Youtube channel banner as at 28 March 2024

(8) JUST SOME GUY (USA 2017)

“I don’t know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.”

Yes – that’s from Bilbo’s birthday speech in the opening of The Fellowship of the Ring. And yes – somehow it seems as apt for his style of snark as it did for Bilbo’s speech.

And yes – he’s another caustic critic in my top ten, albeit even-handed in his caustic criticism between left and right in the so-called culture war. As the Bilbo in his bio suggests, he has a particular focus on The Lord of the Rings franchise – his epic takedown of The Rings of Power TV series was a thing of beauty to behold.

However, his prolific video content goes well beyond The Lord of the Rings – comics are another particular focus but he ranges throughout popular culture and social commentary. He also has one of my favorite opening sequences in my top ten Youtubers. 

RATING: 4 STARS****

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Youtube channel banner as at 27 March 2024

(9) ROBOT HEAD (AUSTRALIA 2018)

“I’m a guy that’s been lucky enough to create a Youtube channel that people seem to actually like. My YouTube videos are highly edited and draw on many years of watching movies to point out how some films are very good while others are very, very bad. (I’m looking at you, Last Jedi). Cheers!”

He’s Australian, with that Aussie accent proudly on display in his videos – and he’s an Archer fan, borrowing Archer’s cartoon likeness (from Archer’s ‘space’ season) for his video avatar at one point. What’s not to love?

He’s also on Twitter X, where he has the occasional epic battle in replies.

The first but hardly the last caustic critic in my top ten – with a particular focus on the Star Wars franchise, particularly for his more caustic criticism.

Also the first of two antipodean popular culture critics in my top ten – yes, I have a New Zealander entry to add to this Australian one.

RATING: 4 STARS****

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Youtube channel banner as at 26 March 2024

(10) SUPERCUT DELIGHTS (USA 2019)

“I primarily make video essays and the occasional meme video on popular shows and movies. I used to make supercuts / minute-straight videos until transitioning into what the channel is today.”

As per the bio and channel name, this Youtuber started off with ‘supercuts’ or short ‘clip’ videos – splicing together clips from television or film, usually to a running gag or theme, with the most common being “devoid of logic” as demonstrated from recurring video titles e.g. “Season 8 of Game of Thrones Being Devoid of Logic”.

And as that sample video title indicates, the original focus of the channel was Game of Thrones – and while that (and House of the Dragon) remains a substantial focus, the channel has long since branched off into other TV series or film.

While my favorite type of popular culture criticism remains that of sarcasm and snark – what TV Tropes dubs the Caustic Critic, something we’ll see much more of in this top ten – Supercuts Delights is perhaps the most measured reviewer in my top ten as well as the one with least of an ax to grind, often alternating positive appreciation with negative criticism, even on the same subject or in matching videos. For example, he did a video on the Top 10 Characters Ruined by the Last Seasons of Game of Thrones – as well as a video on the top ten characters that weren’t. Similarly, for an example that does not use Game of Thrones, he did a video of the top ten best changes made by the recent Netflix live-action series of Avatar: The Last Airbender – and a video of the worst.

There’s not much more to say – I’m always a fan of top ten or similar lists, but contrary to the impression you might have from the video titles I noted above, he does more straightforward reviews as well. He also tends to be admirably compact, keeping his video content relatively short and without any bloat in duration.

RATING: 4 STARS****

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Yes – it’s my top ten of the Tube!

Alternatively, my top ten Tubers – Youtubers or Youtube channels.

You all know what it is – after all, it is the second most viewed website after Google Search – the American online video sharing platform, launched in 2005 and purchased by Google in 2006.

So this is my top ten video producers or channels sharing their videos on the platform. Since my Youtube viewing tastes are predominantly reviews or commentary of popular culture, particularly film or television, my top ten exclusively consists of reviewers or commentators in popular culture, film or television. I do have Youtube viewing tastes in history and other topics which I feature in my special mentions – indeed more than half of the entries there.