I won't lie, that short was brutally exhausting to film. We did it over 4 loooong, action-packed days, running all over Austin like crazy from downtown to an amusement park to the cliffs on the greenbelt. Joel got so tired that he had to take naps on my giant stuffed banana between shooting. That sounds like it's code for something but it isn't. Giant stuffed bananas are surprisingly comfy.
Huge thanks to everyone who helped and made that insane adventure possible, including Dr. Pepper, iFly Austin, and Austin's Park and Pizza. And an especially big gracias to all of our fans, friends, RTX Guardians and more who came out to be extras. You were awesome and I apologize for spitting so much fake blood on you. And Joel says "my bad" for spitting his own real blood on you. He's a method actor, couldn't be helped.
2 Billion Views on YouTube!Whoa... that was fast. Less than a year ago we were celebrating reaching 1 billion views on YouTube, and now we've done it again. Today we crossed the 2 billion views mark on our main channel, youtube.com/RoosterTeeth . Simply unbelievable! Thanks to everyone who watches our videos and subscribes. And if you haven't yet heard, we're branching out. Those wily Achievement Hunter chaps have started a spiffy new YouTube channel that will be home to all our of Let's Plays. It's conveniently located at youtube.com/LetsPlay - so go subscribe to it right now!
Whispering WillowsOur pal and RvB composer/musician Steve Goldshein is working on a new horror puzzle game that will debut at RTX! Check out their Kickstarter and help them if you can: goo.gl/4TPT1 They have just 24 hours left!
Thanks to Gus for having me on the podcast this week for episode 200. It was fun to be back. The new chairs are surprisingly comfy. (And btw Brandon made it back from the hospital with at least 9 fingers, so the night was a total success!)
3 for 3!Congratulations to the RT Podcast team and the Red vs. Blue team - which combined is basically every single person at Rooster Teeth - for winning 3 big awards over the last two days in Vegas! We took home the Best Gaming Podcast award from the Podcast Awards, and Best Animated Series for RvB and Best Supplemental Content for our box set from the IAWTV. Woohoo! Good way to start 2013!
My Rooster Teeth Top Ten for 2012As 2012 comes to a close, I wanted to thank everyone that works at Rooster Teeth for the amazing job they have done this year. It was a year of enormous growth, incredible milestones, and unexpected triumphs for us, and we couldn't have done it without such a hardworking and dedicated team. So, in acknowledgement of everything that the RT crew has done, here is my top ten list for the year:
#10. Red vs. Blue Season 10 - I was pretty sure we wouldn't all survive this one, but I wasn't sure if it would be me, Kathleen, Monty, Ryan, Miles or Kerry to drop first. Somehow we all made it. Everyone poured their heart out making our most ambitious season ever and I couldn't be more proud of the results.
#9. One Billion Views on YouTube - It might now only equal one music video from PSY, but we thought it was pretty incredible. Two billion is already in our sights. Suck on that, Gangnam Style.
#8. RVBX: Ten Years of Red vs. Blue Box Set - We were absolutely sure there was no possible way we could complete this and Season 10 in the same year, so in classic RT style we did it anyway. Working on it brought back a lot of memories. We gave it all our all and I hope everyone loves it as much as I do.
#7. The Gauntlet - One of my favorite things about Rooster Teeth is that we never stop trying new things, even when they are incredibly difficult. The Gauntlet was our biggest live-action production to date, and I loved that we were able to make this with members of our community. Congratulations to all the contestants and particularly our final four, it was awesome getting to know you and watch you compete. And special thanks to Brandon for making this show happen. Get some sleep, you earned it.
#6. The Rooster Teeth Video Podcast - After a lot of deliberation and debate over how to pull this off, we pretty much said fuck it and just decided to go for it. Thank you to all our sponsors for making it possible, we hope you are loving it.
#5. The Day 5 shoot - It was almost an afterthought with everything that was happening with RTX, but this deserves to be mentioned as the most audacious live-action shoot we've ever done. Over a thousand people in the middle of downtown Austin all moving in exact synchronization - how the hell did we manage this?! I can't wait for the finished series to debut.
#4. RWBY - If you thought you knew what Monty, Shane and our animation team were capable of after seeing RvB Season 10, you have a lot to learn. Classes begin in 2013.
#3. Achievement Hunter releases Horse #100 and leads us to our biggest month of YouTube views ever - November 2012 was a pretty spectacular month for us. We started off by releasing RVBX, the Season 10 DVD, the 200th episode of Red vs. Blue and the 100th episode of Horse within 24 hours of the release of Halo 4. The Achievement Hunter team went on to make an insane amount of great content over the next few weeks, propelling us to over 94 million views on YouTube in just one month! They might seem like they are just goofing around, but Geoff, Jack, Gavin, Michael, Ray and Ryan are about the most dedicated guys you'll ever meet.
#2. A Simple Walk Into Mordor - When Kerry pitched me this idea I thought it was crazy… in the best way possible. I can't believe he, Chris and Nick actually made it, and they still have all their toes (mostly)!
And finally...
