Arin Hanson

Arin Joseph Hanson (born January 6, 1987),[1] 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.[3] 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.

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.[4] Hanson went on to upload various comedic video game-related animations, as well as four separate animated webseries (of 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 shōnen anime, and Sequelitis, a series in which Hanson compares a video game and its sequel along with minor animations throughout the video.[5] Hanson was also an early storyboard artist on the show Axe Cop.

Due to the success of "Metal Gear Awesome," Hanson was approached by MTV to produce animated shorts in the style of "Metal Gear Awesome" for MTV's online video gaming show, The G-Hole.[6] MTV gave Hanson four guidelines: the shorts must be poorly drawn, the shorts must have violence, the shorts must have swearing, and the shorts must be 30–40 seconds long. MTV also restricted him from submitting these movies to anywhere but The G-Hole, a restriction which Hanson constantly fought believing that all of his fans should have easy access to his work.[7] He went on to create 1 to 3 Awesome episodes a month for The G-Hole before the show was put on hold and eventually canceled. Awesome continues online, on Hanson's YouTube channel.

In 2011, Hanson provided the animation for the unreleased game JForce: Unstoppable. The game was set for release in 2012 with a Kickstarter to help fund the project,[8] however the project was unsuccessful having only raised $1,441 of its $10,000 goal.[9]

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.[10] In 2009, Hanson provided the voice for the character John Gore in the video game Minigore,[11] and later reprised the role in the 2011 remake of Death Rally.[12]

In 2012, Hanson provided his voice for the game Detective Grimoire, a Kickstarter project which was successfully funded on August 3, 2012.[13] Hanson has also provided his voice for Dragon Age: Inquisition, Target Acquired, Red vs. Blue, Cyanide & Happiness, and Rick & Morty.

Game Grumps
In late July 2012,[16] Hanson and his colleague Jon Jafari, known for his video game critiquing webseries, JonTron,[17] created a joint YouTube show, called Game Grumps. On this show, both Hanson and Jafari played video games that were typically retro or nostalgic in style.[18] In late June 2013, just under a year after the show's inception, Jafari left Game Grumps to focus on his own channel and was replaced by Dan Avidan of the band Ninja Sex Party,[19] who continues to work on the show to date.

Apart from the YouTube series, Game Grumps moved to live performances at Hollywood Improv in late March 2016.[20] 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 eliminated in the third episode after being accused of using the show to promote himself.[21] When asked about his experience, and whether or not he would do it again, he replied negatively.[22] Many defend Arin Hanson, saying that The Tester used his popularity to get more views on Sony's YouTube channel, and that the judges were unfair to him. Hanson appeared as a contestant in the third season of the dance competition webseries Dance Showdown, alongside professional dancer, Maxine Hupy.[23] Hanson was announced the winner of the season.[24] Hanson has also done narration work for several episodes of Did You Know Gaming?,[25] a webseries dedicated to video game trivia, including episodes covering Star Fox, Grand Theft Auto, Super Mario, Mega Man, Pokémon and Kirby. He also talked about the development of Jurassic Park on the show's spin-off Did You Know Movies, on MatPat's channel "The Film Theorists." 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.[26] 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.[28]

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, eponymously named Starbomb in December 2013.[29] 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.[30]

In early 2016, Hanson performed with Starbomb at their first live event at SXSW to positive reception.

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.[32]

Hanson will be a playable character in the game Hex Heroes for the Wii U. He will also be providing voiceover work for his character.[33] He was also going to be voicing a character in the fighting game Beast's Fury,[34] before the game was cancelled on 9 January 2016.

Hanson appeared as a guest in the Nintendo World Championships 2015.[35] He came in 5th overall, losing in the third round of Balloon Fight.

