#bluworm

Report From the Ghooric Zone

Welp, I figured I might as well tell you about a few of the Youtube channels I’m a fan of that don’t get near the love they deserve, that’re more often than not more morally-sound than the big guns and yet get far less love, and that I figured I might as well show off to you, to give ‘em such!

Kim Justice- One of the better-known channels on this list, yet still obscure enough that I didn’t hear about her until recently thanks to @mendelpalace​, she’s a trans woman who reviews old; obscure video games, along with doing histories and even critiques of them; with a focus on the UK side of gaming in particular! She delves into a lot of really interesting stuff, and she goes quite deep into them, and if you’re a fan of channels like Guru Larry’s or Ashens’ she’s really fun in that regard too! If you want a place to start, check out her vid on Duke Nukem Forever or her various gaming documentaries!

Isle of Rangoon- Like MST3K? Like The Muppets? Then you’ll adore Isle of Rangoon! Their main focus is riffing on anything public domain they can get their hands on from Archive.org, with a side of puppetry, though they do have other neat secondary projects like their review series of the obscure/bizarre one-season-wonder Deadly Games!

They’re really funny too, some of the best riffing I’ve seen online, and if you want a place to start, I’d highly recommend their series riffing Colonel Bleep or their riff of Adventure In Telezonia! They even have a Tumblr you can follow too, @isleofrangoon!

Black Tub Bootlegs- One of the least known channels on this list, but it is excellent, going into detail on the nitche subject of; what else; bootleg toys! He’s got a great voice and does a lot of research into these weird little figures to cover them in detail!

If you’re looking for a place to start, I’d recommend the Madballs Knockoffs vid or his vid on the origins of one of the most bootleged toy molds ever. If you’re a fan of @phelous’ bootleg zones, I'd highly recommend this as well.

The Hungry Reader- On a more personal note, this dude, is not only a guy who I’d consider a good friend of mine; but an amazing video producer. While he does do a lot of really cool side-projects from time-to-time like his LP series Playing Ketchup or one-offs like his adaptation of his own Creepypasta The Game of Mush; his concepts for Transformers spinoffs, or his making of the entire original Zelda overworld in gingerbread, his real major project is reading and reviewing kids books!

He does a lot of really neat stuff about it,with the crown jewel being the reviews he’s doing of the Oz series, and he puts in so much work and effort to his vids that he deserves way more views than he gets. He even has two Tumblrs you can follow, @therealhungryreader and @thehungryhungryreader for updates!

Bluworm- They’re one of those folks working to bring back Harryhausen-style stop-motion in a big way, with lots and lots of amazing homemade puppets and a focus on weird fiction! Check out his Darmok and Jalad or his Lovecraft Alphabet vids to get an idea of his work!

Really Freakin Clever- We might as well end with another one of the more-notable but still relatively-underrated folks on this list! While the channel’s named for his alright-but-rarely-updated game design analysis series, his major thing is his 64 Things Wrong With series.

Which despite the name is more an affectionate MST3K-ing of the games it covers; poking fun at the things we love and also using it as an opportunity to make silly jokes. Like if Cinema Sins was actually good and not mean-spirited bullshit! And a lot of it’s really funny, even if it gets kinda dumb at times.

Empire of the Robot Monsters