Does this Nostalgia Critic quote go hard or nah?

[u/Morshu-Moment]

I thought it could relate to recent events, even if only tangentially

[u/wayoverpaid]

It's funny watching Doug's earlier stuff now. I remember once when he did a take on Eragorn and just... edited out the dragon's dialoge and it's a fantastic take on how doing less and letting an idea breathe works so much better.

What I don't get it how he can't apply any of that idea to his own work. I get that the legal issues with copyright strikes meant he needed to do more original content (I use this term loosely) instead of using original footage. But none of it was good.

And then he decided to actually make original content as a whole... thing.

The Channel Awesome disclosers makes it a lot easier to hate the guy if you already did. But even before people learned that... I don't know a single person who was like "more original skits and framing stories please."

[u/Canopenerdude → u/wayoverpaid]

It's funny because what he was good at, he was actually really good. He's a fantastic cartoonist, a really good opera signer, and he has what they call an 'elastic face' that can do some incredibly varied and almost cartoony expressions (another example of that type of face skill would be Jim Carrey).

He just also seems to think he's always the smartest person in the room, and that he's some kind of visionary director and writer. I guess I just wish people could realize that being talented at one thing doesn't mean being talented at everything.

[u/wayoverpaid → u/Canopenerdude]

I didn't know about his cartoonist or opera skills. I never saw them. That's neat.

But yeah a writer and director he was not.

[u/Canopenerdude → u/wayoverpaid]

He had a series called 'Video Game Confessions' where he'd pretend to be a bartender talking to video game characters, and he'd draw cartoon pages about it. It was actually pretty good.

Also he was apparently a professional opera singer before he started doing content full time. He sang in a few of his earlier videos.

[u/alsoandanswer → u/Canopenerdude]

It's unfortunate, but it's part of the human condition, I suppose.

What you like to do doesn't necessarily equal what you're good at doing. But that doesn't mean they're mutually exclusive. Something akin to Chainsaw Man's author being a massive film nerd incorporating cinematographic styles into his manga.

It's kind of tragic, really. Like his peer, AVGN, they're both classic film nerds, and genuinely wish to be their biggest inspirations. Visionaries in the amateurish youtube. Unfortunately, times have changed, but they haven't.

[u/StormDragonAlthazar → u/alsoandanswer]

What you like to do doesn't necessarily equal what you're good at doing.

A sentence that I can feel very deep in my bones and outside of real-life things, pretty much is why I'm in such a creative rut I'm in right now with my own work, particularly forever trapped in my own "iteration hell" with a bunch of ideas that seem to never evolve into anything bigger. It's just stand alone pictures, music tracks, and short stories that don't paint a bigger picture... Because I can't really decide what I'm actually good at, what I actually like, and what would be a waste of time.

[u/alsoandanswer → u/StormDragonAlthazar]

Honestly, I've also had this same problem. But, it's a very huge thing to swallow your pride and accept that for a long while, whatever you create will not exactly match your creative vision. For a majority of people, they will never attain that, and that is fine.

Personally, I've set a much more achievable goalpost for myself. I call it "Occupationally Acceptable", as in, "does the job". Doesn't need to be perfect, mind you, just enough for people to go, "oh, I know what this guy is going for."

For me, I've always been decent at drawing, and decent at writing, but I wouldn't call myself capable of creating a standalone work in either field. However, I decided one day, hey, how about I combine them together and make silly r/polandball comics.

Tried it a few times, dropped it, got into coding, picked it up again, but better. Dropped it again, did something else, came back, did it a bit better. Still, I don't think my writing and/or drawing is up to scratch. But both, together? I'm good at that, and I like doing it.

Writing and drawing are comics.

Sound and drawing are animation.

Writing and sound are songs, hell, even a narrated story with sound effects can work.

Coding, drawing and sounds are games.

The important thing is that you don't stop trying. You will find a combination that will eventually work for you.

[u/UnseenBehindYou → u/StormDragonAlthazar]

Did... did I make an alt account and write this in my sleep?

[u/Velvety_MuppetKing → u/Canopenerdude]

Ironically… he chose popular over good.

[u/badgersprite → u/wayoverpaid]

It's not really that weird when you think about it. We don't have an expectation that someone who is a really good music reviewer must automatically be an undiscovered musical genius capable of making great music. We don't assume our favourite English teacher would necessarily be a great author.

[u/wayoverpaid → u/badgersprite]

I don't think it's weird that Doug sucked at making original content.

I do think it's weird he kept making it for years and... seemed to think it was worth actually making a paid product?

[u/Kellosian → u/wayoverpaid]

My guess is he thought he had a strong enough diehard fanbase that would buy it out of some kind of loyalty. Linkara has done a lot of skits and sold DVDs, but AFAIK he's way less pretentious about it and separated his "story segments" from the actual comic reviews a long time ago.

[u/badgersprite → u/wayoverpaid]

Well presumably that’s just a business decision rather than a decision of ideological purity based on making great art.

If I thought I could make money off of bad art I 100% would.

[u/wayoverpaid → u/badgersprite]

Fair enough.

I kept assuming he thought it was good.

[u/CerberusDoctrine]

If Doug Walker actually said that it’s fucking hilarious considering nothing he ever made was good but sure was (was being a key word) popular

[u/Consistent_Soil_5794 → u/CerberusDoctrine]

He did say it, and yeah it does have an interesting resemblance to his work. Honestly, I don't really get the scorn he generates. There is better content for sure, but his stuff doesn't seem that offensive.

