Animated james

James William Barkley III (born: ), better known online as AnimatedJames (formerly MegaJames Studio), is an American former YouTuber, animator, artist, musician, and voice actor. He's known for his parody animations of Sonic the Hedgehog and My Little Pony. He's also created his own series including Seniors, C Students, Off Saving the World, etc. James left YouTube in 2018 due to getting involved in drama related to eproctophilia, coprophilia, and pedophilia.
==Personal Life==
James Barkley was born on August 26, 1994 in New York City. As a child, James felt he couldn't relate to other people's interest, including his family and friends. He said he had attempted to fit by acting like others, which is how he also felt about his YouTube persona. He had gained an interest in drawing around that time, being self taught since he was 13 years old. James has claimed to be emotionally abused by his parents, which led to him to live with his siblings and never contacting his parents again.
From late 2016 and early 2017, he briefly received medication, talked with two therapists, and began online counseling. However, these would all end due to his family healthcare plan ending. After retiring from the internet, James briefly worked at several jobs, including as a graphic designer in a print shop and at Old Navy. Around 2020, James became homeless for about three months due to the Covid-19 pandemic. He said that while it was difficult being homeless, it also helped him reflect on his life. He briefly lived in a homeless shelter before moving in with his friends.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBOsMUkaFEw&t On January 11, James was able to get back onto medications and therapy, saying he's been getting better.
==Online history==
James originally created a Newgrounds account in 2008 where he created parody animations; one of those series including Sonic goes to Chaos High School. This series would receive a positive reception and the videos would be reuploaded to YouTube in 2011. Soon after, James created a YouTube channel called MegaJames Studios on June 11, 2011. Like his Newgrounds account, he would upload parody animations as well as skits involving his avatar. Many of these videos would become hugely popular, with the most popular being Sonic VS Rainbow Dash. However, the MegaJames Studios channel was deleted after his computer crashed,https://web.archive.org/web/20130207042603/https://www.youtube.com/user/AnimatedJames but he would create a new channel on January 20, 2013.
This new channel would be similar to MegaJames Studio, even having old videos reuploaded onto AnimatedJames. However, this channel would also have new original series, including Seniors and C Students. James's new channel would get many views and subscribers on YouTube. He would continue to upload skits and parody videos of Sonic the Hedgehog, My Little Pony, and Teen Titans Go. He would also occasionally post live action skits involving himself. 
==Content==
===Sonic goes to Choas High School===
Sonic goes to Choas High School was a series originally created in 2008 on James's Newgrounds account. The series follows the C Student, Sonic the Hedgehog who goes through the antics of High School and the other students. There are only two episodes in the series, with the second episode being split into two parts. 
===Sonic VS MLP===
This series is about characters from Sonic the Hedgehog and My Little Pony fighting each other. There are four episodes created with the first one being released on February 3, 2013.
===Seniors===
Seniors is a comedy series that involves a group of friends in high school. All of the characters are exaggerated versions of real life friends he knows. He uploaded the first episode on February 3, 2013 called Cancer Crusaders. This would be the only full length episode, as the other two episodes were short skits.
===C Students===
C Students is a comedy series that was created in 2014. Similarly to Seniors, this series involves three friends in high school. However, the characters were solely original as opposed to the Seniors characters. There are only three episodes created, with the third episode under the name "Creative Types". The second episode remains incomplete. 
==Controversies==
===Fetish art===
On May 10, 2014, an anonymous user on 4chan posted a link to a Tumblr page called Sonic-Girls. The blog posted comics depicting the female Sonic characters farting and defecating.https://web.archive.org/web/20140226053931/https://sonic-girls.tumblr.com/ The artist went under the pseudonym, AndySonic who created another fetish comic series called Hailey Flowerhttps://hailey-flower.tumblr.com/, which he later claimed was based on a real friend accidentally farting in his face. (Tho Later He confirmed the friend was fake.) Right after it was mentioned on 4Chan, Sonic-Girls was deleted. Some people suspected that Andy was James, since their art styles were similar. They also pointed out how some of the Sonic characters on the Tumblr blog depicted were minors. 
Many fans were disgusted at his fetish and depiction of minors in his comics. James had originally denied the accusations of him having a fart fetish, but James went onto create another DeviantArt page called WeirdoAnimatedJames dedicated to eproctophilia. He would also post more sexualized art on his main Twitter, DeviantArt, and Tumblr accounts. On his website, he claims that he'd been drawing eproctophilia art before he realized it and was aware of how weird it was, though says it's a passion of his.https://animatedjames.tumblr.com/about James later said that he wished he created fetish and NSFW artwork first before making comedic videos.
===BronyCon 2015===
Through August of 2015, James attended the My Little Pony convention, BronyCon. On August 7, James was waiting in line for a group meet up, where a fan wanted him to draw on his face. James initially agreed, but an SJW in the crowd chastised James since he thought permanent marker was poisonous to the skin. While that was happening, a crowd in the back was singing loudly. James becomes more irritated and annoyed in the video, eventually getting to the point of yelling.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zw-j0O-X3w This clip was uploaded onto YouTube on August 8. James did make a comment on the video saying how angry he was that he was called out like that. Many of James's fans did defend him on his actions.
During these days, he was heavily criticized for being very toxic and rude to other artists and guests at BronyCon. One example was when James made fun of an artist named LeekFish and made rape jokes towards her at his panel. She'd said that James promised to not tell those jokes at Everfree Northwest, but after it was told, she was harassed by other guests at her booth. On Twitter, James apologized to her saying that they were jokes and not to take it seriously, though LeekFish didn't accept the apology.https://kick-neckbeard-ass.tumblr.com/image/126549723889 This eventually resulted in James being banned from BronyCon.
