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* DarkMessiah: Believes he's destined to rid the world of bad games... by turning '''all''' games into copies of ''Gyromite'' and ''Stack-Up''.
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* DarkMessiah: Believes he's destined to rid the world of bad games... by turning '''all''' games into copies of ''Gyromite'' and ''Stack-Up''.''Stack-Up'', and he also believes that he's the sole reason as to why Nintendo succeeded in repairing the damages to the video game industry done by MediaNotes/TheGreatVideoGameCrashOf1983.
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->'''Portrayed by:''' Creator/JamesRolfe
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* [[Characters/TheAngryVideoGameNerdTheNerd The Nerd]]
* [[Characters/TheAngryVideoGameNerdOtherCharacters Other Characters]]
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* [[Characters/TheAngryVideoGameNerdTheNerd The Nerd]]
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* [[Characters/TheAngryVideoGameNerdTheNerd The
!!Portrayed by James Rolfe:
[[folder:The Angry Video Game Nerd]]
[[quoteright:264:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/avgn.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:264:[[ThisIsGonnaSuck This is gonna suck monkey fuck]].]]
->'''Portrayed by:''' Creator/JamesRolfe
The one, the only, the man who made Internet reviewing a genre singlehandedly--the Angry Video Game Nerd. A bespectacled man in a white button-down shirt with a pocket protector, the Nerd sits in his basement and vents his impotent rage over terrible video games of days gone by. He has a perennial rivalry with WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic.
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[[/index]]
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* TheAlcoholic: A regular drinker of Rolling Rock.
* {{Angrish}}: Occasionally, when he runs out of curse words.
* AntiHero: Of the UnscrupulousHero variety. He has a very short temper, swears like a sailor, and is brutal towards enemies, but for all of his flaws, he is unmistakably a force of good. See GoodIsNotNice below for further details.
* AntiRoleModel: A lonely, alcoholic, foul-mouthed young man with an uncontrollable temper who has nothing better to do with his life than to hole himself up in his basement and put himself through the torture of playing shitty games all day although he knows full well he hates it.
* AnythingButThat: For a long time, he swore off on reviewing ''VideoGame/ETTheExtraTerrestrial'' on Atari due to its notorious reputation of being one of the worst gaming titles for its time. [[spoiler:He eventually gets to it in TheMovie/Episode 120, and ultimately concludes that despite its flaws, it's ''not'' the worst game of all time.]]
* AttentionDeficitOohShiny: Claims to be an ADD sufferer in his ''[[UsefulNotes/McDonalds M.C. Kids]]'' review. While he doesn't display any of the stereotypical symptoms, he does take issue with any games that require more attention than they should, such as the aforementioned ''M.C. Kids''.
* AuthorAvatar: Whenever he recounts events from his childhood or shows footage of such (e.g. "Dick Tracy" and "Christmas Carol Part 2"), they're more often than not actual memories/footage of Creator/JamesRolfe as a child. In addition, most of his opinions on the games he reviews are James' actual thoughts, albeit exaggerated. It's also been hinted a few times that his real first name might also be James; specifically in the "Winter Games", "Spider-Man", "Superman (NES)" and "Action 52" episodes.
* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: Played with in the "R.O.B. the Robot" episode. The episode opens with the Nerd going on a rant about all of his shitty games before simply stating "I don't like them!" [[spoiler:In the end, after thwarting R.O.B.'s plan to turn all games into ''Gyromite'' and ''Stack-Up'', he grabs an armful of his shitty games and hugs them.]]
* BadassBoast: He proclaims himself to be the domination of the internet, complemented with an EvilLaugh, in a confrontational exchange between him and the Nostalgia Critic.
* BadassBookworm: A nerd who can take on Jason Voorhees himself in a fist fight and ''win''.
* BadassNormal: While most of his enemies have cartoonish, fantasy, or outright superhuman powers, the Nerd is, in the end, just a guy who owns some light guns that function like the real thing. He's also not bad in a fistfight.
* BasementDweller: Downplayed. He lives in his own house but just spends most of his time in the basement.
* BileFascination: The Nerd is an in-universe example, having a... somewhat unhealthy obsession with bad games, and repeatedly being shown to prefer playing them over games he actually enjoys.
* BlatantLies: 2004 Nerd, baffled that 2016 Nerd is still torturing himself with shitty games twelve years later, questions whether or not he played ''Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'' a second time. 2016 Nerd denies it, to 2004 Nerd's relief.
* BorrowedCatchphrase: Whenever he reviews a movie-based game, he almost always quotes the film in question. "[[Film/DieHard Yipee-ki-yay, motherfucker!]]" (throws ''Die Hard'' NES cartridge behind him, which explodes)
* ButtMonkey: He suffers the misfortune of playing horrible video games for a living, which causes him great amounts of misery more often than not. It's also not uncommon for characters from the games he reviews (e.g. Bugs Bunny, Jason Voorhees, Freddy Krueger) to intrude his house and torment him in some way. He also, on more than a few occasions, has suffered horrific injuries and even ''deaths'', such as dying by walking into his door in "Dragon's Lair" and having his limbs violently ripped off in "Earthbound".
* CausticCritic: He's '''the''' video game critic.
* CharacterCatchphrase:
** "WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?!"
** "AAAAAASSSSSSS!"
** "What a shitload of fuck!"
** "Fuck this game, watch it go!"
** "I'd rather (insert over-the-top nasty and/or painful action)!"
* TheChewToy: His suffering and anger caused by the horrible games is for the audience's amusement.
* ClusterFBomb: A huge signature of his. He even literally shouts out bombs with the letter F on them in one of his Phillips CD-i reviews.
* ComicalOverreacting: With lots of swearing.
* ConspiracyTheorist: Has shades of this in a handful of episodes:
** The ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'' episode reveals the game's ties to Satanism: inverted crosses, pentagrams, the seven Koopalings representing the SevenDeadlySins, ''Film/TheWizard'' and its climactic "Video Armageddon" tournament, demonic subliminal messages when the game is played in reverse...
** In the ''VideoGame/HongKong97'' episode, the Nerd realizes the game, that came out in 1995, predicted the death of Deng Xiaoping in 1997. This leads to a string of logic that ultimately concludes with the game being the meaning of life. Since life is primarily about procreation and eating, and since eating leads to excretion, the Nerd ultimately concludes that the game is [[ExpospeakGag fucking shit]].
** In the ''VideoGame/{{Seaman}}'' episode, the Nerd realizes Seaman is part of a conspiracy by Sega (the Sentient Electronic Global Annihilator) to take over the world.
** In the ''Literature/TheBerenstainBears'' episode, he is absolutely convinced that the books are actually titled "''Beren'''stein''' Bears''" that, after an encounter with an alternate timeline version of himself, he discovers on the internet that false memories are an indication that one's living in the wrong reality.
* DeadpanSnarker: When he isn't being obnoxious or having an UnstoppableRage moment, he's prone to making snide remarks about the shitty games he plays.
* DiscoDan: Rarely does the Nerd ever reference modern games.
** When he's presented with an Platform/XBox360, he seems to hardly know what it is.
** A FlashForward reveals that by the time he's 80, he'll finally be reviewing Platform/NintendoWii games. [[spoiler:He dies of a heart attack playing ''Boogie''.]]
** In "AVGN Games", he uses a Platform/Commodore64 to play games made for a modern Windows system, and uses an old rotary dial phone (which inexplicably has a screen for some reason) to play a smartphone game. However, at one point he does come clean and say, still in-universe, that he's not ''really'' playing on a Commodore/rotary phone, it's just edited to look that way for RuleOfFunny. Although he pretty much ''had'' to come clean, since one of the games kept crashing on him and giving him error messages that are very obviously from Windows 8/8.1.
** In TheMovie, he again uses a Commodore 64 to play a modern game, this time an MMO, which has 2D 8-bit graphics for him but 3D modern graphics on Cooper's modern gaming PC. He also brings along a record player to play music in the car.
* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: The Nerd doesn't get serious during the ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'' review until the possessed game cartridge tells him [[Film/TheExorcist "Your mother sucks cocks in Hell!"]]
* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: It has been suggested numerous times that the character's real name is simply ''The Nerd'' or the ''The Angry Video Game/Nintendo Nerd''. He'll usually introduce himself as such or as ''The fucking Nerd''. Even when he sees his future tombstone, it is engraved with the name ''AVGN'', and every time he receives a package, the boxes are directed ''to AVGN''. One of the only exceptions to this is a scene in the Winter Games episode: while he complains about how he can't type more than four letters in the name entry screen, we can see he (unsuccessfully) tries to type the name ''[[Creator/JamesRolfe James]]''.
** In the Spider-Man episode, Spider-Man calls him James.
--> '''Spider-Man:''' "James likes the little web."
** In the movie, however, he directly says that his name is "Nerd".
** Whenever he shows emails he received from fans (e.g. the "Superman" and "Action 52" episodes), they tend to show the name "James" on them.
* ExcrementStatement: One of his favorite means of displaying how much he hates a game is by taking a dump on either the cartridge or system.
* FailedASpotCheck: Took half of the "Home Alone Games" episode that the pizza guy is actually Creator/MacaulayCulkin.
* {{Flanderization}}:
** In earlier videos, he seemed to be at least somewhat familiar with modern games and technology as he occasionally mentioned games that were modern at the time and was even shown using a cell-phone a few times (specifically in the "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" and "Ghostbusters" episodes). Fast-forward to more recent episodes, where he went from simply preferring vintage stuff while having moderate knowledge of modern-day things to being a full-blown DiscoDan who's almost completely out-of-touch with modern-day equipment, appearing to have little to no knowledge of newer games and even using an old Commodore computer and vintage cell-phone on a regular basis.
** He also started out as merely ''moderately'' disgruntled and pessimistic, with him only getting absolutely enraged if something ''really'' pissed him off; but as the series went on, his anger and HairTriggerTemper were exaggerated to the point where he'd absolutely ''explode'' at the slightest provocation, with him being almost perpetually angry and aggressive. Just compare him in the first episode (Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest) to him in later episodes such as "Dick Tracy", "Bugs Bunny's Birthday Blowout", and "Batman" (all of which are arguably among his angriest moments in the series).
* FriendToAllLivingThings: He is disgusted by the overly graphic animation of the dog getting run over by a car in the Genesis version of Action 52.
* FutureLoser: Looks like he's stuck playing shitty games for the rest of his life. He even gets shocked when he learns that he will die from a heart attack while reviewing ''Boogie'' for the Wii at an old age, and decides to swear off playing shitty games after that incident, popping in ''Super Mario World'' and proclaiming that he will only play good games from that point onwards. Needless to say, [[IgnoredEpiphany it doesn't last very long]], and he simply says "fuck it" and decides that he prefers to [[AccentuateTheNegative bash shitty games anyway]].
* FuryFueledFoolishness: There were countless times that The Nerd's anger-prone nature led him to do goofy, ridiculous stuff for the sake of comedy like a genuine CloudCuckooLander would do.
* GeekPhysique: Zigzagged. "[=EarthBound=]" shows that he's actually very lean and fit, with other characters from his subconscious complaining that his choice in clothes hides this.
* GoodCounterpart: The AntiHero to the Critic's broken wreck. You can even see it in how they deconstruct being a CausticCritic; while Critic locks himself in a pit of self-loathing because he hates his job and what it does to his life, it's made explicit in the Nerd movie that Nerd is driven by love of his fans, not his hate of games.
* GoodIsNotNice: He is notorious for his very short temper and legendarily colorful language, but the Nerd is unmistakably a force for good, and he can be quite friendly and passionate about a game he loves when he's not railing off on a bad game or dueling another foe--but he isn't afraid to call things as he sees it when it comes to crappy games, [[BrutalHonesty or even flaws in things he likes]] (i.e. the ''Zelda II'' review, a game he admires as a legitimate classic, but isn't above acknowledging its flaws, such as its [[NintendoHard schizophrenic, hair pulling difficulty]]), and he is more than willing to give his foes more than a taste of their own medicine.
* GrammarNazi: James does this to the credits for the NES ''[[VideoGame/{{Ghostbusters 1984}} Ghostbusters]]'' game. Though in fairness to James, those were really obvious errors and deserved to be corrected.
* GratuitousGerman: Slips into this during his ''VideoGame/DeadlyTowers'' video ([[FourthWallMailSlot the one where everything was written by the fans]]), exclaiming "Das Spiel ist Scheiße! Dieses Spiel fickt dich härter als das Leben!". According to the comments on the video, it translates to "This game is shit! This game fucks you harder than life!"
* GratuitousJapanese: Slips into this when singing along part of the ''[[Series/KyoryuSentaiZyuranger Zyuranger]]'' theme song.
-->'''The Nerd:''' "Zyuranger! Zyuranger! Densetsu no senshi-tachi yo! Zyuranger!"
* HairTriggerTemper: He's not called the Angry Video Game Nerd for nothing.
* HeroicSecondWind: After thoroughly getting his ass kicked by R.O.B., the Nerd falls unconscious and seems to be done for while R.O.B. grows into a giant and goes on a rampage in the city while making everyone play the only two games it's compatible with. The Nerd thinks about all the shitty games he could no longer play and declares he won't stand for it. He gets up, grab his Super Scope and other gear, and returns for a rematch.
* HiddenDepths: Many of the Nerd reviews have him trashing the games, swearing his head off, and probably destroy the disc or cartridge in the process, or beat up a character from the game. Every now and then Creator/JamesRolfe will put the Nerd persona aside in a Nerd video and give an in depth and detailed look at topic like the Jaguar or the 16 bit wars, where the CausticCritic only occasionally comes out.
* HotBloodedSideburns: Has been sporting a hell of a pair, and well, he's certainly... [[HairTriggerTemper enthusiastic]].
* HypocriticalHumor:
** Owns a ''Simon's Quest'' Tiger handheld. From when he was 11.
** Criticizing the physical state some games he receives from other people and stores:
-->"I would never do this, I take good care of my games!"
-->([[DescriptionCut Cut to his over-the-top destruction of the Dick Tracy game.]])
** In the ''Wizard of Oz'' review, he says "Hey man, did you just swear!?" to the Cowardly Lion.
** When discussing ''Film/FridayThe13thTheFinalChapter'' he asks, in response to the actions of Corey Feldman's eccentric character, who on earth puts on a mask to play a video game. Cut to existing footage of the Nerd playing Batman games in a Batman mask.
** While reviewing ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaIIIDraculasCurse'', the Nerd proclaims that he won't be using Game Genie because [[EarnYourHappyEnding he wants to beat the game legitimately]]. Cue the Nerd using an [[CheatCode Extra Life code]].
** After a torturous run of ''Super Pitfall'', followed by a [[AWinnerIsYou lame ending]], the game has the audacity to offer a "[[NewGamePlus Second Quest]]":
-->"What kind of masochist would you have to be to beat this game more than once? If you did it ''one time'', what would you have to prove to do it again? You'd have to be some kind of fucking idiot!" (resumes playing)
** Something similar happens during his review of ''VideoGame/SilverSurfer1990'' on NES.
-->"You know, there's really no point in going on. It's not like there's some kind of reward, or some pot of gold sittin' on top of your TV. If you beat the game, it probably just says [[AWinnerIsYou 'The End']], and that's it! So to keep playing it, you've gotta be a fuckin' nerd!" (So what does he do? Keeps playing it.)
** In his ''Atari Sports'' review, he complains about how football can make people "act like fucking maniacs" while undergoing one of his trademark rages.
** In a cross with SelfDeprecation, complaining that ''Film/{{Alien 3}}'' got a video game instead of the previous 2 only for promotion excuses. "How shameless is that, to do something to promote something else? *hides mouth with hand* ''[[CoughSnarkCough Monster Madness]]''" (he posted this on the same day as the MM review of ''Film/{{Aliens}}'').
** From the ''VideoGame/WallyBearAndTheNoGang'' review:
-->"Let's say no to drugs." (immediately takes a swig of beer)
** In the ''Lightspan Adventures'' episode, he calls the hosts of "Math on the Move" dweebs who wear geeky clothing.
** He's legitimately surprised that someone would own ''two Aladdin Deck Enhancers''. And that's coming from the guy who owns several Intellivoices and lots of copies of the worst video game in existence - ''E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial'' for the Atari 2600!
* IconicOutfit: NerdGlasses, a white dress shirt with a pocket protector and pens, and khaki pants. In the "Making Of" video, James says that he was subject to backlash when [[SeriousBusiness he forgot the pocket protector for one episode]].
* INeedAFreakingDrink: Now and then.
** {{Exaggerated}} in the [[WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead Beavis and Butthead]] episode where it briefly cuts to him downing several bottles at once whilst screaming [[AtomicFBomb "FUUUUUUUUCK!"]] in response to the game's continue password not giving him any more lives and depleting his health to near death.
** {{Exaggerated}} even more in his review of VideoGame/EccoTheDolphin, where he starts chugging from an entire keg in frustration. Later in the episode, he bathes in a tub full of it as he screams underwater.
* IneffectualDeathThreat: On a call with Jessica Rabbit, he threatens to end her and her entire family's lives over his frustrations with the ''Roger Rabbit'' NES game. He doesn't go through with it, though.
-->'''Nerd:''' This is Jessica Rabbit? Well, I got your number, and I'm calling just to say "fuck you!"\\
'''Jessica:''' I hope you're proud of yourself!\\
'''Nerd:''' Yeah, well, I hope you're proud of yourself, and you know what I mean, [[SlutShaming you fucking whore]]!\\
'''Jessica:''' I'm not bad. I'm just drawn that way.\\
'''Nerd:''' Yeah, well, wait until I draw your suicide note in your own blood, you bunny fucking bitch! I'm coming over and [[IllKillYou I'm gonna kill ya]]! I'm going to kill your whole motherfucking family!
* InsaneTrollLogic: Because of the graffiti inside the castle in ''Dark Castle'' that writes "Saddam was here" and "Gamers rule", the Nerd deduces that UsefulNotes/SaddamHussein must have been a hardcore gamer.
%%If one of its Sub-Tropes (JerkWithAHeartOfGold or JerkWithAHeartOfJerk) are already listed, do not list {{Jerkass}} itself.
* JerkassHasAPoint: Yes, the Nerd is a rude, vulgar and overly hostile [[AccentuateTheNegative negative Nancy]] who takes video games [[SeriousBusiness way too seriously]], but that doesn't make his much-needed commentary on the constant wrongs of game and hardware developers throughout the history of the medium any less valid.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He may have a bad temper, be quite abrasive with his criticism, and even treat other characters rather unpleasantly at times, often with little to no provocation (such as the ''Bugs Bunny's Birthday Blowout'' review) but he's unmistakably a force for good, seeing as the whole reason he does this show in the first place is to warn people about bad games and steer them away from playing them.
** In the Mario 3 review, he doesn't take kindly to the possessed game cartridge insulting his mother.
** In the Battletoads review, he's initially quite hostile toward the Guitar Guy when the latter wants to sit with him while he does the review, angrily telling him to get back behind the couch, but after seeing him upset he feels bad and decides to let him sit on the couch, and eventually even allows him to do the review with him.
** In the Cheetahmen video, when reviewing the Sega Genesis version of Action 52, he expresses disgust at the overly graphic animation of the dog getting run over by a car.
** The ending of the R.O.B the Robot episode indicates that [[spoiler: he does love the bad games he plays deep down, seeing as he thwarts R.O.B's plan to turn all games (including his least favorite ''Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'', which he acknowledges) into ''Gyromite'' and ''Stack-Up'' and afterwards grabs an armful of his shitty games and hugs them.]]
* KindheartedCatLover: While he's no NiceGuy, he owns an unnamed black cat (James Rolfe's now-deceased cat, Boo) who appears in "NES Accessories", the second part of the Atari Jaguar review and "Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing". "Purr Pals" reveals that he has a Turkish Van cat named Yeti, who he dotes on for the rest of the episode as the review goes on.
* LargeHam: Zig-zagged. He can switch between being calm and composed or [[UnstoppableRage screaming frothing rants]] at the drop of a hat.
* LoserProtagonist: He's a grown man who has nothing better to do all day than complain about shitty 20-30 year older video games from his childhood. This was most emphasized in the first few reviews which were a lot more grounded.
* MadnessMantra: In the ''Myth/{{Polybius}}'' episode, the Nerd repeatedly remarks "It won't let me go... It won't let me go... It won't let me go... It won't let me go!".
