Asandir's interviews with Newgrounds forum users

This week's interview features the user orangebomb.

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When did you find Newgrounds and why did you join? Why did you choose the username orangebomb?

orangebomb:

"I found Newgrounds about 10 years ago when some friends of mine suggested it as a place to play games and stuff, they didn't really specify what was on NG though. Also at the time, the Iraq war was just starting and the bashing of Saddam Hussein sounded like a hilarious romp, and just like that, it led me to Newgrounds, complete with all of the old porno/hentai ads they used to have around the site as pop-ups. I think the first game that I remember playing was called TerrorWar-Da PAYBACK, and I freaking loved it, not necessarily for the racist value it had, {or so they say, considering it was more tounge-in-cheek satire} but as a 13-14 year old kid blasting terrorists with nukes.

After that, I started to frequent the site more and more, enjoying the various sprite flashes from the late great Randy-Solem, along with Krinkels' series, RobsH66's Fallen Angel and some of the Assassin games such as K-Fed: Dancing with Fire and Celebrity Terrorist Alert.

I actually wanted to join much earlier to Newgrounds around 2007 or so, but my old computer pretty much crapped out on me at the time, so I couldn't do it, though to be honest, I was getting a little bored with Newgrounds then {hard to believe that eh?} so I just keep putting it off until 2010, when I rediscovered the site and decided to sign up. As for the name orangebomb, that really wasn't the first name I thought up of, it was more of a spur of the moment type of name, and I didn't want to name it after something gimmicky or anything like that that was all over the forums then and now, so I decided to to use the name orangebomb and just ran with it. I would like to think that I made a good decision to go with that name."

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Do you think that you changed over the time you were here, as user, or also in real life?

orangebomb:

"In some ways, yes. When I first signed up, I was a bit immature and naive about the forums, game/movie reviews and so on, and some of my early posts and reviews were pretty awful. It wasn't like I wasn't lurking all the time, because that's what I did, but it seem like I was trying a little too hard to be witty and informative at the same time. After a while, my debating skills got better and my knowledge on things began to get noticed, {both positively and negatively} from the regulars, though I still have a habit of tangling with the reputable trolls and shit-starters on the forums, as I usually try to stay away from them in a topic, but sometimes I just couldn't help myself trying to put them in their place and not try to start a flame war.

As for real life, not so much. I usually try to keep my NG persona and my regular life separate, but I've learned a lot of things on said forums that could make for some good trivia, or get a better understanding on particular beliefs and the issues that I couldn't get in most other places, considering that they most of them seem to have a huge bias towards one thing or another when it comes to video games, politics, etc. Of course, being online in front of a computer screen with a certain degree of anonymity, you can be whoever you want to portray yourself as, though I always try to maintain some sort of decorum and responsibility to inform, and/or express my thoughts, and not try to be an total asshole, tempting as that might be."

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Are there any other users that you like, and how do they affect you?

orangebomb:

There are some ones that I respect and like, such as:

Idiot-finder, we have pretty similar interests in anime and sports, and sometimes in politics as well. Plus, I usually enjoy some of the crack-fics that he occasionally makes on his news page.

RydiaLockheart is another user that I respect big-time. Unlike most other posters, she is very knowledgeable, and doesn't make herself into a fool, and is very enjoyable.

Dr-Worm is another one, even though I disagree with a lot of his points, he doesn't come off as a total jerk when in a debate."

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Are there any users that you would consider enemies or that you just don't like?

orangebomb:

"I wouldn't necessarily call them enemies per se, as I don't really meet them face-to-face IRL, but there are some who annoy the hell out of me, and I simply despise mostly because I feel like they are general assholes or simply wallow in their own ignorance.

Once upon a time, I had a beef with people like Travis, {formerly Liquify}, Kermitthemuppet and Onett {fomerly Mendou}. The first one was due to the fact that I was a Cincinnati Bengals fan, while he rooted for the Cleveland Browns, and it always seem like it was a good idea to take potshots on my team, in spite of the fact that his team was godawful and kept making stupid ass decisions when it came to football. Really in a way, I think he had a serious inferiority complex when it came to sports. {It doesn't help that he was a total Ohio State Buckeye honk who are the college equivalent of the San Diego Chargers, do well in the regular season, but choke like dogs in the biggest games with the attitude of Red Sox Nation, who are arrogant fair-weather assholes.}

As for the other two, they were the "so-called" leaders of the Anime Club some years ago, and they often de-railed any conversation about anime into something that is totally unrelated, and their elitist view of the good old days. Thankfully, the mods got rid of both of them and it returned back to what it was supposed to be, though there has been a lot of anime-related threads in General, which made the Anime Club almost irrelevant at times.

