seven years I've been doing this seven
years I have been on YouTube it just
passed that the first video I ever
uploaded to my channel which many of you
know as the Metal Gear Solid for Old
Snake
Solid Snake impression that was not very
good we'll get to that in a second but
that's the first video I ever uploaded
on my channel and it has since passed
seven years since that has gone up has
changed and that is the fastest seven
years I think I've ever had my entire
life what only did we just pass seven
years on the channel but we also just
passed 23 million subscribers on the
channel so we've had two milestones hit
in rapid succession within a week of
each other so before I start anything
before I start reminiscing and before I
start doing anything in this video the
first thing I wanted to do was say thank
you to anybody who's ever been here to
anybody who's ever watched my channel
whether you were here on the first day
which let's face it no one was here the
first day or you just joined yesterday
or anywhere in between thank you for
being here thank you for letting me do
what I do here because when I started
off this channel I did not in my wildest
dreams
first of all ever think that it would
ever take off let alone get to 23
million subscribers and I did definitely
never think that I was going to be doing
it for seven years I honestly have no
idea where I would be without this
channel right now everyone keeps asking
that question of what would you be doing
if you weren't doing YouTube right now
and honestly I could not give you an
answer because I had no idea where my
life was going before I started this
channel it was one of the reasons that I
did start doing this because I had no
idea what else to do at my time with my
life with myself I was very sad I was
miserable I was very depressed I didn't
know what was going on so I started
uploading videos and hoped that people
would watch them and hope that anybody
would listen to me and I would find some
sort of purpose and drive in my life so
to say that I feel lucky that that
actually happened is a complete
understatement because I could not be
more grateful for what I have been able
to do here on this platform
YouTube has completely changed me as a
person I not I wasn't a bad person
before I started doing YouTube but I'm
definitely a much better person than I
ever could be by doing this because I've
met so many different people in the last
seven years I having to do this and
having so much responsibility and so
many people and eyeballs thrust upon you
at once has matured me faster than any
other experience in my entire life and
to have all these people sitting around
and watching what you do and being so
involved in it and seeing so many
different walks of life within that
microcosm I guess it's not micro if it's
23 million people but going out on tour
going to conventions sitting down
reading comments going to social media
meeting other youtubers and just going
out in the road and talking to so many
different people in so many different
avenues of life in so many different
races religions skin colors faiths
beliefs sexual orientation there's so
many different types of people I've met
in those seven years it's made me such a
better person and I cannot be more
grateful for that as well
I was a very sad depressed early 20 year
old in a log cabin in the middle of the
woods
freezing my absolute ass off with no
real friends to talk to day in and day
out any of the friends that I did have
we we got along and everything but we
never shared a lot of the same interests
and I I just sat at home alone watching
videos playing games all the time and
then doing this has I've done so many
things doing YouTube I've I've
accomplished a lot of my wildest dreams
I've gotten to play video games as a job
I've gotten to have so many of you guys
out there watching what I do and being
so involved in it and so loving and
caring and supportive and allowing me to
do weird wacky crazy wild things all the
time and really support me creatively
I've gotten to go out on tour and meet a
lot of you in real life gone to
conventions and seeing how much this has
meant to you in real life I
gotten to meet people from Make A Wish
whose wish was to come and meet me and
divulge about how much this channel
meant to them and how much my energy and
my positivity has meant to them I've met
so many people who have been in low
parts of their life who really related
to the channel and really looked up to
me and really wanted to either do what I
do or just be along for the ride and
have fun with it I've gotten to meet
some of my celebrity idols I've gotten
to go on talk shows in Ireland the
biggest talk show in Ireland that I grew
up watching I've gotten to do so many
charity livestreams where we've raised
over almost two and a half million
dollars since last year for people in
need and so many different charities and
I've gotten to work with so many amazing
people I've gotten to meet some of my
best friends that I've ever had in my
life who I wholeheartedly respect and
enjoy hanging out with and I've gotten
to meet some of the most loving and
caring and supportive people in my life
because of doing YouTube and that's only
scratching the surface there's so much
more in that in those seven years it's
been such a dense seven years that I
feel so completely undeserving of how
much love and support has come my way
that all I can do is spend the rest of
my time doing YouTube trying to send
that love and energy and positivity back
out into the world because the world has
given me so much already so no matter
what happens on YouTube no matter where
I go no matter where I've come from no
matter what my mentality is now or what
it was before just know that no one can
be more thankful for all of this than I
