Hi I'm Arin Hanson, creator of Egoraptor, host of Game Grumps, Winner of Dance Showdown Season 3. Oh dear guys AMA!

God you're sexy. How do you keep your hair so shiny and manageable?

Well, you know how everyday I palm your greasy head and act like you're 4 years old and I go "hey how you doin sport!?"

I use that.

You're so stupid. How do you keep your face so freaking stupid?

Whenever I look at your stupid face my face gets so stupid as a motor response it just stays like that, stupid.

Will there be more Sequelitis? The one on Mega Man blew my mind, as advertised.

[edit to make question introspective:]

And also, through what process is it possible to predict the audience enough to be able to manipulate them to the point of blowing their minds, and how does it feel to be able to do so?

Yes there will be many more! Next one is about Zelda!

I don't like to think of what I do as manipulation... that seems like such a harsh malicious concept, you know? I don't think I did much other than point out stuff that wasn't pointed out before... at least in a very digestible form, right?

I do think at least in the vein of what you're saying that it's important to kind of establish what you're going for right away, and kind of create expectations so that when big moments like when I'm explaining the Vile fight show up, they're more poignant. You know, you're mentally prepared with all the knowledge to have something happen to you emotionally. It's like a 3 act structure. You use Act 1 to introduce people and understand what's going on, so that the big gunfight in Act 3 is more than just a big gunfight.

I think what made the Mega Man X episode so well received that I can be responsible for is that I came at it from the get go with a point. The video was clearly about tutorials, right? Teaching the player through gameplay, and how you can use that to make the rest of the game better. The Castlevania Sequelitis was a lot more broad, and its appeal was less about what I was talking about and more about specifically Castlevania. You can watch the Mega Man X video having never played Mega Man X and still totally get everything I'm saying, but the Castlevania one before it is just kinda like, "yeah okay I've played these games, and that's cool I never thought of that."

But I certainly can't make something out of nothing... I need some substance to back up what I'm saying.

Alright Arin.

Boobs or Butts?

Look man a woman is many parts not the least of which is her uhm BRAIN jeez!!!! Get a life dude!!!!!!!

Butts though.

Here is an obvious one, ETA on next sequilitus :D?

Soon, SOON, SOOON!!!! I've been sidetracked by so many things but this year I'm working towards being the year of Sequelitis. Fuck Luigi, he got his own year. I've enlisted the help of the lovely Barry so this shit is going to rock.

Is Starbomb doing well enough that you guys are thinking about a tour, or at least one-off performances at events like PAX East? I'd absolutely LOVE to see you guys live! When could we expect to start hearing about such things?

Edit: Obligatory congrats on winning Dance Showdown =)

Starbomb will perform live somewhere. The where and when are still being worked out, but from the beginning it was a vision of the band to perform live. We all really want to, and if there's enough people who would want to come to our show, then why the hell wouldn't we?

Thanks for the congrats!

Hey Arin! Do you get annoyed when people constantly regurgitate quotes from your videos to you? I mean, after hearing "OH MY GOD METAL GEEAAARR" for the 600th time, I think it could get a little annoying.

It doesn't phase me anymore, I just take it as immense enthusiasm about my work, which is super appreciated. It's just weird when it becomes the whole conversation, like when people don't know what to say. I'm a human, I can listen to a couple words about where you grew up or if you like your job or not.

How was it working with Maxine on Dance Showdown? She seemed genuinely supportive and just an all around nice person. Are you planning any more collabs with her, like say guest grumps DDR?

Psh I would destroy Maxine at DDR I mean no offense to Maxine she's an amazing dancer and a super sweet person and you really couldn't find a more genuine cool chick if you tried, but she sucks at DDR I mean it's just the truth.

I really couldn't have done it without Maxine... I mean I didn't work with any of the other dancers, but the level of commitment Maxine had and the level of commitment she expected out of me was inspirational. I know it sounds silly talking about a dance competition on the internet, but when you're there and you're putting in the hours all day every day it starts to become real. I'm not solving world hunger or anything but that shit was hard, and the hardest part was not just saying "fuck it" because of how much work it was.

We worked together on a new Ninja Sex Party music video coming out very soon called Dragonslayer. In it I play a dancing dragon, and she choreographed the dance. We'll be doing another dance routine in the following NSP music video!!

You have an unlimited budget and a seasoned production team to make one season of a show, any show. What would you make?

I'd make a show about people who don't have super powers in a world full of people with super powers.

Have you heard of a game called Glover for the N64? I hear it's a great game!

No I don't think so no is it any good if it is please send it PO BOX Glendale 3090914840948

Is there a Girlchan in Paradise episode in the near future? Or is that out the window?

