"It's me, The Lightbringer!" - "Linkara"

Wild how Lewis predicted being in conflict with a Smiling Friend

Lewis "Genesis of the Lovehogs" makes Alan Moore look like a gradeschooler scribbling on notebook paper

“I’m the Lightbringer! I’m the fucking UNIVERSE!”

i kinda adore the fact we are several videos deep in this and we have YET to reach the webshow hes "famous" for

If his character can manipulate light why not have him change his hair color by controlling how much light is reflected off of his hair? It's so obvious.

This is basically an Atop The Fourth Wall episode about Linkaras comics

Wait, so Linkara also believes in the Dimensional Merge? wtf

21:12 this bit in particular really bothers me. Pacifism does not mean indifference or inaction. Like does this guy think people just pop out of the womb evil and your only options are violence or nothing If he was such a pasifist couldnt he try to save that woman by using his voice or physically getting between them?

What kills me is the Linkara impression you do whenever his self-insert of a character happens to be onscreen talking, Dylan. 😂

29:55 Speaking of Perfect Blue, Satoshi Kon died too soon.

so plenty of comics have taken on dark topics like sex work, sexual assault, pedophilia, even real life murderers (in the case of the derf backderf comic about dahmer), but the fact that linkara consistently uses these themes in his work and tries everything he can to work them into his plot is really disturbing and starts to feel like a fetishisation.

Im surprised the the Lightbringer's panels aren't memed in the same way as Tails Gets Trolled panels are

Genesis of the Lovehaug

Uncanny. Switched from book to comic book and the amount of text stayed the same.

It's kind of wild to see a version of Linkara who to some extent seems to agree or at least entertain Rorschach's philosophy, since you know for a fact current-day Linky would not dare to be fond of the character.

DEAD - GAY - MUPPET - GANGBANG - M&M - "HMMMMMMMMMMM"

the thing is, if you believe in christianised moral absolutes, why would you endorse vigilante justice and bringing any harm to others?

This comic writer almost reminds me of myself in a way.

From what I understand about Linkara, is that he isnt against Eastern Media, its just that his focus on mostly American Comics stems from there already being so many reveiwers already covering Manga & Anime. That being said, I know for sure where he got the inspiration for the "Slavers". I honestly never hear anyone make this connection despite it being so obvious, but the Slavers have to be based off of the "Bad Lads" gang from Trigun. Lewis almost directly lifts the same scene of their introduction from the Anime. The Bad Lads walk into a saloon with a couple of girls they have subjugated, the main difference beeing that the scene in LightBringer doesnt end with Carter psychically forcing the gang members to either kill themselves/eachother. Lewis even references the way the Slave Girl's eyes are dran different from other chatacters, in the Anime there drawn empty & vacant, & in Lewis' version their bloodshot & unfocused (always with the extreme). Thing is though, it makes more sense in Trigun because the setting is in a Desert Planet, where basic human rights are more of a suggestion, & if a roaming gang of brigands want to make you into a slave or just kill you, they will. Not saying it couldnt work for Lightbringer, but it could have at least be a bit more subtle, maybe could have made for a shocking reveal during LB's raid, for him to stumble apon a Slaver in a compramizing position, & stirring LB's wrath. I dunno, thats my take on it anyway.

14:42 "Linkara is more of a western comic guy than a manga one. That's ok. It's ok to have inferior taste." Linkara is gonna need some burn heal.😂

Lightbringer page be like: "yap" Author's note be like: "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP"

Lewis' thoughts about Lightbringer being smart by not going above his limits might have some logic... But it goes against the idea of superheroes. They are supposed to go above and beyond, even if everything is against them, because they know someone has to act. Gonna put Spider-Man as an example. He is not the most powerful hero. Hell, he can be considered mid tier in the superhero powerscale. But even when he is the Friendly Neighborhood, he will go above his abilities if that is needed. If Lewis had written him, he would have never even dared to face off against Fire Lord, the Juggernaut, Thanos or the Phoenix Force possesed X-Men. Hell, he would have stepped aside when the Sinister Six tried to fry up the world. But he didn't. Because that is what heroes do. Lightbringer is just mediocre.

Everytime I hear the Nostalgia Critic theme, I think of the Nicholas Cage month version of the song. That is the true peak of the song.

