Whenever it called for it, I stress my interest in company logos, but I hardly go that deep into why. For perspective, I've been involved with the logo community as early as 2010, what started as me discovering uploads of company logos on YouTube, led me to making my first account, well, anywhere, that wasn't for a class assignment, on the good ol' Closing Logos Group wiki. I had an interest in logos as far back as the early to mid 2000s, just for how creative most companies can be, and looking into an old company, The International Picture Show Company, led me to the wiki.
I was young at the time and had no idea how things worked, yet somehow I managed to gain and maintain writer privileges, got the occasional reprimand but I kept at it, was around to see some milestones such as confirming where the first CastleRock Entertainment Television logo appeared (I didn't participate beyond appearing in discussions but I did interact with one of the lead investigators.) and make some friends, well, technically those who sent and accepted friend requests on the wiki, I still remember the first two to do so, The Logo Channel (based on the associated YouTube channel I don't have the definitive CLG handle lest it's MrLogo), and SCMediaWorks.
Thing About Logo Series
SCMediaWorks was one of the wiki's bureaucrats, and with that kind of power, you'd be a fool not to expand upon the group beyond its wiki. With logo enthusiasts taking up residence on YouTube, and the one calling card being a channel filled with logos, you can't just do the same thing if you want to establish the height of your position. So, the best way to stand out was a dedicated series, something I discussed in my last logo related post, but for the sake of context, here we go again.
These logo series were essentially glorified compilations, and I don't mean something like a logo history, but rather various logos with a certain gimmick. Simple in concept but come on, this was back during the old days of YouTube, if I was in the community back then I would've eaten that shit up. The series would more or less be used for brand establishment, you'd see logos for the creators' proverbial companies before and after these videos.
Back then the main creatives like LogicSmash and Shadeed329 were dominant in the logo series field or just made a name for themselves at the right time. Whereas LogicSmash is still going strong after all these years, Shadeed bottomed out long ago, his temper caught up with him and he dropped off the face of the Earth. There were videos that discussed the drama he was involved in but who knows if they're still up.
What I'm trying to say is that it's one thing to learn that a niche interest you have has its own community, but it's another to see it try to expand to new areas. Even more, these serve as time capsules of different eras of the logo community, from sheer simplicity to becoming more than that, and SCMediaWorks was up to the task.
Thing About SCMediaWorks
Okay also went on that long tangent to reflect where things were and what they would be. SCMediaWorks had led the CLG Wiki or was just in a high position during its mid to late years. Among his contributions were acquiring logos, which would be shared by dedicated logo channels, he did compilations that singled out variations of closing logos, such as one he did for the old soap opera Dallas, but what I remember the most from him were two series in particular, Logo Mysteries and SCMediaWorks' Top 10, along with the occasional rant.
Some of you coming into this may not know about it, and I can't really blame you because as of now, these videos are hard impossible to find. Not because of poor preservation mind you, but because SCMediaWorks has become a lost media hoarder. You can't watch these videos easily, but you can find them if you look hard enough, and if you decide to post them on YouTube he'll give you a copyright strike, not even a comment asking you to take it down, his first choice is to copyright strike it.
For perspective, the video I posted on my archive channel was an unlisted upload. The upload was on a playlist that wasn't even made by him and it can't be accessed if you go on his own channel. You can argue that the video was still intended to be used, just not publicly, but while trying to upload the first episode of Logo Mysteries the upload was cancelled due to a pre-existing copyright strike. Someone had uploaded the first episode before me, I saw it, it was later taken down, and the original upload was private to begin with. That in mind, until I get a good argument to the contrary, SCMediaWorks is hoarding what can be considered lost media, and you wanna know the craziest thing about this? He hasn't been on YouTube, anywhere really, for over four years, he's not actively making content, he's not even involved with the current logo authority, but he's doing this shit? Why strike videos that you don't even want up on your channel anymore?
That in mind, I get reuploading videos is tempting fate, even if he's making no effort to preserve history on his own front, like seriously dude, just offload your videos onto a dedicated archive account and leave it at that. Just because you want nothing to do with these videos that doesn't mean everyone doesn't, there are people who loved these videos when they were out, people who're more than eager to see them again. It's not just some embarrassing video projects that you don't stand by anymore, they were not only treats for the logo community, but they served as time capsules for logo related news and content, represented the flavors of the week, and even more they serve as steps in the community's evolution. How can we keep going forward if we have no sense of what we're leaving behind?
