Hello Dear Viewer, and welcome to Reviewing a Reviewer (commonly referred to as "RAR").
(Cue theme of Blue Mary from Fatal Fury.)
A web series by Eric "Asalieri" Gaede, commonly called "Asa". His main gimmick is that he reviews other reviewers (A meta-review show, oddly enough). He also has other assorted videos, including Masterpaint Theatre, where he reads terrible fanfiction exactly the way it was worded with intentionally bad MS paint drawings to go along with them,.
He also hosts an annual contest called the Wheneverthehell Reviewer Contest (which used to be Whenever the Hell, but is now annual as of 2013) where contestants submit video reviews for him and several other judges to grade, the winner of which gets an unspecified prize, gets to participate in a future RAR episode with Asa or become a judge for the next contest.
As Asa is quite vocal and opinionated, he has garnered a vocal base of detractors, and often was (and still is) the subject of strong criticism.
Oh, and he is also the son of infamous physics theorist Bill Gaede
.
He should not be confused with The Review Reviewer (of which he also made a mini-RAR on).
In 2020, Asalieri decided to put an end to RAR, deleting almost his whole series, deciding to distance himself from his commentary work. This decision was short-lived, and he resumed RAR in different formats.
List of RAR episodes and the reviewers reviewed
- "Reviewing a Reviewer Part 1!" (The Irate Gamer Neo's review of Order Up!)
- "Reviewing a Reviewer #2.1 Beta!"/"Reviewing a Reviewer Part 2.2! Do the Mario!" (The Irate Gamer's review of Super Mario Bros. 2)
- "Reviewing a Reviewer Part 3! The Odyssey" (The Irate Gamer's review of the Magnavox Odyssey)
- "Reviewing a Reviewer #4 - Aladdin/Reviewing a Reviewer #4.2! Aladdin. The Conclusion" (the Irate Gamer's review of the SNES version of Aladdin)
- "Reviewing a Reviewer! #5 The Lesser Clone" (Game Dude's review of Mario Kart and Alvin and the Chipmunks games)
- "Reviewing a Reviewer! #6 Sinking The Navgtr" (the Navgtr video channel)
- "Reviewing a Reviewer #7! Navgtr and the Metroid" (Navgtr's review of "Super Metroid")
- "Reviewing a Reviewer #8 Fail More Please" (Fusion Media's review of "Super Mario Bros. 2")
- "Reviewing a Reviewer #9! In Times Of Famine, Eat Your Software" (Pissed Off Angry Gamer's review of the Nintendo GameCube)
- "Reviewing a Reviewer! #10 Artie of Fighting" (Artie's criticism of the Fighting Game genre)
- "Reviewing a Reviewer! #11 Rated Stupid (Part 1 of 2!)" (NC17 Productions' review of Kid Icarus on NES)
- "Reviewing a Reviewer! #11 City Castration (Part 2 of 2) " (NC17 Productions' review of City Connection)
- "Reviewing a Reviewer #12 - It'll Turn Your Stones" (VideoGameCritixCornr's review of Soulcalibur on Dreamcast and BlazBlue on PlayStation 3; guest-starring Judekhanzo)
- "Reviewing a Reviewer #12.5 Vacation! Travel Bores!" (The Irate Gamer's comedy sketch Chris & Scottie: Roadtrip)
- "Reviewing a Reviewer #13 - Retrogamer3" (Retrogamer3's review of Ikari Warriors on NES)
- "Reviewing a Reviewer #14 - South of The Border" - CrazyVideoGammer
- "Reviewing a Reviewer #15 - Suck or No Suck" (comparison between Clan of the Gray Wolf and The Angry Video Game Nerd)
- "Reviewing a Reviewer #15.2 - A View Gone Neutral" (The Angry Video Game Nerd's review of Crazy Castle, and more comparison with Joey Roo)