Lewis can’t let Lightbringer go the same way he can’t let any embarrassing shit go. This is especially hard when it’s most of his career. Lightbringer is a visual representation of his ego outpacing his abilities and even his personal maturity. When OneyPlays brings it up as a general joke, it reminds Lewis that his legacy to people outside that initial run of TGWTG fans consists of embarrassment and not the fame and glory he wants to imagine. Instead of embracing the joke like Doug and taking the fact that he’s a glorified cartoon character in stride, Lewis would rather live with the delusion that the direction his career took was always “part of the plan” As for Lightbringer itself, it’s basically Sonichu without any of the ironic humor or window into the madness of the author. It’s an edgy comic made by a sheltered young man unable to understand anything outside his narrow worldview and now being thrust into a spotlight he can’t help but lap up. All of the negative traits Lewis demonstrates in his work begin here and no amount of denial or repudiation will absolve him as long as his Comichron 1 sized ego remains intact.

I think I like that comic website.

Not sure if this was said before, but its pretty obvious that main reason why Linkara's protagonists have no personality is only due to them being self inserts. Its hard to judge or assert one personalitie, especially one as shallow as Linkara's. Its clear he doesn't think about how character will react base on their pre established personality, but on how he will react

It's wierd how light bringer kinda feels like Mr A, the comic character that inspired Rorschach, he was created by the Steve ditko, spider-man co creator, to be a objectivist super hero, that believe in a black and white morality.

I find it funny that he brings up Watchmen and criticizes Rorschach, when he seems to agree with him. Heck, he lifted the "no compromise, not even in the face of Armageddon" line directly from him.

I remember my first mr metokur video was about Linkara and the way he laughed and explained Lightbringer was amazing. I love that vid and I love this one too.,

I wonder if Lewis is complaining about these videos the same way he does about Oneyplays. Just seems like something he’d get bent out of shape about.

41:20 book mark

That linkara impression is mwah 👌🏻

It's actually crazy to me that Linkara has never done an Atop the Fourth Wall episode on the Lightbringer series. I get he's embarrassed by them (who wouldn't), but if he did he'd get a lot of respect from people. Like it'd actually show him being able to poke fun at himself, show how he's improved as time's gone on. Not only that but he could probably work in a lesson or something in the episode about how not everything you're gonna make is perfect and learning from your past mistakes is important. But no I guess throwing a tantrum on twitter at the fact Doug Walker doesn't have the poster for Kickassia or To Boldy Flee up in his office anymore is more important

The fucking slavers are literally Connie and Raymond marble from 1972's Pink flamingos, directed by john waters. Edit: I also feel like the smiling man is more than just a joker reference. But I feel like he's a reference to that one interdimensional goblin guy that superman gets pestard by the one that's voiced by gilbert gottfried.

You're a stronger man than I, I couldn't read this guy's writings if my life depended on it. Looking forward to the next installment of the Channel Awesome retrospective

complaining about shading taking too long is such a history of power rangers rant moment

Its funny that Unironically Sonichu is better comic than this. Its not good. it's just better. Sonichu can be funny due to how bad it is, and if you have context of why Chris-chan is including what he is including. Lightbringer is just the most surface level moralizing, with no substance or anything, its Reddit the comic. Ergo Sonichu has more entertainment value than lightbringer

1:45:00 that's a hentai plot. I'm sure it's a hntai plot I remember from like 20 years ago? Some woman wreck the car of the son of a corporation and she is forced into a contract (even the guy in the comic of linkara has an earring like the son of the corporation in the hentai). i don't remember the name but i'm sure it is a hntai plot. Linkara was, is and probably will be a deviant.

Ill bet that poor woman wishes she could have ran away and went home 😂 HES such the tortued victim though for having to witness it

We are bring the light with this one.

0:00 laius, we got to cook.

1:15:31 Peter Griffin looking dude.

there is no such thing as "show dont tell" in how much linkara talks about what hes doing

just finished the 8 hour lewis fest, now you give us this? you truly are the most dedicated linkaran archivist.

WE MADE TO THE LIGHTBRINGER WE MADE TO THE FUCKING UNIVERSE AND ITS MADE OF NONSTOP FREAKING DIALOGUE

I can't get over how much Linkara loves to hear himself smugly nag at a villain for paragraph upon paragraph. That's his trademark! I do have to say though, he could have owned up to this and taken it on the chin that his first attempt at a comic wasn't great and say, "I've come along way," (didn't he have a comic called Revolution of the Mask that was pay to read?) or gotten ballsy enough to say, "watch me reboot this to be better than it was back when I was younger." It's just... he still writes like this. 100% his skits are basically the same as Lightbringer.