Now, the biggest 3 that I know of is Natick, who is a massive jerk who seems to enjoy de-railing threads anytime something like EA or Call of Duty is mentioned, and calling me a "corporate apologist" for speaking my opinion, leanlifter1, who is basically this version of shaggytheclown of the past, always putting the scapegoat on Obama and America, mostly though his sheer ignorance of politics. Finally, I really do detest TheKlown, not necessarily because of de-railing threads, but more of being a total insensitive ass in his posts. IIRC, he actually sent a threatening post to Obama, and tried to back-track it by saying it was a joke. Joke or not, that's one of the few things you don't do online, because death threats towards the president is considered serious business, and I'm sure that Tom and Wade don't want to deal with the feds over that, they got enough on their plate as is."

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What is your opinion about the forums? Is there one forum that you prefer? And is there another forum user that you want to see getting interviewed by me?

orangebomb:

"I like the forums, but sometimes there are always some people who generally enjoy making asses of themselves by posting stupid stuff on there and get everyone into a hissyfit over whatever, but compared to some other forums that I've been on, {I refuse to mention them by name, they're that bad.}, it's not so bad. I don't necessarily have a favorite forum that I go to, as I frequent the General, Politics and Video Games forums all the time to see what's what, and see what there thoughts are on a certain subject. Both the politics and VG forums are usually more detailed and have less flame-bait {not by much though} material than General, which is probably the forum equivalent of a bar brawl, and where you get the widest gamut of answers, from sensible and well-thought, to trollish and even insane at times."

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I guess that you have an opinion about the moderators of Newgrounds. Do you think that they do a great job or not?

orangebomb:

"I don't have much of a problem with the mods, though I notice that some of them tend to be stern or even jerkish at times. To be fair to them, they do volunteer their time and effort on making the forums {and everywhere else} respectable and I understand that, but there are always a few that are either too lax at what they do, or just seem like they are out to metaphorically crack some skulls.

Except for a very few times though, I have no real beef with them.

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Would you like to become a moderator on Newgrounds? If so, what kind of moderator?

orangebomb:

"I don't really know, I've didn't put much thought into it. Being a mod has some responsibility to it, not to mention trying to refrain from abusing the power like a few of them are, but I'm pretty sure that there are a lot of perks to it as well. If I were to be one though, I would probably be a forum mod, and maybe crack down on some of the bigger shit-starters on the threads."

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The last redesign happened 2012. Tell me what you think about it. What do you like and what is not so good?

orangebomb:

"I didn't really like it at first, I liked the old design better and had gotten used to it, and they used to advertise the adult section of the games and movies {tee hee}. Plus, I kind of liked the old level-up designs and auras compared to the new ones, which were kind of weak to be honest. After a while though, the new design grew with me, and I kind of like it now, as it's more organized than before."

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You are a fan of the band Social Distortion. Which of their songs do you like the most? Also, did you enjoy their concert that you visited in 2011?

orangebomb:

"I've been a fan of Social Distortion since the late 90s, though I didn't really comprehend it fully until about 5 years ago or so. I honestly do think that Mike Ness is one the best singer/songwriters in this generation. As for my favorites... That is a tough one to list, but if I had to pick some, it would be in no particular order:

Machine Gun Blues, probably one of the coolest music videos that I've seen, in all of it 1930's gangster glory.

Reach for the Sky is another one, and that's probably the song that replays in my mind the most. For some reason, when I play Midnight Club: LA, this is the song that I always play when I'm driving around in the game, though I guess it's kind of fitting when you're living fast and on the edge in street racing. {The game, that is}

Prison Bound, Don't think twice, and Ness' covers of "Big Iron", {made by Marty Robbins, which was one of my father's favorite country western singers} and Ring of Fire {by the man in black himself, Johnny Cash} are also pretty catchy as well. And yeah, I did enjoy the concert when they came by a few years ago, and I'm not really much of a concert-goer, as I usually prefer to buy the CDs or download music to my MP3 over dealing with the huge crowds, even though the venue wasn't that big at all."

