This is an interview with Asandir and here I've asked the question who is Asandir? Here I've tried to know the person behind the user.
Lets start with how you found NG when you joined 12/23/10
"Back in 2010, I liked to play Toss The Turtle sometimes. As people who played it know, process with all the upgrades and stuff is quite slow and I always wanted to keep the medals from it so I considered signing up. I didn't have any account whatsoever anywhere beforehand so it was quite the big deal, or rather a novelty for me. It actually took me a while before I posted, I was more or less unaware of the forums at first. Mind you that my english was even worse than it is nowadays so no big loss here. "
What effect has the NG community had on you?
"In a Newgrounds context a rather big one. In one way or another all that I stand for as user origins back to influence and or help by other users. Only gonna summarize it kind of shortly here since I see the other questions on my screen and I don't wanna make you sit through my weird sentences twice. Back when I became active on the forums, Gimmick was one of users that just came back to the site and we pretty much became Newgrounds buddies, often quoting eachother in posts and such. Suprememessage inspired the whole interview thingy, I recently had a good conversation with him that uplifted my spirits. The next one is this funny guy named Jolly, who helped me becoming a part of the Elite Guard Barracks, which spiraled into icon and then portal modship. Another user I consider a friend is NekoMika, always giving me advice and just a wonderful person. Was and still is one of the users that I looked up to and thought "I kinda want to be like this user for Newgrounds". I could name many more but I don't want to make this too sentimental. However, everyone who I interviewed is a person I want to thank, it was an honor to learn more about you as a user and a person. That's the biggest thing and it*s easy to forget this; you actually interact with real people behind the fancy usernames, keep that in mind as both a realisation and also an opportunity."
You've done many great interviews can you tell my readers what inspired you to do interviews?
"Yeah, that's no problem. What basically happened is that back then, there was a thread about interviews with celebrities or something along those lines and the OP asked what the most interesting interview was that we read. Suprememessage replied in a joking manner that the most interesting interview doesn't exist, since he hadn't been interviewed yet. I quoted him and jokingly offered to interview him and he actually liked that idea a lot so we went through with it. I then interviewed some more users and with the huge, huge help of The-Great-One polished them up from a layout and release schedule standpoint. And then, boom 3 years pass and we have over 150 interviews. Time passes quickly sometimes."
Do you have any secrets?
"Yes."
Why did you choose the name Asandir?
"Thinking of a username was the most difficult thing and I think it legitimately delayed my "arrival" by one or two days. I read the The Curse of the Mistwraith book series recently, and two names from there stood out to me. The one I wanted originally, Arithon has the meaning "destiny changer" and more importantly sounds pretty cool in my opinion. However, that one was taken. So original as I am, I just took another name from the series, "Asandir". That one means heart of stone and you see that incorporated in my profile picture. I am still very happy with my username, and a bit proud that I managed to avoid numbers in my username right off the bat."
Do you have any users that you favor or any that you don't care for?
"Well that's a bucket of syrrup right here, isn't it. We all know me for my polarizing opionions, so prepare for this pipebomb in text from:
"I love all of you, some differently but hugs are definitely an option".
To maybe add more to it, anyone who I had good talks with in the forums or over pm and anyone who makes posts that I enjoy, thank you for being awesome. Also shoutout to Exedor and Jolly for being great portal mods. The other mods are cool too, but I have not a lot of insight there. However whoever is moderating the forums, thanks for sacrificing the absence of grey hairs early in your life to make the forums, one of my favourite places, better."
Do you support gay rights?
"Absolutely. It's good see homesexuality getting more and more widely getting accepted, especially from a law standpoint. In Germany it is pretty much the case that homesexual parships get equal benefits as other couples and that is great. I know that in the US the situation is atleast in some states very difficult and I hope that we reach the same standarts there quickly. To me, if you love a man or a woman is not important, aslong as it is genuine and you can be yourself. I know people that had to hide their homosexuality for a long time from their families, and let me just say that I am very proud of you for staying strong."
At 2 hours ago, Maltos wrote:What would you say to a person that says "there is no such thing as reverse racism.
"You are mistaken, dear sir (or lady). I have not a lot of insight on this matter, but you can ensured that somewhere, someone hates you for how you act, look or for any other reason. I don't want to sound too pessimistic but it's not completely possible to take those prejudices out of human nature. I wish everyone who experiences any kind of racism, gets help from other people and or from the law to protect them."
What do you like most about NG?
To me, Newgrounds just seems more alive (incoming "Newgrounds is dead" jokes incoming) than other sites. There are some reasons for that first of all, the admins, like Tom Fulp interact with the community daily. That gives the staff, literally faces. I know that Newgrounds is on a much smaller scope in comparison nowadays but with sites like Reddit or Youtube you don't have this small community, maybe even family feeling. I also find it a lot easier to interact with artists, animators that I like. Likewise the wholeCollabinator aspect just gives an opportunity for great team projects. I love all the original music, animations and games that people make in their free time and I saw and heard stuff that really inspired me on an emotional level. And that is what I love the most, Newgrounds is a place with passion and that's what keeps this great place alive."