Love your stuff. Keep being awesome.

I've considered revisiting Girlchan in a different capacity so we'll see!

Hey man, thanks for stopping by I've been a fan of your work since a friend showed me the Awesome series on Newgrounds back around 2007. It's been really cool to watch you evolve over the years as an animator and a voice actor. My questions are:

1. What is your current favorite Game Grumps fan animation?

2. If you had to pick one of your animations to represent yourself as an animator, which would you choose and why?

Thanks dude.

1. My favorite GG animated is like choosing a child, or whatever they say. Seriously though I have so many favorites. Oddboy did one recently about ghandi that cracked me up. EsquireBob did the one about the annoying kid in Wind Waker.. there was one about one of my favorite bits with Dan pointing out that the light in a temple looked like a "W" for "Wind Waker." So many good ones.

2. Choosing an animation to represent myself... I dunno, I like Mr. Literal a lot because it's not tied to any existing IP that you'd need to be familiar with to get. But mostly I just point people at Pokeawesome because I've been in the room with people watching all of my cartoons (which is agonizing, by the way, don't recommend) and people laugh the hardest at Pokeawesome.

TBH I'm really proud of Lemon and Bill because they are a major triumph for me in terms of defining characters and improving.

Hey Arin, do you think that if you swapped your luscious locks for Danny's you would steal all of his magical songwriting power OR lose all of your magical voice acting power? Who has the dominant hair?

Would you trade said hair-based powers?

Look man Dan has the leg up because his luscious locks are 100% Jew genes. There is no shampoo or conditioner in his life, it is all from God. I on the other hand have to take incredible care of this shit and it still won't cooperate half the time. DAN WINS.

Hey Arin, how about buying a new couch with that Dance Showdown money?

Hahaha a new couch is coming very soon, but the Dance Showdown money is going toward paying my horrible horrible taxes and various charities!

How do you cope with being so great?

This question deserves a joke answer but I sat here and thought about it seriously for a second.

This question is the kind of hyperbole that affects me the most. I do what I can to be a pretty genuine dude, because that's what I would want from other people.

I was at MAGFest recently, and I had to pee during a panel, so I ran off and did it, and when I came back into the panel room I talked for a sec with one of the security guys at the door, and this guy standing next to him muttered something about being unfunny. I turned to him and I said "what?" And he said "I think you're unfunny. I mean, you seem like a nice guy, but I don't think you're funny at all." I was like, floored. No one, in person, had ever said that to me, right? I've heard it plenty of times on the internet, but to say it in person takes conviction, it takes a real dedication to your own opinions and your own morals. It takes confidence in who you are. I said to him basically that no one's ever said that to me before, and I sincerely thanked him for saying that to me, it must have taken a lot of courage to be so bold.

Later that weekend this guy runs up to me as I'm heading somewhere, and he's like "dude, I just wanted to say, my friend, he told you that you were unfunny the other day, right?" And i was like, "yeah! That was amazing, I can't believe he did that and it's been sticking with me this whole weekend. It's probably the best thing I've heard from anybody all weekend, honestly" and he was like "he's a really big fan, and he was just messing with you, and he thought you'd like play along, and he panicked when you though he was being serious, and he feels really bad about it." And I just had this moment where I was like... none of this is real. I can't believe that one thing I had... that one shred of sincerity that changed me is now gone.

That's not to say that when people are super excited to see me, they're not sincere. That's not it at all, but I hear it literally every day, and you know, you have to appreciate where it's coming from, you have to appreciate that you're affecting this person's life in an amazingly positive way, but if you get assaulted with compliments and unhealthy praise all day, you need to put up a barrier or else it'll change you.

But I've read plenty of stories where I've met someone who likes my stuff, they are super excited and friendly, and I return the favor, and then they post mean shit about meeting me online. I don't know. Sometimes I can't handle the insincerity of people, how we can be so afraid to say what we mean and be who we are because of... whatever... status quo, afraid to lose a connection, whatever. The fact that one guy told me he thought I was unfunny, to my face, without any aggression or malice... and that was WEIRD to me tells me something's wrong. I honestly don't know what it means, but it made me really sad to know this guy who criticized me, this one and only guy, was just joking.

Sincerity is a weird thing to express, especially when someone is trying to be critical of another's work. It's a lot easier for someone to express how they truly feel when it is about something they really support or love or when they are opposed to or just flat out dislike something else. When your feelings fall somewhere in that middle ground, it's hard to articulate your opinions or have any form of conviction.

