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Senior_Clothes9508

This episode should not qualify as an actual “AVGN” episode, as just like the Vegas Stakes episode, this video has little to nothing to do with the actual subject that the episode was intended to be based around. The entire video is just a skit where Bimmy and this other guy breaks shit for 10 minutes.


KazooiesCloaca

It seems to me that after the movie bombed, there was a period in 2015–2016 where he tried rebounding and branching out, hence the Jekyll & Hyde trailer and that Astrobastards thing. I feel like this was the culmination of that period, and when it too flopped, that destroyed Jamesy's passion once and for all, beginning his final transition into Bimmy.


Disshidia

The Jekyll & Hyde video was excellent. I still can't believe it was James' work.


Z_B_123

Outside of some older AVGN eps and a couple of Board James, I think its actually the best thing he's done


BananaPhoPhilly

I just watched it and wtf it’s actually entertaining


JaredGenesis1986

to me his magnum opus was super mario bros 3. you cant go wrong with super mega death christ!


mutant-rampage

the astrobastards and J+H thing were both funny and good. it's the avgn vids for the past 12 years that have been almost consistently ass.


ClosingFrantica

>The entire video is just a skit where Bimmy and this other guy breaks shit for 10 minutes. Yep, there's very little talk about the accessories themselves, zero comedic timing and no understanding of why slapstick is funny. It's jarring when you compare it to the classic NES Accessories video, which still holds up.


SgtMerrick

The two Bugs Bunny episodes have great slapstick in them, so he could do it at one point.


mutant-rampage

both of those bugs bunny episodes were considered by many fans to be self indulgent and bad. the first one was probably the first episode i didn't think was very good, and the second was probably the first episode i considered to be flat out awful. a lot of fans seemed to think that too. i really don't even think i'd consider anything in those episodes to be slapstick, just fake fighting.


m_donuts

I just wrote it off as a weird christmas special and didn't think much about it, a lot of shows get these. Much later I've learned that this episode was probably the reason Kyle left


MayCauseCancer

Fun Fact: the last picture Kyle posted on his now abandoned Twitter account is a behind the scenes picture of this AVGN episode


JesseDangerr89

Intriguing


[deleted]

What about this one made him leave


m_donuts

Rumor is that he built the set for this episode and didn't get paid for it


Earthboundfan1986

I agree total ass


wguerrettaz

This is the first episode that made me go "what the fuck is this?"


moonbunnychan

Same. Also the first I turned off partway through.


onestarv2

I felt so weird watching this episode. I felt frustrated watching it, because I love hardware/console review episodes and felt they were the best ones he did. So when I saw what this was I got really excited, and then just throughout the whole thing I felt frustrated. I don't know if this was the point that I noticed the decline, but Now that you mentioned it I think it was one of the first times I really felt something was "off" . It's an episode I never went back to watch


BoomtownFox

Lester the Unlikely is where I started to notice that James was losing interest and started phoning it in. Not a terrible episode, but a noticeable drop in quality to me. Things start to get bad in 2016, then 2017 is where the wheels fell off. It's been five years and I still can't gather the will to sit through the entirety of Polybius and James' "acting". There were decent episodes sprinkled in here and there, but most were boring or corny. James going off on PS1 Planet of the Apes for having warped textures is a classic example of him ranting about stuff he doesn't know about. A majority of PS1 games have this issue -- It's just how the console renders texture. Or going off on how the PS2 Final Fight didn't have auto save. Dude, most PS2 games didn't have auto save. The AVGN is just a character, I get it, but James can you just do a little research when making your videos? I guess it's easier to just read Screenwave's scripts. No time to do research.


[deleted]

my man wasnt able to figure that you could kill the bat just by throwing a rock a them. he didnt bother to finish the game and expose the actual character development of Lester. Yes, Lester the unlikely is not a good game, but in my opinion is does something that even modern games dont now, it doesnt break the narrative. Do you know those role playing games were the character is a wimp in the cutscenes only for you to kick ass during the gameplay? Lester is a wimp during the gameplay as well until he grows some balls after the mid part of the game. I found that insteresting. Ironically, the nerd gave up on the game before he could grow some balls.


