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The Great Gaia Journal - Part 1
With the Halloween event over, we immediately took off running with the Christmas event. Some might remember a long time ago we started with an NPC popularity voting, and last month we launched an NPC profile feature to collect more of your feedback and input. The upcoming Christmas event will be very NPC and story focused, and this event is also designed to be a feature that we can continue to expand on. On top of that, we would like to make the upcoming feature one where all Gaia member can contribute in a big way. More details as we come closer to Christmas. wink
The mobile chat feature is completed but we're still having trouble figuring out all the intricacies with the notification system. As soon as we got that sorted out, we will have a nice messaging platform on mobile. Sorry it's taking a while.
October came and went, and it's been a year since we downsized due to our investor pulling out. Life had been challenging but we were able to keep everything running thanks to everyone's support. As usual, Gaia is here because of the support from each individual Gaians, and we're still here because of you.
Just two weeks ago I came across Red Bard's video talking about the rise and fall of Gaia, about the rise of the Gaia community and how Goldimort eventually messed it all up. It was both nostalgic and painful to watch at the same time, to see these things that were outside of my control changed the Gaia community which I love and adore. By the end of the video, I though I should start writing down and sharing my experience with Gaia, since there really isn't a detail written story of all that happened behind the scenes.
In the coming few months I will be writing down my personal experience on the forming of Gaia, to everything I could remember leading up to 2019. I hope that you will find this interesting!
== Part 1==
Prologue - the year when my life was changed
It was the year 1999. I was a network engineer who devoted every living hour learning about networking technologies and working in a company making big network equipments for internet service providers. The company I was in had just got bought by some big corporation, and life was good. Work was challenging and technical but not creatively driven. I've loved the creativity from anime, manga and gaming ever since I was a kid, but never for a moment did it cross my mind that my career could involve any of these interests. Instead I found friends who share these interests during my down time.
In the 90's it was hard to find friends who love anime and manga. Lucky for me, I was an early adopter on the Internet since 1994, and I made friends from all over the world who share my interests. One of such friends happened to live in my area, and that was John Kim (aka JK on Gaia), who ended up being my buddy in crime for watching anime and playing fighting games. We've been friends ever since I moved to California to start my career back in 97. In the summer of 1999 John asked me to go on a trip with him to an anime convention called Anime Expo, held 300 miles away in Las Angeles. John was very eager to go, because he would finally get to meet his online girlfriend at the time, as well as participating in a meet up with many other anime artists in the online anime artist community. I was most curious about meeting John's girlfriend, so naturally I tagged along, not knowing that this trip would change the course of my life forever.
It was the first time I was in an anime convention. I was surrounded by fellow anime fans, while seeing people cosplaying as they shop for anime merchandise was a sight to behold. Though I was most excited about finally meeting John's girlfriend in person, and that excitement certainly had its pay off with dividend. I got to finally meet John's girlfriend, a very talented, bright, and outgoing artist from Canada. The two of them really hit it off, and it felt great to see John so happy. Although the whole dynamic was a little bit awkward with a third wheel a the scene. No it wasn't me, I was happy to drift away and be transparent At the scene was her online friend who recently confessed his love for her and got turned down, but decided to hang out with her throughout the whole convention anyways. I ended up hanging out with this friend just to create more moments for John to hang out with his girlfriend. I couldn't stop smirking just thinking about the whole situation.
Meanwhile, as all this was happening, we were surrounded by artists from all over the world who decided have a meet up at the convention. We had artists from Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Canada, and from all over the United States. At a quiet corner in the convention center, the artists would all take out their pens and draw their favorite anime characters, then share drawings and trade with each other. I was fascinated with their talents, and within the group were a few artists that particularly stood out, not only through their talents, but their charisma in leading the whole group. That was when I first met CP, L0cke, and Vo. I had a great time hanging out with the whole group, but just passively as I was one of the odd ones out for not having a single artistic bone in my body. The convention was over before I knew it, and it was time to fly back home. John and I had a great experience, and we went on with our lives as we continued meeting every weekend to hang out and play games.
