A review show as presented by CR! (real name: Chad Rocco) formerly on Channel Awesome.
The premise of the show is to give some insight into an under-appreciated or ill known character or series, making it one of very few internet review shows to not run on Accentuate the Negative, though regular reviews pop up on occasion so this does come up every now and then.
Along with Familiar Faces, CR also runs a show called Cheap Damage. In this show CR reviews tabletop games, more specifically ones involving trading cards or collectible pieces. Unlike Familiar Faces, he's a lot less forgiving in these reviews.
Can be found here
at his blog and here on YouTube.
This show provides examples of:
- Accentuate the Negative:
- Averted for the most part. Even if his subject matter may not have had much positive impression, he usually manages to find a good number of redeeming qualities to balance the negative.
- Played straight whenever he says anything about My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic after its season 2 finale.
- Alternate Character Interpretation:
- Thinks Goldie Gold is a self-destructive thrill-seeker with horribly skewed priorities.
- Based on his pony videos, he doesn't think too fondly of Celestia.
- April Fools' Day: As an April Fools special, he did a quick review of Cabin Boy while framing it as a forgotten live-action The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack movie.
- The Artifact: In recent years, videos directly under the Familiar Faces banner have tended to be more general reviews of obscure entertainment or newly releases shows, no longer leaning into the series' original theme of spotlighting characters.
- Author Appeal:
- Sneaks in a Patton Oswalt routine (in video and audio) every now and then, and has reviewed the comedian's work with his "Professor Dementor" and "Super Nerds" episodes.
- Has a thing for both large chested women and overall large women. A female character who is both is something he will go gaga for.
- Bait-and-Switch Comparison: When CR compares Lady Gaga with her "Moshi Monsters" counterpart, Lady Goo Goo:One is a strange little two dimensional creature that dances around half naked spewing baby talk and is constantly surrounded by outlandish environments and creatures, and the other one's a web cartoon.
- Beat Without a "But": In the review of TRUMP The Board Game, Chad Rocco notices that the "outside investor" cards serve as additional money without any cost, even though they should logically be paid back at some point... which gets him thinking about the many times the man himself cheated investors large and small out of their investments:It's funny; it's almost like he purposely sought out these smaller construction companies so he could raise the value of his property before going bankrupt, and not have to pay them anything, knowing that they couldn't afford to take him to court for very long, but that would be the work of a lying, dickless, scumbag thief! ... (Beat) ... If you're waiting for a "but", there is none... only a butt-face.
- Beauty Equals Goodness: Discussed during the crossover with the Nostalgia Critic in the episode featuring Baby Doll. When the Critic heard Killer Croc's Freudian Excuse, he said he shouldn't let his reptilian exterior make him a villain. And brought up Nightcrawler and The Thing as heroic examples. But then Chad brought up that in the DC Universe, all of the superheroes are good looking in contrast to Marvel.
- Berserk Button:
- CR does not like the Unusual Euphemisms from the Battletoads comic.
- Don't show him Gormiti. Seriously, he may burn it.
- Don't ever say a word about season 3 of MLP: FIM to him.
- Mentioning MLP's 3rd season may annoy him, but if you really want to see him blow a fuse, try defending it!
- Briar Patching: Pulls a one over the course of about five Halloween episodes in order to get a copy of the film Rockula. He meddles with supernatural affairs and defeats two supernatural beings throughout it.
- Big Beautiful Woman:
- Come up with surprising regularity throughout both his reviews and his work on DeviantArt, Such as his Valentines Day episode on Annabelle from Eek! The Cat, a brief section on Lois's massive weight gain on an episode of Family Guy during a segment in the first Familiar Face-Off, and his "Top 11 Cartoon Moms" video where he includes Lydia.
- Bigger Is Better: He becomes very excited when he sees an panel of a Ghostbusters comic depicting Janine with large breasts, which the character had lacked in most of her incarnations. He is disappointed to learn that they're fake.
- Caption Humor: Where most of Episode 8's comedy comes from.
- The Cast Show Off: You know that title card with a zillion pieces of fan art on it that look like they were cribbed from people's DeviantArt galleries? Well, you're half right. They were all cribbed from one deviantART gallery: his own. In fact, the entire series was a spinoff of a series from his deviantART where he would draw an obscure character in a different style and try to get people to guess who it was. Ironically, he admits that, having spent so much time perfecting the styles of others, he technically never developed his own style.
- Caustic Critic:
- Mostly averted. Most episodes are about characters and/or shows he actually likes, and even when they aren't, he tends to take a constructive, analytical tone (like in the "Katie Ka-Boom" episode). Every once in a while, though, he'll unleash his pent-up hostility, like in his Harlem Globetrotters Meet Snow White review.
