IamA Rikki Simons and Tavisha (Rikkitikki Tavicat)!

Rikki: Hey! We just hit 100% on our Kickstarter! This is good. It is nice.

How do you feel about IceFrog completely gutting you as a hero?

What are you talking about? I googled around and couldn't find anything about IceFrog and either Rikki or Tavi.

Tavi:Maybe it is a message from another multiverse? XD

What's been your favorite and least favorite things to work on?

Is there anything either of you wish you could go do again for old times sake?

Huge fan, thanks for making my middle and high school years something manageable with things I could bond with other people with!

Tavi: My favorite things to work on is our own comics. One project I want to go back to and continue is ShutterBox. We have finished vol. 1-5 , but still have vol.6 in only script form.

PLEASSSEEE Come out with more shutterbox! I need to know what happened to Megan and what goes on out in the fields and the brothers!

I got all of them for Christmas years ago and was so sad when I found out there were no more.

Rikki: Thank you! I have it plotted out. We just have to sit down to do it.

Thanks~! We really are planning on more SB. I update artwork and trying to nudge the muses more. XD I have a ShutterBox group on Face Book where I post updates and artwork.

Can we expect to see it soon or are there a lot of other projects that have changed the current to do list?

Tavi: I think with all the current projects happening, it won't be for another year before we can work on it. We do want to focus in getting the finished SB volumes back into paper print. Right now all TokyoPop copies are out of print. We have SB only available in PDF format.

Ahh. Well I look forward to it, along with everything else, and I will be checking out the kick starter once I get home. Thank you for answering my questions and all your hard work. =)

You're welcome. I have a FaceBook ShutterBox group where I'll upload and update any SB artwork and information at. Just ask to join if you haven't already. Thanks so much~!

Rikki: I always love working on personal work the most. Writing, VO, and drawing is all I ever want to do. It's the isolation I love. Even voice over feels more isolated than on camera filming. Absurdist fiction like Hitchhiker Guide, Discworld, and Monty Python are my favorite kinds of fiction. That's one of the reasons why I loved having been Involved with Invader ZIM. I didn't enjoy working on the Jackie Chan Adventures. It was cold and corporate and the wrong kind of isolation.

Rikki, Tavi, what should I be listening to right now? Give a girl some musical suggestions? (ㆁᴗㆁ✿)

Rikki: There's so much stuff. So much of it is good. I mostly listen to stuff like Fleet Foxes and First Aid Kit and Sigur Ros, things that are totally fuzzed out or acoustic.

Wow you just listed three of my biggest influences in music. My band does a similar thing but with cello and violin, it's called Morning Bear.

http://morningbear.bandcamp.com/album/take-flight

Apologies for the shameless self-promotion, but those are three of my favorite artists! I felt compelled to share.

Rikki: No, you're great! I'm listening to it right now. Really gorgeous stuff!

Rikki: Awesome! I will totally check that out!

Last Shadow Puppets is one of my favorites.

Sigur ros is best band. What's your favorite of their albums?

Rikki: I love Tak the most but I'm also a huge fan of Jonsi's personal music and the music he does with his boyfriend, Alex. He's experimental and orchestral in that same way I enjoy M83 and God Speed You Black Emperor.

Wow, thanks for reminding me of a childhood video I used to watch at my grandmothers!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzGiZzfZjZc

Tavi: This is one of my all-time favorites too~! =^..=

Rikki, you're obviously a great artist and most of your work has been with the art. How did you end up doing voice work, too, with Invader Zim? Was it fun?

Rikki: I was working on Reality Check with Tavi in 1995 when I met Jhonen Vasquez at Alternative Press Expo. We became friends and at the same time I was doing background acting in movies (I remember being in Airheads). In 1997 Jhonen liked the color work I did on Reality Check and asked if I would work on the color for his new show he was pitching to Nickelodeon (ZIM). I said yes, I love money! In 1998 I was living with him for a month, waiting for ZIM to start up, and working on his comic called I Feel Sick when he was looking for a voice for GIR. I asked him if I could audition and he said, "I guess you couldn't screw it up anymore than anyone else." And he gave me an audition. I got the part and then that happened a whole lot. It was amazing. Best experience of my life outside holding a Koala in Australia.

Well, holding koalas is a really hard experience to top. THEY'RE SO SOFT

SOOOOO SOFT.

Tavi: Yay~! I'm here toooooo~~~ =^..=

We are here! Yay!

