/vt/ History

This is the history page for /vt/

Origins

The definition of a "vtuber" is fluid and changing, but the core idea was anchored in place in late 2016, when Kizuna AI made her first appearance on YouTube. A beautiful anime-styled girl (claiming herself to be an Artificial Intelligence) doing comedic and video game related content in the form of short videos. She was virtual and a YouTuber.

However, despite a short spike of popularity worldwide around her first appearance, Kizuna AI and other Vtubers like her would fall back into a niche category of entertainment; Kizuna AI would maintain her role as the Oyabun of Vtubers, while the Four Kings would follow close behind her in popularity. Meanwhile, a tiny "tech company" by the name of Cover hires an talent named Tokino Sora to be a cute idol to show off their technology; she has a few hundred subscribers and even less active viewers.

Turn the clock to Christmas 2017: a miracle occurs.

Kizuna AI and the Four Kings are unable to stream due to technical difficulties or scheduling. Thousands of fans go wondering through channels looking for something to watch; many, in the thousands, find a rather unassuming Sora streaming into the night: by the time the sun rises the next morning, Sora's subscriber count has risen exponentially and the course of Vtubing as a whole is changed forever.

Kizuna AI and the Four Kings recede in popularity as Vtuber agencies rise to popularity; Nijisanji rises to the top for a time alongside other independent channels, while, spurred by the success of Sora and their new talent Roboco, the tiny tech company Cover Corporation establishes Hololive, with their "First Generation" debuting in the middle of 2018. Hololive is still the smallest dog in the fight to the top of the rankings, but they begin their slow climb as they debut their 2nd and 3rd Generations, each with their own cast of spotlight-stealing talents.

Then some Chinese person decided to eat a undercooked bat and the whole planet shuts down. Everyone is working from home, laid off from work, and looking for something to occupy their immense amount of downtime while they're in pandemic lockdown.

Spurred by the YouTube algorithm and by newfound free-time, hundreds of thousands of people are exposed to translated clips of a lolicon talking about wearing bandaids as a bra, a shrine maiden saying nigger, and a weird fox singing Scatman John's "I'm Scatman", among other things. Worldwide popularity is suddenly on Vtubers as a whole and Hololive is at the center of it all.

By the fall of 2020, foreign fans make up a significant part of many Vtuber's audience and the tipping point comes as Hololive announces its EN branch. Now, on 4chan, /jp/ had been the turbulent home of all Vtuber discussion up until this point, but seeing the even newer influx of fans jumping onto the Vtuber ship thanks to major English-speaking talents for the first time, /jp/ descended into chaos.

It was only after a couple of months of "testing" by site management that /vt/, Virtual Youtubers, was created to house (but not contain) Vtuber discussion.

2021

2021 4chan World Cup

Event	Manager	Record	GF	GA	GD	Result	Place	Note
2021 4chan World Cup	TriangleMA	1-1-1	5	7	-2	Failed to Advance	39th	Destroyed by Helvetica.

Kaichou after scoring /vt/'s first goal.

The team debuts in the 2021 4chan World Cup.

How else would a debut start but with the opening match of the World Cup against the zombie robot of /soc/? And in true debut fashion, /vt/ would concede 2 goals within the first 20 minutes of the game, things looking disastrous for the new team. Goalkeeper Gosling can't seem to move quick enough, the midfield can't connect, and the strikers can't get a shot off. Then, a dead program, Skype kills Tokino Soda. And she's really ded. Replacing her with Doxxbeats, the /vt/ team seems to come alive at the injury of their true idol. Kaichou scores just before the half, and the rrat makes it 2-2 by the 50th minute. But /soc/'s Vocaroo would quickly make it 3-2 in favor of the /soc/ialites once again. And then at 86 minutes, Nenechi, with all her overwhelming power, finds a lane past a defender and blasts in one more to make it 3-3. Gosling would prove his worth in the final minutes of the game as /soc/ is awarded a free kek right at the edge of the box. Perhaps it was the red condition, maybe it was luck, maybe it was his oshi, but Gosling punched away Rate My Cock's freekick to earn /vt/ their first ever point in the group stages.

Saved by their own keeper in week 1, /vt/'s next challenge was the equally dead and robotic /gd/. However, on this day, the keeperbabby would be strong with no /vt/ but with the graphic designers, as Untitled-1.AI would catch everything coming his way, while the strong backline would support him. /vt/'s ailing defense would strike again and lead to two quick goals from Helvetica, putting the /vt/ubers down by 2 once again. Unfortunately, the managers attempts to force /gd/'s keeper to stumble backfire and, even with an ogey rrat goal, Glitch Art would make it 1-3 and then a late free kick from Helvetica would give him his first ever hattrick and a rough 1-4 loss for /vt/.

Needing two goals to continue into the knockout stages, /vt/ only managed to defeat rival team /v/ (1–0). Both sides started pressing each other's goals. /vt/ was spared with a couple of trollpost hits before finally scoring late in the first half. The team pressed on for a second goal. Some reliable goalkeeping from HEY MOONA kept /vt/ in the running, but lack luster passing in the midfield limited many opportunities. It would not have mattered anyways because /soc/ BTFO /gd/. /vt/ bows out of the 2021 World Cup with plenty to look forward to.