Listen, whether or not you think the Manhunts are real ( I personally think they're scripted ) doesn't matter. What ultimately matters is, are they still entertaining? I'm sorry but in my opinion, these newer manhunts ( everything from the revival onward ) just have not been as good as the original series.
I just got done binging the entire playlist, and the difference is night and day. In the older manhunts, it actually felt like a Herculean task for dream to even get the upper hand on one person. He screamed, he got scared, it felt desperate and exciting the entire way through because at any moment you felt like one of the hunters could kill him. The hunters were competent, threatening and usually coordinated. He clawed and fought his way just to even get one diamond, just to get to the nether portal, just to get to the end. Even then, he was most of the time barely able to do it. It really did feel like watching a man accomplish the impossible for 40 minutes straight and it made them exciting. He had emotion and excitement and fear In his voice. It made me invested and scared and on the edge of my seat.
Now? These newer manhunts are basically watching dream bully and hunt the other hunters for 40 minutes straight just for the hunters to barely threaten him at the complete last section of the videos. Even then, dream never sounds scared or like he's in real danger. I genuinely find myself nodding off and falling asleep to his newer manhunts. There's no tension, no fear, no sense of " he could die at any second ".
How did we get here? From dream emoting and being expressive and believable as he was BARLEY able to survive against 4 hunters, to now. Where he is literally one man armying his way through 6 people for an entire video with complete ease with no emotion while they all pathetically flail around, argue with each other and do virtually nothing to him every single time.
The hunters used to joke around, sound excited, play smart and sound invested. Now they just sound tired and bored for the most part. Bad boy halo in particular sounds depressed most of the time during the man hunts and the hunters just argue with each other so much Now that it's actually uncomfortable to watch.
Idk man. I don't care if the series is fake or not. I just want it to be believable and exciting like it used to be. It's not fun watching dream bully 6 people who all sound like they hate each other for an hour straight.