Just got to say, having a great time reading the questions and answers and learning about you guys (fascinating) but also I love your enthusiasm!

Rikki: I am a slow typer, thank you for your patience!

Yay! I've been considering a GIR tattoo for a long time. What should I get?

Rikki: Something you don't mind looking at for a LOOOOOONG time.

I'm so happy the kickstarter has almost reached its goal! :D Can't wait to get my copy ;)

Is Hitherto a Lion only available as an ebook or can I buy a physical copy somewhere? :)

Rikki: I got a ukulele for Christmas! What do you most enjoy playing on yours and how did you get started learning? (I have already learned some of the main chords and am just practicing, I've never played the ukulele before but I love it).

Rikki: Hitherto a Lion is only available as an eBook right now, but if the Reality Check! Kickstarter does well we plan on doing an illustrated paperback of Lion too. I mostly record my own music with my ukulele and I like to use a lot of distortion, sort of like post uke fuzz dream pop I suppose. Here's some of the stuff I do with it: http://www.tavicat.com/music/

Have you ever heard of Nirvana The Band The Show?

Rikki: They are a sketch comedy group?

It was a web series that was filmed sort of like a mockumentary. It's a very fast paced show, with a lot of pop culture references. If you like stuff like that? I'd highly recommend it.

I am going to google them! That sounds awesomes.

For the voice of Gir, about how much caffeine are you on each recording?

Rikki: A bit too much. I drink decaf now so I won't be made dead.

Rikki: Can you describe the process of developing Gir's voice in the studio? When did the effects get introduced to the track? Did they have the Gir effects ready when you came in, or were they developed with you there, or after you left? Any other info about how the effects and your voice over experience would be appreciated.

Rikki: There weren't many effects. The voice was just pitched up a little and a tinny robot reverb was added. Some people mistakenly believe that GIR was auto-tuned and enormously post-processed. But that is not the case. I worked with Jhonen Vasquez to develop what he wanted from his creation, which involved a good deal focusing the quality of the performance on certain inflections and dips in cadence. That's all me. But it's somewhat my fault that people believe it to be so effected, because I used to joke about it from time to time, and because I am uncomfortable to fame and public exposure, so I have a habit of downplaying my role.

Did you see the new Star Wars film? Thoughts?

Tavi: We absolutely went to see it~! I enjoyed it, but I'm very biased when it comes to the original Star Wars trilogy.
I have a special fond memory of the original Star Wars. My childhood friend went to the same private school as Melissa Kurtz, Gary Kurtz's daughter. Harrison Ford's teenage sons also attended it. In 1976, the school ended up doing a benefit screening and dinner to raise funds to finish the edits on the first Star Wars film. I was fortunate enough to be invited to go with my friend. I attended class the day Anthony Daniels ( C3PO ) came to talk the movie up to the kids and then we were bused to 20th Century Studio lot to view the unfinished film. I got to see the original footage of Biggs with Luke and lost pieces of film like when Luke watched the glint in his binoculars of the pod falling, and Jabba was a human, etc... Melissa Kurtz was wearing the actual Princess Lea boots used on the film. After the movie there was a Q & A with Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, and my friend and I were too young and shy to ask anything. ( pt1 to continue... )

:Tavi: ( pt 2 ) Then after, we were taken to Gary Kurtz's home where I glanced into a main living room with rows of dinner tables set up for the benefit and a beautiful portrait of Gary and his family hung up. We were served cornish hens, and all us kids were in one section and all the adults were in the main dinning room with Gary , etc. So, I ate dinner in the same room as Mellisa, and Harrison Ford's teenage sons, Ben and Willard. ( Yes, they're named after the Rat B movies ) That's my Star Wars story...The year later in 1977 when it was released, I was very disappointed that all the parts of Biggs were cut, because when he died, you see Luke react, but unless you saw the uncut version you didn't care who Biggs was. But, I cared. I still care that Biggs died. XD

Rikki: I liked it! The first half especially. The second half feels a bit like a Disney Star Wars dark ride, but otherwise I thought it was wonderful. Tavisha has a FANTASTIC Star Wars story. She gonna tell it now.

Who are some of your favorite comedians?

Rikki: I really like Emo Phillips.

One day I went to see Emo Phillips, front row center at the Acme Comedy Club in Minneapolis, while I was in a bit of a rut. Really Depressed, unemployed, single. I was kind of zoning out while listening because he was testing his material to see how far he could go so he took an interest in me. He said one of the greatest things ever to me, out of character while on the stage. (after busting my anxiety ridden balls for a minute or two)

He said, "Just remember, Every day when you wake up there's something beautiful out there waiting for you."

