Please, follow me.
Hey... you... all, Carpetbagger here. Coming to you live from the internet. More specifically, TV Tropes' article on the Carpetbagger.
The Carpetbagger, real name Jacob, is a travel vlog YouTuber who explores various attractions all over the United States. He specializes in amusement parks (both outdoor and indoor), museums, conventions, and when it's around Halloween time, haunted houses and other horror attractions.
His channel can be found here
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Jacob's girlfriend Jenn is a frequent guest on his channel. She also has her own channel, Jenny Penny, where she does similar commentary on travel destinations, but particularly ones based on her hobby of toy collecting. You can find her channel here.
Tropes found in the Carpetbagger's videos include:
- Animal Motif: The Carpetbagger associates himself with possums. They show up in most of his animated intros. In this video, he explains that this is because he finds possums weirdly fascinating, and because possums are associated with the Deep South, which is where his channel originally focused on before he started branching out to the whole US.
- Animated Credits Opening: The Carpetbagger has a variety of short, animated openings, most of which depict him driving and showing postcards of some of the places he's visited.
- Big "OMG!": Jacob tends to shout "Oh my God!" when he gets scared, especially in carnival dark rides. It's perhaps the strongest language he ever uses.
- Casino Episode: Subverted. He did a video on the Circus Circus hotel-casino in Las Vegas, but he focused more on the arcade area than the casino itself.
- Catchphrase:
- "Hey... you... all. Carpetbagger here, coming to you live from X. More specifically, Y." At the beginning of each video.
- "So please... follow me." Just before Jacob enters an attraction.
- Cowardly Lion: The Carpetbagger admits that he is afraid of most carnival rides, but he is willing to ride them for the entertainment of his viewers.
- Hostile Animatronics: Jacob loves animatronics, and he visits many attractions that have them, so it's only natural that the topic of scary animatronics would occasionally pop up as well:
- He did a video going to different stores to look at the horror-themed Spirit Halloween animatronics on display. Subverted in that he was more fascinated than scared by them.
- Subverted in "Attacked by Animatronics?!?. Carpetbagger meets THE KING's animatronic band in a dark room, where they are deactivated. The animatronics suddenly wake up and start verbally menacing the Carpetbagger, threatening to take him apart and turn him into an animatronic. However, the animatronics' owner, Jared, enters the room and saves him. From then on, the animatronics stop acting scary, and the rest of the video is dedicated to Jared showing them off and explaining how he acquired them.
- Played straight in "Attacked By Animatronics II The Upgrade," where the King's band actually succeeds in turning Jacob into an animatronic. They sing an original song called "One of Us," about how Jacob is trapped as an animatronic forever, while Jacob is forced to play guitar with them, protesting the whole time. It's all just a sketch, of course, but it is unusual to see the King and his band act so menacing.
- Ominous Pipe Organ: Invoked. In "Evanswood Magic Mansion - Unbelievable New Attraction!," magician Terry Evanswood shows off a pump organ in the mansion by playing a short, sinister tune and doing an Evil Laugh.
- Running Gag: If Jacob sees a Mold-A-Rama machine (a vending machine that makes plastic figurines), he will always buy a figurine from it, unless the machine is out of order.
- Signature Headgear: Jacob wears a straw hat decorated with several pins from the attractions he has visited. This showcases his love of travel and the quirky places he loves to visit.
