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So, as I'm sure I've mentioned a number of times, my guilty pleasure (well, at least the one I can talk about in polite company) is Reaction Videos.

Sure, I've posted quite a number of "Kids React" and "Elders React" and "Tribals React" type videos in other threads, but really it makes up so much of my entertainment quota these days that I thought I might start a thread to highlight specific content creators in the genre that I particularly enjoy.

Yes, yes, I know, "reaction videos" have the reputation of being the laziest form of content generation, and often enough that is merited criticism. But if you get the right kind of person, with the right kind of personality, it's actually pretty fun to watch someone else experience something you like for the first time. Almost every week for the last few years, I've watched someone learn for the first time who Luke's father is. And I've rewatched many movies and series with the added bonus of seeing what someone else makes of them in real time. I especially tend to gravitate toward "Reactors" who come from different perspectives or walks of life than myself. It adds an interesting twist to the media - what does someone who lives in Africa and hence didn't grow up steeped in Marvel lore or Norse mythology make of the Thor movies, for example?

So, in subsequent posts, I'm going to put links to the youtube channels of "Reaction" content creators that I enjoy watching, along with a blurb of what their "schtick" is and why I find it enjoyable. If available, I'll also provide brief clips to demonstrate their style of content and personality.

Ashleigh Burton, aka "AwkwardAshleigh," AKA "Millennial Movie Monday"


As the name implies, Ashleigh started out with a simple "weekly movie" hobby channel. She's a simple corn-pone down-home kentucky fried southern millennial who, due to her sheltered upbringing, never really got a chance to see many of the iconic and classic movies of the past. Her channel grew big enough to merit a patreon, and she now does two movies a week - the usual Monday, but also a "member request movie Friday" where she watches movies selected by the votes of her patreon subscribers.

She is occasionally upstaged by her overweight calico cat, Beans, and ever so rarely, has her husband Scott co-react with her. She's one of my favorites, top 5 for sure.

Frequent quotes:
"Hi, Yes, HELLOO" - signature greeting at the start of every video
"(Male Actor) could GET IT." - expressing attraction for said actor

Cultured Bubble

This woman who lives in Germany had a very strict and abusive upbringing, and for a brief year or so tried to use reaction videos both as a way of processing her emotional trauma and to help her follow her therapist's recommendation to do things that would help her "break out of her culture bubble" and experience things she had not experienced before. She is very empathetic and sensitive to things she watches, and wears her emotions on her sleeve. Unfortunately, a couple months ago, she posted that instead of being a vehicle to experience new things, she had instead been using her videos as an excuse to shut herself off from the rest of the world, and as such would discontinue posting. Thankfully she's left most of her video reactions available on her channel to watch.

Artur Rehi, aka "Estonian Soldier reacts"

A young man from the aforementioned Baltic state whose niche is bringing his perspective as a reservist in eastern Europe. As such, rather than movies or TV shows he generally reacts to informational videos about history and military affairs. It obviously should come as no surprise that, given current events, his most recent content for the last several months has focused on the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Drumroll Tony, aka "Music Director Reacts"

As a professional in the music business, it's often interesting to get an "expert's take" on music in modern media. Tony brings his professional analysis to popular music tracks, video game themes, anime soundtracks, and show themes. If you like hearing about music theory and watching the musical sausage gets made, this might be an interesting channel for you.

YaBoyRoshi

Roshi, with his wife Sheera and his best friend Lupasan, reacts to anime and TV shows. They live in Florida, and frequently cosplay for the shows they are watching.

In my top 5 for sure - to give you an idea, he's the only reaction content creator whose patreon I have actually paid to subscribe to.

Frequent quotes:
"YEAAAAAAAHHH??" - Whenever something ridiculously sexual happens on screen
"I'm done." - They're never actually "done," they keep watching.
"Clapped in the comments!" - You just said something dumb and the video's comments will not let it slide

Diegesis

A channel mostly consisting of reactions from the two above women, Arianna and Maple. Arianna's a little more down to earth, Maple's a little more naive (bordering on ditzy at times), but both are entertaining to watch experience classic movies for the first time.

There's a good one my wife watches where a therapist and director watch movies and react/review them. They'll look at relationships and if they're healthy or not or if this is an accurate portrayal of XYZ conditions and so on. I'll try to find it in a bit.

phil said:

There's a good one my wife watches where a therapist and director watch movies and react/review them. They'll look at relationships and if they're healthy or not or if this is an accurate portrayal of XYZ conditions and so on. I'll try to find it in a bit.

Click to expand...

"Making sense of life, one blockbuster at a time. Licensed therapist Jonathan Decker and professional filmmaker Alan Seawright break down your favorite movies, searching the characters, themes, and plots to find things you can use to improve your mental health, your life, your looks? and your cardiovascular fitness (nope.) Join them and their guests as they try to improve life, laugh at each other, and keep Alan from crying over everything."

I've seen many of their reactions, and they are all very insightful and informative.

Popcorn In Bed

Cassie is probably, by far, the most sheltered of the bunch here. Growing up she never watched anything that wasn't a feel good Disney whatever or the occasional chick flick. That meant no Lord of the Rings, no Star Wars (obviously), no nothing, pretty much. And until her Youtube Channel, I'm pretty sure the harshest language she ever used was a very forcefully delivered "GOSH!"

Now the internet is corrupting Cassie (and occasionally her sister Carly, too), and they've moved up to "Frickin!"

Both movies and TV serieses are covered. Chernobyl was a particularly "break the cutie" experience.

SCENE'crly, K.S.O.

Yeah, remember that thing I said in the first post about being from Africa and having no prior knowledge of western pop culture or European mythology? I was talking about this gal here. She's a soft spoken but very observant and intelligent lady with a different perspective than most on the movies she watches. Her videos do often run a little on the long side, most being 40-60 minutes long (when 20-30 is more typical of other movie reactors) but they are chock full of content. Patreon polls pick what she watches. Just this past week, this poor woman had to watch Jackass, and I think it made her question our sanity.

