Hail, Overlord DVD!
I've been hoping for a topic for a non-fiction piece to write once again for this Substack, to break up all the ongoing fiction posts. Well, for a topic that didn't focus on myself, that is. And thank God, I found one:
Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to ask you the following:
Have you heard of Diktor Von Doomcock, Future Ruler of Earth?
Going by the channel name 'OverlordDVD' on YouTube, Doomcock is a man firmly settled in pop culture sensibilities very much akin to my own as a Gen Xer. He loves classic Dr. Who, Original and Next Gen Star Trek, and is a proud defender of the Original Star Wars Trilogy and all such associated merch. He has no patience for the current crop of virtue-signaling Hollywood projects and propagators, no love for the nuclear bomb of self-sabotage that is Kathleen Kennedy, and probably has forgotten more comic book lore than has been created since the first Iron Man film hit theaters to rousing success.
Plenty of folks know OverlordDVD for the rumor videos he produces on YouTube with the aid of voice alteration and a very Saiban-inspired costume that puts one quickly in mind of the original Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers. This is the sort of nostalgia-inducing look and feel that ropes in viewers of my age and pop culture mindset, and keeps us wanting more. Not only are the aesthetics positively spot-on, but thanks to the reliability of his sources, so too are many of the rumors and bits of speculation Doomcock offers up to his viewers!
But of special note, dear readers, is his Friday evening live streams on YouTube, 'Friday Night Frolics'. Though remaining unseen off-camera, and without the use of a device or program to alter his voice, Doomcock nonetheless uses a range of self-altered vocal performances to portray fictional co-hosts and guests, performing impressive one-man shows, singing classic songs as well as parody versions of some popular tunes, and generally engages in talk about the modern state of entertainment and media. Threaded throughout, he manages to directly engage his audience members, including those who are NOT paying Members to his channel, or even Superchat snippets. Unlike so many popular steamers, Doomcock regards his viewers as a community, as intended.
Moreover, there is a sense of genuine interaction in both the text chat, and his direct messaging on-air to certain long-standing members of the show's audience. There's a degree of authentic sentimentality in this entertaining figure that is not only strikingly human, but goes leaps and bounds beyond the normal sort of lip-service messaging of 'I'm here for the fans' one might get from channels his size and larger.
Seriously, big name folks should be taking notes, because Doomcock actually comes across as giving a shit about the entertainment AND well-being of his viewers.
This is a YouTuber who currently sits at just under a quarter of a million subscribers, and in all honesty, he should have far more than that. Maybe this write-up will come across as too much sucking up, but I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm a fan. Doomcock's biggest gripe with modern films and television and comics is the same one I have, by and large- terrible writing. If you can't write a decent story because you're too busy focusing on ham-fistedly pushing an agenda, and are only using the intellectual property as a vehicle for activism, you're going to completely lose your audience, while simultaneously doing a disservice to the art of narrative.
And for such high crimes against the art, it is my hope that Lord Doomcock sentences these would-be storytellers to his moat of laser-mounted croco-sharks.
Hail, Lord Doomcock!
And cheers.
P.S.- If you see comments on YouTube by 'Byronofsidius', that's me.