Comedy Cubed follows Drakoloid's path of "Shock Value" like ARTic

Hello fellow friends and foreigners,

Earlier today Nick Merchant announced that Derek de Jong from High Schooled will be guest starring on his upcoming new show "Bad Influences". Not only is Derek guest starring but he will be playing a surprising special role.

Nick Merchant and Derek de Jong both tweeted about how this episode was "ground breaking" most likely indicating that there will be a same sex relationship possibly developing between Derek's character and Nick Merchant's character on this show.

As a young gay man in his 20s whenever I watched High Schooled I sometimes wonder what if Derek and Ryan were a couple? what if it wasn't just best friend love what if it was more?  As many closeted gay and lesbian viewers probably are thinking. Well now we will see this in this new show.

This is the first time Comedy Cubed will be touching base on an LGBT relationship in any of the series produced. This is the third Drakoloid show to bring up LGBT based relationships in its content ARTic being the first and most controversial "Mixed Masks", "Transition" and "Risk & Resurrection" episodes, Imperfect Patrick "Patrick Discovers Sexuality" an episode that was aired during reruns in the weekday with no promotion and now Bad Influences takes a leap into introducing this type of relationship to its teen audience.

In this modern day its great to see how ever since ARTic decided to touch on the topics of "Bi Sexuality" with its audience back in Early 2017, many teen shows are now trying to give same-sex relationships a spotlight, In 2014 we would have never seen this happen. There is still ground to break within the community and Drakoloid and Comedy Cubed continue in this direction to bring sexual and gender equality to a younger viewing audience.

This decision makes me more happy to not just be a Drakoloid viewer but to also be a fellow Comedy Cubed viewer. The partnership of both sides have clearly influenced one another in a positive way.

5 Reasons why Nicholas Merchant is "King Of Drakoloid"

Hello people its Retrograv here today with a new blog. Decided to switch gears instead of doing my usual review of an internet song, album or a show episode in this blog we will discuss "internet stars".  

Since this is my first blog talking about e-fame decided to break it down into a top five category and following under the category of Drakoloid stars specifically. Today's Drakoloid star I am going to blog about is Nicholas Merchant star of High Schooled, Uniquely Normal, Kevin & Alec's Adventures and Bad Influences.  I am going to state the five reasons why he is King Of Drakoloid.


5. He capitalizes on his Drakoloid stardom. 


Nicholas Merchant is one of those stars on Drakoloid who knows "if you want to sell it you have to be it" and this is the case thats all correct. His twitter, youtube is filled with the same content that other twitters for his related Drakoloid content contains. He presents it with confidence and a stage presence that emphasizes "I am a star and I know it". This is what all consumers who want to be entertained are looking for in an entertainer. Its important to use that quality when promoting a product.

4. He is an A+ actor on the network. 

Well what can you say, he is and he has done a versatile amount of characters over the years. From Kevin to Ryan Brahmer to Arthur to so many more. He can do it all. I wish we had more interviews on him and Q&As to find out what are his acting inspirations. Many Drakoloid actors tend to be monotone and can only play one character, which is what I expect from a kids network. When your acting with kids mostly kids only can portray one character they learn. Even from a really young age like other Drakoloid legends he had that talent, that star power there. It only grew as time went on while in others it demised.

3. He creates and writes his own content. 

Nick Merchant is like Drake Vegas in a way where he is always creating. His mind set is to always entertain and to present something that has been worked on with his own touch. Even from a young age and watching Comedy Cubed retro shows "Red and Blue" his ambition to expand was there. He went on to create his own production company called "Comedy Cubed", following that writing, producing, directing many shows to come for Comedy Cubed and now into the Drakoloid realm. No other Drakoloid star has this type of credit or style. The only Drakoloid stars that come close to be on a creativity level like Merchant would be Sarah Kellysen and Matt Parker who did behind the scene work for their own shows. But Nick Merchant did the most out of any of them.

2. He has starred in multiple shows and been acting in more shows than any other Drakoloid stars.

As mentioned previously in this article Nicholas Merchant has starred in multiple shows. He is becoming a powerhouse to Drakoloid slowly but steadily. High Schooled is the number two show on Drakoloid after ARTic. His previous shows that are on Drakoloid in reruns during the school days is Uniquely Normal and Kevin & Alec's Adventures. I hope in the future Drake decides to air Red and Blue and even the shorter one season series Prairie Dog Rules could be the doggy style version of Carter The Cat and Grandpa's Vision.

