SPEAKER_02 0:00

Welcome back to the Blurred Spectrum Podcast, ladies, gents, non-binary and binary individuals of all ages. Uh, we are here to bring to you uh some uh some uh of our feedback, a little bit of our uh responses to our expectations, a little bit of uh the things that we've seen over the last week. Uh we we attended a magical event by the name of BlirdCon, uh uh Chocolate City 2021, um, where uh a place where we were informed that black nerds of all ages could come and share in blurt activities, gaming and anime and uh uh comics. Wow, I'm just gonna cut it out of speech. Okay, well, so our idea today is that we want to give a little bit of our feedback, a little bit of what we are um feeling, what we have been seeing for the last couple of weeks. A lot of people have been talking about it. Um, and that is our experience at BlurredCon. Uh, we of course did a live panel at BlurCon, which was very great. We love the the feedback, we love the uh live audience. We got to do that again, of course. Um we love just the experience of being there and you know being able to share our thoughts and our feelings and our opinions on certain things with the uh uh people who are in attendance, and of course those who are on Instagram live, and of course those who listened after the fact. Uh, but this this particular episode is about our feedback of the entire weekend. What if we, you know, what exactly went down and you know what we think, you know, could be uh done a little better, maybe essentially, hopefully, comparatively to other cons. Um, but today I have, well, including myself, five panelists here to talk to you about these topics, uh, ranging from individuals who were there and were able to see it firsthand, individuals who were there the entire time or were cosplayers, as well as individuals who were not there, but was able to see a lot of the uh blowback from a lot of uh the different uh people in attendance and the people who weren't even there that seem to have you know their own opinions on things. Uh so starting with myself, the moderator, Suchino Shogun. We also have the Black McCoy. What's going on? We have uh the doctor. What's good, we have Kaze Shinryu. Ohio, and we have uh Sayone cosplay.

SPEAKER_01 2:35

Hello, hello.

SPEAKER_02 2:37

So just to get right into it, uh wanna you know go around and ask each person um who attended what was their like score of the three days of blurred con. Out of what and um huh? What out of what? Oh, I was gonna I I didn't finish talking.

SPEAKER_06 2:54

You gotta hurry up with the details, you talk too slow. Let's move it along.

SPEAKER_02 2:57

Wow, would you like to take over then? Matter of fact, I'm actually gonna shift moderation for this episode over to the black maccoy because they seem like they can do it better today. So, black mccoy, take it away.

SPEAKER_06 3:10

All right, folks. So let's talk about blur com for a little bit. So if you let's let's give let's go ahead with these ratings that Suchi apparently decided to talk about out of 10. So let's go ahead and start with uh Kaze Kaze out of 10. How would you rate Blurcon?

SPEAKER_04 3:22

10 huh. Uh well let's see. Well, based based on my uh arbitrary score, I'm pulling off my ass currently.

SPEAKER_06 3:37

Sure, folks, that is the only thing.

SPEAKER_04 3:39

Uh uh, I'm I'm gonna give uh BlurCon a uh a uh 7.5. I think it was uh most most mostly enjoyable. There was uh some um uh avoidable avoidable issues, uh, but you know, but also I like to uh I like to do a thing before I judge someone on how they've done such thing, and I've never done such thing, uh much less done such thing uh amidst the pandemic.

SPEAKER_01 4:11

Okay, fair.

SPEAKER_04 4:12

Um so uh so yeah, uh I think uh yeah, 7.5. I think it was a really fun. And I honestly I think a lot of that score is just I just miss black people, and and it's not to me situations in which uh me and a black bunch of black people are gonna be around each other because I don't like people. Um so you know that's a weird situation to love us and hate everyone, but yeah, and even that is uh even that has conditions at times all right, Sayone.

SPEAKER_06 4:48

Your first time at BirdCon out of 10, what would you rate your score? A solid seven, a solid seven, why a solid seven?

SPEAKER_00 4:57

Um, the organization for me was very bothering, especially since you have a whole entire year. Um, you know, usually cons only have a year to organize an event for the next year. So y'all basically had a year and a half to get your shits together. And um, for someone who was there for the first time and then also convinced, you know, my family that wasn't then ever been to a con to be there, like things could have been done differently. Um, you know, especially since I'm vouching for a con that I've never been to. Um, you know, it was beautiful to see melanated talent and just gloriousness, you know, it felt like a community when it came to cosplayers and utilities and people that were there, you know, to really um express their businesses. And uh, but when it came to organization, um it could have been done a lot better. So for me, I'm gonna give it a seven.

SPEAKER_06 5:56

Um, okay, cool. I'm going to go ahead and I I agree. I agree, first of all. Um, thank you. Uh Suchi, what about you? First time at Blurcon, uh missed opportunities in the past. Currently, how do you feel?

SPEAKER_02 6:08

Um, I have to agree with Sayone. I'm probably going to give it um probably lower than her, probably a 6.2. Um, one of my big things is organization and communication when it comes to planning or executing events. And with the the time that they had, like Sayone cosplay said, that year and a half. I mean, I get it. You had to make a decision of whether you were going to do it about five months before it occurred. Um, and you had to decide, you know, how things were gonna be done, how you're gonna implement PPE. Um, but I I just can't get over the fact that if you knew you were uh if you thought you were originally gonna do it last year um in 2020, uh the initial organizational steps should have already been in place. And the only thing that you should have added over the next year would be how you were gonna implement PPE. Uh, because the you know, the hotel was already planned out, you already knew where you were gonna be. Um, you already had an idea who the VIP was gonna be because they already paid for the previous year, people had already bought their tickets, uh, so all you can do is add more people or you know, give a cap. And that was one big thing that we were talking about at the at the live panel was there was no cap. There was no, we're only accepting 1500 people, 10,000 people, how many of the people they were going to do. And I get it, you want everybody to show up, but um, it's like either choose to be completely open and you know, allow anybody to show up, or if you're going to go the route of protecting people from the pandemic or going the PPE route, you have to put in my opinion, put certain regulations in place. You say people can't get in without a vaccination card, then we know people were getting in with the without vaccination cards. Um, if you're going to work with the hotel to do certain, I'm sorry, you're about to say something, Sine.

