SPEAKER_11 0:03

Hello, everyone. Welcome, welcome, welcome to our current episode of the Blurred Spectrum. We are here to give to you our different opinions, the different facts, the different concepts that we have about gaming, anime, manga, cosplay, every spectrum that is within the kingdom of blurred. So I would like to introduce to you our panelists for this podcast today. So we have uh Gwen, aka the Black McCoy, we have Rod, aka the Doctor, we have Brandon, aka Kaze, we have Mark and Damo, aka Horde and the Trap. We have Andre, aka Nemeral, and then we have Tiffany, aka Miss Skittles. So, what I'll do, as you are new to all of these individuals, I'll let each of them the opportunity to give a brief introduction so you can get to know them a little bit better. So let's go ahead and start with the Black McCoy.

SPEAKER_04 1:13

Sorry, I had to reach over my army.

SPEAKER_02 1:15

Um hi, my name is Gwen. Um, I go by the Black McCoy as my cosplay name. Um, because um Hank McCoy is my stable cosplay, one of the first like big, big cosplay. Well, one of the first big, big cosplays that I feel like I really did and succeeded on. Um I have been cosplaying ever since I was small, um, because it all starts with some random towel in a belt. And uh I guess I'll talk about that more later. But anyway, um, I'm a gamer, I love everything between PS4 and Switch. Some PC games, not really a huge mobile gamer, but um anime, um, some manga. I have a huge love of cartoons I've always had one my entire life. And um yeah, that's all I got.

SPEAKER_04 2:05

Thanks, Mr. McCoy. We'd like to move on to our next uh panelist, which will be Kaze.

SPEAKER_03 2:17

Hey, how's it going? Um it's me, Kaze. How's it going? I said that. I'm tired. Um, yeah, I've been gaming a long ass time. Uh my mother told me I had an Atari, I don't recall. But uh, but yeah, we had an Atari, we had Nintendo, we had a Sega Master System, we had the Sega Genesis, we had a uh Sega CD, that was a mistake. Um uh and the vast majority of the consoles uh moving forward. Um I'm uh super competitive. Uh I love fighting games, I love most types of games. I played a lot of card games, uh I've gone to lots of tournaments. Uh I went to regionals for uh Magic the Gathering one time, uh made it to the last round and and uh lost to a mirror match. Um what else? Uh watch way too much anime. Uh and uh I like to overthink things. So uh uh so maybe I can uh share some of the uh some of the things I've overthought over the years with you guys.

SPEAKER_11 3:36

Thank you, sir Kaze. Uh so let's move on to Miss Skittles.

SPEAKER_08 3:45

Hello everyone, my name is Miss Skittles. Um, but Miss Skittles is my alias for my cosplayer. I'm a cosplayer, um longtime alert enthusiast. Um I am also uh co-founder and admin of Urban Anime Lounge, so check us out on Facebook um and Instagram and you know other platforms like but um had to plug that real quick. So um yeah, so I've been a nerd since birth. I don't you know, um I dabble in every nerdom, um gaming, comics, um cosplay, obviously, and um anime. So um yeah, I just I'm I'm in it all. Like I used to be heavy into gaming, um, and then I got a you know serious job which didn't allow me to game as much anymore. Um, so then I moved on to other nerdoms to fill my creative creativity. Um went to school for graphic design. I'm also a full-time graphic designer. Um and uh besides watching anime and doing cosplay and designing, yeah, that's I mean that's pretty much my life. So uh I think that's welcome.

SPEAKER_11 5:31

Thank you, thank you. All right, let's move to the horde and the trap.

SPEAKER_01 5:40

Yo, my name is Mark. Uh this is Dominic. We are a married couple that both like to partake in the blurred content. She some has gotten into a little bit more recently, and I've always been into manga anime. We play a video game since I was old enough to hold a controller to some extent. So uh it's uh been really big into that. Um as of late, we've been looking more at like the cosplay thing. I've finally got into just trying to go into conventions when I was uh in the military. So it's uh it's uh it's I'm starting to get more into that side of things, but mostly a lot of manga, hell of a lot of manga, and now web tubes, web tubes because that is Korean model water, amazing.

