Before I became a Brony... before I was an online film reviewer... and before I started College... I was a sprite animator on Newgrounds... I used to take a bunch of previous video game graphics in the past, and animate them through flash, making whatever the hell happens, regardless of the source material... as of now, yea...they're pretty stupid. But from where I started was someone who, while admittedly who I didn't get along too well on, but nevertheless someone who actually has inspired me to be a part of... Randy Solem.

Randy Solem was one of the most recognized users on the face of Newgrounds.com, if not the whole web. He was known for his starting trend of sprite flash movies, and thus being an enormous portion of the site in general. That also was a hefty price by the haters of sprite flashes. But either way, it happened, and the community was forever existent. Unfortunately... Randy Solem has passed away.

One of his most popular was Rise of the Mushroom, a four parter Mario flash parody about the many vengeance to each of their own. The first half was Luigi's vengeance on Mario's death towards Bowser, the second half was Mario avenging Luigi towards Wart from Super Mario Bros. 2. Hate to sound like an old man, but I can remember like it was yesterday when I first watched the first two. It was November of 2004 and I was new at Newgrounds at the time. 16 to be precise. My bro came into my Dad's office as he saw me watch it. He then came to me, asking what I was playing. I told him it wasn't a game, but a flash parody. We both watched it together, and suffice it to say, I wanted to learn flash. After finally gaining the skills, registering a name, account, and working on a project over the summer (Mario's Special Transformation), I became an online flash animator. I eventually owned my own website, gained some website affiliation, and some online friends who've come and gone. Again... I'm still sounding like an old man.

But of course there weren't good times all the time. Around 2006, I've had personal issues with him in the past. I barely knew him, but when trying to get to know him, well let's just say one such user, who was a Mod afterwards, was such a troll to my friends. Along with that, I was embarrassed behind my back. I was then against the VGDC site at time. In 2008, I made one more flash movie, and paid another visit to VGDC, and the hate was no longer existent. Nothing new happened. Same old same old. I eventually forgot about the site over the years. Randy hasn't posted anything new on Newgrounds since 2006, the forum was being less active, and on top of that... the sprite community has died down.

When I first heard the news about Randy's death, it put me into quite a shock. Even though he wasn't a creative user, he did put his efforts out there, and motivated us for it. I've known more than just flash. I've known Photoshop, and later video editing software, and even 3D classes I've take at my community college. He helped place a direction on my part. Am I sounding a little too in depth? Good. Even though I had such grudges against him, I had to credit him. Deep down, he was an inspiration. Without him, I wouldn't have started my direction on living on the internet. Without him, I wouldn't have explored the community as often as I could imagine. Without him, I wouldn't be where I am at for the greater good. It's a thanks to him I opened myself to other options in life and expand on it.

You will be remembered as long as we live.

R.I.P Randy Solem 1975-2012