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If you grew up with both Lego and Pokémon, this one's for you.

Announced at SXSW London on Tuesday, a new Pokémon range will be the latest addition to the Lego Smart Play ecosystem. The interactive technology was revealed by the toy company at CES in January, with a range of Star Wars sets.

Available for pre-order starting today and set for release in August, the Lego Pokémon Smart Play collection aims to make Pokémon Trainers of a new generation, involving 12 new sets with interactive Pokémon, including Pikachu, Squirtle, Bulbasaur, Charmander, and more. And every single Pokémon in the collection can battle each other. Or just sleep and eat sandwiches, whichever you're more into.

The Lego Pokémon range. Credit: Shannon Connellan / Mashable SEE ALSO: I tried to buy my son some Pokémon cards at retail price. It was almost impossible.

Each Pokémon, which must be built from Lego blocks and equipped with a Smart Block, can be trained to battle others by physically connecting them with Smart Tags within each set. The more trained a Pokémon is, the better chance it has at winning a battle.

How do you start a battle? Hold the Pokémon up to the training dummy, and bring two Pokémon close together (you can hear the music change). Then, you essentially air high-five the Pokémon to attack and draw them back to defend, shake the Pokémon for charged strikes, and lights and sounds will indicate which Pokémon won. I do worry children will accidentally smash their Pokémon into each other, but Lego's pretty tough stuff.

The Lego Pokémon range. Credit: Shannon Connellan / Mashable Squirtle from the Lego Pokémon range. Credit: Shannon Connellan / Mashable The Lego Pokémon range. Credit: Shannon Connellan / Mashable

You can also feed the Pokémon Lego sandwiches embedded with Lego Smart Tags, or you can put them to bed for a nap — and with each action, small sounds emit from the Pokémon. Pikachu giggles when you tickle them, Squirtle relishes a good sandwich, and Charizard roars when you zoom them around in the air. It's genuinely delightful.

The new Lego Pokémon Smart Play sets come as 12 "all-in-one" sets (which include one Lego Smart Brick, charger, and Smart Tags) or as "compatible" sets (which come without the Smart Brick and charger, but you can install Smart Bricks with any of the Pokémon in these sets).

Mewtwo from The Lego Pokémon range. Credit: Shannon Connellan / Mashable Lapras from The Lego Pokémon range. Credit: Shannon Connellan / Mashable Bulbasaur from The Lego Pokémon range. Credit: Shannon Connellan / Mashable

There's a Pikachu-inspired tree house set, with a tiny Lego Poké Ball you need to catch Pikachu with by hitting a smart target. There's an impressive Mewtwo lab, a Charizard vs. Jolteon battle arena, a Jigglypuff concert space, a Bulbasaur and Bidoof berry-themed set, a beach buggy for Squirtle, a cavern set with Charmander and Geodude, a spooky house for Cubone and Gengar, and more, all with their own extra features like treasure chests and trophies to uncover.

The Lego Pokémon will launch in the U.S., UK, Australia, Poland, Germany, and France in August. Prices range from $69.99 to $119.99 for the bigger all-in-one sets, and $14.99 to $89.99 for the compatible sets, with pre-orders now open.

My expectations for Masters of the Universe were low for several reasons. Chief among them, 2026 has been absolutely bleak in terms of movies based on intellectual property geared toward male audiences. The Super Mario Brothers Galaxy Movie was so soulless that it left me considering my own mortality, while Mortal Kombat II made me realize the bar for nostalgia-bait is in hell. 

Besides that, it’s not like He-Man and his friends have made for good movies before. 1987's Masters of the Universe — starring with Dolph Lundgren — was considered a flop with critics and audiences. Then the first trailer for this relaunch dropped in January, and while it looked fun, it sparked fury from conservative He-Man fans because of a shot that revealed He-Man has pronouns. I'm going to write that again: Some men were furious on X that He-Man has pronouns. (If you somehow missed that particular internet outrage, I envy you.) 

Basically, I assumed Masters of the Universe would be catering to the same audience that yells about pronouns and cheers lifeless video game movies. And then on top of all that assumption, I knew Jared Leto is playing Skeletor. 

SEE ALSO: 2026 Summer movie preview: Every film you need to know about now

Leto is a notoriously an actor who gives his audience nothing (Tron: Ares, Morbius) or way too much (Suicide Squad, Dallas Buyers Club, The Little Things). Him playing Skeletor seemed guaranteed to be much too much. 

So it is with no small amount of shock that I confess, I really enjoyed Travis Knight’s Masters of the Universe.

Maybe the lesson here is to look past the optics and look to the filmmaker. As a producer at Laika Studios, Knight has overseen the creation of jaw-droppingly gorgeous and deeply entertaining animated adventures like ParaNorman, The Boxtrolls, and Missing Link. As a director, he's helmed Kubo and the Two Strings and the Transformers spinoff Bumblebee, both full of adventure, fun, and heart. Masters of the Universe has much more in common with these movies than the ones catching strays in the previous paragraphs. 

Masters of the Universe refuses to take its IP seriously. And thank the gods for that.  Kristen Wiig, Idris Elba, Nicholas Galitzine, and Camila Mendes in "Masters of the Universe." Credit: Amazon MGM Studios

Written by Chris Butler, Aaron Nee, Adam Nee, and David Callaham, Masters of the Universe imagines a scenario in which a young Prince Adam of Eternia is jettisoned from his kingdom after the villainous Skeletor invades. As he grows up on Earth, he speaks endlessly of noble heroes like Ram Man (Jon Xue Zhang), Mekaneck (James Wilkinson), and Fisto (Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson) — much to the bewilderment of the humans around him. 

Cut 15 years later, a grown-up Adam (Nicholas Galitzine) believes he is destined to return to Eternia to save his family and friends from the tyrant Skeletor. But for now, he works in human resources, where he has learned how to communicate his feelings and empathize with others. And yes, there’s a sign on his desk that shows his name, Adam Glenn, and his preference for he/him pronouns. 

By refusing to treat this IP as sacred, the filmmakers open the door...

However, once Adam rediscovers the Sword of Power, he finds his way back to Eternia, where the heroes are all baffled by this young man and his foggy memory of a childhood here. It turns out these soldiers were not known as Ram Man and Fisto. But rather that that was how he thought of them, and they are not thrilled when Adam offers the logic for the nicknames, like "because you fist people." 

This silly subversion allows Masters of the Universe to embrace the nostalgia of the toys, the cartoon series, the movies, and the memes that followed, while also recognizing some of them are got pretty ridiculous. By refusing to treat this IP as sacred, the filmmakers open the door for characters to be lively and funny, and not just a stiff recreation of plastic action figures. 

Masters of the Universe embraces '80s nostalgia.  Nicholas Galitzine in "Masters of the Universe." Credit: Amazon MGM Studios

Knight and production designer Guy Hendrix Dyas celebrate the cartoon show and its merch line by painting Eternia in a vivid color palette of reds, greens, oranges, purples, and pinks. Richard Sale's costume designs are reminiscent of the characters' signature looks, including colorful body armor and dramatic silhouettes. Yet even before the movie returns to Eternia, cinematographer Fabian Wagner injects verve into Adam's earthly routine with whip-pans and zooms, enhanced by a "swishing" sound effect to give an echo of cartooniness. 

The soundscape is fleshed out with a soundtrack that pulls from the '80s (Queen's "Princes of the Universe") or evocative of it (The Darkness's "Master of the Universe"). Composer Daniel Pemberton's score likewise screams with synthesizers, electric guitars, and hammering drums, calling back to an era of hair metal and stadium rock n' roll. Even Adam outside his He-Man persona has an '80s theme. Reflecting his softer side, The Cure's "Boys Don't Cry" plays over a montage of him failing to fit in on Earth.

Props to Galitzine, who has thrilled critics with funny turns in three very different comedies: Bottoms, The Idea of You, and The Sheep Detectives. He is a perfectly lovable clown as non-superpowered Adam Glenn. Then, bulked up and loin-clothed is a convincing He-Man, delivering might blows with fist and sword in imaginative battle scenes. Yet, he never loses his wide-eyed sense of wonder or earnest vulnerability. 

Featured Video For You Hugh Jackman and 'Sheep Detectives' co-stars test their movie trivia Why will the Manosphere be mad at Masters of the Universe?  Nicholas Galitzine in "Masters of the Universe." Credit: Amazon MGM Studios

Perhaps unsurprisingly, manhood is a big theme in He-Man's story. As a boy in Eternia, he is introduced as being a head shorter than all the other children training to be warriors (boys and girls alike). He is reluctant to go to weapons training, then"disarms" his opponent by capering and cracking jokes instead of mastering the staff. His father sneers at his lack of fighting prowess, so once they're separated, Adam is fixated on becoming a man his dad would be proud of.

Once he's grown, Adam seeks to bulk up at the gym, asking a familiar face for advice. And instead of tips on how to bench, a certain Swedish action star gives Adam a lesson in building self-assurance rather than seeking outside validation. Still, being his own man is a challenge. Along the way, Adam will flub flirtations, resulting in getting "friend zoned" by his childhood bestie Teela (Camila Mendes), and confound the macho men — including a punchy Idris Elba as a drunkard Man-At-Arms — who don't know what to make of his attempt to host a teamwork seminar instead of a war room speech. 

Essentially, Masters of the Universe suggests that real men are not just those who can build muscle or achieve a macho facade, but those who can recognize their own feelings and self-worth, and find victory not through brute strength but team-building. 

And then there's Leto's take on Skeletor, which was also my favorite bit. 

Jared Leto is absolutely magnificent as Skeletor.  Jared Leto is Skeletor. Credit: Amazon MGM Studios

The cartoon villain who has a skull for a face and a body made muscle-bound blue skin is manifested into visual effects marvel in Masters of the Universe. Watching Skeletor strut, snark, and fight, I couldn't be sure what was practical costuming effects and what was computer-generated imagery. And I don't care, because Leto and the VFX team have built an epic villain, who's sure to be a campy icon. 