Personal life
Hanson lives in Glendale, California with his wife Suzanne "Suzy" Berhow who is a regular on Game Grumps spin offs like Grumpcade, Steam Train, Hunting Monsters and Table Flip.[36][37] Hanson also acts as the creative director of the online marketplace, 1 Shirt.[38]

His father, Lloyd Hanson, is a musician, and runs Old Farts With Guitars, discussing his "lifelong affair with music." His mother, Maurette Hanson, runs the Healing Horse Therapy Center. It is dedicated to providing on-site equine-assisted therapeutic and psychotherapeutic wellness programming to combat veterans, survivors of military sexual trauma, special needs persons, and all individuals needing a safe and nurturing environment to heal from mental, physical and emotional challenges.[39]

Film
2007	Press Start	Forest Guardian (voice)

2011	Press Start 2 Continue	Mug-Wug (voice)

2013	Sonic	E-100 (voice)

2014	Cyborg Assassin: Legend of the Space Ninja	Priest (voice)

2016	The Girl from Dinosaur Island	Ptero (voice)

The Wiggles (2025 Film) - Wags The Dog (voice)

Television
2012	ADHD	Gardener/Man (voice)	2 episodes

2015	Rick and Morty	Wedding Singer/Cyborgs (voice)	Episode: "The Wedding Squanchers"

Mighty Magiswords - Gateaux/Zonq/Delivery Man Steve/Additional voices	Various episodes

Abbysworld - Sparky (voice)

My Little Pony (2025 TV Series) - Swirly Star (voice)

The Wiggles (TV Series) - Wags The Dog (voice)

Web series
Awesome - Various voices

Press Start Adventures - Various voices

Lemon 'n Bill - Lemon/Bill (voice)

Eddsworld - Super Guy (voice)

Cyanide & Happiness Shorts - Ted Bear/Cliff Miller (voice)	3 episodes

Girlchan in Paradise	Various voices	3 episodes; co-creator

Sequelitis	Himself (voice)	4 episodes; creator

Space Ninja	Priest (voice)	Episode: "Shadows Fall, the Temple Burns"

asdfmovie	Various voices	Episode: "asdfmovie4"

PONY.MOV	Rarity/Pinkie Pie (voice)	3 episodes

Game Grumps	Himself	4,000+ episodes; co-creator and co-host

The Tester	Himself	9 episodes

Did You Know Gaming? Himself (voice)	7 episodes

Demo Reel	Himself	Episode: "Lost in Translation (Bromance Version)"

Hot Pepper Gaming	Himself	3 episodes

Backwards Cat	Vet (voice)	Episode: "Backwards Cat Goes to the Vet"

VGFacts Five Trivia	Himself (voice)	Episode: "5 No More Heroes Trivia"

Nacho Punch	Various voices	Episode: "Tokyo Ghostbusters - The 1980s Anime"

URealms Live	Penwar Lockis (voice)	Episode: "The Nuren Campaign"

Did You Know Movies? Himself (voice)	Episode: "Jurassic Park and the Soggy T-Rex"

Red vs. Blue	Fed/Cobb (voice)	Episodes: "Temple of the Key" and "Grey vs Gray"

JonTron's StarCade	Himself/Darth Vader	Episode: "Star Wars Holiday Special"

Good Mythical Morning - Himself

Scare PewDiePie - Himself

MatPat's Game Lab - Himself

Bee and PuppyCat - Elder Squat Bird (voice)	2 episodes

Good Game - Ryland

My Little Pony Plays - Fluttershy/Twilight Sparkle/Pinkie Pie/Applejack/Rainbow Dash/Rarity/Butterfly Dazzle (voice)

Music videos
2012	"T.M.N.T.S.O.N.G." Keith Apicary	Casey Jones

2013	"Party of Three"	Ninja Sex Party	The DJ/Waiter No. 1 (voice)

2014	"Dragon Slayer"	Ninja Sex Party	Dragon

2014	"Attitude City"	Ninja Sex Party	'Tude Bro

2015	"Road Trip"	Ninja Sex Party	Himself

2016	"6969"	Ninja Sex Party	Head Dick Elder

2017	"Eating Food In The Shower"	Ninja Sex Party	Mariachi Performer

Video games
Year	Title	Role

2009	Minigore	John Gore

2011	Death Rally	John Gore

2012	Detective Grimoire	Agent Folder

2014	Dragon Age: Inquisition	Additional voices

2014	Chocolate Raiders	Chocolate Raider/King

2015	Move or Die	Announcer

2016	Target Acquired	Officer Spike

2016	Accounting	The Bomb

Hex Heroes - Himself

2017	Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator	Joseph

TBA	The Cyanide & Happiness Adventure Game	Ted Bear

See also

List of YouTube personalities

References