LONG BLOG
Community Interviews: Behind The Helmet Visor Of Sephzilla
Welcome to the first entry in my Community Interviews series!
You'll notice a slight tinge of formulaic formatting throughout these interviews as you read through them, and that is that there are repeated questions that every person must answer. �The reason for this is simple: those questions are what form the foundation of the interview. �Once those questions have been answered, other questions are asked that are tailored to respond to the answers given. �What you will be reading is the end result, conversationally compiled.
Without further ado, let's get started.
He's been a member of the Destructoid army for over six years, and has eight Community Blog posts deemed worthy of frontpage promotion. �He's also carries the distinction of being one of Sheriff Dixon's Barney Fifes, patrolling the Disqus comments on frontpage articles for spam and general asshattery. �He's a 27-year-old programmer who doesn't like the idea of being closer to 30 than 20.
He's Sephzilla, and he's the first published interview in this series.
I sat down with him for a long-winded chat, and by sat down, I mean PM'd him a series of questions, then asked him further questions about the answers he gave. �Here's the results of that series of exchanges, and should prodive an adequate window into the mind of Seph.
One last question: Who do you think you are?
I'm awesome. �I'm goddamn Robocop! �I think Dixon should change the Disqus Deputity forum badge with a RoboCop icon. �Because when I'm around people stay out of trouble!
Oh wait... is this a serious question?
I'm a pretty "average" gamer. �I think I have a pretty varied taste in video games, I'll sample everything from first person shooters to platformers to MMOs to even the occasional crazy RPG. �Given that I've been a gamer for about twenty years and have a pretty deep library of games, I guess you could call me a "hardcore gamer" if you wish. �Though, to be honest, I almost want to distance myself from the "hardcore gamer" crowd since it seems like they're progressively turning more and more into the hipsters of gaming.
Alright, I lied. �Here's the last question I have for you: tell me how you feel about the upcoming Robocop remake. Does it make you mad? �Sad? Happy?
I'm not really excited for the new RoboCop movie. �I've been keeping tabs on it when updates occasionally pop up regarding it, and nothing I've been hearing has been getting me excited in the same ways the upcoming Godzilla reboot does.
I'm sure most people have seen the pictures of the new RoboCop online by now. �I'm not a big fan of that design at all. �The original RoboCop suit had a slightly bulky design to it, but at the same time it had a more believable "robot" aspect to it plus it looked more like an industrialized product ready for mass production. �It had some parts of it that were made to look sleek, like the chest piece or the helmet, but it still had stuff to it that made it feel like a tool or product (kind of like a car). �It looked like a believable robot, not a guy in a suit.
The new RoboCop suit looks, well, it looks too "comic-booky". �It looks too much like it's a guy in a rubber costume and the suit looks way too sleek and detailed for a product that is supposed to eventually be mass produced.�
Beyond the suit, I've been watching and reading interviews with the director and listened to him explain the basic outline of this new movie and I cant help but feel like he completely missed the point of the original movie. �A huge part of the original movie was the idea that you can strip all of the physical traits away from a human but you cant strip him of his humanity, and the whole movie is pretty much the audience and RoboCop re-discovering Alex Murphy.�
And it sounds like this new movie is deviating from that a good bit because RoboCop is apparently a lot more humanized from the get-go, still has his family around him apparently, and heck even still has one of his arms and hands. �On top of that, I'm getting a huge feeling that the satirical elements from the original RoboCop are going to the wayside as well. �While I don't want the new movie to be a carbon copy of the original RoboCop, I think there are a bunch of very good elements from the movie that need to stick around. �Hell, considering that Detroit is actually bankrupt now I think the original movie is a lot more relevant now than it was even in the 80s.
I think after everything is all said and done, people might think that 2012's Dredd was a better RoboCop movie than the upcoming RoboCop.
Damn, you've inspired a third closer question. Nice job. In terms of any adaptation, whether jumping medium or simply sequelizing / rebooting, do you feel that losing those small elements is what ultimately costs the project its soul? Does the alienation of fans who recognize this act as the potential death sentence to a franchise?
Well, it's kind of a catch-22. In order to stay a viable franchise you need to keep changing things up bit by bit in order to stay fresh, but at the same time you can't really sacrifice what made you popular in the first place (I think the saying is "stay with the girl who brought you to the dance" or something like that).
Ultimately I think shaking things up too much or changing things from the norm hurts more than helps most of the time. When people see RoboCop, Call of Duty, or Devil May Cry on the box they have a certain idea of what they want and if they don't get that they feel disappointed.
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Everyday Legend 
Ross 1
AboveUp 1
VagrantHige 1
Scrustle 1
Jhon donut 1
DepressedOptimist 1
BrowneyeWinkin 1
Ben Davis 1
smurfee mcgee 1
Handy 1
Beyamor 1
M Randy 1
PhilKenSebben 1
Elsa 1
Sephzilla 1
Sotanaht 1
Arttemis 1
You'll notice a slight tinge of formulaic formatting throughout these interviews as you read through them, and that is that there are repeated questions that every person must answer. �The reason for this is simple: those questions are what form the foundation of the interview. �Once those questions have been answered, other questions are asked that are tailored to respond to the answers given. �What you will be reading is the end result, conversationally compiled.
Without further ado, let's get started.
He's been a member of the Destructoid army for over six years, and has eight Community Blog posts deemed worthy of frontpage promotion. �He's also carries the distinction of being one of Sheriff Dixon's Barney Fifes, patrolling the Disqus comments on frontpage articles for spam and general asshattery. �He's a 27-year-old programmer who doesn't like the idea of being closer to 30 than 20.
He's Sephzilla, and he's the first published interview in this series.
