeal for manners", he posted a full video that was a thank-you for winning the Open Web Award for Funniest Person of the Year. It was notable because it was the only video he ever posted where Scarlet appeared. And people were insulting her in the comments, essentially calling her ugly along with other awful stuff. Within 24 hours, the video was taken down, and he replied with this blog post. I believe less than a few thousand people ever saw the original video - I myself never did, and only saw the fallout.
@@retroblue69696 For real, James Rolfe is one of the most humble content creators on the platform..happily married and 2 daughters, a relic from the old RU-vid days and is still going strong
Even the guy calling himself *Urinating* Tree is doing better than Spoony; he shot up to 500k subs in a few years and even got sponsorship. Fuck you Antwiler, just because you quote the man doesn't mean you get his success.
Fredrik actually looked over and talked about the not so awesome documents on his other channel. He also looked over CA’s awful response to the whole thing.
Honestly you could do a Down the Rabbit Hole on Channel Awesome as a whole. They always had problems with controversy after controversy and nearly everyone involved with that site had some serious issues going on.
What more can be said at this point? The CTC document was covered to death, 95% was complete nontroversy and the whole Jewario thing has been addressed elsewhere and really I think its up to his victims to want to come forward and tell their stories; so far they've chosen by and large to remain private about it, they have zero to gain (everyone knows he was a monster) and a lot to lose.
LordKat's rant really has "I'm just jealous that Spoony is so much more talented and such a much nicer, more beloved person than I am" written all over it. He is just trying to blame his own failure on someone else.
Noah’s an even greater tragedy than Doug Walker. The latter may have sullied his reputation, but he still has a loyal fanbase, successful channel, and he seems to be content with his life. Noah’s lost all his clout and seems miserable.
also doug barely sullied his reputation cause most of the change the channel names exposed themselves as petty assholes and most accusations against doug werent of the extreme variety
@@donb7519 Doug’s reputation is still pretty sullied, but he’s really more guilty of being ignorant and inactive than he is of being an actively malicious presence
@@donb7519The change the channel thing didn’t put to much blame on Doug, most of it was on Channel awesomes crappy CEO and Dougs Brother Rob. At most in the interviews Doug seemed to come off as more naively ignorant then anything else. Course the fact he didn’t acknowledge or address anything and just pretend nothing was happening didn’t help his case, especially with the whole Justin Carmical thing when he himself made a farewell video to him after he committed suicide.
He left out the worst parts, if you can find the full one or any other time LordKat brings up CA it's just a LOT of bile. He truly blames AngryJoe and Spoony for never making it big himself.
I think his biggest problems was, that he didn't really see himself as an internet content creator. He wanted to be a big hollywood star, this whole Spoony Experiment thing was just a stepping stone to greatness. When it was clear, that his rise to stardom wasn't happening, he became incredibly depressed and lost interest in everything. If he only had stayed humble, and accepted his career, he might still be making content with a comfortable Patreon score.
Why even try to be a big Hollywood star in the first place? You gotta fuckin' build a foundation to even reach there. Take Brad's bud Ryan, who's worked on quite a few Asylum productions and still continue to collaborates with Brad to this day. He got far closer to Hollywood than Noah (and Doug) by having realistic expectations and properly paying his dues. Same can be said of the Red Letter Media guys, who've gotten quite the cast of guest hosts on their shows. Lesson of the day, kids: NEVER aspire to be the next Steven Spielberg. Instead, be more realistic and aspire to be the next George Romero, David Cronenberg or Wes Craven. You'd probably make it further with those expectations.
Though definitely less self-destructive than Spoony, that's the exact same problem that Doug Walker had with being the Nostalgia Critic. Despite having struck gold with his established format, Doug torpedoed his own success by trying to turn his "nostalgic movie review show" into a cringe fest of terribly-acted skits. He deluded himself into thinking that his success as an internet content creator translated into directing skills. I've never seen the "movies" he made, but have heard they aren't much better either, and the thought of watching an hour straight of those skits is terrifying. tl;dr Find your niche and stick to it.
