Fans Are Turning On The ‘MrBeast Of Warhammer’ As His Latest Show Goes Too Far

Published Aug 4, 2026, 1:01 PM EDT Ben is TheGamer's only Features Editor from the north of England. An award-losing journalist, his specialities lie in Pokemon, Warhammer, Apex Legends, esports, and fantasy and sci-fi RPGs. You can read his work in Eurogamer, The Guardian, IGN, Kotaku, The Loadout, NME, or VICE. Or here. I've never seen a MrBeast video. This isn't a point of pride for me, it wasn’t even a conscious decision. I just have no interest in watching a man recreate Squid Game with real people or cure 100 people's blindness in some gamified, monetised viral video. However, one YouTuber has branded himself as the 'MrBeast of Warhammer' . The Squidmar Miniatures channel, run by Emil ‘Squidmar’ Nyström and collaborator Lukas Holmström Friman, has long built itself on algorithm-boosting concepts—think building dioramas out of two $2,500 Titans, performing exaggerated painting challenges, or opening boxloads of ‘scam’ hobby tools from sites like Temu (slave labour concerns not mentioned). This has also never interested me—I’d much prefer the algorithm serve me more collages and indie mini sculptors—but the concept for Squidmar’s new show caught my attention. Miniature Masters is a painting competition in the style of the Great British Baking Show, albeit with lashings of MrBeast hyperbole and plenty of ads thrown in for good measure. Understanding that the channel has to make money, I settled in to enjoy a lighthearted painting show. Unfortunately, it’s not going quite as planned. What Went Wrong With Miniature Masters? The concept for Miniature Masters is fun, but that’s hardly a surprise. The Bake Off formula has been applied to every pastime imaginable, from sewing to portraiture, pottery to interior design, jewelling to make-up. There’s no reason why Warhammer shouldn’t be Bake Offed. Baking Showed. You know what I mean. However, viewers are having issues with the adverts. There are a lot, with every possible hobby tool sponsored by some company or another. The Vallejo paints are an #ad, the busts painted in Episode 2 were an #ad, the lights are an #ad, the grass is an #ad. I’m not even kidding. However, the worst offender is the airbrushes. I have no skin in the airbrush game, but as soon as the advertisements impact the competition, I’m out. In Episode 3, the contestants were asked trivia questions and rewarded with an extra paint if they answered correctly. If they got it wrong, they’d lose a paint from their already-limited roster. However, most of the questions were niche deep cuts about Harder & Steinbeck’s range of airbrushes (#ad, #spon). One contestant lost a paint for not knowing what their mid-ranged airbrush was called! This wasn’t the only reason he was considered the worst painter of the week and therefore sent home, but it felt like a particularly unlucky contributor to his demise. Credit: Squidmare Miniatures. Criticisms in the comments section of this video were swiftly removed, with the Squidmar channel writing, “Any hate will be deleted.” After asking the bottom two contestants to fight through tears to explain why they should stay in the competition in Episode 4, the comments section was “paused” in light of the criticism therein. Few comments criticised the contestants, of course, but many expressed disappointment at the inhumane formatting, which resulted in the contestant, who had been open about her struggles with impostor syndrome, leaving the show. After all, it was hardly surprising that she thought her fellow contestant should stay, given her pre-existing fears that she had no place in the hobby. We Need To Talk About Maxime Credit: Squidmar Miniatures. There’s one other thing we need to talk about. His name is Maxime, a contestant on the show and former employee of Squidmar Miniatures. You can already see the ethical implications. But aside from the nepotism allegations that he’s not beating any time soon, this poor man has clearly been asked to inject some drama into proceedings. Maxime is always dropping things. He’s never an active impairment to any of the other contestants, but he drops boxes, bits, and even parts of his painted minis. Maybe he is just a clumsy guy, but it definitely seems exaggerated, to create ‘good TV’. He’s also the only contestant always rushing through his painting because he hasn’t left himself enough time. He makes mistakes, the judges criticise him, and yet he’s always safe come the end of the day. Credit: Squidmar Miniatures. I’m not saying the Squidmar team has created this whole TV series, attracted half a dozen high-profile sponsors, and pitched Emil as a wannabe MrBeast just to give their mate the $10,000 prize. If anything, it seems more likely they’ve already told him he won’t win due to the suspicions that would arise and the arguments it would cause. But he seems to have been drafted in to create artificial drama, to raise the stakes. I don’t know if this is because Squidmar didn’t have the confidence that the painting show on its own would be interesting enough, they wanted to give their friend exposure as he enters more competitions, or he applied and succeeded with no nepotism whatsoever, but it leaves a sour taste and, worst of all, is boring to watch. The Light At The End Of The Tunnel Credit: Squidmar Miniatures. There’s a good show in Miniature Masters. Obviously, it’s the Bake Off formula. Squidmar has made some missteps with advertising and personnel this season, but the first episode has nearly half a million views at the time of writing. I’d prefer high-quality photography of the miniatures and more constructive criticism from the judges, but I’ll watch this thing to the end out of (potentially morbid) curiosity. A lot of these things could be easily fixed in subsequent seasons. Primarily, I’d adjust the focus from drama to painting: more close-ups, more judge’s commentary, more explanations of the skills used. Watch an episode of Portrait Artist of the Year, it nails all this perfectly. I don’t mind if the number of adverts remains similar, I’d just like to ensure they no longer impact the competition. What was wrong with the classic ad break, anyway? This show could work. It’s based on a killer premise and Warhammer is only growing in popularity. It already does a lot of things right. Each episode focuses on a different skill, different scales of miniature and styles of painting are encouraged or enforced. The contestants are already showing heartwarming camaraderie and bringing their own personalities to their paintjobs. I’ve found some painters who I now follow thanks to their inspiring efforts on the show, and that can’t be understated. Despite its flaws, I hope there’s a Miniature Masters Season 2 for exactly those reasons—so long as it takes on board audience criticism. We’re all nerds here. We want to get into the nitty-gritty details of the painting and see high-quality photoshoots of the entries instead of forcing the two worst painters in Episode 4 to beg for the chance to stay in the competition through floods of tears. Miniature Masters isn’t going down well with its core audience, largely thanks to the MrBeast stylings. The drama, the adverts, even the five-figure prize are all secondary to the competition we care about. But it wouldn’t take much to make it a hit with its core fans. If there is a next season, Squidmar needs to choose which audience he wants to cultivate; the algorithm-influenced enjoyers of YouTube reality TV, or the painting fans who helped his channel grow to where it is today.