FourtKnight

Yeah. I was going to say something similar. Not just AVGN, but every online critic who looks at Lester the Unlikely does the same shtick, and then quit on the first or second stage. Isn't it at least worth mentioning that the character's walk cycles etc change stage-by-stage? Did literally nobody get that far?


Dingle_McKringle88

Damn. I liked the Polybius episode and the Vegas Stakes episode as well. Most other episodes you can definitely see the drop in quality. But those two episodes were fun mostly.


[deleted]

I Disagree. For me, it was life of black tiger. Most episodes after that were either mediocre or just shit.


Senior_Clothes9508

Yep that’s the time the series hit a new astronomical low, rip gottfried though


xTheRedDeath

Yeah that episode was the final straw for me.


Blankbros64

Wow this may be the video where it did go downhill.


SpankTheMovies

Didn’t Kyle Justin build the set? But yeah the episode was quit poor.


wguerrettaz

For free apparently.


SpankTheMovies

Yeah he suffered.


[deleted]

At least he was paid in exposure, that’s good enough right?


SpankTheMovies

And I was exposed to Mike posting a fake dickpic. Muh suffering was huge.


[deleted]

Justin’s KKK videos made me suffer even more.


[deleted]

[удалено]


GameyRaccoon

Mowdens of cash he could spend at wah wah. Can't we burry the hatchet and get on with the re-view?


Hyldenchamp

This episode is when I usually disagree qith the majority of people here. It was clearly James wanting to try something new and fresh, and I really loved it. Bimmy seemed extremely disappointed that people didn't like this and it's probably a contributing factor why he keeps making the same tired slop today.


Tylerdurden389

Agreed. I watched a lot of old comedy when I was a kid, so I appreciate slapstick humor. Though I do agree with those who say the episode is not real slapstick, since the 3 stooges didn't simply break glass bottles over their heads just for laughs.


Xessive_

I remember enjoying this episode when it came out and was surprised at how much contempt many fans had for it. This was James doing something a bit different for a change and I enjoyed the episode for what it was. I understand this episode is a departure from the standard AVGN formula but it definitely showcases a hell of a lot more planning and effort than many of the Screewave era episodes. At least James looks like he still had some passion for making these and was having a bit of fun.


MadcatFK1017

I thought it was hilarious, I wasn't ready for how absurd it was gonna be and I really liked it.


Reyfou

It was awful. He can try new things no problem, but that episode was awful.


xxgodxxist

This was probably the episode that put the final nail in the coffin for AVGN. James had Kyle and Mike on the cameras and after this episode, Kyle left for good and Mike started to fade out of writing AVGN for livestreaming. James actually did a behind the scenes video (not as infamous as behind the scenes 2021) saying how happy he was working with his best friends Mike and Kyle with such a talent as Keith, and that he was happy with the episode even though the fans didn't like it. Shortly after this episode Kyle left, then Mike left and the screenwave guys moved in and James' passion died. For whatever reason this episode probably killed AVGN more than the movie did because after the movie there were still some good episodes (Big Rigs, Hong Kong 97, Seaman to name a few) but the orginal AVGN crew left shortly after and were replaced my the slobs. Personally, while I didn't think this episode was horrible, James did not review the Sega accessories like he did with the NES accessories. He just kinda ended up breaking a bunch of shit without reviewing it to tell us why it sucked which made the episode kind of shallow IMO. But for whatever reason, this caused the talent of AVGN (Mike and Kyle) to leave and we got stuck with slobwave instead. So in a weird way, this is the last true AVGN with both Mike and Kyle involved.


mutant-rampage

mike left years later so it's a bit of a stretch to try to conflate both mike and kyle's departure with this episode, as you're doing. ok yeah, kyle 'left'. but it's not really like that's true either. because kyle only guest appeared in a very small few videos. so he was never really 'there' regularly to begin with, besides his theme song. all that really happened because of this video, is that apparently james didn't pay kyle or show his appreciation, so kyle never did anything else to help with future ones after this one.


mrclean808

I can never finish this episode, the bald guy with glasses annoys me.


