History YMMV / MarbleHornets

* FirstInstallmentWins[=/=]SeasonalRot[=/=]SophomoreSlump: Not a very severe example, but there is a decent amount of fans who prefer the bleak atmosphere and minimalist plot of the first season over the DaylightHorror[=/=]character driven detective story of the second season. FridgeLogic [[Headscratchers/MarbleHornets might have something to do with that,]] though there are many who find the second season just as terrifying as the first. As you can see by this page.

* In Entry #63, Tim tells Jay, "We need to figure out what to do. Otherwise, one of us could end up dead." [[spoiler: In Entry #80, Jay is shot by Alex and then taken by the Operator, and presumably killed.]]
** Also, in that same entry, Tim agrees to ally with Jay to find Jessica. [[spoiler: It's later revealed that Tim may well have known Jessica's whereabouts at the time, and was actively preventing him from finding her.]]

** The endless 'Gimme 20 dollars' videos. According to the interview below, ''[[DiscreditedMeme the creators themselves]]'' [[DiscreditedMeme are sick of it]].

--->"You brought your dog!"

** SturgeonsLaw: Despite the large quantity of copycats, only a few receive the attention and praise that Marble Hornets gets.

*** There was also short-lived memes calling Masky "tothearbys" and claiming he's been "tackling too many Twinkies" (thanks to his actor gaining some weight between Season 1 and 2).

-->"Hey, Jay! You forgot your flashlight!"
-->"You got lost in woods you've never been in."
-->"You brought your dog!"

** Was Tim's [[spoiler:overdose a [[DrivenToSuicide suicide attempt]], or did he take more hoping they'd work faster in a state of panic?]]

* IdiotPlot: Most of the events in the series are a direct result of Jay's inability to form coherent thoughts for more than five minutes straight, which isn't helped by his mounting paranoia.

* SpecialEffectsFailure: The "blood" on Alex's face in Entry #14. This contrasting with the genuinely frightening event that just took place makes that entry majorly divisive.

** This may very well be justified taking into account a number of factors: When he attacks Jay at the hotel, he is seen limping [[spoiler:as a result of recently having had his leg broken]]. In Entry #35, [[spoiler:he ''does'' manage to do damage by stabbing ''Alex'', not Jay, but he is then quickly overpowered by the two of them. Turns out Jay may never have really been his target at all.]] In Entry #45, [[spoiler:he merely means to taunt Alex with the rock and is planning to strangle him when he and the hooded figure are scared off by what is presumed to be the Operator]]. In addition to that, his actual villainy can be contested due to his [[spoiler:[[BigDamnHeroes Big]] [[BadGuysDoTheDirtyWork Damn]] [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation Somethings]] moment of saving Jay and Jessica from Alex]].

* WhatAnIdiot: In a series where the characters are [[spoiler:aware that the Marble Hornets Website/YouTube Channel exists, and that other characters can keep track of their actions by viewing the Entries, Tim decides to broadcast the location of Jay after tying him up and leaving him in his house.]] Many fans predicted that the Entry would be followed by [[spoiler: The Hooded Man freeing Jay. They were right.]]

* SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct: There were a handful of complaints that the cast's acting abilities, while decent, felt somewhat wooden at times. In Season 3, Tim really puts a lot of emotion into his character during a number of scenes, and establishes himself as the best actor in the series. This includes a time '''[[UpToEleven while he's holding camera, leaving himself offscreen]]'''.

** Tim. Some would call him a JerkassWoobie, being especially snippy and condescending to Jay before finally exploding at him in Entry #59. However, that same entry underscores how horrible his life has become: he suffers frequent bouts of amnesia and lost time, mysterious injuries pop up all over his body while he has no idea where they came from, and the constant instances of missing time make it near-impossible for him to hold down a real job or relationship. He's [[IllBoy frequently sick]], has a nasty cough, and just when he was starting to get better, Jay appears and things start getting bad for him all over again. After Entries #59, 60.5, 61, [[TraumaCongaLine 65]], and [[DarkAndTroubledPast 66]], he can easily be considered the biggest woobie in the whole series.

** The Operator's arm from the same entry is also quite obviously fake. Although, [[UncannyValley that actually makes it creepier in a way.]]

* UncannyValley: Much of the "[[CreepyAwesome attraction]]" for The Operator.
** Another example crops up in totheark's "Decay".

* {{Adorkable}}: He sometimes possesses traits of this, especially with how awkward he is with Jessica. It's also worth noting that the person who plays him, Troy, is this in ''spades''.[[note]]Shh, [[https://twitter.com/whatatroy/status/133630590665760770 he's watching, remember]]?[[/note]]

* {{HSQ}}: Entry #65. [[spoiler:We get to see what happens when you get MindRaped by The Operator. Tim gets drowned, warped all around various {{Eldritch Location}}s, vomits blood, dragged through the forest, wakes up next to a dead body, and in the end has a FreakOut and [[DrivenToSuicide tries to overdose on pills]]. Now imagine all of that happening (save the FreakOut) in the timespan that it took Jay to run to his car.]] All of it is shown in about three minutes in the video.

** While Entry #19 is widely regarded as having some of the creepiest, most iconic imagery of the series, some of the "creep" factor is lost once you realize that Masky is swinging his legs like a little kid while he's perched on top of Jay's dresser.

* MostAnnoyingSound: Tim's coughing becomes very grating in the later entries as he's basically doing it more than speaking at that point.

