Reaction Videos - Praise and Rants
I LOVE reaction videos, although I'm not sure why. I only typically watch them for Once Upon A Time and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., shows that, I myself have watched probably a 100 times a piece. So what is so fascinating about watching other people watch shows I can literally quote line by line and know exactly what is going to happen during every second? Probably because I can NEVER get anyone around me to watch these shows and I kind of live vicariously through complete strangers watching them. Maybe I kind of feel like I'm "sharing" my shows with these people and it bonds us in this weird way.
I have been on YouTube since the dawn of it's inception, and I've gone through about every YouTube phase, although my favorite will always be fan videos, but reactions are now slowly topping out my history lists more than fan videos lately. But they seem to have their pluses and minuses. Most started out in their entirety on Patreon and, as much as I'd LOVE to watch entire reactions, that could just get too expensive for me. Besides, watching an entire episode with someone talking over the ENTIRE thing would probably drive me insane (one of the reasons why I rarely listen to the commentary that comes on discs). Ten minutes of edited video and a discussion at the end is good enough for me, so YouTube it is!
Obviously, I started out with Liam Duke, who got me on the kick when he started Once (and he's a HUGE S.H.I.E.L.D. fan, so that helped) and then added JayPerView, who also does both shows, although he lags a bit with S.H.I.E.L.D. I think my fascination started with both those guys because, at least on the Once front, it's not typically a show that men would typically like, and I loved the fact that these guys seemed to get very attached to Once very quickly.
Then I started looking out for other viewers, but I found out that a LOT of people start shows, but never finish them or drop off of YouTube for one reason or another. There is also a lot of copyright issues with reaction vids and, if they aren't handled just so, a lot of them get blocked. The Normies is another really great channel for S.H.I.E.L.D. reactions, and they are almost caught up in real-time, so that's been a fun journey with them, especially considering they weren't really jazzed about the show to begin with, and now they love it!
I also don't comment a lot on YouTube (rarely ever) because I do have social media issues, but I've noticed that YouTube commenters make Facebook ones seem like small potatoes when it comes to being HORRIBLE! I started a new channel, Shelley Davis, and I started commenting there, and it went well, so I started commenting over at Liam and Jay's pages as well...not a lot, but gently and very carefully.
I started another new channel, After Show Reactions and, although I watch both her Once and S.H.I.E.L.D. reactions still, I got burned VERY early on by leaving comments (trying to be nice mind you, but it went south VERY quickly). I didn't think I was being spoiler-y (I try not to do that), my first comment was basically a "hey, I really love reaction vids and I'm looking forward to yours since Once is one of my favorite shows" (or something to that effect) and how amazing the character developments were. She had questioned in the first episode whether more fairy tale characters would appear, so I believe I did mention that other characters were coming, but that WOULD be spoilers, so I would leave that info out. Someone commented about how they quit watching after a while because of "certain" events that happen by series 7...which, yes, I did goof here because I was responding to another commenter and not thinking about spoilers at that point and mentioned that, even though it was hard on the "OG Oncers" for the show to change so much, by the end of Season 7 I was starting to get into it and would have liked to see it go on, but the show literally ended on the best possible note it could have and it was the truest of love letters to the fans they could have given us. And that's where I screwed up I guess. Obviously, others had made spoiler-y comments too, but I noticed that my comment had disappeared. I have NEVER had a comment removed before! By episode 3 of Once, she was making comments in the video about spoiler comments, so I kind of freaked out a little bit and re-read my comments (which is when I noticed my second comment was gone) and I went back to re-read my first comment and further down on that page on another obviously spoiler post was a comment from someone that read that hit me like a ton of bricks (and it's a direct quote, so the bad grammar and spelling issues stay):
"i completely agree with you about spoilers . some overexcited fans can't help but give hints , i hate that , and when you confront them they give disingenuous reasons why this or that is not "technically" a spoiler . cant wait for your next OUAT reaction. i wish there wad more than one episode a week , but i'll tale that gladly :)"
I'm sorry, "disingenuous reasons why this or that is not technically a spoiler"? And the girl who runs the channel supported this commenter and, not only agreed, but swore she was removing the offending poster's comments as she was reading that (shortly after was when my second comment disappeared according to time stamps). I immediately deleted my first comment after reading that (even though I had several likes and comments following it). For the record, I haven't commented on another reaction video since (hers or anyone else's). My removed comment has since turned back up, but I went back in and deleted it myself just because I didn't care for the overall attitude.