Okay this is the archivist in me getting heated, but the point stands, and if it's not me bringing these videos up, it's someone else whose been around who is invested in the community. Someone I saw as a good figure in the community... I can't let this pass. Where somebody abuses the copyright system and doesn't even allow people to find essential videos easily by putting the videos up elsewhere themselves, you expect me to keep my mouth shut?
So what'll be the more mature route than to complain about two videos of his that happened to age fairly poorly? And no I don't mean Logo Mysteries. From going on the offense against little kids, what I gotta throw in DED6 now? With that there's nothing more mature to do than to complain about videos that were definitely of their time. Starting with...
Logo Trolls and Pirates: An Overlooked Pandemic on YouTube (introduction)
"A strange game. The only winning move is not to play." -War Games.
Trolling is fun to do, but never fun to go through. Sometimes you have no idea you're going through it, and by the time you realize you were already played. When it comes to dealing with trolling, their main goal is to get a reaction, and the only sensible thing to do is to not give it to them. Unfortunately, for 80% of the world, that is a fool's errand. In return for giving a reaction, it may be enough to pull the veil back on the reactor and serve as an invitation for further trolling.
But in this situation, it's not about trolls harassing people... it's people reposting logo videos, and by people, I mean for the most part little kids or grown people on the spectrum, no offense intended. Though I'm part of the logo community I'm not afraid to admit there are people who take things too seriously. It's as much their logo as it your's, we're all thieves, like taking the CBS eye and plastering the Hanna Barbera swirling star inside of it, and using it as a federally registered trademark. As far as logo trolls go, there was only one who managed to make a good effort, and that was tyson83782, may his fake logo histories live on.
There were trolls willing to make an effort, and honestly the only offensive thing about these trolls is how little effort they put, but hey, they made enough of an impact to warrant one big video apparently. I would link the video, but I'm no snitch.
Now the Video
Leaning into the branding tidbit of logo series we get an idea to who was behind this. This was a collaborative effort between SCMediaWorks and the Closing Logos Group, which is both cool and kinda upsetting given how the video aged. Also someone named Ryanasaurus0077, who if I recall was more active on the wiki, still has some traceability but any drama he was involved in, or what they consider to be drama, is mostly lost, but I nabbed a URL off the Wayback Machine: https://web.archive.org/web/20160613143531/http://www.closinglogos.com/thread/5294327/WTF+ryanasaurus0077 ), and Shadeed as far as a joint credit on another company shown to the end (S.A.K. Media Holdings)
After that we get a popular logo meme from the time, the BND of Doom, look it up at your own risk. I wanna bring this up because of what this is supposed to represent. It starts with a clip from the PowerPuff Girls (DA ORIGINAL) where they're watching TV, the BND of Doom logo appears with masking that while better than what I can do, you can make out the outline around the characters the logo is around, anyway this scares the girls, obvious looped animation that could easily be spliced to work around... all of this in a PSA against stealing logos...
I know nitpicking is frowned upon, but fuck it. What were they going for here? Was this intended to represent them uploading a logo, they apparently stole, onto YouTube and they got comeuppance? Best theory I could give. Why not just make an amateur sketch? Sure it would be more cringey but it would get the point across, and SCMediaWorks has shown himself plenty of times so it wouldn't be out of the question, like right now, sorta.
He would introduce himself, and I bring this up because he refers to himself under a different name, his full name is known, but for some reason on his last name and it's not close to how it's normally pronounced, he calls himself Zaslav... and I'm on the floor laughing. Zaslav, like the guy who is delisting a stark bulk of archived content and giving people little means to access it, sorta like SCMediaWorks delisting his old content and giving people little means to access it, you can't make this shit up, I swear, he became the thing he swore to destroy.
