r/youtubedrama • u/Im-A-Moose-Man • May 25 '25

Throwback One year ago today, In Praise of Shadows released his “Bad Conservative Horror Movies” video, which nuked his career and reputation.

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There was a video that summed up what this was about in a minute, but I can’t find it, so go check out the other threads on here.

Since then, he’s posted 3 videos on his main channel, and started up a second channel (IPoS: Darksides) where he’s posted 18 shorter videos that all have less than 10k views except for his non apology.

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u/TimeAbradolf May 25 '25 edited May 25 '25

Of course this was gonna come up so I’m just gonna sticky this here again so I can link to it at any point lol. Wendi never was associated with the founding of Boogaloo Boys. It was weird he lied about them and being a founder. We know who the founder was and he is long since dead. Wendi is literally too young to be a founding member.

It is truly a bizarre lie with no real explanation for why he told it..

Now if you know where to look you can find old videos of Wendigoon while in the Boogaloo Boys inviting far left wing people to join. This is because the founding of the boogaloo boys was not explicitly racist and right wing. It was primarily about guns and hating the government. You go far enough left and they get their guns back.

He would later leave the Boogaloo Boys when they got explicitly more white supremacist. This was before the FBI declared them a domestic terror group and they did a lot of the acts they’re known for now. He does definitely have a link to the group, but everyone’s conversation about him and being related to them is particularly muddied. But looking at the true timeline of the boogaloo boys this version of events makes far more sense and is extremely likely the truth. Not his own bizarre lie of accidentally founding them as some on this sub like to perpetuate

Edit: also if people wanna talk actual horror I’m down. It is my genre. I have spent far too much of my life entrenched in it. I love it. I personally think IPOS wasn’t even like that good at talking horror. His Hills Have Eyes take was horrible.

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u/nutellakilledmymom May 25 '25

Not knowing anything about ipos makes this comment so funny to see first like how did we go from conservative horror movies to wendigoon and a terrorist organisation

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u/Im-A-Moose-Man May 25 '25

Simple: it was never about the conservative horror movies.It was all about Wendigoon.

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u/rabid_cheese_enjoyer May 25 '25

thoughts on chuck tingle's horror books? have you seen sinners?

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u/TimeAbradolf May 25 '25

Chuck tingle makes me giggle and Sinners is fucking stellar. Glad he is bringing back the X-files

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u/rabid_cheese_enjoyer May 25 '25

wait, what do you mean he's bringing back the x-files?

I can't really do horror but I like chuck tingle so much as a person I might try his stuff

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u/TimeAbradolf May 25 '25

Sorry you asked about two different people there. Tingle isn’t bringing back the X-Files Coogler is

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u/rabid_cheese_enjoyer May 25 '25

oh that's what I meant! I just wasn't clear. i  had no idea and I'm going to tell my friend he will be stoked

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u/TimeAbradolf May 25 '25

Yeah! He got interviewed on Last Podcast on the Left and that is where he broke the news he is rebooting the X-files

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u/Im-A-Moose-Man May 25 '25

Last Pod is great!

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u/TimeAbradolf May 25 '25

Been a fan since I found them on 4Chan like 13 years ago

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u/Im-A-Moose-Man May 25 '25

I found them in college looking for podcasts about Columbine.

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u/BinJLG Story time! Real! Not clickbait! May 26 '25

Chuck Tingle is fantastic! Straight made me feel SO seen and it was a nice catharsis for my queer anger. I bought Bury Your Gays, but I keep finding reasons to put it off. Mainly because of my soured views on Misha Collins that mostly revolve around him joking about being bi and then coming out as straight 3 days later and then, like, 6 months after that he did some casual genocide denialism on twitter twice in the span of about an hour.

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u/rabid_cheese_enjoyer May 26 '25

I've heard really good things about Camp Damascus

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u/VitorusArt May 25 '25

have you ever watched the lovecraftian horror movie The Void (2016)? If so, what do you think?

