Post by [beej] on Nov 20, 2017 12:30:11 GMT -5
ddevil
Induction by AD
Ladies and gentlemen, as I sit down to write out this Hall of Fame induction for ddevil, it occurs to me that I might not be the most qualified person to do this. I mean, I'm just now realizing that I really don't know that much about him. I know he's from Germany. I know he likes Puroresu, and MMA. I'm pretty sure he's the only MV Zone member named after a System of a Down song. And I know that he apparently gets off on making me very jealous of all the legendary Japanese wrestlers who enjoy cooking him dinner for some untold reason. But that's really about it in terms personal details that I know about the guy.
But if I can't write much about him as a person, I can damn sure praise the hell out of him as an editor, and a member of this community.
To call ddevil a unique editor would be an understatement. Nobody makes videos like him. When you watch one of his wrestling music videos you almost always learn something about the subject he's highlighting. You could go into his Kobashi retirement video without knowing anything about the subject, and come out with a pretty good idea of the guy's career arc. He's been doing that sort of thing ever since his epic Misawa Trilogy, in which he spotlighted almost all the key details of a legendary career over the course three videos. And he was just starting as an editor when he made those. Since then he's become the KRS-One of the MV Zone. Master of the Edutainment Style of wrestling music videos. The guy that tricks you into learning a history lesson while enjoying some cool editing.
Then there's the MMA videos. As a guy who could take or leave the sport itself, it's not easy to get me sucked into these videos. But ddevil manages to do it consistently. His Yoel Romero video is just about the only MMA video I still find myself re-watching from time to time. He's clearly the undisputed King of the Copa. Being the only person to win that coveted trophy more than once. Even at a time when it seemed like Adam and Trolly were the only two people competing in the sports division, ddevil still somehow managed to pop up at the right time to insure another Copa victory for himself.
Lately, he's also branched out into movie music videos. Having dipped his toe into that genre with a quality section in Project [Cinema] 6, he has since established himself as one of the most innovative editors in the MV d'Or division. "Gargoyle" his tribute to the TV series "Hannibal" is still a personal favorite. And "Splendor" is as creative as it gets. But, looking back on it now, just one year later "The City of S(e)oul" stands out as one of the most underrated videos released recently in any genre. I'm excited to see what he might come up with next. And the fact that I can honestly still say that about a guy who's been making videos for years should tell you all you need to know about why he deserves this honor.
But those are just his contributions as an editor. What does he bring to the table as a contributor to the boards? For one thing, I can tell you that his feedback is a treasure. There are only a small handful of people left on this site whose opinions I get excited about hearing when I put out a new video. He is definitely one of them. If you're a newer editor, and he takes the time to write something about your video, you should probably pay attention to it. You can tell the guy really puts in the effort and thinks about what he says. And that's a pretty rare thing these days.
He's also a really nice guy. I can't think of one time when he's been involved in any serious drama with another member of the site. Almost all of us have gotten involved in some dumb, petty dust-ups over the years. But not ddevil. He seems to stay above that sort of thing.
These are just a few of the reasons why I'm excited and honored to help induct the great ddevil into The MV Zone Hall of Fame, Class of 2017.
Oh, and I just thought of one more thing I do know about ddevil. He hates it when you capitalize the "d" in his name. So don't do that anymore. The man's a Hall of Famer, dammit! Respect his wishes!