Interview No. 26
Interview By: @The-Great-One
Today's guest is one artist who has been praised as well as shunned for his creations. He has gained fame for his series of Power Rangers parodies of Go, Go, Parody Rangers!. He has also been recognized for his works on Mario RPG: Rawest Forest, NiN10Doh!, and Brawl Taunts. He is @Kirbopher.
Q: How did you find Newgrounds and why did you join?
A: I started going there around 2002 and was obsessed with all of the older flashes from back in the day, DBZ in a nutshell, all of LegendaryFrog's stuff. The usual. Then I eventually made my own account.
Q: Your first flash submission Inuyasha in a nutshell, is a hilarious flash. How did you come about this bizarre idea, was it fun to make, and are you still proud of it to this day?
A: I started going to a computer learning center in the summer of 2004 and learned the basics of flash, then did a few little crappy flash movies as tests, most of which got blammed. Inuyasha was the first that went through, though truthfully because Egoraptor's nutshell stuff was really big at the time.
Q: TTA Episode 001 would be the start of a long series of flash movies from you. You've stated that it was a fanfiction you wrote a long time ago, how long ago was this and why did you write it? Tell us everything about this series.
A: I actually exaggerated that, it's not really a "fanfic" because it's not based on any sort of preexisting material. I came up with the concept of TvTome Adventures based on the first message board I ever went to and created a bunch of characters out of the members posting there with a story to go along with it. I continued onward for a few years and did 3 seasons (over 70 episodes) and a "movie".
Q: Go, Go, Parody Rangers!, is ironic enough, a parody. Where did the idea come from for making fun of the Power Rangers, and was it fun to make?
A: I had always loved Power Rangers as a kid and had tons of toys stored away from my younger years. I had gotten to know Egoraptor a bit more at the time thanks to my friend Nalem. I had seen some of his Power Ranger voice clips on Sheezyart and I got inspired by some of the jokes in there to do a parody. I drew up a bunch of characters, wrote a script and went for it!
Q: Go, Go, Parody Rangers! 2 and Go, Go, Parody Rangers! 3 would be the last two installments. The question is though, why the urge to make these two sequels. There was really no need for them so why do it?
A: I guess if you put it that way there's "no need" to do any sequel in existence, but I had plans for other material to cover. I knew if I had done a second one, it would be about the Green Ranger and then the third would cover the Power Rangers in Space stuff to some extent. I had a bunch of ideas for jokes and characters in my head so I went for it yet again. Also I usually enjoy when stuff carries on into subsequent installments.
Q: Mario RPG: Rawest Forest, puts lyrics to a video game song. However you stated the song was made by Martin Hagwell. Did you know that the original form of this song is on Newgrounds and entitled Geno's Forest || ROBOVoice. Overall why did you decide to animate Martin's song and if you had known about the previous would you have chosen that one. Whatever your answer, could you tell us why?
A: I had heard the original many times and thought it was cool, but then I had found the remix version from the site and got inspired to make a music video out of it. The original isn't very "musicy" in the sense that it's more of just a loop as opposed to the Rawest Forest remix is much more like a full-fledged piece of polished music.
Q: NiN10Doh! and $00pah NiN10Doh! are two collaborations that you would participate in. How did you come across these collabs and what was your experience in working with these artists?
A: I wrote all of the material for the first NiN10Doh! over the summer of 2007 and put it on the back-burner for a while. I thought it'd be fun to do some more Nintendo-themed stuff after doing the Mario video, so I decided on a skit-comedy styled flash. For some reason though, my drive to complete it wasn't nearly as strong as it was for my past projects, but I started to get to know a lot more animators and later decided to make it a collab instead, which I'm very glad I did. All of the people I worked with on both of the NiN10Doh! collabs are incredibly talented.
Q: Who is Rina-chan?
A: Kira, a good friend of mine from way back who's a great Voice Actress in her own right. I first worked with her on the previously mentioned TTA "Movie" casting her as a guest villain. Later, we got back into contact and became much closer friends, so I began to use her a lot more in my cast.
Q: Brawl Taunts, More Brawl Taunts, and One More Brawl Taunts. These three flash movies are all parodies of Super Smash Bros. Brawl. However there is something a bit deeper in all three and I'm sure there is a lot you can tell us about all three of these. What is the timeline for these three flash movies?
A: Kira/Rina-chan wrote the first one almost immediately after Brawl came out and originally wanted to do it as a Machinima. I usually audition for her stuff so I was cast as King Dedede and one of the SEGA nerds in it. She couldn't track down a machinimator at the time, so I offered to animate for her if she'd buy me a DVD of the first anime she ever did a professional job for. So in that sense, it was a commission, which I rarely do concerning animation. She wrote a second one and commissioned me again to animate it. The third one, however, I wasn't interested in doing. However, since Kira's the mastermind and creator behind it, I didn't have any right to keep her from doing something she wants to do, but she was still very considerate to ask me for my input. Eventually we came to a compromise and she decided to do it as a collab. My only demand in the production of was to do the intro sequence. Also I did the easter egg at the end.
Q: Brawl Funnies [Dick 1] and Brawl Funnies [Dick 2] are both flash movies made by a group of animators making fun of you, Rina-chan, and what you both created as well as poking fun at other things on Newgrounds as well. Where is your stance on these flash submissions?
A: For the most part, I'm not incredibly bothered by them. I know several of the people involved, and I know a lot of it is done in jest. Otherwise, when it gets down to it they're allowed to do whatever they feel like, so who am I to judge.
Q: You stated Go, Go, Parody Rangers! 3 was to be the last installment, but then we get ParodyRangersTheMovie 1-1. What can you tell us about the Parody Rangers Movie parts as a whole?
A: I had decided to do the Movie over the summer of 2007 and I got together with a bunch of friends to watch the original MMPR feature movie with Ivan Ooze as the villain. I wrote the script with a few other friends and then later started on it after Brawl Taunts 1 and 2 were out of the way.
Q: When it comes to working in a collaboration with other artists, what should the animator, musician, writer, or voice actor know before going into a collab and what should they know when they are a part of one? In other words what tips or advice do you have to give to them?
A: I tend to be picky and careful when choosing people to work with, but thankfully I've only VERY rarely had any issue with people I've collaborated with. The animators and actors I get involved do their job very well and I try to compromise and leave room for creativity, but at the same time try and maintain a consistency and overal vision so that the collabs aren't so disjointed. Tom Fulp had major compliments for how well it was put together, so I take a lot of pride for how they turned out and they wouldn't be anywhere near as amazing without everyone involved.
Q: What can we expect from Kirbopher in the future?
A: Hopefully lots of stuff! I've gotta music video I'm doing for LittleKuriboh, some schoolwork I may be posting on my NEO-C account, and Parody Rangers: The Movie - Part 3 when Summer starts. I've also got a secret project I'm doing that may be done in the next couple months, and then starting mid-Summer I'm working on my thesis for college. Keep watchin'!
I'm not really sure what to make of Kirbopher. He likes to make people laugh and enjoys what he does in terms of artwork and animation. He is given criticism based on laziness, but he also does a wonderful job of what he produces for us. I can't wait to see what Kirbopher has to offer us next.