I know quite a few people who are reviewers of various forms of media. Music, games, movies, etc. They are vastly different mediums, but each person has explained to me their struggles to find the motivation and the vocabulary to describe those middling pieces. Hell, even with the little bit of blog and review writing I've done myself in my spare time, I can see how frustrating it can be.

So what does this have to do with anything? Well, this story reminded me of the time I met you at PAX. Or at least, almost met you.

I watched your animations a lot in early high school and always loved each new short burst of weirdness and hilarity. Now, however, I'm most of the way through university and I'm finding a lot less time in my life to watch silly things on the internet. I think Sequelitis is pretty great, but don't quite understand the appeal of Game Grumps and haven't really been feeling your animations lately. Maybe I just don't put in the effort to appreciate what you do or maybe I Quote Unquote outgrew it (if that's possible) or maybe my tastes just changed. But while I respect and support what you do, I'm not really what you consider a "fan" of your work.

So when I found myself a few people behind you in line to buy an early copy of Wonderful 101 at PAX last September (the line right by that big Wind Waker boat), I didn't quite know how to react. The kid from almost a decade ago inside of me wanted to run up and meet you and ask for an autograph and be the super excited fan that I'm sure can get super annoying. The "adult" inside me, on the hand, just spent the past week going to talks about game development and networking with other game developers and he saw no point in even talking to you. What would I even say? "Hey, I loved your stuff back when I was in high school but I don't even try to keep up with your work today because I'm just not interested?" Yeah, because that's encouraging. That's a positive experience for both of us. And why would I get something signed? I have like four things in my whole life that I actually care about because they are signed (two of which, weirdly enough, I got signed that weekend. Because when else am I going to meet Inafune or Kamiya?).

So while that awkward internal struggle between teenage fanboyism and "adult" rational thinking continued, I noticed two things (at least, if I remember correctly). One was that you were with a friend (or maybe just a chatty fan). So even if I went over there to shake your hand or something, I wouldn't be adding anything to your life. The only thing I would accomplish would be to subtract time from you two talking.

The other was when, almost on cue, a quite excited and a lot younger fan came up to you. I don't remember if there was autographs or pictures or what, because I stopped paying attention. I just smiled and focused on something else. I realized that neither of us had anything to gain by talking to each other during that busy, hectic convention. I couldn't offer the enthusiasm and vibrant support that one kid could give you. I couldn't offer the comfort and subtle support you felt talking to your friend. And what would I get out of it? A handshake? A high five? A short story to tell that I didn't care about much myself? My life would, largely, continue on, unchanged.

tl;dr Instead of insincerely walking up to you at a busy convention and taking up your time, I decided to be truthful to myself and sincere towards you instead.

I can relate to your story without an doubt. And it's funny because, as you were describing what you'd say to me if you were being sincere, I was thinking, man I really would've loved to talk about that. That's a really interesting relationship with my work, and with anyone's work in general that I can relate to and talk about.

That's what I mean, really. I can't speak for anyone who's in a position where they are frequently approached by people who like their work, but at least for me, I'm interested in the things that make for good conversation. It's hard for me to have a conversation about how my work is so gosh dang good. But for someone to come up to me and say "I fell out of your work as I grew up..." that's super interesting. I would ask what about them changed, what about my work they feel changed, and I learn something about who they are, really. And I learn something about myself, too, because I can relate to that feeling.

Thanks for your reply. I wish you'd said hi, we would've had a great conversation I think.

Like, how loud are we talking on the snore scale? From lightly buzzing phone to literal apocalyptic meteor strike

I've never heard it myself, but Suzy says she can sleep through it now, which is nice but I feel so totally bad for her that she had to deal with it in the first place. I hate people who snore.

• When are we gonna see more Guest Grumps?

• Who's on the list for potential guests?

• How did it feel Duking off with Jon St John?

I very much want to do more Guest Grumps, but I want to see what I can do to play with the format. Grant Kirkhope was an amazing guest and he was perfect for what we do, but I'm afraid a lot of guest might not be as incredibly charismatic and we'd have to work with them in some other way. In any case, we're doing everything we can to work with amazing people in the future. I love collaborating with other people and it's something I want to do more of.

Is Grant Imahara a possibility for Team Train?

Grant Grumps

What are your favorite and least favorite parts of Game Grumps?

Also, congrats on tying the knot!

Favorite part of Grumps is that it inspires creativity in so many people. Entire communities exist of artists, musicians, animators, and writers who collaborate and create things based on or using assets from Game Grumps. You know, I spend so much time on animations, and I'm certainly intensely creatively satisfied with it, but none of it compares to the impact me sitting on a couch and talking over video games has on people. I wish it weren't that way, to be perfectly honest, because above all else I love to produce entertainment in a traditional way, but I can't help but feel humbled by the power to inspire it has. It's really silly and incredibly amazing.