SPEAKER_07 6:32

So um let's see, I think my first anime was Sailor Moon and Reboot. And and then I think I've been playing games since the first PlayStation. I know we had a Sega, but I don't remember playing it. Um but yeah, I think I've been getting more into anime because of Mark mostly. Um so I think our new one is Food Wars that we're watching. Um but yeah, that's about it.

SPEAKER_01 7:02

Oh, and Baki. Baki's.

SPEAKER_07 7:03

Oh yeah, Baki, which is coming out this week, Thursday.

SPEAKER_04 7:19

Of course I muted myself right when I was anyway.

SPEAKER_11 7:23

So uh thank you, Lord in the trap. We will now move on to the doctor.

SPEAKER_00 7:30

All right, hello everyone. So um I've loved gaming and anime for basically my entire life. Um, going all the way back to like Genesis, to Nintendo, Nintendo. You know, I've always had a deep love of like strategy games, RPGs, fighting games, platformers, all those classics. Um, and I'm very big into you know modding games as well, especially if someone like I'm a part of the Skyrim modding community, amongst other things. Um, and one of my big areas I'm super interested in is metagame analysis. So that's like my kind of side research project or research area is around analyzing metagames for like fighting games, strategy games, and to a lesser extent, like some stuff with platformers and whatnot. But um, all in all, I have a lot of different interests in games. Um, and I love, again, anime and cartoon. So this definitely seems like a really solid fit. I'm looking forward to the discussion.

SPEAKER_11 8:31

Can't wait to embrace the genius of the doctor. You guys will have the ability to grace yourselves with the wealth of knowledge that he presents.

SPEAKER_04 8:39

So we're gonna wrap up the introductions with Mr. Nemroll. Hey, how's it going?

SPEAKER_10 8:49

Uh Nemroll here, Andre, aka Nemrill. It's just gamer tag I've had for since my first online console. So it's just that's what it's been. Um been gaming for, I guess. Yeah, as long as I could hold a controller. I didn't own a Sega Genesis, but I was a grandma's baby, so I was over my grandma's house. All I played was Sega Genesis. I knew Sonic and Knuckles, like the back of my hand, I could run through the first however many levels you had to run through before you know you had safe states. You knew that by the back of your hand. And if you didn't, you you weren't progressive because you had to get through the first ones before you could even try the harder levels, or where you had to leave the system on all night and your grandma comes and turns it off. And now you gotta start over from the beginning. But uh but yeah, I'm really into uh manga and uh manwa and uh webtoons a lot. I try to delve into anime every now and then, but mainly it's just that it just takes too much time, and I can I can go through a lot more manga than I can go through anime in a short amount of time. But I enjoy that more than everything else and really enjoy RPGs, and you know, that's it.

