Josh Scorcher (Creator)

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"Most people say time is like a river flowing swift and sure in one direction. I have seen the face of time, and I can tell you: they're wrong. Time is an ocean in a storm. You may wonder who I am and why I say these things. Come, and I will show you a review like none you have ever heard. Know first that I am the Fiery Joker, a mighty YouTube gamer. On my way through life, I was forced to watch My Little Pony and review it by a small company of men... painfully. The promise of AdSense and subs tempted me into a grievous error..."

— Josh Scorcher

Joshua Burner (a.k.a. Josh Scorcher, The Fiery Joker, and Commander Firebrand) is a YouTube producer and former United States Marine (he finished service in December 2014) specializing in video-game-related Top Ten Countdowns and video reviews of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. He also ran the Brony Website FOB Equestria (the link to the website is currently offline), which bills itself as a Military-centric version of Equestria Daily.

He also has a Twitter account and a Tumblr account. He does the occasional Let's Play, but isn't so good at finishing them. However, after making his Top 10 Worst Kingdom Hearts Bosses, he started an LP of Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix, which he actually did finish. He also has several other channels, including Joshua Burner for his reaction videos, Dragonfinder Gaming for his adventures in tabletop gaming, and Forward Operating Base Equestria for cartoons, specifically for My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.

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Countdown Lists

Season 1

Top Ten Most Disturbing Boss Battles
Top Ten Brawl Music Tracks
Top Ten Favorite Video Game Tracks
Top Ten Easiest Bosses
Top Ten Video Game Composers
Top Ten Credits Themes
Top Ten Hardest Bosses
Top Ten Video Game Soundtracks 2009
Top Fifteen Boss Battle Tracks 2009
Top Ten Games of E3-2009
Top Ten Coolest Ways to Die
Top Ten Final Fantasy Music Tracks
Top Fifteen Sequels We Want The Most
Top Ten Kingdom Hearts Songs
Top Five Best and Worst Controllers
Top Ten Villains in Gaming
Top Ten Mario Songs (with The Autarch of Flame)
Top Fifteen Most Disturbing Non-Horror Bosses (with The Autarch of Flame)
Top Ten Pokemon Songs
Top Ten Final Fantasy Villains
Top Ten Minigames
Top Ten Most Annoying Bosses
Top Fifteen Most Hated Characters in Video Games (with The Autarch of Flame)
Top Fifteen Craziest Characters
Top Ten Manliest Characters
Top Ten Organ Songs
Top Ten Legend of Zelda Songs (with The Autarch of Flame)
Top Ten Disappointing Final Bosses
Top Ten Things I Hate in Video Games
Top Ten Things I Like in Video Games
Top Ten Saddest Video Game Moments (with The Autarch of Flame)
Top Nine Team Fortress 2 Classes
Top Ten Fighting Game Finishers
Top Ten Co-op Games
Top Ten Video Game Endings
Top Ten Nostalgic Video Game Songs
Top Ten Mario Spinoffs
Top Ten Overrated Games
Top Ten Sonic Songs
Top Ten Scariest Nostalgic Moments

Season 2

Top Fifteen Worst Cliches (with The Autarch of Flame and Chewie)
Top Ten Overhated Games
Top Ten Favorite Pokemon
Top Ten Worst Kingdom Hearts Bosses
Top Ten Video Game Bromances (with RabbidLuigi)
Top Ten Music Battles
Top Ten Dynasty Warriors
Top Ten Darkest Mario Moments
Top Ten League Champions That Need Their Own Game
Top Ten Female Characters
Top Ten Games I Love and Hate
Top Ten Fighting Game Special Moves^OrTop Ten OTHER Fighting Game Finishers

Season 3

Top Ten Stupid Awesome Games
Top Ten Evil Video Game Characters
Top Ten Games I Want to Like
Top Ten First Bosses
Top Ten Educational Games
Top Ten Scary Atmospheres
Top Ten Influential Games ft. Rabbidluigi
Top Ten Musician Fighters
Top 29 Injustice 2 Finishers
Top Ten Bad Levels In Good Games
Top Ten Games To Show Your Friends
Top Five Best And Worst Mario Party Minigames

Season 4

Top Ten Potential Warriors Games
Top Twelve Gaming Siblings
Top 50 Favorite Games
Top Ten Overshadowed Games
Top Ten Gaming Scams ft. That Creepy Reading
Top Ten Worst EA Fails
Top Ten Video Game Spider Bosses
Top Ten Video Game Self-Sacrifices
Top Ten Good Levels in Bad Video Games
Top Ten Worst Konami fails
Top Ten Most Hyped Games
Top Ten Worst Sony Fails 🦀
Top Ten Video Game Crossovers
Top 14 Organization XIII Members
Top Five Kingdom Hearts Worlds
Top 15 Kingdom Hearts Songs
Top Five Kingdom Hearts Games
Top Ten Kingdom Hearts Bosses
Top Ten Video Games So Bad They’re Good
Top Ten Worst Capcom Fails ft. The Quarter Guy
Top Ten Ensemble Casts
Top Ten Microsoft Fails
Top Ten Franchise Killers
Top Ten Ubisoft Fails
Top Ten Final Bosses
Top Ten Bethesda Fails

Season 5

Top Ten Philosophical Games
Top Ten Square Enix Fails
Top Ten Fire-Based Characters
Top Ten Sega Fails
Top Ten Spoopiest Games
Top Ten Activision Fails
Top Ten Video Games Most Like D&D
Top Ten Blizzard Fails
Top Ten Valve Fails
Top Ten Worst Endings
Top Ten Worst Nintendo Fails ft. The Green Scorpion
Top Ten Video Games With The Best Bosses
Top Ten Difficulty Spike Bosses
Top Ten Most Improved Sequels
Top Ten Bosses You Don't Want To Defeat
Top Ten Forgotten Games
Top Ten Water Bosses
Top Ten Games We Strangely Love
Top Ten Disappointing Final Bosses
Top Ten Cult Classics
Top Ten Funniest Bosses
Top Ten Rhythym Games
Top Ten Mindf#$k Bosses
Top Ten Hated Characters We're Supposed To Like
Top Ten Super Bosses
Best and Worst Pokémon Gym Leaders
Top 20 Favorite Characters
Top Ten Ice Bosses
Top Ten 2020 FAILS
Top Ten Lightning Bosses
Top Ten Liked Characters We're Supposed to Hate
Top Ten Gaming Crushes
Top Ten DLC Bosses
Top Ten Underrated Games from Popular Franchises ft. Count Shaman
Top Ten Poison Bosses
Top Ten Redemption Arcs
Top Ten Out-Of-Place Bosses
Top Ten Non-Disney Movie Villain Songs
Top Ten Theater Villain Songs
Top Ten TV Show Villain Songs
Top Ten Video Game Villain Songs
Top 15 WORST Consoles
Top Ten Smartest Bosses
Top Ten Fun Yet Depressing Games
Top Ten Easiest Bosses You Can Lose To

