So...eSults is (trying to be) a thing...

Neverhoodian

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Apparently, Doug Walker of Nostalgia Critic fame is trying something "new."
At first I thought it was a joke, but it's actually a thing, with ten eSult videos so far and counting. Upon discovering this, I was left with one question:

Why?

Does Doug think he's onto something new here? I sincerely hope he isn't that naive. "Forum weapon" videos have been around since pre-Youtube days. Is he trying to do it better? If so, then I think he's missed the point. A big draw of "forum weapon" videos is how they're mostly clips taken from famous (or in some cases, infamous) films or reviews, thus providing a familiar frame of reference for the response.

Also, these eSults seem...forced. Like Doug's trying too hard. It doesn't help that the cast from Demo Reel is still around. I have nothing against them as people and I'm sure they're probably nice folks in real life, but they just come across as unnecessary distractions to me.

So, how about it? Are eSults really the wave of the future for internet snarkery, or is this a failed experiment in trying to stay relevant?

In any event, I made a fun little game of finding old Nostalgia Critic video clips to respond to eSults. It's ironic that the old NC material is the perfect foil for it:
Response:
Response:
Response:
 

badgersprite

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Doug's a nice guy, but he's always had a serious problem with trying to force memes. Like, he doesn't seem to understand how or why catchphrases or in-jokes catch on and become successful. He did this before with trying to make "I was frozen today" and the evil popcorn eating guy into memes, and it doesn't work at all because it's not funny to begin with and he spends so much time explaining the joke that even if it might have been funny the fact that he explains why it should be a thing kills any desire to reference it.

Basically, he kind of has trouble understanding why some things are funny and why people want to repeat that joke or quote certain things, and he thinks that if you just tell everyone that something should be a meme then people will jump on the bandwagon.

Yeah, it doesn't work that way, Doug.
 

DasDestroyer

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Oh, eSults! From the moment I saw the thread title to the point he actually said it I thought it was eSluts, and I couldn't quite see why Doug was the one who started it...
 

Baron von Blitztank

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I like Doug and all but even though he is a little late to the party these still really don't work as "Forum Weaponry".
The first problem is with the title of the videos, which basically describe the situation for you and by doing so it really kills the joke and also kind of puts a limit on their usability.


The other problem is that these videos are far too long to be used as "Forum Weaponry". I have a whole playlist dedicated to clips to use as snappy responses and few of them go beyond even 10 seconds. Some of the "eSults" videos have reached as far as fifty four seconds, which is far too long and extends the joke so far that it just isn't funny anymore.


Finally we have the issue that Doug is simply trying way too hard to be funny which, well, isn't funny. What makes
"Forum Weaponry" videos funny is that they are clips taken from pre-existing works, funny or otherwise, that can stand as a response to a variety of other things while serving as a reference to remind people of the scene and the context the quote is used in. Here we simply have a bunch of guys mugging for the camera doing whatever they can to try and make you laugh and in the end, failing miserably.


So basically, my diagnosis:

 

Thaluikhain

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Eh.

The videos are pointless, yes, but then the internet is full of pointless videos. It's not like he's throwing a lot of money into making them.

Now, I don't expect them to catch on, but if he feels like making them, why not?
 

FalloutJack

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My answer to all this. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=HLpmd6_KDyg#t=20s]

It's obviously done for laughs, but I feel as though it could be funnier somehow.
 

Ultra Man30

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I don't think that there's really a problem with them. They seem to be pretty funny and I guess they could be used in appropriate situations. I don't think that he really expects them to be used widely, it's more of a sort of "use these if you want to" kind of thing. I mean who knows, I might even see them used here.
 

Altorin

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when doug announced he was cancelling the nostalgia critic, I stopped going to TGWTG. I don't know if he actually did cancel and I don't care. at the same time, Spoony dropped from TGWTG and posted that his reasoning was basically "this sort of genre of internet vid is just sort of dying"... and I sort of agree.. did you guys see the last couple AVGN vids? what the fuck was that?
 

NightmareExpress

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I think the site is dying.
It happened fairly quickly, too.
I mean, it was alright in 2012 but then a lot of the good stuff kind of just trickled down.
People left, things were canceled and release schedules are somewhat unpredictable.

These "esults" videos reek of desperation to me. As though he wants to pander to a new audience while allowing some of his film buddies (the cast of Demo Reel) to help out on it. In one moment, he makes the connection that memes are pretty popular out on the internet. Memes are "in"! People that still check in might spread the word and get some traffic to the site!

I guess we'll see what happens.
Also, where the fourrer is Benzaie?
Seems to have relatively disappeared since February.
 

Abomination

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Feels like he's trying to hard and comes off as overly pretentious.

Clips gotta be a lot shorter, only the baby crying (without the preamble) would have suited its application.

