How do you feel about SonicTubers?

[Rabbitearsblog]

So lately, there's been some talk about the SonicTuber community and how some people have stated that they are either making things harder for the Sonic fandom because of how some of them are making videos that are clickbait rather than videos containing confirmed information or how some of them are influencing the Sonic community.  So, what do you think about the SonicTuber community?

For me personally, there are some good SonicTubers who have really good discussions about the franchise and usually comment on information that's actually been confirmed by SEGA.  As for the whole "clickbait" ordeal, that's been a problem on Youtube for years and I will admit that I do get a bit disappointed whenever I see clickbait videos about Sonic News, despite the fact that said news hasn't been confirmed.  Whenever that happens, I tend to ignore those videos, unless those news have been confirmed.

[Simasuu]

Look I've noticed the same thing despite having left uncontacted to any Sonic fan social media group, but it was atleast this year for me when I started to notice how there were suddenly a million Sonictubers out there.

I mean it's great to be able to be up to date even if you're not following as much lately but like OP said, those clickbait titles are a fucking problem.

I dunno how to feel about them. I guess this is how it is nowadays when everybody wants to say their views out loud or get views. There's both goods and bads to that like in everything.

[Rabbitearsblog]

42 minutes ago, Simasuu said:

Look I've noticed the same thing despite having left uncontacted to any Sonic fan social media group, but it was atleast this year for me when I started to notice how there were suddenly a million Sonictubers out there.

I mean it's great to be able to be up to date even if you're not following as much lately but like OP said, those clickbait titles are a fucking problem.

I dunno how to feel about them. I guess this is how it is nowadays when everybody wants to say their views out loud or get views. There's both goods and bads to that like in everything.

I feel the same way too.  There are some good Sonic Tubers out there, but the fact that there are some out there that just do clickbait videos about the Sonic franchise just gets on my nerves.  I don't like it when people are going by misinformation and they start forming opinions about the franchise that's not even true.

[Empire88]

I think the issue is less with Sonic specifically and more about the current social media environment. As other said, we are in a time where people want attention and views. 

However Sonic has a very dedicated fanbase. So people specifically exploit that by making click bait videos slightly more than other franchises relatively speaking. 

Especially when a good discussion can be fostered, there are some good SonicTubers. The issue is that most of it basically spam these days on purpose to exploit. (Especially kids). 

[Rabbitearsblog]

5 minutes ago, mitsunari88 said:

I think the issue is less with Sonic specifically and more about the current social media environment. As other said, we are in a time where people want attention and views. 

However Sonic has a very dedicated fanbase. So people specifically exploit that by making click bait videos slightly more than other franchises relatively speaking. 

Especially when a good discussion can be fostered, there are some good SonicTubers. The issue is that most of it basically spam these days on purpose to exploit. (Especially kids). 

That's the sad thing.  It seems like many people just want to get noticed for posting up clickbait rather than actually make videos that's related to the topic they are discussing.

[Simasuu]

Positive sides of wide Sonictuber selection is the wide range of video topics.

Must be like 1 or 2 weeks when I watched a video by Johnny Vector about some real rare Sonic games which most of them have remained unreleased or heard of.

It's so fucking nice to see all this being uncovered by internet archeologists and then spread by various Sonictubers. I mean I would've possibly never heard that Sonic Unleashed had a mobile game if it wasn't for that video. Link:

 

[Danj86]

I don't really follow SonicTubers that talk about news. I do follow a couple that could be described as one, but they tend to focus on in-depth analysis or showcasing mods. People like Game Apologist, J's Reviews, Garrulous64, Blue Vivacity and Sonic Overtime. Game Apologist and J's Reviews don't really focus exclusively on the hedgehog.

So perhaps I lack the knowledge to add anything to the discussion. I can see how them spreading unannounced news or "Leaks" could influence the community. More trusting individuals might take what they claim as the truth and outright hate whatever Sega and Sonic Team eventually announce that turns out to be totally different.

