
PieGuyRulz is a YouTuber known for reviewing cartoons and entertainment marketed towards children, primarily Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network. His account on YouTube began on April 9, 2008 and since then he has grown a loyal fanbase, with over 50,000 subscribers.
Regarding the name PieGuyRulz, it was initially created for Cartoon Orbit with its random name generator (at least the Pie-Guy part, anyway). The name he goes by in Real Life is A.J.
His currently recurring videos include:
- Every Episode of ____ Reviewed!note : Pie Guy reviews every episode of a TV series, and concludes the episode review by giving it ranking on whether it is good, average, or bad. Series that have been featured include SpongeBob SquarePants* , Teen Titans, and Adventure Time.
- Spongey Bits
: Pie Guy takes smaller chunks out of his big SpongeBob seasonal reviews and elaborates on them, such as all of the Scumbob episodes of seasons 1-3.
- Square Theory
: Pie Guy theorizes about some of the broader aspects of SpongeBob.
- Spongey Bits
- Bottom of the Bakery
: Here, he reviews awful episodes of Schneider's Bakery shows.
- Bizarro Bakery
: Where he reviews Schneider's Bakery episodes that have the same concept as episodes featured on Bottom of the Bakery, but with better execution.
- Bizarro Bakery
- TVlogs
: PieGuy's first impressions of individual TV show episodes. Previously, he did videos for entire series, episode-by-episode, such as Avatar: The Legend of Korra
and Adventure Time.
- Network Upfronts: At the beginning of every year, he looks at Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network's upcoming releases and reacts to the news. Serves as a replacement for his State of the Network Addresses (see below)
- Stupid Arguments:
He analyzes and deconstructs certain arguments like "Don't Like, Don't Watch" and "It's Just For Kids," explaining why they aren't good to use.
- Kids Choice Awards Videos
: These videos consist of him voting for the yearly Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards. Since 2015, Erin, his girlfriend/artist, has joined him for these videos. Hilarity Ensued.
- DVD and Blu-Ray Reviews
: Pie-Guy reviews DVDs and Blu-Rays.
His short-run and/or discontinued videos include:
- College Confessions
: The personal account of his horrible time at "University X" consisting of terrible roommates, bad professors, and annoying students.
- Topic of Discussion
: Pie Guy picks a topic and discusses it, be it Movies, TV Shows, Video Games, etc.
- Holiday Themed Reviews: Each time a particular holiday rolled around, he reviewed certain cartoon episodes relating to said holiday. For example, he did December with Christmas specials
, February with Valentines Day episodes
, and the week of March 14th (Pi Day) for Pie-Themed episodes
(he is PIEGUYRULZ, of course).
- Universal Theory: PieGuy theorized about Steven Universe.
- The State of the Network Address
: At the end of every year, he looked at The Other Wiki article that showed which series were currently running on Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network, and remarked upon it.
- His Own Animations
: Made for art class in college.
- Network Rants: Ranting about various issues with Nickelodeon
, Cartoon Network
, and even the Disney Channel
. These are some of his earliest videos.
- Animal Crossing Wild World Abridged
: The Abridged Series of Animal Crossing Wild World. These are some of his very first videos. Now with it's own page!
His main YouTube channel is located here.
His Let's Play and Livestream YouTube channel is located here.
His Twitter profile is located here.
His Twitch account is located here
His DeviantArt account is located here.
His girlfriend/artist's DeviantArt account is located here.
Tropes relating to PIEGUYRULZ:
- Accentuate the Negative: He doesn't do this as much as other reviewers do, but the last minute or so of his Awesomeness TV Rant
must be seen to be believed.
I haven't gotten this angry in a really long time, guys.- His entire
Problem Solverz Rant
IS this.
I've never seen a show so disgusting, unappealing, ugly, not funny, weird, stupid, or SEIZURE INDUCING as this one. I'd rather go back to reviewing comic books than watch this show. - In his collaboration with The Mysterious Mr. Enter on "Truth or Square"
, he claims that the Patchy segments are essential to understand just how BAD the episode is.
Pie Guy: To really understand how BAD this thing is, you NEED the Patchy stuff.Mr. Enter: Fair enough, I guess.
- His entire
- Adaptation Dye-Job: His avatar's hair is a lighter shade of brown than he has in Real Life, which is much closer to black. note
- Afraid of Needles: See Berserk Button below for greater detail.
- And Now For Something Completely Different: His musical number in his SpongeBob Season 5 Review
about Atlantis SquarePantis is this. There's even a Lampshade Hanging.
Pie Guy: Well that was different.- His Topic of Discussion on Chipotle
.
