AARC 2019

Hello my geeky friends,

Saturday my peeps and I attended the Asheville Anime Regional Convention (AARC), it was a world of anime, video games, and just plain geekiness. But before we get to the fun of the day let's look at our players:

Fangirl is rocking her own design of Steven Universe's Rose Quartz, a dark Rose Quartz. She painted the shield herself.

Econut and we'll call this friend Audette went as Bowser and a Evil Peach.

Econut is proud of the Chomp she painted on her vest and the shoes she painted:

Yours truly went as the Doctor. Geronimo! I went with a bow tie Fangirl found for me. I'm gonna use the homemade one for Pumpkinfest this year. Despite it being warm I surprisingly didn't get too hot in my layers.

Ok now you know your characters, lets get on with the tale of our day.  Fangirl and I both left things at our houses my sonic and her shield, luckily we were not far from my house when we had to turn back, but Fangirl's place was halfway across the county. After gathering all our forgotten goods we finally met up with the other two members of our party halfway back the other side of the county, only to be separated again cause their car was unable to move as fast as Fangirl's. It all finally come together when we all met up in the parking lot, and late our Marshmallow Rainbow Maids Cafe reservation, never fear we managed to get another slot.

There was a good crowd at the con...

...and lots of costumes. I saw Deodorant Man at one point (see last years post).

After making a reservation we watched a little of the lip synch battle which Audette had wanted to see. After our brief respite we did a walk through of the Artist Alley. We ran into Amanda Churi the indie Author we've ran into the last few cons we've been to. I purchased the third and final book in her book series The Twisted Trilogy: In Eden's Shadow. Check out her work the trilogy has made for an interesting read.

The best line heard at the con was a girl in a corset who'd said "Goodbye organs, Hello beauty." I got three "Fezzes are cool", and 2 people saying Eccleston was an underrated Doctor, very true.

We went to the Plus Size Cosplay panel were the host we'll call her Velma told us of her struggles of being a plus size cosplayer. I applaud her for telling her story and trying to make plus sized cosplayers the social norm. As a plus size cosplayer myself I'd like to see this. 
After this panel we headed to the Marshmallow Rainbow Maids Cafe room. As we waited we saw the profiles of each maid on the wall. Econut said it'd be funny if we got Maid Gaki, the Sukeban (Gangsta Type). Guess who we got?

When we went in we were given sticks with streamers and bells on them, cat toys as one maid called them, so we could cheer on the maids performance. Which we happily did. after the performance the maids took our order and served us all while we engaged in a game with Maid Gaki called What Do You Meme? We shared a table with a woman dressed as a cat and a  red Power Ranger, who told me David Tennant was going to be at a nearby con, and I'm like put a knife in my heart why don't ya!

Trinkets from the Rainbow Maids

After we got a pic with our maid and returned the cat toys,  we went back to the stage area to watch some of the Asheville Kendo Club demonstrations. After watching some audience members whacking club members with sticks we cruised the dealers area. I got me some more dice and a couple Yugioh cards to add to my collection.

Worn out from our wanderings we sat and watched a bit of A Taste of Asia Dance Fitness while waiting for the Cosplay Contest, only at a con will you see a fitness group with a Kiki from Kiki's Delivery Service, and Link, Bob Ross, and Dinosaur dancing to the side, did I mention Bob Ross was doing the floss? Again only at a con.

Fangirl bid us adieu as she went to get ready for the contest, then Econut and Audette went to find a place Econut could smoke. So I was the lone picture taker for the group. Fangirl was in the beginners section and I think she did her poses perfectly:

Sadly she didn't place, but she did get a nice applause. I didn't enter cause I figured my Doctor costume would place. The big story was during the journeyman level. A Spiderman Noir had just gone up and he was followed by a Spider Gwen, this also happened in the beginners. As this Spider Gwen was doing her poses Noir gets back on stage and proposes to her:

And if you couldn't tell she said yes. Like I've said only at a con.

We did one more spin through Artist Alley and then we parted ways with Econut and Audette. I have to say a con is more fun when you're in a group of peeps.

Fangirl and I decided to go to this Japanese eatery called Waku Waku, they were offering a discount for AARC cosplayers, and we weren't the only ones. It was like a mini AARC after party. Unfortunately the sudden flux of customers had the small staff swamped trying to keep up orders, so there was a wait for food. We ordered some Takoyaki: Japanese Octopus balls, for our appetizer, not only were these my first octopus balls this was also my first time tasting their Waku Waku sauce. They were good. If I go back may have to get some more. Fangirl and I got the Katsu-Don, she got the pork , I got chicken. It was okay just didn't realize it'd be smothered with onions. I just scrapped it off and added some Waku Waku sauce to the rice so it wasn't just plain rice.

