Having been crowned TF2′s unofficial “most handsome guy” by the vote of 6 expert judges, it seems highly appropriate to use the chance to get to learn better the man that is Fisshu. In this newfound passion for amateur journalism, I got in touch with the man. Not a stranger to some ingame trolling, and an active contender in the game of cat-vs-mouse that is Dunc vs FB – I was surprised to realize I was in fact speaking to a humble, earthbound and reflected person. I also learned that most people are at their best when sober:
[4:15pm] Torden: in light of your recent e-fame amongst the ladies, i’d like to do an interview with you
[4:15pm] Torden: do you have time this evening?
[4:15pm] Fisshu: to talk about my first place?
[4:15pm] Fisshu: lmao
[4:15pm] Fisshu: wat
[4:15pm] Fisshu: Somebody wants to interview ME…
…
[4:18pm] Fisshu: just over irc yeah?
[4:18pm] Torden: yes
[4:18pm] Fisshu: gives me more time to think, im planning on getting pretty high from now til 6
[4:19pm] Fisshu: stoner car clean
[4:19pm] Fisshu: can’t do it without weed
…
[2:45am] Fisshu: upon reflection mate, i’d really prefer it if you didn’t publish that article :) seriously, please lol
…
[3:31pm] Fisshu: go for it with the article mate, had a couple of smokes last night and it really fucked me up hahah
In what follows, an interview about TF2, friends and girlfriends. A very big thanks to Fisshu, who also won the community vote by clear margin. (Captain popular, really)
*By, Sivert “Torden” Bakkeng *
No idea what “stoner car clean” means, but here’s Fisshu having a jolly good time driving.
Who are you, Fisshu?
My name is Joseph Carter , I’m 22 years of age and currently studying a degree in Digital Forensics at Portsmouth University. It sounds more complicated and nerdy than it actually is; whenever someone asks me what I study and I tell them, they look at me in awe followed by the question “is it like CSI??” – no, no it isn’t. Think spreadsheets, think 3000 word law essays and overpriced study books on UNIX followed by £20,000 of student debt.
(Updated) Describe Fisshu in 5 words.
That’s too tough for me
(Updated) Who were your personal favourite for the “most handsome” ranking?
Jack Shepard from Lost (= Jones)
Are you a ladies man? Do you have a girlfriend?
I am definitely not a ladies man. I have a girlfriend, and today (coincidentally) marks our third anniversary. Luckily, she is very understanding when it comes to TF2.
Give some insight in the feud vs Dunc (nr 12). Anything more lying behind than the [ESH] match between FB and www?
It’s just a bit of banter that seems more dramatic than it actually is. I admire the guy, i’ve experienced his team leadership skills and find him troublesome to play against due to good positioning. You have to take the guy with a pinch of salt, I think one of the main reasons why Dunc was so mad about the default was because he believed that his team would steam roll Fakkelbrigade. The dust kind of settled after our ESL game where we convincingly won both maps, you can still see Dunc qq’ing in the #tf2.europe topic though :p
We met for the first time at i39 and it wasn’t a big deal. I hope to see those guys at i40, maybe next time both teams can attend LAN with their full line ups.
…And finally, a shoutout to Dunc for being so god damn fugly and coming 12th in the ‘what women really want’ vote. 46 to 8 duncan, sup nao?
*For those who haven’t followed, the feud was sparked by FB taking a default due to denying mercs vs www, in one of the Esports Heaven money tournaments. After that, Dunc and Fisshu has been spottet doing countless of “battles” on IRC. Dunc has been able to strike back, being owner of #tf2.europe the one to change topic on #tf2.europe, as well as his voice in the Cadred top10 this February, that (after having been censored by cadred admins) read: **“One team that deserves a special mention this month is FakkelBrigade. They only took a default win from www in the ESH Sennheiser Cup, so for that reason alone I’m not placing them in the Top 10.”**Source: cadred*. Like Fisshu says above, brits certainly seem to be outspoken…
When tf2 street was about, they presented list of the “biggest idiots” of tf2. An interesting observation that could be made, was that most if not all of those listed were from the British Isles. Do you recognize brits as being more troublesome than people from other nations?
