History WebVideo / CaptainDisillusion

* {{Kayfabe}}: His fans like to insist in the video comments that the normal-coloured part of his face is makeup and the chrome part is his actual skin.

-->'''Captain D:''' These creators aren't just moving the goalposts, [[UpToEleven they've strapped them to their backs!]]

* ShownTheirWork: Alan has experience in film production and visual effects, and has a background propped by his parents being circus performers during his adolescence, giving him early knowledge of professional tricks of the trade. Alongside additional research and a keen eye towards identifying illusions, every debunking is incredibly thorough, able to break down the technicals of how videos are made, as well as disprove them with scientific explanation. One notable instance was when [[https://youtu.be/zhPRtCW5sRk?t=354 the Captain identified the exact plugins and stock effects pack used in one video]], [[UpToEleven right down to their individual file names]].

* TakeThatAudience:
** The Captain often expresses annoyance at people asking him to debunk conspiracy theories and cryptzoology stories despite his repeated statements that he's not going to.
** Sometimes, the effects that the Captain recreates end up being passed around so much that their origins get confused and they get sent back to him for debunk. In "Laminar Flow DISAMBIGUATION", he addresses this by festooning his episode-ending effect with a "FAKE" watermark and holding up a note that reads: "This is totally FAKE and created by me CAPTAIN DISILLUSION".

* UsefulNotes/ConspiracyTheories: Discussed at great length in "The Undebunkable", namely of how a mindset of [[ArbitrarySkepticism arbitrarily dismissing things because they might be fake]] can lead to pointlessly negative conclusions, such as [[MoonLandingHoax the moon landing being a hoax,]] the [[Music/PaulMcCartney "Paul is dead"]] theory, or how 9/11 was all faked.

* EyeScream: In the video "The Undebunkable," Captain D's comment about Occam's Razor is alarmingly paired with footage of a razor cutting open an eye. [[spoiler:This is later revealed to be the villain Zeitgeist impersonating him.]]

** Where the Captain is a bombastic larger-than-life character, his intern, [[AsHimself Alan]], is shown to be meek, insecure, and kind of sad.

** Where the Captain is a larger-than-life character, his intern, [[AsHimself Alan]], is shown to be meek, insecure, and kind of sad.

* ADayInTheLimelight: Mr. Flare has two episodes of his own [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "Mr. Flare Explains"]] sub-series with no sign of Captain D.

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped:
** In "The Undebunkable", Captain D gives an [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness uncharacteristically direct and passionate talk]] about the importance of not thinking ''everything'' is fake. He stresses ''critical thinking'', not cynicism.
** The whole point of "The Mandaellah Effekt" is to tell people he thinks using the Mandela Effect to form conspiracy theories is stupid. He and [[ItMakesSenseInContext Holly!Captain D]] skeptics want to feel special, or deny historical facts because "it's just interesting to think about."
--->'''Captain D''': Being fascinated with a quirk of the mind is great, but if your explanation for it blows right past OccamsRazor to "inter-universe leakage", it's kind of a problem for the rest of us.\\
'''Holly!Captain''': It encourages sloppy, uncritical thinking, which is never a good thing. Knowing how to distinguish what you ''think'' is real from what ''is'' real is the most important skill in the universe. [[ItMakesSenseInContext I'm saying that, and I'm an actual goddess.]]

* ShownTheirWork: Alan has experience in film production and visual effects, and alongside additional research, every debunking is incredibly thorough, able to break down the technicals of how the videos were made, as well as disprove them with scientific explanation. One notable instance was when [[https://youtu.be/zhPRtCW5sRk?t=354 the Captain identified the exact plugins and stock effects pack used in one video]], [[UpToEleven right down to their individual file names]].
* ShownTheirWork: Since Alan Melikdjanian's parents has an extensive background as circus performers, and he has been working in a circus himself during his adolescence, he is familiar with a quite few professional tricks of the trade of creating convincing illusions. A major running element is that whenever he wants to prove something can be easily faked, he will proceed to show it by easily faking it with a few camera tricks and a slight edit.

->''"Love with your heart, but use your head for everything else."''

NeedsWikiMagicLove

'''Captain Disillusion:''' ...Are you kidding me? ''Ahem. ([[KnuckleCracking cracks his knuckles]]) You'' have a problem communicating. You ''never'' call, you always ''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'' [[HairTriggerTemper about the slightest little infractions]] while major world problems don't seem to concern you at all!\\

'''Captain Disillusion:''' You ''say'' that [[IMeantToDoThat you have a plan, that you know what you're doing]], but you never seem to, and when stuff goes wrong [[NeverMyFault it's always somehow everybody else's fault]].\\

* ReasonYouSuckSpeech: Captain D gives one to Holly in "Shark Surfer".

'''Captain Disillusion:''' ...Are you kidding me? ''Ahem. ([[KnuckleCracking cracks his knuckles]]) You'' have a problem communicating. You ''never'' call, you always ''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!\\

'''Captain Disillusion:''' 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.\\

* {{Retraux}}: The magic trick VHS tape in "Cup Levitation & Train Track Rescue" shows a "pre-internet" Captain D, complete with ridiculous 1980s hair and cheesy video effects.

* TwoFaced: A rare variant where the Captain's face is split horizontally rather than vertically, which the top half of his face being of normal skin tone while the lower half (and presumably the rest of his body) is chrome-colored.