Alpharad

John Jacob Rabon IV (born December 19, 1995), better known by his[lower-alpha 1] online name Alpharad, is an American YouTuber, esports personality, and musician. He is best known for his gaming videos on the Super Smash Bros. series along with his participation in the fighting game community as a tournament organizer.

Not to be confused with Alphard.
Alpharad
Rabon at Frostbite 2020
Personal information
Born
Jacob Rabon IV

(1995-12-19) December 19, 1995
Norman, Oklahoma U.S.
Occupations
YouTube information
Channel
Years active2014–present
Genres
Subscribers3.2 million[1]
Total views1.63 billion[1]
Associated acts
100,000 subscribers2015
1,000,000 subscribers2018
Last updated: July 3, 2023

Early life

Rabon was born on December 19, 1995, in Norman, Oklahoma. He gained an interest in filmmaking around the fifth grade, uploading comedic videos for his friends, one of his first videos being Major O's.[2] Later, he would take video editing and cinematography classes in high school.[3] Rabon attended the University of Oklahoma while making YouTube videos as a full-time job.[3][4] However, he later stated that he dropped out to fully focus on his rising YouTube career. His original goal was to be a writer, director, or editor of some kind, but soon learned that in being someone else's editor he couldn't have as much creative freedom as he could making his own content.[3]

Career

YouTube

Rabon created his main YouTube channel on January 13, 2014. Since its creation, he has made various gaming videos on his channel, Alpharad, including the Super Smash Bros. series, Pokémon, Splatoon, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Fall Guys, as well as other Nintendo titles.[4][5][6][7] He has also dabbled in speedrunning, specifically in a video of him intensely playing through a Super Mario 64 first-person shooter fan game, as well as being a retired Super Mario Odyssey speedrunner.[8]

Other videos of his include video game related challenges and streams.[9][7] In 2021, Rabon collaborated with YouTuber Jaiden Animations on a charity stream for Red Nose Day which involved removing Pokémon from their team after reaching various donation incentives.[9] In 2022, he played Pokémon Go in the Warner Grand theater located in Los Angeles during a Halloween event.[10]

In 2020, Rabon signed with the Creative Artists Agency alongside YouTuber The Completionist.[6] Rabon's main YouTube channel has reached over 3.01 million subscribers as of April 2023.

Esports

Rabon has been involved in esports as a tournament organizer and affiliate with other prominent esports personalities. In January 2020, he participated in a Pokémon VGC tournament hosted by Wolfe Glick with fellow competitive Super Smash Bros. players Ludwig Ahgren, ESAM, and Mew2King amongst other content creators.[11]

Two months later, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Rabon co-hosted five online tournaments for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate called the "Quarantine Series" with fellow YouTuber Cr1TiKaL,[12] which consisted of two events, Minors and Majors, offering $5,000 and $10,000 in prizes, respectively.[13] The major invitationals featured top Super Smash Bros. players such as MkLeo, Samsora, Nairo and Marss,[13] and was streamed on both Cr1TiKaL's Twitch channel and Rabon's YouTube channel.[12]

In 2018, Rabon purchased a monthly stake for the esports organization, Panda Global, becoming their content director and a minority shareholder.[14][15] He had previously expressed his desire to hold more weight in the organization.[3]

In 2021, Rabon hosted another tournament in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, dubbed a "Portal Smash" tournament, that involved competitive players fighting on recreated stages with added obstacles and hazards.[16] Later in October, Rabon hosted a Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl charity tournament with Panda Global member Coney for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. The tournament featured content creators such as Cr1TiKaL, Ludwig Ahgren, Jaiden Animations and Trihex, and ultimately raised over $100,000.[17][18]

Other ventures

Music

Rabon is also a musician, and he formed a band named Ace of Hearts.[6][19][20] Their first single was "Fool for You", which was released on April 1, 2020. The band's first EP, Monophobia, was released on June 5, 2020.[6] This was then followed by another single, "Silver Lining", which was released nearly a month later on July 1, 2020. The band's second EP, Scorpion Queen, was released on December 13, 2020.[19] The band's single "Lights Off" was released on March 31, 2021. Ace of Hearts' most recent single, "Deadbeat Boulevard", released on November 11, 2021. Their newest album "Frozen in Time" was released on December 10, 2021.[21]