* MadScientist: He did create the [=FrankenNerd=] and the Nerdy Turd.
* ManChild: A central part of the Nerd's character; he is very immature, short-tempered and foul-mouthed, and has an obsessive passion for old video games and 80's pop culture (right down to still owning a huge collection of video games, board games, movies and vintage toys) and he literally lives in his basement, spending his days complaining about games he hates. Sometimes these traits are celebrated, but usually they're played for laughs.
* MoodSwinger: He can go from chill and collected to unhinged and immature in a matter of seconds depending on the game he's playing.
* NerdActionHero: (See BadassBookworm above). The Nerd's badass moments show acts of being an AntiHero (whether if it's based on [[ActionHero violent]] crossovers with WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic or special episodes) strongly shows this in him.
* NerdGlasses: Along with his trademark white buttoned shirt, he always wears a pair of glasses.
* PerpetualFrowner: Rarely smiles due to his lifestyle of playing and reviewing abysmal video games.
* PetTheDog: His ''VideoGame/{{Swordquest}}'' review. Rather than lampoon the game series' rather apparent flaws, he instead praises it for the worldly symbolism it uses in its level design as well as the overarching Atari contest that the games were a part of, where gamers would compete using clues found in-game and in the enclosed tie-in comic books to win actual treasures made of gold and precious stones. Ultimately, he laments how the Video Game Crash of 1983 terminated the contest halfway through, crushing a lot of nerds' dreams, and at the end of the video, he rallies the viewer to help him solve the mystery of exactly where the three treasures that were never given away have ended up.
* ProudToBeAGeek: He proudly refers to himself as "The Fucking Nerd".
* PyroManiac: He deals with Amiga [=CD32=] by setting it on fire with a huge glee.
* SeriousBusiness: He takes his duty of reviewing "shitty doody" very seriously.
* SirSwearsALot: Swears so much that he makes you almost never even notice his rival the Nostalgia Critic swearing when watching the two in comparison.
* SitcomArchnemesis: The Nostalgia Critic. ''[[SayMyName "CRITIIIIIIC!!"]]''
* SophisticatedAsHell: There are times when the Nerd will use a far more eloquent vocabulary, even launching into full mini-essays or conspiracy theories... before ending it with classic Nerd swears.
* SpecsOfAwesome: The man's triumphed over foes no ordinary nerd would stand a chance against.
* SplitPersonality: [[spoiler:He has one... WebVideo/BoardJames. 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 Halloween special.]]
* StrongAsTheyNeedToBe: The Nerd is able to beat Jason and dream-world Freddy Krueger in a fight (albeit with the Power Glove for the later), but has trouble beating the Nostalgia Critic (though he does tend to be on the winning end of the struggle more often than not). And his fights with Bugs Bunny can go anywhere from him completely dominating Bugs, to being a close match, or getting his own ass handed to him, sometimes all within the same video! He has, likely as per RuleofFunny, transformed into a super nerd to fly a game into space, and thrown another game around the world, despite once having reeled from having a heavy power adapter fall on his foot.
* SuperpowerLottery: When he wears his Nintendo accessories, like in his ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'' review, he's an unstoppable force.
* TalksLikeASimile: And how! With many of the similes usually related to animal diarrhea.
* TemporarilyAVillain: In "How the Nerd Stole Christmas" (a parody of ''Literature/HowTheGrinchStoleChristmas'' and its 1966 [[WesternAnimation/HowTheGrinchStoleChristmas animated adaptation]]), he plays the role of the Grinch, trying to ruin Christmas for the citizens of Gameville by replacing their good games with terrible ones. Like the Grinch, he eventually has a HeelFaceTurn later, though, returns everything that he stole and partakes in the feast.
* TheyKilledKennyAgain: There's about enough doomed Nerds to accommodate an egg carton by the dozen.
** In "Dragon's Lair", he is [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext turned into a skeleton when he touches the door]].
** In "Dracula", he [[DrivenToSuicide commits suicide]] by exposing himself to the sun ([[DontExplainTheJoke he was a vampire in that episode]]).
** In "Frankenstein", he gets (possibly) killed by a TV explosion along with the Franken-Nerd.
** In "Transformers", Optimus Prime shoots him with a laser.
** In "Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle", he and Woody Woodpecker are blown up by a bomb.
** In "Alien 3", the Cinemassacre chainsaw logo bursts out of his chest while falling into a lava furnace.
** In "Seaman for Dreamcast", he dies after playing the titular game for nearly a thousand years.
** In "Nintendo World Championships", he is possibly strangled to death by Pat the NES Punk.
** In "Mega Man Games", he [[DrivenToSuicide jumps out the window]] after playing ''Mega Man Soccer''.
** In "[=RoboCop=] Games", he (as a [=RoboNerd=]) runs out of fuel for his jetpack and falls to his doom.
** In "Paperboy", he explodes after crashing into the Grim Reaper.
** In "The Immortal", he gets incinerated by a dragon's fire breath and the subsequent "Spawn Games" episode takes place in Hell.
** In "Shrek: Fairy Tale Freakdown", he is burned to death inside a wicker man in Shrek's likeness.
* TooKinkyToTorture:
** It's heavily implied that the main reason why he keeps playing all these shitty games is because he's a masochist. At the end of "Sonic 2006 Part 2", he is seen having a BDSM session with the titular game.
** In "Spawn Games", after being killed and sent to Hell, he is offered a chance to be brought back to life if he can complete a selection of Spawn video games. To make it even more torturous for him, he must do it in "the most vile, despicable game room ever imagined by Hell", designed to break men's souls in mere minutes. [[TooSpicyForYogSothoth He is unimpressed by it]], as it looks exactly like his own game room. Except for the shelf full of copies of E.T. for the Atari 2600. The Nerd says his own shelf has ''even more'' copies of it.
* TrademarkFavoriteDrink: Rolling Rock beer, though he'll get out something stronger if the game is shitty enough.
* UncertainDoom: In "Polybius". He finally breaks down and shows the gameplay footage, there's a couple of {{Jump Scare}}s, and when the owner of the shop comes in the Nerd is gone.
* UnkemptBeauty: When he has a bit of PermaStubble and slightly messy hair.
* UnstoppableRage: When a game pisses him off ''just'' right...
* VocalEvolution: His voice has gotten a lot softer and more relaxed as he aged. The change started becoming obvious by 2015 if not earlier.
* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: He hates bats, although really it's just because they're so overused in games. He is genuinely terrified of E.T. Atari, though. [[spoiler:At least, until he plays it at the end of TheMovie and concludes that it's actually ''not'' the worst game of all time.]]
* WouldHitAGirl: A 2007 [=GameTrailers=] interview sees him throwing a pen at the interviewer, all because she asked him if there are any video games he enjoys.
* YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe: He spends a majority of the time in his ''VideoGame/TheImmortal'' review speaking in olden English.
-->''"Anguish. Lament. Oh, how hath ye been cursed, if thou hath playeth a game, as archaically diarrhetically shitholic, as VideoGame/TheImmortal, on thy NES."''
* YourAnswerToEverything: His lifestyle revolves around ranting about shitty, nostalgic games.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:The Bullshit Man]]
[[quoteright:264:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bsman_9105.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:264:You know what's BUUUULLLSHIT?!]]
A frustrated gentleman who vents his annoyance at everyday inconveniences. Eventually revealed to be a man whose face is bullshit.
----
* BerserkButton: '''''Too much cream cheese!!''''' ...yeah, he's got a lot of these.
* BodyHorror: His face is a mass of bovine feces due to being a constant victim of everyday bullshit.
* TheCameo: When the Nerd struggles to open the packaging containing the Batman wrist game, the Bullshit Man appears after the Nerd says "You know... you know what's bullshit...?", hands him a pair of scissors, and proceeds to briefly rant about blister packaging.
* CharacterCatchphrase: Commences his rants with "You know what's '''''BUUUULLLLSHIT'''''?!" (later changed to "You know what's '''''BS?!'''''" starting with "Apple's Lack of Buttons" to comply with [[Website/YouTube [=YouTube=]]]'s monetization rules), and concludes his rants with some variation of "That's bullshit!".
* CosmicPlaything: Pretty much '''''everything''''' is out there to make the Bullshit Man's life bullshittier.
* {{Crossover}}: Normally the star of his own series, ''You Know What's Bullshit?'', but appeared in the AVGN's "Tiger Games" episode to rant about blister packaging.
* DungFu: In ''Adventures'', he can fire blasts of bullshit from his hands. Said attack also happens to be [[LethalJokeItem as strong as a Super Scope]].
* TheFaceless: Until TheReveal, where he shows that his face ''is'' bullshit.
* NoIndoorVoice: Especially when delivering his catchphrase.
* OrganAutonomy: His asshole has a mind of it's own, and they hate each-other.
* PerpetualFrowner: Unlike the Nerd, who smiles every now and then, the Bullshit Man never smiles once, not even in illustrations.
* SirSwearsALot: Perhaps even more than the Nerd himself!
* TalkingPoo: His entire head is literally this. And it looks as disgusting as it sounds.
* TookALevelInBadass: His role as a playable character in ''VideoGame/TheAngryVideoGameNerdAdventures''.
* TranquilFury: Besides putting great emphasis on the "bullshit" in his catchphrase with pure fury, he rarely raises his voice while doing his rants.
* VisualPun: He is ''literally'' a bullshit man.
* YankTheDogsChain: The Bullshit Man used to look like a normal human (as evidenced by an illustration from "Pay Toilets"), however, he has endured so much bullshit in his life to the point where his face was ''literally'' turned into bullshit.
-->'''The Bullshit Man:''' I used to look normal before all this bullshit happened to me!
* YourAnswerToEverything: His life revolves entirely around ranting about minor everyday inconveniences.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Shitpickle]]
A taking pickle with shit on his head. He appears in ''Master Chu and the Drunkard Hu'' to help the Nerd give commentary on the game, though his vocabulary is limited to shit and pickle.
----
* ClusterFBomb: Or in this case, a "Cluster S Bomb".
* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: He's a pickle with shit on it. That's about it.
* OhCrap: He appears in the ''VideoGame/Action52'' review during the Ooze bit. "It's...it's..." "SHITPICKLE SHITPICKLE SHITPICKLE SHITPICKLE SHITPICKLE"
* PokemonSpeak: "Shiiiieeeet... pickle!"
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Super Mecha Death Christ 2000 B.C. v4.0 Beta (bitch!)]]
A killer cyborg version of Jesus and a recurring character. He first appeared in "Wizard of Oz 3: Dorothy Goes to Hell" as a pawn of the Devil, returning in the ''Super Mario Bros. 3'' review to help the Nerd take down the Devil.
----
* BeenThereShapedHistory: He was present for a bewildering array of historical events.
* {{BFG}}: All over his body/chassis.
* BloodKnight: Revels in violence, gore and slaughter.
* CharacterCatchphrase: "'''''FUCKERS!!!'''''"
* ClusterFBomb: He loves saying his catchphrase a lot as well as the F-word in general.
* DeusExMachina: In the ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'' review:
-->'''Nerd''': The power of Super Mecha Death Christ compels you!
* EyeBeams: He has those too. He'll use everything he's got on his enemy!
* HeelFaceTurn: He's originally shown to be an agent of Satan in ''Dorothy Goes To Hell''. As of the ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'' review, he helps the Nerd take down Satan, who is possessing a video game cartridge.
* HypocriticalHumor: "WATCH YOUR FUCKING LANGUAGE!!!" Note that this was in response to the Nerd exclaiming "Holy shit!". It suggests that Super Mecha Death Christ, though not taking kindly to blasphemy, is otherwise fine with vulgarity.
* KungFuJesus: A mechanized Jesus with tons of weapons and armor strapped all over in.
* MirrorMatch: Fights against the Nostalgia Critic's own blasphemous creation, Giant Robotic Donkey Kong Jesus Riding a Puff of Smoke, in the TGWTG Team Brawl.
* NoIndoorVoice: Look at his catch phrase.
* SirSwearsALot: Even when everything is nice and calm, he still swears.
* TankGoodness: That's what his main body consists of: a tank with tons of guns built on it.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Nerdy Turd]]
A clone of the Nerd made of his own shit. He helps the Nerd review the Megavox Odyssey by serving as a second player.
----
* ArtificialHuman: "I cloned him from my own shit."
* BackForTheDead: Comes back in ''[=ASSimilated=]'' as the miniboss of Browntown, only to canonically die.
* OneShotCharacter: The only major role the Nerdy Turd ever got was in the Odyssey episode.
* SuddenAnatomy: He first hops on screen without any limbs, but when it comes time to play the Odyssey, hands suddenly appear so he can pick up the controller.
* TalkingPoo: [[TheUnintelligible Sort of.]]
* TheUnintelligible: He communicates by making sloppy farting sounds through his teeth and lips.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Rex Viper Rigs]]
A version of James who appears in mock commercials to advertise the game of the episode. He first appears in the ''Big Rigs'' episode.
----
* AscendedExtra: Originally a one-off character from a joke in the ''Big Rigs'' episode, before turning into a recurring character in the Nerd's lore.
* CoolShades: Wears shades to fit his manly attitude.
* DeepSouth: His design is meant to evoke the image of rough truckers from southern American States.
* GivenNameReveal: Didn't reveal his name until his fourth appearance.
* LargeHam: He needs to be, otherwise his commercials would suck as much as the games he promotes.
* MeaningfulName: In his first appearance, he advertised ''VideoGame/BigRigsOverTheRoadRacing'', and lo and behold, his last name actually is "Rigs".
* NeverNeedsSharpening: All of his commercials consist almost entirely of him taking the biggest, most glaring flaws of the game he's currently advertising and rephrasing them to sound positive.
* NoIndoorVoice: Generally speaks loudly but doesn't outright shout, unless he's in a commercial where he will shout like a boss.
* ParodyCommercial: His only real purpose is to do over-the-top commercials for the worst games imaginable, though he also appeared in the Nerd's version of [[VideoGame/EarthBound1994 Magicant]] to give him some advice.
* SleevesAreForWimps: Always wears tank tops to show off his manly tattoos.
* TestosteronePoisoning: His main defining character trait.
----
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Letule]]
The evil spirit that resides in the NES game ''Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde''.
----
* {{Expy}}: One of Pazuzu from the Exorcist series.
----
[[/folder]]
!!Portrayed by Kyle Justin:
[[folder:The Guitar Guy]]
[[quoteright:328:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/KyleJustinAVGN_5085.png]]
[[caption-width-right:328:(The one on the left.)]]
A guitar player who lives behind the Nerd's couch, and writes songs based on the Nerd's angry utterances. He occasionally joins the Nerd in playing co-op games.
----
* BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler:Comes back to life thanks to the Nerd inputting the ''Ikari Warriors'' 1UP code.]]
* BasementDweller: Well, kinda. He lives behind the Nerd's couch. The ''Bugs Bunny's Crazy Castle'' review implies it's actually ''his'' couch.
* ButtMonkey: The Nerd treats him very poorly and he's forced to live behind a couch.
* ADayInTheLimelight:
** In the ''VideoGame/{{Battletoads}}'' review, he gets to play the game alongside the Nerd after complaining that he never gets any screentime.
** He gets to play again in the ''Ikari Warriors'' review, where he plays the game [[spoiler:(after coming back to life thanks to the ABBA code)]] alongside the Nerd for a bit before going back to guitar strumming.
* DeadGuyOnDisplay: His hat-wearing guitar-holding skeleton is used as a background prop in several Halloween reviews.
* DroppedABridgeOnHim: [[spoiler:His skeleton behind the couch appears in the Schwarzenegger Games review without explanation. At all. It's somewhat implied the Nerd forgot about him and Guitar Guy starved.]]
* FriendlyFire: He and Nerd do this to each other in ''VideoGame/{{Battletoads}}'', but not intentionally. The Nerd blasts the game for even including a compulsory friendly fire option at all.
* InstrumentOfMurder: That guitar isn't just for songs... the Nerd tries to use it to kill Bugs Bunny.
* TheLancer: Before Mike started making appearances in person, he was this to the Nerd in some aspects. Specifically, the VideoGame/{{Battletoads}} video and the WebVideo/TGWTGYearOneBrawl.
%%* LeftTheBackgroundMusicOn
* NeverBareheaded: He's always seen with his brown hat just as much as his guitar.
* NoNameGiven: He's just The Guitar Guy (although he's referred to by his real name in the ''Website/ChannelAwesome'' first anniversary special).
* PermaStubble: He usually has a noticeable six o'clock shadow despite being pretty tan.
* TheyKilledKennyAgain: Lampshaded by the Nerd during the ''AVGN Games'' episode.
-->'''The Nerd:''' Is that guy dead again?
* WarriorPoet: Occasionally proves himself capable in a fight.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Spider-Man]]
The titular superhero who appears in the ''Spider-Man'' episode to help the Nerd review his games.
----
* CharacterizationMarchesOn: His first appearance played him similar to his quipping persona in most media, just more prone to swearing. His reappearance has him more meek and reserved.
* INeedAFreakingDrink: Not Rolling Rock, though; he prefers local brews to corporate brands.
* NiceGuy: He's genuinely friendly and actually tries to help the Nerd. Though that's not to say he won't get pissed off when a game is particularly frustrating.
* TheBusCameBack: Reappears in the ''Fear and Loathing in Vegas Stakes'' episode, though neither he or the Nerd seem to recognise the other.
[[/folder]]
!!Portrayed by Mike Matei:
[[folder:Motherfucker Mike]]
[[quoteright:261:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mm_573.JPG]]
[[caption-width-right:261:It's a moniker he wears with pride, funnily enough.]]
A character from ''WebVideo/BoardJames''.
----
* AlliterativeName: '''M'''ike '''M'''atei and his nickname '''M'''otherfucker '''M'''ike.
* CombatPragmatist: A non-combat example, he tends to cheat when going against James at board games.
* TheFaceless: At first he only played the Nerd's masked enemies. While in WebVideo/BoardJames he shows his face, in AVGN, he doesn't (the only time he's unmasked is playing ComicBook/TheJoker, and thus with make-up, and at the end of the Lethal Weapon review, where he appears as himself).
* {{Jerkass}}: He's called ''Motherfucker'' Mike for a reason.
* TheLancer: Acts as this to James when it comes to putting out videos and other media-related assistance.
* NotTheWayItIsMeantToBePlayed: He has his own series alongside James' videos that are dedicated to finding glitches [[GoodBadBug of]] [[GameBreakingBug all]] [[CheatCode kinds]] in old games as well as other content that wouldn't fit the Nerd's repertoire.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Bugs Bunny]]
[[quoteright:340:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bugs_bunny_in_avgn.jpg]]
The famous character of WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes fame, who is a minor foe of the Nerd. He appears in four reviews, ''Bugs Bunny's Birthday Blowout'', ''Bugs Bunny's Crazy Castle'', ''Mega Man Games'', and ''Garfield''.
----
* AdaptationalVillainy: Starts off as merely obnoxious in the ''Birthday Blowout'' review, but in his second appearance, he becomes more aggressive and violent; a far cry from the Bugs Bunny we all know and love. [[spoiler: Heck, he's even the TrueFinalBoss of ''AVGN Deluxe'']]!
* AmusingInjuries: Zig-zags between this and giving some really brutal injuries to the Nerd in ''Crazy Castle''.
* AnimalsNotToScale: He's about the same size as the Nerd, in contrast to his ''Looney Tunes'' counterpart who's shorter than a full-grown human.
* AnnoyingLaugh: [[spoiler: He gets this when he transforms into Woody Woodpecker near the end of ''Crazy Castle''.]]
* BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler: He inexplicably returns, no worse for wear, at the end of the ''Mega Man Games'' review, although he's not back for revenge--in fact, he's willingly playing the crappy games so that the Nerd doesn't have to play them anymore. The Nerd gives him a beatdown and takes his job back.]]
* BerserkButton: Being shat on.
* BodyHorror: [[spoiler: When the Nerd rips off his head, he immediately sprouts another one, albeit the head of [[WesternAnimation/WoodyWoodpecker another character]] altogether.]]
* ButtMonkey: Has shades of this in ''Birthday Blowout'', with the Nerd smashing a beer bottle on his head, {{offhand backhand}}ing him, and lunging at him, all before his birthday beating at the end. [[spoiler: He goes through the routine again at the end of the ''Mega Man Games'' review.]]
