Montage Parody

A Montage Parody, also known as a MLG Montage or even just MLG, is a form of remix video on YouTube involving video games and pop culture in general. Its origins can be traced back to 2011, when such parodies began emerging in response to montage videos posted by e-sports/MLG channels as well as amateur gamers trying their spin at it. Over time, montage parodies have taken a life of their own, sometimes using footage or material that have no relation to video games. Still, their foundations in gaming remain evident. Among the more well known channels that specialize in or feature such works are Ancient Reality and Materialisimo.

Montage parodies are also known for having a tendency to share certain tropes, regardless of their variety. These include the use of air horn blasts, dubstep, Call of Duty sound effects (especially the "hitmarker" sound), and applying a ton of memes, whether it's currently popular or intentionally invoking a Discredited Meme or Dead Horse Trope. The end result often comes across as surrealist, if not outright Mind Screws, with particularly popular videos becoming memes, if not source materials in of themselves.

In this respect, they're akin to YouTube Poops. But as montage parodies grow in variety, sophistication and insanity, the line between them and YTPs is rapidly blurring.

Some shows have also started doing montage parodies. They may not be as memetic, but they do acknowledge the tropes in montages and work around them accordingly.

Tropes used by Montage Parodies include:

Acceptable Targets: E-sports gamers, MLG wannabes and just about anyone. Franchises such as Call of Duty as well as low-quality games and films tend to be fair game.
Affectionate Parody: These works tend to be this, in part because their creators either love the source material or enjoy gaming and the montage format. Though some also tend to be Satire of the e-sports scene as well as mock the stereotype of the MLG "dudebro" that's used to insult gamers, among others.
Artifact Title: While montage parodies have since ceased being direct parodies of the MLG montages that inspired their genesis, their connection to video games and gaming culture remains.
Conspiracy Theory: Parodied, with the occasional mocking references to the Illuminati over the flimsiest of "evidence."
Crosses the Line Twice: Pimp My Reich.
Epileptic Flashing Lights: A common trend among montage parodies is to splice in as many epileptic flashes as possible while still keeping the video watchable.
Everybody Smokes: There's almost always at least one person smoking something in these videos. Or as the meme goes, "Smoke Weed Everyday!"
Fountain of Memes: A single montage parody can have so many crammed in, if not happening all at the same time. The more popular ones tend to become memes themselves.
Freeze Frame Bonus: As a consequence of trying to cram as much stuff and memes in as possible, there are quite a few.
Gratuitous Foreign Language: Usually pops up in the form of Russian swears (e.g. cyka blyat), or British/Australian English slang converted into Leet Speak (e.g. u wot m8).
Hypocritical Humor: Some tend to mock the tendency to over-use certain effects or rehash Discredited Memes, but proceed to do so anyway.
Insane Troll Logic: If logic or sense is at all present in a video, it tends to be along the lines of "What if X is not kill?"
Jump Scare: Done either by abrupt editing or a loud spike in sound.
Made of Explodium: There seems to be a rule of thumb that every video must have something explode or have guns firing, no exceptions.
Manipulative Editing: Like YouTube Poop, montage parodies have a habit of not just twisting footage, but also editing dialogue for the desired end.
Medium Blending: It's not unheard of for montage parodies to splice in not only different genres but wildly different media as well.
Mind Screw: Sometimes, so much can happen at once in a single montage parody that it simply makes more sense not to make sense of it.
No Scope: Alongside quickscoping, it's mercilessly lampooned.
Nightmare Retardant: Any time skeletons, a failed attempt at horror or some variation of the phrase "2spooky4me" pops up.
Random Events Plot: How some videos end up becoming thanks to substantial editing, even when there's an actual "plot."
Refuge in Audacity: Some montage parody creators are known to have used sources as varied as Teletubbies and even Nazisploitation films to work on.
Retraux: Some videos take this route, whether it's evoking older YTP-style editing, using period films and old games as a basis or deliberately making the result look straight out of The Eighties.
Satire: Some videos can come across as surrealist Take Thats to certain companies, gaming stereotypes and online practices. Among the most recurring ones being the use of Doritos and Mountain Dew, both for their association with the "dudebro" MLG stereotype and the Doritosgate incident.
Seinfeld Is Unfunny: Montage parodies made earlier tend to come across as this alongside the initial MLG montages that inspired them in the first place, ironically enough. On the other hand, it's partly because of this that over time, more recent montage parodies had grown more varied, creative and even crazier.
Sensory Abuse: Like YouTube Poops, montage parodies have their own tendencies to justify the comment "RIP headphone users."
Serial Escalation: The more recent a video is, the crazier they get.
Shoddy Knockoff Product: Anything involving the use of Sanic, a horrid, crudely-drawn MS Paint attempt at Sonic the Hedgehog that's usually accompanied by either a distorted version of the Green Hill Zone theme or some variation of "Gotta go fast!"
Small Name, Big Ego: Some videos poke fun at certain MLG wannabes who talk a big game but otherwise suck at it.
Spiritual Successor: Of sorts to YouTube Poop. The more sophisticated and higher-quality videos meanwhile tend to blur the line between the two.
Stylistic Suck: Some montage parodies intentionally use crappy effects or seemingly slipshod editing, resulting in stuff like "Sample Text" or the presence of grammatically incorrect Comic Sans annotations.
Subverted Kids Show: Similarly to YouTube Poop, kids' shows, edutainment games and so on aren't safe from this treatment.
Troll: While neither the videos themselves nor the creators are this, they do have a habit of sometimes starting off montage parodies looking completely mundane before going crazy.
Try to Fit That on A Business Card: These videos also have a habit of mocking and lampooning the at-times ludicrously long or nonsensical gamertags/usernames of certain MLG-types.
What Do You Mean It Wasn't Made on Drugs?: It takes quite a bit of skill - and possibly some drugs - to come up with some of the visuals these videos are notorious for.

Examples of Montage Parody include:

Web Animation

Homestar Runner had Strong Bad do a motivational montage parody for a wagon of all things, that trains to compete with Homestar. And yes, the wagon wins.

Western Animation

Family Guy in their Star Wars Empire Strikes Back parody has Chris doing an '90s montage with Yoda to train as a Jedi Knight. Also, during his vision of beheading Vader and seeing his head, he sings "Buttercup" with the head.
The Owl House episode with Grudgby had Luz convincing Gus and Willow that if they do a motivational montage, they can beat Boscha and win a bet against her. Gus questions at one point why they're dressed in pajamas drinking tea in-between actual training.