Asandir's interviews with Newgrounds forum users

This week's interview features the user Heinrich.

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When did you find Newgrounds and why did you join? Why did you choose the username The-Blaminater and why did you change it to Heinrich?

Heinrich:

"My first discovery of Newgrounds was back in 2001 after the 9/11 attacks when I was looking for Photoshopped pictures of Osama Bin Laden. It was brief, though, as I wasn’t looking for flash. I rediscovered it in 2005 after a friend told me about it and after some lurking I found that it was a very entertaining website.

I decided to join after finding out that you can collect experience points to add weight to your vote and decided to make a “Protector of Newgrounds” persona for myself. I was 13 at the time so I was idealistic and stupid. My name was originally going to be something like “The-Blammer” or “Blambo” but chose “The-Blaminater” after the terminator films. I changed it to Heinrich after getting too much unwanted attention, especially from Clocks.

My current name is a German name, an equivalent of Henry. I really like Germany, their names and language since I was born there on a Canadian military base where my parents lived for six years during the final years of the Cold War."

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

Heinrich:

"Yes, definitely!

On the internet, I am a lot more introverted and only post when I feel it’s something valuable to post.

Even more so in real life. I was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome at age 14 and used to be socially incapable, very emotional and had anger issues, especially in a school setting. The internet was my way of escaping the real world. In the last four years since graduating I have mellowed out considerably. I am a lot calmer, I can interact a lot better and my autism is barely noticeable."

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

Heinrich:

"Users come and go but some that really stood out was @Imacow, @THEJamoke, @DarkDragonVX and @Kart-Man. Imacow was my first friend on Newgrounds after he made a topic called, “Kill the Pig”. That topic was some of my earliest Photoshop sprees when I only had MS Paint. He is now a flash artist. THEJamoke and Kart-Man are both excellent photoshoppers that I have collaborated with. We were trying to make a sequel to my bat temple story (that would inspire THEJamoke to make his Obama Porn Stash story) but we couldn’t make it happen due to some difficulties. DarkDragonVX was a very friendly person that made me feel good in my early years here. He left, though, as people on this site were very unfriendly to him."

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

Heinrich:

"There are a lot of users I don’t like as Newgrounders can be very vicious. On the forums, I don’t really have any enemies as they would insult me and then move on and I would like to keep it that way.

During my The-Blaminater years, however, I saw multiple spam crews as my enemy, the worst being the Barney Bunch. On a couple occasions I found their forums, spammed it with Lemon Party, Tubgirl and other gross pictures. One of their forums got deleted as a result. Like I said earlier, I have mellowed out and don’t really care about the portal anymore."

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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?

Heinrich:

"The forums were awesome during my teenage years when it was active and full of humor. It was the forum that inspired me to make Photoshops that gave me an artistic talent, a hobby and a possible career out of. Now the forums doesn’t appeal to me as much though I still like to make photoshops for it when I get the chance."

I prefer the General forum but if they were to make a Photoshop forum then I would be tickled pink.

Nowadays, I prefer to remain Incognito on the internet and rarely sign up on forums though I still lurk the Newgrounds forum from time to time.

I would like you to interview THEJamoke. He was very popular on Newgrounds and was a forum mod for a while and I would like to hear what he has to say."

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You are both an icon moderator and a Game and Movie moderator. Tell my readers when you became a mod and what kind of stuff you do.

Heinrich:

"Not much to say, really. I gained mod ship back in 2011/2012 to help Tom Fulp with Icons and Genre before the big redesign. I would also help track down flashes like Hentai quizzes, AMV’s and others and report them to Tom in order to clean up the site. After the redesign, I was a mod on and off to avoid my account being taken by a hacker and cause damage while I was away. Now when I have the time I make icons and genre for leftover flashes. Most of them right now are obscure or lower quality flashes but hey, someone has to do it."

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You were a member before the redesign 2007. Tell me how you experienced Newgrounds back then and what changes you liked about the redesign.

Heinrich:

"Newgrounds from 2005-2010 was indeed a magical experience, especially the forums. The 2007 redesign was simply beautiful and having my own page was nice. There were concerns that Newgrounds would turn into a Myspace but looking now, social media has became a staple on the internet and now people, even Newgrounders, welcome this aspect."

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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?

Heinrich:

"The 2012 redesign was nice but not to the same extent of the 2007 one. Weren’t a whole lot of new features, just made it a lot shinier. Though I feel good about the fact that I helped make thousands of icons for a popular website and I got to see the fruits of my labor."

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I think it goes without saying that you like to photoshop pictures. When did you start doing that and which are your favourite photoshop stories that you created?