* TheBusCameBack: [[spoiler:He makes a cameo appearance at the end of the ''Mega Man Games'' review, saying he's taken the Nerd's place while he was time traveling so that the Nerd doesn't have to play bad games anymore. The Nerd will have none of it and delivers another brutal beatdown to him.]]
* CaptainErsatz: [[spoiler: A brown and demonic version of him, using the name "The Fucking Rabbit", shows up in ''AVGN Deluxe'' as the TrueFinalBoss. He even lampshades the trope.]]
-->[[spoiler:'''The Fucking Rabbit:''' What da fuck did you expect, after gettin' shit on and blown up so much? ...Besides, [[LampshadeHanging this way you ain't gettin' sued.]]]]
* ContinuityNod: In the Crazy Castle review, he's back for revenge on the Nerd, and he references the Nerd defecating all over his face at the end of his last appearance. [[spoiler: In the end of the ''Mega Man Games'' review, he makes a brief return, ironically playing ''Bugs Bunny's Birthday Blowout'', telling the Nerd he's taken his job and that he doesn't have to play bad games anymore. He promptly gets yet another brutal beatdown, courtesy of the Nerd.]]
* CurbStompBattle:
** The Nerd effortlessly beats him to a pulp in both the end of the ''Birthday Blowout'' and [[spoiler: ''Mega Man Games'' review.]]
** In the ''Crazy Castle'' episode, on the other hand, Bugs is more than a match for the Nerd in combat.
* EveryoneHasStandards: [[TooKinkyToTorture He may like getting beaten up]], but he ''hates'' being shat on.
* FireAndBrimstoneHell:
** [[spoiler: Sent there with the Nerd at the end of the Crazy Castle review.]]
** [[spoiler: And again at the end of ''AVGN Deluxe''.]]
%%* {{Flanderization}}:
* FurryReminder: The shit that falls out of his ass and onto the Nerd's face is ball-shaped, just like the poop of a real rabbit.
* HumiliationConga: Bugs gets his worst since ''WesternAnimation/TortoiseWinsByAHare'' by the end of the ''Birthday Blowout'' review, where the Nerd goes ballistic at the [[AWinnerIsYou game's ending]], and delivers a well-earned NoHoldsBarredBeatdown to Bugs, topping it off with him crapping all over Bugs' face.
* KarmicTrickster: This being Bugs Bunny, he still has shades of this despite being more aggressive.
* KillerRabbit: A literal one, mainly in the Crazy Castle review.
* LaserGuidedKarma: After heckling the Nerd throughout all of the Birthday Blowout review, the Nerd is more than willing to turn the tables on him at the end. Bugs returns the favor in the follow up.
* MadeOfIron: In both of his appearances, he takes an excruciating amount of punishment from the Nerd, [[spoiler: and even gets his head ripped off in his second appearance, and still keeps on kicking. It takes a CartoonBomb to bring him down.]]
* MythologyGag: [[spoiler: He sprouts the head of Woody Woodpecker in the climax of the Crazy Castle review, a nod to the earliest Bugs being similar to Woody, being co-created by Ben Hardaway, and both characters initially being voiced by Creator/MelBlanc.]]
* OffWithHisHead: [[spoiler: The Nerd rips off his head, but it doesn't kill him.]]
* OneWingedAngel:
** [[spoiler: When the Nerd rips off his head, he sprouts the head of Woody Woodpecker and continues fighting.]]
** [[spoiler: Becomes a gigantic BackgroundBoss for the second phase of his fight in ''AVGN Deluxe''.]]
** [[spoiler: In the ''Garfield'' review, after the Bugs Bunny and Woody Woodpecker heads are punched off, he spawns, in order, the heads of Mickey Mouse, Egon Spengler, Kid Klown, Roger Rabbit, and Garfield.]]
* ThePrankster: Mixed with his KarmicTrickster elements.
* StylisticSuck: He's portrayed by Mike Matei in a cheap Bugs Bunny halloween costume.
* TakingYouWithMe:
** [[spoiler: How the Nerd bests him in ''Crazy Castle''.]]
** [[spoiler:Bugs Bunny ends up returning the favor when fought as the TrueFinalBoss of ''AVGN Deluxe'', dropping a massive CartoonBomb after his defeat that sends both of them to Hell.]]
* ToiletHumor: He gets shat on the face by the Nerd at the end of the ''Birthday Blowout'' review, and while battling him in the ''Crazy Castle'' review, gets to return the favor by defecating rabbit feces on the latter's face.
* TookALevelInJerkass: In contrast to his generally cool, laid back passive aggressive persona, this Bugs is a foul-mouthed jerk who is not above a one-on-one fight.
* TooKinkyToTorture: Lampshaded by the Nerd in the ''Crazy Castle'' episode.
-->'''The Nerd''': Come on, I thought toons ''like'' to get beat up.
-->'''Bugs Bunny''': We ''do'', Doc, but you know what we ''don't'' like? Getting shit on the '''fucking face'''!
* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Carrots, as usual.
* TrueFinalBoss: [[spoiler:In ''AVGN Deluxe'', beating both games unlocks one final chapter. Turns out Bugs wasn't happy that he wasn't invited for the first two games, so he decides to screw with the Nerd for their UpdatedRerelease.]]
* WalkingSpoiler: Discussing the ''Bugs Bunny's Crazy Castle'' and ''Mega Man Games'' reviews, and a certain video game is difficult without giving away something big.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:The Joker]]
The antagonist of the Batman episodes, who forces the Nerd to play shitty Batman games.
----
* AssShove: Subjected to one when the Nerd shoves no fewer than ''five'' shitty Batman games up his ass.
* CreepyHighPitchedVoice: This version of the Clown Prince of Crime has a rather shrill voice.
* {{Sadist}}: Downplayed: he laughs whenever something bad happens to the Nerd in a game.
[[/folder]]
!!Portrayed by Kevin Finn:
[[folder:The Ninja Master]]
A ninja who appears in the ''Ninja Gaiden'' episode to help the Nerd beat the game.
----
* AmbiguouslyGay: In the [[HilariousOuttakes outtakes]], played for laughs.
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: He even drinks beer without removing his mask.
* DeadpanSnarker: "It's not a woman."
* {{Ninja}}: It comes naturally with being a ninja master.
* SternTeacher: He has Nerd relentlessly train his thumbs until they're fast enough to dodge fan blades and catch Q-tips in the air.
* TheWorfEffect: Despite initially being shown to effortlessly play through even the more challenging stages of Ninja Gaiden, he later on struggles with most of the same stages to prove a point of the game's relentless difficulty.
%%* TricksterMentor
[[/folder]]
[[folder:The Game Graphic Glitch Gremlin]]
[[quoteright:264:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/glitchgremlin_6787.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:264:Mmm, glitches! Ya like 'em?]]
A little gremlin who is a personification of game glitches and a recurring character in the series. He first appears as the antagonist of the ''Game Glitches'' episode, glitching every game the Nerd tries to play.
----
* AlliterativeName: The '''G'''ame '''G'''raphic '''G'''litch '''G'''remlin
* TheCameo: After appearing extensively throughout the "Game Glitches" episode, he makes a brief appearance in the following episode, ''VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink'', after the Nerd's experimenting with the "Fairy" spell triggers a GameBreakingBug.
* CarpetOfVirility: Since he's wearing an open vest, his hair chest is exposed.
* DeadpanSnarker: Very snarky, though not always very deadpan.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Apparently is too repulsed and scared by ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'' to actively try and glitch it up mainly because of the demonic possessions.
* FriendlyEnemy: He may screw up video games, but he isn't really that horrible to the Nerd. He's even a friendly power-up in ''VideoGame/TheAngryVideoGameNerdAdventures''.
* GreatGazoo: He's probably not an alien, but he's certainly green and his glitch powers are a huge nuisance.
* KryptoniteFactor: The guy dreads q-tips used with cleaning solution.
* {{Oireland}}: Has an Irish accent.
* PointyEars: Sports a green, pointy pair, pointing to his status as a gremlin.
* RealityWarper: When the Nerd pushes him too far in trying to get rid of him, he decides to glitch '''[[spoiler:real life]]'''.
* {{Troll}}: He glitches games for his own amusement.
[[/folder]]
!!Miscellaneous characters:
[[folder:R.O.B.]]
The antagonist of his titular episode, ''R.O.B. The Robot''. He is a sentient NES accessory compatible with ''Gyromite'' and ''Stack-Up''. Because those are the only games he is compatible with, he tries to force the Nerd to only play those two games.
----
* AIIsACrapshoot: Obviously, Nintendo never intended for R.O.B. to turn all video games into games that only R.O.B. can play.
* BigBad: Of Episode 100.
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: To an extent. He sees Gyromite and Stack-Up as perfect games, probably since they're the only ones he can play.
* DarkMessiah: Believes he's destined to rid the world of bad games... by turning '''all''' games into copies of ''Gyromite'' and ''Stack-Up''.
* {{Grotesque|Cute}} CuteMachines
* ItsAllAboutMe: He views ''Gyromite'' and ''Stack-Up'' as the only good video games in the world, because those are the only two games that he knows how to play.
* PintsizedPowerhouse: Even when he's tiny, he manages to punch the Nerd with his claws hard enough to make him spit up blood.
* RealityWarper: Once he gets angered, he changes all the games the Nerd has to just ''Gyromite'' and ''Stack-Up''.
* RobotBuddy: It's in his name, but sharply subverted in that he not only attacks the Nerd and nearly reduces him to a bloody mess, but attempts to purge every single video game in existence except ''Gyromite'' and ''Stack-Up''.
* RoboSpeak: He has a sightly deep, monotone, male voice.
* {{Technopath}}: Once he shows his full power, he controls the consoles that the Nerd has, tying him down with controller wires.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: He firmly believes that whittling down the entire video game library to just two games will rid the world of bad video games forever.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Death Kitty (Boo)]]
The Nerd’s pet Bombay cat.
----
* ActionPet: He chases down and defeats the Atari Jaguar when the Nerd's light guns are ineffective.
* BadassAdorable: Justified, in that he's a cat.
-->'''AVGN:''' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LVcvkLCUtU#t=8m53s Yeah! That's the REAL Jaguar!]]
* CuteKitten: Well, he's not a kitten per se, but he's adorable with jet black fur.
* PapaWolf: He attacks the Jaguar ferociously once it begins harassing the Nerd.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Macaulay Culkin]]
The star of ''Home Alone'', along with many other roles. He appears in the Home Alone episode as a pizza boy to help the Nerd review the games based on the Home Alone movies.
----
* AdamWesting: Appears to be portraying himself as a washed-up FormerChildStar since the Nerd is utterly unable to recognize him for the entire first half of the episode despite the many hints he keeps dropping.
* NoodleIncident: The Nerd criticizes one of the ''Film/HomeAlone'' games for having a boss fight against an [[WhenTreesAttack evil living tree]], since that never happened in any of the movies. While it's true that Kevin [=McCallister=] never fought an evil tree, Culkin himself apparently ''has'', and is extremely concerned as to how the game developers found out about it.
* PaperThinDisguise: His disguise as "The Pizza Boy" isn't very good, and only really succeeds because the Nerd can't recognize him as Macaulay Culkin anyway. It includes a nametag that literally says "Pizza Boy"... which peels off to reveal a ''second'' nametag that says "Macaulay Culkin".
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Fred Fuchs/Fred Fucks]]
->'''Portrayed by:''' Creator/GilbertGottfried
A programmer at LJN and recurring antagonist. He first appears as the villain of ''VideoGame/TheAngryVideoGameNerdAdventures'', where he traps the Nerd and his friends in Game Land, a shitty game of his creation. He then appears as the (fictionalized) creator of ''Life of Black Tiger'', and hides out in the jungles of Asia. He returns as the secondary antagonist of ''VideoGame/TheAngryVideoGameNerdIIAssimilation'', specifically the ''[=ReASSimilated=]'' version, as he tries to steal the parts of the Fucks Capacitor and fights the Nerd for them.
----
* BigBad: Is the creator of Game Land and final boss of ''VideoGame/TheAngryVideoGameNerdAdventures'', which was made [[YouDontLookLikeYou before his main series appearance]]. ''Deluxe'' also replaces the Nostalgia Critic fights with him and makes him the antagonist of the sequel, which removes all the movie characters and replaces the final boss with his [[AIIsACrapshoot haywire supercomputer]], the Fuckotron 9000.
* BunnyEarsLawyer: Well, when it comes to building hardware, anyway. After all, he managed to make a functional computer out of bamboo, coconuts and hyena feces despite being a complete loon. That being said, this is ''definitely'' not the case for him as a game designer, since the games he makes are barely functional garbage.
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: He's just... ''Holy''. '''''Shit'''''.
* DungFu: As the FinalBoss of the first game, raining shit from above is one of his attacks.[[labelnote:*]]It's not actually intentional on Fucks' part in the original, but in the remastered version it is.[[/labelnote]]
* TheHermit: He lives all alone in a dense jungle somewhere in Asia.
* JetPack: He uses one of these in the first game.
* MadArtist: A jungle-dwelling lunatic who programs "games" using [[BambooTechnology computers built out of jungle foliage and animal droppings]], while threatening to shoot people who criticize his work.
* NoIndoorVoice: It's ''Gilbert Gottfried''. What did you expect? This extends to the ''Deluxe'' version of the game, where his dialogue is rendered in all capitals.
* RecurringBoss: Not only is he the FinalBoss of the first game, in the ''Deluxe'' version of ''[=ASSimilated=]'' he's fought as a [[VideoGame/MegaMan3 Break Man]]-esque miniboss five times.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: His name is based on Fred Fuchs, a producer and and long-time associate of Francis Ford Coppola, whose last name was read by the nerd as “Fucks” in the Dracula episode.
* YouDontLookLikeYou: His original incarnation in ''Adventures'' was different from his more well-known appearance, looking like an EvilCounterpart to the Nerd. The ''Deluxe'' version of the game changes his sprites to more accurately reflect his appearance in the show.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Seamus Blackley]]
The programmer of ''Jurassic Park: Trespasser'' who appears in the episode where the Nerd plays his game.
----
* AdamWesting: To a degree. Not only are his first lines a parody of Dennis Nedry's infamous "you didn't say the magic word" taunt, [[spoiler:he's portrayed as a thin-skinned schemer with a fondness for DisproportionateRetribution]].
* AffablyEvil: He comes off as friendly and chill at first... [[spoiler:but then you find out what he does to people who criticize ''VideoGame/JurassicParkTrespasser'']].
* CantTakeCriticism: [[spoiler:When people criticize ''Trespasser'', he arranges for them to be stranded on an island where he'll drive them insane so they'll love the game]].
* DrivenToMadness: [[spoiler:This is what he tries to do to {{caustic critic}}s that pan his game.]]
* WalkingSpoiler: As you can probably tell, it's hard to talk about him without giving away something pretty big.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Pepsiman]]
->'''Portrayed by:''' Xander Arnott
The antagonist of his titular episode. He is Pepsi's Japanese superhero mascot who delivers Pepsi to those in need of it. He shows up and forces the Nerd to review his game. He has the ability to turn just about everything into Pepsi or his game, and plots to turn all of existence into Pepsi.
----
* AdaptationalVillainy: Canon Pepsiman is nothing more than a plucky IronButtMonkey who lives to serve those in severe lack of Pepsi. Here, he's an experiment GoneHorriblyWrong that wants to turn everything into Pepsi and is ''very'' NotGoodWithRejection.
* BewareTheSillyOnes: As annoying as it is for the Nerd to constantly have things being turned into bottles of Pepsi, Pepsiman is a pretty silly guy that likes to prank people. Once the TV Game Guy reveals Pepsiman's true nature, the silly side is tossed out the window as the titular character becomes very dangerous when he attacks the duo. [[spoiler:His attack causes the TV Game Guy to start turning into Pepsi.]]
* BoisterousWeakling: At the end of the video, when Pepsiman imposes a death threat to the Nerd, he's easily defeated by TV Game Guy's Freshmaker Bazooka.
* ButtMonkey: Even when given AdaptationalVillainy, some of his ButtMonkey elements exist, especially when [[LettingTheAirOutOfTheBand his music gets interrupted on a low note]] because he 'has a sad existence' or the background burns him.
* ForcedTransformation: Has the ability to turn anything into Pepsi. [[spoiler:Even human beings.]]
* SodaCandySplosion: His KryptoniteFactor is shown to be, naturally, Mentos. The TV Game Guy's ultimate weapon is revealed to be a bazooka that fires a massive amount of Mentos, blowing a hole right in the middle of Pepsiman and sending him falling to his death in a parody of the [[Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay T-1000]]'s destruction.
* TerminatorImpersonator: He's depicted here as a parody of the T-1000, and the Nerd also describes him as a "weird T-1000-looking mascot". Like his inspiration, he meets a fiery end when he's dropped into a vat of Fanta.
* WeaksauceWeakness: Mentos. Having them thrown at him causes him to recoil in pain, and being shot with a Mentos bazooka causes him to explode and lose his humanoid shape.
* {{Yandere}}: He's affable and jokey when you're dealing with Pepsi. But he will make you focus on nothing but Pepsi, ''or else''.
* YouNeedABreathMint: The Nerd remarks that his breath stinks, likely as a sign of tooth decay from drinking nothing but Pepsi.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:TV Game Guy]]
->'''Portrayed by:''' Mike Butters
A man who shows up in the ''Pepsiman'' game's live-action cutscenes, drinking Pepsi, eating chips, and shouting weird slogans like “Pepsi for TV Game”. He has been enslaved by Pepsiman to do his bidding by advertising his product.
----
* CrusadingWidower: His whole family [[spoiler:were turned into Pepsi by Pepsiman, and he's been plotting revenge.]]
* FlippingTheBird: Does this to the Nerd as he melts in the vat of Fanta in a parody of the [[Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay Terminator 2]] thumbs-up.
* {{Revenge}}: Pepsiman ruined his whole life and it's no wonder this guy wants him destroyed, never mind Pepsiman being out to do the same thing to others.
* UndignifiedDeath: Instead of getting the DyingMomentOfAwesome he requests, the Nerd just anti-climactically pushes him to his death.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Clown/Violator]]
->'''Portrayed by:''' Justin Silverman
The ''Spawn'' villain who serves as the secondary antagonist of the ''Spawn'' episode. He has the Nerd play all the ''Spawn'' games, with the promise of releasing him from Hell should he do so, and periodically appears to offer cheat codes.
----
* AdaptationalNiceGuy: Make no mistake, he's still a bad guy, but he's not as much of an obnoxious asshole as his counterpart from the comics, nor is he as violent or murderous.
* AffablyEvil: While he's chummy for the most part, he's still a malevolent demon.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Claims that Spawn being paid DLC in ''VideoGame/MortalKombat11'' is "[[TakeThat pretty evil, even by Hell's standards]]".
* FatBastard: He's a fat demonic clown [[spoiler:who tries to prevent the Nerd from beating Satan's challenge legitimately]].
* FreakOut: He finally ''flips his lid'' [[spoiler: when he realizes his punishment for failing Satan's backup challenge is having to review the Spawn movie, transforming into his Violator form while screaming about how he's sick of Spawn.]]
* ManipulativeBastard: He convinces the Nerd to use cheat codes [[spoiler:so he won't beat Satan's challenge legitimately]].
* MonsterClown: No surprise, given his name.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Satan]]
->'''Artwork by:''' Mike Matei
The Devil himself and a recurring antagonist. He first appears in the ''Super Mario Bros. 3'' episode possessing the Nerd's cartridge. He is also the boss of “Thy Farts Consumed” in ''VideoGame/TheAngryVideoGameNerdAdventures'', and reappears as the antagonist of the ''Spawn Games'' episode where he forces the Nerd to play Spawn games.
----
* BigBad: Of the ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'' and ''ComicBook/{{Spawn}}'' ''Games'' episodes.
* BigRedDevil: A less humanoid spin on the trope, being more goatlike than the usual, but still fits the archetype.
* FreeFallFight: How he's fought in ''Adventures''. He flies around and lets the numerous spikes/death blocks littering his chasm deal with the Nerd.
* NightmareFace: He's always sporting a sharp SlasherSmile and slit-pupiled eyes.
