Rodney Caston
Encyclopedia
Rodney Caston is an American
systems engineer, freelance writer and author
currently living in Dallas, Texas
. He is the co-creator and original writer
of the popular comic book
series Megatokyo
and an active member of the Libertarian Party
. He is a former employee of Linden Lab
, makers of the online game
called Second Life
. He currently works for Riot Games
, makers of League of Legends
.
. He attended Louisiana State University
and majored in Computer Science
. After finishing school he moved to Dallas, Texas
. While in Dallas he began work on what would become Megatokyo
.
. MegaTokyo was one of the largest and most successful early webcomics to transition from online to print, the success of it and other early properties such as Penny Arcade
and PvP
went on to influence an entire generation of webcomic
creators. He has since parted ways with his partner, Fred Gallagher and relinquished control of Megatokyo. He is credited for the first two published volumes of Megatokyo. His alter ego, Largo, was the insane gaming fanatic while Fred Gallagher's alter ego, Piro, played the straight man. Caston quietly parted with Gallagher from Megatokyo. The legal details of the split are private and not much was said about it at the time.
Caston's connections to software designers and writers at Bioware
landed his alter ego
cameos in two of their games. In Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn
there is a NPC
tavern keeper named Largo; and in Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic there is an NPC named Largo that you can either help, not help, or kill for fun on the first planet.
In early 2005, a controversy erupted after Scott Kurtz of PvP
wrote a forum post that congratulated Caston on his impending fatherhood as well as accusing Fred Gallagher of stealing Megatokyo away from Caston. Due to the fan speculation that ensued, Gallagher was forced to explain the reason for the split, citing creative differences and insisting that the breakup was amicable. Caston then gave his version of the events.
While speaking at a panel at A-Kon 15, Caston responded directly to the reason for the split, saying: "We had creative differences, I was creative, he was different." However he maintains that the two are still friends.
Caston has been a guest speaker at various conventions
such as Otakon
, A-Kon, Animefest
, Ohayocon
and others.
, and Studio Ironcat
. As of August 8, 2010, six volumes are available for purchase. After Volume Two, Rodney Caston's name no longer appears on the publication.
In July 2004, Megatokyo was the tenth best-selling manga property in the U.S. http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/5241.html. Volume
3's highest ranking in bookscan is 3 ending February 20, 2005.http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/6520.html Which broke all previous records for sales of an American manga until that time.
. In 2008, he ran, unsuccessfully, for Constable, in the state of Texas
against Republican Chuck Presley, Sr. He received 19,079 votes (19.44% of the total votes cast) to Presley's 79,039 votes (80.56% of the total cast).
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
systems engineer, freelance writer and author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
currently living in Dallas, Texas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
. He is the co-creator and original writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
of the popular comic book
Book
A book is a set or collection of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of hot lava, paper, parchment, or other materials, usually fastened together to hinge at one side. A single sheet within a book is called a leaf or leaflet, and each side of a leaf is called a page...
series Megatokyo
Megatokyo
is an English-language webcomic created by Fred Gallagher and Rodney Caston, debuting on August 14, 2000, and then written and illustrated solely by Gallagher since July 17, 2002. Gallagher's style of writing and illustration is heavily influenced by Japanese manga. Megatokyo is freely available on...
and an active member of the Libertarian Party
Libertarian Party (United States)
The Libertarian Party is the third largest and fastest growing political party in the United States. The political platform of the Libertarian Party reflects its brand of libertarianism, favoring minimally regulated, laissez-faire markets, strong civil liberties, minimally regulated migration...
. He is a former employee of Linden Lab
Linden Lab
Linden Research, Inc., d/b/a Linden Lab, is a privately held American Internet company that is best known as the creator of Second Life....
, makers of the online game
Online game
An online game is a game played over some form of computer network. This almost always means the Internet or equivalent technology, but games have always used whatever technology was current: modems before the Internet, and hard wired terminals before modems...
called Second Life
Second Life
Second Life is an online virtual world developed by Linden Lab. It was launched on June 23, 2003. A number of free client programs, or Viewers, enable Second Life users, called Residents, to interact with each other through avatars...
