Lolokaust: Tron guy you are a cult internet icon. You have blown up virally and have made several TV appearances. Without the internet do you think you would be where you are now?

Tron Guy: Not even close. If it were not for the Internet, the pictures of me in my costume would have been shown to a few close friends of people who'd been at that first Penguicon, but it would have stopped there.
 

Lolokaust: When you watched Tron as a child did you have the sense that "this would always be a part of my life"?

Tron Guy: Well, I wasn't a child when the movie came out in 1982. I was working as a mainframe computer systems programmer. (Yes, that means I'm an old fart now. Get off my lawn.) That's part of what attracted me to the story: it was the first real attempt to show what happens inside a computer. Even so, I expected it'd occupy the same place in the world that other movies did: an entertaining time, and a fond memory. I had no idea that I'd come to be so closely associated with it.


Lolokaust: Is there a large fan base out there for Tron fans? Where do Tronnies go to Tron it up?

Tron Guy: There's a community of devoted Tron fans online at Tron Sector (http://www.tron-sector.com). As far as I know, there's no sort of real world gathering analogous to a Star Trek convention.

Lolokaust: How has becoming "Tron guy" impacted your life?

Tron Guy: It completely turned it upside down. For about a year, it took over my life completely, and I was spending a lot of time dealing with it in one way or another. That's slacked off quite a bit, but I still get regular requests for appearances and the like. I just got back a couple of hours ago as I write this from doing an interview for a cable TV program.

Lolokaust: Tron was heavily influenced by old school games. Do you partake in old school gaming? what are your favourites?

Tron Guy: Very occasionally, but I was never really any good at it. Strangely enough, the one I spent the most time on was the lightcycle game for the Mattel Intellivision.

Lolokaust: Do you have it in you to kill if you were in one of Tron's games?

Tron guy: Yes. If it's me or the other guy, I'll protect myself, no questions asked.


Lolokaust: When it comes to the internet, how important is freedom of speech?

Tron Guy: The Internet is the greatest enabler of free speech ever invented. With it, anyone can be an author, or a columnist, or a filmmaker, or a publisher, for anything and any opinion at all. Without truly free speech, the Internet would be a much less interesting and valuable place.
 


Lolokaust: Do you think websites like google and youtube have swayed from their intended
purposes?

Tron Guy: Not really - but you have to remember that Google, fundamentally, is a search engine, and it still does that job exceedingly well. How long does it usually take for a company name to become a word? How long did it take "google" as a verb to enter the language? I can't think of any company names that did it faster.

Lolokaust: How do we help win the fight for net neutrality?

Tron Guy: By showing that it's not just a cause for those on the left end of the political spectrum. I think it's a given for those folks that net neutrality is a Good Idea. The folks at the other end, where I reside politically, distrust any sort of government regulation. I, too, believe that the free market is the best regulator there is. The problem is that, in the network world, there's no lever for a free market to push on to promote net neutrality. I can't say "I don't want my traffic routed over AT&T" if they decide to segregate content based on how much they're paid. Because there's nothing for a free market to push to work toward net neutrality, regulation is the only remaining avenue.
 
A Youtube Video can be taken down with just a matter of complaints, regardless of
content. How do you win against the mindset of people who censor everything just
because it bothers them personally, when they can just as easily not view it?

As long as they retain that mindset, they won't stop trying to control what others see. Those folks just don't understand that freedom of expression only works if everyone shares it equally and fully. Changing that mindset is something I don't have any good ideas about, however.

Lolokaust: What have been your strangest encounters while in the public eye? Be it a crazed fan or interesting story?

Tron Guy: The strangest encounters have been the stuff I've done for Jimmy Kimmel Live!. They worked hard to make funny TV, and they succeeded admirably. I had fun doing that stuff, even when it looked like it was fun at my expense. (How many folks have been shown on national TV losing their lunch into an airsickness bag?) I can't honestly say I've had crazed fans, certainly not to the extent that better-known celebrities do.

Lolokaust: Underneath your Tronny exterior is a scruffy, cuddly bear. Have you ever been
propositioned by a gay man to engage in untronly acts?

Tron Guy: Nope. I'm not sure how I'd react to that, either.

Lolokaust: You say your a pilot. Have you ever flown in your Tron costume?

Tron Guy: A few times, for press stories. In general, I don't wear the costume unless I'm doing something specifically with it. It's five years old, and it shows it.

Lolokaust: What is your opinion on the upcoming Tron Sequel, do you expect good things?

Tron Guy: What I've seen and heard so far has me really interested. I'm looking forward to the release.

Lolokaust: Will we be seeing Tronguy in Tron 2?

Tron Guy: So far, I haven't been approached at all. If they call, I'm there.

Lolokaust: Is Disney the devil? Was Walt Disney Adolf Hitler?

Tron Guy: I think Disney chickened out on promoting the original movie, and that gave it a reputation as a marketing flop that wasn't really deserved. That doesn't make them the devil, just incompetent marketers - and it's not like there aren't lots of those elsewhere, too.

Lolokaust: Let our readers know what you have coming up!

Tron Guy: At present, not a lot. The interview I did this morning for Live the Adventure will appear on YouTube soon. Aside from that, I just do what people ask o
f me.
 
Lolokaust: Thanks for your time, if anyone wants to find out more about Tron guy you can visit his website. 
 

http://www.tronguy.net/

Interview by: Dann Wood

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