The best friend duo made up of JonTron and Egoraptor just got a little less grumpy. The YouTube group, Game Grumps, announced yesterday that they'd be breaking up. Sort of. JonTron is leaving to focus on his own work while Danny—a writer/comedian/singer from NinjaSexParty—replaces him on the show.
NinjaSexParty, if you're wondering, is a self-described comedy band composed of actor/writer/singer Danny and his friend Brian who mans the keyboards. Their most recent episode posted two weeks ago features JonTron and was directed by Egoraptor. It perhaps could have served as an early hint towards the impending changes.
The Game Grumps channel simultaneously announced a new show after the break-up, called Steam Train, where Danny and Ross (an animator known as RubberRoss on YouTube) will play modern and old school PC games together, mimicking the dynamic of the Game Grumps duo, new and old.
Fans have since been storming the Game Grumps YouTube channel, as well as the individual videos on the channel, to express their disappointment in seeing JonTron go. A few consider the new Steam Train show's announcement to be a shameless ploy to hop on the popularity of Game Grumps.
Here's the top comment on the YouTube announcement of Steam Train, as of this writing:
Seriously, not hating on these two, Jon, or anyone involved with Game Grumps, but seriously, this is fucking offending...
Stripping the channel from what it was all about, just using a channel with lots of subs from previous work, just what the hell were you thinking?
I wish Jon all the luck in the world with JonTron, and I'm fine with Arin wanting a new partner to continue the show... BUT THIS? STEAM TRAIN?
Biggest disappointment I've encountered on a Youtube Channel...
Though the upset is mostly aimed towards JonTron's departure, a portion of the fans seem to have already made up their minds to not give new host Danny a chance, proclaiming that he can't live up to JonTron's chemistry with Egoraptor.
  • People, saying "Give it a chance" doesn't mean anything. There have been two episodes with the new people, and people aren't liking them. Danny's transition was too sudden, Arin feels forced, and the third one is just annoying. Game Grumps is Arin and Jon. Replacing Abbot with a guy named Tony wouldn't make it New Abbot and Costello. It would make it Tony and Costello.
Though arguably just another Let's Play YouTube series, Game Grumps always had a deeper appeal to fans who were familiar with it. The duo truly worked well together, balancing the grumpiness of Egoraptor with the not-so-grumpiness of JonTron. They played old school games and sometimes newer ones, but always managed to bounce their personalities and humor off of one another. They were two best friends sitting down to play video games together. And people loved that. Shifting the players but not the overall best-friend setting is partially what fans online are concerned about.
Others are more open to letting the shock of change settle rather than letting it affect their opinion towards Danny. Here's the current top comment on Danny's debut episode for Game Grumps:
Danny got potential steam train doesn't
Some echoed the disappointment with the way in which both the new Game Grump host and new Steam Train show were announced:
  • So, I just want to say that I think Danny is great and all, but replacing Jon out of the blue like that was the worst, and the show will never be the same. I'm going to stay subbed for now (This may change), but as a loyal fan I just want to say that I'm very disappointed in the way this went down.
  • Sorry guys, I'm out. Been here since day one but this is nuts. I find it really hard to believe Jon genuinely just left to focus on JonTron with no warning, without physically appearing in videos with you and with so little active communication after the event. Even if that is the truth, this wasn't the way to break it to loyal fans. The communication surrounding this whole... thing has been a mess. Good luck with the future of 'Game Grumps'.
There's a thread on Reddit that's filled with mostly hurt-sounding comments at the news of the new composition of the show.
Not all of the reaction online has been completely negative, though. Some fans have taken to creating threads to commemorate some of the show's best moments between JonTron and Egoraptor. (Here's my favorite moment, recreated in Source Filmmaker by a fan.)
Others have created their own odes in the form of videos, like this one:
Here's the last Game Grumps episode to feature JonTron and Egoraptor:
Here's the first episode to feature Danny:
I've reached out to JonTron, Egoraptor and Danny to get their opinions on the responses they'ved received online, and I'll update this post should they respond.
To contact the author of this post, write to tina@kotaku.com or find her on Twitter at @tinaamini.