How do you feel about the Angry Video Game Nerd?

[Turo602]

Originally Posted by Coola Yagami

Not to much. I seen an ep or two and know he had some other guys there other than Mike, but I forgot who they are.

There's apparently a thing also where Mike happens to be well endowed in the manhood department and has flashed it in old chats, I guess at some point they had some sort of public chats? But that seems to be another reason why people don't like him.

The whole big dick thing was a running joke based on some photos where people said you can see the outline of his penis and he seemed to embrace it but out of nowhere, he acted "bothered" by it and posted his dick on the cinemasscre subreddit and on his Twitter as a "there, you seen it so stop talking about it" kind of thing. But if that wasn't strange enough, he went through the trouble of measuring it to confirm it was 10 inches, which he did using a camera trick to make it appear larger than it was, which people called him out on.

The dude is just completely self destructive and attention seeking. He even made an alternate account to defend his actions with the most obvious username if you know anything about Mike Matei. He came in acting like a random fan telling people to go easy on him because he's already been dealt with and is going through some things, because that's something a random fan would know... The guy is just a total idiot and clearly has issues.

Personally, I think the guy was going through a break up and thought that if he posted his dick, that some fangirls would throw themselves at him. Don't ask me how I know, because that's an entirely different story.

[Prowler]

In case you guys don't know this, Screw Attack used to have its own forums and had a subforum for AVGN back in 2006-2007. Mike Matei was a user there and basically James spokesperson. James used to post on there for a while, but eventually became too busy to spend his time talking to the fans. Once he signed the deal with GameTrailers he had to start releasing a new AVGN episode every 2 weeks, remember.

Back to Mike, I remember him posting on the Screw attack forums and even though he didn't instigate any drama or anything he came across as opinionated and a bit temperamental at times. Especially when people asked him about the Irate Gamer ripping off AVGN lmao.

I didn't know much about Mike beyond his posts in SA and the fact he was the guy who drew the title cards for each AVGN episode and would occasionally dress up as Bugs Bunny or Joker in an AVGN episode. So I was rather neutral on Mike between 2006-2013 or so. I just knew him as the main behind the scenes guy.

Then the whole James and Mike Mondays series began and I quickly got to find Mike Matei rather annoying and immature due to his mannerisms and sense of humour. And eventually learned Mike was originally the bigger gamer of the duo and he was more of an Angry Gamer irl than James, with AVGN being sort of a caricature of Mike. Suddenly, a lot of it was starting to make sense.

Turo already talked about the whole dick drama. What else is there to say about it?

I'm sure Mike is a nice enough guy irl, but he comes across as the type of guy who peaked in high school as far his maturity level goes. I'm sure he'd be a cool guy to talk to for a bit but not someone I'd voluntarily hang out with in a frequent basis. He'd eventually say or do something that would embarrass me in public.

[ssjup81]

Originally Posted by Coola Yagami

Contraversial comics you say?

I've come across them. Racist and pointless...not even funny. I mean, you have junk like Family Guy that have racist jokes, but they're actually funny. Mike's was just...inappropriate...

Originally Posted by Prowler

In case you guys don't know this, Screw Attack used to have its own forums and had a subforum for AVGN back in 2006-2007. Mike Matei was a user there and basically James spokesperson. James used to post on there for a while, but eventually became too busy to spend his time talking to the fans. Once he signed the deal with GameTrailers he had to start releasing a new AVGN episode every 2 weeks, remember.

Back to Mike, I remember him posting on the Screw attack forums and even though he didn't instigate any drama or anything he came across as opinionated and a bit temperamental at times. Especially when people asked him about the Irate Gamer ripping off AVGN lmao.

I didn't know much about Mike beyond his posts in SA and the fact he was the guy who drew the title cards for each AVGN episode and would occasionally dress up as Bugs Bunny or Joker in an AVGN episode. So I was rather neutral on Mike between 2006-2013 or so. I just knew him as the main behind the scenes guy.