** In Entry #56, a few have noted that the [[spoiler:rebar Alex used to beat Tim looked like a stick.]] Making the scene less dramatic and just strange. The sound effect made as [[spoiler:Alex hits Tim]] even ''sounds'' like it's a stick beating wood. This, folks, is why KungFoley [[TropesAreTools can actually be a good thing]].

* AngstAversion: More like ''terror'' aversion. Many people have stated that this series is so terrifying they simply ''can't watch it.''

*** Similarly, [[spoiler:the blood effect used. Which clearly looks like ketchup]]...

* IKnewIt:
** The mysterious masked man really was [[spoiler:Tim]], as several fans realized when they noticed [[spoiler:Tim wearing the same jacket in Entry #20 as the masked man was wearing in Entries #18 and 19]]. His identity isn't actually revealed until [[spoiler:his unmasking at the hands of Alex and Jay in Entry #35]].
** Jay tweeted on the 9th of July: '(Totheark's) videos are so inconsistent. It's like they're being made by different people. No way I can prove that, though.' Despite explicitly stating he can't prove it, some fans are preemptively fist-pumping.
** Entry #45 [[spoiler:confirms the existence of at least two masked entities]].
** After Entries #60 and 61, it was widely speculated that [[spoiler:Tim used to be a patient at the burned down mental hospital while it was functional and that he was stalked by the Operator as a child]]. This is confirmed in Entry #66.
** When the tweet announcing the upload of Entry #72 came out, fans speculated that it was sent by Tim on behalf of Jay due to uncharacteristic grammar errors. About a month later, Tim sent out a tweet confirming that yes, he's the one behind the official twitter for now.
** [[spoiler: Brian being Hoody. It was such a popular theory that barely anyone was shocked when it was finally revealed to be true.]]
** [[spoiler: Jessica being alive.]]
** Many fans have correctly guessed that Tim's last name is Wright, as revealed by the Marble Hornets credits.
* InNameOnly: The Operator only superficially resembles the very first Slender Man stories on Something Awful. He doesn't have tentacles, isn't a child kidnapper [[spoiler: though later entries show he definitely has been stalking some of the characters since childhood]], doesn't have a Lovecraftian style cult worshipping him, and doesn't rearrange people's organs. Ironically, since ''Marble Hornets'' popularized Slender Man most stories tend to either take more from the Operator then the original Slender Man stories or blend the two. The creators enforce this trope, however, and explain that the Operator is supposed to be an entirely different entity similar to Slender Man, but not Slendy himself.

* HeReallyCanAct: There were a handful of complaints that the cast's acting abilities, while decent, felt somewhat wooden at times. In Season 3, Tim really puts a lot of emotion into his character during a number of scenes, and establishes himself as the best actor in the series. This includes a time '''[[UpToEleven while he's holding camera, leaving himself offscreen]]'''.

* AwesomeMusic: Not so much in the series itself, but in the credits for the DVD, the music is a fan made tribute to Jessica. Listen to it [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCe23EH3_3w here]].

** Invoked, since the [[FunnyMoments trailer for Alex's movie]] was shown on the Season 2 DVD, but one of the lines in the narration has [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJDJO2hc24A Tim's character saying]] [[spoiler:that he sometimes feels like he's "Wearing a mask" when he's around other people.]]

** And [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmZ90VijO_0 this.]]
** And [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1YcZ4oLuo4 this]] as well.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MXYC_jX2Wc Splendorman.]]

** Also, Troy(Jay) has a lot of silly things on his [[https://www.youtube.com/user/troyhasacamera YouTube channel.]] Nothing ruins the image of Jay and Alex Kralie in your head more than [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAtkEOrp6Hg Joseph [=DeLage=] failing to play a trumpet and screaming at Troy while flailing around like he's having a seizure]].

* SoBadItsGood: The season one DVDCommentary. It mostly consists of funny stories about being fired, bad jokes, NightmareRetardant, the creators being kind-of drunk, and boatloads of SelfDeprecation. There is some cool information about the making of the series, but discussion of ''Marble Hornets'' itself only crops up in a few videos, and when it does, it comes with a CrowningMomentOfFunny and NightmareRetardant. They only acknowledge The Operator himself about twice. As well as the totheark videos, where they outright state that they are only going to be cracking bad jokes instead of discussing the videos or their meanings. And it's ''all awesome.'' It's really more of an {{MST}} than anything.

* WhatAnIdiot: In a series where the characters are [[spoiler: aware that the Marble Hornets YouTube Channel exists, and that other characters can keep track of their actions by viewing the Entries, Tim decides to broadcast the location of Jay after tying him up and leaving him in his house.]] Many fans predicted that the Entry would be followed by [[spoiler: The Hooded Man freeing Jay. They were right.]]

* NightmareFuel: Has its own [[NightmareFuel/MarbleHornets page]]. Stylistically speaking, it's ''Film/TheBlairWitchProject'' [[XMeetsY meets]] ''Literature/TheRing'' and Film/{{Cloverfield}}, with a little dash of the VideoGame/ChzoMythos on top, and with everything non-essential stripped away. A scene involving something as simple as [[NothingIsScarier a man walking into a dimly lit room]] has kept people awake for days. In a nutshell, [[NightmareFuel/MarbleHornets a whole fucking lot.]] The simple sound of a person coughing is even enough to scare the living daylights out of any ''Marble Hornets'' fan.