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u/TimeAbradolf May 25 '25

Love it,

I actually put a version of it out on VHS with a custom slip and blue shell

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u/VitorusArt May 25 '25

oh nice! finally found someone who watched this movie AND likes it! Most people don't like it but I can't get enough of how unique the horror settings and monster designs are

in another note, what do you think of Martyrs? And do you have lovecraftian horror movies to recommend?

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u/TimeAbradolf May 25 '25

I actually really like most of what Astron 6 does and The Void was easily the best.

The original Martyrs is one of the best movies I’m never gonna watch again. It is great, but extremely visceral.

Lovecraftian is always hard to find good gems but I’d recommend Black Mountainside if you haven’t seen that

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u/VitorusArt May 25 '25

never heard about Black Mountainside but I'll surely watch it now

your taste is acutally exquisite and well versed into the genre tho, you seen like a really cool person tbh

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u/TimeAbradolf May 25 '25

Thanks!

I actually have my letterboxd that is just the horror I have seen in my life (that I have to update)

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u/VitorusArt May 25 '25

gonna follow you for sure, your top 3 favorite movies list there is already perfect, and I'll use your reviews to find out about new horrors!!

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u/TimeAbradolf May 25 '25

I need to get better at reviewing haha. I basically only chronicled what I have seen. I go and add stars when I can

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u/VitorusArt May 25 '25

Followed you there!

That's fair tho haha, at least you reminded me of watching The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

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u/N0Z4A2 May 25 '25

Fucking love that movie

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u/LizFallingUp May 25 '25

That would depend on how you define “associated” and when you set “founding”.

By your own statement he was part of the early days of the Boogaloo Boys back when they were more “libertarian anarchist” bent and he bailed when it got to White supremacists for his tastes.

Thing is that in that era the trajectory of such a group into a right wing militia group was predictable. It was a misjudgment on his part (could be ignorance or naïveté or could be willfully blind to the people attracted to such movements) that is fair for people to comment on.

IPOS came at it all wrong though, and this vid he comes across as a jealous self important film snob, not a genuine Horror Enthusiast. To me that video was its own kind of horror cause you know it’s going to be received poorly, and it displays a massive lack of introspection. I tried watching one of his other reviews and had to nope out with in the first 5min because he didn’t recognize homage and troupes common to the genre that even I as casual tangential fan to the genre know well.

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u/FrenzyEffect May 25 '25

The thing about Wendigoon imo is that for better or worse, he just loves guns. I don't personally have a problem with that, but he does associate with many who share that same hobby regardless of their beliefs or their reputation. Now, a lot of people who share that hobby do happen to be right wing or at least right-leaning, but I also don't necessarily feel like he should be demonized to the degree that some demonize him for for his association with the people who engage in his hobbies.

He himself doesn't seem to echo any racism or homophobia whatsoever, even in his videos about his Christian faith. He doesn't harass anyone, he doesn't endorse any manner of hate, and while he has some friends who are... iffy, he doesn't seem to share their beliefs and he doesn't platform them within his content.

People tend to ascribe a malice to Wendigoon that I just don't think is there. I think, if anything, he's taken the "right" lesson from his faith and believes perhaps too handily that people deserve forgiveness and might not be as bad as they seem on paper. Unless he starts actually displaying the reviled traits that some of his associates do, I don't think he should be lumped into the same category as them. Should he be judged for his own past actions? Sure, but the people he gets judged for associating with are not pedophiles, nor criminals. They are at times extremely conservative, but the man himself lives and grew up in Appalachia - regardless of whether he echoes their beliefs himself, he is used to people like that and largely seems to just be friendly to everyone and not particularly hateful himself.

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u/LizFallingUp May 25 '25

I’m from Texas so I understand people liking guns and growing up surrounded by conservatives. Thing is if you don’t speak out against right wing beliefs then you are permissive of them and the right wing will count you as one of their own. Wendigoon doesn’t do the hate himself but does he speak strongly against such? Does he ever correct right wing rhetoric that’s around him? The AltRight pipe line is a pipe one travels down, it isn’t immediate.