I sat down with him for a long-winded chat, and by sat down, I mean PM'd him a series of questions, then asked him further questions about the answers he gave. �Here's the results of that series of exchanges, and should prodive an adequate window into the mind of Seph.
One last question: Who do you think you are?
I'm awesome. �I'm goddamn Robocop! �I think Dixon should change the Disqus Deputity forum badge with a RoboCop icon. �Because when I'm around people stay out of trouble!
Oh wait... is this a serious question?
I'm a pretty "average" gamer. �I think I have a pretty varied taste in video games, I'll sample everything from first person shooters to platformers to MMOs to even the occasional crazy RPG. �Given that I've been a gamer for about twenty years and have a pretty deep library of games, I guess you could call me a "hardcore gamer" if you wish. �Though, to be honest, I almost want to distance myself from the "hardcore gamer" crowd since it seems like they're progressively turning more and more into the hipsters of gaming.
Alright, I lied. �Here's the last question I have for you: tell me how you feel about the upcoming Robocop remake. Does it make you mad? �Sad? Happy?
I'm not really excited for the new RoboCop movie. �I've been keeping tabs on it when updates occasionally pop up regarding it, and nothing I've been hearing has been getting me excited in the same ways the upcoming Godzilla reboot does.
I'm sure most people have seen the pictures of the new RoboCop online by now. �I'm not a big fan of that design at all. �The original RoboCop suit had a slightly bulky design to it, but at the same time it had a more believable "robot" aspect to it plus it looked more like an industrialized product ready for mass production. �It had some parts of it that were made to look sleek, like the chest piece or the helmet, but it still had stuff to it that made it feel like a tool or product (kind of like a car). �It looked like a believable robot, not a guy in a suit.
The new RoboCop suit looks, well, it looks too "comic-booky". �It looks too much like it's a guy in a rubber costume and the suit looks way too sleek and detailed for a product that is supposed to eventually be mass produced.�
Beyond the suit, I've been watching and reading interviews with the director and listened to him explain the basic outline of this new movie and I cant help but feel like he completely missed the point of the original movie. �A huge part of the original movie was the idea that you can strip all of the physical traits away from a human but you cant strip him of his humanity, and the whole movie is pretty much the audience and RoboCop re-discovering Alex Murphy.�
And it sounds like this new movie is deviating from that a good bit because RoboCop is apparently a lot more humanized from the get-go, still has his family around him apparently, and heck even still has one of his arms and hands. �On top of that, I'm getting a huge feeling that the satirical elements from the original RoboCop are going to the wayside as well. �While I don't want the new movie to be a carbon copy of the original RoboCop, I think there are a bunch of very good elements from the movie that need to stick around. �Hell, considering that Detroit is actually bankrupt now I think the original movie is a lot more relevant now than it was even in the 80s.
I think after everything is all said and done, people might think that 2012's Dredd was a better RoboCop movie than the upcoming RoboCop.
Damn, you've inspired a third closer question. Nice job. In terms of any adaptation, whether jumping medium or simply sequelizing / rebooting, do you feel that losing those small elements is what ultimately costs the project its soul? Does the alienation of fans who recognize this act as the potential death sentence to a franchise?
Well, it's kind of a catch-22. In order to stay a viable franchise you need to keep changing things up bit by bit in order to stay fresh, but at the same time you can't really sacrifice what made you popular in the first place (I think the saying is "stay with the girl who brought you to the dance" or something like that).
Ultimately I think shaking things up too much or changing things from the norm hurts more than helps most of the time. When people see RoboCop, Call of Duty, or Devil May Cry on the box they have a certain idea of what they want and if they don't get that they feel disappointed.
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About Everyday Legendone of us since 1:32 PM on 08.24.2009
I am the Everyday Legend, and I am a male, 31-year old Florida native and videogame fan of the most epicurean order. I'm also the father of a very precocious (almost) three-year-old daughter, and a newborn daughter as well!
My natural state: very, very tired.
I got into gaming when I was 5, and my Aunt and Uncle had an NES that they had bought because they thought it was the coolest thing ever. As a matter of fact, they weren't too far off of the mark. I was introduced to Super Mario Bros. and Duck Hunt (naturally), and soon followed up with the very first Zelda. I remember the very first game I beat by myself - Megaman 2, in 1989. I was six at the time.
Shortly after that, I played Street Fighter II for the first time in a local skating rink and was hooked. Bad. Like, smack-habit bad.
I remember playing against the college kids that would come in there to hang out and chill - there was a lounge connected to the place that you had to be 18 to get in - and a lot of these guys used to come in and spend a ton of time and money on playing SFII. I learned how to play from these guys, and within a year, I had become just as good as they were. I was hanging out with people almost twice my age, and conversing with them on their level about a mutual passion - and that's where I've been ever since.
Videogames don't make up my entire life: I cook, I write, I sing, I have a full-time career in IT and am still attending college for a degree in Computer Science, then moving into a Masters in Information Systems Management. Gotta have goals.
Nothing beats a good trip to a good bar where they serve good beer and have a good selection of good tunes. Also, chilled Junmai Ginjo (unfiltered) sake is the nectar of the gods, in case you weren't aware. Of course, those trips are very rare these days, because there is always another diaper to change, and leaving your kid at home in the crib is never an option if you want to be able to look at yourself in the mirror.
Oh, and I really, really love sushi. I can put away amounts of that stuff that some may label as borderline genocidal. I put species of fish on the endangered list singlehandedly. I'm not ashamed. It's their own fault for being born so damn delicious.
XBL (defunct): Everyday Legend
PSN: Everyday_Legend
STEAM: Everyday Legend
Skype: everydaylegend
Your eyes do not deceive you. There's a trend.
See you out there.
- EL