Underappreciated YouTube Channels You Want to Share

[strwbtea]

Maraganger - interesting longer videos about lesser known video games
Tamakid - she's a toy collector, makes videos about toys, some vlogs from cons etc, started her channel not that long ago
Shut Up & Sit Down - if you're a fan of boardgames you probably already know this channel. they make reviews and other vids about boardgames, cardgames, sometimes ttrpgs

[Badgermein]

Some good recommendations here. Upon some reflection, I'm going to have to recommend Fred Perry again. He used to have a lot more videos on his channel, but due to some FCC shenanigans regarding animated content online a few years ago, he took a lot of his stuff down because he didn't want it removed :-/. Fred Perry is the creator of the comic series Gold Digger, and he also made a lot of popular animations earlier in his YouTube career. No doubt some of his most popular videos have been reposted elsewhere on YouTube.

[debleb]

i’d like to recommendgrand illusions! he’s a collector of old toys and he makes videos demonstrating his collection. the toys are always very fun to watch and he’s got such a sweet personality, too.

[Guest]

i’d like to recommendgrand illusions! he’s a collector of old toys and he makes videos demonstrating his collection. the toys are always very fun to watch and he’s got such a sweet personality, too.

I love channels like this. I used to really like Digitiser 2000 back when it was mostly Biffo and Paul Gannon at a desk showing old toys and science kits. The Grumps had a bit of that too, but they always seem to turn into channels about trying different food flavours from other countries after a while. I guess that's what gets the views.

[Melooon]

i’d like to recommendgrand illusions!

Grand illusions is great.. not to bring down the tone of the thread.. but there are some very classic grand illusions youtube poop videos

I actually bought a bunch of stuff from their shop a few years ago; I got one of these Sundials and its been on my bag for years! They also used to have a really great 00s webstore, I used to use it as an example of the living retro web, but you can only find it on archive now https://web.archive.org/web/20161113022841/https://www.grand-illusions.com/

[debleb]

Grand illusions is great.. not to bring down the tone of the thread.. but there are some very classic grand illusions youtube poop videos

I actually bought a bunch of stuff from their shop a few years ago; I got one of these Sundials and its been on my bag for years! They also used to have a really great 00s webstore, I used to use it as an example of the living retro web, but you can only find it on archive now https://web.archive.org/web/20161113022841/https://www.grand-illusions.com/

what a charming online shop! shame the design has changed, it fits the channel just perfectly. i saw those sundials on their shop and i really want one to be honest xD i doubt it'd be useful that often but cool to have; plus, imagine the rare occasion someone needs the time and you get to pull your sundial out..?   

[Guest]

Scouring old, extremely obscure games I used to play via the YouTube per-game search, I recently found a German Let's Play channel which is to my knowledge the only one who has ever reviewed and played this particular game.

He remains at a few hundred subscribers and the video wasn't even particularly good, but he has been on it for 11+ years, which is really respectable! It was an odd feeling watching it, like discovering a new world, an entire livelihood of a real, living person. His name is ShauniManiac and he does not make particularly good videos (plenty of little paper cuts building up in the video quality), but I felt at home a bit, like I was still a kid watching Let's Plays daily.

https://www.youtube.com/@ShauniManiac/videos

[kurohaato]

Surprised no one's mentioned LGR yet. He covers all sorts of retro hardware and software, and he even has an old video essay series detailing stuff like AOL, 3Dfx, and BonziBuddy. He also does Sims 4 videos from time to time. His latest video is a five hour compilation and commentary about building his woodgrain 486.

[devils]

Surprised no one's mentioned LGR yet. He covers all sorts of retro hardware and software, and he even has an old video essay series detailing stuff like AOL, 3Dfx, and BonziBuddy. He also does Sims 4 videos from time to time. His latest video is a five hour compilation and commentary about building his woodgrain 486.

Ah! LGR, I haven't watched his stuff in years! I gotta get back to viewing his vids...

One of my favorite channels right now is danooct1. He makes malware (mostly viruses) demonstration videos, and sometimes even fixes the dang things so they actually work how they're supposed to.

A really, really small channel I found by chance is Ryunne's Creations. Unfortunately, she hasn't uploaded in a long time, but she makes such pretty polymer clay figures!! She's not a native English speaker, so you might have trouble understanding her at times, but she gives instructions on how to make the figures so you can have one of your own :)

[b-lly]

they're not as obscure as the fans fan, but still deserve more love :)

Veronica Explains: makes video about Linux and old computers. I use neither of those but she's cool   

The Tim Traveller: makes video about interesting places, especially anything related to trains or train stations. He explains things in a fun way. Similar to Tom Scott but has a different vibe (Tim Tom collab when?)

Game Tim: recreates Cookie Mama recipies as closely as possible. unfortunately has been inactive for a while :(

nana825763: the creator of old famous horror vids like user:666. now he plays Minecraft completely blind! (and is also making a horror game)

Pop Culture Detective: I think they make ineresting analysis of pop culture tropes and stuff

Tech4Play (italian): has been playing in the same Minecraft world for years and has build a lot of beautiful stuff! Sometimes he does world tour videos

not a channel but a single video: Remain Seated Please, about two friends who, after finding out that their favorite Disney World attraction was about to be closed forever, decided to get out of their seats and explore it on their own

honorable mention: Junco's Pub, it was a livestream of a bird house decorated to look like a pub. a livestream is still archived and some highlights uploaded

[vvinrg]

SilentManJoe makes super good SFM shitposts and stuff.