1. He is the most known male icon to the Drakoloid community. 

Before Nick Merchant there was no real definite Drakoloid male star that would capitalize his stardom on Drakoloid. The waters were tested with the male demographic for Drakoloid finding its "male icon". Matt Parker was the first however his male stardom faded away after 2014 when he departures from Drakoloid, began an independent music career and then went into hiding in Europe afterwards like many former Drakoloid stars. He had potential to be the first Drakoloid male star but that never came through because he was a voice actor on Junglematic, Imperfect Patrick and Swordsmen, we would only see him at the DCAs. Logan Messenger was the second tested he worked on Drakoloid from 2012 to 2017 he guest starred on every "golden" Drakoloid show you could think of Are You Ready To Scream, Junglematic, Imperfect Patrick, Billy & Lily, GirlAGE Band, etc. He played main roles on Diaries Of Alices Bedroom and ARTic. Then went to his staring role "House Of Adopted Adam" which was going to break him into a success.  Cameron Watson was well known in the Drakoloid community in 2014-2016 was a contender for this too, a random picture of him was even placed in the Drakoloid Time Capsule back in 2015 to represent his "alleged power" for the network. He starred in Long Lost and Viral Jenneration which both only lasted season and afterwards he just continued with youtube. Long Lost is currently in reruns on a regular basis even with four episodes and many people love it still. Now as for Nick Merchant it seems like he has the staying power of Sarah Kellysen because he already is scheduled to be on another show called "Bad Influences" another male demographic teen show. His shows will be legendary, I am sure of it. He is the key to the male demographic of the network and Drake Vegas very well knows it. I would be proud to call Nick Merchant "King Of Drakoloid" in the future and I think people have been spreading that word around now.

Thank you guys for reading my blog today. Do you all agree or disagree that Nicholas Merchant is the King of Drakoloid? Comment below.  😊

Drakoloid Review: November 25, 2017 ARTic, High Schooled & Are You Ready To Scream?

Hello fellow readers of the internet, your reviewer for internet shows Retrograv is back. My apologies for not writing reviews these past few months but I am back now.

Today I will be reviewing the new fall premieres on Drakoloid from Saturday November 25, 2017 ARTic, High Schooled and Are You Ready To Scream? season premieres. This night by judging all three of these shows it seems like Drakoloid was capturing on its "shock value" where plots were left open ended and character development sky rocketed in different roots. Don't know if this theme of "shock" was intentional or not either way it would of worked. Drakoloid's annual fall premieres began later but better late than never. November 26, 2017 will be premiering The Selina Mckay Show, Videotrek and the new season of Rock The Basement  I believe so I will review those separately, So lets begin.

First up is the ARTic season 4 premiere "Transition" part 1 of 2. This is described as the "revamped" show where ARTic seems to be taking a satirical direction with its show in plot, character and lines. Previously ARTic would deal with its topics in a more serious manner, in this premiere they deal with it in a humorous way. Now since this is a complete revamped show three main characters were removed which was Amy Rogers, Bradley Berkowitz and Samantha Vegas taking out of three of the original characters from the beginning. This usually causes a rift when a show removes tons of characters in this case so far so good. Drake Vegas prepared for this because he had already lined up Jennifer, Blake, Kyle and Principal Willy as main characters in the previous season, so it doesn't look like too much of a loss. These characters were mentioned on where their heading mostly hinting out the upcoming "ARTic University" spin off next year.

The plot for this episode was top secret until the very last minute because rumour has it Drake knew Youtube would take it down immediately because it deals with the topic of "gender fluidity". The LGBTQ+ topics are controversial with this audience because it is younger and the parents aren't always open to the idea of their kids learning about diverse sexuality and gender. Smart motive on Drakoloid behalf, leaving a mystery for the audience which resulted as it being ranked as the most watched ARTic above Mixed Masks on the live stream for Drakoloid of all time. It was about how Jennifer wants to change into who she truly is and that is having a flat chest with a breast reduction. Throughout this episode there was plenty of adult humour especially between Jennifer and Blake. Both of them establish that they want to be just friends because Blake has become the Amy replacement in Jennifer's friendship circle, which is the direction the writers want to go. I think they also want to get rid of the shippings because this is now a satire show but I am not 100 percent sure.

Then we have new character Alexa Silver who is a white girl that is planning to be student body president of the school since Bradley Berkowitz left and was the president before (even though we had no plots outside that one episode that revolved around his presidency or even mentions). I feel they are following the footsteps of High Schooled. She is portrayed by Christina Birdsall who is a solid actress already, it seems Drake has hired people that seem experienced did some research she has done of acting experience. I hope she will be in many more episodes and looking forward to see where her characters head. It seems like she's going to be the antagonist of the show since Samantha left.

