What killed my interest in RT was the distinct shift around 2015 where it went from friends playing games and making content, to a soulless corporation churning out content for the sake of content. It went from feeling like I was in the room watching some friends playing games and making jokes, to a company making things that tried to appeal to the largest amount of people while making it a chore to watch.
@@abbierouse5713 He even admitted it on his early days of independent streams that the main reason why he gave up is that he was sick of only playing games he was scheduled to do. He wanted to try different content at his pace and not being bound by a contract. Worked well for him, his fans still watch him on Twitch and he's doing quite good with his girl and his friends.
Actually sad and upsetting that of all the founders, Geoff is the only one that misses being just friends with the rest; that success went too far up their heads. Like seriously, damn.
@@kiethveseyofficial woke can work if it is done constructively and with purpose, if it is being done for the sake of it and purely for clickbait views…it is undermining everything and does no one no favors and will not stand the test of time It’ll become what every content creator fears…cringe
@@IronMan3582 no. It’s always get woke go broke. When you have an international audience you don’t fill it with americas problem. We don’t care about america. We came for content, not a lecture
That "I don't miss it" comment was unnecessary. If he wanted to make a joke about it, he could have said something like "can we have the room clean this time?" By the way he said that, it sounded like he doesn't miss the time they spent together playing games.
@@TwilightWolf032 It’s unfortunate but I think he meant what he said. Like him or not, Gus is a legit dick and people are definitely not his favorite thing.
This video is the embodiment of the “last online 10 years ago” meme. I feel so much nostalgia from watching the early roosterteeth days, but it slowly fades into sadness and depression as I get closer and closer to the present situation with RT. With Geoff being one of the last OG members left I can only hope that one day he’ll have the strength to eventually leave himself and live a happier life outside of RT.
i feel its not embodiment but similiar, its more like the friend you played with 10 years ago renamed themselves and became successful, and while you try to reminisce and say you missed those days, they just say they dont missed it and they hate it when they are not famous
@@cbbblue8348 When an old friend of yours becomes a big-time streamer and no longer bothers to look at your messages because he only sees you as another fan now.
The parts about Geoff almost had me in tears he truly just seemed like a guy who was content with making decent money and having fun with his friends while making funny content however sadly that's the nature of businesses that get this big this fast when noone really has a strong business sense.
The thing is, Geoff was not wrong, look at a group like the Sidemen who have been enduring the test of time, they are gigantic in their own right, have other businesses but they are able to keep growing because they remain loyal to the soul of their content, that being the comrodarie between a group of friends. That's what made early RT succesful, that's what made the Lets Play channel succesful, that is the thing television just cannot emulate.
That point where he was talking about his wife being absent, going to bed lonely and having no joy, or motivation to enjoy himself after his daughter went to bed was something many men feel but don't talk about for exactly what is shown here; He's actively telling his friends and colleagues that he's depressed, struggling and probably knows his life is falling apart. What do they do? They laugh and mock him. He puts on a brave face, but that is absolutely disgusting from people who are meant to care about him.
Geoff deserved better. The man was always a genuine, heartwarming soul who wanted nothing more than to make jokes and make people smile. His Let's Play Minecraft challenges with Jack, Ray, Michael, and Gavin were my childhood. It disgusts me to think that people would make that Griffin joke to someone who didn't have a bad bone in his body whatsoever. No matter what happens with Rooster Teeth, I genuinely hope Geoff finds some happiness in his endeavors. Man truly deserves it.
Tbf, I never liked Griffin. Let's be real - she was a terrible wife. She was some career woman and tomboy, it was clear their relationship had almost no romance and the mutual agreement to divorce was really just inevitable. There was no sacrifice in that relationship. Griffin wanted to do more professionally, so she straight up just abandons a great dude. I believe that Geoff would be better off if not for the divorce. I don't think that his daughter loves him that much either. It's clear she is being molded by her mother.
@@imtired927 Did you watch the video? That story was explained, and there was no misconduct on Geoff’s end. Geoff and Griffin had an open relationship and Geoff had been flirting with a fan, but when it started getting more serious he felt weird about the power imbalance and decided to not go through with it. Then the fan went out and accused him of cheating on his wife with her.
Hey it’s Craig from ScrewAttack. I see the top comment is about the ScrewAttack/RT relationship - very flattering as ScrewAttack is often a forgotten piece of the online video space. Joon, if you ever want to know more about it - or more about what I heard and saw while I was with RT I’m more than willing to share. Hope to hear from you 👍
To this day "Brownman has left the game" is the saddest thing I've ever read, he went to do what he wanted, which is cool, but I'll always miss the dynamic of the era
@@christopherrapczynski204 I experienced BOTH Ray's was more instant where SBF made me go "oh sure ok they'll release the rest of the LP's and then quit" When in fact that was not the case they'll stop on the spot where they left off "right there" which was build up to a horrid gut feeling. They both hit the same for me but the rate of getting there was different.
@@Sonicfalcon16 Hey at least Woolie and Pat came back together for DMCV. What sucks is it likely won't happen for DMC6 since they live on opposite sides of the country now.
Roosterteeth died in phases. The first phase is when Monty died and the lead creative force behind the whole company was suddenly gone. The next phase was getting the idea that big budget = better and trying to bloat every single show they have with unneeded spectacle to mask the lack of content. Then the new people in charge felt they could do no wrong and often attacked fans with often valid criticism and dismissed them as haters that didn't get their vision. The final nail was Nickle and dime'ing their fanbase with confusing paywalls and subscriptions for previously free content as a way to stop bleeding money. This leads to today, where Roosterteeth is anemic at best and will likely be shuttered by Sony in a few years.
That who big=better there was a podcast with bernie where he talked about how expansion and bigger budgets was all Otter medias idea. Those big executives got all the profits from expansion. And RT was left to die
There's so much truth in this, it's crazy. I remember how Miles and Kerry would go on tirades about "toxic fans" that just had some simple, logical questions about the show, or Barb yelling at fans at cons for the same stuff. (The whole "iT's A cArToOn!!!" bit). Like, they've said said a lot before that they were trying to present a detailed story with a really well thought out narrative, but then when fans have actual, logical questions about things, they tell those fans to shut the hell up and be happy with what they're given. It's really sad, as with the right people behind them, a lot of RT's content could have been so much more.
Geoff is the only one that didn't let the fame go to his head to the same level the rest did, he seems to genuinely miss the old days when they were starting out and their job was basically just hanging out with friends
Geoff always felt like a tragic character in this story, and you capture that really well in this video. He was roped into this whole thing because he wanted to do something fun with his friends, and it grew out of control. He didn't even realize it had ruined his life until it was too late. Not to say he's a perfect cinnamon bun, he definitely contributed heavily to his tragedy, but that doesn't make it less tragic.
He facilitated the toxic environment at RT and covered Haywood's misdeeds up for years. He deserves everything he's gotten. Especially when you consider how he behaved during the #kickvic drama. Karma's a bitch.
Seeing Geoff as a kid and growing up watching them all it hit me so hard seeing him plead out loud through the veil of humor his sadness. I didn’t understand it because I myself didn’t understand mental health and drank to combat my sadness. Geoff’s cry for help urged me to get help and reevaluate who I kept close. Thank you for the video it brought back a lot of bittersweet memories but has made me who I am today. People like Geoff just need someone to hear him not just listen.
Except constantly crying about it in a video for everyone to see isnt really helpful to his mental state. It reeks of being addicted to a "Pity Party". He wont improve as long as he is online
I always thought Geoff was the tough guy of the AH crew. Turns out I was wrong. If there's one thing I've learned from years of working around nothing but guys, it's that you either have a thick skin, or you grow one quick. The constant insults, the crude humor. I wish guys could learn to show a little more respect for each other, but that's just not going to happen.
geoff honestly comes off as such a nice guy after watching this. Seems like he'd be such a fun guy to just talk to. i almost wanna just give him a hug from half these clips tho :( i miss the 2010 era of RT so much sometimes.
You know what? That is fair. Geoff is nice in that regard. But on some level, I think he has a stake in this. He's not blameless, but he might be better off than most of them.
@@nickthepick8043 Oh definitely, and I think that’s why in these clips he is so distraught. He knows a lot of this is his responsibility, things that he could’ve prevented. Obviously there are many things that were out of his control, like being acquired, Monty Oum’s passing, and the Ryan fiasco, but those do not make up all of the reasons why Rooster Teeth is in the place it is today. Nevertheless, he persists to hold his baby (company) afloat, and that is very commendable.
@@SmoothTurtle840 Fair enough. I'm just looking back on the time when he addressed the layoffs. Clearly, he was being genuine, and I can feel for him, but when he started talking about the "Haters" it made me lose respect for him in that moment. Because it just came off as deflection. But I'll say this, in contrast to his other colleagues, former or otherwise, he is one of the few with a huge amount of self-awareness. Something they lack. Ask anyone, and they'd tell you that they'd prefer people with admitting their uncertainty with humility in regards to criticism, instead of the opposite of those characteristics.
I remember listening to an old Dude Soup episode around the time Geoff was about to take his sabbatical, and Bruce brought up the that he and Geoff had a heart to heart after RTX but kept it very vague what they talked about. Not too long later, Bruce leaves Funhaus and RT downsized.
@@Undying3001 not gon lie. As a black man, that shit annoyed me how she was going on her shit. Especially when she said she was ashamed for being black at times. Idc how bad and or crazy shit gets or how medias/ social media paints my people. I’ll be damned to say that shit. Then goes onto other fem victimized splainin. Nah
@@Undying3001 He cried because he could no longer pretend that the community wasn't hurting him. He knows what it's like to have a wall built up for years come crumbling down.
Geoff is probably the only creator left at RT where if he left, I'd still follow him. Dude's not perfect. But he seems like one of the few people who went into RT for all the right reasons. Everybody else seems to have started for the right reasons, before eventually losing their way somehow. No matter what happens with RT, I really hope Geoff reaches happiness.
I don’t want Rooster Teeth to burn, never wanted them to fail. At a certain point they moved away from being a bunch of friends hanging out to trying to out-do UA-cam, netflix, Amazon. It’s not what kept me engaged the years before. They changed, and a lot of people didn’t think for the better. I just hope in the years to come, things get better, they return to being a place of comfort, a haven for the misunderstood nerds who like cool weird things.
It's basically just a history of friendship podcast but listening to ANMA is probably one of the best things I've listened to from RoosterTeeth in ages. Geoff and Gus just chatting about Austin + their stories around places is great to me. But damn I wish I could have old RT Podcast + Off Topic, etc. Before the pandemic I started to drift away, but the content just got stale really quick, it feels like they went for their own trends etc to chase views. Really sucks.
They got woke, they went broke... That was the nail in the coffin. They kept bringing on what basically amounted to diversity hires, who were great doing their own content, but didn't fit with everything RT were doing, and yet RT tried to force them into everything anyway, which just brought all the content down a fair bit. There was the coloured chick they brought on who was actually really cool and fun doing her own stuff and content she cared about, but when they kept trying to force her into the Minecraft stuff which she clearly hated, and she would spend the ENTIRE VIDEO MOANING, COMPLAINING, AND SAYING IT WAS STUPID, it just ruined the whole thing. The infamous Minecraft Assault Course 2.0 video was probably the breaking point for a lot of people. it's a shame how a company that used to just be some nerds having fun, tried to pander to the woke crowd and so ended up getting devoured by them, because as we all know, you can never be woke enough and there will ALWAYS be those in the far left who have a problem with something. It sucked ALL the joy out of RT and AH, and just killed the escapism aspect when the agenda stuff started getting SO HEAVILY shoved into the content. Diversity hires are fine, but LET THEM DO THE CONTENT THEY'RE GOOD AT! Hiring a black person for the sake of saying you have a black person, then trying to shove them into EVERY PIECE OF CONTENT is not only blatant tokenism, but just built resentment towards the person in question. I remember she got so much hate after that minecraft assault course video and it wasn't her fault. She didn't want to do it, she didn't want to be there, but they made her and it sucked. The fans hating on her for that were way out of line and i hope she went on to better things because RT treated her so badly especially early on. Idk if she's still there or not, but i hope not. She seemed like a genuinely cool person (sorry i can't remember her name it's been like half a decade since i watched RT/AH stuff now so my memory is not great).
@@Calv_ I personally feel the podcast is better again now that they're in studio. I love Brian when he comes on too, he brings in that old man energy too Lol
@@ratch58 i saw this coming when they started always boasting about how RT is now a "corporate company" and they were always like.. weirdly proud about having to have all these meetings w/ ppl they don't know and just.. ehhhh. True shame. I miss the peak RT days, there was so much amazing content coming out consistently for quite a long time
As a kid I would have given my left leg to work at rooster teeth, now you couldn't pay me three salaries to work there. It's gut wrenching to see how much everything has changed in ever single way. Atleast ray and Gavin's channels are still making great content.
I see a lot of well-deserved talk about Geoff, but I've always had a soft spot for Gavin & Michael. I found Rooster Teeth through the Rage Quit videos and their dynamic was always so fun.
Same. Rage Quit No Luca No was the very first video I watched. Got hooked ever since. I hate what happened to the people affected by Ryan, but ever since he was fired from the company, AH hadn't been the same.
@@prosklystios imho everything started going downhill once ray left, and then went even further to shit when everything that happened with Ryan came out and he was fired.
@@purplewolfranger22 I don't think it went that badly down hill after Ray left. Everyone is stuck hard on somehow him having been the big thing that held them all together or that he carried everything. Ray was funny sure, but he wasn't ungodly funny or entertaining. I wasn't the slightest bit upset when he left and enjoyed Jeremy when he came into the group. I think it started to actually really fall when Monty died, and then the shit with Ryan came out and it's just been worse.
@@snyperwulffgaming9575 the 6 guys with Ray was just a better mesh imo. And a lot of people's. Jeremy is fine but AH with Ray was the golden age. Him leaving was a huge blow.
@@snyperwulffgaming9575 It was less him leaving that signaled the eventual downside but more WHY he left. He jokes about it all the time on his stream, how if he had stayed he be recording episode 1,000,000 of Minecraft. He left because the content was starting to seriously become… derivative, I guess? That’s probably not the word I’m looking for. It was the start of the business going corporate in mentality. Same shit, different day.
Being a Rooster Teeth fan around 2010-2014 was such a pleasure.. I can't remember the point exactly when I drifted away from it as a fan.. but I can remember how much I loved the content in those earlier days with Burnie, Geoff, Gus and co.. I remember getting off work late at my shitty student summer job and looking so forward to watching RT when I got home. This was super interesting, especially to see what happened after, but also sad - and disappointing - in the end. Geoff especially tugs at my heartstrings. :(
@@jamesjiao Personally for me, I just think it was after Ray left that kind of was the final straw. Change in the formula was always making RT somewhat harder to watch, and 2015 was not a good year with both Monty's passing and Ray's leaving along with two people who just weren't Ray coming in to "fill the void", for me the corporate side of RT was starting to become more apparent around that time.
I don't know what's worse. The fact that RoosterTeeth went from being such a community stand point to the absolute train wreck it is today, or the fact that they're more than happy to throw Geoff out into the public eye every time as a scapegoat to cover their fuck ups.
Geoff deserves better. Yes he was an alcoholic asshole in the beginning. But he turned his life around drastically. He doesn't deserve to be the target for all the companies problems.
@@matthewdaub I've said this before but they literally treat him like the sad alcoholic uncle of the company. Every time they fuck up it's "Quick, get Geoff emotional and put him in front of the camera so we can nip this in the bud." It's such a horrible thing and if he hasn't already (Haven't watched RT or AH in years) he should pack up and leave to start somewhere fresh. Only the truly deluded like Jack actually believe the company is worth anything anymore.
@@N7Beowulfhe pretty much only does one podcast with Gavin and Andrew Panton. He seems to enjoy it. He deserves to create something with his friends instead of being forced to do tiktok shit with achievement hunter.
Personally, I think Geoff feels responsible for the company so he takes it on himself to address issues and try to be honest. Which is so depressing, bc it certainly feels like hes the only one trying.
@@johnynoway9127 Except that has nothing to do with unknowingly being wildly allergic to a local anaesthetic and nobody having an EpiPen or similar nearby.
as someone who only saw like 3 RT videos back in the day i thought it was a spin on the phrase "like hen's teeth" which describes somethings extreme rarity.
I remember when Bungie added Grifball as an actual game mode in halo reach, it was so awesome to see. It really is sad that that whole era of gaming/entertainment is dead and gone… only to be replaced by soullessness
People who didn't grow up with the 2009-2014 era of UA-cam will never understand how crazy and new and awesome things were. As stupid as it might sound, Rooster Teeth was pretty much the MTV of the early 2010s. Popular internet personas, tons of skit shows and news segments series, AHWU, The Know, RT Animated Adventures, LETS PLAYS. It was awesome, and I miss those years often. My heart will always go out to Geoff, Jack, Gus, Burns and any of the core AH members. They're all too good for what the internet and rooster teeth have become. 2012 era AH is a relic of a time where there were no internet politics, where you couldn't be policed by big business and people were experimenting and constantly expanding on a platform that had incredible potential. They were all abused by a system they revolutionized. It's a goddamn tragedy.
@@ChangedMyNameFinally69 you're the only one whining about it. Simply mentioning and being negative are completely different. Plenty of people don't go to a entertainment video to hear people preach about politics cope
@@rushpatriot2866 Exactly what I think. I think most people use media (like youtube and gaming) as an escape from reality, so why should we be dragged back into it?
I don't remember when Burnie said it, but he said something along the lines of "you shouldn't strive to work at RT, you should want to build your own RT" I grew up wanting to work there more than anything, but Im glad I heard that advice early on. You never know how things will change, companies, peoples, etc.
You can always leave a company though. It's like when people were first laid off at Game Informer and then Ben Hanson left to form MinnMax with other editors. He got to do both, which is why I never fully understood the quote from Burnie all these years.
