ZeFrank

I still get excited when I see a notification for Applied Science after several years. Breaking Taps doesn't miss, either. They both do really interesting stuff.

Wendigoon, he doesn't post as frequently as a lot of others but his videos are like an hour long and he researches the fuck out of a subject. He did one about the unabomber recently that he had to break into a two partner because one part was just an hour long interview with the lead FBI investigator on the case.

Cooking

https://youtube.com/@foodwishes?si=yI4JtmUn50uBBHTq Chef John is a treasure, every recipe I've followed of his has been a banger! Highly recommend

Guitar related

https://youtube.com/@EricHaugenGuitar?si=Ey2YYsjMmoss8XWE Eric Haugen is a fantastic guitar player/teacher, I love his mellow Bob Ross-esque vibe

https://youtube.com/@PhillipMcKnight?si=oHF6ndW08Z4uP9KU Philip McKnight is the god of the guitar gear heads. Has a ton of great videos showing how to do simple guitar repairs, reviewing gear etc.

Comedy/pop culture

https://youtube.com/@commentiquette?si=_s6NoLnG3oDCNPmz Internet comments etiquette is a hilarious channel that teaches how to leave respectful comments in this increasingly hostile and confusing online world.

https://youtube.com/@RedLetterMedia?si=el68vpczG7nP9JvF Red Letter Media - movie/tv critics with great skits and characters. Maybe the best thing on YouTube IMO

Board Games

https://youtube.com/@shutupandsitdown?si=WBR9bWjHv8-NbyaR Really great board game reviews, I've found a bunch of my favorite games here

Educational

https://youtube.com/@animagraffs?si=Dabm4scpS_pZEFFb Amazing 3d renders and walkthroughs of complex machines/systems. The video on the HMS Victory is inspired.

https://youtube.com/@ProfessorDaveExplains?si=j1_aVPIv7onfSuk4 Professor Dave does science education, great videos on many topics.

Motorcycles

https://youtube.com/@FortNine?si=GXooYCKjCYaMPgPF FortNine puts out the best moto content I've found on the Internet.

acollierastro — Angela Collier

Astrophysics, science communication and random rants

The Dungeon Dudes are always solid if you want DnD content. Even their episodes where you wouldn't expect great talking points they somehow pull it off.

Nothing to add here, but wanted OP to know I saved this post for all the good info people are giving.

I feel like Markiplier keeps improving, over time his videos have cut out a lot if padding and fluff that was the standard in old school let's plays, but it's not a smash cut fest like some newer youtubers are.

He also is diversifying his mediums, like the movie that he's currently making (not a "youtuber movie", an actual movie adapted off the game Iron Lung).

The only real controversy of his that I can think of was when he stood up for PewDiePie when he said the n-word. Mainly because they were friends. With how many years he's been going I'm surprised there's not more.

Kurzgezagt - In a Nutshell

A lot of the old "Golden Age" League of Legends content creators have moved on to making really good content about other topics and games. Basically Dunkey and everyone who was at one point accused of being a Dunkey clone lol

Dunkey obviously still makes content and it's still good. I've never personally been a huge fan of the short length goofy one off gag style of his but I know people still really like his content.

Skooch does miscellaneous other games now (mostly Mario and sonic lately) but the content is the best it's ever been

Bricky does Warhammer mostly but also makes long form analyses of big AAA titles that are sequels to franchises from the 360 days

Keyori (now Barny/Maddy) rebranded, transitioned, and now makes literally the best World of Warcraft content I've ever seen

FrostPrime streams I know but I think his YouTube is literally exclusively just stream VODs now.

Outside of that group I still get a kick out of Game Grumps 10 years later but I know the old school let's play thing isn't really for everyone. Also Alpharad still makes good content, though lately it's been a lot of mid, sponsored or otherwise kinda forced out stuff.

Anton Petrov

https://youtube.com/@whatdamath

Andrew Camarata and Foresty Forest are one of the few no-bullshit YouTubers that I know of who simply focus on making good content and nothing else.

EDIT: Steve Wallis and post10 aswell

Well, after looking through, I saw that some of my favorites are not on here.

Kraut: makes well thought out video essays on politics, history, culture and everything in between. He also tells you his reading list that went into making a particular video.

Adam Something: bit of politics, bit of urban planning, bit of shitting on Elon Musk, bit of shitting on stupid ideas.

The Great War: started in 2014 doing week by week of the first world War, 100 years after it began. Now is doing a similar series on the second world War.

The Operations Room: breaks down historical military operations minute by minute, incredible level of detail.

Korean Englishman/ Jolly: Josh and Ollie a couple of British guys introduce korean food to people and on Jolly they go get into other foods and hijinks

Townsend: showing what life was like in early colonial America

Hey all! Scott here

Modern Vintage Gamer

A few I haven't seen show up yet:

• Brick Immortar, bunch of good videos on maritime incidents
• Maritime Horrors, same category as above, great quality stuff
• Pulsar, Lemmino-style documentaries

A few comes to mind.

Ordinary Things is great and Michael Fisher is good and usually doesn't hype stuff up.

He posts infrequently but Sean Hodgins videos keep getting better. Don't let the thumbnails fool you, he puts a ton of work into them. It's hard to describe, it's mostly him showing off his projects but they have an analogue/80s cyberpunk feel in the way he tells his story, the music that's played, and how he edits the videos together.

The Why Files

• 3balsue1brown
• Kathy Loves Physics & History. I like that she stays in her lane and hasn't deviated from electricity and history.
• freecodecamp, each video is a course that's several hours long.

Ethoslab

Harry Mack. Greatest off-top freestyler ever (except maybe Juice WRLD, but that's apples and oranges). Folks are sad about the end of Omegle Bars, but I've always thought Wordplay Wednesdays is his best format.

XboxAhoy (The channel name is just Ahoy)

Would like to throw in Atomic Frontier, he makes on-location video essays about random science and engineering topics that are edited with great supporting infographics