fabulous999 of Godfart - 05/05/2004 Author: gfoxcook | Interviewee: fabulous999 When liljim first asked (back in 2003) if I wanted to do an interview for the revamped NG Mag at some point, I said I'd love to... but... could it please be with fabulous999? Well, I got my wish and was honoured to finally interview the creator of such great series as BEEBO and African Detroit Cop. As you may have guessed, I'm a huge fan of the BEEBO series. Would you be surprised to learn that I used to obsess about how the eps being stuck in the 3.80 score range was dropping them down low in the top 500 movies on NG? And that I compulsively threw fives at them in a futile attempt to raise them back up into glory... oh wait, I still do that! Seriously, though, does it piss you off that even the 4.04-rated BEEBO 6 isn't in the top 50 anymore? Hehe, I appreciate your enthusiasm for the series. Of course I'd like to see one of them in the top 50, but these days Newgrounds is stacked with competition so I wouldn't say I'm terribly disapointed. I'm actually kind of proud of the fact that it's so well known despite the fact that it doesn't appear on the top 50 or have an incredibly high score. It is indeed well known. Mostly due to my missionary efforts on its behalf, I hear. But before I ask anything further about BEEBO, though, I'll add that African Detroit Cop was one of the first games on NG I used to play... and that was long before I saw any BEEBO episode. What was the inspiration or motivation behind that game? My old site, Sneakers and Hotdogs, had an 80's theme. I made African Detroit Cop as part of the 'Celebrity Adventures' section of the site, which featured flash that parodied pop culture icons of said decade. I wasn't really so much trying to make a game as I was trying to make an interactive cartoon disguised as a game, so there really is no losing, there's just two different funny endings. It's certainly a style that fits really well at Newgrounds, in my opinion. I loved the combination of Eddie's characters from Beverly Hills Cop and Coming to America, did you watch both of those movies on the same evening while high or something? That actually sounds like a keen idea, but no, I was sober at the time. In the games I've made I've never been too interested in challenging anyone, just making them giggle, and I think I've succeeded in that arena, or so I've heard. When I started coming to Newgrounds it was way way way back in the day before the automated portal, the era of the Assassin java games, where you basically slowly mutilated celebrities, and that's the kind of content I've tried to bring to the table, random celebrities in strange situations coupled with hilariously gratuitous violence. Speaking of games and old games specifically... Over time, I've checked out some of your other work, but until doing some research for this interview, I hadn't watched each and every entry you'd uploaded to Newgrounds. I had no idea you preferred games to movies... at least your NG resume suggests that strongly about the past (What Time Is It?, Shopping for Death, Funkey Town, Suicide Bomber Game, and BEEBO SFA). Is it that you find making interactive flash more rewarding? That's all I was ever interested in, it seemed silly to just do a simple cartoon when I could do so much more. Does that preference carry over from the type of flash you like to make to the type of flash you like to view/play yourself? Sure, I do what I do to entertain myself just as much as anyone else. I wanted to ask a couple more personal questions about you specifically. I seem to recall that your NG profile once said you were from my hometown, Houston. Now it says "The Robin's Nest." While checking out your profiles on godfart and livejournal, I noticed Oklahoma and Michigan being listed... what's the deal--are you an interdimensional timetraveler, a two-or-three-months-in-each-state vagabond, or do you just enjoy claiming to be from several places at once? My curiosity won't yield! I've been threatened with lawsuits and I've been threatened physically in the past, I thought it best to retain some level of anonymity and secrecy as to my whereabouts. Was one of those lawsuits due to the original title of your Suicide Bomber game being an Activision title ("KABOOM!")