Max Gilardi - 05/05/2004 Author: Skye-McCloud | Interviewee: HotDiggedyDemon On Newgrounds, there are two things best associated to Powerpuff Girls: Domo-kun's Angry Smashfest, and Adam Android. I managed to get in touch with the creator of Adam Android, Max Gilardi aka HotDiggedyDemon. What he shared with me was quite a surprise. Alrighty, let's get started. Basics first. Give us some detail on your, on who you are. Where do you live, what are some of your fav things, and so on? As well, what got you into Flash in the beginning? Well, my name is Max Gilardi and I live in Gloucester, MA. I started animating because of the LegendaryFrog. A lot of people are going to hate me for saying this, but I'm not a big fan of LegendaryFrog, or Waterman, or Pikanjo. I am, however, inspired by what they have accomplished, becoming some of the most well known names in Flash animation, and I hope to be among them soon. The only thing that stands in my way is the fact that I have no voice acting in my cartoons. That may change soon, though. Also, here are my favs: Movie: The Powerpuff Girls Food: Fried Calamari Beverage: orange-ade Cartoon: Invader Zim I don't think you're the only one who feels that way. I'm a not big fan of any of them (Well, 'cept Pikanjo, aka John & Richie, since Perfect Kirby kicks ass), but I find that what they have accomplished is a great thing. Quite an object to aim for, Max, since you do have a lot of good animations. To date, what is your favourite animation that you did, and why? Hmmm... a cartoon I made called "The Adventures of Joey the Jew". I actually animated the first 5 minutes, but then abandoned the project, realizing that Joey the Jew would be a lousy cartoon without speech. Oy, vey! I'm so verklept I could plotz! I've never submitted anything with voice acting, 'cause my microphone broke before I got flash, so I think people don't know how funny I can be, speech-wise. Another thing people don't know about me, and I don't mean to brag here, but I am EXCELLENT at syncing up the mouth movements to what the characters are saying. I had to learn how to animate a lot of things, but that has always come natural to me. I was born with it. Lucky you. That's a talent I wish I had with Flash. I hope that we'll eventually get to see that animation. I've actually watched all of your flash animations, excluding "TTL music video" and "Numba 1 in da hood, G", so I doubt it'll be disappointing. However, on the subject, I noticed you seem to have created a set of kid/teen characters. Where did these characters come from? Any relation to people you know in person? Is there really a person who eats tampons, or was that some randomness that came to you? All my characters have names, personalities, and lives I could express better if I had a microphone. They are all from a 70-page comic book I wrote last year. Unfortunately, it was stolen. The character names are Electra (Blonde with pigtails), Nash (Mohawk with visor), Jenny (Blue, pointy hair), Jibbo (Asian kid with red belt), Manjula (Indian- American), Dead Johnny (The dead kid), and finally, Smileseesha "soaring eagle" Wakanoba, or "Smiles". Nobody likes her. Not because she's a Native American, but because she's a loser, and she cries too much. Ironic, when you consider her name. Well, as long as there actually isn't a person who eats tampons. That'd be weird. This next question is more for the ladies of Newgrounds, since I know some of them are begging to know. Sex life, what's it like? Tell EVERYONE in Newgrounds about it, 'cept me. I'll go over there while you answer. My sex life? Filled with homoerotic adventure. Seriously, though, you're a weirdo. And that makes the count to 1036 people who think I'm a weirdo. Thanks. Now, let's get down to your famous flash works. Your biggest hit, "Adam Android Strikes Back", is about an android boy who likes to fight, right? Where did the idea for Adam Android even come from? While I'm on it, in the credits you said no thanks to a person named Adam Hand. Does he have any influence on Adam Android, or is he just some random person who you beat up in your spare time? INTERESTING STORY: Adam plays drums in the band, TTL. You didn't watch the music video, remember? Anyhoo, he said he would give me 20 dollars to make that video, and I did, but he never paid me. I want my monies! As for Adam Android, he's just supposed to be a kid who likes to fight. And he has a big head. Big heads are always good, but not as good as a very long name, like some that you used. Where did the names of what appears to be the two enemies of Adam Android come from? Y'know, F.I.R.E.S.T.A.R.T.E.R. and Ice Maker. Why all the dots in F.I.R.E.S.T.A.R.T.E.R.? What's the deal?! Each letter in the word FIRESTARTER stands for something, I just haven't thought of it yet. He was NOT named after the 2nd episode of FLCL. Let's just hope that all those people who say it is actually read this interview, huh? Speaking of comparisons, there