Arin Hanson
Arin Hanson | |
---|---|
Born | Arin Joseph Hanson January 6, 1987 West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S. |
Nationality | American |
Occupation(s) | Animator, rapper, cartoonist, voice actor, Internet personality |
Years active | 2001–present |
Known for | Awesome Series Game Grumps Starbomb |
Spouse(s) | Suzy Berhow (m. 2013) |
Website | egoraptor |
Arin Joseph Hanson (born January 6, 1987), more prominently known by his internet pseudonym, Egoraptor, is an American animator, cartoonist, voice actor, rapper and Internet personality. He is known for his animated webseries, The Awesome Series, in which Hanson parodies various video game franchises, including Pokémon, Metal Gear, Ninja Gaiden, and Final Fantasy.[1] The series originally aired on Newgrounds. Hanson occasionally participates in sketch comedy and collaborations with fellow animators such as Ross "RubberNinja" O'Donovan, Rodrigo "El-Cid" Huerta, and Chris "Oney" O'Neill. He is also known for being the co-star of the popular YouTube Let's Play webseries, Game Grumps,[2] producing and singing/rapping in video game parody band Starbomb, and for his animated comedy video game review series Sequelitis.
Early life
Hanson was born and raised in West Palm Beach, Florida. He attended Wellington High School in Wellington, Florida, however he had dropped out during his junior year of high school in order to pursue a later failed writing career.[3]
Hanson later moved from South Florida to Los Angeles to pursue a career in voice acting.[3]
Career
Animation
Hanson first joined Newgrounds, after the death of his uncle, a cartoonist who inspired Arin, creating an account under the name of "Egoraptor" on September 16, 2001. After joining, he submitted his first Awesome Series animation, "Metal Gear Awesome," on February 23, 2006.[4] Hanson went on to upload various comedic video game-related animations, as well as four separate animated webseries (of which he then uploaded to YouTube); The Awesome Series, short animated videos that parody video games, Lemon 'n Bill, a comedic series in which an anthropomorphic bullet and lemon get trapped within video game worlds, Girlchan in Paradise!!, a series that parodies shōnen anime, and Sequelitis, a series in which Hanson compares a video game and its sequel along with minor animations throughout the video.[5] Hanson was also an early storyboard artist on the show Axe Cop.
Due to the success of "Metal Gear Awesome," Hanson was approached by MTV to produce animated shorts in the style of "Metal Gear Awesome" for MTV's online video gaming show, The G-Hole.[6] MTV gave Hanson four guidelines: the shorts must be poorly drawn, the shorts must have violence, the shorts must have swearing, and the shorts must be 30–40 seconds long. MTV also restricted him from submitting these movies to anywhere but The G-Hole, a restriction which Hanson constantly fought believing that all of his fans should have easy access to his work.[7] He went on to create 1 to 3 Awesome Series episodes a month for The G-Hole before the show was put on hold and eventually canceled. It is now survived by its sister blog, MTV Multiplayer, of which the management has opted not to include any new Awesome Series episodes due to budget restraints.[8] The Awesome Series continues online, on Hanson's YouTube channel.
Voice acting
In 2006, Hanson provided the voice of Bruce Banner in the video game Marvel: Ultimate Alliance as part of a competition held by Activision, however his voice went ultimately unused and the character was played by Robin Atkin Downes, though VGFacts and Hanson's own website claim that his voice is heard in the PlayStation 3, Wii and PlayStation Portable versions of the game.[9] This is however, false, as the voice is the same in all versions of the game.
In 2009, Hanson provided the voice for the character John Gore in the video game Minigore,[10] and later reprised the role in the 2011 remake of Death Rally.[11]
In 2012, Hanson provided his voice for the game Detective Grimoire: Adventure Game, a Kickstarter project which was successfully funded on August 3, 2012.[12]
In 2014, Hanson provided his voice for the game Dragon Age: Inquisition, voicing a dwarf discussing mages in Haven.[13]
Hanson will be providing the voice for the character Officer Spike in the upcoming mobile game Target Acquired.[14]
Game Grumps
In late July 2012[15] Hanson and his colleague Jon "JonTron" Jafari, known for his video game critiquing webseries, JonTron,[16] started a joint YouTube channel called "Game Grumps", hosting a show of the same name, Game Grumps. On this show, both Hanson and Jafari played video games that were typically retro or nostalgic in style.[17] This new channel was instantly widely acclaimed by fans of both Hanson's animation channel and Jafari's channel. However, in late June 2013, just under a year after the show's inception, Jafari left Game Grumps to work more on his own channel, and was replaced by Leigh Daniel "Danny Sexbang" Avidan of the musical comedy duo Ninja Sex Party.[18] (he also got game grumps confused with grumpcade for the first time on 23.1.15 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ndfo0OaEbjA at 16.13)
Collaborations
Hanson has appeared as a contestant on the Sony game show, The Tester, during its third season, as a community-voted contestant, but was eliminated in the third episode after being accused of using the show to promote himself.[19] When asked about his experience, and whether or not he would do it again, he replied negatively.[20] Many defend Arin Hanson, saying that The Tester used his popularity to get more views on Sony's YouTube channel, and that the judges were unfair to him.
