I have no personal connection to the guy, I just had a lot of stuff to get off my chest regarding Chris Niosi's past of being an abusive, manipulative, ass. So I blew this angsty load all over my Twitter and decided to document it here. Is this partially to stroke my own ego by treating my Tweets as if they are actually important? Possibly. Probably. However, in lieu of recent knowledge, it seems like he has been called out for this bullshit before and danced around it for years. People leaped to defend him and people are still leaping to defend him. So if there is one more post out there with one more voice saying "remember, this guy did all this", then I feel like my duty in this scenario is fulfilled. I guess I don't really have a duty here but I'm giving myself one and following through anyway.
I am editing the tweets slightly to get rid of typos and shit but otherwise, this is verbatim what I said, not that it really matters because I still have no personal connection to any of this. That has not changed since the last paragraph.
Here ya go:
https://twitter.com/GoNintendoTweet/status/1154940926193819648
https://gonintendo.com/stories/340993-nintendo-confirms-removal-of-chris-niosi-as-the-voice-actor-for-f
An article from GoNintendo.com called "Nintendo Confirms Removal of Chris Niosi as the Voice Actor for Fire Emblem: Three Houses/Heroes' Byleth, New Voiceover Coming Via Patch". The links provided in the article start a rabbit hole of people who know Niosi calling him out for his bullshit. For those who will say "lol, just a bunch of girls whining about a shitty boyfriend with no proof of anything", it's there (ya sexist bitch). You don't even have to use Google. And Niosi minces words but doesn't deny any of it. Anyway. I retweeted the article saying:
"I talk shit about Nintendo from time to time but I like that they realize the importance of voice actors to the public. This was an extraneous step they did not have to take but I very much respect that they did."
"I recently found out about his bullshit and can't believe I never heard of it before. The links articles like this are giving don't even come close to telling the whole story (not that they should be expected to, there's a lot of abusive history to cover)."
What I was saying here is that the article is about Niosi's voice lines being replaced in "Fire Emblem: Three Houses", not Chris Niosi being a dick. Even then they briefly stated the reasoning, linking another article about Chris Niosi being a dick and apologizing for it publicly. In that article, there are links provided to responders that knew Niosi personally, most of them being victims of his abusive behavior. There is so much text to sift through there that at a certain point, it's out of the journalist's and/or writer's hands.
"I didn't know he was even in Three Houses until yesterday." That would be July 26th, 2019, watching my friend play "Three Houses". "It's hard to completely separate the art from the artist. I don't even want to think about Brawl Taunts or TOME anymore because I don't like thinking about actual rape. I think Nintendo made a good decision."
Then I started a separate thread.
"Actually, I have not had a chance to sort out my thoughts on Chris Niosi and his recent [admission] to years of mental, physical, and sexual abuse to several people. I am going to talk about it a bit more here. Feel free to chime in at any time."
"Niosi was one I always looked up to from a young age. My friends and I were floored by 'Brawl Taunts' and would reference it all the time. His work introduced me to many other inspiring and creative people like Kira Buckland and Deven Mack. [Niosi]'s the only reason I know about OK KO".
"On the other hand, I have now read quite a handful of firsthand accounts of his actions. It's really shady to me how he is not directly denying any of the actions but he is still trying to deny what they are.
"Forcing your drunk girlfriend to have sex with you is rape, by the way."
"It also seems that allegations have come out before. To the public. He denied it then, his friends and fans backed him up, and so the victims were silenced and reverted to a state of fear."
"Prime example here:"
https://amethystlashiec.tumblr.com/post/149095962046/regarding-chris-kirbopher-niosi
A post from someone who knew the guy all too well. The home stretch has a lot of juicy links of Niosi dodging things before "Fire Emblem: Three Houses".
"None of this is okay. If he is really trying to get better, that's great and all but it doesn't change what he did. I can't sympathize or empathize with that shit. That's where I'm at with him if that wasn't clear already.
"This leads me to the 'interesting' bit."
"What line do we draw when it comes to what forms of media we enjoy procured by monstrous assholes? Many would argue 'all of it' but I think it is more situational. Though if you feel 'all of it' is the answer, that's perfectly understandable. I respect that."
"For me, it comes down to four factors:
1. what bad thing(s) I KNOW they did
2. how they are involved in the art
3. how much are they involved in the art
4. how much I think about this while processing said art"
"These four factors are just the pattern I notice in my own thought process. I'm not even offering it as a rule of thumb. It's just what my mind does. Everyone is going to go through this sort of thing differently."
"Let's specifically use Niosi-related pieces here. Let's start with TOME. TOME is fully imagined by Niosi. It's on his personal channel. It is nearly impossible to consume TOME or anything related to TOME without thinking of Niosi."
"Other people worked on TOME and helped make it what it is but it is still primarily the vision of a rapist.
"Another factor worth noting here is that TOME is a YouTube series, so revisiting it directly supports him (a rapist)."
