Gearbox Community Badass
Mitsu Reiji
In this week’s Gearbox Community Badass, we’re spotlighting one of the community’s most notable streamers, Mitsu Reiji! Mitsu streams Borderlands 2 (among many other games) and is as entertaining (and sharply dressed) as they come! Most recently, he took part in “Borderlands Day”, a collaborative effort in which a few streamers revisited their Borderlands roots for the day. After being involved in such a badasscommunity event, I thought, what better time to make Mitsu or Community Badass! See what I did there?
How long have you been playing Borderlands?
Borderlands and I have had a pretty magical relationship since 2010. A friend of mine introduced me to the game as a “Looter shooter hybrid with tons of guns and RPG elements.” As a veteran of both FPS and RPG games going back to 1999, I was exceptionally intrigued by this blend.
It succeeded beyond my wildest dreams.
What is it about Borderlands that has you hooked and coming back for more?
Everyone loves loot. The thrill of defeating a foe and getting that gun that you’ve been searching for is something that keeps people coming back again and again to Borderlands. But it’s more than just that, you start to connect and love the universe and characters, too. So communities are formed, we have the forums, conventions, cosplayers, and Twitch. What got me hooked was the game. What keeps me coming back now is the people. Play a game of Borderlands 2 or The Pre-Sequel with an open public lobby sometime. You’ll meet some of the coolest people ever.
Who is your favorite playable character?
For a long time, I held to Lilith. The ability to run around in stealth and explode (literally) on the scene, melting your foes with awesome elemental effects was a lot of fun. These days however, I gravitate more toward Maya I feel. As a playable character, she has many elements of power, wit, and even compassion (Harmony skill tree!) but she also is one with an intriguing backstory.
If you had a real life action skill, what would it be?
I’d be remiss if I didn’t say Maya’s Phaselock, especially after singing its praises. The ability to isolate a problem and resolve it without fear of repercussion is invaluable, whether I’m just hanging around on my own, or doing some group/team based activity. It’d certainly make playing soccer a lot easier if I could Phaselock the goalie!
Tell us about your stream. How did you get started and how long have you been streaming?
I started streaming in March of 2013. I was originally motivated by another streamer, SaintVicious, who was informative, funny, and most importantly communicated with his audience. While I was getting my feet on the ground, I would play various games, but the one that people seemed most interested in me streaming was Borderlands 2, which had come out a few months prior. There was a large YouTube presence at that time, but there were few Twitch streamers when I started.
I wanted my stream to be seen as a blend of a radio show and gaming stream. To that end, from the day I started to now, I have always used the open public lobbies every time I play Borderlands. I also open up lines via Skype where I take calls from the audience and we talk about everything, Borderlands and beyond. The most important thing to me is letting the gamers be heard, creating a community, and celebrating in the shared experience of the games we love to play.
Also, I sing K-Pop on stream. Master Gee loves him some SNSD Girls Generation – Gee.
What are you most looking forward to seeing from Gearbox in the future?
Battleborn reveals! MORE BATTLEBORN. OH SO MUCH MORE BATTLEBORN. There are a lot of unanswered questions or answers that have led to more questions, and people want to know where Gearbox is going with this game! We need to see more characters, what the weapons system will be like, how talent trees/progression systems will look, more about the mythos of this grand (or is it tiny?) new universe Gearbox has created!
Doubling down, the hunger for a Borderlands 3 reveal is growing. Gearbox and PAX have a unique and special relationship (as stated by Randy Pitchford), and hopefully we’ll hear some amazing news about both franchises at PAX Prime, which is at the end of this month!
Where can people go to check out the latest from you?
I’m always up to some wacky shenanigans somewhere on the internet. If you’re interested in my stream, I recommend visiting it over at //www.twitch.tv/mitsurugireiji as I stream almost every day. Or try to, anyway.
For those interested in learning more about me and my interests (as well as updates on when streams go live!) feel free to send me pictures of your gaming setups/battlestations at https://twitter.com/MitsuReiji since I love viewing them.
And for those of you who are interested in watching Vermivorous the Invincible get hit by a train over and over, various voice acting, bad puns, and other Borderlands shenanigans, you can find my YouTube over athttps://www.youtube.com/MilesPEdgeworth! Thanks so much for the Community Badass Spotlight and making these games we love!