[Rabbitearsblog]

10 minutes ago, DanJ86 said:

So perhaps I lack the knowledge to add anything to the discussion. I can see how them spreading unannounced news or "Leaks" could influence the community. More trusting individuals might take what they claim as the truth and outright hate whatever Sega and Sonic Team eventually announce that turns out to be totally different.

That's what always worried me about posting up videos that are not true or not confirmed.  They could have a negative impact on the fandom as it comes down to because of the leaks or rumors, whatever SEGA or Sonic Team actually has created won't be any good because it doesn't match what the fandom wanted or what they saw in the rumors or leaks.

[Badnik Mechanic]

Watch my channel. No clickbait there.

Even though my last video looks like blooming clickbait. Lol but it's 100% true!

But the clickbait is quite bad with a lot of channels right now. Though it's not limited to Sonic fandom, another series I watch a lot of videos on (GTAV) has a huge problem with clickbait.

Part of the problem is YouTube itself, it constantly promotes videos that people fall for instead of content that is rewatchable.

Also a major problem is time vs reward. I spent 2 weeks working on this video.

 

Barely hits 5.5k in views,

Whereas this one I spent a few days on... and had I gone for the $10 tuber route and just done it as a piece to camera it would have taken me about 2 hours.

It does more than double the views and money of the video I actually wanted people to watch.

If you want people to watch good content that isn't bait. You've got to share it around. The moment a video starts to be watched outside of YouTube, it'll get promoted more and you'll also be shown a lot less videos that are obvious bait.

 

[Rabbitearsblog]

9 minutes ago, Badnik Mechanic said:

Watch my channel. No clickbait there.

Even though my last video looks like blooming clickbait. Lol but it's 100% true!

Oh yeah!  You have a pretty interesting channel!

[charmsb]

Well, I really don't like to dunk on people so hard when I'm not anonymous, but most of them suck. Hard.

The majority of Sonic Tubers just repeat the same opinions over and over and over again. Even if I agree for the most part, its still grating to hear someone in their 5 hour Forces review complain about that Tails/Chaos cutscene for the 100 billionth time.

Adding to that, they care WAY too much about the story and characters... Look, thats honestly half of what makes Sonic so great, but gameplay is EXCEEDINGLY the most important thing to a game, and to have Sonic Forces reviews spend not even 2 minutes discussing how boring and linear the gameplay is/how bad the physics are and then spend an hour talking about the story is infuriating.

Also, they latch on to any leak they can and believe it. For no reason. Especially Zippo, who was disproved MULTIPLE times, yet they would constantly repeat what he posts as if he is some sort of god.

In general they also just tend to exacerbate any negatives the series has, ironically as they are all huge Sonic fans. Like, I really hate Forces because of its gameplay, but to be honest, it took some huge steps forward in terms of the story. Shadow, especially in his DLC, actually acted very in character, and actually cared about Team Dark unlike what Sonic Tubers say the boogeyman mandates enforce. I could go on.

I dont want another 3 hour video essay on why Sonic Adventure 2 is the best game in the series and why Shadow is actually the nicest character on the planet and was never edgy. Make some original god damn content damnit. Theres more to this series then complaining.

Here are some good Sonic Tubers:

Cybershell

Game Apologist

Eldarin

Badnik Mechanic

[Mr. Ion]

I think most SonicTubers are pretty good Maybe I'm just a bad judge of quality haha, and the clickbait is definitely a problem, but like Badnik Mechanic mentioned earlier that's more reinforced by the general YouTube landscape and the Sonic Fandom being on the hunt for news. I tend to lean towards video essays more than news videos (though I still watch news videos here and there) so I don't think it bothers me as much, but I particularly like our aforementioned Badnik Mechanic, The Geek Critique is an amazing Youtuber, Chaomix, Sam's streams are fun, etc, etc. There are many more that are good but I won't list them all for the sake of brevity. I think the Sonic YouTube landscape isn't particularly bad, and anyways it is probably the biggest source of fan content for the fandom, and are more popular than forums such as this one, so it is kind of a necessary evil. There is clickbait, but there is also genuinely interesting and entertaining content that provides new perspectives of the series. It does get repetitive, sure, but I feel like everywhere in this fandom opinions will be repetitive. That's just kind of the nature of fan discourse. So yeah, in general, SonicTubers are pretty decent.