Also a little sidenote if you do that goofy different sounding name it would only work if you're doing a sketch, or this whole thing is just an elaborate parody of overractions to logo trolls, or it's just a specalized persona done for a laugh... but it isn't, as far as I know. This is followed by a basic ass title-card, which to be fair isn't the worst I've seen of things like it, give it a C+, not bad TrickyMario7654. He goes on a little spiel, and in spite of some effort to show some restraint, he goes off almost immediately. The crimes mentioned in the thesis just center on blowing up comments, with such offensive statements including "From (insert show this didn't appear on here)" to re-uploading other's captures, which, for the example I get why they used it, but the closing combo for King of Queens is the most common logo combo there is, I mean anyone could argue they captured it themselves, someone else had done it already, but I digress.
Stephen does a little impersonation sketch, with an apology attached, that's gonna be rare, and then we get toward the crux of the special. Apparently the subjects to be discussed are so bad they make an adult spout grade school insults. Now look, I'm not one to shit on people who happen to take a topic too seriously or get angry, it's all for entertainment. I maintain that TheMysteriousMrEnter was doing what was in at the time, angry reviews, DogsEatingDogs6 hasn't done anything morally reprehensible (if he yells at kids while pretending to be Bowser y'all know you're reaching hard), and Toy Story 4 sucks that hard... GamingMagic13.
I'm going at this out of secondhand embarrassment. It's one thing to be an immature logo kid, it's another to go at it in a not so smart way. These people want to fuck around, you give them the reaction, nobody wins. As mentioned before the logo community carries a rep depending on who you ask, and there's little way around it. The best I can do is just call out bull when I catch it. Going into each channel I'm gonna try and dig up whatever info I could on them, and hope I don't pop up on anyone's radar.
Firstly, Austin Alexander, also known as LogoBoy95. If the year is exact he would've been twenty by the time this video was made. Austin was banned for spamming and making multiple sock accounts, to the point he would put out a proverbial hit on those he blamed for banning him. To sum it up. Stephen cites the moment the straw broke the camel's back, where Austin posted a capture of a logo found by someone else.
Not to step on the toes of those who were involved in drama that's going to have occurred a decade ago, god I'm old, but I want to see it from both sides, especially since with the change in heads at the current logo authority those part of it are no longer in power. The capture was posted on the old CLG Wiki by CooleyBoy10, or at the time FromTheWordsofBR, and Austin posted it on YouTube. On one hand they are two separate spaces and Austin acknowledged who originally posted it.
Now, if BR intended to post the logo on his old channel and Austin beat him to the punch, it's an open and shut case, CooleyBoy found it and it's his right to share wherever. But... that wasn't brought up, if it was even a thing at all. Of course there's the matter of the video in question just taking the still image and posting it on YouTube... okay now it's coming together. An argument can also be made relating to how Austin's supporters acted, but this was after Austin's video was copyright struck, regardless of the context.
Just because one side is right, that doesn't mean they can't do some things wrong. If you copyright strike somebody regardless if it's the right thing to do, you can expect some backlash no matter what, just ask Michael Rosen. Or maybe Stephen isn't the best narrator for this, because he makes fun of a 20 something's reaction to all this... and I'm like dude, don't throw that stone in that glass house.
While he also brings up examples of Austin's behavior that can validate the attitude expressed... he decided it would be more practical to cry about something trivial. Not everyone can rely on one's word alone, you need to have physical evidence to support yourself, otherwise just say "I was unable to gather the screenshots to support this unfortunately." We may never see the extent of his harassment of Shadeed, which is ironic since both people would wind up on the CLG Hall of Shame.
If you want to establish someone's rep or get outsiders to understand how bad they are, you have to do better than what Stephen did here. Because by this point, all I learned from this is that FromTheWordsofBR did what he felt was the appropriate thing to do, even if it's something frowned upon, and Austin and Stephen are two sides of a similar coin.
Now, is Austin Alexander still at it? Well, sorta. I can at least confirm he has a trolling list on his channel description, and he does the occasional upload. But benefit of the doubt to Stephen it's best to be vigilant. Of course, the only way to win against someone like him is to not engage with him, but for a lot of people that's easier to request than to do.
Next up, Angrybirdsfan2003. While you could claim that for Austin he was an adult, Stephen right now is going after a kid, and compared to DED6's angry rants on plush videos this is a lot more serious, though depending on what you consider to be worse is up to your point of view. It is at this point Stephen reveals that Angrybirds, or Jacob, was a major inspiration to make this video.