Then the whole James and Mike Mondays series began and I quickly got to find Mike Matei rather annoying and immature due to his mannerisms and sense of humour. And eventually learned Mike was originally the bigger gamer of the duo and he was more of an Angry Gamer irl than James, with AVGN being sort of a caricature of Mike. Suddenly, a lot of it was starting to make sense.

Turo already talked about the whole dick drama. What else is there to say about it?

I'm sure Mike is a nice enough guy irl, but he comes across as the type of guy who peaked in high school as far his maturity level goes. I'm sure he'd be a cool guy to talk to for a bit but not someone I'd voluntarily hang out with in a frequent basis. He'd eventually say or do something that would embarrass me in public.

Ironically, I started to find Mike annoying when used in Board James, but I gave him the benefit of the doubt since the character was supposed to be annoying. He was MF Mike, afterall. lol His videos, though, outside of that made me not like him much, when compared to those like Bootsy who was pretty cool. I did check out the James and Mike play videos occasionally, but I just cannot stand Mike enough to sit through them. I must agree, though, he probably did peak in high school and never matured beyond that.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by ssjup81

I've come across them. Racist and pointless...not even funny. I mean, you have junk like Family Guy that have racist jokes, but they're actually funny. Mike's was just...inappropriate...Ironically, I started to find Mike annoying when used in Board James, but I gave him the benefit of the doubt since the character was supposed to be annoying. He was MF Mike, afterall. lol His videos, though, outside of that made me not like him much, when compared to those like Bootsy who was pretty cool. I did check out the James and Mike play videos occasionally, but I just cannot stand Mike enough to sit through them. I must agree, though, he probably did peak in high school and never matured beyond that.

James and Mike Mondays were pretty hit and miss. And even the best ones weren't must watch imo.

They were just trying to attract more viewers with those videos, since streaming is such a popular thing nowadays.

[Leo656]

Watching other people play video games is like, the worst thing ever, for me.

It's like listening to someone else try and describe a dream that they had. From Over Here, I just ain't invested.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Leo656

Watching other people play video games is like, the worst thing ever, for me.

It's like listening to someone else try and describe a dream that they had. From Over Here, I just ain't invested.

I agree. And this is coming from someone who has very find memories of watching their older brother play the N64 when they were a kid. Thing is, I was a little kid. My tastes have changed. I'm not gonna sit down and watch someone play a game for 2 hours and a half on twitch.

[Turo602]

I think the appeal of James and Mike Monday's wasn't just watching 2 guys play games. It was watching James and Mike interact. People love personalities because they relate more to the people than the content. I personally didn't mind James and Mike Monday's because they were playing games not many people can even get their hands on or even want to. So in a way, it's like watching your older brother play video games as a kid because you yourself weren't going to anyway. But they were definitely most entertaining when they would just talk about the most random sh*t that had nothing to do with the game they're playing. I think that was one of Mike's best qualities actually. You can tell James is just playing a game with his friend, but Mike would try to instigate conversation with James and get him talking about things for the audience.

Originally Posted by Leo656

Watching other people play video games is like, the worst thing ever, for me.

It's like listening to someone else try and describe a dream that they had. From Over Here, I just ain't invested.

Think about playing video games or describing dreams as porn though. I mean, you're not exactly having sex yourself, but the company is nice.

[Leo656]

Yeah, but at least with porn I'm still gonna end up having an orgasm.

With video games, unless it's DOA: Beach Volleyball or Rumble Roses, the orgasm part is highly unlikely.

[Prowler]

My favourite James and Mike video is probably that one of Sonic the Hedgehog hack Roms. That one was interesting.

As for games that actually exist and one can obtain rather easily, eeh I wouldn't call it being similar to watching my older brother playing games when I was a little kid, because I could easily go buy a copy of an older NES game online or just... play it by unconventional means. It's not like I'm staring at a forbidden fruit or pot of gold that my older siblings or parents don't allow me to touch/play with.

And I can appreciate James acting like himself instead of AVGN, but Mike more often than not grates on my nerves. That video where both play Pilotwings 64 and Mike starts screaming during the cannonball missions, HOLY HELL, how cringe and annoying can one sound?!