? Yep, that was one of them. That's also where a lot of the physical threats came from. In any event, it certainly gives you an aura of mysteriousosity, and as such is to be applauded. What do you do when you're not online? In other words, any details you wouldn't mind sharing about your hobbies, beliefs, work, school, childhood trauma, etc? I'm currently attending college and seeking employment. Most of my time away from the computer I spend singing in a recently formed band, watching movies and drawing. Oh really? What kind of music does the band play? Also, do you ever put any of your non-flash drawing online, or is it mostly private? We're a rock group. I don't have a scanner, I don't have any drawings online. Turning back to your flash work... I've noticed your penchant for hilarious sound effects. For instance, in African Detriot Cop, when Eddie is throwing the garbage can lid at the bad guys, the "whoosh" noise... or, most notably, the "click" noise in the panda scene of BEEBO 6. Are these moments designed to make us laugh so hard or do you think that's mostly an accidental side effect of your often-random style? Haha, that's just me being too lazy to find a decent sound effect so I make it with my mouth. I'd say about half the sound effects that I've used are me making little noises and then playing with them in the Windows sound recorder. I tried really hard to make a click noise before I gave up. I suspected as much, but I wanted to give you a chance to make yourself look even more brilliant than you are (which is plenty). Heh. The "click" rules, BTW. Anyway, speaking of BEEBO... I have a hard time choosing a single favourite, but the ones at the top of my list are 1, 2, and 6. I did enjoy 8 and 9 as well, so I'm pleased about the recent turns the series has taken and am looking forward to 10. Do you have a fave episode of your own, or is that like asking a cat lady to kill off all but one of her 9 cats? I think 6 is my favorite, I put a lot of work into it and it turned out exactly how I wanted, but every episode has its moments. It is a masterwork of humour and violence married perfectly, methinks. You released the first three fairly quickly, and there was a long pause before the undead-Harry&Beebo plotline took off (a summer cliffhanger effect, actually). When you released the second three in the winter of 2002/2003, you mentioned having a monthly-BEEBO-ep schedule in mind... but of course the third three have been spaced out about a half-year between each episode. Did the harsh face of reality reveal itself and scream "YOU FAIL!" or did you just come to your senses and decide not to churn 'em out like Simpsons episodes? I've discovered that if I force myself to work, it's not as funny. I view it as a hobby, and I work on it when I want to, otherwise it kind of defeats the purpose and doesn't turn out good in the end anyway. When I announced the monthly deal I was kind of trying to force myself to start pumping out episodes, but I didn't anticipate the resolve of my laziness. Laziness is a powerful force indeed. Many people argue about what sort of nationality Harry is supposed to embody, but one thing that doesn't get noticed as often is your depiction of Australians (well, two of them at least!) in BEEBO 2. Have you received any hatemail about any of that? No, but I have received fanmail from Australians regarding that episode. Apparently they hate the Crocodile Hunter. Prior to the stunt with his baby and the croc, even? Yes, apparently they don't all go around screaming "CROIKEY" all the time, and Steve Irwin kinda gives the opposite impression. I visited Australia when I was 7 years old and thus too young to remember many details, so I can't verify that... but it sounds suspiciously true to me. On the subject of 7.... for some reason, I waited until after 7 was out last July to review all of the BEEBO movies. At the time, Kobe Bryant's scandal was fresh in the news (as I noted in my review). Are you psychic or just damned lucky to have totally called that one in BEEBO 4? Well, I think it's pretty obvious that Kobe Bryant is a natural born rapist. He's got those shifty rape eyes. Ha! Well, he's also apparently the guardian of Heaven, so... who knew?! Anyway, moving on now: I enjoyed the locale-shift to Vietnam for 6 and 7, but I know a lot of people prefer it when BEEBO and Harry are at home (and of course, 1 and 2 aren't off in any exotic place... it's total bullshit that neither of them has any awards like the seven parts that followed do, by the way... but oh well). Do you have any specific country or state you'd like to take them to in the future, or is that yet another area you'll let randomness decide? Surely the appropriately Rambo-themed hijinks of BEEBO's time in Vietnam had some forethought, though... otherwise your on-the-fly decision making process should be harnessed by the army for terrorist threat detection, methinks. It's all fairly random, the episodes just sort of write themselves. I mean once I decided Viet Cong were going to capture Harry, the obvious conclusion was to have Beebo go Rambo on their ass, and for comedy's sake Beebo didn't entirely succeed. I just do the first really funny thing that I think of at the time that I'm making it, which is probably