am because it has meant so [ __ ] much
to me to do YouTube over the years it's
it's been the best thing I've ever done
with my entire life and always will be
nothing will ever top the experiences
that I've had here now and hopefully
going forward this is not the end I am
determined to have not peaked yet I have
so much more potential and energy left
in me that I have yet to explore so many
other avenues doing YouTube but please
never ever doubt how thankful how
grateful
and just how much love I have for doing
this and for you for this community
because you guys are not to get all
sloppy about it and not to try and self
like and blow and smoke up your ass and
get all like oh I love my friends but I
seriously do because this is the coolest
thing I've ever done in my life and I'm
so happy that I get to do it day in and
day out and I never want to lose that
feeling it's so easy to get lost in it
it's so easy to forget where you've come
from but thank you for keeping me honest
and thank you for still being here if
you started off watching the channel
years ago and you're not here anymore at
least you gave it a shot thank you if
you showed up in the channel and you
didn't like it at least you gave it a
shot if you're still here if you just
showed up thank you for still being here
because I couldn't do any of this
without you
I get very doubtful about things from
time to time maybe it's that impostor
syndrome kicking in that a lot of people
who do this type of stuff have because
there's times when I sit down and really
think about what it is to have a channel
of this size and a community of this
size and to have done some of the things
that I've done and it just it it almost
feels like a different person has done
them because you get those moments where
you feel down and you feel sad you just
don't want to record and you feel like
man people just don't care anymore or I
don't care anymore or whatever that
little voice in your head creeps in and
starts to take over and you kind of have
to push it out and every now and then I
think that it's crazy that I get to do
this and maybe that's a good thing maybe
that self-awareness kicking in is a good
thing because again it keeps me grounded
and it keeps me remembering that I
didn't always get to do this and it
could have easily just not happened I
could have given up way early on and
none of this would have happened I could
have been yelling into a void and no one
could have listened so all of these
things that have married together that
have allowed this to happen I never want
to forget that because that's that's the
energy and the motivation and the power
that keeps me going because material
things and
numbers and money and all of that stuff
I mean
sure that's great but at the end of the
day it's not the thing that made me
start off doing it and it's not the
thing that kept me doing it so that's
why I'm always saying that I never try
and forget where I came from and I'm so
thankful for all of you being here and
like I said keeping me honest and
keeping me on the right track for the
most part anyway will will lean left or
right or will wobble a small bit every
now and then and nobody's perfect and I
sure as hell can I'm not even close to
being perfect at all I [ __ ] up
constantly sometimes you just don't see
it
but I'm always [ __ ] things up but I'm
glad that we're still here and we're
still on the path and that those that
wobbles can always course correct and we
can get back on track and just make cool
[ __ ] but I knew it anyway I know for
that let's get into the funny stuff
alright I have a nice old saw Forte and
I was nice old copper lanes gold blend
there's people know what I'm talking
about it's great tea but what I wanted
to do was go back and look at of course
we were going to uploads and let's sort
by older because we have to go back and
watch the fur I've I've gone over this
video tons of times on the channel
already I've watched it a ton of times
already and people still ask me every
time to go back and do the impression of
solid snake from Metal Gear Solid 4 so
that's what we're doing here today so
this is uploaded November 12th 2012 so
as I said seven years ago from now it
has 1.3 million views oh my god
I'm sure I've had a few comments down
here yeah five years since this was
uploaded things sure have changed since
then thank you so much for being here
through it all six years ago
law yep I'd originally planned on doing
more stuff like this but when I started
recording it I realized it didn't sound
pretty man
so this is I was replying to somebody
through this one back back then the
replies would show up as like at
somebody I can't remember how they
really showed up but then Google+ came
in and it was plus somebody and then
they got rid of Google+ so it doesn't
show who I was replying to anymore
this makes me cringe now
you know likey seven years ago that's
one of the first comments I left that
was probably one of my first haters wait
can I can I sort by know newest first
there's 13,000 comments right now 38
minutes ago an hour ago people are still
commenting on this oh yeah cuz I hit
seven years alright let's listen to this
bad boy there's no music there's no I
think it's just my voice in the log
cabin I can remember myself sitting at
the on my page where my laptop opened
the countertop and I had my webcam I
couldn't record my face at the same time
because I was using the webcam to record
the voice and it was on my toe Shiba
laptop and it sounded like ass has
changed it's longer about nations
ideologies there it is Earth Nyssa t it
supposed to say or ethnicity but the way
I was doing the voice
I said earth Nyssa t also you realize
that this picture is not in 16 to 9
ratio yes it's 16 to 9 ratio not 16 by 9
you notice that the two dots it's a
ratio it's an in the series of proxy
