The End of an Era (Super Best Friends Play)
Have you ever thought about something that may happen, but never thought or worried too much about it because you knew it wouldn’t happen yet, but find out a few days or so later that the thing you thought wouldn’t happen actually happened? It wasn’t the exact reason why it happened, but the outcome was the same. Well, when I woke up this morning to get ready to do laundry, this happened...
So for those who haven’t heard by now, or don’t care depending on what side fo the spectrum of YouTube content you’re on, Matt Kowalewski, Patrick Boivin and Woolie Madden, Youtubers of the channel “Super Best Friends Play”, is disbanding the channel. The reason being, mentioned by Woolie, is the fact that “Matt and Pat are no longer friends”. He didn’t go into detail, but he said it was getting “less and less fun” to make content.
They posted a video this morning, each at their own home, explaining what will be the fate of the channel as well as what are each individual’s plans for the future, which is continuing on their separate channels and leaving the main channel as an archive of their videos. The video itself is sad to hear, but watching it tells another story.
As Woolie has mentioned, it would seem that the business side of things has eroded the friendship Matt and Pat had. This is a common thing with some YouTubers, or pretty much any partnership that’s based on a friendship in general. Once business gets in the way, there are bound to be disagreements among those involved and tend to make things difficult once relationships are in the mix (look at how “The Creatures” ended).
You can tell it has taken a toll on both Woolie and Matt, however, Pat doesn’t seemed too affected.
Woolie, who first shows up in the video, looks tired and frustrated. It seems that he has been in the middle of whatever has been happening for a while and if anything, he looks more upset than both Matt and Pat. Mind you, Super Best Friends started with just Matt and Pat, with Woolie coming in later and becoming the host of their “Super Best Friendcast” podcast. Woolie is a mutual friend between the two. Another part of the team was Liam Allen-Miller, who left two years ago.
The next person to show up is Matt, who was pretty much the boss of the entire channel, the leader of the “Best Friends Zaibatsu”, as he called it. As he tries to give thanks and explain the future of the channel, you can tell he’s swelling up in his voice and trying hard to hold back tears and to keep his voice from breaking.
Last to show is Patrick. Unlike the other two, Pat seems more calm about what has happened. I wouldn’t say it’s safe to assume he’s relieved that the break up has happened, but more the fact that things will be much easier for him. However, this is at the cost of his friendship with Matt.
As a former YouTuber and a fan of these guys since their beginnings on Machinima, it sucks seeing a channel you like being suddenly ended. What really sucks is this is one of the few channels that I can relate to the creators and actually enjoy.
I just turned 30 a few months ago and my taste in YouTube content has changed. Yes, I know there are YouTubers in or over my age range that produce video game content, but Super Best Friends Play became something I can relate to. I wasn’t a big fan of gaming YouTubers who would just yell or scream, always playing the same game over and over, and who’s humor was nothing more than dick jokes and toilet humor (looking at you, Game Grumps!). SBFP was just a bunch of guys playing video games, joking around and making fun of how each other played the game, mixed with random stories from their pasts and experiences, giving some tip or trivia of the game and its developers, producers and testers, and even giving some insight on the gaming industry itself as well as comedy that, granted not the best, was beyond better than what other gaming YouTubers would do, which is just being loud and jokes only 12 year olds would laugh hard at.
And it’s not even just these three that made the brand better, not even just the fans. These guys created bridges to other content creators through art, music, culture, entertainment and gaming, all through the years.
As a brand, Super Best Friends Play brought that mixture of different fandoms, gaming, music, anime, movies, comics, wrestling, tv, etc., and brought them all together. There have been collaborations with other content creators, those who do their channel and video intro arts and animations, those who visit them in Canada and join them on their podcast shows, people who hosted their streams and have had their streams hosted by them and then there are those who they are fans of and would visit their YouTube channels, or better yet meet them at their shows or events. Some even were just fans of the channel and vice versa. It was great to see a channel that wasn’t just about video games, but about connecting with fans, being fans of the things they liked and connecting that bridge to show people what other things they may like. The Super Best Friends were like literal Super Friends who had the power to connect so many people and brings so many different types of people together, regardless of differences.
And there have been so many moments from these guys, I can’t think of all of them. Thankfully, there are fans who make compilations of their Lets Plays and streams and compile it all together to give us all the funny and crazy experiences these guys provide us almost daily. But there are a few that stand out in my mind when I think of these guys.
There has been a running gag about how Matt “enjoys” the Japanese adult actress Hitomi Tanaka, or “Hitomi J-Cup” as he commonly refers her as. Now, you’d think someone like her wouldn’t even give Matt the time of day, just thinking of him as another pervy fan. But no! Recently, she bought a Nintendo Switch and has started streaming and even asked Matt to a game of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. To me, it was a win for Matt as he finally got to do something with Hitomi Tanaka and I was actually proud of him to feature her in a video with him.
Another running gag is how wrong Pat is. During any time he’s explaining a game or saying that something will or won’t happen in the game, the opposite would happen. This leads to him being frustrated, however, there are times his “Crazy Talk” would help him.
Another moment that’s infamous is Woolie’s decision on whether getting his copy of Marvel vs Capcom 3 or have a threesome with two girls he met while waiting for his copy. I’ll let you all guess which one he picked.
The Super Best Friends has brought us viewers a mixture of pop culture references, insane moments, hilarious nerd arguments and overall hype that I feel only this channel could bring. I never thought that watching a bunch of guys playing video games on Youtube would bring so much fun and joy, knowing that there are people out there who enjoy some of the same things I grew up with and can still talk about it years later, then bring other people together and laugh and joke with while enjoying other culture and experiences. Its sad it has all come to and end, but here’s to hoping that whatever fall out the two main staples of the channel had will eventually be destroyed and the Zaibatsu can come back stronger than ever!
