Meet The ThunderCharks, February’s spotlighted streamers
Wednesday, February 22nd, 2023
We couldn’t do what we do without the support of our incredible community of streamers, and as part of our Stream Team Spotlighted Streamer interviews leading up to GameBlast23, we recently talked to The ThunderCharks!
Hello ThunderCharks, thank you so much for taking part in GameBlast23! Please, introduce yourself.
Hi there! We’re Thormungandr and PixelChark; the founding duo behind The ThunderCharks.
Thormungandr (AKA Thor) is a full-time Twitch Partner who you’ll find streaming content using alternative controllers. They’re often playing things like Dark Souls, Cuphead, Bayonetta and more, using a Steering Wheel (and occasionally Donkey Kong Bongos)!
PixelChark (AKA Char) is a variety streamer who mainly streams RPGs, Indie Games and sometimes crafts! You can catch her cross-stitching or building something cool (like a music box!) on a chill day.
The ThunderCharks is a team that we created in 2022 because we wanted to grow and expand a wonderful friendship, and take part in charity events like GameBlast! These days the team is evolving into a larger project, and official Twitch Team, to create a broad community that shares our values on inclusivity, accessibility, and diversity. We have a big focus on neurodiversity, mental health wellbeing, LGBTQIA+ equality and awareness. Using our platform, we want to highlight the things we value most.
That’s incredible, and we love the name! How did you both get started in content creation?
Thor’s been a content creator since 2019 and took the opportunity during the pandemic to switch to full time streaming in May 2020. They’ve just celebrated their first anniversary as a Twitch Partner!
Char sits in the mid-ground as an intermittent streamer, but her talents lie more behind the scenes during events. She works with companies and charities to make sure that the team gets the best support and visibility during their activities.
The ThunderCharks started as a team for GameBlast 2022. We had taken part in previous events that were company led during Char’s time at SEGA and we wanted to expand our efforts as a community and work without restrictions! As such, we decided to create one team and use a communal fundraising page, so that everyone can combine their efforts!
We love that! We know you both are heavily into advocacy and awareness, but what is some of your favourite content to make online?
Thor loves creating content around using alternative methods of playing games as it allows them to problem solve and find solutions that showcase the power and flexibility of the brain when presented with a problem. It also allows them to highlight the options around physical input as part of accessibility and discussions surrounding the topic.
Char spends most of her time just talking over whatever she is playing, mostly about accessibility and mental health, alongside her lived experiences around these topics. She’s most likely to be excited by anything cute in games, especially if it highlights positivity in the streaming space.
That’s amazing! What are some of your favourite games and why are they important to you?
Thor’s ‘hall of fame’ tends to include games that centre exploration, unique game choices and design. These games include the Pokémon series, Elden Ring, Okami, and Boktai: The Sun Is In Your Hand. These series are some of Thor’s most beloved games for the fact that they provide a unique gameplay experience, diversity of choice as to how you go through them, and wild gameplay mechanics which others don’t dare to experiment with! They’re highly replayable, offering incredible lore and lots of experimentation within their worlds that allows Thor to go back to them time again without it feeling stale.
On Chars usual suspect list, you’ll primarily find Final Fantasy XIV; not only because Final Fantasy is one of her favourite franchises, but because it offers her a lot of accessibility options, compared to other MMOs that she has played. FFXIV accommodates her cognitive needs and allows her to play, and enjoy the game, properly. So, either that or she’s collecting Pokémon!
Some very, very good titles there! So, how did you first hear about SpecialEffect, and why have you chosen to fundraise for us?
Once upon a time, Char was asked to come to a Rocky Horror Picture Show karaoke night in support of SpecialEffect, by ThisIsMartaaa, and since then SpecialEffect hasn’t been able to get rid of her!
Thor was then bullied by Char into doing a fundraiser for SpecialEffect a little while later, and has been lovingly doing it ever since!
The work that SpecialEffect does for accessibility and the resulting mental health benefits means a lot to the team, so they wanted to make sure that supporting the charity during GameBlast was one of the few events they do during the year.
We’d never want to be rid of you! As a team, what are some of your top tips for running a charity event?
As a team we use a single fundraising page for events, and collaboratively raise on that page. This is to make sure that everyone who joins the team feels like they made an invaluable contribution to the event no matter how much they raised. Everyone in the team is very supportive, and there’s a lot of focus making sure that no-one feels like they must stream for more than they are able or comfortable with. Health comes first – we always want to avoid anyone burning out or pushing past what they are comfortably capable of.
Do not feel like you have to spend money on giveaways! Though they can be helpful for incentivising your community; there are plenty of other ways to encourage your community to donate, by doing challenges and tasks, things like putting stickers on your face or adding the donators name to a board! You could also say you’ll do something like play Elden Ring when you’re not very good at those kinds of games… like Char is doing this year.
Be sure you’re comfortable with the goals and challenges you set, and don’t agree to do anything you do not want to do. Whether that’s shaving your head, eating something you don’t like, streaming for longer… you’ve got the be comfortable. At the end of the day the community is there for you and your cause, and they want to see you have fun!
Brilliant tips, being comfortable and having fun is so important to a good charity stream! Before we finish up, do you have any last words for our readers?
At the end of the day content creation is about fun, whether you are working with a charity, doing a review or just streaming a game to your amazing community. Remember to enjoy yourself!
Thank you ThunderCharks! Where can people find you both online?
You can find Thor across social media with the handles @thormungandr or @thormungandrttv as well as:
- Twitch https://twitch.tv/thormungandr
- YouTube https://youtube.com/@Thormungandrttv
- Website https://thormungandr.com
You can find Char across all social media with the handle @PixelChark (though she mostly lives on Twitter and TikTok) and on
Find out more about our awesome Stream Team, and how you can stream for SpecialEffect, on our Stream Team Page.