I think of rooster teeth as being a symbol of the rise and fall of the internet. Once upon a time the internet was the wild west. Free, open, and had none of the baggage of tradional entertainment media industry. It fostered an environment for creatives that didn't exist before. It became so big that it challenged conventional entertainment as we knew it. It was a golden age and it was glorious leading to success of many and creation of great things. But all things must end, and like how the wild west eventually became settled and tamed, so did the internet. It got tamed. Too much money was at stake to be as wild any more. Greedy people came in once all the hard work was done to take full advantage of it without really knowing what it made great in the first place. Now the things that made it so great are gone and we can't do that any more, or at least as much. That wild west is just a memory now...kept alive by the legends it birthed and loved by the people who yearn for the freedom we can no longer have. Edit; I'm coming back here now that RT has officially shut down and the last season of RVB finished. In keeping with the wild west theme, I feel like I just saw the last performance of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. An era has finally ended and I'm not sure how to feel. Maybe someone may come around inspired by the past and make something great just like how the western was inspired by what came before it. God willing that someone will have learned from not just RTs successes but also failures. RIP Rooster Teeth. I don't believe in speaking ill of the recently deceased. So I'll just say I wish things turned out different. I really do.
Amen to that, man. I use the exact same analogy when I talk about the internet of then versus the internet of now. I remember when I got my first advertisement online, it was on Addicting games and I was so confused. Now they're everywhere. Wild West is settled. "I wish things were different. But it weren't us who changed."
@@MinersLoveGames the wild is west is gone. All thats left are men with wild hearts with no where to go... im guessing that is why Burnie jumped ship when he did. He saw the writing on the wall and knew that he didnt belong there any more. So he left on his own terms rather than be forced out.
Hit the nail on the head. People can make legitimate livings off of UA-cam and Twitch and the like but it’s come at a cost. The cost is that it all starts to feel the same since everyone is trying to chase the same trends and not piss off sponsors by being themselves or having original thoughts.
The death of Monty and RT's inability to end the series that he had put literally everything he had into was the last straw for me. The man came in, made on of the HYPEST series at the time, literally breaking the internet with his TRAILERS, and RT seemed so hungry to keep milking that cow rather then accepting that it would never ammount to being the true passion project Monty intended it to be.
I will always care for Geoff way more than the other members. The way he always seems to actually care when something goes down with the company, He always the one that seems to put his true feelings or concerns out. Especially when he breaks down it kills me alil cuz I feel like hes put so much of himself into the company. Its just sad seeing him having to waste more of himself on a company that doesnt really seem to care.
Geoff seems like the last heart of the company, for better and worse. I just want him to be happy, because this company not only brought him some of his highest highs, but it seems to have etched some permanent lows.
He's such a silly, fun dude most of the time so it's really jarring seeing him get real like that. He gets genuine now and then but to see him break down like that was something else. It's always upsetting to see such fun guy get beaten down by life like that and I wish nothing short of the best for him.
@@chickencurry420 being like 15 at the time watching my hero cry over being a failure when all I ever did was look up to him broke my heart more than once and still does any time I see the clips. Geoff is and always will be a treasure, no matter what he does. The golden days are long gone and I don't think any new hot trend will ever replace the dawn of Let's Plays and the explosion of internet personalities. I was lucky to grow up in its prime
@@ruralgoblin I'm with you! So grateful to have come of age in the golden age of the internet. Before influencers and celebrity culture came in and laid waste to what was the best time to be consuming online media.
I know I fell out of rooster teeth but reading through these comments it seems a lot of us did around the same time. I don’t like to dunk on the new crew bc people and companies grow and change (and I like them all, mostly) but the dynamic was so different. On the old crew it seemed like there was always someone to be the straight man, on the new crew everyone wants to deliver the punchline. The joke never lands bc everyone tries to one up the joke and it goes on and gets louder, it gets exhausting.
This is honestly the reason I stopped watching ah. The old crew would have times when some of them wouldn't talk and others would be doing funny, there were moments of "silence". Now everyone is talking and screaming all the time and you can never stop and catch a break.
Yes, same, it was interesting to read these comments and find old fans who left around the same time I did (there was not a specific moment or bad feelings, I just kind of disconnected from the content at some point there). I'm sure new fans emerged around that time, but I think there was definitely a switch flipped around 2015
I joined the site in ‘05, before season 3 of RVB. I watched the shows evolution, the crews evolution, the contents evolution, the sites evolution, and more and more it became less about the community. There were so many new shows and podcasts and the site became new crew or cast member I had never heard of pushing new shows I didn’t care about and the community aspect just became harder to be involved with. The podcast became overly produced, more complicated than it needed to be. When it became regularly live streamed with a set and production staff and stage hands and a control room and the personalities went up to eleven it all started to feel performative. The drunk tank years of the podcast, with the revolving shitty songs but mostly consistent cast (Burnie, Gus, Geoff, Joel, and…ugh, Jack or Matt), it felt like a peek into the breakroom for an hour of just these guys we liked talking about stuff we’re interested in. Then as the company became more successful, it was homes in LA, owning Teslas, flying first class internationally to cons where people waited hours for their autographs, like fuck off. Burnie was the only thing keeping me on the podcast and when he finally left the it I never listened to a new episode. I still listen to the old episodes(200 and under usually) consistently. RVB became so convoluted, it should’ve ended after season 5, should’ve ended after season 8, but 10 was really where I was done with it. When they moved into filming in Halo 4 and dealing with the federalists and Locust or whatever I just couldn’t keep with the nonsense.
I stopped paying attention to RT in 2015 (roughly), and it seems like that was the best time to jump ship considering how devastating the company's downward spiral was. Out of the whole crew it seems like Geoff was one of the few guys who truly wanted to do something fun with friends, but instead he had to run a company with shitty business partners and colleagues. I sincerely hope he finds his happiness again after being beat down for so long, the guy absolutely deserves it.
The 2010's were really a terrible time to be one of the older breed of content creators who just wanted to have fun making videos. That was right around the time the corporate world had finally realized just how much profit they could squeeze out of the internet and the people using it, and if you weren't as good of a salesman as you were a personality, they would beat you down and pick your bones clean without a second thought.
I'm not sure how long ago you stopped watching RT but he thankfully genuinely seems to be doing better! He's continued staying sober, he recently got a new girlfriend after his divorce from griffin, he's lost and kept off a bunch of weight, he's super big into bicycling, both for exercise and as a way to spend time with Miley :), and he started a new podcast with Gavin called F***Face (f*** face) in which he seems as energetic and excited as he did a decade ago. I'm so genuinely happy for him, if anything tragic were to ever happen to him I'd be devastated, he's honestly like a dad I never had.
@@sirajjiwani128 I stopped around 2014 but I'm glad to hear he's doing well. Honestly even the divorce surprised me, didn't know about it till I watched this vid.
His life is going great by the sound of it. I listen to Fuckface (His and Gavin's podcast) regularly and it seems like his life is going just how he wants it to, and he's having a lot of fun with it. Plus I recommend anyone who likes the "old" RT/Achievement Hunter vibes listen to that podcast, it's great.
all while maintaining his own personal project: Dead Fantasy, a crossover between Dead or Alive (the fighting game series known more for its female cast being buxom babes, versus its fairly intuitive and fun gameplay), and Final Fantasy. many of us knew him first through Haloid (shown in this very video) but then we encountered the first Dead Fantasy and... he was extremely skilled. his passion projects were incredible.
If you’ve watched the RT Animated Shorts, this would come as no surprise. They specifically said “Yeah Monty pretty much just works and when he’s not working, he just sort of powers down!“ so he was nothing if not an absolute unit.
@@yosiyyahu.bar.stephen I thought they meant that he just comes in does his job and when there's nothing to do he goes into hibernation mode and sleeps like a robot
We love Geoff because he was and has been open about his flaws and how he misses the simple times. We all can identify with that. I don’t care what that man does I hope he finds happiness. And for if RT being created was a mistake? No! This gave myself and so many others good times that turned into good memories. I will always be grateful for what they did.
I was an RT fan from 2008-2015. When Monty died, how the company handled his death behind the scenes when it came to Monty's creative projects, made a lot of people angry. I know whole swathes of the community started leaving. The views started to tank because we saw the disrespect to Monty and his wife plain as day, and it left a bad taste with everything. The sadness with Geoff was starting to kick in around this time too, and when Ray left it was like the last nail in the coffin. There was a sharp cutoff after RWBY got chewed up and spat out.
@@Jay_Rainstorm I hope someday in the future Geoff uploads a video where its just him, Jack, Michael, Gavin, and Ray playing minecraft doing fuck all with shitty microphones, shitty capture cards, and last gen consoles, on a small ass cramped room.
Seeing Geoff's story with RoosterTeeth is heartbreaking. This man found a means of expressing himself, his passion, and an environment to share and grow with his friends. That moment when he said he missed his friends; you can see he is spilling his guts out for his friends, and they gleefully stomp on them for the clout and promise of greater financial success. From what I observed from his interaction during their let's plays, RTX panels and off-topic appearances, Geoff had little ambition for Rooster Teeth. He wanted a place that felt like a family to him, and his dream came true to a degree. With the growth in staff, it'd naturally be more difficult to be this close to each member, but it would appear that he understood that while he might not be friends with EVERY member of the workplace, they could be friends among themselves, and that his dream acted as a host for others who had similar dreams like him. What confirms this theory to me is his sendoff to those 50 employees. He didn't have to, but as he said during the speech, he acted of his own accord and this was a last minute decision fueled purely by need to speak his mind about the tragedy he felt had jut happened. Yes he bashed the audience as internet audiences are a cutthroat and bloodthirsty bunch, but I believe that he did this because he was likely not aware (as in emotionally aware, he most likely DID know about all these details as he is one of the heads) to the big picture spendings and corporatization of his dream project and work community, that CAUSED these layoffs. I can't blame the man for looking for someone to blame, a way to escape the feeling that he (by being in power in that company) betrayed these people, by having to take this away from them; which in turn is a greater betrayal to his core beliefs. Edit: I hadn't seen his response to the harassment of one of the employees. 💔😔 He truly has a good heart. He didn't need to go that far into detail, and his tears are born from legitimate anguish. My heart goes to him
I think thats why he hadn’t left, it seems like he really cared about the company and just didnt want to see it fall, but now he’s stuck watching it burn down and its just painful to watch. I really hope he can find something more.
@@GigaChadh976 i was referring to its time. it was genuinely wild that someone essentially independently created this. it is choppy, telegraphed, and the lighting is awful; that’s just a few problems. The ambition and drive was there
@@user-zo5jo3ox5g I was the same. I was watching the shorts in 2010 and just loving every release. I watched AH grow and become this massive entertainment source and I wanted to be a part.
Hearing all the shit Geoff went through is gut wrenching. Especially the comment about his wife. He was always one of my favorite members of AH back when I watched, and seeing him go through all that shit just sucks. I truly wish him the best.
Hoo boy, this is gonna be the first video of yours that I'm gonna struggle to actually watch. Rooster Teeth were a cornerstone of entertainment for me growing through my teen years, and it is difficult to see what's become all of them, like watching a friend waste away from a terminal illness.
The last act was pretty tough seeing Geoff come to terms with just how much people being shitty got to him. I almost wish I could go back to not knowing how bad things got for them.
I'm genuinely tearing up during the segments talking about Monty. We lost an amazing man, and incredible animator. He's the reason I presumed a career in 3D character animation. Because of RWBY I wanted to work at Rooster Teeth more than anything, but now kind of seeing where the company is gone it's heartbreaking, honestly that desire to work for them is completely gone now. Don't get me wrong Monty was and will always be an inspiration for the career path I chose to pursue but it's just not the same.
Truthfully, I think everything really started to fall apart when he died. He was a S-class animator: The speed and quality of the things he can produce...well, name another. I can't. Most big animation projects take a year, for anywhere from 5 minutes to 10. This dude was busting out entire trailers in two weeks and was a damn machine. The moment he died, they lost their damn best animator, of which they had basically hinged a huge amount of their quality upon. I cannot possibly start to even think about what he meant to Rooster Teeth. To this day they still have not got an animator that is up to par with Monty.
@@BeyondtheBlade I still wonder how he did it, he's the bob ross of animation, he's fast at what he does, he seemed pretty cool and collected, and a genuine friend to hang out with.
Yeah. And then the Company proceeded to Stab him in the back before his body was even cold. They Slashed his Private Studio, Discredited Shane and Monty’s Wife, and Kathleen. Downsized his workers and Erased All Of his personal Involvement, so Miles and Kerry could “Continue his Vision” by changing everything in RWBY.
@@devildolphin2102 Sounds juicy, I must admit. Any chance you have a reference point to share? I like every bullet I can add to my arsenal for the inevitable arguement against a RWBY-loyalist.
The real death of RT was in business direction and leadership. They tried to be a production studio to compete with things like Netflix, but they never had the in-house talent or budget to make serious inroads. They gave huge opportunities to their own staff when no one else in the industry would trust someone so inexperienced. They basically failed to definitively move themselves from web series creators to a professional studio. RWBY is led by inhouse talent with no external portfolio, gen lock was the same, a lot of their animated shows followed that mold. They keep falling into this middle ground between hobby passion project and industry-level production. But all the while they are charging as much as Netflix, or Disney+, or HBO max. They have basically picked a fight with the biggest kids on the block, and are now getting mugged in slow motion. Gaming moved to Twitch and the donation model, podcasting is an incredibly oversaturated space, and they destroyed their community goodwill through controversies and price hikes. Their content model has stagnated, and everyone else either caught up or moved on to the next thing. They had a loyal, matured (wealthy) fanbase that they completely squandered. Nowadays there's a whole surge of talk shows that are very profitable, focused around live donations, an attractive studio, and engaging personalities. RT had all the necessary resources to pivot, but like so many other trends, they just missed the boat.
i always felt that was the issue too their voice acting and overall production quality betrayed them, it felt like they were an xbox 360, playing cutting edge titles, doing cutting edge things, at the cost of horrible quality while doing it
Absolutely this, there is no reason why RWBY is being led by two guys that have no previous production credit. Once the main creative force in Monty passed away, someone else should have stepped in as everything the show was most heavily criticized for was the responsibility of those that took over the show, i.e. Miles and Kerry. RWBY and Gen:Lock are massive productions that require a lot of moving parts to work in tandem with one another, there's already an issue of scope there with the resources RT had so adding inexperienced management on top of that was a recipe for disaster. Miles and Kerry didn't have any sort of animation experience to be in charge of an animation production, they didn't have any sort of writing experience either to be head writers for the series, and while I think it's kind of cool that RT gives inexperienced creatives a chance, you should still always always have someone at the helm that knows what they are doing. It's a massive red flag if a junior animator enters a production with more animation experience than the production leads.
I stopped watching RoosterTeeth and LetsPlay when Ray left but it still pains me to see how far they’ve fallen. They were a big part of my childhood and early teenage years.
@@GrandisArcanum why is it weird? If someone liked Ray way more than anyone else I could understand it, and theres nothing immature about that. I still tune in here and there to all kinds of RT stuff but Burnie leaving was a huge drop off for me personally.
@@GrandisArcanum how is that weird? It’s just like any artist you listen to if they replace a key member of the group it can completely change the dynamic of things and that’s exactly what happened when Ray left it didn’t feel organic everything felt forced it was no longer just a bunch of guys sitting down playing games together making dumb jokes and yelling at each other it felt more relatable when Ray was there with everyone
A lot of the OG community myself included stopped watching after ray left I first heard about RT from the rvb series later I found out about achievement hunter when it was only Jack and Geoff making the videos then they added Michael, Gavin, Ray, and regrettably Ryan, it all just felt more natural when the original group was there everyone played off each other so well I wanted to work for them growing up so badly it also makes me sad how far the shitter they went
In middle and high school I loved watching Fails of the Weak, Rage Quit, and their various let's plays, particularly Minecraft and Wormz. I miss the old dynamic they had, it felt almost like actual friends just playing a game as if there was no camera or capture card recording.
I remember way back in the day when AH was just a bunch of dudes in a room playing on Xbox. I remember the first Minecraft episode where Ray and Michael had to play split screen, the old office that was too small to fit desks for everyone. But when I found out about all the controversies and the toxic workplace, I was not surprised. The signs were all there when they started caring more about their image than their products.
Monty was struck down by God for it so I hope it was worth it. I know how that sounds but if you die at the age of 30 to a stomach ache because you're allergic to latex there's probably some divine intervention in there.
Same. I think RT and AH will always live in my heart. They shaped my childhood along side people like pewdiepie, cinnamontoastken, chaotic monkey and so forth
i was a huge fan of rooster teeth from around 2013-2019 and funhaus until the departure of bruce and lawrence. they were massively influential in my sense of humor and made me a bigger fan of halo. it is truly tragic what happened to the company and i have always been a fan of geoff. i wish him the best
I loved Funhaus. I used to watch every single video they put out. Bruce and Lawrence leaving was a kick in the teeth but I didn't stop. Still watch nearly everything. But as soon as the Ryan/Adam shit hit, I've never seen a single video of either company. Just suddenly realised how toxic the whole situation is.
I miss Bruce, Lawrence, and Adam. Don't get me wrong, what Adam did can't be easily forgiven, and I won't, but I do miss how everyone's chemistry was so perfect together
With the power of hindsight, Ray leaving AH was the equivalent of Marcus Aurelius dying. Sure the empire (company) lived on but never uphill, always downhill
Which is ironic because Ray, at the time, was making an incredibly risky career move that looked like it may or may not pan out, and now he's the one with a brand new functional ship and RoosterTeeth are the ones that are sinking.
It’s crazy how Ray seemed almost prophetic in his decision. Its not that he was some smart genius that saw where the company was headed. He simply left due to passion and he just felt the passion was siphoned out of the company.
@@ExternusArmyThough I think part of the reason he left was because rooster teeth started moving more to high production live action like Lazer Team. Man just wanted to play games on the internet.
