Bursting out before a crowd of well over 300 fans, Geeks + Gamers host Ryan Kinel was greeted by uproarious applause this past Saturday at Orlando MegaCon 2024. The popular internet firebrand was introduced in a boisterous WWE-style by fellow YouTuber “Stuttering Craig”, who hailed him as “the Mastermind of Naughty Words!”
In short order, the crowd also welcomed a handful of other popular characters, including Kinel’s fellow Geek + Gamers host “DDayCobra”, Friday Night Tights host Gary “Nerdrotic” Beuchler, Open Bar host “The Critical Drinker”, and independent comic-book creator Eric “Rippa” July. All five were greeted with the kind of enthusiasm usually reserved for sports stars.
A late addition to the team of panelists, Scottish YouTuber “The Critical Drinker” necessitated the reservation of a much larger conference space than the 300-person room initially booked for the Geeks + Gamers panel.
The hosts of the G+G panel belong to a very popular milieu of content creators on YouTube who are often smeared by the lying mainstream media as far-right extremists, misogynists, and hatemongers. Many of these content creators rose to prominence through pointing out the woke ideology, poor quality, and inept storytelling of modern big-budget film and TV productions—most notably Disney’s Star Wars.
In describing their content, Ryan Kinel declared, “I’m just a guy who cares about good storytelling. […] Everybody just wants authenticity, regardless of whether you agree with us or not. [Our viewers] just want people that are being real and giving you their honest opinions.”
Gary “Nerdrotic” Beuchler said, “We’re fans. We’re on our side. We’re on the side that Hollywood has completely forgotten about. They took you all for granted. They’re failing because they forgot about you.” Responding to recent criticism from George R. R. Martin, Beuchler declared, “We’ve always argued. We’ve always said Stuff sucks! and Stuff is great! There’s no such thing as an anti-fan.” Beuchler has been very outspoken in his criticism of Martin, specifically, his inability to finish writing Game of Thrones, but has also praised the first season of Martin’s House of the Dragon.
Pointing to the creative endeavors of “The Critical Drinker” and himself, Eric “Rippa” July declared that the support of regular people was making it possible to circumvent the regular publishing and entertainment gatekeepers. July said, “We don’t have to jump through the hoops of Hollywood and all that goofy stuff that you used to have to do.”
Partway through the panel, “The Critical Drinker” announced that he has a film in the works.
In the evening after the panel, a Geeks + Gamers get-together was held at the “CityWalk” at Universal Orlando Resort. While Universal Studios was initially expecting a mere 150 patrons to attend the event, they later reported that there were actually 600 attendees.
In a February 5 video recapping the events of Orlando MegaCon, Ryan Kinnel reported that Universal Studios was very enthusiastic to be working with Geeks + Gamers and was excited for next year’s MegaCon.
Comic book industry veteran Ethan van Sciver (creator of CyberFrog) has expressed some degree of criticism for Eric July and Friday Night Tights-affiliated content creators for not doing enough to promote the work of up-and-coming non-woke artists and writers. Sciver (often referred to by his initials, “EVS”) has also accused them of being narrow-minded and ignorant about certain aspects of the comic book and entertainment industry. When brought to his attention, Ryan Kinel has responded magnanimously to the criticism.
What do you think of Geeks + Gamers at Megacon? Leave a comment and let us know.
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