He goes into the same spiel he did with Austin, relating to combo re-uploads, and while we get evidence on that, what we don't get is details on harassment he does, well not yet, this isn't the first time I watched the video. We get a dark implication relating to Stephen not holding back on calling people out in spite of their age... dude, it's a fucking kid, kids are stupid, you seriously think they know any better? And of course it's all over logos.
Now, we get back to Stephen showing the comments... while making the mistake of showing his own that would put him in a similarly bad light. Whatever floats your boat Kyle. This is another case of being upset about something understandably, but going about it in the worst way possible. Why not just ban the account and the ensuing sock-puppet accounts, let him fester and scream into the void? That was the grand conclusion to the screenshots. No harassment, just being a pest and people just adding fuel to the fire. It's hilarious, but if you participate and try to represent your wiki... congrats, you just set the community back.
A not so Quick TATbit
Let's get historical. You heard about TAT Communications Company, right? Well not really if you're not in the group. Back when this video was made, the TAT logo was still missing and people had very little to go off of in terms of what the actual logo was like. It was based on a print variation that appeared in articles and recollections shared by those on the original Closing Logos Yahoo Group.
The logo was sought after, and anyone who had access to it were gonna share it and rake in all the glory. Even deceptively. A lead would be uncovered during that time, it being the logo's theme, and in the context of logo theft shenanigans would ensue. Whether or not he was the first to do this or just one of many, Jacob would produce a mockup of the TAT logo based on what people assumed the logo was like and others would follow suit.
Now, no judgement toward logo recreations, these are essential, and dare I say very well done, but with someone like Jacob and others these are just cheap MS Paint mockups. Now, there is a case to be made here, if Jacob made the video with the intent of claiming it's the real thing, but while we got the video, he never established the actual upload, if he did in fact poise it as the actual one or just a recreation.
Stephen does get a bit dramatic over this, and it's hilarious in hindsight given what would become of it. If you have the opportunity, the software and the lack of knowing any better, of course you'd attempt something like this. And with his overreaction, there lies trolling opportunities and Stephen is all the more eager to give his reaction.
But was all of this justified? Nope. When a partial capture of this logo was found, it being nothing like the recreations brought up, it helped diminish said recreations and thus took some momentum away from them... bar any snots who did recreations of the sorta found logo but there you go. But what about diminishing the value of the actual logo when it was found? Well, years after this video, everyone was excited for it, news managed to hit BlueSky (and Twitter if people still use that waste of space), and it was treated as a groundbreaking moment in logo history. Stephen was afraid that people wouldn't care if the actual logo wasn't found, well, maybe enough time passed from the fake logo finds.
The logo community knows what's real and fake, so what was he afraid of? Was he trying to gain appeal outside of the niche? Does he think everybody on earth cares about the TAT logo? Was he trying to find the logo himself and rake in all of the glory? Take it away Charles Xavier.
By the end, it's essentially two grade school kids calling each other names, only one of them has been held back by a few years. Anyway what is Jacob up to now? It seems not much, he has a new channel but he hasn't uploaded anything new in two years, it looks like he has gone into making logo renders as far as his deviantArt suggests, so maybe he, you know, grew up or just stopped giving a shit? Alright let's move on.
This next one I've been seeing a lot of back then. Dan Bickner, or 217Dan. I can safely confirm that he did in fact steal logo uploads and posted them on his own channel, but let's see what Stephen- oh, nevermind, this segment was contributed by a different person, well, written by for Stephen to read. Dan is heavily built up here, his bad rep established, and with so much build-up you need to have a finish to justify it... because he just goes on, and on, and on, complete with a Downfall parody.
Anyhow, the extent of his, ahem, crimes, were taking uploads and putting them on the CLG Wiki while taking all the credit, and not even acknowledging the original uploaders... stuff like that would help your case, go after people who steal for their own gain and cause trouble on the wiki. Not necessarily on board with trying to drive people off of the internet though, and if Dan's a troll and seeing this effort to drive the person off, it would make them want to come back and revel in all the attention.