@@dreadfullespectre8579 you don't have to be a genius to realize it was never going to pan out for RT going that direction and Ray likely saw that... everyone else had ambitions of breaking into the mainstream and endlessly expanding instead of ensuring their core product was good or understanding why people liked it
R.I.P Roosterteeth. Thanks for all the years of laughs and happiness that you guys brought us during our time growing up. Roosterteeth may die, but it will never be forgotten.
Ray Narvaez kinda pulled a Sark from Machinima, in that they both pulled out essentially the ultimate heist of getting out of a company doomed to collapse slowly at their respective highest points
@@donb7519 I think it's inevitable, even if things are holding on surprisingly long. Unless some major shift happens, and even that would probably be a big risk. But at this point really the biggest thing they've got going for them is RWBY and, while there's the DC crossover stuff that's maybe helping, it doesn't exactly look good when they have to fundraise merch as basic and popular as plushes to be sure it has the money to make it worth creating. It looks even worse when they encourage fans to create a twitter, or X, hashtag to try and make trend and hope and pray the next volume gets greenlit.
This final half was a tough watch, especially opening up the wound of Monty's passing and finding out what has happened in the past few years is just absolutely gut wrenching to hear. I guess the phrase "All good things, must come to an End" is fitting for this situation.
@@RandomGamerCory Also from the article. The Austin-based animator for the production studio Rooster Teeth Productions died on Sunday afternoon, company chief executive Matt Hullum said in a statement. Hullum said Oum suffered a severe allergic reaction during a procedure about 10 days ago and fell into a coma.
@@RandomGamerCory Maybe next time before you attempt slander watch the vid as this was also cited word for word. Monty's wife and family have been through enough. Shame be upon you, let the best and his family rest in peace.
I remember hearing Burnie describe the beginning of rooster teeth as a group of friends who just wanted to make eachother laugh and maybe share it with the rest of the world. Somewhere down the line they lost that mentality and started thinking more as a company. Now they've reached a point of bringing on talent they can't afford, probably to keep their channels afloat for just a little bit longer. Odds are they'll be getting the machinima treatment here soon, having the whole company fractured and their resources sent to other companies under the same umbrella.
i remember that as well, and if i have to be honest, way back in the early days tons of people in the community also pushed for them to go more...mainstream? corporate, etc etc* 2008-2010 were probably peak years for me personally, but i wont be afraid to admit that after the whole ryan debacle (and just how deep it went) i couldnt watch the content anymore. like a lot of people i couldnt really stomach watching older content with him in it for a while too, but i mean. there's no denying that a lot of their content while he was there, was some of the most entertainment i could find on the interwebs in those days. he was funny, cool, charming, and as lots of people would call him, daddy material. which it turns out, was pretty damn accurate. it sucks what happened, but well. community is also partially to blame for it, power corrupts people, and putting people on a pedestal and treating them differently as such can cause them to do things they may never have done had they just been an average person without access to that kind of fame and power. the fall of RT (and its certainly in its death throes at this point) has been fragmented and slow, but..steady. i agree with a lot of people that it really started after monty died. a lot of the original members arent there anymore, and its a RT of a new generation, that just...feels...lifeless compared to the earlier years. dont get me wrong, AH can still have some funny as hell videos and the members might genuinely be having the time of their lives in them...but it just doesnt feel the same, the community isnt as close-knit and friendly as before, and...its..it feels like its time to on to better endeavours.
I struggled to start watching this one bc Rooster Teeth is so personal to me. I can’t even begin to explain how many different things in my life are indirectly related to them. I had no friends in middle school and high school, Achievement Hunter was my only respite to not want to die. I wore a slap band with the Rooster Teeth logo on it to a birthday party and met my best friend who I followed to their college, started my career and met my partner there. They meant a lot and it hurt when I started drifting from their content with just age and the shifting quality. I remember when Monty passed away, i had to take a day off of school because i was so distraught, for a man i never knew. I was so hype for Michael and lindsay’s wedding, i felt like my friends were getting married. I watched every single 24hr extra life stream and collected all of the posters. I’ve been a first member/sponsor since I got my first job eight years ago. I can’t stress how much they meant to me and how big they were in my life. I had alerts in my phone when podcasts were going live, I begged to visit their studio and was heartbroken when I couldn’t get the chance. I watched their content every fucking day for half a decade. I know they weren’t perfect and I won’t speak to everything wrong with the company, but i will say i remember when the Ryan stuff came out and it was a stab to the gut. I was *exactly* his demographic (young, obsessed with him, lonely, inexperienced, neurodivergent) and we were from the same area, it could’ve been me so easily. Some videos and moments I associate with my childhood, I can’t watch anymore without feeling gross when they were once my entire life. I’m still hurt over it and he better hope I never see him in person because I would lose it. Monster.
Same here I feel in love with rvb in 2010 up until 2016 when they started pushing politic into there videos I’m am neither left or right and I dislike when creators start pushing politic into there videos. I want entertainment not a political debate group. Then the fandom started to tear each other apart and there stars weren’t helping they were adding fuel to the fire attacking anyone and using the fandom as there personal attacks force which they continue to this day. I finally had enough canceled my subscription and never looked back.
@@noahsawyer7155 I don’t fully agree with the political stuff, what little there was was mainly in more personal content such as the podcasts and I think that was fair. But I completely relate to losing interest in their content due to growing out of it and the changing styles
I'm gonna echo what a lot of people are saying here about feeling bad for Geoff. He's been through the fucking ringer these last few years. Watching him talk about the layoffs on Off Topic was sad as hell, but I appreciated that he was willing to put himself out there and be genuine when it would have been easier to just not show up. Geoff seems dedicated to RT, and that makes it all the more sad when everything about and around it is crumbling
Man I used to want to work for RT so bad. I used to love their content I remember when I first stumbled upon achievement hunter and that lead me into everything else. I didn’t have any money but what I did I would use to buy their Merch. Sad how it ended up but nothing lasts forever I guess
RT community went from, "We have our own site because you can't rely on external parties to run a thriving community" to, "twitter is our community" and it's sad
This whole video runs the same way going through a photo album of you and your best friend from birth who eventually went down a dark path would. So most nostalgia and pride to have been there leading up to the peak, until you lost contact with them sometime after, only to find out their current fate with immense sadness.
I feel like this newest controversy is the death nail. Unable to blame a single employee or their parent company or a “toxic community”, the only people they can blame is themselves.
@@matthewdaub Matt basically got fired and Kdin posted an extremely scathing rant basically revealing the homophobia/transphobia and general harassment she had to put up with at the company.
@@booyahhayoob and that is not even scratching the surface of everything. along with old contraveries being brought back up too. roosterteeth likely wont survive
@@saiyanscaris6530 Yeah, I originally took this video with a grain of salt when I first saw it like a week ago, but holy crap it’s aged like fine wine.
Ryans departure was the nail in the coffin for me. After over a decade of being a fan and meeting the og achivent hunter lineup, it was a great time. still follow jacks podcast and gavins slo mo but thats it. Crazy to see it wasnt just me leaving the RT fandom. peak content was those mini golf series and the first hundred minecraft vids.
100% those were the peak. It was never quite the same after Ray left but Ryan still seemed like a great replacement after he settled in. I quit watching around the time they brought in Jeremy because it just felt like the spirit was gone and years later I hated finding out what Ryan was up to. I can't even watch those old vids for nostalgia if I wanted to from anything after Ray and that was a large part of the golden age. The whole thing's just plain sad.
@@zarathustra6116Definitely true with Ray. However i did keep up with his streams so he didn't feel to absent. And Jeremy i related to in a bit so he really pulled me back in for a while. But the Ryan hit a bit too close to home for me being a former member in touring bands and seeing similar actions happening, just really turned me away from the whole thing.
His wife practically killed him because she kept bringing cats from the streets to the house even tho he was hyper allergic to cats, every shot for every reaction he had was more dangerous than the last one for someone who is allergic...
Geoff is the only one who legit seems to want to fix himself and learn like he doesn't hide away when he is called out for his behaviour he puts his hands up and goes I need to be better
Honestly I'm hope Geoff can retire from the company and life a normal life. He pretty much lost his friends to a company he didn't want to start. He just wanted to have fun with his friends and now a few of them have completely left.
and that is why he sucks. so spineless and looking to live up to the standard of people wo probably have no business dictating standards or behaviors to others
@@matthewdaub I will never forget how Geoff's laugh seemed to bright any mood. It was so infectious. God... even though yeah Ryan turned out to be a real monster, I will always miss the old Let's Play dynamic of Team Lads vs Team Gents.
@@googleisevil8958 It's why they say Charisma is poison, Ryan was a naturally incredibly charismatic and funny guy, both phenomenal attributes for getting people to like and trust you. The same characteristics that made him such an integral part of the team dynamic are the ones that allowed him to do what he was doing behind the scenes.
I had stopped watching rt about half a year before the ryan controversy. At around that time it reached the point where I realized there was almost no videos they put out that I found fun enough to watch. That and the disgust I started to get for the workplace environment for ALL staff. the mainline staff seemed to be devolving into depressing alcoholics, while the rest of the staff seemed to have to deal with the fact that they might get "pranked" witch involves the main crew more or less trashing their office for "content", witch they made several videos of.
Seeing what Geoff was like pre F**kface and ANMA just makes me feel so down, it was a rough time looking back on it, nobody really knew how down he was. Glad to see him back happier nowadays.
Rage Quit first introduced me to Rooster Teeth. I just loved hearing Michael yell crazy shit will playing games. If he's still working for the company, I hope he's fulfilled and still having fun.
RT themselves often point out videos like these saying how there will always be haters, etc, etc. But honestly, the fans have tried to give them constructive criticism for YEARS, and they kept brushing it off as hate or prejudice. Now their videos get an average of 10-50k views with a channel that has MILLIONS of subs. Everything being said is all the truth about what's happened with their company. As a long time fan, it upsets me that it's an end of an era but it frustrates me even more when I feel like they could've changed things along the way and listened to criticism. Also, this video has 14x the views that an average RT vid gets nowadays. Says a lot. EDIT: I'd like to make an edit here and say that after hearing how a lot of the RT staff have felt over the years from feeling burn out from creating certain content and whatnot, to now branching off and doing their own things has brought me a lot of relief. Everyone seems much happier doing what they're doing and the quality of content is significantly higher. This is why being transparent with your fans is important. I'm glad they're back in a good direction. Good for them.
It's a result of the ideology they embrace. They're always the victim, any criticism MUST BE founded in hate/racism/sexism/xyz-phobia/bigotry/etc. Living in that headspace always leads to failure. Notice when they started to struggle was around 2016. When the Media went full on divisive rhetoric and tore society in two. The rabid Leftists demanded blood, whether metaphorically or literally, and that politics and "social justice" be forced into everything. While the Right just wanted to keep politics out of entertainment (movies, tv, games, comics, etc). RT made their position known officially years after most people saw them as the hateful ideologues they voluntarily became.
The two or three sections with Geoff on the verge of tears were painful to watch. It's so sad to see someone who was proud of what he had created making people happy while also having it tear at his life and friendships to that degree. Geoff always seemed like such a good and genuine guy and the way things fell around him is truly heartbreaking. Wishing all the best for him
I always wonder if Burnie left knowing what was going to happen…the timing is just too Dam convenient. There wasn’t much better then burnie, gave, Barbra and Guss on the podcast. Great memories
Tbh my personal theory was that Burnie jumped ship after Joel got “laid off” and Burnie was worried he was next on the chopping block. That whole array of situations that erupted afterwards were just a pile absolute clusterfucks tho so yeah Burnie really did pick the best time to jump ship.
The shitty reason that Burnie left was because of old media existing where he made offensive jokes by current RT staff standards. He also at 1 point quoted a racist French taxi driver where he fully said the N word on a podcast episode and then used it in a joke about Meg, Gavin's girlfriend, getting pumpkin spice lattes with NWA but saying N words Getting Pumpkin Spice Lattes. The podcast episodes where he said those were on RT's YT channel with no edit and fully monetized. Then worse still they stayed up 9 months after Burnie left. So Burnie leaving is getting out before people took notice of that and not dealing with the incompetent grand standing and saber rattling happening at RT about Left Wing politics. Another example of that is new RT staff being adamant about Human Rights of minorities to the extreme of demanding people boycott Blizzard for China and boycott the company making 6 Days in Felucia because both are making $ linked to Human Rights violations. Yet for 2 1/2 years Roosterteeth's sponsor of Voodoo Ranger has been linking them to also Human Rights violations. So major hypocrisy and Burnie just bailed before getting steeped in the quagmire of what is now Roosterteeth
@@cliftonsargent1572 it's that but also just seeing the writing on the wall with young management exploiting their position like Miles Luna. Granted he started on the animation department trenches but once getting to a large management position you saw him hang out with Ellie Maine, his now fiance, Chelsea Harfoush, who was Geoff's babysitter for Millie, and Max Krumke whose Griffin/Geoff's friend. Just going out drinking a lot and somewhat shirking his duties so that Grey Haddock and Kerry Shawcross had to do a 3 person job with just 2. Which is why we saw those Glassdoor reviews, and the eventual departure of Grey after Genlock having major issues
1:22:00 "Animation for a mecha series is very expensive!" This would be true. If it was DRAWN animation. In 3D animation, mechas are actually great, because they don't need to have expressions, they move very stilted and you can add as many details as you like, because they don't have to be redrawn for each frame. I don't know where that person is coming from but as a 3D artist and character animator of 10 years: mechas is basically always easier to animate than people. Add that with Mecha series often playing in space, an easily reusable environment asset and you probably have one of the cheapest ways you could run a 3D fully animated show. Now, they didn't do all those things, but the statement alone that Mecha shows are more expensive than other 3D shows doesn't ring true to me.
The real expenses for Gen:lock were twofold: 1) Haddock's crippling perfectionism apparently led to the same scenes being animated over and over again because he wasn't satisfied with this or that detail. 2) They hired a bunch of big name a-listers like David Tenant and Maisie Williams, and that required everyone on the production who got a line to be paid SAG rates which massively inflated the budget. The sad thing is I actually quite liked Gen:Lock, it felt like it had a strong first season and I would have kept watching had they not taken the absolutely bone-headed decision of not showing the second season on the RT site at all, even to those of us who had paid for FIRST, which felt like a huge slap in the face to those of us who had contributed to paying for its production. It was one of three things that prompted me to cancel my FIRST sub (the other two being Ryan Haywood and RvB Zero). I enjoyed Gen:Lock as presented but I think I probably still would have enjoyed it as much had it had slightly ropey animation and the standard stable of RT voice talents. After all, bot RvB and RWBY had both of those and I still enjoyed them.
It hurts to watch this as an old school fan of their content. Perhaps not as old school as some, but I discovered them on the days of Halo Reach, when I started to get a proper hold of the English language, and I fucking LOVED their content. Red vs Blue, Immersion, Fails of the Weak, Achievement Hunter in general was so much fun to watch on those lazy weekends. RWBY was also pretty fun to watch for like three seasons, then it began to go downhill and without breaks. Then shit hit the fan: Season 6 and 7 of RWBY are mediocre at best, RvB Zero is an overhyped joke and a lot of cool people in there are taken out either because they're not comfortable there, they'd rather do whatever else, or get kicked out for being gross motherfuckers. The moment the voice actor of Caboose took off, I knew there was no coming back. They also thought it was smart to make more and more channels and to bring more and more people, without realizing that when you went to Achievement Hunter, it was to watch the six same idiots you like being stupid, not some dude from a channel you don't know crap about hogging the spot-light. The only channel I'm still suscribed to is Red vs Blue's channel and I've heard they're planning a new season or some shit? I honestly doubt it'll be much of an upgrade from Zero at this point. But let it be known, my two favorite Achievement Hunters are still thriving on their own channels, I really hope Ray Jr and Gavin continue their careers. I used to consider Ryan my favorite too, but... Blegh.
Honestly, a friend recommended RWBY to me which is what eventually got me into RT. After Monty died and the idiots who took over creative control ran it into the ground, I left and never looked back.
RT has 2 fail conditions at this point: Geoff leaving and RWBY ending. Once either of those happen, the company will probably go under. Worst part is that feel like for at least RWBY, the community has been very vocal in changes and directions that they dont like as well as what works and it just kinda seems like the creative team disregards it. As for Geoff, one man can only take so much of a burden before cracking and i would honestly rather see him leave the company than go completely under in a different way.
I wouldn't say RWBY ending would be a fail condition, because at some point the series has to end or be rebranded. It doesn't have the same concept as early RvB did where they could get away with more episodic content. That being said, while the writing was never stellar, it's gotten worse over time. And for the scripted content, I feel that's what's been an issue with them, especially as the series became more serious in later seasons. I feel like Zero went in the right direction with a new cast, but I feel like it would have worked better if they treated it more as a reboot of the series. As for RWBY, I haven't watched the anime version but I'm hoping that turns out better. It's probably why they should have editors that either work outside of the company or something so that they can ask the questions of "Why this?" or "Where is this going?" and "Who is this person?" As for Geoff, he'll eventually leave. Who will take his place, however, will be the interesting question.
@@cabutler1 Oh i probably worded it a bit badly, i meant its a fail condition if RWBY ends before its story is done, like if it gets cancelled. At this point volume 9 seems to be focused on this new realm, then we need at least 1 volume for the last relic and then probably 1 more volume to build up to the last attack, meaning we at the very least are looking at 3 volumes even if they rush the storyline. If the show ends after Volume 9 with no resolution? thaaats gonna be bad. RvB Unfortunately suffered from jumping-the-shark-itis a bit too much, they basically made pretty good endings for the series on 4 seperate occassions... imagine if they beat Salem in RWBY and then just added a new bad guy. its kinda like that. I didnt watch the last 2 seasons of RvB so maybe more things happend than i know but i really dont feel like watching them anyways. I hope Geoff leaves eventually, id rather he leaves before everything crumbles tho so he gets to walk out with his head held high.