Another character development aspect in this episode is that there seems to be plot sets up for Kyle where he's going to transform into his own artist, hopefully in part two we see more of that. I also strongly believe there should be a spin off show with Principal Willy and Kyle. Jack Ripoff says that there is more lines in the second part of this episode that he gets than he does in the whole previous season.

My prediction for part two of Transition is that Jennifer will either decide to go through the sex change or not, hopefully she does so its not a waste of an episode. I think the next episode will deal with the school election too Jennifer vs. Alexa which we will probably see more Alexa. Overall this first part of the episode has set everything in place I will give it 9.5/10. Solid superb episode. The acting by Sarah Kellysen, Christina Birdsall, Andrew Bouchahine, Jack Ripoff and Paul Petroskey is solid here too.

Now onto High Schooled "Money Problems" this is the second season premiere and part 1 of 2 for this episode. This is obvious the season premiere their is a lot of growth and maturity shown just in the actors themselves. Derek de Jong has a deeper voice and looks taller than he did in the previous season. This is set in their later years of High School which Derek and Ryan go through. So lets begin.

This episode is based after the first season finale where Derek and Ryan are part of the student council since Derek Lipton is president of the school now. This episode also introduces new characters with Lauren played by Alyssa Russell who is also on the student council seems to be antagonist to this show while before it was Sean who departured in "The Traitor". The direction the show takes in the school is not just the general academic part but the extra curricular's of High School. We only start delving into the shows true premise mid way through the first season and now in the second season its trying to find its ground. There also seems to be more character development on Kenny done by Nikhil Patel where he plays a main part in this plot and seems to be more so the comedic relief in the shows new era.

The summary of this episode is about when the financial state of the school's budget is low from Principal Pearson and Derek and Ryan can't use Lauren's ideas for student council. Lauren then recalls for a vote which causes a rift in Derek and Ryan's places on the board. The episode then ends up saying "to be continued". I have to say High Schooled really took notes from ARTic by focusing on plot more here than character, just like how ARTic focused on character this time instead of plot, a reverse role in the Drakoloid show universe.

My prediction for part two of "Money Problems" is that Derek and Ryan may start a fundraiser in order to stop Lauren from having a recall vote but we will see what happens coming up. Overall this episode I would says ranks as 8.5/10 pretty solid and everything seems set up well. The acting by Derek de Jong, Nicholas Merchant, Nikhil Patel, Alyssa Russell and Jason Merchant was well done.

Now onto the final part of the night with Are You Ready To Scream? "A Story About A Cabin Killer" this episode was the season 6 premiere marking it as the longest Drakoloid show to date. It seems like Rocky Palmer has left the writing crew for Are You Ready To Scream, she is no longer the producer or executive producer of the show, now it is Drake Vegas full time.

In the season premiere we see how the direction takes with Drake Vegas as the full time show producer. Drake Vegas shows off that he can still write shows in any genre and in this case the horror in the episode is evident. The episode is about this couple who goes to their grandpa's cabin for the weekend but people start to disappear. It turns out to be a paranormal activity type of filming and incidents that occur. At the end the demon monster jumps out at the camera guy and thats where the story ends after a long time of running.

I think after sixth seasons the show is becoming watered down especially with one of its original creators leaving. I was wondering if this was going to be the last season of the show but maybe with these high ratings it may live on much longer. Overall I give this episode a 7.5/10 could of been longer but still well done.

Thank you for reading my reviews more will be coming soon!

Drakoloid Review: July 29th High Schooled "Derek For President" & Three In A Modern State "Pilot"

Hey guys Retrograv returning for a review. Sorry I have been so busy lately with work and personal life I needed a break from reviewing but I am back because I really wanted to review these two shows been watching Drakoloid a lot during the summer.

Today we are reviewing the 2-parts of the summer special "Derek For President" and Three In A Modern State premiere episode. This year Drakoloid decided to make High Schooled the show of the year where they host new years and are the biggest hyped event in the summer. Last year it was all about the 5 year anniversary and Viral Jenneration.

So lets get into it...

First up High Schooled "Derek For President" so this is a 2 part episode where Derek runs for student body president of the school. This episode arc will be expanding into 3 parts which will be in the season finale "The Traitor" which I will review next week.

Part One Derek and Ryan set up a campaign against Victor, portrayed by Jacob Beiser. I don't know if its the actor or character but I was getting homosexual vibes off Victor and that he has a crush on Ryan, found it very interesting and surprising. I am guessing by the scarf it could be true too. Great to see equality in a Drakoloid show if this fact is proven true. Another thing that surprised me in part one is they used a lot of PG rated language "hell" and "bastard" where used in this episode. For a kids show this is shocking even though they are tame, is the world ready for this yet? In the first part Derek's campaign poster gets stolen from Victor after Ryan shows Victor the idea.