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Reviews

Pilot
Return of Harmony
A Canterlot Wedding
The Ticket Master^note
Applebuck Season^note
Griffon the Brush-Off^note
Boast Busters^note
Dragonshy (w/ Chewie)^note
Look Before You Sleep^note
The Crystal Empire^note
Magical Mystery Cure^note
Double Rainboom^note
Snowdrop^note
Feeling Pinkie Keen (w/ Xain Russell)^note
Mmmystery on the Friendship Express (w/ The Autarch)^note
Princess Twilight Sparkle^note
Bridle Gossip^note
Over A Barrel (w/ Lily Peet AKA Bhaalspawn)^note
Twilight's Kingdom^note
Hearts and Hooves Day (w/ Voice of Reason)^note
Swarm of the Century^note
The Cutie Map^note
Putting Your Hoof Down (w/ Mr. Enter)^note
The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well^note
The Cutie Re-Mark (w/ Ink Rose)^note
Ponyville Confidential^note
Newbie Dash (w/ DaWillstanator)^note
To Where and Back Again ^note
G3 Special "A Very Minty Christmas" (w/ Dr. Wolf) ^note ^note
Baby Cakes ^note
Celestial Advice (w/ AntonyC) ^note
Power Ponies ^note
The Last Roundup ^note
Dragon Quest ^note
Owl's Well That Ends Well ^note
Spike At Your Service ^note
Shadow Play ^note
My Little Pony : The Movie (There is no grade given due to reasons stated here.)
Fame and Misfortune ^note
School Daze ^note
Rainbow Falls ^note
School Raze ^note

Let's Plays

Josh's Work Contains Elements Of:

Air Guitar: He does this pose repeatedly in his review of Rainbow Rocks, complete with the sound effect from the Bill & Ted films.
Aroused by Their Voice: In Live Unscripted 3, Joshscorcher temporarily turns British and makes love to his own voice. It Makes Just as Much Sense in Context.
Artifact Title: Fiery Joker Rant was originally Exactly What It Says on the Tin. Basically, Josh angrily rants about certain video game related topics a la James Stephanie Sterling. While the basic premise is still the same, there isn't a lot of, if not any, of Josh getting angry, ranting, or complaining and is more along the lines of the Nostalgia Critic Editorials than The Jimquistion.
Ass Kicks You: Firebrand finds himself on both ends of this trope in "Taking Shining Armor and Cadance Too Seriously ft. Silver Quill".
The Atoner: He seems to be this in regards to how he used to treat his little brother.
Josh (through Commander Firebrand): If I have one regret in my life, just one, it's that I wasn't a good brother.
Berserk Button:
- Puns. He makes it no secret that he hates puns, so making them in front of him is a sure-fire way to get on his bad side. Yet his staff just love to work them into his scripts.
- Anything to do with Demyx, a particularly infuriating boss for him to face. Dance, Water! Dance!
- Mocking or insulting the military in general. He finds that any time a My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic story features the Royal Guard or the Wonderbolts (who are basically Equestria's Thunderbirds), both groups are portrayed as incompetent and/or corrupt. Something that offends his sensibilities as an Armed Forces member.
- Calling him a boot will cause him to get so angry he'll parody Vegeta's rage breaking.
Big Damn Heroes: His entrance at the end of The Autarch's Top 25 Boss Battles certainly qualifies as this.
Big "NO!": Has three in succession at the end of his "Bridle Gossip" review, each one bigger than the last. The reason? His next review will be a collab... with Bhaalspawn, a YouTuber who's review of Team Fortress 2 he criticized, resulting in Bhaalspawn getting a ton of harassment from overzealous fans, which made Josh cancel any further response videos.
- Has even more in succession when he discovers that Demyx has been recruited into the Real Organization XIII in Kingdom Hearts III.
Bottomless Pit Rescue Service: Exploited during part 12 of his Alice: Madness Returns playthrough so he could collect everything on a multiple-path ice slide segment.
Butt-Monkey: He does not have the best luck with collab partners, being generally humiliated, injured, and even outright murdered by them. Summed up best as such:
Josh: Why do all of my collab partners cause me pain?
Bhaalspawn: Because your pain is funny!
Josh: [groans] Touché...
Call-Back:
- If a countdown video has a topic similar to a previous one, or one of his choices is also on a different countdown, he'll typically make a reference to the other countdown, either through just a passing remark or actually taking a moment to go out of his way and comment on it.
- A very subtle one: In his review of Mmmystery on the Friendship Express, he at one point uses information lifted from, and credited to, Death Battle Equestria^*. Almost two years later, in Top Ten Fighting Game Special Moves, he brings the writer of said fanfic, RLYoshi, in to once again help with a scientific problem^*.
The Cameo:
- If you look closely, Ink Rose can be seen at the end of the "Hearts and Hooves Day" review being fired out of Silver Quill's Party Howlitzer.
- In that same video, Elyora and ILoveKimPossibleAlot can be seen in the credits art.
- The Autarch and RLYoshi have appearances in "Top Ten Fighting Game Special Moves"; the former popping in to gleefully take the credit for an Incredibly Lame Pun in writing, the latter to help determine the actual physical force behind Speed Zone. Despite having speaking appearances, both are listed in the credits as cameos.
- In general, for his "Taking Too Seriously" series, the episode's editor is given a cameo as the cameraman.
Censor Box: Fluttershy's head (see Sound-Effect Bleep below). When a larger, longer-lasting image is required in his review of the South Park episode "Make Love, Not Warcraft", he uses a photo of some kittens.
Character Catchphrase:
- "It's Pinkie Pie, don't question it."
- "Convenient!" is his (sarcastically cheerful) way of lampshading a Hand Wave or Contrived Coincidence.
- In his "Taking [x] Too Seriously" videos on FOBEquestria, he'll often say "Here — let me explain what I mean" at the beginning of a video shortly after he states an opinion of the episode before getting into the episode's actual plotline.
Cluster F-Bomb:
- Goes on full rage mode in his Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix LP when Ansem is revealed to be Xehanort's Heartless and does this. But considering the style of the channel, the entire F-bomb was censored.
- For the Honorable Mentions to his Top 10 Disturbing Levels in Non-Horror Games, his short description of Queen Vanessa's Manor is nothing but 'yay's.
Combat Medic: With his favorite Team Fortress 2 class being the Medic, his pony OC Commander Firebrand plays one in the TF2 Analysis videos, though slightly more insane than his usual self as he imitates... well, the Medic.
Complaining About Complaining: Top Ten Overhated Games.
Couch Gag: In every My Little Pony review, Josh will dispose of the show's title sequence in some fashion.
Critic Breakdown: Alicorn Twilight sends him to this. Turns out to be a parody, he's OK with it.
Cultured Badass: Has an appreciation of classical music, including Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Gilbert and Sullivan. He can also quote philosophers like Aristotle and C. S. Lewis. As for the badass, see Semper Fi below.
Curb-Stomp Cushion: Josh's battle against Lingering Will. While Lingering Will, to his credit, does manage to get at least three decent hits in (at one point almost wiping Josh out before he healed himself), the fight is almost completely one-sided in Josh's favor.
Cuteness Proximity: Gets this from Victini in Top Ten Favorite Pokémon.
Darker and Edgier: His videos over time tended to contain darker jokes.
Deadpan Snarker: He tends to be very sarcastic in his videos. For example, after Pinkie's ear-bleeding version of the "Evil Enchantress" song:
Pinkie: It's a work in progress.
Josh: Don't quit your day job, sweetie.
Divergent Character Evolution: His Nostalgia critic expy-ish-ness was brought up in his questions-and-answers video with Doug Walker. He expressed his desire to diverge from The Nostalgia Critic and his characterization, especially with the jokes he's "taken" from him. And he has definitely succeeded, becoming less of the Jerkass Woobie that NC was and more of a person who will Gosh Darn It to Heck!, only swearing when something is serious, and even then, he still censors it; a person who is genuinely a Nice Guy on and off his videos, and someone who isn't afraid to let others know the fact that he's a brony.