Pie Guy: This topic is something that's gonna come right out of left field. - His Topic of Discussion on Chipotle
- Animesque: Erin's art is VERY animesque.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Regarding The Irate Gamer in his 2AM Q&A stream:He makes terrible videos... His attitude in general is pretty terrible... Also, he believes in ghosts.
- Art Evolution: Over the course of his SpongeBob reviews, the graphics used when he declares an episode to be a ScumBob episode have gotten more stylized.
- As a whole, the art for his SpongeBob Reviews have become much more detailed since they began.
- In fact, all of his videos have gotten a lot more visually interesting over time.
- His PieCons were first redesigned in his Henry Danger rant, uploaded July 2015. They became less Animesque and more Western-style.
- As of September 2018, the PieCons were redesigned again, courtesy of Kuro the Artist. They are back to being Animesque, but with a noticeably different style that is more refined and consistent than that of the previous PieCons.
- The Artifact: His old channel guide
was pretty outdated, with it still being used as his channel trailer despite many series mentioned in it being discontinued or put to the wayside. Luckily, this has been averted with his new channel trailer
.
- April Fools' Day: He has done these types of videos in 2009,
2011,
& 2013
.
- Batman Gambit: In his Fairly Odd Baby Rant
he references the trope word-for-word regarding Timmy's plan.
- Berserk Button: While he's all Tranquil Fury in the video, the way he describes it in College Confessions #3
he and sharp objects have an...interesting relationship.
I jump straight onto a thumbtack sticking up. I am terrified of needles. This was a very bad experience for me. If he (his roommate) had been there, he would have heard my wrath.— Describing an incident in college.- Not to mention this little doozy from his Splinter Rant
Especially for someone like me, who's terrified of needles and sharp objects, seeing the very real pain of getting a splinter on SpongeBob is just so agonizing.- He ends his second rant
on Teen Titans Go! with an increasingly angry verbal smack down for the episode "Let's Get Serious", which he views as a clueless Take That! to fans of the original cartoon who criticize Go! for being too silly.
- In general, creators who Can't Take Criticism seem to annoy him.
- This video
about Nickelodeon disrespecting Stephen Hillenberg's wishes against a Spongebob spin-off, followed by Paul Tibbitt confirming he would've hated it, was enough to bring Pie Guy out of semi-retirement and deliver the most visceral outrage he's had in years. The sincerity in his voice about Nickelodeon's greed and how it's obvious that they waited for Hillenberg to die to start the spin-off makes every other rant he's ever done look like nothing.
- Not to mention this little doozy from his Splinter Rant
- Beware the Nice Ones: He's usually very nice and calm, but when he's really angry about something, he gives it a No Holds Barred Beat Down.
- The Cameo: His girlfriend/artist makes a brief appearance in his "I'm With Stupid" crossover
- A clip from his Incredible Crew review was used in RebelTaxi's Incredible Crew review
- His intro line and some of the PieCons were used in the YouTube Poop "Star Shrek- The Next Generation"
(at about 2:25)
- Pie-Guy featured a video on his Twitter that (technically) features him called "Who Put You on The Planet? (featuring PIEGUYRULZ)"
- He played a brief voice role in the episodes "Aaah, Shaddap!"
and "What's in a Name?"
of cartoonlover98's Doodle Toons series.
- A clip from his Incredible Crew review was used in RebelTaxi's Incredible Crew review
- Catchphrase: "Hey guys, PieGuyRulz here."
- Central Theme: In his "Every Episode of SpongeBob SquarePants Reviewed" series, the background layout for each season is themed after a certain character (Special episodes or episodes over 11 minutes get their own layouts respectively themed after them, though).
- Season 1 is themed after SpongeBob himself.
- Season 2 is themed after Patrick.
- Season 3 is themed after Squidward.
- Season 4 is themed after Mr. Krabs.
- Season 5 is themed after Sandy.
- Season 6 is themed after Plankton.
- Season 7 is themed after Gary.
- Season 8 is themed after Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy.
- Season 9 is themed after Karen.
- Interestingly, both 9A and 9B each have different variants that are based on both of the forms Karen has taken. 9A is based more on her wall monitor form, while 9B is based on her mobile form.
- Season 10 is themed after Mrs. Puff.
- Complaining About Shows You Don't Watch: He admits in
his Cartoon Network Rant Retrospective
that he didn't even watch most of the shows he was critiquing.
- Crossover: He did a co-review
with Wiley1080 (now Wiley Koyote) of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.
- Pie Guy did a two
part
Let's Play of Monkey Quest with Wiley on his channel.
- Wiley also joined him for his now-taken-down Plot Points series.