- "Reviewing a Reviewer #16 - One View Wonders" (random reviewers on YouTube who have barely one view on their videos)
- "Reviewing a Reviewer #17 - Some Like it Dumb [Part 1]" (Angry Joe)
- "Reviewing a Reviewer #17 - Some Like it Dumb [Part 2]" (More on Angry Joe)
- "Reviewing a Reviewer #18: Fixedfront River " (The RPG Fanatic)
- "Reviewing a Reviewer #20: Reviewing a... Rapist?" (Retrogamer3's The Gaming Rapist a.k.a. The Welfare Gamer show)
- "Reviewing a Reviewer #21: Revenge of the Zero View Nobodies" (more random YouTube reviewers with no views on their videos)
- "Reviewing a Reviewer #22: Five Dice Game" (Yahtzee)
- "Reviewing a Reviewer #23: For Old Times' Sake Part 1" (The Irate Gamer's review of Monster Party)
- "Reviewing a Reviewer #23: For Old Times' Sake Part 2" (NC17 Productions's review of Ballz)
- "Reviewing a Reviewer #23: For Old Times' Sake Part 3" (Navgtr's review of Final Fantasy VII)
- "Reviewing a Reviewer #24: Arcade Derp" (Arcadeic's review of Growl on arcade; guest-starring Razorfist)
- "Reviewing a Reviewer #25: And Now for Something Completely Different" (Linkara's review of the Street Fighter comic; hosted by AfroBlue)
- "Reviewing a Reviewer #26: Bobbing for Tasteless Apples" (SourApple)
- "Reviewing a Reviewer #27: Mirror Match" (Asalieri himself, contemplating his past mistakes)
- "Reviewing a Reviewer #28: A Kyle of His Own" (Mike Matei's review of The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland; guest-starring tkyle212)
- "Reviewing a Reviewer #29: NCTGWTG Is a Terrible Scrabble Hand" (The Nostalgia Critic)
- "Reviewing a Reviewer #30: Request a Review" (Narco Terror)
- "Reviewing a Reviewer #31: Mr. Noisy Goes To Town" (TV Trash)
- "Reviewing a Reviewer #32: Mystery Science Outhouse 93.16" (TheRantingRobots)
- "Reviewing a Reviewer #33: Rage Envy Wiring" (FilmNStuff)
- "Reviewing a Reviewer #34: Walker, Brazil Ranger" (Mionwalker1)
- "Reviewing A Reviewer #35: What A Bad Animator Says About Better Ones" (Benthelooney)
- "Reviewing A Reviewer #36: Gotta Resist Them Fat Jokes" (Moviebob)
- "Reviewing A Reviewer #37: Twerkin' For A Dream" (Oscar Yglesias, a porn reviewer)
- "Reviewing A Reviewer #38: Popeular MeKanics" (MatPat, The Game Theorists)
- "Reviewing A Reviewer #39: Baldilocks And The Three Hairs" (TheDarknesstheCurse)
- "Reviewing A Reviewer #40: Three Times One Minus One" (JoeysWorldTour)
- "Reviewing A Reviewer #41: Frog, Alligator, Television." (Game Show Garbage)
- "Reviewing A Reviewer #42: Demeaning Of Life" (TedBarrus)
- "Reviewing A Reviewer #43: ...Master Of None" (masta flex)
- "Reviewing A Reviewer Reloaded: The Nitro Fad" (Nitro Rad)
- "Reviewing A Reviewer #45: Big Buffet" (PPP/Ashton Parks)
Reviewing a Reviewer provides examples of the following tropes:
- Berserk Button:
- Reviewers that introduce a topic with the phrase "[Topic]... What can be said about [topic]?" He hates that line, which became a subtle Running Gag in his videos.
- Video game reviewers who make drug references and comparisons. For Asa, this is a true demonstration of a lack of originality. He even warns the viewers to call him out harshly on that if he ever makes that mistake himself.
- Reviewers who start their reviews while expressing that they don't want to do this, but have to. For Asa, it feels so forced and is overdone.