The worst part about Grumps is how taxing it is physically and emotionally. Being at 11 all fucking day is ridiculously hard, and it hurts my throat in a way nothing has ever done before. I've taken vocal training since the inception of Game Grumps and it helps a lot but it's still amazing to realize how we just weren't built to be talking at a high volume and high level of energy all day.

How's your relationship with Bump n' Jump going?

Look man Bump n' Jump ran out on me. We were so close and just like that, she left. I tried so hard to be closer with her, you know, she had her problems, and we were doing it as a team, right? We supported each other. We both had off days but what was important is that we had each other. We were always communicating our problems, always learning new things about each other and lifting each other up when we were down. Whenever she would go to a dark place, I always did my best to get her to that High Score again.

But something inside her snapped, and all the bullshit she held back inside of her came out at once and she just ran away from it all without even wanting to discuss it, without even thinking how it would affect me, what kind of terrible place it would leave me in, and that's fine, you know, she can find other NES's to plug into and play, but my NES was the one that loved her the most, and understood her on a deep, personal level. My NES was the only NES she could trust... because even if that shit blinked a bunch, and alchohol and Q-tips didn't work, I would open that shit up and replace the connector for her, because that's what she meant to me. But it was too much for me to take when she finally walked out on me. And I harbor horrible feelings for her, you know, she really scorned me after all I did for her and thinking back she did a lot to hurt me when we were together... but those moments where I Bumped.. AND Jumped.... those were some of the best moments of my life, and I'll never forget them.

It's sitting on my shelf I played it maybe twice.

Egoraptor, I love your work. Your animated works and your Game Grumps channel continues to entertain me, time after time. I'm loving the Katamari series. I was wondering, are there any projects you are working on that you would like to reveal to your fans? Thanks!

Hmm... I'm writing a thing, like a long-form thing. I dunno if it'll ever exist or when it'll exist but I'm intensely proud of it and it's only in its early stages.

It's always been my dream to create something long-form with a story and characters and what not, and I've had plenty of opportunities to do so, but I just always thought I wasn't ready to put anything I write out there to the world. I just want it to be amazing. And that's not the attitude I preach, you know, I'm all about JUST DO IT and GET IT OUT THERE and I absolutely believe in that, but I'm in a unique position where I've been openly critical of entertainment for years and to put out something subpar would be a huge stab to my credibility and just to my ego. It's hard not to let that kind of feedback get to you. I just want to make something I'm really really proud of before I show people on a massive scale, so I can just brush it all off when nobody likes it, instead of having the feedback turn me into a crazy hermit person that never writes or creates anything he likes anymore.

Arin, when you look deep inside yourself what colour is your soul? Also, why is it pink?

Yeah it's pink and because I love pink I mean I dunno, it's such a bright happy color. What horrible shit happens to you where pink is associated with it?

Hey, Arin! I first started watching Game Grumps when I was a Cast Member in MK (Casey's Corner!), and I always wondered where you worked when you were there! Any favorite/worst stories from when you were there?

Much love!

For those who aren't psychotic Disney buffs (I use that term endearingly, I am one) he means Magic Kingdom, Casey's Corner being a hot dog place on the corner of where Main Street meets the Castle Courtyard.

I worked at Disney MGM Studios for a year or so before it was changed to Disney's Hollywood studios. I worked the Backlot Tour, which used to be a fun ride where you'd learn about making movies, but now it's a boring slog that people would whine about if they tore down. I was a guide for the latter.

Basically everybody hated me there. There was a very intense clique of people working the ride, and I'm already a very introverted anti-social guy. They never invited me to hang out or anything, and even the people I connected to didn't seem to like me very much. Maybe I'm not giving them enough credit and I was just a lazy douche, but I always do every job I have with every ounce of my being.

In any case, I hated the job, and on the day I quit instead of doing the scripted tour, I just talked about Kenny Loggins the whole time.

Are there any jokes that you’ve cut from your animations, because you thought they wouldn’t get a good reaction (not funny enough, whatever)?

Also, thanks for being an inspiration and for being an awesome and genuine person. I’m a fan of all your work and look forward to everything you have planned for the future.

Not from any existing stuff, it's mostly entire cartoons that just don't come out because the jokes are too crude or obnoxious or only I'd find funny because it's an inside joke. I mean, I don't like to censor myself but you kind of have to when your entire livelihood is on the line. You look at that Duck Dynasty shit and it's like... yeah I guess when you put yourself out there you kind of have a responsibility to not be a racist fascist D-bag because there are much much less harsh things I've said that were taken way out of context.

