Cindy Phung

Reenacting a plushie parody, sophomore Gabe Waltrip prepares for his next YouTube video.

Sophomore Gabe Waltrip pants as adrenaline rushes through his body. Despite being out of breath, he continues to narrate dialogue as he runs down the hallway, juggling his tablet in one hand and a plushie in the other.

While watching his favorite YouTubers, an idea came to Waltrip to start his Youtube channel, SUPER SONIC GUARDIAN. Waltrip accumulated over a hundred subscribers and drew his classmates’ attention within a month of posting videos. Most of his content consists of plushie parodies where Waltrip uses his own plushies to act out scenes from popular games, movies and TV shows.

“I saw other YouTubers make their videos, and people liked them. I felt a little sad at first,” Waltrip said. “I thought some people wouldn’t like my videos, but I realized people did. Then, suddenly, I [had the] confidence, [and] I thought if they could do it, I can do it.”

Creating a channel name was Waltrip’s first step. Next, he found inspiration from YouTubers that he watches, such as SMG4 or SML. 

“[At first,] I thought maybe [to name my channel] Super Mario Fan. No luck because I’m more of a Sonic guy than Mario. No offense to Mario, but Sonic’s a little cooler than Mario. The idea then popped into my head. When I saw SMG4, whose full name is Super Mean Guardian 4, I thought, take the word ‘super’ and ‘guardian’ and put ‘sonic’ in the middle: Super Sonic Guardian,” Waltrip said.

Waltrip considered what content to create and decided to use his and his brother’s plushies to create his parodies, taking inspiration from video games like “Poppy Playtime” and “Five Nights at Freddy’s.”

“I don’t know how to do animation. So, I thought it was fine to do plushie videos instead. That would be more creative. Animations hurt my brain so much I can’t even think straight,” Waltrip said. “I can look into [using animations in the future], I could [even] take some classes for it. [It] should be no problem.”

Wanting to continue his channel throughout high school, Waltrip has high hopes for a large following. Currently, Waltrip’s biggest struggle is getting discouraged when his views do not meet his expectations. 

“When I see one of my videos still get the same views, I’m like, ‘Man.’ I guess some people from all around the world don’t even like them, but at least some people from here like them. At least that’s something,” Waltrip said. “I’m trying to get [people to] subscribe.” 

Even though Waltrip has more important goals, he appreciates his peers’ support. Especially, tiny moments at school when kids recognize Waltrip and stop to say ‘hey’ or what’s up.’

“I know the 121 subscribers from here are good people. They’re awesome. I even know some of them, [and] they’re good friends. They do support me a lot,” Waltrip said. “It feels great [to] know [that there are] people who support me.”

To improve his channel, Waltrip is reaching out for cash donations of any amount to purchase necessary equipment, such as a camera. Special Education teacher Jessica Bowman is collecting all donations on behalf of Waltrip. In addition, Waltrip enjoys making people smile and laugh with his videos. 

“[Creating videos] feels great. It makes me feel happy. It’s so inspirational. [I’m] just hoping to see some people like my videos, like my creativity,” Waltrip said. “[I] want to spread some joy out to the world, [and] show all the positive sides of videos on YouTube.”