Ironically, this is the exact same problem with LordKat. And his rant against Spoony and Joe makes this even more clear. He boasts all that crap that Spoony ruined his opportunity with the whole "BETRAYAL" thing, but I bet the result would be the same even if Spoony did nothing. Because, seriously, who is LordKat at all? When I used to frequent the TGWTG site I didn't had any idea who he was before he appeared in one of Spoony's videos (the second one about the Pumpkinhead game). I did watch some of his "Until We Win" videos later and... I'm less than impressed. Don't get me wrong, I respect LordKat skills as a gamer, especially since his show focused on beating hard-as-balls games, but his show lacked charisma. My bet is that the guys at E3 that he spoke off that he believed would give a good opportunity to him also didn't had a fucking clue who he was, and were expecting one of the more famous members of site instead, and decided to use the "BETRAYAL" as a scape goat to quickly dispatch him instead of saying the truth straight in his face. (which is a dick move if this is true) Also, I find hilarious that he blames Spoony for not being professional (which, I will admit, it's kind of true) , but also procedes to call him a "fucking pussy", talk shit about the size of his penis, and just being equally immature. Guess that his idea of "professionalism" is the same old "kiss as many corporate asses as possible to climb the ladder", and I wouldn't be surprised if this mentality also got in to become a member of the site to begin with.
He had spoony campaign one of his most popular sessions of dnd which had a big following of people that brought many to watch his streams that otherwise just a consistent fan base of his. I remember the old days of showing up to watch them all, and just how the chat box would explode with people joking around and having fun. And, he invited spoony to his session. Then all sudden things broke down just like with CA and spoony left. The group went on then withered away. Then when Lupa event happens, LordKat just shits on Spoony with no holding back. It was stupid and even worse because LordKat had the same thing happen to him, where someone accused him abusing a girl at some event. Which you think after that experience LordKat wouldn't want to just shit on someone for a small mistake or accusation of harassment.
Surprised to see you here, to answer your question -He got into a car accident and left two people hospitalized -His wife left him -He was unable to pay his mortgage and his bills and now is homeless (though I think he now lives with his parents)
That's the only reason I know this guy, I just wanted to watch a video that explains all the Ultima games. And then I see there's some videos about his dramatic downfall lol. It's funny because why do people prop these these guys up in the first place
I've seen folks in the comments say around the same time he lost his father too, so it's likely he wasn't in the clearest of minds, but the insults were/are well deserved lol
@@jacksimpson8529 lordkat was another of those gamers who wanted to pass himself off as a professional reviewer and journalist, back in the late 00's. he was part of channel awesome for a while, but was hilariously low rated because his content was garbage, and then he tried to join a 'professional' journalism team, and then spoony had his breakdown.
I get where he was coming from, but honestly he just came off like a man child trying to throw blame around. Lordkat was always... "alright"... he had his moments but he was never really that entertaining to watch compared to other channels. Throwing a fit and demanding the spoony held him back just strikes me as him trying to protect his own ego. Fuck spoony, and all, but bro... seriously... bring it down a peg. You weren't as great as you might think...
That LordKat rant was absolutely hilarious. The funniest part is how LordKat calls Noah a "nobody" despite pretty much only being known as the guy who ranted over not being able to interview Notch.
I had no idea who either Spoony was or this LordKat but that was my reaction as well. Calling someone a nobody while being a bigger nobody is quite stupid and then going on a long, curse word filled personal attack and end it with "why don't you act professional for once" is seagull levels of intelligence.
Sometimes you have to have one for business purposes (publishers like to put it in as a requirement for writers, for example). Beyond that, idk why anyone bothers.
I spent a few weeks looking at Twitter a few months ago. It just made me depressed and baffled by human stupidity. There's no worthwhile debate there, the site isn't even formatted to handle debate very well.
absolutely agree i loved my time spent watching his videos. Grew up watching old videos waiting for new ones to come out. Miss those times when it comes to spoony
It would have been better if all of the producers' aliases were used. I can tell who Hope / JO is, but I can still envision some-one asking "who the fuck is Hope?" A small nitpick to an otherwise good retrospect.
I didn't even know about LordKat until I saw this video. Not impressed. "Why don't you act like a professional" then proceeds to call him the R word... yeah... hypocrite much?
@@Armor8377 what's the R word? Reticulating? Redundant? Recalcification? I wish people would take *r*esponsibility for the words they wanna say instead of hiding behind the first letter like some kinda F word.
@@ReiAnikaAyanami theyre right though. saying words like retard without a negative connotation, i.e. quoting a person, is nothing to be sheepish over. its really quite pathetic that people are afraid of just saying words lol
I was a huge Channel Awesome fan back in the day, and Spoony was my favorite. I thought he genuinely had the best comedic timing among the whole group. It's a shame what happened to him, but I hope he can claw his way back and return someday.
