An Interview With Raging Ryno

Uncategorized

I sat down with Raging Ryno and had a chat about Star Wars, YouTube, and more.

Blabbering Collector: Why did you get into YouTube?

Raging Ryno: That’s quite a question. It took me a long time to actually commit to YouTube. I wanted to do it, but there is actually taking that leap and doing it. I wanted to start after Star Wars: The Last Jedi. It was really bad… and there were so many people who wanted to find others who thought similarly about the film. People were like: “I hated The Last Jedi, and I started to watch Jeremy or all these channels,” and everyone was sorta saying the same thing, and I could really resonate with that. It was the same thing for me.

I also noticed that a lot of channels out there that were saying stuff that wasn’t necessarily true and really twisting things to make things okay with what Disney was doing with Star Wars, and so I wanted to jump in there and start making videos and start explaining more about Star Wars (SW). I wanted to hopefully expand people’s knowledge [of] what Disney has done and is continuing to do.

BC: What are your goals for YouTube? Now that Kenobi is over, what will you be covering? Will you be straying from Star Wars?

RR: Huh. I keep saying that I’m going to stray from Star Wars, but I never do! It’s so stupid. I have dabbled in some Marvel stuff, but as it continues into Phase 4, it has just gotten so woke, and I just have no interest! I like things like Top Gun and The Terminal List. I find it interesting… everyone likes these movies and shows, and you see the reviews that are out are really short, and they don’t go into too much depth because of spoilers, I think. But let’s say they watch the new Marvel film, and they don’t like it. It’s absolute garbage, and they are spewing it out there because they don’t care that they are spoiling it because it is crap anyway. I want to stray from Star Wars, and I want to try new things, but I’ve yet to find my own personal niche in how I want to go about doing that and how I want to stray from SW. But I need to find my way!

When I first started to do it, I was doing YouTube purely [to get] as much knowledge about SW out there as possible. It was just a hobby, showing what was happening to SW. It still is a hobby. I am enjoying what I am doing; I’m enjoying seeing the growth. I would be an idiot if I said I hadn’t thought about doing it full-time, [with] the ability to make an income out of it and sustain myself on it. I would love to do it. I’d love to be able to wake up in the morning and make a video, and do a stream every day, and have a nice, decent audience that is interested in what I’m saying. That would be nice. But at the end of the day, even if it doesn’t happen, as long as I’m still having fun doing it…

Even during the Obi-Wan Kenobi show, there were still people who were in my comments who were saying things like, “I’m really enjoying your reviews. I’m getting all of my information from you; I’m not even watching the show.” And that’s amazing that people are enjoying my reviews. I can’t sit here and tell you that I’m not going to watch the show. I don’t want to watch it because it is crap, but I need to watch it because I need to know what they are doing. It is purely because I love Star Wars.

BC: It’s true; I got all of my Kenobi information from you and Nerdrotic. I haven’t watched the show. What are your Twitch goals?

RR: It’s sort of the same thing. If I am ever able to get to a point where I can do this full-time, I would need to find some sort of structure between YouTube and Twitch and everything else and tie it all together. Do some gaming streams through Twitch, eventually do some watch parties… things like that. It needs to tie into one big adventure and goal, I guess.

BC: Which platform do you prefer?

RR: I prefer YouTube, but Twitch’s format is better. YouTube is always a step behind; [they] are cowards, and [it] has more complicated steps. If you want to send a gift sub on Twitch, you just do it. Twitch is making money, the streamer is making money, and the donation has been made. Whereas [on] YouTube, the donation receiver needs to accept the gift sub. So if they don’t, the streamer isn’t making money, and the donation was wasted! It’s the same with the raiding system. You have to accept the raid, whereas, in Twitch, you can just raid and be done with it.

BC: I didn’t even think of that! How did you meet Lethal, Lyndon, and Mozza? Is this related to how you stumbled upon Geeks + Gamers?

RR: Yes, so I kinda stumbled upon Lethal first through his connection with G+G. I’ve been watching Jeremy for a very long time, since the middle stages of the sequel trilogy. And, obviously, Ryan Kinel came into the fold as Lethal was talking a lot about Star Wars with him. I found Lethal, and actually, I did my first stream with Lethal and Lyndon at the same time. That’s kinda how we formed the Full Aussie. With Mozza, he sort of came in way later; he’s sort of been a new addition to the group. He’s a good kid.

