Taras Maksimuk (born: August 5, 1993YouTuber who is famous for his multiple destructions of different gadgets, such as smartphones and tablets. He lives in Rocklin, California.
), better known online as TechRax is a Ukrainian-born AmericanYouTube Career[]
History[]
TechRax started making unboxing videos of various videogames, consoles and tablets. His first video was an unboxing of a Lockerz package, uploaded in 2009 when he was just a freshman at Rocklin High School. He held a small but strong following between 2009-2012 by uploading unboxing, review commentary and givewaway themed videos.
TechRax started making tech destruction videos in 2011. His first was a clickbait video that contained a thumbnail of him dropping an iPhone off a cliff to troll viewers. He then proceeded to do actual drop test videos with each major tech release, primarily featuring Apple and Samsung smartphones and tablets. In 2012 he received his first viral video by pouring Coca Cola on an iPhone 5 that collected 14 million views and garnered attention from local news stations. Smartphones were fairly new in the late 2000's/early 2010's and considered a luxury at the time which made Techrax's content pop to many viewers as they watched him mercislessly slay expensive new technology in creative fashion. By 2013 TechRax reached 100,000 subscribers and the channel took off now that the identity of its content was formalized.
Between 2012-2016 TechRax released his most popular videos that ranged from extreme destruction tests involving tanks, explosives, chemicals and product drop tests including one from the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, as well as a variety of other similar styled content.
In June of 2016 TechRax nabbed the top trending video in YouTube's trending section with his Coca Cola Pool video where he filled an above ground pool with 1500 gallons of Coca Cola and related product. Its his most viewed video to date and spawned a handful of reaction videos as well, one of those coming from Ethan of h3h3Productions.
Controversy[]
Cockroaches Drama[]
On March 4th 2017, TechRax uploaded a video named "Casting Cockroaches + iPhone 7 Plus in Molten Aluminum!" In the video, TechRax pours molten aluminum onto living cockroaches and an iPhone 7 together. The video would gain a lot of negative attention, prompting TechRax to start a Twitter poll asking if he should take down the cockroach video, saying that "people are going apeshit over me killing cockroaches". The poll ended with 77% of people saying no.
Some notable commentary YouTubers were quick to share their opinions. On March 11th 2017, Ethan of h3h3Productions released a H3H3 Recap video that had a segment covering the cockroach video, saying that the video was "a little disturbing" and making other various criticisms, such as why TechRax even made the video. On March 14th 2017, Pyrocynical released his video TechRax has hit a new low, speaking negatively about TechRax's actions, calling TechRax "TechRat" instead.
Eventually, TechRax decided to take down the video despite the Twitter poll.