I surprise myself by admitting Leto is a perfect choice for a cartoon villain with no face. Little red lights in the ocular cavities serve as his eyes. And while his skinless visage cannot smile or frown, Skeletor's jaw makes a lot of dynamic movements to convey attitude. You're never unsure what he's feeling, partially because of Leto's florid physicality, but most because of his truly wild vocalizations. 

This is more Leto in Haunted Mansion mode, where he played the menacing Hatbox Ghost. Far from the nasal Skeletor voice from the cartoon show, Leto has embraced a villain tact that feels inspired by '80s action movies, where the bad guys were often loquacious, erudite, queer-coded, and British. This makes Skeletor not just menacing but also mad fun. Like Tim Curry in practically every villain role he's played from Rocky Horror Picture Show to Home Alone 2: Lost In New York, Leto relishes being the baddie here.

Mark my words: Drag queens will be lip-syncing to this version of Skeletor before Pride month has ended.

His Skeletor practically purrs when threatening minions with violence and growls salaciously when demanding answers from his second-in-command, the sorceress Evil-lyn (Alison Brie in a cunty blonde bob that feels like an intensional White Lotus nod). But this devil is most fun when he's heckling He-Man. There's a campy villainy to the way Skeletor gleefully mocks the hero while unapologetically noting Adam's big sword and thick thighs. But my favorite bit comes when Adam demands a fair fight, "face-to-face" and Skeletor scoffs in response, saying "1) I don't have a face, and 2) I don't want to." 

Mark my words: Drag queens will be lip-syncing to this version of Skeletor before Pride month has ended. And I suspect Knight and Leto expect no less. 

In the end, Masters of the Universe is a wonderfully entertaining adventure that dodges the pitfalls that makes so much IP adaptations tedious. Knight delivers a colorful film with a point of view, not just a sales pitch. The nostalgia delivers thrills without treating its source material as a sacred text above critique or silliness. The cast is terrifically game to embrace Knight's playfulness, especially Elba in bumbling rogue mode. Galitzine shoulders the fight scenes and humor with aplomb, while Leto channels his over-the-top tendencies into a gloriously outrageous villain. 

Essentially, Masters of the Universe is a terrifically good time, and hopefully a sign of where movie adaptations of nostalgia-driven IP could be headed.

Masters of the Universe opens in theaters on June 5.

In 1997, Nintendo made Star Fox 64. In 2011, Nintendo remade Star Fox 64 for the 3DS. And in 2026, Nintendo has re-re-made Star Fox 64, this time for Switch 2.

And you know what? That's fine! A long time ago, a very bad man, in one of his fleeting moments of lucidity, coined the phrase "I'll keep drinking that garbage," and that's how I feel about the second remake of one of my favorite games of all time. I got to play a bit of the new version, simply titled Star Fox, at a preview event and came away caring less about the necessity of another remake and more about the fact that it seems like a pretty good take on a great game, with some fun new bells and whistles that go beyond a fresh visual pass.

My big takeaway? Don't sleep on multiplayer mode.

'Starfox' for Nintendo Switch 2 $49.99 at Amazon
Releate date: June 25 Pre-order Here at Amazon SEE ALSO: 'Yoshi and the Mysterious Book' is a clever, gorgeous Switch 2 adventure for all ages Star Fox for Switch 2 is very much the single-player game you remember

My hands-on time with the new Star Fox was relatively brief, as I only got to play through the entirety of the first two levels of the single-player campaign's easy branch. If you're not familiar with Star Fox 64's whole deal, a playthrough of the campaign takes roughly 30 minutes and always starts at the same level, but will branch in different directions depending on which bonus objectives you complete. Harder objectives lead to harder levels, which in turn lead to a true ending you won't get if you just do the most basic mission in each level.

It's not possible to see every single level in one go, so a big part of the fun is trying to find different paths through the galaxy. That aspect of Star Fox 64 made the game exceedingly replayable, and I was assured by Nintendo reps on site that the remake maintains that design philosophy.

In solo play, Star Fox for Switch 2 handles pretty much exactly how I, a seasoned veteran who has completed the original game dozens of times, would want it to handle. Level layouts, enemy placements, and power-ups are all exactly how they were in 1997, just with swanky new visuals that do a great job of showing off how powerful Nintendo's new console is. While I certainly have a fondness for the simpler look of the 1997 original, I would not call this new version "ugly" by any stretch of the imagination. The opening level, Corneria, has a distinctly apocalyptic feel that the original lacked, while the second level, set in an asteroid belt, feels appropriately mysterious and menacing.

Peppy yelling "do a barrel roll" in Star Fox for Switch 2. Of course they kept this line in the game. Credit: Nintendo

To the remake's credit, Nintendo has done more than just slap new visuals onto an old game. There are new cutscenes before, after, and between every mission that add some new flavor to what was otherwise a pretty barebones story in the original game. While these cutscenes threaten to slow down the game's nearly flawless pacing a bit, I liked the ones I saw for a couple of reasons.

First, I'm pretty into the idea of seeing Fox, Slippy, Peppy, and Falco actually hanging out with each other outside of combat, which never happens in the original game. The cutscenes I was shown dug a little deeper into their characterizations than anything in the original did, as Falco in particular is repeatedly shown to be kind of a cocky nuisance in a way that felt right to me. What I saw did a nice job of making these characters feel a bit more three-dimensional without flooding the zone with a bunch of needless lore nonsense.

Beyond that, the game's branching structure also means you'll see different cutscenes every time you play the game. Star Fox doesn't necessarily need even more incentives to explore every branch of the story, but I'll welcome new ones anyway. And while the initial reveal of the new character designs was met with some hostility online, I think they work once you actually sit down to play the game. I dig how much more animalistic each character looks, personally. Falco has nasty-looking bird talons instead of regular legs now, and I think that's awesome.

But the new Star Fox multiplayer might be the reason to get this remake It's a cold world. Credit: Nintendo

Star Fox for Switch 2's solo mode was more or less exactly what I expected it to be during the demo session, but the new online battle mode stole the show for me. Up to eight players can participate in these objective-based 4v4 dogfights across a handful of maps, each one having a different central objective.

We got to play a couple of rounds on Sector Y, a new multiplayer take on one of the game's classic single-player levels. In battle mode, Sector Y is basically airborne capture the flag, with dozens of AI-controlled enemy ships flying around to feed on if you need to get some more points for your team between objective spawns. The space cargo you're fighting over initially belongs to NPC space pirates who will mess you the hell up if you take their cargo without killing them, adding a fun layer of danger on top of the fact that four other humans are also gunning for you.

The surprisingly large map had portals placed around it for easy and sometimes strategically crucial quick traversal, while Mario Kart-style bonus weapon pickups ended up being the star of the show here. You can get cluster missiles, a one-time-use healing item, a quick teleport tool, and even a giant Dragon Ball-style beam attack that does pretty nasty things to enemy aircraft. In general, I was pleased with how busy and chaotic these matches felt, and with how satisfying it was to successfully complete objectives without getting horribly murdered by my fellow video game journalists.

This guy rocks. Credit: Nintendo

I was fairly happy with what I played of Star Fox prior to its release later this month, but there are a couple of points of concern. The voice acting has been entirely re-recorded, and while the quality of the acting itself seemed fine, a good amount of the dialogue has been rewritten, and some classic quips like Peppy's "it's quiet...too quiet" from the start of the asteroid belt level have been removed or replaced. First-time players won't notice that, but people like me will, and it is a little jarring if you have all of those lines seared into your memory.

On the multiplayer side of things, I worry about a seemingly small rotation of maps putting a cap on how long the game remains interesting. I don't need a forever-game to hold my attention for months or years, but the competitive side of this game seemed fun enough that I hope it's compelling enough to be fun for a few weeks, at least. Still, those are pretty small warts on what was otherwise a highly enjoyable demo experience. We'll have a full review of the final release when the time is right.

Star Fox launches exclusively for Nintendo Switch 2 on June 25. You can pre-order the digital edition for $49.99 or get the physical edition for $59.99 via Amazon, the Nintendo online store, and other retailers.

It's called the Cavira, it's an electric vehicle with up to 359 miles of range, and it's built by the company that builds the iPhone.

Foxtron, a division of Taiwanese consumer electronics giant Foxconn, which is one of Apple's primary iPhone assemblers, has launched the Cavira as a pretty clear competitor to Tesla Model Y.

SEE ALSO: Protests erupt at Foxconn's iPhone factory in China over working conditions, pay It doesn't exactly stand out, but the range, acceleration, and power output figures are commendable. Credit: Foxtron

The Cavira is an electric SUV that comes in several flavor, including a dual motor variant that has 468 hp, goes from 0-100km/h in 3.8 seconds, and has up to 334 miles of range. A single (rear-mounted) electric motor variant has only 249 hp, but that comes with the perk of having up to 359 miles of range. Both versions have an 82.7 kWh battery, which charges from 10-80 percent in less than 30 minutes.

Other fragrance options are called Serene Interlude, and Whispered Essence. Credit: Foxtron

Inside, you'll find a pretty clean interior with a vertically oriented, 15.6-inch display, something that's becoming quite rare in today's EVs, most of which favor the horizontal display. Highlights include cruise control with lane assist, heated and ventilated front seats, and a fragrance system — including a setting called "Sweet Tranquility," which does sound like something I might need while driving in city traffic.

The Foxtron Cavira starts at 1.239,000 New Taiwan dollars, which is roughly $38,167, and it will be available in Taiwan first. There's no word on availability in the U.S., though as InsideEVs pointed out, Foxconn did own a former General Motors factory in Lordstown, Ohio. The company sold that factory last year, so the chances of the Cavira ever being built in the U.S. are pretty slim.

It's worth noting that the Cavira is not the first EV built by Foxtron; the company also sells the Bria, a more compact electric SUV.

Featured Video For You Humans could soon live underwater, in these deep sea habitats

SAVE OVER $900: As of June 2, the Toshiba 75-inch Z670 Series Mini-LED 4K TV is on sale for $1,047.99 at Amazon. This is $952 off its full price of $1,999.99.

