Alpharad

Jacob Rabon IV (born: December 19, 1995 (1995-12-19) [age 29]), better known online as Alpharad, is an American YouTuber who is known for creating highly edited videos of gameplay with humorous and observational commentary.

Content

Rabon's content is mainly Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Among Us, Rivals of Aether, and more. He has a few ongoing series such as the "Not series" where he finds off-brand version of games like Overwatch, Pokemon, and most recently, Among Us. He has collaborated with many creators as of late such as JaidenAnimations, RubberNinja, JoSniffy, and Failboat.

On November 3, 2018, Rabon announced on Twitter that he was married to Fiorella Zoll.^[2] On October 20, 2021, he announced that they were no longer together.^[3]

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Rabon and penguinz0 created the quarantine series for Super Smash Brothers Ultimate.

Other Channels

In early 2019, Josniffy and Rabon started posting videos to Alpharad Platinum (formerly Alpharad Plus, Alpharad Deluxe and Alpharad Gold).This channel has gained over 700 thousand subscribers. When called Alpharad Plus, this subgroup of people named themselves "plussies" due to a singular video where they go to Chili's with the new co-host, Ellie.^[4] This video is just them playing the games on the Ziosk at Chili's. The most notable thing to happen on this channel was the original duo playing a Super Mario Maker 2 level with the name of "minecraft; the way home". Rabon also took health into consideration in 2019. On September 22, 2020 Alpharad Plus became Alpharad Deluxe after Alpharad and Josniffy decided they did not like the community surrounding the name Alpharad Plus Plussie leaving them behind. On September 22, 2020 it was also officially confirmed that Ellie and Tyler would be leaving the channel after Josniffy and Rabon moved to L.A.. On January 1, 2023, Alpharad Deluxe became Alpharad Gold, where they played a new game every day.^[5]

Music

On April 1, 2020, Rabon officially started his music career, with the launch of his first single, Fool For You by his band Ace of Hearts. Then on June 4, of the same year, Rabon's band Ace of Hearts released their first ep, titled Monophobia. Next, on August 1, 2020, his band Ace of Hearts released their second single, titled Silver Lining. And most recently, on December 13, 2020, Ace of Hearts released their second EP, called Scorpion Queen.

Series

How to Play (Super Smash Bros.) 101

Montage videos of trick shots, combos and otherwise impressive or silly gameplay in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Each episode focuses on a specific character, using on-screen commentary as a means for "dialogue" between characters. It is credited as setting the standard for gameplay montages, with several memes being spawned from his style of editing, including airhorns, no-scope, and various other gimmicks. Although this series was on hiatus for a significant amount of time, Rabon has rebooted the series with the release of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, taking ideas from his older How to Play 101 content as well as his "A Beginner's Guide to Mario" video. However, this series has not been uploaded to in a long time.

The "NOT" Series

Rabon plays a game with similarities to more popular titles. The games are usually plagiarised rip-offs, or otherwise heavily inspired by the original. The name comes from his format of titling these videos; for example, "NOT OVERWATCH" is a video of Paladins gameplay, another online team-based shooter. He has stated last year that he wants to bring the series back.

Who is the Best?

Rabon plays against friend and YouTuber Turvis exclusively as a single character from the Super Smash Bros. roster, while challenging Turvis to beat said character. He has covered Cloud, Kirby, Luigi, Captain Falcon, Bayonetta, and Donkey Kong, among others, and the series often ends with Turvis being very angry. However, after Turvis sold his Wii U, Rabon opted to beat Turvis in Slap City while playing exclusively Fishbunjin. 

Steam Cleaning

Over time, Rabon has built up a large library of games on Steam that he, for one reason or another, never got around to playing. This series is dedicated to playing these games, along with games gifted from viewers, ranging from obscure to popular. A few of the featured games received their own standalone video.

