Gatorbox

Gatorbox is an American variety show that has broadcasted live on Friday nights since December 2012. The show initially launched on Livestream.com in 2012 before migrating to Twitch in 2013. Stream recaps are mirrored on YouTube. The channel is best known for their series Your Level Sucks and their annual charity marathons for Extra Life. "Draco" has acted as Gatorbox's primary anchor for most of the channel's history, though other co-hosts are sometimes featured.
As of 2024 Gatorbox is in its thirteenth "season" of production.
==Personal Life==
Draco was born in Corpus Christi, Texas. He is a graduate of Texas A&M University. He began writing comedy in 1995 and has a background in theatrical acting and performing including doing stand-up comedy shows on tours of anime and special interest conventions in the late 2000's and early 2010's.
Draco is partially blind, a condition he developed as an adult after sustaining a head injury in his youth. The same injury has also led to hearing loss and partial facial paralysis. He has spoken openly about struggles with mental illness and autism on the show at various points citing Gatorbox as his primary social anchor and coping mechanism. Draco is a member of the LGBTQIA+ community and an advocate for equal rights. He wore a homemade pride necklace for several years, though when its copper started discoloring his skin he mounted it in a frame that now hangs on the wall behind him on the show's set.
In 2017 the majority of his home was destroyed by Hurricane Harvey.
==Channel Format==
Gatorbox's main show has mostly followed the same format since its debut. The average stream lasts approximately three hours and starts with an opening segment lasting about 60 minutes; this is usually an installment of GatorUNbox however the first broadcast of every month sometimes features a side series instead. As of April 2020 this series is Gatorbox (of Crayons), an art stream.
Following the opener the stream transitions to a brief hosting/chatting segment dubbed "Talking Time" where Draco welcomes viewers, goes over any channel updates, sometimes tells a story, and then introduces the game to be featured. Gameplay begins until approximately midnight after which there is a sign-off, credits, and viewers are redirected to the official Mystery Science Theater 3000 channel on Twitch.
==Gatorbox Plus==
In order to address the growing backlog of chill & hangout stream content Draco formed Gatorbox Plus in 2023 as a home for all of this "B-side" content. Gatorbox Plus is also the channel where the show's TikTok uploads are mirrored as YouTube Shorts. Whereas the main Gatorbox channel hosts recaps of Friday night streams, Gatorbox Plus hosts long-form content intended to be viewed either as background chatter or as video game "longplays".
==Your Level Sucks==
Following the release of Super Mario Maker, Draco quickly became displeased with the amount of low quality levels submitted by other players. On September 13, 2015 a pilot episode of a series called Your Level Sucks was posted to the Gatorbox channel where Draco played through the game's "Easy" mode and sardonically critiqued the level creators' lack of skill. The video quickly became the channel's most successful and spawned a full series that lasted nearly 30 installments. Despite its popularity, Draco has stated numerous times that he isn't fond of his unclear character act in the series' early episodes.
On February 16, 2019 a video titled "The Best of Your Level Sucks" premiered. The following day a 30 second teaser was uploaded announcing the return of the series as Your Level Sucks 2. The news came only a few days after a Nintendo Direct where Super Mario Maker 2 was announced for the Nintendo Switch. Several more teaser trailers were posted leading up to two special broadcasts in June 2019: "Your Invitational Sucks" focused on Nintendo's Super Mario Maker 2 event at E3, and "Your Marathon Sucks" was a 12 hour marathon of Super Mario Maker to help raise money for the production of the new series. Autographed pieces of show memorabilia were also auctioned on eBay to raise additional funds.
Production on Your Level Sucks 2 began June 29, 2019; unlike the original series, Your Level Sucks 2 was taped live. The streams were then edited down and uploaded to YouTube as episodes. Draco reprised the role he played in the original series, though noticeably subdued. Your Level Sucks 2's final broadcast took place on June 27, 2020 and ended with an homage to the film Fight Club. Three months later, on the fifth anniversary of the series' debut, a special marathon titled Your Anniversary Sucks was hosted to relive some of the series' best moments. Deleted, unreleased, and lost footage from the show was also featured. More autographed props were auctioned on eBay to raise money this time to raise money for the charity Extra Life.