Opens in a new window Credit: Toshiba Toshiba 75" Z670 Series Mini-LED 4K UHD Smart Fire TV $1,047.99 at Amazon
$1,999.99 Save $952   Get Deal

Prime Day may be right around the corner (June 23, for those curious), but Amazon isn't waiting until then to drop deals. If you're searching for solid savings ahead of the sale event, the retailer has plenty to offer right now. This includes some awesome TV deals. If an upgrade has been on your mind, this discount on the Toshiba 75-inch Z670 Series Mini-LED 4K TV is worth a look.

As of June 2, this Toshiba TV has dropped to $1,047.99 at Amazon. This is a massive 48% discount from its full price of $1,999.99, but it even marks its lowest price so far at the retailer. According to price tracker camelcamelcamel, its previous lowest price was $1,499.97, and this is far lower. So, what better time to grab it than now?

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Between exciting events like the 2026 FIFA World Cup and brand new shows dropping on streaming services this summer, this is an excellent time to upgrade your TV setup with this Toshiba display. After all, what better way to catch all of the action than on a 75-inch screen that sports 4K resolution and QLED Technology that brings out vibrant colors and all the little details in what you're watching? Since it's a Fire TV, you'll be able to easily access all of your favorite streaming apps from the home screen as well, which is a very nice bonus.

That's not all, though. In good news for gamers, this Toshiba TV also boasts a native 144Hz refresh rate - alongside AMD FreeSync Premium, VRR 144Hz, and ALLM - which helps ensure your games are responsive and run smoothly without any tearing.

This Toshiba 75-inch Z670 Series Mini-LED 4K TV deal is an excellent offer to take advantage of ahead of Prime Day. Act fast to save on it at Amazon.

Want to learn more about getting the best out of your tech? Sign up for Mashable's Top Stories and Deals newsletters today.

Born from College Humor, Dropout is a comedy streaming platform that's got a bevy of wildly funny shows in its library, including Crowd Control, Dirty Laundry, Make Some Noise, and Smartypants. However, the three pillars of the groundbreaking TV studio are Dimension 20, Game Changer, and Very Important People.

As Dropout is growing out of what CEO and Game Changer host Sam Reich calls their "awkward teenage years," these three very different shows are making the biggest strides in popularity and pop culture moments.

SEE ALSO: Dropout-curious? Here's where you should start watching.

In separate interviews with Reich, Dimension 20 creator Brennan Lee Mulligan, and Very Important People host Vic Michaelis, Mashable uncovered the scrappy beginnings and defining moments of these shows, as Dropout approaches its next steps.

Dimension 20: An unexpected hit  Brennan Lee Mulligan is the creator and game master on the set of "Dimension 20: Cloudward, Ho!" Credit: Kate Elliott / Dropout TV

One of the first show's Dropout debuted on its launch day in Sept. 2018, Dimension 20 debuted in a media landscape that Mulligan says was geared toward short attention spans. Yet the former College Humor writer/performer pitched a long-format unscripted show featuring hours-long episodes of comedians playing variants of Dungeons & Dragons. This roll of the dice was a critical success for Dropout.  

Hosted by Mulligan as Game Master, Dimension 20's first season, Fantasy High, used D&D mechanics and a setting inspired by John Hughes' teen comedies. The "intrepid heroes" (as the show's core stars would come to be known) created characters that combined the fantasy games' classes and races with teen movie archetypes. Thus was born an angst-ridden Tiefling bard with daddy issues, a nerdy half-orc barbarian, an arrogant half-elf jock, and a posh high elf wizard, whose greatest foe is her mean girl older sister. 

Defying conventional wisdom in the contemporary media landscape, Dropout subscribers flocked to the show, which battles Game Changer for the most-watched series on the platform. Since the first episode of Dimension 20 aired in 2018, it has expanded into 28 seasons, featuring a wide array of comedians, as well as drag queens (Dungeons and Drag Queens), and professional wrestlers (Titan Takedown). 

Mulligan and his party have also taken their show on the road, performing in venues like the Austin Convention Center (Fantasy High LIVE at RTX), the Hollywood Bowl (Battle at the Bowl), and a sold-out show at Madison Square Garden (Gauntlet at the Garden). 

Asked about D20's popularity, Mulligan said the idea of a "silver bullet" or "unique vision" guaranteeing success is "malarkey." He concluded, "Everything good in life comes from usually a thousand or a million invisible contributions of people providing care and thoughtfulness. And I think that is very true of Dimension 20. Dimension 20, if it has a secret sauce, it's that we work with lots of great people who try really hard."

Game Changer: A meta game show about game shows Sam Reich hosts "Game Changer" on Dropout. Credit: Kate Elliott / Dropout TV

Where Mulligan reigns at Dimension 20, Reich is the playful tyrant of Game Changer, where every week the game itself is a surprise to the competing comedians. 

Sometimes it's a puzzle based around a prop, like a lie detector or a giant foam mouth. Perhaps it'll be a parody of an existing show, like Survivor, The Bachelor, Traitors, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, or Shark Tank. Some concepts prove so successful that they get spun off into shows of their own, like Make Some Noise, Dirty Laundry, and Crowd Control. 

Season 7 dug into more meta humor, with episodes like "Fool's Gold." Here, Reich challenged a panel of three comedians to bid on pitches for social media videos, Shark Tank style. The goal was to see whose videos would accrue the most views in one month. Beyond being a funny concept for the episode that lent to a swath of Dropout comedians taking their silliness to streets and chiropractic offices, the episode was also a brilliant marketing strategy, considering that — according to Reich — 75-90% of new subscribers come through social media marketing. Still, there was hesitancy from the Game Changer team aorund making "Fool's Gold."

"I remember there being debate in the writers' room initially," Reich shared, "We're just like, can we really do this episode? It almost seems like it boils the marketing mechanism of Dropout down to a cynical, comedic version of itself. Which is like, if you turn marketing Dropout into a game, this is that game. It's like, can you go the most viral on these platforms? On the other hand, when some of the pitches started coming in, we were just like, this stuff is too good. It's gold, if you will. We gotta roll the dice on this."

Game Changer's "Fool's Gold" led to viral victories. Dragon Master Katie Marovitch stars in "Dimension 20: On a Bus" Season 2. Credit: Kate Elliott / Dropout

Chief among this "gold" was Katie Marovitch's daffy parody of Dimension 20, "Dimension 20: On a Bus," and Michaelis's pitch for a video in which Mulligan claims he's leaving Dropout to become a cobbler shoes for American Girl Dolls. In a previous Mashable interview for Say More, Michaelis said of their pitch that the secret to internet virality is: "You take the thing people love most and the thing they fear most."

The "Brennan resigns" video was released as the episode aired on Dropout. Meaning those who didn't watch Game Changer live could mistake it for sincere. And Mulligan says many did. 

"I had family members texting me, asking if everything was OK," he explained, adding, "There were meetings that were held on an emergency basis in parts of the world and the entertainment industry based on people believing that that video was real." 

Reich revealed there was a lot of debate about when to release the social clips. "How do we market this episode? One way to do it is to release all these clips in advance of the episode airing, and then the episode becomes the punchline," He recounted. "Another way to do it is exactly how we did it [releasing the clips as they played in the episode]. And the third way to do it is to abide by our usual marketing tactics, which is we release the episode, and then we release the clips in the two weeks that follow that episode."

Breaking from their own marketing convention, they went with the drop during the episode, hoping for the biggest impact. And Reich said, "The social response was explosive." With over 3 million views on TikTok,Mulligan's mock resignation became such a big hit online that it inspired a Google Easter egg. As for Marovitch's spin of Dimension 20, her spoof became the series highest rated episode on IMDb, despite not being an actual episode of the series.

Reflecting on the success of these two videos in particular, Reich reflected, "I wasn't sure that the pieces that were like us loving the smell of ourselves would do so well. When, in fact, the opposite occurred. Dropout fans rallied so hard around the ones that were meta that [their attention] had this, amplifying effect, where then other people wanted in on the joke."

Reich continued, "And to run this all the way through until now, this all ends up resulting in D20 On a Bus [Season 2] for April Fool's Day, where we did a full hour-long one-shot campaign. And that episode of D20 is disturbingly close to being the best-performing episode of Dimension 20 of all time. We all looked at it like, have we gone too far here?"

Very Important People and the path to the Emmys Vic Michaelis plays Vic Michaelis in "Very Important People." Credit: Kate Elliott / Dropout TV

Now in its third season, Very Important People is not just one of Dropout's most popular shows but also a series that could help the streamer garner much-deserved Emmy attention. 

In separate interviews, both Reich and Michaelis noted that much discussion was had around what episodes to submit to the Emmy's nominating committees. Ultimately, Dropout submitted for 11 Emmy categories, across both shows, including Michaelis in the lead comedy actress category. 

Looking back on their path at Dropout, Michaelis marveled that they'd "done maybe four things on the platform tops" when Reich reached out about casting them as the host on a revamp of Hello, My Name Is. This shorts series had Pat Cassels interview Dropout regular Josh Ruben, as he'd take on different characters, depending on the costume provided. Very Important People expanded on the idea with more drastic makeovers, a broader range of comedians, and Michaelis's unique brand of humor. 

SEE ALSO: Everything Vic Michaelis revealed about 'Very Important People'

As an executive producer on the show, Michaelis has some hand in casting their co-stars, including those they knew from the LA improv scene, like Lisa Gilroy, Zac Oyama, and Jacob Wysocki. Very Important People has also welcomed more storied comedians, like Paul F. Tompkins and Saturday Night Live alum Bobby Moynihan. 

Whether playing opposite old friends or their comedy idols, Michaelis — in a desperate-to-impress version of themselves — is tasked each episode with setting her scene partner up for success. "I feel like I know your voice," they said of this process, and now I get to sit in front of you and lay up the things that I find funniest about you as a comedian. It's the best job in the world." 

How to watch: Dimension 20, Game Changer, and Very Important People are now streaming on Dropout.

The people have spoken. Comedian and content creator Ashby Florence has been named your Mashable 101 Fan Fave for 2026.

No stranger to this list, the 25-year-old influencer was one of our Rising Stars in 2025 after her send-up of legendary Dr. Seuss character The Lorax went viral. And rise she has.

