Meet The Stunter - Xtramus
To start this interview, we will cover a couple of the basic questions asked by multiple members: What is your real name, how old are you, where do you live and what are you currently doing for a living (studying, working etc)?My real name is Martijn, 23 years old, living in Groningen in the Netherlands (it's a small town up north). Currently doing a Master's in Biology, of which I finished a large project yesterday (8 months of work pfew)
Where did your name on GTAS come from?The GTAS name is a LOOONG story of which I don't remember all the details, but I know it had something to do with rapping
and it being a derivation of extreme. If you Google it, it's actually also a tech company in Malaysia or something if you're interested, though that has nothing to do with the name.
Tracker would like to know: why GTAS (I'm assuming he means why did you end up on GTAS and choose to become involved since there's alot of other GTA communties out there):If I recall correctly, I was basically chilling in 2005 and playing GTA (mostly San Andreas at the time). I really liked doing these ramp jumps and such, basically taking bikes up to huge buildings and jumping off. At the time, I also browsed GameFAQs regularly so I decided to check out the GTA:SA forums, where I stumbled upon a video by some of the founding members of what is now known as USS, who I contacted. They told me to sign up at GTAS "because that's where all the cool kids hang out". So I did, and basically never really left (some inactivity, but I'm still here).
And the thing with GTAS was also that it was REALLY active at the time, basically videos being brought out on a daily basis. This basically created a kind of sucking in effect, with people signing up and thinking 'wow this is one active community", and you just stick around.
You have put out a lot of solos over the years (Black/White, Rising, Always, The Masquerade Trio etc), which solo has been your favorite? Also, what is your favorite released stunt?:That's a toughie. I have some videos that I like because I think they are actually good videos (e.g. Always, Black Sunday, Blackbird) but also videos that are cool in terms of concept (e.g. Colossus, Black and White, all the parkour stuff). From all of my solo videos, I think Always and Blackbird are probably the best, though Colossus was basically a huge project that was really cool to take on (it would've been even bigger had I not lost a bunch of reps). Out of the parkour videos, I'd say Right Now might take the cake.
The best stunt question is even worse. I have a lot of stunts that I think were/are really good (plus some shitty ones as well, haha). Out of the possible ones that I feel were indeed good stunts, I'd have to say the ramp 2 precision with the backwards landing from Always was pretty good, as well as the double grind at the Cherry Poppers ice cream factory. Additionally, I really liked my double grind from Blackbird, the upward grind from Symphony and the packer bump 2 krail 2 billboard grind from Black (near the printing place).
Speaking of Masquerade, Fighter would like to know what the reason was that you made those secret videos?The Masquerade videos were kind of a mix between some leftovers, some weird concept stunts that I had in mind and some stunts I landed specifically for those videos. The reason to make them was that IMO, a lot of people just say their video is a "leftover" video, but they never land stunts that are significantly better. As a result, I didn't want to make a leftover video, just because the term is shitty. So I decided it would be fun to just put these stunts out without my name attached to them and people would just have a cool video to look at, rather than already being told all the stunts in the video are shitty stunts anyway (because even leftovers deserve some love).
It's not really a internet fame thing, but I didn't really want people to think "omg x u sux" or anything, so I didn't feel like attaching my name to it. Plus some people are rather prone to fanboyism ("it's landed by stunter A so it must be good"), even though these stunts weren't all that good anyway.
You're pretty much known as a VC stunter, have you ever been involved in any SA related videos?Hahaha yes, but don't look them up. I think I have like 2 or 3 stunts in an old SA crew video by USS (forgot the name, it's in the Stunters Database somewhere) as well as a shitty fallgrab in Amped (first SA community video). I didn't have a good computer at the time, so these were landed at a friend. When I upgraded (still on a shitty laptop though) and was able to run SA, I tried to do some stunts but man I just suck way too hard (I would LOVE to be able to do a bicycle video once, but man I can't get the finger positioning right), because these bicycles in SA present a whole lot of amazing opportunities just coming from the fact you can attach satchel charges to them and let them fly at you, I mean come on! How amazing is that!
Since you have been on GTAS for a long time, you've obviously made some good friends and presumably a dislike for some members. Who would you say are your best and worst members?:Of course the USS members (old and new) have always been good friends. but I always liked most VR people (Red, darkstar etc.) and the ATS people as well. If it'd actually be a best member competition then nobody can deny Dannye - his main.SCMs have changed stunting as we know it.