I’m so happy I watched your video instead of reading the comic myself. The voice acting is superb, you managed to capture the “ummm ACKTUALLY” vibe so well. I would have had my eyes glaze over reading this, but every time you bust out your Lightbringer voice it highlights the true absurdity hidden in the walls of text. Thank you for your sacrifice. I’d love to hear you do the voice of Sonichu someday lol.

idk who this guy even is but at this amount of documentation it sounds like he either cured cancer or invented it Probably the second one

Ngl for the longest time I thought that the reason Linkara called himself that was because he was a big fan linkin park

As easy it is to make fun of Linkara and his past works, given his recent distain for The Lightbringer whenever it gets brought up, it’s safe to say he’s embarrassed by this as he should be. It’s not a bad thing, it’s just inevitable. As we all grow and change overtime, we all look back on our previous older work with cringe and regret.

26:57 DW Dylan the cancer just how he got his powers, he ate furniture paint as a kid. He's putting it on once again to make his powers even stronger.

I find it funny how defensive Lewis gets when people bring up his past works. Given he made a career about riffing the comics of other, more notable comic creators than himself. Kinda hypocritical that Lewis can dish it put but not take it.

I hope there's no catgirl SA this time 🙏

The reason I think Linkara is so upset is that fundamentally his style has changed from angel armor and the lightbringer. His comic reviews hold many of the same ideologies and has the same tendency to monologue. Its why he is really upset when people make fun of it despite "not caring". Ironically though id rather reread the lightbringer then watch an atop the fourth wall video i find linkara's review style just painfully dull. Any plans on covering his second comic the revolution of the masks? It seems to hit on a lot of his anti socialist themes.

I didn't even get to 10min before my face began melting like in Raiders of the Lost Ark........... :p

Depending how much control the Lightbringer has on light, he could essentially turn himself into a photon, propelling akin to a laser to fly; or even nullify his own electromagnetic radiation to essentially turn into dark matter. Obviously the character and his powers are just a bad Green Lantern rip off, but absolute domain on light would prove a crazy strong ability. I'm pretty sure the alias "Ted Sage" comes from Blue Bettle (Ted Kord) and the Question (Vic Sage).

This video illustrates a huge problem I have with Lovhaug: he has a really shallow view on morality. Reading The Lightbringer or watching the storylines for AT4W, I began to notice just how binary the morality of his characters are. I'm not saying it's inherently a bad thing to have obvious heroes or villains; I'm just saying that when combined with his habit of soapboxing, it tends to really annoy me to no end. A lot of this is subjective; I must admit that I don't truly believe in a "set morality". (I just base my morals mostly on what the people around me think is okay and what I consider to be basic human decency.) I believe that as other animals behave more on a survival instinct than a set of established guidelines and that morality is more a human concept than a natural one, but that doesn't mean we should disregard morality and act like wild animals. But with Lewis, he clearly treats morality as though there are definitive "good" and "bad" sides to it. The place where I feel this is the most egregious (or at least the most clumsy) is in the Guns and Sorcery storyline of AT4W, which is in my opinion the worst AT4W storyline so far. The whole storyline exists primarily for two reasons: to build on how magic works in his corner of the Channel Awesome universe, and to explore Linkara (the character)'s negative traits and what makes a hero or villain. Unfortunately the way he does both is my biggest problem (or at least one of the biggest) with this storyline. So in the story; all his magic stops working, so he has to see a wizard to figure out what's happening and how he can fix it. He ends up at a house in the middle of nowhere where said wizard (who immediately acts overly defensive when Linkara says he wasn't what he expected) starts examining his gun, all while acting all sorts of rude to the guy he's trying to help. What follows is the reveal that Linkara is starting to become corrupt, (something that was unsubtly foreshadowed earlier when he said "No one can stop me," like a cartoon supervillain.) Linkara questions if this guy actually is a wizard, which causes him to rip off Gandalf before going over all the negative character traits Linkara has displayed in the past to convince him of how bad a person he actually is. What follows is a whole-ass exposition dump to explain that the reason why his magic isn't working is because his gun (which is actually the soul of a little girl/boy; long story,) sensed that he was becoming corrupt, and so it took away all his magic so he'd realize this and try and improve himself. You might be wondering how that exposition became so long, and it's because that detail is actually preceded by a whole speech about how evil is actually a force that exists, and that villains can't use magic because our "souls" can sense the evil and stop themselves from using magic, and anyone who's evil and uses magic got it from some other universal entity, or something. Needless to say, Mechakara's plan to use the gun to kill off all of humanity has been retroactively made unachievable, and half the threat he posed is lessened by virtue of being both a non-living robot and completely irredeemable. Thinking back on this, this has really been a problem with his work as far back as The Lightbringer and Angel Armor. All his antagonists tend to usually be either completely evil (and may sometimes try to paint themselves as heroes), or secretly good at heart. Sure, sometimes he tries to explore characters with a more grey morality, but often times it feels somewhat underdeveloped when characters go from, "He's a scoundrel up to no good," to "He was really on our side the whole time!" But honestly? I think AT4W actually handles this better than some of his earlier work, mainly because Linkara (no not that one, THAT one) is actually meant to be somewhat unlikable at first. With Carter or the original Linkara, they're way to often written as paragons of truth and justice. Even when Louis mercilessly kills enemies and does nothing to depose dictators, and Carter blinds and tortures criminals, they're still treated like they're in the right. The only reason they're really the moral high ground is because their opponents are mostly mustache-twirling strawmen who sadistically kill and rape people for fun. Sorry for the long rant; I just needed to get this off my chest. This is something I've thought about for a year or two, and I felt I needed others to hear my thoughts on this.