Frequent Quotes:
"STOP IT."
"PAUSE." (takes time to process what tf just happened)

Reactistan


You've probably seen me post some videos from this channel in the awesome or funny videos threads. These are tribal people from East Asia encountering new foods usually (but not always) from the West. Mustafa is my favorite. He started off being a standoffish and dismissive curmudgeon, but over time (and especially since his hajj - the pilgrimage to Mecca that every Muslim is expected to make at least once in their life) he has become much more relaxed and open.

I'm always a sucker for seeing what other cultures think of American foods and culture, and this one is probably the most authentic example.



Another similar channel that is also good is https://www.youtube.com/@NoviceSquad - NoviceSquad (AKA "Villagers Try") isn't the same region but is the same idea, and sometimes they also branch out to do more than food, such as reacting to video games or going on trips.

Nox So Subtle

NSS is a cheerful, smart young lady who just happened to be born recently enough to have missed most of our classic movies. You know the drill. Unfortunately she seems to have not posted in a few months, but I'm hoping she becomes active again.

Jen Murray

She's nerdy, she's sharp, and her editor likes to make her look extra silly. If you're into adorkable, bespectacled girls and geek enthusiasm, you'd probably have a good time watching her channel.

Frequent quotes:
"Is this a LAIR? I love it when there's a lair."
"Somebody has a cruuuush!"
"Explosions!!"

MR. VIDEO
https://www.youtube.com/@user-et7tj4jf1o (movies, tv)
https://www.youtube.com/@MrVideo123 (other media)

Leo's a stoner who likes the Philadelphia Eagles and watching TV.

He's not the sharpest tool in the shed, but he's genuine and entertaining.

GasBandit said:

View attachment 43849

Ashleigh Burton, aka "AwkwardAshleigh," AKA "Millennial Movie Monday"

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4RsZQih4mANoSKvpuBekAQ

As the name implies, Ashleigh started out with a simple "weekly movie" hobby channel. She's a simple corn-pone down-home kentucky fried southern millennial who, due to her sheltered upbringing, never really got a chance to see many of the iconic and classic movies of the past. Her channel grew big enough to merit a patreon, and she now does two movies a week - the usual Monday, but also a "member request movie Friday" where she watches movies selected by the votes of her patreon subscribers.

She is occasionally upstaged by her overweight calico cat, Beans, and ever so rarely, has her husband Scott co-react with her.

Frequent quotes:
"Hi, Yes, HELLOO" - signature greeting at the start of every video
"(Male Actor) could GET IT." - expressing attraction for said actor

Click to expand...

I'm hooked. I want to watch her watch The Crow.

CloseUp

George is another guy from Europe (Georgia to be specific) for whom English is not his first language, and that being coupled with his youth means that there's a lot of American classic movies for him to react to, and that's what he does.

He also has a second channel at https://www.youtube.com/@broaction5343 where he and his brother do music reactions.

Addie Counts

Addie's another young woman who just missed out on a lot of pop culture growing up, though not quite as naive and clueless as Cassie over at PopcornInBed. She works in theater in real life, though as yet I haven't really noticed her leveraging that in her reactions. She's pretty much the "normi-est of normies" in my subscriptions and is definitely in my top 5.

Duaffy

Duaffy is a young woman from Spain. What kept me watching her videos was she usually had unique perspectives on the movies that I hadn't considered before. I don't think it's a cultural thing, she's just kind of wired differently a little. Unfortunately, a few months ago she had to stop producing youtube content to focus on her health, but she still does frequently stream gaming on twitch.

Aliciaxlife

Alicia is a professional gamer turned vtuber in her early 20s. She chooses to use a virtual avatar instead of her actual face for a number of reasons, but probably most because she is currently in a fight against her uterine cancer which makes it hard to leave her bed. She is VERY gen Z by nature, and a lot of her perspective comes from separating out from her conservative muslim family when she came out as bisexual. Her 3D model is excellent and very expressive with detailed tracking, so it really helps convey her emotions in her videos. Of course, being on aggressive chemo drugs and hormone treatments often make her emotions run wild on her.

Alicia mostly reacts to anime now, but before her diagnosis there was a lot more gaming content in her channel. Despite her infirmity, she manages to post content substantive content almost every day.

Cyn Reacts
https://www.youtube.com/@Cynthetic (Let's Plays)

Pretty new to the "Reaction video" thing, she's really just getting started but has much more history doing "Let's Plays" and streaming. So far I'm liking what I'm seeing. When you get a younger content creator, there's always the risk that their personality will be excruciating for people who remember the 80s, but that hasn't been the case here. She's just a normal gal experiencing movies and shows for the first time.

VKunia
https://www.youtube.com/@VKunia (movies and shows)
https://www.youtube.com/@VKunime (anime)
https://www.youtube.com/@videogamekunia (gaming)

Fair warning - like Aliciaxlife, Vicky here has BIG zoomer energy. If she'd been born 20 years earlier she probably would have fallen into a valley girl stereotype - if she wasn't from New York. She does occasionally mention that she is of Polish descent, and she can understand the language enough to laugh when it is spoken incorrectly on screen, which apparently happens more often than it being spoken correctly. Not that either of those two things happens regularly. She's a very active content creator, but sometimes she has a distinct propensity to forget important details or miss the blindingly obvious.

Whimsory

A more stereotypical tiktok kid you'd be hard pressed to find. There's clearly some manic pixie neurodivergence going on here. Whimsory is brand spanking new to the reaction racket, started recently when she "came to realize she knows almost nothing" about pop culture from before she was born, and decided to document her voyage of discovery on youtube. Anybody who's willing to make one of their earliest reactions be John Carpenter's "The Thing" is worth giving a fair shake, in my book.

There aren't any good summary short clips to post of her yet, unfortunately. I tried going and looking at her tiktok to see if something else is suitable there but it is all cringey teen tiktok skits.

Definitely Not Definitive
https://www.youtube.com/@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2 (general media, occasional TV series)
https://www.youtube.com/@DefinitelyNotDefinitiveGames (gaming)

Self describing as "Just a wacky couple in love who love reacting," Ken and Bethany generally react to other youtube videos but also occasional TV series. I particularly like to watch their reactions to DBZ Abridged. It's also been fun watching Bethany's slide away from blissful innocence as she is roped by Ken into watching things like Mortal Kombat fatality compilation videos. I wouldn't say they're in my top 5, and I definitely skip as many of their videos as I watch (particularly the ones where they're reacting to content I don't care about, like Death Battle and Epic Rap Battles of History), but for the content I AM interested in, these guys are worth watching.

