Ryan Terry (born: June 11, 1989YouTuber known for playing indie, adventure, stealth, and horror games. He also reads creepypastas and other internet-related stories.
), better known as Cryaotic (or simply Cry, formerly ChaoticMonki), is an AmericanCryaotic is currently on indefinite hiatus due to accusations of sexual misconduct towards fans, of which some were minors at the time. He briefly admitted one in one of his YouTube videos and made additional statements, which are all on his Twitter account, but has since not shown any signs of returning. The Federal Bureau of Investigation looked into the case of Cryaotic's abuse, but did not file charges due to them having occurred outside the statute of limitations, according to Cryaotic's former friend and streaming companion, Russ.
Biography[]
Cryaotic was born in Binghamton, New York as stated in the Late Night stream on February 20, 2016. He was raised and still currently lives in Florida, as claimed in a tweet and most recently in a serious Cry Talks video. In the video (Dead Night with Cry and Russ 6/21/14 Part 6) Cry mentioned that he is partly a total of six ethnicities. German, Italian, Scottish, Irish, French, and Cherokee. Cry also identifies as pansexual, according to Cry Talks: Fish Answers.
Fans often perceived Cry as being more interested in creating interesting and entertaining content than following the latest bandwagon or attempting to 'strike it big' as a content creator. His apparently personable nature was indicated by a claim on his Tumblr that he set aside time every day to read through and reply to fan mail. Additionally, he drew his own profile picture during a more artistically-inclined time in his life.
On another website, a fan asked where the name Cry came from. Cry answered: "Playing Counter Strike as a kid. See a guy named Cryosin. Think it's a cool name. Make a WoW character with the same name. Former name used to be ChaoticMonki. People called me Cry for short on that server with that name. It stuck. Then I wanted to somehow combine the [two] names into something I personally made, that fit me better. So. Cryaotic was born."
Similar to Dream, a debate among Cry's fans existed for some time as to whether they would enjoy a face reveal. Many argue that it would destroy the intrigue surrounding the 'character' of Cryaotic; the man himself seemingly agrees, as he consistently refused such requests to the degree that they became a faux pa within his community. He has, however, confirmed certain details about his physical appearance, namely that he wears glasses (x) and that he has blue eyes. In a collaboration with Jesse Cox, Cry stated that he felt as though he was missing out on wearing Google Glass due to having to wear prescription lenses. Indeed, Cry was best known for his collaborative efforts with a number of other prominent YouTube personalities, most prominently PewDiePie.
Although much of Cry's fan art depicted him as having brown hair and wearing green hoodies, he has asserted that he does not have the former or wear the latter. His appearance, as mentioned a source of significant speculation among his fanbase, took second place to his so-called "angelic voice," which led to Cry having a large number of female fans. He occasionally catered to this subset with his videos, most notably "Hangover Cure", where he read a BL fan-fiction of himself and fellow streamer Russ Money.
Late Night with Cry and Russ[]
Every Saturday from 2011 to 2020, Cry hosted a livestream on his Twitch account, joined by fellow streamers Russ Money, Scott Jund and Snake, as well as the occasional guest. The stream originated as a way for Cry to play with his fans throughout the night. However, the format was later changed to a livestream let's play-style format instead. The stream usually lasted around eight hours, starting at 11 PM to 6 or 7 AM (EST). On June 24, 2020, after the accusations against Cryaotic were released, crew member Russ confirmed during a stream that the LNC was officially disbanded. On September 10, 2020, Cryaotic was permanently banned from Twitch.
