GIR a la Rikki Simons

I’ve been attending conventions since the JTHM days, my very first being an Alternative Press Expo back when it was still held in San Jose, and so from the day I started going to comic conventions, Rikki Simons has been there with me.  Sure, I don’t always go to these things WITH him, and sometimes we’re not at the same booth, but I’ve sat next to the guy for years and years now, and one of the best things about it, at least since he did the voice of GIR on INVADER ZIM, is getting to watch a couple of particular things go down when fans approach him.

The first thing is they’ll sometimes (very often) ask Rikki to say some favorite GIR line of theirs, whether it be “I dancin’ like a monkey!” or sing The Doom Song or some such thing, and Rikki gets this look on his face, this look that I know means he’s wondering whether to go through his old spiel about how we pitched his voice up to get the GIR voice and that his real voice is deeper and less robotic than their beloved green horror, or whether to just go ahead and say the line knowing most people are just too polite to point out that GIR suddenly sounds like a sleepy, convention-sick monster.

So he’ll eventually let out some little bit of dialogue and the fans will smile or laugh or they’ll cry in horror at what sounded more like Bloaty than little tiny GIR.

There’s a select few that look like maybe they’ll actually bring up the difference in vocal quality, and for those Rikki reserves a special, almost telepathic look that pretty much says “You ask me to do another line and I will punch your throat so hard you’ll shit out your screams from your ass because I’m not sitting here to dance for you, you goblin.”

The other thing is when people ask Rikki to draw GIR for them, and that’s maybe my favorite, and you can see why by the image included up there.  Just LOOK at that GIR!  He’s a deformed wonder, and yet manages to look strangely put together and way more sane than the real deal.  It’s so bad it just makes me laugh and that’s really what it’s all about, right?  Making people happy, and making them shit their screams out their asses.