In the year since she first appeared on our list, the LA-based influencer has added another 1 million TikTok followers, with an audience that now sits north of 2.5 million.

Florence first caught our attention when she tackled the #alexanderhamilton lip sync challenge, with her take on the founding father landing her on countless FYPs. It gave the performer her first real taste of internet fame and was a stepping stone into her now infamous impression of The Lorax.

She’s taken to TikTok live as The Lorax multiple times, donning a bright orange body suit and the character’s signature fuzzy eyebrows and mustache.

Her feed continues to entertain, blending Florence’s quirky comedy with genuine vocal skill (the girl’s got pipes) amid a smattering of sponsorships and vlog-style videos about daily life.

Recent posts include content collaborations with heavy hitters such as Keke Palmer, Dan Levy, and Trixie Mattel, plus frequent pop-ins from boyfriend (and often the man behind the camera) Benjamin Hunt.

Interview with a Vampire fans had better brace for Season 3, The Vampire Lestat. Because you are not be ready for what creator Rolin Jones has in store with his adaptation of the second novel in Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles. 

Centering on Lestat's quest to become a rock star, this season offers plenty more sex, even racier than before. There will be blood, including blood-tears, blood-piss, and blood showers, because sure, why not? And there will be rock n' roll — from composer/songwriter Daniel Hart — blending influences like David Bowie and T-Rex with The Police and Billy Idol. 

But make no mistake, as Lestat, Sam Reid finds a rock star persona all his own, and it is devilishly enthralling. 

SEE ALSO: 2026 Summer TV preview: Every TV show you need to know about now The Vampire Lestat is chaotically laid out, but purposefully so.   Sam Reid plays Lestat de Lioncourt; Jennifer Ehle in "The Vampire Lestat." Credit: AMC+

The Vampire Lestat begins at the end. More specifically, at an auction, where on the block is the Brat Prince's story, told across tracks on the sole vinyl pressing of an album he calls The Failures. In attendance are familiar figures from Anne Rice's Immortal Universe, including Louis (Jacob Anderson), the Talamasca's Raglan James (Justin Kirk), and Armand (Assad Zaman), who is curiously sporting an eyepatch. 

Lestat is not in attendance. This means the whole of the season is looking back. Yet from the start, this season poses mysteries: Where is Lestat now? What's become of him? (And what happened to Armand's eye?) 

Featured Video For You Ryan Coogler and 'Sinners' cast on their vampire musical being 'genre-fluid'

Like Interview with the Vampire Seasons 1 and 2, the story leaps forward and back in time, often to challenge a remembrance of the past with a question from the present. Lestat's approach is far less resigned and chronologically focused than Louis', and the effect can be disorienting, even frustrating. This tumultuousness feels intentional, though, playing like a reflection of the mercurial vampire's frenzied mind. Or perhaps it's Jones' way of demanding viewers rewatch the season once they've seen its end.

Jacob Anderson as Louis de Pointe du Lac in "The Vampire Lestat." Credit: AMC+

Interview with the Vampire's first two seasons reward such rewatching by revealing new meanings to a phrase here or a visual there. This time, audiences might feel they're better prepared to spot the tricks in the storytelling. After all, Lestat lets us in on some gnarly revelations way before his circle of friends. Nonetheless, he is a slippery narrator, as his story comes not only out of chronological order, but also with a give-no-fucks facade, a twisted family secret, and an ax to grind against his audience. 

See, when Lestat's not having ferocious hook-ups with other vampires, he's enduring interviews from investigative journalist Daniel Malloy, who wrote the book he loathes for its cruel depiction of him. Riding high on the success of this book based on Louis' interview, Daniel can't resist the challenge of prying answers from the formerly elusive and morally confounding Brat Prince for a rock doc. Of course, Lestat won't make it easy on him. And notably, it's not Daniel's documentary that makes up the series' perspective, but Lestat's albums, mysteriously recorded after the events they reveal. 

Assad Zaman as Armand in "The Vampire Lestat." Credit: AMC+

As such, episodes will flash from a childhood in France, where his festering father and brutish brothers snarled at the blonde boy and his educated mother Gabrielle (a bitingly cold Jennifer Ehle), to a not-so-distant past, where Lestat wedged his way into a struggling rock band. Renaming the band The Vampire Lestat, he goes out on tour to sing original songs that spill the secrets of vampirism and his own life. Several of these songs, including "Long Face," "All Fall Down," and "Butterscotch Bitch" are already available to stream. Make of them what you will. 

Questioned by Daniel about what certain songs mean, Lestat is evasive or aloof or even devious. But when he's alone with his thoughts, he is plagued by the ghosts of his past. Flashbacks plunge us into his nightmarish rebirth. They shine new light on his relationship with Nicki (Nicolas de Lenfent), Armand, and his time at the Théâtre des Vampires — including what role his first fledgling really played there. However, the most exciting bits are anytime Reid and Anderson reunite, be it over a boardroom table, bellowing about Armand, or on a park bench, having a decades-in-the-making heart-to-heart. 

Of course, those familiar with the book know there are other loves that could be a way bigger issue for Louis than that dramatic singer, Antoinette (Maura Grace Athari). 

Sam Reid is riveting as rock star Lestat.  Sam Reid plays Lestat de Lioncourt in "The Vampire Lestat." Credit: AMC+

Reid's proved an impeccably skilled actor through Seasons 1 and 2, as he not only played Lestat but also "Dreamstat," Louis' imagined version of him, a sort of imaginary friend/ghost who followed him and Claudia through Europe. Across a timeline spanning centuries, Reid brings to life a Lestat richer than those who've come before in the beautifully brutal movie Interview with the Vampire and its rightfully ignored sequel, Queen of the Damned. 

This Lestat is mercurial, given to moods of explosive passion, thundering tenderness, scorching indifference, and poetic fury ("I heard your hearts dancing!"). On stage as an actor in Season 2, he was a seductive clown, then a heartbroken lover. Now, as The Vampire Lestat, he rewrites his narrative, turning his heartbreak into a rousing chorus, inviting a mortal audience to sing along, while smirking at the vampires enraged by his exhibitionism. And the songs are sexy, catchy jams, one after another. 

Off stage however, Lestat, is also performing. He constructs a devil-may-care persona for his fans, for Daniel's prying cameras, and his own bandmates, who don't know their frontman is a real vampire. But through all these efforts to entertain, to titillate, to outrage, who is his real audience? Is he singing to be understood? Or to be loved? And in either case, by who? 

The Vampire Lestat make fans unwell.  Eric Bogosian as Daniel Molloy in "The Vampire Lestat." Credit: AMC+

Like Lady Gaga's Little Monsters or Beyoncé's Beyhive, Lestat calls his fans "The Beautiful Unwell," and Jones leans into this with cliffhangers that will have fans jaw-dropped, ravenous for more. Critics have been given the first six of the seven episodes that make up Season 3. And the ability to binge them is a privilege this critic doesn't take lightly, as the season will be released weekly. I burned through them, desperate to see what was coming next. 

However, at the end of episode 3, I needed break to give my heart time to recover from the tension, violence, and agony in its final moments. I sat in the feeling of being satisfied by the dark wrath, the passion that demanded it, and the unifying pain therein. Then, the end of episode 6 — the last critics' were given — I was so in shock that I had to rewind. Nothing from the books prepared me for what Jones does here. Fans are sure to freak out when they see it. And I am sorry to say I can offer no worthy guess on what will come next to close out Season 3. But honestly, that's thrilling. 

Since Season 1, Jones has regarded Rice's books with respect, but not as a Bible. He's kept much of the poetry of her prose through narration, and kept true to the moods of her vampires. But he has changed timelines, many character details, and pivotal moments to tell a story that's distinct from past adaptations. With The Vampire Lestat, he builds from Lestat's isolation to the clamor of ecstasy (through orgies and bloodsucking), the infuriation of creation (through comedic rock doc parody moments), and the intoxication of love, even when it's toxic. 

Sure, along the way, readers of Rice might point to the road signs we recall from her novels. But this journey takes new paths, impossible to predict, and all the more exhilarating for their sick surprises. In the end, fans might be tuning in to see a sexy Lestat strut as a rock star, argue with his on-again-off-again exes, and be a Brat Prince in full. Jones will deliver there, those with an sleazy layer of grit that keeps the show from losing its edge. Then, he'll go harder and deeper, unearthing subplots savage, sumptuous, and absolutely addictive. 

Hang on, baby. It's going to be one hell of a ride. 

How to watch: The Vampire Lestat premieres on AMC and AMC+ on June 7, with new episodes each Sunday.

The MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ and Acer Predator Atlas 8 are running Intel’s new Arc G3 Extreme processor, while Asus unveiled an ROG Xbox Ally X20. Which one is right for you?

TL;DR: Amazon has dropped the price to an all-time low for the 34-inch ASUS ROG Strix Ultrawide QD-OLED gaming monitor (XG34WCDG SKU), now on sale for $649, down from its current $999 list price. This huge 35% cut saves you $350 on a curved ultrawide OLED display with 3440x1440 resolution, a 175Hz refresh rate, and a speedy 0.03ms response time.

Opens in a new window Credit: ASUS Asus ROG Strix 34-inch Ultrawide QD-OLED Gaming Monitor $649 at Amazon
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The only type of gaming monitor usually more expensive than a standard OLED is a curved OLED, but Amazon has taken an already strong ASUS deal and dropped its price even lower than ever.

As of June 2, the ASUS ROG Strix 34-inch Ultrawide QD-OLED gaming monitor (XG34WCDG) is on sale for $649 — courtesy of a surprising $350 price cut from its current base of $999. We previously reported that this monitor was already on sale for $699 in late May, but it seems the retailer is trying to shift more units as quickly as possible by chopping off an extra $50. 

Noted on the price tracker camelcamelcamel, this is indeed the lowest price this version of the ASUS ROG Strix has ever sold for, and Amazon has added on the product page that it is selling fast.

For that new $649 price, you’re getting the same type of gaming upgrade as before: a 34-inch curved QD-OLED panel with a sharp 3440 x 1440 ultrawide resolution, a 175Hz refresh rate, and a 0.03ms response time. 