===Pedophilia accusations===
Around 2014, James began an online relationship with an artist named Michaela Groves, also known online as ToxicSoul77 after talking with each other on Skype.https://web.archive.org/web/20150327110441/https://animatedjames.deviantart.com/art/Rule-30-Of-The-Internet-520437528 However, at the time, Michaela was 16-17 while James was 19-20 years old, with rumors spreading that he could have groomed her. Many people would go onto to call him a pedophile and a groomer. James had attempt to defuse the drama by saying that the age of consent in New York (where he lives) is 17, but people still criticized his relationship. On December 29, 2015, James announced on Twitter that Michaela broke up with him following the drama.https://twitter.com/animatedjames/status/682089701235384324https://twitter.com/animatedjames/status/682763076567957505 
On August 19, 2019, the voice actress for Penny from C Students, Awkward Marina posted a document on Twitter saying she had left C Students since the show had many sexually explicit material and James had wanted to date her, even suggesting he would fly out to her location; she was also 17 at the time. When she left, James became furious and allegedly encouraged his fanbase to harass her.https://twitter.com/awkwardmarina/status/1163533002128990210 Years later, he admitted he failed to recognize the imbalance of the relationship and wish he hadn't done so.
==Retirement==
Following multiple controversies, James planned to leave the internet after uploading the final episode of C Students On February 11, 2016. He did express on social media that he was suffering from depression and social anxiety, which decreased his interest for YouTube.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMz2cFdhCmw However, after the positive reception of Creative Types, James decided he would stick onto YouTube. He would create more parody animations as well as work on a web comic series called Off Saving the World. 
On July 16, 2018, James uploaded a video on YouTube announcing the retirement of his channel. He stated while he was still working on OSTW, he said he didn't work on his mental health and psychology while on YouTube, which is why James got into drama. James said he was going to fix his health rather than upload videos on YouTube.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9YoWGe7pw4 He went onto disable the like to dislike ratio and comments. However, Off Saving the World was cancelled after James stopped uploading the comics. Many people had speculated on James's disappearance and where he is nowadays or if he's still alive. On March 25, 2022 the channel reached 1 million subscribers, but it's unknown whether or not he'll receive a YouTube Play Button.
On July 16, 2022, James posted a Twitlonger explaining the drama and his four year hiatus. In the document, he reflects on how terrible of a person he was and says he deserves all the criticism due to his fetish art, toxicity, and underage relationship with Michaela. He says he didn't realize he had many issues he could fix, which made him out to be narcissistic and toxic, in turn, ruining friendships and being mocked. He says that starting in 2020, he began experiencing depressing thoughts about himself, but eventually recovered and improved his behavior because of the people within his life. James plans to take some therapy or medication once he's able to afford the money. He concludes by saying he's not trying to seek forgiveness and still deserves the hatred online.https://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1ss38av 
On December 5, 2022, James was interviewed by YouTube commentator, DaftPina to clarify some information and how he's doing nowadays. He confirmed that he's still active, drawing commissions on an NSFW account, but he doesn't wish to specify what account. Though he wouldn't care if someone confirms the NSFW account belongs to James. He hasn't considered going back to his AnimatedJames persona, wanting to move on with his NSFW art. On January 27, James made a Twitter-thread where he said he was thinking of creating a new account where he can create fetish art more creatively, rather than financially. He's said he was hoping to move on from his past and controversies, promising to not act like how he did from 2014 and attempting to gain happiness from making NSFW art.https://twitter.com/animatedjames/status/1619123933940445184
==Subscribers Milestone== 
*100,000 Subscribers: April 23, 2014
*200,000 Subscribers: December 27, 2014
*300,000 Subscribers: May 18, 2015
*400,000 Subscribers: February 6, 2016
*500,000 Subscribers: October 14, 2016
*600,000 Subscribers: December 25, 2017
* 700,000 Subscribers: November 21, 2018 (abandoned)
*800,000 Subscribers: April 4, 2020 (abandoned)
*900,000 Subscribers: January 22, 2021 (abandoned)
*1 million subscribers: March 25, 2022 (abandoned)
==Trivia== 
*At TrotCon 2014, James was accidentally punched in the face while filming a skit. He was so injured, that he had to be sent to the hospital in order for the wound to be stitched up.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7IwJzwchsg
* He was featured on Dr. Wolf's YouTube channel were he expressed his motivations and his emotions.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMwJOT8XCRs
*Sonic Goes to Choas High School was inspired by the Sonic Paradox shorts, Sonic Uncut.
*Some of James's inspirations include Bo Burnham, Dan Harmon, Joji, Max Gilardi, VimHomeless, Arin Hanson, Dan Avidan, Davey Wreden, and Eric W. Schwartz.https://animatedjames.tumblr.com/about
*James uses Flash CS6, Firealpaca, and Photoshop while using a 4 Wacom tablet to draw.
*He claims he's a self taught artist, animating since he was 13 years old.
*He supposedly made a playthrough of an Azumanga Daioh fetish game featuring Osaka (while she's 13-17). Though the video was deleted until RagingStreetTaco found a screenshot for it.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zq13oJDzELg
*James was made fun of on a Skype call by Psychicpebbles and Spazkid, making fart sounds to mock his fetish. However, James and Cory has since made amends.
==References==
Category:YouTubers
Category:One million subscribers
Category:Animation YouTubers
Category:Art YouTubers
Category:Comedy YouTubers
Category:Music YouTubers
Category:American YouTubers
Category:Users who joined in 2011