[Turo602]

Originally Posted by Prowler

My favourite James and Mike video is probably that one of Sonic the Hedgehog hack Roms. That one was interesting.

As for games that actually exist and one can obtain rather easily, eeh I wouldn't call it being similar to watching my older brother playing games when I was a little kid, because I could easily go buy a copy of an older NES game online or just... play it by unconventional means. It's not like I'm staring at a forbidden fruit or pot of gold that my older siblings or parents don't allow me to touch/play with.

And I can appreciate James acting like himself instead of AVGN, but Mike more often than not grates on my nerves. That video where both play Pilotwings 64 and Mike starts screaming during the cannonball missions, HOLY HELL, how cringe and annoying can one sound?!

What I mean is that the average joe doesn't care enough about retro games to go seek them or play them, that watching someone they "know" play them is more of a novelty than watching them play something like Call of Duty or just watching gameplay videos of retro games.

Mike's voice is just so naturally annoying, and his personality doesn't help with that either. But I do respect him for how he's treated James and you see it most in the James and Mike videos.

There was a video a while back where James revealed he had autism and looking back, the signs are there and it's evident in his interactions with Mike. There's just something kind of off about him, socially. He's very particular about certain things and vastly knowledgeable on old movies and a very creative person. But when he's sat down with Mike and Mike is trying to make content for the channel, James is just kind of there fixated on the game and often doesn't understand that Mike is trying to make him talk for the camera. You sometimes even see it in Mike's face when James doesn't understand something or flat out ignores him that he's a little frustrated but then he just humors him anyway. It's also very telling that he's the one who got James started on YouTube and the reason anyone knows about AVGN.

He's clearly helped him a lot and guided him throughout their entire YouTube career. It's just unfortunate that Mike is so childish and self-destructive. He's very unlikable and has so many sh*tty takes on gaming because he's still stuck in the past. I did enjoy a lot of his drawing content though and he's surprisingly tolerable when he appies himself to making a well thought out video that isn't just him shooting the sh*t and being himself.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Turo602

What I mean is that the average joe doesn't care enough about retro games to go seek them or play them, that watching someone they "know" play them is more of a novelty than watching them play something like Call of Duty or just watching gameplay videos of retro games.

Mike's voice is just so naturally annoying, and his personality doesn't help with that either. But I do respect him for how he's treated James and you see it most in the James and Mike videos.

There was a video a while back where James revealed he had autism and looking back, the signs are there and it's evident in his interactions with Mike. There's just something kind of off about him, socially. He's very particular about certain things and vastly knowledgeable on old movies and a very creative person. But when he's sat down with Mike and Mike is trying to make content for the channel, James is just kind of there fixated on the game and often doesn't understand that Mike is trying to make him talk for the camera. You sometimes even see it in Mike's face when James doesn't understand something or flat out ignores him that he's a little frustrated but then he just humors him anyway. It's also very telling that he's the one who got James started on YouTube and the reason anyone knows about AVGN.

He's clearly helped him a lot and guided him throughout their entire YouTube career. It's just unfortunate that Mike is so childish and self-destructive. He's very unlikable and has so many sh*tty takes on gaming because he's still stuck in the past. I did enjoy a lot of his drawing content though and he's surprisingly tolerable when he appies himself to making a well thought out video that isn't just him shooting the sh*t and being himself.

Sure, I agree with that. Basically, those videos were made in order to attract more people to the channel. In particular younger generations who grew up watching someone like pewdiepie and twitch streamers instead of the Nerd.

I didn't know about James having autism. What video was that? Cinemassacre has so many of them that it's hard to keep track at this point.

It's "funny" because James, despite his autism, still seems like a much more well-functional adult than Mike. Unless Mike also has some sort of undiagnosed disorder or something.

I'm sure Mike is a good friend to James. I've never doubted that myself.

[Leo656]

Yeah, I didn't know that about James. It's gotta be mild, though, whatever it is. He seems extremely "high-functioning". Maybe a bit socially "odd" but again, "back in my day" we just assumed people like that were "awkward", not that they were on any kind of spectrum. I guess it makes sense, though, maybe.