Rob Squad Reactions
https://www.youtube.com/@robsquadmoviereactions (Movies)
https://www.youtube.com/@RobSquadReactions (Music)

Rob Squad is a millennial parent duo from Oklahoma. Much like many of the others in my list, they just happened to miss out on this stuff for whatever reason, so now - guided by their Patreon patrons' votes, they react to movies and music. Jay is your average buddy type and Amber is his softer, kinder better-half.... not quite sure where the "Rob" part comes into it. Between the two of them, it's usually pretty entertaining to watch them experience the staples of my childhood for the first time.

Asia and BJ
https://www.youtube.com/@ReelinwithAsiaandBJ (movies, rarely TV shows)
https://www.youtube.com/@AsiaandBJ (music)
https://www.youtube.com/@AsiaandBJReact (sports, various online media)

Asia and BJ probably first came over my recommendations because they seem to fill so much of the same niche as Rob Squad, but apart from being Black American married reactors, they're not really the same at all. The vibe is very different, they do their own thing. Asia in particular is very amusing - she is a movie coward of the highest degree and cannot bear even the slightest bit of tension or suspense without having a blanket to hide behind. So, naturally their supporters line up lots and lots of horror movies to make her watch. Whenever they react to a movie, it's always entertaining. Top 5.

Lost In Vegas

Ryan (no glasses) and George (glasses) are two Hip-Hop dudes who apparently decided not to be limited to Hip-Hop (hence the "Free Thinkers" logo) and decided to give a bunch of other stuff a listen and document the experience. I've watched them dive into Heavy Metal and Hard Rock, but they also touch on Prog Rock, Classic Rock, and more modern Pop/Rock. I can't remember which reaction video of theirs I saw first, But I think it was someone else referring to their review of Megadeth's "Holy Wars... The Punishment Due." I also remember their review of Rush's "YYZ" since there's some point where they're like, "This is one Hell of an intro, I wonder when the lyrics are gonna start?" <cuts to> "Okay so apparently this is an instrumental..."








--Patrick

Verowak
https://www.youtube.com/@VerowakReacts (Movies)
https://www.youtube.com/@Verowak (gaming)

Verowak started reacting around 6 months ago, and I have really come to appreciate her incisive commentary and dry, sardonic wit. I watch a lot of reactors who are of the "precious unsullied cinnamon bun" variety and she balances that out nicely with intelligent sarcasm and observant skepticism.

Devin G
https://www.youtube.com/@deving9793 (movies)
https://www.youtube.com/@TurdCandy (other media)

Devin's a macho gym bro and veteran who probably had no idea what he'd be getting himself into going down this route. While not the cleverest of men, he definitely has his own insights to give on what his subscribers con him into watching. Production quality isn't so great, but I do keep coming back to this one to see what he has to say.

Centane

A professional gamer who also does reaction videos. Quite the rarity - she is Dominican-Norwegian (living in Norway). Her videos are decent quality, if slightly amateurish - sometimes she doesn't edit out all the "dead air" and as such they might run a little longer than they need to. But she unarguably has a unique perspective to bring and is a decent watch.

Andy & Alex

Andy (no beard) and Alex (beard) are a couple of Gen Z musician dudes who met up in college (their earlier videos are literally the two of them in their dorm) and decided to start catching up on all the "old music" (i.e., classic rock) everyone else kept talking about. Andy plays guitar and drums, and Alex is in a band and writes his own music (and also writes music for hire). Their usual format is to fire up a classic song (or at times an entire album) and just sit there ADHD vibing to it while sipping on some kind of adult beverage, after which they will comment on it and give it a tier/letter grade. This pair is probably my wife's favorite reaction channel (or at least top 3) because she thinks they're adorable.

My only complaint is that they NEED to redo their review of "Living For The City" with the entire song instead of cutting it off early. The ending changes the whole thing!






Loving that shirt, Alex.

--Patrick

The Charismatic Voice

This is the other one my wife and I go back and forth with. Elizabeth Zharoff is a classically trained opera singer who loves to analyze music, especially vocal music. And when I say analyze, I mean analyze. She tends to frequently stop and discuss technique and theory. She most enjoys the emotional connection(s) that music can instill in the listener, the thing that makes a song go from mono to stereo, as it were. And while I've invested nowhere near the amount of effort that she has in building and furthering a career, as a person with a music degree and 30-plus years in vocal performance under my belt...I completely get where she's coming from.






I mean if she's looking an example of emotional connection to music, she'd have to look really hard to find one stronger than this.

EDIT: Oh, and if her name sounds at all familiar, it might be because of this viral video that went around a bit ago:



--Patrick

Here's a couple that I enjoy that aren't already on the list:

https://www.youtube.com/@AnnaAlexanderAuthor

Anna Alexander

Anna Alexander is an award winning author of contemporary and paranormal romance novels. For several years she was the president of the Greater Seattle Romance Writers Association (now ECRW), helped organized the Emerald City Writers Conference, and is a co-founder of the Seattle UnCon, an intensive that focuses on the business of publishing for authors. She also presents workshops on the business of writing, how to write a synopsis, and consent in today's marketplace.

My comment: Being an author, she does some minor analysis of things. She does mostly TV series.

https://www.youtube.com/@funnylilgalreacts

funnylilgalreacts

My comment: She has specifically commented she doesn't watch trailers/promos/etc. She does mostly TV series but gets fairly into to plot.

Gas has covered most of the reactors I watch, but a few he hasn't mentioned yet:

Natalie Gold
https://www.youtube.com/@NatalieGoldReacts
She can get amusingly animated at times, and her editor (I believe it's her husband) sometimes adds some funny touches to her videos. For example, every reaction video has her profanities bleeped out using a picture that's relevant to the current video. In her Infinity War reaction, for instance, the bleeps were done with a miniature Infinity Gauntlet.

Mary Cherry
https://www.youtube.com/@MaryCherryOfficial
An Aussie reactor that can come up with some pretty funny zingers.

