TotalBiscuit

John Peter Bain (8 July 1984 – 24 May 2018), known as TotalBiscuit ( TOH-təl-BISS-kit, TB; sometimes The Cynical Brit or TotalHalibut), was a British video gaming commentator and game critic on YouTube. He was known for his role in professional shoutcasting and esports, and also known for his gaming commentary audio work on WCradio.com. According to Eurogamer, he gained a large following due to his video commentary on newly developed indie games and analysis of gaming news. Bain voiced strong support for consumer protection in the video gaming industry.

In October 2015 he announced that he had terminal cancer that had spread to his liver. He continued to critique games after the diagnosis, announcing his retirement only a few weeks before his death in May 2018.

Biography

John Peter Bain was born in Spennymoor, County Durham, England, on 8 July 1984. He studied law at De Montfort University. While there, he hosted an extreme metal music show on Demon FM. He was diagnosed with dyspraxia.

From 2005 to 2010 Bain ran World of Warcraft Radio, a popular World of Warcraft fan radio station that received special acknowledgement and recognition from Blizzard Entertainment, the developers and publishing team of World of Warcraft. Bain was invited to the annual BlizzCon event in 2005 to provide coverage of the event, where he met Genna, his future wife and fellow YouTube personality. After Bain's tenure at World of Warcraft Radio, Bain began Cynicalbrit.com, where he posted more generalised gaming content.

In 2010, during the height of the Great Recession, Bain was laid off at his job at a financial advisory company. Bain's unemployment coincided with the beta release of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, and he started producing videos of himself talking over gameplay on YouTube, hoping to earn money through the website's ad-revenue system. In the following weeks, the popularity of Bain's videos rocketed. A StarCraft 2 commentator named HuskyStarcraft approached Bain and invited him to The Game Station, a network of gaming channels on YouTube (now Polaris, a subnetwork of Maker Studios).

Cancer diagnosis and death

In late April 2014 Bain announced he had a precancerous mass in his colon, the first indications of bowel cancer, a condition with which two of his grandparents had also been diagnosed. Within the month, Bain revealed that he had "full blown cancer" and was beginning chemotherapy treatments.

Bain reported in April 2015 that a CT scan showed a complete remission of the cancer. However, by October 2015, a newer CT scan showed that while the bowel cancer had been eliminated, the cancer had metastasised to his liver and was determined inoperable, with his doctors giving him a two-to-three-year life expectancy. Bain announced the disbanding of his eSports team Axiom upon this news. By January 2016 Bain had also decided to distance himself from social media, while still focusing on making his game critique videos.

On 23 September 2016 he reported that his cancer had mutated, and a targeted treatment had shrunk his liver tumour by over 50%, from 5 cm (2.0 in) to 2 cm (0.79 in).

In October 2017 Bain appeared on the H3 Podcast, during which he discussed at length the current state of his cancer. He described his condition as "stable" (meaning the cancer was still present, but not spreading), and that it was stage IV cancer. On 22 November he tweeted that his chemotherapy had stopped working, but that there were other types he could try. He also noted that the cancer had not spread, but that its growth had started again.

In mid-April 2018 Bain was hospitalised for extreme back pain, from which the doctors discovered that the cancer was growing, applying pressure on his spine. While he underwent a clinical trial to combat the spread, the doctors found that the cancer had become too resistant to medication and conventional chemotherapy would be ineffective; he was also informed that his liver was failing. The doctors transferred him to palliative care with the option to resume clinical treatment if a trial compatible with his failing liver became available. Because of this, knowing he did not have long left to live, Bain announced he was fully retiring from game criticism, believing he was no longer capable of performing his work at a level that would satisfy himself and his fans. He planned to continue his Co-Optional podcast with his wife, Genna, with plans for her to take over the podcast in the event of his death.

On 24 May 2018 Bain's wife, Genna, announced through both her own and her husband's Twitter accounts that Bain had fallen into a hepatic coma and died.

Legacy

Multiple video game companies have released media with references and memorials to Bain. On 7 June 2018 Old School RuneScape developers Jagex added a grave to the game world decorated with a top hat, with the message "He was always there to ask and answer one simple question". Shortly after, on 9 September 2018, Blizzard Entertainment created a commemorative bundle in honour of Bain, with all sales profits going directly to Genna and their son, Orion. Two years after his death, the video game Doom Eternal features an easter egg of a top hat and a plaque reading "Slay Cancer", referencing Bain.

Bain was posthumously inducted into the ESL Esports Hall of Fame, and is the first non-competitive player to receive the honour.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 was dedicated to Bain in memoriam. Bain previously featured its predecessor, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine, in his WTF is...? series, to much enjoyment.

Origin of online nicknames

Bain stated that the name TotalBiscuit was a quote taken from the Terry Pratchett novel Carpe Jugulum: "Besides, thought Agnes, I know for a fact there's people out there called Syphilidae Wilson and Yodel Lightley and Total Biscuit."

The moniker Cynical Brit came from the original introduction to his Blue Plz! radio broadcast: "Ladies and gentlemen, do not be alarmed, a Cynical Brit has been allowed on the air with a microphone. You will listen or the kitten we have hostage will be forced to fight a giant badger. Ladies and gentlemen, this is Blue Plz! Enjoy."

TotalHalibut was Bain's online name in PlanetSide: "I started off in the Halibuts which was our old guild from PlanetSide...that's where TotalHalibut comes from. Everyone who used to play in the Halibuts, Halibuts used to be a guild in PlanetSide that anyone could join, and, you basically, you made an alt to play in it and you had to have the word halibut in your name to play."

Internet popularity

The main source of Bain's publicity was his primary YouTube channel, where he posted what he described as "variety gaming content" as part of the YouTube gaming network Polaris. His most popular videos belonged to his "WTF is...?" series, a series of first impressions on video games. He was described by Will Porter of Eurogamer as a "champion of indie gaming" and YouTube's foremost "love him or hate him" personality. The same critic suggested Bain's online popularity was due to his voice having a "tone of authority", while Bain himself believed that his candour and personality were key to his success. Prior to his death in May 2018, Bain had over 2.2 million subscribers to his YouTube channel.

TotalBiscuit was the top Steam curator for several years, with over 800,000 followers at the time of his death. Because of his popularity, Valve, which manages Steam, invited Bain and another gaming critic, James Stephanie Sterling, to their headquarters to help discuss how to improve the Steam's storefront and discovery tools in 2017.

Apart from his "WTF is...?" series, Bain hosted the "Content Patch" programme (started from 30 October 2012, ended 15 July 2016) in which he addressed gaming news and comments. Bain also hosted The Game Station Podcast and was a host of the Co-Optional Podcast, where he discussed games and gaming news with YouTube personalities Jesse Cox and Brooke "Dodger" Thorne along with a guest. It was live-streamed every Tuesday on his Twitch channel.

In 2016, Twitch added a LUL emoji, sketched from a photo of Bain laughing, which has since become one of the most popular emojis on Twitch. In the 2022 r/place social experiment project hosted on Reddit, a recreation of the LUL emoji was constructed in the middle of the canvas as a memorial for Bain.

Consumer advocacy

In October 2013, Wild Games Studio made a copyright claim against Bain's negative "WTF Is... ?" critique of their game Day One: Garry's Incident, which resulted in the video being taken down, despite having issued Bain with a review copy for the game, and use of copyrighted material for criticism being allowed under fair use. Bain's follow-up video responding to the takedown attracted press attention and leveled further criticism against Wild Games Studio, which resulted in the studio retracting its request.