History WebVideo / CaptainDisillusion

* {{Adorkable}}: Captain D when discussing a particularly ingenious or effective bit of effects work. Particularly apparent in his [=VFXcool=] series, where he gushes about the innovations in Hollywood effects in some of his favourite movies.

* AsHimself: The Captain's insecure and mild-mannered intern, Alan, who's personality, [[AdamWesting while still exaggerated]], is implied to be somewhat closer to that of creator Alan Melikdjanian than the Captain's.

* AsHimself: The Captain's insecure and mild-mannered intern, Alan, who is implied to be somewhat closer to the real-life Alan Melikdjanian's personality than the Captain.

* MoodWhiplash: Captain D pauses in the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8sGTh7ZpoY "Miss Ping Debunk"]] video to advertise for "Knives; they cut... and they don't ask no f***ing questions!" before cheerily returning to the topic.

* {{Deconstruction}}: The "Escherian Stairwell" episode is named as such for a reason - on top of going over the usual editing and SFX tricks to prove the video is fake, it ''also'' argues that the Escherian Stairwell's intent of bringing back mythology and childlike wonder/discovery to audiences by way of making a hoax not only rationalizes psuedoscience and encourages other hoaxers, it also [[NewMediaAreEvil is wrong in believing new movies lack that childlike wonder and discovery]].

* DoWrongRight: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc6pK_ouO1k In this Mr. Flare explains]] we see him improve an already fake video by finding the original source video and making the fakery more realistic...[[CreateYourOwnVillain which is then extrapolated from the Mr. Flare explains for it's own fakery that Captain Disillusion is requested to debunk.]]

The titular Captain D is a skeptic from the future who uses his superior critical thinking powers and intimate knowledge of digital editing and effects to debunk viral hoax videos on the internet. These videos include but are not limited to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XE1OmvERQek ghosts]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQ-CiG7seUU aliens]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8sGTh7ZpoY impossible stunts]], and much more. But Captain D isn't alone he has to put up with an annoying living LensFlare named Mr. Flare and, more occasionally, a giant floating head goddess named Holly.

* HistoryRepeats: [[AvertedTrope Averted]]. In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LI2nYhGhYM Laminar Flow DISAMBIGUATION]], the video starts with him showing clips of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzsE5WZkoCs a Buddha statue floating down a street.]] However, the clip comes from from the video was created in response to a video of a statue of the "Virgin Mary" floating down the same street, which was debunked by [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc6pK_ouO1k Mr. Flare.]] At the end of the Laminar Flow video, Captain Disillusion puts up watermarks and holds a sign that shows what he's doing is visual effects fakery in an attempt to stop a cycle of [[CreateYourOwnVillain making a demonstrative fake video]] for the intentions of [[DoWrongRight showing how the fakery could look more realisitic.]]

* HistoryRepeats: [[AvertedTrope Averted]]. In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LI2nYhGhYM Laminar Flow DISAMBIGUATION]], the video starts with him showing clips of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzsE5WZkoCs a Buddha statue floating down a street.]] However, the clip comes from from the video was created in response to a video of a statue of the "Virgin Mary" floating down the same street, which was debunked by [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc6pK_ouO1k Mr. Flare.]] At the end of the Laminar Flow video, Captain Disillusion puts up water marks and holds a sign that shows what he's doing is visual effects fakery in an attempt to stop a cycle of [[CreateYourOwnVillain making a demonstrative fake video]] for the intentions of [[DoWrongRight showing how the fakery could look more realisitic.]]

* HistoryRepeats: [[AvertedTrope Averted]]. In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LI2nYhGhYM Laminar Flow DISAMBIGUATION]], the video starts with him showing clips of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzsE5WZkoCs a Buddha statue floating down a street.]] However, the clip comes from from the video was created in response to a video of a statue of the "Virgin Mary" floating down the same street, which was debunked by [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc6pK_ouO1k Mr. Flare.]] At the end of the Laminar Flow video, Captain Disillusion puts up water marks and holds a sign that shows what he's doing is visual effects fakery in an attempt to stop a cycle of [[CreateYourOwnVillain making a demonstrative fake video]] for the intentions of [[DoWrongRight showing how something could be faked.]]

