I decided to rewatch the cake trilogy to reminisce about good old days™ and with hindsight it seems clear that he has zero comedic talent and just tried to copy his surroundings. Can't believe that back then I thought that he's the second funniest guy in the cancer crew after Frank and H3H3 was the untalented tag-along of the group
yeah, looking back knowing what we know now, he did seem to lack a genuine identity and confidence even back in those days, but he had some funny moments and wasnt an insufferable piece of shit so we liked him. if Maxmoefoe hadnt generously started collabing with him, he'd probably still be a virgin nerd living at home making Kickstarter Crap videos or working some regular job, which tbf would be a preferable fate to how he turned out in this timeline.
comparing him versus everyone else in the crew (Frank, Max, Chad and Ethan to an extent) he by far turned out the worst, despite being one of the favorites at the time. i think its because the rest of them have genuine identities and are more comfortable in their own skin. theres a reason why the rest of them were already established, successful creators by the time they brought Ian into the loop, who i believe had less than 100k subscribers. if im correct, i dont think he uploaded his first Content Cop (his most successful series) until after he started collabing with the crew. if it wasnt for the exposure he gained from them, i dont think it would have been a hit, or he might not have even felt bold enough to start the series in the first place.
i think the combination of him getting popular alongside other big Youtubers so suddenly, plus all of the people gassing him up for Content Cop where he would OWN people for their subpar content, gave him a God complex where he felt like a voice of authority. he went from being a meek, nerdy guy with a mildly popular channel, to being one of the top Youtubers within a year or two. fast forward to now, and he still has the God complex, despite no longer having the credentials or likeability to do so. he has become the bad content he used to critique, but even looking back, was he ever really in a place to punch down on everyone else? he basically got praised for collabing with Frank and Max, saying some funny one liners, and throwing out slurs. a lot of the humor is dated for sure. he never truly made anything on his own that was amazing or worthy of praise, that wasnt just him picking apart other people's content. even his earlier series, like Kickstarter Crap, was just him shitting on really bad kickstarter projects. its similar to Content Cop in that it really isnt that hard to shit on something that already sucks, its low hanging fruit.
tl;dr Ian has always been overrated, got overhyped from his association with the Cancer Crew who carried most of his good content, got a God complex from all of the praise and has carried it into his current era where his true lack of talent and personality is able to show.