SEE ALSO: The 4 best premium gaming monitors instantly level up your desktop — for a price

ASUS also packs in VESA DisplayHDR 400 True Black support, 99.3% DCI-P3 color coverage, true 10-bit color, and G-SYNC compatibility, helping the display deliver deep contrast, bold color, and smoother gameplay. 

Essentially, this all adds up to your games not only being more immersive on a cinematic scale (like when playing the new gorgeous 007: First Light), but also fast-paced multiplayer titles like Fortnite, Overwatch, and Marvel Rivals. 

As an added luxury feature, one standout extra is ASUS OLED Care Pro with a Neo Proximity Sensor, which can detect when you step away and switch the screen to black to help reduce burn-in risk. There’s also the ASUS DisplayWidget Center for easier settings adjustments, Extreme Low Motion Blur, AI Shadow Boost for brightening dark in-game areas, and an adjustable stand with tilt, swivel, and height controls. 

For those shopping around different brands, the 32-inch LG UltraGear 4K OLED monitor is also just under $800 at $500 off. If you’re open to a smaller model, the 27-inch LG OLED UltraGear gaming monitor is now $499.99 — a new low on Amazon, too. 

For people whose careers depend on sharing their lives online, creators don't always get many opportunities to talk honestly with one another in front of a camera.

That's the premise of Creator to Creator, Mashable's new video series that brings internet personalities together for candid conversations about the realities of building a life and career online. To kick things off, we paired two creators featured in this year's Mashable 101 list: Taryn Delanie Smith, a comedian and storyteller, and Kay Poyer, writer and commentator.

Credit: Ian Moore/Mashable

The conversation began with change. Smith recently traded city life for a home in upstate New York with a small flock of chickens, while Poyer is adjusting to life in New York City after moving from her home state of Texas. Both found themselves reflecting on new chapters, balancing excitement with uncertainty.

For Smith, whose online career helped make homeownership possible, the move felt especially significant. "Being a creator has opened so many doors for me," she said. "I'm so grateful to my community."

From there, the discussion turned to a challenge familiar to many creators: What happens when internet success opens doors in more traditional creative industries?

Credit: Ian Moore/Mashable

Both Smith and Poyer spoke about pursuing writing and acting alongside content creation and the self-doubt that can follow. Poyer described entering new creative spaces and questioning whether she belonged. Smith immediately related.

Recalling one of her first professional acting jobs on the Amazon Prime Video series Harlem, Smith said she worried people would assume she didn't deserve to be there because her career started online. "I just don't want people to think I don't deserve to be here," she remembered thinking, "because I want to be here so bad, and I really do think if I had time, I could be really good at this."

It's something they've both been navigating — who gets to be considered a "real" writer, actor, or director, and why creators are often asked to justify opportunities that others receive without explanation. Smith recalled hearing someone in her acting class criticize influencers who were breaking into acting, and realizing she could understand that frustration without accepting it as truth.

"I can have some compassion for how you're feeling without deciding I don't deserve to be here," she said.

Credit: Ian Moore/Mashable

Poyer agreed, arguing that content creation is still a relatively young industry and its career paths are still being defined. The skills creators develop, building audiences and sustaining careers online, may not fit neatly into traditional categories, but they're valuable all the same.

Part 1 of the conversation ends there. In Part 2, coming next week, Smith and Poyer dive deeper into internet fame, audience expectations, and whether either of them actually likes being called an "influencer."

Watch the full conversation above.

Like many people, Joy Taylor first discovered Shirley Raines and her nonprofit organization, Beauty 2 The Streetz, on social media. 

Taylor, a TV, radio, and sports personality, was captivated by Raines’ Instagram and TikTok posts that intimately documented her work feeding the hungry and providing free clothes, makeup, hair services, and hygiene products to the beleaguered Skid Row community of downtown Los Angeles. 

"I was looking for a place to volunteer," Taylor says. "There are a lot of different ways that you can give back, but I really wanted to be boots on the ground. I reached out to [Raines] on DM and was like, 'Can I come help?’ She was gracious enough to say, 'Yes.’ So I went down to Skid Row, and the experience of working with her is spiritual in a way."

For nearly a decade, the Compton, California-born Raines dedicated her time and energy to serving LA's unhoused communities. After experiencing homelessness in her younger years, the mother of six was inspired to donate and distribute food and hygiene kits to Skid Row. Raines, along with volunteers, also applied makeup and styled the hair of people who hadn’t been to a salon in years.

Livestreaming her efforts on TikTok and Instagram, Raines amassed 7 million followers, many of whom were drawn not just to her philanthropy but also her beautiful smile and dynamic personality. Gregarious, quick to compliment, and as prone to break into dance as she was to hand out groceries or gift cards, Raines bewitched the screens and streets.

The affection online was so deep that her followers helped fund her mission — one even purchased an abandoned Vegas building for Raines' homelessness outreach. What started as Raines' impromptu effort to give back eventually became Beauty 2 The Streetz, one of the West Coast's most beloved charitable groups. 

Through her work, Raines, affectionately known by many as Ms. Shirley, was named a CNN Hero of the Year in 2021, placed on the 2025 Time100 Creators list, and won 2025 Outstanding Social Media Personality at the NAACP Image Awards Creative Honors.

Credit: Image Credit: Ian Moore/Mashable/Michael Loccisano/Getty Images

When 58-year-old Raines died suddenly in January from hypertensive heart disease, it felt like LA lost its matriarch.

Taylor, who developed a friendship with Raines and eventually became a board member of Beauty 2 The Streetz, spoke at Raines’ celebration of life. 

"It is such a great and impactful loss," Taylor said at the February service. "The impact that she had on the homeless community is immeasurable. And I hope that she can see the impact that she had on so many others by helping to heal through service, which is why she started Beauty 2 The Streetz in the first place; to heal from grief."

Taylor was referring to the accidental death of Raines’ young son in 1990, a tragedy that both decimated and, eventually, galvanized Raines. Instead of sinking fully into the hole of her depression, Raines channeled her energy into giving back and restoring confidence to those who needed it most. 

Credit: Image Credit: Ian Moore/Mashable/Beauty 2 The Streetz

Even when she began working with the homeless community in 2017, Raines recognized that people need more than just the most basic necessities. When someone gets a much-needed haircut or shampoo, "You can see the light come back in people," Taylor says, "There's also something to human touch."

Most Americans take it for granted that they can have a hot shower or blow-dry their hair, Taylor says. When you feel good about yourself, "that flows over into how you treat other people, how you feel, how you look, your motivation to go to work." 

Even with the absence of Raines, Beauty 2 The Streetz’s mission continues, Taylor says. The organization continues to address the humanitarian crisis of poverty and homelessness through regular outreach efforts in Los Angeles and Las Vegas, including a recent Mother’s Day Restoration Brunch that featured volunteer estheticians and nail techs.

Credit: Image Credit: Ian Moore/Mashable/Robin L Marshall/Getty Images

Raines will be awarded another honor soon, serving as the posthumous Icon Grand Marshal for LA Pride in June. Her image and story will be featured and heard during the parade and festival, now in its 56th year. Lawrence Carroll, the board president of LA Pride, worked with Raines during the pandemic and, like many, felt an instant bond with her.

"She just reminded me of family," Carroll says. 

When Carroll heard of Raines’ passing, he drew inspiration from her and turned his pain into action, naming Raines as one of Pride’s three grand marshals for 2026, alongside attorney and civil rights activist Mia Yamamoto and Emmy-winning Somebody Somewhere actor Jeff Hiller.

"[Raines] is somebody who literally woke up every single day to give of themselves to others," Carroll says. "When we’re talking about being of service to a community and the world — I’m starting to get emotional about it, because Shirley embodied all of that. She was just so real, so much of herself. She saw the humanity in folks, just the fact that she was calling people 'kings’ and 'queens.' We need more Ms. Shirleys, right?"

Besides Raines’ family and philanthropy, part of her legacy will be in how she reached people, Taylor says. With so much forgettable and empty content on our feeds, social media can feel like a cesspool of wasted time. Raines, on the other hand, used it for good, recruiting new volunteers and highlighting the needs of people often forgotten by the city around them.

"Social media can be a very terrible place," Taylor says. "And people like Shirley used it perfectly to showcase how dark the world is — and how you can bring light to it."

Carroll sees a parallel in how Raines lived her life and his own intentions to bring people together through Pride. 

"No matter how much technology influences our day-to-day, you can't substitute human connection," Carroll says. "We are social beings by nature. So getting out there like Ms. Shirley and actually being able to talk to somebody, to listen to them in real time, see their facial expressions, and read their body language is such a unique opportunity to connect to somebody. [It’s something] that a device, a phone, and social media could never do."

For years, the creator economy has been defined by scale: follower counts, virality, billion-dollar projections, and the constant churn of who might become the internet's next superstar.

But spending time online in 2026 can feel surprisingly personal. The creators people gravitate toward most aren't just entertaining massive audiences; they're building communities, documenting their lives with honesty, and making people feel like they’re part of the conversation instead of simply watching it.

Data backs it up: While mega-creators still dominate headlines, only 3 percent of U.S. adults say they primarily follow creators with audiences over 1 million followers, according to a Mashable survey. 

Instead, audiences are increasingly drawn to creators who feel authentic and relatable — in fact, among those who follow creators, 62 percent say those qualities matter most to them.

SEE ALSO: How content creators are redefining Hollywood's power structure

Nearly half also say they gravitate toward deep dives into niche hobbies and interests, underscoring how much online culture has shifted away from mass appeal and toward community, specificity, and genuine human connection.

This year's Mashable 101 in many ways reflects that shift. Some creators on our list command enormous audiences and shape culture at a global scale. Others have cultivated deeply loyal communities around hyper-specific passions, vulnerable storytelling, or the distinct ability to bring people joy online.

There are popular creators like Keith Lee, whose reviews can transform a local business's future overnight, and CaseOh, whose larger-than-life Twitch presence has made him one of streaming's biggest breakout personalities. There's Markiplier, a longtime YouTube titan who expanded beyond the platform this year with a movie that proved creators are no longer adjacent to Hollywood — they're entertainment power players in their own right.