@@DeaminZaints > i meant its a fail condition if RWBY ends before its story is done It will end this way because they very, very obviously have no end or arc in mind and every season end is designed to just be another meaningless cliff hanger. Anyway the anime is good and actually inventive and well written. Shows what happens when you actually run your idea through a second draft or have people who actually have a modicum of professionalism working on it. I hope RT dies and just sells off the rights to RWBY to Shaft with no strings attached.
I don' t know how you got the idea that the staff doesn' t listen to people, but the writers said again and again that they care very much about the fanbase lol. They just don' t care about criticism that is done in bad faith ( and Miles in an interview even said that, despite being bad for his mental health, he often goes "I fucking hate this dude but he' s right and I can take this into consideration next time). Tbh I think Rwby writing only got better as time went on, the community just doesn' t really know what they want, or wants something that Rwby will never be able to deliver because of scope/actual budget/what is actually is.
Man I missed the old Rooster Teeth. First time I found them was when RVB was at around 6 season. I think the golden age was around when Michael, Gavin, and Brown man were all in AHWU. The good old times
@@rikimaru700 and yet Mica clearly said that her workplace was no better. The people that were supposed to be defending her from all these rabid fans were apparently only making things worse. When LeVar Burton of all people is calling you out clearly you messed up somewhere. They didn't practice what they preached at RT...
Man I can't stomach seeing what RT's issues did to Geoff, man is genuinely the pure beating heart of the company, it sucks that things can get so messy when so many new pieces get added to the machine, and how it can totally mess up the core components.
I was an avid watcher of Michael and Gavin back in the day, but I grew up and didn't really check in. It's insane to see this years later and find out what happened
It's sad to see. College roommate in 2005 got some RvB DVD's and we used to watch them all the time. Pretty sure we had all memorized damn near the entirety of season 1. Didn't keep up with it too much after that since said roommate moved back home after that year (high school friend that I still talk to all the time, so that's a plus!). Fast forward to 2012 and I'm in my third year of an Air Force enlistment, one of my friends is watching their Minecraft series and I'm like hold on I recognize that voice -- Geoff! Turns out, Rooster Teeth had expanded to far beyond just RvB. Started watching their stuff again until 2015 or so and just kinda lost interest, especially after Ray had left.
This still burns. So many lost people and potentials that all have slowly drifted away from what was something great so long ago. Now all we have is Geoff suffering and that hurts so bad.
A lot of things are killing Rooster Teeth. 1. Not letting things die. The Best example I have of this is RvB. People loved the show, and it told great stories with great action. It had an amazing ending at Season 13. Sure, you can have the abridged season 14, that was fun too. And while I love the "How we got Here" episode, every season after 14 seems largely unnecessary. The Blues and Reds was good but not needed. The time Travel and gods was kinda too far and boring. Then they brought it back as Zero, basically just piggy backing off of RvB with none of the real stuff that made RvB. It was now not a comedy show, it was an action show with jokes. 2. Loss of that Community feeling. Watching the older shows and vids, the old Lab show (that was basically better and more fun Game Theory), the old Achievement Hunter, there is a sense of friendship. A lot of their jokes and bits really feel like a group of friends just hanging around, shooting the shit. Then the shows went bigger. A Million Dollars But... and the Science show ended (or got buried somewhere on their website). Achievement Hunter is now filled with a bunch of Streamers and VAs and UA-camrs. None of them are bad, but that's not really why I watched AH. 3. The Scandals. Watching creators we liked or shows we loved turn out to have overworked and unpaid Animators (animators you would know were mostly college students who were basically interning at a company they loved), Grooming and SA scandals, so on and so forth... I know it was heart breaking for the people involved who were their coworkers and friends, but it was also heartbreaking to the fans. To the people who saw the group as a bunch of friends shooting the shit, It was like having a buddy you've known for years get exposed as a Sx Offender. There are probably a bunch more reasons in the back of my mind, but those are the 3 biggest hammers which hit the most nails on the head in my mind.
I pretty much agree with all your points. I’m one of the few people on the internet who likes Season 15 of Rvb but even I agree it really wasn’t needed. Maybe if they made it a side series or a shorter “update” season, that’s how I imagined it tbh I’m still pretty attached to the og employees, Geoff, Gavin, Michael, Burnie, Gus, Matt, and a few others, like Miles. But I don’t know who’s got a scandal that’s true or not and who’s just a good person lost to the wind, the exception being Geoff. And it really sucks too. All good things must come to an end, I suppose
I was willing to keep up with the new stuff but after the haywood debacle I can barely look at anything rooster teeth without feeling sad, rwby and the animation department is marred to me because of gray, it just sucks seeing a company I loved turn into a stranger I barely recognize
@Seanus Patricus ehhhh I gotta disagree with you there. I’ll admit Fiona and Ky feel like they might’ve initially been diversity hires, but Joe and BK were quite obviously calculated to try to fill Jeremy’s old role in the team (and tbh Fiona feels like a failed calculation to try to fill Ryan’s spot, she tries to be sneaky but just doesn’t usually have the skill to keep up.) And for what it’s worth, RT’s moderation around that point where Mica left was objectively dogshit. It still leaves a lot to be desired quite frankly. The site “revamps” driven by the RTFirst switch (and later Fullscreen,) completely demolished the old community moderation that kept things manageable and brought it in-house, distracting employees from their jobs. When an asshat could be silenced by a fellow community member with a good track record, that’s one thing; when it’s the company’s job to silence them that’s another entirely. And “they got political” isn’t really an argument. There’s a reason Geoff kept bringing veteran friends into the company and they’d be gone in a few years. RT’s always had a problem with political divides, not like that’s even unusual. FWIW it’s also clear Jack slipped out of regularly appearing in AH at least partly ‘cause he couldn’t stop with the political jokes. Just because you feel like a perspective is getting persecuted doesn’t mean they aren’t trying to make concessions to it.
@Seanus Patricus "being diverse doesnt draw in people. Like, no one goes and watches shows or content JUST BECAUSE it is diverse Most people don't care about the skin color or sexuality of their content creators." -of course not. if your skin color/ sexual preference is always represented & never missing from any content you frequently view, you wouldn't understand the desire & importance of seeing yourself reflected in the creation & content you enjoy. Why would you seek out diversity if you see you, in everything already? I get it and maybe even the diverse crowd found the content less enjoyable after the creators forced more diversity but the idea that no one intentionally seeks out content for the diversity, is something someone assumes only if they've never felt a lack of seeing themselves represented, or their group reflected, in the things they enjoy. Maybe I'm totally off here, that's possible & fair. I just happened to be in the vicinity of my roommates & friends' love for rooster teeth & rvb. that's my only real nostalgia for the stuff so I apologize if this came off shitty.
I think that rt and ah is policing their community too much now. I've seen a mod post a comment on a UA-cam video pretty much saying "Il l be reading they comments of the video so you all better watch what you say". They pretty much turned into "if you don't like what we've become, leave" and most people did.
Rooster teeth stars: we don’t want you Person: fine I’ll take my money elsewhere Couple days later Rooster teeth: we don’t have any money Financial manager: we should up the price Rooster teeth: brilliant
The company that was founded and thrived by literal dick jokes, is telling its fans to stop with the dick jokes. The Hindenburg went down with more grace than Roosterteeth.
@@SpartonWolf it happened a lot during the onboarding of Fiona and Ky. Much less so now, but partly because the audience has shrunk so there’s less need.
This all reminds me of The Creatures and how they fell. Started with a bunch of friends who wanted nothing more than to make content and have fun doing it. They got big, moved in together, people came and went, and eventually they rented out an office building after years of content. That was the beginning of the end- making what was originally a friendship and online career into a business. Then you started to see people leave one by one, most notably James and Aleks leaving due to creative restrictions on their end and their ex-friend and boss being a conniving asshole. I’d say Dan was Roosterteeth’s Geoff- probably the most visibly devastated by the downfall of this passion for the time he had with his friends.
I absolutely loved The Creatures (I mean my PF is still James lol) and I'm still gutted they ended and Cow Chop ended. I always thought the way Seamus came and went was strange. Ultimately I blamed Jordan for the way they went.
@@rachelsplash533 Jordan was the main reason of the downfall Bad enough he controlled what they can or can't do even tho he broken some of those rules He was bragging when the channel ended 😒 I feel bad for Dan because he blindly followed him In the end Jordan had the golden parachute while dan had to rethink his future when the creature ended
This is also what happened to Team Crafted (SkyDoesMinecraft, Deadlox, BajanCanadian, JeromeASF, etc.). Started off as a group of friends making hilarious (at the time) content together, and then BajanCanadian, for some fucked up reason, decided to take charge/control of the team, and wanted it to go full monetization/corporate. Even though Sky was the real leader since he had the idea first, Bajan took control and ruined it. It started with them betraying and shafting Sky's good friend Setosorcerer for ''not making enough money for Team Crafted'' and ''refusing to appear in live meetups with fans in cons'' (not verbatim, but these were the reasonings), which basically pitted Seto against people he thought were his only best friends. This also made Seto go on a hiatus for over a year because he was devastated by the actions of even his closest friends in the team (Sky and Deadlox)(Sky apologized later and realized how fucked up it was, but the damage was already done). Then came bigger pushes from Bajan, with support from his best friend and business partner Jerome, to monetize their content and make it ALL about money. This is when Sky and Deadlox also realized that they are just corporate fucks at this point and bailed. At this time Sky also made an official apology to Seto and announced his departure from Team Crafted. Honestly... I hope Bajan still can't sleep at night because of the fact that he killed Team Crafted. They were my childhood and their jokes for the time were hilarious. They were pretty big too, one of the big youtuber teams of the day alongside The Creatures.
@@Misanthropolis Didn't it come out that Sky was one of the bigger reasons why team crafted failed? He was apparently a psycho that everyone was afraid of... Though I guess the owner of the rabid dog is more responisble than the dog itself if it bit someone.
Seeing Roosterteeth in this state is heart breaking to me. I used to watched it, loved the inside jokes- hell. Part of me still remembers the Achievement Hunter upload schedule with VS on Thursdays. GTA Mondays, Minecraft on Friday and I think GO was Tuesday? I watched them for years, got into RWBY, Day 5, watched the Sunday Driving videos, watched any animated adventure that would come out and so much of my early sense of humor was born from my time spent watching this channel, and I am sure that there is still some foundational comedy in my head that stems from this company. I realize now as an adult that a lot of these issues took deep root while we as the audience was none the wiser but its still wild to me.
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What killed my interest in RT was the distinct shift around 2015 where it went from friends playing games and making content, to a soulless corporation churning out content for the sake of content. It went from feeling like I was in the room watching some friends playing games and making jokes, to a company making things that tried to appeal to the largest amount of people while making it a chore to watch.
Yeah that’s like exactly when I dropped it too
thiiiisss. the second ray left it all started to feel so soulless
@@abbierouse5713 He even admitted it on his early days of independent streams that the main reason why he gave up is that he was sick of only playing games he was scheduled to do. He wanted to try different content at his pace and not being bound by a contract.
Worked well for him, his fans still watch him on Twitch and he's doing quite good with his girl and his friends.
jokes on you it was always a company trying to make money, which is why the "change" was possible in the first place
this right here, this is so much the reason i stopped watching
Actually sad and upsetting that of all the founders, Geoff is the only one that misses being just friends with the rest; that success went too far up their heads. Like seriously, damn.
Johnny Depp once said “Money doesn’t change people, it reveals them”
Not to mention they went woke too.
@@kiethveseyofficial woke can work if it is done constructively and with purpose, if it is being done for the sake of it and purely for clickbait views…it is undermining everything and does no one no favors and will not stand the test of time
It’ll become what every content creator fears…cringe
@@IronMan3582 no. It’s always get woke go broke. When you have an international audience you don’t fill it with americas problem. We don’t care about america. We came for content, not a lecture
@@kiethveseyofficial … Joel didn’t
It's honestly sad seeing Geoff trying to be genuine about what he missed and the others trying to joke it away.
His problem was going to sleep listening to CNN fake news on the best president we ever had. That’s what drove him to depression.
That "I don't miss it" comment was unnecessary.
If he wanted to make a joke about it, he could have said something like "can we have the room clean this time?" By the way he said that, it sounded like he doesn't miss the time they spent together playing games.
Timestamps?
@@TwilightWolf032 It’s unfortunate but I think he meant what he said. Like him or not, Gus is a legit dick and people are definitely not his favorite thing.
Heartbreaking. And so real. Someone has to be the first to feel something. That person was Jeff. The rest became corporate sell-out
This video is the embodiment of the “last online 10 years ago” meme. I feel so much nostalgia from watching the early roosterteeth days, but it slowly fades into sadness and depression as I get closer and closer to the present situation with RT. With Geoff being one of the last OG members left I can only hope that one day he’ll have the strength to eventually leave himself and live a happier life outside of RT.
Yea rt sucks rooster
i feel its not embodiment but similiar, its more like the friend you played with 10 years ago renamed themselves and became successful, and while you try to reminisce and say you missed those days, they just say they dont missed it and they hate it when they are not famous
@@cbbblue8348 When an old friend of yours becomes a big-time streamer and no longer bothers to look at your messages because he only sees you as another fan now.
The parts about Geoff almost had me in tears he truly just seemed like a guy who was content with making decent money and having fun with his friends while making funny content however sadly that's the nature of businesses that get this big this fast when noone really has a strong business sense.
The old gang of Geoff Jack Gavin Ray and Michael was my childhood
The thing is, Geoff was not wrong, look at a group like the Sidemen who have been enduring the test of time, they are gigantic in their own right, have other businesses but they are able to keep growing because they remain loyal to the soul of their content, that being the comrodarie between a group of friends.
That's what made early RT succesful, that's what made the Lets Play channel succesful, that is the thing television just cannot emulate.
@@StorminNorman69 Geoff jack ryan
Gavin Michael Ray and Jeremy were my favorite
Still watch the old ah content
That point where he was talking about his wife being absent, going to bed lonely and having no joy, or motivation to enjoy himself after his daughter went to bed was something many men feel but don't talk about for exactly what is shown here;
He's actively telling his friends and colleagues that he's depressed, struggling and probably knows his life is falling apart. What do they do? They laugh and mock him. He puts on a brave face, but that is absolutely disgusting from people who are meant to care about him.
geoff ‘jokingly’ stalked ‘hot’ women in his car with gavin and called it ‘conenct the hots’. So he’s not entirely a good guy but eh who is at RT?
Geoff deserved better. The man was always a genuine, heartwarming soul who wanted nothing more than to make jokes and make people smile. His Let's Play Minecraft challenges with Jack, Ray, Michael, and Gavin were my childhood.
It disgusts me to think that people would make that Griffin joke to someone who didn't have a bad bone in his body whatsoever. No matter what happens with Rooster Teeth, I genuinely hope Geoff finds some happiness in his endeavors. Man truly deserves it.
Tbf, I never liked Griffin. Let's be real - she was a terrible wife. She was some career woman and tomboy, it was clear their relationship had almost no romance and the mutual agreement to divorce was really just inevitable. There was no sacrifice in that relationship. Griffin wanted to do more professionally, so she straight up just abandons a great dude. I believe that Geoff would be better off if not for the divorce. I don't think that his daughter loves him that much either. It's clear she is being molded by her mother.
@@Misanthropolis lmao you don’t know these people, how can you say that with such certainty (and misogyny). Please reconnect with people around you.
I get that Ryan fucked up majorly, but its also weird erasure to not include him in the golden age of Let's Play.
"Rooster Teeth Co-Founder Geoff Ramsey Responds to Sexual Misconduct Accusations"
You mean this guy?
@@imtired927 Did you watch the video? That story was explained, and there was no misconduct on Geoff’s end. Geoff and Griffin had an open relationship and Geoff had been flirting with a fan, but when it started getting more serious he felt weird about the power imbalance and decided to not go through with it. Then the fan went out and accused him of cheating on his wife with her.
Hey it’s Craig from ScrewAttack. I see the top comment is about the ScrewAttack/RT relationship - very flattering as ScrewAttack is often a forgotten piece of the online video space. Joon, if you ever want to know more about it - or more about what I heard and saw while I was with RT I’m more than willing to share. Hope to hear from you 👍
Tell me!!
Miss those day of Sidecrollers, SGC and G1 days.
Dude I grew up on screwattack, I still watch the top 10s for nostalgia sometimes.
@@RhetoricalGamer Yeah it was good times indeed. Maybe they should come back.
@@bobthebuilder6085 appreciate you growing up with me :)
So who's here after witnessing the collapse?
me too
sigh, when ray left, i left, wasnt the same anymore, and then fking monty died and i was like ffs, everyone i liked s gone
Here!
Agreed. It felt like it fell apart from 2015 from friends playing games to just another corpo.
Love rays streams tho
Here 🖐️
One thing I learned from this video: if you have a fuck ton of packages to send through the mail you can just drop it off at a loading dock.
Never heard that story before and it got good laugh out of me
I have but one package and it's not detachable.....ehrm....
bada tss
@@darthXreven Stop you.
@@darthXreven bow chicka bow wow
To this day "Brownman has left the game" is the saddest thing I've ever read, he went to do what he wanted, which is cool, but I'll always miss the dynamic of the era
And the worst thing is that you could still enjoy the nostalgia of the older content but that was tainted with the RH controversy
@@UrbinoZokin yup
I think super best friends final was worse
@@christopherrapczynski204 I experienced BOTH Ray's was more instant where SBF made me go "oh sure ok they'll release the rest of the LP's and then quit" When in fact that was not the case they'll stop on the spot where they left off "right there" which was build up to a horrid gut feeling. They both hit the same for me but the rate of getting there was different.
@@Sonicfalcon16 Hey at least Woolie and Pat came back together for DMCV. What sucks is it likely won't happen for DMC6 since they live on opposite sides of the country now.