I agree that if I had to guess that either of them was, though, I too would have said Mike. If I had to pick anything for him, though, I'd say he almost certainly has ADHD, if nothing else. I'm one of those people who's pretty sure that most people who get "diagnosed" with ADHD don't actually have it, but I know a few who definitely do. And if he doesn't, I'd be shocked.

[Prowler]

There's definitely a case of overdiagnosed conditions like ADHD, autism and such nowadays. No idea what psychiatrists would diagnose a young Mike Matei nowadays with. Is there a disorder for being a cringey loud obnoxious man in his late 30s who seems to have peaked in HS?

[Turo602]

Just saw it back. He didn't specifically mention he had autism, but he says he spent 7 years in a special ed school as a child when talking about the movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in this video.



I think many people have speculated he has autism since then, and I honestly wouldn't be surprised. I used to write off his awkwardness with just being a little odd, but seeing how patient and nice Mike is with him along with his life long obsession for movies and the way he can just keep going on about facts. I don't mean this in a negative way either, it just kind of fits though. It definitely hasn't impaired him in any way because he's definitely high functioning and talented.

[Leo656]

Yeah, but I do all of that stuff too, though. Granted, I graduated in 2000, before The Spectrum was "a thing", but I'm *pretty* sure I don't have any sort of autism. If you've ever heard me on one of Coola's podcasts, I can very often jump in to say "One quick thing" and then turn it into an entire rant about a hundred other things, but is that really an "autism trait"? I don't know, I must've missed that memo.

I mean, I get what you mean, but by your rather loose standards a person who watched one of my toy review videos might look at me going on a tangent about meaningless trivia while occasionally losing my train of thought and think "Man, that guy's possibly 'autistic'," when in fact the truth is I'm just doing bong hits off-camera every single time we cut. I'm 99.9999% sure I'm nowhere on any spectrum, but I AM definitely fried more often than not when doing any kind of public speaking. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar!

I don't know. I kinda think that otherwise-innocuous "quirks" of personality get labelled as "Autism Traits" a little too easily, these days. Some people don't say much. Some people ramble. Some people don't like looking people in the eye. CAN it mean something? Sure. But it can also mean absolutely nothing.

[Storm Eagle]

Originally Posted by Prowler

Sure, I agree with that. Basically, those videos were made in order to attract more people to the channel. In particular younger generations who grew up watching someone like pewdiepie and twitch streamers instead of the Nerd.

I didn't know about James having autism. What video was that? Cinemassacre has so many of them that it's hard to keep track at this point.

It's "funny" because James, despite his autism, still seems like a much more well-functional adult than Mike. Unless Mike also has some sort of undiagnosed disorder or something.

It happens. I have a mild case myself, and there have been a lot of times where I'd be around people who make me wonder if I'm the only sane person alive, if not in that room.

Originally Posted by Leo656

Yeah, I didn't know that about James. It's gotta be mild, though, whatever it is. He seems extremely "high-functioning". Maybe a bit socially "odd" but again, "back in my day" we just assumed people like that were "awkward", not that they were on any kind of spectrum. I guess it makes sense, though, maybe.

Or even worse, "retarded".

[Leo656]

"Back in my day, we'd stick guys like that in the Army; make 'em play the bugle."

[Turo602]

Originally Posted by Leo656

Yeah, but I do all of that stuff too, though. Granted, I graduated in 2000, before The Spectrum was "a thing", but I'm *pretty* sure I don't have any sort of autism. If you've ever heard me on one of Coola's podcasts, I can very often jump in to say "One quick thing" and then turn it into an entire rant about a hundred other things, but is that really an "autism trait"? I don't know, I must've missed that memo.

I mean, I get what you mean, but by your rather loose standards a person who watched one of my toy review videos might look at me going on a tangent about meaningless trivia while occasionally losing my train of thought and think "Man, that guy's possibly 'autistic'," when in fact the truth is I'm just doing bong hits off-camera every single time we cut. I'm 99.9999% sure I'm nowhere on any spectrum, but I AM definitely fried more often than not when doing any kind of public speaking. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar!