I think the smiling man could be a reference to Indrid Cold

Can't wait to just see a video on just linkara himself.

I like his world i feel maybe it would be great if he humbled his mc a bit

It is kind of annoying Linkara just huffs and puffs whenever this comic comes up because it would be interesting for him to tackle it honestly and try to explain how he’s evolved since he wrote it. Because I’m gonna be real, this is written WAY TOO much like the story segments of Atop The 4th Wall. The leader of the Slavers talks just like Mechakara and the general style of Linkara’s modern writing with being highly referential and feigning self-awareness are very much present. I said something similar with Angel Armor, Linkara obviously dismisses his past work on the basis of its more transgressive content which is fair enough, but I wish he’d actually take the time to learn from these stories and actually improve from them rather than just consigning them to the memory hole. Also big ups for the usage of Fear & Hunger music.

I knew about the weird fetish stuff in this comic, I never expected the Bush era neoconservative themes haha

37:48 "I was shocked, I couldn't believe how complex and well written these villains were!"

comic book artist and illustrator here, If given the choice of reading sonichu or lightbringer I would pick sonichu every time. This is so boring, so pretentious and lacking in any sort of humor. The only commendable thing about this is that Linkara drew his comic, it sucks but he did it. And that's the advice I give to every person who wants to learn not just how to draw but learn how to make a comic, just do it, finished not perfect, make something small and take notes, after that you know every single one of your weak points, anatomy sucks? learn anatomy, perspective is bad? learn it, practice it, etc etc. That is the only thing I can say "good on you Linkara, it sucks but you did it". The worst part is the notes, Linkara inhaling his own farts and thinking it's a sublime mix, like coffee that came out of the ass of an african cat and costs 100 bucks a cup. Instead of having the long monologue from the villain just have LB getting visibly more and more upset after each sentence just to all of sudden do the Pantera "Vulgar Display of Power" album cover, that would've been funny, a psychotic break of a common man pushed to the extreme. Then what happens? LB is someone so whinny, so self righteous but he's never punched in anger anyone in his life, his reaction would be fun, reverting to his pathetic self, trying to weasel out, etc. That would need to make fun of LB and since LB is super cereal fun is not allowed.

Disgusting. On the other hand, that's why I'm here...

1:41:18 I thought it was clear what he meant, pretty sure what bro means is that if a women wants to be a sex worker, it’s alright, it’s her decision to do so, but the cases where a sex worker is getting mistreated or abuse by some pimp or some shit, that’s where the issues begin. I don’t even think he even meant it to be some women empowering stuff.

Is crash bandicoot part 4 canceled?

In this and in Angel armor, buddy seems to be obsessed with sex crimes for whatever reason 😅 hes always bringing up r*pe or girls on leashes or something. He also uses his character as a soapbox for his political opinions in both stories, with the other characters being largely uncritical of them, and mostly serving as the person asking questions that allow him to further elobrate. Very much not what youd expect or want from your super hero fantasy literature.

Also Dylan, I really appreciate you are using Fear and Hunger OST on your videos as of late. When will we have you doing a let's play?

Fictional characters are just like you and me? I can't believe Linkara-Chan is actually a thing.