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Seems like you watch a variety of anime. Which was the first anime that you became a fan of? Which anime are you currently watching and which ones are your favourites of all time?

orangebomb:

"Growing up, I used to enjoy the hell out of watching Dragon Ball Z, along with Speed Racer, Astro Boy {Hell, my parents still remember watching that show in the 60's when it was in black and white} and Robotech. For the longest time, I didn't even know they were from Japan, much less where Japan was on the map, though that may had to due to the fact that most of those anime back then were edited the hell out of them back then, which included editing out the brutal deaths, any resemblance of fanservice and lesbianism in Sailor Moon. {DiC was the ones who decided to make Sailor Neptune and Uranus cousins instead} At the time, I didn't know or care about all that in the first place, and I would probably forget all about this as I got older {Thankfully, I didn't}.

Currently, I'm watching Attack on Titan, which is boss, along with Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Kill la Kill, Gundam Stardust Memory {the name kind of sounds like a 70's rock album to me, lol} and High School DxD, which is actually a pretty good harem series, compared to Infinite Stratos, which one of my friends suggested I watch, {as I'm a bit of a sucker for boobs and mechs} which might be one of the most painful harems I've ever seen, much less anime in general. At the very least, it's still better than abominations like FLCL or Psychic Wars, which makes me want to go batshit on whoever made those anime, that said, that's honestly not saying very much though when you're comparing one show to a few others that are absolute junk.

Currently my favorites are:

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood {I used to like the original FMA anime, and I still do, but I much prefer the one that used the original source material}
Code Geass, both the first season and R2
Tengen Toppa Gurren Laggan, despite the fact that I mostly despise Gainax, or at least have a love-hate relationship with them as a anime producer.
Gundam 08th MS team
Mobile Fighter G Gundam
Last Exile {First season only}
M.D Geist
Golgo 13
Attack on Titan"

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You watch American Football. What is your favourite team? What was the most exciting match that you have seen?

orangebomb:

"Growing up in Texas, it was almost a requirement to like football, especially when they treat high school football like a religion down there the same way that fans would in European Soccer, just without the mass rioting. I used to love watching the Detroit Lions when I was a kid, but I wasn't really too serious into it, and the only reason why I would watch them was because of Barry Sanders. Sanders was arguable the face of the league outside of the Cowboys {a team that me and my family hated} and he was literately a class act both on and off the field. Sucks that he had to retire when the rushing record was within his grasp, but considering that the Lions were slowly circling the drain, he may have known something that the rest of us didn't know, considering that they wouldn't make the playoff again until 2011, and before that, they went 0-16 in '08.

Ever since I moved to Ohio about 10 years ago, I've been a fan of the Cincinnati Bengals and have been ever since. It's hasn't exactly been the easiest path, especially when you have an owner in Mike Brown that is part Jerry Jones, part Gendo Ikari, and going 23 years without a playoff win, but I really do think that the Bengals are championship contenders now, that is if Andy Dalton doesn't pull a Shinji Ikari and wreak the team with costly turnovers and boneheaded mistakes at the wrong time.

The best game that I ever saw was Super Bowl 42, that had the undefeated Patriots play against the Giants. That game pretty much made David Tyree's career when he caught the ball on his helmet, and I guess the rest is history. That is the kind of game that not even Hollywood could think of."

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Xenogears is your most favourite JRPG of all time. Tell my readers what makes this game stand out. What other JRPGs would you recommend for newcomers to the genre?

orangebomb:

"It's been a long time since I finished Xenogears, so my memory of that game is a little fuzzy to be honest, but what I do remember from playing that game was that it had an excellent story that went along with the mecha battles, anime cut scenes, and character development {It seem like Evangelion was its main inspiration, just without the heavy wangst}. With all that, it is easily my favorite JRPG of all time because of this, and I haven't really played many games like it after that had everything that Xenogears had. The only sin that it committed was being released during the Final Fantasy VII craze, and I believed that it got overlooked because of this. It also doesn't help that FFVII has so many goddamn spinoffs and even an anime OVA to go with it, like it needed all that in the first place. Don't get the wrong idea, the game was good overall, but that game was milked to hell and back for what it's worth, and it looks like they're doing the same thing with XIII.

