JonTron‘s gaming and occasional movie reviews often have a dreamlike quality to them. Very few have an actual ending, rather they have an abrupt or surreal sequence to signify that Jon is fed up with whatever he is reviewing. Each episode is a capsule on it’s own; very few follow any continuing timeline aside from the two main characters, Jon and Jacques – who is a Green Cheek Conure.
Although many Youtubers have included their pets in their videos at one time or another, I can think of no other who uses their pets to the degree that Jontron uses Jacques in his reviews. In fact, Jacques’ sidekick status is just as important as Jon himself, and without Jacques it always feels like something is missing from the episode. But how can this miniature parrot attain such an important role?
5. He’s a robot.
Although Jon has stated Jacques was first going to speak with an actual mouth in a Persian or ‘jive‘ accent, he instead settled for the robot with glowing red eyes due to its ease of editing. And be glad he did; the monotone of Jacques’ voice is a humor all it’s own, especially when he spouts phrases that should have more emotion to them. This is in contrast to Jon’s exaggerated reactions, making Jacques the ‘straight man‘ in this duo.
4. Jacques also has his own agenda outside of ‘silly animal companion.’
As the less animated and emotional counterpart in Jon’s videos, one would think Jacques is a robot serving under Asimov’s laws, but this isn’t the case. Although for the most part Jacques is a friend and companion toward Jon, he does criticize him, especially when it comes to procrastinating putting out new videos, which is a trope Jon is well aware of: going months to even a year without a new video is nothing to be unexpected to any newcomers to his channel, and old fans – and Jacques – often poke fun at him for it.
Jacques also has some sort of dark past and own background drama; even “returning from war.” Jacques has a multitude of powers he can choose to use for Jon’s benefit, such as destroying bad games or erasing Jon’s memory of a particularly detrimental game, to teleporting, flying, essentially reincarnating himself, and lasers. Lots of lasers.
3. His background shenanigans are adorable.
It’s no secret that Jacques isn’t actually acting, Jon is applying a personality to him. At his core, Jacques is simply a bird, who does bird things. Take a moment to rewatch any of the JonTron episodes where Jacques makes an appearance, and rather than watch Jon, watch Jacques. His shenanigans take the form of grooming Jon’s hair, biting his ear, and even the occasional attempt to fly, which only adds to the amount of adorable in Jon’s videos.
2. His current absence from Star Cade leaves a hole in my heart.
Jon’s current side project, Star Cade, has his little bird buddy missing. We have only seen him in the first episode, where he was “brutally murdered” by Darth Vader. Since then, aside from the title cards, we’ve yet to see the little robot reappear as he has in the past. And though Star Cade is full of humor on Jon’s part, the lack of countering nonsequitur or criticism from Jacques just makes Star Cade a little less like Jon’s primary show and a little more like every other reviewer on YouTube.
1. The real Jacques is well-loved by Jon, and it shows.
A concern for anyone who sees an animal used in a YouTube video is if the animal is taken care of. We see Jacques’ numerous cages, as well as his interaction with Jon. But the true treatment of Jacques is seen in one of the behind-the-scenes type JonTron videos, where we see Jacques regurgitating when Jon interacts with him. This is a sign of their bond; birds regurgitate because they are attached to the person in question: it’s a sign of affection and the bond that he and Jacques share.
JonTron’s unique video style coupled with his dinosaur-like co-host lead to a show unlike the other Youtubers out there, creating a mixture of comedy and adorableness for viewers who enjoy parrots as much as they do video games.
