online since 2001
masaclaw
Tom Peck's corner of the internet. The name comes from a squeaky toy I misheard once and somehow never stopped using.
Where the name comes from
Back in 1998 there was a game called Shogo: Mobile Armor Division. Anime mechs, big guns, the works. One of the weapons was basically a squeaky toy that did an absurd amount of damage. You squeezed it, it made a noise, and things fell over.
To me, that noise was “masaclaw.”
It wasn't “masaclaw.” It was “Magic Claw.” But this was the late 90s. No wiki, no clip to rewind three seconds and read the subtitles, just a 56k modem and no real reason to fact-check a squeaky toy. Nobody was around to correct me, so the toy said “masaclaw,” and that was that.
I liked how it sounded, started using it as a handle, and then never stopped. I registered masaclaw.co.nz in February 2001, which was a faintly absurd thing to own back then, and I've been masaclaw pretty much everywhere online since.
I found out the truth years later. Magic Claw. Obviously. It had been sitting right there the whole time. Bit late by then. I'd already wired my whole online identity to a toy I misheard in a video game, and honestly, I'd do it again.