Hello again! Today we have an extra special interview with the ‘Pope of Geekdom’. You loved him as an editor at Anime Insider magazine, you know him as the man behind the machine known as ToplessRobot.com. Ladies & gentlemen, Rob Bricken.
Dark: So I gotta ask, not that isn’t a badass name, but why Topless Robot?
Rob: My boss and I wanted something simultaneously nerdy and saucy. So we tossed out a number of adjectives — naked, nude, slutty, etc. — and nerdy nouns — wizards, ninjas, druids, and so on. In the end, “topless robot” was pretty much the perfect combination.
D: Do you have a Japanese counterpart, and if so, have your met him/her?
R: You mean, as a nerd blogger or just as a nerd? For the former definitely no — Village Voice Media is strictly U.S.) and as for the latter, most Japanese people who are as nerdy as I am are pretty quiet. I drink a lot. About the closest kinship I’ve felt in Japan was with Akitaro Daichi, the director of Fruits Basket and Kodocha, among others. We talked anime for hours, and both agreed that Mamoru Oshii should lighten up and get back into comedy. His Urusei Yatsura episodes were outstanding.
D: Although I may be the only one who considers you the ‘Pope of Geekdom’, there’s no question you’ve seen and done much the duration of your geekhood. So what’s one of your geekiest, nerdiest moments?
R: Well, that meeting with Daichi was pretty nerdy, especially since it ended with him taking a picture of my Lum tattoo. But my nerdiest moment/achievement was the completion of my college honors thesis on videogames as a legitimate art form by a critical analysis of Final Fantasy VII. It’s 150 pages. 80 footnotes. Took me a year. I’ve given a few lectures and run a few panels on it.
D: Besides TR, you also review models, figures and such for Anime News Network’s Astro Toy feature. How did that come about?
R: Well, I used to employ ANN executive editor Zac Bertschy back at Anime Insider for a while. We were friends before and after, and when I went full-time freelance after the animeOnline debacle, it was a natural fit. I actually worked at Wizard’s ToyFare magazine before Anime Insider, you know — I love toys probably just as much as anime. Reviewing them for ANN is very easy, except when the toys sucks and I hate it with the passion of a million exploding suns.
D: Lately it seems that the powers that be are trying anything to keep anime selling, from reboots, to anime on smartphones, to buying up massive amounts of properties in limbo. But [in my opinion] none of it seems to really be advancing the industry in any real way. I know the economy’s tough everywhere, but are people down to just grasping at straws, or is the only way to recuperate the anime industry by attaching it to any gimmick (or tactic) that hasn’t been touched?
R: It’s closer to the grasping at straws — anime companies on both sides of the Pacific are looking for any way to generate revenue streams since DVD sales are so down — a combination of the economy and piracy.
I can’t speak about Japan, because they have to find a model that’s right for them. But that’s where it starts, because only after Japan figures out a business model that allows them to make series and still make money in today’s market and age of online resources will the US market be able to figure it out. The problem in recent years is that both the US and Japan have tried to pretend they were going to make the same profits in 2008 as they did in 2003; this is simply no longer possible. But as Japan lost money, they gouged American companies more (or at least the same) and the American companies had no chance of even making ends meet. It’s obviously settled down now that there are only two real US anime companies left. But everyone’s still just treading water.
D: If you could pick any videogmae character to revamp, or any game franchise to revive, who would you save?
R: That’s a mean question to ask a nerd — picking my favorite aged videogame franchise is like asking a parent who his favorite child is. So I’ll cheat, and tell you that I want a new MegaMania (Atari 2600), Kid Icarus (Nintendo), Bushido Blade and Um Jammer Lammy (Playstation). Um Jammer Lammy is horrendously underrated, and she deserves a new game using the Rock Band/Guitar Hero gear.
D: Any thoughts on the mutant Namor?
R: Yes. Bitter, bitter thoughts.
D: But seriously, where do you see comics now and where do you feel they are going in the next few years?
R: You know, I’m not much of a comic guy. I try and keep up with what’s going on, but since I’m still friends with the ever-growing crowd of awesome people who are ex-Wizard, I know enough to know I shouldn’t speak on the matter. Although at a certain point, I imagine they’ll have to ditch the expensive paper and just go digital. Even if I bought comics [today] I’d never pay $4 for a single issue.
D: If you could direct any anime and/or comicbook movie (live-action or animated), what would you pick & why?