- Parodied when he accuses Drunken Punk of fat-shaming him in "RAR #41".
- Bilingual Bonus: Asa's native language is Spanish, and occasionally makes obscure puns and references in the language. He even made an RAR entirely in Spanish, and graded a Wheneverthehell contest entry made in Spanish.
- Brief Accent Imitation: At times, he does this when making fun of some of his detractors, and also when reading messages, sometimes at the request of the writer.
- The Cast Show Off: He is an experienced stage comedian, and shows it with his acting. He also has demonstrated some singing skills.
- Catchphrase:
- "Hello, dear viewer."
- "Until next time, dear viewer."
- Caustic Critic: He is a caustic critic of other caustic critics.
- Censored Title:
- In the episode "Reviewing a... Rapist?", Asa and AfroBlue tackle retrogamer3's new web series "The Gaming Rapist", which, after a significant amount of backlash, has been retitled to "The Welfare Gamer".
- This RAR episode itself has been subjected to this trope, as it is now found on Youtube with the title "Reviewing a... What?"
- Creepy Crossdresser:
- Does this briefly in the beginning of "RAR #24", in a parody of Miss Hannah Minx.
- Crossover: With The Double Agent in his Top 10 Worst Hit Songs of 1985.
- Dramatic Drop: Parodied. When he reads that a fan wants to offer him 500 dollars for reviewing a specific reviewer, he is so shocked he drops the bottle of beer he is drinking. In the next shot, he is shown handling the bottle to mimick it bouncing on the floor in slow-motion.
- Early-Installment Weirdness:
- Originally, his show only covered Irate Gamer's reviews, hence him being the subject of the first four episodes. Asa has since became friends with Chris Bores.
- In his early episodes, he sometimes referred to the show as "Reviewing the Reviewer," an issue he addressed in the "Mirror Match" episode.
- Asa originally did not talk on camera, only talking over the video footage.
- Fauxshadowing: In "RAR #41", he implies that he will review The Mysterious Mr. Enter... However, Asa has made it clear he will never make a RAR on him (for now...).
- Hollywood Atheist: Denounces the Ranting Robots as extreme and tasteless obnoxious atheists in his RAR about them. This led them to delete their video where they specifically ranted against the Bible.
- Homage: The opening to the 6th Wheneverthehell reviewer contest, featuring Asa himself driving in a car while "Lookin' out my Backdoor" plays over the radio, was an obvious homage to The Big Lebowski.
- Hostile Show Take Over:
- On two April Fool's videos: in one, the Irate Gamer is shown to have taken over Asalieri's channel. In the other, it is JFreeDan who has taken over the channel, and he intends to change "Reviewing A Reviewer" to "RPGs Are Reality".
- The Odyssey tries to take over the show in RAR #35, but quickly runs away when Asalieri returns home.
- Hypocritical Humor: While reviewing The Pissed Off Angry Gamer, one of his selling points/jokes of the review is his obesity, even though he's self-admittedly overweight himself.
- It's Been Done:
- The "angry reviewing" Video Review Show (of video games, especially) shtick is this for him; there have been too many variations already done for the genre to be innovative anymore.
- Criticizing and mocking The Irate Gamer. While he did make fun of him in his early episodes, he thinks IG is really over-hated, and that he is often victim of some Double Standard compared to other reviewers.
- Jerk Jock: How he sees Angry Joe; a jock who is trying to get inside the nerd's turf of being representative of video games.
- Let's See YOU Do Better!: In his Benthelooney review, he criticizes Ben for not doing good animations when he himself says how good cartoons should be.
- He also criticizes Seidelman of Gameshow Garbage for being guilty of the same flaws she assigns to gameshows she reviews. Especially when she tries to do her own gameshow.
- Mondegreen Gag: Asa criticizes NC17Productions for his tendency to mumble his words. When reviewing Kid Icarus, he states "Now keep in mind I am not exactly familiar with this guy's world, so bear with me", Asa can barely understand his words, thinking he is saying something like "That Kick The Mine The Mayans That Gay Familiar With This Guy's Rule So Bear With Me". Comes illustrated with a Camp Gay Mayan.
