@midgetsausage - @Aalasteir (Q) - Index

Q: When did you first become interested in animation, and why?

Alan Becker. Oh man, when I first watched Animator VS Animation back in, what, 2017? I was HOOKED. It was so amazing that you could just have a bunch of stick figures move (and fight) on your very own computer screen, and in AvA2 they introducing moving icons, and it was so COOL. Alan had an animation tutorials channel and he mentioned that he used Flash, so I.... acquired a copy of Flash MX 2004, then later Flash 8, then Flash CS5 then CS5.5 then CS6 and now I use either CS6 (for animation) or CC 2015 (for general drawing, for example, all the Cooper Bullet comics).

With it, I used to make a lot of fanmade versions of Animator vs. Animation.

Then I found out you could do more than just that, and, well, I've been adamantly using Flash for 7 years and counting now. My contributions in Tankmas 2024 use Flash, my WIP Cooper Bullet File 4 uses Flash, if I could make it in Flash then I'd do it in Flash.

Q: What is animation?

Animation is beautiful. And the best part is that it doesn't necessarily pertain to drawings; anything could be animated. And what's amazing is that animation, the skill, has a lot of nuances to it; you first need to learn all the technical stuff, like you need to be good at timing. You need to be good at spacing. You need to be good at inbetweening. Then you move on to more performance-related stuff, such as clear readable poses and expressions and whatnot, being good at knowing when to make something do something to something. However, that's teetering more on the pre-production side I suppose.

The best part is that there is no one ultimate way to do it. I can cheat. The great Chuck Jones, blessed be his memory, found great use in bringing out the best emotion in characters by way of tiny movements, such as making a character look elsewhere. It would've been very easy to over-animate the character expressing that emotion, but he found power in doing more with less. That's amazing.

Q: What do you like about this medium? Do you think about it differently now compared to before? If so, why has your perception changed?

Again, it's the fact that it could be ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING! The only limit is.... well, erh, unfortunately there's a lot of limits, right? Technical skill, system requirements (if you're going for the 3D routes 'n shit), the fact that you can only use your 'putter on Saturdays if you're with a family that's strict/also uses that same 'putter, which thankfully I have never had to experience but it's a real thing. But it could be damn well anything.

Mainstream animation--the one you go to theaters for--has definitely changed. A shift has occurred from realistic visuals to more stylized output and by God I am all for it. This is coming from someone who grew up during Disney-Pixar's Golden Age, per se, by the way, and while Toy Story 4 has dust that I could definitely lick and water I could definitely drink, it did not bring me as much joy as Puss in Boots 2 did.

Q: What are your opinions on what makes quality animation? What specific elements do you look for, and why do you think those elements are important to you?

People always point to smooth animation. I think anyone who does is stupid. I find lower "frame rates" a lot more appealing to both watch and work with.

What I generally look for is READABILITY. I must be able to understand what the hell I'm looking at. You don't HAVE to treat me like a child, I just need to know what I'm looking at on my screen. There was a cool Jet Set Radio animation I watched yesterday, it was for the Dreamcast Collab I think. And it was so awesome, the blend of 2D and 3D, it made me squeal like a pig. But problem is, and forgive me if anyone who made that entry is reading this interview (I really mean no malice), I just didn't get what was going on in the middle and the end. I can make guesses, but that's not what I want to do. I shouldn't have to guess what's happening on my screen.

Making sure the audience understands what's going on is always my upmost priority before I move on to other things, because what use is a bunch of cool schtuff if I don't even understand what they are?

Q: The story of your username: midgetsausage

I had a username I disliked. I could change it everywhere else, but it sucked it required Supporter for me to change it here, when I considered this my main hub. KnoseDoge gifted me Supporter one day so I could change it, and it was amazing! But now I had to consider very carefully what my new username should be, and it just so happened that there was like a bunch of half eaten canned Vienna sausages on a plate in the dining room. So I thought, hey, those are midget sausages.

Regarding the "midget" in "midgetsausage"; surprisingly in all 4 years of me being midgetsausage, only 3-4 people have had some problems with it. The only platform that didn't like it was, color me surprised, Roblox. I suppose it's because nobody really uses "midget" as a slur anymore (most people don't even know it is one), they usually point to more supposedly hurtful insults. I would've picked a better username if I had a chance to change it now, yes, but yeah. Even more surprisingly, people call me MIDGE instead of SAUSAGE.

And no, I didn't pick it because oh, midget is a slur, slurs are cool. I just genuinely thought it was an innocuous word for tiny. I mean, it sounded very food-like. Phonetically it sounds similar to nugget. In an alternate universe, I would've named myself midgetnugget.

Q: How did you discover the NG website? What made you decide to join the community? Do you feel differently about the site now compared to when you first joined?