Yes, I am a DEVOTED Oncer and it is hard for me to explain the show without giving away spoilers, especially since I've seen it SOOO many times and it's like second nature to me. I try to be careful, I just slipped a bit responding to the other commenter. I didn't mention names or characters, but I sometimes forget that not a lot of people follow even general entertainment news like I do so, even for shows that I don't watch, I know the gist of what goes on behind the scenes. Almost the entire cast of a show getting replaced and then that series getting cancelled, would have flagged up on my radar, whether I watched it or not. It starts out with "all the fairy tale characters you know, or think you know" and since there are like 10 in the first episode, one can SAFELY assume in SEVEN SEASONS more characters are going to show up, so mentioning that isn't "disingenuous" at all! Most people who know enough about Once to watch it, know Captain Hook is a big part of the show, but he doesn't appear until Season 2. Hey, there's a spoiler for ya!
Then there is the issue of how deep people's Disney knowledge goes. People who call themselves Disney fans, I often find don't actually know that much about Disney! I am a Disney purist and Once is the only exception to that rule and I completely allowed them to break it every single week, but I've watched reaction videos where they don't know the difference between Snow White, Cinderella, or Sleeping Beauty, but claim they are "Disney fans". This bugs me too. If you don't know Disney, then fine, but don't spend the entire reaction video asking questions that any basic Disney fan would know and then get pissed when someone answers you in the comments. I hold off on doing that because I don't want to sound too snotty, but come on! Again, "these are the characters you know...or THINK you know", so if Maleficent has blonde hair because the actress does, GET OVER IT! (and yes, I can't believe this Disney purist just said that).
Like I said, I do still watch her channel because I do like her reactions, but I definitely stay away from the comments completely now. I can't deal. I also can't really handle how some of the commenters respond to commenters who are just trying to help (or who are really just answering other viewers of the show who know what is happening...kind of like a private conversation between two old Oncer friends...despite the channel owner not knowing what they are talking about.
The whole situation has made me want to start up a reaction channel of my own, but maybe one where I watch Once or S.H.I.E.L.D. with someone who has never seen it before...me with my extensive background with the show, and them with no knowledge whatsoever, and I can (possibly) keep quiet while the episode is playing and we can discuss afterwards. My comment section could be as spoiler-y as people want to make it (since it would be among fellow Oncers) and it would be as friendly as possible! Who knows! I just have to find a willing victim that I can tie to a chair and make them watch it with me...which is the reason why I have to watch reaction videos because no one in my "real life" will! Oh well.
Do you guys watch reaction videos? If you do, why do you watch them and what do you think?
I have been on YouTube since the dawn of it's inception, and I've gone through about every YouTube phase, although my favorite will always be fan videos, but reactions are now slowly topping out my history lists more than fan videos lately. But they seem to have their pluses and minuses. Most started out in their entirety on Patreon and, as much as I'd LOVE to watch entire reactions, that could just get too expensive for me. Besides, watching an entire episode with someone talking over the ENTIRE thing would probably drive me insane (one of the reasons why I rarely listen to the commentary that comes on discs). Ten minutes of edited video and a discussion at the end is good enough for me, so YouTube it is!
Obviously, I started out with Liam Duke, who got me on the kick when he started Once (and he's a HUGE S.H.I.E.L.D. fan, so that helped) and then added JayPerView, who also does both shows, although he lags a bit with S.H.I.E.L.D. I think my fascination started with both those guys because, at least on the Once front, it's not typically a show that men would typically like, and I loved the fact that these guys seemed to get very attached to Once very quickly.
Then I started looking out for other viewers, but I found out that a LOT of people start shows, but never finish them or drop off of YouTube for one reason or another. There is also a lot of copyright issues with reaction vids and, if they aren't handled just so, a lot of them get blocked. The Normies is another really great channel for S.H.I.E.L.D. reactions, and they are almost caught up in real-time, so that's been a fun journey with them, especially considering they weren't really jazzed about the show to begin with, and now they love it!
I also don't comment a lot on YouTube (rarely ever) because I do have social media issues, but I've noticed that YouTube commenters make Facebook ones seem like small potatoes when it comes to being HORRIBLE! I started a new channel, Shelley Davis, and I started commenting there, and it went well, so I started commenting over at Liam and Jay's pages as well...not a lot, but gently and very carefully.
