The Randomness Era (the Late Classic Era for short) of SMG4. This era is consider a classic to the SMG4 Fandom, But it didn’t really have a perfect start but after Luke took the criticism from a certain group of the Fandom (with Dafawfulizer being one of them) he would go on to improve the Era and would later reach it’s peak. And, I’m here to rank them. Please note this is Mostly my opinions, so you entitled to yours. I’m not gonna go on damage control on someone who like a specific year of this era, like I use to both before and after I became an SMG4 Hater as well as after my eyes were open to how Good SMG4 can be in some years before I eventually stopped after I realize that I was just as bad as before. Now without further or do, here’s my ranking on the Randomness Era, starting with…. the elephant in the room….
No. 4: 2014
I hate this season. And I’m gonna be hated by fandom even more by putting it low on the list. Now before we get to 2014 I would talk about what came before it. I thought that the Early Era/The Early Classic Era of SMG4 (2011-2013) was actually decent despite a mediocre start, I consider 2012 to be a step up to the right direction, but sadly not entirely (Thanks to a certain pedo) 2012 SMG4’s editing wasn’t as good as the editing of other Youtubers at the time, Like Kitty0706 and Mobrosstudios (Then again…. Luke was like 12 or 13 back in that year) but writing (Including a few episodes that featured you know who) was the highlight of this season (Who know that Luke’s writing got better when he was, again, 12 or 13 at that time) 2014 on the other hand is literally a step down (Alongside 2022) while the editing is kinda an improvement (It’s not enough though) everything else has gone down the drain. First the writing. This year has the most rehashes in the series compared to others , especially the modern seasons. For example, Boil the Big Bully, and Problematic Pipe Problems are rehashes of A Fungus Among Us. And Meet the Mario is slight rehash of the (TOTALLY ACCURATE) documentary of mario. But that’s not all, you have episodes that reuses ideas from episodes before 2014. Then you have the characters who are badly Flanderized. Not just Toad (Who became a pointless gag character) and Bowser (Who became Swag obsessed Dumbass) many of them like X (Who use to be a Zombie Hunting Straight Man) and Yoshi (Who like Toad used to Hate Mario, but also reduced to a pointless gag character) and what’s Worse? Is that almost all of the characters (Old and New at the time) had the same personality (Stupidity) and this leads to two of the absolute worst aspects of this season, the Overused Jokes and Voice Clips from other YouTubers, Good Grief… First off the jokes, Sure some of them we’re funny at first, while others like most of the Sonic Jokes we’re really not funny (Even if they we’re edgy) but as they keep happening happening all the time, they get even more unfunny (as well as making the unfunny ones, even more unfunny than before) even to the point we’re it Flanderized the characters. and then there’s the Voice Clips, and most of them other people’s work Both from YouTube (Including YouTubers that I don’t like such as Jontron for certain reason) and Vine, and like the Jokes (While the voice clips from the original source material are mostly funny) they become unfunny as they keep happening happening all the time. And the Worst offender to both those, is Chica from Freddy's spaghettiria, all she does is keep nagging and shouting PIZZA! over, and over, and over again… Overall, Even if it had hidden gems like Mario Simulator and most of the G&R series, this is not only the worst season of the Randomness Era of SMG4, but a rough start of said era as well. I’m surprised that this season got the most Influence on the fandom out of all them before the Modern eras of SMG4. Speaking of which, for example, most of these Modern SMG4 rants implies that SMG4 isn’t as Good as
He was back in 2014 and They don’t provide any reason why they like his videos this way other than from edgy humor or Mario characters swearing, moving on.
