MegaTokyo, 17 years later

!g*mers did you ever backed a Kickstarter project that never came out? like Mighty Number Anime Fan on Prom Night?

How the frick do you need a lead programmer for a VN, the VN engines literally do it all for you all you need to do is drag and drop your pictures and write text in the text boxes

I've been meaning to do an effortpost on Robert Stanek. He was a 2000s-early 2010s literary lolcow who self-published a terrible fantasy series that no one actually read, and then attempted to present himself as a world-famous bestselling novelist using an army of sockpuppets, fake fansites, thousands of fake Amazon reviews, photoshopping himself into pictures with other authors, and an entire fake forum where he circlejerked with himself about his own books. He constantly Googled himself, got into fights, and claimed that all of the negative info about him was a vast conspiracy created by jealous George R. R. Martin fans.

He's still around but he gave up on the fake forum, Amazon deleted all his fake reviews, and he switched to churning out hundreds of interchangeable children's picture books. Most people don't really pay attention anymore. He created a blog to represent a bunch of (conspicuously picture-less) indie authors that were part of his "publishing house." At one point he wrote his own obituary from one of their perspectives, before resurfacing days later and acting like nothing happened. One of his online personas also pretended to be Isaac Asimov's granddaughter.

Most of the info about him is on old forums and defunct sites. He was best known to the online GRRM fanbase and to people who were into the "sporking" subculture (livejournal litcrit for insecure teenage neurodivergents (and how I got interested in writing)).

https://web.archive.org/web/20210511000917/http://conjugalfelicity.com/robert-stanek

https://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php /topic/42588-robert-stanek-shat-directly-into-my-soul/

https://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php /topic/19941-roberts-newcomb-and-stanek/

(these links don't work in the published comment for some reason, just delete the space)

https://robertstanek.com

this is set at PAX, the Penny Arcade Expo, which the webcomic author owns and runs

they were at Sakuracon (GIRUGAMESH!!) https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/04/23/a-matter-of-life-and-death

The Sakuracon provides an ego regulation service that has become increasingly necessary as the site has grown. I will admit to you that I sometimes feel like a bad-butt, which is patently insane. What do I do, really. I ramble to people I don't know with a familiarity I haven't earned. I need events like this one, ones where we are absolutely incidental to the culture, to take me down a couple pegs. Yesterday I sat in the foyer, hunched forward, musing about how presumptive it is for me to bring merchandise to something like this. When my blood began to feel viscous I knew that the Sakuracon was engaged in its holy work.

These events are about Fred Gallagher, also known as Piro. He writes and draws Megatokyo, which is a phenomenal success and tuned with precision to the cravings of the Japanese culture enthusiast. I'm not saying that he has invented a machine to snare those people, anymore than we are able to attract those who play games. I think he likes this stuff and it comes out. I used to maintain a fire in my heart about the split between him and Largo, his old partner on the site, and I had manufactured a Piro persona I could loathe readily. When you meet the guy, it's really, really hard to hate him. Believe me, I'm good at hating. I've got a degree in that shit. But he seems to detest himself in actuality.

For a long time I thought of this as a construct, emblematic of a deep cynicism and cleverness. This may have been projection. At any rate, I can tell you that it's quite genuine. Please do not stop your forum threads about how his site has gone downhill - those will always provide me succor as his erstwhile competitor - but do not doubt for a moment that his artistic paralysis represents a genuine malady. His body language communicates an encyclopedia of vicious self-assessments. He can't maintain eye contact. He looks away, as though the faces of other people somehow constitute a bright light.

So, I'm going over where he is today to receive my adjustment. Perhaps I will see you there.

https://www.penny-arcade.com/news/post/2004/04/26/here-he-goes-again-on-his-own

"Monday's comic might be kind of mean, Fred - I'm just letting you know," I said. He laughed and told me that was fine. He hadn't seen it, though.

What a change in that guy. What I said on Friday hasn't ceased being true, but it's true such a small percentage of the time that it's worth making a point of it. What the painfully shy or socially awkward among our number would be comforted to know is that interpersonal skills can improve through use to a startling degree. I know it's no comfort right away - there's fear associated with managing the variables in any conversation. It is as though I told you that the more you tame lions, the less likely you are to be devoured. But there is a type of "muscle" involved whose function can be improved through use, and I think that Piro's backbreaking con schedule has shaped him into a person quite capable of the work that comes with this strange territory.

A fair number of people came by expressly to soothe us, which was appreciated - but I think we're over the hump as far as Anime Con discomfort goes. Last year, I believe I said I felt like an invading force, a splinter or somesuch. There were some this year that went out of their way to make me feel like that. I felt more like an Ambassador this time around, from some imaginary place concerned primarily with gaming, like our booth was a kind of embassy for expatriates to confess their sins against the motherland.

I'm often asked to come to this room or that room at the conventions I attend, but I usually don't have the opportunity. This year, I made it my focus. It turns out that one can construct quite the efficacious Tycho trap with only a few cups and some Parrot Bay rum.

ping is a ps2 "dating sim" hardware accessory that was played for laughs when Largo was around but after he left it stopped being a joke (read the reddit post)

megatokyo worked best with Largo around, because his character was this 1337 online-obsessed guy who fights off a zombie apocalypse with a rocket launcher but he's played as the "straight man" to Piro's whiny relationship fantasies

it really was good for a while

also somehow Piro IRL wrote a book about the lore of an in-game MMO (Tower of Kartage) and it was actually really good as a kid? so the talent is there even without Largo, but after the shit with his family happened he clearly gave up

further reading about the glory days:

https://webcomicoverlook.wordpress.com/2008/03/21/the-webcomic-overlook-39-megatokyo

https://badwebcomicswiki.shoutwiki.com/wiki/Megatokyo

why is this Marsey pink

yea, but most people's response to their family having cancer isnt to introduce a child prostitution plotline

Was Megatokyo his only source of income?

He released like 2 pages and then basically disappeared except for a few news updates every few years. Sites gone now though.

>Miho was my waifu, but I'm basic AF