Something called Topper Guild Creator Essentials appeared in my Hulu recommendations. I had no idea what it was, but the guy was cute, so I clicked on it.
Episode 1.1, "Roblox 99 Nights in the Forest in Real Life," begins in media res, with Topper, the cameraman Shutters, and a bounty hunter searching in the woods for their pal Kaido (Kaido Lee Roberts, left). And Topper's "brain rot," whatever that is.
They discover that he has been kidnapped by cultists wearing red robes and deer masks.
While Shutters researches the cult online, Topper, Mike the Bounty Hunter, and a muscular cop track down four other missing kids. Each requires a different challenge to be rescued:
Dino Kid: A bucket of roaches.
Kraken Kid: A pool of sticky glop.
Squid Kid: A stinky, used cultist robe. The kid asks for Topper's autograph before he escapes, suggesting that the guy is famous.
Koala Kid: Attacking the cultist guards. At this point the Cop goes home. I don't know why.
They are deliberately over-acting, usually while addressing the camera. Animated images of their thoughts appear over their heads, and there are other animations for no apparent reason. When Topper tells us "Guys, they're tied up!", the ropes start to glow. When he says "Maybe I can find something useful in this box," the box starts to glow.
I think this sort of thing happens on a show for preschoolers: "Can you find the object that doesn't belong at the beach? Right, the snowman." But this isn't for preschoolers; it's rated PG.
Topper and Mike the Bounty Hunter discover that Kaido is being prepared for sacrifice in the King's mansion, so they go undercover as cultists. Mike is captured, and tied up next to their friend.
Topper/Cultist claims that the King sent him to beat up the captives. While punching, he slips Mike a knife, allowing him to cut the ropes and knock out the guards. All three escape in Topper's van.
The "brain rot" turns out to be a cutout of a squat, square humanoid formed from the number 6-7 (the meaningless number that kid chant to annoy adults).
Three cast members are listed, but only Kaido Lee Roberts appears on the IMDB: he stars in some of Dhar Man's clickbait videos.
And Topper Guild? Not really a guild, the guy's name.
Born in 2002, Topper Guild grew up in Los Angeles, but now lives in Austin, Texas. When he was 12 years old, he began posting humorous pranks and challenges on social media platforms. He soon gained 84 million youtube subscribers, plus 34 million followers on Tiktok, and 1.3 million on Instagram.
The videos became more elaborate,with fictionalized plots and characters:
"I Build a Secret Room for Ronaldo"
"I Murdered K-Pop Demon Hunters"
"Surviving Evil Kids"
More after the break. Caution: explicit.
In "Extreme Camoflauge for 100 Hours," Topper and his friends must camouflage themselves as globes, lockers, and desks to survive the strictest school in the world, and find out who stole Ronaldo's Lamborghini. It has 11.4 million views to date.
I don't know who the muscle guy is. There are no closing credits.
There are shirtless muscle guys and cute twinks in most of Topper's videos, usually unidentified. Left: the guy from "Crazy Girlfriend."
Nick Bencivenga appears in "Topper Guild, Tiktok Cutie."
I don't think they are meant to draw in gay viewers, since otherwise there doesn't seem to be much gay representation.
But there's a little. I found some NSFW photos, and the video "He Caught Me Cheating": Shutters is irate when he catches Topper in bed with someone else, but actually the dude is cheating on his diet. For punishment, Shutters forces him to "play with my balls"
Cut to Topper exclaiming "It's so hard!"
"That's the idea."
He's actually dribbling soccer balls, har har.
It got 14,900 likes.
Left: Playing with his own balls.
We are looking at the future of entertainment. Instead of depending on an army of writers, directors, actors, camera operators, gaffers, best boys, and so on, you create your own content and submit it directly to viewers.
Wait -- in 2025 Topper signed on with the WME, the former William Morris Agency, to pursue work in tv and movies. The kind with writers and directors.
And he signed on with PocketWatch, Inc., an agency that enhances Youtube content with tie-in toys, games, and tv shows. The kind with writers and directors.
Maybe we're not looking at the future of entertainment after all. Many more people will see his videos on Youtube than will ever watch a tv series on Hulu, but they still have the reputation of being trivial and ephemerial, a back door to the social prestige of "real" media.
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