Yeah, It's a little cheesy but it meant a lot to me to have one of my favorite comedians tell me that shit's not so bad.

No questions but thanks for improving my sense of humor and imagination.

Rikki: this is beautiful and true. I was at a convention two years ago and Emo and Weird Al were in the green room. They asked me to take a photo of the two of them together. I did and then I left. And then I kicked myself for not asking for a photo WITH them!

Tavi: Patton Oswald and most all British comedians. ^{^}

Rikki: Oh! And Noel Fielding and Richard Ayoade!

Are you two fans of Bobs Burgers?

Rikki: I've only seen the Totoro episode which I thought was great. I love that animation today feels so much more free than when I started in 1998. There are things that happen naturally in TV animation these days that we would never have been allowed to do when we did ZIM in 2001.

What inspired the story/premise of Super Information Hijinks: Reality Check? Did you just wake up with the idea one day? It's such a fun concept, and I haven't read it yet but I'm really excited to get my copy!

Tavi: Information Hijinks Reality Check was inspired by using the internet and going into chatrooms 1994 ( AOL ) XD Plus, I love cats. At the time we couldn't keep a cat in our apartment, we kept a dwarf miniature rabbit, Chibi. So creating Catreece was like a surrogate substitute for us owning a cat.

Rikki: It was Tavisha's idea originally. She is typing about it right now.

Hi to you both!

Rikki:

• With Genndy Tarkovsky bringing back "Samurai Jack", do you think this might be a catalyst (or helpful nudge) to bring back "Invader Zim"? If so, do you want to continue voicing Gir?

(Silly question, I know. We figure you're 100% yes, but wanted to ask!)

Tavisha and Rikki:

• How did you get involved in the "Invader Zim" comic books?

• Beyond the current Kickstarter effort, do you have other projects in mind that you are ready to do? (Any hints, thoughts or outright promotions of your ideas are welcomed! ;-))

Thank you both for doing the AMA. Rikki, your Gir voiceover work has been a HUGE source of enjoyment in our household. We occasionally put the DVDs on and wait for Gir's "wisdom". :)

Many well wishes to you both!

Tavi: As for the Invader Zim comic books... Rikki was also a background colorist for Invader Zim as well as the voice of GIR. He digitally painted over 700 backgrounds and when the workload was too intense he'd bring home pages on the weekends and I'd help him color too. I'm credited for "Spooky Lake" back ground in Dib's Wonderful Life as well as other key backgrounds in Chicken Foot, Fry Cook, etc. As far as other art/story projects, we'd like to finish our ShutterBox series that was once published by TokyoPop back in 2003-2008.

Rikki: I think there is always a chance ZIM could return in some fashion in the future. Things return from the dead all the time in pop culture. I will always say yes to doing more.

As for the comic, I was sort of shuffled into it as part of the original crew who were available. But I was only supposed to be involved in the first five issues of the comic. Jhonen likes to try new things and new creative styles all the time. He's been enjoying the opportunity to tweak some of his original concepts. And I've been overjoyed to have an opportunity to work with him and Aaron Alexovich and Eric Trueheart again. I hope they release my family soon.

Oh! Also, the thing I have been most focused on lately, besides refreshing Reality Check is creating the world for our new story The Trinkkits: http://www.tavicat.com/the-trinkkits/

Sad Circus by the Sea is one story in The Trinkkits's lives and we are telling it in comic format. I have also written a novel about them called Trinkkits Live with Unicorns and am currently deciding whether or not to send it to a publisher or to just self publish it.

For you both~ How do you set up the right atmosphere for working on your art? Do you play music or have to have the desk a certain way? Any tips (or just fun facts!)?

Tavi: We love playing music or books on tape. Since we have to hyper focus on art we can't really "watch" things because that gets too distracting. I really fight with ADD ( aka cat brain ) tendencies. XD

Tavi: As far as tips go...I'm not a good example, I have a very messy desk and it seems only I can find things on it. But, I like to work around things I like and things that inspired me. So, like I'll draw using a Hello Kitty automatic pencil because it makes me happy. Silly things like that. XD

So do you guys work together a lot (as in, the same room/studio space)? Or does that distract you? Dear, dear ADD. Having people around makes me happy, but it always means I talk to them instead of getting work done, too. lol

Rikki: Same room. Tiny apartment. Harry Potter under the stairs small.