- He also did a debate video
with The Mysterious Mr. Enter about SpongeBob's "I'm With Stupid" episode.
- And on Mr. Enter's channel, they did a review
together of Truth or Square.
- And on Mr. Enter's channel, they did a review
- With fellow YouTube user Nathaniel Bandy, he was in the two
part
Reaction to MK8 DLC 2 video, alongside Jacob of The Nintendo Project.
- Pie-Guy was also in his two
part
"Trying Hyrule Castle/Peach Castle 64" video.
- In addition to that, he was the narrator for Nate's video "How Will Nathaniel Rage?? Super Mario 64: Chaos Edition"
- He later hosted an episode
of "Smash and Compare" on Nate's channel.
- On October 25th, 2015, he joined Nathaniel Bandy for a Twitch stream of Splatoon and Mario Maker.
- Similarly, he was in Nate's stream of the Splatoon SpongeBob SquarePants Splatfest (and later Mario Kart 8) on April 15th, 2016.
- Again on April 29th, with Splatoon, Mario Kart 8, Super Monkey Ball 2, and Terraria.
- And on May 12, as Nate played the Super Mario 64 hack "Star Road"
- Pie-Guy was also in his two
- He discussed Reboots and Sequels in a podcast
with Phoenixpen.
- They also talked about a week of new Steven Universe episodes in a video
on Pie-Guy's channel.
- Then they got together again for a The Powerpuff Girls podcast where they discussed episodes of the original show. (Part 1,
Part 2
)
- They later did a similar discussion
for the first 12 episodes of the PPG reboot.
- Then they talked about the Steven Universe event "In Too Deep" in a two
part
discussion video.
- They also talked about a week of new Steven Universe episodes in a video
- With cartoon reviewer Eye Of Sol, he did a discussion video
about Pixar in the 2010s.
- Hosts a podcast called "RE-Cast", with Monsters Review as his co-host. The podcast also frequently features guests in some episodes, such as Nathaniel Bandy, Cosmodore, and even Chuggaaconroy.
- He was a guest in an episode
of AniMat's Crazy Cartoon Cast (though only his voice was heard).
- Pie Guy did a two
- Curse Cut Short: In his co-review
of Truth or Square with The Mysterious Mr. Enter, there's this exchange:
Mr. Enter: We cut right back to the Rolodex.Pie Guy: Motherfu-! - Darker and Edgier: The PieCons when he "gets serious" in Teen Titans Go! Rant 2: Let's Get Serious
- Double Standard: His problem with the Teen Titans episode "Forces of Nature". As far as he's concerned, Starfire is nothing more than a petty hypocrite for the majority of the episode.
- Early Installment Weirdness: In his first couple of SpongeBob season reviews, he ended each episode segment with "Was this episode (joke relating to the episode that amounts to it being good) or was it (joke relating to the episode that amounts to it being ScumBob)?"
- Easter Egg: His Season 6 SpongeBob Review has one during The Splinter segment. When he declares that the episode is a ScumBob episode, a link to RebelTaxi's channel pops up over the picture of SpongeBob's Splinter Finger.
- Flipping the Bird: He actually doesn't do it of course, but in his SpongeBob Season 6 Review
he calls the cheapness of the show despite its enormous profit note "the ultimate middle finger to the audience"
- In his commentary for his SpongeBob Season 8 review, he originally considered having the Scum Bob version of the glove used in the 'Glove World R.I.P.' be it giving the middle finger, but ultimately decided against it as he considered it too inappropriate for his channel, so he decided to do the more light-hearted thumbs-down.
- Flying Face: When in PieCon form, he's just
a floating head.
With a disk attached to his behind
. Don't worry though, he locks up the disk
whenever he leaves.
- From Bad to Worse: In his Bottom of the Bakery Pilot
he mentions that Sam & Cat is a show that it "starts off very mediocre and then ends up completely in the garbage."
- He also feels this way about post-movie SpongeBob, where his previous worst episode was Atlantis Squarepantis, until his Season 6 Review
where The Splinter brought back a traumatic experience.
- This also applies to "Teen Titans Go!" When he first reviewed it, he claimed that it was simply mediocre and the only insulting thing about it was that it was based on the original Teen Titans. In his second rant, he says that it went from that to downright failing as a series and attacking anyone who wants it to be different.
