User blog comment:AgentMuffin/Things wrong with SMG4/@comment-25653892-20160523053837

I'll set the precedent and start my own comment. Some major things I personally dislike are the downer endings, GMod overuse, and lolrandomxd factor.

First off, the downer endings. The Zeroth Law of Trope Examples and Tropes Are Not Good go hand in hand. SMG4's plots tend to be simpler, so extra attention must be paid to make sure they hold up. Because it's really clear who the protagonists are, watching them fail in the end without any sort of upside for them is annoying at best, depending on how long the video is. This can sour the rare worthwhile experience, yet the downer ending concept is used repeatedly.

Next is the GMod overuse. This really speaks for itself&mdash;the bloopers are supposed to be about Super Mario 64, after all. I can see the use of various mods and hacks for that game, but what baffles me is that SMG4 hinges on Garry's Mod just because it's available. Yes, it can provide the occasional goofy expression. But it's abused to the point where you can pull any old thing into and out of GMod and have it look completely run-of-the-mill. I almost think GMoD opens up too many possibilities and too much creative freedom. SMG4 doesn't have to be smart in using what he has anymore.

The final and largest point I'm discussing is the lolrandomxd factor. Personally, I view comedy as a mixture of wit and unexpectedness, with a hint of self-deprecation too. Of course I'm no master of humor, as anyone on Fantendo would tell you in a heartbeat (self-deprecation Q.E.D.), but from all I've read I think this is a good-enough list of the essentials. Now, everything in recent SMG4 videos seems way over-the-top in-your-face all-the-time. This might be thanks in part to GMod, but I digress&hellip; You might think this structure is prime joke fodder, but making everything crazy is an impact to the wit and unexpectedness alike. When everything is loud and insane, it's all the more difficult to be coherent, and thus witty. So many of the jokes and gags fall flat as a result. As for the unexpectedness, SMG4 could achieve that by specifically being boring in contrast to the ubiquitous madness. But being boring is rarely funny, because it's the absence of wit. SMG4's comedy structure and execution make it impossible to maintain a straight man, so instead, all of the characters have devolved into basic archetypes and running gags. The world seems ever-stupider as a result, humor becomes more expectable, and the cycle continues. Everything flattens and collapses in on itself because of how it's ramped up to ten in a desperate attempt to be engaging and relevant. It's the world of the bloopers starting to scream incoherently at viewers, hoping that it's screeching something hilarious when it rarely is. And the screams get ever-louder. Young kids, with their low standards, eat the screaming up, devolving things further because their likes, subs and comments are viewed as a success. And that's why recent bloopers and the fandom alike are so toxic.