. He currently works for Riot Games
Riot Games
Riot Games is an independent video game developer and publisher based in Santa Monica, California. Established in 2006, Riot Games launched the stand-alone Dota game, League of Legends as its first title in October 2009. Riot Games obtained around 20 million dollars from venture capital firms to...
, makers of League of Legends
League of Legends
The BetFred League of Legends was a darts tournament featuring some of the legends of the game of darts which commenced in May 2008. The tournament is broadcast on Setanta Sports in the United Kingdom....
.
Biography
Caston was born and spent most of his early life in Baton Rouge, LouisianaLouisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
. He attended Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, most often referred to as Louisiana State University, or LSU, is a public coeducational university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The University was founded in 1853 in what is now known as Pineville, Louisiana, under the name...
and majored in Computer Science
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
. After finishing school he moved to Dallas, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
. While in Dallas he began work on what would become Megatokyo
Megatokyo
is an English-language webcomic created by Fred Gallagher and Rodney Caston, debuting on August 14, 2000, and then written and illustrated solely by Gallagher since July 17, 2002. Gallagher's style of writing and illustration is heavily influenced by Japanese manga. Megatokyo is freely available on...
.
Fandom
Caston is the co-creator and writer of the comic MegaTokyoMegatokyo
is an English-language webcomic created by Fred Gallagher and Rodney Caston, debuting on August 14, 2000, and then written and illustrated solely by Gallagher since July 17, 2002. Gallagher's style of writing and illustration is heavily influenced by Japanese manga. Megatokyo is freely available on...
. MegaTokyo was one of the largest and most successful early webcomics to transition from online to print, the success of it and other early properties such as Penny Arcade
Penny Arcade (webcomic)
Penny Arcade is a webcomic focused on video games and video game culture, written by Jerry Holkins and illustrated by Mike Krahulik. The comic debuted in 1998 on the website loonygames.com. Since then, Holkins and Krahulik have established their own site, which is typically updated with a new comic...
and PvP
PvP
PvP, also known as Player vs Player, is a webcomic, written and drawn by Scott Kurtz, with around 100,000 unique visitors per day . On February 1, 2007, it became the subject of its own animated series.-Themes:...
went on to influence an entire generation of webcomic
Webcomic
Webcomics, online comics, or Internet comics are comics published on a website. While many are published exclusively on the web, others are also published in magazines, newspapers or often in self-published books....
creators. He has since parted ways with his partner, Fred Gallagher and relinquished control of Megatokyo. He is credited for the first two published volumes of Megatokyo. His alter ego, Largo, was the insane gaming fanatic while Fred Gallagher's alter ego, Piro, played the straight man. Caston quietly parted with Gallagher from Megatokyo. The legal details of the split are private and not much was said about it at the time.
Caston's connections to software designers and writers at Bioware
BioWare
BioWare is a Canadian video game developer founded in February 1995 by newly graduated medical doctors Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk, and Augustine Yip. BioWare is currently owned by American company Electronic Arts...
landed his alter ego
Alter ego
An alter ego is a second self, which is believe to be distinct from a person's normal or original personality. The term was coined in the early nineteenth century when dissociative identity disorder was first described by psychologists...
cameos in two of their games. In Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn
Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn
Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn is a computer role-playing game developed by BioWare and released on September 26, 2000. The game is the sequel to Baldur's Gate, and, opening only a few months after the events of the earlier game, continues the story of the player character, whose unique heritage...
there is a NPC
Non-player character
A non-player character , sometimes known as a non-person character or non-playable character, in a game is any fictional character not controlled by a player. In electronic games, this usually means a character controlled by the computer through artificial intelligence...
tavern keeper named Largo; and in Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic there is an NPC named Largo that you can either help, not help, or kill for fun on the first planet.