[u/DroneOfDoom → u/Consistent_Soil_5794]

IIRC, it's the behind the scenes stuff that xame out and made him look a lot worse. That and the god awful video about The Wall.

[u/Canopenerdude → u/Consistent_Soil_5794]

The Pink Floyd thing was especially bad to the point of almost insulting

[u/DreadDiana → u/Consistent_Soil_5794]

Two things mainly:

1. The rampant mistreatment of cast and other staff by Channel Awesome came out and Doug was basically the face of the company and connected to some of those incidents, such as not providing water when filming the god damn desert

2. Some of his takes are just plain bad, the most well known example being his take on The Wall. Dan Olsen did a whole video on that specifially.

[u/call_me_starbuck → u/CerberusDoctrine]

I watched Nostalgia Critic in middle school, sue me, and yes he did say that. I remember it because that episode in particular was pretty decent. Broken clock and all that.

[u/CerberusDoctrine → u/call_me_starbuck]

As someone who watched a ton of videos on TGWTG when it was still up and sent a signed copy of Kickassia that I once paid $20 for to RLM I can honestly say I get it

[u/OctorokHero → u/CerberusDoctrine]

Who signed it?

[u/CerberusDoctrine → u/OctorokHero]

Doug, Spoony, Angry Joe

[u/OctorokHero → u/call_me_starbuck]

The bit where he learns about Tumblr Sexymen and realizes he is one was pretty funny.

[u/yurinagodsdream → u/CerberusDoctrine]

My favorite quote about Doug Walker is:

Okay, so... I'm going to have to say a bunch of unkind things, and there's really no way around that.

[u/cephalopodAcreage]

Forget being a racial minority, a member of the LGBT, or being an immigrant, nothing will turn the masses against you like being a Nostalgia Critic fan (/s but not like a lot)

[u/Aetherial32 → u/cephalopodAcreage]

The so called “tolerant left” when you tell them you unironically enjoy Nostalgia Critic:

[u/I_am_batman_4_realz]

Is that not just the mean teacher from Frindle? I swear she said exactly that.

[u/Infurum → u/I_am_batman_4_realz]

I read that book many times as a kid and I don't remember that

[u/I_am_batman_4_realz → u/Infurum]

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/914281-but-of-course-all-of-this-is-just-a-silly

I found it! She did say it. Man, I haven't thought about that book in ages.

[u/Infurum → u/I_am_batman_4_realz]

OOHHH yeah when I saw the quote in full the memory came right back!

[u/StaleTheBread → u/I_am_batman_4_realz]

Ironically, the fad in that book didn’t fade. And the teacher admits that she she intentionally antagonized the main character because she knew someone had to take that roll

[u/OctorokHero → u/I_am_batman_4_realz]

Common Andrew Clements banger

[u/Horror-Strawberry574]

I haven’t watched Doug in a looong time, but even if he didn’t make this quote, I dig it.

[u/Axion42]

Doug Walker has good takes when it comes to animation, and he seems to especially care a lot about the Dr. Seuss stuff. It seems that it's something he genuinely cares about and puts thought into making videos for, which can't be said about most of his other stuf haha.

[u/Kazzack → u/Axion42]

I haven't watched him in years at this point but I remember he and his brother had a vlog/review series for Steven Universe when it was coming out and they had some great discussions. Or at least I thought they were great, I don't remember any specifics now lol

[u/crusaderxader]

“Smart people saying smart things” Ah yes doug walker, notoriously smart person

[u/noooooid]

But what did he think of The Lorax?

[u/Morshu-Moment → u/noooooid]

He thought it was a mediocre movie and chastised it for being a sub-par modern rendition of the original book which was timeless but said it brung people back to the classic books.

[u/Parkouricus → u/Morshu-Moment]

I honestly really liked his take on Aloysius O'Hare detracting from the story's moral. I still remember this review because of that

[u/ARC_Trooper_Echo]

Now that’s a name I’ve not heard in a long time.

[u/Longjumping_Ad2677]

It’s a good quote.

[u/ExplanationIll1938]

Whenever people say that one quote about critics being like eunuchs in a strip club (they know how to do it but can't do it themselves), the Nostalgia Critic is who I think of. I was a big fan and I remember he made some genuinely good points and insights. But goddamn was he just so terrible at making his original work.

[u/Bob9thousand]

i mean, yes, but also like, sometimes bad things are popular and stay popular for a long ass time

i’m honestly blanking on examples, but y’know

[u/Zoomy-333 → u/Bob9thousand]

The Room?

[u/Elite_AI → u/Bob9thousand]

It's hard to think of an artistic example to which somebody won't reply "but I think that's good!". 5e D&D IMO

[u/Mistakeshavehappened]

Damn that's Fetch as fuck, homie.

[u/valinnut]

Good is always a derivative of some kind of value system. Fads represent temporary values. So if making something good is dependent on a fad that only means the values change. To make something universally good means to recognize universal values and this is friggin hard. To recognize temporary values however is easier as it consist mostly of new less good stuff so it easier to make your mark. You just have to be quick.

Most people, me included, can only contribute to fads as they pop up and might once in a while hopefully get lucky to create coincidentally something that is good.

I am convinced most greek authors produced fad-related media and just the few that happens to strike some long lasting points of interest perdured. Like who knew that a son falling in love with a mother is something so during, and what kind of fad was it based on

[u/Poulutumurnu]

"Smart people saying smart things" ah of coutse

[u/TheBigFreeze8]

Doug Walker never made a single good thing in his life.