Nia Maki
https://www.youtube.com/@NiaMakiReacts
In contrast to a lot of reactors, who can get really animated and agitated, Nia Maki has a more serene and thoughtful reaction style that can be a nice contrast.

Murder of Birds
https://www.youtube.com/@MurderofBirds
This guy primarily reacts to anime and gaming content, particularly Rooster Teeth's content such as RWBY. In fact, he's probably the most famous RWBY reactor. He is as energetic and screamy as any reactor you'd ever find. Also, funny story, the RWBY crew released a reaction video to one of his reaction videos, THAT'S how famous he is as a RWBY reactor.

All Ages of Geek
https://www.youtube.com/@AllAgesofGeek
A pair of sisters who mainly do anime and gaming content. I also found them through their RWBY reactions. One thing I quite like about this channel is that they stress fandom positivity, like they really want people to enjoy the content instead of focusing on the elements of a game or series that can cause people to get pretty salty.

There are a few more reactors that I watch but I wouldn't really recommend them as reactors. I pretty much only watch them cause they're hot girls. In fact, now that I think about it, pretty much all of the reactors I watch are hot girls.

Missed one:

Holden Hardman
https://www.youtube.com/@HoldenHardman
He previously did reaction videos with his friends, but now mainly releases videos featuring his then-girlfriend and now-wife. So, like, his videos are usually titled "My girlfriend watches..." and later "My wife watches..." Generally speaking the interplay between Holden and his wife Jen is quite entertaining, with her tending to be the more animated one while he delivers wry commentary. It also helps that Holden's a big film buff, so the videos often involve movies that he's already seen but Jen is watching for the first time. This means that when Jen wonders out loud whether something's going to happen, Holden will make knowing faces at the camera, which often annoys Jen immensely. Holden actually also likes to make dirty jokes, which Jen will often react to by saying "HOLDEN THOMAS HARDMAN!!!" in a shocked voice. This has happened often enough that someone's actually made a compilation of Jen saying Holden's full name.

And then a second compilation.

And then a third one.

And yes, I first started watching them because Jen's really hot.

bhamv3 said:

Missed one:

Holden Hardman
https://www.youtube.com/@HoldenHardman
He previously did reaction videos with his friends

Click to expand...

Objection! He's not a hot girl.

bhamv3 said:

but now mainly releases videos featuring his then-girlfriend and now-wife. So, like, his videos are usually titled "My girlfriend watches..." and later "My wife watches..."
...
And yes, I first started watching them because Jen's really hot.

Click to expand...

Withdrawn.

I've still got like 6 or 8 more to throw in this list I just need to get a round tuit.

Dasha Reacts

Dasha is an immigrant from Russia. As such, her childhood had little to no western media in it.
So now she watches western movies (voted on by her patreon) and reacts to them. The cultural gap is often quite amusing.

The Perfect Mix, AKA the Blank Ranger and the Pink Ranger
https://www.youtube.com/@theperfectmixx (Movies and TV Series)
https://www.youtube.com/@rangersreact (Anime)

Vince and Shoshana are young Gen Z couple experiencing classic media for the first time. Nice kids. Not the most incisive duo in the bunch but definitely got that "Babe in the woods experiencing stuff for the first time" flavor that keeps me coming back.

GasBandit said:

Dasha Reacts
The cultural gap is often quite amusing.

Click to expand...

Yes I can see the cultural gap right there in the thumbnail.

---Patrick

GasBandit said:

View attachment 43930
Dasha Reacts

https://www.youtube.com/@DashaReacts

Dasha is an immigrant from Russia. As such, her childhood had little to no western media in it.
So now she watches western movies (voted on by her patreon) and reacts to them. The cultural gap is often quite amusing.

Click to expand...

Yeah I'm sure people watch for her reactions. Both of them.

Hannah Bayles
She's a professional vocal coach and she generally reacts to stuff related to music and singing, eg Glee, Disney movies, musical episodes of shows, etc. Aside from being quite an animated and enthusiastic reactor, she also makes comments based on her knowledge of singing and how to use your voice, so it's nice to learn from her. Plus it's clear she genuinely loves music and singing.

GasBandit said:

View attachment 43856Popcorn In Bed

https://www.youtube.com/@PopcornInBed

Cassie is probably, by far, the most sheltered of the bunch here. Growing up she never watched anything that wasn't a feel good Disney whatever or the occasional chick flick. That meant no Lord of the Rings, no Star Wars (obviously), no nothing, pretty much. And until her Youtube Channel, I'm pretty sure the harshest language she ever used was a very forcefully delivered "GOSH!"

Now the internet is corrupting Cassie (and occasionally her sister Carly, too), and they've moved up to "Frickin!"

Both movies and TV serieses are covered. Chernobyl was a particularly "break the cutie" experience.

Click to expand...

Cassie's april fools joke is reacting to "Paint Drying."

I just joined this site specifically for this thread lol. I am a fan of most of the reactors posted already, so I loved seeing this. PopcornInBed and Rob Squad Reactions stick out, and I also have no clue where the "Rob" part of that name comes from lol.

A few to add:


James vs. Cinema
YouTube channel
He is (or was) a film student and always adds some interesting takes on what he watches beyond just the instant reaction of the moment. He also reacts to some excellent movies and not just the standard blockbusters like Avengers and LOTR. He's done some videos reacting to Primer, City Of God, Boogie Nights, and Blue Velvet among others. And his reactions to powerful or really funny moments in the movies he watches are always fantastic. He's also currently reacting to Breaking Bad.




LM Reactions
YouTube channel
I can't remember where they are from (outside the U.S.) but they are both enthusiastic and react solely to TV shows I believe. And both are very easy on the eyes lol...they are also emotional so if there are touching scenes or heartbreaking scenes they definitely let it show in their videos. They also offer some surprisingly good takes on episodes of shows that I hadn't thought of before, or that I had not heard other reactors mention. Sometimes they lapse into their native tongue (which I forget what that is) but put in subtitles for those brief moments.