another reason it takes so long to make. We talked about sound effects earlier... one question about visuals: Your series has always employed a lovely mix of refusing-to-be-polished drawing and select photos of celebrity heads (the Pope, Crocodile Dundee/Paul Hogan, Steve Irwin, Kofi Annan, Nelson Mandela, Kobe Bryant, MacGyver, etc. etc... and of course from non-BEEBO games we have Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford, and Eddie Murphy), but lately you've taken to putting fan heads on bit part bodies. I was unprepared for that in 7 and the effect left me kinda longing for the past, but when they popped up at the end of 9 it seemed more in place. Is this something you were just experimenting with, or do you expect to continue using non-celeb heads? It's all constant experimentation but I like to use fan heads, celebrity heads and random goofy heads I find off the internet (i.e. Harry, I have no idea who he is). If I just did random celebrity heads all the time I think the humor would wear thin. I've seen a photo with Harry and a woman and kid, but yeah, I have no idea either. Ah, the internet.... I'm hesitant to ask this one, and if you want to preserve the mystery please feel free to ignore the question: is BEEBO based on a real cat and is Harry based on a real person (or vice versa, for that matter)? Nope, the creation of the main characters was just as random as any given episode. Thank the maker! That fills me with joy, somehow. Just in case that was way too much about BEEBO, let me retreat further back in time... Funkey Town and African Detroit Cop are the only other titles (besides BEEBO, of course) that appear two or more times in your NG flash submission history. Were those games your main focus prior to BEEBO's success? I know you've mentioned an African Detroit Cop 2, but can we expect a Return to Funkey Town as well? Funkey Town, the first full flash adventure I ever made. I dunno, I'm not too keen on sequels, but I do what the fans want, I know an ADC2 is in high demand but as far as Funkey Town goes, I dunno. It's quite the trippy experience, and I regret only discovering it yesterday. You once made a topic on the BBS about the Big Lebowski and it's listed as one of your interests on livejournal (but not as one of your three favourite films in your Newgrounds profile). Do you still consider it the funniest movie ever? I don't think I have a particular favorite anymore, but it's certainly up there. I just saw Club Dread last week, also exquisite. Is there an interesting or insane or even boring story behind the origin of your username? I wanted to break the gay community's stranglehold on the term. What prompted you to change your site from Sneakers and Hotdogs to GodFart? Also, is the famous-dancers fighting game detailed at the old site (including Michael Jackson and that Lord of the Dance guy and whatnot) still in the works? Me and my online buddies wanted to move to a nice dot-com domain, so we went ahead and did that. Ferocious Dancer is one of the many projects I shall, sadly, never finish, primarily due to the fact that I suck at actionscript and don't work well with others. Do you think this interview has gone on long enough yet? I think so. Heh. Sorry about that. I started with 18 questions but that grew to 24 because your answers were too damned interesting! Last one: Are there any morsels of insight about your artistic process we might find interesting or any crumbs of hintage you want to drop regarding future releases? Unfortunately anything I might tell you about future projects would probably end up being a lie. I tend to drop projects often and don't stick to any due dates. All I can say for sure is that I'll keep making the good stuff so long as everyone keeps watching it. I think that's a pretty safe bet, and hell... even if you tried to make shit instead, I think it'd still turn out hilarious. Thanks insanely much for your time and patience, John. It was an honour to get to interview you for NG Mag, and just plain fun to talk with you for the first time (why didn't I ever think to AIM you before, damnit?!). No problem. And thanks to you for reading my longwinded interview. If the questions and answers did nothing to spark your curiosity about the works of fabulous999... and somehow you haven't seen any or many of his entries on Newgrounds... what are you waiting for? Go watch them all, you damnable-yet-magnificently-lucky-to-be-fabulous999-virgins bastards! You'll never forget your first time. Check out these Portal submissions by fabulous999: --select-- Website: Deviant Art Age: 24 Gender: Male Habitat: MI Job: Student Favorite Films: fear and loathing in las vegas the life aquatic the forbidden zone Favorite Bands: tool nine inch nails the foo fighters