But this year's list is also filled with creators whose influence feels more intimate, though no less meaningful. Kay Poyer built a devoted following through candid, deeply personal commentary. Sydney Towle documented her life with cancer with remarkable openness. Derrick Gee turned music discovery into a communal experience, while Love Island USA star Jeremiah Brown grew a reality TV audience into a passionate community of readers.

Meet The Mashable 101: the creators keeping the internet interesting. From meme-makers to movement-starters, these are the people powering our timelines today. Dive into the full list and find your next favorite follow.

That blurring of lines extends across the entire creator landscape. Increasingly, creators are entertainers, comedians, filmmakers, critics, livestreamers, educators, and cultural commentators all at once. 

And they’re no less relevant for it: Projections that the creator economy will grow to a $480 billion industry in 2027 still stand. People are increasingly turning to creators for news and a sense of connection to the world around them. And, while many in Gen Z aspired to be content creators in 2023, 30 percent of Americans ages 13 to 24 reportedly identified as content creators last year.

This year's three cover stories capture that evolution, from comedian Josh Johnson and his remarkable rise online, to the explosive success of Dropout and the talent reshaping digital comedy, to remembering Ms. Shirley Raines, whose compassion and community-driven work demonstrated how creators can mobilize people and profoundly impact lives beyond the screen.

As our feeds increasingly become crowded with algorithmic noise, AI slop, and content engineered for attention, the creators who continue to resonate most are often the ones making the internet feel human again.

That's what this year's Mashable 101 celebrates: creators whose impact can't be solely measured in views or followers, but in the communities they’ve built and the people they’ve reached along the way.

From YouTubers and TikTok stars to streamers and podcasters, Mashable talks to creators about how they built their platforms, the gear they swear by, and the trends they see coming next. Read more of our creator coverage to discover the internet's most exciting voices.

If you don't know Dropout, you're missing out on the next wave of groundbreaking comedy. 

On its surface, Dropout is a subscription streaming app that offers a vast library of funny unscripted shows, including Dimension 20, Game Changer, Very Important People, Dirty Laundry, and Make Some Noise. 

However, CEO Sam Reich isn't just management at this independent TV production company spun off from CollegeHumor. He's also one of its stars, hosting Game Changer and Make Some Noise opposite such hilarious improv comedians as Brennan Lee Mulligan, Vic Michaelis, Lily Du, and Jeremy Culhane — to name a few. 

Beyond running a platform that celebrates improv, Reich has broken from Hollywood standards in exciting ways, encouraging password sharing among subscribers, paying for auditions, profit-sharing with contributors, and offering freelance contracts rather than demanding talent exclusivity. Plus, Reich and his Dropout team have mastered the art of social media promotion. 

In a video interview, Reich told Mashable, "That's how people are finding the platform," noting that 75 to 90 percent of Dropout sign-ups come through social media, rather than traditional paid advertising. 

Clips from Dropout's most popular shows not only spur sign-ups for the platform but also made Mulligan a TikTok star before he even had an account. Now he's got over 400,000 followers, thanks to improv games with his fellow Noise Boys (Josh Ruben and Zac Oyama), his scorching monologues, and the hilarious hoax "Brennan Resigns," which was a viral video pitch from Michaelis for Game Changer's "Fool's Gold" episode.

SEE ALSO: Vic Michaelis on masterminding Brennan Lee Mulligan quitting Dropout for American Girl Dolls

Credit: Image Credit: Ian Moore/Mashable

Though he's at the heart of some of Dropout's most viral videos, Mulligan is conflicted about being called a content creator. 

"It has a certain, heartless sterility to it that is not my favorite," Mulligan said in a separate video-call interview with Mashable, adding, "It's not a fun term for what I do." Still, Mulligan acknowledges that the label serves a practical purpose, given the breadth of work involved in making online entertainment.

Mulligan is the creator, executive producer, and game master of the Dungeons & Dragons-inspired series Dimension 20, in which improv comedians team up to play a homebrew version of popular tabletop role-playing games (aka TTRPGs). Similar to many of Dropout's stars, he also pops up as a guest on other Dropout shows, including Michaelis's talk-show parody, Very Important People, as well as Game Changer and Make Some Noise. 

At its inception, [the term content creator] was meant to differentiate people who work in film and TV and people who create things on their own and create things online. That line is just getting blurrier and blurrier. - Vic Michaelis, host of 'Very Important People'

“In some ways, content creator is more accurate," Mulligan said, "Because part of what I do is being an entertainer. But I'm also working in a producer capacity. Like, there are a lot of producers that might not be entertainers, but are content creators, right? So that's a nice way to actually include more people than maybe the term entertainer could include." 

For Michaelis, "content creator" signifies a break from the Hollywood establishment. "At its inception, [the term] was meant to differentiate people who work in film and TV and people who create things on their own and create things online," they told Mashable, adding, "That line is just getting blurrier and blurrier. And it's very cool to have a space in the Wild West of content creation." 

Where TV networks must appeal to broad audiences and advertisers to make a profit, content creators have the freedom to be far more niche, and by extension, more experimental, with lower overhead. This Wild West can be difficult for any content creator to navigate, especially as platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram shift on what they'll allow to be shown and said. 

Reich and company aren't gatekeeping their path to success. Here's how they transformed a floundering College Humor YouTube channel into the new wave of groundbreaking comedy. 

Dropout: Lore and Labor Brennan Lee Mulligan looks at a note on the set of "Dimension 20: Cloudward,Ho!" Credit: Kate Elliott / Dropout TV

Believe it or not, Brennan Lee Mulligan's path to entertaining Dropout subscribers with an array of game-centered shows began with him winning $50,000 ("after taxes, it was like $34,000") on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? 

"For a content creator like myself," Mulligan said, "Who has never been shy about my distaste for the turbo-charged nightmare capitalism of the moment we find ourselves in, it's really worth mentioning that I have been able to live as a creator who, on a very profound level, is just beyond lucky for the fact that I get to be a professional creative doing essentially my favorite hobby for a living. Doesn't happen if I don't win a chunk of cash on a televised game show." 

He explained, "Without winning that money, there's no move to California. Without moving [from New York City] to California. I don't get the job at CollegeHumor. I don't meet Isabella Roland, my wife and the mother of my children. I don't care to think about the world that exists without getting on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?"

Little did Mulligan realize that his job making comedy videos for CollegeHumor would lead to another gamble: Dropout. In 2018, YouTube ad revenue for CollegeHumor was cratering. So, the company looked to pivot to a subscription model, where ad sales wouldn't be required and more mature content — the kind censored by YouTube — could be explored. 

Mulligan recalled the general fears about this shift, detailing how he felt: "Oh, we're doing a streaming platform. I'm toast." He also shared how, in a company meeting, someone worried aloud that this shift could be like "jumping off the ship of the YouTube channel just into the ocean. And this interim CEO extended the metaphor, and was like, 'It might seem ill-advised to jump off a ship into the ocean and just try to swim. What if I told you the ship's on fire?'"

Mulligan made the leap and created one of Dropout's first shows with Dimension 20. Reich, who was CollegeHumor's chief creative officer, came too, and launched Game Changer the following year.

However, after a year of operation, Dropout's parent company, IAC, wasn't seeing the return on investment it hoped for. IAC was considering selling to a rival company. Reich pitched them an alternate option: Sell to him for no money and a minority stake in Dropout. News of the sale hit in January of 2020. Reich tweeted about it, including a plea to hire the many staffers who'd been laid off. 

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After these layoffs, Reich brought many comedians back as freelancers, including Michaelis. There's an upside to this arrangement for on-camera talent. Reich explained on the Decoder Podcast that TV show productions typically demand exclusivity, which bars their talent from working on other projects. 

Because Dropout doesn't make such demands, it doesn't need to cancel series to release performers from those holds. This means Michaelis can fly off to Hungary for months to shoot Peacock's Ponies, Mulligan can do a guest spot on Ted, and Jeremy Culhane can become a Saturday Night Live cast member and still appear on episodes of Game Changer Season 8. 

SEE ALSO: How Dropout's 'Game Changer' got away with 'Don't Wake Standards and Practices'

"It's also really smart," Michaelis told Mashable, "Like wanting your talent and your staff to be working on their own stuff and then coming back to you creatively fulfilled and excited and having new ideas and things like that. It's the smartest move you can make. It seems maybe a little counterintuitive. But it makes Dropout a really special place to work."

Dropout goes from meta to mainstream Sam Reich hosts "Game Changer" on Dropout. Credit: Kate Elliott / Dropout TV

As its name suggest, Game Changer is a show in which the game changes each episode. Dropout's social strategy capitalizes on the company's diverse output by having separate accounts for each of its shows, then feeding TikTok and Instagram Reels with clips from each episode. This strategy has successfully risen Dropout's profile online and grown its subscription base. But with the Game Changer Season 7 episode, "Fool's Gold," Reich and company took their social strategy to a whole new level.

"Fool's Gold" allowed Dropout's wide swath of freelance comedians to come on and pitch could-be viral videos, Shark Tank style. Not only did the episode create a flood of social media videos that could attract new viewers to the platform, but also it launched one that went so viral that it sparked a Google Easter Egg. With over 3 million views on TikTok, that video showed Mulligan, arguably Dropout's biggest star, declaring he was resigning from the platform to become a cobbler of American Girl Doll Shoes.

Credit: Ian Moore / Mashable

As Mashable covered at the time, Mulligan's mock resignation became such a pop culture moment online that Google created an Easter Egg alluding to it. If you googled "Brennan Lee Mulligan" in July of 2025, your results page would rain with women's shoes. 

Asked about this particular Google moment, Reich said, "Dropout is like Fight Club, in that we have influential fans everywhere. They're all hiding out in these giant jobs. And I just want to know who I have to thank for that."

Still, Dropout is in what Reich calls its "awkward teenage years." However, the approaching Emmy award nominations could prove a big moment of growth for the studio. In April, Variety reported that Dropout had put forth Game Changer and Very Important People in 11 categories for Emmy consideration.