Hanson appeared as a contestant in the third season of the dance competition webseries Dance Showdown, alongside professional dancer, Maxine Hupy.[21] Hanson was announced the winner of Dance Showdown Season 3.[22]
Hanson has also done narration work for several episodes of Did You Know Gaming?,[23] a webseries dedicated to video game trivia, including episodes covering Star Fox, Grand Theft Auto, Super Mario, Mega Man, Pokémon and Kirby.
Besides providing additional work for online series on YouTube and Newgrounds, Hanson has been featured in several videos for the website ScrewAttack, including a collaboration with James Rolfe and Keith Apicary.[24] In 2008, Hanson worked together with animator RubberNinja on the animated webseries Gamer Tonight where he provided the voice of the host, which was broadcast on the Australian television show Good Game.[25]
Music
In 2013, Hanson, along with Game Grumps co-host and Ninja Sex Party member Leigh Daniel Avidan and Ninja Sex Party keyboardist Brian Wecht, formed the band Starbomb. They released their first album in December 2013, self-titled after the band's name.[26] Starbomb went on to release their second album one year later December of 2014, titled Player Select.
Other work
In 2014, Hanson appeared on the webseries Hot Pepper Gaming where he reviewed the game Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes whilst eating a Bhut Jolokia, also known as the Ghost Pepper.[27]
Hanson will be a playable character in the game Hex Heroes for the Wii U. He will also be providing voiceover work for his character.[28] He will also be voicing the character "EGO: the Cyber-Raptor" in the upcoming fighting game Beast's Fury.[29]
Influence
In the video game The Angry Video Game Nerd Adventures, Hanson appears in the level "Blizzard of Balls" as a hidden character where he provides the Nerd with items. The Nerd will then say "Now I'm Not-So-Grump!", a reference to Hanson's show, Game Grumps.[30]
Personal life
Hanson lives in Glendale, California, along with his wife, Suzy Berhow, who animates with him and also cohosts the Game Grumps segment "Steam Train", as well as two webseries with Maker Studios subsidiary Polaris, Hunting Monsters and Table Flip.[31][32] His father, Lloyd "Paparaptor" Hanson, is a musician, and runs the website OldFartsWithGuitars.com, where he discusses music and occasionally other members of the Hanson family; Hanson created two Flash films ("Happy Birthday Dad!" and "It's Dad's Birthday Again!") as birthday gifts for him.
Hanson has said that he is diagnosed with regular ADD, and he believes that ADHD is an excuse.[33]
His mother, Maurette Hanson, runs Healing Horse Therapy Center. It is dedicated to providing on-site equine-assisted therapeutic and psycho-therapeutic wellness programming to combat veterans, survivors of military sexual trauma, special needs persons, and all individuals needing a safe and nurturing environment to heal from mental, physical and emotional challenges.[34]
Credits
Web series
Year | Title | Role | Episode |
---|---|---|---|
2010 | Cyanide & Happiness Shorts | The Man Who Could Sit Anywhere | "The Man Who Could Sit Anywhere"[35] |
2013 | Cyanide & Happiness Shorts | Ted Bear | "Ted Bear"[36] |
2015 | The Annoying Orange | Fig | "Banned Episode" |
Video games
Year | Title | Role |
---|---|---|
2009 | Minigore | John Gore |
2011 | Death Rally | John Gore |
2012 | Detective Grimoire: Adventure Game | Agent Folder |
2014 | Dragon Age: Inquisition | Misc. Dwarves |
2015 | Hex Heroes | Himself |
2015 | Target Acquired | Officer Spike |
See also
References
- ^ "The Awesome Series". Egoraptor. Retrieved 2014-01-19.
- ^ Amini, Tina (2013-03-01). "Watch This Silly Source Filmmaker Re-Creation Of Two YouTubers Absolutely Losing It". Kotaku. Retrieved 2013-12-26.
- ^ a b Hanson, Arin. "I dunno what to say". Egoraptor Takes A Wizz. Retrieved 2014-02-17.