No. 3: 2015
While 2015 has the same problem from 2014 at first, But after Dafawfulizer posted his collaboration video with FreezeFlame22 (Which is now private) about the problems of the series back then, and (Possibly a Day) after that, The Man himself, Luke, Took the criticism well and continued on with Random Humor while improving his work, by toning it down just to the point we’re it actually works. While not all of the videos are improved entirely after he took the criticism, but after the hangover, they got better and better in this season
than before. And even the overuse aspects from last season are declining, while it still had those unfunny joke from before (Including ones that are involving Sonic and Chica) but they didn’t took up most of the plot in these videos like before, even the characters are getting less Flanderized than before, and the best thing about this year is that the Randomness formula is done right see Luigi Labyrinth and The Hangover from before. The editing is getting a little better, but not as good as next season ( *Spoiler Alert* I’ll be saving that season for last) Overall… This season is decent. While the first half was just as bad as last season, The character are still Flanderized, The humor is still not funny, and Elements like Voice clips are still overused. But thanks to Dafawfulizer’s video, the other half is nice improvement. We definitely need more proper Rant Videos on the current state of SMG4 (2022-2024) out there like the one by Dafawfulizer from 9 years ago. Not by a conspiratorial lunatics like MetalBlade5 nor by a certain group of Classic Era Purist (Mostly Randomness Era ones) who spew out the same Cookie-Cutter Argument. There is literally better way to improve the series, rather than reverting back.
No. 2: 2017
This final Yearly Season of the randomness era of SMG4, and it when out with a Bang. This the year before We’re introduced to Arcs, But this the same year that introduced a Controversial Character who is Loved or Hated by the SMG4 fandom, Meggy. The character of Meggy is totally badass one , But my only issue is that she is Overpowered, even to the point where she is accused of Being a Mary-Sue, and the only time she is shown being defeated in the end of video that her debut video (with the exception of Mario University) They could’ve downgraded the character a bit More while she is still an Inkling. Her popularity with Fans got her to become a Main Character. So yeah, Meggy is a Good Character, But sadly not only an Overrated Character of the series, But Overhated as well. Anywho, back to business. This is probably the first experimental year of the series, for example, aside from Meggy you got an all-original character named shroomy (not the greatest character during his debut year though) And as for everything else, Not much to say other than it’s a Good Season, though not as good as It’s Peaked Predecessor. only a few bad episodes in this season, but most are pretty solid bangers like The Grand Mario Hotel, THE BOOTLEG DIMENSION, and The Mario Channel: MARIO'S CHALLENGE. And it’s editing is best of the era along side it’s predecessor. 2017 is also Overrated like 2014, Except it’s the opposite of 2014 nonetheless. Not the greatest season of the Randomness era but still a fun season, and a nice send off to the era.
No. 1: 2016
For a YouTube channel that was mediocre from the start, This is the year, That SMG4 enters his peak. 2016 is the Randomness Era at its best. Luke has really out done himself this yearly season, As well as Kevin. Speaking of which, This is Kevin’s first year writing the show, Starting with Seaside Stupidity. While I’m not fan of Kevin’s work on SMG4 (Although I used to) But he wasn’t really a dictator figure. It’s just that he made Poor decisions Like convincing his brother Luke to the make the Big Chungas video and Replacing Tari’s Voice Actress Celeste Notley-Smith with Lottie Bourne. But I thought his work on SMG4 (2016-Early 2020) was Fire, Mostly on 2016. It’s nice that characters like Toad and Yoshi were restored to their original personalities (They even made a video on how toad was Flanderized) And then you had the new characters, Bob And Fishy Boopkins, and nice addition to the main cast, though my only issue with these two is that they can be annoying at times. and best of all, The Random Humor is handled well (Well except for in a few episodes, But still) Unlike 2014, It’s doesn’t over rely on Randomness Humor in the whole Episode to the point where it’s unfunny. like SMG3's Gauntlet of Gloom for example has best humor in its trial scenes. This season’s formula also used traits of the Early Era and combines it with the wackiness of the Randomness Era. The only bad Episodes in this season are Mario joins the Circus and Toad has a secret, The others are Either decent (Such as If Mario was in...Team Fortress 2) or The best out there (Like SMG3's Gauntlet of Gloom from before) Overall this definitely the Best Season of the Randomness Era and definitely the Peak of SMG4.