- Non-Human Sidekick: The Odyssey (the Magnavox Odyssey), Large Exhibit (a big rock with a deep voice) and the Nameless Parrot (a puppet parrot).
- N-Word Privileges: Discusses this in his review of masta flex.
- Pretty Fly for a White Guy: His view of masta flex.
- Running Gag:
- "[Asalieri is] fat and gay and fat". This is how he summarizes most of the negative comments towards him. Making fun of him being overweight is pointed out as redundant, considering he is completely aware of it. All RAR's starting from #38 to #41 even include characters that are labeled overweight or obese.
- "[Topic]... what can be said about [topic]?" as a cliché phrase that starts online reviews.
- Self-Deprecation: In spite of what all his detractors claim, he does make fun of himself on a regular basis, and even made a video addressing all of his past mistakes when he reviewed himself.
- He has adressed his own Filibuster Freefall in an episode where the Odyssey describes how Asa's content has taken a turn for the worse.
- Sequel Number Snarl: He skipped RAR 19 and went straight to RAR 20, and also skipped the 5th Wheneverthehell Reviewer Contest, going straight to the 6th. He cites simply forgetting about the numbering.
- Simpleton Voice: He does a high-pitched and raspy voice when he voices a "loser" character; he mainly uses it for his "Pissed José" character, but also for characters that are bronies.
- Straw Feminist: Has a strong dislike towards "third-wave" feminists and his videos strongly reflected this for a while. It still comes up once in a while.
- Suddenly Voiced: The Odyssey was originally just a picture of a Magnavox Odyssey with MS Paint eyes and mouth drawn on him, and his dialogue was written in a comic book bubble. In RAR #35, Odyssey now has a voice: it is done by Asalieri, of course, through a high-pitched filter.
- Take That!: A lot. His many Take Thats have contributed to his... controversial reputation.
- They Copied It, So It Sucks!: In-Universe. Usually how he judges some reviewers influenced by The Angry Video Game Nerd or The Nostalgia Critic. But this is definitely his opinion on "Those Dudes With The Hat" as he thinks they stole his shtick.
- Video Review Show: Of other Video Review Shows!
-
Viewer Gender Confusion: Asa is accused by Punk of misgendering Seidelman, subject of "RAR #41", who identified as female in recent years.
Wheneverthehell Reviewing Contest provides examples of the following tropes:
- Accidental Nightmare Fuel: In-Universe. Scheiblerfunk's submission in WTH 2013 comes out as unintentionally creepy and scary to Asa, who thinks it comes out as somebody's last video message before they disappear under mysterious circumstances.
- Dull Surprise: A recurring criticism among losing contestants is that they lack tone in their expressions.
- Hell Is That Noise: Alienrun's review for WTH 2016 had a loud audio issue that terrified and literally knocked Asa out of his chair when he first heard his review, despite warnings by Tyger's mascot.
- Hollywood Exorcism: In WTH 2015, Seamus gets temporarily possessed by the spirit of Microsoft Sam. Asa has to use voodoo paraphernalia in order to exorcise him, while summoning the power of Konami. The expelled spirit is then revealed as looking like a Pac-Man ghost (plushie).
- Lampshade Hanging: Any time a contestant tried to hang a lampshade on a contest rule in WTH 2016, a clip from Brown's Lampshades commercial would play.
- Running Gag: Asa hates the concepts of Persona 3 and refuses to play it. "IT BURNS!!"
- So Bad, It Was Better: This is Asa’s overall thoughts on Nitro Rad when comparing to James’ older content to his more recent videos. Asa notes that despite James being ashamed of his original review on Ty the Tasmanian Tiger very few of his points changed in the re-review, with James’ lack of anger in the re-review making the video less entertaining than the original, in spite of James’ improvements in a technical sense.