Roosterteeth died in phases. The first phase is when Monty died and the lead creative force behind the whole company was suddenly gone. The next phase was getting the idea that big budget = better and trying to bloat every single show they have with unneeded spectacle to mask the lack of content. Then the new people in charge felt they could do no wrong and often attacked fans with often valid criticism and dismissed them as haters that didn't get their vision. The final nail was Nickle and dime'ing their fanbase with confusing paywalls and subscriptions for previously free content as a way to stop bleeding money. This leads to today, where Roosterteeth is anemic at best and will likely be shuttered by Sony in a few years.
That who big=better there was a podcast with bernie where he talked about how expansion and bigger budgets was all Otter medias idea. Those big executives got all the profits from expansion. And RT was left to die
There's so much truth in this, it's crazy. I remember how Miles and Kerry would go on tirades about "toxic fans" that just had some simple, logical questions about the show, or Barb yelling at fans at cons for the same stuff. (The whole "iT's A cArToOn!!!" bit). Like, they've said said a lot before that they were trying to present a detailed story with a really well thought out narrative, but then when fans have actual, logical questions about things, they tell those fans to shut the hell up and be happy with what they're given. It's really sad, as with the right people behind them, a lot of RT's content could have been so much more.
Amen to that
@@Zac_Frost
I know, right?
What does Sony have to do with anything? Are you confused with Crunchyroll?
Geoff is the only one that didn't let the fame go to his head to the same level the rest did, he seems to genuinely miss the old days when they were starting out and their job was basically just hanging out with friends
Geoff always felt like a tragic character in this story, and you capture that really well in this video. He was roped into this whole thing because he wanted to do something fun with his friends, and it grew out of control. He didn't even realize it had ruined his life until it was too late.
Not to say he's a perfect cinnamon bun, he definitely contributed heavily to his tragedy, but that doesn't make it less tragic.
I’m just happy he stopped being an alcoholic, he seems so much more happier now!
It was pretty tragic to hear. And then the daughter part was really depressing. Hoping his life is in a good spot now though
@@TurbidTG1 turbidddddd :') also yes I agree
He facilitated the toxic environment at RT and covered Haywood's misdeeds up for years. He deserves everything he's gotten. Especially when you consider how he behaved during the #kickvic drama. Karma's a bitch.
@@GetBenched2010 I don't understand, where is the proof he was aware of and covering up haywood's actions?
Seeing Geoff as a kid and growing up watching them all it hit me so hard seeing him plead out loud through the veil of humor his sadness. I didn’t understand it because I myself didn’t understand mental health and drank to combat my sadness. Geoff’s cry for help urged me to get help and reevaluate who I kept close. Thank you for the video it brought back a lot of bittersweet memories but has made me who I am today. People like Geoff just need someone to hear him not just listen.
Except constantly crying about it in a video for everyone to see isnt really helpful to his mental state. It reeks of being addicted to a "Pity Party". He wont improve as long as he is online
@@orionhan2431 bad take. You’re only judging someone in the lens of what you publicly see about them. Realize that and have some empathy.
I don’t think I’ve ever left a UA-cam comment, ever.
But holy shit. Listening to him talk was honestly gut wrenching.
I can’t imagine.
Same ...it hurts
I always thought Geoff was the tough guy of the AH crew. Turns out I was wrong. If there's one thing I've learned from years of working around nothing but guys, it's that you either have a thick skin, or you grow one quick. The constant insults, the crude humor. I wish guys could learn to show a little more respect for each other, but that's just not going to happen.
My heart goes out to Geoff. Such a legend in this field. So many hours spent just watching Geoff and Jack make videos together.
geoff honestly comes off as such a nice guy after watching this. Seems like he'd be such a fun guy to just talk to. i almost wanna just give him a hug from half these clips tho :( i miss the 2010 era of RT so much sometimes.
You know what? That is fair. Geoff is nice in that regard. But on some level, I think he has a stake in this. He's not blameless, but he might be better off than most of them.
@@nickthepick8043 Oh definitely, and I think that’s why in these clips he is so distraught. He knows a lot of this is his responsibility, things that he could’ve prevented. Obviously there are many things that were out of his control, like being acquired, Monty Oum’s passing, and the Ryan fiasco, but those do not make up all of the reasons why Rooster Teeth is in the place it is today.
Nevertheless, he persists to hold his baby (company) afloat, and that is very commendable.
@@SmoothTurtle840 Fair enough. I'm just looking back on the time when he addressed the layoffs. Clearly, he was being genuine, and I can feel for him, but when he started talking about the "Haters" it made me lose respect for him in that moment. Because it just came off as deflection. But I'll say this, in contrast to his other colleagues, former or otherwise, he is one of the few with a huge amount of self-awareness. Something they lack. Ask anyone, and they'd tell you that they'd prefer people with admitting their uncertainty with humility in regards to criticism, instead of the opposite of those characteristics.
I remember listening to an old Dude Soup episode around the time Geoff was about to take his sabbatical, and Bruce brought up the that he and Geoff had a heart to heart after RTX but kept it very vague what they talked about. Not too long later, Bruce leaves Funhaus and RT downsized.
Welcome others,
On this day we all return
Indeed we have
I’m honestly surprised they lasted this long. I’d expected them to close shop years ago.
It pains me seeing Geoff trying his hardest to keep the company alive. The fact he's cried so much it hurts me and makes me wanna give him a hug.
He cried because some unlikable oppression Olympics contender got ratioed. 😢
@@Undying3001 not gon lie. As a black man, that shit annoyed me how she was going on her shit. Especially when she said she was ashamed for being black at times. Idc how bad and or crazy shit gets or how medias/ social media paints my people. I’ll be damned to say that shit. Then goes onto other fem victimized splainin. Nah
@@Undying3001 He cried because he could no longer pretend that the community wasn't hurting him. He knows what it's like to have a wall built up for years come crumbling down.
You sound like a weird person
Geoff is probably the only creator left at RT where if he left, I'd still follow him. Dude's not perfect. But he seems like one of the few people who went into RT for all the right reasons. Everybody else seems to have started for the right reasons, before eventually losing their way somehow. No matter what happens with RT, I really hope Geoff reaches happiness.
I don’t want Rooster Teeth to burn, never wanted them to fail. At a certain point they moved away from being a bunch of friends hanging out to trying to out-do UA-cam, netflix, Amazon. It’s not what kept me engaged the years before. They changed, and a lot of people didn’t think for the better. I just hope in the years to come, things get better, they return to being a place of comfort, a haven for the misunderstood nerds who like cool weird things.
It's basically just a history of friendship podcast but listening to ANMA is probably one of the best things I've listened to from RoosterTeeth in ages. Geoff and Gus just chatting about Austin + their stories around places is great to me. But damn I wish I could have old RT Podcast + Off Topic, etc. Before the pandemic I started to drift away, but the content just got stale really quick, it feels like they went for their own trends etc to chase views. Really sucks.
Rooster teeth took a turn from the fuck you fuck it channel, to the woke channel
They got woke, they went broke... That was the nail in the coffin. They kept bringing on what basically amounted to diversity hires, who were great doing their own content, but didn't fit with everything RT were doing, and yet RT tried to force them into everything anyway, which just brought all the content down a fair bit. There was the coloured chick they brought on who was actually really cool and fun doing her own stuff and content she cared about, but when they kept trying to force her into the Minecraft stuff which she clearly hated, and she would spend the ENTIRE VIDEO MOANING, COMPLAINING, AND SAYING IT WAS STUPID, it just ruined the whole thing. The infamous Minecraft Assault Course 2.0 video was probably the breaking point for a lot of people. it's a shame how a company that used to just be some nerds having fun, tried to pander to the woke crowd and so ended up getting devoured by them, because as we all know, you can never be woke enough and there will ALWAYS be those in the far left who have a problem with something. It sucked ALL the joy out of RT and AH, and just killed the escapism aspect when the agenda stuff started getting SO HEAVILY shoved into the content. Diversity hires are fine, but LET THEM DO THE CONTENT THEY'RE GOOD AT! Hiring a black person for the sake of saying you have a black person, then trying to shove them into EVERY PIECE OF CONTENT is not only blatant tokenism, but just built resentment towards the person in question. I remember she got so much hate after that minecraft assault course video and it wasn't her fault. She didn't want to do it, she didn't want to be there, but they made her and it sucked. The fans hating on her for that were way out of line and i hope she went on to better things because RT treated her so badly especially early on. Idk if she's still there or not, but i hope not. She seemed like a genuinely cool person (sorry i can't remember her name it's been like half a decade since i watched RT/AH stuff now so my memory is not great).
I agree with Calv that the ANMA podcast might be up your alley. As someone who listened to RT Podcast from Drunk Tank days, it's nostalgic as fuck.
@@Calv_ I personally feel the podcast is better again now that they're in studio. I love Brian when he comes on too, he brings in that old man energy too Lol
Update as of mid-2023: Achievement Hunter is gone.
Update to the update-as of early 2024: Rooster Teeth is gone
@@ratch58 i saw this coming when they started always boasting about how RT is now a "corporate company" and they were always like.. weirdly proud about having to have all these meetings w/ ppl they don't know and just.. ehhhh. True shame. I miss the peak RT days, there was so much amazing content coming out consistently for quite a long time
@stewskeys I know it seems for the past 7ish years RT was just a rotting corpo skin suit. I miss what they were not what they became.
Was looking for this! 😂.
"Rooster teeth is dead and warnerbrothers killed it behind the shed"
@@ratch58Update to the update to the update as of mid-2024: The company is now officially defunct after announcing they would shut down in early 2024
As a kid I would have given my left leg to work at rooster teeth, now you couldn't pay me three salaries to work there. It's gut wrenching to see how much everything has changed in ever single way. Atleast ray and Gavin's channels are still making great content.
Jeremy's too
It's weird how fans of them who eventually worked they're never seemed to last longer than a year
They shouldn't have gone woke. They turned their back on its fanbase because inclusivity
@@kane357lynch What do you mean by this?
Sure
I see a lot of well-deserved talk about Geoff, but I've always had a soft spot for Gavin & Michael. I found Rooster Teeth through the Rage Quit videos and their dynamic was always so fun.
Same. Rage Quit No Luca No was the very first video I watched. Got hooked ever since. I hate what happened to the people affected by Ryan, but ever since he was fired from the company, AH hadn't been the same.
@@prosklystios imho everything started going downhill once ray left, and then went even further to shit when everything that happened with Ryan came out and he was fired.
@@purplewolfranger22 I don't think it went that badly down hill after Ray left. Everyone is stuck hard on somehow him having been the big thing that held them all together or that he carried everything. Ray was funny sure, but he wasn't ungodly funny or entertaining. I wasn't the slightest bit upset when he left and enjoyed Jeremy when he came into the group. I think it started to actually really fall when Monty died, and then the shit with Ryan came out and it's just been worse.
@@snyperwulffgaming9575 the 6 guys with Ray was just a better mesh imo. And a lot of people's. Jeremy is fine but AH with Ray was the golden age. Him leaving was a huge blow.
@@snyperwulffgaming9575 It was less him leaving that signaled the eventual downside but more WHY he left.
He jokes about it all the time on his stream, how if he had stayed he be recording episode 1,000,000 of Minecraft.
He left because the content was starting to seriously become… derivative, I guess? That’s probably not the word I’m looking for.
It was the start of the business going corporate in mentality. Same shit, different day.
Being a Rooster Teeth fan around 2010-2014 was such a pleasure.. I can't remember the point exactly when I drifted away from it as a fan.. but I can remember how much I loved the content in those earlier days with Burnie, Geoff, Gus and co.. I remember getting off work late at my shitty student summer job and looking so forward to watching RT when I got home. This was super interesting, especially to see what happened after, but also sad - and disappointing - in the end. Geoff especially tugs at my heartstrings. :(
Yeah, I started around 2012.
I go back and watch the old stuff from time to time for the nostalgia, but the new stuff just don’t hit the same.
We all just grew up
The content was interesting for a time.. i guess I pulled away because most of the content were just too childish?
@@jamesjiao Personally for me, I just think it was after Ray left that kind of was the final straw. Change in the formula was always making RT somewhat harder to watch, and 2015 was not a good year with both Monty's passing and Ray's leaving along with two people who just weren't Ray coming in to "fill the void", for me the corporate side of RT was starting to become more apparent around that time.
I stopped watching when Ray left-
I don't know what's worse. The fact that RoosterTeeth went from being such a community stand point to the absolute train wreck it is today, or the fact that they're more than happy to throw Geoff out into the public eye every time as a scapegoat to cover their fuck ups.
Geoff deserves better. Yes he was an alcoholic asshole in the beginning. But he turned his life around drastically. He doesn't deserve to be the target for all the companies problems.
@@matthewdaub I've said this before but they literally treat him like the sad alcoholic uncle of the company. Every time they fuck up it's "Quick, get Geoff emotional and put him in front of the camera so we can nip this in the bud." It's such a horrible thing and if he hasn't already (Haven't watched RT or AH in years) he should pack up and leave to start somewhere fresh. Only the truly deluded like Jack actually believe the company is worth anything anymore.
@@N7Beowulfhe pretty much only does one podcast with Gavin and Andrew Panton. He seems to enjoy it. He deserves to create something with his friends instead of being forced to do tiktok shit with achievement hunter.
Personally, I think Geoff feels responsible for the company so he takes it on himself to address issues and try to be honest. Which is so depressing, bc it certainly feels like hes the only one trying.
Rooster Teeth did the same thing with Vic Mignogna by firing him from the role of Qrow on RWBY for false accusations of sexual harassment and assault.
The start up of RT and Monty's story is honestly pretty inspirational; Rather sad things went the way they went.
it is how it goes 90% of thw time.
Starts all nice and happy and cool
and it either dies after a few years
or
it starts rotting from fhe inside
Monty has been rolling in his grave a lot after his death..
That's just factually wrong. He died of an allergic reaction during a routine procedure at the dentist.
@@shockrobin5000 stress is a contributor tho.
The most healthy people are those with least amount of stress in their lives.
@@johnynoway9127 Except that has nothing to do with unknowingly being wildly allergic to a local anaesthetic and nobody having an EpiPen or similar nearby.
This whole time, Rooster Teeth was a joke name which coded “Cock Bite” into a business friendly form… I’m so mad I never knew this
Tbf it doesn’t really translate, it makes half sense when you know the context, but even then it’s a reach lol.
same i've been a fan for about a decade now and it never clicked lmao
as someone who only saw like 3 RT videos back in the day i thought it was a spin on the phrase "like hen's teeth" which describes somethings extreme rarity.
@@Headspr0uter same... pretty sure thats actually closer to the truth
@@William-Morey-Baker I don't think so. I'm like 90% sure their logo is officially called the cock bite.
I remember when Bungie added Grifball as an actual game mode in halo reach, it was so awesome to see. It really is sad that that whole era of gaming/entertainment is dead and gone… only to be replaced by soullessness
It debuted in Halo 3. I miss those days.
People who didn't grow up with the 2009-2014 era of UA-cam will never understand how crazy and new and awesome things were. As stupid as it might sound, Rooster Teeth was pretty much the MTV of the early 2010s. Popular internet personas, tons of skit shows and news segments series, AHWU, The Know, RT Animated Adventures, LETS PLAYS. It was awesome, and I miss those years often. My heart will always go out to Geoff, Jack, Gus, Burns and any of the core AH members. They're all too good for what the internet and rooster teeth have become. 2012 era AH is a relic of a time where there were no internet politics, where you couldn't be policed by big business and people were experimenting and constantly expanding on a platform that had incredible potential. They were all abused by a system they revolutionized. It's a goddamn tragedy.
they had me at "why are we here"
You are spot on with the MTV comparison. It was so awesome being on the edge of that content during that period. It was all fresh, from the heart.
Lol of course you're whining about politics
@@ChangedMyNameFinally69 you're the only one whining about it. Simply mentioning and being negative are completely different. Plenty of people don't go to a entertainment video to hear people preach about politics cope
@@rushpatriot2866 Exactly what I think. I think most people use media (like youtube and gaming) as an escape from reality, so why should we be dragged back into it?
I don't remember when Burnie said it, but he said something along the lines of "you shouldn't strive to work at RT, you should want to build your own RT" I grew up wanting to work there more than anything, but Im glad I heard that advice early on. You never know how things will change, companies, peoples, etc.
So…did you ever create your own RT?
You can always leave a company though. It's like when people were first laid off at Game Informer and then Ben Hanson left to form MinnMax with other editors. He got to do both, which is why I never fully understood the quote from Burnie all these years.
I think at this point the advice should be "You shouldn't strive to work at RT you should strive build something better than RT."
I thought about this quote during the bit about the interns. Extra sad considering we know how often Brunei was asked on how to work for his company.
I think of rooster teeth as being a symbol of the rise and fall of the internet. Once upon a time the internet was the wild west. Free, open, and had none of the baggage of tradional entertainment media industry. It fostered an environment for creatives that didn't exist before. It became so big that it challenged conventional entertainment as we knew it. It was a golden age and it was glorious leading to success of many and creation of great things. But all things must end, and like how the wild west eventually became settled and tamed, so did the internet. It got tamed. Too much money was at stake to be as wild any more. Greedy people came in once all the hard work was done to take full advantage of it without really knowing what it made great in the first place. Now the things that made it so great are gone and we can't do that any more, or at least as much. That wild west is just a memory now...kept alive by the legends it birthed and loved by the people who yearn for the freedom we can no longer have.
Edit; I'm coming back here now that RT has officially shut down and the last season of RVB finished. In keeping with the wild west theme, I feel like I just saw the last performance of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. An era has finally ended and I'm not sure how to feel.
Maybe someone may come around inspired by the past and make something great just like how the western was inspired by what came before it. God willing that someone will have learned from not just RTs successes but also failures.
RIP Rooster Teeth. I don't believe in speaking ill of the recently deceased. So I'll just say I wish things turned out different. I really do.
I’ve been on UA-cam since 2006 and this is literally one of the best comments I’ve ever seen. Very well said.