- Played for laughs in his "Super Nerds" review, where he debates with another person on the internet (via web chat) about why "The Mysterious Mare Do Well" sucks.
CR: NO, YOU GO TO THE MOON AND GO BUCK YOURSELF!!- He's noticeably more critical in his Cheap Damage reviews, where a lot of the time he looks at poorly-made games. However, most of the time he still discusses redeemable qualities, as the debut episode of Cheap Damage opens with a rant at the over-saturation of Pokémon at the height of its popularity, and the Topps Attax baseball TCG received a scathing review from CR, explaining that the idea of a baseball-themed card game based on real-life players was a good idea, but the product failed on almost every aspect. Since then, Topps became a major target for criticism on the show.
- He hates pretty much every episode of Friendship is Magic from the 2nd season finale onwards (and later the series in general).
- Mostly averted. Most episodes are about characters and/or shows he actually likes, and even when they aren't, he tends to take a constructive, analytical tone (like in the "Katie Ka-Boom" episode). Every once in a while, though, he'll unleash his pent-up hostility, like in his Harlem Globetrotters Meet Snow White
- Crossover: With The Nostalgia Critic in an overview of the character Baby Doll from Batman: The Animated Series. Noteworthy is that this the first time CR's appeared on screen.
- Distracted by the Sexy: Ever so briefly in his "Super Nerds" review at the infamous "Booty Quake" scene from Sym-Bionic Titan. Then there is the butt shot in Animalympics.
- Dramatically Missing the Point: In their crossover, CR tries to kindly install the aesop to Critic that he shouldn't be obsessively paranoid about having his job taken away, but the Critic doesn't get it. This comes back to bite him.
- Dude, Not Funny!: CR points out his third reason for not liking Katie Kaboom from Animaniacs: "This is NOT funny. This is a family being brutally terrorized by a monster. This isn't charming or whimsical. This is ABUSE!!!"
- Ensemble Dark Horse: The series is designed to showcase lesser-known or one off characters that CR likes.
- The Faceless: For the first 35 episodes of the series, CR went without actually showing his face. This made him stand out like a sore thumb among the very camera-happy contributors on TGWTG. (Ironically, this meant that Familiar Faces was hosted by someone whose own face was not familiar to us). However, starting with his Crossover episode featuring the NC, he had his face forcefully revealed and it has remained as such ever since.
- Goth: Debunks the stereotype of the moody goth in his "Anne Gwish" review, saying that goths are plenty social and that a goth is really no different from other forms of personal expression.
- Heroic BSoD: On viewing the clip of My Little Pony Newborns in part one of his retrospective on the series, he is visibly horrified. Whether it's by the appalling quality, the complete lack of substance, the poor voice acting or all of the above, his only response is to quietly turn the video off and say he needs to go lie down. This is after he actually managed to defend some of the earlier series.
- Hypocritical Humor: During his "Super Nerds" review:CR: All right there's being a nerd and then there's being socially inept. I mean, there's no way a normal person would ever yell at anyone about something that doesn't even matter. (cut him having an angry argument over web chat about recent episodes of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic)
- I Minored in Tropology: Of a sort. In this "Rushuna Tendo" video he stated that he got an A on a college course on the history of anime and manga.
- In Name Only: Aside from the use of cars, he only manages to find one incredibly vague connection between Pole Position the game and Pole Position the TV show.
- Men Don't Cry: During the crossover with The Nostalgia Critic reviewing Baby Doll of Batman: The Animated Series, both were left with quivering lips at the
Tear Jerker ending of her first episode. Then CR coughs, and Critic says "makes you, want to lift weights". - Merchandise-Driven:
- This is a Pet-Peeve Trope for Chad. A key reason why he hates Ben 10: Alien Force and Ben 10: Ultimate Alien as well as the reason he can't enjoy Generator Rex, fearing it'll get the same treatment given that it was from the same producers of the original Ben 10.
- Hasbro has become (or may have always had been) a hot button for Chad, given his hatred over their treatment of My Little Pony and the Battleship movie.
- Interestingly enough, despite Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012) falling into this trope far more than either of its past incarnations he's actually had plenty of positive things to say about it.
- Mr. Fanservice: When his face was finally revealed, a few commenters stated how good looking they thought he was.
- Ms. Fanservice: His drawings of female characters usually pay more attention to some, uh, areas. In reviews he will often point out examples of this trope and look at why a particular character gains this reputation.
- My Sister Is Off-Limits: CR, don't hit on The Elephant in the Living Room's sister.