Monophobia
No.TitleLength
1."Fool for You"3:09
2."Manic Daydream"2:36
3."Lighter Than Air"5:35
4."Monophobia"3:26
Total length:14:47
Scorpion Queen
No.TitleLength
1."Scorpion Queen"5:50
2."Your Name"5:20
3."All the Rain"4:17
Total length:15:27
Frozen in Time
No.TitleLength
1."Lights Off"3:12
2."Deep Space"2:46
3."Find Me in Your Dreams"4:35
4."Silver Lining"4:30
5."Monophobia II"3:56
6."Your Name"5:21
7."Queen of Everything"3:41
8."Deadbeat Boulevard"3:38
9."Waiting for Your Call"4:34
10."A Life Frozen in Time"7:24
Total length:43:41

Copypasta Theatre

On June 27, 2021, Rabon announced a one-time pop-up show to be held the very same day. He and thirteen other creators dramatically read copypastas to a live audience at the Black Box theatre in Los Angeles. Stage guests included Daniel Thrasher, Adriana Figueroa, Drumsy, Mari Norwood, Jules Conroy, Phil Visu, Cristina Vee Valenzuela, Ross O'Donovan, Dan Fulling, cjya, Johnny Rico (who impersonated Bruno Mars), and Rabon's project manager Deanna Gowland. The viral video of the performance involved a segment where several of gaming streamer Ninja’s Twitter posts were read aloud; Ninja later shared the video on his Twitter page.[22][23]

Personal life

In 2018, Rabon married his long-time girlfriend, Fiorella Zoll. They were living in their home state, Oklahoma, before moving to Los Angeles alongside close friend and frequent collaborator JoSniffy. [24] Rabon announced his divorce to his wife Fiorella on October 20, 2021, stating that they had been separated for some time before the announcement.[25] During an episode of Rabon and Coney's podcast, How Did We Get Here?, Rabon opened up about his experience being diagnosed with ADHD. In the same podcast, he also revealed that he is somewhere in the asexual and aromantic spectrum.[26]

Rabon now lives with Jaiden Animations in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles. They purchased their house in December of 2022.[27]

See also

Notes
  1. Rabon uses he/him and they/them pronouns. This article uses he/him pronouns for consistency.

