Big things are happening on TV Tropes! New admins, new designs, fewer ads, mobile versions, beta testing opportunities, thematic discovery engine, fun trope tools and toys, and much more - Learn how to help here and discuss here.
"Welcome back to Ben Rants, and when I was a kid..."
Ben Rants is a internet rant series created by Ben Tannehill. The series initially debuted in April 10th, 2009 under Ben's PuffyZillaman4 account.Ben Rants consisted of several different topics in it's initial run, such as rants on TV shows, movies, lists of favorite TV shows and movies and occasionally giving out his thoughts on topics (and one singing segment that Ben deeply regrets).Because Ben couldn't log in on his PuffyZillaman4 account, Ben Rants was put on hiatus for weeks after his infamous rant on The Looney Tunes Show leading to speculation that his videos had ended for good. But Ben created a new channel called Benthelooney and the series resumed on July 26th, 2011 after a month and a half hiatus. After 90 videos, Ben Rants finally ended production in December of 2011 with very little fanfare, because Ben wanted to retire from ranting and focus on positive videos. Two months later, after a surprisingly large amount of fan requests and Ben Tannehill discovering new topics to talk about, the show was put back into production on February 10, 2012. Ben later retired Ben T. Looney on 13th December, 2013 (although this time because Ben will be too busy pursuing his dreams of being an animator at college) but will continue production on videos as himself for the sixth and last season. But then he decided to bring back Ben T. Looney one last time until June. The series officially ended on June 6, 2014.Watch his videos here. See his older videos here.
Early Installment Weirdness: The first few Ben Rants didn't have an Author Avatar on screen and were notably calmer in tone. Before Ben started making rants, he would post videos of his DVD collection, Tom and Jerry title cards, a video showcasing his characters, a Godzilla tribute, and funny pictures with captions to go with them.
Gosh Dang It to Heck!: Ben doesn't swear in his videos. Instead, he uses words that rhyme with swears in their place. (Ex. spit, truck, witch, etc.) Even more so in the revival. He doesn't mind saying "Gay" though.
Neb also constitutes as this (though that's the point).
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Ben in the original run. While in some videos he could get very opinionated and some facts wrong, he mostly dealt with his haters in a polite and mature manner (Much like he did in real life). The original finale "Ben Strikes Back" paints a complete picture that Ben was indeed this.
Neb, however, is an even bigger one, to the point where it seems like all "child" and no "man."
Mean Character, Nice Actor: Ben Tannehill himself, is much more soft spoken, reasonable, and open minded than his Obnoxious Character.
For those of you who still have doubts, the video "The Differences Between Ben T. Looney and Me," pretty much compares his Ben Tannehill's opinions with those of Ben T. Looney. If you happen to be a fan of Pixar, Seth Mac Farlane, or Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy, you can rest a little easier once you see that. Also, the "Pixar Rant Aftermath" video.
Nostalgia Filter: Pre-Cancellation only. This is averted in the revival, because Ben goes out of his way to criticize a lot of shows/animes that he grew up with and previously liked.
Wordof God says that he realised he can't judge shows based on their time period, which is why he scrapped this upon the return of his rants.
Prank Call: Looney T. Ben pranks calls them in one video.
Sell Out: Ben Tannehill is often considered this by many of his former fanbase and has been since the 2012 return of his rants for the sake of Ben T Looney's flanderization, change in rants formula, contradicting former opinions (Disliking Phineas and Ferb, Mad, Pokemon and liking Adventure Time and Regular Show), jumping on bandwagons and making Ben T. Looney more like The Nostalgia Critic. One that is reviled among many previous fans is his "character" excuse which in itself is flanderized from the original claim that he was "acting".
Spiritual Successor: Chris Lee's Moore TV Trash, even though it premiered around the same time that Ben's first run rants were being made, can be seen as this due to The Rowdy Reviewer featuring similar characterization, jokes and focus on subject he is ranting on as Ben did in the first run of his rants. (Seeing as Ben became largely different after uncancelling his rants)
Ben T Looney's voice started out as relatively calm, but eventually progressed into being louder and more aggressive.
A second voice change happened in 2013 after Ben Rants went on a hiatus (which was the first time since the rants were cancelled in 2011) and Ben decided to put a cartoony spin on the character's voice when he got a new microphone.