Many of you have heard the sad news that Geoff “iNcontroL” Robinson passed away recently. We wanted to share some good memories of a dear friend and say our goodbyes.
Geoff was more than just a friend to Frankie and I, he was like a brother. His passing has been extremely difficult for us to process as it was so sudden. It just doesn’t make sense. He was young, took great care of himself and had a bright future ahead of him. I had been chatting with him just hours before he passed about mundane stuff. It just doesn’t feel real. I imagine at any moment he’ll call us and tell us this was all a big joke.
But it’s not a joke, and I’m never going to speak to my friend again.
It’s difficult to accept that fact, but there it is. I imagine all of the fun things we had planned to do that we won’t now and it’s easy to slide into a pit of grief that feels like it’ll swallow me whole. So instead of succumbing to that, I wanted to share some good memories of our bro and talk about why he was such an awesome guy.
Geoff first came into our lives many years ago looking to get some models painted. He asked for a discount in exchange for tweeting about our service and I remember laughing to myself thinking, who does this joker think he is? I am not a big video game enthusiast and didn’t know who the famous iNcontroL was, so his proposal sounded pretty silly to me. How much could a tweet be worth? Then he showed me how many tens of thousands of Twitter followers he had, and I came around on the idea pretty fast!
Geoff was always generous in that way, willing to help us out with our business in any way he could. From things like helping get us exposure to grow our (at that time, tiny) company to helping us unload shipping containers in the early days of us making gaming mats. And let me tell you, that was really crummy, manual labor and not in any way fun. But he was always down to help his friends out.
Geoff was a massive influence in getting more exposure for many gaming communities from Starcraft to D&D, and especially for the competitive 40k scene which was his personal passion. We wouldn’t be where we are as a community without his constant hard work and belief that we could make our common love of 40k into something bigger and better. His efforts will be felt by thousands of gamers in many different communities worldwide for years to come. For that we owe him a debt of gratitude as his efforts have helped enrich our lives.
Geoff was also a fierce competitor. He lived to compete at the highest level in the games he loved. I’ve never met someone so driven to succeed. He was always down to practice and help hone not only his own skills but those of his friends. In fact, I often had to turn down practice games because I couldn’t keep up with his relentless pursuit to improve!
He was also the captain of our 40k team and a great leader. He kept the gang focused on improving and made it fun with his humor and witty banter. We used to call him the “Joke Machine Gun” as he fired them out faster than I thought was humanly possible. Some of my favorite memories with Geoff are of road-trips with the team to tournaments where we all shared laughter and camaraderie while playing the games we all love. Our team won’t be the same without him.
All the hard work paid off, too. Geoff was wildly successful in his career as the famous “iNcontroL,” bringing his charisma to gaming events around the world and entertaining us with his hilarious Tweets and gaming streams. He applied that same relentless drive to excel from his professional life to his competitive gaming life. Geoff was a winner, and was piling up championship performances in his favorite games. He probably had trouble finding a place to put all of his trophies! It was awesome to see him win his favorite event–the BAO–this year. It was his biggest win to date and I loved seeing how happy it made him to get that W.
But more than any of that, Geoff was our friend. One of my best friends in the whole world. Like real brothers, he and I bumped heads some times but we always came back to that friendship that has held us together for all these years. I am thankful for those years. All the memories, the shared laughter, the fun times. Having someone you could count on to be there for you and share your fears and hopes with through life’s ups and downs is something that you can’t really quantify. That’s the stuff that makes life worth living.
While trying to process all of the sadness and anger that we’re feeling at this senseless tragedy to see such a good friend taken away from us, we try to focus on the good times and happy memories. Hopefully for those of you out there feeling similar feelings, reading this will help ease that pain even if just a little bit. Don’t fear the pain though, as it’s proof that you loved that person and that they were an important part of your life, that they made your life better with their presence.
I’d give damn near anything to just talk to him one more time, but I can’t. So, I share this to honor him and help tell his story so he can live on in our memories.
Geoff, love you bro. I am so sorry your life got cut short but man, the years you had were really lived. You had a wonderful life and you will be missed.
See you on the other side.
Reece & Frankie
And remember, Frontline Gaming sells gaming products at a discount, every day in their webcart!