If it were up to me I'd say whatever the fuck I want, and I think I take it pretty far sometimes, but everyone jokes about horrible things with our friends that we would never tape ourselves saying. It's just how people are wired or something?

What other Sequelitis' (Sequeli?) are in the works? Also, when is Sonic and the Black Knight coming to Game Grumps?

Right now the next Sequelitis is about Zelda. It's mostly about Link to the Past and Ocarina but there's a broader message about all Zeldas.

I have a lot of Sequelitis episodes I want to explore, but I don't know if any of them are as good as I'm hoping they are. Some are like, Metal Gear Solid, Mario games, Resident Evil...

Oh and Sonic and the Black Knight.. I think after Wind Waker we'll do that piece of garbage.

Hey Arin! I wanted to know if there were any games in your childhood that defined your taste in future video games or made a huge impact in your life? Keep doing your thing and us fans will always support you!

Mega Man was a major major MAJOR influence on me growing up in my early teens. Art, music, gameplay mechanics... all the shit I like can be rooted back to Mega Man. Even now my intense love for Tezuka probably comes from being predisposed to like it since Mega Man is based on Astro Boy. It's my jam through and through.

I think my love of Space Channel 5 also gave me a broader outlook on feminism and heroines... I remember a marked difference in how I viewed women after playing it.

Hey Arin,

You mentioned you were going to give a lot of the money you won on Dance Showdown to charity, do you have one in mind?

Yes! So after deliberating on it I've decided to donate to St Jude, the Philippine typhoon relief, and my mother's charity, Healing Horse Therapy Center. It's hard to decide on that kind of stuff because there are so many valuable ones, but I am constantly diversifying who I donate to.

Heya. What's your favourite anime? :3

luvu

Gosh I dunno... it's been so long since I've really sunk my teeth into anime.

Hikaru no Go was a really big deal to me the years and years ago I watched it. It affected a lot of how I think about story and it left a really big impression on me, if only on a purely nostalgic level.

I dunno, anime is weird because I value great complex story but anime has a way of doing over-indulgence that feels so good. For example, I really like this anime from the late 2000s called Airmaster, which is just this pandering, over-clichéd mess, but it's so much fun and I love to watch it.

To be perfectly honest I've been reading a lot of manga lately, which I find more satisfying because it feels a little more expressive and it wastes a lot less time. I am a huge fan of Osamu Tezuka and I'm working through his entire library of work that has been officially translated. Black Jack is absolutely my favorite manga series of all time.

Hey man, thanks for doing this.

Metal Gear Solid clearly has a special place in your heart, as I imagine it does in all of us. Do you ever plan on toying with MGS parodies/tributes again?

Huge congrats on your success, dude.

I've considered following up and doing a Metal Gear Awesome 3. You know, from the beginning it was planned to be this kind of grand series that ends up going through the whole game, but it's been a while since I've played MGS, and I have a vastly different sense of humor now. I feel like unless I get an incredible urge to make a 3rd one again, it would just be pandering and insincere. I would try to mimick what it used to be and not embrace what it can be now that I've changed, and if I did embrace a new sense of humor, a lot of people would be critical of it and it just wouldn't be satisfying for anyone. The possibility is always open to me but right now I have no plans.

Although I've considered talking about Metal Gear Solid in Sequelitis, so that's still a possibility.

Had you ever thought about making cartoons with your original Egoraptor character?

Yes, but that's an old design. In the past couple years I've just considered him this design-only character though... just a representation and he doesn't really do anything, but I did have a concept a long time ago about him being a little kid who helps this dude through his marital problems.

Hey Arin, Just wanted to say I am a huge fan of your work, love Game Grumps, and everything you do. I just want to ask, what can we expect from Game Grumps in the near future, anything new?

Edit: Also, will you ver play Majora's mask on GG?

Lots of new, exciting stuff!! I really want to make fun shit that I like to make and is fun to watch my top priority. From the beginning I've wanted to make a place where a lot of people can come and show off their weird and quality shit. And I'm hoping game Grumps can become that.

You've worked on so many projects in the past year, from your appearance on Dance Showdown to Starbomb, what are you most proud of?

To be completely honest I'm most proud of Game Grumps. Creating something that people like is one thing, but creating a community of people, not just the fans, but the people who make Game Grumps, is very gratifying. It had always been a vision of mine to get a bunch of people together so they can be creative, and feed off of each other's energy, and Game Grumps is steadily becoming that. I know right now it just seems like a show where we talk over video games, but we are planning much more. And even from the perspective of it being a show where we talk over video games... I was able to give jobs to these people I respect. We're all artists, you know, and to do something non-creative all day for shit pay is just really discouraging. What we do is fun and creatively satisfying. I mean, we get to hang out with friends all day. What we do is strangely taxing and challenging, but it's also incredibly rewarding.