Opening the DMs

Rabon, alongside friend and YouTuber Major Duncan, reads the messages they receive on Twitter. They answer questions and respond to comments in a comedic fashion. Later on in the series' lifespan, they created a Twitter account (@OpeningTheDMs) that they use to ask for and receive direct messages.

How to Play (Video Game) 101

Similar to his older How to Play 101 content, but with a specific game. It used notably less editing tricks and effects, and focuses on regular gameplay. On April Fools 2015, he uploaded a parody call 'How to Play with Cats' where he did just that. The year after, he played with one cat, Frasier. This series has not been updated since August of 2016.

Replay Hut

Montage videos of fan-submitted footage of gameplay. Focused on Super Smash Bros. while on his own channel, before getting it's own channel of the same name and accepting other games. This series has not been updated since April of 2018.

Friends Without Benefits Highlights

While his side channel Friends Without Benefits was still growing, Rabon featured some of its videos on his own channel to increase awareness. As the Let's Play channel became more popular and earned it's own following, highlights of its content on his own channel became less frequent; it stopped altogether when Rabon left Friends Without Benefits in late 2018.

Clickbait

Rabon and a guest (which varies every episode) create theoretical thumbnails for fake YouTube videos using clichés found in most "clickbait" YouTube thumbnails. This series has not been updated since December of 2017. He has stated in one of his "No Internet Q&A" videos that he could possibly bring it back, but he said that he does one of the episode when he is bored so another episode might not appear for a while

On For Glory

Parody tutorials of people playing and teaching the viewer to use a character in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Rabon imitates the stereotype of a typical player of certain characters and pretends to teach the viewer about the tricks and methods these people commonly use, which are often the lazy and unimpressive techniques used by bad or new players. For example, in Captain Falcon's episode, titled 'FalconXFalcon', he mimicked the aggressive and reckless playstyle most people associate with the average Cap. Falcon player. Some of these use intentionally bad editing techniques and audio setups to capture the inner n00b of these people. This series has not been updated since September of 2016.

A Story For Glory

A series with a few hundred episodes, Rabon plays online in Super Smash Bros. and tells a story or some anecdote of his past. This was one of his most popular series and spanned over several years. This series has not been updated since April of 2017.

Mario Maker Minus

Rabon plays some of the more famous or difficult levels made in Super Mario Maker. He also plays levels submitted by fans. This series has not been updated since May of 2016.

Challenge Mode

Rabon plays casual fights against popular or professional names in the Smash Bros. community. This series has not been updated since August of 2016.

Squid Stuff

Rabon plays Splatoon online. This series has not been updated since February of 2016.

Stream Highlights

Highlights of his streams. Despite still being a frequent streamer and occasionally using his streams as content for his channel, this specific series has not been updated since September of 2016.

Trivia

• He occasionally changes his YouTube banner for brief periods of time.
• One of his goals for his YouTube channel was to have the most viewed video on his channel not be a video in the "How to Play 101" series.
  • This goal was achieved in May of 2017 by "NOT OVERWATCH".
• Despite announcing Season 2 of "Challenge Mode," Rabon has only released a single episode of this second season. This episode featured EVO 2016 Champion Ally and was uploaded to his channel on August 4, 2016.
• The model Kate Upton has been mentioned in every episode of Rabon's "Clickbait" series in some capacity.
• He revealed in his "A Story For Glory" series that his first name is not Jacob; it is his middle name, but he prefers it over his actual first name.
• It is revealed that he has touched a police officer's gun in Spelunky Co-op episode 10 on FWOB (His lets play channel).
• He revealed that he is bisexual in the video "Super Sir Mario World" on Alpharad Gold.^[6]
  • It was later revealed in a Twitch stream where he played Pokemon Scarlet/Violet where it was announced that he was aromantic.^[7]
• After trying to speedrun Mario Party Superstars, he developed carpal tunnel. [citation needed]
• He currently lives with fellow streamer and animator JaidenAnimations.
• His favorite Pokémon of all time is Absol.

References