Birthday Bread Man was the creation of a man I call Barnaby, and directed/edited/drawn/animated by Ben Swithen.

Birthday Bread Man started life as a small channel with 0 views and 0 subscribers, but before long that had grown to a record breaking (in old money) 201 subscribers, with views ranging between 93 – 2,214 p/v (people per video) depending on the quality of the content.

The series sparked numerous spin-offs and promotional tie-ins including a remix channel, react videos, and an album.

I played many famous characters throughout the series run, for which I will rightly be remembered. Here they are ranked in descending order of popularity based off how many dislikes the videos in which they appeared received.

6. Birthday Boy 2.0 (7 dislikes on debut)

Towards the end of the show’s run, a re-vamped and pinker Birthday Boy made quite a splash with a rick-rolling lick of a surfing song. This is arguably the strongest Birthday Boy episode and character iteration, but the increasingly brazen flaunting of pronouns and gender-realism might have made this too much for 7 people’s palates. Either that or they dislike Mike Love [Update 2020: This has been largely borne out as the right opinion].

5. Makeup Birthday Boy (5 dislikes on debut)

Birthday Boy’s attempted mid-season spin-off monetization cash-in was rightly punished by harsh viewing figures, but the core fanbase who came along for the brief mutiny (mostly) enjoyed his wistful ditties and unguarded advice for safely removing cosmetic skin products.

4=. Sven Lingstram (4 dislikes on debut)

The controversial method actor who played Birthday Boy but was also somehow involved in the universe proved too visionary for some. His hammy acting and confusing metaphysical implications made this villainous debut a shaky start for what was to become an even shakier character concept.

4=. Birthday Bread Boy (4 dislikes on debut)

Things didn’t improve in the following week when the cliff-hanger ending of Sven’s debut was resolved by playing the episode out again but with the roles incoherently changed. This was the episode that introduced casual gun violence to the BBM-franchise. A decision I regret and think about every day [Update 2020: Still haunted].

3. Birthday Boy™ (3 dislikes on debut)

Perhaps one of the most iconic figures of mid-2016 era BBM. Birthday Boy™ will always be remembered as a party-loving dancing cool guy who likes his friends and prioritises success over integrity. Here’s his first episode.

2. Evil Tulpa Birthday Boy (2 dislikes on debut)

During the three-part season arc Always Falling Man, Birthday Boy sought his friend through time and space before being seemingly killed and replaced by an evil shamanic doppelganger. What this meant for the wider series was never neatly explained, but only two fans seemed to care.

1.Moon Boy (0 dislikes on debut!)

In number one, as voted for by you, is the episode in which Birthday Boy moves to another planet. This episode proved so immaculate in theory and execution that not a single person (as of writing) could take fault with its plot, characterisation or acting.

Well done Birthday Boy (& Bread Head Birthday Men)! Always fulfill the promises and commitments that you made, and always be having a good time!

You can (and should [and will]) check out the full channel here.

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