From the whole time I've been here I'd have to say I miss bj070893 and PlethZorb most, they were amazing to be crew members with and in the latter case I'm sure the TMS people will confirm him to be a cool guy.
However, I typically don't interact with people from GTAS outside of GTAS anymore (god knows why, I just don't); back then I would just start talking to kaneda like "omg kaneda you're such a good stunter" on MSN. I just don't do that anymore, so these interactions have changed quite a bit.
In terms of worst member (probably the question you're most interested in, haha), I'd have to go with people who call their videos "leftover" videos (I know, hypocritical of me, I made some as well) and everyone who mods - though a lot of people should also be less prone to yell mods all the time. In terms of general dislike, no real names come to mind, sorry
What about the time you called Burnout "a little brainless cocksucker" as seen here:
Yeah I didn't get along with Burnout (ahem), plus when I was still admin we had this guy (Anti-something-something I think, don't know exactly) who kept hacking the site because he didn't want to be banned anymore (piece of shit basically deleted all the profiles of staff members). Lets see... There's more but I can't remember any names. Wait, Mythic and KaynT probably, they weren't really friendly when they were in USS, but that's a long time ago as well, no hurt feelings from my part.
More of a self indulgent question really, but it's safe to say that despite having one of the simplest bikes yours is up there with the most recognizable in GTAS history; was there any inspiration behind it or did you just make something you thought was simple and effective? Any chance of some up close pictures?The bike I have now is basically the product of a ton of tiny changes throughout the years. Back then a lot of people had a standard bike but often used a black one (black car cheat/modified carcols). I wanted something different than that but also recognizable and stylish. IMO throwing the big white X on there was really cool, so that's what I did. Then some more people got into making such bikes and this led to some cool ideas, which I have shamelessly duplicated (open exhaust pipe for example). At one point, Torque uploaded an entry for the GTA Stunting League and it had this clearly noticeable gold skull on the license plate, which looked amazing so I thought of something similar and basically went googling for pictures of scarabs (lots of cool ties in Egyptian history and such, look it up), which has been the license plate ever since.
In your time on GTAS you have put out a large amount of videos, and even helped to bring some new methods to the table such as the Parkour videos and the backwards Pizzaboy stoppie method; are you happy with what you've achieved on GTAS?First of all, the backward stoppie is not mine - it's a literally ancient technique that wasn't used that much. As far as the parkour goes, it was also around for a long time, just not at GTAS. For others, I think the fact that they are only seldom used says enough about their usability (how many Bike Bumps do you even see nowadays?). However, I am happy that I've contributed to the toolbox that stunters can use. I personally think a lot more people should try to be experimental and use different approaches to land stunts (look at people like Arnax, Dannye, SyperDimon etc. who always have stuff that is somehow different from the rest).
If anything, I hope people are inspired to try to be as creative as possible - and in the good sense of the word; creativity is not about landing a 3 foot wall, but landing that 3 foot wall in a completely unthought of way.
In a theoretical situation, every crew on GTAS is currently active, and USS boots you from the crew. What crew would you pursue, or would you start a new crew, and why?:There are some crews from the past that might have been cool to be in - VR comes to mind as I had a blast making Symphony with them, or TMS because I liked the people that were in there and they produced good videos. What it boils down to is who is (still in) and not. Thus, out of all possible crews, VR and TMS would probably come closest, but then again, starting a whole new adventure would be pretty cool.
Assuming I could persuade a few people to join (some old/current USS assuming they don't hate my guts, Kingjad, Dannye, Red, Simon, of course maybe not all of them, but some of them etc.) then setting up a new crew would also be an amazing experience (I've seen USS down to three people so many times it's basically the same thing, and it breeds amazing friendships and experiences).
Are you going to give V a shot, or are you just sticking to VC, and can we expect some stunts from you soon?I've played V and it is not for me. The new engines are so "realistic" they don't feel right, plus the fact I don't own a high-end PC (nor a decent TV) are certainly limiting factors. Although I enjoyed it as a game, I don't feel stunting in it would be very enjoyable. I do watch some of the videos though, the game seems pretty broken already
In terms of stunts from me, it's basically waiting till somebody actually edits the crew video mostly. I think we've had enough stunts for a few months now and it's been laying around ever since - hopefully someone can find the time to edit it and we can release it before 2015. From me personally, there are some projects that I am working on that are progressing but only slowly. I don't spend whole days trying to land stunts anymore (simply because I don't have the time) and thus these kind of things just take longer. Nevertheless, stunts are being landed and eventually videos will be released, but no solos in the near future.