Biggest problem with Channel Awesome was that it was too spread out with too manyproducers in separate states that the main runners (mainly at the time the blow-up happened was Mike Machaud and Rob Walker) couldn't actively regard every issue (even when they tried) and unfortunately because so many issues weren't addressed (largely starting with the production of TO BOLDLY FLEE) the whole thing fell apart (and fortunately most are still doing videos thanks largely to Patron). Rolfe's lucked out because his content is largely all himself and occasional people that'll help him on videos; all of which can speak and work with him directly. Even now, as he's recently started including more people in other videos like J&M Mondays and the now ending RENTAL REVIEWS, it's still largely him in charge of everything.
I sometimes get the impression that the ones that crash and burn the most were the ones who didn't really have a lot else going on, and when the volatility of the job got too much it stirred up their existing issues (mental health etc ) and left them with no way out, I feel like if James quit AVGN back in the day he would have been fine and had other things to do weather it was professional work or other personal projects
“You don't understand. I literally cannot feel happiness anymore. I know that sounds stupid, but it's true. It would actually be uncomfortable to watch me on camera. I wouldn't say much of anything. I wouldn't be enjoying myself. It's just gone.” -Noah Antwiler tweet from September 14, 2020 Wow, that’s legitimately sad to hear.
Holographic Marlon Brando I still don’t really understand what caused his content output to slow down so much. Was it loss of motivation? Laziness? Some kind of IRL drama? Had he kept on making stuff like Doug and co have, he probably would’ve survived.
@@unpopularopinions7407 Being someone who followed him back in the day when I was younger, trust me when I say that the relationship between his audience and him had LOOOONG been super vitriolic on both sides. Not trying to defend Spoony, I'm just trying to give some more context that I feel slipped through the fingers of the videos, but he would make videos talking about stuff he honestly enjoyed but would also talk critically about and everyone would throw it back into his face as, "oh Spoony hates everything!" and between that and (what looks like to me) mishandled mental illness (and ego), I feel like there's somewhat a trauma on his side. One of the big things I recall sparking it was his vlog about Pacific Rim, where he expressed how much he loved it but also thought critically of it, and a lot of really vocal and abusive fans kept spitting in his face, "you hate everything!" While there absolutely is a lot of valid criticisms you can make in regards to Spoony's analysis of media, this was more just a wave of negativity than anything that could've inspired further discussion. The Ultima retrospective series, especially the finale, I feel was (somewhat) a response to that, because the overall point is to show and gush about a series he loves that's been with him through so much. So between normal vitriol, a loud audience practically gaslighting him over whether or not he likes what he likes, mental illness, and ego - I think these compounded together to cause the decline. It wasn't a sudden decrease, it was gradual. Note: while I've got a lot of mental illness stuff going on myself, I'm not as familiar with his diagnosis, but I hope I can sorta help explain the lead up to his long standing paralysis of healing. I know for me, it's really easy for my brain to put me in a paralysis state where it can be difficult to make myself get up and eat. Brains are big ol' fuckin' messes. Overall I hope it's clear that BOY HOWDY I don't condone the bs he and many people around him pulled, and this quarantine I've gone back a bit to see why I got into his work as a kid and figured oh god I would not have gotten into it now. However, I don't wish the fucking soul crushing downward spiral of despair and depression on anyone, and hope he can get some help as I do not wish suicide upon anyone. There's ways to learn, heal, and grow (though more difficult now with the plague and how shitty the US is) for him.
@@canadiangemstones7636 I was gonna say something along the lines. I mean, that tweet is a very basic definition of depression. I don't know the guy but people seem to not notice or forget, that depression is a real illness and mostly not really anyones "fault" even though there can of course be more nuance to it.
Lord Kat, while somewhat right about Spoony, is still an asshole, blaming his failures on other people when it's his own damn fault. It is kind of hard to feel bad for Spoony, since he kind of brought this on himself.
Lord Kats rant came off like a insecure man looking for a target to take his frustration out on. Spoony was a easy excuse for him to dump blame on. I mean hell... look at spoony... that dude is a complete train wreck! But Lord Kats star was always outshined by Spoony. And Spoony wasted his time in the spot light acting like a jack ass and lashing out at people. It makes sense that Lord Kat would take it personally. He was less popular than a self destructive, egotistical, loser and I'm sure that read as unfair.
@@progunjack5556Agreed. Everyone wants to frame conflicts as if one side is a perfectly innocent victim, while the other side is a Faustian evil perpetrator. While out here in reality, most conflicts can be characterized as "Asshole being assholes to other assholes who are also being assholes."