So it was a fun time at the con, looking forward to next year's. I hope you guys have a good week, for those who celebrate Happy Independence Day, and may God bless you!

Ninja <[0000]---------------[0000]> Writer

Artsy Fartsy Time- Narwhals, a Bow Tie, and a Fez

TGIF my friends,

In this segment of Artsy Fartsy Time I'll be sharing some of crafts my Mom and I have been doing for birthdays and cons.

Narwhals:

Fangirl recently had a birthday. I was racking my brain what to get her. I found her some anime stickers, and dragons, but I wanted to get her more. I came across Craft Passions instructions for a Sock Unicorn Whale, basically a narwhal. This was perfect, cause Fangirl finally discovered the awesomeness of Star Vs. The Forces of Evil. Now every time we go somewhere and she sees a stuffed Narwhal she pelts me with it going "Narwhal blast!"

I used the aforementioned instructions as a guide of sorts. The only colorful socks I could find were shorter than what the instructions called for so I had to go by the seat of my pants on this project. The result is not the best narwhals, but they get the job done Fangirl has done pelted me with them.

Narwhal!!!

To Become the 11th Doctor:

I wanted to be the Doctor from Doctor Who last Halloween, but I wasn't able to put a costume together in time, so I went as a mermaid out of water. Well I started early putting the costume together for Halloween, I decided to get it done by the time the Asheville Anime Regional Convention came, so I could wear it there and get 5 dollars off my ticket, either way awesome.

Most of my costume I done owned or acquired at a thrift store or online, that was for my sonic. Two pieces I enlisted the help of my Mom to make the bow tie and the fez.

Even when I searched for one during prom season, I could not find one in a thrift store. So instead I bought a thrift tie and my mom turned it into a fancy looking bow tie. We just need to attach it all.
Now my fez required the aid of a colonel, Colonel Sanders that is. I first tried using old drink boxes, but that failed, but luckily my adopted nephew works at KFC so he got me some chicken buckets, unused of course. Then with some red felt I purchased at Jo-Ann's, Mom glued it to the bucket and added a black tassel made with yarn.

I'm Doctor ready!

 So are any of you guys crafting anything awesome? Let me know it the comments. I hope you have a good weekend, let your geek flag fly, and God bless you!

Ninja <[0000]---------------[0000]> Writer

AARC 2018

 

Happy Friday My Friends,

Ok this post is coming out later than I planned for the pure reason I accidentally left my camera in Fangirl's car and didn't see her again for a week or so. But I am now ready to tell ya about the Asheville Anime Regional Convention (AARC). This year it was up to a two day con, Fangirl and I only attended Saturday July the 28th. We headed out early to get good parking and make our reservation. Fun Fact the building this con is held in was where I attended my first concert and met my first celebrity, Bryan White.

We took a spin around Artist Alley. I purchased my con pin for this year, I went with a Tardis, I know I'm predictable. We also ran into an author friend of ours, Amanda Churi, that we met three years ago at our final GeekOut! Last year at ARRC I purchased book one of her Trilogy The Twisted Trilogy : A Lapse in Time. This year I bought book two: The Dark Materials. She was happy to learn I had actually read the first one. Her fiance Kevin was there again this year, dressed as the character I'm pretty sure he inspired.

We headed to the Dealer's floor where we did a quick preliminary walk through before heading to make our reservation.

Here's where the nerds are at

Fangirl had discovered there was going to be a Marshmallow Rainbows Maid Cafe at the con this year and really wanted to have our lunch there. Once the schedule came out she made our reservations. As we stood waiting for the Cafe to open we watched a maid yelling at the con floor below trying to get more customers, Fangirl warned her to be careful or they'd all see up her dress, the maid looked at her and said she was a burlesque dancer so it wasn't nothing knew. I'm sure in my head at that point I was like Jim Carrey going "Alrighty then."

Bubbles mark the entrance to the maids lair

The maids soon let us into the cafe, where a DJ was busting out possibly J-Pop tunes.  We were joined by a dude named TJ, who we'd befriended as we waited in line, and learned was a vet, thanks for your service.

Fangirl and our Lunch Mate TJ

At each space we found with the menu gifts of paper flowers with chocolate in them, and a vial of bubbles.

