Game Grumps

About

Game Grumps is a YouTube collaboration channel hosted by YouTubers JonTron and Egoraptor in which they play a variety of classic video games while providing commentaries and having a casual conversation with each other. Since its launch in July 2012, the video channel has quickly developed a fanbase consisting of video game enthusiasts and subscribers to the two hosts’ personal YouTube channels.

Online History

On July 18th, 2012, both JonTron^[1] and Egoraptor^[2] uploaded an introductory video to their respective YouTube channels, explaining the launch of their new collaborative series in which they play video games while having casual conversations.

The same day, the pilot episode of Game Grumps was uploaded to the main channel^[4], featuring gameplay of “Kirby Super Star” for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The pilot episode gained more than 368,000 views in less than a month.

Throughout July and August, the channel has released at least 41 episodes that cover a range of classic video games including Zelda: A Link to the Past, Mega Man 7, Goof Troop and Pokemon Emerald. Within first two weeks of launch, the channel accrued nearly 7 million video views and more than 150,000 subscribers.

Notable Episodes

Fandom

With their reputation as notable gamers on YouTube prior to forming the collaboration, Game Grumps was able to quickly build its fanbase in a relatively short period of time. One of the recurring motifs throughout the series is the hosts’ tendency to sing out their lines during conversations, some of which have been re-contextualized into electronic dance music and mash-up songs featuring video game theme songs. One of the most prominent fan remix artists is YouTuber WaterFlame^[3] whose channel features a variety of songs based on short soundbites, punchlines or other audio samples taken from the Game Grumps series.

In addition to remixes, memorable quotes uttered by the hosts have been popularized by the fans. Among the most notable ones is “Seven Asses,” which was originally quoted in the episode “Mega Man 7 – Seven Asses. – Part 8”^[5]. In the episode, Egoraptor asks JonTron “How much ass do you think Megaman gets?” in an attempt to keep from spoiling game elements for the audience. JonTron replies by counting up to seven, and finishing with, “seven asses”. A conversation sprouted about the phrase, and how the fan base should “turn it into something”.

Animations

[researching]

A trend has developed in the fandom of notable segments of dialogue being set to corresponding animations.

Search Interest

External References