History Characters / BoardJames

Another friend of James. As his name implies, soemthing bad always happens to Bootsy.

* [[spoiler: RedHerring: To Dream Phone.]]

[[folder:The Dream Phone]]

* TheDreaded: In keeping with his KnightOfCerebus status, James remembers him with anger and fear even after his death, and is suitably terrified when he is (seemingly) [[spoiler:BackFromTheDead]].

* EvilPhone: The main antagonist of the "Dream Phone" review. [[spoiler:''Literally'', in fact. [[TheDogWasTheMastermind The phone can float around and kill people]].]]
* KnightOfCerebus: Even if [[spoiler:he may not be the killer]], his appearance is what kickstarts the darker tone for the series.

* SerialKiller: [[spoiler: [[MindScrew Maybe]]. Several episodes afterwards suggest that James killed his friends and hallucinated that the phone killed them.]]
* SupernaturalPhone: Even though the Dream Phone is supposed to be a children's toy with no real phone connections, it's still able to connect James to the menacing SerialKiller on the other end. [[spoiler:The climax of the episode reveals that it ''is'' said SerialKiller... [[MindScrew maybe]].]]

[[folder:Board James '''(spoilers unmarked)''']]

[[caption-width-right:300:[[labelnote:Click here to see him on death row.]] https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hangman.png The Hangman Killer[[/labelnote]]]]

* DissonantSerenity: It's always ''really'' creepy when he greets Mike and Bootsy with innocent smiles and gentle tones, especially when he approached Mike in "13 Dead End Drive" with a noose, calmly asking to reenact a murder of the Hangman Killer.

* SerialKiller: ''13 Dead End Drive'' and ''NIGHTMARE and Beyond'' heavily imply if not outright make it out that he's the Hangman Killer.

* AlterEgoActing: Board James is a character, just like the AVGN, though it is (was) probably a safe bet that he's much closer to the RealLife personality of James Rolfe than the Nerd.

[[folder:Board James '''(spoilers)''']]

[[caption-width-right:300:[[labelnote:Click here to see '''SPOILERS'''.]] https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hangman.png The Hangman Killer[[/labelnote]]]]
A pretty normal guy, Board James is a kid at heart who collects board games as a hobby and plays with his sorta-friend, Motherfucker Mike.

* AlternateSelf: WordOfGod suggests that [[spoiler:the plot twist of the Video Games episode means that BJ is this to the WebVideo/AngryVideoGameNerd (and vice versa), as opposed to the popular fan theory that ''Board James'' is a StealthPrequel]].
* AlterEgoActing: Board James is a character, just like the AVGN, though it is [[spoiler:(was)]] probably a safe bet that he's much closer to the RealLife personality of James Rolfe than the Nerd.
* AuthorAvatar: Of James Rolfe. [[spoiler:...At least until [[WhamEpisode the Season 2 finale]].]]
* AxCrazy: [[spoiler:His hidden ([[TheKillerInMe apparently even from himself]]), real nature.]]
* BarbarianLonghair: In his chronologically earliest appearance [[spoiler:when he's a death row convict, he has really long hair]].
* BerserkButton: Please take playing the game seriously, or he ''will'' snap at you. [[spoiler:Bring up his dead friends and see if he's still nice to you then. '''''[[ItMakesSenseInContext "It wasn't me, IT WASN'T ME, IT WAS THE FUCKING PHONE!"]]''''']]

** Even more so if you believe that [[spoiler:James killed Mike and Bootsy in the "Dream Phone" episode]].
* BigBad: [[spoiler:He turns out to be this for the series as a whole, especially in the "Nightmare and Beyond" episode, where he becomes a psychotic murderer attempting to [[ColdBloodedTorture torture]] and kill Mike and Bootsy.]]

** Appeared in the "AVGN Games" episode of ''WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd'', to help the Nerd review an AVGN Monopoly game. He leaves in a huff when [[spoiler:the Nerd mentions that he'd been accused of killing his friends]].
** He also shows up in [[spoiler: ''VideoGame/TheAngryVideoGameNerdIIAssimilation'' as a midboss. The fact that he's holding a bloody knife and his two dead friends are lying next to him pretty much clinches that he killed them...]]

** And once again in the Board James episode focusing on video game based board games. [[spoiler:At least until the reveal that Board James ''is'' the Nerd.]]
* DissonantSerenity: It's always ''really'' creepy when he greets Mike and Bootsy with innocent smiles and gentle tones, especially when he approached Mike in "13 Dead End Drive" [[spoiler:with a noose, calmly asking to reenact a murder of the Hangman Killer]].

* EvilAllAlong: [[spoiler:He's not the simple NiceGuy he seems, but an insane killer trapped in a [[RecursiveReality recursive afterlife]].]]

** Has shades of this, as seen in "13 Dead End Drive", when [[spoiler:he locks Mike and Bootsy in his basement with him and destroys their cellphones.]]

* TheKillerInMe: [[spoiler:Killing his friends while hallucinating about a murderous Dream Phone would make him an Amnesiac Killer. And even if the phone was the real culprit, the nature of the afterlife makes it entirely possible for him to have been responsible of subconsciously turning it into a killer.]]

* NiceGuy: Especially in comparison to the [=AVGN=]. [[spoiler:Ultimately [[SubvertedTrope subverted]]. ''[[EvilAllAlong Very]]'' subverted.]]
* NightmareFuelStationAttendant: His Deadly Danger Dungeon game [[spoiler:kind of [[ForeShadowing foreshadows]] the finale.]]