I started another new channel, After Show Reactions and, although I watch both her Once and S.H.I.E.L.D. reactions still, I got burned VERY early on by leaving comments (trying to be nice mind you, but it went south VERY quickly). I didn't think I was being spoiler-y (I try not to do that), my first comment was basically a "hey, I really love reaction vids and I'm looking forward to yours since Once is one of my favorite shows" (or something to that effect) and how amazing the character developments were. She had questioned in the first episode whether more fairy tale characters would appear, so I believe I did mention that other characters were coming, but that WOULD be spoilers, so I would leave that info out. Someone commented about how they quit watching after a while because of "certain" events that happen by series 7...which, yes, I did goof here because I was responding to another commenter and not thinking about spoilers at that point and mentioned that, even though it was hard on the "OG Oncers" for the show to change so much, by the end of Season 7 I was starting to get into it and would have liked to see it go on, but the show literally ended on the best possible note it could have and it was the truest of love letters to the fans they could have given us. And that's where I screwed up I guess. Obviously, others had made spoiler-y comments too, but I noticed that my comment had disappeared. I have NEVER had a comment removed before! By episode 3 of Once, she was making comments in the video about spoiler comments, so I kind of freaked out a little bit and re-read my comments (which is when I noticed my second comment was gone) and I went back to re-read my first comment and further down on that page on another obviously spoiler post was a comment from someone that read that hit me like a ton of bricks (and it's a direct quote, so the bad grammar and spelling issues stay):
"i completely agree with you about spoilers . some overexcited fans can't help but give hints , i hate that , and when you confront them they give disingenuous reasons why this or that is not "technically" a spoiler . cant wait for your next OUAT reaction. i wish there wad more than one episode a week , but i'll tale that gladly :)"
I'm sorry, "disingenuous reasons why this or that is not technically a spoiler"? And the girl who runs the channel supported this commenter and, not only agreed, but swore she was removing the offending poster's comments as she was reading that (shortly after was when my second comment disappeared according to time stamps). I immediately deleted my first comment after reading that (even though I had several likes and comments following it). For the record, I haven't commented on another reaction video since (hers or anyone else's). My removed comment has since turned back up, but I went back in and deleted it myself just because I didn't care for the overall attitude.
Yes, I am a DEVOTED Oncer and it is hard for me to explain the show without giving away spoilers, especially since I've seen it SOOO many times and it's like second nature to me. I try to be careful, I just slipped a bit responding to the other commenter. I didn't mention names or characters, but I sometimes forget that not a lot of people follow even general entertainment news like I do so, even for shows that I don't watch, I know the gist of what goes on behind the scenes. Almost the entire cast of a show getting replaced and then that series getting cancelled, would have flagged up on my radar, whether I watched it or not. It starts out with "all the fairy tale characters you know, or think you know" and since there are like 10 in the first episode, one can SAFELY assume in SEVEN SEASONS more characters are going to show up, so mentioning that isn't "disingenuous" at all! Most people who know enough about Once to watch it, know Captain Hook is a big part of the show, but he doesn't appear until Season 2. Hey, there's a spoiler for ya!
Then there is the issue of how deep people's Disney knowledge goes. People who call themselves Disney fans, I often find don't actually know that much about Disney! I am a Disney purist and Once is the only exception to that rule and I completely allowed them to break it every single week, but I've watched reaction videos where they don't know the difference between Snow White, Cinderella, or Sleeping Beauty, but claim they are "Disney fans". This bugs me too. If you don't know Disney, then fine, but don't spend the entire reaction video asking questions that any basic Disney fan would know and then get pissed when someone answers you in the comments. I hold off on doing that because I don't want to sound too snotty, but come on! Again, "these are the characters you know...or THINK you know", so if Maleficent has blonde hair because the actress does, GET OVER IT! (and yes, I can't believe this Disney purist just said that).
Like I said, I do still watch her channel because I do like her reactions, but I definitely stay away from the comments completely now. I can't deal. I also can't really handle how some of the commenters respond to commenters who are just trying to help (or who are really just answering other viewers of the show who know what is happening...kind of like a private conversation between two old Oncer friends...despite the channel owner not knowing what they are talking about.
The whole situation has made me want to start up a reaction channel of my own, but maybe one where I watch Once or S.H.I.E.L.D. with someone who has never seen it before...me with my extensive background with the show, and them with no knowledge whatsoever, and I can (possibly) keep quiet while the episode is playing and we can discuss afterwards. My comment section could be as spoiler-y as people want to make it (since it would be among fellow Oncers) and it would be as friendly as possible! Who knows! I just have to find a willing victim that I can tie to a chair and make them watch it with me...which is the reason why I have to watch reaction videos because no one in my "real life" will! Oh well.
Do you guys watch reaction videos? If you do, why do you watch them and what do you think?
Comments
Linda
In general, Youtube commenters can be really mean. Yeah, people have different levels of spoiler sensitivity (I have a co worker who absolutely refused to participate in any speculations what Avengers Endgame might be about, because if we got something right by accident he would have felt spoilt in retroperspective), but if you are super sensitive, maybe don't read the comments? Gee, it's not that hard. I don't like being hit with spoilers soon after something comes out, either, but if I'm late to the show, I'll make a concious effort to avoid spoilers, not expect everybody to tippy-toe around me.