* {{Satan}}: It's in the name.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Skylar]]
A computer guide from ''Cybermorph'' and ''Battlemorph'' who appears in the ''Atari Jaguar'' episode. She dislikes the Nerd's flying skills and does not hesisgate to tell him over and over again. She appears as the boss of “Future Fuckballs 2010”.
----
[[/folder]]
[[folder:The Bloodstain Bears]]
An alternate version of ''The Berenstain Bears'' who appear as the antagonists of the ''Berenstain Bears'' episode. They are a family of violent, bloodthirsty bears who attack the Nerd.
----
* AdaptationalVillainy: While some of the bears could be {{Jerkass}}es at times, they weren't nearly as murderous as they are here.
[[/folder]]
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[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:James Rolfe's other characters]]
! [[WebVideo/YouKnowWhatsBullshit The Bullshit Man]]
[[quoteright:264:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bsman_9105.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:264:You know what's BUUUULLLSHIT?!]]
A frustrated gentleman who vents his annoyance at everyday inconveniences. Eventually revealed to be a man whose face is bullshit.
----
* BerserkButton: '''''[[UpToEleven Too much cream cheese!!]]''''' ...yeah, he's got a lot of these.
* BodyHorror: His face is a mass of bovine feces.
* ButtMonkey: He's a constant victim of everyday bullshit.
* TheCameo: When the Nerd struggles to open the packaging containing the Batman wrist game, the Bullshit Man appears after the Nerd says "You know... you know what's bullshit...?", hands him a pair of scissors, and proceeds to briefly rant about blister packaging.
* CatchPhrase: Commences his rants with "You know what's '''''BUUUULLLLSHIT'''''?!" (later changed to "You know what's '''''BS?!'''''" starting with "Apple's Lack of Buttons" to comply with [[Website/YouTube [=YouTube=]]]'s monetization rules), and concludes his rants with some variation of "That's bullshit!".
* CosmicPlaything: Pretty much '''''everything''''' is out there to make the Bullshit Man's life bullshittier.
* {{Crossover}}: Normally the star of his own series, ''You Know What's Bullshit?'', but appeared in the AVGN's "Tiger Games" episode to rant about blister packaging.
* DungFu: In ''Adventures'', he can fire blasts of bullshit from his hands. Said attack also happens to be [[LethalJokeItem as strong as a Super Scope]].
* TheFaceless: Until TheReveal, where he shows that his face ''is'' bullshit.
* NoIndoorVoice: Especially when delivering his catchphrase.
* OrganAutonomy: His asshole has a mind of it's own, and they hate each-other.
* PerpetualFrowner: Unlike the Nerd, who smiles every now and then, the Bullshit Man never smiles once, not even in illustrations.
* SirSwearsALot: Perhaps even more than the Nerd himself!
* TalkingPoo: His entire head is literally this. And it looks as disgusting as it sounds.
* TookALevelInBadass: His role as a playable character in ''VideoGame/TheAngryVideoGameNerdAdventures''.
* TranquilFury: Besides putting great emphasis on the "bullshit" in his CatchPhrase with pure fury, he rarely raises his voice while doing his rants.
* VisualPun: He is ''literally'' a bullshit man.
* YankTheDogsChain: The Bullshit Man used to look like a normal human (as evidenced by an illustration from "Pay Toilets"), however, he has endured so much bullshit in his life to the point where his face was ''literally'' turned into bullshit.
-->'''The Bullshit Man:''' I used to look normal before all this bullshit happened to me!
* YourAnswerToEverything: His life revolves entirely around ranting about minor everyday inconveniences.
! Shitpickle
----
* ClusterFBomb: Or in this case, a "Cluster S Bomb".
* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: He's a pickle with shit on it. That's about it.
* OhCrap: He appears in the ''VideoGame/Action52'' review during the Ooze bit. "It's...it's..." "SHITPICKLE SHITPICKLE SHITPICKLE SHITPICKLE SHITPICKLE"
* PokemonSpeak: "Shiiiieeeet... pickle!"
! Super Mecha Death Christ 2000 B.C. v4.0 Beta [[ThisIsForEmphasisBitch (bitch!)]]
----
* BeenThereShapedHistory: He was present for a bewildering array of historical events.
* {{BFG}}: All over his body/chassis.
* BloodKnight: Revels in violence, gore and slaughter.
* CatchPhrase: "'''''FUCKERS!!!'''''"
* ClusterFBomb: He loves saying his catchphrase a lot as well as the F-word in general.
* DeusExMachina: In the ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'' review:
-->'''Nerd''': The power of Super Mecha Death Christ compels you!
* EyeBeams: He has those too. He'll use everything he's got on his enemy!
* HeelFaceTurn: He's originally shown to be an agent of Satan in ''Dorothy Goes To Hell''. As of the ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'' review, he helps the Nerd take down Satan, who is possessing a video game cartridge.
* HypocriticalHumor: "WATCH YOUR FUCKING LANGUAGE!!!" Note that this was in response to the Nerd exclaiming "Holy shit!". It suggests that Super Mecha Death Christ, though not taking kindly to blasphemy, is otherwise fine with vulgarity.
* KungFuJesus: A mechanized Jesus with tons of weapons and armor strapped all over in.
* MirrorMatch: Fights against the Nostalgia Critic's own blasphemous creation, Giant Robotic Donkey Kong Jesus Riding a Puff of Smoke, in the TGWTG Team Brawl.
* NoIndoorVoice: Look at his catch phrase.
* SirSwearsALot: Even when everything is nice and calm, he still swears.
* TankGoodness: That's what his main body consists of: a tank with tons of guns built on it.
! Nerdy Turd
----
* ArtificialHuman: "I cloned him from my own shit."
* BackForTheDead: Comes back in ''[=ASSimilated=]'' as the miniboss of Browntown, only to canonically die.
* OneShotCharacter: The only major role the Nerdy Turd ever got was in the Odyssey episode.
* SuddenAnatomy: He first hops on screen without any limbs, but when it comes time to play the Odyssey, hands suddenly appear so he can pick up the controller.
* TalkingPoo: [[TheUnintelligible Sort of.]]
* TheUnintelligible: He communicates by making sloppy farting sounds through his teeth and lips.
! Rex Viper Rigs
----
* AscendedExtra: Originally a one-off character from a joke in the ''Big Rigs'' episode, before turning into a recurring character in the Nerd's lore.
* AwesomeMcCoolName: Seriously, ''Rex Viper Rigs''.
* CoolShades: Wears shades to fit his manly attitude.
* DeepSouth: His design is meant to evoke the image of rough truckers from southern American States.
* GivenNameReveal: Didn't reveal his name until his fourth appearance.
* LargeHam: He needs to be, otherwise his commercials would suck as much as the games he promotes.
* MeaningfulName: In his first appearance, he advertised ''VideoGame/BigRigsOverTheRoadRacing'', and lo and behold, his last name actually is "Rigs".
* NeverNeedsSharpening: All of his commercials consist almost entirely of him taking the biggest, most glaring flaws of the game he's currently advertising and rephrasing them to sound positive.
* NoIndoorVoice: Generally speaks loudly but doesn't outright shout, unless he's in a commercial where he will shout like a boss.
* ParodyCommercial: His only real purpose is to do over-the-top commercials for the worst games imaginable, though he also appeared in the Nerd's version of [[VideoGame/EarthBound Magicant]] to give him some advice.
* SleevesAreForWimps: Always wears tank tops to show off his manly tattoos.
* TestosteronePoisoning: His main defining character trait.
----
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Kyle Justin's characters]]
!The Guitar Guy
[[quoteright:328:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/KyleJustinAVGN_5085.png]]
[[caption-width-right:328:(The one on the left.)]]
A guitar player who lives behind the Nerd's couch, and writes songs based on the Nerd's angry utterances. He occasionally joins the Nerd in playing co-op games.
----
* BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler:Comes back to life thanks to the Nerd inputting the ''Ikari Warriors'' 1UP code.]]
* BasementDweller: Well, kinda. He lives behind the Nerd's couch. The ''Bugs Bunny's Crazy Castle'' review implies it's actually ''his'' couch.
* ButtMonkey: The Nerd treats him very poorly and he's forced to live behind a couch.
* ADayInTheLimelight:
** In the ''VideoGame/{{Battletoads}}'' review, he gets to play the game alongside the Nerd after complaining that he never gets any screentime.
** He gets to play again in the ''Ikari Warriors'' review, where he plays the game [[spoiler:(after coming back to life thanks to the ABBA code)]] alongside the Nerd for a bit before going back to guitar strumming.
* DeadGuyOnDisplay: His hat-wearing guitar-holding skeleton is used as a background prop in several Halloween reviews.
* DroppedABridgeOnHim: [[spoiler:His skeleton behind the couch appears in the Schwarzenegger Games review without explanation. At all. It's somewhat implied the Nerd forgot about him and Guitar Guy starved.]]
* FriendlyFire: He and Nerd do this to each other in ''VideoGame/{{Battletoads}}'', but not intentionally. The Nerd blasts the game for even including a compulsory friendly fire option at all.
* InstrumentOfMurder: That guitar isn't just for songs... the Nerd tries to use it to kill Bugs Bunny.
* TheLancer: Before Mike started making appearances in person, he was this to the Nerd in some aspects. Specifically, the VideoGame/{{Battletoads}} video and the WebVideo/TGWTGYearOneBrawl.
%%* LeftTheBackgroundMusicOn
* NiceHat: He's always seen with his brown hat just as much as his guitar.
* NoNameGiven: He's just The Guitar Guy (although he's referred to by his real name in the ''Website/ChannelAwesome'' first anniversary special).
* PermaStubble: He usually has a noticeable six o'clock shadow despite being pretty tan.
* TheyKilledKennyAgain: Lampshaded by the Nerd during the ''AVGN Games'' episode.
-->'''The Nerd:''' Is that guy dead again?
* WarriorPoet: Occasionally proves himself capable in a fight.
! ComicBook/SpiderMan
----
* CharacterizationMarchesOn: His first appearance played him similar to his quipping persona in most media, just more prone to swearing. His reappearance has him more meek and reserved.
* INeedAFreakingDrink: Not Rolling Rock, though; he prefers local brews to corporate brands.
* NiceGuy: He's genuinely friendly and actually tries to help the Nerd. Though that's not to say he won't get pissed off when a game is particularly frustrating.
* TheBusCameBack: Reappears in the ''Fear and Loathing in Vegas Stakes'' episode, though neither he or the Nerd seem to recognise the other.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Mike Matei's characters]]
! Motherfucker Mike
[[quoteright:261:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mm_573.JPG]]
[[caption-width-right:261:It's a moniker he wears with pride, funnily enough.]]
----
* AlliterativeName: '''M'''ike '''M'''atei and his nickname '''M'''otherfucker '''M'''ike.
* CombatPragmatist: A non-combat example, he tends to cheat when going against James at board games.
* TheFaceless: At first he only played the Nerd's masked enemies. While in WebVideo/BoardJames he shows his face, in AVGN, he doesn't (the only time he's unmasked is playing ComicBook/TheJoker, and thus with make-up, and at the end of the Lethal Weapon review, where he appears as himself).
* {{Jerkass}}: He's called ''Motherfucker'' Mike for a reason.
* TheLancer: Acts as this to James when it comes to putting out videos and other media-related assistance.
* NotTheWayItIsMeantToBePlayed: He has his own series alongside James' videos that are dedicated to finding glitches [[GoodBadBug of]] [[GameBreakingBug all]] [[CheatCode kinds]] in old games as well as other content that wouldn't fit the Nerd's repertoire.
! WesternAnimation/BugsBunny
[[quoteright:340:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bugs_bunny_in_avgn.jpg]]
The famous character of WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes fame, who is a minor foe of the Nerd. He appears in three reviews, ''Bugs Bunny's Birthday Blowout'', ''Bugs Bunny's Crazy Castle'' and [[spoiler:''Mega Man Games''.]]
----
* AdaptationalVillainy: Starts off as merely obnoxious in the ''Birthday Blowout'' review, but in his second appearance, he becomes more aggressive and violent; a far cry from the Bugs Bunny we all know and love. [[spoiler: Heck, he's even the TrueFinalBoss of ''AVGN Deluxe'']]!
* AmusingInjuries: Zigzags between this and giving some really brutal injuries to the Nerd in ''Crazy Castle''.
* AnimalsNotToScale: He's about the same size as the Nerd, in contrast to his ''Looney Tunes'' counterpart who's shorter than a full-grown human.
* AnnoyingLaugh: [[spoiler: He gets this when he transforms into Woody Woodpecker near the end of ''Crazy Castle''.]]
* BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler: He inexplicably returns, no worse for wear, at the end of the ''Mega Man Games'' review, although he's not back for revenge--in fact, he's willingly playing the crappy games so that the Nerd doesn't have to play them anymore. The Nerd gives him a beatdown and takes his job back.]]
* BerserkButton: Being shat on.
* BodyHorror: [[spoiler: When the Nerd rips off his head, he immediately sprouts another one, albeit the head of [[WesternAnimation/WoodyWoodpecker another character]] altogether.]]
* ButtMonkey: Has shades of this in ''Birthday Blowout'', with the Nerd smashing a beer bottle on his head, {{offhand backhand}}ing him, and lunging at him, all before his birthday beating at the end. [[spoiler: He goes through the routine again at the end of the ''Mega Man Games'' review.]]
* TheBusCameBack: [[spoiler:He makes a cameo appearance at the end of the ''Mega Man Games'' review, saying he's taken the Nerd's place while he was time traveling so that the Nerd doesn't have to play bad games anymore. The Nerd will have none of it and delivers another brutal beatdown to him.]]
* CaptainErsatz: [[spoiler: A brown demonic version of him, using the name "The Fucking Rabbit", shows up in ''AVGN Deluxe'' as the TrueFinalBoss. He even lampshades the trope by saying he looks like that so Freakzone Games doesn't get sued]].
* ContinuityNod: In the Crazy Castle review, he's back for revenge on the Nerd, and he references the Nerd defecating all over his face at the end of his last appearance. [[spoiler: In the end of the ''Mega Man Games'' review, he makes a brief return, ironically playing ''Bugs Bunny's Birthday Blowout'', telling the Nerd he's taken his job and that he doesn't have to play bad games anymore. He promptly gets yet another brutal beatdown, courtesy of the Nerd.]]
* CurbStompBattle:
** The Nerd effortlessly beats him to a pulp in both the end of the ''Birthday Blowout'' and [[spoiler: ''Mega Man Games'' review.]]
** In the ''Crazy Castle'' episode, on the other hand, Bugs is more than a match for the Nerd in combat.
* EveryoneHasStandards: [[TooKinkyToTorture He may like getting beaten up]], but he ''hates'' being shat on.
* FireAndBrimstoneHell: [[spoiler: Sent there with the Nerd at the end of the Crazy Castle review.]]
%%* {{Flanderization}}:
* FurryReminder: The shit that falls out of his ass and onto the Nerd's face is ball-shaped, just like the poop of a real rabbit.
* HumiliationConga: Bugs gets his worst since ''WesternAnimation/TortoiseWinsByAHare'' by the end of the ''Birthday Blowout'' review, where the Nerd goes ballistic at the [[AWinnerIsYou game's ending]], and delivers a well-earned NoHoldsBarredBeatdown to Bugs, topping it off with him crapping all over Bugs' face.
* KarmicTrickster: This being Bugs Bunny, he still has shades of this despite being more aggressive.
* KillerRabbit: A literal one, mainly in the Crazy Castle review.
* LaserGuidedKarma: After heckling the Nerd throughout all of the Birthday Blowout review, the Nerd is more than willing to turn the tables on him at the end. Bugs returns the favor in the follow up.
* MadeOfIron: In both of his appearances, he takes an excruciating amount of punishment from the Nerd, [[spoiler: and even gets his head ripped off in his second appearance, and still keeps on kicking. It takes a CartoonBomb to bring him down.]]
* MythologyGag: [[spoiler: He sprouts the head of Woody Woodpecker in the climax of the Crazy Castle review, a nod to the earliest Bugs being similar to Woody, being co-created by Ben Hardaway, and both characters initially being voiced by Creator/MelBlanc.]]
* OffWithHisHead: [[spoiler: The Nerd rips off his head, but it doesn't kill him.]]
* OneWingedAngel: [[spoiler: When the Nerd rips off his head, he sprouts the head of Woody Woodpecker and continues fighting.]]
* ThePrankster: Mixed with his KarmicTrickster elements.
* StylisticSuck: He's portrayed by Mike Matei in a cheap Bugs Bunny halloween costume.
* TakingYouWithMe: [[spoiler: How the Nerd bests him in ''Crazy Castle''.]]
* ToiletHumor: He gets shat on the face by the Nerd at the end of the ''Birthday Blowout'' review, and while battling him in the ''Crazy Castle'' review, gets to return the favor by defecating rabbit feces on the latter's face.
* TookALevelInJerkass: In contrast to his generally cool, laid back passive aggressive persona, this Bugs is a foul-mouthed jerk who is not above a one-on-one fight.
* TooKinkyToTorture: Lampshaded by the Nerd in the ''Crazy Castle'' episode.
-->'''The Nerd''': Come on, I thought toons ''like'' to get beat up.
-->'''Bugs Bunny''': We ''do'', Doc, but you know what we ''don't'' like? Getting shit on the '''fucking face'''!
* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Carrots, as usual.
! ComicBook/TheJoker
----
* AssShove: Subjected to one when the Nerd shoves no fewer than ''five'' shitty Batman games up his ass.
* CreepyHighPitchedVoice: This version of the Clown Prince of Crime has a rather shrill voice.
* {{Sadist}}: Downplayed: he laughs whenever something bad happens to the Nerd in a game.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Kevin Finn's characters]]
! The Ninja Master
----
* AmbiguouslyGay: In the [[HilariousOuttakes outtakes]], played for laughs.
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: He even drinks beer without removing his mask.
* DeadpanSnarker: "It's not a woman."
* {{Ninja}}: It comes naturally with being a ninja master.
* SternTeacher: He has Nerd relentlessly train his thumbs until they're fast enough to dodge fan blades and catch Q-tips in the air.
%%* TricksterMentor
! The Game Graphic Glitch Gremlin
[[quoteright:264:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/glitchgremlin_6787.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:264:Mmm, glitches! Ya like 'em?]]
----
* AlliterativeName: The '''G'''ame '''G'''raphic '''G'''litch '''G'''remlin
* TheCameo: After appearing extensively throughout the "Game Glitches" episode, he makes a brief appearance in the following episode, ''VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink'', after the Nerd's experimenting with the "Fairy" spell triggers a GameBreakingBug.
* CarpetOfVirility: Since he's wearing an open vest, his hair chest is exposed.
* DeadpanSnarker: Very snarky, though not always very deadpan.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Apparently is too repulsed and scared by ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'' to actively try and glitch it up mainly because of the demonic possessions.
* FriendlyEnemy: He may screw up video games, but he isn't really that horrible to the Nerd. He's even a friendly power-up in ''VideoGame/TheAngryVideoGameNerdAdventures''.
* GreatGazoo: He's probably not an alien, but he's certainly green and his glitch powers are a huge nuisance.
* KryptoniteFactor: The guy dreads q-tips used with cleaning solution.
* {{Oireland}}: Has an Irish accent.
* PointyEars: Sports a green, pointy pair, pointing to his status as a gremlin.
* RealityWarper: When the Nerd pushes him too far in trying to get rid of him, he decides to glitch '''[[spoiler:real life]]'''.
* {{Troll}}: He glitches games for his own amusement.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Miscellaneous characters]]
! [[VideoGame/RoboticOperatingBuddy R.O.B.]]
----
* AIIsACrapshoot: Obviously, Nintendo never intended for R.O.B. to turn all video games into games that only R.O.B. can play.
* BigBad: Of Episode 100.
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: To an extent. He sees Gyromite and Stack-Up as perfect games, probably since they're the only ones he can play.
* DarkMessiah: Believes he's destined to rid the world of bad games... by turning '''all''' games into copies of ''Gyromite'' and ''Stack-Up''.
* {{Grotesque|Cute}} CuteMachines
* ItsAllAboutMe: He views ''Gyromite'' and ''Stack-Up'' as the only good video games in the world, because those are the only two games that he knows how to play.
* PintsizedPowerhouse: Even when he's tiny, he manages to punch the Nerd with his claws hard enough to make him spit up blood.