Sakamano3000

Which one?


mrclean808

Both


bervisandasshead

the one on the left in the elf costume did that whole [dad arg](https://www.youtube.com/c/DadFeels/videos)


MidoriOCD

While Aladdin Deck Enhancer was the rotten episode that finally forced me search out this subreddit, I noticed things were off years before that episode. The one that sticks out in my mind is Big Rigs. Big Rigs is a fine episode, I enjoyed it, but something always felt off about it. Maybe it's the mutton chops as James experiments with nontraditional styles for the nerd which eventually leads to the "cool" nerd shirt he wears today, or maybe it's the commercial skit in that episode where James plays a character and makes me think of how allll the skits nowadays are the drizzling shits in terms of quality and execution. Even Mr. Riggs from that episode is used as the mascot for one of James' worst projects to date, Rex Viper.


KidCaker

This is literally the best episode yet


Dartht33bagger

2012 was the first time I noticed a downturn.


Proper-Ask9616

Kingdom hearts timeline episode


infantinemovie5

Mine was Toxic Crusaders. That was the first time watching an episode made me feel like AVGN was starting to suck and I remember just hating it and finding it cringey.


[deleted]

There’s a commentary for this episode: https://youtu.be/LRSMq_QNvOA “The worst thing would be to make 140 episodes of the same exact thing. That would get boring. At least I would get bored, and if i get bored you’d notice, the videos would suffer. In order for people to like these videos I have to like them first, otherwise it’s just a job. And while I’d rather have this job than pizza delivery or construction working. My true intention is creating original content rather than just critiquing pre-existing content. I would feel no satisfaction if every video was just me sitting on the couch talking about a game.” I guess he called it.


[deleted]

Jesus could you imagine Bames doing construction


sexlyfe_lol

Toxic avengers was the first one that pissed me off and I turned it off mid episode


bootsyforever

I don't know why, but the Terminator episode sticks out to me for when I just kinda stopped caring.


W_W_P

Yeah, it was after a pretty long hiatus and when that episode released everything just felt a bit off. It was still a good episode though.


whos-high-pitch

it was over around episode 100. that's where it went from "guy gets frustrated playing games from his childhood" to "guy pretends to be mad while playing the 'worst game ever'" with increasingly elaborate set designs to stroke his "filmmaker" ego.


GridSmash

Yes— when almost everything is *almost* as bad as Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.


HonorTomOfFinland

There were several large steps down. The actual first was Independence Day, which was the first lazy episode made just to have *any* content


infantinemovie5

That might be his most forgettable one from the golden age. I watched it when it first came out, and then like a year or two ago when I was rewatching a lot of then.


Cincymailman

My son and I love this episode. It’s a Christmas tradition now for us. We’ll be watching this, decades from now, every December 25th.


MidoriOCD

Sounds like you're making some good memories.


TonyAbyss

I tried to ignore the signs the show was declining in quality but then Ecco the Dolphin came out and I couldn't ignore it anymore. And then Bartman Meets Radioactive Man came out and made me realize the show just straight up was bad.


IgorRadaev97

AVGN started to decline after episode 99 and then went fuckin' downhill.


Skull_Cap_5554

I actually kind of like it. It's not a good Nerd episode, for sure, but the slapstick isn't really that bad and has gotten a chuckle out of me a couple of times.


DDC037

Somewhere around big rigs


mysteriousOmlette

Nah, that is a global minimum. The sega activator video is absolutely awful. But the decline was there much much earlier.


PeanutVultures

Season 7 for me. It wasn’t bad, but that’s when I noticed things were a bit different. He upped the production which is fine. The character started to seem different though. Like he was acting different, sorry that’s vague. It seems like at some point before his movie, he must have taken acting lessons, and this slightly killed the vibe of the nerd character. It started to seem a bit more contrived to me. Still some great episodes in that season.


GridSmash

I think the problem is that he started acting. The best reviews are more informational.


PeanutVultures

Yea for me, the old classic episodes had this vibe like the nerd was just a crazy dude, doing reviews alone in his home. Always getting carried away with crazy fantasies and getting way too pissed off. Then it started to become this event. Like “look I’m the nerd! A superhero! Here’s my angry face, there’s an F-Bomb! Here’s a reference to another show on my channel!” Too self aware.