* PsychopathicManchild: [[spoiler: Becomes more and more of this as the series goes on.]]

* SanitySlippage: [[spoiler:The end of the Dream Phone episode ''really'' hints this.]]
** [[spoiler:As does the end of the Ouija/Domino Rally episode.]]
** [[spoiler:The Full House/Urkel Games episode confirms that there was no slippage, he was insane the whole time.]]
** [[spoiler:Then the Board James/AVGN crossover finally confirms that Board James himself was a SplitPersonality of the Angry Video Game Nerd from the beginning.]]
* SerialKiller: [[spoiler: ''13 Dead End Drive'' and ''NIGHTMARE and Beyond'' heavily imply if not outright make it out that he's the Hangman Killer.]]

* SplitPersonality: [[spoiler: The WebVideo/AngryVideoGameNerd. Although the Nerd seems to be the original personality, and manages to do a SplitPersonalityTakeover by making Board James realize that he isn't real, and put on the glasses and white shirt willingly... only for Board James to assume control at the end of the 2015 Episode, ''Film/TheCrow''.]]
* VillainProtagonist: [[spoiler:In "Nightmare and Beyond", the plot of the episode being his friends attempting to escape from his AxCrazy rampage.]]
* WalkingSpoiler: As you can figure from all the blank spaces, it is very hard to talk about James without revealing stuff in the third season.
* {{Yandere}}: After his [[spoiler: SanitySlippage]].

[[folder:Board James]]

* AlternateSelf: WordOfGod suggests that [[spoiler: the plot twist of the Video Games episode means that BJ is this to the WebVideo/AngryVideoGameNerd (and vice versa), as opposed to the popular fan theory that ''Board James'' is a StealthPrequel]].

* BigBad: [[spoiler: In the "Nightmare and Beyond" episode, being a psychotic murderer attempting to [[ColdBloodedTorture torture]] and kill Mike and Bootsy]].

* CrossOver: Appeared in WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd episode on AVGN games to show off a fan-made Monopoly game on the AVGN himself.

* [[spoiler:SplitPersonality]]: [[spoiler: The WebVideo/AngryVideoGameNerd. Although the Nerd seems to be the original personality, and manages to do a SplitPersonalityTakeover by making Board James realize that he isn't real, and put on the glasses and white shirt willingly... only for Board James to assume control at the end of the 2015 Episode, ''Film/TheCrow''.]]
* TheKillerInMe: [[spoiler:Killing his friends while hallucinating about a murderous Dream Phone would make him an Amnesiac Killer. And even if the phone was the real culprit, the nature of the afterlife makes it entirely possible for him to have been responsible of subconsciously turning it into a killer.]]

* WalkingSpoiler: As you can figure from all the blank spaces, it is very hard to talk about James without revealing stuff in the latter half of the series.

* ElvisImpersonator: In the "Ouija / Domino Rally" episode. According to one possible interpretation provided by WordOfGod [[spoiler:that might be the ''real'' Elvis.]]

* ImaginaryFriend: The "Full House/Urkel Games" episode hints at this. [[spoiler:[[RealAfterAll The truth turns out to be more complicated.]]]]

* [[spoiler:ImaginaryFriend]]: The "Full House/Urkel Games" episode hints at this. [[RealAfterAll The truth turns out to be more complicated.]]

[[caption-width-right:300:[[labelnote:Click here to see him as [[spoiler: The Hangman Killer]] https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hangman.png[[/labelnote]]]]]]

* AuthorAvatar: Of James Rolfe. [[spoiler:...At least until [[WhamEpisode the Season 2 finale]].

* AuthorAvatar: Of James Rolfe... at least until [[WhamEpisode the Season 2 finale]].

[[folder:Bad Luck Bootsie]]
! Bad Luck Bootsie (Bootsy Spankins, P.I.)

! Board James (James Rolfe)

!Dream Phone

* BandageFace: Bootsy's face is covered in bandages since he accidentally spilled coffee in it at the end of the ''Donut Disaster'' review.
EyepatchOfPower: Bad Luck Bootsy has an eye patch after he got stabbed in the eye by ''Tornado Rex'' on his first appearance.

* NiceHat: Several of them, actually.

* KnifeNut: [[spoiler:Carries a bloody knife throughout his killing spree.]]

* [[spoiler:SplitPersonality]]: [[spoiler:Which happens to be the Angry Video Game Nerd.]]

One of many cards in the Lie Detector game. You read it right; he's called "Fight Promoter" not "Flight Promoter".

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fightpromoter.png]]

[[caption-width-right:300:[[labelnote:Click here to see him as [[spoiler: The Hangman Killer]] https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/13_dead_end_drive_board_james_episode_26_12_56_screenshot.png[[/labelnote]]]]]]

[[caption-width-right:300:[[labelnote:Click here to see him as [[spoiler: The Hangman]] https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/13_dead_end_drive_board_james_episode_26_12_56_screenshot.png[[/labelnote]]]]]]

[[caption-width-right:300:[[labelnote:Click here to see him as [[spoiler: Hangman]] https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/13_dead_end_drive_board_james_episode_26_12_56_screenshot.png[[/labelnote]]]]

[[caption-width-right:300:[[labelnote:Click here to see him as [[spoiler: Hangman]]]] https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/13_dead_end_drive_board_james_episode_26_12_56_screenshot.png[[/labelnote]]]]

* BerserkButton: [[spoiler:Bring up his dead friends and see if he's still nice to you then. '''''[[ItMakesSenseInContext "It wasn't me, IT WASN'T ME, IT WAS THE FUCKING PHONE!"]]''''']]