Early-Installment Weirdness:
- His earliest MLP videos make it seem like he doesn't like the show very much. He admits it has its strengths, but overall doesn't seem to be a huge fan, even stating directly that he is not a brony.
- In his "Company Fails" video, only the first entry (EA) has its interlude between numbers featuring a clip that has nothing to do with EA (It actually featured Shadow Kaneshiro from Persona 5, an Atlus game) because he didn't think it would become a series. Afterwards, the interlude would have something to do with the company in question.
Earth-Shattering Kaboom: Nearly every Top Ten list or review ends with a massive continental explosion as the closer.
Expy:
- Of Screwattack for his Countdown videos.
- Of The Nostalgia Critic for his My Little Pony reviews.
Elemental Motifs: You can see fire in pretty much all of his videos. He's even called "The Fiery Joker".
Foreshadowing: In Top Ten Darkest Mario Moments, the intro bit shows the Elder Princess Shroob from Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time. She, specifically her fight, ends up being the number-one moment.
Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: He does this in the first episode of the Spike-centered "Trilogy Time":
Josh: So, strap in for more Spikes than a needle-riddled corpse, we're starting off with Dragon Quest!
[upon realizing what he's in for, his smile gives way to a look of fear]
Josh: [whispers softly] Oh no...
Freeze-Frame Bonus:
- One of Josh's former editors is fond of using text that flashes on screen for no more than a few seconds... much to the chagrin of some fans.
- In the review of Celestial Advice, Josh screams the word "FINALLY" with such joy and jubilation that it summons fireworks and the Ode to Joy. If you look closely, the firework that actually sets it all off is actually the word "FINALLY" with rocket fire coming out of it!
- In Top Ten Underrated Games from Popular Franchises, the very start of the video has Geno walk past Sephiroth, then turn around and give him the two-finger salute.
Full-Name Ultimatum: After teasing Pinkie Pie about getting this treatment, Dr. Wolf gives him the ultimatum to curb his behavior. It also has the side benefit of revealing that Commander Firebrand's real name is Brandon Hephaestus Fire.
Gosh Dang It to Heck!:
- Josh runs one of the few YouTube channels where swearing is almost entirely bleeped out. Turns out he's like that in Real Life too, very rarely swearing.
- He says the trope word for word in Shenanigans 6, this is immediately Lampshaded by Lunacorva who says he's going to add the example to This Very Wiki.
Go Mad from the Revelation: Parodied in one My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic where after learning that Twilight Sparkle grew wings, he went into an utter psychotic meltdown (also comes with Shower of Angst) until he suddenly stops and said calmly "I'm OK with this."
Grey-and-Gray Morality: Discussed during "Top Ten 2023 Fails" when talking about Nintendo's year as, while them being so lawsuit trigger happy was a bad thing, they also increased their employes' wages and had great games like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Super Mario Bros. Wonder, with Josh noting that it was actually hard to hate them in spite of all the bad stuff they did as there was so much good to counteract the bad.
HA HA HA—No: Does this at the end of his "Top Ten Video Game Endings" list, when he makes a speech about how the top entry was the perfect end to the franchise... and then says it's Mass Effect 3, one of the most infamously hated endings in all of gaming (and #3 on his later Worst Endings list). A "Trololo" clip plays after, then comes this trope before he moves on to the real #1.
Ham-to-Ham Combat: After doing a response to Bhaalspawn's initial Team Fortress review, Lily Peet was flooded with a torrent of hate mail and death/rape threats. This prompted a very brief face-off between Scorcher's Nice Guy and Peet's Smug Snake.
Hanlon's Razor: Feels this way about Ubisoft's mistakes in Top Ten Ubisoft Fails (though he did wind up eating those words after the sexual abuse scandal broke).
Josh: Getting mad at Ubisoft feels like getting mad at a dog for getting into the garbage... Sure, they do greedy and annoying things, but I never felt that they were actively evil, unlike some other companies... Instead of attributing malice, I feel like attributing stupidity.
Hold Up Your Score: Josh does this during his "Bridle Gossip" review in response to Spike making punny names based on what happened to the Mane Six.
Homage: He reviewed the first two Equestria Girls movies in the style of Bum Reviews.
Hostile Show Takeover: Downplayed. This is sort of how guest stars appear in his My Little Pony reviews, but rather than taking over the show itself, they just force Josh to let them on it.
Hypocritical Humor:
- In the review for "Feeling Pinkie Keen", Josh points out how family unfriendly it is for a kid's show to talk about someone exploding... despite the way he ends every episode. This is, of course, lampshaded.
- The ALS Ice Bucket challenge. He views the challenges issued to him, and considered the whole thing stupid... and right after that, he issues the challenge to three more guys (one of them should be familiar) and showers himself with cold water.
- In his analysis of "Hearthbreakers", Josh talks with unrepentant glee about his mockery of nerds. Then Dr Wolf asks him about his upcoming Dungeons & Dragons session.
- In an out-of-videos (and slightly less funny) example, he has an almost memetic hatred of spoilers, but when new episodes of MLP are being broadcast, he live tweets as he watches — which, for those not in the know, is basically tweeting your reactions to the episode, which ends up inevitably spoiling all the jokes and some major plot points for any follower who isn't watching along.
I Hate Past Me: Seems to feel this way about his time as a Big Brother Bully. His voice becomes noticeably angry, even compared to some of his more angry moments otherwise and Firebrand's expressions reflect this.
Josh (through Commander Firebrand): I mean my little brother dealt with so much heartache and sickness in his life, and I wasn't there to help him. He had diabetes, genetic migraines, and even multiple seizures at the age of ten, ten! And I just couldn't find it in myself to cut the kid some slack! He was my brother, and I failed to be there for him.
- To drive this point home, the music playing in this scene is the acoustic version of Relient K's song "Who I Am Hates Who I've Been".
I Have Many Names: Joshua Burner, Josh Scorcher, The Fiery Joker, and Commander Firebrand. Real name, Internet alias, gaming alias, and pony alias (and OC name) respectively.