* HistoryRepeats: [[AvertedTrope Averted]]. In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LI2nYhGhYM Laminar Flow DISAMBIGUATION]], the video starts with him showing clips of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzsE5WZkoCs a Buddha statue floating down a street.]] However, the clip comes from from the video was created in response to a video of a statue of the "Virgin Mary" floating down the same street, which was debunked by [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc6pK_ouO1k Mr. Flare.]] At the end of the Laminar Flow video, Captain Disillusion puts up water marks and holds a sign that shows what he's doing is visual effects fakery in an attempt to stop a cycle of [[CreateYourOwnVillain making a demonstrative fake video]] for the intentions of showing how something could be faked.

* HistoryRepeats: [[AvertedTrope Averted]]. In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LI2nYhGhYM Laminar Flow DISAMBIGUATION]], the video starts with him showing clips of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzsE5WZkoCs a Buddha statue floating down a street.]] However, the clip comes from from the video was created in response to a video of a statue of the "Virgin Mary", which was debunked by [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc6pK_ouO1k Mr. Flare.]] At the end of the Laminar Flow video, Captain Disillusion puts up water marks and holds a sign that shows what he's doing is visual effects fakery in an attempt to stop a cycle of [[CreateYourOwnVillain making a demonstrative fake video]] for the intentions of showing how something could be faked.

* BerserkButton: A somewhat unusual one that he admits is unusual - purposeful hoaxes, even if immediately debunked by their creators. It's best seen in the Escherian Stairwell Deconstruction - he argues that these hoaxes and myths can unwittingly help impressionable people into going down rabbit-holes of psuedoscience - if this video I'm watching is fake, could things like the Apollo Landings also be lies? If this video is real, could things like vaccines causing autism really be real?

** Although appearing to be human, it's never really clear what Captain D is.

* HeelRealization: Done... semi-seriously, during the ''Unbearable Loneliness of Being Right'' talk. [[spoiler: As the Skeptic Asshole Singularity continues to suck up more people, Alan AsHimself approaches his laptop trying to do something about it, only for him - well, the live feed of him - show about to be sucked by the black hole.]] He breaks out of it.

-->'''Holly''': Name one thing about me that isn't perfect!
-->'''Captain Disillusion''': Are you kidding me? You have a problem communicating. You never call, you only text. What's that about? And the text messages all contradict each other. You love making up rules for things people know to do anyway, and you get so angry about the slightest little infractions while major world problems don't seem to concern you at all! You say that you have a plan, that you know what you're doing, but you never seem to, and when stuff goes wrong it's always somehow everybody else's fault. You're paranoid, vindictive and controlling, except you don't really control anything!

--> '''Alan:''' Oh God... How could I've been so blind? I'm part of this, aren't I? I gotta do something... [...] I gotta commit here now and resolve... to say... that I... [[spoiler:''''refuse to be a dick''''!]]

* Guyliner: Appears on [[spoiler:Zeitgeist]] as he starts to mutate and reveal his true colors.

-->'''Captain Disillusion''': That's not [[ItMakesSenseInContext a face of a demon in the window]], it's just you being a gullible doofus.

* TakeThatMe: When Mr. Flare almost takes over the show, he claims one of the changes he'll make is they'll stop using "debunk" as a noun.
-->'''Mr. Flare''': That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!

-->'''Captain''': [[ShoutOut You Keep Using]] [[Film/ThePrincessBride That Word.]] I do not think it means what [[ExpospeakGag you've become accustomed to define it as.]]

** This is [[DiscussedTrope the main topic discussed]] in "The Undebunkable". Captain D explains how [[AluminumChristmasTrees sometimes outlandishly-appearing things can be in fact real,]] and how mistrusting and denying everything on the basis of "it looks fake" without doing proper research or accepting new information is ultimately unhelpful and sometimes flat-out ''wrong.''

** Holly taking on human form in a cute dress looks like fanservice until you notice the gigantic scar that wraps around her neck, making her almost look like she's been hanged. The reality is even less pleasant: she needs to *borrow corpses to fuse her head to.*

** Holly taking on human form in a cute dress looks like fanservice until you notice the gigantic scar that wraps around her neck, making her almost look like she's been hanged.