Then heading into Part two of the episode it starts in Derek and Ryan are in Principal Pearson's office which Principal Pearson has a great quote I have seen before "Good artists copy, Great artists steal" I just found this hilarious. Derek and Ryan go to Sean for an idea in a campaign which doesn't go out as planned because Sean had different visions. Victor and Ryan face off in debate when Victor framed Derek's video as an attack ad. Which Derek and Ryan assume Sean did it and it ends their.

For part one I will rate it 8.5/10 It has a great build up and it is the start of this 3-part story arc. The characters were all used for good use. Derek De Jong, Nicholas Merchant and Jacob Beiser shined and their acting was spot on. Then for part two I will rate it 9.5/10 the build up got better and the end result of that really wanted to draw the viewer in to see more. Derek De Jong, Nicholas Merchant, Jacob Beiser and Paul Ingersoll again all great work here and used well.

Nicholas Merchant seems to be directing the show on a topic of voting and campaigning. I think he was inspired from the U.S. presidential campaign last year with Donald Trump vs. Hilary Clinton where those references come in. There was more risk in this episode than any other High Schooled episode.  I am excited to see how the episode ends with "The Traitor" season finale and I am even more excited that it is a Sean centred episode by the looks of it.

Now onto Three In A Modern State premiere this show is about three roommates living together in upstate Network, one is a republican conservative Colton, one is a gay liberal Tyler and the other is a stoner Melanie. Together they have to get along with their different viewpoint ideas.

The premiere episode is about when Tyler is putting on make up to watch his same-sex hook up show and Colton comes in believing that males should not wear make up. Tyler and Colton are at each others throats and waits until Melanie comes home to decide. However they all have to come to a mutual agreement to get along which they decide to get along without getting along.

I will give this show a 9.5/10 because of the ideas behind this show of making it the first ever same-sex based show and what better way then to bring those ideas with conservative based characters. Toby McCulskey, Benny Roark and Nancy Bellany do an excellent job at playing these types of characters they are the most solid cast I have ever seen in a Drakoloid or internet show in general. This show really hits home in a lot of ways where I had similar situations like this since i am LGBTQ+. I am curious to see what other topics are going to be exposed in this season of Three In A Modern State. I hope we see more episodes very soon. Overall great premiere of a great show that I honestly believe will be a new hit.

Drakoloid Review: April 15th ARTic "The Longest Couple"

Hey so here is another review,

This time it is for the ARTic episode "The Longest Couple" which is a very different episode than from other episodes especially recently it is kind of polarized from the others so lets start the review.

The Longest Couple is an episode where Jennifer and Bradley look through Blake's old high school senior yearbook from a few years ago and Jennifer and Bradley not only find out that Blake and Samantha went to the same school together but they were also labelled "The Longest Couple" for senior year. Which leads to Jennifer and Bradley trying to find out the truth.

This episode had great acting performances by Andrew Bouchahine, Alejandra Deleon and Sarah Kellysen but the main objective is Andrew and Alejandra  were the center as far as plot developing goes. I do notice that Rhys Clarke's parts in this were recycled clips and just didn't combine well in this episode which brings down the episode quality a bit. I don't know if Rhys didn't have time to film and they just wanted to release this episode.

Now the episode is about Jennifer (and Bradley) finding out if they were a couple which the confrontation scene is well executed. Alejandra and Andrew played it out really well to be subtle but then switch their attitude when Jennifer leaves. It turns out the plot twist was they were a couple but their both embarrassed by it which makes sense why they hate on each other now since the beginning of the series. This storyline was probably one of the most interesting from the third season.

I will have to give this episode an 8/10 mainly for its storyline and well executed scenes with Alejandra and Andrew in this episode. This would be a 7.5 if it didn't have those aspects. We also are missing several main characters in this episode too so it felt like a shorter cast. But overall well done!

Drakoloid Review: April 8th ARTic "Jennifer In The Middle"

Hey everybody,

Retrograv here for another review on Drakoloid's ARTic. Sorry for being so late been a busy week this week but I am here finally writing the review for "Jennifer In The Middle" so lets start.