* RealityWarper: Once he gets angered, he changes all the games the Nerd has to just ''Gyromite'' and ''Stack-Up''.
* RobotBuddy: It's in his name, but sharply subverted in that he not only attacks the Nerd and nearly reduces him to a bloody mess, but attempts to purge every single video game in existence except ''Gyromite'' and ''Stack-Up''.
* RoboSpeak: He has a sightly deep, monotone, male voice.
* {{Technopath}}: Once he shows his full power, he controls the consoles that the Nerd has, tying him down with controller wires.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: He firmly believes that whittling down the entire video game library to just two games will rid the world of bad video games forever.
! Death Kitty (Boo)
----
* ActionPet: He chases down and defeats the Atari Jaguar when the Nerd's light guns are ineffective.
* BadassAdorable: Justified, in that he's a cat.
-->'''AVGN:''' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LVcvkLCUtU#t=8m53s Yeah! That's the REAL Jaguar!]]
* CoolPet: He can stop a raging video game console with ease.
* CuteKitten: Well, he's not a kitten per se, but he's adorable with jet black fur.
* PapaWolf: He attacks the Jaguar ferociously once it begins harassing the Nerd.
! Creator/MacaulayCulkin
----
* AdamWesting: Appears to be portraying himself as a washed-up FormerChildStar since the Nerd is utterly unable to recognize him for the entire first half of the episode despite the many hints he keeps dropping.
* NoodleIncident: The Nerd criticizes one of the ''Film/HomeAlone'' games for having a boss fight against an [[WhenTreesAttack evil living tree]], since that never happened in any of the movies. While it's true that Kevin [=McCallister=] never fought an evil tree, Culkin himself apparently ''has'', and is extremely concerned as to how the game developers found out about it.
* PaperThinDisguise: His disguise as "The Pizza Boy" isn't very good, and only really succeeds because the Nerd can't recognize him as Macaulay Culkin anyway. It includes a nametag that literally says "Pizza Boy"... which peels off to reveal a ''second'' nametag that says "Macaulay Culkin".
----
! Fred Fucks/Fred Fuchs
->'''Portrayed by:''' Creator/GilbertGottfried
----
* BigBad: Is the creator of Game Land and final boss of ''VideoGame/TheAngryVideoGameNerdAdventures'', which was made [[YouDontLookLikeYou before his main series appearance]]. ''Deluxe'' also replaces the Nostalgia Critic fights with him and makes him the antagonist of the sequel, which removes all the movie characters and replaces the final boss with his [[AIIsACrapshoot haywire supercomputer]], the Fuckotron 9000.
* BunnyEarsLawyer: Well, when it comes to building hardware, anyway. After all, he managed to make a functional computer out of bamboo, coconuts and hyena feces despite being a complete loon. That being said, this is ''definitely'' not the case for him as a game designer, since the games he makes are barely functional garbage.
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: He's just... ''Holy''. '''''Shit'''''.
* CoolGuns: Has a motherfucking Mauser bolt-action rifle.
* DungFu: As the FinalBoss of the first game, raining shit from above is one of his attacks.[[labelnote:*]]It's not actually intentional on Fucks' part in the original, but in the remastered version it is.[[/labelnote]]
* TheHermit: He lives all alone in a dense jungle somewhere in Asia.
* JetPack: He uses one of these in the first game.
* MadArtist: A jungle-dwelling lunatic who programs "games" using [[BambooTechnology computers built out of jungle foliage and animal droppings]], while threatening to shoot people who criticize his work.
* NoIndoorVoice: It's ''Gilbert Gottfried''. What did you expect? This extends to the ''Deluxe'' version of the game, where his dialogue is rendered in all capitals.
* RecurringBoss: Not only is he the FinalBoss of the first game, in the ''Deluxe'' version of ''[=ASSimilated=]'' he's fought as a [[VideoGame/MegaMan3 Break Man]]-esque miniboss five times.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: His name is based on Fred Fuchs, a producer and and long-time associate of Francis Ford Coppola, whose last name was read by the nerd as “Fucks” in the Dracula episode.
* YouDontLookLikeYou: His original incarnation in ''Adventures'' was different from his more well-known appearance, looking like an EvilCounterpart to the Nerd. The ''Deluxe'' version of the game changes his sprites to more accurately reflect his appearance in the show.
! Seamus Blackley
----
* AdamWesting: To a degree. Not only are his first lines a parody of Dennis Nedry's infamous "you didn't say the magic word" taunt, [[spoiler:he's portrayed as a thin-skinned schemer with a fondness for DisproportionateRetribution]].
* AffablyEvil: He comes off as friendly and chill at first... [[spoiler:but then you find out what he does to people who criticize ''VideoGame/JurassicParkTrespasser'']].
* CantTakeCriticism: [[spoiler:When people criticize ''Trespasser'', he arranges for them to be stranded on an island where he'll drive them insane so they'll love the game]].
* DrivenToMadness: [[spoiler:This is what he tries to do to {{caustic critic}}s that pan his game.]]
* WalkingSpoiler: As you can probably tell, it's hard to talk about him without giving away something pretty big.
! VideoGame/{{Pepsiman}}
->'''Portrayed by:''' Xander Arnott
----
* AdaptationalVillainy: Canon Pepsiman is nothing more than a plucky IronButtMonkey who lives to serve those in severe lack of Pepsi. Here, he's an experiment GoneHorriblyWrong that wants to turn everything into Pepsi and is ''very'' NotGoodWithRejection.
* BalefulPolymorph: Has the ability to turn anything into Pepsi. [[spoiler:Even human beings.]]
* BewareTheSillyOnes: As annoying as it is for the Nerd to constantly have things being turned into bottles of Pepsi, Pepsiman is a pretty silly guy that likes to prank people. Once the TV Game Guy reveals Pepsiman's true nature, the silly side is tossed out the window as the titular character becomes very dangerous when he attacks the duo. [[spoiler:His attack causes the TV Game Guy to start turning into Pepsi.]]
* BoisterousWeakling: At the end of the video, when Pepsiman imposes a death threat to the Nerd, he's easily defeated by TV Game Guy's Freshmaker Bazooka.
* ButtMonkey: Even when given AdaptationalVillainy, some of his ButtMonkey elements exist, especially when [[LettingTheAirOutOfTheBand his music gets interrupted on a low note]] because he 'has a sad existence' or the background burns him.
* TerminatorImpersonator: He's depicted here as a parody of the T-1000, and the Nerd also describes him as a "weird T-1000-looking mascot". Like his inspiration, he meets a fiery end when he's dropped into a vat of Fanta.
* WeaksauceWeakness: Mentos. Having them thrown at him causes him to recoil in pain, and being shot with a Mentos bazooka causes him to explode and lose his humanoid shape.
* {{Yandere}}: He's affable and jokey when you're dealing with Pepsi. But he will make you focus on nothing but Pepsi, ''or else''.
* YouNeedABreathMint: The Nerd remarks that his breath stinks, likely as a sign of tooth decay from drinking nothing but Pepsi.
! [[VideoGame/{{Pepsiman}} TV Game Guy]]
->'''Portrayed by:''' Mike Butters
----
* CrusadingWidower: His whole family [[spoiler:were turned into Pepsi by Pepsiman, and he's been plotting revenge.]]
* FlippingTheBird: Does this to the Nerd as he melts in the vat of Fanta in a parody of the [[Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay Terminator 2]] thumbs-up.
* {{Revenge}}: Pepsiman ruined his whole life and it's no wonder this guy wants him destroyed, never mind Pepsiman being out to do the same thing to others.
* UndignifiedDeath: Instead of getting the DyingMomentOfAwesome he requests, the Nerd just anti-climactically pushes him to his death.
! [[ComicBook/{{Spawn}} Clown/Violator]]
->'''Portrayed by:''' Justin Silverman
----
* AdaptationalNiceGuy: Make no mistake, he's still a bad guy, but he's not as much of an obnoxious asshole as his counterpart from the comics, nor is he as violent or murderous.
* AffablyEvil: While he's chummy for the most part, he's still a malevolent demon.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Claims that Spawn being paid DLC in ''VideoGame/MortalKombat11'' is "[[TakeThat pretty evil, even by Hell's standards]]".
* FatBastard: He's a fat demonic clown [[spoiler:who tries to prevent the Nerd from beating Satan's challenge legitimately]].
* FreakOut: He finally ''flips his lid'' [[spoiler: when he realizes his punishment for failing Satan's backup challenge is having to review the Spawn movie, transforming into his Violator form while screaming about how he's sick of Spawn.]]
* ManipulativeBastard: He convinces the Nerd to use cheat codes [[spoiler:so he won't beat Satan's challenge legitimately]].
* MonsterClown: No surprise, given his name.
! {{Satan}}
->'''Artwork by:''' Mike Matei
----
* BigBad: Of the ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'' and ''ComicBook/{{Spawn}}'' ''Games'' episodes.
* BigRedDevil: A less humanoid spin on the trope, being more goatlike than the usual, but still fits the archetype.
* FreeFallFight: How he's fought in ''Adventures''. He flies around and lets the numerous spikes/death blocks littering his chasm deal with the Nerd.
* NightmareFace: He's always sporting a sharp SlasherSmile and slit-pupiled eyes.
* {{Satan}}: It's in the name.
[[/folder]]
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[[folder:The Nerd himself]]
->'''Portrayed by:''' Creator/JamesRolfe
[[quoteright:264:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/avgn.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:264:[[ThisIsGonnaSuck This is gonna suck monkey fuck.]]]]
The one, the only, the man who made Internet reviewing a genre singlehandedly--the Angry Video Game Nerd. A bespectacled man in a white button-down shirt with a pocket protector, the Nerd sits in his basement and vents his impotent rage over terrible video games of days gone by. He has a perennial rivalry with WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic.
->'''Portrayed by:''' Creator/JamesRolfe
[[quoteright:264:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/avgn.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:264:[[ThisIsGonnaSuck This is gonna suck monkey fuck.]]]]
The one, the only, the man who made Internet reviewing a genre singlehandedly--the Angry Video Game Nerd. A bespectacled man in a white button-down shirt with a pocket protector, the Nerd sits in his basement and vents his impotent rage over terrible video games of days gone by. He has a perennial rivalry with WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic.
to:
->'''Portrayed by:''' Creator/JamesRolfe
! [[WebVideo/YouKnowWhatsBullshit The Bullshit Man]]
[[quoteright:264:https://static.tvtropes.
The one, the only, the man
A frustrated gentleman who
Deleted line(s) 18,198 (click to see context) :
* TheAlcoholic: A regular drinker of Rolling Rock.
* AmbiguousDisorder:
** As his name implies, the Nerd has [[HairTriggerTemper extreme anger issues]]. While it is understandable given his job involves him playing frustrating games, it can be argued that his rages are {{disproportionate|Retribution}} to the stimuli and often reacts to mildly frustrating things with colorful profanity and excessive violence, hinting that he suffers from Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED). His excessive alcoholism probably does not help his mood, either.
** He is constantly hounded by outlandish and fictional characters (Shit-Pickle, Super-Mecha Death-Christ, Satan, the Joker, Jason Vorhees, Freddy Krueger, etc.) who are all out to do him harm, hinting that he could be suffering from paranoid schizophrenia. Though considering this is set in [[WorldOfWeirdness the Reviewerverse]] where literally anything could happen, [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane it is hard to argue whether or not any of it is real or not]].
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnOmfGMM_yg As MatPat pointed out]], the inconsistency in his feces (from watery-diarrhea to thick and playdough like) may hint he suffers from an inflammatory bowel disease like Crohn's Disease.
* {{Angrish}}: Occasionally, when he runs out of curse words.
* AntiHero: Of the UnscrupulousHero variety. He has a very short temper, swears like a sailor, and is brutal towards enemies, but for all of his flaws, he is unmistakably a force of good. See GoodIsNotNice below for further details.
* AntiRoleModel: A lonely, alcoholic, foul-mouthed young man with an uncontrollable temper who has nothing better to do with his life than to hole himself up in his basement and put himself through the torture of playing shitty games all day even though he knows full well he hates it. What's not to love?
* AnythingButThat: For a long time, he swore off on reviewing ''VideoGame/ETTheExtraTerrestrial'' on Atari due to its notorious reputation of being one of the worst gaming titles for its time. [[spoiler:He eventually gets to it in TheMovie/Episode 120, and ultimately concludes that despite its flaws, it's ''not'' the worst game of all time.]]
* AttentionDeficitOohShiny: Claims to be an ADD sufferer in his ''[[UsefulNotes/McDonalds M.C. Kids]]'' review. While he doesn't display any of the stereotypical symptoms, he does take issue with any games that require more attention than they should, such as the aforementioned ''M.C. Kids''.
* AuthorAvatar: Whenever he recounts events from his childhood or shows footage of such (e.g. "Dick Tracy" and "Christmas Carol Part 2"), they're more often than not actual memories/footage of Creator/JamesRolfe as a child. In addition, most of his opinions on the games he reviews are James' actual thoughts, albeit exaggerated. It's also been hinted a few times that his real first name might also be James; specifically in the "Winter Games", "Spider-Man", "Superman (NES)" and "Action 52" episodes.
* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: Played with in the "R.O.B. the Robot" episode. The episode opens with the Nerd going on a rant about all of his shitty games before simply stating "I don't like them!" [[spoiler:In the end, after thwarting R.O.B.'s plan to turn all games into ''Gyromite'' and ''Stack-Up'', he grabs an armful of his shitty games and hugs them.]]
* BadassBoast: He proclaims himself to be the domination of the internet, complemented with an EvilLaugh, in a confrontational exchange between him and the Nostalgia Critic.
* BadassBookworm: A nerd who can take on Jason Voorhees himself in a fist fight and ''win''.
* BadassNormal: While most of his enemies have superhuman powers, the Nerd is, in the end, just a guy who owns some light guns that function like the real thing. He's also not bad in a fistfight.
* BasementDweller: Downplayed. He lives in his own house but just spends most of his time in the basement.
* BerserkButton: This is what he's known for!
** Excessively long passwords, and [[DamnYouMuscleMemory using any other button besides A to jump]] are his two main ones.
** Games [[BladderOfSteel without the pause features,]] such as ''Film/GhostbustersII'' on NES.
** [[Creator/LJNToys LJN]]. Just LJN. Just the mere sight of the rainbow logo on an LJN game cartridge is enough to make him snap.
*** Which makes it even more funny when he finds out that ''Spider-Man: Maximum Carnage'' on the SNES, which he considers the only Spider-Man game that is good, was also made by LJN. The fact that LJN made a good game practically [[GoMadFromTheRevelation breaks his mind in the most dramatic way possible]].
** ''GoddamnedBats!''[[invoked]]
** The Medusa Heads in ''Castlevania'' have reportedly given him a pathological hatred of wavy lines.
** Sequel titles that [[OddlyNamedSequel2ElectricBoogaloo don't follow a logical numbering system]].
** Games with '''[[CheckPointStarvation NO CONTINUES!?!?]]''' after you die. Turned UpToEleven if the game combines this with OneHitKill or only having one life throughout the entire game.
** Game cartridges with no end labels.
** In ''Batman Part I'', when he explains the utterly ridiculous controls of the SNES ''Batman Forever'' game, which was designed with the ''Franchise/MortalKombat'' engine. He actually seems to have strained his voice by the end of the review.
** AC adapters with built-in prongs (which tend to preclude the usage of the two adjacent sockets) also greatly annoy him, as seen in the Sega 32X and Dracula reviews. Related to this, ancient consoles which force the player to make use of an RF connector box for television hookups as opposed to just plugging a cable into a much simpler coaxial converter.
** [[LoadsAndLoadsOfLoading Loading times]]. His annoyance with them is most pronounced in the ''Superman'' (Commodore) and ''Zelda's Adventure'' reviews. Also seen in the ''Batman Forever'' review, which ironically was a cartridge game.
--->'''Nerd''': ...Whenever you access a new part of the game, it says "Hold On". Hold on for what? It has to fucking ''load''?!
** [[MoonLogicPuzzle Overly cryptic puzzles]], such as in ''VideoGame/MilonsSecretCastle'' and ''[[VideoGame/{{Pitfall}} Super Pitfall]]''.
** Any game that has annoying design elements that just make the game more irritating to play--''Kid Kool'' is one example he particularly singled out, where he lists numerous design flaws (fittingly named "Seven Deadly Sins of Game Design") that blatantly hamper the experience, such as "One Way Bullshit" [[note]]Referring to the game's RatchetScrolling, which can cause you to accidentally lose your method of attack[[/note]], "Topside Aquatic Ass" [[note]]A bizarre game mechanic where you have to do a mandatory jump by skipping across water three times, with the third time having to be ''perfectly'' timed or you die on the spot[[/note]], and "Two-Gear Diarrhea" [[note]] You can only run at two speeds, super slow or at uncontrollable speeds, and this also ties into the fact that the limited view ahead of the character makes it easy to collide into enemies, and some jumps require you to build momentum on ''very'' tiny ledges [[/note]].
*** Particularly when doing something (like using a grappling hook in the SNES ''Film/BatmanForever'' or accessing an item needed to recover health in the NES ''Film/DickTracy'') is made needlessly complicated by bad game design.
** A minor one by comparison; having the music continue when a game is paused.
** If you don't think he can be overwhelmed by annoyance in how lacking in depth a game is, jump to 3:03 of [[https://youtu.be/lzt_uoTVAcE?t=3m3s this episode]] and note a problem at that point that got missed. [[spoiler:If you're wondering, let's just say it's not exactly a challenge to get a high score in that particular game due to evidence that the game is ''INCREDIBLY'' incomplete.]]
** Out of his usual complaints, games with bad controls seem to be the chief problem. Generally, he can forgive a game for having bad graphics, obnoxious music, or obtuse clues, but ''never'' if it's a chore to actually operate.
** Games with inconsistent and/or unfair rules really throw him off the deep end. ''VideoGame/{{Beetlejuice}}'' for NES is notorious for this ("Diarrhetic Diversions"), where you can fall to your death if the floor below is not on screen (the "Bitch Barrier") and yet can be hurt by torches not on screen.
** As seen with ''Dick Tracy'' and ''Total Recall'', the idea of going to the video store as a kid and renting a game that turned out to suck, since it was the one game he could play that whole weekend, thus ruining his weekend.
** [[spoiler:He may not like a lot of the games he reviews (in fact, some of them, he hates!), but if you try to get rid of them and replace them with copies of ''Gyromite'' and ''Stack-Up'', it doesn't matter if you're even replacing ''Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde'', he will destroy you!]]
--->'''Nerd''': [[spoiler:...no more ''Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde''... '''''I WON'T FUCKING HAVE IT!''''']]
** Guns; specifically guns and kids. For his Wish List Christmas episode the Nerd was horrified by children's toys advertised alongside enough guns to resemble Charlton Heston's Xmas catalogue. Which makes sense, in an earlier video he reviews the Odyssey which included a gun: unpacking it and when showing it off he showed very good gun safety despite it being a toy.
* BlatantLies: 2004 Nerd, baffled that 2016 Nerd is still torturing himself with shitty games twelve years later, questions whether or not he played ''Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'' a second time. 2016 Nerd denies it, to 2004 Nerd's relief.
* BorrowedCatchphrase: Whenever he reviews a movie-based game, he almost always quotes the film in question. "[[Film/DieHard Yipee-ki-yay, motherfucker!]]" (throws ''Die Hard'' NES cartridge behind him, which explodes)
* ButtMonkey: He is constantly tortured by horrible video games. He has also been harassed by Bugs Bunny, Jason Voorhees, Freddy Krueger, Pepsiman, etc.
* CatchPhrase:
** "WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?!"
** "AAAAAASSSSSSS!"
** "What a shitload of fuck!"
** "Fuck this game, watch it go!"
** "I'd rather (insert over-the-top nasty and/or painful action)!"
* CausticCritic: He's '''the''' video game critic.
* TheChewToy: His suffering and anger caused by the horrible games is for the audience's amusement.
* ClusterFBomb: A huge signature of his. He even literally shouts out bombs with the letter F on them in one of his Phillips CD-i reviews.
* ComicalOverreacting: With lots of swearing.
* ConspiracyTheorist: Has shades of this in a handful of episodes:
** The ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'' episode reveals the game's ties to Satanism: inverted crosses, pentagrams, the seven Koopalings representing the SevenDeadlySins, ''Film/TheWizard'' and its climactic "Video Armageddon" tournament, demonic subliminal messages when the game is played in reverse...
