Katya Stec and Tatiana Stec are the founders of All Ages of Geek, LLC. All Ages of Geek is a production entertainment and streaming service that focuses on geek culture content. We recently interviewed them snd below is the full interview.
Katya and Tatiana, thank you so much for talking with us. Geek Culture has been there for a while but more people are associated with this culture now. How and when did you guys come up with the idea of All Ages of Geek?
Katya: Geek culture has always been a part of my life before it got into mainstream media. It’s amazing but also frustrating to see geek culture now extremely marketable. By frustrating I mean the word “geek” is thrown around lightly now without paying homage to the greats that coined the words geek and nerd. Before All Ages of Geek was an actual company it was a YouTube gaming channel. From there it took off as a small hub for content creators to write and tell their stories. Then in 2020 All Ages of Geek officially became an LLC and by then was a fully functional multimedia company. Inspirations behind the company were the greats like Rooster Teeth and the old Buzzfeed platform.
Tatiana: I grew up with geek culture. Watching Pokémon everyday, collecting cards, and playing video games. Back then it was not the norm, now geek culture is becoming more and more popular amongst the younger generations. Making it easier for people to express what they enjoy. I won’t lie, it’s a little frustrating that back in the day we were not able to express our love for geek culture, however, it is great to see it thrive. I started with All Ages of Geek when Katya made me film a video with her. At first, I was fearful on camera, but as time passed it became second nature. When we created the website I led our writers and interns in the right direction creating ‘This Just in’ our news, review, and geek culture article section. We are in the process of expanding the website into something bigger and better for creative writers, video hosts, podcast hosts, and much more.
For someone who is new to this, what does VTubers mean?
Katya: VTubers are Virtual YouTubers or Virtual Streamers/Content Creators. They are just like influencers but instead of being someone behind a camera like Markiplier or JonTron, they are a virtual avatar usually in the form of an anime or cartoon character. The technology that goes into VTubers is actually pretty amazing if you research it enough. It becomes more of a collaborative project with many artists and creators working together to even build one VTuber model.
Tatiana: Expanding on that VTubers are perfect for anyone who may want to keep their identity safe online but want to entertain others via streams and content. Having an avatar that you get to design is a great way for individuals to showcase who they are through art. VTubers create work for entertainers, artists, animators, and much more! It also allows creators to act like their original characters if they want to go in that route, and perhaps expand streams into other online media like cartoon episodes and comics.
Tell us more about your new VTuber project Galaxy Boy Delivery. What’s the story behind its creation?
Katya: Fun fact is both Stilo and Korl (our VTubers) were inspired by The Legend of Zelda: Windwaker. We used to voice the characters and created our own original characters as kids and they’ve stuck with us. Galaxy-Boy Delivery is actually based on a bigger overall world we are creating for a future project heavily inspired by Super Sentai works and Dragon Ball Z. All of this will be produced under our upcoming studio Stec Studio too which is pretty exciting!
Tatiana: Galaxy-Boy Delivery is definitely a passion project for us. Growing up with these two characters makes the project even more meaningful. I was probably eight or nine when we created them so we know every detail possible about Stilo and Korl. Their favorite color, their personalities, their fears, wants, all of it! When a character means a lot to you the project definitely means more. The story is not yet revealed since it is part of a bigger project but think space, oceans, and villains trying to take over planets!
Galaxy Boy Delivery will come out as episodes. What about live-streaming the content? Are you guys planning it in the future?
Katya: Totally planning live streaming content in the future. We are planning to support more indie game developers with our partner VoxPop Games through the use of VTuber technology. We’re aiming to partner with literary agencies and publishers to also have both Stilo and Korl review books, comics, and audiobooks. All Ages of Geek has worked with agencies such as the amazing Liza Royce Agency (LRA) to interview authors. We hope to bring this form of content to live-streamed events with Galaxy-Boy Delivery and continue providing content to bring goodwill to other creators.
Tatiana: Adding to this all of our content will be kid-friendly. A lot of media online focuses on the 18+ content, specifically VTubers since it recently exploded. However, talking with a few VTubers who do kid-friendly content we learned it is possible to utilize this technology for kid-friendly content. There is a market for it and having characters with cute and fun designs will make learning easier since it is fun and educational. After each episode, we plan on having a word of the day to teach new vocabulary to younger audiences, have printables such as word searches and crossword puzzles, and even life lessons in each episode. Life lessons are important and through media such as Super Sentai we learned how to incorporate that into our space adventures!
‘Geek Culture is not age-specific but people from all age groups are a part of this culture’. Your comments.
Katya: Safety online is key. We have run into many difficult situations before where people are not to be trusted online. What we always warn our audience about is to never share personal information and to contact our Moderators or Admins on our Discord server if they ever run into an issue. While geek culture is for all ages, people need to respect different age levels and understand that filtering out content for kids is very important.
Tatiana: There is no age range when it comes to loving geek culture. If you are an adult there should be no embarrassment in loving anime, comics, and video games. However, it is important to remember as an adult you should watch out for the younger audiences. If you are in a Discord Server or online group and see anyone being treated poorly or being exposed to media they should not be exposed to PLEASE report it to the head of the servers or groups. It is important to keep online and in-person spaces safe so everyone can continue loving this media together.
Tell us more about some other projects that your studio has produced.
Katya: We just launched our Creator Network/Agency “All Ages of Geek: Unite”. We champion creators all around the world and have launched a separate YouTube channel to help distribute their videos. Our first generation of hosts include:
– Ernie Kim: A Twitch streamer who focuses on Valorant gameplays.
– Alex Graystar: Hosts “The Mod Squad” which is a variety reaction show with All Ages of Geek’s Moderators.
– Gunner Clark: Creates reactions, gameplays, and news about League of Legends.
– Sean Velasquez: Focuses on Warhammer content like reactions, podcasts, and gameplays.
– Lars Van Breems: Dungeon Master of Dice Sesh and many DnD campaigns.
– Diovanny Santiago: A variety streamer focused around recreational gameplays and discussions.
We also have a WebToons comic inspired by Boys Love media like Given and many other shows produced under Blue Lynx.
Tatiana: Alongside All Ages of Geek: Unite and our plan for WebToons we also plan on launching a fiction section for our website. This will help newer writers get their work exposed. We will then guide each writer in the right direction, self-publishing, traditional publishing, and crowdfunding. We believe in sharing our knowledge with other creators to help them get their work out there. The Fiction section will be open to original stories, comics, and even poems! There will also be original works from the All Ages of Geek crew.
How excited are you guys about your upcoming studio ‘Stec Studio’?
Katya: We are thrilled and honored to be able to launch Stec Studio. The logo is inspired by our grandpa’s logo he used for his art. We wanted a way to honor him and carry out his memory with the many projects we have planned. Someone once wrote in his yearbook “Stick with Stec and you’ll have success”. We plan on carrying out those words by helping other creators reach their true potential all while publishing our own passion projects for the world to enjoy.
Tatiana: Stec Studio is something very personal to both of us. Being able to carry out the memory of our grandparents is something very important to us. Both of them were always looking out for others and Stec Studio is on the mission to champion creators around the world. We believe our grandparents would do the same.
