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Arcade Craniacs

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Arcade Craniacs (Web Video)

Arcade Craniacs is an American vlog channel that is known for its satirical and ironic content. The videos often mock or reference ongoing internet memes and trends at the time. The channel was created in 2017, run by Edward Centeno and his then-girlfriend Nicole Carreon. Currently, only Edward maintains it.

The channel gained its highest level of popularity in 2021, when commentary YouTubers (most notably Cr1TiKaL) reacted to their videos, some not realizing that they were satirical. The boost of exposure caused them to receive more viewers become a meme on the internet, as out of context clips of the channel would often make the rounds on Twitter. However, the channel's fame dried up after it was found Edward was guilty of grooming Nicole, having started a relationship when she was a sixteen year old girl and he was an adult. This caused a drop in subscribers, and the view count was affected. Nicole left the channel afterwards.

In spite of the controversy, Edward still makes videos to this day and has a booming fanbase. He has hired a revolving case of replacement hosts as his partners (most notably Howl and Mr. Gus). As of current, his channel sits at five million subscribers.

Here is his Instagram.

Has examples of:

  • Affectionate Parody: Around the 2020s, there was a rise in You Tube channels aimed at children where hosts claimed to investigate paranormal incidents related to fictional characters by calling phone numbers late at night, most notably ImJayStation and N&A Productions. Edward lampoons this by doing the same thing, except the fictional characters are implied to be his sexual interests/ex-partners or not "scary" as they appear to be.
  • Ambiguously Bi: Edward himself is dating Nicole, but admits that the Imposter (who is referred to with he/him pronouns) "has a fat ass and he wants to smack it". In another video, Edward says he wants to take a bath with Barney the Dinosaur.
  • Artistic License – Music: Edward and Nicole refer to their BTS doll as "John Koo", but there is no member named that. They likely mean Jungkook.
  • Blatant Lies: At one point, Edward gifts the Imposter a painting he made. When Nicole yells that she made it, he screams at her to shut up.
  • Brainwashed and Crazy: After Edward drinks the potion that comes with the McDonald's BTS meal, he becomes brainwashed into becoming a BTS stan and can't think of anything else other than the band. He tries to force Nicole to become a BTS stan too, but she fights him off.
  • Catchphrase: Edward often breaks the fourth wall by exclaiming "YOU GUYS!".
  • Massive Numbered Siblings: John Koo, the sentient BTS doll of Jungkook, has six siblings also named John Koo and twin brother named Brian.
  • Running Gag: Edward falling in love with the supernatural entity summoned, or being revealed to have some sort of sexual history with them. Canonically, he has dated the Imposter before and has an attraction to Barney the Dinosaur.
  • The Scream: One video has Edward unbox a package that is said to contain something utterly terrifying. It turns out to be a job application, and Edward howls like he's being stabbed as he shows it to the audience.
  • Shout-Out:
    • When the Imposter arrives to Edward's house, one of the things he does is listen to DaBaby.
    • In one video, Edward observes a Chucky doll through security cameras and is shocked when it comes to life, a nod to the ever-popular Five Nights at Freddy's 1 franchise where the animatronics reveal their sapience late at night and try to attack the player. If that wasn't on the nose enough, Edward and Nicole have to search for five missing children, while in that game there were five kids murdered by the serial killer Michael Afton.
  • Take That!:
    • When Edward catches the Imposter watching David Dobrik apology videos, he says that nobody cared about apology videos anymore, especially Dobrik's.
    • Nicole in one video:
    Someone really needs to punch out Jake Paul!

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