The first video I was involved with on FTCR was published on this day in 2014, Valentine’s Day. I’m deciding now to use that as my “join” date. It’s a lot easier to track than trying to remember when I first would have technically met Gareth online, or when we actually got together to record the first video I was in. It was definitely around Christmas 2013, but either way. The way we met was me popping into some stream chat while he was setting up something for the FTCR website, someone had retweeted the stream and was maybe asking for something on behalf of Gareth. Or maybe he was the one asking in the tweet. I think he was trying to find somewhere to find the Sonic soundtracks or something, and somehow or another I found it reasonable to suggest adding each other on Facebook so I could message him or something. Instead of just telling him in the stream chat and being on my way.
I was vaguely aware of FTCR as an entity but had never watched a thing from it, and like, kinda knew that my online buddy Skyler was kinda involved but even then, I feel like I’m digging back into the recesses of ancient history. Related to the theme of this post, I turned 30 a week ago, so a lot of this is increasingly fuzzy as time marches on. Basically though, due to having each other on Facebook, we saw that we were each going to 2013’s Sonic Boom event in St. Louis. I was awkwardly hanging out in front of the venue as it was the first time I’d really traveled away from home, and it was there that I bumped into him and Stephen and ended up awkwardly tagging along with them to lunch. At this time I’d spent a few years being fascinated by gaming videos on YouTube and wanting (and failing) to contribute in my own way, but had recently purchased a capture card thanks to getting paychecks in my adult life. Somewhere in this time period I must have mentioned that I’d recorded Sonic Lost World on Wii U and we discussed using that for the channel’s Let’s Play of the game.
At some point I’d also been invited over to meet up and hang out in Columbus Ohio where Gareth was living. Growing up in West Virginia, Columbus was the closest place with something resembling a culture to visit, so I was familiar with it from going there now and then growing up. Again, my memory is really foggy, but at some point we got together and watched Thor 2. It was bad, but it had a guy in it who looked a lot like Skyler and someone using something a lot like the Miles Electric so there were redeeming qualities. I could keep rambling, but I think the point I’m making is that a lot of circumstances combined to make any of this happen. If I’d chosen to be awkward further down the street in St. Louis, then I probably don’t meet Gareth and Stephen. Maybe it would have happened eventually through Skyler, but it just as easily could not have.
For me personally, Gareth letting me on to FTCR gave me a lot of what I have. Him letting me on introduces me to the crew, who are personal friends I still cherish. It let me force myself in front of an audience that would now have to deal with my existence (sorry again). It gives me the skills and confidence to start branching out into doing my own things via MykonosFan. It allows me to help raise nearly $100K and counting for charity through Fund The Charity Room (now just The Charity Room). FTCR also plays an instrumental role in seeming completely unrelated things, like being how Kevin (The Golden Bolt) and I became friends due to him watching Ratchet & Clank videos I uploaded there. Which also leads to me becoming close friends with his friends, which leads to us starting crub, which I hope to also get to write self-indulgent pieces on in 10 years. It gave me things I’m surely forgetting here. It also…gives me FTCR, literally, when Gareth left it in my hands around February 2020. Though I “own” FTCR, I prefer to view it as something everyone involved “owns”.
FTCR itself has a history from long before me joining, going back to June 9th, 2007. I still chuckle that this thing has basically Ship of Theseus’d at this point, I never even met Torch, the other cofounder. He left and never came back, so I at least know he is wise. Still, FTCR has taken many different shapes during my time participating in it, with a host of ambitions. At one point we basically wanted to become like RedLetterMedia, branching out from Sonic to talk about all kinds of media with much more on-camera presence. I also remember spit balling in Gareth’s basement once about how cool it’d be to get to a point of filming documentaries about games (thank you Noclip for coming along and doing a fine job of that). Also like, planning a 30th podcast. That’s a joke, but man, there are so many FTCR podcasts…
Obviously, those ambitions never got off the ground. If there’s any one thing that’s stayed consistent through years of changes though, it’s that damn blue hedgehog. “Find The Computer Room” is a Sonic reference, after all, so perhaps its fate was sealed from inception. We all still remain pretty invested in the series, still do Let’s Plays for some god forsaken reason in 2024, and even outside of recording for videos we still manage to talk way too much about it amongst ourselves. Oops. In some ways it feels FTCR will always continue on, like a cockroach of the Sonic scene. Unkillable, always hiding in dark corners, and having frequent upload droughts for months. I don’t know how many more years it continues with me as a part of it. On the one hand, the time I can invest into it has dwindled and maybe I should be doing literally anything else. On the other hand, with all of this laid bare it feels like such an intrinsic part of me now that I couldn’t turn back on it. Time will tell.
With or without me, my wish for FTCR’s long-term future is to stay true to its throughline. Friends that know way too much about Sonic coming together to give it the informed analysis that the series doesn’t need. With far too much bullshit inbetween. The channel has certainly suffered from life taking more of our time as individuals in recent years, and I formally apologize to anyone who still expects meme edits in our LPs. Still, I’d like us to aim a bit higher in the next few years. I think it’s about time for this “phase” of FTCR to end to make way for a new one. Nothing should really change, we’ll just utilize our strengths more effectively. We’ll still do LPs, but speaking for myself I’d like to see more people enjoy what we do. I’ll be spending some time considering strategy.
Which brings me to where I’ll wrap this up, the people that have watched, and those who still watch. What we do is pretty stupid and pointless, but having folk enjoy it and hop in with our stupid in jokes always helped everything feel worth it. The yearly charity streams especially still feel like a big get together with a ton of familiar names popping in. People that just get the dumb humor, but also care about the things we care about with the same inane knowledge base. In some ways I like that FTCR has always had its own small corner of the internet where everyone just seems to be on the same page. 10 years is a long time to do YouTube stuff, and nearly 17 years is a long time for a YouTube group to exist. Especially one that has literally spanned the globe throughout its history. I’ve gotten to meet some of you at conventions over the years, signing a Sonic history book (god bless you for wanting me to do that), walking out of TooManyGames to go to Target talking about Ken Penders, bothering some of you a few times a month in the Patreon channels on our Discord. I still always read every single comment. We’d honestly probably still do this even if no one watched, but it means a lot that people do. Which is probably you if you’re reading this, so hey, thank you. Thank you for your time, your input, for fanart if you’ve drawn it, for anything really. Also, shoutout to StarCaliburn for singlehandedly keeping our subreddit alive. I’m still not sure what a “Snoo” is. Okay, I’m going to hit “publish” on this now so I can kick myself for everything I’ve forgotten to include.