- He also feels this way about post-movie SpongeBob, where his previous worst episode was Atlantis Squarepantis, until his Season 6 Review
- Fun with Acronyms: Operation B.I.R.T.H.D.A.Y. R.E.V.I.E.W.
note
- George Lucas Altered Version: He plans on doing this to his reviews of SpongeBob seasons 1-3. Some of the proposed changes include: Inserting the PieCons (which first appeared in the Season 4 review), making new pictures for the episodes (in the original reviews they were just Photoshopped Wikimedia images), listing the airing order (first done in the Season 3 review), and adding the alarm clock for episodes less than 11 or 22 minutes (created for the Season 5 shorts). He won't be changing his opinion from the original reviews (that's what Spongey Bits is for), nor will he be deleting the originals from YouTube.
- Godwin's Law: Subverted in his "iOMG" review. In this episode, Carly locks Spencer in a chamber and gasses him with horrible stimuli unexpectedly, which Pieguy compares to...GLaDOS.
- Gosh Darn It to Heck!: In College Confessions #3,
he says "Jackbutt" note
- And in his Truth Or Square video game livestream
, he exclaimed "Crumbs!"
- Special mention must be given for how he actually averts this while still not cursing at all note He somehow finds a way to make the term "as all get-out" sound natural and not like an obvious euphemism.
- And in his Truth Or Square video game livestream
- Gushing About Shows You Like: The first
three
seasons
of his SpongeBob reviews are mostly this.
- He goes pretty deep into how great Dunces and Dragons is in his Season 4 review
. (15:22 for the review.)
- He spends five minutes gushing over No Hat For Pat in his Season 6 review
(1:16:55 if the link doesn't send you there.).
- Intro to Community
has him doing this to Community, as it is his favorite live-action TV show.
- He goes pretty deep into how great Dunces and Dragons is in his Season 4 review
- Hate Dumb: In his FAQ video
, he addresses a question asking "Why do you watch cartoons even though you're like twenty?" Some will criticize him for reviewing something that wasn't designed for him or simply having another opinion. The worst it's gotten is in his Anita Sarkeesian Rant
where he mentioned via the comment section that he had to delete a handful of comments for being blind haters. He usually wouldn't mention this, but his reasoning was he didn't want to ignore criticism like Anita does on her YouTube channel and Twitter account.
- Helium Speech: While it doesn't actually involve helium, his voice gets gradually higher-pitched for a brief bit during his Spongey Bits Review of "All That Glitters"
- Hell-Bent for Leather: He has a rather nice jacket, shown in the epilogue for his Season 7 review.
- Incredibly Long Note: In his SpongeBob Season 5 Review
his Atlantis SquarePantis song ends with the stretching out of the word "ScumBob".
- The Intern: From Spring to September 2015, he was interning at a production company that makes training videos and other corporate stuff.
- Joisey: He said in one of his livestreams that he hates this trope, since he comes from New Jersey.
- Also, there's this bit from his Operation B.I.R.T.H.D.A.Y. R.E.V.I.E.W.
:
Pie-Guy: And there's a reference to Jersey being in the toilet. Ha, ha, ha.- Discussed again in Part 2
of his and Phoenixpen's Steven Universe: In Too Deep discussion, regarding the Jersey joke in the episode Same Old World.
Pie-Guy: I jokingly call this episode "Same Old Jersey" - Also, there's this bit from his Operation B.I.R.T.H.D.A.Y. R.E.V.I.E.W.
- Meaningful Rename: From College Confessions #1Hey guys... PieGuyRulz isn't here right now. No, A.J. is speaking right now. Me, as a person, not as a YouTuber, as a person.
- Nice Hat: His Back to the Future Part II hat, among others. note
- From December 30, 2012 to January 18, 2013, all his videos had him wearing a black cap. According to his FAQ video,
this was because of a bad haircut.
- From December 30, 2012 to January 18, 2013, all his videos had him wearing a black cap. According to his FAQ video,
- Only Known by Their Nickname: This used to apply to him up until he revealed his first name (Alex) in Topic of Discussion #2
and used his initials (A.J.) in his College Confessions series.
- Only the Creator Does It Right: In-Universe, he feels this way about The Powerpuff Girls after Craig McCracken left, noting that a lot of the heart had gone and the series severely declined in quality afterwards.
- Also, he thinks this about Dan Harmon's fourth season absence from Community.
- OOC Is Serious Business: He goes to great lengths at the end of his SpongeBob Movie Review
to show exactly what the characters' personalities are and how they should act.
- Pie in the Face: In
the Season 6 Review
epilogue, someone from Nickelodeon note does this to him. It is hilarious.
- Precision F-Strike: He doesn't swear that much in his videos, but according to College Confessions #3
, he uttered an "expletive" at his second roommate.
