Arin Hanson

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Arin Joseph Hanson (born January 6, 1987), also known by his Internet pseudonym Egoraptor, is an American Internet personality, animator, cartoonist, comedian, voice actor and songwriter. He is known for his Internet animations, as well as being the co-founder and co-star of the popular YouTube Let's Play webseries Game Grumps and one third of the video game-based parody musical trio Starbomb.

Hanson has created numerous animated web series on his Egoraptor YouTube channel, including The Awesome Series, in which he parodies various video game franchises, including Pokémon, Metal Gear, Ninja Gaiden, and Final Fantasy, as well as for Sequelitis, a series of animated video essays in which he comedically and critically compares the quality of a video game and one of its sequels. He has also done voice acting for various shows such as Rick and Morty, Mighty Magiswords and Cyanide & Happiness, and video games such as Dragon Age: Inquisition and Detective Grimoire. He regularly collaborates with Ninja Sex Party, a musical comedy duo consisting of his Game Grumps and Starbomb partners Dan Avidan and Brian Wecht, providing guest vocals for their albums and appearing in their videos.

Video Arin Hanson

Career

Animation

Hanson first joined Newgrounds under the name of "Egoraptor" on September 16, 2001. After joining, he submitted his first Awesome animation, "Metal Gear Awesome," on February 23, 2006. Hanson went on to upload various comedic video game-related animations, as well as four separate animated webseries (which he then uploaded to YouTube); Awesome, short animated videos that parody video games, Lemon 'n Bill, a comedic series in which an anthropomorphic bullet and lemon get trapped within video game worlds, Girlchan in Paradise, a parody of sh?nen anime, and Sequelitis, a series in which Hanson compares a video game and its sequel along with minor animations throughout the video.

After MTV heard "Metal Gear Awesome," Hanson was approached by the channel to produce animated shorts in the style of "Metal Gear Awesome" for MTV's online video gaming show, The G-Hole.

Voice acting

In 2006, Hanson provided the voice of Bruce Banner in the video game Marvel: Ultimate Alliance as part of a competition held by Activision. His voice went ultimately unused and the character was played by Robin Atkin Downes, though VGFacts, Hanson's own website, and the credits of the game claim that his voice was used in the Wii port. In 2009, Hanson provided the voice for the character John Gore in the video game Minigore, and later reprised the role in the 2011 remake of Death Rally.

In 2012, Hanson provided his voice for the game Detective Grimoire, a Kickstarter project which was successfully funded on August 3, 2012. Hanson has also provided his voice for Dragon Age: Inquisition, Target Acquired, Red vs. Blue, Cyanide & Happiness, and Rick & Morty.

As of 2016, Hanson is a regular on Cartoon Network's Mighty Magiswords providing the voice of Gateaux, the monosyllabic partner of sorceress Moribidia, played by Mary Faber. He also plays many other recurring characters such as Fibby Croax, Delivery Man Steve, Zonq and many other additional characters. According to series creator, Kyle Carrozza, Hanson was originally approached for character design on the show, but he declined. Although aware of his voice work, Carrozza wasn't aware of Hanson's SAG-AFTRA membership until he informed him, which led to him being cast on the show.

In 2016, Arin was added as an Announcer in Move or Die.

Game Grumps

In late July 2012, Hanson and his colleague Jon Jafari (known for his comedy webseries JonTron) created a joint YouTube show, called Game Grumps. In late June 2013, Dan Avidan, of the band Ninja Sex Party, replaced Jafari when he left Game Grumps to focus on his own channel. On this show, Hanson and Avidan play video games and talk, to an often comedic effect.

Apart from the YouTube series, Game Grumps moved to live performances at Hollywood Improv in late March 2016. Completely sold out, the event led to future performances in New York and other locations on the East Coast.

Collaborations

In February 2012, Hanson appeared as a contestant on the Sony game show, The Tester, during its third season, as a community-voted contestant, but was accused of using the show to promote himself. When asked about his experience, and whether or not he would do it again, he replied negatively. Hanson appeared as a contestant in the third season of the dance competition web series Dance Showdown, alongside professional dancer, Maxine Hupy. Hanson was announced the winner of the season. Hanson has also done narration work for several episodes of Did You Know Gaming?. Besides providing additional work for online series on YouTube and Newgrounds, Hanson has been featured in several videos for the website ScrewAttack, including a collaboration with James Rolfe and Keith Apicary. In 2008, Hanson worked together with Ross O'Donovan on the animated webseries Gamer Tonight where he provided the voice of the host, which was broadcast on the Australian television show Good Game.

Music

In 2013, Hanson provided vocals for the track "Knight in Shining Armour" by Dougal & Gammer released as part of the compilation Clubland X-Treme Hardcore 9.

In 2013, Hanson, along with Game Grumps co-host and Ninja Sex Party singer-songwriter Leigh Daniel Avidan and instrumentalist Brian Wecht, formed the band Starbomb. They released their first album, named Starbomb in December 2013. Starbomb went on to release their second album one year later December 2014, titled Player Select. On April 15, 2014, FAT REFUND, a rap song, was released on the channel StamperTV, a collaboration between several animators and voice actors including Rice Pirate, Marc M., Stamper, and Hanson himself. In early 2016, Hanson performed with Starbomb at their first live event at SXSW.

Other work

In 2013, Hanson made an appearance on the webseries Hot Pepper Gaming. He reviewed Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate after eating a habanero pepper. In 2014, Hanson returned to the show, reviewing the game Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes whilst eating a Bhut Jolokia.

Hanson will voice his own playable character in Hex Heroes.

Hanson also starred alongside Avidan in Good Game, a YouTube Red Original series.

Maps Arin Hanson

Personal life

Hanson lives in Glendale, California, with his wife, Suzanne "Suzy" Berhow. The two met at a convention and started dating in 2002. Hanson proposed to her in 2011, and they married in 2013. She also has her own gaming channel under the pseudonym Mortem3r, titled KittyKatGaming, on which Hanson is often featured.