** In the ''VideoGame/HongKong97'' episode, the Nerd realizes the game, that came out in 1995, predicted the death of Deng Xiaoping in 1997. This leads to a string of logic that ultimately concludes with the game being the meaning of life. Since life is primarily about procreation and eating, and since eating leads to excretion, the Nerd ultimately concludes that the game is [[ExpospeakGag fucking shit]].
** In the ''VideoGame/{{Seaman}}'' episode, the Nerd realizes Seaman is part of a conspiracy by Sega (the Sentient Electronic Global Annihilator) to take over the world.
** In the ''Literature/BerenstainBears'' episode, he is absolutely convinced that the books are actually titled "''Beren'''stein''' Bears''" that, after an encounter with an alternate timeline version of himself, he discovers on the internet that false memories are an indication that one's living in the wrong reality.
* DeadpanSnarker: When he isn't being obnoxious or having an UnstoppableRage moment, he's prone to making snide remarks about the shitty games he plays.
* DiscoDan: Rarely does the Nerd ever reference modern games.
** When he's presented with an UsefulNotes/XBox360, he seems to hardly know what it is.
** A FlashForward reveals that by the time he's 80, he'll finally be reviewing UsefulNotes/NintendoWii games. [[spoiler:He dies of a heart attack playing ''Boogie''.]]
** In "AVGN Games", he uses a Commodore 64 to play games made for a modern Windows system, and uses an old rotary dial phone (which inexplicably has a screen for some reason) to play a smartphone game. However, at one point he does come clean and say, still in-universe, that he's not ''really'' playing on a Commodore/rotary phone, it's just edited to look that way for RuleOfFunny. Although he pretty much ''had'' to come clean, since one of the games kept crashing on him and giving him error messages that are very obviously from Windows 8/8.1.
** In TheMovie, he again uses a Commodore 64 to play a modern game, this time an MMO, which has 2D 8-bit graphics for him but 3D modern graphics on Cooper's modern gaming PC. He also brings along a record player to play music in the car.
* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: The Nerd doesn't get serious during the ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'' review until the possessed game cartridge tells him [[Film/TheExorcist "Your mother sucks cocks in Hell!"]]
* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: It has been suggested numerous times that the character's real name is simply ''The Nerd'' or the ''The Angry Video Game/Nintendo Nerd''. He'll usually introduce himself as such or as ''The fucking Nerd''. Even when he sees his future tombstone, it is engraved with the name ''AVGN'', and every time he receives a package, the boxes are directed ''to AVGN''. One of the only exceptions to this is a scene in the Winter Games episode: while he complains about how he can't type more than four letters in the name entry screen, we can see he (unsuccessfully) tries to type the name ''[[Creator/JamesRolfe James]]''.
** In the Spider-Man episode, Spider-Man calls him James.
--> '''Spider-Man:''' "James likes the little web."
** In the movie, however, he directly says that his name is "Nerd".
** Whenever he shows emails he received from fans (e.g. the "Superman" and "Action 52" episodes), they tend to show the name "James" on them.
* ExcrementStatement: One of his favorite means of displaying how much he hates a game is by taking a dump on either the cartridge or system.
* FailedASpotCheck: Took half of the "Home Alone Games" episode that the pizza guy is actually Creator/MacaulayCulkin.
* {{Flanderization}}:
** In earlier videos, he seemed to be at least somewhat familiar with modern games and technology as he occasionally mentioned games that were modern at the time and was even shown using a cell-phone a few times (specifically in the "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" and "Ghostbusters" episodes). Fast-forward to more recent episodes, where he went from simply preferring vintage stuff while having moderate knowledge of modern-day things to being a full-blown DiscoDan who's almost completely out-of-touch with modern-day equipment, appearing to have little to no knowledge of newer games and even using an old Commodore computer and vintage cell-phone on a regular basis.
** He also started out as merely ''moderately'' disgruntled and pessimistic, with him only getting absolutely enraged if something ''really'' pissed him off; but as the series went on, his anger and HairTriggerTemper were exaggerated to the point where he'd absolutely ''explode'' at the slightest provocation, with him being almost perpetually angry and aggressive. Just compare him in the first episode (Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest) to him in later episodes such as "Dick Tracy", "Bugs Bunny's Birthday Blowout", and "Batman" (all of which are arguably among his angriest moments in the series).
* FriendToAllLivingThings: He is disgusted by the overly graphic animation of the dog getting run over by a car in the Genesis version of Action 52.
* FutureLoser: Looks like he's stuck playing shitty games for the rest of his life. He even gets shocked when he learns that he will die from a heart attack while reviewing ''Boogie'' for the Wii at an old age, and decides to swear off playing shitty games after that incident, popping in ''Super Mario World'' and proclaiming that he will only play good games from that point onwards. Needless to say, [[IgnoredEpiphany it doesn't last very long]], and he simply says "fuck it" and decides that he prefers to [[AccentuateTheNegative bash shitty games anyway]].
* FuryFueledFoolishness: There were countless times that The Nerd's anger-prone nature led him to do goofy, ridiculous stuff for the sake of comedy like a genuine CloudCuckooLander would do.
* GeekPhysique: Zigzagged. "[=EarthBound=]" shows that he's actually very lean and fit, with other characters from his subconscious complaining that his choice in clothes hides this.
* GoodCounterpart: The AntiHero to the Critic's broken wreck. You can even see it in how they deconstruct being a CausticCritic; while Critic locks himself in a pit of self-loathing because he hates his job and what it does to his life, it's made explicit in the Nerd movie that Nerd is driven by love of his fans, not his hate of games.
* GoodIsNotNice: He is notorious for his very short temper and legendarily colorful language, but the Nerd is unmistakably a force for good, and he can be quite friendly and passionate about a game he loves when he's not railing off on a bad game or dueling another foe--but he isn't afraid to call things as he sees it when it comes to crappy games, [[BrutalHonesty or even flaws in things he likes]] (i.e. the ''Zelda II'' review, a game he admires as a legitimate classic, but isn't above acknowledging its flaws, such as its [[NintendoHard schizophrenic, hair pulling difficulty]]), and he is more than willing to give his foes more than a taste of their own medicine.
* GrammarNazi: James does this to the credits for the NES ''[[VideoGame/{{Ghostbusters 1984}} Ghostbusters]]'' game. Though in fairness to James, those were really obvious errors and deserved to be corrected.
* GratuitousGerman: Slips into this during his ''VideoGame/DeadlyTowers'' video ([[FourthWallMailSlot the one where everything was written by the fans]]), exclaiming "Das Spiel ist Scheiße! Dieses Spiel fickt dich härter als das Leben!". According to the comments on the video, it translates to "This game is shit! This game fucks you harder than life!"
* GratuitousJapanese: Slips into this when singing along part of the ''[[Series/KyoryuSentaiZyuranger Zyuranger]]'' theme song.
--> '''The Nerd:''' "Zyuranger! Zyuranger! Densetsu no senshi-tachi yo! Zyuranger!"
* HairTriggerTemper: He's not called the Angry Video Game Nerd for nothing.
* HeroicSecondWind: After thoroughly getting his ass kicked by R.O.B., the Nerd falls unconscious and seems to be done for while R.O.B. grows into a giant and goes on a rampage in the city while making everyone play the only two games it's compatible with. The Nerd thinks about all the shitty games he could no longer play and declares he won't stand for it. He gets up, grab his Super Scope and other gear, and returns for a rematch.
* HiddenDepths: Many of the Nerd reviews have him trashing the games, swearing his head off, and probably destroy the disc or cartridge in the process, or beat up a character from the game. Every now and then Creator/JamesRolfe will put the Nerd persona aside in a Nerd video and give an in depth and detailed look at topic like the Jaguar or the 16 bit wars, where the CausticCritic only occasionally comes out.
* HotBloodedSideburns: Has been sporting a hell of a pair recently, and well, he's certainly... [[HairTriggerTemper enthusiastic]].
* HypocriticalHumor:
** Owns a ''Simon's Quest'' Tiger handheld. From when he was 11.
** Criticizing the physical state some games he receives from other people and stores:
-->"I would never do this, I take good care of my games!"
-->([[DescriptionCut Cut to his over-the-top destruction of the Dick Tracy game.]])
** In the ''Wizard of Oz'' review, he says "Hey man, did you just swear!?" to the Cowardly Lion.
** When discussing ''Film/FridayThe13thTheFinalChapter'' he asks, in response to the actions of Corey Feldman's eccentric character, who on earth puts on a mask to play a video game. Cut to existing footage of the Nerd playing Batman games in a Batman mask.
** While reviewing ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaIIIDraculasCurse'', the Nerd proclaims that he won't be using Game Genie because [[EarnYourHappyEnding he wants to beat the game legitimately]]. Cue the Nerd using an [[CheatCode Extra Life code]].
** After a torturous run of ''Super Pitfall'', followed by a [[AWinnerIsYou lame ending]], the game has the audacity to offer a "[[NewGamePlus Second Quest]]":
-->"What kind of masochist would you have to be to beat this game more than once? If you did it ''one time'', what would you have to prove to do it again? You'd have to be some kind of fucking idiot!" (resumes playing)
** Something similar happens during his review of ''VideoGame/SilverSurfer'' on NES.
-->"You know, there's really no point in going on. It's not like there's some kind of reward, or some pot of gold sittin' on top of your TV. If you beat the game, it probably just says [[AWinnerIsYou 'The End']], and that's it! So to keep playing it, you've gotta be a fuckin' nerd!" (So what does he do? Keeps playing it.)
** In his ''Atari Sports'' review, he complains about how football can make people "act like fucking maniacs" while undergoing one of his trademark rages.
** In a cross with SelfDeprecation, complaining that ''Film/{{Alien 3}}'' got a video game instead of the previous 2 only for promotion excuses. "How shameless is that, to do something to promote something else? *hides mouth with hand* ''[[CoughSnarkCough Monster Madness]]''" (he posted this on the same day as the MM review of ''Film/{{Aliens}}'').
** From the ''VideoGame/WallyBearAndTheNoGang'' review:
-->"Let's say no to drugs." (immediately takes a swig of beer)
** In the ''Lightspan Adventures'' episode, he calls the hosts of "Math on the Move" dweebs who wear geeky clothing.
** He's legitimately surprised that someone would own ''two Aladdin Deck Enhancers''. And that's coming from the guy who owns several Intellivoices and lots of copies of the worst video game in existence - ''E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial'' for the Atari 2600!
* IconicOutfit: NerdGlasses, a white dress shirt with a pocket protector and pens, and khaki pants. In the "Making Of" video, James says that he was subject to backlash when [[SeriousBusiness he forgot the pocket protector for one episode]].
* INeedAFreakingDrink: Now and then.
* IneffectualDeathThreat: On a call with Jessica Rabbit, he threatens to end her and her entire family's lives over his frustrations with the ''Roger Rabbit'' NES game. He doesn't go through with it, though.
-->'''Nerd:''' This is Jessica Rabbit? Well, I got your number, and I'm calling just to say "fuck you!"\\
'''Jessica:''' I hope you're proud of yourself!\\
'''Nerd:''' Yeah, well, I hope you're proud of yourself, and you know what I mean, you fucking whore!\\
'''Jessica:''' I'm not bad. I'm just drawn that way.\\
'''Nerd:''' Yeah, well, wait until I draw your suicide note in your own blood, you bunny fucking bitch! I'm coming over and I'm gonna kill ya! I'm going to kill your whole motherfucking family!
* InsaneTrollLogic: Because of the graffiti inside the castle in ''Dark Castle'' that writes "Saddam was here" and "Gamers rule", the Nerd deduces that UsefulNotes/SaddamHussein must have been a hardcore gamer.
* {{Jerkass}}: While he can end up being a force for good, he's still a violent, short-tempered, abrasive, and often hostile potential asshole with a tendency to do rude and immoral things such as beating the living shit out of Bugs Bunny just because he was annoyed with the game he was reviewing at the moment, insulting and threatening to kill Jessica Rabbit over the phone (also merely because he was frustrated with the game he was playing), acting very rude to two kids who came to his door on Halloween, swearing at them and literally giving them shit instead of candy, and rudely, angrily yelling and lashing out at the Guitar Guy just for trying to be a part of his review - while also profusely apologizing to the Guitar Guy when HE got them killed in that game.
* JerkassHasAPoint: Yes, the Nerd is a rude, vulgar and overly hostile [[AccentuateTheNegative negative Nancy]] who takes video games [[SeriousBusiness way too seriously]], but that doesn't make his much-needed commentary on the constant wrongs of game and hardware developers throughout the history of the medium any less valid.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Foul-mouthed and ill-tempered as he is, he seems to genuinely care about and have some love for his fans, and the whole reason he does this series to begin with is to warn people about bad games and keep them away from them. He also acts relatively friendly toward Spider-Man and is utterly disgusted by the overly graphic animation of a dog getting run over by a car in the Sega Genesis version of Action 52. Overall, his crossing into jerk-schmuck mean-head territory does not happen often, as one could count about 15-to-20 such incidents in the span of well over 100 appearances.
* KindheartedCatLover: He owns an unnamed black cat (James Rolfe's deceased cat, Boo) who appears in "NES Accessories", the second part of the Atari Jaguar review and "Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing".
* LargeHam: Zigzagged. He can switch between being calm and composed or [[UnstoppableRage screaming frothing rants]] at the drop of a hat.
* LoserProtagonist: He's a grown man who has nothing better to do all day than complain about shitty 20-30 year older video games from his childhood. This was most emphasized in the first few reviews which were a lot more grounded.
* MadnessMantra: In the ''VideoGame/{{Polybius}}'' episode, the Nerd repeatedly remarks "It won't let me go... It won't let me go... It won't let me go... It won't let me go!".
* MadScientist: He did create the [=FrankenNerd=] and the Nerdy Turd.
* ManChild: A central part of the Nerd's character; he is very immature, short-tempered and foul-mouthed, and has an obsessive passion for old video games and 80's pop culture (right down to still owning a huge collection of video games, board games, movies and vintage toys) and he literally lives in his basement, spending his days complaining about games he hates. Sometimes these traits are celebrated, but usually they're played for laughs.
* MoodSwinger: He can go from chill and collected to unhinged and immature in a matter of seconds depending on the game he's playing.
%%* MrFanservice.
* {{Nerd}}: Subverted, despite it being in his title. While he dresses like a stereotypical geek and has a pretty introverted pastime, he's a foul-mouthed, violent binge-drinker - characteristics rarely found in the archetype.
* NerdActionHero: (See BadassBookworm above). The Nerd's badass moments show acts of being an AntiHero (whether if it's based on [[ActionHero violent]] crossovers with the WebVideo/{{Nostalgia Critic}} or special episodes) strongly shows this in him.
* NerdGlasses: Along with his trademark white buttoned shirt, he always wears a pair of glasses.
* PerpetualFrowner: Rarely smiles due to his lifestyle of playing and reviewing abysmal video games.
* PetTheDog: His ''VideoGame/{{Swordquest}}'' review. Rather than lampoon the game series' rather apparent flaws, he instead praises it for the worldly symbolism it uses in its level design as well as the overarching Atari contest that the games were a part of, where gamers would compete using clues found in-game and in the enclosed tie-in comic books to win actual treasures made of gold and precious stones. Ultimately, he laments how the Video Game Crash of 1983 terminated the contest halfway through, crushing a lot of nerds' dreams, and at the end of the video, he rallies the viewer to help him solve the mystery of exactly where the three treasures that were never given away have ended up.
* ProudToBeAGeek: He proudly refers to himself as "The Fucking Nerd".
* PyroManiac: He deals with Amiga [=CD32=] by setting it on fire with a huge glee.
* SeriousBusiness: He takes his duty of reviewing "shitty doody" very seriously.
* SirSwearsALot: Swears so much that he makes you almost never even notice his rival the Nostalgia Critic swearing when watching the two in comparison.
* SitcomArchnemesis: The Nostalgia Critic. ''[[SayMyName "CRITIIIIIIC!!"]]''
* SophisticatedAsHell: There are times when the Nerd will use a far more eloquent vocabulary, even launching into full mini-essays or conspiracy theories... before ending it with classic Nerd swears.
* SpecsOfAwesome: The man's triumphed over foes no ordinary nerd would stand a chance against.
* SplitPersonality: [[spoiler:He has one... WebVideo/BoardJames. 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 Halloween special.]]
* StrongAsTheyNeedToBe: The Nerd is able to beat Jason and Freddy Krueger in a fight, but has trouble beating the Nostalgia Critic (though he does tend to be on the winning end of the struggle more often than not). And his fights with Bugs Bunny can go anywhere from him completely dominating Bugs, to being a close match, or getting his own ass handed to him, sometimes all within the same video!
* SuperpowerLottery: When he wears his Nintendo accessories, like in his ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'' review, he's an unstoppable force.
* TalksLikeASimile: And how! With many of the similes usually related to animal diarrhea.
* TheyKilledKennyAgain:
** In "Dragon's Lair", he is [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext turned into a skeleton when he touches the door]].
** In "Dracula", he [[DrivenToSuicide commits suicide]] by exposing himself to the sun ([[DontExplainTheJoke he was a vampire in that episode]]).
** In "Frankenstein", he gets killed by a TV explosion along with the Franken-Nerd.
** In "Transformers", Optimus Prime shoots him with a laser.
** In "Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle", he and Woody Woodpecker are blown up by a bomb.
** In "Alien 3", the Cinemassacre chainsaw logo bursts out of his chest while falling into a lava furnace.
** In "Seaman for Dreamcast", he dies after playing the titular game for nearly a thousand years.
** In "Nintendo World Championships", he is possibly strangled to death by Pat the NES Punk.
** In "Mega Man Games", he [[DrivenToSuicide jumps out the window]] after playing ''Mega Man Soccer''.
** In "[=RoboCop=] Games", he (as a [=RoboNerd=]) runs out of fuel for his jetpack and falls to his doom.
** In "Paperboy", he explodes after crashing into the Grim Reaper.
** In "The Immortal", he gets incinerated by a dragon's fire breath and the subsequent "Spawn Games" episode takes place in Hell.
** In "Shrek: Fairy Tale Freakdown", he is burned to death inside a wicker man in Shrek's likeness.
* TooKinkyToTorture:
** It's heavily implied that the main reason why he keeps playing all these shitty games is because he's a masochist. At the end of "Sonic 2006 Part 2", he is seen having a BDSM session with the titular game.
** In "Spawn Games", after being killed and sent to Hell, he is offered a chance to be brought back to life if he can complete a selection of Spawn video games. To make it even more torturous for him, he must do it in "the most vile, despicable game room ever imagined by Hell", designed to break men's souls in mere minutes. [[TooSpicyForYogSothoth He is unimpressed by it]], as it looks exactly like his own game room. Except for the shelf full of copies of E.T. for the Atari 2600. The Nerd says his own shelf has ''even more'' copies of it.
* TrademarkFavoriteDrink: Rolling Rock beer, though he'll get out something stronger if the game is shitty enough.
* UncertainDoom: In "Polybius". He finally breaks down and shows the gameplay footage, there's a couple of {{Jump Scare}}s, and when the owner of the shop comes in the Nerd is gone.
* UnkemptBeauty: When he has a bit of PermaStubble and slightly messy hair.
* UnstoppableRage: When a game pisses him off ''just'' right...
* VocalEvolution: His voice has gotten a lot softer and more relaxed as he aged. The change started becoming obvious by 2015 if not earlier.
* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: He hates bats, although really it's just because they're [[GoddamnedBats so overused in games]]. He is genuinely terrified of E.T. Atari, though. [[spoiler:At least, until he plays it at the end of TheMovie and concludes that it's actually ''not'' the worst game of all time.]]
* WouldHitAGirl: A 2007 [=GameTrailers=] interview sees him throwing a pen at the interviewer, all because she asked him if there are any video games he enjoys.
* YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe: He spends a majority of the time in his ''VideoGame/TheImmortal'' review speaking in olden English.
-->''"Anguish. Lament. Oh, how hath ye been cursed, if thou hath playeth a game, as archaically diarrhetically shitholic, as VideoGame/TheImmortal, on thy NES."''