Tavi: And because we work in the same room, it's a good thing we like the same movies and music. =D

Hey there! Not much of a question here, just wanted to let you know that you really made an impact on me when we met ~12 years ago at a convention - I think Katsucon? You both were so nice and down to earth and willing to field my fanboy-tastic questions without any attitude. Thank you for being so awesome, you really inspired me.

Thanks so much~! I hope we get to meet again at another con someday. =D

Rikki: Thank you!

You know the black bits in bananas? Are they tarantula eggs?

Tavi: Ask Emo.

Hi there! I'm quite the fan of Catreece and her virtual adventures. I have the original 12-issue comic series, and was very sad to see her stories end. Do you plan to continue Catreece's adventures, or are you going to stop after posting all of the existing comic pages online?

Tavi: We have at least one more Catreece story we'd like to tell if this Kickstarter is successful. There will be another 24 page comic added in the very least. ^{__^}

Just pledged $300 for your kickstarter, which pushed it over the edge. Congrats! Do you have an idea when the new books will be published and shipped in the new year?

Rikki: I love youuuuuuuuu!!!

Aww, love at first credit card purchase. What does Tavi think about that? = ^ o.- ^ =

LOL~! I love you too~!=D

Tavi:Thank you so very much~! Catreece and friends get another on-line adventure~!

Rikki: Once we finish uploading the original 12 chapters and the uploading the new 24 page story, we would like to make new stories for Catreece and friends, but they will become monthly instead of daily updates. I just really like making jokes about technology and turing futurist concepts into absurdities.

Have you considered doing a series about Catreece, Mimi, and their fellow online pet friends, with a sprinkling of Puffy Cats and other computer-residing characters? It might be a hit!

Tavi: I do enjoy RC!'s crazy, fun virtual world and I know I'd love to make more stories about their on-line antics. I'd like to invent more virtual pets. XD

We also have other comics we are doing as well. There is Rhumbaghost, which I am writing and drawing:http://www.tavicat.com/rhumba/ and then The Trinkkits, a fantasy that Tavi and I are doing together: http://www.tavicat.com/the-trinkkits/

Rikki: I certainly would like to do some more stories in that world. Besides the new 24 pages story in the collected volume I have ideas for a few more adventures. The important thing is that the right story comes along and takes up residence in my head. In the new 24 page comic, Catreece will get involved in augmented reality and GPS mapping.

Do you have any writing advice?

Rikki: Take long walks when you are stuck: go to a museum, fill yourself with ideas from what you see and hear wherever you are. Use every thought that is unclaimed.

Tavi: My advice to writing is keep everything. Make notes as often as you can. You never now when you can use an idea. What doesn't work for one story might be perfect for another. I usually come up with overall concepts and sometimes character conversations. But, what I do best is quick gags or funny situations. Rikki is the real master at weaving all my nonsensicle notes together.

Are you involved in any way with the Invader Zim fan movie?

Rikki: I am not! What is that? Should I click on the link?

Also, thx for doing this AMA - I have added your comics to my reading list, they look great. And I posted the AMA to /r/InvaderZim so yay me!

Rikki: Thanks!

Tavi: Thank you for adding our comics~! Rikki and I got to work on some of the new ZIM comics too. Fun stuff!

As an actor what is the best thing a director can do for you? :~)

Rikki: Just know what you want and be able to clearly state it. I was a background actor in Argo -- I was one of the staff in in the Embassy (you can only see me being dragged blindfolded down a hallway, a scene we filmed 14 times). Ben Affleck was very good at making his presence known in every part of the staging and design. That was really a relief, especially on a production with 300 background people and only 11 SAG background. Likewise on ZIM, Jhonen was amazing in directing the VO performances and always clearly stated what he wanted from everyone, because it all already existed in his head. I've been in some productions where the director had no idea what they were filming and the results were always tragic. Some directors seem to think the film will fix it self and it never does.

So are you two more Star Wars or Star Trek fans? Also are you guys more Sci-Fi or Fantasy?

Rikki: I like anything with a fantastic idea. Surrealism is my favorite thing and the best sci fi and fantasy stories to me are when the feel the most surreal.

Any favorite surreal movies/comics/etc. you'd like to share with us?

Rikki: Movies: All the Terry Gilliam movies, the Spirit of the Beehive, all the Monty Python Movies, Mighty Boosh, Snuff Box, God Emperor of Dune (the book), Naked Lunch (the book), and the Exploits and Opinions of Dr. Faustroll, Pataphysician come to mind immediately. For comics Starstruck and the Metabarons, and The new Invader Zim comic is preeeeety good.

