Reggy Fils-ame, how could you go?
How could you leave us!?
OUR BODIES WERE NOT READY!
If you’re watching this, you probably already know who reggie fils-aime is.
But in case you just found out what a video game is, or what a ninten does, the man was
the president of nintendo of america for the past oh, 12 years or so.
I mean, whatever though, sony has a president, microsoft has a president, what's the big
deal about big reg?
Well, i know off the top of my head that i could name the president of….
no companies except nintendo of america.
So there’s that.
Recently we all found out via Twitter that Reggie’s body would be leaving us in the
clutches of Bowser for the foreseeable future, that the memes, will cease to come from our
lovely face of western nintendo.
The future… is uncertain.
SO PREPARE YOURSELF!
For the story of a man that rose to the top of the chain and the top of our hearts.
For the life and times of the man who became the regginator, for the memes, the cringe,
the victories and odd history of a large haitian gentleman who stole our hearts for so long!
This is the story of reggie fils-aime, the story, you never knew.
To understand what makes Mr. Fils-aime special, you must first understand the company he worked
for: Nintendo.
Some of you may not know this, but Nintendo is kind of lame.
Or at least was.
Hear me out.
Business in japan is very different than business in america.
Japan is just very different than america.
Not a bad thing, but true.
Most people know this.
However the idea of a fat, loud, burger munching, angry, gun toting dude in a pick-up truck
is a good way to view the way we americans come off to the japanese, not that they see
us all that way, but culturally it's a good metaphor.
Their attitudes are very different from ours on a fundamental level.
They value politeness and hard work like no other.
While we...don’t always.
George lucas was famously horrified after showing star wars in japan for the first time.
After the movie, the entire audience stood up silently and left.
Not a word was uttered.
Turns out that was the greatest sign of respect he could have gotten.
Lucas expected thunderous applause, are you getting the picture?
We different.
Good.
So on the outside, (especially now) nintendo looks like an “all fun and games wonka factory
of magic and imagination.”...but without the oompa loompas...or IS IT!?!
But it’s really not, and it was certainly worse back in the day.
Nintendo is a very old company, about 130 years old actually.
Most people know by now that they originally made hanafuda cards in the 1800’s and found
their way into video games in the latter half of the 20th century.
But what a lot of people don't know is how japanese business works.
It’s a rigid and tight knit, ever-rising hierarchy based around “the company.”
The company is everything, so much so that literally working yourself to death is not
only a very real issue in japan, but they have their own word for it: “karoshi.”
The bonds and relationships made in the company between it’s employees are that of family,
and it is incredibly difficult for americans to conduct business with the japanese because
it's so easy to commit faux pas.
Simply saying “sayonara” to a potential investor will end your deal right there, it
implies they may not hear from you again even though we think it means goodbye.
Context people, its hard in foreign affairs.
Nintendo being very old and very japanese is an extremely tight knit and complicated
machine.
It is incredibly protective of itself, it’s conservative image, and its properties.
It’s relationship with sales in the US hasn't always been good either.
Nintendo famously helped to illegalize the renting of video games in japan and even sued
blockbuster in america for renting their games.
Like i said, tightwads.
Enter Reggie.
He was born to haitian immigrants on march 25th, 1961 in the Bronx.
I dunno if you’ve ever been to the Bronx, but i have, it’s not a great place, 1/10
would not recommend.
His parents had left Haiti due to a coup in may of 1950, Fils-aime’s grandfather was
a Haitian general during that time and his mother's parents were politically opposed.
Reggies parents were told they couldn’t be together so they fled to america.
Regy grew up in long island, graduated from brentwood high and attended cornell like that
dude from the office.
“It’s pronounced Colonel, it’s the highest rank in the military.
It’s pronounced CORNELL!”
He was the president of his frat and though wanting to be a chemist as a kid, he got a
bachelors in applied economics.
Then reggie started that career and dayum, this shiz is all over the joint.
His first notable move was working for Procter and gamble, a personal health care company,
in their brand management department, particularly food and beverage.
After an 8 year stint he moved on to freaking pizza hut of all things, which apparently
taught him fast business.
And that cheesey stuffed crust is a superior crust.
But it gets even weirder kiddos, Reggie actually worked at MTV from 2001-03.
That's like the sean paul, 50 cent, beyonce years.
Imagining reggie’s face behind the music videos that made me realize i was a man will
forever haunt my nightmares.
“What’s wrong with you” While at MTV he was at its VH1 branch trying to make it’s
content appeal to the 25-49 year old demographic.
Accidentally turns out he was appealing more to the 11 year old demo who were really starting
to discover themselves….
At least in my case.
ANYWAY due to his success there and his knowledge of that specific demographic, (the previous,
not the latter, (though you could see up the skirties in melee… no!