"Let's look at another example. 'A Hat in Time': one of my favorite games of all time. He [is] the voice acting director and I think had some hand in casting if I'm not mistaken but he was definitely the voice acting director."
"Boycotting this game because of Niosi's involvement seems silly to me. To clarify: that seems silly to me *for me* if that makes sense."
"I am sure Niosi' contributions to that game were important and necessary but as a work of art, many other people made the things that make A Hat in Time memorable for me."
"When I think of A Hat in Time, I don't think about the voice director, I think of the process of Jonas Kaerlev, the creativity of Jenna Brown, the versatility of Mick Lauer, and Luke Sizemore's performance, among many other contributions."
That's a run-on sentence, ladies and gentlemen.
"If Niosi's involvement in A Hat in Time triggered me just thinking about it enough to where I did not enjoy the game anymore, I would never play it again.
"Inversely, I cannot imagine watching TOME again, or even something as silly as Brawl Taunts for that matter."
"I think it all comes down to the individual. It's not about what you are or aren't comfortable with, it's about what level of discomfort the involvement conjures."
"This is why I don't completely hate 'cancel culture' but also think it has periodically been taken out of control. That is another interesting facet of the situation because people are telling other people to ease up because 'he apologized' and 'he's trying to get better'."
"God knows I have made mistakes and some of them are technically public, so free game to riff on me. However, I'm not a rapist. I think the argument for 'cancel culture is stupid' is moot when it comes to someone who really thought about how to fuck with other people."
"One last point before I stop stewing on this; I am now embarrassed to say I kind of looked up to this asshole. He, up until recently, was doing exactly what I wanted to do a few years ago and didn't achieve."
"Even after I stopped applying for voice gigs, he was still just another inspiring person to me because he 'made it'. He made consistent money doing something he loved. He had a responsive and supportive fanbase."
"However, I am not saying 'in situations like these, let's not forget the good times/things'. Nope. What's done is done. I'm all about spinning a negative into a positive but whatever that negative might be, it's still a fucking negative."
"I also love giving people second chances, whether I know them personally or not. I love seeing people overcome their demons. That said, I want to 'cancel' Niosi from my life. I gladly unfollowed him on everything and wrote off his future projects the night of the 'apology'."
"Bonus point: Those apologies were ass.
"That's my two cents, or like... enough cents to make a dollar or two. I'm open to any discussion on this because I think the surrounding cultural and moral implications of the situation are interesting. But keep in mind, I'm done with Niosi."
7/27/2019
7/02/2019
Present and Future of Randomrings
As of now, it has been 7 months since my last video (the one where I rank/review MCU movies) and 8 months since the last video that I was really, really proud of (the Pokemon Battle Revolution review). Instead of posting a million tweets or an update video that I will end up deleting later, I'm just going to write this and try to make it as easy to read as possible.
I'm an online student and my school runs its courses pretty much year-round. I get a week off in the Spring, a week off in late August, a week for Christmas, and a week off for New Years and that's it. Four weeks off for a year of school. I have been at this school since October of 2017. Fortunately, since I have been in and out of other schools since 2011 (I know), I will be graduating with a bachelor's degree in creative writing with a screenplay focus in March 2020.
I've also been looking for a new place to live. I still haven't confirmed one but I've been working on that. My lease ends at the end of this month. That's another factor.
My mental health has been better since I last posted about it. That said, my life is stressful anyway. Depression is a factor but I think trying to balance all of this stuff out without extreme burnout is next to impossible. I felt burnout symptoms up until the eighth week of this past term of school. It has helped put into perspective what I want to do with videos from now on. Whether or not I actually will do any of this is another story.
I am kind of leaning toward not doing heavily analytical videos anymore. I'm not sure. If I can do them in a way where I can still show off writing skills/voice then I will. I want to do more Gumflap-style videos, specifically like the Pokemon Battle Revolution video but not as long-winded. If I don't use capture footage, I can upload these videos to Newgrounds and that's one of the main points I want to make with this post.
YouTube is a cesspool so I want to try my hand with Newgrounds. To do so, I have to make new kinds of videos. Newgrounds's rules bypass a lot of the technical issues that, along with bad management, make YouTube a cesspool but with that positive notion comes a demand for more attention to what you are putting in your videos. There is only one video on my channel right now that could technically pass Newgrounds's regulations: the 2017 mental health video. I kind of don't want that to be the only thing on my Newgrounds page though. So I don't know what my new videos will look like. Well, I know what they will physically look like but I don't know how they will play out, what their topics are, whether or not they are more sketch than a review or vice versa.
The videos help me in real life. I get stuff off of my chest so I don't rant to other people about what I like and dislike about things they don't care as much about. I don't want to stop making videos because I don't want to stop writing. I think if there is one main point to take away from this post, it's that I don't want to make videos from stress or some fictitious, self-deprecating obligation. I want to make videos from pure inspiration and a persistent, very real desire to make other people happy.