I'm a couple years older than Lewis and it's interesting to see how we've had pretty similar media consumption and tastes yet have taken them in very different ways. He's very much loosened up on how judgmental he is compared to the early days but still projects an unearned level of arrogance at times. We all had our edgy boy "I'm an independent thinker unlike those normies" phase but he put it online and can get overly defensive when it's brought up instead of admitting he wasn't a fully formed person yet hence how cringe it can be. I've got very mixed feelings on him as a whole, like a friend who can be cool as shit when it comes to their passions but projects that sense of confidence to aspects of life they're very much not an expert on. The writing in Angel Armor and Lightbringer are front and center as examples of him trying to pretend he's considered all angles of something yet also brings it all to a close with "but I think there are absolutes in morality so that's the final word". It's nice to see some of the pushback he got back in the day and how he handled it pretty reasonably. All in all he doesn't seem like a bad guy in the least, even more so the last few years, but does have that habit of being up his own ass at points. He reminds me of a few other content creators who can be far more abrasive and insufferable even when they're making a good point, I get it's goes with the 'character' and subject matter (being a critic of an art form) but he hits that odd middle ground where he isn't so extreme as to be a clear parody while also realistic enough to make a viewer/reader question how close to a true depiction of his personality it is. At the very least I can respect that he has/had the courage to put his work out their and take feedback on it.

1:27:13 I can think of another loud, immature man-child that also thinks their power fantasies and pretend characters exist in some other dimension.

I wish Lewis was the type to take his old work in jest rather than be bitter about it. We all made cringey shit at one point, I know I certainly did, and while it doesn't feel good to have that stuff brought up when you've moved on, the best thing you can do is take it on the chin and try to find a way to laugh along. I say this because if there was a lightbringer RPG maker game that was published online, if it's not archived, it's gone, and there's no chance Lewis would let you in on any info about it if his recent behavior is any indication of how he responds to things like this.

i wish youtube had more critics like wandering observer

the dialogue in these comics... dear god where to start. Most comics would spread these text walls over multiple panels, showing more range of emotion and character than 1 panel, but as shown linkara was lazy about drawing more panels. and the fact that characters will just talk and talk and talk for no other reason than to let the reader know what the hell is going on breaks the show don't tell rule. then there's the sheer excess of it all. sure, comic book characters talk a lot, but this is just word vomit at the drop of a hat. then we get to the ethics and I don't have the energy to untangle this 6th grade attempt at sounding philosophical.

Great vid, always been interested in these, but also what are you playing in the background that has you walking in the Hee-Ho mart?

Oh yeah this is a sub

28:26 As someone who's done mediocre digital art in the past I can confirm that would have just taken me probably 3-4 minutes, only cause I would have gotten distracted by something for about two or three minutes before actually going back to the art itself I would also say that it would take me more time due to a general sense of perfectionism I have, but considering the art in this series that idea doesn't really apply that much

So, anyone else here after watching gensokyo odyssey?

My female characters arent strong? Ill show them! There'll be a woman SO strong in my comic she can lift 100 lbs over her head

We're reaching levels of pretentiousness that shouldn't be possible.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

The way I see it is that Lewis was just a naïve college kid who made an embarrassing comic where he used most of the characters as mouth pieces for him to make long winded straw-man arguments. Dude, that‘s EVERYBODY on the internet. 😂 But for real, Lewis needs to learn to laugh at his old shit. Him being a guy who makes a living shitting on other people’s works, you’d think he wouldn’t be so fragile and sensitive when people mention his own bad comics.

Didn't linkara make an analog horror thing that was pretty good?

Weirdly enough linkara’s old girlfriend iron Liz is working on a reboot of the lightbringer.

why is snore souls the background gameplay footage

It's too bad that Lewis could probably never come back and finish his old literary works because I doubt he has the anti-commie spirit he once had.

Got to say, the economy of drawings and spam of text boxes is not much his fault. It is one of the motives that make superhero comics bad.

this looks like it was drawn by a little kid with no talent

So I think it’s safe to say that this comic is worse than the books by a large margin. The overly preachy political views, the mediocre artwork, and the constant immersion breaking with long winded author’s notes really keep me from trying to appreciate the attempt at the very least. 2 more parts to go before I’m caught up on linkara literature and I’m looking forward to the videos especially because I have no history or attachment to channel awesome as a whole. Thank you for being our favorite feathered internet historian! Godspeed you glorious bastard!