battles fought by mercenaries and
machines how much of this did i do or
and its consumption of life has become a
well-oiled machine
sure there's a minute 22 so they do the
whole monologue it's changed
when the battlefield is under total
control war becomes routine I did the
entire thing let me just let me just hit
you at a fat a fat intro Metal Gear
Solid 4 intro so we can hear the actual
thing and you can all hear how amazing
my impression actually was here we go
wait free has changed are you telling me
that that's not the exact same has
changed because it's not I was so
convinced back in the day that I sounded
identical I even recorded it listened to
it and said yeah that's pretty damn good
and then decided to edit it and upload
it which this minute 22 video which is
Jesus even this is 1080p I guess it's a
picture in a and a voice but this took
me probably about two hours it's no
longer about nations ideologies olicity
okay okay it's longer about nations
ideologies I'm trying to think of things
that I haven't talked about in regards
to this video cuz I've I've reacted this
is like four times by now but the
original idea for the channel was I was
so obsessed with voices I mean I still
AM that's why I like doing voices in
games and changing my voice around
because that was the stuff I used to
always do anyway with my with more like
my college friends and my high school
friends back in the day and when I
started off doing youtube I was like
well everyone's doing Let's Plays
everyone's doing the thing where they
just talk over video games and I I
thought I wanted to be different I was
gonna do it where I would be characters
from those games doing a voice from the
game while playing the game I am very
glad that that did not work out because
I don't think it would have exploded the
way it had and I don't think I would be
where I am now if I continue doing it
some people have definitely done that
since and it was by no means like a
unique original thing to do at the time
either
it was just what I wanted to do I
originally wanted to do like Bane from
The Dark Knight Rises be like Oh huh
what do you think of that
but I loved Metal Gear Solid Metal Gear
Solid 3 is in my like my top 5 games of
all time
I love Metal Gear Solid 1 as well I
think Metal Gear Solid 1 has a bigger
impact on society and we live in one and
I think it's probably story-wise an
overall better game but Metal Gear Solid
3 had a bigger impact on me
I love forests I love camouflage I love
sneaking around in forests and that kind
of stuff and I liked the characters more
ah no I didn't I like the I like the end
fight the most but I just felt like
there was so much more to do in that
game it was so less it was so much less
restrictive than the first game but
Metal Gear Solid 1 and 3 were some of my
favorite games ever - I didn't
appreciate it when I was younger I
appreciate it a lot more now when I'm
older especially in current social media
times it has a lot to say about that and
society I've seen Joker but also Metal
Gear Solid 4 then came out such huge
hype everyone absolutely loved it but I
hated it I hated it when it came out I
thought it was a crappy Metal Gear sorry
I thought the gameplay sucked I thought
all the soul and fun of a Metal Gear
game was all sucked out of it and I
haven't played it since I played it like
twice back then I never went back to it
but I did like this opening cutscene and
I wanted to do that so that's why I'm
always like I always have such huge
respect and I'm always obsessed with
voice actors and sound design and that
kind of thing because playing video
games and watching cartoons and stuff of
course but that was like oh man
somebody's doing that voice somebody's
job is to record them doing a cool voice
and acted out as a character and that
blew my mind that people could do that
for their job and Here I am doing
something that I didn't even know you
could do as a job back then I was
uploading videos I thought that was cool
I thought oh maybe somebody will watch
it
if I told that person back then seven
years ago the 23 million people would be
on their channel I would have lost my
mind it probably would have scared me
into not doing it because I was a very
insecure very scared very lonely dude
and all I want to do is go back and give
that guy a hug because he [ __ ] needed
it at the time I mean we all need a hug
every now and then but I was in a very
rough place and I did not like who I was
and so many other people in my life were
cooler and doing cool things and then I
finally found people on the internet who
were doing this as their job like way
later I was new I was just operating
videos thinking it was cool and then way
later I found out that people were doing
it as a job I thought people were just
doing it for fun like I was I did the
snake impression seven years ago but
then my next video after that was
November 29th 2012 so we're coming up
almost seven years on that so it was it
was a little chunk of time between
videos then but then I kept pumping them
out and I was like you know what I love
Dark Souls it was the first time I had
ever played it on PC when that came out
I started doing that and then I regan
into battlefield 3 I started doing that
no one gave a [ __ ] about my Dark Souls
playthrough understandably it was pretty
bad I was crap at commentating I didn't
know what I was doing I know what you
are all waiting for you're waiting for
me to redo the impression you're waiting
to see if seven years of practicing then
Solid Snake impression has made it any
better an old boy has it okay are you
guys ready okay let's can we get the
music in the background okay here we go
or that's wait no my headphones are not
on I can't hear it I can't hear it I
can't hear it in my head
war has changed it's no longer about