No, I don’t. I think its unfair to generalize a country over a small group of people, I could state that the French are the ‘most troublesome nation’ in ETF2L because of the amount of cheaters they’ve produced.. but it wouldn’t be true. I do however know for a fact that the majority of the tf2street content was not written in Britain! (Isn’t that general european tf2 knowledge?). I will say that the British players in our scene are very outspoken, they like to voice their opinions and be acknowledged. Whenever you find a wall of text on cadred or ETF2L the chances are that 9 times out of 10 it’s going to be written by a British player.
Above: Fisshu after mind boggling question by journalist
Jonni left your team, played some games with CiC, then CC, before vanishing from the intrawebs. What happened to him? Did he make amends with you guys?
Going to have to skip this question mate :) don’t want to open up old wounds etc.
Above: Fisshu after frightening question by journalist
Fakkelbrigade had a low in February, but looking at the history, the team is not newcomer to roster changes. Do you think you have a stable lineup now?
Definitely, with the addition of Mirelin as our medic the team has been able to continue progressing in skill over the months. A concern now is DrLeon going into national service, which would cause disruption but I’m confident the community would be able to provide us with a sub until his return. There is a vast amount of talent in Divions 2 through to 6, you just have to find and nurture it. If not, THERE’S ALWAYS FRAGGA LOL??
Many people will regard the likelyhood of FB’s success similar to that of bumblebees flying. Yet, you keep winning matches against tough opponents. How come?
We have our good days, we have our bad days – like the majority of teams. All of our players have to be putting in maximum effort when it comes to the top3, but we can give them all good games. Another factor in the whole ‘bumblebee’ scenario is players losing concentration mid game or the team not being able to adapt to the opponents change of tactics, as proven in our i39 game vs PwR. I believe that it is only recently that the higher tier of div1 has started to see us as a threat, it’s kind of fun being the underdogs in those games. We don’t really have much to lose, where as they have everything.
Standard question: Dream lineup
Hocz , Darn , Hymzi , Bybben , Carnage and Mirelin – controversial, I know, but this recently-turned-17-year-old Latvian medic never ceases to amaze me. He still makes some silly mistakes, but 90% of the time he’s on the ball – lots of potential.
Who has been the most influential for your time of playing TF2?
Jimmybreeze without doubt, him and I go back a long way. We met on a community server called Knifeback Mountain ,and just started talking and got on really well. Next thing I know we’ve snagged a spot in division 3 with other community members and playing 2 hours a day, 5 days a week. Now I’m fortunate enough to be playing in a Division 1 team against the top Team Fortress 2 players in the world, all thanks to JB. He’s very passionate about the game and is doing a tremendous amount of work to help the competitive tf2 progress.
Another person who has been influential to me is Stealthy , being the brother of k^m regular ‘fishbus’ (freight and steel creator) meant that he would sometimes come on the server for a quick game. Stealthy showed me the ropes of scout by owning me on duel_duel2 daily and yelling “STOP FUCKING JUMPING!!!” – sound advice that I will take to the grave.
I had the first word, you’ve got the last. Say what you want!
Shoutout to my team FB and any of our regular opponents – you guys really make the game worth playing and have given me countless hours of entertainment in the evenings.
Also a big shout my ex-team k^m and the community. I believe Knifeback has a lot to answer for when it comes to European TF2; a cadred writer, ETF2L admins, Freight, Steel, community pod casts, tf2street, all of these things are affiliated with Knifeback Mountain and I would recommend anyone to go and play there, just be prepared for a bit of banter and the occasional moron.
Originally published on VanillaTV (vanillatf2.org) on 2010-04-12 by torden.
Recovered from the Internet Archive (archived copy) as part of tf2esports.com's preservation of VanillaTV's TF2 coverage. The original site is no longer online. All rights remain with the original author; reposted for historical reference.