Spoony was great back in the day. Maybe it was a different time and you had to be there, but his videos weren't just humorous and entertaining, there was also a sense of comfiness to them. The way Noah filmed in his bedroom with minimal editing, no stupid jump cuts, very few skits, made it feel more like you were sitting with a buddy shooting the shit about old video games.
I won’t defend the endless vlogs where he rambles and his awful personality shines through, but for the time his reviews were ok and his commentary was very entertaining, and he had a good knowledge of obscure bad movies. He had a very natural, easy camera presence and wasn’t a total tryhard like the Nostalgia Critic. It was perfect ‘comfy’ content and excellent background noise.
Comedy evolves over time as well. Think of all those top text/bottom text memes from 2011 that we all loved so much. Now just 12 years later something like that unironically would make us cringe
2019 was a very rough year for Spoony. He got into a car accident (which he caused) and he received a foreclosure notice for his house among other things. I have a feeling this rabbit hole is about to go deeper.
@@ihvojd He ran a red light, hit another car sending one innocent person to the hospital. Then he lied to the police saying it was green even through there were multiple witnesses on the site. Then he bitched on stream that he had to go to court.
I use to love Channel Awesome as a kid. But then I grew up and now I can't watch their videos without cringing. I know there's probably a decent amount of people who were there who were cool and chill, but so many of them come off as self important or delusional to the type of content they make, the quality of it, and its actual relevance to critical discussion about that media as a whole.
Oh yeah... Nostalgia critic's videos always had that moment where all the character stopped to hear Doug's _Enlighting wise words about the movie_ and then they all agree, saving the day. (Because, you know, Doug and his brother wrote the script)
I never found Doug Walker that funny. His whole looney toons schtick was annoying and childish. At times he could give decent commentary. They had some good content creators on there but overall just a lot of pretentious and unfunny content.
He seems to be doing better now. There is a recent interview on Conversations With Curtis where he seems to be in good health and shape and hints at future reviews...
Yeah I watched that. I was so surprised to see the guy from the game again and even more surprised he had spoony on. I think it did spoony good staying away from the Internet. Its like he was destroying himself for the Internet the same way some child actors do
Honestly I think he's the kind of person who should just keep away from the internet in general. I'm really glad he's doing better, but this is a shitty place, and he just might not be built to handle it.
@@schleepy6362 this really is the best way to put it. I started college basically right when youtube became a thing and then exploded in the late 2000s to early 2010s. It's scary how many of those content creators either just flat out disappeared, or it took a massive toll on their mental health
Ugh, yeah. Especially if you're a former fan of The Spoony One, like I was. He really did just kind of break over the years. The more he focused on politics, the further he got into his storylines, and especially the more he came face to face with the fanbase his earlier, more juvenile work had created, the worse off he became.
Recent Update on Spoony (I occasionally check in every once in a blue moon to see if he's alive and what's up): - His dog Oreo passed away, im unaware of exactly how. - He went through a massive depression spell - He got a new puppy, named THAC0 - He seems far FAR less miserable now, and i've seen him reply to trolling and prodding with jokes and stride. - His primary content is tweets, talking about comics, WWE, and his puppy - Latest video on channel is a Live Wire on Death Stranding on Sep 23, 2020 - Latest Fredrik Knudsen video on this channel at time of writing is Jun 7, 2021 ;)
One thing that couldn't be included in the video for the purpose of brevity (and because the Channel Awesome comments were deleted/removed, and Spoony closed comments on his RU-vid videos) was that, back in the early days, you'd see people commenting that Noah should get himself evaluated for BIpolar or Borderline Personality Disorder. Several people would also even say this to his face at events or respond to his social media tirades with comments urging him to see a doctor. People dismissed them as concern trolls and "Missing the joke", but even back then Spoony kind of showed that he... wasn't just "acting". Well in 2012 he got diagnosed as Type 2 Bipolar. Then some people were commenting that he might have been skipping his medications.
It’s rather unfortunate, especially since these sort of disorders only get more unstable the longer they’re left untreated. People with bipolar can lead perfectly healthy lives and can even use those moments of sudden energy to their advantage for productive activities. Spoony could have not only benefitted from treatment, it could’ve even helped him with his creativity and content.
i watched his rants and i analyzed them myself with a marketing perspective (because it was kind of fun) but i dont really think it makes sense for him to complain about it.
Yeah, Lordkat should be happy that Spoony gave his ego a flimsy shield to hide behind. If he was anything worth writing home about, he wouldn't have been "that fat guy hanging around Spoony."