are a lot of people who compare your style in flash to Powerpuff Girls, and Dexter's Lab. Were shows like those any inspiration to you when you were first starting in Flash? If so, how much did they influence you? The Powerpuff Girls are great, but actually, Invader Zim inspired me. For those who don't know, Invader Zim was an excellent show that debuted about 3 years ago. Unfortunately, luck was not on its side, and a series of random events, (one of those events being September 11,) resulted in its cancellation. This is partly why I started animating. Zim left, even though we all loved him, so I'm making cartoons for those of us who loved the Invader Zim style of animation and the Invader Zim style of humor. Now they can see more of what they love! Damn, I really should watch Invader Zim then. The art style you use is quite good, especially for in Flash. I know the kind of difficulty that is behind drawing in Flash. How long would you say it was between when you started Flash and when you submitted your first work to Newgrounds? For that matter, what was your first work? "The Story of Skunk Head" or "nash feeds on tampons"? I know that the former was put up first, but which was completed first? Oh, and why would Nash even THINK of eating a tampon? That ain't right! I don't remember in what order I made them cartoons, but Nash ate the tampon because he's an idiot and he didn't know what it was. You see, Nash is an idiot, his sister Electra is a narcissistic jerk that thinks she knows everything, and Electra's best friend Jenny is a nerd. This formula has been done before, like in Aqua Teen Hunger Force, and Ed, Edd and Eddy. Back to Adam Android, you recently released a "DVD" version of Adam Android on Newgrounds, where you included a scene selection, a trailer to the next Adam Android, and bios to the characters. Can we expect any of the scenes in that trailer, most importantly the last scene where Adam gets smacked, to appear in the next Adam Android? What else can we expect in Adam Android? Oooo... um... I knew this was gonna come back to haunt me... but there will be no Adam Android 2: All Hell Breaks Loose. There was never going to be one. I just wanted to make the most exciting looking trailer ever. However, fans of mine can look forward to THE UNTOLD ZELDA STORY! You can check out more HERE. Its gonna have voice acting... hopefully. No Adam Android 2?! You bastard... Oh well, we'll move on... I hope... Other than a very small minority, people seem to love your Adam Android series, though. Do you feel that the fandom behind Adam Android will ever influence you in making a second episode? And what of your critics? Do you have any comments for them? Are you kidding? NO ONE likes Adam Android, dude. And tell my critics they are buttholes. Hey, I like Adam Android... but I'm a weirdo, right? Oh well, at least the music was good. Before Adam Android, I honestly never heard of The Pillows. Can you possibly tell us anything about them, and how they inspired Adam Android, as you had said in your comments for it? Um, the Pillows were played in the background of the greatest anime ever made, FLCL. The music didn't really fit what was going on, so the show had a "Quentin Tarantino" feel to it. Sorry I can't give you a more original answer than that, but in reality, I'm just not an original guy. You and me both, Max. All my ideas come from games. Speaking of which, in your credits you said that Mario Kart: Double Dash took up a lot of your time and almost screwed the project over. Just how much time did you spend playing Mario Kart in comparison to working on Adam Android? Did it annoy you how you couldn't stop playing a game when you had work to do? Y'know, while we're at it, why not give us an idea of what does and doesn't tick you off? Y'know, for the extremely curious weirdos who actually wanna know, like myself. I was never actually addicted to Mario Kart: Double Dash, although it is a nifty game. Things that tick me off are guys who use smilies when talking on AOL Instant Messenger. It just seems kinda... fruity. Yea, that annoys me too.. except when I'm using them, heh. Being random is good. Although this is moving off from the Adam Android questions, about a month ago you released an animation called "MEANWHILE...", which consisted of a lot of randomness. It was also your first submission under the name HotDiggedyDemon. Where did you come up with such an, for lack of a better word, insane movie? What were those weird little robots that were beating people up? I'm not particularly proud of that movie, dude. I guess you could say, in making it, I was trying to be something I'm not. HotDiggedyDemon: I wanted something catchy to be known by in the Newgrounds community, like LegendaryFrog or Pikanjo. And as for the robots, they are wearing the same hat worn by THE AMAZING FANTASTIC MAN, a very immoral-acting super hero I created who fights with the power of pure music. His hat never stops