Line #27 WebVideo/GuruLarryAndWez


1	[[quoteright:285:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/guru_larry.png]]
2
3	-> ''"Hello you!"''
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5	A NewMedia enthusiast investigating various computer game controversies, video game ventures and digital disasters that you didn't even realize were a thing, with series such as "Games Yanks Can't Wank", a series about games that were only released in the United Kingdom on their beloved home computers and "Fact Hunt", a series that, of course, details various obscure facts about video games, old and new, as we say: [[CatchPhrase But, hello you!]] This is the page on Larry Bundy Jr, and we welcome you to it!
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7	Originally making videos on Website/ScrewAttack with his friend Wez, these two guys from UsefulNotes/TheMidlands moved on to Platform/YouTube to provide voice-over top-10 countdowns related to popular video games, as well as other gaming-related videos. By the early-to-mid-2010s, Larry would run the channel by himself, though Wez still makes an appearance every now and then. His main channel can be found [[https://www.youtube.com/larry here]].
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9	Larry is one of the few members left on Website/ChannelAwesome (along with Creator/DougWalker and Creator/BradJones) in the wake of Channel Awesome's March-April 2018 controversy, solely out of spite and to watch the drama, although none of his videos were posted to the site since February 2022 before it was closed and made to redirect to the [=YouTube=] channel instead in 2023. However, as of February 2024, [[https://twitter.com/LarryBundyJr/status/1758493534573699161 his channel has finally been removed as a result of the Channel Awesome Website shutting down for reasons unknown.]]
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11	!!Tropes:
12	* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: Larry is fond of these, dropping a good few of them in the intro most of his videos.
13	* ArtisticLicense: Guru Larry is said to use "Trap Streets" to make the truths slighty exaggerated.[[note]]Trap Street coming from the act of making a nonexistent or misplaced street on a map to counter plagiarists.[[/note]] This method allowed him to catch [=WatchMojo=] copying part of his "Top 10 ACTUAL Worst Selling Consoles" video.
14	* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: {{Invoked\|Trope}} in the intro to "Games Yanks Can't Wank" when the normally upbeat theme song suddenly takes a shift to a darker tone, courtesy of [[VideoGame/PunchOut Narcis Prince]]:
15	--> ''Would you like to be my friend''
16	--> ''I don't have many friends''
17	--> ''[[LampshadeHanging But what does this have to do with the soooooong?]]''
18	* BlatantLies: Larry doesn't know the answer of who were the first [=YouTubers=] to get their own television series. [[spoiler:It was him and Wez, with their show ''Reviewmaggedon'' playing the intro as he asks the question]].
19	* BorrowedCatchphrase: First used by [[WebVideo/StuartAshen Ashens]] in his early 2010s ''Terrible Old Games'' videos (among others), Larry keeps the tradition alive by using Stuart's "We may never know... (or care)" and "A fitting punishment!" catchphrases even in the 2020s.
20	* TheCameo:
21	** The usual musical intro for "Games Yanks Can't Wank" features the appropriately British [[VideoGame/FatalFury Billy Kane]], [[Franchise/StreetFighter Cammy White]], and [[VideoGame/PunchOut Narcis Prince]].
22	** The "Top 5 Hidden Pissed Off Programmer Rants" sub-series of "Fact Hunt" features voice-overs from several other personalities such as [[Website/TheBestPageInTheUniverse Maddox]], WebVideo/LazyGameReviews, [[WebVideo/{{Jimquisition}} Jim Sterling]], [[Creator/TheCynicalBrit TotalBiscuit]], and even VideoGame/DukeNukem himself, Creator/JonStJohn.
23	* CatchPhrase
24	** Larry likes to start off his videos for real by saying "But... ''hello you''! I'm Guru Larry and I welcome you to Fact Hunt!"
25	** "[[Series/TheFastShow I'll get me coat]]" whenever some particularly horrible wordplay gets a LamePunReaction.
26	* ClusterFBomb:
27	** Wez does this at the start of "Top Ten Overhyped Shite Games":
28	---> '''Wez:''' We're not on TV any more, we can say what the fuck we want! Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck!