That's been Spoony's MO ever since his days writing for Knights of the Dinner Table. He's perfectly fine spewing all over other people's work, but when the least little criticism of *him* occurs, no matter how well-meant or constructive, he flies off the handle and screams for the banhammer.
@@ernestbrown9660 This reminds me of an infamous german youtuber, the Drachenlord (Dragonlord). The difference between him and Spoony is, his content was shitty from the beginning and hasn't changed since.
The interesting thing about spoony is that since Channel Awesome is pretty much defunct now, all the remaining reviewers fit into four categories: Quit the Internet, happy with their content and popular, happy with their content and unpopular, or dead. The only two who don't fit this are NC, since he hates doing the thing that made him popular, and Spoony, who basically downward spiralled like no other Channel Awesome member has.
@@stoneman472 Angry Joe seems to be doing really well too. 3+ million subscribers is by far the most of any CA or ex-CA content creator. I don't watch his stuff very often anymore (and he churns out a loooooooot of filler content) but he's remained true to his identity, never seems to generate any drama, hasn't tried to get too big for his boots and seems pretty happy. Good for him honestly.
@@LordMangudai true. Linkara and Phelan are still cranking out content and the regular and both have over 100k. Cinema Snob is still associated with Critic but he mostly still does his own thing and has over 150k. I'm just glad that most of them are still doing good
Seeing LordKat call Spoony a loser is like when Syndicate called Wings a cheater. PS: Spoony didn't cripple LordKat's chances at interviewing Notch. Your channel was breaking less than 1000 views an upload, and by the time this happened that wasn't impressive anymore. Face it LK. You're just mad Spoony acting like a nut was the biggest boost in views you guys ever got.
It's amazing how long AVGN's career actually is and how it had no actual downfall. He managed to make a movie and continue making reviews with an evolved persona.
I wanna say… 18:05: “Ive apologized. Ive begged. Is it blood you want? Tears?” 27:05: “I wasn’t really sorry,” Classy, Noah. Acting up a storm like he should’ve been cleared from consequence because he apologized, but admits to himself, and listeners of his commentary, that he didn’t mean it. He just wanted to get out of people dogging him on Twitter.
Whenever people "apologize" with such desperate melodramatic self-flagellating "oh I'm so awful" language it's practically guaranteed to be insincere. You can tell because they are still making it about *themselves* and how *they* should act rather than the feelings of the one they are apologizing to. They are putting on an act to gain back standing but they don't understand that they've done anything wrong. You can 100% tell that Spoony doesn't mean a word of those apologies.
He said the same things when people didn't like his review of Man of Steel. His 'apology' is the lashing out of a tantruming child. "I don't like that thing you said" "OMG You LITERALLY want me to CUT MY BALLS OFF and WHIP MYSELF in PUBLIC you ASSHOLE only MY DEATH will sate your BLOODLUST" Not an apology, but an attack. Making everything about *him* and how hurt *he* is. He's impossible to deal with. I'd feel bad for the guy but he just refuses to do anything about it.
Noah's Ultima videogame retrospectives were seminal internet for me. He's had a heck of a IRL, but those videos will always hold the fondest place in my memory. That he got Richard Garriot himself to collab on them was beyond amazing.
I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one that thinks LordKat made an ass of himself and sounds like a child. I don't think Spoony is a great person, but reacting to Spoony with loud anger and clearly bitter swearing isn't a good look.
@@travismcgrath6917 The greater irony is that if what I've heard from the grapevine is true, LordKat has done far scummier crap in all of a few years than Spoony'd done in his entire life. LordKat should've checked his privilege at the door instead of hammering a rap sheet onto his head.
Twitter destroyed this guy just like it's destroyed many others. We personally have a couple friends who have been turned into miserable, hateful, and divisive weirdos because of it as well. Be just as cautious of what you put in your mind as you do your body, probably even more so.
no. twitter didn't compel him to "joke" about wanting to sexually assault a coworker, nor anything prior to it, or after lmao he destroyed himself, not twitter, him. twitter didn't like, radicalize him, neither the platform itself or the people there did either. honestly i doubt it contributed at all to his mental decline or actions, feels more like it made him being a lil shit more publicly visible, it served as a window. his antics on his forums show he was just a dickhead from the start, nothing made him one, that's just how he is, and social media just gave us a window into it. i'm sure it wasn't pleasant that he got criticism or scrutiny, and when he got really shitty, the criticism was even more loud and harsh, and it affected him, sure, but... in a way, i just feel like what happened was social media enabled him to be awful in front of a public audience, so in a way, twitter enabled him, but i don't think it was much of what destroyed him itself.