moving, just like the hats worn by the robots, and his sidekick is Foodboy, a lad who has power over food. I plan to make a 10 episode mini series if I ever get my microphone fixed, or get another one. Fantastic Man? Foodboy? Um.... as Cartman from South Park would say, "Sweeeeet!" Once again on the "MEANWHILE..." animation, you had made a perfect copy of the style used in South Park. Hell, it had even fooled my eyes at first, until I saw Nash sitting in the bottom left corner. How long did it take you to make that style so perfect to the original? What do you think of the fact that some people had hated that scene because of the fact that you used the sound for that scene from "Cheech and Chongs" (Once again, something I've never heard of), despite the animation being well done? I made a music video to the song "Kyle's Mom's a Bitch" and it got flagged because everyone thought i stole it. my own friends thought i stole it. Anyways, I guess people like my submissions, and like my style, and want me to be original. However, whenever I do, they don't like THAT either. So I'm always stuck between doing something unoriginal, or doing something original that won't be as good because I have no microphone. Damn, I would've paid to see something like that, especially if it was done with your own characters. Your style is pretty unique, too. What kind of advice do you have for flash animators who decide to follow in your steps and try your style? Y'know, the Invader Zim (As you put it) style. Um, don't do it. I'm trying to be original, here. If everyone does it, than I'm out of a job. Hahaha, good advice. I'll keep it in mind. For my last few questions, I'd like to discuss "Forces of Nature". Y'know, your odd, but cute, film about three earth elements as little beings and a smog being. Where did Forces of Nature come from? What inspired you to create it? Y'know where I'm going. Ohhh... Forces of Nature. My baby. I loved that cartoon so much. I thought it was the most fantastic, beautiful thing ever made. And I submitted it to Newgrounds, and it only did sub-par! I thought it would soar so much higher than it did! Why couldn't people just like it more? I guess I wanted to create something really artistic and meaningful, with a lot of symbolism, and something totally original. I succeeded in that, I guess, but it was still kind of a failure, as far as the ratings go. That sucks, I loved it. It was awesome. Although I have an idea on what you were trying to come up with behind Forces of Nature, can you tell us in your words what the meaning of it was? How does your animation link up with your meaning? Get as in-depth as you can on all of this. The meaning is, um... pollution is bad? Sorry, but its pretty simple stuff. The original story was a little different. In the cartoon, the 3 boys swoon over the girl, and she betrays them. But in the original script, things were a bit more abstract. I originally wanted the boys to be friends, and when the girl comes around, they fight over her, and their friendship is corrupted. They get into a brawl, and they cause their own demise. I think the ending I went with made more sense, though, so I made the right choice. The end of Forces of Nature seems sudden, kinda like it was cut off. Was there suppose to be more added onto the animation? If so, why wasn't it completed and what was suppose to follow? Com'n, we wanna know! Sorry, that's all there is. The abrupt ending is also symbolism, though. It symbolizes that even though you wouldn't expect things to end this way, and you would think that it would have a happy ending, it doesn't. This is the way things are in the real world. I didn't want the boys to come back to life and go beat up the girl, because that would be inaccurate. Get it? Yea, I do. That makes a lot of sense, really. Although something really has my curiosity. How come you only included three elements in Forces of Nature? Why not wind, fire, lightning, etc? Wind, fire and lightning are not tangible matter like rock, tree and water are. Wind, fire and lightning are more like occurrences. Finally, a totally random, non-Flash and non-personal related question. You've seen the Lord of the Rings movies, correct? You know how the elves looked? If you had to change one physical attribute (eye color, hair style, etc) what would it be, and why? Anything goes. They should be shorter, and wear shoes with bells on them. Sounds good. Heh. That about raps it up. Thanks for your time, Max. Can't wait to see what you put out next on Newgrounds. Well, I can assure you, it'll probably suck. Also, a lil message for Joseph Blanchette: I know where you live, pal. Your days are numbered. Check out these Portal submissions by HotDiggedyDemon: --select-- Website: 's Site Age: 21 Gender: Male Habitat: Spookyville, USA Job: Love Machine Favorite Films: The PPG movie The Animatrix The Breakfast Club Favorite Bands: The pillows puffy yami yumi...or something the white stripes