I feel like I've grown up a lot over the years, and I've started to see the value in providing for people, and helping people follow their own dreams and meet their own goals, instead of just mine. Right now I make the least money I've ever made since starting my career as a Youtube content creator because I've hired a staff to help out, and I couldn't be happier. Friendship and collaboration is so much more satisfying than money and recognition.

Do you feel animating takes away from your free time, or that animating itself is your free time?

Haha well animating hasn't been much of my life as of late, although that'll drastically change in 2014.

The way animation works is that you have to be incredibly dedicated to it, so it's a thing you have to want, right? Like, you go to a job because you have to, and even if you really fucking love your job, you still come home and watch a shitty movie and browse Reddit. But when you choose to animate something, it's your life until it's done. So you do spend a lot of days just waking up, animating, going to bed. It feels good a lot of the time, but you do get burned out, but you'd get burned out doing anything, even if it's super fun. It just depends, you know? You'll have a super busy day where you have to go to the bank and meet with some people and take care of this and go and do that, and you come home and all you wanna do is animate. But there are also days where you wake up, get right to animating, and then when it's nighttime and you've been drawing for 10 hours you just wanna unwind and play a video game.

Then there are times where, you know, you work really hard on this animation you have to make for whatever reason, and after working on it all day, you just open up a new FLA and make something else and it just feels different because it's just something you wanna do instead of something you have to do. It's all that Nicomachean Ethics bullshit Aristotle talked about.

Is the release of Link Between Worlds going to have any effect on your Zelda Sequalitus? Also how is progress coming along with that? Keep up the great animation work.

Yes, absolutely. Link Between Worlds completely threw me for a loop, in a good way! It will absolutely be mentioned in my new Sequelitis.

Hey Arin!

I have two questions for you:

• How's your hand after all those Starbomb autographs?

• Do you think you'll be doing any melodic singing on the next album?

I would love to sing on the new Starbomb album but I'm just not good enough yet. I'll probably take me years before I have the confidence to sing anywhere else but the car and a Karaoke room.

The signing was fucking brutal. You see numbers all day.. you know like.. 100,000 views, 16,000 Likes, shit like that, but to actually see that number as a thing right in front of it... it's powerful shit. 10,000 albums we had to sign. And honestly, as an animator, my writing arm is a tank... the biggest pain came from my left arm, just picking up and moving CDs in front of me to sign. I still hurt from it.

Hi Arin! You're a big inspiration to all us animators. Here's my question:

Is your married life any different from your engaged life?

Married life is actually better, because nothing is looming. Now we have all these little joys and little problems that are easily dealt with. I dunno, all that shit about married life making you miserable just seems like a bunch of people in unhappy marriages, right? Like, it's not marriage itself, just that maybe a lot of people get pulled or pressured into marriage when they don't want it. It's not for everybody. I mean, I've lived with my fiancee for 4 years now, and to be perfectly honest, it was hard at first and then just keeps getting better. If you respect someone and really love them, the little frustrations are just challenges to overcome and connect better. You care about the other person so helping each other overcome shit is just something you naturally want. There was no "honeymoon period." It was never AMAZING ALLL THE TIME, but it's always worth it. It is a very structured, consistent satisfaction. It's very nice. But if you're not ready for it, DO NOT FUCKING DO IT.

How do you deal with being stuck creatively?

I'm a writer and it's like... I either have no motivation to write but a lot of ideas, or I'm motivated to write something but then I have no ideas. It's really starting to bum me out that I can't kick my ass into doing shit. I know every artist/creative person gets stuck with no ideas/motivation eventually, so what do you recommend doing? Is it just because it's your job that you keep trucking? How can I get excited and not discouraged about creating something again?

Thanks for meeting me at MAGFest btw.

Hey man we all get there.

For me, it's all about what inspires me. I indulge a little bit in something I really really absolutely love and I just wanna do something great afterwards.

Creativity is like a river, it flows on its own, you just have to change the landscape around it to make it flow better, right? You can't force creativity, but you can put yourself in situations that promote creativity. A nice room that comforts you, some music, mac and cheese, who knows what it is for you.