Controversy[]
Sexual harassment, misconduct, and grooming[]
On June 20, 2020, Cryaotic was accused of engaging in explicit activities with more than eighteen women, some of whom were underage at the time. This was part of a wider backlash against exploitative YouTubers and other content creators, inspired at least in part by the #MeToo movement that was gaining widespread cultural traction at roughly the same time.[1][2]
Cry admitted to this misconduct in a public statement, as well as YouTube video on the topic. The video was 4 minutes and 22 seconds long, and he received a large amount of backlash as a result of the video's many inadequacies. The video itself was short, and there were many that felt he glossed over the severity of his transgressions; the apology itself was also considered lackluster. In the video, he claimed to have been in a dark place while denying any physical contact and to have "not been aware of their ages". In the description of the video, Cry said in part that "...for clarity: No, I was never with anyone underaged on a physical level. It was all online, but this does not diminish the act."[3]
Cryaotic's further responses in the days following the initial accusations drew significant ire, as he apparently attempted to downplay the severity of his actions and blamed at least some of his replies on social media on "mania." This was widely seen as a deflection on his part, an attempt to dodge accountability regarding both his actions and the response to them. The responses only became more muddled as additional evidence came to light, including statements by Cry's ex-girlfriend Cheyenne, who stated that she was aware Cry was having sexual interactions with minors over Skype.[4] These accusations at least in part included fellow LNC member Scott Jund, though there was some measure of confusion on the degree of his own involvement; the victim who stated that Jund was present in the Skype calls and allegedly knew the ages of the victims during those transgressions later tweeted in Scott's defense. Cheyenne, meanwhile, stated that Scott had threatened her with fake chat logs to cover up Cryaotic's actions, something that Scott "adamantly denied" at the time.[5][6]
Several of his victims have also made statements regarding the abuse. A compilation thread of their accusations and the accompanying responses was posted to r/ChaoticMonki.[7] Additional information regarding the veracity and quantity of the accusations can be found compiled there, as well as later updates on the case. According to Cheyenne, the American Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) became involved in investigating the accusations. Drama YouTuber Joon The King produced an extensive documentary on the accusations and the response by Cryaotic and others; in the comments, Russ stated in part that "[Cry] was never prosecuted since his sexual misconduct was outside the statutes of limitations, which was a real shame." He also stated that the LNC crew had largely gone their separate ways since the accusations became more widely known, something that was stated during the initial discourse as having happened even before June of 2020.[8]
In November 2020, his profile picture on Twitter was set to a sentence with a black background labeled "More To Come", speculating that Cry was planning to make a comeback, or further statements regarding the previous misconduct.[9] As of 2024, this has not occurred; it is extremely unlikely that Cryaotic will return to YouTube in any capacity.
Other[]
The Sup Guy or Cry Dude is Cry's mascot, and it is the only visual representation for the YouTuber, which was created in The Numbers, celebrating some of Cry's subscriber milestones. Many non-canon variants of the Sup Guy have since been created by fans, including Thneed,Mad!Cry, Virus!Cry, Handsome!Cry and ever so popular 9/22/12 LiveStream introducing: DrunkCry. Each of the variants are used to represent Cry himself. Having no face to be identified with by fans turns out to be a problem, hence artists will often draw him how they imagine him to look like as a human person, sometimes with his face obscured by a mask. Attributes of the human Cry change based on the artist's own personal ideas of him.
A common trait with these drawings is the depiction of Cry having blue eyes, and ear length or slightly longer brown hair. Less common depictions see him with blonde hair. In a video he made together with PewDiePie and CinnamonToastKen, Cry said that he doesn't have brown hair and doesn't own a green hoodie. He also said that "Green isn't even my (Cry's) color!". He does, however, adore plaid.
An unofficial name that was given to Cry's fans is CryBabies, as of December 21, 2013, where an argument broke out in the livestream and Cry asked Red what the fans should be called, to which she replied "Crybabies." and Cry said "Oh come on!", which suggests Cryaotic doesn't approve of this name. Despite this, fans still use the name "Crybabies" on occasion, and Cry will express he thinks the name is dumb, or he just generally dislikes it.
The Crys (Fanmade)[]
The Crys are separate personas representing Cry's moods. During most of his videos/streams, Cry will sometimes enter into a "different personality", usually based on his emotional state/state of being/state of the game at the time of recording. Some personalities are silly and fun, much like Cry usually is, while others are a bit more dark or malevolent. Certain personalities, such as Mad or Virus, are represented in fanart as cold or evil versions of Cry. Also, it is shown that one game can change him into more than one persona (Shown while he plays "Rule of Rose" and changes from MadCry to DrunkCry because he can't stand the battles). The most known Crys in the fandom are these 5 personas he "changes into":
MadCry: One of the most known and infamous of Crys, Mad is personified by a bloody mask with the mouth of the mask opened, revealing sharp "teeth". He is also personified as Cry's evil twin of sorts, shown in some drawings fighting against his malevolent doppelganger. While he is very rarely unleashed, when he is, Mad is known to use violent methods against NPCs, and uttering a laugh only attributed to an asylum patient.
VirusCry: While he is a bit like Mad, Virus is actually one of the more mysterious of the personalities Cry "controls". It's to be noted that while Virus may not possess Cry himself, he does possess the main tool Cry keeps at his disposal: his computer. He is believed by some to be the main cause of why most of Cry's games crash in the middle of his recordings. Virus is usually represented in a similar way to Mad, but uses a blue color scheme instead of red, with his mask's mouth shut, but his "teeth" are still shown. Also, replacing the blood usually staining Mad's mask, Virus instead had a neon-blue patch of data growing across the mask. This patch is known as the "Virus infection", known to infect certain individuals who come in physical contact with Virus. It resembles a Hollow, a character from the anime series "Bleach".
