Technoblade’s YouTube Thumbnails

If you’ve been on the internet for at least three seconds, you’ve probably been exposed to “clickbait” before. Even if you don’t know exactly what it means, you’ve definitely come across it—-clickbait refers to anything that’s meant to grab your attention or seem intriguing, like when news articles have “You Won’t Believe This!” in their title. Another example is clickbait YouTube thumbnails, which seem almost formulaic sometimes; a close up of someone’s face or a photo, big red arrows, maybe some bold text in white, lots of question marks. All of these things are meant to make you want to click on it.

Like YouTube videos, online news articles get paid ad revenue for every person who views their content. It’s frustrating and often misleading, but it makes sense as to why clickbait has risen in prevalence in our digital age. However, there are some YouTubers who use their video thumbnails as a more creative outlet, Technoblade being one of them.

Technoblade is a Minecraft YouTuber who just recently hit 5 million subscribers. In the community, he’s known for his excellent PVP (“player-versus-player” combat) skills, beating the most difficult game mode of Minecraft with a steering wheel, and being a member of the Dream SMP server (survival multiplayer server). Instead of misleading thumbnails, Technoblade features fanart from artists on twitter, ranging wildly in style and aesthetic. Technoblade is not only featuring various different artists, but he’s also showing how he appreciates his fanbase.

In a sea of clickbait and deceit, there is nothing more refreshing than this. Here are just some of the thumbnails and artists that he spotlights.

All Images © 2021 (in order of appearance) @hillmoel, @sneetzyy, @apohe_art, @Jaxxattack1000, @qkoomi_, @ASlovenian, and @KaiMidnightwave