Yup, that’s a cake with an RE logo on it, just in time for our birthday next month! :D

Delicious cake, and Sonic fangirling, all made by SuperSonsha, who has in the past given us bars of soap to tell us something about how much we shower show how much she cares.

Also, she’s right.  Anybody else stoked to hear Sonic’s sticking with Nintendo for a while?  And getting a Lost World?  Am I the only one desperately hoping Mario & Sonic at the Olympics isn’t being counted as one of the “exclusive” Sonic titles? :X  Sound off, Encounterers!

Today’s Mondaily Vlog was not what I expected.

Believe it or not, Peter and I actually filmed a snippit of a fake “Frogger: The Musical” scene a week ago, so when it came time to Vlog and the topic of the day was “Frog Jumping,” I thought we had the perfect B-roll to cut to.

Imagine my surprise, and mild embarrassment, to come home from work today, click on Peter’s edit of the Vlog, and find out he instead took the footage of me standing awkwardly, expecting to be edited out, and left it in for you guys to enjoy.  Kinda like when my sister tells me to pose for a photo, but then starts giggling nine seconds in and says she’s actually been taking video of me frozen like an idiot.

If you felt at all trolled by no Frogger musical, don’t worry.  I did, too!  Peter’s Wily Beard: 1  The Rest Of Us: 0


PS: Don’t worry, we’ll post that trashy Frogger footage some other time.  And maybe an actual musical again one day soon. :P

Thanks again to all of you who stopped by to see us today!  I wanted to hit upon some other great questions that came up:

THE CHANNEL:

carlos silva: “What’s the next musical?”

We’re currently finishing this Yoshi song, which will definitely be out this month!  We haven’t confirmed which song we’re doing after it, but there are at least two we’re talking about with other channels now!  One may involve some Call of Duty finally…

minecraftminer11: “When is the next musical?”

Our schedule is tough to keep in order, BUT… we’re still *supposed* to post one musical every month.  So May’s will hopefully be up either Saturday the 11th or Saturday the 18th.

PikachuAndMew: “Are you guys going to be something for RE’s birthday this year?”

Absolutely!  In fact, we’re hoping to have some cool, fresh faces attending this year’s festivities!  Our birthday, by the way, is JUNE 8!

joemorrone: “You should do a combined project with The Warp Zone and or hiimrawn.”

Both of those have actually been discussed with our network.  We’ll see!

AsculaTheNinga: “If someone were to play one of your songs as a fan video would you prefer Super monkey ball opening, Peach, or sonic?”

I’d lean toward Sonic.  That’d sound great on orchestra bells!  Then again, the other two you picked are perfect for them, too!  Although let’s be real, “Lolcats: The Musical” was clearly meant for a metal remix, if someone wants to get on that…

BEHIND THE SCENES:

booklover78910: “Peter sang the Medic’s part in the “Medic!”, why did he not act in the video?”

Like many of our videos, the initial idea was set to star Peter.  Our resident TF2 expert, however, informed us that I looked much closer to the character.  We were very determined to use Peter’s operatic voice, though, so we ultimately worked out an interesting premise that would allow Peter’s singing to mix with my acting.  The best of both worlds, so we hoped!

petertwnsnd: “You guys obviously love Nintendo, but you’ve also done a few songs from non-Nintendo games like Portal and Team Fortress 2. Do you guys focus on Nintendo games or is it just whatever games you like?”

Generally, the only criteria when picking musicals is how good the idea is for one… aka how badly we want to do it.  Lately, though, we’ve jumped Nintendo games toward the front of the list, since we’ve committed to a Smash Bros. musical before the next game comes out!

PikachuAndMew: “How old do you have to be to join or be apart of RE?”

We don’t really have an age limit, per se — our youngest actor so far was 7 when he appeared on the channel.  All it really takes is a parent or guardian to make sure you don’t get (us) into trouble!

Britney Smith: “Where do you get all of your onesies from?”

I assume you’re referring to the Pikachu outfit, which is, indeed, actually pajamas.  One of those can be found in some mall stores (look for Japanese imports) or much easier online.  We’ve also pulled some body suit costumes from dance gear shops in the past.  Again, the internet may be your best friend!

PikachuAndMew: “Who as been the Beard the most? I think it’s Dave Bloom.”

The Beard has been The Beard the most, definitely.  Wait- you mean who’s ~impersonated~ The Beard the most?  Yeah, I think it’s Dave Bloom.  That guy’s infatuated with him.

THE SMASH BROTHERHOOD:

GinisTheDog: “If Snake was killed, what will happen next?”

Snake hasn’t been killed, although you may have to wait to find out the next part of his story…

iPsychoMax: “Who’s your favourite Super Smash Brothers character?”