The Master's Banquet and a couple gifts

Yes at bubbles we all became kids again. We were also given a sticker with a drawing of our maid, and a bracelet. I was given a blue and green bead one cause it matched my pineapple shirt. We ordered the Master's Banquet from the menu which was the whole meal they offered Sandwich, Chips, and a dessert. We also purchased the Special Gift, which was a picture with your waitress. Our section was taken care of by Maid Sniikersnee, the pink maid who is the Yandere type according to her pic on Facebook. She was fraking awesome, actually they all were. On the tiny pic they give you when you took a pic with your table's maid she wrote her name and drew some hearts in what else pink.

After the meal they broke out board games where our Table played Candyland the My Little Pony edition. Sniikersnee was Twilight Sparkle, I was Fluttershy, Fangirl was Rainbow Dash, our Vet friend choose Pinkie Pie, whose piece had gone on a trip so Sniikersnee substituted with one of her pins, a cleaver with cake on it. I never made it to the end... I'd get close then the cards would be against me. *pouts* To finish our hour the DJ spun a tune as the maids lip synched and performed a dance.

We then took a longer stroll around the Dealer's floor where of course we noticed the larger selection of Anime inspired cars this year:

There we some amazing costumes:

Nicholas D. Wolfwood from Trigun and a genderbent Harley Quinn (Thanks Fangirl)

I think both of these are from Kiki's Delivery Service, I know the Kiki is. (Photo courtesy of Fangirl)

This is the most funny costume I saw, I can't help when I see this to recall that Classic Foamy the Squirrel episode Rules For the Masses (warning not suitable for younger/sensitive audiences) where Foamy suggests you be sure to shower while at the con.


We settled in at the stage for the Cosplay Lip Synch Battle. There was some amazing peeps I have to admit. The one I really remember was a Poison Ivy Neegan, basically cause of the costume with it's green lights. There was even a Dipper from Gravity Falls competing which I thought was cool seeing a  costume from the show.

Chilling in the crowd during the Lip Synch Battle

The battle is under way

We stopped at a couple of the featured guests' booths, the one I was most  thrilled to meet was Johnny Young Bosch, who currently does a lot of voice acting, but when I was growing up I knew him as Adam the Black Power Ranger. I'm happy to add his sig to my collection John Hancocks.

Fangirl's Cabbit hanging out at Artist's Alley still donning Fangirl's Jane Hat and now her Maid's gift bracelet.

We went back for another round at Artist Alley and visited with Amanda one last time, before bidding the con adieu. We were pooped. I think we may have had enough energy and money to partake of the Chinese food.

This Geek was pooped after this con, and dang look at that crazy hair!

If you want to see others' experience at AARC I suggest Brotalku's post, I think they show some of the Lip Synch Battle in it and you get a brief glimpse of Fangirl in the crowd, look for the purple. Also check out League of Extraordinary Appalachians' post, I think they have a couple for this con, they cover the costume contest a couple of them were in.

After the con I was inspired to write a poem about my experience at AARC that I hope to add to a poetry collection I'm working on that focuses mainly on Geeks and Dreamers. This is just the I think  2nd draft I look for it to be edited further at some point:

When the Anime Buffs Gather

A stroll through artist alley
Fills the eye with pretty trinkets
A meeting with that indie author
Named for a passed family dog
Another book sold
Another book read
Another step for a dream come true

With a military vet
You pass through a doorway
Into a cheery world of color and techno music
Ruled by rainbow hued maids
Where gifts of bubbles makes kids out of adults
And a game takes you back to that one 7th grade social studies class

With a meal and a dance
 The rainbow ladies send you back into the crowd
Populated with souls wielding giant hammers and huge furry heads
A nerd Mom nurses her babe
Already bringing it up in the geeky ways
Smart Momma
On stage characters are locked in a lip synch battle
Poison Neegan illuminates green and wields a mean bat
While a Haunted Hill Nurse Harlequin does a split

A hero of your past emerges
Taking a moment to sign your meager offering
Thank you for your time
Thank you for your work

Surrounded by downtown traffic
A couple begins their lives together
As the people pour out of an ornate church
Into the rays of the afternoon sun
Geez how many people can be in one bridal party?

I hope your Weekend is awesome and if you want to see epicness totally check out The Hillywood Show's® Supernatural Parody 2. As always may God bless you guys!

Ninja <[0000]---------------[0000]> Writer