29	** The "Top 5 Hidden Pissed Off Programmer Rants" sub-series of "Fact Hunt" also contains a fair share of cussing. Take, for example, this rant against [[DigitalPiracyIsEvil software pirates]] hidden in the code of the Amiga ECS version of ''Film/JurassicPark'':
30	---> "MESSAGE TO FAGSHITE AND PARAPLEGIC AND ALL THE OTHER DICKHEADS! BETTER LUCK THIS TIME! TRY AND REMOVE MORE THAT [sic] 20% OF THE PROTECTION THIS TIME YOU USELESS CUNTS! ISN'T IT TIME YOU STOPPED PULLING YOUR DICKS AND LEFT YOUR BEDROOMS AND GOT A REAL JOB?"
31	** There are two episodes dedicated to cheat codes and pass codes that contain swearing. The first one, "Top 5 Offensive Cheat Codes", focuses on codes that are deliberately put in by game programmers. The second one, "Top 5 Offensive Passcodes (That all Exist Purely by Chance!)", focuses on codes that are generated due to the games' password systems (as opposed to battery backups and save files) that coincidentally form curse words.
32	* ComicallyMissingThePoint: On a video riffing on DSP's Christmas special, Guru Larry commented how disgusted he was...because Phil didn't get the real Santa Claus for the video.
33	* {{Crossover}}: Has done several joint reviews with WebVideo/StuartAshen in which they look at [[BoardGame board games]] based on video games.
34	* CurseCutShort:
35	** During his retrospective of ''VideoGame/DuckTales'', Larry concedes that the game had a sequel, "but it was a pile of shi-".
36	** A visual example from Larry's retrospective of ''Art Alive''; one of the pictures Larry draws with the game includes text saying "ART ALIVE IS SH".
37	* DidntThinkThisThrough: In "4 S***y Patents that Ruined Gaming", he talks about two of Creator/{{Sega}}'s patents actually ''helping'' their competition: trying to patent the transitions between the point of views in racing games, which they started in ''VideoGame/VirtuaRacing'', meant every other developer excluded the transitions, which ended up being a ''blessing'' in a genre that requires very precise timing. Additionally, they also patented the levitating arrow that tells you where to go from ''VideoGame/CrazyTaxi''. When they took Fox to court over for using something similar in ''VideoGame/TheSimpsonsRoadRage'', other developers decided to use a far more efficient workaround: a glowing line on the maps that showed you the path to your destination.
38	* TheDogBitesBack: During [=#ChangeTheChannel=], Larry has openly admitted that his reasons for staying on Channel Awesome amounts to being a "Fuck you" to the management ignoring him during his time on the site and wanting to [[WhileRomeBurns watch the site implode]].
39	* EpicFail:
40	** "5 Hilarious Idiotic Gaming Screw Ups" lists examples from developers, such as a cheat code for ''VideoGame/KeioFlyingSquadron'' unlocking the full game in the demo and the DRM for ''Rainbow Six Vegas 2'''s digital version being so hard to fix that Ubisoft had to use ''a pirated crack of the game'' in order to make it playable.
41	** "5 Completely Broken, Unbeatable Games, Thanks to Developer Stupidity" once again lists examples from developers, such as ''VideoGame/BubbleBobble Revolution'' missing a boss fight on level 30 and halting any progression, and Creator/ElectronicArts telling players to "deal with it" in response to a glitch on the PSP version of ''Madden 06'''s Franchise Mode that ''shuts off the [=PSP=] and corrupts its save files'' whenever an interception is made.
42	* EveryoneHasStandards:
43	** At the end of ''Film/{{Apaches}}'', there's a list of names of real children who died playing on farms, but Larry stops there as he's not sick enough to joke about that.
44	** Even Larry thought EA's treatment of Bullfrog and Peter Molyneux was terrible.
45	* FourthWallGreeting: A common introduction to his videos.
46	%%* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.
47	* HarmlessVillain: His friend [[WebVideo/StuartAshen Ashens]] kills Itsmyyard on the Top Tens.
48	* HilariousInHindsight: [[invoked]] The "Top 5 Stupid Things Said by Game Journalists" episode mostly focuses on outlandish journal articles, such as one article confusing the Platform/GameGear as a portable Platform/SegaGenesis years before the Sega Nomad was a thing and another proclaiming the Platform/{{PlayStation Vita}} would win over the Platform/Nintendo3DS.
49	* HoistByHisOwnPetard: The Fact Hunt episode "5 Times Scalpers Totally Screwed Themselves Over" documents how scalpers of things such as the Platform/PlayStation2 and the Super Nintendo Classic Mini were eventually brought down by their own greed, with reasons ranging from "overestimating supply vs. demand or vice versa" to "backing a broken mess and being forced to issue refunds" to "being duped by rumors that it was invaluable in the homebrew community".
