Asandir's interview with Newgrounds forum users

Interview No. 66

Interview By: @Asandir

Today, we have a special issue, because we will experience a role reversal, when The Interviewer gets interviewed for the very first time! To achieve this goal, all 4 members, namely @The-Great-One, @Ryanson, @NekoMika and @Atlas will answer the questions.

[ PART 1 | PART 2 ]

ANSWERS WILL BE POSTED BENEATH THE _A:_ DUE TO TWO PEOPLE BEING INTERVIEWED PERSON ANSWERING WILL BE NOTED AS SO.

Q: How did you find Newgrounds and why did you join?

A:

The-Great-One: I found this site around 2004. I was on a site called Video Game Director's Cut (VGDC) and one of their flashes "Rise of the Mushroom Kingdom" brought me to Newgrounds. From then I browsed the different areas and I wanted to do some reviewing, so I signed up in 2006 and I have been here since.

Ryanson: I actually came to Newgrounds, repeatedly, because of these DBZ dress-up games. Mmm, Bulma was my favorite -- if only because of the cheap cartoon nudity. You see, these "dress up" games were more popular than not for the fact that on the more mature ones you could dress your favorite characters down. This particular one had funny quotes when you clicked on her tummy, her nipples, or her vag... but that's neither here nor there.

Now I can only assume the rest of the story from here -- I joined because I eventually kept coming to Newgrounds more and more, and actually looking around at the games and movies and stuff. My interests at the time were limited then, but I kept coming and was pissed than as someone who didn't sign up, I couldn't vote. Finally, I had that I could stand and I couldn't stand any more -- I signed up. I assume the video that got me to sign up was an animated music video for the song "We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful" by Reel Big Fish. It was a collaboration, and focused on various video games. I say this because I remember this song was on the front page the day I signed up.

NekoMika: I was about a 13 and a couple of weeks old and I was at my dad's apartment (when he was still living in one anyways) and I kind of just got tired of playing and making crappy movies in windows movies maker using MS Paint and sound recorder. So I began to use the internet and just went to Yahoo chat rooms goofing off and just getting a good laugh from seeing what all people said in them.

However after a bit of that I decided to look up some Mario and Sonic flashes from that time and came across this and my dad thought it was hilarious anyways. Then I began to explore the site curious of what all it had and came across a few things I seemed to enjoy then such as the All Your Base meme and Animutations by the guy that would later do Lemon Demon, Potter Puppet Pals, and Brodyquest which I have enjoyed almost all of so far as well.

Then I decided to sign up so I could have some cool looking level icons and back then, my username didn't look to great either sadly. I like the way it is now though. It looks a whole lot better now than it did then.

Atlas: I found Newgrounds through my friend Eric who introduced me to Egoraptor and Oney animations on Youtube and then he told me about Newgrounds and all the animations there. I originally signed up with willywonkarocks1 as my username but then abandoned the account and started over with J-Rex.

Q: Newgrounds has good aspects, but also bad ones. Could you tell our readers one thing that you dislike about Newgrounds and another that you like the most?

A:

The-Great-One: It is hard to dislike something about Newgrounds, but some people of the community are either not good or just flat out stupid. I guess the one thing I like most about Newgrounds is the Flash and Audio Portals. I truly wish more people would visit both of those places especially the Audio Portal.

Ryanson: I dislike that there is less Ryanson.

NekoMIka: I don't really dislike too much about Newgrounds. If there is anything I really don't like is those cookie cutter accounts which seem to keep popping every week with new crap. Back in 2009 there was possibly only about 2 or 3 of them and no one though anything of them. Fast forward a couple of years and you see 6 of the 10 top contributors are cookie cutter accounts with most of their flash submissions having a score range from 1.6 to 3.4+ range strangely. That and instead of just 2 or 3 cookie cutter accounts there is about 35+ of them now sadly.

I like almost everything else about Newgrounds though, the Review Request Club, Audio Portal, forums, flash portal, and just almost all of the site in general. However if I had to choose one I enjoy the most I would either be saying the forums or audio portal. The forums because there is almost always some interesting topics on them even though some days they feel rather boring and nothing else sadly.

Then I would say audio portal mostly because I've been enjoying music since I was roughly 3 years old and playing Resident Evil, Twisted Metal, and Super Mario World and later just a couple of not too cruddy Sonic games. Not only that but almost every day there is a lot of new audio pieces coming through, some sound bad but most of them are pretty good.