SPEAKER_11 10:14

Okay. Awesome, awesome. So a little bit about myself, uh Sucino Shogun uh or Jacob. I am the uh owner of Umbral Starcade, as you can see behind me. Uh so basically, we're putting this podcast together to give you the opportunity to not only seek the knowledge from our opinions, but also be able to share and open that dialogue. Uh, the blurred spectrum is about uh communicating all of our different interests, all of our different uh backgrounds, all of the different things that we have grown to love, enjoy, and embrace as it pertains to blurred dumb. Uh, the reason why it's a spectrum is not only because of each of us and our different backgrounds of the different things that we love and enjoy, but also about each of you, those who are listening and potentially watching, if you seem to watch one of our videos on YouTube. So uh right now I'm gonna, of course, open the floor to everybody, uh, talk a little bit about an opening question. I know this is our uh early episode, but I do have a question for everybody. Um, and you know, first person to ask, answer or what have you, feel free. But it is a question about kind of your blur journey. And the question is what anime, game, cartoon, or related theme best represents your blur journey? And I'll talk a little bit about mine. So uh when I was younger, I uh although I had video games, quote unquote, I had an older sibling and a bunch of older cousins. Uh so I didn't get the opportunity to play a lot of the games that I personally wanted to play. Everybody else had a console. So for me to play, I'd had to go over to somebody else's house or go into my sister's room to play a game. Uh so one of my earlier games was uh Super Nintendo uh Super Mario Brothers. Um my sister would never let me play as the second Mario or Luigi. Um I could only uh play after she lost a couple hundred times, and then I get to play once, and then she would turn off the game. Uh, because it was the one that was mixed with the TV. So when she was done playing the game, she would switch it back to TV so I wouldn't get the play. Um outside of that, I played at my cousin's house. Um, my first actual game, in my opinion, was Legend of Zelda or Quarina of Time. Um, they had the game and they would play it all the time, but they would never let me play. And they would get to the bottom of the Deku Tree and lose to Gotha over and over again. And I always thought that that was the end of the game. I thought that was all you had to do was beat Gotham, like literally, until they like went to go play outside and they said I could play the game by myself, and I beat Gotham, and it's like, oh my gosh, I beat Legend of Zelda, and then the Deku tree started talking, and then the game actually started. I was like, oh my god, this is horrible. So that's how my journey began. So that was kind of my catalyst. My uh that's why Legend of Zelda, the series, is my favorite uh series uh of gaming, and it's kind of my it created my blur journey. It opened the door to anime, opened the door to all different types of cartoons, not just you know, Tom and Jerry and the Flintstones. It opened the door to a whole bunch of different things. Uh so that was mine. So does anybody have something similar?

SPEAKER_00 13:32

Uh yeah, sure. So I know for me, when I think of, I guess, a something that really embodies my blur journey, it's probably gotta be X-Men. You know, so I loved X-Men as a kid. Like I loved the Saudi Morning cartoon. Like, and X-Men's something I really started following with the comics too, and I just really, really enjoyed it. And I think that was the thing that really got me into things like conventions a little bit more. Because I remember I went to you know a Marvel convention when I was maybe, I think my first one was maybe 14 or 13, you know, and it was just like something I'd never experienced before. And I loved just how much there was there. And I that's where I kind of learned, oh, there's this big community. Since, you know, at that time, like social media wasn't huge. So it's not like you know, we had social media chat rooms or big social media chat rooms where we can discuss these interests. So that convention for me was the first place where I really got connected to you know, other nerds, but you know, more importantly, other blurs. So, you know, and that's where I really got to introduce the blur community. And then when I think of what X-Men represents too, where it's got a lot of themes related to discrimination, you know, and oppression and how you fight against that, you know, and like those, you know, it all really ties together for me. So yeah, I definitely think if it had to be one thing or one series um that really encompassed that, it would be X-Men.

SPEAKER_11 15:08

Don't be afraid to speak. Anybody go ahead, jump in.

SPEAKER_01 15:12

All right, uh, I guess I'll go next. Uh I'd say for me, the one thing that I was the one two things I can think of that I guess really started my blur journey was um in terms of video games, and I I separated for this reason, in terms of video games, it was Michael Jackson Moonwalker. I remember it's like being a really, really young kid, and I remember my mother used to play it. And I just sit there, crawl up, you know, sit a lap while she just did, like literally just play this game where Michael Jackson would kick it ass with all his dance foods. I thought that shit was amazing. It was amazing. And as I got older, um, I got more to Bill Games because of that. But I didn't get in the anime until uh the Cartoon Network used to do anime Sundays, and they would like show off a little anime movie. And I remember the first anime movie that really grabbed me was Vampire Hunter D. So that was that was the one thing that like ever since then I've just been entranced with anime and uh and their art, their storylines and everything of that nature. So yeah, that was one thing I could think of. There's two things I could think of started my blur journey.