Bad thoughts!)) he was recruited by nintendo of america.
At the time the gameboy advance and the gamecube were on the market and the market looked bleak.
Nintendo was far behind in the sixth generation of consoles and they needed a man.
A man with a plan.
You may remember me talking about japanese business stuff, or you may have zoned out
because you’re twelve and international economic structure and coloquial financial
work doesn’t fascinate you yet.
But stuffy old conservative daddy nintendo hadn’t been doing so hot at anything, particularly
their convention presentations.
E3 2003 was particularly bad.
This was right before reggie became nintendo’s Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing
for the us, canada and latin america.
Sony and microsoft killed it in 2003 leaving nintendo looking lamer than ever.
But in 2004 things would change, thanks to "My name is Reggie.
I'm about kickin' ass, I'm about takin' names, and we're about makin' games."
WHOA!
Regy!
Calm down bro!
This was how the world found out about reggie fils-aime, from that point on, known as the
Reginator.
The memelord himself, a living legend, a living meme.
During the 2004 e3 press conference reggie was aggressive and even attacked microsoft
and sony.
This was world changing for nintendo, and for the fans, we had a hero.
And a man america needed to get nintendo out of their conservative diapers.
Reggie immediately went to work revitalizing the company’s public relations in the west
and revamped vendor relations, forcing them to have to order high volumes of nintendo
products in order for them to receive shipping.
Then came the wii.
When looked at today the wii is an ugly underpowered hunk of plastic centered around bad waggle
controls and heaps of trash games.
Looking at you club penguin!
However historically the wii is one of the best selling consoles of all time.
Just under the ps2 and ps1 for home consoles and the best selling console of that generation.
It was cheap, it was intuitive, and everybody loved it from your little sister to your grandma
to that disgusting neet who lives next door and smells like cheetos and farts.
The wii was golden success.
And reggie was in on that sales model.
But then, THEN in 2007 words were uttered that would change the history of the world
as we know it.
During the presentation of the wii balance board it was reggies turn to take a try, when
asked if he was all set he replied.
“My body is ready” The meme, it’s still here, he did it, it
was reggy!
It was his body who was ready!
The other day i heard my friends sister (who has never played a video game in her life)
say my body is ready!
She ain't even KNOW reggy!
Thats the shit right there!
How you do this reggie?
How you become this?
It doesn't hurt that he’s an exotic looking guy with a very expressive face and a heavy
brow, but hot dayum is he memeable.
LOOK AT HIS FACE!
IT IS THE FACE OF MEME!
But more than that, the industry, nintendo, and we ourselves owe a lot to reggie fils-aime.
The guy broke new ground for a company we loved that needed a change.
He helped to usher in a new era for nintendo and a business model that allowed them to
compete even though they generally have no idea what they’re doing!
He came in loud and hard and ready for action and stayed that way for over 12 years.
He fought for us, reggy did.
He fought for us.
In his time at nintendo he went from sales to president of nintendo of america.
He looked into youtube as a way to appeal to us, his audience.
He worked with well known gaming enthusiasts like matpat and jirard the completionist multiple
times.
Mind you, this was during the time when nintendo was one of the BIGGEST enemies of content
creators out there (next to konami).
When we started youtube nintendo would grab ANYTHING you posted and take your money.
Half the reason mike is with us now is cause nintendo claimed all his good videos and he
couldn’t support his broke ass.
But Reggie was here, stepping into a world he understood and KNEW could only benefit
nintendo (as long as they stopped being money grubbing ip hoarding PSYCHOS) and just last
year their horrible partner program went away.
Coincidence?
I think not.
We love reggy.
He’s a face that brought us joy before crushing our dreams on nintendo directs when they refuse
to do any animal crossing news.
He was there with us through the dark days of the wii u.
Reggie, is daddy.
A MEME DADDY, and also a daddy daddy, this DILF HAS ACTUAL KIDS!
And he’s leaving us.
Leaving us to at long last spend some time with his wife stacey whom he met at vh1 while
i was playing with myself half a world away.
Leaving us, to play animal crossing new leaf on his nintendo 3ds.
Fils-aime went from a first generation haitian kid in the bronx to THE MOST RECOGNIZABLE
face in the western video game industry.
He’s a man with a body, a body that’s ready, ready to leave.
We’ll miss you reggie fizame.
And thank you.
That’s the story you never knew.
And that’s my take on Reggie.
Never before has a man enraptured us so.
If you’re comfortable in your heterosexuality or even homosexuality then give this video
a like for Reggie.
You know you want to.
Also if you made it this far then you must have thought this video was more than alright.
Lovely viewer, why not hit that subscribe button and love-tap that bell?
It’ll change your life.
I’m Grant.
That was Reggie.
I’ll see you all in the next one.