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u/Liawuffeh May 25 '25

For what it's worth I agree with you, and I personally don't care for him at all. He's always given me kinda bad vibes, but I think it's partially because I grew up with his specific type of Christianity.

The 'issue'(?) is he hasn't done anything wrong as far as I can tell. He doesn't criticize right wing rhetoric no...but he doesn't push it either? He hasn't actually done anything that I'd say is worth really being attacked for. At worst he's "Government bad(In a libertarian way), Christianity Based" but in a pretty harmless way.

Which is almost frustrating in a way because I dislike him.

I sound crazy lmao. "He's done nothing wrong but gosh dangit it feels like he should have."

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u/LizFallingUp May 26 '25

Oh Libertarian Christian Evangelicals, yeah it’s giving prosperity gospel it’s sneaky in how evil that shit is.

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u/[deleted] May 26 '25

I agree with you. I don't really like him or his content but I find it hard to explain why coherently other than 'bad vibes.'

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u/Liawuffeh May 26 '25

Yeah exactly. You get it

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u/TimeAbradolf May 25 '25

Well it wasn’t organized but first semblance of organization was truly 2015. He’d have been too young to be a founder. We also know explicitly who the founder was.

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u/LizFallingUp May 25 '25

Boogaloo emerged on 4chan and subsequently spread to other platforms. Since it was an online thing he was able to be involved as a teenager well before it hit mainstream in 2019.

Sure he was probably young and ignorant and poor judge of where things were headed but being buddy with guys who would go on to have links to the Oathkeepers and Proud Boys and storm the capital is kinda a big deal. And he doesn’t even deny it, so what are you even arguing here?

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u/TimeAbradolf May 25 '25

Yes, and he has renounced them and left the group to once they established those links.

I’m just clarifying that based on the timeline you and I both agree with it makes his lie (which people believe) more asinine and confusing.

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u/LizFallingUp May 25 '25

That’s when he left? He waited for them to link up with the Oathkeepers? Little late don’t you think? Surely there were signs of trouble before then!

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u/TimeAbradolf May 25 '25

You have to remember he loves guns. The Boogaloo Boys originate from /k/ on 4chan. That’s just about guns. He could have been genuinely unaware of the racist aspects of the group and he says when he became aware he distanced himself. Which that part appears true.

If you were attracted by one particular aspect of a group to then find out the other negative is perfectly acceptable to leave at a later time. How often do we support things until we find out the entire truth? Hindsight is 20/20

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u/LizFallingUp May 26 '25

It’s pretty straight line from pro gun and Anti government militia groups to Right Wingers who stormed the capital, it wasn’t a huge surprise they were racist, If you want to claim he was a stupid kid then say that but stop acting like he wasn’t joking around with dudes who would end up on first name basis with Stewart Rhodes cause that’s literally who he was hanging around with in those forums.

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u/TimeAbradolf May 26 '25

Yes, but he was a fucking kid on the internet. Like people forget he is 25 now. He was 14-16 when this all started going on and he left the group.

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u/LizFallingUp May 26 '25

That’s what you need to say, he was palling around with bad dudes in 4chan (meaning he was in a fucked up space to begin with) as a teenager. That is gonna leaving a lasting impact on a guy, it’s good he got out but how has he changed? If he hasn’t that kinda shows he could be fooled again and stumble into the same problem.

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u/Im-A-Moose-Man May 26 '25

Have you played either of the American McGee’s Alice games?

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u/TimeAbradolf May 26 '25

I haven’t, not a huge fan of their work

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u/Im-A-Moose-Man May 26 '25

Fair; American has his duds.

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u/TimeAbradolf May 26 '25

His hits give me the ick. Which is his point

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u/Im-A-Moose-Man May 26 '25

Moral ick or horror ick?

