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Community Kudos: Mashaa Edition

Mark Serrels Avatar
Mark Serrels

How many ‘As’ are there in Mashaa? The consensus, I think, is three. But I’ve seen as many as 10. Usually when people are reminiscing about the first time they met him and sort of just ran towards him screaming Mashaaaaaaaaa! Anyway, today’s Community Kudos is dedicated to one of the most beloved members of the Kotaku Community. He is leaving Australia to head back to his home country of Kenya and that makes us very sad.

So welcome to Community Kudos: Mashaa Edition. This is going to be a self-indulgent tear-fest. Just warning you straight up.

Mashaa is an awesome guy. When he broke the news he was leaving I received a bunch of emails providing kudos to Mashaa, but I thought I’d take it a little step further and put together a little package of Mashaa memories.

First I’ll tell my own little Mashaa story. First time I met him I was sort of overwhelmed by just how bloody massive he was. It’s always a bit weird meeting people you interact with online for the first time, but with Mashaa it was just super easy because of how goddamn laid back the guy is! That easy going personality you see on TAY and on Twitter is pretty much how he is in the flesh.

I remember one specific moment. On Doc What’s birthday we all had a massive Nerf Gun war. Here I was, a 31 year old man playing in the woods with a group of other adult men and women having the time of my life. In the heat of the moment I totally ripped off my jumper because I was running frantically and building up quite the sweat.

But then I ran about some more. And I totally lost track of where my jumper was. I was kinda gutted, thought I’d lost my jumper! But of course, Mashaa had saved the day. Once we all finished playing he sauntered up carrying the jumper! He had seen it and totally took it upon himself to bring it back.

TL;DR: Mashaa is a great, thoughtful guy and I’m going to miss him. Hope you stick around on TAY buddy!

ShiggyNinty
With the news of Mashaa leaving, I have a few moments that stick out to me.

One of the funniest things I’ve ever seen was at PAX last year. We organised a Karaoke thing one night and a bunch of TAYbies turned up and it was awesome. But I totally lost it when Mr Boombastic came on and Mashaa took the mic. It was just so perfect and while he was singing, he encouraged everyone to get up and join him. That’s one of the best things about Mashaa, he always makes sure everyone is happy and is a part of everything.

Another moment was a camping trip he came on with a bunch of us. He just seemed to love spending some good time with friends and enjoying every moment of it, whether it was playing games, shooting NERF guns, cooking food or exploring the area, he just seemed to love it all.

I’m going to miss Mashaa a lot. From the first time we met he treated me with respect and kindness and I’ve made sure I’ve done the same to him. He’s one of the nicest people I know and I wish him happiness and all those good things in life for his future endeavours. Love you Mashaa!

Freya
He is full of kindness and funny spontaneity that you don’t always see the first time. He’s a great reminder that quiet people are often the funniest. And sometimes the dirtiest.

He also bought me ice cream and everybody knows that’s the way to a special place in my heart.

Also Bun says thanks for the blanket. Only true friends lend blankets.

FatShady
I have tried my best to get #GaytimeFriday trending worldwide on twitter. So far it’s only me using it but on a special Friday in June 2013 a bunch of Kotaku people were together for PAX AUS. It was raining and miserable but Mashaaaaaa was awesome enough to walk out in the rain and buy everyone Gaytimes. It was the gayest time I’ve ever had and i was so glad I could be gay with Mashaaaaaa and the crew 😉

Red Artifice
Masha is one of the nicest Taybies and an all around good guy. His presence in the same time zone will be sorely missed.

Shane
Quick nom this week: for MASHAAAAAAAAAAAA. You know why.
Dude seemed genuinely surprised by the goodwill we feel towards him – I think he needs a reminder.

NovaCascade
The first time I met Masha, I felt really awkward. He had made (what I assumed to be) a joke on TAY before his first meat that he’d be the big black dude. As we assembled outside the monorail station Masha arrived with Powalen. I have the memory of stupidly blurting out “Oh wow, you really are a big black guy” when I was introduced to him. Thankfully Masha helped me remove my foot from my mouth, and proved himself to be one of the nicest people in TAY (and that’s saying something). The quintessential gentle giant, Masha may cut an imposing figure, but you will never meet a more gentle and caring gent. Always something nice to say, and has kept many the insomniac entertained with his late night ramblings.

All the best for the future, make sure you stay in touch. Farewell MASHAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!

Dan!

I should also mention that Batguy emailed me saying some really nice things, but asked me not to print them because he didn’t want to ruin his tough guy image.

Okay! I think I’ll leave it there! Godspeed Mashaa(aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa). You will be missed.

Godspeed.

Community Kudos is your chance to reward Kotaku readers/posters who have done incredible things throughout the past week: sporadic acts of kindness, deft commenting skills — if someone deserves to be called out for being an incredible human being, Community Kudos is the place to do it. Send nominations directly to me at this address! The winner gets a cool prize from my massive box of stuff.*

Disclaimer — I’m am really bad at sending stuff out, I have a list, I haven’t forgotten, I’m totally getting round to it. Sorry everyone!

Chris Hastings is the creator of the image used for Community Kudos –- you can check out his site, Dr McNinja, here.

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