He made a horrible rape joke and never sincerely apologized, and he even openly admitted multiple times that he wasn’t sorry. He was in his thirties at the time, so it’s not like he was just a dumb teenager who deserves to be cut some slack. I was on Twitter for years, and while I agree that Twitter is terrible, Twitter doesn’t make you do that sort of thing. This guy is not a good person-he’s got serious character issues-and it’s not just because “he spends too much time on Twitter.”
I took a look at his Twitter today, whenever he posts about his personal life it is downright depressing. When someone asked why he was down when he was supposedly happy the previous week he said: “Nothing happened. I just get lonely. Nearly everything I do is a stinging reminder of that.”
One of the revelations I got from this is that Spoony is cringy as hell, I cant believe my younger self ever found him funny. Even 5:14, when he was in his "prime" is incredibly unfunny. This is a almost 30 year old man. As I get older, all the "critic" internet stars are embarssingly cringy, Angry Joe, Nostalgia Critic, Sterling, etc. Only James Rolfe is not an embarassment because he knew this shit was a joke and kept it that way. No ego.
if i ever reach my prime im gonna quit before it gets worse make a couple hits and disappear off the scene that's my plan i don't wanna end up like them
@@wisemage0 And it was Spoony and Angry Joes faulty. I have never seen anything made by that bozo and I dislike him to no end. Blaming others for your own short comings is one of the worst things a man can do.
Sure Lordkat is being a whiny crybaby over the incident, but I also do think the Mojang representative was kind of a dick. Just because he was in the same company as Spoony, and he shuts down the whole thing? That’s like if Sony and Microsoft ban every person at IGN from attending their events just because the company is once associated with Filip Miucin.
@@Varangian_af_Scaniae feels like when i played with my brother as a kid and he would blame me because a enemy would kill him and i wasnt there to help
I think the moral of this story is less "fame is sometimes dangerous" and maybe more "bipolar disorder is a b!tch and also don't stop seeing your psychiatrist."
I highly doubt LordKat’s only reason for not making it in the industry is Spoony yelling at a single convention. That’s absolutely ludicrous. The truth is LordKat is a spiteful man who can’t take anyone’s advice and didn’t make it into the industry because, according to him, nothing was ever his fault. Everyone around him was the reason he was failing. Even before the ChannelAwesome leaks and the whole Spoony ordeal, Katz was already kicking up shit with other creators at TGWTG.
Exactly. Jason is just a very bitter person in general and absolutely burns any bridge with anyone who even ever so slightly ticks him off. He talks of being professional, but he constantly does the exact opposite. Like, he had another TGWTG personality named Nash on his podcast a lot and seemed to be good friends with him. I stopped watching Jason's (LordKat) content for a few years, then one day decided to see what he was up to. The first thing I come back to is him calling Nash a "little bitch" and all that because of some small disagreement or whatever. It's sad honestly. I really liked Jason back in 2011 and 2012, but as with Spoony, he and his attitude were his own undoing.
The only thing I know about their interactions comes from an episode of Counter Monkey. Specifically, LordKaT made a serious tactical error during play that was detrimental to another player (he shot a bow into melee and hit the other player) but insisted he did it because it was the only option available to his character (rather than simply not acting that turn, which apparently didn't occur to him) but then Spoony pretends he's not sure it was actually him. Didn't really think about that until I read your comment. (I think there was this incident with Spoony barging in on one of his gaming sessions with others as well, and they all told him to piss off.)
That and he didn't even have the self control to stop him self from flying off the handle on stream and swearing up a hateful storm. How "professional", how "mature".
@@JadeEyes1 Lol just look at the comment section of any BFV video... or Star Wars TLJ video... or a Screenrant comment section... etc. and you'll have more proof than you'll ever need.
Oddly enough, he does have an archnemesis. And it isn't Noah. It's some fat loser named "Big Fazeek" who was on a reality show who's stalking him, for some reason.
@@johnboko7110 alright I'll show myself out, standing corrected. 😆. Oh look, a video on why Steven Universe is garbage....uh oh... this won't end well..
I mean I never thought he was all that funny or entertaining. And outside of doing a very specific thing first, his content was never that original. And even though his content rarely veered into explicit sexism it always seemed more than comfortable with alienating any women in the audience. And the obsession with scat and profanity makes him look like either a twelve year old boy or somebody with a sexual fixation. And the Nostalgia Critic was always slightly more clever than him, which is a low bar. And honestly even though there are some AVGN videos I'll watch over and over again, many of the episodes were duds, and even now the show seems to be losing the little creative momentum it had, as it gets increasingly bogged down with skits and obscure lore. But das jus me tho.
