YMMV / Shadiversity

• Broken Base:
  • Since Shad began making videos analyzing fictional weaponry, a divide has arisen amongst his viewers. One camp prefers his videos about history, either because that's obviously where his interests and expertise truly lie or because they believe Shad's fiction-based videos are too colored by his own biases. Another camp enjoys hearing Shad's thoughts on pop-culture weapons and how he thinks they might be used in the real world.
  • His increasingly politically right-leaning content, especially on his Knights Watch podcast that got more overtly political in around 2022, drew a chunk of fans to denounce him - not only the podcast but also his primarily non-political main channel. This caused a divide among fans who disagree with his opinions but still appreciate his main channel content, those who disagree with his opinions and feel that it ruined his content, and those who agree with his politics.
  • Shad's belief in being an artist through the use of AI generation, has caused a schism amongst his fans. From those who don't agree with Shad's belief that using AI generated images puts him at the same level as an actual artist, to those who share a similar mindset when it comes to AI art, and a third party who have chosen not to engage or ignore this aspect of him. Also, because Shad's brother Josiah "Jazza" Brooks is an actual professional artist, members of the first party are either bewildered by Shad's stance or mock him because his sibling is the better artist.
• Crosses the Line Twice: Oz's jokes, especially in the spin-off channel Knights Watch, tend to be so crude that they cross the line twice at the very least.
• Crowning Moment of Awesome:
  • In this video, Shad recalls a time in his teenage years when he used a sword and shovel to kill a tiger snake that slithered into his house. He points out that tiger snakes are highly venomous, and he points out that the snake would have killed him and/or his siblings had it managed to connect a bite.
  • There's also a moment from this video where, right after clarifying that any shot from a war bow that hit its target could be considered a bullseye, he nails a perfect headshot (around the 35:15 mark), much to his own surprise.
• Friendly Fandoms: Fans of Skallagrim are generally amiable towards Shad's fans because of the common ground the two content creators cover and because they made cameos in each other's respective videos. Skall even sold one of his swords to Shad!
• He Panned It, Now He Sucks!:
  • While it didn't enrage his fanbase, it still has more likes than dislikes; Shad's criticism video on RPG character classes is widely considered his worst video and noticeably has the most dislikes of any other video he had made. Many feel his arguments were flawed (his arguments only really work for specific kinds of RPGs, hybridization renders everything he says moot, etc.) and ignored the strengths of the RPG class system.
  • His rants on Star Wars, even to those who share Shad’s opinions. He gets a lot of criticism for being incredibly harsh, overly dramatic, and often dwelling on small points for several minutes.
  • His review on Soul Calibur VI rubbed a lot of fans the wrong way. While there was agreement that the game may have too much DLC, many took offense to him calling it a cash-grab with how generous the core game’s content is. They felt his comments on the developers being lazy were disrespectful and disregarded their hard work with a tight budget.
  • Shad's video essay on the worldbuilding of Loki (2021), in which he says that the series has multiple problems in its worldbuilding and contradicts lore previously established in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
  • His criticism of Captain Marvel combined with his praise of Alita: Battle Angel brought him into their pre-existing Fandom Rivalry, while making his views on the matter very clear.
  • His review of Elden Ring was not well-received by FromSoftware's fans for a few reasons. One of the most egregious was his claim that the only place to get any lore about the world was on Twitter, and it was evident he only played to the end of Stormveil Castle.
  • He gained ire for accusing the brief lesbian kiss in Lightyear and the episode of Baymax! dealing with the subject of First Period Panic, as being efforts to groom kids.
• Memetic Badass: There's a YouTube profile called "Shad Facts" that posts a Chuck Norris-style badass "fact" about Shad on most of his videos.
• Tear Jerker: His video on The Black Death and its effects sees him weep Tender Tears over the horrors the disease wrought for the average person and note how glad he is to live in the modern era with modern medicine.

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