* YourAnswerToEverything: His lifestyle revolves around ranting about shitty, nostalgic games.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:James Rolfe's other characters]]
! [[WebVideo/YouKnowWhatsBullshit The Bullshit Man]]
[[quoteright:264:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bsman_9105.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:264:You know what's BUUUULLLSHIT?!]]
A frustrated gentleman who vents his annoyance at everyday inconveniences. Eventually revealed to be a man whose face is bullshit.
----
* AmbiguousDisorder:
** As his name implies, the Nerd has [[HairTriggerTemper extreme anger issues]]. While it is understandable given his job involves him playing frustrating games, it can be argued that his rages are {{disproportionate|Retribution}} to the stimuli and often reacts to mildly frustrating things with colorful profanity and excessive violence, hinting that he suffers from Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED). His excessive alcoholism probably does not help his mood, either.
** He is constantly hounded by outlandish and fictional characters (Shit-Pickle, Super-Mecha Death-Christ, Satan, the Joker, Jason Vorhees, Freddy Krueger, etc.) who are all out to do him harm, hinting that he could be suffering from paranoid schizophrenia. Though considering this is set in [[WorldOfWeirdness the Reviewerverse]] where literally anything could happen, [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane it is hard to argue whether or not any of it is real or not]].
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnOmfGMM_yg As MatPat pointed out]], the inconsistency in his feces (from watery-diarrhea to thick and playdough like) may hint he suffers from an inflammatory bowel disease like Crohn's Disease.
* {{Angrish}}: Occasionally, when he runs out of curse words.
* AntiHero: Of the UnscrupulousHero variety. He has a very short temper, swears like a sailor, and is brutal towards enemies, but for all of his flaws, he is unmistakably a force of good. See GoodIsNotNice below for further details.
* AntiRoleModel: A lonely, alcoholic, foul-mouthed young man with an uncontrollable temper who has nothing better to do with his life than to hole himself up in his basement and put himself through the torture of playing shitty games all day even though he knows full well he hates it. What's not to love?
* AnythingButThat: For a long time, he swore off on reviewing ''VideoGame/ETTheExtraTerrestrial'' on Atari due to its notorious reputation of being one of the worst gaming titles for its time. [[spoiler:He eventually gets to it in TheMovie/Episode 120, and ultimately concludes that despite its flaws, it's ''not'' the worst game of all time.]]
* AttentionDeficitOohShiny: Claims to be an ADD sufferer in his ''[[UsefulNotes/McDonalds M.C. Kids]]'' review. While he doesn't display any of the stereotypical symptoms, he does take issue with any games that require more attention than they should, such as the aforementioned ''M.C. Kids''.
* AuthorAvatar: Whenever he recounts events from his childhood or shows footage of such (e.g. "Dick Tracy" and "Christmas Carol Part 2"), they're more often than not actual memories/footage of Creator/JamesRolfe as a child. In addition, most of his opinions on the games he reviews are James' actual thoughts, albeit exaggerated. It's also been hinted a few times that his real first name might also be James; specifically in the "Winter Games", "Spider-Man", "Superman (NES)" and "Action 52" episodes.
* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: Played with in the "R.O.B. the Robot" episode. The episode opens with the Nerd going on a rant about all of his shitty games before simply stating "I don't like them!" [[spoiler:In the end, after thwarting R.O.B.'s plan to turn all games into ''Gyromite'' and ''Stack-Up'', he grabs an armful of his shitty games and hugs them.]]
* BadassBoast: He proclaims himself to be the domination of the internet, complemented with an EvilLaugh, in a confrontational exchange between him and the Nostalgia Critic.
* BadassBookworm: A nerd who can take on Jason Voorhees himself in a fist fight and ''win''.
* BadassNormal: While most of his enemies have superhuman powers, the Nerd is, in the end, just a guy who owns some light guns that function like the real thing. He's also not bad in a fistfight.
* BasementDweller: Downplayed. He lives in his own house but just spends most of his time in the basement.
* BerserkButton: This is what he's known for!
** Excessively long passwords, and [[DamnYouMuscleMemory using any other button besides A to jump]] are his two main ones.
** Games [[BladderOfSteel without the pause features,]] such as ''Film/GhostbustersII'' on NES.
** [[Creator/LJNToys LJN]]. Just LJN. Just the mere sight of the rainbow logo on an LJN game cartridge is enough to make him snap.
*** Which makes it even more funny when he finds out that ''Spider-Man: Maximum Carnage'' on the SNES, which he considers the only Spider-Man game that is good, was also made by LJN. The fact that LJN made a good game practically [[GoMadFromTheRevelation breaks his mind in the most dramatic way possible]].
** ''GoddamnedBats!''[[invoked]]
** The Medusa Heads in ''Castlevania'' have reportedly given him a pathological hatred of wavy lines.
** Sequel titles that [[OddlyNamedSequel2ElectricBoogaloo don't follow a logical numbering system]].
** Games with '''[[CheckPointStarvation NO CONTINUES!?!?]]''' after you die. Turned UpToEleven if the game combines this with OneHitKill or only having one life throughout the entire game.
** Game cartridges with no end labels.
** In ''Batman Part I'', when he explains the utterly ridiculous controls of the SNES ''Batman Forever'' game, which was designed with the ''Franchise/MortalKombat'' engine. He actually seems to have strained his voice by the end of the review.
** AC adapters with built-in prongs (which tend to preclude the usage of the two adjacent sockets) also greatly annoy him, as seen in the Sega 32X and Dracula reviews. Related to this, ancient consoles which force the player to make use of an RF connector box for television hookups as opposed to just plugging a cable into a much simpler coaxial converter.
** [[LoadsAndLoadsOfLoading Loading times]]. His annoyance with them is most pronounced in the ''Superman'' (Commodore) and ''Zelda's Adventure'' reviews. Also seen in the ''Batman Forever'' review, which ironically was a cartridge game.
--->'''Nerd''': ...Whenever you access a new part of the game, it says "Hold On". Hold on for what? It has to fucking ''load''?!
** [[MoonLogicPuzzle Overly cryptic puzzles]], such as in ''VideoGame/MilonsSecretCastle'' and ''[[VideoGame/{{Pitfall}} Super Pitfall]]''.
** Any game that has annoying design elements that just make the game more irritating to play--''Kid Kool'' is one example he particularly singled out, where he lists numerous design flaws (fittingly named "Seven Deadly Sins of Game Design") that blatantly hamper the experience, such as "One Way Bullshit" [[note]]Referring to the game's RatchetScrolling, which can cause you to accidentally lose your method of attack[[/note]], "Topside Aquatic Ass" [[note]]A bizarre game mechanic where you have to do a mandatory jump by skipping across water three times, with the third time having to be ''perfectly'' timed or you die on the spot[[/note]], and "Two-Gear Diarrhea" [[note]] You can only run at two speeds, super slow or at uncontrollable speeds, and this also ties into the fact that the limited view ahead of the character makes it easy to collide into enemies, and some jumps require you to build momentum on ''very'' tiny ledges [[/note]].
*** Particularly when doing something (like using a grappling hook in the SNES ''Film/BatmanForever'' or accessing an item needed to recover health in the NES ''Film/DickTracy'') is made needlessly complicated by bad game design.
** A minor one by comparison; having the music continue when a game is paused.
** If you don't think he can be overwhelmed by annoyance in how lacking in depth a game is, jump to 3:03 of [[https://youtu.be/lzt_uoTVAcE?t=3m3s this episode]] and note a problem at that point that got missed. [[spoiler:If you're wondering, let's just say it's not exactly a challenge to get a high score in that particular game due to evidence that the game is ''INCREDIBLY'' incomplete.]]
** Out of his usual complaints, games with bad controls seem to be the chief problem. Generally, he can forgive a game for having bad graphics, obnoxious music, or obtuse clues, but ''never'' if it's a chore to actually operate.
** Games with inconsistent and/or unfair rules really throw him off the deep end. ''VideoGame/{{Beetlejuice}}'' for NES is notorious for this ("Diarrhetic Diversions"), where you can fall to your death if the floor below is not on screen (the "Bitch Barrier") and yet can be hurt by torches not on screen.
** As seen with ''Dick Tracy'' and ''Total Recall'', the idea of going to the video store as a kid and renting a game that turned out to suck, since it was the one game he could play that whole weekend, thus ruining his weekend.
** [[spoiler:He may not like a lot of the games he reviews (in fact, some of them, he hates!), but if you try to get rid of them and replace them with copies of ''Gyromite'' and ''Stack-Up'', it doesn't matter if you're even replacing ''Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde'', he will destroy you!]]
--->'''Nerd''': [[spoiler:...no more ''Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde''... '''''I WON'T FUCKING HAVE IT!''''']]
** Guns; specifically guns and kids. For his Wish List Christmas episode the Nerd was horrified by children's toys advertised alongside enough guns to resemble Charlton Heston's Xmas catalogue. Which makes sense, in an earlier video he reviews the Odyssey which included a gun: unpacking it and when showing it off he showed very good gun safety despite it being a toy.
* BlatantLies: 2004 Nerd, baffled that 2016 Nerd is still torturing himself with shitty games twelve years later, questions whether or not he played ''Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'' a second time. 2016 Nerd denies it, to 2004 Nerd's relief.
* BorrowedCatchphrase: Whenever he reviews a movie-based game, he almost always quotes the film in question. "[[Film/DieHard Yipee-ki-yay, motherfucker!]]" (throws ''Die Hard'' NES cartridge behind him, which explodes)
* ButtMonkey: He is constantly tortured by horrible video games. He has also been harassed by Bugs Bunny, Jason Voorhees, Freddy Krueger, Pepsiman, etc.
* CatchPhrase:
** "WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?!"
** "AAAAAASSSSSSS!"
** "What a shitload of fuck!"
** "Fuck this game, watch it go!"
** "I'd rather (insert over-the-top nasty and/or painful action)!"
* CausticCritic: He's '''the''' video game critic.
* TheChewToy: His suffering and anger caused by the horrible games is for the audience's amusement.
* ClusterFBomb: A huge signature of his. He even literally shouts out bombs with the letter F on them in one of his Phillips CD-i reviews.
* ComicalOverreacting: With lots of swearing.
* ConspiracyTheorist: Has shades of this in a handful of episodes:
** The ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'' episode reveals the game's ties to Satanism: inverted crosses, pentagrams, the seven Koopalings representing the SevenDeadlySins, ''Film/TheWizard'' and its climactic "Video Armageddon" tournament, demonic subliminal messages when the game is played in reverse...
** In the ''VideoGame/HongKong97'' episode, the Nerd realizes the game, that came out in 1995, predicted the death of Deng Xiaoping in 1997. This leads to a string of logic that ultimately concludes with the game being the meaning of life. Since life is primarily about procreation and eating, and since eating leads to excretion, the Nerd ultimately concludes that the game is [[ExpospeakGag fucking shit]].
** In the ''VideoGame/{{Seaman}}'' episode, the Nerd realizes Seaman is part of a conspiracy by Sega (the Sentient Electronic Global Annihilator) to take over the world.
** In the ''Literature/BerenstainBears'' episode, he is absolutely convinced that the books are actually titled "''Beren'''stein''' Bears''" that, after an encounter with an alternate timeline version of himself, he discovers on the internet that false memories are an indication that one's living in the wrong reality.
* DeadpanSnarker: When he isn't being obnoxious or having an UnstoppableRage moment, he's prone to making snide remarks about the shitty games he plays.
* DiscoDan: Rarely does the Nerd ever reference modern games.
** When he's presented with an UsefulNotes/XBox360, he seems to hardly know what it is.
** A FlashForward reveals that by the time he's 80, he'll finally be reviewing UsefulNotes/NintendoWii games. [[spoiler:He dies of a heart attack playing ''Boogie''.]]
** In "AVGN Games", he uses a Commodore 64 to play games made for a modern Windows system, and uses an old rotary dial phone (which inexplicably has a screen for some reason) to play a smartphone game. However, at one point he does come clean and say, still in-universe, that he's not ''really'' playing on a Commodore/rotary phone, it's just edited to look that way for RuleOfFunny. Although he pretty much ''had'' to come clean, since one of the games kept crashing on him and giving him error messages that are very obviously from Windows 8/8.1.
** In TheMovie, he again uses a Commodore 64 to play a modern game, this time an MMO, which has 2D 8-bit graphics for him but 3D modern graphics on Cooper's modern gaming PC. He also brings along a record player to play music in the car.
* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: The Nerd doesn't get serious during the ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'' review until the possessed game cartridge tells him [[Film/TheExorcist "Your mother sucks cocks in Hell!"]]
* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: It has been suggested numerous times that the character's real name is simply ''The Nerd'' or the ''The Angry Video Game/Nintendo Nerd''. He'll usually introduce himself as such or as ''The fucking Nerd''. Even when he sees his future tombstone, it is engraved with the name ''AVGN'', and every time he receives a package, the boxes are directed ''to AVGN''. One of the only exceptions to this is a scene in the Winter Games episode: while he complains about how he can't type more than four letters in the name entry screen, we can see he (unsuccessfully) tries to type the name ''[[Creator/JamesRolfe James]]''.
** In the Spider-Man episode, Spider-Man calls him James.
--> '''Spider-Man:''' "James likes the little web."
** In the movie, however, he directly says that his name is "Nerd".
** Whenever he shows emails he received from fans (e.g. the "Superman" and "Action 52" episodes), they tend to show the name "James" on them.
* ExcrementStatement: One of his favorite means of displaying how much he hates a game is by taking a dump on either the cartridge or system.
* FailedASpotCheck: Took half of the "Home Alone Games" episode that the pizza guy is actually Creator/MacaulayCulkin.
* {{Flanderization}}:
** In earlier videos, he seemed to be at least somewhat familiar with modern games and technology as he occasionally mentioned games that were modern at the time and was even shown using a cell-phone a few times (specifically in the "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" and "Ghostbusters" episodes). Fast-forward to more recent episodes, where he went from simply preferring vintage stuff while having moderate knowledge of modern-day things to being a full-blown DiscoDan who's almost completely out-of-touch with modern-day equipment, appearing to have little to no knowledge of newer games and even using an old Commodore computer and vintage cell-phone on a regular basis.
** He also started out as merely ''moderately'' disgruntled and pessimistic, with him only getting absolutely enraged if something ''really'' pissed him off; but as the series went on, his anger and HairTriggerTemper were exaggerated to the point where he'd absolutely ''explode'' at the slightest provocation, with him being almost perpetually angry and aggressive. Just compare him in the first episode (Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest) to him in later episodes such as "Dick Tracy", "Bugs Bunny's Birthday Blowout", and "Batman" (all of which are arguably among his angriest moments in the series).
* FriendToAllLivingThings: He is disgusted by the overly graphic animation of the dog getting run over by a car in the Genesis version of Action 52.
* FutureLoser: Looks like he's stuck playing shitty games for the rest of his life. He even gets shocked when he learns that he will die from a heart attack while reviewing ''Boogie'' for the Wii at an old age, and decides to swear off playing shitty games after that incident, popping in ''Super Mario World'' and proclaiming that he will only play good games from that point onwards. Needless to say, [[IgnoredEpiphany it doesn't last very long]], and he simply says "fuck it" and decides that he prefers to [[AccentuateTheNegative bash shitty games anyway]].
* FuryFueledFoolishness: There were countless times that The Nerd's anger-prone nature led him to do goofy, ridiculous stuff for the sake of comedy like a genuine CloudCuckooLander would do.
* GeekPhysique: Zigzagged. "[=EarthBound=]" shows that he's actually very lean and fit, with other characters from his subconscious complaining that his choice in clothes hides this.
* GoodCounterpart: The AntiHero to the Critic's broken wreck. You can even see it in how they deconstruct being a CausticCritic; while Critic locks himself in a pit of self-loathing because he hates his job and what it does to his life, it's made explicit in the Nerd movie that Nerd is driven by love of his fans, not his hate of games.
* GoodIsNotNice: He is notorious for his very short temper and legendarily colorful language, but the Nerd is unmistakably a force for good, and he can be quite friendly and passionate about a game he loves when he's not railing off on a bad game or dueling another foe--but he isn't afraid to call things as he sees it when it comes to crappy games, [[BrutalHonesty or even flaws in things he likes]] (i.e. the ''Zelda II'' review, a game he admires as a legitimate classic, but isn't above acknowledging its flaws, such as its [[NintendoHard schizophrenic, hair pulling difficulty]]), and he is more than willing to give his foes more than a taste of their own medicine.
* GrammarNazi: James does this to the credits for the NES ''[[VideoGame/{{Ghostbusters 1984}} Ghostbusters]]'' game. Though in fairness to James, those were really obvious errors and deserved to be corrected.
* GratuitousGerman: Slips into this during his ''VideoGame/DeadlyTowers'' video ([[FourthWallMailSlot the one where everything was written by the fans]]), exclaiming "Das Spiel ist Scheiße! Dieses Spiel fickt dich härter als das Leben!". According to the comments on the video, it translates to "This game is shit! This game fucks you harder than life!"
* GratuitousJapanese: Slips into this when singing along part of the ''[[Series/KyoryuSentaiZyuranger Zyuranger]]'' theme song.
--> '''The Nerd:''' "Zyuranger! Zyuranger! Densetsu no senshi-tachi yo! Zyuranger!"
* HairTriggerTemper: He's not called the Angry Video Game Nerd for nothing.
* HeroicSecondWind: After thoroughly getting his ass kicked by R.O.B., the Nerd falls unconscious and seems to be done for while R.O.B. grows into a giant and goes on a rampage in the city while making everyone play the only two games it's compatible with. The Nerd thinks about all the shitty games he could no longer play and declares he won't stand for it. He gets up, grab his Super Scope and other gear, and returns for a rematch.
* HiddenDepths: Many of the Nerd reviews have him trashing the games, swearing his head off, and probably destroy the disc or cartridge in the process, or beat up a character from the game. Every now and then Creator/JamesRolfe will put the Nerd persona aside in a Nerd video and give an in depth and detailed look at topic like the Jaguar or the 16 bit wars, where the CausticCritic only occasionally comes out.
* HotBloodedSideburns: Has been sporting a hell of a pair recently, and well, he's certainly... [[HairTriggerTemper enthusiastic]].
* HypocriticalHumor:
** Owns a ''Simon's Quest'' Tiger handheld. From when he was 11.
** Criticizing the physical state some games he receives from other people and stores:
-->"I would never do this, I take good care of my games!"
-->([[DescriptionCut Cut to his over-the-top destruction of the Dick Tracy game.]])
** In the ''Wizard of Oz'' review, he says "Hey man, did you just swear!?" to the Cowardly Lion.
** When discussing ''Film/FridayThe13thTheFinalChapter'' he asks, in response to the actions of Corey Feldman's eccentric character, who on earth puts on a mask to play a video game. Cut to existing footage of the Nerd playing Batman games in a Batman mask.
** While reviewing ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaIIIDraculasCurse'', the Nerd proclaims that he won't be using Game Genie because [[EarnYourHappyEnding he wants to beat the game legitimately]]. Cue the Nerd using an [[CheatCode Extra Life code]].
** After a torturous run of ''Super Pitfall'', followed by a [[AWinnerIsYou lame ending]], the game has the audacity to offer a "[[NewGamePlus Second Quest]]":
-->"What kind of masochist would you have to be to beat this game more than once? If you did it ''one time'', what would you have to prove to do it again? You'd have to be some kind of fucking idiot!" (resumes playing)
** Something similar happens during his review of ''VideoGame/SilverSurfer'' on NES.
-->"You know, there's really no point in going on. It's not like there's some kind of reward, or some pot of gold sittin' on top of your TV. If you beat the game, it probably just says [[AWinnerIsYou 'The End']], and that's it! So to keep playing it, you've gotta be a fuckin' nerd!" (So what does he do? Keeps playing it.)
** In his ''Atari Sports'' review, he complains about how football can make people "act like fucking maniacs" while undergoing one of his trademark rages.
** In a cross with SelfDeprecation, complaining that ''Film/{{Alien 3}}'' got a video game instead of the previous 2 only for promotion excuses. "How shameless is that, to do something to promote something else? *hides mouth with hand* ''[[CoughSnarkCough Monster Madness]]''" (he posted this on the same day as the MM review of ''Film/{{Aliens}}'').
