I should update that thing. MatPat did. What started as Matthew Patrick making a resume and trying to get into theater turned into a five channel empire, a bunch of merchandise, a side gig helping other YouTubers reach his level of success or close to it, and entertaining thousands of people around the world using science, history, looooooooooooooooore, and other random trivia to prove theories both interesting and questionable. I’m not even sure the theory itself was always the goal so much as teaching people about other topics and just having some fun.
Well, MatPat is gone…from the theorists. I think he might still be doing GT Live for awhile, but the four channels he created will now have new hosts, previous writers and contributors to the Theorist Network and their specific shows who have gotten practice in cameos and YouTube Shorts. Now they’re in charge, but how well do they compare to MatPat or do they do a good enough job on their own that I might keep watching. That’s OUR theory for today.
All week the four channels–Game Theory, Film Theory, Food Theory, and Style Theory have dropped their first full episodes with the new host, so we’re going to watch them and see how they did. Two of these shows I’ll probably give a better chance than others as far as what I’ll be watching based solely on my interests, but like I keep saying, I don’t have to enjoy something to recognize it as a quality work. Those are the two things I’ll be looking at: are they worthy successors, and will I continue watching? A couple of shows are topics I only watched first out of curiosity and then because of MatPat, but that doesn’t mean I’ll stop watching with the new crew. It also doesn’t mean I’ll keep watching or that said decision reflects on the show more than what I’m into and my still large YouTube backlog. So let’s get started.
Game Theory
new host: Tom Robinson
First up is the signature show of the Network and the Game Theorists channel. For his first Game Theory assignment he’s chosen one on the horror game Poppy Playtime, about a toy factory that is actually a death trap due to how the toys were made. Human souls are involved–of course, but other body parts are also involved. I think. If you know me, you know I’m not a horror fan, but that didn’t stop me from watching previous episodes about this game or others like Five Nights At Freddy’s out of curiosity about how the story would be explored. I think I even posted one of MatPat’s haunted pizzaria videos as a daily quickpost or something. Let’s see if Tom can pull off the same trick.
I wonder if the fact that the kid on the phone has the same name as MatPat’s son is a coincidence? One of MatPat’s final theories was on the relationship between theorist channels like this and how the designers approached the game and backstory. It’s not a surprise that he is familiar with the “voice” of Game Theory as one of the writers during MatPat’s period, especially this game in particular. It may time to find his own style or maybe it stays this way. Either way, it still feels like Game Theory with a different voice box, at least for now. All the happy theorizing you expect from this show is still there. So I’ll probably stick around, if only to see what Tom eventually does to make it his show rather than a shadow of MatPat.
Film Theory
new host: Forest Lee
Not sure why he goes by his last name. Lee is one of the early contributors to the Game Theorists channel, which is why I find it strange that he’s doing Film Theory instead, but it’s not like the others stuck with games. Drake went on to do his own channel about comics. Plus, he explains he was with the Film Theorists channel from the beginning. For his official debut, Lee is going over Kung Fu Panda 4 with the question of whether or not Po is turning to the dark side and why it’s the turtle mentor’s fault. I know about as much about this franchise as I do Poppy Playtime, as in “it exists”, so let’s see if he keeps me interested.
Having no knowledge of the series beyond Jack Black and Angelina Jolie did the movies but not the series and that it’s about a panda doing kung fu, I can’t debate anything here. He does make some good points to those of us who haven’t seen it at least. Like Tom, Lee is already well familiar with the format of the show, and even if he makes minor changes as he starts writing as himself instead of MatPat, I think this could be a good show. Looking forward to more installments.
Food Theory
new host: Santi Massa
Now we get to the first of two shows I was into more for the host than the topic. Between my sensitive taste buds, the Crohn’s Disease, and me being me I’m not a foodie…which is almost heretical given how many Italians are in my family, but nothing I can do about that. Santi has made a few appearances but this is first full episode as host. You know what else Crohn’s sufferers should avoid? Spicy foods, though with my taste buds I already was. However, these might not be the best for the rest of you.