50	* HurricaneOfPuns: When looking back at previous entries on the Top Tens, in preparation for #1, every number comes with a pun.
51	* KonamiCode: The Fact Hunt episode "5 Utterly Bizarre Uses of the Konami Code" lists some results if someone inputs the now-ubiquitous cheat code. One of them is instant death for the player character.
52	* {{Machinima}}: Larry and Wez created a Wrestling Machinima video, named ''WMW Smackfest!''.
53	* MarketBasedTitle: The Fact Hunt episode "5 Games Renamed for REALLY Stupid Reasons" covers this, from Creator/GeorgeLucas forcing ''VideoGame/StarFox64'' to be retitled as ''Lylat Wars'' in Europe,[[note]]Due to ''Star Wing'', which was the European title for the prequel, sounding like ''Franchise/StarWars''.[[/note]] to Creator/{{Activision}}'s UK branch renaming the first ''VideoGame/TonyHawksProSkater'' to ''Tony Hawk's Skateboarding''.[[note]]Because the execs there thought the Brits would mistake it for an ice skating game.[[/note]]
54	* NoExportForYou: [[invoked]] The point of his shows "Games Yanks Can't Wank" and "Films Yanks Can't Wank", looking at media that was released in the UK but not the USA.
55	* NonindicativeName: Larry's internet image is being the one British guy on gaming sites otherwise dominated by Americans. Yet his full name, Larry Bundy Jr., sounds rather stereotypically ''American'' to British ears. Furthermore, the addendum to Larry's name is spelled "Jnr" in UsefulNotes/BritishEnglish, but he thought the U.S. spelling looked better.
56	* OddballInTheSeries: "The Rise and Demise of Beanie Babies", a toy-based episode coming off the surplus of video game-related videos. It is also bleaker than other videos and does not have a Creator/PeterMolyneux jab in it.
57	* OldShame: [[invoked]] The Fact Hunt episode "5 Angry Programmers (Game Developers) Who Hated Their Own Games" focuses on game developers who hated their own creations. One of them even didn't like video games in general.
58	* OlderThanTheyLook: Larry is in his late thirties, but easily looks a decade younger.
59	* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: EA being on the ''right'' side of history when they decided to counter-sue copyright troll Tim Langdell over the use of the word "Edge".
60	* OncePerEpisode:
61	** A potshot at Peter Molyneux is made in every episode, no exceptions... even when they make the exception by finding something even more stupid. This has been retired.
62	** Coming from the UK, at least one European game (port or original) appears in his lists.
63	* OutOfFocus: Wez was this for many years. He wouldn't show up again until 2018.
64	* PrecisionFStrike: Wez drops one during "Top Ten Biggest Rip-Offs in Gaming". It's [[SoundEffectBleep bleeped out]], but it's pretty obvious what he's saying.
65	* {{Pun}}:
66	** "Fact Hunt" is a well known {{Spoonerism}} for "Fat C*nt" in the UK and Australia.
67	** [[OnceAnEpisode In every episode]], at least one is usually horrible. Larry likes to [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] them with a {{Beat}} and a quick "[[Series/TheFastShow I'll get me coat]]".
68	* ARareSentence: Larry acknowledges that even he can say something nice about Peter Molyneux at the end of "10 Companies EA Bought, Then DESTROYED!!!" While explaining the circumstances that lead to Creator/ElectronicArts acquiring Bullfrog Productions, Larry comments that it was Molyneaux's business savvy that helped fight off EA from acquiring their studios in the first place. When Molyneux left, the company had nobody who could stop them from being bought out.
69	* RunningGag:
70	** Larry has referenced the game "Pinball Construction Set" several times in his videos.
71	** His various [[TakeThat pot shots]] to Peter Molyneux.
72	** Anytime he speaks the word "Edge", expect a shot at infamous copyright troll Tim Langdell.
73	** A clip of [=DarkSydePhil's=] infamous "Thank you, you fuckin' worthless humans, for the views."
74	** A common recurring gag in ''Fact Hunt'' is Larry's avatar trying to make himself visible from the long title covering the screen.