BC: I adore Mozza.

RR: *chuckles* He’s alright.

BC: Just pinch his cheeks!

RR: Yeah, he’s a youngin’.

BC: So, how did you find G+G? Was it just a recommendation on YouTube?

RR: I actually don’t know how it came about; I think it was more of me searching rather than a recommendation on the YouTube home screen. I wrote a message to the G+G Instagram page, and I even did a tribute to G+G video on my channel because, if it wasn’t for Jeremy and seeing him grow and everything… it was just a big inspiration for me to get started on YouTube and stuff like that. Seeing the possibilities.

BC: What is your favorite Star Wars film?

RR: Empire Strikes Back is by far the best film. I think that is everyone’s cliche answer, but it is true. It is clearly the best film, simply by giving you lore, shock value, giving you a great story, and a great continuation! I think it is the one time you can say that the sequel is better than the original. Like, don’t get me wrong; A New Hope is fantastic as well. But the sequel is just better!

BC: What Expanded Universe book would you recommend to someone who wants to start reading?

RR: The Thrawn Trilogy. It’s, again, a cliche, but it literally takes place right after Return of the Jedi. You are already familiar with the characters; it’s just adding on to it. You just have to fill in some small gaps, like the description of Thrawn himself. Once you start to expand from there, you can go to the Old Republic era, or stick with that era and read Kenobi or Maul books, or move forward with Jacen Solo and the other kids.

BC: I see you have a lot of LEGO. Is that the only thing you collect?

RR: It really is, in regards to actually collecting. As a kid, I obviously loved LEGO, and I never grew out of it. I love building it; it’s a bit of therapy, I guess. I haven’t bought anything Star Wars-related in a long time because I don’t really want to give Disney any money, and I haven’t really liked anything they have put out in a long time. I wanted Vader’s Castle on Mustafar; that would look sick right behind me! But, again, I’m not giving them any money. I do have a few lightsabers, but they are so expensive that I just can’t buy [them].

BC: Does Charles [the cat] ever knock anything over?

RR: Oh, yeah, all the time. He knocked over my DeLorean from Back To The Future. It’s obviously on wheels, and he just knocked it right off the counter. It shattered into a million pieces. You gotta be careful.

BC: What set do you want LEGO to make? It doesn’t have to be Star Wars-related.

RR: Well, the next two things that I’ll probably get [are] the larger version of the ECTO-1 from Ghostbusters and the larger version of the DeLorean. I don’t think I really have a preference [for] a set that I want LEGO to do. No one really asked for the big versions of these cars, yet, they have been selling well. One of my mates has them. LEGO has grown massively since I was a kid.

BC: If you owned Lucasfilm, what would you do with it?

RR: I would troll the fans because they’ve pissed me off so much! I would say, “Guys, we are gonna fix it. Right, we are gonna de-canonize everything! I don’t care how you feel about the Clone Wars; we are going back to the basics – just the six movies.” Reset everything. Bring back the EU. Yeah, I know we don’t have the original full cast for The Thrawn Trilogy, so what we are going to do is, we are going to do a really fucking good animation. If we still have Mark Hamill, and we have a story for him at his age, and it’s a good story, then we are going to do that. None of this CGI de-aging bullshit. We will move forward in the story and tell Jacen, Jaina’s, and Mara Jade’s [stories], and we will tell all of that. And I would say that that’s what we are doing! And, then, I would say, fuck it; I would do something completely different and make something worse than the sequel trilogy.

BC: *In shock* Why would you do that?

RR: Because the fans have pissed me off so much. Honestly, that is what I would do; I would reset it all. Get rid of The Clone Wars, everything that Dave Filoni has done; reset it and just move forwards. You’re telling me that wouldn’t make money? Disney would be terrified to do that. But if they went, “Okay, guys, if you want to consider this canon, go for it. But we made a mistake; we are no longer considering these canon. We will reintroduce the EU and keep a majority of it the same [as] the original EU. But it would have to be under a different reign. If Disney did that, I don’t think even fifty percent of the fans would come back at this point.

BC: What do you think about Star Wars shills?

RR:

They will say one thing and then do a completely different thing. It annoys me.