- Public Service Announcement: He can't think of anything else to call his video on The Dangers of Overly Positive Fan Discussion Sites
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Despite PieGuy himself normally avoiding blowing up at cartoons, he does deliver one to the Teen Titans Go! in his "Let's Get Serious" rant:Pie Guy: But fine, Teen Titans Go!. If you would like me to get serious, I can get serious. Your show is incredibly stupid. All of the characters are indistinguishable and infantile. All of your plotlines feel like they were written by a fifth-grader and the characters don't care about them, so the audience doesn't care about them. All of your jokes fall completely flat because everyone sees them coming and there's NOTHING to contrast them against. The ONLY reason why this show is continuing to go on is because it is cheap to make and has brand recognition because of the great show that was the ORIGINAL Teen Titans. Your show in what is only the most ironic of ironies, is nothing but a JOKE to the animation industry! You are the equivalent of a Chinese knock-off of an action figure! You took the name of something we loved, you took the likenesses but you managed to screw up EVERY LITTLE DETAIL ABOUT THEM. It's not that we want the show to be more serious, it's that we want the show to be less moronic! The show cannot comprehend the basics of comedy, OR telling a story! Even the most serious episodes of the original Teen Titans are more funny than THIS!
- Refuge in Audacity: His main complaint with The Splinter
is that it lacks this.
There's no refuge in audacity. In cartoon violence, if you see someone get dropped off of a cliff and flattened by a steamroller, that's funny. That's not painful to you because you've never experienced it. You'd be dead if you did. But this, getting a splinter and not being able to get it out, is a very real pain. - Running Gag: His love for pie.
- Roger Rabbit Effect: Discussed in his "Grow Up Timmy Turner" video,
in which he states that CGI Cosmo & Wanda would have been better if they were traditionally animated.
- Self-Deprecation: Averted. At the end of his Problem Solverz Rant
he says that he would have made fun of using a "Z" instead of "S" but decided against it.
- Silly Song: He sings a song out of nowhere in his SpongeBob Season 5 review
for Atlantis SquarePantis
- So Okay, It's Average: His opinion of the eighth season of SpongeBob SquarePants. It evens out on everything: 16 "Good" episodes on the cusp of "Meh" (except It's a SpongeBob Christmas and Frozen Face-Off, both of which he found superb), 16 "Scumbob" episodes that weren't too awful (except Demolition Doofus and Are You Happy Now?), and 15 "Meh" episodes that teetered towards one or the other.
- Slapstick: PieGuy says that his whipped cream video
is this in his 2 Year Anniversary Special.
- Special Guest: Erin, his girlfriend and artist, votes with him for the 2015 Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards
.
- Sucky School: "University X" from his College Confessions series
. First roommate turned their room into party-central, second roommate sold drugs right in plain sight. Some students would just barge into other people's rooms unannounced, and others bragged about stealing toliet paper. The English teacher apparently thought Constructive Criticism wasn't a thing anymore and the Computers professor decided to preach about politics. Don't worry, though. He's not going there anymore.
- Super-Deformed: The PieCons (especially the ones with him getting angry) before the redesign.
- Terrible Artist: He's extremely grateful that he has Erin to do art for him, because... This
was his attempt at drawing Ronaldo for his first Steven Universe Character Review
- Let's not forget about his Gravity Falls doodles
- Let's not forget about his Gravity Falls doodles
- Vague Age: His age was stated as "20-something" up until he celebrated his 21st birthday in Operation B.I.R.T.H.D.A.Y. R.E.V.I.E.W.
note
- Vanity Plate: During his early years on YouTube, he would end his videos with an image of him holding a lightsaber and the words "A PieGuyRulz Production"
- While he was at University X, he would end videos with the view of New York City from his dorm while telling people about his Twitter and to like, subscribe, & comment.
- Even though he stopped using Vanity Plates, he continued to use the song "Super Friendly" at the end of his SpongeBob videos, just as he did for the University X example above.
- In 2015, he started using a cover
of the SpongeBob background song "Tomfoolery" in its place.
- Video Review Show: The video part is downplayed, though. While he's become more visually interesting over the years, a viewer can still get by with just the audio for the most part.
- Who Names Their Kid "Dude"?: His thoughts on "Babe" from Game Shakers.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: He is very Afraid of Needles and other pointy objects, so of course there's an episode of SpongeBob
about an extremely gross and disgusting splinter.
- Xtreme Kool Letterz: Gets bonus points for not just replacing "s" with "z" in "rules" but for also removing the "e"
- And in his old ranting logo,
◊ he takes it Up to Eleven with "PieGuyRulz Rantz"
- And in his old ranting logo,
- Yet Another Christmas Carol: He's actually surprised by the lack of these during his Nickmas recap
.