Funnily enough, I considered Newgrounds as a second social at first; I grew up with Flash games, yes, but I played them elsewhere, usually on sites like Y8. So admittedly I was completely alien to NG culture when I first got here, and only viewed it as just a second place to dump my videos to. I still considered my YouTube channel my "main hub".

Unfortunately (or fortunately?) YouTube terminated my channel for "deceptive and scam practices" back in 2018/2019, whatever the hell that meant, which left me with Newgrounds. Probably for the best. I really like it here. I think my experience has only gotten better and better since my initial signup, actually. Isn't that awesome?

Q: How would you describe your experiences with the community?

It's been very fun. I've seen a lot of stuff, been with a lot of stuff, lost a lot of stuff, had fights and shit. But overall, this community has been pretty damn good. I would not replace this community for any other, because I am grateful for what this community has done for me.

My BlueSky account, for instance, went from just double digits to triple digits in the span of a day, because someone put me in a list of Newgrounders to follow and the official NG account endorsed that list. That shit was awesome, I never would've imagined that happening.

Q: What advice do you have for being in the community?

Just keep doing shit! Join collabs whenever you can!

Often people just come here, post their art, barely interact with the community, then complain it's not very good for growing an account. That's 'cus you ain't do shit! You gotta actually engage with the community before the community can engage with you! Be part of collabs/jams, show your worth, then soon people will actually know who you are and will come to you when you post something.

Then again, I think I might've just gotten lucky, so my advice might not work. What worked for me might not work for you. But, like, just get into shit! It's fun anyway! If all you think about is growth then you might as well just be an investor or some shit because we're all in this for the fun!

- Attempting to copy one medium in another medium

Trying to blend two worlds together whenever possible. Attempting to make 3D look like 2D and vice versa, for example. It's one reason I like Team Fortress 2 a lot, the attempt to make a game that looked like commercial art from the 1960s mixed with the ridiculous spy gadgetry and espionage of something like James Bond. Worthikids is also especially good at this sort of thing; Wizard Beer still blows my mind for it being 2D-like 3D. Others include: Klaus (3D-like 2D), the LEGO movies (stopmotion-like CGI), Laika movies (CGI-like stopmotion) and early South Park (cutout-like 2D).

Q: Why do you think you enjoy it when one type of art blends with another?

Because it's AWESOME!!!!!!!! And it's LOVELY behind the scenes stuff that gets me all riled up.

It's also a great showcase of skill, because it's one thing to look good in 2D, it's another to make 2D artwork LOOK LIKE 3D OR SOMETHING. That's so awesome. I am probably genuinely autistic.

- Diary of a Wimpy Kid

I was OBSESSED with Wimpy Kid for like a great part of my childhood. In fifth grade, I even went about making my own diari- sorry, journals. They sucked. But I feel like I can still feel the impacts of Wimpy Kid up to this day; the way it did its black-and-white illustrations can still somewhat be felt when looking at Cooper Bullet's artwork.

Q: What do you like about the series Diary of a Wimpy Kid?

I haven't read the books in a long long while now, but my appreciation for the books has changed overtime. I just generally really enjoyed the batshit crazy situations and, of course, muh subvert-ening of expectationing. Wimpy Kid was definitely the gateway for me to the whole, centuries-old realm of stories where the protagonist wasn't a good person, which was a very novel concept, considering all the other books I had read at the time were just Roald Dahl books where the protags were all goody-two-shoes, which I liked, but I found a deeper appreciation for main characters who really were just pieces of shit.

The art, again, kind of impacted me. The way it contrasted foreground and background elements, the way it handled monochrome illustrations, its simple and elegant style. It both looks like something a proficient artist would do and something a kid would do. How cool is that?

Q: How would you describe the experience of creating COOPER BULLET? What have you learned about yourself?

Dude, EXHAUSTING. That's for the actual comic-creating part. For the coming-up-with-the-thing part, I learned I am stupid and I have no idea what the hell I'm writing about. Later on though, I would use some of my experiences to influence the tone and stories for the comic.

For the actual comic-making part, it's so... tiring, and that's with its already simple sketchy monochrome style. The soul of Monkey Punch, blessed be his memory, also likes to take over my hand sometimes, which ends up with very Lupin-esque drawings, particularly when a character is expressing extreme emotion. It's as fun as it is tiring.

Still less effort than A Waste o' Time, though.

Q: What do you like about Team Fortress 2?

Now. I will have to admit something I do not like admitting, and it's the fact that I SUCK at first person shooters. I can not aim. I can coordinate, I can follow an objective, but I can't aim for shit, and the FPS games my peers play all put a heavy emphasis on shooting. Plus, I also suck at recognizing who the enemy is, because shit just blends in together like visual noise to me. It was just team deathmatch after team deathmatch, filled with sweaty East Asians whose hands have melded on their keyboards and mice and their asses have left deep, irrepairable crevices on their seats that rival most meteor craters.