SPEAKER_11 16:27

Anyone else?

SPEAKER_08 16:29

So my blur journey um probably started with my dad. He was a gamer. Um, so most of the earlier consoles, you know, I just played with him or watched him play. Um and uh when I finally got my own console, which was the the PlayStation in the first place, um he got me Mortal Kombat. And I've actually I've actually been an avid Mortal Kombat fan since like I I love fucking Mortal Kombat dogs. But uh but um um as far as uh anime the first anime was Sailor Moon. Um and if I could uh describe uh like a if I could use an anime to describe my lair journey, it would probably be uh Tokyo Ghoul. Um I can relate a lot to Ken, you know, I feel like back then being a nerd, you know, it it wasn't it wasn't as cool as it is nowadays. So, you know, I struggled with um being a nerd and and being uh regular, quote unquote regular. Um, you know, because in school the kids, you know, they weren't so kind. I I was an army brat, so we moved around a lot. So I was always the new kid, and you know, having to try to fit in and not be so nerdy to the point where you know it just it was just uncomfortable to to be around me because I'm I'm considered a weirdo. But um, so yeah, I I feel like I can relate to Ken where he struggles with you know being a half breed. So now, you know, I've embraced all of that and I'm I'm I'm a proud a proud bird. Out here, I'm out here like in cosplay and everything, out here exposing myself. And I love it. Yeah, I just I I just I'm I'm not I'm not mad in my journey. It was a struggle, but I'm not mad at it.

SPEAKER_03 18:57

So uh uh Brent Brandon, number one. Oh yeah, I can go. Uh all right, so but but before I actually start, there was a uh in Michael Jackson's Moonwalker. Oh my man would do a my man my man would make everybody on screen start dancing and do the dance routine with him, yeah, and then it would audio. And it was the most amazing thing. Like like I think I just put the controller down and just soaked it in with a happen.

SPEAKER_02 19:40

I was like, that was it got hit by a smooth criminal.

SPEAKER_03 19:46

Yeah, like literally, but uh uh as far as my answer, uh I'd probably give you a different answer depending on what day you asked me. But um today. I think the first anime I seen might have been Astro Boy, and I think I soaked up a nice amount of like Astro Boy, Dragon Ball, then you know Dragon Ball Z came out shortly after, a bunch of Sailor Moon. Um but uh I think one of the uh first animes that really hit me was uh and again kind of kicking off what uh what Mark said was uh it was a it was a movie called Vampire Hunter D Bloodless. And uh and back you know back then I didn't uh I didn't really understand the concept that uh anime movies had a higher budget than like a single episode of a regular anime. So it is this like the uh just like the colors and the animation quality like really hit me. Like, you know, I've always kind of had an eye for that. Um the uh this the storyline was like really adult, and it was like one of the first animes to impress upon me like like oh this is like a really quality thing that I'm absorbing, and it's not for me, it's not for me like a you know, eight, nine-year-old, like this is some this is some heavy shit. And um, you know, and yeah, and not to say that I'm uh you know absorbed all the themes in in the movie back then, but like it was this, it was just so many gray areas, like it wasn't about uh good versus evil, this it was this my you know that my man was doing a job, you know, he he went to go rescue somebody who didn't need to be rescued. Freaking uh it was just you know, it was just so much pathos and emotion and just you know, the sound quality, the voice act is everything helped the fuck out that movie and it's and it still looks good. Um Yeah, as far as anime, as far as game, I don't know, I've I've always as far as I can remember, I've had a controller in my hand. So uh just I don't I don't know what to attribute that to but the first you know first game I remember actually enjoying was uh was uh Sonic um just because that was the best game I had and I had a gender um and and uh you know and Mar Mar Mario would would get more play but uh I had I had the add the add the Mario um uh duck hunt uh Olympic little rally uh you know package and I had the uh and I had the pad on the ground that you had that you know and I I ain't no ain't no asshole actually run on that thing I got on the floor no my hands because my feet ain't go that fast jumping them hurdles but um but yeah but Duck Hunt was uh was in that was in that collection and fuck that dog so uh I I definitely leaned towards Genesis uh in Sonic you know I love the attitude I love the uh velocity um you know I thought you know the character you know the characters look better because I didn't have a super NES I was comparing the Nintendo game to a Sega Genesis game so it definitely wasn't fair he still looks better but um you know then we moved you know then we moved on to uh you know kind of like uh Nemrod said with like uh you know Sonic 2 then Sonic and Knuckles and then exploring Sonic 2 and Sonic 3 inside Sonic and Knuckles man I you put that cartridge on that other cartridge blew my goddamn mind like it's a game inside my game um but uh yeah yeah yeah I think uh Baber Hunter D uh pre encapsulates my uh a lot of my interests and my uh passions when it comes to uh anime and game and whatnot everybody answer the question oh I didn't answer I was keeping track of that way um I think that mine started like I've always watched like cartoons and stuff but I think I've I say I've always been a costler because even when I think back to when I was younger like I loved playing playing pretend was one of my favorite things and even before I had the devices or even the the concepts to create materials or use materials to transform myself into into someone or something else.