nations ideologies earth Nissa day it's
an endless series of proxy battles
fought by mercenaries and machines
war and its consumption of life have
changed I realize that I'm not even
trying to do the impression I'm trying
to do an impression of my impression but
there you have it
Solid Snake seven years later colonel
can you hear me let's see what you guys
have been saying cuz I tweeted out a
thank you for being on YouTube for seven
years and people have been replying to
it in droves just thirteen hundred
replies on to this tweet so because
we're here and we're on the platform for
seven years and we've hit 23 million
subs and we've we've done so many cool
things but again I I need to stress how
important it is for the community aspect
of all of this because without you guys
none of this really exists III can yell
all I want at video games and put it out
there into the world but if you guys are
not watching it doesn't go anywhere I
don't get to do anything else all the
cool stuff I've gotten to do is because
some of you started watching my videos
in the beginning who's here from the
very beginning by the way and don't lie
I don't like it when people say like
I've been watching you but people come
up to me in public and be like I've been
watching you for like ten years and I'm
like well I've only been doing it for
seven like you don't need to pretend
you've been watching longer than you
have I still appreciate you but I really
I'm curious if anybody from the very
beginning is still watching it doesn't
matter if you if you haven't but it
sound off in the comments how long
you've been watching the channel and
again no judgment if you started
watching from what from finding this
video doesn't matter you're still here
and I love and appreciate you but again
I want to throw it back to you guys I
want to see what you're saying because
the community side of YouTube is my
favorite aspect of doing any of
the community people interacting making
jokes seeing how you react making cool
for in the ego content and freaking
people out and seeing how you react to
that and seeing all the fanner and
everything community is awesome it's the
best part about doing this and I love
interacting with you so let's let's look
at what you guys have been saying that's
so many gifts well Jack congratulations
you honestly deserve everything that you
have you're such a nice person and thank
you for giving us a laugh every single
day and just to see you is amazing we
love you jack
keep doing what you're doing thank you
we love you too Shawn I'm really glad I
started watching your videos on 2015 you
always make me laugh either I'm sad or
happy you're the best
I haven't met you because I've never
left Greece I want you to be happy and
always be successful Congrats thank you
very much that's very sweet that gif oh
my god Oh Leslie seven years ago Oh
seven years ago today old snake became
the first impersonation Shawn uploaded
to YouTube I think that 22-year old lad
would be proud of the amazing creator
he's become an all-around compassionate
person who in every way that matters
remain the same
that insecure lonely guy would be proud
of you Shawn I'm sorry too at you with
this but I tweeted this at midnight my
time just to show you how proud I am of
how far you've come
that's so sweet thank you I'd like to
think that 22 year old me would like who
I've become
I think that I've in all of what I've
done you can you can talk about this
the subjective entertainment value of
the channel and the videos I upload and
whatever that's that's fine
but as a person I think that my morals
have stayed in the right place when I
only started off doing this I've always
wanted to just make people happy I've
wanted to make people laugh entertain
them try and do well by myself and also
just try and give back to the world in
general or at least just interact with
it on a scale bigger than myself to see
if other people were out there and I
think that we've managed to maintain
that thank you for being you Sean and
deciding that you want to do that thank
you for welcoming us and thank you for
being amazing thank you for letting us
help you and thank you for helping us
you're amazing and I'm sure I speak for
everyone when I say we love you you've
become one of my greatest sources of
happiness and escape from life crap and
I just love your genuine personality and
yeah pretty proud of you jack I haven't
been watching you as long as a lot of
other people and it's been an awesome
time genuinely my favorite youtuber the
fact that you stick to what your channel
is is amazing to me and shows how
passionate you are about what you do you
have your own way you don't do trends
you do what you feel like doing and I
love you for that keep it up you deserve
all of this and more Sean you were one
of if not the most incredible person
this world has to offer thank you for
everything you do and everything you've
done oh I'm so proud of how far you've
come jack and I'm glad to have been here
for four years and Counting
you're doing truly amazing things like
raising hundreds of thousands of dollars
for various charities and you're still
able to connect with your community you
helped me find some of the best people
in my life and better bond with others
your vids picked me up when I'm down and
I'm proud of how far you've come since I
first saw your vids back in 2012 or 2013
I can't remember the exact date we love
you Sean you always brighten my days
that can be very Derek at times and
you've helped me through so many hard
times in life without even knowing it
you're like a best friend and I've never
even met you
that's a pretty special connection right
there
we're supposed to give me Feelies
Congrats Jack I'm sure you are I'm sure
me and your other fans are super proud