You seem more into creative stunts than big ones. Ever felt outdated/outmatched or did you feel comfortable being a good stunter in a different direction? It seems to be easier to measure stunts in height/length.The way I see it, these things are more complementary - big airs provide new starting points (i.e. "you can get this bike on that roof, so you can also start with that bike from that roof") whereas creative stunting adds concepts that may be used to land new roofs ("don't use that method, try this one instead"). The fact that these big air stunts are more easily quantified doesn't mean anything to me. Some like to see these bikes fly through the sky like a madman, others like to see them dancing on some tiny roof tops to end up with a sweet grind. I personally feel very much at home trying to get my bike do these weird things that I want it do rather than trying to tame a beastly roof.
I mean, when I look at a video and I see someone grinding a rail with that perfect grind, it just makes me feel like "yeah" and it puts a smile on your face and for some people seeing that bike being smashed into a ledge makes them go "yeah" and that's perfectly fine with me. So no, I don't feel outmatched or anything, everybody has their preference and that's fine, I'm here for making that baby waltz.
With the amount of time you've been stunting, you've presumably had some annoying bails; Talk about the first time you had a really frustrating bail on a stunt. I can't even remember the first time, but some of the spots I landed/haven't landed yet I can still remember. I know that I was really fucking pissed when I got that doublegrind from Blackbird and I am ready to land it only to realize there's still a pole at the end of the grind that I forgot to knock down. I also remember trying that big packerbump 2 krail 2 billboard grind from Black that had me rolling backward at too high a speed - I must have had 20 bails from that one.
But probably the most annoying would be the Blackbird finisher. It looks like an easy stunt (in fact, most people called it old, even though I'm very sure it wasn't). It looks like a very easy stunt but the space you have on the roof is so little that you just keep sliding off. You have to hit the roof perfectly right with the backwheel to get slowed down enough to stay on. As a result, I have over a thousand bails at that spot, some of them so close that it was just the backwheel sliding off and the front wheel would still be one, but you'd slide off because the backwheel was pulling you off.
What is you preferred method for finding spots you think you'll enjoy trying?When it comes to spots, I sometimes have an idea of what I want to do, but am trying to find a place to do it. For example, the explosion grab from Always needed a car park to work. So when I take these ideas, I basically start thinking about what I would need in order to execute them and work from there. Using this, it's just a matter of trying to decide WHAT you are looking for and if you've played as much VC/LC as most stunters than you will know the map by heart. Thus, I often just visualize my spots when I am unable to stunt at that moment and later on I can then check to see if the spot I thought up is actually feasible or not.
Other times, I like to watch videos and see if there are any ideas that appeal to me; maybe there's a certain technique that I see and it makes me think of a possible stunt. Similarly, there are ALWAYS spots in the background of videos - you just have to look out for them. Someone may be doing a bump to a building and at the same time they may not realize there's a precision to the left.
Another method I use is deciding there's a certain rail/roof I want to use. An example would be the many billboard grinds I did over the years. I have made it a goal to grind every billboard in Vice City. As a result, when I am unable to think of any spots, I can always go and jetpack over the remaining billboards and see if anything pops up.
Last stunting related question; Will there be a Colossus II?Definitely not in the same set up, but I'm working on a project that has some similarities. Little else I want to disclose without ruining the surprise
That's the majority of the stunting questions over with, to finish up I'll include some of the other questions; who's your celebrity crush?I don't think I really have one, but I always thought Anna Kendrick was pretty cute in a weird way.
Would you buy a sweater covered in kitten pictures? Would you wear it if someone gave it you for free?Yes, seeing as how I study biology it wouldn't be the strangest outfit I've ever seen. Besides, who doesn't like kittens?! They're little balls of love.
How's life?Busy, but good.
It's your turn to nominate one (currently active) member to be interviewed next, who do you choose?I'll choose Rainbow - he also said he'd like to be interviewed, he's a fellow Dutchman and of course an amazing Taxi stunter - one of the best that GTAS has seen.
This is pretty much the end of the interview, any final parting words you'd like to say to the community?I'd say that more people should try to try different things when it comes to stunting - more versatility makes for a better stunter and experimenting with different techniques will allow you to find more spots, do better stunts and do it quicker. And of course thanks for interviewing me Blaze, it was a lot of fun. Hopefully people will also like to read it