You would have to also use it somewhat like this:

"Oh man, I know exactly what you mean. This guy here said the same thing! "
 

Rednog

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Altorin said:
when doug announced he was cancelling the nostalgia critic, I stopped going to TGWTG. I don't know if he actually did cancel and I don't care. at the same time, Spoony dropped from TGWTG and posted that his reasoning was basically "this sort of genre of internet vid is just sort of dying"... and I sort of agree.. did you guys see the last couple AVGN vids? what the fuck was that?
I think AVGN is pretty much doing AVGN just to keep it going, he had the unfortunate position of pretty much being one of the early guys of the critic generation whereas guys like Walker came into the business with a monetization plan behind them. So I think he doesn't/didn't make a ton of cash of the AVGN and is a bit more interested in pursuing his movie stuff.

NightmareExpress said:
Also, where the fourrer is Benzaie?
Seems to have relatively disappeared since February.
He still releases videos frequently on his youtube channel, unfortunately they are in french.
http://www.youtube.com/user/benzaieTV
 

ShipofFools

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Altorin said:
did you guys see the last couple AVGN vids? what the fuck was that?
What was wrong with them? Cinemassacre and Redlettermedia are the only sites of their kind that I actually enjoy, and so far, both have never dropped in quality and only gotten better as time went on.

On topic:
I never liked the Nostlagia Critic anyway, that Walker guy has some talent, but whatever he has is wasted on silly reviews and the like.
He always seems to try too hard, you know? I guess it's because of the money or whatever, and there was some kind of drama a while back? Yeah that was it for me, screw that webzone.
 

bug_of_war

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FalloutJack said:
My answer to all this. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=HLpmd6_KDyg#t=20s]

It's obviously done for laughs, but I feel as though it could be funnier somehow.
I actually think it's for the money. All the "eSults" have advertisements on them and Nostalgia Critic now needs to pay people. This is what it looks like to watch a building fall in slow motion. His work started getting stale so he tried to make an internet web series, unfortunately he and his brother are terrible at writing comedy. They're really only good at reaction comedy/observation comedy, so when it came to trying to make a comedy series that was supposed to be funny on it's own they failed miserably and had to go back to the Nostalgia Critic less they end up having to get a job that doesn't involve being in online videos. Unlike before though, they couldn't go back to the old way of doing NC because they now had actors that expected to get paid, hence the Nostalgia critic is now Family Guy.

I don't hate the guy, and I don't hate the actors, but I really wish they'd just stop. They've passed their prime, and there's no Nostalgia in the videos at all, just, "This movie sucked, I wanna scream at it" which is fine, but he should have just created a new character.

Admittedly, I'm probably a bit biased as I stopped caring about the site when after the whole fiasco with Spoony, and the TERRIBLE anniversary film, but it's just an observation.
 
Jun 24, 2009
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Altorin said:
when doug announced he was cancelling the nostalgia critic, I stopped going to TGWTG. I don't know if he actually did cancel and I don't care. at the same time, Spoony dropped from TGWTG and posted that his reasoning was basically "this sort of genre of internet vid is just sort of dying"... and I sort of agree.. did you guys see the last couple AVGN vids? what the fuck was that?
He un-cancelled it, but the new format and humour are really terrible. It's all really forced skits that run on waaay too long. The last few AVGN videos also weren't that great, but I'm hoping that's just due to him being rusty after all that time spent making the movie. Spoony is still awesome though, but his videos are few and far between.
 

idarkphoenixi

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NightmareExpress said:
I think the site is dying.
It happened fairly quickly, too.
I mean, it was alright in 2012 but then a lot of the good stuff kind of just trickled down.
People left, things were canceled and release schedules are somewhat unpredictable.
I was wondering the same thing. I hardly ever visit the site now and there are very few people I care to watch. NC 'used' to be one of them but these new reviews....ehhh, I always have to skip past the awful skits just to get to the actual damn review. Makes re-watching them a right pain.

Apart from him, Mike J's pretty funny and Phelous will be as soon as he decides to review horror movies again instead of stupid toys.

NC has a habit of trying to create memes that end up failing horribly. (anyone remember frying the coke?)
 

Nokturos

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I guess he's trying to establish himself as something other than a one trick pony. Sadly, that's all he is, as demonstrated by the terrible quality of anything he's ever done besides Nostalgia Critic.
 

kailus13

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Aren't those a bit too long for forum weapons? Even those above 10 seconds lose some of their bite, and those are over 40 seconds each.
 

MeChaNiZ3D

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The three problems I see with this: 1. Most direct retellings of memes outside of their original context seem forced. See also Animemes. 2. Internet humour involves a subversion of expectations that basically means any 'definitive' version of a joke is generally dismissed. 3. These videos are in a common format where jokes fare far better when they have different references, as seen, amusingly, in some of the reaction videos of this thread.

Also that they're longer and more effort than a short internet-styled retort would be.
 

floppylobster

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Baron von Blitztank said:
In posting these two videos together you've made me notice that Heath Ledger (as the Joker) uses the same phrasing as that guy from Scrubs normally uses.
 

Queen Michael

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Randomeaninglessword said:
He un-cancelled it, but the new format and humour are really terrible.
Hey now, let's not say anything we can't take back. Sure, you might not like the new NC format, but in my opinion "really terrible" are words that one only uses about a parody novel by Adam Roberts or the South Park episode A Million Little Fibers.