[Meta77]

Sega post a picture of sonic at a cafe

SonicTubers: SONIC ADVENTURE 3 Confirmed? Sega post hint at future sonic game. Sonic cafe mobile game? (Also insert a irl picture of them with their mouth hanging open in a shocked face) Kids eat that up i suppose?

 

[Scritch the Cat]

I hate their use of the word "Leak" to refer to literally anything posted by anyone online about unannounced Sonic games, true or not, though granted this bastardization of the word is limited neither to them nor to Sonic.  It's a symptom of an online culture so sick of conventional news media that they'll bite at stuff posted by literally anyone else if it's enticing enough.  Also when a verified bit of news comes from a conventional outlet, do we really need a bunch of people to make videos of themselves playing Sonic games and rephrasing the news over that footage?  It's not exactly annoying but it feels like there's a lot of tragedy underlying it; namely that the pandemic slowed just about everything down, people are doing whatever they still can to make a buck working from home with a computer, and people are also desperate to read and hear things that make them happy.  Oddly enough, though, one thing I'm not holding against these people is their becoming obsessed with Sonic.  It's not surprising that with the real world so drab these days, people are more given to escapism than usual.

Sonic reviewers, meanwhile, I love.  I keep watching TheGeekCritique's review of Sonic 06 because it's a nice break from all the videos that make the game out to be a comedy goldmine; his considers that game's legacy to be a tragedy, and I agree.

[Rabbitearsblog]

2 hours ago, Mr. Ion said:

I think most SonicTubers are pretty good Maybe I'm just a bad judge of quality haha, and the clickbait is definitely a problem, but like Badnik Mechanic mentioned earlier that's more reinforced by the general YouTube landscape and the Sonic Fandom being on the hunt for news. I tend to lean towards video essays more than news videos (though I still watch news videos here and there) so I don't think it bothers me as much, but I particularly like our aforementioned Badnik Mechanic, The Geek Critique is an amazing Youtuber, Chaomix, Sam's streams are fun, etc, etc. There are many more that are good but I won't list them all for the sake of brevity. I think the Sonic YouTube landscape isn't particularly bad, and anyways it is probably the biggest source of fan content for the fandom, and are more popular than forums such as this one, so it is kind of a necessary evil. There is clickbait, but there is also genuinely interesting and entertaining content that provides new perspectives of the series. It does get repetitive, sure, but I feel like everywhere in this fandom opinions will be repetitive. That's just kind of the nature of fan discourse. So yeah, in general, SonicTubers are pretty decent.

I do agree that with the rise of SonicTubers, there seems to be more discussions about Sonic the Hedgehog than there ever has been before, whether the discussions are positive or negative.

 

45 minutes ago, Scritch the Cat said:

I hate their use of the word "Leak" to refer to literally anything posted by anyone online about unannounced Sonic games, true or not, though granted this bastardization of the word is limited neither to them nor to Sonic.  It's a symptom of an online culture so sick of conventional news media that they'll bite at stuff posted by literally anyone else if it's enticing enough.  Also when a verified bit of news comes from a conventional outlet, do we really need a bunch of people to make videos of themselves playing Sonic games and rephrasing the news over that footage?  It's not exactly annoying but it feels like there's a lot of tragedy underlying it; namely that the pandemic slowed just about everything down, people are doing whatever they still can to make a buck working from home with a computer, and people are also desperate to read and hear things that make them happy.  Oddly enough, though, one thing I'm not holding against these people is their becoming obsessed with Sonic.  It's not surprising that with the real world so drab these days, people are more given to escapism than usual.

Sonic reviewers, meanwhile, I love.  I keep watching TheGeekCritique's review of Sonic 06 because it's a nice break from all the videos that make the game out to be a comedy goldmine; his considers that game's legacy to be a tragedy, and I agree.

I do wonder why there are so many Sonictubers having gameplay footage in their videos whenever they are discussing about Sonic.  I can see it as they are using some footage to make a point in their videos.  I guess this is a trend that's going on.