BC: Lethal would like me to ask you how you came up with the term “the narrative’s fucked?”

RR: It was on a Full Aussie show. I honestly don’t remember what we were specifically talking about that triggered “the narrative’s fucked.” I think we were talking about some YouTuber with his bullshit rumor mill.

BC: Are you happy?

RR: Yes. There has been a little bit of a shakeup within the last twelve months due to Covid-19, but other than that, yeah!

BC: Do you have anything to say to your viewers?

RR:

Speed Round – Short Answers Only

BC: Which Aussie do you like most: Mozza, Lethal, or Lyndon?

RR: Fuck you! *giggles* I’m just gonna say Lyndon to piss everyone off.

BC: Lightsaber color?

RR: Green.

BC: Hogwarts house?

RR: Hufflepuff, although if I had a choice, it would be Ravenclaw.

BC: Dogs or cats?

RR: I’m split down the middle. I have two cats, but if I had a yard, I would have a dog and a cat.

BC: Abba or Frank Sinatra?

RR: Frank.

BC: Have you ever watched High School Musical?

RR: No. I think I’ve seen my sister watch it.

BC: Do you prefer packing or unpacking?

RR: Packing, actually.

BC: Would you rather go grocery shopping or run a mile?

RR: *Confused look for ten seconds* Fuck, what kind of question is that? Grocer… no… fucking run a mile. No, I don’t want to do either!

BC: Favorite film?

RR: Oi. There’s so many.

BC: One.

RR: Alright. Fuck. The Departed.

BC: There you go. The Shire or Narnia?

RR: That’s not even my favorite film. I can’t think. You said I gotta be quick! Shire.

BC: What is 99-100?

RR: -1.

BC: You’ve passed the Mozza test. Favorite color?

RR: Green.

BC: Would you rather eat mud or a 1-year-old sandwich?

RR: Fucking mud.

BC: What gets wetter the more it dries?

RR: A towel.

Twitter Questions

Twitter: Why is Star Wars so important to you?

RR: I’ve teased this before, but there is a bit about this [that] I won’t publicly talk about. I had a disastrous falling out with my family when I was young, and it broke me as an individual, [and] I went crazy on drugs. I went on a drug-fueled destruction of myself, as you could say. I was always a Star Wars fan, even before all of this happened, but I was going down a really bad path. I was already on the path, and deep on the path, but the realization of Anakin’s story helped me reverse my self-destruction and drug abuse. For example, Anakin is on the Light Side, then turns to the Dark Side; so, basically, that’s me destroying myself. Then, his redemption towards the end – he came out the other side. There is a connection [to] that. Watching the franchise as a kid, you don’t get as much out of it as you do when you’re an adult. I got a lot out of it as an adult. But that connection really came, and I can say that Anakin and Darth Vader literally saved my life. I know people will be like, “Huh, you’re an idiot.” But it’s true. They saved me. I ended up buying a house.

BC: I’m glad you made it to the other side.

RR: So am I.

T: What are Tracking Fobs?

RR: *Chuckles* Nobody knows what that is! It’s how bounty hunters tracked their bounties in The Mandalorian.

BC: Oh, those sphere-like thingies?

RR: Yep, but no one knows how they work! They don’t explain it. Not even the people who created them at Lucasfilm know how they work.

T: Have you read Berserk yet?

RR: No, reading isn’t my strongest suit. I have dyslexia. That’s another good thing about YouTube; it’s helping me with my reading. I know this is silly coming from a nearly forty-year-old man. I don’t think too much of it anymore.

BC: I don’t think that’s silly.

RR: I really like audiobooks, though, except a lot of the Star Wars books are abridged, which isn’t fun.

T: Pineapple on pizza?

RR: Oh, yeah. Look, I don’t mind if you aren’t, but the other day I got spicy chicken, cheese, pineapple, and bbq sauce on pizza. It was amazing.

BC: *Horrified* With tomato sauce?

RR: I’m not a fan of tomato sauce as a base for pizza. It’s gotta be BBQ sauce.

BC: *Mortified* You are weird.

RR: Thanks to anyone who reads this. Come and subscribe!

Thank you, Ryno, for chatting! You can find Raging Ryno on YouTube, Twitch, Instagram, and Twitter.