These final two shows require more on-screen time so just being good at voiceover isn’t enough. Santi does a good job, but this is a topic I really have no interest in. When MatPat started this channel I thought he’d do more about the history, or lore of, various foods and food commercials. Testing different foods doesn’t interest me, but if we get stories of company history or exploring the story of a particular advertising campaign I may watch those episodes, but I wouldn’t have watched this topic if not for this article.
Personally, I want Santi to cover one bit of food ad lore that MatPat didn’t touch: the sad history of Sonny, the Cocoa Puffs cuckoo bird. Driven to a chocolate addiction by his grandfather, with a group of kids feeding his addiction for the same amount of laughs (I’m convinced they’re the same kids that won’t let that rabbit have Trix despite the rest of kiddom actually voting to let him have his favorite serial–“just this once” my foot!), Sonny would so be driven to pushing the chocolate cereal on THEIR kids. After another visit from grandpa, Cocoa Puffs ads were finally silenced by parent groups who hate any ads for kids because they don’t want to be bothered. I wonder if Sonny ever finally got cleaned out or died in a tub of chocolatey milk? The world may never know. Unless you can get on that, Santi!
Style Theory
new host: Amy Roberts
This is the other show that I only watched for MatPat, which should be obvious with the view photos and videos of me on this site. Style is not my big interest, but at the time Matt and Stephanie were trying to up their style game so they would forget they’re feel less like old people since having a child. Wait until you hit 50, folks! Still, he did do an episode about Hulk’s pants so maybe Amy’s first show as host instead of contributor will…be about saving legs. Something only around 50% of the audience does, and I don’t mean they’re all women. Still, here to judge their talent, not their topics.
Of the quartet Amy is the one who was already working on the show even when MatPat was on. She helped with hosting on topics that she played a role in while the others either hadn’t run a Theorist show (unless they have their own channel) in a while or had been on the show but didn’t take part in the voiceover hosting duties. This gives Amy an advantage going in, and she does warm up to her solo march as the video goes on. She’s certainly learned how to run a video series out of her house. Which reminds me: if the Theorist Network ran out of the Patrick family home, where is Theorist HQ now?
However, the biggest problem is the topic: style. It’s just not something I’m interested in. I suppose if there was an episode about superhero capes or something I might watch, and I am going to stay subscribed for a while longer, but this one I was clearly watching for MatPat because I was watching his other shows. If not for the other Theory shows, I probably wouldn’t have watched this show at all. I didn’t really finish the episode before writing this, though I did finish after. Granted it mostly played in the background and I only looked when I needed to. I will give it a chance to stay in my subscriptions for now. It’s a cliché, but it’s not you, Style Theory, it’s me. Like the disposable razor. 😀
I will note that it seems she has gotten the most personally out of doing the show previously, which is nice. It’s interesting when fans talk about how much a show has helped them, but to see how making the show has benefited the host/creator is even more interesting. I know I’ve gotten to do some cool things with the videos and I would like to do them again, while writing the articles is surprisingly educational. I didn’t realize how much I’d learn from the Sing Me A Story series alone.
final opinion
old writer: still me
So that’s my thoughts overall. All four shows have hosts that are good at what they do and keep the show interesting so long as you have any interest in the topic. There’s the rub, however. Game Theory and Film Theory I watched for the topics as much as I did MatPat’s presentation, so I’m probably going to stick with those shows. Food Theory and Style Theory I watched because it was a host I enjoyed in other shows and occasionally a topic did interest me or at least had some interesting trivia about history or science that made it worth watching, so I’m probably not going to stick with those shows long term. They’re still good but I was watching for a different reason, and not the topics.
I will be watching all four a bit longer, to see how they each develop their own way of doing things as the show goes on. The same creative team is still there for the shows but as the hosts find their own voice it may change the way the show runs, while still maintaining the basic formula. Change that and you change the show too much and risk losing your audience. We’ll see how things go. So which hosts do you think did a good job and if you follow these shows, which ones will you continue following, or if you don’t, which shows may you actually pick up? Curious how they did elsewhere. I can at least say MatPat left his babies in good hands…but that’s just a theory.
Catch more from The Stupendium on YouTube
BW Media Spotlight 