Amen to that, man. I use the exact same analogy when I talk about the internet of then versus the internet of now.
I remember when I got my first advertisement online, it was on Addicting games and I was so confused.
Now they're everywhere. Wild West is settled.
"I wish things were different. But it weren't us who changed."
Who here agrees that as long as Texas remains independent aka lazy, the media that comes from it will only get worse?
@@MinersLoveGames the wild is west is gone. All thats left are men with wild hearts with no where to go... im guessing that is why Burnie jumped ship when he did. He saw the writing on the wall and knew that he didnt belong there any more. So he left on his own terms rather than be forced out.
Hit the nail on the head. People can make legitimate livings off of UA-cam and Twitch and the like but it’s come at a cost. The cost is that it all starts to feel the same since everyone is trying to chase the same trends and not piss off sponsors by being themselves or having original thoughts.
The death of Monty and RT's inability to end the series that he had put literally everything he had into was the last straw for me. The man came in, made on of the HYPEST series at the time, literally breaking the internet with his TRAILERS, and RT seemed so hungry to keep milking that cow rather then accepting that it would never ammount to being the true passion project Monty intended it to be.
I will always care for Geoff way more than the other members. The way he always seems to actually care when something goes down with the company, He always the one that seems to put his true feelings or concerns out. Especially when he breaks down it kills me alil cuz I feel like hes put so much of himself into the company. Its just sad seeing him having to waste more of himself on a company that doesnt really seem to care.
Geoff seems like the last heart of the company, for better and worse. I just want him to be happy, because this company not only brought him some of his highest highs, but it seems to have etched some permanent lows.
He's such a silly, fun dude most of the time so it's really jarring seeing him get real like that. He gets genuine now and then but to see him break down like that was something else. It's always upsetting to see such fun guy get beaten down by life like that and I wish nothing short of the best for him.
Agreed, honestly it seems like RT kind of broke him.
@@chickencurry420 being like 15 at the time watching my hero cry over being a failure when all I ever did was look up to him broke my heart more than once and still does any time I see the clips. Geoff is and always will be a treasure, no matter what he does. The golden days are long gone and I don't think any new hot trend will ever replace the dawn of Let's Plays and the explosion of internet personalities. I was lucky to grow up in its prime
@@ruralgoblin I'm with you! So grateful to have come of age in the golden age of the internet. Before influencers and celebrity culture came in and laid waste to what was the best time to be consuming online media.
I know I fell out of rooster teeth but reading through these comments it seems a lot of us did around the same time. I don’t like to dunk on the new crew bc people and companies grow and change (and I like them all, mostly) but the dynamic was so different. On the old crew it seemed like there was always someone to be the straight man, on the new crew everyone wants to deliver the punchline. The joke never lands bc everyone tries to one up the joke and it goes on and gets louder, it gets exhausting.
This is honestly the reason I stopped watching ah. The old crew would have times when some of them wouldn't talk and others would be doing funny, there were moments of "silence". Now everyone is talking and screaming all the time and you can never stop and catch a break.
Yes, same, it was interesting to read these comments and find old fans who left around the same time I did (there was not a specific moment or bad feelings, I just kind of disconnected from the content at some point there). I'm sure new fans emerged around that time, but I think there was definitely a switch flipped around 2015
I joined the site in ‘05, before season 3 of RVB. I watched the shows evolution, the crews evolution, the contents evolution, the sites evolution, and more and more it became less about the community. There were so many new shows and podcasts and the site became new crew or cast member I had never heard of pushing new shows I didn’t care about and the community aspect just became harder to be involved with.
The podcast became overly produced, more complicated than it needed to be. When it became regularly live streamed with a set and production staff and stage hands and a control room and the personalities went up to eleven it all started to feel performative. The drunk tank years of the podcast, with the revolving shitty songs but mostly consistent cast (Burnie, Gus, Geoff, Joel, and…ugh, Jack or Matt), it felt like a peek into the breakroom for an hour of just these guys we liked talking about stuff we’re interested in. Then as the company became more successful, it was homes in LA, owning Teslas, flying first class internationally to cons where people waited hours for their autographs, like fuck off. Burnie was the only thing keeping me on the podcast and when he finally left the it I never listened to a new episode. I still listen to the old episodes(200 and under usually) consistently.
RVB became so convoluted, it should’ve ended after season 5, should’ve ended after season 8, but 10 was really where I was done with it. When they moved into filming in Halo 4 and dealing with the federalists and Locust or whatever I just couldn’t keep with the nonsense.
The people weren't being themselves anymore and trying way too hard to be funny...which made it worse. Trevor is a great example.
And then it devolves into just screaming lmao AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
I stopped paying attention to RT in 2015 (roughly), and it seems like that was the best time to jump ship considering how devastating the company's downward spiral was. Out of the whole crew it seems like Geoff was one of the few guys who truly wanted to do something fun with friends, but instead he had to run a company with shitty business partners and colleagues. I sincerely hope he finds his happiness again after being beat down for so long, the guy absolutely deserves it.
The 2010's were really a terrible time to be one of the older breed of content creators who just wanted to have fun making videos. That was right around the time the corporate world had finally realized just how much profit they could squeeze out of the internet and the people using it, and if you weren't as good of a salesman as you were a personality, they would beat you down and pick your bones clean without a second thought.
Truly wish the best to Geoff. Seems like a person who turned his life around and is picking up the pieces. I hope life goes better for him.
I'm not sure how long ago you stopped watching RT but he thankfully genuinely seems to be doing better! He's continued staying sober, he recently got a new girlfriend after his divorce from griffin, he's lost and kept off a bunch of weight, he's super big into bicycling, both for exercise and as a way to spend time with Miley :), and he started a new podcast with Gavin called F***Face (f*** face) in which he seems as energetic and excited as he did a decade ago. I'm so genuinely happy for him, if anything tragic were to ever happen to him I'd be devastated, he's honestly like a dad I never had.
@@sirajjiwani128 I stopped around 2014 but I'm glad to hear he's doing well. Honestly even the divorce surprised me, didn't know about it till I watched this vid.
Dick ridaaaaa
His life is going great by the sound of it. I listen to Fuckface (His and Gavin's podcast) regularly and it seems like his life is going just how he wants it to, and he's having a lot of fun with it. Plus I recommend anyone who likes the "old" RT/Achievement Hunter vibes listen to that podcast, it's great.
@@sirajjiwani128 ayyy that's good to hear, hope things continue to get better for him and everyone else
Wow Monty animated the all four RWBY trailers in just 2 weeks? Damn dude was a machine.
You have no idea.
all while maintaining his own personal project: Dead Fantasy, a crossover between Dead or Alive (the fighting game series known more for its female cast being buxom babes, versus its fairly intuitive and fun gameplay), and Final Fantasy. many of us knew him first through Haloid (shown in this very video) but then we encountered the first Dead Fantasy and...
he was extremely skilled. his passion projects were incredible.
he animated the Red Trailer in 2 weeks, not all 4. still an impressive thing to do. animation is difficult to do alone
If you’ve watched the RT Animated Shorts, this would come as no surprise. They specifically said “Yeah Monty pretty much just works and when he’s not working, he just sort of powers down!“ so he was nothing if not an absolute unit.
@@yosiyyahu.bar.stephen I thought they meant that he just comes in does his job and when there's nothing to do he goes into hibernation mode and sleeps like a robot
We love Geoff because he was and has been open about his flaws and how he misses the simple times. We all can identify with that. I don’t care what that man does I hope he finds happiness. And for if RT being created was a mistake? No! This gave myself and so many others good times that turned into good memories. I will always be grateful for what they did.
@スケルスケル just like no one asked you
Dick ridaaaaa
I was an RT fan from 2008-2015. When Monty died, how the company handled his death behind the scenes when it came to Monty's creative projects, made a lot of people angry. I know whole swathes of the community started leaving. The views started to tank because we saw the disrespect to Monty and his wife plain as day, and it left a bad taste with everything. The sadness with Geoff was starting to kick in around this time too, and when Ray left it was like the last nail in the coffin. There was a sharp cutoff after RWBY got chewed up and spat out.
Pretty much me too
Yep. What they did really showed their true colors
What happened?
@@everythingpony with montys death?
Yes
I remember watching Fails of the Weak and listening to Geoff just explode in laughter. Those were good times.
Geoff has a good soul. He's a good man. He's an honest man. I hope nothing but good thing in his life after all these trials and tribulations.
Same
I hope he can find time to just play video games with his friends once again.
@@Jay_Rainstorm I hope someday in the future Geoff uploads a video where its just him, Jack, Michael, Gavin, and Ray playing minecraft doing fuck all with shitty microphones, shitty capture cards, and last gen consoles, on a small ass cramped room.
Try listening to his and Gavin's podcast, F*ckface. Pretty good content, and Geoff sounds like he's having fun.
Jeff isn't a man. He's a boy. A femcog boy. He needs to grow up.
Seeing Geoff's story with RoosterTeeth is heartbreaking. This man found a means of expressing himself, his passion, and an environment to share and grow with his friends. That moment when he said he missed his friends; you can see he is spilling his guts out for his friends, and they gleefully stomp on them for the clout and promise of greater financial success.
From what I observed from his interaction during their let's plays, RTX panels and off-topic appearances, Geoff had little ambition for Rooster Teeth. He wanted a place that felt like a family to him, and his dream came true to a degree. With the growth in staff, it'd naturally be more difficult to be this close to each member, but it would appear that he understood that while he might not be friends with EVERY member of the workplace, they could be friends among themselves, and that his dream acted as a host for others who had similar dreams like him. What confirms this theory to me is his sendoff to those 50 employees. He didn't have to, but as he said during the speech, he acted of his own accord and this was a last minute decision fueled purely by need to speak his mind about the tragedy he felt had jut happened. Yes he bashed the audience as internet audiences are a cutthroat and bloodthirsty bunch, but I believe that he did this because he was likely not aware (as in emotionally aware, he most likely DID know about all these details as he is one of the heads) to the big picture spendings and corporatization of his dream project and work community, that CAUSED these layoffs. I can't blame the man for looking for someone to blame, a way to escape the feeling that he (by being in power in that company) betrayed these people, by having to take this away from them; which in turn is a greater betrayal to his core beliefs.
Edit: I hadn't seen his response to the harassment of one of the employees. 💔😔
He truly has a good heart. He didn't need to go that far into detail, and his tears are born from legitimate anguish. My heart goes to him
I think thats why he hadn’t left, it seems like he really cared about the company and just didnt want to see it fall, but now he’s stuck watching it burn down and its just painful to watch. I really hope he can find something more.
when Burnie explained that Monty died, its taking him everything to not cry and such
After seeing what they did to rwby be glad he died to not see how they ruined his baby.
Straight up that Halo animation by Monty was sick for it’s time, but it’s even more impressive that RWBY somehow still looks like that
💀
Looks like what? Lifeless? Lazy? Like an entry level animation project?
I mean s1 - 3 RWBY has some jank but you can see the passion put in them during the fights
Modern RWBY is lifeless
@@ImmaLittlePip yeah the trouble is everything else. Not to mention the lifeless voice acting
@@GigaChadh976 i was referring to its time. it was genuinely wild that someone essentially independently created this. it is choppy, telegraphed, and the lighting is awful; that’s just a few problems. The ambition and drive was there
Rooster teeth hiring unpaid interns is really scummy. Tempting a carrot over these wishful kids. Pathetic decision making.
Land of the free baby.
Just emulating Silicon Valley...let's not pretend they invented that culture, at the very least.
I remember listening to the podcast from like 2014-2016 and thinking everyone that worked there were so lucky and prayed I’d be able to one day
@@bernlin2000 fuck Silicon Valley too. At no point did I say RT started it, so please don’t assume.
@@user-zo5jo3ox5g I was the same. I was watching the shorts in 2010 and just loving every release. I watched AH grow and become this massive entertainment source and I wanted to be a part.
Hearing all the shit Geoff went through is gut wrenching. Especially the comment about his wife. He was always one of my favorite members of AH back when I watched, and seeing him go through all that shit just sucks. I truly wish him the best.
Hoo boy, this is gonna be the first video of yours that I'm gonna struggle to actually watch. Rooster Teeth were a cornerstone of entertainment for me growing through my teen years, and it is difficult to see what's become all of them, like watching a friend waste away from a terminal illness.
The last act was pretty tough seeing Geoff come to terms with just how much people being shitty got to him. I almost wish I could go back to not knowing how bad things got for them.
I'm genuinely tearing up during the segments talking about Monty. We lost an amazing man, and incredible animator. He's the reason I presumed a career in 3D character animation. Because of RWBY I wanted to work at Rooster Teeth more than anything, but now kind of seeing where the company is gone it's heartbreaking, honestly that desire to work for them is completely gone now. Don't get me wrong Monty was and will always be an inspiration for the career path I chose to pursue but it's just not the same.
Truthfully, I think everything really started to fall apart when he died. He was a S-class animator: The speed and quality of the things he can produce...well, name another. I can't. Most big animation projects take a year, for anywhere from 5 minutes to 10. This dude was busting out entire trailers in two weeks and was a damn machine. The moment he died, they lost their damn best animator, of which they had basically hinged a huge amount of their quality upon. I cannot possibly start to even think about what he meant to Rooster Teeth.
To this day they still have not got an animator that is up to par with Monty.
@@BeyondtheBlade I still wonder how he did it, he's the bob ross of animation, he's fast at what he does, he seemed pretty cool and collected, and a genuine friend to hang out with.
If only Monty’s immune system actually cared about letting oxygen in ☹️
Yeah. And then the Company proceeded to Stab him in the back before his body was even cold.
They Slashed his Private Studio, Discredited Shane and Monty’s Wife, and Kathleen.
Downsized his workers and Erased All Of his personal Involvement, so Miles and Kerry could “Continue his Vision” by changing everything in RWBY.
@@devildolphin2102 Sounds juicy, I must admit. Any chance you have a reference point to share? I like every bullet I can add to my arsenal for the inevitable arguement against a RWBY-loyalist.
The real death of RT was in business direction and leadership. They tried to be a production studio to compete with things like Netflix, but they never had the in-house talent or budget to make serious inroads. They gave huge opportunities to their own staff when no one else in the industry would trust someone so inexperienced. They basically failed to definitively move themselves from web series creators to a professional studio. RWBY is led by inhouse talent with no external portfolio, gen lock was the same, a lot of their animated shows followed that mold. They keep falling into this middle ground between hobby passion project and industry-level production. But all the while they are charging as much as Netflix, or Disney+, or HBO max. They have basically picked a fight with the biggest kids on the block, and are now getting mugged in slow motion. Gaming moved to Twitch and the donation model, podcasting is an incredibly oversaturated space, and they destroyed their community goodwill through controversies and price hikes. Their content model has stagnated, and everyone else either caught up or moved on to the next thing. They had a loyal, matured (wealthy) fanbase that they completely squandered. Nowadays there's a whole surge of talk shows that are very profitable, focused around live donations, an attractive studio, and engaging personalities. RT had all the necessary resources to pivot, but like so many other trends, they just missed the boat.
I'm not sure what idiot at RT thought it was a good idea to have 12 different podcasts but they need a serious talking to.
i always felt that was the issue too
their voice acting and overall production quality betrayed them, it felt like they were an xbox 360, playing cutting edge titles, doing cutting edge things, at the cost of horrible quality while doing it
Absolutely this, there is no reason why RWBY is being led by two guys that have no previous production credit. Once the main creative force in Monty passed away, someone else should have stepped in as everything the show was most heavily criticized for was the responsibility of those that took over the show, i.e. Miles and Kerry. RWBY and Gen:Lock are massive productions that require a lot of moving parts to work in tandem with one another, there's already an issue of scope there with the resources RT had so adding inexperienced management on top of that was a recipe for disaster. Miles and Kerry didn't have any sort of animation experience to be in charge of an animation production, they didn't have any sort of writing experience either to be head writers for the series, and while I think it's kind of cool that RT gives inexperienced creatives a chance, you should still always always have someone at the helm that knows what they are doing. It's a massive red flag if a junior animator enters a production with more animation experience than the production leads.
I stopped watching RoosterTeeth and LetsPlay when Ray left but it still pains me to see how far they’ve fallen. They were a big part of my childhood and early teenage years.
......how old are you now? (hoping still a teen or at minimum 21 as this is a weird way for an adult to react)
@@GrandisArcanum why is it weird? If someone liked Ray way more than anyone else I could understand it, and theres nothing immature about that. I still tune in here and there to all kinds of RT stuff but Burnie leaving was a huge drop off for me personally.
@@coyrex1250 same here. I moved down a ton in what I watched, down to just Geoff’s podcasts, and black box down sometimes.
@@GrandisArcanum how is that weird? It’s just like any artist you listen to if they replace a key member of the group it can completely change the dynamic of things and that’s exactly what happened when Ray left it didn’t feel organic everything felt forced it was no longer just a bunch of guys sitting down playing games together making dumb jokes and yelling at each other it felt more relatable when Ray was there with everyone
A lot of the OG community myself included stopped watching after ray left I first heard about RT from the rvb series later I found out about achievement hunter when it was only Jack and Geoff making the videos then they added Michael, Gavin, Ray, and regrettably Ryan, it all just felt more natural when the original group was there everyone played off each other so well I wanted to work for them growing up so badly it also makes me sad how far the shitter they went
In middle and high school I loved watching Fails of the Weak, Rage Quit, and their various let's plays, particularly Minecraft and Wormz.
I miss the old dynamic they had, it felt almost like actual friends just playing a game as if there was no camera or capture card recording.
The fact that their company name as a whole began as a throwaway joke is kind of hilarious to me.
I remember way back in the day when AH was just a bunch of dudes in a room playing on Xbox. I remember the first Minecraft episode where Ray and Michael had to play split screen, the old office that was too small to fit desks for everyone.
But when I found out about all the controversies and the toxic workplace, I was not surprised. The signs were all there when they started caring more about their image than their products.