I love The Mighty Boosh, and I am a fan of Snuff Box as well. Have you ever watched Spaced? It has Simon Pegg, and Nick Frost it. Also Edgar Wright directs it. What do think of Noel Fielding's Luxurious Comedy? My favorite bit is Fantasy Man.

Rikki: Luxury Comedy is the BEST!

This is the problem with today - too much good media!

How about Frank: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_(comics) ?

Rikki: Oh my God, I LOVE FRANK! I have this framed: http://paneltopanel.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/we-quarrelled.jpg

I love BOTH~! The trouble is, I'm a fan of everything...

What is your favorite soda pop? What do you like to drink most?

Rikki: Anything green or orange. And beans.

My favorite soda is Japanese melon soda. =D

what helps you be find your creativity?

Tavi: As a creator I think what works best for me is keeping a positive outlook, even in the worse of situations. I also try to keep myself surrounded by things that have been inspirational since my childhood. For example, I have all my Shogun Warrior robots. Their boxes too.

Hey Tavicat! I'm the woman in the animal costumes who commissioned stuff from you at Ohayocon.

Is there any chance of getting new full Reality Check series? Or a total reboot of them?

Will you be at Ohayocon this year?

Tavi: Hello Anne~! We are in the middle rebooting Reality Check! with our kickstarter project: here:https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rikkisimons/super-information-hijinks-reality-check

Unfortunately, we won't be coming to OhayoCon this year. How are you?

Hello there Rikki and Tavi! We've actually met before at the last Invadercon. I got you to sign my Gir doll and I'm the one who requested the picture of Dib and Zim kissing, to which you guys drew me a fantastic picture of a squid making them kiss. I got so excited on seeing you were doing one of these. My question for you is, how excited were you when the new comics began development? Are there any twists coming that are going to throw us for a loop? And are there plans to make the canceled Invader Dib series finale in comic book form?

Tavi: Hello~! So glad you liked the artwork! It was a lot of fun to make. XD

Rikki. Tavi. This is Arey from the AOL anime board days. How's life treating you?

Tavi:Hello~! It's been amazing~ I was just telling a friend the last time I did anything like this was back in the 90's in AOL chatrooms. How have you been? =D

Been well. About to finish an MA, raising kids, working. Occasionally breaking out the Wacom tablet, but mostly to draw characters for lesson plans.

How about a real question? Has Rikki been invited to do a voice on Steven Universe yet? It seems like a given considering the similarities between Peridot and Zim.

If I thought the animation industry was going to give today's show runner duties to yesterday's anime fans, I may have tried harder.

Glad you guys are approaching what 20 years of marriage? Congratulations

Tavi:Yes~! 1994, It's been 20 years. =D

Tavi: Information Hijinks Reality Check was inspired by using the internet and going into chatrooms 1994 ( AOL ) XD Plus, I love cats. At the time we couldn't keep a cat in our apartment, we kept a dwarf miniature rabbit, Chibi. So creating Catreece was like a surrogate substitute for us owning a cat.

I had no idea you guys didn't have cats at the time! When did you get Pippi and Fargo?

(This is Cynthia)

Rikki: We got Pippi in 2003, right after our bunny passed away. She was a stray rescued from a guy in Arizona who was using her as a chew toy for his dogs. Horrible man. She was a malnourished feral kitten. Now she is a fat grumpy housecoat.

Hi Cynthia~! waves

We got Fargo when my mother could no longer keep and care for him at her nursing home. And Pippi.... well, that's another long story.. Rikki?

Are you a fan of the saxophone?

Rikki: I like clairinet.

Have you attempted to sing Yakko's nation from the World song?

Rikki: Ha! I leave that to Rob Paulsen!

Are you planning on doing more with Fel the lion?

Rikki: I am really tempted to add another 30,000 words to the story. I would like to show what is happening to Luti in her alternate universe. But whether I add more or not, I am planning on publishing an illustrated paper edition in the future.

So wow, I was pretty much introduced to your work through Sushi Girl. My local store only ever got #1 in, was there more or did something happen with it?

Tavi: SushiGirl was a work for hire comic we created for Smile Magazine, so it wasn't our creation to ever continue it. There's only 1 volume.

"Donovan" or "The Jungle Book"?

Rikki: Gormenghast.

Tavisha, does the carpet match the drapes ?

Tavi:It sure does!