Because James Rolfe is a filmmaker through and through. He made a video once about how he grew up loving cinema and honing his skills at movie-making, and you can see that he's been *really* passionate about the art ever since he was a kid. That passion translated into a career where he's always growing and finding new and better ways to express himself. Noah sounds like some guy who stumbled into this sort of thing and didn't really know how to take it from there. Hell, he could have coasted on the quality he was at for years if he didn't make an ass of himself. Noah failed at two relationships and made 0% progress towards a Patreon-funded movie. Meanwhile, James got *married,* and made an Angry Video Game Nerd feature film
@@heathercalun4919 Where the hell do you get AVGN's content being sexist??? I get not liking the vulgarity or the potty humor, but when did James' content ever have anything to do with hating women? Because he called April O Neil a bitch once? Because he chewed out Jessica Rabbit? Because he just doesn't have many women on his show? I don't get it. And please don't try to bring up Ghostbusters 2016, because that had nothing to do with the AVGN series, or hating women either.
Dude had a 5k/month budget to make a small film (so think of it this way, if he promised to deliver it in a year the budget for the movie would be 60k. Even if he only made 10k back after it was done he still would be ‘up’ by 10k since 60k was funded by fans.). With that budget I don’t see how he couldn’t do a dramatic review styled drama movie. He was given SO MANY chances by his fans to make it good. His fans funded him way beyond what most people ever would for someone that has such a sketchy past. He had it so good and could have done so much with it... very unfortunate.
The concept of a ‘Spoony movie’ sounds horrible. His skits were always middling at best - his best material was the casual commentary or “geeky friend simulator” type content. I don’t really wanna see Noah doing acting for a prolonged period.
So after Patreons cut and taxes, he had $40k in a year to make a movie? That's enough to live on. Nothing more. Who was he going to hire? Nobody? How was he going to afford costumes, equipment, props? I've never understood how fans think he was going to do all that, and his regular content, on that kind of budget, with no additional help. It's like a child's understanding of money when they get their first minimum wage paycheck, vs. the reality as an adult when you start paying your own bills.
Real nostalgia video here. Remember watching this guy when I was like 12 or 13 (25 now) and I never thought there would ever be a documentary like this about him when I was that age
I think James never chased the fame dragon like other people did, he released his video as a joke, got famous quickly and just kinda made more videos because people wanted them, he had some struggles on the way, but I think he is just a humble guy and it shows.
He’s the og of game reviews and he also adapted to the times like now he does more podcast review style which is keeping his fanbase cause they grew older since 2007
I completely agree, the only one who ever put me off at Cinemassacre is Mike.. Other then that, James is probably one of the most consistent, humble people left on the net. So much respect.
the craziest thing in this video is at 21:57 Joe instantly realizes Spoony’s career is over, and then shortly after realizes how viral this clip is going to be and that he has no real choice to participate with him at this point
Not only that, but that whole "betrayal! betrayed me!" bit is/was a soundbite worked into his intro/theme. I can still hear it in my head; a decade ago I thought his Ultima and FF series were actually fun and some of the only long-form game critiques around. Honestly some of his stuff does hold up but he crashed HARD and it was obvious once he parted ways with Doug & crew that he lost all creative drive, shortly followed by his remaining sanity and judgement.
@@EpicRenegade777 And the x-com creators had a panel at the show. Many panel owners heard him and it dis-credited him from ever showing up again. He burned bridges. He should have edited in the sound after the show, and said the word quietly for the camera instead.
LordKat: "I no longer respect Noah Antweiler' *literally minutes later* LordKat: *obscenities about how Noah lives his life, penis comments and other assorted low blows* Dont get me wrong, Spoony's messed up, but god damn this other guy sounds like he cant let go. Hes the only person over the course of this I feel like needs a therapist, other than Spoony.
for someone with bipolar who also way too active on social media when manic and don't remember half the stuff I do in that state when back to depression this is chilling
Stay safe! Good vibes sent to you my friend. I deleted my twitter. (Actually I never even really went on my account) We’re all one short tweet of people judging text as if they were horrrrrrrible actions
The story of Channel Awesome itself is equally fascinating, as Spoony seems to be almost a strangely prophetic vision of how the entire site eventually decayed and fell apart, and while many of its content creators still produce content (Linkara for instance *still* pumps out a new video each week), most of those productive content creators left the site entirely (Lupa, Phelous, and now Linkara himself), and the site looks increasingly sparse and decayed, with a focus almost entirely on Nostalgia Critic’s content (which could arguably be a video unto itself). Its all rather fascinating, when you think about it.
