Welcome back, Tranquilites! Thanks for joining me on another installment of my Cosplay Column! The POC cosplay community — while growing — is still very small. The plus-size community is even smaller, but within this community you’ll find a myriad … Continue reading 50 Plus-Size Cosplayers to Follow on Instagram
These last few weeks have been truly exciting for so many reasons. We began a new convention season, Black Panther debuted, and #28daysofblackcosplay just wrapped, to name a few!
-pause- Let me introduce myself. My name is Tranquil Ashes, but you can call me Tranq for short! Welcome Tranquilities to my humble space where I write about my cosplay and body positive adventures. Most importantly I’ll be featuring and giving voice to YOU, beautiful NERDS OF COLOR.
Continue reading “Katsu Panther!!”
Hey guys, Edward here. My fellow NOC writer Josephine Chang and I seriously like to geek/nerd out at all the major SoCal conventions, especially the anime ones. So with that being said, it gives us great pleasure to talk to you all about Animé Los Angeles.
Established in 2005, ALA is a medium-sized, community-focused anime convention with a more moderate-paced environment. And these days where many conventions are rather chaotic in size and nature, ALA has become a nice reprieve. If you’re a first timer when it comes to anime conventions, this is the one for you.
Continue reading “Good Times at Animé Los Angeles”
Following the heels of our Anime Expo intro article this year, our first main event we went to last night was the Masquerade, a cosplay and performance competition that has been running for over 20 years. This year’s event was MCed by Ezra Weisz and without a doubt, I can already say that this is perhaps the best masquerade I’ve gone to, solely from the strength of the MC himself.
Continue reading “Having a Ball At The 2017 Anime Expo Masquerade”
It’s the second day of July and Anime Expo 2017 is well under way! While the first official day has come and gone with a bang (along with the unfixed misfortunes of horrific Line Con), there are still three big days filled to the brim with events, guests, panels, and anything anime related. If you’re in the Los Angeles area, still don’t have plans, and want to check something out this July 4th weekend, definitely give Anime Expo a go!
Continue reading “Bigger, Badder and Hotter than Ever: Anime Expo 2017”
There were more than 68,000 total attendees at E3 this week, and I’m almost certain all of them have been gaming more than I have in the past five years. I’m retired. Too many consecutive days of realizing I’d played through the night until dawn had me putting the sticks down. Not to mention, I just can’t keep up with these kids. I’m washed.
Yet here I got the fortunate opportunity to cover E3 for NOC in the conference’s first year open to the public. I had to do this, for the culture, for the kid inside who never finished Mario 2, and for the same kid that reached the end of Streets of Rage and chose to kill my brother to take over the gang.
For the last eight years, my president was Black. More than that, he was a Black Nerd, a Nerd of Color, the Head Nerd in Charge. After today, we aren’t going to see the likes of someone sit in the Oval Office as intelligent or intellectually curious as Barack Obama. His record in office speaks for itself. Because of President Obama’s leadership, 20 million more Americans have health insurance, marriage equality is the law of the land, and nerds of color were finally represented in the White House.
Continue reading “8 Times President Obama Proved He Was Our NOC-in-Chief”
In exactly three short weeks, New York Comic-Con will be returning to the Javits Center on the West side of Manhattan, and we will be there stationed at Epic Proportions Booth 2010! And since it’s a Comic-Con, we will once again be co-hosting a meet up with our friends at Black Girl Nerds on Friday night! That’s right, we’re bringing BGNOC to NYCC!
So this past weekend Onyxcon returned to the ATL. Sadly, I wasn’t able to make it but I was there in spirit celebrating with my fellow Wakandans.
A few years ago, I had the pleasure of attending with a couple of friends including my fam Kiyra and my date, J.
Suffice it to say, I scored with plenty of swag and spent quite a bit of cash. It’s all good as I’m all too happy to support black businesses. As I chatted with my peeps, something struck me as odd. I’ve been to plenty of cons over the years, as both a guest and an attendee. I’ve had some wonderful experiences, and I’ve had some less than pleasant ones.
Prior to Gal Gadot being tapped to portray Wonder Woman for the DC Extended Universe, there was an online campaign where fans wanted to see actress Gina Torres play the iconic superheroine.
Understandable. Much like Gadot — and for that matter, Lynda Carter — Torres is the perfect blend of grace, beauty, power, and wisdom.
Ever since I moved to Japan in 2011, I have been checking out Osaka’s (my current hometown) cosplay extravaganza, the Nipponbashi Street Festa. Every year around the end of March, hundreds of cosplayers, anime/video game fans, and photographers collide in Nipponbashi (aka Den Den Town), Osaka’s answer to Akihabara. Sadly, this was my final experience in witnessing this wonderful event as I will be moving back to the U.S. this summer.
As always, it did not disappoint.
Continue reading “Cosplay and Osaka: My Final Nipponbashi Street Festa”
March 18th-20th 2016 was the inaugural season of a new kind of comic convention. The Silicon Valley Comic Con (SVCC) was one of the most overwhelming (in a good way) con experiences I have ever experienced. The marketplace was typical; comics, old toys, tee shirts and stickers, the museum-esque presentation of beloved geek memorabilia was there in all of its sterile glory.
Close to a decade ago, I met a Blaxican artist at Dr. Comics and Mr. Games in Oakland, CA. We had mutual geek interests, as well as an undying love and connection to hip-hop culture — the vibe was pure fiyah. He was already a parent, and I was about to be one. We became friends. He’s a visual artist, toy maker, animator, and filmmaker. I’m a writer, marketing guy, pop culture scholar, and performer. Match made in geek heaven. We bandied about ideas on how best we could work together, but nothing really panned out. Then, something happened. I don’t know what his catalyzing agent was, but mine was WonderCon. Continue reading “Coming Soon: MaeJay and the Mech“
Japan. The land of anime and manga. When those two are brought up, usually the district of Akihabara in the city of Tokyo comes to mind. Sure, Akihabara still is the mecca of countless arcades with floors full of games, stores full of anime merchandise, and tons of specialty stores that will probably have what you are looking for. However, Akihabara is not the only area where these things can be found.
