Items14The creator’s order
  1. 1Captain DisillusionCaptain DisillusionAlan Melikdjanian, as Captain Disillusion, has spent years taking apart viral videos frame by frame to show how the visual effects were done. Each episode doubles as a lesson in editing and compositing, built from his own elaborate practical demonstrations, and the deadpan silver-faced character…0i
  2. 2Ross ScottRoss ScottRoss Scott began with the long-running Half-Life machinima Freeman's Mind and built Accursed Farms into a home for Ross's Game Dungeon, affectionate deep dives into obscure and forgotten PC games. His concern for what happens when games are switched off led him to start the Stop Killing Games…0i
  3. 3Lindsay EllisLindsay EllisLindsay Ellis moved from comedy reviews as the Nostalgia Chick to some of the most influential film essays on YouTube, on musicals, Disney adaptations and the making of the Hobbit trilogy, whose multi-part analysis earned a Hugo nomination. She stepped back from video in 2021 and has since focused…0i
  4. 4Anita SarkeesianAnita SarkeesianAnita Sarkeesian's Feminist Frequency series Tropes vs. Women in Video Games (2013 to 2017) catalogued recurring patterns, such as the damsel in distress, with hundreds of clearly cited game clips. It made her the target of a sustained harassment campaign, and it remains one of the most discussed…0i
  5. 5Kirby FergusonKirby FergusonKirby Ferguson's Everything Is a Remix (2010 onwards) argued that creativity is built from copying, transforming and combining, and backed it with carefully edited side-by-side comparisons from music, film and technology. He has updated the series over the years and followed it with This Is Not a…0i
  6. 6HbomberguyHbomberguyHarry Brewis, known as Hbomberguy, mixes jokes with patient argument in long essays on games, television and online misinformation. His four-hour Plagiarism and You(Tube) (2023) documented copying by several well-known creators with exhaustive side-by-side evidence, and his 2019 Donkey Kong 64…0i
  7. 7Abigail ThornAbigail ThornAbigail Thorn started Philosophy Tube in 2013 to offer free philosophy lessons after English university fees rose, and from 2018 turned her videos into theatrical productions with sets, costumes and characters. The essays explain ideas from Kant to the ethics of data with real clarity, and her work…0i
  8. 8ContraPointsContraPointsNatalie Wynn's ContraPoints videos answer online extremism and culture-war arguments with elaborate sets, costumes and recurring characters, mixing philosophy with camp theatre. Essays on topics from envy to cancel culture are long, funny and carefully argued, and in 2022 her work was recognised by…0i
  9. 9Mikey NeumannMikey NeumannMikey Neumann, formerly a writer on Borderlands at Gearbox Software, created Movies with Mikey on his FilmJoy channel to celebrate what films do well rather than tear them down. The warm, enthusiastic series was nominated for an Emmy in 2017, and it remains a welcome antidote to cynical criticism.0i
  10. 10Patrick Willems (filmmaker)Patrick Willems (filmmaker)Patrick Willems switched from short films to video essays in 2016, writing thoughtful, funny pieces on blockbusters, directors and the state of the film business. He keeps making his own films alongside them, including Night of the Coconut (2022), so his criticism comes from someone who knows how…0i