Movie Night at Jacqui's
YouTube channel
She's relatively new, and is (I believe) an aspiring actress, so she's more than comfortable in front of the camera...and like James above, she gives some additional insights on what she's watching beyond just her reaction. She reacts to both movies and TV shows, like The Last Of Us and Pulp Fiction, among others. She tends to predict what's going to happen but not in a way that's annoying or anything. And it's enjoyable to see when she guesses wrong lol.

Katie o'shaughnessy
YouTube channel
Just recently started watching her reaction videos. She has HUGE Bambi eyes, a ton of tattoos, and a very thick Irish accent. She also comes across as smart and tough, and just watching her react is enjoyable. I think she only does TV shows, and she only does like 2 or 3 shows at a time instead of 15 shows like other reactors. So you don't have to wait long for the next reaction video for a show.




The Homies
YouTube channel
This group is from Russia but all their videos are in English (love their accents, though). And I think every single female reactor on this channel has an OnlyFans account lol. Actually, I think half the female reactors on YouTube probably do. At any rate, I love their enthusiasm and genuine emotional responses...there are about 6-8 different women reactors on this channel and they make videos in different pairs or groups from one video to the next. Ellie has the most expressive face and Michelle is probably the most stoic in her facial expressions during reactions. They cover movies and TV shows. Every once in awhile, a pudgy white dude joins them lol...but he's cool, too.

Despite me being subscribed to more reactors than I can possibly keep up with, I keep seeking out more.
They're not all winners, though.
Take JeanineUsagi for example. I don't want to even link to anything of hers because she is EXCRUCIATING. Watching her videos causes me actual pain. The "LOL I'M SO RANDOM" bullshit. The unthinking obliviousness (one of my biggest pet peeves), where she has no idea what's going on and no real motivation to understand anyway. The panic-flailing. All I can think to call it is "high energy weaponized idiocy."

And this isn't unique to this person, but I can't decide what drives me up the wall worse:
The "let's play" reactors who pretend they're having a conversation with viewers despite not having (or at least not reading) stream chat, then ask questions which viewers answer in the comments, and they don't read the comments so 3 episodes later they're still struggling with something that someone tried to help them with weeks previous...
or
The reactors whose youtube videos ARE just real-time black box copies of their twitch stream and spend 80% of their time engaging in unrelated "just chatting" activity instead of playing/reacting to the game/content.

I don't know why reactors all seem to move in herds, but it seems like so many of them all do the same content at the same time (probably because there's a group of reaction-enthusiasts who subscribe to their patreons and make the same request simultaneously to every reactor). One such trend is apparently a lot of zoomers have decided to pick up Subnautica for the first time in the last month or so.

Despite its horror elements and daunting level of freedom, Subnautica is not a complicated game unless you are oblivious/distracted. I swear I think I've started grinding my teeth from all the dunces who:

• Neglect their food/water supplies until they're dying of starvation/dehydration and then decide "oh whoa, I need to go find something to cook/make into water" THIS SHOULD BE YOUR FIRST AND HIGHEST PRIORITY
• Pay absolutely no attention to the battery charge level in their tools and vehicles leading to them having to do the slow swim of shame back to get a fresh power cell for the Seamoth or getting a door 95% lasered open and then having to go back for another battery
• Completely ignore the health of their character, or worse, their vehicles. Saw one particularly oblivious person who managed to destroy TWO seamoths through sheer not-paying-attention.
• Ignore on screen prompts to "try breaking this for resource X" while loudly whining that they can't find resource X
• Just don't read words in general
• Spend the early game panicking about oxygen on every single dive, then completely forget they need oxygen after the first 02 tank upgrade, leaning to near (or actual) drowning on multiple occasions
• Spaz-click things in their inventory for no good reason. They want to drop 1 thing but drop 5. They want to eat one thing but eat 2 and drink another 2 bottles of water without need simply because they're too fucking twitchy to click anything just 1 time
• Overreact to every minor source of damage like it's instant stage 4 cancer, but blunder their way constantly into radiation (without a rad suit) or leviathan class predators because - again - they can't pay attention to what they're doing.

Uuuugh just had to rant.

I like his music reactions better, but could not find it in my favorite list.


More of a breakdown of a song than a reaction.

bhamv3 said:

Gas has covered most of the reactors I watch, but a few he hasn't mentioned yet:

Natalie Gold
https://www.youtube.com/@NatalieGoldReacts
She can get amusingly animated at times, and her editor (I believe it's her husband) sometimes adds some funny touches to her videos. For example, every reaction video has her profanities bleeped out using a picture that's relevant to the current video. In her Infinity War reaction, for instance, the bleeps were done with a miniature Infinity Gauntlet.

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She is my favorite movie/TV reactor.

sixpackshaker said:

https://www.youtube.com/@jamel_aka_jamalmorethanmus5602

I like his music reactions better, but could not find it in my favorite list.

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This is one my wife likes to watch sometimes, too.
His reaction video to "Weird" Al's "Hardware Store" was one of the ones that started my gleeful journey through multiple hip-hop/rap community reaction videos to see their absolute glee as they react to it.
Spoiler alert: It is well-received.

--Patrick

This shit is what keeps me coming back to YaBoyRoshi. And why I actually pony up on the Patreon. This is Top. Shelf. Content.

You know, I've watched a few reaction videos lately and a great many of them frustrate the shit out of me. They'll take a powerful song and stop it at the absolute worst parts to break down and give it their analysis or talk over parts, thereby missing what comes next. It's why I don't watch very many reaction videos.

Dave said:

You know, I've watched a few reaction videos lately and a great many of them frustrate the shit out of me. They'll take a powerful song and stop it at the absolute worst parts to break down and give it their analysis or talk over parts, thereby missing what comes next. It's why I don't watch very many reaction videos.

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That's one of my pet peeves too. Talking over "good parts," being more interested in cracking wise than absorbing the material, that kind of stuff. I've been watching less VKunia lately because she's been starting to do that lately, she'll be making jokes when she should be paying attention.

Other things that drive me up the wall are game reactors/let's play types that refuse to read what's on screen or blow past important information, or worse, just being straight up oblivious. "Oh no my vehicle ran out of gas how did that happen" I mean the fuel gauge was RIGHT THERE ON SCREEN THE WHOLE TIME how did you not keep an eye on it?

