YMMV / Brian David Gilbert

• Alternate Aesop Interpretation: Some viewers who listened to "Pumpkin Cowboy" thought the song was about the dangers of pacifism and the inevitability of violence saving the day; as Pumpkin Cowboy is unable to reason with the sadistic Cowboy Cat and saves his pregnant cow by running Cowboy Cat through with his own knife. Others thought that was far from the message, as it's ambiguous whether or not Pumpkin Cowboy meant to kill Cowboy Cat, since the song only described PC desperately running at him and the knife being tossed to the side in the scuffle.
• Awesome Music:
  • His video cover letter for Polygon is a really upbeat tune where Brian energetically explains his credentials, complete with some impressive editing.
  • "Just One Day" is a very smooth pastiche of R&B Boy Bands, with some impressive (and lampshaded) riffing sections.
  • AAAH!BBA is a five-song album of ABBA cover songs as performed by various Halloween monsters.
  • RGSS is a super-catchy song with some beautiful melodies between Brian and Karen, in spite of the fact that the only lyrics are "roasted garlic summer sausage."
• Heartwarming Moments: The end of his video resume for Polygon goes into a tender speech about why Brian respects Polygon's creative spirit so much, explaining that the company's video content has helped him feel less nervous and he hopes to put out content that does the same for others.
  The fact is, I love Polygon
  And all the strange and magic videos you put on
  You push the envelope with things unique and new, and that's why weird creators gravitate to you
  Though the videos you make seem like they might not amount to much
  Your videos have helped me way more times than I can count, and such
  A harmless source of joy is something I want to contribute to
  And if you give me such a chance, I promise I will follow through
  And help create something good as series like these
  Things that help an anxious guy like me feel at ease
  You built a great community, I'd love to do the same
  And together we can do much more than a video about a game
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Two in his video essay for Polygon:
  • He stops the video and admits that he doesn't see much relevance in his degree in cognitive science and writing seminars, though he mentions maybe he could use the writing knowledge. Once he gets the job with Unraveled, it becomes a running theme that Brian shoehorns literary and artistic terminology into unexpected video game contexts, like using the monomyth to understand the plot of Kingdom Hearts or trying to turn the Pokérap into a gesamtkunstwerk.
  • When listing his favorite Nintendo characters, he makes a point to shove Luigi aside and instead list Waluigi twice. This love gets expanded upon in "Waluigi Unraveled," in which Brian discovers that Waluigi is just Luigi's Split Personality, and Brian has more in common with the cowardly green plumber than his beloved bad boy.
• Narm Charm: "Pumpkin Cowboy" by all accounts should be too ridiculous to take seriously. It's a bunch of dollar-store figurines being moved around on strings in front of an obvious green screen to enact an epic Western musical. And yet, the storytelling is so engrossing that you can't help but get invested in it.
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • "Earn 20K EVERY MONTH by being your own boss" initially appears to be a cheesy parody of self-employment programs, but halfway through it takes a turn for Surreal Horror. Ominous Visual Glitches begin to overtake the video and the audio becomes more broken as Brian breaks down wondering where the hell his money is coming from. He ventures into the dark forest to find the mysterious "Dorian Smiles" behind this program, and as he approaches the strange figure, the audio gets mangled further. Smiles appears to be a wide-eyed duplicate of Brian, who puppets Brian from a distance. When Smiles covers his mouth, Brian covers his own against his will; Smiles removes his hands from his face with a wide grin, and Brian removes his hands to reveal he has no mouth, as the camera glitches out and smashes to black. It ends with Brian (or possibly Smiles controlling Brian) soullessly smiling into the camera, asking the viewer, "Why don't you join me?" on a loop.
  • "Teaching Jake about the Camcorder, Jan '97" has a creepy atmosphere due to its Found Footage style and the gradual realization Jake's dad has that the tape is being constantly replayed in an effort to make up for lost time. During one of the loops, the dad just starts screaming in pain with no context whatsoever. Alongside "Earn 20K EVERY MONTH," it's one of the few BDG videos with almost no comedy whatsoever, just straight Surreal Horror.
  • "we like watching birds" jumps from a fairly cute song about birdwatching into a strange cultish chant, cutting to a picture of a robin with a single eye edited onto its head, staring straight at the screen in a jarring, creepy manner.
• Paranoia Fuel: The creepy song "we like watching birds" ends with the declaration that birds also like watching you. The same birds that are established earlier in the video to be messengers of some mysterious wrathful bird god.
• Tear Jerker:
  • "Teaching Jake about the Camcorder, Jan '97" quickly turns into a sad video. It begins as normal video footage of a dad showing his son how to use a camcorder, but as the video rewinds, the dad becomes more somber and speaks to the modern day Jake, trying to convince him to stop replaying the video and just move on. It's implied that Jake (if it is Jake watching the video) is rewinding the video some time after his father has passed away, and this is the only way to keep him "alive."
    Jake's father: (on the verge of tears) Jake, I don't know what you hope to gain from watching this but it's not going to bring me back!
  • "i wish that i could wear hats" starts as a goofy song about how Brian looks silly wearing hats before seamlessly transitioning into a metaphor about self-confidence, body positivity, and societal pressure. It's very candid, and bound to get you in the feels if those are things you've been struggling with.
  • "Don't Tell Your WIFE About This Game!" is another song that starts as a Take That! toward 18+ game ads, but midway through it reveals that it is about keeping secrets in a dying and unsatisfied marriage, with the different ads begging the person viewing them not to tell their wife what he's looking at because it would break her heart. The video ends with him downloading the game anyway. A Freeze-Frame Bonus makes it worse by revealing that he already played it in the past.

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