Also two things, why single out a Wii U recording? If anything it goes to show the capabilities the console had, but what we're supposed to hate it because it didn't sell well? Second, for another instance of hindsight or poor aging, this video includes the second Columbia Pictures Television logo with the Coca-Cola byline, which was revealed to be fake, and I bring this up because Stephen was the one to spill the beans on that.
But as far as confirmed cases, we don't have to worry about the WETA logo, that he singled out as an example of using still shots in place of the actual logo because that's been found in full. A callback to one of Austin's crimes where Dan uploaded a logo image posted by someone else, and he didn't give credit as far as I know.
He then uses a cartoon clip to sum up his reaction and I'm like, what is this FoxtrotDeltaLima497 type shit? He even introduced it as if Usagi Tsukino was right with him, no irony either, yes I used the original name for some reason, yes I also did a cartoon reaction clip, but one is played as is while I sat my ass down and tried to make something of it.
Since there's no crime grander than stealing logo videos, he once more drags this out, this time with a YouTube deep cut. Uh, you remember Norm Gets Mad at all his Haters? The fat guy who said fuck you multiple times? It was used as a reaction clip by lower tier Doug Walker wannabe commentators from the era? Thus this video's age shows more than Saved by the Bell. Anyway both of Dan's channels are still up but I have no idea what he's even doing nowadays. I do have one thing to add to this. Long ago I remember Dan making a dumb comment on a video by LogicSmash, another user got mad and likely made an ableist slur and got in trouble for it. The comments are gone so take this with a grain of salt.
Lastly there's Perry Mason... insert opening theme, many thanks Svengoolie for introducing me to that gag. Another name I've seen a lot of on YouTube back then. If you by chance found the video and had grown tired of it, this segment is a $100000 Pyramid parody... for some reason. Still five minutes left, and he decided to turn this into a game show... an unfortunate connection.
Anyway, I guess Stephen couldn't find enough to say about him that would justify his inclusion, so he did this gag. What I could get from this is that he's just a cheap Dan Bickner copy, and that Stephen is incensed enough to call these children and immature grownups criminals... They may've wanted a reaction, they got it, with interest.
There's someone stealing logos, then there's someone who reacts poorly to it, feel like that point has been hammered into my skull so hard and I wanna share that feeling with you all. Like the dude claims that these cause harm. Like holy shit, at least you can argue cartoons can make you feel things.
One last thing to bring up here is him issuing a thanks to SuperMarty-O, a user who would be outed as a fraud years later, also Shadeed who would, once more, be shunned by the community years later.
Closing Statements
Now, Stephen makes it clear this video was made in order to make people aware of bad faith characters in the logo sphere, along with fake uploads, and I can get behind that. Those not in the know could be brought up to speed and know who to look out for... so what was all this shit? I get trying to be funny but I can't see anyone laughing at most of these gags, those that perhaps only Stephen could understand. When you represent a community you can't make it mostly about you, because what if you don't represent the values of the wiki, or what if it backfires and thus you took away any legitimacy it could've had.
This video was a mess, and it feels like it functions better as a warning against reacting to trolls. Look, I get the problem and it's important to bring it up, but the way he went about it made this video age poorly. It's a poor representation of the wiki, and given his position there that just makes it worse, to the point others would be lumped in with lesser characters associated with the wiki just because of the more vocal ones drowning out the sense.
While there is novelty in seeing the logo community make original presentations, this was a misfire. But at the end of the day... I don't hate it. Just because you have a lot to say against something that doesn't mean you have to hate it. This video was a product of its time, coming out during the apex years of the Closing Logos Group, where I got my start, and beneath all of the rage rambling there is some logo history on display. As mentioned before this was during the time nobody had any idea what the actual TAT logo was like, and it's good to get some info on notorious trolls even if he wound up giving them reactions, but I guess anyone could've made that mistake.
Logo Trolls and Pirates: An Overlooked Pandemic on YouTube is the St. Anger of logo community videos, it is poorly executed, disorganized, definitely of its time and reeks of acting on one's gut without thinking of how it would turn out. But I'd still check it out, well, if I had the time to do so and I've run out of other stuff to watch.
I've gone on for too long here. Next time, I'm gonna go over a countdown list that nutshells the scary logo community.
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