Returning from his break from YouTube, Felix "PewDiePie" Kjellberg releases a full video as a vtuber in place of his normal setup, but the vtube corner of the internet isn't happy about him dabbling in this style of content creation.
Vtubing, or virtual entertaining, has become a popular form of content creation in the last couple of years across many genres of entertainment, including gaming, singing, and dancing. But not only is it entertaining to watch, it's also an accessible form of content creation that doesn't require an extensive or high-end setup, and allows those who don't feel comfortable showing their real face still exhibit a persona. And an array of software has made creating a vtuber much easier, such as Pixiv's Vroid Studio and Vtube Studio, both available on Steam.
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But similar to when Pokimane decided to dip her toes into vtubing, the community responded negatively towards PewDiePie's vtube debut after he did a "reverse face reveal," tasking his viewers with picking a new face for him. In a video on January 23, PewDiePie said he going faceless to "stay relevant," inspired by Corpse Husband and Dream, but this also looks to be a bit that he's doing temporarily and won't be a permanent change to his channel.
PewDiePie has used different vtube avatars in each video he's released since the reverse face reveal. One of them is directly mocking the vtube community for cancelling PewDiePie, titled "I Did A DNA Test... (I Guess I'm Cancelled Now), and the avatar emulates Felix in a suit-and-tie school uniform with brown hair. A Minecraft video on January 25 gets less realistic, brandishing a completely different Felix avatar with white hair. And his most recent video is a chaotic Minecraft skin with a censored version of his face on the front to take the joke even further.
The vtube community is concerned about the past racist slurs PewDiePie has used on streams and camera, though he later removed the videos and issued an apology for his behavior. Many prominent personalities in the gaming industry have called PewDiePie out for the racist language, such as the co-founder of Firewatch studio Campo Santo, who called Kjellberg "a propagator of despicable garbage that does real damage to the culture around this industry."
Some vtubers and fans in the community are upset about an "alt-right" personality, with fans who could hold similar viewpoints, joining the vtube sphere. However, since being recognized for anti-Semitic jokes, PewDiePie stated that he would distance himself from that kind of comedy, and his fans are now defending him in the face of the vtubing backlash.
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