Atlas: One of my favorites would have to be the art portal and one thing i dislike are some of the spammers that newgrounds has attracted but with success spammers aren't uncommon.

Q: TheInterviewer account was created on the 2nd of August, 2009. How did you get the idea to start making interviews?

A:

The-Great-One: I was an avid reader of the Newgrounds Mag, I loved reading the interviews done with other artists here on Newgrounds. When the Newgrounds Mag stopped, I thought why should these stop? They were done by regular Newgrounds members so I thought why couldn't I? I originally started The Interviewer in 2008, but it failed. I brought it back in 2009 and it has been running strong ever since.

Ryanson: I didn't make The Interviewer, but I can tell you how I was contacted to be a part of it. I was a fan of Songs To Wear Pants To and was like "Hey, do you want to do an interview for Newgrounds? You've got a fanbase there." He was excited for it. I like to think that, since he got a bit bigger since my interview, I helped him. But really I didn't.

Anyway, after the interview I got a PM from The-Great-One and he was like, "Hey nice interview, I do interviews, wanna join?" I was like "Hell yeah!"

NekoMika: I just wished to see what it would be like and thus I interviewed WritersBlock and then recently I did a second interview with FurryNG which turned out pretty good anyways. I mostly do it since it gives a break from reviewing and allows you to take a nice look at other users and what kind of life they come from.

Atlas: I first started by asking i fhe could do a poxpower and I-Mockery interview and then awhile after that I asked if I could try to interview TheSJProduction but then he didn't respond so I interviewed The-Great-One and thus starts my interviewer journey.

Q: Where do you stand as a member of The Interviewer? In other words what is your purpose and what do you think of it overall?

A:

The-Great-One: I am the chief editor and the one who controls the account. So overall I keep everything in control. I choose other people who want to join the ranks of Interviewers, I look over their lists, and then see where we go from there. I have posted more interviews than others, but I've been doing this longer.

Ryanson: I did a few good interviews, then I got distracted/lost inspiration. I'm mostly just a member in-name-only at the moment. I have ideas and will move from one to the next faster than lightning, and interviewing was one of them. My opinion matters in The Interviewer at least.

NekoMika: I stand as the one doing the least interviews since I tend to put trying to write good reviews above other things at times and thus I've only made two so far. I do have plans to interview more users soon as well though so I have that coming.

As for purpose, I would say it is to show users a back story to other people and let them make their own thoughts and conclusions of the user for themselves while trying to entertain them a bit I would suppose.

Atlas: I guess I would be in ranks the lowest since I've only done I think 2 interviews and. My purpose is interviewing since that's what the interviewer is all about.

Q: How do you decide, who gets interviewed? Is there some kind of debate with the 3 other members, or have you the freedom to freely interview users, who seem interesting enough?

A:

The-Great-One: I look over a person's profile from all their submissions, posts, and anything else I can find. If I find that there is something interesting about their works to discuss and find out more about then I send off a PM asking for permission. Once I get a response for confirmation I go through all their stuff again and begin asking questions.

Everybody is allowed to interview others at their own will. They get to pick. However I ask that they tell me who they intend on interviewing and to share their lists with other Interviewers. That way we don't have anybody crossing and possibly confusing the interviewees with multiple questions. There is a lot of freedoms here though, but I make sure that quality is never sacrificed.

Ryanson: The few I did, I was just like HMMM THEY'RE BIG, HOW ABOUT THEM? TGO thinks a lot of what his fellow interviewers think though, he asks us if he should interview whoever which is really cool.

NekoMika: How I decide who gets interviewed? Well I pretty much want to interview those who I would feel as being notable and possibly important to one part of the site or another. As for if there is a debate between the other 3? No there is not, we simply let The-Great-One know who we plan to be interviewing so no one will end up interviewing someone else being interviewed by another person on accident.

Atlas: Well i usually PM The-Great-One with a list of ideas/people interviewed and if he gives me the okay then i go on with the interview. I'm sad to say that I really haven't talked to SCTE3 and Ryanson.

Q: Did it every occur, that someone declined to get interviewed by you? If so, what were the reasons? Or was there ever an interview that didn't get released, despite being finished?

A:

The-Great-One: For me I have had some declines through group interviews with people either being too busy or not wishing to participate. SCTE3 never responded with The Review Request Club interview, Blaze-Heatnix turned down The Forum Regulars interview, and Sate was too busy for The Graffiti Crew interview.