"That is not my idea of a good time."

*points at TF2* "AND THIS IS?!"

"THEY KILL ME EVERY TIME I MOVE! ME!"

TF2 does not do that. It's still a team deathmatch underneath the hood, but on the surface it emphasizes the objective. Its character design is clear AND readable, there are clear goals, it's amazing. My favorite class is the Medic, precisely because you're so important to your team AND YET you don't have to aim. I even wrote an entire guide for those who want to play Medic, too. He's also my favorite class to draw, apart from the Scout.

The 16v16 lobby size allows for greater freedom to fuck off and do whatever you please, which leads to the little interactions you get in the game which is what I live for. It's so CASUAL. Can you name another game where the entire server just stops because someone started dancing? Or where a stupid A-posing Scout can just show up on your spawn and watch you throughout the entire game while telling you to go left?

That's just the gameplay too. The visuals, the voice acting, the music for the official shorts, the whole package is so damn good. I've sunk 800 hours so far in the game. I'd sink 800 more if I could.

Plus, I could mod the game to include Lupin III music. Very good.

- Linguistics

One other subject I could think of is linguistics. English is not my first language, it's my second/third, as I am a southern Filipino and thus my 1st and 2nd is naturally Bisaya and Tagalog. So while English is second-nature to me, I'm still invested in the many intricacies of this wretched language, and of other languages. For instance, did you know that "loanword" is a calque (word made up of two or more words, e.g. airplane) while "calque" is a loanword (word borrowed from another language)? Tom Scott's Language Files are an especially good place when it comes to this sort of shit.

Q: How would you say knowing multiple languages has changed the way you see the world?

I haven't really thought about that! I think knowing about languages definitely helps, as language is a huge part of any given culture. Though my interest in languages aren't really to do something more practical with it, it's mainly just something I'm plainly curious about. I do not wish to be a linguist :P

- Synthesizers

Did you know that only a few people who used the Yamaha DX7 actually knew how to program the damn thing and so they settled with the many presets, which is why most 80's songs that use the DX7 use the same sounding instruments?

Q: Where did you learn so much about synthesizers?

Mostly YouTube, and it comes with other production trivia about other songs. Michael Jackson songs are an especially good source for weird tidbits about how his music was done. D'ya know the bass for Smooth Criminal is just a sample of a low piano note pitched up?

Ironically I don't know how to configure synths myself. I just like the presets. In a way, I am like those DX7 users. I am equally dumb. The Minimoog is really good, though. I love that little synth. Omnisphere is also really good, granted I haven't really found any use of it outside of recreating the bass and lead synth of TF2's Mann VS Machine theme.

Q: What would are your music recommendations?

CHROMAKOPIA AOTY PLEASE LISTEN TO IT IT'S SO GOOD DHFSDFGJSDHFGSDJFHS I have no idea how many times I've listened to this album from start to finish, it's SO GOOD. SO MANY HIGHLIGHTS. LISTEN TO CHROMAKOPIA ON SPOTIFY FOR THE TRANSITIONS PELASE PLEASE PLEASE (SABRINA CARPENTER)

In fact, after this interview, I'm gonna do precisely that. I'm gonna relisten Chromakopia again from start to finish. In fact, writing this interview right now, I AM listening to Chromakopia. I'm on track 6 now. Heh.

Q: What do you think about Internet drama? What would be your advice on handling it?

My advice is to just turn your computer off, man.

Hahahahahahahaha How The Fuck Is Cyber Bullying Real Hahahaha N*gga Just Walk Away From The Screen Like N*gga Close Your Eyes Haha

You have a lot of time on your hands if all you do keep indulging in dumb ugly ass shit.

If it's internet drama about YOU, then, oh well. That's a different story, no? Just don't add more fuel to the fire.

Q: Your advice on organizing a collab?

PLEASE DO NOT ORGANIZE REANIMATED COLLABS!!!!!!!!

I am begging you, please do not. Snackers (or was it some other guy?) talked about why organizing reanimated collabs was such a pain back when we were still making the Bike Slide collab, because if one animator couldn't do their part and nobody else could fill that role, then it spells doom for damn well everybody, especially if the collab has a deadline of some sorts. Save yourself the effort and, I don't know, make Friendly Frog 2 or something. Anything but reanimated collabs.

That aside, collabs are actually surprisingly easy to run. I figured a lot more would go into it, but it was actually rather simple. Just make a collab announcement, have people join, whip their asses every week or so, compile them (or have someone else do it) and you're on your merry way. That is, if you're running something as conceptually simple as the Sketch Collab. Otherwise, you'll have to do some more work, but the process is the same.

