LegendaryFrog - 02/07/2005 Author: Skye-McCloud | Interviewee: LegendaryFrog Ok, for starters, tell us about yourself. What's your name, how old are you, what got you started in flash, etc. My name is Joseph Blanchette. I’m 22 and started using flash when I was 19. I began using Flash at my job, were I make Flash based software for Chiropractic Offices. For the curious, what tools do you use when making your flash animations? Do you use a drawing tablet, your mouse, or something else (If possible)? Sometimes I draw the picture on paper, and sometimes I draw directly in flash. I don’t use a tablet. (I have one but never got the hang of it) In Flash I use the line tool, not the pencil or pen tool. Ok, moving into some questions regarding your animations, the first set is based on the Ark & Kerrigan world. You put in a small FAQ in "All Your Pie" that Kerrigan and Ark are from your sci-fi story, "The Galactic War Saga". What about Sal and Senya, though? Did those two come from GWS (I'm sure you can guess what that means) as well, or are they something different? Yeah, Senya and Sal are from the same universe as Kerrigan and Ark, which is serious and not cartoony in the least. A&K are Altera, or “Human Mutants.” Senya & Sal are a race called Delar. What kind of nightmares does Ark even have if a giant stuffed bear is a "manifestation" of said nightmares? I don’t’ think we can’t comprehend what goes on in Ark’s head during the day, let alone at night. It’s best not to think about it. I remember reading something about Ark disliking Sal. Where does this disliking come from? I guess it’s not explained much in the cartoons, but there’s meant to be a sort of rivalry between the two. Ark and Sal would always get into competitions and Sal would always be perfect at them. There’s a “deleted” scene in “Kerri’s Big Invention” that had a flash back of Sal winning Senya the stuffed bear from a “Swing the mallet ring the bell” game. (I always thought the line felt out of place without the flashback, but I kept it.) When Ark tried to win Kerri a stuffed animal the mallet ricocheted off the ground and knocked him out. Another delete scene from that cartoon had Sal recalling the time he bowled a perfect game when the four went bowling one time. So Sal’s perfect at everything… Except cooking that is. On the NG version of Legendary Tales, you put your first four shorts up. Three of them were from the Ark and Kerrigan world, while the fourth (Or rather third) was from Metal Gear Solid. What the heck spawned these creations (Especially the DDR one, which was just weird)? Full length cartoons that months to make and I’m not exactly speedy in their creation. My buddy Chris Boe suggested short cartoons and he would help animate them. I thought it would be a great idea. It would be a way to get cartoons out faster, and make more A&K cartoons because I didn’t have any plans for more at the time. Although they’re not coming out as speedy as I would have hoped, it’s better than nothing. Moving onto the One Ring series... As you had said in the "Forging of the One Ring" as part of the "One Ring: Special Edition", you had come up with the idea after watching "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring". Did that scene with the sock puppets actually happen, or was there more behind the idea for One Ring? Most of that mock-umentary was a joke, so no, there were no sock puppets. That conversation did take place though, in the car ride home… up until the point Dustin started hitting me that is. I couldn't think of any decent questions for the original One Ring 1, so I'll be asking about the special edition. Why the heck would Sauron need an evil henchman? Doesn't he have huge legions of orcs? When I made One Ring 2 I made the goblin his lackey and named him Wayne. I always liked the classic idea of stupid master, smart henchmen. (I have ideas for future episodes that expand on this concept.) So that’s why in One Ring: SE I made him looking for a henchmen. Had to explain where Wayne came from. “One Ring” doesn’t relate much to LotR anyway. I've never heard of Shrink-e-dinks (From One Ring 3). What are Shrink-e-dinks? Never heard of Shrink-e-dinks? What kind of deprived childhood did you have? Shrink-dinks are these little sheets of plastic you color with markers, then heat in the oven, and they become hard like a thick plastic. From One Ring we come to a sole question regarding your FF Tribute. Where did the FF Tribute start from? What was your inspiration for it? I listen to a lot of music at work, and when I listen to music I begin imagining images for it. (Like music videos) So after listening to “Chocobo Robo Voice” over and over I had the idea of having the FF character dance to it. One day I randomly drew Cloud and the Tonberry, and then Eiko, and then I decided to move forward with the movie. I never worked on a big Flash movie before so it was a new thing to me. I didn’t’ even know about Newgrounds when I started. To finish up on the animation questions, let's talk about Return of Ganondorf. First and foremost, what gave you the idea for "Return of Ganondorf"? Did the popularity of it surprise you any bit? The popularity surprised me greatly; it’s become one of my most popular movies. I got the idea when I was walking my dog one day. I forget how exactly, I guess it was the concept of someone acting, looking, and sounding totally evil but having a heart of gold. I picked Zelda because I’m a big fan of the series. Did I see an X-Box in Ganondorf's room? I know you're a Gamecube and PS2 fan (Based on the Ark & Kerrigan animations), so is the X-Box in Ganondorf's room a sign of what you think of both Ganondorf and X-Box? Ganondorf = the ultimate evil. You figure it out. :p I‘m kidding though, I have no problems with Xbox. But that WAS the joke I was going for. Why didn't Ganondorf wonder why Link was in his room in a black ninja outfit? I mean, wouldn't you be a bit suspicious if the person who locked you away in some sacred realm was in your room in a ninja suit? He was just glad to see Link. He’s just full of love you know. You told me in a prior conversation