I try to play every character evenly, so I always choose Random.  But anyone who’s played against Peter knows he spams Yoshi nonstop.  If you’re asking more broadly, I think Kirby’s the best representative Smash Brother — the game fits best in his universe!

JUST FOR FUN:

PikachuAndMew: “What’s Sparrow’s Favorite Musical she’s been in? I really want to know!”

It was a tough call, but after much deliberation, she settled on “Pikmin: The Musical.”  She mentioned loving The Eevee Song most, where she got to play a Mudkip, but I told her that didn’t count.

TheNiiKnight: “Is every day kind of like Halloween for you?”

Sometimes it feels like it…  I wish it was!

SuperWidgetMaster: ”Where did AJ learn his dance skills as seen in Rhythm Thief? Very nimble! :)”

Thanks, but it’s a lot of make believe.  Outside of a tap and ballroom class, I haven’t been trained anything!  So I guess from watching enough movies where dancers know what they’re doing? :P

IDM4Sunlights: “Do you think you”l be part of the ACRacebest”Bronies react” video of the season 4 premiere ?”

Nobody’s asked us to.  Plus, so far as Brony web-celebs, we’re pretty far down the list…

PikachuAndMew: “When will you two (A.J. and Peter) do the dance contest you said you wanted to find out last month?”

Whenever Peter stops getting medical procedures that keep him from getting jiggy with it!

DarsstarVideos: “Will you guys carry around a towel on Towel Day?”

Or wear one?  Possibly.

supersonsha: “Can I learn Beard?”

Given only one creature in the universe actually uses it, I don’t think there are any courses currently available to teach.  But our plans to one day post instructional videos to teach basic Beard language may still become a thing.

TheNiiKnight: “AJ do you like dressing up as Pinki pie, pikachu, or Yoshi the best?”

I love all of them!  Pikachu is easiest — you can fall asleep wearing it!  Yoshi is cool and casual, but can be tricky to sit in…  And Pinkie Pie ~can~ be a little embarrassing at first, but often makes the most friends… even some who don’t like Ponies!  I plan to keep wearing all of them! ^_^

bellaroks89:

AJ getting hit by a bottle from The Eevee Song: A Pokemon Jazz Number by Random Encounters
First Gif I’ve ever made. :D

I’m torn somewhere between laughing hysterically and wincing in horror.

We had an awesome time live chatting with our Encounterers today and when we signed off, there were still several questions that hadn’t been properly answered for various reasons.

Rather than waiting a month and making everyone try again, I decided we should do a quick type-up of a few unanswered inquiries, categorized by topic.

One other fact I forgot to mention was that despite no one new on the Live Chat, we DID, in fact, have several Guest Producers step forward to help finance The Eevee Song.  Each of them declined a role in the chat (part of our offer for their generosity), but I wanted to take a second and thank them again publicly - Anthony Picone, C.L. Taylor and Belinda P!

Channel:

PikachuAndMew - How many people do you have in RE since the Eevee Musical?

I wouldn’t say we have anyone new “in” RE, but we met plenty of new faces that I hope to see again!  Dodger may work with us on other songs, but her own channels need her most!

echelonangel15 - what pony song would you like to base the third Brony song off of?

We’ve been eyeing Smile Smile Smile for a while while while now…  No guarantees though!

PikachuAndMew - Are you guys going to make a girl Beard

There can only be one The Beard…

The Smash Brotherhood:

petertwnsnd - Are you guys gonna do a Star Fox musical? Peter would be a good Slippy!

We rattled off a few games we’re expecting to cover sometime in the next year or so, but just to put it on paper: Yes, Star Fox will get a song, as will Metroid, Kirby, Zelda, and the Super Mario Brothers.  Can’t have a Smash Brotherhood without them!

tdawinner - For Smash Bros musicals, how will you handle characters you guys play multiple of (example Ganondorf and Pikachu)?

THIS.  Is an excellent question.  We haven’t locked on one specific concept yet, but chances are we’ll be dividing the characters up a bit, a la Needlemouse: The Musical.  That said, expect SOME camera trickery to get a few of them together in impossible ways ;)

PikachuAndMew - Who would be Mr. Game&Watch?

We’re actually wrangling a giant black digital octopus for the shoot.  He’ll spend the whole musical in his Final Smash form.

AsculaTheNinga - I have a CF costume I will get a link to you on one of your sites?

Whoa whoa whoa.  OUR CAPTAIN FALCON DOESN’T WEAR CLOTHES, BUDDY.  THANKS BUT NO THANKS.  (heehee, I said butt~!)