Now, I generally prefer to play Western RPGs like Fallout and Mass Effect, in addition to shooters, fighting, and action-adventure games over JRPGs, but I had to list some JRPG's for newcomers, Pokémon is an obvious choice, as I still enjoy playing Gold/Silver/Crystal and Emerald/Ruby/Sapphire line of games. They're pretty similar in how they work, {capture Pokémon, train them as an army, beat Gym leaders and the Elite 4, and meet the legend PKMN} and it's not as complicated as most other role-playing games out there.

Persona is another one I would recommend, {Particularly 3 and 4} as they mix in dating sim elements {Social Links} with dungeon crawling and a rather deep story about who you really are and to an extent how valuable life and friendships really are. Also for the really brave, the original Shin Megami Tensei series is a must play, though it is hard as hell, especially when the AI in the game is fond of using one-hit-kill attacks and you can get lost easily within the ruins of Tokyo Millennium.

Personally, I would like to see a crossover of Fallout and the Persona series, fighting demons and bandits in a radioactive wasteland while scrounging for food, clean water and building friendships and alternate Persone as you go. It's probably not going to happen for real, but I guess there's always fanfiction."

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You like the Bioshock series. Shortly summarize what you like and dislike about each title. What were your most favourite moments of the trilogy? After a city under the sea and one above the clouds, what kind of environment would you have liked to see in a future installment of the series?

orangebomb:

"For the first Bioshock, I was immersed with the world of Rapture and the politics of it all with Andrew Ryan and Atlas/Fontaine, along with the genetic manipulation caused by plasmids and ADAM. Unlike a lot of FPS that usually skimp on the story for the action {not saying that's a bad thing}, Bioshock tells you a story of a man who wanted to be free from oppressive governments and bureaucracy, and how it all went to hell, and breaking free from control seems to be the central theme of the game.

The second one was just as good, but I do think that this is the weakest one of the bunch. It's the kind of game that really went to the well a little too much with Rapture, though to be fair, there were still a lot of things in Rapture worth exploring in that game. Plus the idea of playing a Big Daddy sounded good on paper, but the story behind it was just lacking in comparison, and it really felt limited to not use plasmids and weapons at the same time.

Infinite was almost like the first Bioshock, going into a new world and discovering that it turns to Hell shortly thereafter. Like the first game, there was someone who wanted to get away from the government, thinking that they can make a better society away from them, only to turn out how wrong they were. Unlike Andrew Ryan, the leaders of the factions in Columbia are total assholes who have limited positive qualities to them, if at all, and it actually makes it satisfying to kill them. Though, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the rather trippy ending to it that you have to see to believe.

Ever since Ken Levine left, I had high doubts that Bioshock will get another sequel, with is a shame. I would've like to see an underground city waging war with the surface dwellers over mineral rights or social liberties, or anything else that's ripped from the headlines."

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Every person has secrets. Can you tell one of yours or something else that we didn't know about you yet?

orangebomb:

"I don't necessarily know if it's a secret per se, but I'm a total fanboy from Kallen Stadtfeld from Code Geass. While she's not the first action girl in anime, and hopefully not the last, she is probably my favorite female character in any medium, because she is a sexy badass who doesn't take any shit from anyone, and yet she has a heart as well. This really does set her apart from a lot of main female characters in anime that have some of those qualities, but are either total doormats, are total psychos, or are just unlikeable. Like I said before, I have a weakness for mechs and boobs, and Kallen Stadtfeld {or Kozuki if you prefer} metaphorically stole my heart the first time I saw her in the Guren Mk. II.

I also like cake, with chocolate marshmallow ice cream to go with it, and that is not a lie."

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What can we expect from you in the future, orangebomb?

orangebomb:

"Maybe get to 10,000 posts in the forums, and possibly get in the top 10 for experience points and Blams/saves. Also, continue to inform and entertain people on the forums and provide the problems of the future, today {laughs} ! Maybe not the last part, but I'm sure that everyone will get the joke."

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Now you are filled with more knowledge about orangebomb, dear reader.Feel free to leave a comment here, saying what you think about the interview, requesting users to get interviews is also appreciated. Tune in next week :3

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