Just.... don't start a Discord server, unless it really really requires close communication. Otherwise, turn that shit into a Google Form.

Q: Why is the Medic your favorite class in Team Fortress 2?

Again, because I can't aim. But the Medic doesn't need to aim! There's a big ass area on your screen where if your teammate was right there and you pressed + held the left mouse button, you instantly hook your healing beam on them. And that area encompasses 70% of your screen. AND once you hook onto someone, you don't even need to keep looking at them; you just need to be somewhat near them.

The Medic is in a weird spot where it's the easiest and yet the most important class to play. On paper, that's really shitty game design, and I guess that's what makes him a lot unappealing for some people to play? Because as the only true healing class in the game, that's all you do. But I like healing. I don't like charging into fights, I like playing support.

That being said, now that you aren't trying to aim and shoot half the time, your main goal now as a Medic is to stay alive and be more proficient with positioning, to achieve better game sense. Do you rush in with your Medic buddy or not? Which Medigun is perfect at this point in time? Is your patient about to die first, or you? Or are you both going to die at the same time? Plus, if you DO decide to play other classes, your knowledge of positioning and game sense is brought over.

Q: How would you describe the community culture of TF2?

I personally try to stay away from the community when I'm not sharing art. Why? I don't know, I just don't want to engage with them. This ultimately leaves me with more tourist-y opinions on the community, but not on the game itself.

There's also the what part of the community question, because there's a lot of parts to it. The MvM community? The casual community? The people who whine about the game's art direction because they watched Death of an Artstyle once? For example, I personally think TF2 YouTube sucks, apart from a few major players, because most of them just do the same things and say the same things.

It's weird. It's tiring, this whole topic. I just like da game :P I mean no malice, this is simply how I enjoy the stuff I like. You don't see me interacting or even minding, say, the Half-Life or Lupin III community for example.

Q: Why do you think people shouldn’t start a Discord server for collabs?

It depends on the collab, that part. If your collab is just a "Make an entry according to these rules! Give them to me after they're done! I'll compile them and you get invited to the project and everything" affair, then surely imo there isn't any need for a Discord server?

Collabs such as Tankmas and FulpWare require servers as one requires a lot of coordination, the other is (was) a secret, invite-based collab nobody knows is (was being) worked on. Whereas, Friendly Frog didn't need a server, and neither did any of the Sketch Collabs. For 2023, we settled on a Google Form. For 2021 and 2022 we had a server, which still surprisingly lives on up to this day as just a general hangout server, but we found out we never really needed it, so for 2023 and this year, we never did.

"Well, what's wrong with just having a Discord anyway?" That's imo too much work for something that should be simple. You have to moderate the chat and make sure people don't start fighting or some other dumb ass shit. It's two things to keep track of at once, which is not okay (for me at least) in a world where you're getting increasingly busier as time goes on.

In summary, I just want to clarify that I'm not saying collab organizers SHOULDN'T make Discord servers. I'm just saying, if your collab doesn't need one, then don't make one. Because one's too much work.

Q: What do you like about Chromakopia?

chromakopia so fuckin good bruh

-- @matoh2 (hopefully, when he actually fucking listens to it soon)

It is so diverse in sound, man. Every track is an ethereal experience. The song transitions also help make the album a lot better than it already was, because it feels like you're listening to two or three massive songs instead of fourteen.

I never really like listening to albums throughout, tell you what. Mostly because most times, there's only really at best four or five songs in any given album that I actually like listening to. Hell, look at Tyler's previous album, Call Me If You Get Lost. I only like five songs out of it, and one of them is a single off the deluxe edition. Michael Jackson's Off The Wall, which I think is his best album... I only like listening to six out of the ten tracks on it. So it's an extreme rarity that I like ALL the songs in an album, and Chromakopia is one of those extremely rare times.

Q: How would you introduce a new person to the NG community? Tips and tricks would help?

I'm not sure if I can really give advice????? Because I still think all this time that I was just a lucky guy, who was somehow in the right place at the right time. Is this impostor syndrome?

Again, I was fourteen and I had joined Cymbourine and ninjamuffin99's unofficial Newgrounds server back in 2019, and I met some of my closest friends there whom I still talk to to this day, and it was also where Tankmas 2020 was hosted. Tankmas 2020 was my big break. It just went off from there. Shoutouts @GeoKureli and @BrandyBuizel, aka the only two people I am gonna willingly ping in this thing.

I guess the only advice I could give is the same answer as the one I gave for how to be in the community: make collabs. Join shit, do shit, post shit. Okay, post your stuff first, then join collabs. Other than that, and I guess most important of all, have fun!

Oh, that was in my older answer too. Well, still, just have fun anyway, and don't pressure yourself if it no longer is.

If it's not fun, why bother?

-- @matoh2 (I think)