A lot of what is limiting you is your own personal problems, the things you're thinking about constantly that keep you from broadening your mind. Start taking a journal. Write every morning as soon as you wake up what you're thinking of, and just really fucking let it come out. Cry if you have to, just don't hold back, be brutally honest with the world, because fuck who's going to see it. It'll take a couple days but once you've gotten all that gunk out that's been holding you back, you'll feel liberated to think about new things. It's not even just figuring anything out, it's just getting the stuff that can't be figured out out of your system. There's plenty of emotional stuff in life that is just a matter of outlook. If you're in a different state of mind you can put it behind you, right? This big problem that constantly plagues you seems like a huge deal now, but is it really that big of a problem? You just need to get it out of your head.

In a lot of ways routine helps, too. You know, creating is like a muscle, you have to keep doing it or else you kind of forget how. Same goes for the skills... playing an instrument, drawing, writing... it's all stuff that needs to remain fresh in your mind, because your brain doesn't care what it needs to forget in order to keep on living as you get older, it'll forget shit you care about. It'll forget it fucking tomorrow. Just keep doing it, man.

Damn, thanks dude. I definitely see what you're saying with the landscape thing. I feel like where I'm stuck mentally has a lot to do with where I'm stuck physically. I've really gotten into these mundane day-to-day routines where I barely break the norm with my habits, and I really think that's contributing to what's hindering me, and breaking said habits is not only tough, but kind of scary as well. This spring, I'm going to London via a short spring break study abroad trip via my college, and I'm hoping that helps some. It's both an exciting prospect, but also a frightening one. In the end, I hope it's if nothing else liberating.

I've thought a lot about the daily just writing whatever side of things. Really need to start that just to get good habits, not shitty ones that lead nowhere. Hearing that from you is all the more motivation for me to get into gear.

Thanks for giving such a thoughtful response. It really means a lot, and I'm sure you hear this tons, but you are a big inspiration to me and thousands of other people. I feel like I want to print it out and pin it to my wall as a reminder haha. Just.. thanks, Arin. Keep doing everything you do.

I hope you figure things out, and I wish you the best of luck, man.

Ayo Arin! Nice to see you doing another AMA, your lovelies really appreciate it! <3 I got a couple of questions.

1. I know this might be a lil too personal, so you're not obligated to answer it, but how did you and Suzy meet?

2. Of all the games you have ever played on Game Grumps/Steam Train, which one did you have the most fun with?

Thanks!

Suzy and I met ages and ages ago over 10 years ago, at an anime convention. Young love.

Jackal was my number 1 favorite Grumps experience hands down. It was just, fucking, pure joy the whole way through. I love it.

Arin, first off I have to say I'm a huge fan. I remember watching your 'Awesome'-videos with my friends back in the day and we laughed our asses off. It's what inspired me to make animations on my own, which hopefully can turn into a career like it did for you.

Anyways, if animating didn't turn out successful, what do you think you would be doing otherwise as a job?

Thanks for all the kindness dude!

This is a great question... I moved out to California from Florida in order to pursue work as a voice actor, but during the move I immediately found work as an artist/animator, which carried me into finding out that Youtube can be profitable. So, I didn't really have a choice, I was kind of carried into it. I don't want to give the wrong impression, I love to do it, and it is probably my favorite thing, but I love voice acting, and I was very dedicated to getting that right.

I was very scared to pursue voice acting professionally, because the industry scared the hell out of me (it still does to be honest), but I was constantly working on it and practicing. It's a little slower now since I don't have much to practice on, but moving forward I actually intend to make voice acting for work other than mine a big priority moving forward. I enjoy more than most things the ability to help people make their dreams a reality, and I have a unique skillset that allows me to do it.

It's funny when people ask questions like this I get all introspective and search deep inside myself... because when it comes down to it, money is a way to pay for my house and my electricity bill and buy food, you know? People get so worked up for money... I mean I know how it feels, I certainly did earlier in my life, but I've found that doing things passionately creates the best work. I enjoy challenging myself, so when someone asks for my help and I genuinely want to help them, I just do it. People offer me money and stuff but it's like... dude you're not a huge conglomerate. I dunno, I feel like an asshole taking money for something I'm having a great time doing, you know? It's one thing to want to grow a company to provide for your employees and be able to expand so you can make new types of things creatively... but it's another thing to like, charge for the stuff you're doing anyway? I guess it just depends on what position you're in. If you're starving and can't pay rent it makes sense, but even when I was in that position I felt like a son of a bitch asking for a couple hundred bucks to yell into a microphone for 30 minutes.

What the fuck am I even talking about, you asked me a simple question and I gave you a livejournal post.

Hey Arin,

In your Castlevania Sequelitis, you kind of passed off Castlevania 3 on NES as just kind of not really existing ("Whatever the fuck came between the second and fourth one").

After playing through it with Jon on GG, what is your opinion of it now? It's my favorite of the series and I'm curious to see what you think of it.