Nipponbashi, otherwise known as Den Den Town, can be seen as the Akihabara of Osaka. While not the size of Akihabara, Den Den Town still caters to the needs of many nerds, myself included. The laidback and easygoing pace of Den Den Town is a lot more relaxing than the hustle and bustle of Akiba. Den Den Town is also home to one of my favorite events of the year: the Nipponbashi Street Festa.
Continue reading “Nipponbashi Street Festa: Cosplay Invades Osaka”
Originally posted on WilliamBruceWest.com
This past Saturday, I attended the 3rd annual Awesome Con in Washington, DC. I’d actually never been to the show in previous years, though I was aware of it. I kinda hated the name, plus I felt like Baltimore and New York Comic-Con were superior to it, so I spent my time and money going to them instead. This year, however, I’m going to be missing both of those shows due to weddings, so I figured it was time to see what Awesome Con was all about. My verdict? It’s a pretty good show.
What makes for great cosplay pictures? It’s when an amazing costume is photographed in an interesting and unique location. However, most of the time cosplayers and photographers can only meet up at conventions. While cons are great for seeing friends and buying things, they are not always the best locations for cosplay photo shoots. Concrete walls at crowded convention centers are not satisfying backgrounds for the costumes cosplayers have worked so hard on. There are conventions that have tried to use backdrops but they often result in pictures that look flat, as if they were taken at a mall. Some people have been able to afford to host kickstarters to allow them to do on locations shoots, but wouldn’t it be great if more people had access to such an opportunity?
Originally posted at BadAzz MoFo
No doubt, there will be people debating over the meaning and motivation behind Sanford Greene’s cover to Shaft #2, which came out this week. For the record, the idea for the cover came to me long before the grand jury hearing in the case of Mike Brown, and is not in response to that particular case. If there is one recent ripped-from-the-news incident that really inspired the cover, it was the 2014 killing of Darrien Hunt, the young cosplayer from Utah. Every death that I read about whether it is Mike Brown, or Eric Garner, or Trayvon Martin, or any of the other tragedies that have been playing out with far too much frequency, destroys me a little bit. But there was something about the death of Darrien Hunt that really got to me. You see, if I’m going to be honest, on the path of my life and my career, there was a reasonably good chance I could have met Darrien some day.
Continue reading “Regarding the Cover to Shaft #2: Dedicated to Darrien Hunt”
In light of recent comments by comic artist Pat Broderick about cosplay and conventions, I think it’s a good time to look at what proper etiquette is like in this new age of pop culture dominance. I won’t only be speaking as a con goer of 11 years, but also as an exhibitor at New York Comic-Con for six years for a major exhibitor. The following is not just con etiquette for con-goers, but for exhibitors as well, to acquaint those who want to purvey goods in this new age.
Cross-posted at Dat Winning
Over the summer, five-time NBA champion Tim Duncan made waves across the internet when it was revealed that he was going to be immortalized on the cover of a Marvel comic book. Not only were comics fans surprised to have such a legendary sports figure in their midst, NBA fans were surprised that Duncan had a personality! (I kid! I love TD!)
It all started when, during the Spurs’ most recent championship playoff run in May, a reporter tweeted out this photo of Duncan’s knee braces:
Continue reading “The NBA: Where Fanboys are (Big) Fundamental”
Hello Everyone! My name is Raphael, and I’ll be a regular contributor here at The Nerds of Color! New York Comic-Con may have ended a week ago, but here are my thoughts after attending my eighth NYCC.
I’ve been going since its inception, but this was my first as a civilian — working the Midtown Comics booth for the last six years — and it’s definitely a different experience (the lines). The one positive is that since they decided to stick to the current layout (with the Show Floor on the main floor, autographing and panels downstairs, Artist Alley in Javits North) for the last couple years.
Continue reading “NYCC 2014: We’re Gonna Need A Bigger Boat…”
In this episode I respond to this Bleeding Cool article by Denise Dorman that contends cosplay is hurting the convention scene and making it harder for artists to make a living.I also explain why the real discussion should be about … Continue reading What’s Killing Cons: Cosplay or Organizers?
Last week, we brought you Black Girl Nerds’ account of the shooting of Darrien Hunt, the 22-year old Utah man who was killed by police for “brandishing a sword” that happened to not be a real sword at all. Depressingly, Hunt’s murder is part of an all too common pattern of high-profile killings of unarmed black men by those who have been sworn to protect and serve them.
The death of Darrien Hunt did not happen in a vaccum. In the wake of similar instances in Staten Island with Eric Garner, or Ferguson with Michael Brown, and Ohio with John Crawford1 — and these cases are just from this summer — the mainstream media and society in general is paying attention more than they ever have in the past.
by Jamie Broadnax | Originally posted at Black Girl Nerds
This morning I read the link to a news article tweeted to me about Darrien Hunt, a 22-year old Black male who was gunned down by police on Wednesday September 10 by the Saratoga Springs police department. Several news outlets initially picked up the story as reported by the police and Tim Taylor, the chief deputy attorney for Utah county. His statement to the press was as follows:
When the officers made contact with Mr. Hunt, he brandished the sword and lunged toward the officers with the sword, at which time Mr. Hunt was shot.
Continue reading “Cosplaying While Black? The Homicide of Darrien Hunt”