#1. RTX - I think more than anything this event sums up what Rooster Teeth is all about. Our slogan is "Where Gaming meets the Internet," but equally important to us is that RTX is where the community, fans and staff of Rooster Teeth all come together. I have never been more nervous about anything in my life, but our 2012 event turned out to be more than we could have ever hoped for. From the awesome eSports stage to all the fantastic panels to the incredible concert, this was one hell of a show. Thank you to the RTX team, our freaking bad ass Guardians, and the entire RT community for making it such a success. Let's do it again in 2013!
So that was our year. I have a lot of runners up including the Best of RvB DVD, our music, Animated Adventures, the big store upgrade and merch improvements, tons of website fixes and enhancements (no regular Monday crashes!), and other stuff nobody would even know about (we made huge improvements in accounting!). Thanks again to everyone at RT for being total kick ass take-no-prisoners rock stars.
What's your Rooster Teeth top ten for 2012? And what are you looking forward to in 2013?
My Rooster Teeth Top Ten for 2012As 2012 comes to a close, I wanted to thank everyone that works at Rooster Teeth for the amazing job they have done this year. It was a year of enormous growth, incredible milestones, and unexpected triumphs for us, and we couldn't have done it without such a hardworking and dedicated team. So, in acknowledgement of everything that the RT crew has done, here is my top ten list for the year:
#10. Red vs. Blue Season 10 - I was pretty sure we wouldn't all survive this one, but I wasn't sure if it would be me, Kathleen, Monty, Ryan, Miles or Kerry to drop first. Somehow we all made it. Everyone poured their heart out making our most ambitious season ever and I couldn't be more proud of the results.
#9. One Billion Views on YouTube - It might now only equal one music video from PSY, but we thought it was pretty incredible. Two billion is already in our sights. Suck on that, Gangnam Style.
#8. RVBX: Ten Years of Red vs. Blue Box Set - We were absolutely sure there was no possible way we could complete this and Season 10 in the same year, so in classic RT style we did it anyway. Working on it brought back a lot of memories. We gave it all our all and I hope everyone loves it as much as I do.
#7. The Gauntlet - One of my favorite things about Rooster Teeth is that we never stop trying new things, even when they are incredibly difficult. The Gauntlet was our biggest live-action production to date, and I loved that we were able to make this with members of our community. Congratulations to all the contestants and particularly our final four, it was awesome getting to know you and watch you compete. And special thanks to Brandon for making this show happen. Get some sleep, you earned it.
#6. The Rooster Teeth Video Podcast - After a lot of deliberation and debate over how to pull this off, we pretty much said fuck it and just decided to go for it. Thank you to all our sponsors for making it possible, we hope you are loving it.
#5. The Day 5 shoot - It was almost an afterthought with everything that was happening with RTX, but this deserves to be mentioned as the most audacious live-action shoot we've ever done. Over a thousand people in the middle of downtown Austin all moving in exact synchronization - how the hell did we manage this?! I can't wait for the finished series to debut.
#4. RWBY - If you thought you knew what Monty, Shane and our animation team were capable of after seeing RvB Season 10, you have a lot to learn. Classes begin in 2013.
#3. Achievement Hunter releases Horse #100 and leads us to our biggest month of YouTube views ever - November 2012 was a pretty spectacular month for us. We started off by releasing RVBX, the Season 10 DVD, the 200th episode of Red vs. Blue and the 100th episode of Horse within 24 hours of the release of Halo 4. The Achievement Hunter team went on to make an insane amount of great content over the next few weeks, propelling us to over 94 million views on YouTube in just one month! They might seem like they are just goofing around, but Geoff, Jack, Gavin, Michael, Ray and Ryan are about the most dedicated guys you'll ever meet.
#2. A Simple Walk Into Mordor - When Kerry pitched me this idea I thought it was crazy… in the best way possible. I can't believe he, Chris and Nick actually made it, and they still have all their toes (mostly)!
And finally...
#1. RTX - I think more than anything this event sums up what Rooster Teeth is all about. Our slogan is "Where Gaming meets the Internet," but equally important to us is that RTX is where the community, fans and staff of Rooster Teeth all come together. I have never been more nervous about anything in my life, but our 2012 event turned out to be more than we could have ever hoped for. From the awesome eSports stage to all the fantastic panels to the incredible concert, this was one hell of a show. Thank you to the RTX team, our freaking bad ass Guardians, and the entire RT community for making it such a success. Let's do it again in 2013!
So that was our year. I have a lot of runners up including the Best of RvB DVD, our music, Animated Adventures, the big store upgrade and merch improvements, tons of website fixes and enhancements (no regular Monday crashes!), and other stuff nobody would even know about (we made huge improvements in accounting!). Thanks again to everyone at RT for being total kick ass take-no-prisoners rock stars.
What's your Rooster Teeth top ten for 2012? And what are you looking forward to in 2013?
Go Murph!As a kid growing up in Atlanta in the 80s, there was no bigger hero in the world than the Braves' star outfielder, Dale Murphy. He seemed to win every game single-handedly but never put himself above the other players. By all accounts he was as great a guy off the field as on. That's why I was really surprised to learn that he's apparently on the bubble to make it into the Baseball Hall of Fame. I just came across this terrific comic drawn by his son (who works at Blizzard apparently - how cool is that?). I watched a ton of Braves games with my dad, and it brings back good memories to see one of Murph's kids pay such a great tribute to him.
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