Iron Woobie: invoked He reveals in his homage to Cinema Wins on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory that he lives with crippling flashbacks, likely as a byproduct of his time in the Marines, but he's certainly good at not showing it off.
Irony: "Top Ten Recurring Bosses" doesn't have a lot of repeat bosses from past countdowns. Josh even lampshades this during the intro.
Jerkass Realization: "Sisterhooves Social" made him have one in regards to how he was treating his little brother. He even admits it made him cry and is not happy with himself for his past actions.
Knight in Sour Armor: He describes himself as one in his Fiery Joker Rant on Journey where he talks about how the game made him realize this trait through the interaction with the other players.
Kubrick Stare: Sometimes does this (as shown by the picture above).
Loophole Abuse: In "Top Ten Fan Made Villain Songs", Josh justified putting both "Discordant Decipher" and "Sun of the Night" on the list, even though both are about My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic characters, as in the former, even though Discord is one of the "singers", he's not the villain of the song, Bill Cipher is.
Militaries Are Useless: One of his biggest pet peeves is how the military in fiction is portrayed as either useless or absent. During his MLP reviews he frequently faces irritation as his collaboration partners are able to break into the base in increasingly easy manners. Whether it's wearing a name badge with his name on it, fighting them one-on-one with zero effort, or telling them a festival is planned at the base and watching them fade from existence.
Motor Mouth: At times, but not usually.
My God, What Have I Done?: Admits in his Top Ten Personal Episodes that he used to be a jerk to his little brother... then watched "Sisterhooves Social", which caused him to have a Jerkass Realization. He admits the episode made him cry and his demeanor talking about it makes it clear this was his reaction.
Mythology Gag: In The Hugga Bunch review, one of the characters mention that they hear voices:
Silver [High-pitched]: They tell me the Elder Gods require sacrifices!
Josh [Deep, demonic]: He is the Ancient, he is the Land!
Not Hyperbole: He describes Konami as a fusion of Nineteen Eighty-Four and The Twilight Zone (1959) S2E29: "The Obsolete Man". He then clarifies no, this is not hyperbole. They actually are that bad.
Odd Friendship: To Xain-Russell, who has beliefs that differ greatly from that of Josh's. Especially when it comes to politics and religion.
- Following his falling out with Xain as a result of the Lily Orchard incident, Josh now serves this trope with The Quarter Guy, who has a lot of the same political and religious views as Xain, with a more reserved attitude.
Official Couple: With Aramau, who plays his assistant in his Commander Firebrand videos.
Oh, Crap!: Has this reaction when he reviews "Return of Harmony", specifically when he realizes what Flutter shy's Discorded personality will be.
Josh: [looks between the lists of the Elements and their opposites, gets to Kindness and Cruelty] Oh boy.
Old Shame: invoked In "Top Ten Overhated Games", he admits to being ashamed of his former stance on Final Fantasy VII.
Josh: On the other side, you have people calling it the most overrated game ever made, saying it singlehandedly RUINED Final Fantasy, and anyone who likes it is a close-minded pretentious tool clinging to nostalgia.... and to my everlasting shame, I was in that camp once.
Ominous Pipe Organ: Loves this instrument, using it in his countdown intro and patron outro and arranges several tunes with it. Subverted, as Josh is far from a villain.
Other Me Annoys Me: Because the number one spot on "Top Ten TV Show Villain Songs" was from My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, namely being "This Day Aria", Firebrand comes in to introduce it, only for Josh to shoo him off since they are supposed to be on different channels.
Josh: I really annoy me sometimes.
Out-of-Character Moment: Lampshaded by Josh after Dr. Wolf suddenly goes Deadpan Snarker in their "A Very Minty Christmas" review.
Josh: OK, I have to say this now. Biting sarcasm sounds really weird coming from you.
Dr. Wolf: [matter-of-factly] Well, I'm on your channel, Josh. Kinda comes with the territory.
Playing with Fire: His various epithets are fire-centric. Fiery Joker, Josh Scorcher, Commander Firebrand.
Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: A particularly hilarious example in his review of "MMMystery on the Friendship Express", making fun of Big Mac's lack of nails while repairing the train.
Josh: I!!! WILL!!! FIX!!! THIS!!! WITH!!! OUT!!! NAILS!!!
Real Men Wear Pink: Brony tendencies aside, his ringtone is apparently "I'm a Barbie Girl".
The Red Mage: He said in "Shenanigans With 4" that, although he's a healer mostly, he's more of a Red Mage than a White Mage.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: Compares himself to a fellow Top Ten List maker Rabbid Luigi with himself as the Red Oni and RabbidLuigi as the Blue Oni, even going as far as to name drop the trope and explain it.
- Also constitutes as the Red Oni to Amaru's Blue Oni. Whereas Josh is loud, rambunctious, and makes frequent Non Sequiturs, Ari is collected, humble, and plays everything as straight as possible.
  Josh: Seriously! How do you make beating up the Pope suck?! (Ari turns her head) Context, honey!
  Ari: (beat) You know, just saying the word, "context," doesn't make it better.
Running Gag:
- In his My Little Pony episode reviews, he will sometimes have guests appear to join him in commentating. Their appearance always consists of interrupting Josh's intro somehow, threatening and/or humiliating him, and then performing a downplayed Hostile Show Takeover by forcing Josh to let them join for the episode.
- Also, in each My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic review, the intro is skipped in all sorts of different ways, ranging from simply fast-forwarding the video, to shooting the screen, to the guest reviewers doing the skipping. Lampshaded in the Bhaalspawn collab.
- For a long time, he was kept from reviewing "Bridle Gossip", due to a combination of collab partners wanting other episodes, season 4's premiere, and copyright claims from Hasbro. This was, naturally, lampshaded when he finally got around to reviewing the episode.
- At certain points, when he's noting certain illogical moments, he'll spread his arms and reveal the word "LOGIC" between them using the Big-Lipped Alligator Moment chorus of Nostalgia Chick fame.
- Also drinking a vial of Brony Tears whenever something the fandom dislikes happens (usually Princess Twilight). During his "Top 10 Musical Battles" list, he drinks a bottle of Anti-Brony Tears when he includes the Goof Off in the countdown.
- "DARN IT DECKER!" However since Josh revealed from a podcast with Dr Wolf and Ink Rose that Decker had left the Marine Corps, it is no longer a running gag.
