Jacob Rabon IV (born December 19, 1995), better known by his online pseudonym Alpharad, is an American

YouTuber A YouTuber is an online personality and/or influencer who produces videos on the video-sharing platform YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006. Influence Influe ...

, esports personality, and musician. He is best known for his gaming videos on the ''

Super Smash Bros. ''Super Smash Bros.'' is a crossover fighting game series published by Nintendo. The series was created by Masahiro Sakurai, who has directed every game in the series. The series is known for its unique gameplay objective which differs from ...

'' series along with his participation in the

fighting game community The fighting game community, often abbreviated to FGC, is a collective of video gamers who play fighting games such as '' Marvel vs. Capcom'', ''Mortal Kombat'', '' Soulcalibur'', '' Street Fighter'', '' Guilty Gear'', '' The King of Fighters'' ...

as a tournament organizer.

Early life

Rabon was born on December 19, 1995, in

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

, Oklahoma. He gained an interest in filmmaking around the fifth grade, uploading comedic videos for his friends, one of his first videos being ''Major O's''. Later, he would take video editing and cinematography classes in high school. Rabon attended the

University of Oklahoma , mottoeng = "For the benefit of the Citizen and the State" , type = Public research university , established = , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.7billion (2021) , pr ...

while making

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...

videos as a full-time job. However, he later stated that he dropped out to fully focus on his rising YouTube career. His original goal was to be a writer, director, or editor of some kind, but soon learned that in being someone else's editor he couldn't have as much creative freedom as he could making his own content.

Career

YouTube

Rabon created his main YouTube channel on January 13, 2014. Since its creation, he has made various gaming videos on his channel, Alpharad, including the ''Super Smash Bros.'' series, ''

Pokémon (an abbreviation for in Japan) is a Japanese media franchise managed by The Pokémon Company, founded by Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures (company), Creatures, the owners of the trademark and copyright of the franchise. In terms of ...

'', ''

Splatoon is a third-person shooter video game franchise created by Hisashi Nogami, and developed and owned by Nintendo. Set in a post-apocalyptic Earth inhabited by anthropomorphic marine animals, the series centers around fictional cephalopods know ...

'', ''

Sonic the Hedgehog is a Japanese video game series and media franchise created by Sega. The franchise follows Sonic, an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who battles the evil Doctor Eggman, a mad scientist. The main ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' games are platformer ...

'', and ''

Fall Guys ''Fall Guys'' (formerly known as ''Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout'') is a free-to-play platform battle royale game developed by Mediatonic. The game involves up to 60 players who control jellybean-like creatures and compete against each other i ...

'', as well as other Nintendo titles. He has also dabbled in

speedrunning Speedrunning is the act of playing a video game, or section of a video game, with the goal of completing it as fast as possible. Speedrunning often involves following planned routes, which may incorporate sequence breaking and can exploit gl ...

, specifically in a video of him intensely playing through a ''

Super Mario 64 is a platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It was released in Japan and North America in 1996 and PAL regions in 1997. It is the first ''Super Mario'' game to feature 3D gameplay, combining traditional ''S ...

first-person shooter First-person shooter (FPS) is a sub-genre of shooter video games centered on gun and other weapon-based combat in a first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action through the eyes of the protagonist and controlling the pl ...

mod, as well as being a retired ''

Super Mario Odyssey is a 2017 platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. An entry in the ''Super Mario'' series, it follows Mario and his new ally Cappy—a sentient hat that allows Mario to control other characters and objects— ...

'' speedrunner. Other videos of his include video game related challenges and streams. In 2021, Rabon collaborated with YouTuber

Jaiden Animations Jaiden Dittfach (born September 27, 1997), known online as Jaiden Animations, is an American YouTuber and animator, known for her story-time animations. Her videos explore a variety of topics, spanning from her experiences to personal stories. ...

on a charity stream for

Red Nose Day Comic relief is the inclusion of a humorous character, scene, or witty dialogue in an otherwise serious work, often to relieve tension. Definition Comic relief usually means a releasing of emotional or other tension resulting from a comic episo ...

which involved removing

from their team after reaching various donation incentives. In 2022, he played ''

Pokémon Go ''Pokémon Go'' (stylized as ''Pokémon GO'') is a 2016 augmented reality (AR) mobile game, part of the ''Pokémon'' franchise, developed and published by Niantic in collaboration with Nintendo and The Pokémon Company for iOS and Android ...

'' in the Warner Grand theater located in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

during a Halloween event. In 2020, Rabon signed with the

Creative Artists Agency Creative Artists Agency LLC (CAA) is an American talent and sports agency based in Los Angeles, California. It is regarded as an influential company in the talent agency business and manages numerous clients. In March 2016, CAA had 1,800 employ ...

alongside YouTuber The Completionist. Rabon's main YouTube channel has reached over 2.91 million subscribers as of December 2022.

Esports

Rabon has been involved in esports as a tournament organizer and affiliate with other prominent esports personalities. In January 2020, he participated in a ''Pokémon'' VGC tournament hosted by

Wolfe Glick Wolfe Glick (born December 6, 1995), also known as Wolfey or WolfeyVGC, is an American competitive ''Pokémon'' player, streamer and YouTuber. He is the 2016 World Champion of the official ''Pokémon'' Video Game Championships (VGC) format, ...

with fellow competitive ''Super Smash Bros.'' players

Ludwig Ahgren Ludwig Anders Ahgren (born July 6, 1995), known mononymously as Ludwig, is an American live streamer, YouTuber, podcaster, esports commentator and competitor. Ahgren is best known for his live streams on Twitch from 2018 through late 2021, a ...

, ESAM, and

Mew2King Jason Sheldon Zimmerman (born February 5, 1989), known by his gamertag Mew2King, commonly shortened to M2K, is an American professional ''Super Smash Bros.'' player from Cinnaminson, New Jersey. He has won more than 70 tournaments during his car ...

amongst other content creators. Two months later, in the midst of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

, Rabon co-hosted five online tournaments for '' Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'' called the "Quarantine Series" with fellow YouTuber

Cr1TiKaL Charles Christopher White Jr. (born August 2, 1994), better known as MoistCr1TiKaL (pronounced "moist critical") or simply Cr1TiKaL, is an American YouTuber, Twitch streamer, and musician who is known for his commentary videos on YouTube, as ...

, which consisted of two events, Minors and Majors, offering $5,000 and $10,000 in prizes, respectively. The major invitationals featured top ''Super Smash Bros.'' players such as MKLeo, Samsora,

Nairo Nairo is a given name. Nairo may refer to: * Nairo Quintana (born 1990), Colombian cyclist * Nairo (gamer), the gamertag of American gamer Nairoby Quezada {{Short pages monitor