SPEAKER_02 24:35

Like I've I had always enjoyed the concept of taking on a different identity or taking on a different form or um being someone or something else. And this kind of uh theme of transformation or the ability to um mask myself in a way in order to feel more comfortable in like different environments really was something that I just took on at a very early age. Like even when I would be by myself like I remember like climbing trees in my grandma's yard and like hanging off of them and just and hitting trees with other sticks and like just putting myself in a world and in a persona that was not immediately related to who I was at the time. And it's interesting like even to this day like I'm most comfortable in cosplay when I'm like walking around. I remember one time I did um oh Tiffany that that picture I have of be my my hanging from that tree upside down I remember when I was going to do that shoot and I and I was coming from actually when I was going to the shoot and when I was coming from the shoot I felt more comfortable even though I was hot as shit um walking down the street walking down the street like clad in blue and prosthetics and ears and fangs and fur um than I than I than I would normally you know be dressed otherwise or as as as a muggle or a normie. And oh hey it it feels it feels good um and it there's a part of it that brings other people joy that they don't know that they need throughout the day. Like we were talking earlier about that that Batman cosplayer who was at like the protest and I was like people don't know they need cosplayers in the way that they do until we do things like that. We don't they don't know how much they value us and the joy that we bring to their lives even just in a in a in the form of spectacle until it's inserted into their lives in the most unexpected way possible. Like it's cool to see it online and see pictures and see things that people create and but it's only when you get to see something so fantastic and fictional that really have um a more tangible and salient connection to it. And it's something that I've been you know fostering for a really long time like when I like I said earlier one time I put that first belt in the back of my pants and it was my tail for the first time and I put like a cape on it was running around the yard like that was everything to me when I was little and as I got older I developed you know the the knowledge to build more things and you know make more materials. And I wouldn't say like my first like real real cosplay wasn't until I'll say high school I was a freshman and it was it was homecoming week and we had they had like character day and it was still early on in Naruto and I made I was gotta for the first time and I made like the gourd and everything. I remember I was in the garage yeah I was in the garage what the hell are you making why do you need to go home for these things I'm like look I need this for the texture I need this for the color I really made it happen. I saw that picture somewhere I probably won't release it to the public but I will but anyway yeah like being able to like create and make things um and become someone or something else has always been one of the things that's I guess thematic to my life in general and even on a personal like identity level that more transformative aspect has been really really really fun and um it's been a very long adventure and adding cosplay into that only fosters it that much more because I can I can go unrecognized if I really really want to or I could go recognized as someone else that other people recognize and it's it's liberating to be able to feel comfortable feel more comfortable in something so I don't want to use the word outlandish but something so like blatantly disruptive to people's normative social lives rather than to just you know use a more traditional means of doing so by having like you know the the new like outfit or shoes or whatever but I I don't care about Jordan's or I don't care about you know what new clothes are out. I do care about what new materials I can get to make sure that I look as different as I possibly can but not so people will look at me but so I feel comfortable with myself and the product that I'm creating.