A few weeks had passed, John and I met up as usual to hang out and do some shopping in San Francisco. Before we leave we grabbed lunch at my favorite Japanese curry restaurant. We step foot the restaurant and saw some familiar faces. CP, L0cke, and Vo were having curry right in front of me! We had met at Anime Expo, but I assumed that they were among the many artists that travelled far and wide from all over the world. As it turned out, the three of them had made plans to form a comic studio together, so CP from Kentucky, and L0cke from Florida decided to join Vo in California to make this all happen. And on this fateful day I just bumped into these guys. I can't believe how lucky I was to have all this happen by chance.
We chatted a lot at the restaurant and exchanged contact info. As I spent time with the group we really hit it off. The 3 of them rented a one bedroom apartment, and I would drop by just to hang out and talk about all things with art and anime. As we got to know each other, I got to know how amazingly talented each one of them really are, and why they picked each other as partners to start their comic studio. They would soon be joined by a 4th member who is Saka. Each member had their own strengths, and they complement each other perfectly as a team.
L0cke was the leader of the group. He was like your typical anime hero who is hot blooded, full of energy, physically fit, and can pull off sick skateboard tricks. Though unlike the bone head anime hero, he was extremely deep thinker who is well apt in all social situations. He is a storyteller through and through, never short on having a great idea for a story, and always a philosopher on the human psyche to further his storytelling skills. His talents didn't stop there. He was the incredible draftsman who can draw an intricate cityscape without any pictures as reference. He would draw perfectly straight lines without a ruler, as everything maintained correct perspective as he fill every corner of a blank page with details. When we met, L0cke already had a few published comic under his belt.
Vo was a charismatic individual who is gifted in the art of sketching. He was the fastest artist I knew who could draw out a complete sketch in the blink of an eye. He was outgoing and very funny, especially around girls he liked. His ability to attract and impress the ladies was uncanny and made you feel like you're watching a TV drama. He is also smart witted and would crack jokes all day long with L0cke. Within the group, Vo was the core artist who draw out every panel on the comic.
CP was the kindest and smartest artist around. He is more reserved but always emitting a feeling of warmth as he was perceptive to people around him, and know exactly what to say to address your emotional concerns. As an empathic individual I got along very well with him because of this. He had plenty of adventures of his own and he share the most interesting stories in a group situation. While alone he had an insatiable thirst for knowledge and will be found as the expert in all sorts of weird subjects. CP was a great overall draftsman but he was fantastic in his color and effects rendering. Everything that came out of CP looks like it's ready to be published, and he handles coloring and all the final touches before a page is finalized.
Finally there was Saka. She was the embodiment of the quiet and introverted artist. Saka was easily the most talented character artist I know. She create stacks and stacks of drawing every month because drawing was all she wanted to do. She had a care free mentality that emits the feeling of youth, as self expression was the core of her being. Her focus on delivering the subtleties in facial features and the human anatomy always elevate her character's attributes to a whole different level. If you want a beautiful character, you turn to Saka.
If you're familiar with he "5 man band" trope in anime, we naturally fell into this trope perfectly. If you're not familiar, just Google "5 man band anime" and you'll find out how most popular anime has this structure where there are 5 main casts, filling out the 5 most iconic roles:
The Hero - L0cke
The Lancer (I know) - Vo
The Big Guy - CP
The Chick - Saka
The Smart Guy - Me
At first I had no idea where I fit into the picture, but soon I realized that I was the member in their group who had business experience, a steady job, and I'm the nerd in an anime that is always behind the keyboard showing off my "hacking skillz". smile I somehow became this group's backbone who brought stability (and a car) to the group. When the team finally released their first comic, I was credited as the "Mysterious Benefactor", which was not far from the truth.
We decided to all move into a house together so the 4 artists can stop sharing a one bedroom apartment. I quickly found a house for rent at only a thousand bucks a month. The rate was really cheap for our area, and it was for obvious reasons. That house was a dump. It was old, close to the freeway, and the yard was ill maintained. In another word, it was perfect for us. We moved in together and proceed to live as housemates for 5 years, which turned out to be the best years of my life.
End of part 1, I'll share more in the coming weeks!
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