- As of late, Josh has been taking at least one pot-shot at Capcom or their business practices. Lampshaded and invoked in Top Ten Stupid Awesome Games.
- Whenever it comes up, Josh would take a moment to remind you that he likes Greco-Roman-Egyptian-Whatever mythology while making a ridiculous face.
- Slipping in a picture or clip from Kamen Rider Ex-Aid when talking about videogames or the gaming industry, in particular using one of the show's antagonists Kuroto Dan when referencing Corrupt Corporate Executives.
Sarcastic Clapping: Does this in his Double Rainboom review after The Powerpuff Girls' Flanderization begins.
Screams Like a Little Girl: Watch this, and determine for yourself.
Self-Deprecation: Josh's "Top 10 Demon Bosses" video starts with there's no such thing as pure evil, except reality shows, video game companies, corrupt businesses and Youtube influencers. And the imagery he shows for 'Youtube influencers' is... himself.
Semper Fi: He is a former Marine in Real Life.
Ship Sinking: Once Josh's real life relationship with Aramau began to be mirrored with their OC's, the FireRose ship was quickly sunk, with Firebrand saying that he and Ink never got past the first date.
Ship Tease:
- In his third "A Moment with Dr. Wolf", he acted as though he and Ink Rose were actually dating. (However, this post denies it, but it doesn't deny the possibility for it when Ink comes of age.)
- Honestly, by THIS point it's become less "Will They or Won't They?", and more "I wonder what they're going to name their childre— oh wait!!" Should we be expecting a... "happy announcement" in two years?
- And then there's TF2 Analysis Anarchy on Dr. Wolf's channel (which was actually the prelude the the previously mentioned Moment With Dr. Wolf.)
- Then came his review of "The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone" where he has a mock Skype call with Ink Rose and not only claims they do matching cosplays (and that she's the one who got him into cosplay), but signs off with "love you too!" at which the unseen cameraperson snickers. Dr. Wolf's videos then showed them at a con as the Joker and Harley Quinn.
- They did an animation of their avatars singing "Love is an Open Door".
- Josh has clarified that, for real, they're just friends. HOWEVER, the OC Fire Rose ship was canon for a time before it was sunk in the TF2 Analysis episode "Emotions on the Battlefield Part 2". Firebrand is now a canon ship with Aramau The Fiery Secretary, and Josh is engaged to the real Aramau.
Shout-Out: Many, often in the form of inserted clips or one-liners.
- His famous "KA-BOOOOM!" is a voice clip from the Demoman from Team Fortress 2.
- The graphic used for the explosion is from Dragon Ball Z Budokai 2's Final Explosion move.
- In the review for Snowdrop, the Mary Sue meter is filled with quite a few characters from other works.
  - It's also very similar to the meter The Nostalgia Critic used in his review of The Cat in the Hat.
- In the review of Mmmystery On The Friendship Express, Josh protests the idea that Big Macintosh would have trouble carrying a giant cake. The information he whips out to prove his point is lifted directly from Death Battle Equestria.
- "Wow, you really don't know how to shut up when you get scared, Krillin- I mean, Spike!"
  - He's used a lot of clips from DragonBall Abridged in the same fashion as that joke.
- In his epic Squee of Hyrule Warriors, he went into Daffy Duck's crazy laugh spree "WHOO-HOO-HOO-HOO-HOO-HOO-HOO-HOO!" and M. Bison's "YES! YES!!"
- His review of Mysterious Mare-Do-Well contains several, such as one to Markiplier, Avengers: Age of Ultron, V for Vendetta, and for those who have good eyes and a working pause button, Hoodwinked!.
- He also did a Bum-Style MLP Review. He later did it once more with Rainbow Rocks.
- His reaction to the new theme song in his review of the MLP Pilot is reminesent of The Nostalgia Critic's reaction to the theme song in the review of Doug's 1st Movie.
- He ends his discussion of Dr. Weil in his Top Ten Evil Video Game Characters list with a variant of AM's "Hate" speech.
- A Blink-And-You'll-Miss-It version appears in his "Ponyville Confidential" review; when he expresses disbelief at Diamond Tiara being made editor-in-chief, he uses a clip of GradeAUnderA giving a Big "WHAT?!".
- In anticipation for his upcoming review of the G3 episode "A Very Minty Christmas", he has released a trailer for the review itself. The trailer directly mimics the second trailer for The Force Awakens. If the trailer is any indication, it appears this upcoming review may have a very Star Wars atmosphere to it.
  - Fitting, considering the then-recent release of Rogue One.
- The entirety of his review of the MLP Movie is edited to be this for YMS, replete with rapid-fire editing, TV static transitions, split-second time transition slides, eclectic music choices, and even a few voice clips from Adam himself. A quick glance at the comments suggest that this was a creative choice made in the editing process by the former editor rather than by Josh himself. This results in a rather odd blending of styles, with Josh's writing style clashing with a mimicry of Adam's editing style.
- The opening shot of "Taking Pony Point of View Too Seriously" has two simultaneous shout-outs in the same joke, one for Bomberman 64 and one for Batman Begins.
  - The title card is formatted to look like the opening text that appears before each level in Bomberman 64, right down to the font, formatting, and colors, even going so far as to replace Bomberman's head with Firebrand's cutie mark. The title, "Blessed Bat, Again!", which takes the place of the level name (e.g. "Untouchable Treasure" or "To Have or to Have Not?") is a quote from Batman Begins, in which Alfred complains about bats frequently getting into Wayne Manor from a nest underground.
- During "Top 10 Worst Microsoft Fails", Josh opens up the segment talking about how Microsoft mistreated Rareware with JonTron's meltdown in the face of Banjo-Kazooie Nuts & Bolts' car section.
Shrinking Violet: He reveals in his Bronycon video that he has trouble starting conversations with other people he doesn't know.
- In his review of the series premiere of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, he admits that he used to be like Fluttershy when he was younger and cringes at the idea.
Signing Off Catchphrase: As the Fiery Joker, he ends nearly all episodes with an explosion. As Commander Firebrand, he tends to end his reviews with some play on the phrase "I'm taking this too seriously".
Silly Rabbit, Cynicism Is for Losers!: Whenever he was asked for his opinion to a comic book movie casting decision or the EQUESTRIA GIRLS movie, Josh always withheld his judgement until the movie came out and encouraged others to do the same, saying they might be surprised.
Sink or Swim Mentor: In Lightning Bliss' "Magic Lessons" series, he takes this approach in teaching her basic tactics, using a soccer field as an arena.
