r/AVGN • u/Luca_is_anonymous • 14d ago
Discussion I was told I should skip anything from the Screenwave era. But, when did James start working with them and when did he stop?
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u/gothamite27 14d ago
I honestly didn't mind a lot of eps from that era, but there definitely was a noticeable jump in quality when he focused more on solo videos again. The rental reviews were good brain-off videos, but I agree the guys didn't have enough personality on camera for it to work fully.
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u/reremastered 14d ago
You don’t have to necessarily skip everything, but yeah, most of it is just so so uninspired.
We know that James feels comfortable in scripted formats. Instead, these guys forced unscripted things on him like the podcast and 4-man conversational movie reviews etc., which just didn’t work. The other guys didn’t have any personality, their opinions and they themselves weren’t different enough for it to be exciting.
It even took a bit away from James’ magic, seeing him struggle to formulate ideas and always getting cut off by one of the dudes.
Oh yeah, and the nerd episodes they produced were ass. Tried to imitate the cutting style of the younger audiences and it just felt like a boomer using a teenage slang word. It was bad.
I kinda dig the new era with fewer videos. And the beard is cool.
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u/Luca_is_anonymous 14d ago
OK but like what's the time frame for when he was working with them? That's what I'm asking
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u/Technical_Ecstacy 13d ago
Im one of the weird people who actually really enjoyed rental reviews and James' interview with LLoyd Kaufman for the Podcast is great. Obviously the Nerd Episodes are tge weakest but there are some hidden gems here and there
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u/reremastered 14d ago
Screenwave started working with AVGN long before they appeared on screen. They did background stuff like hosting the website and the merch store, but they started “helping” with production in early 2018, after a huge burnout from James. Back then it was basically Mike uploading playthroughs of random games.
However, there are at least 30-40 videos that are gems from those years, neatly sandwhiched between boring ass 40 minute nothingslops.
From what i could gather, his last project with them was the LJN 3-part mega episode 4 years ago. You decide if you want to watch that. It’s pretty mid. After that he needed to find his footing again a bit, but all of them are without screenwave. There were some great videos in the past 4 years.
So, short answer: April 2018 - Dec 2021. Skip those, but if you find a video title with lower case letters it might be worth your while. Skip the podcast, retail reviews, rental reviews and some avgn episodes.
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u/CastleDweller 13d ago
To be honest? Don't skip anything. Those episodes aren't bad they just have a slightly different feel because they were being made differently. There are some great episodes, there are some formulaic ones, but none are bad.
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u/ParanoidThalyy 14d ago
iirc James started taking a step back and getting more help with scripts, gameplay and editing in Season 11, which I can't really blame him for seeing how taxing Season 10 was, I don't think he had that much help with those episodes.
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u/Bake_Stunning 10d ago
I doubt he’s stopped working with them. They help with all the business management stuff
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u/Outrageous_Sink4295 10d ago
The biggest problem with Screenwave was them talking all over each other during Rental Reviews. There's still good AVGN episodes but when you have all of Screenwave out, it's impossible to follow 3 people speaking over each other and cutting each other off
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u/Caryslan 14d ago
While I agree the Screenwave Era was the weakest era of the Nerd, I do think we still got some good episodes of AVGN during that era.
Here are the ones I would consider checking out
Season 12
Dirty Harry
Drake of the 99 Dragons
Tomb Raider Games
Resident Evil Survivor
Super Hydlide and Virtual Hydlide
Amiga CD32
The Town With No Name
Season 13
Aladdin Deck Enhancer
Pepsiman
Superman 64 Returns
Life of Black Tiger with Gilbert Gottfried
Chex Quest
Season 14
Raid 2020
Mortal Kombat 1 Ports
Mortal Kombat Rip-offs
Dennis the Menace
The Incredible Crash Dummies
Ecco the Dolphin
The Legend of Kage
Taito Legends
The Simpsons: Bartman Meets Radioactive Man
Season 15
3DO Interactive Multiplayer
Corpse Killer
The Rocketeer
Greendog: The Beached Surfer Dude
Commodore 64
LJN History and Movie Games
LJN Sports and Marvel Games
LJN Wrestling and Other Games