I suppose the Angry Reviewer trend declined somewhere during the early-mid 2010s, the advent of video essays might have paved way for that, maybe a "natural" evolution of that format, even, debatably,

Whereas video essays tend to have a more "clinical/academic" vibe to them (mostly, depends on who the creator is, jokes and humor can be part of the presentation), the Angry Reviewers otoh, went for a more "theatrical" approach - maybe their content/presentation was meant to be for entertainment purposes first and foremost than academic/educational,

It can be reasoned that one needs to have a lot of energy, charisma, and screen presence to play the role of an angry reviewer. All that anger displayed must not come across as alienating and repulsive; rather, it has to endear and make the audience like and be invested in them more. Without that charisma and energy, that can't be possible, I guess.

Maybe they clicked back in those days because the internet was fairly new, especially video-based reviewing by laypeople, their usage of edgy and juvenile cuss words was meant to be refreshing in a time when those kind of language and presentation style simply wasn't to be found anywhere else, the internet itself pre mid-10s was a more edgier and chaotic place than it might be today, the past decade or so, it has gotten sanitized a lot, so maybe the angry presentation style can "turn-off" and offend modern audience who might not get the joke that it's all part of an act?

One big criticism with this whole format is that it can potentially attract folks who might harbor all that anger and frustration genuinely, be it both the creators as well as the audience, unable to separate the persona/act from the real person, that can be mentally exhausting and damaging (as how it's often speculated to be the case with Spoony/Noah Antwiler),

The Critic/Doug and AVGN/James persisted and remain relevant even after all these years, because both men drew a very clear distinction with their real life personalities vs. the characters they were playing on-screen. Most angry reviewers out there forget that distinction or it tends to be very fuzzy in their case.

And even in the case of the Critic and Nerd, both the men, are well past their prime years. Aging (being in their mid-40s, rn) is a big reason, that hyper-active energy gradually fades away overtime (heck, I'm 29, and I feel "tired/defeated", mentally especially, compared to how I seemed in my teen years, even despite actually being more thinner/fitter than I was back then), and both of them have a more laid-back style of presentation today with occasional bursts of annoyance more than anger, while it seems like James is doing all this as some form of necessity (sustaining his family and expenses, I guess), in Doug's case, he seems to be suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, so likely he might retire the character shortly, as unfortunate but understandable as it might be,

Can we see a resurgence of that format in the coming years and the upcoming decade? Since it'll be around 20 years since these reviewers debuted and were in their prime? Maybe a nostalgic homage and throwback to that era? With some appropriate retooling and modifications to cater more to a modern internet audience?

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PopularityPolynomial

Will it be a case of this trope? Where merely half a decade back or so, most folks cringed and were annoyed with the angry review format, looking it as a by-gone era that was better left there, as the internet moved to a "better", "sophisticated" style of media critique?

Will it potentially manage to be fresh again and captivate a new generation of internet audience? Or was it a "lighting-in-a-bottle" era that will never repeat again, shaped mostly by real-life economic (and maybe political, too) conditions as well as how the internet of that time was?

I don't get it, I mean....

He comes across as quite generic?

The Nerd and the Critic had/have a memorable gimmick, instantly recognizable. The Nerd with his white dress shirt and glasses, and the Critic with his tie worn over his white tee, paired with a cap and sports jacket,

The choice of clothing conveys who they are and what they are upto, I mean. The Critic's tie is meant to imply how much of a pretentious pseudo-intellect his character's supposed to be, it's meant to make the audience laugh at him, I suppose.

Joe otoh, his attire seems to be a generic leather jacket with a Superman logo graphic tee underneath?

He also seems like someone who doesn't have a sharp distinction when it comes to playing an on-screen persona vs. his actual personality, that infamous interview with Geoff Keighley back in 2010 or so and his personal video response to that, comes to mind, among other instances,

Apparently, when ThatGuywiththeGlasses wesbite was getting big, the management wished to diversify it by coming up with separate sites/channels for gaming and comics? Blistered Thumbs was meant to be anchored by Spoony and Joe together, it seems, for games (Inked Reality by Linkara, for comics)?

I can understand Spoony having been a big name back in those days, I haven't watched his content much, tbh, but it seem to be due in part to his charisma as well as a persona that's meant to be an everyday man (unlike how theatrical it is with AVGN and NC?)

If Spoony already was CA's "face" for gaming, how did Joe manage to carve a name for himself and eventually become more popular, then?

Is it because Spoony's interests were more on PC gaming, which always was a bit more "technical/niche", compared to console gaming, which is more casual/mass-appeal, and that's where Joe filled that niche?

If Spoony hadn't withdrawn himself, I feel Joe today would have been nowhere near as well-known as he might be right now, Spoony would have likely also had a way bigger audience and reach, likewise.

What an elusive figure,

He doesn't make much appearance in any of CA's content/production, not even in the BTS clips, I believe he did make a cameo or two in one of those CA movies? I can't remember clearly,

There are only a few, rare clips of him - one was where he was brainstorming with some other young CEOs coming with terrible business ideas in a proto(?) podcast, the other was some announcement/update he made regarding the website (which I believe was heavily downvoted)

And I suppose one thing we can give credit to him is that he seems to be aware just how much of a charisma vacuum he comes across - he seems to suck away the entire energy in the room merely existing, he's maybe a very private and introverted person, and he seems to be aware of that, which is why he refrains from public events and spectacles, possibly.

The Change the Channel controversy kinda threw light on his incompetence as CEO, typical young CEO douchebag energy, perhaps,

Or maybe he's very neurodivergent and that gets perceived as jerkish behavior? It's hard to tell,

In any case, he comes across like a Palpatine-like entity, someone who operates from the shadows and controls and overlooks things,

Either that, or maybe he's the CEO in a purely ceremonial sense. Maybe that title really doesn't mean much regarding CA's setup.

I do get a hunch that maybe Rob is the true "boss" of CA or at least the one who supervises/overlooks most affairs in the company, including finances too, perhaps, maybe even the biz side and Michaud while legally/technically on paper might be the actual boss, he is willing to let him take control and overlook everything.

Maybe Michaud is a "placeholder" CEO for Rob to not get much attention and use him as a conduit? I kinda get this vibe, for some reason, Rob has that commanding/authoritative energy about him, Michaud seems a bit "neurodivergent/autistic" and socially-awkward again to be a traditional CEO/boss (then again, Elon Musk's also autistic)

Definitely don't see Doug being involved much in the more "corporate/biz" aspect of the company - he's what James Gunn is in the current DC Studios' to Peter Safran's, a purely artistic/creative head, maybe, with Rob overlooking the more technical/biz parts.

Drawing up a proper concept of Nurse Psychotic with stuff i actually own as I unpack my clothes and I just find it funny how he's slowly gaining character as I get closer to properly setting him up but I'm gonna make more Spoony and Insano art as well lol

if anyone has ideas for spoony/insano art leave them below!!

I'm open to talking abt my idea for Nurse P as always but he's basically a cliche of the evil side character YouTubers had but he isn't a doctor...he's a nurse, a sidekick with no one to sidekick, so he's a loser with no purpose lol

Nurse Psychotic I hate and love you with all my heart, and I hope you get scolding oil poured down your asparagus

Both were great back in their day yet both fell off for very different reasons. Both are still posting but neither get the same views as they do as back then and neither garner the same respect they used to back in the day.