In late 2020, Nintendo announced that the online functionality of the original Super Mario Maker would end in March 2021. To bid farewell to the game that started the series Draco hosted a 12-hour special marathon titled Your Death Sucks on March 30, 2021. In anticipation of the shutdown of Nintendo Network servers Draco recorded a final episode of the series with the original Super Mario Maker game on March 10, 2024 ("Mario Day"). This episode, named "Your Level SUCKS 1: The Final Collection", debuted on April 8, 2024 to coincide with the server shutdown.
Draco says he is open to the idea of Your Level Sucks 3 if Nintendo releases a Super Mario Maker 3, but also stated for now the show has ended and there are no plans to continue it until then.
===Your Level Sucks Lineage===
*Your Level Sucks (2015-2018, 2024): 31 episodes
*Your Level Sucks: Mega Maker (2017): 2 episodes
*Your Direct Sucks (2019, unreleased until 2020): special broadcast
*Your Marathon Sucks (2019): marathon
*Your Invitational Sucks (2019): special broadcast
*Your Level Sucks 2 (2019-2020): 48 episodes
*Your Anniversary Sucks (2020): marathon
*Your Trivia Sucks (2021): special broadcast
*Your Death Sucks (2021): marathon
*Your Level Sucks 3 (20XX): TBA
==Extra Life==
Every year since 2013 Gatorbox has broadcast a 24-hour marathon to raise money for the charity Extra Life which benefits children's hospitals across the United States. To date, the channel has raised over $11,000 in donations which Draco has matched through additional donations of toys and stuffed animals. Gatorbox's marathons take their inspiration from events such as Games Done Quick and feature speedruns of several games. All proceeds raised go to Driscoll Children's Hospital in Draco's hometown of Corpus Christi, Texas; this hospital was selected because his brother's life was saved there when he was very young.
Over 75 different games have been featured across the channel's annual marathons. Most of the games are featured only once or twice however popular standbys that are showcased every year include Super Off Road, Bible Buffet, Kirby's Adventure, and a run of M.C. Kids where Draco eats a cheeseburger every time he loses a life. To further incentivize donations every $100 raised during the marathon results in a "15 minute game challenge" being randomly drawn from a pool of community-submitted ideas.
In 2019, Draco was awarded Extra Life's silver fundraising medal for the community's contributions to the charity. The medal along with an Extra Life sticker and photograph of Draco wearing an Extra Life shirt are mounted in a display frame in the Gatorbox set.
In 2020, Gatorbox's Extra Life marathon raised $2,000.39 making it their highest-grossing individual marathon to date at the time. This marathon earned the channel Extra Life's gold fundraising medal. Additionally, this marathon brought Gatorbox's lifetime Extra Life rank to 1st place for funds raised for Driscoll Children's Hospital.
In 2023, the marathon raised $2,680 and cleared the the $10,000 lifetime total fundraising goal which earned the channel Extra Life's coveted lifetime achievement award.
A comprehensive list of all games that have been featured in Gatorbox's Extra Life streams can be found here.
===Other Charity Work===
Because of his dedication with Extra Life, Draco has been invited to participate at other charity events as a guest.
*June 2019: DreamHack Dallas (NanoQuest, Any% + commentary for Puggsy, Any% by Drex)
*October 2020: DreamHack Canada (*NSYNC: Get to the Show!, Any%)
*March 2021: NoReset x Les Petits Rois (Crimson Room: Decade, 100% + Crimson Room Quadrilogy)
*March 2022: NoReset x Les Petits Rois (Yukkuri no Meikyu, Easy%)
Category:Users who joined in 2013
Category:American YouTubers
Category:Gaming YouTubers
Category:LGBT YouTubers
Category:Verified YouTubers