75	* SelfDeprecation: Larry tends to make fun of the fact a lot of his Fact Hunt videos have clickbaity titles, sometimes [[HypocrisyNod after making fun of someone else employing the same technique]]:
76	-->'''Larry:''' But, Hello you! And I welcome you to Fact Hunt. "Five Purposely Broken, Unbeatable Games by Dickish Developers." Yes, I know it's a convoluted name. You try coming up with a more clickbaity title to describe this episode.
77	* ShoddyKnockoffProduct: He reviewed British games that ripped off famous NES titles.
78	* ShoutOut: Boggle Flash ([[Film/FlashGordon1980 Ahhhhh!]]).
79	* SoundEffectBleep: Several times in "Top Ten Awesome Weapons", during the [[{{VideoGame/Doom}} BFG-9000]] segment.
80	%%** Also during "Top Ten Rip-Offs".
81	* SpinOff: Website/{{Kickstarter}}-related videos by Dan Ibbertson of Slopes Game Room are sporadically uploaded whenever Larry is unable to post a ''Fact Hunt'' for the week.
82	* TakeThat:
83	** [[RunningGag Done once a video]] to Peter Molyneux. Larry ''will'' find a way to poke fun at Molyneux in each "Fact Hunt" video, even when he's cutting him some slack by [[InsultToRocks finding something so stupid that it makes him look good in comparison]]. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9k3RdfJ2U8 "5 Times Peter Molyneux Was an Asshole"]] is an entire video justifying why Larry takes a shot at him in every video, but proving exactly why he's a target. [[https://youtu.be/luVcW0nMzyk "Top 5 Game Developer Meltdowns"]] has its intro compilation consist of games that Molyneux had a hand in developing.
84	** Larry mocks the constant [[GeorgeLucasAlteredVersion bizarre revisions]] to the ''Star Wars'' movies during his "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgDWClrxipw 5 Update Patches that DESTROYED Games]]" video.
85	-->...and not long after that, the developer studio pulled back the update and rolled the game back to the previous version. If only they would do that with some of the movies too!
86	** Tim Langdell and Ocean Software are frequently called out by Larry.
87	** Another frequent punching bag is [=DarkSydePhil=].
88	** Larry isn't very fond of WebVideo/PatTheNesPunk.
89	** Larry is amongst the many who like mocking [[Webcomic/{{Sonichu}} Chris-Chan]], having even interviewed Chris for a video.
90	* {{Troll}}: His reasons for staying on Channel Awesome pretty much amounts to him being this.
91	* UnexpectedlyDarkEpisode: [[https://youtu.be/ZrmCf9r5J0A "5 Mascots Cancelled For Incredibly Messed Up Reasons"]] was first released on April Fools' Day 2017, and many viewers would have expected stories of amusing incompetence. Instead, the video reveals that three mascots were canceled due to tragedies.[[note]]Sony's [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blasto_(video_game) Captain Blasto]] due to both the game's director and [[Creator/PhilHartman his voice actor]] being murdered in 1998, Beam Software's [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horace_series Horace]] due to his creator suddenly going off the map after a respiratory emergency, and Domino's Pizza's [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noid Noid]] due to an incident where a mentally unstable man named [[invoked]] Kenneth Noid held a local Domino's hostage because he assumed the Noid commercials were specifically mocking him.[[/note]]
92	* VideoReviewShow: Reviewing the gory kid's 1970s [=PSAs=] such as ''Film/{{Apaches}}'' and ''The Finishing Line''.
93	* ViewersAreMorons: Discussed with the "4 Games Changed Because Publishers Think Americans are Stupid" episode of Fact Hunt. He also pointed out the irony of Eidos assuming that Americans couldn't pronounce "Laura" by showcasing some comments from the "5 Totally Messed Up Influences of Video Game Mascots" episode that proved the opposite - that Americans ''can'' pronounce "Laura" and (mis)pronounced [[Franchise/TombRaider "Lara"]] as "Laura" anyway - and suggested that the people responsible couldn't comprehend the notion that there are people in U.S. named Laura.
94	* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue: Each entry in the "The Untold Rise and Fall Stories of 3 [=YouTube=] Gaming Channels" episode ends with the current status of the channels. Alex from Gamelife in particular [[UndignifiedDeath died of third-degree bowl cuts]].
95	* WhileRomeBurns: Larry's other reason for staying with Channel Awesome other than [[TheDogBitesBack spite for the management for ignoring him]]: to watch the site implode.

Context WebVideo / GuruLarryAndWez