Sound-Effect Bleep:
- Uses normal beep sounds to avoid saying more colorful curse words. Parodied in his My Little Pony reviews, where he instead opts for Fluttershy's "yaa aay" quote.
- The "yay" returns to blot out the Creepy Reader's profanity in Top Ten Gaming Scams, complete with Fluttershy's mug obstructing his avatar's mouth.
Squee: Lets out an absolutely epic one of these upon seeing the teaser trailer for Hyrule Warriors, a reverse parody of his Go Mad from the Revelation above. It also comes complete with a calm reverse comment ("It's gonna suck because it's not a real Zelda game.") but the end notes say that his Squeeing was genuine at heart.
The Stoic: Dr Wolf in Shenanigans with 2. He speaks very little during the video, chooses not to participate Josh and Hspirit's conga dance, and maintains his usual calm, pleasant demeanour throughout the video.
Stutter Stop: Most prevalent in unscripted videos, Josh has admitted to being a terrible on the spot speaker.
Suddenly Shouting: Rather prominent in his reviews, if he reaches a point that irritates him. He goes from Motor Mouth to Punctuated! For! Emphasis! yelling and back again pretty frequently to the point of almost being a Running Gag.
Surprisingly Happy Ending: How does "Top Ten Video Game Franchise Killers" end after Josh talks about the number one entry, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts? His phone rings as he starts his outro and he's greeted with Banjo and Kazooie's Smash announcement. His jovial reaction followed.
Josh: There is a God and He is good!
Take That!: Played for Laughs when he does them towards Canadians.
- He also does one towards Assassin's Creed III at the beginning of his Princess Twilight Sparkle review.
- Beata Nomura in a nutshell.
- In his Twilight's Kingdom Review when talking about Tirek:
  Josh: So let me get this straight, this guy would rather have the freedom to do whatever he wants without having to worry about consequences, rather than having friendship. [Beat] 4chan, praise your new lord and savior! [heavenly music plays with spinning 4chan icon and the words "I died so you could be a jerk" over clip of Tirek]
- In his "Taking Party Pooped Too Seriously":
  Josh: So the Yaks are over-sensitive, get super angry and violent over minor things and take innocent gestures as horrible insults. Hey! It's Feminism!
- Immediately after that, the camera-pony observes that he could have said the same thing about tumblr and no one would have cared.
- In "Top 10 First Bosses", Josh applies Rules of Nature to various action scenes, but when he tries it with one from ''The Legend of Korra'...
  Josh: Nope, still find that incredibly stupid and disappointing.
  - However, he did add a disclaimer for that, by onscreen text, saying it's okay for people to like the show, even though he personally doesn't.
- Since Macavity was on "Top 10 Theater Villain Songs", Josh takes every chance he can to mock the movie.
  - In addition, at the end of that section, he states that the director only cared about showing off all their celebrities rather then actually making a good movie. Pictures of Batman & Robin, The Smurfs, Believe in Santa and Foodfight! then appear.
  Josh: I am not apologizing for I have said nothing wrong.
- During "Top 10 TV Villain Songs", Josh takes a shot at both The Powerpuff Girls (2016) and Thundercats Roar by saying that the sequel series for Codename: Kids Next Door couldn't be any worse than them.
The Teetotaler: He's expressed a major hatred for alcohol on his Tumblr blog. This video, doubling as a Call-Back to the SUPER MOHAWK SAIYAN!!! joke in his Top Ten Co-Op Games list, has him try some beer, only to immediately spit it back out and provide this gem:
Josh: No transformation is worth that! [walks off]
Josh: [from offscreen] ...disgusting!
Thing-O-Meter: Whips out the Stupid Awesome meter for his #1 entry for his Stupid Awesome Games countdown. It blows up towards the end.
- Some reviews have him whip out the Rainbow Dash likability meter. Often when she does something stupid and has grounds for decreasing it, such as:
  - In "The Ticket Master", where Rainbow sings how she think she's got the second Grand Galloping Galla ticket.
  - In "Griffon the Brush-Off", where she makes a rude remark to Pinke Pie. However, he increases it when Rainbow defends her friends and calls Gilda out for her behavior towards the end of the episode.
  - In "The Crystal Empire", where she guilt-trips Fluttershy into continuing jousting.
This Is Gonna Suck: Invoked when he reaches the fight with Demyx in his Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix Let's Play.
This Is Unforgivable!:
- Teaching harmful morals to children, as stated in 'Taking "Somepony To Watch Over Me" Too Seriously'.
- It also forms up one of the biggest crux of his 'Company Fails' series: A lot of these companies promoted loot boxes and microtransactions, which can easily be abused by children and is likened to be like 'teaching kids about gambling'. That's a big no-no for Josh.
- Still within the 'Company Fails' series, there's one more thing that can enrage Josh that it can top "loot boxes and microtransactions": workplace abuse and mistreatment towards their workers. He really condemns companies that, for any reason, mistreat their workers, since these workers are the ones who work their asses off to make sure the company can reap their profits; they deserve respect, not abuse. Those who do can expect to be put very high on their associated lists or the yearly ones after 2019.
Top Ten List: The kind of videos that got him noticed.
Tsundere: A rare male example, a Running Gag on his show his him acting as one to My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. He tries so hard to pretend he hates the show, but to any observant viewer, it's blatantly clear he loves it.
Verbal Tic: In his Unscripteds and Let's Plays, or any live event in general, he says "It's like" frequently.
Visual Pun:
- His Pony form's Cutie Mark is a smiling flame. A "Fiery Joker" if you will.
- In "Taking Slice of Life Too Seriously", after the intro, he comes on wearing rose-colored glasses.
Voice of the Legion: In his review of "The Mysterious Mare Do Well", he becomes temporarily demonic when addressing people who think "figurative" and "literal" mean the same thing.
Josh: [snaps neck to the side] LOOK IT UP!!!
We Didn't Start the Billy Joel Parodies: The "Top 10 2020 FAILS" video starts with a parody song "Games Fill Us All with Ire", which lists off the topics being discussed later in the countdown.
You Talk Too Much!: Not said verbatim, but when RLYoshi shows up in "Top Ten Fighting Game Special Moves" to talk about the actual power behind Speed Zone, he gives a long and fast spiel about how he determined the force, with an increasingly confused-looking Josh interrupting:
Josh: Okay, that's a lot of big numbers... can we get some context for this?