Heinrich:

"My first taste of photoshop came shortly after the 9/11 attacks and Osama Bin Laden was identified as the mastermind. I would go onto Google and look up photoshops of him which made me laugh. I was 9 at the time and I wondered how they did it. I remember one with Osama and Saddam Hussein being a hot tub together and my father told me not to show that one to mom.

When I came to the forums in 2005 I noticed that people made photoshop topics and others would contribute. Those also made me laugh but my problem is that they didn’t make enough. I decided to give it a go to make others laugh. All I had was MS Paint so I would draw stuff into it like how people would draw dicks. I remember doing that at least twice before actually trying to do cut and paste. I managed to do it so well that some people thought I used an actual program. It went well for a couple years until someone told me to stop using MS Paint and gave me a link to GIMP.

I decided to try an actual program and so I used a pirated copy of Macromedia FireWorks. It was better than paint so I used it. I made “The Bat Temple” story using that program as a school project. My teacher loved it and gave me a 100% and a school award for it. Looking at it now, I can definitely do a lot better.

I bought a copy of Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended off eBay (Not knowing it was a bootleg) and made even more progress. A couple years later I got CS5 again off eBay and found out that they were both bootlegs. My current copy is Adobe CS5 Extended that I got from the Adobe website and since my mother works at a school, I got an 80% discount even though we had to jump through some hoops.

The Bat Temple is definitely my favorite. I had a friend take the pictures and she was wondering what the hell I was thinking when I was posing. After showing her the finished product, she was laughing herself silly. I also liked doing the Porkchop stories in Imacow’s thread but my sequel to The Bat Temple was a complete failure. That one was also for a school project and we couldn’t have any over the top content in it."

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You mentioned in one your posts that you played games on the Sega Genesis when you were younger. What was the first game that you played on that console? Which games for it did you like the most?

Heinrich:

"Good Lord that was a long time ago.

Sega Genesis was my first console. I wanted a SNES but I was still happy with the Genesis. My aunt gave it to me when I was over at her house in Ottawa. I played it with my cousin and I think I first played Mortal Kombat with her. I liked being Sub-Zero because I could freeze my opponents. At home I really enjoyed playing Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Dynamite Headdy, Aladdin and the Pagemaster. The Pagemaster was the only game I finished from start to finish. Video games from the 80’s and 90’s on paper sound like the easiest games but are really unforgiving."

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Sonata Arctica is one your favourite metal bands. When did you start listening to their music? Which of their songs and albums do you like the most?

Heinrich:

"Sonata Arctica is my second favorite band after Nightwish. I first heard “Shy” from a Silverwing AMV and did not think much of it. After seeing a fan flash of “Dream Thieves” by Osuka on Newgrounds, I started to listen to more of their songs and became my favorite band at the time. I have all of their albums on iTunes and is only one of two bands I have that achievement.

My favorite album would have to be “The Collection” where they have most of the best songs in one album. My favorite song is harder to choose but I would say “8th Commandment” as I would listen to that song over and over again."

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It seems like you are a fan of Disney. Which Disney movies and cartoon series are your favourites?

Heinrich:

"I grew up with Disney. As a kid I had many of the movies on VHS and watched them so often that my parents were concerned that I would break the VCR. Last year I managed to get many of them on DVD from a thrift store that I work at.

Though it’s been a while, I really like The Hunchback of Notre Dame for its dark and gritty theme. I think it’s a very underrated film and how it managed to secure a G rating, I will never know.

My favorite Disney villain in Gaston from Beauty and the Beast. A villain with that much confidence deserves a special place on my list. My second favorite would be Judge Claude Frollo since he is a very realistic villain that brings out the worst of my own religion. Way too many Christians use the Bible as an excuse to get on a high horse.

The TV shows I didn’t watch very often though I enjoyed Aladdin and Timon and Pumba."

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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?

Heinrich:

"I have a few.

I am a big believer in Bible Prophecy and have been so since I saw an episode of The Simpsons parodying the rapture when I was 13.

I am 22 and still living with my parents. Rent is insanely expensive in my town as we live in the most expensive province in Canada and we have oil fields that are jacking up the price of houses. Extended families are becoming a lot more common in town.

On the internet I am quite shy but in real life I can be quite talkative."

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

Heinrich:

"Not much. My golden age is over but I will still make photoshops from time to time. I may even remake my Bat Temple story.

I have two jobs from 9-5 and volunteer work for the rest of the day. I am trying to be more productive with my time."

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Now you are filled with more knowledge about Heinrich, 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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