One of the most popular puppet characters on YouTube is a friendly, furry Nintendo loving monster that most people have never heard of.
Arlo is a self described “monster armchair analyst” who has been sharing Nintendo video game news since 2014. He has hundreds of thousands of subscribers and is the star of a small constellation of web sites and channels. In addition to his main channel, they include Arlo Plays (“let’s play” gaming videos), Arlo Whatevz (unboxing videos), and Arlo Recommends (an “ever-growing catalog of stuff” people should know about, a podcast (Arlocast) and a subreddit for fans at r/ArloStuff.
The Arlo puppet was originally built by Adam Kreutinger, and he’s performed by a California Youtuber who prefers to remain mostly anonymous. A few internet sleuths have managed to uncover the identity of Arlo’s puppeteer, but his fans seem to prefer preserving the illusion that he’s just a friendly gaming monster. It’s a fun throwback to the way classic puppet characters like Topo Giogo, ALF and the Muppets were traditionally presented on TV, and kind of live action counterpart to the popular VTuber phenomenon.
You can see more of Arlo in action and keep up with all the latest Nintendo news and gossip by subscribing to ArloStuff on YouTube.