Discussed Tropes in Josh's videos:

Alternative Character Interpretation: invoked In this video, Firebrand brings up the idea that Chrysalis' Villain Ball moments were a ploy on her part to break up the Mane 6, and thus nullify the Elements of Harmony, one of the few things that could have stopped her.
Artistic License – Military: In a collab with Silver Quill, Josh voices his grievances at the misportrayal of the military in various media, specifically citing the royal guards.
Ass Pull: invoked
- In his Kingdom Hearts II Let's Play, when he gets to The Reveal that Ansem was Xehanort's Heartless he goes on an entire rant about how Tetsuya Nomura pulled such a ridiculous plot twist out of nowhere.
- In a collab with ILoveKimPossibleAlot, he has another Kingdom Hearts-related moment — against Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance] for suddenly giving Xehanort Time Travel powers and an Assimilation Plot.
Josh: You know what was also "creative"? Making Xehanort into a time-traveling Agent Smith. It's still stupid!
Audience-Alienating Ending: invoked The subject of "Top 10 Worst Endings", with some particularly infamous candidates like Mass Effect 3. However, he notably considers the controversial ending of Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony to be worse than ME3's, and the #1 spot actually goes to the somewhat lesser known Asgard's Wrath for making all of the player's amazing adventures and lovable companions All Just a Dream.
Bestiality Is Depraved: The title card for "Top 10 Sega Fails" has a card reading "There will be no smut on THIS channel" censoring Elise kissing Sonic, and uses a line from his Major General Song to rip the implied yiff.
Boss Rush: Particularly dislikes the one from Ōkami (especially since it makes you fight Orochi a third time) and generally doesn't like it when games make these sections mandatory.
Broken Pedestal: Was very upset by Sami Zayn's Face–Heel Turn, comparing it to the Hydra Captain America plotline and felt his reasoning for becoming a heel went against his triumph at R-Evolution where he became champion by refusing to compromise his morals.
Crapola Tech: Those Xbox 360's that suffered the Red Ring of Doom, reducing them to overlarge paperweights.
Critical Dissonance: invoked His Top 10 Overhated Games list talks about ten games he feels fall victim to this trope.
Damage-Sponge Boss:
- The number one entry on Top 10 Most Annoying Bosses, Yizmat took him four hours to defeat because of how much HP it has.
- In Top 10 Games I Love and Hate, he mentions that one of his biggest problems with Dragon Ball Xenoverse was the insane amount of health enemies had.
Dark and Troubled Past: The focal point of his video essay Discussed in Lierature Hound: An insidious corruption of literary apologetics. In it, he talks about the reasons it became popular, deconstructs its flaws that can lead to a Never My Fault mindset, and how it can best be used as how people can overcome it to become better instead.
Designated Hero: invoked Anders, who Josh was just about set to like, but then there's no way to stop him [Anders] from blowing up the Chantry with massive loss of life, and he faces no consequences.
Even Evil Has Standards: In the 2022 Fails video, during the #2 section about NFT, Josh notes that NFT is such bad news that even Electronic Arts draws the line on that. They'd do any other stupid and evil mistakes, but they refuse to touch NFT at all.
God-Mode Sue: invoked Victini is this to him in one of the movies...but he's totally okay with it.
Good Is Not Nice: He likes Star Swirl the Bearded for this particular reason.
Guilty Pleasures: He personally likes the episode Feeling Pinkie Keen as shown in his Fame and Misfortune review, but admits in his "Every Episode of MLP Reviewed in 10 Words or Less" video that he does see its faults and that the episode could have been miles better.
He Panned It, Now He Sucks!: invoked
- Played for Drama in his review of Lullaby for a Princess where he stated that he doesn't enjoy this because: A. He feels left out. B. He feels like others view him as a scrooge.
- In his Top Ten First Bosses video, he has clarified (by onscreen text) that in the case of The Legend of Korra, it's okay for people to like the show, even though he personally didn't enjoy it.
Hollywood Tone-Deaf: Unless there are other elements to make them funny, poignant or otherwise entertaining, Josh is not a big fan of deliberately bad musical numbers. Three of his five least favourite MLP songs fall into this category.
Josh: Intentionally annoying is still annoying.
Hopeless Boss Fight: On a few occasions has discussed disliking this trope because you're often given no indication of when a fight falls into this category and as such it forces you to use up items you didn't need to use.
Idiot Plot: invoked He brings this up in his review of My Little Pony: The Movie (2017), stating that the entire plot hinges on characters making stupid decisions, as well as the conspicuous absence of the Royal Guard.
Large Ham: The main reason that he loves Dynasty Warriors.
Never My Fault: In Lierature Hound: An insidious corruption of literary apologetics: He explains that relying on Traumatic backstories to explain evil can fuel a worldview where crimes become justified because they were wronged.
Play the Game, Skip the Story: invoked How he feels about Kingdom Hearts, Dynasty Warriors, and Metroid: Other M.
Plot-Mandated Friendship Failure: During his review of My Little Pony: The Movie (2017), he shows that he is not fond of this trope, especially in this movie. While he did play Devil's Advocate and states that Twilight has every right to be angry after countless instances of friendship not working, he makes it clear that it doesn't make sense for Twilight to yell that she'd be better off without her friends after seven seasons (at the time) of building that very same friendship. He also unfavorably compares Twilight's outburst to Fullmetal Alchemist (2003); specifically, when Alphonse runs away from Edward after believing Barry the Chopper's lie that he was a Replacement Goldfish for the real Al.
Replacement Scrappy: invoked How he feels about Lubba for replacing Rosalina.
Seasonal Rot: invoked
- His general opinion on Square Enix is that they're no longer the company that they used to be. The last game by them that he loved was Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep and he is very upset that the company is now more focused on putting out trailers and generating hype, while choosing to develop third rate games nobody wants. Seems to have been dropped, though, as Josh made a video sponsored by them going over one of their upcoming games on February 13, 2020.
- A non-video game example but in one of his vlogs he mentions that he feels both Naruto and Bleach have gone through this. In particular he thinks Naruto went downhill after Sasuke left Hidden Leaf Village, and while he never specifies when Bleach went downhill he does say that the anime has overstayed its welcome for him.
Take That, Audience!/Take That, Critics!: Josh states that Fame and Misfortune could have been a decent, or even great episode, had these tropes not been in play.
That One Level: invoked
- Was very disappointed with La Cite Des Cloches in Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance for how it watered down the story of the movie and the fact that the player doesn't fight Frollo as a boss.
- Another Kingdom Hearts example, he doesn't like the Atlantica levels in either game. The one in the first game for bad swimming controls and the one in the second game for the annoying songs. He does hate the second game's Atlantica more, since at least the first game's version had an open environment that was still Kingdom Hearts in essence.
That One Boss: invoked
- Yiazmat from Final Fantasy XII for his insane amount of health and how it took him four f*cking hours to defeat. He even topped Josh's Top 10 Most Annoying Bosses list making it a well-known example among his older subscribers.
- Wargoyle from Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance] is a prime example of this trope in his opinion.
- Orochi from Ōkami is also this for him especially because you have to fight him THREE times.
- This was also a reason why Jasper Batt Jr. is so hated. He was a contender for Josh's Top 10 Worst Final Bosses list, that's how bad it was (beware that the video in question's an Old Shame).
Visual Effects of Awesome: invoked Loves stylized combat in video games.
Vindicated by Historyinvoked: Top Ten Games That Used To Be Hated is based around this idea, with Josh going into just why each game on the list was disliked at first, only to now be looked back on more fondly.
Unintentionally Unsympatheticinvoked:
- He considered Starlight Glimmer to be this, which had been best emphasized by his review of "The Cutie Remark":
  And yes, we get to see Starlight Glimmer's backstory. So, what terrible event caused her to believe that stripping a person of their individuality and identity was the only way to achieve true harmony and friendship? A friend got their cutie mark and had to move away... That's it?! Really? That's her excuse for starting her pseudo-Marxist cult? Good gravy! Sunset Shimmer had a better motive! Trixie had a better motive! Moondancer had a better motive, and she's not even a villain! And you know what? This backstory is actually exactly the same as another character's! Who is it you might ask? Apple Bloom! Yeah! These are exactly the same. They both had no cutie marks, they both also had a friend with no cutie marks, and they both lost the ability to hang out with said friend because of their cutie marks! Only Apple Bloom actually handled it maturely and sought out new friends. Look, I get it: people like to see characters redeemed, but only when they feel sympathetic to them; I don't feel sympathetic to Starlight at all because her motivation is so weak it makes her look like a giant woman-child!
- Top Ten Hated Characters We're Supposed To Like is a list of these characters. He discusses the trop early on.
  To clarify, a hateable character isn't inherently bad; many of the most iconic villains have little to no sympathetic qualities. We're supposed to hate them. The problem comes when we end up hating a character that the story presented as sympathetic or at least neutral. Maybe it's because they do questionable things that other characters never call them out on. Maybe it's because they get forgiven in a way that doesn't feel genuine. Maybe, and definitely the most prominent trait on this list, it's because their character development, if they get any, feels like a case of too little, too late.

KA-BOOOOOOM!!!

Creator / Josh Scorcher

Josh's Work Contains Elements Of:

Discussed Tropes in Josh's videos:

Video Example(s):

2020 Fails

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Creator / Josh Scorcher

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Josh's Work Contains Elements Of:

Discussed Tropes in Josh's videos:

Video Example(s):

2020 Fails

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Index

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2020 Fails