Member Spotlight: Golden Fool

  • Interview conducted by Albino 

    While we have plenty of members deserving of a spotlight, few deserve one more than Golden Fool. With contributions spanning multiple site groups he’s certainly one of the Vault’s more active members. Today we’re going to shine the spotlight on him and learn more about Golden Fool both on and off the site.

    While we may know him as Golden Fool, in real life he’s known by the considerably more mundane name of Andrew. Situated about an hour away from Melbourne, Australia (a city that he informs us was known as “Batmania” for a while and can literally have four seasons in one day), he’s lived in the same house for his entire life, a house that hasn’t had air conditioning for the past five years. Ouch.

    Golden’s in his last trimester of a Diploma of Health Sciences which he says should allow him to go into the second year of a Bachelor of Psychology later this year, occupying the next two to three years of his life. When he’s not busy with school or the site he has plenty of hobbies to keep him occupied. As befitting his status as one of the Art Group hosts, he likes to draw. Most of his work has been posted on the site with the rest going to his Deviantart account. He says that he used to not do much drawing (doodling at school aside) before joining the site and seeing Curse Never Dying and Alice post what they made; since then it has become a big enough part of his life for him to get a tablet and draw some digital art.

    Aside from drawing, Golden says he enjoys a good book ("one made out of actual paper", he specifies), having read A Song of Ice and Fire, Garth Nix's Old Kingdom Trilogy, quite a bit of Robin Hobb's books as well as Brent Weeks, and many others.

    As mentioned earlier, Golden Fool’s contributions to the site span multiple groups, from Tamriel Tales to Classics to Roleplaying to his five Skyrim character builds, but most prominently he can be seen in the Art Group, which he hosts alongside Alice. Initially, he found the site looking for Skyrim character builds but spent most of his time lurking. Eventually he changed his name from 12Alphabets to Golden Fool and starting helping out around the Art group, which led to him becoming host. He says that what he enjoys the most about it is being able to help out others on the site and seeing what others can create when the Art group holds an event, though he doesn’t deny that he might just enjoy the power that comes with being a host. :P

    As you might expect, the parts of the site that interest Golden the most include the Art Group, which gives him the motivation to keep trying with his drawings instead of just giving up after the first rough draft, but Classics and Skyrim CB as well, where his recent activity has provided the inspiration for most of his most recent pieces. He’s also quite interested in the lore group; despite never having posted anything there, he’s fascinated by the stories and world of the Elder Scrolls.

    With regards to other contributors on the site, he doesn’t have any favorites but admits that Curse’s art has had a big influence on his own, to the point that when he first started doing digital art he attempted to draw in a similar style to his.

    Like most of us here, Golden Fool loves the Elder Scrolls, citing the world, lore, and the freedom it gives you in making your character as the primary reasons. In particular, he’s spent countless hours in Skyrim alone trying out different playstyles, to say nothing of Oblivion.

    Of course, he plays other things too. He got into gaming when he was around ten years old when he and his sister were given a PS2 for Christmas. Back then, he would play any game he was given but that changed when he was allowed to start borrowing games from the local video store. He discovered Final Fantasy XII (one of his favorite games to date) and then Dragon Age: Origins, games which got him interested in RPGs in particular, eventually leading him to Oblivion (the game, not the place :P). Other games he’s enjoyed are the first Dark Souls, Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale, Valkyria Chronicles and Fire Emblem Awakening.

    Currently, he’s been enjoying messing around with Fallout 4, and both he and his girlfriend have recently started playing Until Dawn, where they get a kick out of making life hell for some of the characters. As for upcoming releases, he’s most interested in Dark Souls 3 and the international release of Fire Emblem Fates.

    Golden Fool is a great example of what a member can accomplish on the site, and his member spotlight is well deserved. Be sure to give him a big thank you for putting up with the rest of us for as long as he has. :P

Comments

18 Comments
  • Curse Never Dying
    Curse Never Dying   ·  February 6, 2016
    About time this fool got a spotlight
  • Vazgen
    Vazgen   ·  February 6, 2016
    Congrats mate!! Totally deserved spotlight for one of the most helpful members of the site! :)
  • Paws
    Paws   ·  February 6, 2016
    Golden Fool is one of the nicest blokes I've ever had the pleasure to speak to. Kind, generous and possessed of a great sense of humour, Golds consistently brings joy to this site.
  • Exuro
    Exuro   ·  February 5, 2016
    Nice! Keep the drawing up; I always enjoy your pieces.
  • ShyGuyWolf
    ShyGuyWolf   ·  February 5, 2016
    Congrats Golden. You are a great fellow and a great friend.
  • Edana
    Edana   ·  February 5, 2016
    A very well-deserved spotlight. You do so much to help out other members, and I'm glad to see you get a moment in the spotlight.  And a great write up too, Albino! 
  • Sindeed
    Sindeed   ·  February 5, 2016
    Thanks for all the contributions to the site!
  • Ragin Cajun
    Ragin Cajun   ·  February 5, 2016
    Very good!
  • Karver the Lorc
    Karver the Lorc   ·  February 5, 2016
    Ha, who put this Fool on the front page?
    There are very few people who are active all across the site as you, mate, so this is really deserved. Especially Classics thanks you for your participation.
  • The Long-Chapper
    The Long-Chapper   ·  February 5, 2016
    Well-deserved, congratulations!