How popular is Linkara anyway, does he do enough to get by at least? I'd love a video on the Nostalgia Critic, there is a lot to unpack there. I mean, he all but admitted the only reason why he keeps going is to keep Channel Awesome alive and help some of the smaller names.
Ah, 2006 to 2007. Back when you try to search for a song it you gave you a " no results found." And when ratings were stars instead of likes and dislikes. Good times, good times.
I remember when you used to be able to leave video replies on the video you were watching. And there was a little section on the page where it would show up. A comment wasnt good enough lol, they wanted you to leave a video reply.
I grew up with Spoony/Channel Awesome and always had a sort of love-hate relationship with Spoony. Thing is, he was never a good critic. He was an entertaining guy and he could find plot holes in games and films like nobody’s business, but he never did much more than that. The worst thing about him was his inability to accept criticism or even counter-arguments to his points. He relied on what I’ve coined “soft censorship”, claiming whatever he wanted about a game or film and then attempting to pre-emptively shield himself from counter-arguments with absurd statements like “the fanboys will say otherwise” or “the nostalgia-blinded fans will cry their pardon.” He did it in his (in)famous review of Final Fantasy VIII, for example. I don’t think FF VIII is a good game, but to say that only “fanboys” would “cry” about him bringing up realism when analyzing a fantasy-based video game was a clear sign he was never interested in a conversation, discussion or debate. It was always “agree with me, or you’re stupid/wrong by default.” A critic who can’t take any criticism will always almost certainly fail in the end, as Spoony has. Considering everything Spoony has been and done (especially the car crash), I find it difficult to even feel slightly sorry for him at this point.
@@srazysnake0221 Cause Doug is prissy about "Fair Use" with footage of movies (Even if other content creators have found ways to use footage no issue in transformative ways) so rather than adapt and find ways to use that footage in a way to meet RU-vid guidelines Doug decides to commit to his skits as a substitute. RU-vid's policy is far from ideal, but Doug is a guy who was never very transformative with his format so it's less RU-vid and more Doug's lack of creative video making.
And when he wasn’t getting personal in his reviews. His review on Adam Sandler’s Eight Crazy Nights still gives me cringe cause of that long segment of him mocking Sandler.
I've only just stumbled across this channel in search of something to listen to during work, and I must say three things: 1. These are very professionally put together and very much help pass the time in my office. 2. I'm so glad that this kind of internet drama as people are consumed by their own ego, is so easily isolated from the rest of existence - I've never heard of anyone on these vids, and I've been online since the early 2000s. 3. I love how every person can be summed up with the statement, "Person X's downfall began when they started spending more time on social media".
I went to school with Noah and this makes me sad. I only found out recently that he had become "RU-vid famous" when I was watching an old episode of The Game Chasers and saw him in it. I hope he's figuring out whatever it is he needs to figure out.
I went to junior high and high school with him. He was your typical nerdy guy back then. Unfortunately he got picked on a little bit in junior high because of it. I think that all kind of stopped in high school though. He was always pretty funny and sharp and always seemed pretty nice. He certainly seemed a lot more emotionally stable in high school that he seems now. He played Magic the Gathering at lunch quite a bit from what I remember. We weren't really close friends or anything and we probably had a lot more contact in junior high and then high school. After high school I just kind of lost track of him.
This just further proves to me that being a full time RU-vidr as a job, especially in the early days, is one of the most unstable sources of income ever, I could never put my livelihood in the hands of the internet
Yeah, sadly, for many RU-vidrs, becoming a full-time professional has turned from a dream to a nightmare. You are under much more pressure to deliver good content and become and stay popular, and the income varies massively. There's a reason many RU-vidrs are bankrupt and in debt.
this is honestly just straight up sad... and a cautonary tale to everyone: mental illness are no joke. It can make you so unstable that you end up pushing everyone who looks up to you or love you away, which only make everything so much worse. Spoony was one of my favourite internet celebrities back in the day, and in respect for that memory i hope, wherever he is, that he makes a speedy recovery and achieve , as closest as it can be, a normal and happy life. Away from the public eye.
The most messed up thing about Spoony's departure is how he slowly descended not only into online inactivity but into literal mental insanity and that ends up hitting harder than it should have been.