So Jennifer In The Middle is about when Jennifer knocks down the new Coffee Shop sign and then has to work as a coffee waitress with guess who? Kyle Willy who returns but not as Remy Esposi but as Jack Ripoff. Remy has once again disappeared from the internet and youtube unexpectedly and he may have quit ARTic again (last time was in November 2014). So Jack Ripoff fits the bill and I have to say he fits the part pretty well. After watching this episode I feel the current cast of ARTic with Kim Lawrence included that the actors are solid and hopefully not too many changes happen throughout season 4 and 5.

This episodes strongest point is on Jennifer's outfit where it revolves around that which Blake thinks its too much. Blake isn't necessarily being shallow but he is realizing Jennifer is trying to be someone she's not. I understand the direction being made in this episode.

We then have the subplot which is a race judged by Samantha to see if Amy or Bradley will get their way on the font project they are working on to get it done while Jennifer is working. Amy and Bradley have a race another high point but its funny how we only see Amy doing work while Bradley sits around which Bradley wins. It was a nice turn of events for a change.

Overall this episode deserves a rating of 8/10 the plot reminded me of something from season one and the acting was a strong point in this episode especially from Kim Lawrence and Jack Ripoff the new comers really shined in this episode.

Drakoloid Reviews: Teenhood Season Finale + Weekend

Hello Internet,

Retrograv here with a new review that I have been meaning to do for a while which was for "Teenhood Weekend" from March 17-19th on Drakoloid. This weekend had non-stop Teenhood which had all the previous episodes re-running multiple times and then the two part season finale "Too Late To Apologize" and "Most Unexpected Turns".  So lets start.

Lets recap for a minute here of what I think about the first 13 episodes of Teenhood. I think the season starts off with just very shocking revelations in the beginning with Carly being pregnant and then it builds as we go through the season with her revealing she had sex with Cameron at a party when she was drunk behind her boyfriend Alex's back. Then we find out Alex is a smoker (which doesn't get shown) I think Elias Ellis departures from the show after the first part of season one. Then we have another plot with Miranda and Simon's mother has cancer and she is hospitalized throughout this season, again we don't see her mother in the hospital. Then we have Cameron and Simon wanting to start a band and we see them practicing throughout the season. And then we have our villain Britney who has been taking advantage of her best friend Taylor and the new student Stacey. So what does this all dial down too? Well heres what I think.

In "Too Late To Apologize" Carly finally talks to Cameron and tells him the truth about whats been going on. This scene it seemed Cameron was in a state of shock which for his type of personality seems logical and seems over whelming where he doesn't know what to say. I hope in the second season we see his later reaction. Britney then hands in her final project that Stacey created which this leads on to Britney getting sent to the principals office. Its also interesting when Simon stands up to Britney as well as Stacey where there at the point that they have all had enough of Britney. Then we have Stacey and Carly making up which was nice to see since Hazel Woodley's next episode is the last one of the series.

I have to give this episode a 8/10 I mean there could have been more to it but I have to say its a great lead up to whats to come in the following episode which is the season finale. Its also nice to see Miranda making peace with Cameron too so theres resolution here and you can tell this is getting close to the end of the season.

Now the season finale "Most Unexpected Turns" the show takes a 360 here in many aspects Carly confronts Alex and they seem to have a bad break up.  Carly had enough of him and is going to raise the baby himself. That may change the dynamic since Carly and Alex once were the happy couple in the beginning and now there complete enemies. Another drastic change is Stacey gets accepted to a cheerleading school (foreshadowing Viral Jenneration) which was great closure on Hazel Woodley's character especially with her jamming out with Cameron and Simon in the end. Then we have a dramatic change with Miranda and Simon's mother who died from cancer Miranda gets a call from the hospital so we will see who the after math of this erupts in the next season. And then the turn that I am excited about because of personal taste is Britney gets suspended but she is determined to get Taylor back. Britney and Taylor's friendship is over by this episode so I wonder how things will go in the next season. That last scene was fire.

This season finale deserves a 9.5/10 Everything here was spot on the acting, writing, story and even the filming of it was pretty good compared to other episodes. This really ties the whole season together in a bow and I think more people would enjoy the series if they binge watched the whole season and then watch this final episode.

This overall season I would rate it out of ten, 8/10 its classic Teenhood and it will soon be classic Drakoloid in the future. It pushed the idea of virtual collab shows even further after ARTic and Long Lost. Best Drakoloid drama show to date. I hope in the future more Drakoloid drama shows are created. As for the second season I am looking forward for whats to come. Michaela Chandler, Elias Ellis, Meldi SN, Aidan Brown, Kyle Warden, Darragh O' Maonaigh, Madison Desiato, Rachel Jones, Keyara Stamps and Hazel Woodley. You all did great! What a great ensemble cast.