Captain KRB makes super-high-quality video essays about all sorts of things, generally leaning torwards the terminally online. Stuff about the death of myspace, wikipedia trolls, etc.

Pezzza's Work generally consists of super minimal super satisfying simulation or machine learning videos. There's also some really accessible guides for implementing a physics engine from scratch.

4096 makes rediculously smooth and well-edited videos, generally involving seamlessly transitioning images or footage of closely-related things. It's hard to pin down, so here's one of my all-time favorites of theirs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9DfSCk-6Ko

fooffle makes really good animations and idk I love their artstyle a lot.

I was gonna finish this off with fawfulydoo, but they've nuked their youtube it seems. Here's a post from their tumblr to give an idea but they basically have a super cool 90s/saturday morning cartoon style. they're behind that one guilty gear oingo boingo vid from a bit ago.

[Bede]

I wasn't sure about the definition of 'underappreciated' here, so I decided to be Extremely Normal and actually bring math into it. The average of everyone's suggested channels had a 358k sub count! With the lowest sub count of any channels being suggested being 18, and the highest being 2.06 million. When we take out that extremely low outlier, and the two channels with the sub counts in the millions, we get 246k as an average!

Thankfully, all of the channels I had in mind for suggesting are below both of those averages. (Definitely did not have to do this.)

Anyhow! Here are my reccs! I have also lovingly hand-selected a video to start with, for anyone interested in their content <3

Melody Nosurename (sub count: 42.3k) - Melody is a trans woman, a furry, and all-around fun gal! She portrays herself as a cute animated deer, and talks about a range of topics (mostly relating to video games), but always does so in a very delightful and charming way.
Interested? Start out with "31 Minutos is a Great Show", which is her most recent release. It's an hour-long deep dive into a very popular children's puppet show in Latino America that people outside of it may not know about. It's SO fun to watch her pop off, as it's clear that she's very passionate about this show <3

kkclue (sub count: 216k) - Clue is a YouTuber who specializes in talking about media from the late 90s and early 2000s! His channel also has misc other content, such as a compilation of all Nintendo 3DS cartridge insertion screens, but I feel like the videos where he talks about things he likes are where he really shines.
Interested? Start out with "The Tale of Tamagotchi: The Never-ending Rabbit Hole", which is a video going over every single Tamagotchi release, each release's functions, and more!

Li Speaks (sub count: 68.7k) - When she has a Serial Experiments Lain reference subtly hidden in her pastel purple aesthetic YouTube header, you KNOW it's gonna be good. Li is an absolutely lovely woman with a soft voice and a passion for making videos dedicated to semi-lost media of the early 2000s. Her videos are stupidly high-quality; even her first video on her channel has great production. And, hey, if you're interested in supporting disabled creators, you can't go wrong with this channel!
Interested? Start out with "Untangling the Lore of Devilish Hairdresser", which dives into the classic GirlsGoGames series that sapphics seem to go nuts for. She makes some super cute art for it, too; it's great.

hazel (sub count: 212k) - Hazel makes REALLY great videos about things related to old animanga, animanga fandom history, and animanga that she generally enjoys! The vibe is so nostalgic and very cozy. Feels like hanging out with a friend.
Interested? Well, I actually have multiple video reccs! My biggest one is "Why Did We like Elfen Lied?", which is a 2 hour long video essay on Elfen Lied, as well as its popularity in early anime fandom circles. I can't recommend that video enough. That being said, it would feel wrong to not also suggest her video, "Weird Old Video Game & Anime Fansites", because of it being VERY topical here.

Amelie Doree (sub count: 26.6k) (18+!!) - I actually found Amelie's content through a shoutout on Hazel's video, and I couldn't be happier with what I found. Amelie is a trans woman who regularly makes LONG video essays, mostly about really early (I'm talking PC98) dating sims. Because of the content of most early dating sims, I must say that the majority of her content should only really be viewed by those 18+, although nothing explicit is ever shown, if that would make you uncomfortable. Her videos dive into the artistic merit of said dating sims in a genuine tone which is rarely given to dating sims with this sort of content, which is just wonderful to see. That, and the love and passion that she clearly has for each video topic, of course!
Interested? Start out with "Doukyuusei Is Still a Dating Sim Masterpiece", which goes into one of the most influential early dating sims in the world, with special love and care put into discussing the themes the game brings up.

We're In Hell (sub count: 173k) - We're In Hell is a YouTube channel which mainly tackles sociology, often through the lens of explaining pop culture garbage fires like pickup artist reality shows. Maybe I'm biased because I am intensely interested in sociology, but holy HELL, this man's videos are SO interesting. Very well-researched, as well! They're like my weird autistic version of baby sensory videos.
Interested? Start out with "Too Hot to Handle & Surveillance Capitalism", which goes into a topic that I am sure those in the web revival movement know all too much about; the internet selling all of our info for profit; through the lens of a trashy reality TV dating show.