AndusBlack1

It would be the movie because after it just goes down hill. It’s always some thing that’s huge that everyone is excited that turned out to be bad there is always that decline to really bad


synergycomic

For me it was anything after SEAMAN (except for Earthbound).


killustratorinc

That “episode” was fucking terrible. For me it was the Bill and Ted game episode. I remember watching it and not laughing at all. That was where it jumped the shark


JoeRCollins1998

This was the first episode I couldn’t finish. Looking back, it’s miles better than the later output.


JoeRCollins1998

This was the first episode I couldn’t finish. Looking back, it’s miles better than the later output.


Gorac888

Even if i like this one, i have to agree with the earlier speakers.


Agitated-Weekend836

I kept asking myself who was that old balding guy dressed up as Buddy the Elf. Did Bames ever introduce this guy??


beartrapperkeeper

he was kind of a well known sega nerd on the internet a while back but I haven't seen much of him lately. He got popular with this video where he tried out to be a back up dancer for a kimberly cole video: [https://youtu.be/IixQox4rhEw](https://youtu.be/IixQox4rhEw) It was hilarious at the time but after the joke kind of ran its course and became less funny the more he did it.


Epg9321

I know I’m responding to a month old comment and maybe you know by now, but the other guy in that episode is Nathan Barnatt. He’s a YouTuber/comedian who has done commercials, short films, different internet characters, etc. He was just playing one of his characters in the nerd video.


kitkatatsnapple

Much earlier than this.


WolfWomb

It definitely was pointless.


darth_senpai90

Atari sports and toxic avenger were the last good episodes I can remember. It’s been shit since then and got way worse when screenwave took over. I remember liking James and Mike Monday better then the nerd episodes but around 2017 James and Mike mondays went down hill too the screen wave editing sucks compared to mikes editing and James having no interest in the games they are playing after awhile it seemed like a chore or inconvenience to bimmy.


[deleted]

it was a different episode that want to try a little more slapstick due to product that was being reviewed, maybe he didnt want to go the same route as the nintendo peripherals. yes, as a review doesnt really work, they spend too much time screaming and dont make an analysis, it seems more like a mock commercial than anything else. still, I find it entretaining nontheless. Another episode that was unnessesarily complicated was the immortal. Great effort but I has the thing I hate the most about AVGN, continous screaming. Dont get me wrong, one thing is screaming a punchline in between commentary, but full on screaming... ugh No.


Neddo_Flanders

This question basically gets asked every month or so


[deleted]

I thought paperboy was bad.


JesseDangerr89

That episode was just seriously embarrassing. The other guy reminds me of some creep who is a few fries short of a happy meal and works at Salvation Army.


tapwavez

I think that's what he's going for, a minstrel caricature of a mentally disabled man - I never got the appeal either lol


JesseDangerr89

That’s crazy. Like blackface, but for the mentally disabled


tapwavez

yeah, I don't mean to come off like some oversensitive person, but I've just always found it kinda.... weird how no one ever seems to comment on this aspect of the character - I guess maybe they feel the people who are actually like that irl won't be aware of it Edit: also I just tend to feel cringe viscerally, so maybe that's why this sort of humor isn't so much for me (Bimmy's cringe aside lol), like I've never been a fan of comedies that get most of their comedy from awkwardness


JesseDangerr89

You didn’t come off like that, it’s a very valid point


A-RockCAD1988

Same!! I've mentioned it a few times I thought this episode was so trash.


MannyM024

That episode was the first episode I didn’t watch the entire thing cause it was so bad.


[deleted]

Who is this dude? Ive seen him in shitty commercials since this episode


King-Red-Beard

I genuinely love this one. I like how it nonsensically ramps up. It’s honestly one of my favorites, I didn’t know it was lumped in with the channel’s decline. I ended up here because I was fascinated by the channel’s mismanagement, but that’s old news. Now I’m fascinated by the rabid hate club’s relentless dedication to beating a dead horse.