One interview that never saw the light of day has been "Interview with 'The Room Tribute' Creators" there really wasn't a lot of substance there to really be a good interview so I scrapped it.

Ryanson: Oh it did. I've always wanted to interview Rina-chan. And I still call dibs on her, guys! I got her permission... but as successful as she was, I couldn't think of any GOOD questions anymore. So... yeah.

NekoMika: Well I've only interviewed two of them and neither declined. If I get declined in the future I may feel a bit down though seeing as they don't wish to be interviewed but will respect them and leave them be and let them do as they do on the site. If someone declines an interview I would feel it is for personal reasons, the fact they maybe just don't wish to or they don't maybe know who the interviewer is as all. Well I have an interview done at the moment but I am simply going to wait on it being put up, I am in no hurry at all. Just relaxing and enjoying the time fly by on this wonderful site.

Atlas: No one has every declined but some people have never answered the questions but I'm sure it's because they were busy working on other more important things. Well I originally interviewed Manly-Chicken but I asked bad questions and didn't ask enough as well so The-Great-One interviewed him and it went well.

Q: There are other users, like The Journalist, who concentrates on interviewing succesful flash creators, and lately Asandir, who interviews forum users. What do you think about them?

A:

The-Great-One: I got word of The Journalist from Ryanson. There was a thread where people were calling him a copycat. I spoke with him and we became affiliates. I like how he does his interviews and there have been any new ones since that thread, I think he has sadly died down. As for you Asandir, I really like your interviews with the different regular members on Newgrounds. It is interesting what they have to say.

Ryanson: The Journalist, while I've not read his stuff, seems an interesting idea. I think most people, myself included, thought he was a rip-off of The Interviewer. Turns out, both are now... collegues? Idk.

As for Asandir... hmph. Whatta punk.

NekoMika: Well I certainly have no issues with either of them. However should someone be interviewed by them I will look at the questions they have been asked so I know what I should try to avoid while interviewing the person myself. If they have already told how they found Newgrounds I would certainly want to avoid questions that would be pretty much a repeat of those questions as they interview would be a bit dull since it is the same questions and answers and I doubt anyone wants to read the same ones twice in a row. As for Asandir doing interviews, they look pretty nice anyways, decent, to the point and mostly forum users which is pretty cool anyways.

Atlas: Well I never really read The Journalist since I don't like the how the interviews are put on the page in that weird order. The forum users interviews are very fun to read and hope to see more interviews in the future.

Q: The 28th September 2011 was a very special day for The Interviewer, since your interviews got frontpaged. How was your reaction on that milestone?

A:

The-Great-One: Tom and I have been talking a lot about The Interviewer, but when he messaged me and told me about that it truly surprised me and made me happy. A lot of artists, animators, and musicians strive for the Front Page and find it an honor to be there. It makes me very happy to see that The Interviewer shares part of this.

Ryanson: I was like OMGOMGOMG then I remembered I haven't done an interview in a while.

NekoMika: I was actually pretty happy to see that have happened as it felt like a long time coming anyways. I guess any kind of exposure to those artists through interviews will be really good. Almost like NG Mag all over again except no pictures on the sides and that such. Then again the words tell more of a story on the user than the pictures would too.

Atlas: Well at first it was cool since it just said interviews but now it shows the most recent interviews and I really love it.

Q: Your very first released interview was held with Tom Fulp. Through the last years, you interviewed other famous people on Newgrounds, like Luis and Bahamut. How does it feel to stay in touch with them through those interviews, and did your view on them change, after you interviewed them?

A:

The-Great-One: My views on every person I have interviewed has changed. Because I got to know them a little bit more. That's one reason why I love doing this is because, not only am I learning so much about them, but I am passing on what they have taught me to others and I hope that my readers have learned just as much as I have.

Ryanson: Sometimes, sometimes not. It feels really weird, like for a bit I almost expect them not to change after the interview, so that the interview will always be relevant. But before you know it, they move on to their next project and you're like "Man... should have asked them that question. Oh well, maybe next time!"

NekoMika: Well it is nice since they give a thoughtful input and allow us to see how they live and such. After the interview is over the opinion will usually change depending on who you interview I think.

Atlas: Can't really answer about the one you named but interviewing Afro-Ninja kinda changed my perspective. I thought he went to college for a few years for programming but as the interview says he went to one class and learned it from there on.

[ PART 1 | PART 2 ]