There are some REALLY bad reaction video folks out there too. I don't know why I'm suddenly seeing a jillion Australian reactors in my youtube recommendations lately, but almost all of them make me want to claw my skin off.

Dave said:

You know, I've watched a few reaction videos lately and a great many of them frustrate the shit out of me. They'll take a powerful song and stop it at the absolute worst parts to break down and give it their analysis or talk over parts, thereby missing what comes next. It's why I don't watch very many reaction videos.

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The nature of the game means they have to pause constantly and talk over it or YouTube will nuke them from orbit with copyright strikes

12tone

Someone I wanted to mention before, but couldn't remember the channel name. Then the wife stumbled over him in her reaction video wanderings and that reminded me. Yet another music person who decided to do reaction/explainer videos about what makes music so special, mostly from a theory perspective, but with quite a bit of very dry humor and literal hundreds of outside references thrown into the iconography.





--Patrick

GasBandit said:

Other things that drive me up the wall are game reactors/let's play types that refuse to read what's on screen or blow past important information, or worse, just being straight up oblivious. "Oh no my vehicle ran out of gas how did that happen" I mean the fuel gauge was RIGHT THERE ON SCREEN THE WHOLE TIME how did you not keep an eye on it?

There are some REALLY bad reaction video folks out there too. I don't know why I'm suddenly seeing a jillion Australian reactors in my youtube recommendations lately, but almost all of them make me want to claw my skin off.

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Well apparently Google's picked up on me getting back into subnautica, and as it would happen a lot of youtube reactors/let's players/streamers have been discovering subnautica for the first time!

That's good!

They're all attention deficit zoomers focused on content creation instead of the game!

That's bad!

So, here's a brief list of youtube channels to avoid if you don't want to claw your own face off from their sheer obliviousness and lack of brain function.

Zach Fry
Flats
Sarenades
Lucille
Sethorven
Mapoclops
Symbalily

Also I've tried a couple different folks who claimed to be actual RL Thalassophobics trying subnautica and it was not as interesting a watch as I'd hoped. One guy, I'm pretty sure was faking, another guy had actual gagging reactions which made ME have nausea in sympathy, and another guy basically had to stay in the life pod facing the wall all night long.

GasBandit said:

Well apparently Google's picked up on me getting back into subnautica, and as it would happen a lot of youtube reactors/let's players/streamers have been discovering subnautica for the first time!

That's good!

They're all attention deficit zoomers focused on content creation instead of the game!

That's bad!

So, here's a brief list of youtube channels to avoid if you don't want to claw your own face off from their sheer obliviousness and lack of brain function.

Zach Fry
Flats
Sarenades
Lucille
Sethorven
Mapoclops
Symbalily

Also I've tried a couple different folks who claimed to be actual RL Thalassophobics trying subnautica and it was not as interesting a watch as I'd hoped. One guy, I'm pretty sure was faking, another guy had actual gagging reactions which made ME have nausea in sympathy, and another guy basically had to stay in the life pod facing the wall all night long.

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I'm a real life thalassophobic and my playthrough of Subnautica was me navigating to the steam refund page because fuck all of this.

Ravenpoe said:

I'm a real life thalassophobic and my playthrough of Subnautica was me navigating to the steam refund page because fuck all of this.

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That honestly probably would have been a more entertaining video.

ANGELINA

I think she claims she has ADHD or some other condition, but the result is that she's often rather hyper in her reaction videos. I find it entertaining, but you mileage may vary. I recently watched her reaction to Fellowship of the Ring and around 10% of the video's runtime is dedicated to ranting about how the movie ends so abruptly. I thought it was entertaining.

bhamv3 said:

she's often rather hyper in her reaction videos.

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Yeah, spicy Whimsory confirmed. Or is Whimsory mayo salad Angelina?

Edit: Ok, I watched a few of her videos, and she is a repeat offender of my cardinal pet peeve - she is more interested in mugging for the camera and hearing herself talk than actually paying attention. Her Return of the Jedi reaction had me clawing at my face. Plus she does that annoying "thug holler" voice when she's trying to be cool.

Nope, I don't think I can watch her, unless I get a lot of titos or she gets a lot of ritalin.

funnylilgalreacts

If you want someone to watch ANY new Star Wars content with, this is your gal. She watches stuff voted on by her Patreon, as well as just stuff she wants to watch, mainly sci-fi. She sometimes gets a little quiet, busy watching the show, but her reaction faces to the camera are perfect. She has a wry, often self-deprecating sense of humor that lives up to the channel's name.

Also, she once mentioned that she works in a dentist's office, and now I can't stop looking at her teeth.

Any bets on how long before the spam comes?

Ravenpoe said:

Any bets on how long before the spam comes?

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Eh, if so, it's the home grown, manual variety. IP is a fiber ISP in Austin, not a VPN, and the formatting of the post very closely matches previous posts. I'm on the "benefit of the doubt" side for now.

GasBandit said:

Eh, if so, it's the home grown, manual variety. IP is a fiber ISP in Austin, not a VPN, and the formatting of the post very closely matches previous posts. I'm on the "benefit of the doubt" side for now.

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Are you suggesting that I'm "homegrown" spam and not suggesting a reactor I like, like everybody else has been doing?

inspectre27 said:

Are you suggesting that I'm "homegrown" spam and not suggesting a reactor I like, like everybody else has been doing?

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This board has been getting a higher-than-average influx of newborn shills of late, so any fresh faces get extra scrutiny.

--Patrick

inspectre27 said:

Are you suggesting that I'm "homegrown" spam and not suggesting a reactor I like, like everybody else has been doing?

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I'm saying that, at the very least, I do not believe you to be a bot

New people not welcome. Got it.

inspectre27 said:

New people not welcome. Got it.

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I mean, if that's how you want to interpret my sticking up for you, alright.

inspectre27 said:

funnylilgalreacts

https://youtube.com/@funnylilgalreacts

If you want someone to watch ANY new Star Wars content with, this is your gal. She watches stuff voted on by her Patreon, as well as just stuff she wants to watch, mainly sci-fi. She sometimes gets a little quiet, busy watching the show, but her reaction faces to the camera are perfect. She has a wry, often self-deprecating sense of humor that lives up to the channel's name.