and thankful of you every time you say
top of morning you bring smiles of to
millions of people in the entire world
hope to see your amazing videos and hope
to meet you in the future if there's any
chance love you too except the guy
you're an amazing youtuber you need to
believe in yourself and your ability
you're good at what you do you make
people laugh you brighten people's days
and your accent is wow it takes a
special kind of person to do all that
and be genuine you're being too nice
stop you absolutely deserve everything
you've gained in these past seven years
thank you for doing what you do and
helping so many people in the process
including me I love you and I can't wait
to see what great things you'll be doing
next the fact that you have brought so
much joy to all of us please keep making
videos as long as you can
most of us would be nowhere near where
we are today if it wasn't for you you've
changed a lot of us you've done so much
good for all of us especially me Thank
You Sean
well likewise as I said I I don't think
I'd be the person I am today without all
you guys and all this love and support
is just so nice you guys are such a
really nice wholesome genuine community
all the time
you're so welcoming and accepting and
loving all the time and I really
appreciate that
I want to read more of these but I don't
want is to seem like it's turning into
like a vanity project or a narcissistic
thing I I wasn't reading these just to
try and build myself up I really just
wanted to see what you guys were saying
seems like so long ago we watched you
play games from your little cabin in the
woods and now look at you I can't repay
you for all the times you've made me
smile when I needed it to come this far
and be as grounded and loving as you are
I'm very proud showing you deserve
everything you saved me from so much
loneliness been with you since 2013 and
I will never stop growing with you thank
you for the laughs thank you for putting
us first the money you have raised has
changed lives and you will continue to
love you forever Sean Jack we are all
family no matter when we arrived some
like me joined when you were in the
hundred thousands others are just
joining so they don't know about those
videos but we all can go back and watch
them they may be terrible but they can
from a good person hey what you saying
some of them are pretty bad but yeah my
the very very early videos are pretty
cringe by now but that's good
cringy things are good it means that
you've changed and you've grown and you
can look back on a different version of
yourself and just see the chronology of
of where you're going and where you've
come from that that's cool
thank you for your very very lovely
sweet incredibly supporting and loving
messages it means the absolute world to
me that I can go to Twitter at any
moment on like any moment of the day and
I can tweet something and there's people
there to interact with it and just talk
to not everyone can afford that not
everyone will afford that that's the
make and he said not everyone has that
not everybody is able to do that in
their lives and I'm incredibly
appreciative of it thank you so very
very much
for seven years on YouTube it's been a
wild crazy ride we've done so many crazy
things so far and I we have even
scratched the surface yet I have so many
big plans for things that I want to do
next year that are all balls in motion
that are gonna take a while to get done
but when they are done I'm very excited
about what's going to happen with them
and I hope you are too I mean I can't
read talk about them yet so it's hard to
get excited for something that you don't
know what's happening but just trust me
when I say that I'm trying to do some
really cool next-level stuff for myself
creatively and I'm really excited for
them but also thank you so much for 23
million subscribers it's crazy to think
that this is where the channel has ended
up I think back when I got the shoutout
from Felix I was at 2500 subs and I
don't even think he was at 23 million
subscribers at the time and somebody had
asked me what it would be like if I got
to 20 something million subscribers and
I said it would never happen and here we
are about to cross over into halfway to
30 million
it's absolutely bonkers so just thank
you so much from the deepest botanist
depths of my heart I cannot stress it
enough how thankful I am that I get to
do this kind of things deep what I can't
even speak anymore and even though I
said that I have big things that I want
to do next year that does not change
what the channel is I want to do bigger
cooler more ambitious things but I also
want to keep doing the silly dumb [ __ ] I
want to do all of the dumb [ __ ] that I
can and still connect with you guys and
have you along for the ride and just
involve you in this crazy wacky wild
ride that is the jacksepticeye YouTube
channel journey so I hope that I'm still
doing you proud I hope that you're all
still having a good time with the
channel I hope that you all feel loved
and welcomed if not then let's keep
trying let's let's get us to that place
and if you are then let's just keep
pushing it let's have positive vibes
let's keep that positive train rolling
and let's just have fun
there's too much negativity and
animosity and [ __ ] in the world and
why it's so much energy just let's just
have fun let's create dumb [ __ ] cool
[ __ ] let's just have fun all together
and smack like buttons and high-fives
and all that stuff that we've always
done since we started off the channel
this is not fun with it that's what
YouTube should be about but thank you
guys for watching this video it's a
little longer than I intended it on
being but I really appreciate you so
thank you for being here and I'm gonna
leave you with a special little
I love you
[Music]
you