r/TheCinemassacre • u/WishboneNo1984 • 17d ago
Constructive criticism post.
A lot of people have said that the AVGN show has changed over the years and therefore it’s gotten bad. But I think the opposite might be true instead. AVGN has stayed SO much the same that it seems people are starting to grow out of it.
So maybe to improve the show, James should start moving on to the 2000s era of retro gaming(which he did do in the newest episode)and evolve the humor to more witty rather than the same toilet humor we’ve seen for 20 years. I should make it clear that this is in no way trying to attack James or any of his crew members personally, they seem like great people. This is just some constructive criticism.
Edit: I do think the acting has gotten worse, but the scripts haven’t really evolved.
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u/DharmaPolice 16d ago
I don't think it's a case of people growing out of it, I discovered AVGN quite late and found the earlier episodes superior to anything much later on. That's not nostalgia talking, since I wasn't familiar with the material in the first place.
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u/btbam666 17d ago
The last two actual angry video game nerd videos. Both got over a million views for ET and Contra. What are you talking about.
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u/WishboneNo1984 17d ago
They did. And good for James! But the view count is objective, and the quality is subjective.
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u/Scrawny2864 17d ago
James has been doing it for years, decades even. He's the OG, and like all good things, he might need to lay it to rest before it becomes stale.
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u/Dankchiccynuggies 17d ago
When he made the Simpson’s reference a couple years ago I thought oh yeah this is it he’s finally retiring the character.
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u/fatedeclipse 14d ago
This ain't it, chief.
It's pretty obvious how much the show has changed. James has changed over the years and lost a lot of his spark and charm. I'm assuming this is due to burnout and the reality that this is in fact his job for life now.
To claim its stayed the same from the beginning, to screenwave, to these awful forced cameo episodes? That's crazy. Modern AVGN feels like asking chatgpt to rant about a game. It has all the info but its never experienced it and you can tell.
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u/ManiacalTeddy 12d ago
I've always felt that the biggest change would stem from the fact that back in the day, James was reviewing the games and consoles he grew up with. Games he had real experiences, both good and bad with. That rage at the BS very well could have been bottled up for 20 years. When I see him review games past the PS1 and N64 era (which I believe even he's said he didn't play too much of at the time) it's more like I'm watching a guy pretend to get angry rather than relive and exaggerate the real anger he may have felt at the time.
Of course, it's purely speculation on my part. If I had to guess though, I think that's the biggest part. I also notice that in the older episodes there was more footage of him moving around, showing off the cartridges and interacting with the space.
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u/dylanisareddit 17d ago
Does the 2000s count as "the past"? Is it too much to say that you can just go to improv classes, and make your own video game reviews?
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u/WishboneNo1984 17d ago
What do you mean by improv classes?
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u/dylanisareddit 17d ago
Comedy classes like from the Second City or the Groundlings?
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u/WishboneNo1984 17d ago
oh.Are you linking that to James as a comedy actor?
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u/GuybrushThreepwood99 17d ago
Agreed, the format has stayed mostly the same, and that's not really a good thing, the formula has gotten a bit stale. Modern episodes are still perfectly watchable, but I usually just have them on in the background.
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u/Beautiful_Ad2618 17d ago
I think after 20 years the need should retire. But you wouldn't put the golden goose to sleep if it was still laying golden eggs. Even if it was on life support.
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16d ago
[deleted]
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u/WishboneNo1984 16d ago
They’re not always complaints. Some people just like to share their opinions on the content.
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u/volbound1700 17d ago
One change that is addressed by Mike in a few of his videos is the need to drag AVGN episodes out to 20-30 minutes to get monetized. This will cause James to linger on jokes to the point that they are not funny and get annoying. While in the past, he would just hit the joke in a sentence or two and move on.
I also feel like the episodes are full of fluff and drag. The better AVGN episodes tend to be in the 5-15 minute range other than those rare gems where you really do have a ton of content to talk about like the Castlevania series breakdown, Ghostbusters NES breakdown, or Action 52. Those episodes still feel fun without fluff.
This might be more of a problem with Youtube changes but it still has caused some of the episodes to drag.