In terms of making content more regularly, I also want to make let's plays. I want to make channel art before I publicly post a video there though. I think the channel will just be called "Randomrings Let's Plays". I have set up a lot of stuff to get that to work but my friends and I just have not recorded anything with that in mind yet. We have been talking about it for sure.
Don't expect a boon of content from me over the next 4-8 months. I want to make more portfolio things that are entertaining and not just "this game is stupid" or "this movie is pretty good". Like last time I did this, here's a list of what I want to release independently. I'm sure I will update more as time goes on. In general, I need to narrow down my focuses so I can release things more regularly without driving myself mad. Anyway, list:
Gumflap - videos where I take a topic, most likely a video game or video-game-related concept and talk about it with a little, sketchy cartoon man.
Late to the Party - I talk about TV shows and movies for a bit. Not sure if I will make a Newgrounds-friendly version of this or not.
Randomrings Blog - I guess I'm still doing this for some reason.
Webcomic - I have been working on a big webcomic series for a while and still have not storyboarded anything. I have been thinking about putting out something lighter and less plot-heavy, whether in comic form or in video form, until that gets done.
Lexi Karma - I'm still working on music. I was having technical difficulties for a while but everything is back up and running now. I still have no idea when I'm releasing the second Lexi Karma project. I wanted it to come out in 2017 or 2018 and it is long overdue.
Thanks for understanding.
I'm an online student and my school runs its courses pretty much year-round. I get a week off in the Spring, a week off in late August, a week for Christmas, and a week off for New Years and that's it. Four weeks off for a year of school. I have been at this school since October of 2017. Fortunately, since I have been in and out of other schools since 2011 (I know), I will be graduating with a bachelor's degree in creative writing with a screenplay focus in March 2020.
I've also been looking for a new place to live. I still haven't confirmed one but I've been working on that. My lease ends at the end of this month. That's another factor.
My mental health has been better since I last posted about it. That said, my life is stressful anyway. Depression is a factor but I think trying to balance all of this stuff out without extreme burnout is next to impossible. I felt burnout symptoms up until the eighth week of this past term of school. It has helped put into perspective what I want to do with videos from now on. Whether or not I actually will do any of this is another story.
I am kind of leaning toward not doing heavily analytical videos anymore. I'm not sure. If I can do them in a way where I can still show off writing skills/voice then I will. I want to do more Gumflap-style videos, specifically like the Pokemon Battle Revolution video but not as long-winded. If I don't use capture footage, I can upload these videos to Newgrounds and that's one of the main points I want to make with this post.
YouTube is a cesspool so I want to try my hand with Newgrounds. To do so, I have to make new kinds of videos. Newgrounds's rules bypass a lot of the technical issues that, along with bad management, make YouTube a cesspool but with that positive notion comes a demand for more attention to what you are putting in your videos. There is only one video on my channel right now that could technically pass Newgrounds's regulations: the 2017 mental health video. I kind of don't want that to be the only thing on my Newgrounds page though. So I don't know what my new videos will look like. Well, I know what they will physically look like but I don't know how they will play out, what their topics are, whether or not they are more sketch than a review or vice versa.
The videos help me in real life. I get stuff off of my chest so I don't rant to other people about what I like and dislike about things they don't care as much about. I don't want to stop making videos because I don't want to stop writing. I think if there is one main point to take away from this post, it's that I don't want to make videos from stress or some fictitious, self-deprecating obligation. I want to make videos from pure inspiration and a persistent, very real desire to make other people happy.
In terms of making content more regularly, I also want to make let's plays. I want to make channel art before I publicly post a video there though. I think the channel will just be called "Randomrings Let's Plays". I have set up a lot of stuff to get that to work but my friends and I just have not recorded anything with that in mind yet. We have been talking about it for sure.
Don't expect a boon of content from me over the next 4-8 months. I want to make more portfolio things that are entertaining and not just "this game is stupid" or "this movie is pretty good". Like last time I did this, here's a list of what I want to release independently. I'm sure I will update more as time goes on. In general, I need to narrow down my focuses so I can release things more regularly without driving myself mad. Anyway, list:
Gumflap - videos where I take a topic, most likely a video game or video-game-related concept and talk about it with a little, sketchy cartoon man.
Late to the Party - I talk about TV shows and movies for a bit. Not sure if I will make a Newgrounds-friendly version of this or not.
Randomrings Blog - I guess I'm still doing this for some reason.
Webcomic - I have been working on a big webcomic series for a while and still have not storyboarded anything. I have been thinking about putting out something lighter and less plot-heavy, whether in comic form or in video form, until that gets done.
Lexi Karma - I'm still working on music. I was having technical difficulties for a while but everything is back up and running now. I still have no idea when I'm releasing the second Lexi Karma project. I wanted it to come out in 2017 or 2018 and it is long overdue.
Thanks for understanding.
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