Just For Fun:

PikachuAndMew - What is your favorite Anime. Mine, Pokemon Yugioh, Sonic X

Our most-watched anime is Sgt. Frog!  But Peter’s enjoyed a lot of Dragonball and Avatar, while I’ve toyed with Cardcaptor Sakura and Kore Wa Zombie Desu Ka (“Is this a Zombie?”)

Anonim Shufflez - Pokemon or Digimon? and why? (I rather Digimon!)

I think we edge toward Pokemon.  I was a diehard Nintendo loyalist even before they made cool pocket monsters.

ooghTheBeard - oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo­oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo­oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo­oooooooooooooooooogh

Ooogh!

Mickey Wang - Those posters in the back, are they printed at home?

They’re actually calendar pages from a 99-cent MLP calendar!  Peter and I get matching calendars for our desks every year. ^_^

GinisTheDog - what’s your minecraft username, and what servers do you go on? Also can you make a minecraft song?

The only one of us with an actual account is Sparrow. :X  I’ve never been on a server, but we ARE still plotting to do a Minecraft song.  Especially if we can get a cool YouTube Minecrafter to be in it with us!

SilverdomeProduction - What’s the best nintendo console?

The Super Nintendo Entertainment System remains probably my most beloved of the company’s consoles.  Almost every major Nintendo (let’s be fair and blunt, “gaming”) franchise got started or popular on the Super Nintendo.  And just to prove it, I’m time-traveling back to release a 16-bit Halo.

PikachuAndMew - Hey A.J and Peter, what’s your favorite game for the Nintendo GameCube?

Since I do all the GameCubing around here, I’m going to call Super Smash Brothers Melee the best GCN disc on our shelf.  BUT, it’s a tight race really with Wind Waker and Time Splitters 2.  GameCube really had a number of impressive titles!

teamswiper - beards or mustash

The Beard is the only truly classy option.

First moments from The Eevee Song with PressHeartToContinue’s Dodger are looking Shiny!

I think Peter has a new favorite musical.

Up late editing The Eevee Song… and loving it.  Oh, yeah.  It’s a Pint Of Milk kinda night.  2% 4 Life, homies!

Another donut, Pony Joe!  Extra sprinkles!

Ever wonder what people hate most about Random Encounters?

We did, so we checked the numbers and found out!

#1) MONDAILY VLOGS

By current calculations, our Mondaily Vlogs are the least-watched content offered on Random Encounters, comprising 20 of our all-time least-watched videos.  Our absolute worst-scoring Vlog, “AJ vs. Sports Games,” followed the Super Bowl with a meager 350 Views.  While it’s apparent the Talk Head Formula doesn’t hold a draw with Encounterers, it’s important to also note that Vlogs accounted for 26,700 Views on RE, which outpaces several of our lower-scoring musicals combined!

#2) PARTIES

Everyone loves a good party, which may explain why a number of our Bonus Encounters, primarily those filmed during our 2012 Birthday Party, lag far behind other content in viewership.  Of the Birthday clips posted, none but one managed to surpass 1,000 Views.

If you were wondering whose clip that was, here’s a clue: it wasn’t mine!

#3) MINECRAFT

Ironically (Pun intended — see?  It has the word “Iron” in it!), a game as popular as Minecraft really hasn’t meshed on our channel.  Of the five Let’s Play episodes posted, only the first reached four-digit status… and still by the Skin of its teeth!  (Ha!  ”Skin,” get it?  I’m killing it today…  HA!  ”KILLING IT,” get it?  Haaa… okay, I’m done)

To be fair, our other Let’s Plays (Braid, Donkey Kong Country Returns, and Super Mario Brothers) didn’t fare so well, either, so I’m really inclined to say you guys just don’t like Let’s Plays.

#4) ANNOTATIONS

This one’s tricky, but looking at a number of our lowest scoring videos, I found not one or two, but EVERY episode of Encounting listed — well, not the episodes themselves, but their BLOOPERS!  This is actually what tipped me off, as you guys have a history of showing love for the Outtake Reel.  So while it may appear Encounting Bloopers are to blame, I find a higher likelihood that the position and timing of the annotation link — at the end of each episode, in the corner, with or without reminder — is actually at fault here.

#5) THE HARLEM SHAKE

In case we didn’t all see this one coming…  It may be one of the Internet’s most popular memes right now, but on Random Encounters, the Harlem trend didn’t add up.  With a Like bar filled halfway negative (or 39%, more specifically), the Tetris Harlem Shake currently holds the record for worst Like/Dislike ratio.

I knew we should have done Gangnam Style!

I was cruising through failblog and saw this new use for a broken Nintendo and thought of you guys. http://cheezburger.com/7046990336

ALRIGHT, GUESSING GAME!

Who can tell which musical this is from?