DrunkCry: One that's a bit more "recently discovered", DrunkCry only appears when Cry is, obviously, drunk as hell. Mostly in the Livestream's drinking games, Drunk has also appeared in the final 2 videos of Cry's walk-through of Rules of Rose.
Quotes[]
- "You guys are just jealous of me and Pewds' fucking porn pictures that people have drawn!" (OHH BABY!! (Gmod Prop Hunt)
- "Oh, I forgot we were recording I need to put my sexy voice on." (IT'S CRUSHING ME!!! | Prop Hunt (Garry's Mod)
- "How dare you advertise me to your people?!" (GETTING BLOATED (Shiftlings)
- "Ah, what a special little fucking teacup." (Cry Plays: Undertale [P3])
- "Is this car?" (Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes)
- "OH, YOU GOT A RACECAR BED DUDE! HOLY SHIT!" (Cry Plays: Undertale [P3])
- "Sans your brother won't date me!" (Cry Plays: Undertale [P3])
- "Hey Sans, WAKE THE FUCK UP!" (Cry Plays: Undertale [P4])
- "WELCOME TO FUCK!" (Cry Plays: Undertale [P4])
- "Same deal. You haven't heard? You're free man, you silly bean!" (Cry Plays: Undertale [Part 10] [Finale])
- "But Timmy was just there! Bruh!" (Cry Plays: 60 Seconds!)
- "Bitches, bitches, big booty bitches, gotta have my bitches, sounds like a cereal commercial if you think about bitches as cereal." (I'm a rapper now (Temporary Video)
- "Don't do cocaine." (Ski fuck (Temporary Video)
- "Sometimes we forget math exists." (I'm a math (Temporary Video)
Channel milestones[]
Subscriber milestones[]
Note: The following dates are according to Social Blade. Dates may vary by one or two days due to differences in time zones.
- 100,000 subscribers: August 7, 2012
- 200,000 subscribers: October 9, 2012
- 300,000 subscribers: December 2, 2012
- 400,000 subscribers: January 14, 2013
- 500,000 subscribers: March 10, 2013
- 600,000 subscribers: April 27, 2013
- 700,000 subscribers: June 13, 2013
- 800,000 subscribers: July 18, 2013
- 900,000 subscribers: August 20, 2013
- 1 million subscribers: October 3, 2013
- 1.1 million subscribers: November 24, 2013
- 1.2 million subscribers: January 15, 2014
- 1.3 million subscribers: February 23, 2014
- 1.4 million subscribers: April 11, 2014
- 1.5 million subscribers: June 4, 2014
- 1.6 million subscribers: July 7, 2014
- 1.7 million subscribers: July 31, 2014
- 1.8 million subscribers: September 7, 2014
- 1.9 million subscribers: November 22, 2014
- 2 million subscribers: February 14, 2015
- 2.1 million subscribers: May 31, 2015
- 2.2 million subscribers: September 8, 2015
- 2.3 million subscribers: November 3, 2015
- 2.4 million subscribers: February 20, 2016
- 2.5 million subscribers: May 30, 2016
- 2.6 million subscribers: October 23, 2016
- 2.7 million subscribers: May 7, 2017
Decline[]
- Below 2.7 million: June 21, 2020
- Below 2.6 million: September 20, 2020
- Below 2.5 million: July 8, 2021
- Below 2.4 million: January 21, 2023
References[]
- ↑ Destiny 2’s Women Creators Lead A New ‘Me Too’ Moment Exposing Gaming Community Abuse
- ↑ Dozens of women have levied sexual assault allegations towards several Twitch streamers, YouTubers, gaming/esports personalities and gaming industry
- ↑ Cry Talks: We stopped being genuine a long time ago
- ↑ https://twitter.com/CryWasTaken/status/1274844287780425728
- ↑ https://twitter.com/_daaes/status/1275241991823974400?s=19
- ↑ https://twitter.com/ScottJund/status/1275339591906721798?s=19
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/ChaoticMonki/comments/hef6zr/megathread_cryaotic_accusations/
- ↑ Cryaotic: A Failure's Descent Into Madness
- ↑ https://twitter.com/CryWasTaken/photo