I do really like it! I only made that joke because I'd never played it at that point and it wasn't relevant to the point I was making.

Do you still do pixel art? Any interest in it?

I thught I answered this one... Maybe I did and it's similar to another one, I DUNNO

I love pixel art. It's very relaxing, but I haven't done it in a while. I want to. It's a lot like sculpting I think, it's passive creativity instead of active. I don't have to put a whole lot of effort into making something from nothing, I can put something down and then start altering it until it's good.

Hi Arin, thanks for taking the time do this.

What was it like doing Dance Showdown? Was it out of your comfort zone, and if so how did you adapt to that situation?

It was definitely out of my comfort zone but I immediately had a great time. I like giving something my all, you know? Just devoting myself fully to something. It feels fucking great. Even though the show was an insane amount of work both physically and mentally, it felt like a vacation. I got to spend a week doing one thing and one thing only. I eat, breathed, and slept this show when we did it.

Adapting to it was easy. I just had to shut out all preconceived notions I had. That's the thing. I knew The Tester was a drama-fest and didn't really mean anything, but Dance Showdown was a competition, and even though it's a reality show, it was still about the performance, and about the challenge, and I like that. I immediately cling to challenge. I love it.

Hey Arin, I don’t really have a question. I just wanted to say I’m really looking forward to your next Sequelitis, and thanks for entertaining us every day.

Thanks dude. I'm really looking forward to making more stuff, and I really hope you enjoy it. You seem cool.

Hi Arin! I've always been interested in your views in games, so I was wondering what you think about the last Zelda game on 3DS? Did you find it as revolutionary as people say it is, or did it not do it for you?

In my next Sequelitis I will go into more detail, but I can tell you that I absolutely adored it. It was insanely fun and I think somebody somewhere in Nintendo totally fucking gets it. It was the first Zelda game since Link to the Past that felt like a fucking adventure that was YOURS to have and you weren't at the game's mercy every step of the way. And outside of that realm, I thought the wall merging mechanic was incredibly designed. When it was announced, it sounded gimmicky and stupid, but when you play, it feels as essential as jumping does in a platformer. It felt purposeful. It was just designed beautifully and with incredible wit. Can't recommend it enough.

Hey Arin, thanks for taking the time to do this. Have you ever seen yourself in Video Game Character Wrestling/VGCW? Any thoughts on it if you have? Thanks!

That shit makes me laugh and smile so hard. I love that kind of stuff... just super fun and I'm flattered to be a part of stuff like that!

What is your favorite Ninja Sex Party song, and why?

Hmmmm.... I think it's probably Unicorn Wizard or FYI I Wanna F your A. I just think they're fun and catchy. I do get Party of 3 stuck in my head a LOT but it's probably because I heard it over and over while we were shooting it.

Hi Arin!

Who would you say is your biggest inspiration in ANYTHING you do? Anybody you could say is the reason you became the person you are today?

I think Bruce Lee was probably the biggest influence just in terms of motivation. I learned a lot about dedication from learning about him, and I wouldn't have finished anything or devoted myself to anything if it weren't for him. Dude was a fucking legend, and I can tell he means a lot to me when people talk him down and I get all defensive and upset.

Do you have any plans to visit the UK for convention appearances?

I don't have any plans but I always keep an open mind, especially about travel!

As everyone else says, I am a HUGE fan of your work.

I've got one simple question. Around how long did it take to perfect your art style before you did "Metal Gear Awesome?" It's fantastic to see how your style has evolved beyond that animation, and I was wondering if MGA was just how you drew, or if you had to practice nonstop.

Thanks!

I was an illustrator way way before Metal Gear Awesome. My still art was at a much higher caliber than Metal Gear Awesome. In a way the bad drawings were part of the joke. But it did open my eyes to drawing something quickly. I always spent so much time on each drawing, and having to draw something fast and dirty and get on with it, because each drawing is going to take up 1/12 of a second was a big realization.

Hey Arin! When you create the animation series of 'Metal Gear Awesome' and suddenly it went rising on Newgrounds, what were your thoughts about this?

(curious me of your animation history!)

I was really floored, and I felt like I had finally accomplished something. I was a bit weirded out that it was this thing I spent like, 3 days tops on, but I felt like my style of comedy was there, and it was really gratifying to see these people who I really respect say that I had a unique sense of humor that they'd never seen before.

So, I keep hearing you and Danny talking a lot of pro-wrestling on Game Grumps. Are you guys into that right now or is that mostly nostalgia from the Hulkamania era?

I actually mostly only like Macho Man. Dan was more into Pro Wrestling than I ever was.