Also, she once mentioned that she works in a dentist's office, and now I can't stop looking at her teeth.

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I've been watching her work through Firefly recently. Its always fun to watch someone become a Browncoat.

inspectre27 said:

New people not welcome. Got it.

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New people are entirely welcome to stay…if they wish.

—Patrick

Reacts with Jax

Jacqueline Hellmers actually has some experience as a crew member in movies, to the point where she has an IMDB page, but she doesn't really talk about movies from the perspective of a crew member. Instead I mainly like her because she pays attention to what she's watching and is nicely reactive and insightful. Her editor also likes to add funny moments too, like memes or subtitles. Also, yes, she's pretty.

She's like.... Kristen Bell on double strength valium. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

I found her reaction to Nick Fury's survival in her most recent Winter Soldier reaction to be hilarious.

I recently came across a video on Youtube supposedly from Vkunia's former video editor, who she accused of stuff like blackmailing her and trying to take over her channel. The editor made this 75-minute video to try to clear his name and shed some light on what went on behind the scenes.

I watched the video, but honestly it's pretty boring so I wouldn't recommend it unless you're REALLY invested in this particular reactor's life. But, basically, the TLDR is that everyone's toxic and dramatic (including this editor himself) and I am so freaking glad I never got caught up in shit like this when I was younger.

This is not MaryMajora's usual content.

kaiielle
https://www.youtube.com/@kaiielle

I think Gas might like this one because she clearly does pay attention to what she's watching, and her reactions aren't as fake or exaggerated as some others. Take the Vulture reveal scene in Spider-Man: Homecoming, for instance. Where most reactors would give a dramatic "OHMIGOD!!" or something like that when he opens the door, Kaielle instead just produces a look of concern then concentrates intently on the scene.

Badd Medicine

A group of 4 guys who react to movies and TV - sometimes one (or more) of them have seen whatever they are watching, but not all of them have. The one(s) who have seen it, don't spoil it for others.

I hate how every youtube thumbnail, especially for reaction videos, has to have the reactor making an overexaggerated "somebody just came out of nowhere and yanked out my genitals with a meathook" facial expression because apparently they've never been more shocked by anything in their life as the revelation of a plot point in an anime episode that came out 15 years ago.

GasBandit said:

I hate how every youtube thumbnail, especially for reaction videos, has to have the reactor making an overexaggerated "somebody just came out of nowhere and yanked out my genitals with a meathook" facial expression because apparently they've never been more shocked by anything in their life as the revelation of a plot point in an anime episode that came out 15 years ago.

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That's because the analytics make it clear, that thumbnail gets the most clicks.

Ravenpoe said:

That's because the analytics make it clear, that thumbnail gets the most clicks.

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And I hate it.

GasBandit said:

View attachment 43859

Reactistan

https://www.youtube.com/@Reactistan

You've probably seen me post some videos from this channel in the awesome or funny videos threads. These are tribal people from East Asia encountering new foods usually (but not always) from the West. Mustafa is my favorite. He started off being a standoffish and dismissive curmudgeon, but over time (and especially since his hajj - the pilgrimage to Mecca that every Muslim is expected to make at least once in their life) he has become much more relaxed and open.

I'm always a sucker for seeing what other cultures think of American foods and culture, and this one is probably the most authentic example.

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Mustafa is such an original G

GasBandit said:

View attachment 43870Aliciaxlife

https://www.youtube.com/@Aliciaxlife

Alicia is a professional gamer turned vtuber in her early 20s. She chooses to use a virtual avatar instead of her actual face for a number of reasons, but probably most because she is currently in a fight against her uterine cancer which makes it hard to leave her bed. She is VERY gen Z by nature, and a lot of her perspective comes from separating out from her conservative muslim family when she came out as bisexual. Her 3D model is excellent and very expressive with detailed tracking, so it really helps convey her emotions in her videos. Of course, being on aggressive chemo drugs and hormone treatments often make her emotions run wild on her.

Alicia mostly reacts to anime now, but before her diagnosis there was a lot more gaming content in her channel. Despite her infirmity, she manages to post content substantive content almost every day.

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Alicia beat Cancer.

Emme reacts

I believe her day job is a kindergarten teacher or something along those lines, so she tends to speak quite slowly and deliberately in her reaction videos, which is an interesting contrast to how most reactors are quite animated and hyper.

I didn't see them mentioned, but one channel that's been a favorite of mine is You, Me, & The Movies, a husband and wife couple (Mr. and Mrs. Movies) who do movie and TV reactions. They're reactions are often interrupted by their kids, and it's become something of a running gag, with a "technical difficulties" card being put up.

https://www.youtube.com/@YouMeTheMovies/videos

They also have channels dedicated to TV and games, and Mrs. Movies had her own channel with content like baking a cake and putting together a new desk, but she hasn't uploaded to that channel in over a year. They also had a channel for paranormal talk and stuff like that with a couple of other people, but that channel seems to have been semi-retired.

If there's one negative thing I'd say, it's that Mrs. Movies has admitted to getting burned out on binging stuff and to hating most of the things they watch and, in my opinion, it's increasingly showing. Watching their recent Child's Play 3 reaction, it was clear Mrs. Movies was checked out and just waiting for it to be over. I'd suggest watching their older stuff first, when the burnout hadn't set in yet.


Another channel I'd like to dedicate a fond R.I.P to is Matcha & Movies. It was a small channel that wasn't around for long. It was a young lady named Shelby and her reactions, while not very deep, were often very funny. She took a long break without an explanation, then came back and announced she was burnt out on movie reactions and would change the channel to a personal vlog-type channel. The channel name was changed to her name, "Shelby (last name I can't recall)", but after a few videos of this type of content, the channel and its content disappeared.

Endorphinz said:

The Homies
YouTube channel
This group is from Russia but all their videos are in English (love their accents, though). And I think every single female reactor on this channel has an OnlyFans account lol. Actually, I think half the female reactors on YouTube probably do. At any rate, I love their enthusiasm and genuine emotional responses...there are about 6-8 different women reactors on this channel and they make videos in different pairs or groups from one video to the next. Ellie has the most expressive face and Michelle is probably the most stoic in her facial expressions during reactions. They cover movies and TV shows. Every once in awhile, a pudgy white dude joins them lol...but he's cool, too.

