Lord Buckethead was created by American filmmaker Todd Durham for the 1984 film Hyperspace (realeased as Gremloids in the UK), a parody of Star Wars. He was, as you may have guessed, the Darth Vader analog, with an evil overlord-style black cape, a big gun, and a large bucket -- actually, more like a segment of stovepipe -- for a head. But that's not important right now.

Lord Buckethead is also one of the fringe political candidates that form spontaneously in a healthy democracy. The first Lord Buckethead stood for government post in 1987, during the UK general election for Prime Minister. He ran against Margaret Thatcher, Neil Kinnock, and David Steel, among other, less politically relevant candidates. He represented the Gremloids Party, which tended towards investment in advanced technologies and a very strong, forward-looking government.

"Buckethead, who says he is an alien from a planet named Woops and who showed up at the registration office wearing what looked like a black garbage can over his head, is after big game. He is running against Thatcher herself, in her north London Finchley constituency, as the candidate of the Gremloids Party."

"If elected -- and if he isn't disqualified because he is from Woops and not Britain -- His Lordship pledges to replace Britain's nuclear weapons with 'Inter-Galactic Starfighters' and flatten the Midlands city of Birmingham to make way for an interstellar star base."

-- The British Election; NEWLN: Politics and strange bedfellows, Al Webb, United Press International.

Lord Buckethead received 131 votes. Thatcher, with 13,760,583 votes, beat him for the seat of Prime Minister, but he'd be back.

Specifically, he'd be back for the 1992 United Kingdom general election. Running again for Prime Minister -- Lord Buckhead isn't anyone's henchman -- he challenged John Major, Neil Kinnock, Paddy Ashdown, Screaming Lord Sutch. Once again, he was edged out, 14,093,007 to 107, in favor of John Major.

He returned again for the 2017 election, challenging Theresa May, Jeremy Corbyn, Nicola Sturgeon, and Howling Laud Hope; once again, he lost, 13,636,684 to 249.

However, his continued viability as a political candidate had drawn the attention of the powers that be, and in 2017 Todd Durham (remember him? He's a filmmaker) asserted that he owned the Lord Buckethead name and image. Previous iterations of Lord Buckethead had been backed by British video distributor Mike Lee; while this wasn't officially authorized by Durham, it was allowed to slide. After the 2017 loss, this laxity ended.

With permission of Durham, Lord Buckethead returned in 2019 to involve himself in the Brexit mess. He was pro holding a second Brexit Referendum, and following this stood in the 2019 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom, challenging noted putz Nigel Farage under the mantle of the Monster Raving Loony Party. The New Lord Buckethead was a bit different though... starting with the fact that he had mysteriously changed parties, he was also not running for Prime Minister, but instead as an MEP. Moreover, the Galactic Warlord had set up a gofundme page, which raised about £15,000. Something was off.

"'People should know it’s not the same person,' said comedian Jon Harvey, confirming for the first time that he was the man in the plastic mask during the 2017 general election. 'It’s being run by an American from Beverly Hills.'"

-- Double trouble: the fight to be the real Lord Buckethead, by Jim Waterson, The Gaurdian.

Jon Harvey switched his support to a new face on the political scene, the up-and-coming Count Binface. It remains to be seen if Lord Buckethead will return, and if he does, if he will maintain his previous levels of popular support. The scandal has hit the British political scene hard, and political punsters have been unwilling to speculate on the future of this once proud warlord. It is worth noting, perhaps, that this upset has not appeared to have harmed the reputation of the Monster Raving Loony Party, so perhaps there is hope yet.

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