Asked about Dropout's Emmy potential, Michaelis, who has been submitted in the lead comedy actress category — the same area where Saturday Night Live cast members have proved competitive — said, "It does really feel like we are at a tipping point right now." Citing the immense popularity of Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal's Good Mythical Morning as a non-Dropout example, they continued, "Some of these shows are going to start getting recognized [by awards bodies] because of their popularity and their quality."

Credit: Ian Moore / Mashable

"The quality is there. I really do think we're on the precipice of them starting to be recognized in these more traditional spaces," they explained. "Do they fit perfectly into those boxes?" No. But the Oscars are moving to YouTube… There's a podcast category now for the Golden Globes. Things are starting to change." 

SEE ALSO: Everything Vic Michaelis revealed about 'Very Important People' The fans powering Dropout's success Sam Reich on the set of "Game Changer" on Dropout. Credit: Kate Elliott / Dropout TV

Something else that sets Dropout apart from its bigger-budget rivals, such as Hulu, HBO Max, and Netflix, is that the company's CEO is front and center on the platform and on social media.

As the face of Dropout, Reich announces news like a price hike via a video rather than in sterile email blasts. Typically, when a streamer announces a raise in price, there's much teeth-gnashing on social media. Incredibly, Dropout's news of a price hike for new subscribers prompted a resounding response from those who said they'd happily pay more. Reich said of the news, "We lost a lot of subscribers that day who then signed up immediately again."

He confirmed that Dropout's data showed many viewers canceled their subscriptions to avoid being grandfathered in to a price-hike exemption. Basically, these fans were volunteering to pay more. And this sentiment led Dropout to launch its Superfan tier, which follows a Patreon model, offering bonus content like behind-the-scenes features and advanced access to purchase Dropout merch and live event tickets.

Subscribers asking to pay more? In this, Dropout shows it's fostered the kind of goodwill with its subscribers that Netflix and HBO Max can't buy with an array of award-winning, high-budget series. Sure, you love Stranger Things and The Last of Us, but are you DMing Ted Sarandos and David Zaslav to ask them to pay more to watch them?

Of Dropout subscribers, Reich said, "I happen to know, just vis-à-vis the data, that there are a lot of fans — and I mean a lot of fans — who unsubscribe to resubscribe, you know? And if we had a role to play in that exercise, I would actually hope that it's something along the lines of, 'We'll be there for you when you need us.'"

Reich is grateful for all Dropout's fans, including those who just watch on social media or borrow a password to watch on the app. "Sharing your password is a form of marketing," he said. "People subscribe not only because they want to see this stuff, not only because it's paywalled, but also because they want to support the work that we're doing; it can have that effect. Listen, every bit counts." 

What does it take to make the Mashable 101? You've got to be a content creator at the top of your game, making videos that are not only viral but vital. And who better than the game masters of Dropout to give advice on how to forge your path to creator excellence?

Mashable Entertainment Editor Kristy Puchko spoke with Dropout CEO/owner and Game Changer host Sam Reich, Dimension 20 creator Brennan Lee Mulligan, and Very Important People host/producer Vic Michaelis about the comedy streaming platform's rise and unique popularity. 

SEE ALSO: Dropout is a game-changer for comedy and content creators

In separate interviews, Reich, Mulligan, and Michaelis reflected on their own journeys as creators and comedians. When asked what path they hoped to lay for those who came next, here's what they had to say. 

Sam Reich says you should steal from Dropout Credit: Image Credit: Ian Moore/Mashable/Kate Elliott/Dropout TV

No, seriously. "Anyone is more than welcome to steal Dropout's very obvious business playbook and run with it," he told Mashable, before explicitly laying out the steps to follow. 

"Create a subscription platform, maybe using Vimeo or one of the many platforms like it, which are essentially free to get started on," Reich explained. 

From there, Reich recommended, "Create a long-form product and then market it using social media. Something we've done in particular that might be a little clever is that each show has its own social channels, not the network's overall channels. That's allowed us to scale on social media in a way that not everyone finds. It also allows us to take advantage of algorithmic consistency, meaning the algorithm loves it when you feed it the same type of thing over and over again, and not when you feed it disparate things." 

Reich noted that he partnered with his friend, and fellow Mashable 101 honoree, Catherine McCafferty on her web series, Pretty Gay. "We put a little bit of money into that to help Catherine get it off the ground," he explained, "What we really did hand her was like the social strategy. And Catherine is now absolutely crushing it. 

"So that's two, and the third is, don't be a schmuck," Reich warned. For clarity, he expanded on this advice, "It could apply to everything from profit sharing, paying for auditions, inclusivity — you know, basically becoming the teammate of your workforce instead of their antagonist."

Brennan Lee Mulligan and Vic Michaelis offer advice to aspiring content creators Credit: Image Credit: Ian Moore/Mashable/Kate Elliott/Dropout TV

Both Mulligan and Michaelis are Dropout contributors with experience in live improvisational comedy, which has helped both score points and laughs in Reich-hosted shows such as Game Changer and Make Some Noise. 

However, Mulligan might be best known for Dimension 20, a long-form series that combines improv comedy with tabletop role-playing games, like Dungeons & Dragons. 

Asked what he's learned that he'd pass on to other creators, Mulligan mused, "The world is changing so fast, it feels like it's hard to know how someone could follow in anyone's path, right? Like every five years, it feels like the kaleidoscope shifts and a new reality is out there."

Mulligan offered, "You know who's getting it right? People who come from the heart and do something human. I can't say that doing that will always guarantee a broad connection with a mass market. But I can say that it will make something meaningful. That meaningful thing might connect with five people. It might connect with 5 million. But I guarantee you that the path towards a meaningful life is there. If you are interested in creative fields, your odds are best when you do something that means something to you."

Credit: Image Credit: Ian Moore/Mashable/Kate Elliott/Dropout TV

Michaelis echoed this in a separate interview, saying, "If you really follow your voice, commit to whatever your thing is, there will be an opportunity for it to shine and showcase," adding, "There will be a space. There will be an audience. There will be other people who will connect to whatever humanity is in what you're doing."

How to watch: Game Changer, Make Some Noise, Very Important People, and Dimension 20 are all streaming now on Dropout.

It's fitting that the gray hoodie has become nearly synonymous with comedian Josh Johnson. The look is familiar and unpretentious, the kind of casual aesthetic choice that immediately puts you at ease. The same can be said for his comedy. A story branches into another story, then a smaller observation, then a tiny detail that doesn't seem important until suddenly it is. He takes his time getting to the point, but you never feel like he's wandering. Every turn feels intentional.

Which is why I have a hard time believing him when he insists the hoodie was accidental.

"You're about to be disappointed," the 36-year-old — in, naturally, a gray hoodie — tells Mashable. After a cab ride through gridlocked Manhattan traffic, he lounges on a couch in Mashable's studio, head resting in one hand, holding eye contact as he settles into the story.

The hoodies started as a comfort thing, mostly vintage and thrifted finds Johnson accumulated over the years before fans began gifting him more: customized ones, tour-inspired ones, even cashmere versions he jokes he's "too scared to sweat in." Somewhere along the way, without Johnson really noticing, the gray hoodie became part of the persona people recognized on sight.

"Even when people see me out on the street, they're like, 'Oh, you really wear this?' That's the good and bad part of doing a thing; if you genuinely like it, it just becomes how you look all the time."

For someone who once famously joked that "the internet was a bad idea," Johnson has become one of the internet's most recognizable comedians. And not just for his attire. His stand-up clips regularly rack up millions of views across TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, where his winding stories and observational humor somehow thrive on platforms designed to reward speed, outrage, and immediacy. But Johnson doesn't talk about the internet like someone trying to beat an algorithm. If anything, he sounds more like someone trying to preserve the version of the internet he once hoped it could become.

"It depends on the day," Johnson says when I ask whether he still believes the internet was a bad idea. "I think incredible good and connection have come from it. But there's also this level of cruelty online that's very hard to pull off in person. It's difficult for people to be as hateful face-to-face, eye-to-eye, as they can be online."

He then launches into a sprawling meditation on the strange contradictions of modern internet culture: misinformation, algorithms, performance, loneliness, and the ways people retreat deeper into themselves online instead of toward one another. Talking to Johnson, it becomes obvious that his comedy is informed by the fact that he reads widely and thinks deeply. Some people are chronically online; Johnson is thoughtfully online. 

Credit: Image Credit: Ian Moore/Mashable

"Back in the day, debate used to mean something," he says. "Now it feels like everybody is saying the most outrageous thing possible for the click. There are people who aren't even trying to debate anymore. They're trying to get clipped."

Johnson makes a sharp observation about the economics of online attention, where longer formats like podcasts, livestreams, interviews, and comedy sets are increasingly mined for viral fragments, designed to spread as quickly as possible. Entire social distribution strategies now revolve around clipping, extracting the most provocative or outrageous moment, and repackaging it for the algorithm.

Some people are chronically online; Johnson is thoughtfully online.

And yet, even at his most critical, Johnson still talks about the internet with the cautious optimism of someone who believes a better version of it is still possible.

"I think we are so close," he says, describing the possibility of an internet that feels genuinely connective instead of extractive. "It's crazy how close we are."

After getting his start in stand-up in Louisiana and later sharpening his voice in Chicago's comedy scene, Johnson, now based in Brooklyn, built a reputation as a curious storyteller with an unusually patient style of comedy. He wrote for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon before joining The Daily Show in 2017, where he eventually became both a writer and a regular hosting correspondent alongside Jon Stewart, Desi Lydic, Ronny Chieng, Jordan Klepper, and Michael Kosta. But outside traditional late-night television, Johnson has steadily built one of comedy's most devoted digital audiences. Just look at his following: 2.5 million subscribers on YouTube, 2.7 million followers on TikTok, and 2.4 million on Instagram.

His stand-up weaves together politics, internet culture, personal stories, and observational tangents. Some of his most recognizable bits — stories about catfishing the Ku Klux Klan as a teenager, proving he was Black to a blind man, explaining the Drake vs. Kendrick beef to white people, or unpacking celebrity scandals and presidential debates — spread online because audiences seem willing to follow Johnson through every detour. Call it the performance of getting there. A raised eyebrow, a perfectly timed pause, the slight disbelief in his voice when he doubles back to clarify a detail, even the in-between moments feel calibrated toward the laugh. 