R: I’d direct the FLCL movie, partially because I wouldn’t want anyone else to fuck it up. I don’t know that I’d do it well, but I’d use all the Pillows music, by god. Sean Akins, the guy who ran Toonami for Cartoon Network, once said that FLCL was the coolest thing ever made by human beings, and I utterly agree. I also think it’s a terribly brilliant and moving coming-of-age story. It’s tied for my favorite anime, along with Urusei Yatsura.
D: ToplessRobot has been very successful for you, it seems. Is the popularity of the blog like anything you’d imagined going into the undertaking? Are there any goals for the site you’ve yet to achieve?
R: I’d love more readers, but I’m very pleased with where TR is now. I’m actually a professional blogger — I get paid to sit and type about toys and anime and cartoons and terrible live-action movies of ‘80s franchises. This is phenomenal. I am incredibly lucky. I also seldom wear pants.
D: With the fall of so many once prominent anime magazines, such as the mighty Anime Invasion, do you think there’s still room for anime journalism? If so, does it still have a future in print media, or has it already made the permanent jump to digital?
R: Almost nothing has a future in print media. Not only is everyone going online, paper costs are skyrocketing. Anime mags were likely hurt worse by the fact that anime fans are so tech-savvy and generally ahead of the curve on such things, but when the NY Times is having problems making a profit, you can’t pretend anime magazines have a chance.
That said, I’d say there’s definitely room for anime journalism on the tubernet. ANN and AnimeVice both do stellar work. There’s plenty of news to cover; not just the anime itself but Japan and music and goods and all the other crap people just file under “lifestyle.” Anime fans haven’t gone away, nor has anime fandom shrunk in the tiniest bit — cons are just as packed as ever. They’ve just stopped buying DVDs.
D: Speaking of anime journalism, there seems to be a massive amount of anime podcasts around the net nowadays. I’m actually kinda surprised TR doesn’t have a podcast, given that fact. What are your views on these podcasts? Are they the new emerging factor in anime’s future?
R: The only reason TR doesn’t have a podcast is because I’d rather be writing than talking about junk. Typos aside, I tend to do better writing than speaking; making a podcast takes time, and I’d rather spend it elsewhere.
The other part of the problem is that I don’t listen to podcasts. I hate talk radio. I just listen to music. I know a lot of great people are making a lot of great podcasts, some of them my friends. It’s just not my thing.
I think podcasts are just another way to get info out there. Some people want to read the news, some people want to hear it while they jog or something, and some people want to see it on video. I can’t imagine one will replace the other. But until enough people bitch at me to start a TR podcast, I’ll probably abstain.
D: What’s your most NSFW moment on the job?
R: Well, I was just invited to a porn shoot by a very nice pornography company. I don’t live in LA, so I couldn’t attend. Admittedly, the idea of two people having professional sex a few feet away from me was kind of disturbing as well. But the same company has promised me that they’re in the midst of making some… shall we say, very nerd-friendly porn in the near future, which I’ll cover because porn parodies are always hilarious. So I imagine I have a few NS4W moments in the future.
D: I’m sure you’ve been asked a million times already, but if you had to give any advice for upstarts looking to get into the anime industry, journalism, and/or blogging, what would said advice be?
R: Don’t bother with the anime industry. It’s far, far too small an industry right now to be accepting new members, and there’s still potential for it to get worse before it gets better. If you want to be a blogger, blog. Do it. As much as you can. The internet is a true meritocracy — if you’re good people will find you. The more content you have and the more potential employers can see steady, quality work, the better chance you have of someone paying you to do it.
Journalists — and this wouldn’t hurt bloggers to hear either — need real experience. Work at your high school paper. Work at your college paper. Intern somewhere. Even if you want to go into something nerdy like anime journalism, you have to knows the basics first. And don’t think nerdy knowledge will save you — there were hundreds of anime experts that applied to Anime Insider, but only a few of them could write worth a damn. It’s a hell of a lot easier to teach someone about a subject than how to write. Plus, with these skills, you have a lot more job options than just being a nerd expert would get you. But the more you put into it, the better chances you have. Employers are only looking to hire someone that will make their jobs easier. If you have experience and can be professional, you will always be a potential candidate.
You can catch more of Rob over at ANN’s Astro Toy and the ever-interesting ToplessRobot.com (yes, it’s safe for work).