The fact that this video didnt begin by asking the question "do you ever wonder why we're here?" is criminal.
Can you imagine how proud Monty must have been to have the anime he worked on be the FIRST anime to be exported from America to Japan?
Montys creation eventually got him the recognition he deserved if there was a 3d animator who deserved to make history like that it is monty
Monty was struck down by God for it so I hope it was worth it. I know how that sounds but if you die at the age of 30 to a stomach ache because you're allergic to latex there's probably some divine intervention in there.
"FIRST anime to be exported from America to Japan?"
First you may wanna do some research and second the RWBY anime adpation sucked.
@@morsletum5348Also Didn't Rooster Teeth also crap all over his vision for the Anime?
@@morsletum5348 I wouldn't say it sucked, but it was underwhelming.
I remember coming home from school and spending hours watching RT and Machinima content
Same. I think RT and AH will always live in my heart. They shaped my childhood along side people like pewdiepie, cinnamontoastken, chaotic monkey and so forth
i was a huge fan of rooster teeth from around 2013-2019 and funhaus until the departure of bruce and lawrence. they were massively influential in my sense of humor and made me a bigger fan of halo. it is truly tragic what happened to the company and i have always been a fan of geoff. i wish him the best
I loved Funhaus. I used to watch every single video they put out.
Bruce and Lawrence leaving was a kick in the teeth but I didn't stop.
Still watch nearly everything.
But as soon as the Ryan/Adam shit hit, I've never seen a single video of either company.
Just suddenly realised how toxic the whole situation is.
Demo Disc is GOAT
I miss Bruce, Lawrence, and Adam. Don't get me wrong, what Adam did can't be easily forgiven, and I won't, but I do miss how everyone's chemistry was so perfect together
With the power of hindsight, Ray leaving AH was the equivalent of Marcus Aurelius dying. Sure the empire (company) lived on but never uphill, always downhill
Which is ironic because Ray, at the time, was making an incredibly risky career move that looked like it may or may not pan out, and now he's the one with a brand new functional ship and RoosterTeeth are the ones that are sinking.
That's the 51 difference babyyyyyyy
It’s crazy how Ray seemed almost prophetic in his decision. Its not that he was some smart genius that saw where the company was headed. He simply left due to passion and he just felt the passion was siphoned out of the company.
@@ExternusArmyThough I think part of the reason he left was because rooster teeth started moving more to high production live action like Lazer Team. Man just wanted to play games on the internet.
@@dreadfullespectre8579 you don't have to be a genius to realize it was never going to pan out for RT going that direction and Ray likely saw that... everyone else had ambitions of breaking into the mainstream and endlessly expanding instead of ensuring their core product was good or understanding why people liked it
R.I.P Roosterteeth.
Thanks for all the years of laughs and happiness that you guys brought us during our time growing up.
Roosterteeth may die, but it will never be forgotten.
Only person I feel bad for is Geoff. I’ve always loved him. He’s so genuine. This whole things gotta suck for him.
Honestly when the Ryan debacle started I was a little worried Geoff would forgo his sobriety and just go down the drain fast
He seems to be doing fine, he’s on two very successful podcasts right now.
He sacrificed his life, no kidding for this company.
Jeff has always been a father figure for me and it hurts to see him hurt.
There were a lot more people here to feel bad for than Geoff, but I still get you.
Ray Narvaez kinda pulled a Sark from Machinima, in that they both pulled out essentially the ultimate heist of getting out of a company doomed to collapse slowly at their respective highest points
Well after everything I've been hearing about them recently, this has aged like fine wine.
What happened
@@skibot9974 basically even more stories of the workplace being toxic and more layoffs
@@donb7519 It's truly just a continuously slowly sinking ship.
@@nevvy5310 i just wonder if theyll ever actually sink
@@donb7519 I think it's inevitable, even if things are holding on surprisingly long. Unless some major shift happens, and even that would probably be a big risk. But at this point really the biggest thing they've got going for them is RWBY and, while there's the DC crossover stuff that's maybe helping, it doesn't exactly look good when they have to fundraise merch as basic and popular as plushes to be sure it has the money to make it worth creating. It looks even worse when they encourage fans to create a twitter, or X, hashtag to try and make trend and hope and pray the next volume gets greenlit.
This final half was a tough watch, especially opening up the wound of Monty's passing and finding out what has happened in the past few years is just absolutely gut wrenching to hear. I guess the phrase "All good things, must come to an End" is fitting for this situation.
RWBY was a sign that RT would’ve been a big name in entertainment. But when Monty died, it was the beginning of the end for RT as a whole.
RIP Monty.
*when monty was killed by his psyco wife who chose cats over her husbands health*
@@RandomGamerCory Also from the article.
The Austin-based animator for the production studio Rooster Teeth Productions died on Sunday afternoon, company chief executive Matt Hullum said in a statement. Hullum said Oum suffered a severe allergic reaction during a procedure about 10 days ago and fell into a coma.
@@RandomGamerCory Maybe next time before you attempt slander watch the vid as this was also cited word for word. Monty's wife and family have been through enough. Shame be upon you, let the best and his family rest in peace.
@@valkrian0974Monty was just a loser who was mediocre at using blender.
I remember hearing Burnie describe the beginning of rooster teeth as a group of friends who just wanted to make eachother laugh and maybe share it with the rest of the world. Somewhere down the line they lost that mentality and started thinking more as a company. Now they've reached a point of bringing on talent they can't afford, probably to keep their channels afloat for just a little bit longer. Odds are they'll be getting the machinima treatment here soon, having the whole company fractured and their resources sent to other companies under the same umbrella.
i remember that as well, and if i have to be honest, way back in the early days tons of people in the community also pushed for them to go more...mainstream? corporate, etc etc* 2008-2010 were probably peak years for me personally, but i wont be afraid to admit that after the whole ryan debacle (and just how deep it went) i couldnt watch the content anymore. like a lot of people i couldnt really stomach watching older content with him in it for a while too, but i mean. there's no denying that a lot of their content while he was there, was some of the most entertainment i could find on the interwebs in those days. he was funny, cool, charming, and as lots of people would call him, daddy material. which it turns out, was pretty damn accurate. it sucks what happened, but well. community is also partially to blame for it, power corrupts people, and putting people on a pedestal and treating them differently as such can cause them to do things they may never have done had they just been an average person without access to that kind of fame and power.
the fall of RT (and its certainly in its death throes at this point) has been fragmented and slow, but..steady. i agree with a lot of people that it really started after monty died. a lot of the original members arent there anymore, and its a RT of a new generation, that just...feels...lifeless compared to the earlier years.
dont get me wrong, AH can still have some funny as hell videos and the members might genuinely be having the time of their lives in them...but it just doesnt feel the same, the community isnt as close-knit and friendly as before, and...its..it feels like its time to on to better endeavours.
I struggled to start watching this one bc Rooster Teeth is so personal to me. I can’t even begin to explain how many different things in my life are indirectly related to them. I had no friends in middle school and high school, Achievement Hunter was my only respite to not want to die. I wore a slap band with the Rooster Teeth logo on it to a birthday party and met my best friend who I followed to their college, started my career and met my partner there. They meant a lot and it hurt when I started drifting from their content with just age and the shifting quality.
I remember when Monty passed away, i had to take a day off of school because i was so distraught, for a man i never knew. I was so hype for Michael and lindsay’s wedding, i felt like my friends were getting married. I watched every single 24hr extra life stream and collected all of the posters. I’ve been a first member/sponsor since I got my first job eight years ago. I can’t stress how much they meant to me and how big they were in my life. I had alerts in my phone when podcasts were going live, I begged to visit their studio and was heartbroken when I couldn’t get the chance. I watched their content every fucking day for half a decade.
I know they weren’t perfect and I won’t speak to everything wrong with the company, but i will say i remember when the Ryan stuff came out and it was a stab to the gut. I was *exactly* his demographic (young, obsessed with him, lonely, inexperienced, neurodivergent) and we were from the same area, it could’ve been me so easily. Some videos and moments I associate with my childhood, I can’t watch anymore without feeling gross when they were once my entire life. I’m still hurt over it and he better hope I never see him in person because I would lose it. Monster.
Same here I feel in love with rvb in 2010 up until 2016 when they started pushing politic into there videos I’m am neither left or right and I dislike when creators start pushing politic into there videos. I want entertainment not a political debate group. Then the fandom started to tear each other apart and there stars weren’t helping they were adding fuel to the fire attacking anyone and using the fandom as there personal attacks force which they continue to this day. I finally had enough canceled my subscription and never looked back.
@@noahsawyer7155 I don’t fully agree with the political stuff, what little there was was mainly in more personal content such as the podcasts and I think that was fair. But I completely relate to losing interest in their content due to growing out of it and the changing styles
@@noahsawyer7155 "I'm neither left nor right" translation I'm a privileged white straight bigot who likes to smoke weed and shoot guns.
@@noahsawyer7155 But only left wing politics right? Right wing rhetoric even fascist rhetoric is fine. There's only two genders: male and political. 🙄
I'm gonna echo what a lot of people are saying here about feeling bad for Geoff. He's been through the fucking ringer these last few years. Watching him talk about the layoffs on Off Topic was sad as hell, but I appreciated that he was willing to put himself out there and be genuine when it would have been easier to just not show up. Geoff seems dedicated to RT, and that makes it all the more sad when everything about and around it is crumbling
Man I used to want to work for RT so bad. I used to love their content I remember when I first stumbled upon achievement hunter and that lead me into everything else. I didn’t have any money but what I did I would use to buy their Merch. Sad how it ended up but nothing lasts forever I guess
RT community went from, "We have our own site because you can't rely on external parties to run a thriving community" to, "twitter is our community" and it's sad
Ah Twitter, the utter malestorm of hate and violence
The only thing on Rooster Teeth I ever watched back in the day was Rage Quit. I didn't know they started so small
This was very fascinating. Thank you
This whole video runs the same way going through a photo album of you and your best friend from birth who eventually went down a dark path would. So most nostalgia and pride to have been there leading up to the peak, until you lost contact with them sometime after, only to find out their current fate with immense sadness.
I feel like this newest controversy is the death nail. Unable to blame a single employee or their parent company or a “toxic community”, the only people they can blame is themselves.
What's the newest controversy?
@@matthewdaub Matt basically got fired and Kdin posted an extremely scathing rant basically revealing the homophobia/transphobia and general harassment she had to put up with at the company.
@@booyahhayoob and that is not even scratching the surface of everything. along with old contraveries being brought back up too. roosterteeth likely wont survive
@@saiyanscaris6530 Yeah, I originally took this video with a grain of salt when I first saw it like a week ago, but holy crap it’s aged like fine wine.
@@booyahhayoob People often make those sorts of accusations without the views being held actually being an issue. What was specifically said?
Ryans departure was the nail in the coffin for me. After over a decade of being a fan and meeting the og achivent hunter lineup, it was a great time. still follow jacks podcast and gavins slo mo but thats it. Crazy to see it wasnt just me leaving the RT fandom. peak content was those mini golf series and the first hundred minecraft vids.
In the saddest way I can manage, I agree.
I'd recommend F**kface. Gavin, Geoff, and Andrew. Maybe the most genuine podcast RT puts out. Not to mention it's hilarious.
100% those were the peak. It was never quite the same after Ray left but Ryan still seemed like a great replacement after he settled in. I quit watching around the time they brought in Jeremy because it just felt like the spirit was gone and years later I hated finding out what Ryan was up to. I can't even watch those old vids for nostalgia if I wanted to from anything after Ray and that was a large part of the golden age. The whole thing's just plain sad.
@@MrGrantmandude That is amazing. Just gave it a listen and added it to my podcast rotation.
@@zarathustra6116Definitely true with Ray. However i did keep up with his streams so he didn't feel to absent. And Jeremy i related to in a bit so he really pulled me back in for a while. But the Ryan hit a bit too close to home for me being a former member in touring bands and seeing similar actions happening, just really turned me away from the whole thing.
How high Monty would have flown if he were still around, his fight animations still give me goosebumps. Rest well friend 💜
His wife practically killed him because she kept bringing cats from the streets to the house even tho he was hyper allergic to cats, every shot for every reaction he had was more dangerous than the last one for someone who is allergic...
@@Blur2221 wait he was allergic to cats?
@@NinjaTyler yeah and his wife knew but didn't care
@@Blur2221 Wait, Monty’s wife brought him cats, which he was allergic to, which was the reason he got severe skin infection that killed him?
@@ArMartz yea
Now that Roosterteeth has shutdown, I really hope the original 4 now have more time to hang out with each other again.
Geoff is the only one who legit seems to want to fix himself and learn like he doesn't hide away when he is called out for his behaviour he puts his hands up and goes I need to be better
Honestly I'm hope Geoff can retire from the company and life a normal life. He pretty much lost his friends to a company he didn't want to start. He just wanted to have fun with his friends and now a few of them have completely left.
and that is why he sucks. so spineless and looking to live up to the standard of people wo probably have no business dictating standards or behaviors to others
@@matthewdaub I will never forget how Geoff's laugh seemed to bright any mood. It was so infectious. God... even though yeah Ryan turned out to be a real monster, I will always miss the old Let's Play dynamic of Team Lads vs Team Gents.
@@googleisevil8958 It's why they say Charisma is poison, Ryan was a naturally incredibly charismatic and funny guy, both phenomenal attributes for getting people to like and trust you.
The same characteristics that made him such an integral part of the team dynamic are the ones that allowed him to do what he was doing behind the scenes.
@@mewkatlolwhat are you on about?
I had stopped watching rt about half a year before the ryan controversy. At around that time it reached the point where I realized there was almost no videos they put out that I found fun enough to watch. That and the disgust I started to get for the workplace environment for ALL staff. the mainline staff seemed to be devolving into depressing alcoholics, while the rest of the staff seemed to have to deal with the fact that they might get "pranked" witch involves the main crew more or less trashing their office for "content", witch they made several videos of.
i just imagine the HR nightmare that whoever runs that department has to deal with
I despised alfredo once he joined permanently. His voice just didn't mesh well
@@spritemon98 Jeremy used to be my favorite, but he just became such a sad alcoholic it still makes me depressed.
@@tommy0con2 that's....definitely sad😢. I liked him a lot
@@spritemon98 idk how it is now but he needed an intervention bad... they all did
Seeing what Geoff was like pre F**kface and ANMA just makes me feel so down, it was a rough time looking back on it, nobody really knew how down he was. Glad to see him back happier nowadays.
Rage Quit first introduced me to Rooster Teeth. I just loved hearing Michael yell crazy shit will playing games. If he's still working for the company, I hope he's fulfilled and still having fun.
He's become a raging sjw I believe.
@@pupper9474OOOOOOOOOHHH.....now I REALLY want to make him mad. Not because of his beliefs. But because it's going to be sooooooo easy!!
@@pupper9474could be worse tbf
@@clockworkcat8576worse than a raging sjw?
@@pupper9474 He was a raging brony 10 years ago. Its michael.
RT themselves often point out videos like these saying how there will always be haters, etc, etc. But honestly, the fans have tried to give them constructive criticism for YEARS, and they kept brushing it off as hate or prejudice. Now their videos get an average of 10-50k views with a channel that has MILLIONS of subs. Everything being said is all the truth about what's happened with their company. As a long time fan, it upsets me that it's an end of an era but it frustrates me even more when I feel like they could've changed things along the way and listened to criticism.
Also, this video has 14x the views that an average RT vid gets nowadays. Says a lot.
EDIT: I'd like to make an edit here and say that after hearing how a lot of the RT staff have felt over the years from feeling burn out from creating certain content and whatnot, to now branching off and doing their own things has brought me a lot of relief. Everyone seems much happier doing what they're doing and the quality of content is significantly higher. This is why being transparent with your fans is important. I'm glad they're back in a good direction. Good for them.
I feel exactly the same way about Easy Allies. Depressing, ain't it?
@@TotemoGaijin who?
@@GraveMemories The remnants of Game Trailers that stuck together. Others like Elyse and Omar went on to Funhaus (along with Don doing both)
It's a result of the ideology they embrace. They're always the victim, any criticism MUST BE founded in hate/racism/sexism/xyz-phobia/bigotry/etc. Living in that headspace always leads to failure. Notice when they started to struggle was around 2016. When the Media went full on divisive rhetoric and tore society in two. The rabid Leftists demanded blood, whether metaphorically or literally, and that politics and "social justice" be forced into everything. While the Right just wanted to keep politics out of entertainment (movies, tv, games, comics, etc). RT made their position known officially years after most people saw them as the hateful ideologues they voluntarily became.
The two or three sections with Geoff on the verge of tears were painful to watch. It's so sad to see someone who was proud of what he had created making people happy while also having it tear at his life and friendships to that degree. Geoff always seemed like such a good and genuine guy and the way things fell around him is truly heartbreaking. Wishing all the best for him
I bet some japanese people were watching the english RWBY with japanese subtitles thinking to themselves "damn these voice actors suck"
You can really see the pain in Burnies eyes when talks about Monty’s passing
I always wonder if Burnie left knowing what was going to happen…the timing is just too Dam convenient. There wasn’t much better then burnie, gave, Barbra and Guss on the podcast. Great memories
Tbh my personal theory was that Burnie jumped ship after Joel got “laid off” and Burnie was worried he was next on the chopping block. That whole array of situations that erupted afterwards were just a pile absolute clusterfucks tho so yeah Burnie really did pick the best time to jump ship.
Shout out to Jason Saldana for flying under the radar and bouncing as early as possible.
