Honorary Target of The Dark Empire
Vasily Geekovich Popov is a self-proclaimed Russian Star Wars expert. Or so he says. His favorite character, he will readily tell you (if you have lots of time available), is Oola the slave girl, whose name he frequently mispronounces (as he often has a hard time pronouncing most things) as “Ooh-La-La.”
Having migrated to the “Great Russian city of L.A.,” Vasily is nevertheless a die-hard fan of Star Wars. Quite literally. TDE's Honorary Target is often sent on repeated trips to what Vasily calls the “bacty tank.” He can be heard fairly often on Dark Empire Radio fleeing from the clutches of The Brutal One or other darksiders within TDE. Sometimes, when Vasily is feeling brave enough, he will even guest-host an entire episode of DER, knowing full well the peril of doing so.
Having migrated to the “Great Russian city of L.A.,” Vasily is nevertheless a die-hard fan of Star Wars. Quite literally. TDE's Honorary Target is often sent on repeated trips to what Vasily calls the “bacty tank.” He can be heard fairly often on Dark Empire Radio fleeing from the clutches of The Brutal One or other darksiders within TDE. Sometimes, when Vasily is feeling brave enough, he will even guest-host an entire episode of DER, knowing full well the peril of doing so.
The Dark Empire has the distinction of being the first Star Wars fan-group to have an Honorary Target. Although it is unclear just specifically why TDE members have singled out Vasily for repeated termination, one thing is abundantly certain: the Sith have must have their entertainment.
As for Vasily's appearance, he can best be described as a modern-day hippie with a love for everyone around, including his TDE tormentors. His unkempt hairdo, loud-but-artful shirts (when not wearing a DER shirt; it's his favorite “poddycast,” after all), squeaky accent, and his amazing ability to light fake cigarettes with lightsabers all make him a sight to behold, a voice to cringe-at-but-slowly-get-used-to, and a character to love. Members of The Dark Empire love their Honorary Target so much, that one might argue they prefer to keep him in the “bacty tank” as often as possible, just so that he doesn't try to defect to an unknown region of the galaxy. “Vasily Popov” first appeared on the now-defunct (but still viewable) webseries “The Dark Side Chats,” which was hosted by Lord Bruticus on YouTube on an irregular schedule over a two-year period. The character of Vasily was received with mixed reviews, and some viewers had likened him to Jar Jar Binks, saying that “you either love him, or you love to hate him.” Lord Bruticus, knowing that Vasily had a small following of fans, decided to bring his character onto Dark Empire Radio when The Dark Sides Chats show on YouTube concluded (TDSC itself also had a small following of fans). After Vasily Popov appeared on the podcast a few times, DER received some email from a couple of listeners in Russia (one with a VERY similar name), insisting that Vasily's character was an insult, and demanding that he be removed from the show altogether. Undaunted by this strange turn of events (but satisfied that his listening audience had reached so far around the globe), The Brutal One decided to keep the character. However, to ensure that there would be no confusion with other people of the same name, Lord Bruticus added the middle name of “Geekovich” to his alter ego. And so, Vasily Geekovich Popov, the "Sheik of Geek," self-proclaimed Russian Star Wars expert, and fancier of “Ooh-La-La” within the Star Wars movies, evolved into the Honorary Target that he is today. Below are videos from his "Faceybook" page where he introduces himself, and then quickly flees from a member of TDE. |