** From the ''VideoGame/WallyBearAndTheNoGang'' review:
-->"Let's say no to drugs." (immediately takes a swig of beer)
** In the ''Lightspan Adventures'' episode, he calls the hosts of "Math on the Move" dweebs who wear geeky clothing.
** He's legitimately surprised that someone would own ''two Aladdin Deck Enhancers''. And that's coming from the guy who owns several Intellivoices and lots of copies of the worst video game in existence - ''E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial'' for the Atari 2600!
* IconicOutfit: NerdGlasses, a white dress shirt with a pocket protector and pens, and khaki pants. In the "Making Of" video, James says that he was subject to backlash when [[SeriousBusiness he forgot the pocket protector for one episode]].
* INeedAFreakingDrink: Now and then.
* IneffectualDeathThreat: On a call with Jessica Rabbit, he threatens to end her and her entire family's lives over his frustrations with the ''Roger Rabbit'' NES game. He doesn't go through with it, though.
-->'''Nerd:''' This is Jessica Rabbit? Well, I got your number, and I'm calling just to say "fuck you!"\\
'''Jessica:''' I hope you're proud of yourself!\\
'''Nerd:''' Yeah, well, I hope you're proud of yourself, and you know what I mean, you fucking whore!\\
'''Jessica:''' I'm not bad. I'm just drawn that way.\\
'''Nerd:''' Yeah, well, wait until I draw your suicide note in your own blood, you bunny fucking bitch! I'm coming over and I'm gonna kill ya! I'm going to kill your whole motherfucking family!
* InsaneTrollLogic: Because of the graffiti inside the castle in ''Dark Castle'' that writes "Saddam was here" and "Gamers rule", the Nerd deduces that UsefulNotes/SaddamHussein must have been a hardcore gamer.
* {{Jerkass}}: While he can end up being a force for good, he's still a violent, short-tempered, abrasive, and often hostile potential asshole with a tendency to do rude and immoral things such as beating the living shit out of Bugs Bunny just because he was annoyed with the game he was reviewing at the moment, insulting and threatening to kill Jessica Rabbit over the phone (also merely because he was frustrated with the game he was playing), acting very rude to two kids who came to his door on Halloween, swearing at them and literally giving them shit instead of candy, and rudely, angrily yelling and lashing out at the Guitar Guy just for trying to be a part of his review - while also profusely apologizing to the Guitar Guy when HE got them killed in that game.
* JerkassHasAPoint: Yes, the Nerd is a rude, vulgar and overly hostile [[AccentuateTheNegative negative Nancy]] who takes video games [[SeriousBusiness way too seriously]], but that doesn't make his much-needed commentary on the constant wrongs of game and hardware developers throughout the history of the medium any less valid.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Foul-mouthed and ill-tempered as he is, he seems to genuinely care about and have some love for his fans, and the whole reason he does this series to begin with is to warn people about bad games and keep them away from them. He also acts relatively friendly toward Spider-Man and is utterly disgusted by the overly graphic animation of a dog getting run over by a car in the Sega Genesis version of Action 52. Overall, his crossing into jerk-schmuck mean-head territory does not happen often, as one could count about 15-to-20 such incidents in the span of well over 100 appearances.
* KindheartedCatLover: He owns an unnamed black cat (James Rolfe's deceased cat, Boo) who appears in "NES Accessories", the second part of the Atari Jaguar review and "Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing".
* LargeHam: Zigzagged. He can switch between being calm and composed or [[UnstoppableRage screaming frothing rants]] at the drop of a hat.
* LoserProtagonist: He's a grown man who has nothing better to do all day than complain about shitty 20-30 year older video games from his childhood. This was most emphasized in the first few reviews which were a lot more grounded.
* MadnessMantra: In the ''VideoGame/{{Polybius}}'' episode, the Nerd repeatedly remarks "It won't let me go... It won't let me go... It won't let me go... It won't let me go!".
* MadScientist: He did create the [=FrankenNerd=] and the Nerdy Turd.
* ManChild: A central part of the Nerd's character; he is very immature, short-tempered and foul-mouthed, and has an obsessive passion for old video games and 80's pop culture (right down to still owning a huge collection of video games, board games, movies and vintage toys) and he literally lives in his basement, spending his days complaining about games he hates. Sometimes these traits are celebrated, but usually they're played for laughs.
* MoodSwinger: He can go from chill and collected to unhinged and immature in a matter of seconds depending on the game he's playing.
%%* MrFanservice.
* {{Nerd}}: Subverted, despite it being in his title. While he dresses like a stereotypical geek and has a pretty introverted pastime, he's a foul-mouthed, violent binge-drinker - characteristics rarely found in the archetype.
* NerdActionHero: (See BadassBookworm above). The Nerd's badass moments show acts of being an AntiHero (whether if it's based on [[ActionHero violent]] crossovers with the WebVideo/{{Nostalgia Critic}} or special episodes) strongly shows this in him.
* NerdGlasses: Along with his trademark white buttoned shirt, he always wears a pair of glasses.
* PerpetualFrowner: Rarely smiles due to his lifestyle of playing and reviewing abysmal video games.
* PetTheDog: His ''VideoGame/{{Swordquest}}'' review. Rather than lampoon the game series' rather apparent flaws, he instead praises it for the worldly symbolism it uses in its level design as well as the overarching Atari contest that the games were a part of, where gamers would compete using clues found in-game and in the enclosed tie-in comic books to win actual treasures made of gold and precious stones. Ultimately, he laments how the Video Game Crash of 1983 terminated the contest halfway through, crushing a lot of nerds' dreams, and at the end of the video, he rallies the viewer to help him solve the mystery of exactly where the three treasures that were never given away have ended up.
* ProudToBeAGeek: He proudly refers to himself as "The Fucking Nerd".
* PyroManiac: He deals with Amiga [=CD32=] by setting it on fire with a huge glee.
* SeriousBusiness: He takes his duty of reviewing "shitty doody" very seriously.
* SirSwearsALot: Swears so much that he makes you almost never even notice his rival the Nostalgia Critic swearing when watching the two in comparison.
* SitcomArchnemesis: The Nostalgia Critic. ''[[SayMyName "CRITIIIIIIC!!"]]''
* SophisticatedAsHell: There are times when the Nerd will use a far more eloquent vocabulary, even launching into full mini-essays or conspiracy theories... before ending it with classic Nerd swears.
* SpecsOfAwesome: The man's triumphed over foes no ordinary nerd would stand a chance against.
* SplitPersonality: [[spoiler:He has one... WebVideo/BoardJames. 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 Halloween special.]]
* StrongAsTheyNeedToBe: The Nerd is able to beat Jason and Freddy Krueger in a fight, but has trouble beating the Nostalgia Critic (though he does tend to be on the winning end of the struggle more often than not). And his fights with Bugs Bunny can go anywhere from him completely dominating Bugs, to being a close match, or getting his own ass handed to him, sometimes all within the same video!
* SuperpowerLottery: When he wears his Nintendo accessories, like in his ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'' review, he's an unstoppable force.
* TalksLikeASimile: And how! With many of the similes usually related to animal diarrhea.
* TheyKilledKennyAgain:
** In "Dragon's Lair", he is [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext turned into a skeleton when he touches the door]].
** In "Dracula", he [[DrivenToSuicide commits suicide]] by exposing himself to the sun ([[DontExplainTheJoke he was a vampire in that episode]]).
** In "Frankenstein", he gets killed by a TV explosion along with the Franken-Nerd.
** In "Transformers", Optimus Prime shoots him with a laser.
** In "Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle", he and Woody Woodpecker are blown up by a bomb.
** In "Alien 3", the Cinemassacre chainsaw logo bursts out of his chest while falling into a lava furnace.
** In "Seaman for Dreamcast", he dies after playing the titular game for nearly a thousand years.
** In "Nintendo World Championships", he is possibly strangled to death by Pat the NES Punk.
** In "Mega Man Games", he [[DrivenToSuicide jumps out the window]] after playing ''Mega Man Soccer''.
** In "[=RoboCop=] Games", he (as a [=RoboNerd=]) runs out of fuel for his jetpack and falls to his doom.
** In "Paperboy", he explodes after crashing into the Grim Reaper.
** In "The Immortal", he gets incinerated by a dragon's fire breath and the subsequent "Spawn Games" episode takes place in Hell.
** In "Shrek: Fairy Tale Freakdown", he is burned to death inside a wicker man in Shrek's likeness.
* TooKinkyToTorture:
** It's heavily implied that the main reason why he keeps playing all these shitty games is because he's a masochist. At the end of "Sonic 2006 Part 2", he is seen having a BDSM session with the titular game.
** In "Spawn Games", after being killed and sent to Hell, he is offered a chance to be brought back to life if he can complete a selection of Spawn video games. To make it even more torturous for him, he must do it in "the most vile, despicable game room ever imagined by Hell", designed to break men's souls in mere minutes. [[TooSpicyForYogSothoth He is unimpressed by it]], as it looks exactly like his own game room. Except for the shelf full of copies of E.T. for the Atari 2600. The Nerd says his own shelf has ''even more'' copies of it.
* TrademarkFavoriteDrink: Rolling Rock beer, though he'll get out something stronger if the game is shitty enough.
* UncertainDoom: In "Polybius". He finally breaks down and shows the gameplay footage, there's a couple of {{Jump Scare}}s, and when the owner of the shop comes in the Nerd is gone.
* UnkemptBeauty: When he has a bit of PermaStubble and slightly messy hair.
* UnstoppableRage: When a game pisses him off ''just'' right...
* VocalEvolution: His voice has gotten a lot softer and more relaxed as he aged. The change started becoming obvious by 2015 if not earlier.
* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: He hates bats, although really it's just because they're [[GoddamnedBats so overused in games]]. He is genuinely terrified of E.T. Atari, though. [[spoiler:At least, until he plays it at the end of TheMovie and concludes that it's actually ''not'' the worst game of all time.]]
* WouldHitAGirl: A 2007 [=GameTrailers=] interview sees him throwing a pen at the interviewer, all because she asked him if there are any video games he enjoys.
* YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe: He spends a majority of the time in his ''VideoGame/TheImmortal'' review speaking in olden English.
-->''"Anguish. Lament. Oh, how hath ye been cursed, if thou hath playeth a game, as archaically diarrhetically shitholic, as VideoGame/TheImmortal, on thy NES."''
* YourAnswerToEverything: His lifestyle revolves around ranting about shitty, nostalgic games.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:James Rolfe's other characters]]
! [[WebVideo/YouKnowWhatsBullshit The Bullshit Man]]
[[quoteright:264:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bsman_9105.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:264:You know what's BUUUULLLSHIT?!]]
A frustrated gentleman who vents his annoyance at everyday inconveniences. Eventually revealed to be a man whose face is bullshit.
----
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* Characters/TheAngryVideoGameNerdTheNerdHimself
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[[index]]
*Characters/TheAngryVideoGameNerdTheNerdHimself[[Characters/TheAngryVideoGameNerdTheNerd The Nerd]]
* [[Characters/TheAngryVideoGameNerdOtherCharacters Other Characters]]
[[/index]]
*
* [[Characters/TheAngryVideoGameNerdOtherCharacters Other Characters]]
[[/index]]
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* Characters/TheAngryVideoGameNerdTheNerdHimself
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** In "Dracula", he [[DrivenToSuicide commits suicide]] by exposing himself to the sun since ([[DontExplainTheJoke he was a vampire in that episode]]).
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** In "Dracula", he [[DrivenToSuicide commits suicide]] by exposing himself to the sun since ([[DontExplainTheJoke he was a vampire in that episode]]).
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* BadassNormal: His role as a playable character in ''VideoGame/TheAngryVideoGameNerdAdventures''.
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* TookALevelInBadass: His role as a playable character in ''VideoGame/TheAngryVideoGameNerdAdventures''.
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* BadassNormal: His role as a playable character in ''VideoGame/TheAngryVideoGameNerdAdventures''.
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* YankTheDogsChain: The Bullshit Man used to look like a normal human (as evidenced by some of the illustrations from earlier episodes), however, he has endured so much bullshit in his life to the point where his face was ''literally'' turned into bullshit.
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* YankTheDogsChain: The Bullshit Man used to look like a normal human (as evidenced by some of the illustrations an illustration from earlier episodes), "Pay Toilets"), however, he has endured so much bullshit in his life to the point where his face was ''literally'' turned into bullshit.
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* HollywoodHomely: He has a lame dress code, occasionally bad hair days, and mouth breathing tendencies, coupled with frequently-seen deranged caricature art. Aside from those, he is actually pretty good-looking.
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* VocalEvolution: His voice has gotten a lot softer and more relaxed as he aged. The change started becoming obvious by 2015 if not earlier.
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* HollywoodNerd: He has a lame dress code, occasionally bad hair days, and mouth breathing tendencies, coupled with frequently-seen deranged caricature art. Aside from those, he is actually pretty good-looking.
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* HollywoodNerd: HollywoodHomely: He has a lame dress code, occasionally bad hair days, and mouth breathing tendencies, coupled with frequently-seen deranged caricature art. Aside from those, he is actually pretty good-looking.
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* MrFanservice: Due to the HollywoodNerd-ness.
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* SpellMyNameWithAnS: His name is based on Fred Fuchs.
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* SpellMyNameWithAnS: His name is based on Fred Fuchs.Fuchs, a producer and and long-time associate of Francis Ford Coppola, whose last name was read by the nerd as “Fucks” in the Dracula episode.
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* ActionPet: He chased down and defeated the Atari Jaguar when the Nerd's light guns were ineffective.
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* ActionPet: He chased chases down and defeated defeats the Atari Jaguar when the Nerd's light guns were are ineffective.
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-->'''AVGN:''' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LVcvkLCUtU#t=8m53s "Yeah! That's the REAL Jaguar!"]]
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-->'''AVGN:''' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LVcvkLCUtU#t=8m53s "Yeah! Yeah! That's the REAL Jaguar!"]]Jaguar!]]
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* AdaptationalVillainy: Originally Pepsiman is nothing more than an plucky IronButtMonkey who lives to serve those in severe lack of Pepsi. Here, he's an experiment GoneHorriblyWrong that wants to turn everything into Pepsi and is ''very very'' NotGoodWithRejection.
* BalefulPolymorph: His ability is to turn anything into Pepsi. [[spoiler:Even human beings.]]
* BalefulPolymorph: His ability is to turn anything into Pepsi. [[spoiler:Even human beings.]]
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* AdaptationalVillainy: Originally Canon Pepsiman is nothing more than an a plucky IronButtMonkey who lives to serve those in severe lack of Pepsi. Here, he's an experiment GoneHorriblyWrong that wants to turn everything into Pepsi and is ''very very'' ''very'' NotGoodWithRejection.
* BalefulPolymorph:His Has the ability is to turn anything into Pepsi. [[spoiler:Even human beings.]]
* BalefulPolymorph:
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* BoisterousWeakling: At the end of the video, when Pepsiman imposes an death threat to the nerd, he was easily defeated by TV Game Guy's Freshmaker Bazooka.
* ButtMonkey: Even when given AdaptationalVillainy, some of his ButtMonkey elements exist, especially when [[LettingTheAirOutOfTheBand his music gets interrupted to a low note]] because he 'has a sad existence' or the background burns him.
* TerminatorImpersonator: He's depicted as a parody of the T-1000 in this series, and the Nerd also describes him as a "weird T-1000-looking mascot". Like his inspiration, he meets a fiery end when he's dropped into a vat of Coca-Cola mixed with Fanta.
* ButtMonkey: Even when given AdaptationalVillainy, some of his ButtMonkey elements exist, especially when [[LettingTheAirOutOfTheBand his music gets interrupted to a low note]] because he 'has a sad existence' or the background burns him.
* TerminatorImpersonator: He's depicted as a parody of the T-1000 in this series, and the Nerd also describes him as a "weird T-1000-looking mascot". Like his inspiration, he meets a fiery end when he's dropped into a vat of Coca-Cola mixed with Fanta.
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* BoisterousWeakling: At the end of the video, when Pepsiman imposes an a death threat to the nerd, he was Nerd, he's easily defeated by TV Game Guy's Freshmaker Bazooka.
* ButtMonkey: Even when given AdaptationalVillainy, some of his ButtMonkey elements exist, especially when [[LettingTheAirOutOfTheBand his music gets interruptedto on a low note]] because he 'has a sad existence' or the background burns him.
* TerminatorImpersonator: He's depicted here as a parody of theT-1000 in this series, T-1000, and the Nerd also describes him as a "weird T-1000-looking mascot". Like his inspiration, he meets a fiery end when he's dropped into a vat of Coca-Cola mixed with Fanta.
* ButtMonkey: Even when given AdaptationalVillainy, some of his ButtMonkey elements exist, especially when [[LettingTheAirOutOfTheBand his music gets interrupted
* TerminatorImpersonator: He's depicted here as a parody of the
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* FlippingTheBird: Does this to the Nerd as he melts in the vat of Coke in a parody of the [[Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay Terminator 2]] thumbs-up.
* {{Revenge}}: Pepsiman ruined his whole life and it is no wonder this guy wanted the dude destroyed, aside of Pepsiman being out to do the same thing to others.
* UndignifiedDeath: Instead of getting the DyingMomentOfAwesome he requested, the Nerd just anti-climactically pushes him to his death.
* {{Revenge}}: Pepsiman ruined his whole life and it is no wonder this guy wanted the dude destroyed, aside of Pepsiman being out to do the same thing to others.
* UndignifiedDeath: Instead of getting the DyingMomentOfAwesome he requested, the Nerd just anti-climactically pushes him to his death.
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* FlippingTheBird: Does this to the Nerd as he melts in the vat of Coke Fanta in a parody of the [[Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay Terminator 2]] thumbs-up.
* {{Revenge}}: Pepsiman ruined his whole life andit is it's no wonder this guy wanted the dude wants him destroyed, aside of never mind Pepsiman being out to do the same thing to others.
* UndignifiedDeath: Instead of getting the DyingMomentOfAwesome herequested, requests, the Nerd just anti-climactically pushes him to his death.
* {{Revenge}}: Pepsiman ruined his whole life and
* UndignifiedDeath: Instead of getting the DyingMomentOfAwesome he
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** And once again in the ''Ikari Warriors'' review, where he plays the game [[spoiler:(after coming back to life thanks to the ABBA code)]] alongside the Nerd for a bit before going back to guitar strumming.
* DeadGuyOnDisplay: His hat-wearing guitar-holding skeleton was used as a background prop in several Halloween reviews.
* DroppedABridgeOnHim: [[spoiler:His skeleton behind the couch appeared in the Schwarzenegger Games review without explanation. At all. It's somewhat implied the Nerd forgot about him and Guitar Guy starved.]]
* DeadGuyOnDisplay: His hat-wearing guitar-holding skeleton was used as a background prop in several Halloween reviews.
* DroppedABridgeOnHim: [[spoiler:His skeleton behind the couch appeared in the Schwarzenegger Games review without explanation. At all. It's somewhat implied the Nerd forgot about him and Guitar Guy starved.]]
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** And once He gets to play again in the ''Ikari Warriors'' review, where he plays the game [[spoiler:(after coming back to life thanks to the ABBA code)]] alongside the Nerd for a bit before going back to guitar strumming.
* DeadGuyOnDisplay: His hat-wearing guitar-holding skeletonwas is used as a background prop in several Halloween reviews.
* DroppedABridgeOnHim: [[spoiler:His skeleton behind the couchappeared appears in the Schwarzenegger Games review without explanation. At all. It's somewhat implied the Nerd forgot about him and Guitar Guy starved.]]
* DeadGuyOnDisplay: His hat-wearing guitar-holding skeleton
* DroppedABridgeOnHim: [[spoiler:His skeleton behind the couch
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* DungFu: As the FinalBoss of the first game, raining shit from above is one of his attacks[[labelnote:*]]It's not actually intentional on Fucks' part in the original, but in the remastered version it is[[/labelnote]].
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* DungFu: As the FinalBoss of the first game, raining shit from above is one of his attacks[[labelnote:*]]It's attacks.[[labelnote:*]]It's not actually intentional on Fucks' part in the original, but in the remastered version it is[[/labelnote]].is.[[/labelnote]]
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Pepsi for spelling correction.
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* UndignifiedDeath: Instead of getting the DyingMomentOfAwesome he requested, the Nerd just anti-climatically pushes him to his death.
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* UndignifiedDeath: Instead of getting the DyingMomentOfAwesome he requested, the Nerd just anti-climatically anti-climactically pushes him to his death.