Johnson tells stories with the loose rhythm of someone thinking out loud, but underneath that sense of freedom is a controlled, sharp-witted performer who knows exactly when to pull tension tight and when to let it breathe. It's a style he’s refined across projects, including his Peacock special Up Here Killing Myself, several comedy albums, and now Symphony, his HBO special that premiered on May 22.

In some ways, the storytelling instincts that make Johnson so compelling online now were shaped by the internet itself.

Credit: Image Credit: Ian Moore/Mashable

Long before he was building an audience on social media, Johnson spent afternoons as a kid at his local library waiting for his mother to finish work. He'd use the computer to read Dragon Ball Z fanfiction while waiting for new episodes to air on Cartoon Network's late-night Toonami block, wander message boards, and lose hours reading short story competitions hosted on obscure websites. 

He talks nostalgically about those early-2000s online writing competitions and remembers submitting stories of his own, even if they never won. He also wrote fanfiction himself — mostly Dragon Ball Z, plus at least one attempt at Yu-Gi-Oh, despite, by his own admission, barely understanding the actual plot. "The story's bad not just because the structure is bad," he jokes. "I didn’t know what I was talking about."

While other kids were customizing their MySpace pages or talking to classmates on AIM, Johnson was mostly interested in forums and fictional worlds built collaboratively by strangers online. 

"Everything about being on the internet was about engaging with and learning about other people," he says.

It's impossible not to hear echoes of that internet in the way Johnson approaches comedy now. His storytelling style feels deeply shaped by early online communities where conversations sprawled naturally and personality mattered more than polish. Even the structure of his jokes often resembles a message board thread: one observation leading to another, details stacking until a larger emotional truth slowly comes into focus.

That curiosity about people still drives much of Johnson's work. During our conversation, he repeatedly circles back to the idea of connection. Not in the vague, overused way creators often talk about "community," but as something tangible and deeply necessary. When I ask how he decides what gets clipped for TikTok versus Instagram or YouTube, he shrugs off the question almost entirely, despite the fact that his stand-up is uploaded to YouTube with relentless regularity. Full, hour-long episodes are posted weekly. "It's for everybody," he says simply.

The live show comes first. The internet, in his mind, is just an extension of the conversation already happening in the room. Johnson speaks far more enthusiastically about fans connecting with one another in YouTube comment sections than he does about metrics or growth strategy. He lights up while describing viewers checking in on strangers having a rough day in the comments, small interactions that remind him of the internet he first encountered as a kid.

Credit: Image Credit: Ian Moore/Mashable

"The more that you can build that," he says, "the better overall a place the internet is."

There's something refreshingly sincere about the way Johnson talks about all of this, especially in an era where irony often feels like the dominant language online. Even his skepticism about the internet stems from the belief that people deserve better from it. Similarly, Johnson's feelings about AI are less anti-technology than anti-dehumanization. He's fascinated by the possibilities of artificial intelligence, especially in medicine and scientific research, but deeply wary of an industry that often frames automation as innovation while depending almost entirely on human labor to function.

"You scraped the internet and stole from us just to tell us you were going to replace us because we aren't worthy," he says. "If we're not worthy, why didn’t your AI make everything itself?" 

It's a joke, but also not really. Beneath Johnson's humor is a very genuine belief in the value of human perspective, in the importance of lived experience. That belief is what gives his comedy its weight. The details matter because people matter.

Which, in a way, brings everything back to the hoodie.

Johnson's signature garment works because it reflects the same qualities audiences respond to in Johnson himself. Nothing about it feels overly curated, even as it's become instantly recognizable. Like his comedy, Johnson's casual hoodie gives the impression that what you're seeing is the real person, not a polished performance of one.

And maybe that's why his work resonates so deeply online. When everything on the internet feels driven by optimization and outrage, Johnson still approaches storytelling like someone trying to talk to another person on the other side of the screen.

"I would hope to be part of the good parts of the internet," he shares. Some would argue he already is. 

The changes, after Meta’s legal losses in two child safety cases, are aimed at limiting harmful content shown to teenagers on Instagram, Facebook and Messenger.

Frankey Smith, also known as Fantastic Frankey on social media, has built a loyal fandom by talking about DC, Marvel, and pop culture. And as much as Smith talks about superheroes, she possesses a superpower of her own — authenticity.

Smith is known for her thoughtful commentary on trending shows such as Invincible, The Boys, The Pitt, Bridgerton, and more. Her YouTube videos range from 3 minutes to 22 minutes, a testament to Smith’s dedication to quality. She now has over 198,400 followers on TikTok, 151,000 on Instagram, and over 29,300 subscribers on YouTube.

While her focus is mainly on superhero shows, Smith’s platform is geared towards anything with a large fandom culture. It's clear that Smith is a fan herself, and her genuine knowledge and passion shine through in her work. She’s not afraid to use her platform to be vulnerable or to offer criticism on television, opening the door to well-rounded engagement within her online community.

"My goal is to normalize the black female voice in this heavily underrepresented space," said Smith on her website.

Her videos range from reactions to specific scenes, like when Debbie punched Nolan in Invincible, to explorations of deeper cultural topics, such as misogynoir in comedy. Outside of creating engaging fandom content, Smith is also the co-host of DC Studios Showcase: The Official Podcast. She’s interviewed people like filmmaker James Gunn, Superman actors Edi Gathegi and María Gabriela de Faría, and Harley Quinn executive producer Katie Rich. She’s also reviewed film and television for the female-led culture magazine CherryPicks.

2026 is gearing up for anticipated Marvel and DC releases, including Avengers: Doomsday, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Supergirl, and Clayface. It’s safe to say that we can count on Smith for an honest opinion and a thought-provoking discussion.

From YouTubers and TikTok stars to streamers and podcasters, Mashable talks to creators about how they built their platforms, the gear they swear by, and the trends they see coming next. Read more of our creator coverage or see more of this year’s Mashable 101 to discover the internet's most exciting voices. 

One of the hallmarks of Zohran Mamdani's successful mayoral campaign was its stunning yet endearing short-form videos, shot across New York. Thanks to a collective effort by several media innovators, Mamdani's platform rapidly grew during his campaign, amassing a whopping 11.5 million followers on Instagram.

Mamdani's team in 2025 included media agency Melted Solids, videographer Donald Borenstein, photographer Kara McCurdy, and creative director Andrew Epstein. While Mamdani’s focus was on New York, the group's work managed to reach millions of viewers across the globe, making Mamdani one of the most recognized politicians in the world.

A few of the campaign's most popular works included a video of Mamdani speaking to taxi drivers outside LaGuardia International Airport, and the viral “halalflation” video, filmed inside halal food carts across the city. The videos highlighted Mamdani as a New Yorker speaking to other New Yorkers, often in everyday settings familiar to city residents — appealing to a wider audience rather than just a few specific demographics.

Melted Solids, comprised of Anthony DiMieri and Debbie Saslaw, used a new hybrid advertising model that combined brand marketing and local politics. According to ADWEEK, a distinct aspect of Melted Solids’ strategy involved letting Mamdani riff in front of the camera, before developing content around what happened during filming. The strategy resulted in intimate, relatable videos that cemented Mamdani’s role as a New Yorker while showcasing issues his policies could potentially change. Borenstein said Mamdani stuck to a social video strategy rather than treating it as a one-off experience.

McCurdy told PBS that she approached Mamdani’s campaign with a storytelling approach, which she and Mamdani shared through their work.

Epstein said their campaign messaging strategy sought to reconnect voters with politics by emphasizing affordability and policies that could directly affect the daily lives of New Yorkers.

Many members of the team still work with Mamdani during his term as mayor: Borenstein serves as the creative director for video, McCurdy is the director of photography, and Epstein is a communications consultant and political advisor at the Office of the Mayor of New York City.

From YouTubers and TikTok stars to streamers and podcasters, Mashable talks to creators about how they built their platforms, the gear they swear by, and the trends they see coming next. Read more of our creator coverage or see more of this year’s Mashable 101 to discover the internet's most exciting voices. 

Derrick Gee has an ear for music — and he knows how audiences want to engage with artists and tastemakers.

Gee started posting music commentary in 2022 and has since amassed 777,000 followers on Instagram, 437,800 followers on TikTok, and 147,000 subscribers on YouTube. A self-proclaimed "professional music fan," Gee is known for his thoughtful yet engaging commentary on all things across music, the music industry, and digital culture.

He’s interviewed prominent artists such as PinkPantheress, Lorde, Jamie xx, and, most recently, Thundercat in his Solid Air series. Gee's interview format isn't your typical Q&A: He invites artists to play their favorite songs at his home, creating an intimate yet relatable experience for fans.

Gee is a tastemaker himself. He’s had over a decade of experience in the music industry, starting with a weekly independent radio show in 2012 before working with music streaming platform Mixcloud in London and U.S. record label 88rising. In addition to posting music commentary across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, Gee also runs a Substack blog and hosts a podcast, Speaks Volumes With Derrick Gee, on Spotify. In his podcast, he leads in-depth discussions about music with other tastemakers, including producers, designers, and others.

Gee's work across all his online platforms has one thing in common: He makes music accessible to a wide range of audiences. There’s something for everyone across musical and industry interests, and Gee lends an unpretentious authority on all fronts.

It looks like 2026 has been off to a solid start for Gee. He just directed and released a documentary on Fred again..'s USB002 tour on May 7.

"Almost 40 minutes of observation, of conversation, of wandering around and looking under the giant meteorite that is Fred again..'s impressive 10 shows in 10 weeks odyssey," said Gee. "It takes time, but it values your time, I hope."

Gee's platform is a love letter to music, and his genuine passion is what keeps viewers engaged and coming back for more. We're excited to see how he continues to take music commentary to new heights in 2026.

From YouTubers and TikTok stars to streamers and podcasters, Mashable talks to creators about how they built their platforms, the gear they swear by, and the trends they see coming next. Read more of our creator coverage or see more of this year’s Mashable 101 to discover the internet's most exciting voices.