References
  1. "About Alpharad". YouTube.
  2. Rabon, Jacob (December 22, 2008). Major O's (video). JRabonProductions. Retrieved August 4, 2021 – via YouTube.
  3. Groot, Justin (October 11, 2016). "How to Play Anything: An Interview with Alpharad". The Meta. Archived from the original on 2020-08-09. Retrieved January 22, 2019.
  4. Bonnet, Siandhara (February 4, 2019). "Oklahoma City band collaborates with former OU student, YouTuber". OUDaily. Archived from the original on 2019-02-06. Retrieved April 22, 2021.
  5. Haime, Jackson (August 14, 2020). "Fall Guys: Is Yellow Team Really The Worst?". Screen Rant. Archived from the original on 2020-08-18. Retrieved April 22, 2021.
  6. Weiss, Geoff (September 1, 2020). "CAA Signs Prominent Gamers Alpharad And The Completionist (Exclusive)". Tubefilter. Archived from the original on 2021-01-25. Retrieved April 22, 2021.
  7. Hernandez, Patricia (June 12, 2015). "Guy Spends Entire Splatoon Match Drawing Dicks, Still Wins". Kotaku. Retrieved November 23, 2022.
  8. Hernandez, Patricia (March 1, 2021). "The latest Super Mario 64 speedrun trend gives Mario a gun". Polygon. Archived from the original on 2021-03-01. Retrieved April 22, 2021.
  9. Parker, Lewis (January 19, 2022). "8 Most Bizarre Pokemon Challenges". TheGamer. Retrieved November 23, 2022.
  10. Morrow, Emily (October 27, 2022). "Streamer Alpharad goes IRL ghost-hunting to celebrate Pokémon Go's Halloween event". Dot Esports. GAMURS Group. Retrieved November 23, 2022.
  11. Bartlett, Eric (January 14, 2020). "Eight Professional Super Smash Bros. Players and Personalities Give Pokemon VGC a Try in Wolfe Glick's Invitational Tournament". The Game Haus. Archived from the original on 2020-11-28. Retrieved April 22, 2021.
  12. Michael, Cale (March 24, 2020). "Alpharad, Cr1TiKaL launch Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Quarantine Series". Dot Esports. GAMURS Group. Archived from the original on 2020-03-25. Retrieved April 22, 2021.
  13. Tate, Dylan (March 25, 2020). "Quarantine Series to feature online Smash Bros. tournaments". Upcomer. Archived from the original on 2021-04-23. Retrieved April 22, 2021.
  14. Observer, The Esports (June 28, 2018). "Panda Global Adds YouTuber Alpharad as First Equity Partner". The Esports Observer. Archived from the original on 2018-09-18. Retrieved April 22, 2021.
  15. Khan, Imad (January 26, 2019). "Panda Global, the Esports Team That's Saying No to VC's". The Esports Observer. Archived from the original on 2020-08-12. Retrieved April 22, 2021.
  16. Price, Renata (September 8, 2021). "Smash Bros.' Most Ridiculous Tournament Is Glorious Chaos". Kotaku. Retrieved November 23, 2022.
  17. Michael, Cale (September 28, 2021). "Panda to host Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl charity event featuring Ludwig, Cr1TiKaL, and more". Dot Esports. GAMURS Group. Archived from the original on 2021-09-28. Retrieved October 8, 2021.
  18. Michael, Cale (October 6, 2021). "ConnorEatsPants wins Panda All-Star Nickvitational, event raises $100,000 for The Breast Cancer Research Foundation". Dot Esports. GAMURS Group. Archived from the original on 2021-10-08. Retrieved October 8, 2021.
  19. Rabon, Jacob (February 2, 2020). "Alpharad in 2020 ❤️". TwitLonger. Archived from the original on 2020-03-20. Retrieved August 4, 2021.
  20. Rabon, Jacob [@Alpharad] (February 2, 2020). "tl;dr - Making less content in 2020 (going from 5-7 weekly uploads to like 2-3) - Will probably never ever stop making content, I love it too much - Focusing on music / mystery project - My band (Ace of Hearts) is releasing an album (Scorpion Queen) in May of 2020 - #LTP" (Tweet). Retrieved August 16, 2021 – via Twitter.
  21. Sloman, Christine (December 11, 2021). "Ace of Hearts gets vulnerable on debut album 'Frozen in Time'". Melodic Magazine. Archived from the original on 2021-12-11. Retrieved January 22, 2022.
  22. McGuire, Keegan (July 15, 2021). "Ninja's Tweets Have Never Seemed So Dramatic". SVG. Archived from the original on 2021-07-20. Retrieved July 20, 2021.
  23. Rabon, Jacob (July 12, 2021). "Copypasta Theatre" (video). Alpharad. Retrieved July 20, 2021 – via YouTube.
  24. Rabon, Jacob (June 15, 2020). Super Sir Mario World (video). Alpharad Deluxe. Retrieved June 18, 2021 – via YouTube.
  25. Rabon, Jacob [@alpharad] (October 20, 2021). "💙" (Tweet). Retrieved 2021-10-26 – via Twitter.
  26. Rabon, Jacob (December 2021). The Sacred Geometry of McDonald's Nuggets (podcast). How Did We Get Here?. Retrieved May 23, 2022 – via Spotify.
  27. McClain, James (2022-12-28). "YouTuber Roommates Spend Millions on All-New Los Angeles Home". DIRT. Retrieved 2023-07-21.
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