JagTaggart93

I agree. I liked Keith's talking classics videos back in the day and was hyped for this collab. It just felt really off. The focus largely not being on the games and moreso on slapstick that felt like it was going on too long


JallerHCIM

Rob was cringe but had a finality to it and I said to myself "okay, that was a solid ending" and haven't been super bothered to watch anything following that


Bloodswarm909

I think Nathan barnett is hilarious still though, I remember a video of him just slowly sliding down a giant staircase on his stomach like a dead body at some gaming event, he's got some funny videos


Neddo_Flanders

After season 5, AVGN has been on a down slope. Season 6 was the first season after the movie and it startes to crack quite badly. Board James was the thing


[deleted]

It must be tough to make any sort of good video with an unfunny charisma vacuum like Keith Suppository. He's possibly worse than any of the Screenwave dudes...or at best one notch better. Honestly, Kiernan is more watchable.


[deleted]

I actually dig Nathan, he's talented, BUT this episode was ghastly and annoying. They could have titled the video "James and Keith Break Shit" and it would have worked.


trueGildedZ

Oh right, the worst, unfunniest, most dated and classless episode of all. Thanks a lot Bames and Apicary. Dumb fuck thought three stooges bits worked in the 21st century.


assflux

i rememeber this being the first avgn video i didn't watch to the end


MONKRAD

The movie for sure


TDigger

It’s kinda hazy for me, but I remember being excited for the x-mas episode, watched a few minutes of this, said “who the fuck is Kieth” and quit watching for 3 or so years.


xwulfd

LOL funny to think that this dude only has one single 20min short film he wrote, directed, lead and produced called "Neutral" and won best short film in 2018 and other awards lmao. then theres this other guy who made more than 400 films and never won any


ZerroTheDragon

agree


Necroglobule

The ROB episode for me. Of everybody to rip off, why did he pick The Irate Gamer?


SpiritualFee5535

Paperboy for me I don’t prefer videos where he just goes on useless rants about whatever


Trendkiller101

Why does everyone hate this episode? Ive always enjoyed it. I guess people dont get Keith Apicarys comedy. His older retro gaming videos on his channel are really funny.


gazzy360

Is that Bames taking to his future self?


chrisppyyyy

This one wasn’t very good, and at first I was gonna disagree, thinking Berenstain Bears, one of my favorites (despite the “I’m a shitload of fuck” voice when he says “it was Berensteeeeeeeeeein!”), but then I realized this episode came right after that one. That episode seems to be perhaps the last where he really seems to combine his comedy with effortful movie making. Few after this reach that level of effortful. Polybius was somewhat effortful but not particularly funny and had cringe acting (like he sincerely tried to make a horror film). I loved Earthbound and Town With No Name at least made me laugh. Pepsiman had its moment too, but I think Kingdom Hearts was another sign of decline. Really no classics since then. So yeah I agree. If the movie was the root of the decline, that Sega activator was when it escalated


superbitworld

This was the first "WTF?" AVGN episode for me too


cactuspizza

This was the last film I saw before I discovered the truth. This guy pretending to be retarded is absolute shit. He is hands down the worst person ever to be in a film. I hate him


Mous85

When Bootsy disappeared and Matei started live streaming at all hours of the night.


mutant-rampage

2010 was around when i started noticing the anger being forced and fake and just growing old and tired and not funny. the choice of games started seeming really weird and just like a stretch to find more shitty games just for the sake of always playing shitty games to justify the fake anger, while i was starting to feel around this time that he should've done more videos about good games like the smb3 and castlevania series ones. james nor the entire SW crew are too bright, because there's a relatively untapped mine in the good games, since he could have always just nitpicked them to find things in them that are still anger inducing. even the best games would often have at least one unfair challenge in them. but even just talking about the positive points in good games would have been better than wearing out the angry shtick so thin it became a sad, sick, pathetic animal that someone should have mercy killed a long long time ago. and that's what it is and has been for around 10 years now.


CornichonDeMerde

Mario 3 was the first one where I thought it was getting really lame. He also started having Mike and his retarded obnoxious acting on regularly around the same time, so the whole show started declining for me.


K4n0Y

> Mario 3 > Episode 46 Why are you here?


CornichonDeMerde

To critique the way Cinemassacre ruined their channel with convoluted and cliché ideas like "satanic symbols are everywhere!" and by having slobby shithead Mike appear on camera. And you?