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It feels to me like their channel really exists only to drive traffic to their "special content" (i.e. OnlyFans), but I do enjoy some of their reactions. It's weird, because there are a couple of other channels that seem to be semi-affiliated, Magic Magy and Trixy Blue, both of whom also make sure you know to check for their OF links down below and which I'm not entirely convinced aren't shot in the same location that the Homies shoot in. To make it more complicated, Magic Magy is often joined by yet another OF girl in her reactions.

GasBandit said:

View attachment 43869Duaffy

https://www.youtube.com/@DuaffyMS

https://www.youtube.com/@Duaffy

Duaffy is a young woman from Spain. What kept me watching her videos was she usually had unique perspectives on the movies that I hadn't considered before. I don't think it's a cultural thing, she's just kind of wired differently a little. Unfortunately, a few months ago she had to stop producing youtube content to focus on her health, but she still does frequently stream gaming on twitch.

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She recently made a brief comeback to reacting but quit again after two new reactions. I watched part of a Twitch stream where she explained that, in addition to it being tough to film and edit reactions around her 9-to-5 job and the health issues of herself and her parents, subscribers and patrons had also become a problem, trying to bully her into watching only what they wanted her to watch. So, she said she as refunding patrons and was just going to be gaming on Twitch from now on.

TomWithTwoMs said:

She recently made a brief comeback to reacting but quit again after two new reactions. I watched part of a Twitch stream where she explained that, in addition to it being tough to film and edit reactions around her 9-to-5 job and the health issues of herself and her parents, subscribers and patrons had also become a problem, trying to bully her into watching only what they wanted her to watch. So, she said she as refunding patrons and was just going to be gaming on Twitch from now on.

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I was wondering why her comeback was so short lived! Thanks for the info. And welcome to the forum.

Target Audience -- Two guys reacting to a number of shows. They caught my attention because they are working their way through Star Trek, starting at the beginning. They just started TNG.

Has Alex Meyers been mentioned in this thread before?

I am so insular on Youtube where I stick to my 8 hour video essays on a random NPC in Planescape Torment that I literally didn't know what react content was.

Now I'm getting recommendations for some pasty dwarf named Pengiun0 and know what SSSniperwolf is and I hate it.

Frank said:

I am so insular on Youtube where I stick to my 8 hour video essays on a random NPC in Planescape Torment that I literally didn't know what react content was.

Now I'm getting recommendations for some pasty dwarf named Pengiun0 and know what SSSniperwolf is and I hate it.

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I know this pain and I'm sorry

It’s ok, @Frank. “Mainstream” YouTube can’t hurt you unless you let it. At least you’re not getting the ones for UFO cover-ups or how to survive off-grid where “they” can’t find you yet.

—Patrick

Yeah, for a while there Penguin0 (aka Critikal spelled in l33tsp33k I'm too lazy to reproduce) kept showing up in my recommendations, too... but man the dude is repellant.

Kinda surprised SSSniperwolf didn't though. Youtube's still trying to serve me ShoeOnHead content even though I haven't clicked any of it in more years than I can remember.

I constantly keep my history cleared on every machine I use no matter where I go, but darned if SSSniperwolf doesn't show up somewhere on the front page no matter what.

--Patrick

PatrThom said:

I constantly keep my history cleared on every machine I use no matter where I go, but darned if SSSniperwolf doesn't show up somewhere on the front page no matter what.

--Patrick

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If they know nothing about you, they make assumptions. Tiddy gamer with edgy hot takes is probably a hit more than it is a miss, by the number game.

Voxy watched the first couple seasons of Naruto, and I enjoyed her commentary.

Movie Munchies
https://www.youtube.com/@MovieMunchies-jx8we

Cute Asian girls reacting to movies? I never had any chance at all.

Anyway, the main girl on this channel is named Chi, and lately she's been joined by her friend Hella. They're from Vietnam. Consequently, there's a significant language and cultural barrier, both in terms of them expressing themselves, and in terms of them picking up certain details in the movies or shows. At first this annoyed me, because they would miss something important and then comment later on about how they were confused, but ultimately I decided it wasn't a big deal. I could still enjoy their reactions based on the things that they did pick up and react to. They're generally quite engaged in what they're watching, and they're quite animated and thoughtful in their reactions.

They also seem to play up the "innocent and cute Asian girls" angle a bit though, so some of their reactions may seem disingenuous at times, but I'm ok with it. For example, the second half of their Hacksaw Ridge reaction is basically a long series of groans and screams.

I was watching reaction one of my favorite Christmas movies, the original Miracle on 34th Street, when I ran across a reactor that had an extra resonance with the movie:

BEST MOVIE REACTIONS SUBSCRIBE EOM REACTS

bhamv3 said:

Movie Munchies
https://www.youtube.com/@MovieMunchies-jx8we

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It was interesting to see people react to Terminator 2 who hadn't already been spoiled to the T1/T2 Arnold character switch

Aside from young children I think I would be hard pressed to find people who aren't already spoiled to that even if they haven't seen the movie.

Kovac said:

It was interesting to see people react to Terminator 2 who hadn't already been spoiled to the T1/T2 Arnold character switch

Aside from young children I think I would be hard pressed to find people who aren't already spoiled to that even if they haven't seen the movie.

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I still point to the trailer for the second Terminator movie as a perfect way to ruin the cinematic impact of a film before you have even had the chance to see it. What an absolute waste.

it's right up (down?) there with that intro voiceover in Dark City.

--Patrick

LiteWeight Reacting
https://www.youtube.com/@LiteWeightReacting

I first found her because of her gaming videos, and took a liking to her. She recently started a channel for reacting to movies, and all the things that made her gaming videos appealing also transferred well to her reaction videos, eg strong emotional reactions, engaging well with the content, a good sense of humor, etc.

Also, I find that she apparently knows that she's a hot woman, and she's willing to lean into that a bit. For example, in her recent Shawshank reaction, her top is practically falling off her body on one side.