that you felt Return of Ganondorf was your cleverest animation. Mind explaining why you think that? Just the concept of evil guys being big teddy bears. I also like the narration by Link and how it cuts back to him at the title screen after each segment. So, I think it’s clever because it’s not set up like normal cartoons. Since it can be safely said that the height of your popularity on NG has passed (Your height being when you had some 6 or 7 entries in the top 50)... Back during your peak, there were a lot of problems around NG. There were a number of nasty rumours, such as you using an auto-vote script to keep your stuff on the top 50, as well as a number of big NG artists who seemed to have hated you. Do you have any comments regarding those rumours, and to those artists? Well, those rumors, and whatever rumors there are now, are 100% false. I’m not going to name names, but some high profile NG people began making claims I cheated my way into the top 50 with auto-vote 5 scripts or telling my fans to vote other movies down. One even wanted me to resubmit my movies to proof they got where they were on their own. I refused because I was proud of the fact they were so high. It kind of died away after that. The only time know of one of my movies was effected by an auto-vote script was when someone made a movie to auto vote “One Ring 2” a zero and leave an all zero review. I remember reading something that said you have another style for flash animations that you want to try, but you have nothing suitable to try it on. Is this true, and, if so, can you tell us a bit about this unseen style? What exactly would "fit" this style, if what I remember is true? Yeah, I want to try a more realistic style. And I will in the future. I’ll be using that style in “The Matrix Has You Again” and another secret collection not headed by me. If you go to some of my art pages you can see my realistic drawing. (Go to the movie section on my site for links) There are a number of people who feel your humor is getting old and/or stale in your animations. Do you feel the same of this, or do you think that the humor just isn't being recognized anymore? What do you think is causing people to think like this? It’s hard to say. “One Ring 3” didn’t do as well as I hoped and I thought it had a solid script. I felt “Final Fight” from the first Matrix collection was lacking somewhat, but I didn’t feel the need to do an all out parody, just make my point about The Matrix Revolutions. So I suppose my movies in 2004 weren’t as strong as my older ones and that’s why. Maybe due to the fact that half of them weren’t real parodies like my other ones. Nonetheless, the movies and collabs I’m doing now seem to be shaping up nicely, and the people who have seen the scripts love it. (Including some not in production) So I’m hoping people won’t think I’m loosing it. Just out of curiosity, what would be the one thing that NGers don't know about you that you'd like them to know? Maybe that I always like talking to fans on Instant Messenger, but unfortunately replying to E-mail is to overwhelming, but I do try and go though a good number of them. Outside of the internet I don’t’ really have unusual hobbies or anything. One thing people might not know is I like taking music from games and writing lyrics for them, which is like poetry. Again, you go to my site, find the link for deviantART to see them. Around the time that your animations were going down in the top 50, a couple of professional animators joined the NG community: James Farr and Adam Phillips. What do you think of these two animators, the coming of more professional looking work? How do you feel of the effect brought by these two animators? Do you think it is for the better or for the worse, and why? I enjoy those animators work a great deal, but I think their coming to NG is a double edged sword. On the one hand I think its great that professionals (or near professionals) are showcasing their work on a public Flash site like Newgrounds. The world’s most popular Flash portal is a great way for people to see it. However, it means the standards get raised for everyone else. I always felt Newgrounds was the “Everyman’s Portal” People like myself, Flash Bros, Randy Solem and all my animator friends are “Everyman Animators” We all have talent obviously, but it’s not our living or anything like that. Movies like “Prowlies at the River” are masterpieces no doubt about it. But looking at the top 10 at the moment, almost all of them are serous bits of animation. That being said, animators like Super Flash Bros are getting recognition not because of intense Frame by Frame but quality story and humor. Not to say Flash Bros’ animation isn’t great, because it is, just not the same level. If there was one thing of Newgrounds that you'd like to see a change implemented in, what would it be? One change that I always wanted got fixed last year, which was no adult ads except on adult submissions. I’m really glad those are gone. I can’t really think of anything to change, because NG is doing a lot of things right at the moment. (I love the new icons you can pick for your movies!) Maybe a way for the collections to get updated more and be noticed more. Well, I think that's about all the time we have, not to mention I can't squeeze out any more decent questions. Thanks for your time, Joseph, and I can't wait to see your next animation. No problem! I plan on having a good number of movies out in 2005. Movies made totally by me and more collaborations. I’m working on Resident Evil: Code Veronica Flash Edition at the moment, which is loooong overdo. I’m also working with a few different animators on scripts, which includes a Metal Gear Solid movie. I want to thanks everyone on NG and all the difference places that house my movies, as well as all the friends I made! I wouldn’t be anyone without you! Check out these Portal submissions by LegendaryFrog: --select-- Website: Legendary Lilypad Age: 27 Gender: Male Habitat: Georgia Job: Flash Guy Favorite Films: Star Wars movies Jurassic Park movies Matrix Movies Favorite Bands: Rhapsody Blind Guardian Dragonforce