- Narm Charm/So Bad, It's Good:CR has shown somewhat of a soft spot for over-the-top cheesy films like Super Mario Bros. (1993), Rockula and The Man With Bogart's Face.
- Nice Guy:
- When the Critic does his usual flailing Psychopathic Manchild thing about someone else going into his territory, CR is the only one who actually asks what's actually wrong.
- Averted when it involves My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic post-Season 2. In fact, his Nice Guy demeanor compared to his loathing of the series is probably what strengthened the controversy.
- Never Trust a Title: His "Top 11 Cartoon Moms" list, should have been called "Top 11 Hottest Cartoon Moms" because their attractiveness is all he rated them on.
- Overly Long Gag: After complaining that Anna Klump from The Nutty Professor got so little character development, CR offers a wide series of questions for her. The answer is always, "Hercules, Hercules!" Then he asks what her favorite Disney movie is, and she answers "Bambi."
- Perverse Sexual Lust: It would be quite a task to list every single character CR finds attractive. Even the Green M&M catches his eye. After pointing this out, he proceeds to give a very detailed explanation as to why there's nothing wrong feeling sexual desire for fictional characters, no matter how bizarre.
- The Problem with Licensed Games: He showed extreme worry after seeing early screenshots of the Ghostbusters: The Video Game. Later finding out that this was the Wii version, upon seeing the actual screenshots for the other consoles, he decided he didn't even care if the games themselves sucked. Ironically, in the Episode 1 commentary, he admitted that he ended up liking the Wii version better.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Forms this dynamic with The Nostalgia Critic in the "Baby Doll" episode. Of course, given NC's usual demeanor, there's really no argument as to who's whom.
- Reality Is Unrealistic: He jokes about the "Lion King" music at Beginning of Frozen despite it being set in Norway. The music is actually a traditional Sami chant, Sami being a group of indigenous people in Scandinavia - where the movie takes place.
- Running Gag: The M. Bison "OF COURSE!"
- Sand In My Eyes: In the "Baby Doll" episode, both him and The Nostalgia Critic are visibly stunned and tearing up at the finale of Baby Doll's intro episode. They both pretend to be nonchalant about it.
- The Scrappy: Hates a few characters that pop up, like Katie Kaboom and the Junior Ghostbusters.
- In his mother's day special, he calls Lois Griffin a bitch.
- He does not like Princess Cadence. There's an entire video in which he plays a flash game based on the tossing scene from her debut episode where he throws her to the ground on purpose. He even lost interest in the comics (which he still liked even after disowning the show) solely because she started appearing on them.
- Also his latest 5 second character video on Celestia might show his dislike of her character completely.
- His assessment of Goldie Gold was that she was a decadent Rich Bitch.
- They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: Generally dislikes the numerous changes and additions done to My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic from season 1 onward, such as Princess Luna's redesign, the introduction of Shining Armor and Cadence, and the transformation of Twilight Sparkle from a unicorn to an alicorn. The latter was apparently the last straw.
- Shared Universe: Because of his cameos and occasional crossovers, he's considered part of the Reviewaverse.
- Shipper on Deck: Chad ships DATR, Skilene, BenderxAmy, TrixiexTimmy, SpongeBobxSandy, Dippifica and PeridotxTom Servo
- Shown Their Work: And how! He not only does research for the character itself, but the show he or she stars in, such as in terms of creators' background, historical context, popular impact, and sometimes even voice actors.
- Stealth Insult: His reaction to the season 3 finale on Tumblr.
- Stealth Pun: In the first part of his My Little Pony retrospective, he uses the traditional M. Bison "OF COURSE!" clip when referring to the motivation of some early-series antagonists. However, for the visuals, he uses chief Thunderhooves, a character from My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic who is an actual bison.
- Title Confusion: In his My Little Pony retrospective, he refers to Star Trek: The Next Generation as Star Trek: Generations a couple of times.
- Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny:
- The invoked purpose of the Familiar Face Off segments. Currently pitted against each other are:
- Marge Simpson and Lois Griffin. Winner: Marge.
- Killer Tomatoes and Killer Klowns. Winner: The Klowns.
- The invoked purpose of the Familiar Face Off segments. Currently pitted against each other are:
- Unfazed Everyman: When a spooky Goosebumps mask comes to life (even if CR himself planned it) and states his plans on possessing CR to take over the world, he quickly gets over an initial state of shock to question the logic of it. He also takes being spontaneously kidnapped by an evil spirit pretty well.
- World of Weirdness: The Reviewaverse. The weirdness only pops up occasionally since it's mostly an audio show.
- Viewers Are Geniuses: How many people actually knew why he feigned disgust at the term "winking out" in his My Little Pony retrospective?