Is there one moment in your life you wish you could change?
"That's a tough one. It's not something that I regret even in a retrospective view but back in 2011 my father was diagnosed with lung cancer. He told me and my mother that the doctors told him that he had reasonable chances to live for 5 years or more. Little did we know that they told him that he was, well basically beyond saving and that the cancer actually spread though his whole body. We were angry at him for refusing to smoke atleast less, he even got more cigarettes from our neighbours. My father unfortunately passed away in the same year in November. If I knew how ill he truly was I wouldn't have spent so much time trying to convince him to smoke less. It's not something that haunts me too much, I just wish we knew how bad his health was ealier so that we could have tried to make his last months as great as possible. We did that but when you have to give someone up to cancer (I lost my grandmother just 4 years earlier due to breast cancer", you just feel like you didn't do enough. One thing that I realised though is that those very last steps; everyone goes them alone. I am not sure if someone leads you to your next stop but I hope that all the pain that you endured in your last moments here, is lifted from you, so that you can be free and fly."
Are there any MODS or STAFF members you like or dislike?
"Well. I have been on a pretty long hiatus from the forums, so I am not sure but forum mods that I like are ZJ, BackFromPurgatory, Dean, Murray and TurkeyOnStick among others. As far as staff members go, I like them for their work and being transparent. Truth be told I never interacted much with them and I think that they are at most merely aware that I am a user, so I am not gonna say that the are good buddies. I gotta say though that I like that BrenTheMan is super active and interacts with the forum members quite a lot. If you could interview him, that would be awesome to see."
What is your opinion on legalizing marijuana for recreational us?
"While I personally don't do drugs, I endorse legalizing marijuana atleast for medical reasons. That is actualy something that is one of the things that is a big political topic in Germany. Some people are allowed to get it but Germany is very very strict with it so you can count those people on, well not one hand but you get the point. Personally, I am for just legalizing it, feel free to throw big taxes on it like with alcohol and it would be fine I think. I am far, far from an expert but Weed doesn't seem to be much more dangerous than smoking or consuming (too much) alcohol, so from that view I don't see many problems. I doubt that the whole country would end up being, erm, stoned all the time and driving productivity to an all-time low like some want you to believe but who knows?
Has NG had an effect on you in real life? What would you life have been without NG?
I think so, yeah. First of all, my terrible english got better. You won't believe it but I actually got good grades in english in the last years in school. Aside from that, this is a place where I have people and creative content to cheer me up. The users that know me better know that I pretty much lost my whole family in the last years and it just feels good to have this site to find some peace from time to time.
Where do you stand on your political views?
I read the news everyday and I vote but I would never dare to say that I have any clue about politics. Everytime I look into the Politics forums I have no idea what's going on there. For the people in the US, I would vote for the Democrats, for the people from Europe, you can place me on the .... is it called left wing?
Are you currently in a relationship?
"Waifus count, right? Wait, they don't? Well the answer is no then."
Just wrting no seemed kinda not entertaining.
Through out your time here on NG do you feel as if there is a real sense of leadership in the MODS or the STAFF?
"I mean we all know that good old Tom is our goofy but handsome captain of the not sinking ship. For real though, I have only insight for the flash portal moderation and it is an actual team effort atleast from my point of view. Again, thanks to especially Jolly and Exedor. Also, the Elite Guard Barracks are a huge help for us."
I've seen your artwork could you tell my readers what inspired that art?
" I just played around with that 3D art program, with pretty much anything I do, not much thinking was involved in the process. The Chubby white seal is an actual plushie that I have and it looks close to its real counterpart."
You haven't submitted any games since 2012 will there be anymore?
"I don't think so, no."
If you could change anything about NG what would it be?
" Make it all blue. Aside from that, just give us more users. Though maybe we lose some charm of the site then. And, I actually would like the chat back, to be honest."
If you could say one thing to @TomFulp what would it be?
"Thanks for making this awesome site, never leaving it behind, creating awesome games with TheBehemoth and for allowing me to help my Elite Guard Barrack members by getting rid of abusive flashes."
What can we expect from you in the future?
"Well, the interviews have kinda stopped for some time now. I haven't really checked the forums lately, so I don't know if we have new awesome users. The-Great-One recently stopped doing interviews too and I would like to interview more artists in addition to forum users but I can't promise anything. I feel like I should actually start being an actual, active forum member to re-appreciate the forums again. Aside from that the portal mod thing is mostly happening behind the scenes and still going well."
This has been an interview with Asandir and I hope I've answered that burning question "Who is Asandir"
if you have any more questions for him shoot a PM his way and don't forget to leave a comment
thanks for reading.