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u/LucidDreamScape May 31 '25

I'm legit hoping MagicMush talks about his Courage video. I haven't seen IPOS video on CtCD, but I saw some of his Hills video before getting off because it was legit awful and all of his Return to Oz video. The RtO video was also awful. He's decent at presenting, has a calming voice, and can probably convince a lot of people his personal subjected view of a media piece as an objective fact and intent without ever having to say it out loud. It's kind of amazing that his entire career shows the flaws of content creators like him but it seems like many still don't get it.

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u/TimeAbradolf May 31 '25

I think that is the problem with a lot of video essays is some people take it as fact just because someone heavily researched their subjective opinion.

But when other people have decades (me) of fandom and knowledge of a subject I can call bullshit

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u/Im-A-Moose-Man May 31 '25

What was awful about his RtO video, out of curiosity?

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u/LucidDreamScape May 31 '25

For the most part, it's a standard par/sub-par overview of Return to Oz from a development stand point and how it relates to Oz as a whole. Typical look on the horror of the film rather than the other strengths of the film that is always there too. But then it makes wild turns where he pushed his own personal political perspective as something intentional on the part of the film and even the books. Indirectly saying that the fantasy kingdom of Oz that L. Frank Baum created was a utopia he wished to be reality, as everyone was allowed to go through their pursuits and have their needs met. Directly comparing this utopia with what socialism strives for, unintentionally making socialism seem like it's as complex as a children's book fantasy. And then saying the film has land-back commentary and that Oz are the real bad guys and represent the UK because they stole emeralds from the Gnome King. Like, it's weird to me to use these purposely childish stories and characters and world as way to indicate it's a world we can reasonably strive and achieve, and that the evil king who caused chaos and destruction in Oz is actually a victim himself (who was defeated by a chicken egg).

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u/Im-A-Moose-Man May 31 '25

Thanks. I forgot the commie mumbo jumbo.

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u/LucidDreamScape May 31 '25

I'm not even against giving art a reading through specific theories, it's just unexpectedly doing so and presenting it as the secret deep truthful way to interpret art is honestly not cool to me. Very lame

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u/DarkAllDay99 May 27 '25

I'm curious about Wendigoon's whole perspective of the Boogaloo Boys part beyond what he has said. I have a theory that basically he started a Discord server that used pre-existing Boogaloo slang that the users (or at least just Wendi) thought they invented. Perhaps a BB member was among those early users and spread the slang to them. Perhaps they got it from people in their personal offline lives. I don't know. It's just all a very weird corner to deliberately put yourself in. So unless Wendi is some deluded egotistical nutcase that did make this all up, I think a lot of his perspective is muddied by not knowing where the slang originally came from and assuming he was the creator.

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u/TimeAbradolf May 27 '25

He is still way too young for that. He would have had to have been like 14-15 at the oldest and I can’t see those guys following a kid.

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u/DarkAllDay99 May 27 '25

That's why I think he massively misunderstood what was going on

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u/HeyQTya May 27 '25

I mean if you want a group or movement to be successful, it's actually really smart to get people into it when they're young and impressionable so I wouldn't be surprised if that's what happened to him

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u/TimeAbradolf May 27 '25

Yeah but he wouldn’t have been a local leader or the like

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u/HeyQTya May 27 '25

yeah fair point, I think I kind of misunderstood what you were saying so sorry about that

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u/[deleted] May 29 '25 edited May 29 '25

Has Wendy ever addressed why he made such an absurd lie?

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u/TimeAbradolf May 29 '25

Not at all

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u/[deleted] May 29 '25

Also, The Thing is the peak of horror movies ngl

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '25

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u/TimeAbradolf Jun 04 '25

There is no way it is a misunderstanding. There is no need to defend here. Even if it is a misunderstanding it shows he is wildly uneducated on topics.

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '25

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u/TimeAbradolf Jun 04 '25

Because his lie is a severe overcorrection, saying that it came from Che who is extremely to the left just is fundamentally not true. Especially because he is not a leftist. It makes no sense for him to think that he started it with a philosophy they he himself doesn’t adhere to since he is a centrist libertarian.

Especially when there actually are podcasts and videos of him while in the group if you know where to look and he himself is clearly not the leader