SPEAKER_11 29:13

Awesome awesome awesome well we are almost at the end of our time want to make sure it's short and sweet and spicy for each and every one of you listening we did have one final topic before we you know close out this particular episode is to prepare for the next episode. And we have a topic and as you can see if you're watching this on YouTube or on any of our platforms we're obviously in different locations and that's of course because of the COVID 19 coronavirus stay at home slash quarantine orders. So you know some of us are in different states different cities different rooms and we are able to you know film uh uh via you know the internet via Zoom right now and you know be able to record as well to you know get this podcast to you but you know it's been a very uh difficult time these last I believe it's what we're at day 74 I think 73 74 75 something like that of the stay at home order you know people lost track honestly uh but we're like we're two months in and so you know a lot of things have been uh uh uh postponed a lot of things have been canceled a lot of things have been you know inappropriately handled we're not gonna go into that particular part of it uh but I will say one of the big things that uh has affected the blurred community because of coronavirus or COVID-19 has been our conventions and as you know both um the black hoy as well as mosquitoes have mentioned well actually as well as the horde in the trap uh about uh cosplaying and how you know when you cosplay it's an ability to you know express yourself and express you know the characters that you've come to love and enjoy and embody touch our embody them um in a new way and you know one of the main I mean outside of you know as the back black McCoy stated uh outside of doing it on the street and just walking down and feeling you know normal outside of everybody else one of the main places that cosplayers are able to you know embody and be themselves is at conventions and if you know you are in the US or anywhere in the in the world actually you should know that about uh 60 to 70 percent of the conventions this year have been either canceled or quote unquote postponed until 2021. So um our topic for next week is uh the cancellations of our conventions and what what does that mean for us? What new ways have cosplayers decided to you know still be able to express themselves and what have we who aren't necessarily cosplayers but our convention frequenters and people who enjoy going to these events what are we doing in the interim um and we are titling that beautiful episode uh Corona Vension so we hope you are back with us next week to be able to listen to that uh that episode of the podcast uh if anybody else have anything else they wanted to say before we uh sign out here ooh did we want to do that other question that we talked about what was the other question the one in the chat there's many questions in the chat oh that one no not today not today that that one hour long episode hour long episode I don't think anybody's ready to start that I know for a fact that uh Damo and Mark will take that and run with it so we're not gonna do that right now so but you can't say something like that and then not tell me what the question is I didn't start it I did not start it but we will wrap up uh that is the end of our episode please follow us on uh well you can follow umbral starcade on all of our social media hand social media handles uh twitch instagram twitter facebook at umbral starcade or you can go to our website actually I'll let everybody else if you have a social media handle or a place where people can reach out to you I know the cosplayers do feel free to drop it now oh well you can hit me at the black mcoy on Instagram um that's usually where I spend most of my time you already need to see what I post on Twitter so I'm not gonna give you that um but I will also but you can also check out my Facebook page the black mcoy cosplay and yeah those are the simplest ways to keep up with what I'm doing.

SPEAKER_08 33:42

Anyone else same for me uh Miss Ms Ms Skittles cosplay um M Z Z S K I T T L E S T R underscore cosplay I am on Facebook and Instagram so uh yeah you can check me out there anybody have any other social media handles or things that they want to let the people know about before we close out okay so like I said tune in next week uh and we will bring you more information be prepared for the you know corona venge that we're gonna have to put you through uh other than that Sayonara