- ^ Egoraptor's newgrounds page: http://egoraptor.newgrounds.com/
- ^ Ponce, Tony (2012-03-03). "Makin' faces and talking game design with Egoraptor". Destructoid. Retrieved 2014-10-01.
- ^ "Arin "Egoraptor" Hanson Interview". jfreedan. YouTube. Retrieved 2014-10-01.
- ^ "Investigating Anime". Carey Martell. Veoh. Retrieved 2014-01-16.
- ^ "Arin Hanson - Voice Actor". Arin Hanson. Voice123. Retrieved 2014-01-18.
- ^ "Marvel: Ultimate Alliance". VGFacts. Retrieved 2014-10-01.
- ^ Zibreg, Christian (2009-09-10). "Review: Minigore for iPhone – unleash the beast within". Geek.com. Retrieved 2014-10-01.
- ^ "Death Rally". GameFAQs. Retrieved 2014-10-01.
- ^ "Detective Grimoire: Adventure Game Win/Mac/Linux/iOS/Android". Kickstarter. Retrieved 2014-01-13.
- ^ https://twitter.com/HollyConrad/status/535520104776073216
- ^ TouchTen Games (2014-11-12). "@EGORAPTOR will be in our game! A Tribute to all MEGAMAN fans out there!". Kickstarter. Retrieved 2014-11-15.
- ^ "Game Grumps Announcement". Egoraptor. YouTube. Retrieved December 23, 2013.
- ^ "JonTronShow". YouTube. Retrieved January 18, 2014.
- ^ Ponce, Tony (2012-07-18). "Egoraptor & JonTron twiddle their sticks, play some games". Destructoid. Retrieved 2013-12-26.
- ^ Amini, Tina (2013-06-26). "Fans Are Upset Over YouTube Duo 'Game Grumps' Break-Up". Kotaku. Retrieved 2013-12-25.
- ^ Noble, McKinley. "Sony's Utter Hypocrisy: Egoraptor & The Tester". VentureBeat. Retrieved 2014-1-9.
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(help) - ^ Valentaten, Daav. "Egoraptor: Tester Entry Was "A Joke"". N4G. Retrieved 2014-1-9.
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(help) - ^ Klima, Jeff (October 30, 2013). "Lindsey Stirling Talks Competing On DanceOn's 'Dance Showdown' Season 3, New Album [Interview]". New Media Rockstars. Retrieved 2014-01-14.
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(help) - ^ "Dance Showdown Season 3 Finale". DanceOn. Retrieved 2014-01-28.
- ^ "Things You Might Have Not Known About Starfox". Dueling Analogs. 08-06-2012. Retrieved 2014-10-01.
{{cite web}}
: Check date values in:|date=
(help) - ^ "This Weird VHS Tape We Found". ScrewAttack Entertainment LLC. Retrieved 2014-01-17.
- ^ "11 February 2008 Gamer Tonight". ABC. 2008-11-02. Retrieved 2014-11-01.
- ^ Napierski, Steve (2013-12-19). "Luigi's Ballad". Dueling Analogs. Retrieved 2014-09-02.
- ^ Fahey, Mike (2014-03-18). "The Hottest Ground Zeroes Review Involves A Ghost Pepper". Kotaku. Retrieved 2014-03-19.
- ^ Prismatic Games LLC (2014-09-04). "OUR GRUMPIEST ANNOUNCEMENT YET". Kickstarter. Retrieved 2014-12-04.
- ^ Beast's Fury Team (2014-06-20). "Keep Beast's Fury Going! - WE DID IT!!!!". Kickstarter. Retrieved 2014-06-20.
- ^ "Angry Video Game Nerd Adventures". VGFacts. Retrieved 2014-10-01.
- ^ "Table Flip: Flip tables with the Game Grumps!". Maker Studios. Retrieved 2014-01-17.
- ^ "Hunting Monsters". Polaris. YouTube. Retrieved 2014-01-17.
- ^ Rogue Legacy: Go for the Gold - PART 2 - Steam Train. Game Grumps. 2013. Event occurs at 6:29.
Arin: I have regular ADD, and I think ADHD is just a regular excuse to you know...
{{cite AV media}}
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(help) - ^ "I WON!! A big THANK YOU!! And Charities!!". Egoraptor. YouTube. Retrieved 2014-01-02.
- ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHKiGl02NmU
- ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDCNJdeM9PE
External links
- 1987 births
- American animators
- American male video game actors
- American male voice actors
- American music video directors
- American people of Irish descent
- American people of Italian descent
- Animators
- Living people
- Internet celebrities
- People from West Palm Beach, Florida
- Video game critics
- People from Wellington, Florida
- People with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
- YouTube celebrities
- Polaris people