I don't know. I kinda think that otherwise-innocuous "quirks" of personality get labelled as "Autism Traits" a little too easily, these days. Some people don't say much. Some people ramble. Some people don't like looking people in the eye. CAN it mean something? Sure. But it can also mean absolutely nothing.

Going on tangents and getting high are hardly the same thing as to what I'm referencing with James though. He has enough traits and a history of learning disability and was incredibly artistic at age 11. Some serious Bob Ross sh*t. I was fairly artistic for my age growing up. My drawings were always better detailed and distinguishable from everyone else's and even I can't manage what he did at 11 years old today.

Plenty of people can show symptoms and it have other underlying reasons for it or just have that kind of personality, like Mike who just seems like a complete ass by choice. But James legitimately strikes me as autistic based on everything I know and seen of him, particularly during their James and Mike videos where they're just being themselves and James is just, off, and Mike acts really patient with him because James sometimes struggles to grasp what Mike is asking him and sometimes just flat out ignores him with such a blank stare on his face. Unless he's just completely f*cking fried out of his mind all the time, then I have no idea what's up with that guy, but he's definitely not "normal." It hasn't stopped him from becoming successful so it's not like it really matters anyway.

[frank_one]

Decades ago everyone on this forum would've been considered affected with some mental disorder. I mean, we are in our 30s and 40s, sitting here talking about toys and videogames instead of taking care of our wife, our children or our productive life.

[Leo656]

Originally Posted by Turo602

Going on tangents and getting high are hardly the same thing as to what I'm referencing with James though. He has enough traits and a history of learning disability and was incredibly artistic at age 11. Some serious Bob Ross sh*t. I was fairly artistic for my age growing up. My drawings were always better detailed and distinguishable from everyone else's and even I can't manage what he did at 11 years old today.

Plenty of people can show symptoms and it have other underlying reasons for it or just have that kind of personality, like Mike who just seems like a complete ass by choice. But James legitimately strikes me as autistic based on everything I know and seen of him, particularly during their James and Mike videos where they're just being themselves and James is just, off, and Mike acts really patient with him because James sometimes struggles to grasp what Mike is asking him and sometimes just flat out ignores him with such a blank stare on his face. Unless he's just completely f*cking fried out of his mind all the time, then I have no idea what's up with that guy, but he's definitely not "normal." It hasn't stopped him from becoming successful so it's not like it really matters anyway.

I guess, but I personally wouldn't have even guessed at anything like that until you mentioned it. All the evidence seems pretty circumstantial. BUT, again, that's me, I'm hardly an expert.

I mean, I was also very artistic at an early age. Never any learning disabilities, but I was briefly in a Talented and Gifted Program. It just seems like a lot of the "criteria" for labeling someone as "possibly autistic" could easily apply to myself or a ton of people who most others would classify as "normal" (or whatever the current PC term for it is). Even with my emotional problems, as a kid nobody even suggested there was anything unusual about that; it was just "Yeah, his parents are drug addicts and they get arrested a lot and there's a lot of violence in the house, obviously he's gonna act out."

Like you said, though, in the end it really isn't any big deal. I just can't help but notice that a lot of people get slapped with a label like Asperger's or Autism nowadays but the criteria seems very broad. Like to the point where "anybody" could be, but they also might just be "odd", y'know? I have a really good friend for over 20 years who I'd bet most people here would assume was "autistic", but if you ask him he's just introverted and doesn't like to say much. And if someone tried to label him as something, he probably wouldn't like it much; he doesn't like how you can't be just a quiet guy who doesn't hang around with people much, anymore, without someone trying to put a sticker on your personality.

I don't know. For me it's like Seasonal Depression. "Do YOU have these symptoms?" and then the list is so broad that pretty much every single person would fit on it.

I'unno. Maybe James is but I personally won't assume until I'm told. But like you said, it's not like it's a handicap, so it isn't any bug huge deal. It's just that 1. I know people who some might assume were on the spectrum and they'd resent such assumptions, and 2. I always just thought he was quirky. But if he is, then hey, no big deal, just wouldn't have guessed.