The shitty reason that Burnie left was because of old media existing where he made offensive jokes by current RT staff standards. He also at 1 point quoted a racist French taxi driver where he fully said the N word on a podcast episode and then used it in a joke about Meg, Gavin's girlfriend, getting pumpkin spice lattes with NWA but saying N words Getting Pumpkin Spice Lattes. The podcast episodes where he said those were on RT's YT channel with no edit and fully monetized. Then worse still they stayed up 9 months after Burnie left. So Burnie leaving is getting out before people took notice of that and not dealing with the incompetent grand standing and saber rattling happening at RT about Left Wing politics. Another example of that is new RT staff being adamant about Human Rights of minorities to the extreme of demanding people boycott Blizzard for China and boycott the company making 6 Days in Felucia because both are making $ linked to Human Rights violations. Yet for 2 1/2 years Roosterteeth's sponsor of Voodoo Ranger has been linking them to also Human Rights violations. So major hypocrisy and Burnie just bailed before getting steeped in the quagmire of what is now Roosterteeth
@@ChaosGod144 I never heard the NWA comment. So he did bail before everything came back to bite him in the ass
@@cliftonsargent1572 it's that but also just seeing the writing on the wall with young management exploiting their position like Miles Luna. Granted he started on the animation department trenches but once getting to a large management position you saw him hang out with Ellie Maine, his now fiance, Chelsea Harfoush, who was Geoff's babysitter for Millie, and Max Krumke whose Griffin/Geoff's friend. Just going out drinking a lot and somewhat shirking his duties so that Grey Haddock and Kerry Shawcross had to do a 3 person job with just 2. Which is why we saw those Glassdoor reviews, and the eventual departure of Grey after Genlock having major issues
1:22:00
"Animation for a mecha series is very expensive!"
This would be true. If it was DRAWN animation. In 3D animation, mechas are actually great, because they don't need to have expressions, they move very stilted and you can add as many details as you like, because they don't have to be redrawn for each frame. I don't know where that person is coming from but as a 3D artist and character animator of 10 years: mechas is basically always easier to animate than people. Add that with Mecha series often playing in space, an easily reusable environment asset and you probably have one of the cheapest ways you could run a 3D fully animated show. Now, they didn't do all those things, but the statement alone that Mecha shows are more expensive than other 3D shows doesn't ring true to me.
The real expenses for Gen:lock were twofold: 1) Haddock's crippling perfectionism apparently led to the same scenes being animated over and over again because he wasn't satisfied with this or that detail. 2) They hired a bunch of big name a-listers like David Tenant and Maisie Williams, and that required everyone on the production who got a line to be paid SAG rates which massively inflated the budget.
The sad thing is I actually quite liked Gen:Lock, it felt like it had a strong first season and I would have kept watching had they not taken the absolutely bone-headed decision of not showing the second season on the RT site at all, even to those of us who had paid for FIRST, which felt like a huge slap in the face to those of us who had contributed to paying for its production. It was one of three things that prompted me to cancel my FIRST sub (the other two being Ryan Haywood and RvB Zero).
I enjoyed Gen:Lock as presented but I think I probably still would have enjoyed it as much had it had slightly ropey animation and the standard stable of RT voice talents. After all, bot RvB and RWBY had both of those and I still enjoyed them.
@@PassiveSmoking That is an interesting insight, thank you!
It hurts to watch this as an old school fan of their content. Perhaps not as old school as some, but I discovered them on the days of Halo Reach, when I started to get a proper hold of the English language, and I fucking LOVED their content. Red vs Blue, Immersion, Fails of the Weak, Achievement Hunter in general was so much fun to watch on those lazy weekends. RWBY was also pretty fun to watch for like three seasons, then it began to go downhill and without breaks.
Then shit hit the fan: Season 6 and 7 of RWBY are mediocre at best, RvB Zero is an overhyped joke and a lot of cool people in there are taken out either because they're not comfortable there, they'd rather do whatever else, or get kicked out for being gross motherfuckers. The moment the voice actor of Caboose took off, I knew there was no coming back. They also thought it was smart to make more and more channels and to bring more and more people, without realizing that when you went to Achievement Hunter, it was to watch the six same idiots you like being stupid, not some dude from a channel you don't know crap about hogging the spot-light. The only channel I'm still suscribed to is Red vs Blue's channel and I've heard they're planning a new season or some shit? I honestly doubt it'll be much of an upgrade from Zero at this point.
But let it be known, my two favorite Achievement Hunters are still thriving on their own channels, I really hope Ray Jr and Gavin continue their careers. I used to consider Ryan my favorite too, but... Blegh.
Honestly, a friend recommended RWBY to me which is what eventually got me into RT. After Monty died and the idiots who took over creative control ran it into the ground, I left and never looked back.
I genuinely still like Funhaus. They feel disjointed from the rest of RT
yup RWBY sucked after s3 i stopped watching
@@30cal23
Yes, it did
Ryan's still the best.
RT has 2 fail conditions at this point: Geoff leaving and RWBY ending. Once either of those happen, the company will probably go under. Worst part is that feel like for at least RWBY, the community has been very vocal in changes and directions that they dont like as well as what works and it just kinda seems like the creative team disregards it. As for Geoff, one man can only take so much of a burden before cracking and i would honestly rather see him leave the company than go completely under in a different way.
I wouldn't say RWBY ending would be a fail condition, because at some point the series has to end or be rebranded. It doesn't have the same concept as early RvB did where they could get away with more episodic content. That being said, while the writing was never stellar, it's gotten worse over time.
And for the scripted content, I feel that's what's been an issue with them, especially as the series became more serious in later seasons. I feel like Zero went in the right direction with a new cast, but I feel like it would have worked better if they treated it more as a reboot of the series. As for RWBY, I haven't watched the anime version but I'm hoping that turns out better. It's probably why they should have editors that either work outside of the company or something so that they can ask the questions of "Why this?" or "Where is this going?" and "Who is this person?"
As for Geoff, he'll eventually leave. Who will take his place, however, will be the interesting question.
@@cabutler1 Oh i probably worded it a bit badly, i meant its a fail condition if RWBY ends before its story is done, like if it gets cancelled. At this point volume 9 seems to be focused on this new realm, then we need at least 1 volume for the last relic and then probably 1 more volume to build up to the last attack, meaning we at the very least are looking at 3 volumes even if they rush the storyline. If the show ends after Volume 9 with no resolution? thaaats gonna be bad.
RvB Unfortunately suffered from jumping-the-shark-itis a bit too much, they basically made pretty good endings for the series on 4 seperate occassions... imagine if they beat Salem in RWBY and then just added a new bad guy. its kinda like that.
I didnt watch the last 2 seasons of RvB so maybe more things happend than i know but i really dont feel like watching them anyways.
I hope Geoff leaves eventually, id rather he leaves before everything crumbles tho so he gets to walk out with his head held high.
@@DeaminZaints > i meant its a fail condition if RWBY ends before its story is done
It will end this way because they very, very obviously have no end or arc in mind and every season end is designed to just be another meaningless cliff hanger.
Anyway the anime is good and actually inventive and well written. Shows what happens when you actually run your idea through a second draft or have people who actually have a modicum of professionalism working on it. I hope RT dies and just sells off the rights to RWBY to Shaft with no strings attached.
I don' t know how you got the idea that the staff doesn' t listen to people, but the writers said again and again that they care very much about the fanbase lol. They just don' t care about criticism that is done in bad faith ( and Miles in an interview even said that, despite being bad for his mental health, he often goes "I fucking hate this dude but he' s right and I can take this into consideration next time).
Tbh I think Rwby writing only got better as time went on, the community just doesn' t really know what they want, or wants something that Rwby will never be able to deliver because of scope/actual budget/what is actually is.
@@BuyMeThingsnow The anime is pretty bad ngl. I vastly prefer the original show
Bro seeing 2003 being highlighted and hearing "around 20 years" makes me realise how fast time flew
Man I missed the old Rooster Teeth. First time I found them was when RVB was at around 6 season. I think the golden age was around when Michael, Gavin, and Brown man were all in AHWU. The good old times
Blaming the fans never goes well. Once you get to that point that's where YOU need to reevaluate your company's decision.
Indeed
True, only once you reach that point you have lost the self awareness to reevaluate any company decisions
I mean at the same time, some of the fans were really fucking toxic, especially to Fiona and Mica, for literally no reason.
@@rikimaru700 honestly with those 2 the only 2 problems i had was their holyier than thou attitudes and the constant annoying virtue signalling
@@rikimaru700 and yet Mica clearly said that her workplace was no better. The people that were supposed to be defending her from all these rabid fans were apparently only making things worse. When LeVar Burton of all people is calling you out clearly you messed up somewhere. They didn't practice what they preached at RT...
Man I can't stomach seeing what RT's issues did to Geoff, man is genuinely the pure beating heart of the company, it sucks that things can get so messy when so many new pieces get added to the machine, and how it can totally mess up the core components.
I was an avid watcher of Michael and Gavin back in the day, but I grew up and didn't really check in. It's insane to see this years later and find out what happened
It's sad to see. College roommate in 2005 got some RvB DVD's and we used to watch them all the time. Pretty sure we had all memorized damn near the entirety of season 1. Didn't keep up with it too much after that since said roommate moved back home after that year (high school friend that I still talk to all the time, so that's a plus!). Fast forward to 2012 and I'm in my third year of an Air Force enlistment, one of my friends is watching their Minecraft series and I'm like hold on I recognize that voice -- Geoff! Turns out, Rooster Teeth had expanded to far beyond just RvB. Started watching their stuff again until 2015 or so and just kinda lost interest, especially after Ray had left.
"I turn on CNN and watch people talk about trump"
Tbh doing that would take a toll on anyone's mental health
What else do you expect from CNN?
This still burns. So many lost people and potentials that all have slowly drifted away from what was something great so long ago. Now all we have is Geoff suffering and that hurts so bad.
A lot of things are killing Rooster Teeth.
1. Not letting things die. The Best example I have of this is RvB. People loved the show, and it told great stories with great action. It had an amazing ending at Season 13. Sure, you can have the abridged season 14, that was fun too. And while I love the "How we got Here" episode, every season after 14 seems largely unnecessary. The Blues and Reds was good but not needed. The time Travel and gods was kinda too far and boring. Then they brought it back as Zero, basically just piggy backing off of RvB with none of the real stuff that made RvB. It was now not a comedy show, it was an action show with jokes.
2. Loss of that Community feeling. Watching the older shows and vids, the old Lab show (that was basically better and more fun Game Theory), the old Achievement Hunter, there is a sense of friendship. A lot of their jokes and bits really feel like a group of friends just hanging around, shooting the shit. Then the shows went bigger. A Million Dollars But... and the Science show ended (or got buried somewhere on their website). Achievement Hunter is now filled with a bunch of Streamers and VAs and UA-camrs. None of them are bad, but that's not really why I watched AH.
3. The Scandals. Watching creators we liked or shows we loved turn out to have overworked and unpaid Animators (animators you would know were mostly college students who were basically interning at a company they loved), Grooming and SA scandals, so on and so forth... I know it was heart breaking for the people involved who were their coworkers and friends, but it was also heartbreaking to the fans. To the people who saw the group as a bunch of friends shooting the shit, It was like having a buddy you've known for years get exposed as a Sx Offender.
There are probably a bunch more reasons in the back of my mind, but those are the 3 biggest hammers which hit the most nails on the head in my mind.
I pretty much agree with all your points. I’m one of the few people on the internet who likes Season 15 of Rvb but even I agree it really wasn’t needed. Maybe if they made it a side series or a shorter “update” season, that’s how I imagined it tbh
I’m still pretty attached to the og employees, Geoff, Gavin, Michael, Burnie, Gus, Matt, and a few others, like Miles. But I don’t know who’s got a scandal that’s true or not and who’s just a good person lost to the wind, the exception being Geoff. And it really sucks too. All good things must come to an end, I suppose
I was willing to keep up with the new stuff but after the haywood debacle I can barely look at anything rooster teeth without feeling sad, rwby and the animation department is marred to me because of gray, it just sucks seeing a company I loved turn into a stranger I barely recognize
@Seanus Patricus Could not have said it better myself.
@Seanus Patricus ehhhh I gotta disagree with you there. I’ll admit Fiona and Ky feel like they might’ve initially been diversity hires, but Joe and BK were quite obviously calculated to try to fill Jeremy’s old role in the team (and tbh Fiona feels like a failed calculation to try to fill Ryan’s spot, she tries to be sneaky but just doesn’t usually have the skill to keep up.)
And for what it’s worth, RT’s moderation around that point where Mica left was objectively dogshit. It still leaves a lot to be desired quite frankly. The site “revamps” driven by the RTFirst switch (and later Fullscreen,) completely demolished the old community moderation that kept things manageable and brought it in-house, distracting employees from their jobs. When an asshat could be silenced by a fellow community member with a good track record, that’s one thing; when it’s the company’s job to silence them that’s another entirely.
And “they got political” isn’t really an argument. There’s a reason Geoff kept bringing veteran friends into the company and they’d be gone in a few years. RT’s always had a problem with political divides, not like that’s even unusual. FWIW it’s also clear Jack slipped out of regularly appearing in AH at least partly ‘cause he couldn’t stop with the political jokes. Just because you feel like a perspective is getting persecuted doesn’t mean they aren’t trying to make concessions to it.
@Seanus Patricus "being diverse doesnt
draw in people. Like, no one goes and watches shows or content JUST BECAUSE it is diverse
Most people don't care about the skin color or sexuality of their content creators." -of course not. if your skin color/ sexual preference is always represented & never missing from any content you frequently view, you wouldn't understand the desire & importance of seeing yourself reflected in the creation & content you enjoy. Why would you seek out diversity if you see you, in everything already?
I get it and maybe even the diverse crowd found the content less enjoyable after the creators forced more diversity but the idea that no one intentionally seeks out content for the diversity, is something someone assumes only if they've never felt a lack of seeing themselves represented, or their group reflected, in the things they enjoy.
Maybe I'm totally off here, that's possible & fair. I just happened to be in the vicinity of my roommates & friends' love for rooster teeth & rvb. that's my only real nostalgia for the stuff so I apologize if this came off shitty.
I think that rt and ah is policing their community too much now. I've seen a mod post a comment on a UA-cam video pretty much saying "Il l be reading they comments of the video so you all better watch what you say". They pretty much turned into "if you don't like what we've become, leave" and most people did.
Rooster teeth stars: we don’t want you
Person: fine I’ll take my money elsewhere
Couple days later
Rooster teeth: we don’t have any money
Financial manager: we should up the price
Rooster teeth: brilliant
The company that was founded and thrived by literal dick jokes, is telling its fans to stop with the dick jokes.
The Hindenburg went down with more grace than Roosterteeth.
@@live2rock13 rt is the dollar store when it comes to being funny
This sounds like hyperbole not gonna lie, I have never seen anything like this
@@SpartonWolf it happened a lot during the onboarding of Fiona and Ky. Much less so now, but partly because the audience has shrunk so there’s less need.
This all reminds me of The Creatures and how they fell. Started with a bunch of friends who wanted nothing more than to make content and have fun doing it. They got big, moved in together, people came and went, and eventually they rented out an office building after years of content. That was the beginning of the end- making what was originally a friendship and online career into a business. Then you started to see people leave one by one, most notably James and Aleks leaving due to creative restrictions on their end and their ex-friend and boss being a conniving asshole. I’d say Dan was Roosterteeth’s Geoff- probably the most visibly devastated by the downfall of this passion for the time he had with his friends.
I absolutely loved The Creatures (I mean my PF is still James lol) and I'm still gutted they ended and Cow Chop ended. I always thought the way Seamus came and went was strange. Ultimately I blamed Jordan for the way they went.
@@rachelsplash533
Jordan was the main reason of the downfall
Bad enough he controlled what they can or can't do even tho he broken some of those rules
He was bragging when the channel ended 😒
I feel bad for Dan because he blindly followed him
In the end Jordan had the golden parachute while dan had to rethink his future when the creature ended
@@rachelsplash533 I still wear the Creatures beanie!
This is also what happened to Team Crafted (SkyDoesMinecraft, Deadlox, BajanCanadian, JeromeASF, etc.). Started off as a group of friends making hilarious (at the time) content together, and then BajanCanadian, for some fucked up reason, decided to take charge/control of the team, and wanted it to go full monetization/corporate. Even though Sky was the real leader since he had the idea first, Bajan took control and ruined it. It started with them betraying and shafting Sky's good friend Setosorcerer for ''not making enough money for Team Crafted'' and ''refusing to appear in live meetups with fans in cons'' (not verbatim, but these were the reasonings), which basically pitted Seto against people he thought were his only best friends. This also made Seto go on a hiatus for over a year because he was devastated by the actions of even his closest friends in the team (Sky and Deadlox)(Sky apologized later and realized how fucked up it was, but the damage was already done).
Then came bigger pushes from Bajan, with support from his best friend and business partner Jerome, to monetize their content and make it ALL about money. This is when Sky and Deadlox also realized that they are just corporate fucks at this point and bailed. At this time Sky also made an official apology to Seto and announced his departure from Team Crafted.
Honestly... I hope Bajan still can't sleep at night because of the fact that he killed Team Crafted. They were my childhood and their jokes for the time were hilarious. They were pretty big too, one of the big youtuber teams of the day alongside The Creatures.
@@Misanthropolis Didn't it come out that Sky was one of the bigger reasons why team crafted failed? He was apparently a psycho that everyone was afraid of...
Though I guess the owner of the rabid dog is more responisble than the dog itself if it bit someone.
Seeing Roosterteeth in this state is heart breaking to me. I used to watched it, loved the inside jokes- hell. Part of me still remembers the Achievement Hunter upload schedule with VS on Thursdays. GTA Mondays, Minecraft on Friday and I think GO was Tuesday? I watched them for years, got into RWBY, Day 5, watched the Sunday Driving videos, watched any animated adventure that would come out and so much of my early sense of humor was born from my time spent watching this channel, and I am sure that there is still some foundational comedy in my head that stems from this company. I realize now as an adult that a lot of these issues took deep root while we as the audience was none the wiser but its still wild to me.
I swear, if I ever meet Geoff in real life, I am going to give him the most sincerest hug.
He is the kind of modest man I can only dream of being.
It's the EpicMealTime for gaming lets players
A group of friends that success ate away at their friendship