| “ | Hello everyone, welcome to another electrifying video! | ” |
―Zip Zap | ||
Johan Wendell (born: March 10, 2001), better known as TrackmaniaStudios, is a German-American YouTuber from Giessen, Germany, who currently produces satirical commentary, rant, and music videos, similar to one of his main inspirations, LeafyIsHere. He used to make CGI animation videos with the program, "Source Filmmaker", and was also the writer, director, animator, and producer of a Sonic The Hedgehog fan-made webseries, "Sonic Untamed", which went under development in late 2012.
Johan's content is usually based around the Sonic The Hedgehog fanbase, but also revolves around DeviantArt and its people.
History[]
Johan was very young when he created the Trackmania Studios YouTube channel, originally made for machinima films used with a popular PC racing game franchise called Trackmania. However, due to the lack of resources, all of these projects were cancelled.
In 2012, Johan began making videos related to the Sonic fandom, and later that year, began working on a new project called Sonic Untamed, originally known as Sonic SFM. The series was supposed to be released in the spring of 2013. Due to a troubled development, however, the series has missed over five expected released dates. Johan has decided to push the series back to 2016 to extend development time and celebrate Sonic's 25th anniversary and 10th anniversary of Sonic '06 (the video game the series is mostly based off of).
However, since the creation of Zip Zap, Johan missed this release date and the current status of Sonic Untamed remains unknown. Later, it is revealed that Johan had actually abandoned the project and moved over to Zip Zap, saying "Source Filmmaker isn't as fun as it used to be anymore; over the years it has became more and more corporate with bigger and bigger teams creating better and better animations.
It won't be long until a theatrical film is made solely using Source Filmmaker". Although he is no longer an animator, Johan remains to be involved within the community as one of the music composers for British SFM studio Silver Team.
It's A Ring![]
TrackmaniaStudio's popularity rose when his first real SFM video, It's A Ring, was published to YouTube on June 16, 2013. The video is only about a minute long. It's A Ring achieved over 26,000 views 16 months after the video was published. Despite the animation quality, the video has achieved 103 likes, 29 dislikes and 40 comments. The comments on the video are mixed from hysterical laughter to rhetorical confusion.
What Does The Tails Say?[]
An 18-second video of another CGI animation that was made as a parody to viral music video, "What Does The Fox Say?" by Ylvis. This video was released in October 13, 2013. The video shows Tails The Fox convulsing and flying and crashing to a large tower similar to the September 11 bombings. The video overall achieved 144 likes, 10 dislikes, and 75 comments that mix from hysterical laughter and confusion to subtle 9/11 jokes and compliments to the video itself.
Sonic Untamed[]
Sonic Untamed was originally announced in June 29, 2013 as "Sonic SFM", which was an early CGI project ment to be a 30-minute movie, but around early 2014, became a webseries. Sonic Untamed was currently under development and was expected to be released in the spring of 2015, but was then pushed back to 2016.
Sonic Untamed is based off of the video games, Sonic The Hedgehog (2006), Sonic Adventure 2, and Sonic The Fighters. It would've taken place in Station Square in the mid-2000s. Little was known about the web series, except it would've had 12 15-minute episodes based on the events of the aforementioned games, including Honey The Cat as a minor character.
Sonic Untamed was eventually abandoned, and it is unknown whether or not Johan would be able to return to develop it. It was originally meant to be released in 2016, but this was when Johan abandoned the project to work on his commentating career.
Zip Zap[]
The Zip Zap account was originally called Alphonse The Uprising, which was accidentally created through a YouTube glitch in 2014 from its parent account TrackmaniaStudios. The account would only be used for trolling from the time it was created up until about early 2015. This was when Johan became interested in YouTube commentaries and rants, more specifically the ones that involved DeviantArt drama.
In March 2016, Johan heavily revises this account, which is now renamed Zip Zap. The reason why is because, on his DeviantArt account, he announced that he will be doing a series on reviewing fan characters and original characters. However, at the same time, a user on DeviantArt named Petergriffinislove (better known as Manglenn) indirectly mentions him in a conversation; Zip Zap would retaliate by making a rant video on him, exposing him to pedophilia.
The video quickly became popular after gaining 10,000 views within the first week of it being up, and began to spread from not just DeviantArt, but other social media such as Facebook, Reddit, Twitter, and a forum known for exposing people like Manglenn called Kiwi Farms. Zip Zap earned +450 subscribers from that video alone. The current progress on Zip Zap's fan character review series remains unknown.
On 29th June 2017, Johan announced through a video that he will no longer support ranting on the channel (This channel is shutting down for good. I'm sorry. ), although most of the videos will remain online and he will not completely disappear from the channel. The reason why is because he wants to focus on schoolwork, and believed that his channel was causing him the end of some relationships. He uploads one more video after this as promised (The Glenn Glatz Experience ft. Bella Tores ) with an unexpected collaboration with another YouTuber named'Bella Tores. This would be his last video before Johan goes on an indefinite hiatus.
On 28th April 2018, Zip Zap seems to be showing signs of a return to YouTube. He had created a separate channel where he would upload his music (Zsolt Marx - Fill Your Pages (Zip Zap! Remix)).
Video Style[]
Johan has an interesting naming convention for his rant videos, usually having "The (subject here) Experience" in the title. Before the start of his videos, a copyright disclaimer is briefly shown before it fades to white, revealing a specific word related to the video and defining it. After that, a short 1-minute intro would be shown that's also related to the topic, ending with a humorous comment. The video finally begins with Johan introducing himself with these quotes, "Hello everyone, and welcome back to another electrifying video!", then restates the topic of the video. These videos will usually last between 5 to 20 minutes, usually with a running gag and other comedic elements added. At the end of a video, Johan suggests the viewer subscribe to them for future content, and where applicable, subscribe to a channel who made the gameplay that's shown in the video. He then signs out of the video with scrolling credits.
Trivia[]
- Zip Zap has more subscribers than his primary account, TrackmaniaStudios.
- He has a music channel called "johan wendell - original music".