In the early to mid 2000s, before YouTube was anything more than an idea, chances are you’d make yourself known on sites like deviantArt, FanFiction.net or NewGrounds. The latter has always been unique, as it was one of the earliest spots you can post video content of any kind. It is where the likes of Eddsworld and Smosh got their start, because where else could they share their stuff?
Now, you’d be surprised who started out on NewGrounds, so today, I’m gonna go over three users who are known everywhere else, those who started out on NewGrounds. You may recognize some, but not everyone does. Let's begin.
#3: AnimatedJames
Remember AnimatedJames? That animator on YouTube who was outed for having a fart fetish? Needless to say, he handled it in the worst way anyone could. Accepting it is fine, but being a douche about it is another thing. There was absolutely nothing that can save James in any regard, he had crappy art direction, bare basic ideas and humor and a demeanor that would suggest a big lack of staying power.
James has been gone for quite some time, I hope he wasn't driven to the end, but at the same time, he cannot make it back to the internet. I don't even want to see what C-Students would've been.
Anyhow, back to the topic at hand, James made a NewGrounds account back in 2008, this was his earliest account anywhere as far as I'm aware. A clue to its existence came from him mentioning a precursor to C-Students, Chaos High. On NewGrounds, this was split into two episodes, and uploads exist on YouTube.
So, with expectations that can't possibly go any lower, okay James, enlighten me.
https://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/508710
One thing I like is that James doesn't deny the existence of the extended Sonic cast, everyone's here, even Big the Cat. Of course, everyone is reduced to a benign high school archetype. Almost forgot to mention, this is a high school type parody, more common than you think. It's so common, GothNebula did it. Also, Good Charlotte. Frankly, Clique is better.
I mean so far it's not horrible, beyond the fact that you can give these lines to just about anyone, and nixing the names, it would not compromise the plot too much, so far at least. I've noticed some serious gaffs, such as a scene where Tails is talking, and all that's seen is his mouth for no reason. Also, James seemed to have a bizarre habit of throwing in sound effects at the end of every punchline.
So basically, Sonic is trying to get Amy off his back, hijinks ensue, I question if the roles stated at the start are held or are just wishful thoughts. Sonic throws a ball at Amy's head with such intensity that you don't see it fly out of his hand.
Of course Amy walks out of trajectory and the ball hits the defacto bully in this, Vector, who near as I could tell is older than most of the other characters. I mean then again, Ed, Edd n' Eddy allowed two literal kids to attend high school.
Sonic places a call to Mighty the Armadillo, for some extra trivia, and now I feel like bringing up an inconsistency. James uses timecards with narration, but sometimes the cards don't appear, it's just a black screen with narration. Also, Sonic gets punched by Knuckles over a conversation apparently.
And the mouth animation against a plain background is back with a vengeance, as not even the background could remain consistent. Also Shadow appears here, and I think James has honored Shadow's derailment a bit too much. Also Amy's hopelessly delusional, so business as usual then? And Sonic decides to go all... you know what, I don't even want to finish.
He made another one, but it's split into two parts, and I have no idea how long these would be. But for now, I just wanted to give you an idea on where James' content was at, before it became, quite frankly, worse. Do you want Sonic characters in high school? Or do you want some cringey nonsense?
#2: Spax3
Yes, Spax3 had a NewGrounds account. I'm not bringing him up out of habit. For some, Spax needs no introduction, but if you're curious, Dylan the Night Owl covers every major facet of the guy, complete with an interview.
Spax was originally known as Spaction3, but would rebrand to Spax3 soon after. He created his deviantArt and NewGrounds accounts in 2004, though by his own admission, he didn't have the skills for it, yet not one to back down, he produced a flash cartoon.
Revenge of the PBJ Banana: https://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/202665
Remember Peanut Butter Jelly Time? It was all over the place back then. When I saw this, as well as Spax's claims to not have any proper experience in flash, I didn't know what to expect.
So for this, Spax kills the PBJ banana, and we get an early voice role from him in that regard. The banana becomes a zombie, and is played through text to speech, thankfully not Speakonia, but rather iBook, which provides some variety to a dry collection of Speakonia videos (interesting fact, Spax did his work on Mac computers, iMovie is superior to Windows Movie Maker)
The banana sings the PBJ time song, and Spax kills himself, and that's it. It was short, simple, and for something made in 2004, I've seen far worse. For something made with little experience, this, like most of his old videos, have some charm to them. It's not that they were bad necessarily, it was just that a lot of his views bled into most of them, and his personal conduct just wasn't there, heck there are still some serious bumps, given what's going through his head.
But I'm happy to say I prefer this to Chaos High, for one thing it's shorter and less complicated. A lot of Spax's signature elements were present at this point, from him referring to himself as Alex/Ed, to the hoodie, to the copyright info. Also, I found some obscure trivia behind Spax's name and previous history. Apparently, he got his start on FanFiction.net in 2003, and he posted under the name SP Action Extreme 2 Noid. We got the meaning behind A.S.N. in Cartoon Network A.S.N. (Alex/Ed show network), and I think I found the meaning behind the name Spax (SP Action Extreme, SPAction, SPAeX), I guess the three reflects the year he joined the internet.
#1: Soulja Boy
Bet you didn't see this coming. The rapper, yes, the rapper, has a NewGrounds account. People seem to forget Soulja Boy had his roots with online content, running profiles on MySpace, YouTube, even deviantArt.
He joined in 2005, and actually has a few shorts in his collection, two are originals, two are based on his career. So I'm gonna go over an ample beginning, Super Damien.
https://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/253440
This is sorta like Dragon Ball Z, but with stick figures. But hey, this has some impressive animation, and shows the taste in music Soulja Boy had, would you ever guess he liked 36 Crazyfists and Slipknot?
He didn't realize his true calling, but I suppose hadn't it been for him, musicians online would never be taken seriously. Did you know Soulja Boy had the honor of being allowed to post a live action video on NewGrounds? The only other people to have this honor were the Numa Numa guy and Smosh I believe.
Final Thoughts
If there's one thing I learned, the shorter and sillier the flash, the better it is. Soulja Boy wins for the best short on the list, Spax made a surprisingly okay short given his lack of resources (but isn't that was James Rolfe is lauded for, constantly) and is at least honest about it, James... it's certainly James alright. Bringing you the high school experience, straight up, no nuance, but maybe it's better than his later stuff, who knows?
Know of anyone else who started out on NewGrounds?
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