In early 2005, a controversy erupted after Scott Kurtz of PvP
PvP
PvP, also known as Player vs Player, is a webcomic, written and drawn by Scott Kurtz, with around 100,000 unique visitors per day . On February 1, 2007, it became the subject of its own animated series.-Themes:...
wrote a forum post that congratulated Caston on his impending fatherhood as well as accusing Fred Gallagher of stealing Megatokyo away from Caston. Due to the fan speculation that ensued, Gallagher was forced to explain the reason for the split, citing creative differences and insisting that the breakup was amicable. Caston then gave his version of the events.
While speaking at a panel at A-Kon 15, Caston responded directly to the reason for the split, saying: "We had creative differences, I was creative, he was different." However he maintains that the two are still friends.
Caston has been a guest speaker at various conventions
Fan convention
A fan convention, or con , is an event in which fans of a particular film, television series, comic book, actor, or an entire genre of entertainment such as science fiction or anime and manga, gather to participate and hold programs and other events, and to meet experts, famous personalities, and...
such as Otakon
Otakon
Otakon is a fan convention in the United States focusing on East Asian popular culture and its fandom. The name is a portmanteau derived from convention and the Japanese word otaku...
, A-Kon, Animefest
Animefest
Animefest is the oldest anime convention in The Czech Republic, Europe.Animefest was held for the first time in 2004. It was and still is organised by Brněnští Otaku, at first a free group of otaku...
, Ohayocon
Ohayocon
Ohayocon is a convention focusing on Japanese pop culture, including popular anime and manga fandom. It is traditionally held during the month of January in Columbus, Ohio. Ohayocon was first held in 2001 in Cleveland, Ohio, moving to Columbus in 2003...
and others.
Books
Megatokyo comics are currently published by D.C. Comics, and have been published by Dark Horse ComicsDark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book and manga publisher.Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, with the concept of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals. Richardson started out by opening his first comic book...
, and Studio Ironcat
Studio Ironcat
Studio Ironcat was a small publishing company based in Fredericksburg, Virginia, dedicated to publication of manga and later, Amerimanga. The company is most known for its publication of the first volume of Megatokyo, a prominent webcomic, as well as the flamboyant style of one of its founders,...
. As of August 8, 2010, six volumes are available for purchase. After Volume Two, Rodney Caston's name no longer appears on the publication.
- Megatokyo Volume 1: Chapter Zero (Megatokyo vol.1 1st edEditionIn printmaking, an edition is a number of prints struck from one plate, usually at the same time. This is the meaning covered by this article...
.) ISBN 1-929090-30-7 - Megatokyo Volume 1, 2nd ed. ISBN 1-59307-163-9 (published March 21, 2004)
- Megatokyo Volume 2 ISBN 1-59307-118-3 (published January 22, 2004)
- Megatokyo Volume 3 ISBN 1-59307-305-4 (published February 2, 2005)
- Megatokyo Volume 4 ISBN 1-4012-1126-7 (published June 21, 2006)
- Megatokyo Volume 5 ISBN 1-4012-1127-5 (published May 25, 2007)
- Megatokyo Volume 6 ISBN 1-4012-2481-4 (published July 14, 2010)
In July 2004, Megatokyo was the tenth best-selling manga property in the U.S. http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/5241.html. Volume
3's highest ranking in bookscan is 3 ending February 20, 2005.http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/6520.html Which broke all previous records for sales of an American manga until that time.
Politics
Caston is a civil libertarian and active member of the Libertarian PartyLibertarian Party (United States)
The Libertarian Party is the third largest and fastest growing political party in the United States. The political platform of the Libertarian Party reflects its brand of libertarianism, favoring minimally regulated, laissez-faire markets, strong civil liberties, minimally regulated migration...
. In 2008, he ran, unsuccessfully, for Constable, in the state of Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
against Republican Chuck Presley, Sr. He received 19,079 votes (19.44% of the total votes cast) to Presley's 79,039 votes (80.56% of the total cast).