SPEAKER_00 8:05

Oh, I didn't even know that. So I thought that's Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 8:07

So sorry, random like insertion, but Suchi and I like we met someone at the con who we knew who just had they got in just because they knew somebody who I think worked on the con staff or something.

SPEAKER_02 8:18

No, uh, they knew somebody who had uh an additional pat uh additional wristband that they had received, and then they just put it on that person's wrist. That's that con.

SPEAKER_04 8:29

I don't know who professionally go to every con.

SPEAKER_02 8:31

No, no, and that's the thing, like at every other con outside of a pandemic, I get it. But you said you're gonna step up your, you know, your security, step up for PPE, make sure people are protected. And if people who you don't know are vaccinated, you don't know are you know attending your convention and walking the floors and everything like that, it's not only a security risk, it's a health risk. Um, it could have been anybody, it could it might not have been somebody who had corona, it could have been somebody who had a gun or a knife. I mean, that's another thing. Wasn't nobody checking for that. I mean, there's a lot of you know, foam swords, but what if somebody had a real knife? You know, there's so you know, there's a lot of um honor system in there uh that I can understand to a certain degree. But when you had like I went to Otacon and Oticon had many levels, even without the convention taking place. This was back in 2019, um, there were many levels of protection, many levels of checking certain things, making sure people you know understood the rules, regulations. They had, and they were at the convention center. So they had convention center staff that were checking every door, making sure I remember I I had a booth at 2019 Oticon, and I walked outside the doors just to go to my car real quick. They had to re-check me in just I even had my pass on, but they had to re-check me in, make sure I was who I was, even before I could get back into the convention center before I got back on the floor to get back to my table. So that's just in that's standard times. So if they can do all of that, I feel like BlurredCon, when they had, I mean, if you didn't want to use the hotel staff, maybe you could have got a security detail, maybe that cost too much. I don't know. But I feel like certain things could have been done to enforce those rules that you said you were going to put into action this particular blurred con. So like I said, 6.5. Yeah, could you also say with PPE? I don't know what PPE means. Um, Rod. Sorry, doctor.

SPEAKER_05 10:29

So personal protective equipment. So anything that you would wear to protect you against, you know, like viruses, infections, so forth, like gloves, masks, or even things like hand sanitizer as well. So it's not just um things you wear, but things are used to prevent various infections.

SPEAKER_02 10:47

Okay. Not saying I did know that, but I knew the doctor would give a significantly better definition than I would. Thank you.

SPEAKER_06 10:53

Okay. Doctor, I know you weren't there, but you know, just based on your experiences at BlurCon in the past and just, you know, a lot of the things that you've heard, what would be your rough estimate as to what you would give the con based on, you know, your past experiences and you know, just kind of a lot of the hearsay and a lot of the uh the goods and the bads that you've heard from about this year.

SPEAKER_05 11:12

Yeah, so it's interesting. Um I guess all my past experiences have involved work con being smaller, which you know that's of course size is a big factor, as well as it not having been in a pandemic before. But I was surprised, you know, having come back from Chicago and just checking, you know, Facebook and all that, and seeing all the issues coming up, I you know, say, oh, this hasn't really happened before. Like, what's you know, there's a lot going on here. So, you know, it's it would be hard for me to put a number on it since I wasn't there, but I can definitely say I agree with everything that's been said so far, and that um these are issues that I saw um being discussed a lot, you know, on social media and in just circles of friends who had attended as well. So yeah, I definitely get the impression that they one probably weren't ready for a venue or for um it to be as big as it was. You know, they probably need a bigger venue for a lot of reasons, um, more staff, of course, you know, and more like better trained staff as well. Since yeah, if you want to ramp up, you know, if you want to take extra precautions to be safe, then you have to have a staff that is able to enforce that effectively and knows how to do that. Um and you know, just um having better organizational procedures and such, you know. Um that's not getting into some of the stuff with, you know, like some of someone like the cosplay contest and all that, which I think raised some other issues as well that I wasn't really aware of. But um, and I hadn't seen it um, or at least I hadn't noticed at previous blood cons. But yeah, so I don't think I can really personally put a number on it, but I can definitely say that there's some there's this highlighted a lot of issues that you know they have an opportunity to fix going forward. And you know, I'd probably like recommend that, yeah, they really should prioritize fixing a lot of the issues that were raised this time around.

SPEAKER_06 13:11

Completely agree. Um thank you. Um yeah, that that's perfectly okay. Um, to follow up, uh Suchi and Sayone, um I'm I'm in agreement that um there were a lot of different uh organizational issues. So I would give it a solid six as well. Um, and that's having been at you know blurred con literally since the first one, and watch the kind of watch the crescendo of attendance and you know, um events and presences and some of the modifications that they've made and so on and so forth. Um it's interesting that whenever I whenever people have asked me, like, oh yeah, how was BlurredCon or, you know, how did it go? You know, you look you really enjoyed yourself, blah, blah, blah. I would say, well, I my response this year has consistently been like almost verbatim each time, that I thoroughly enjoyed some of the, you know, stuff they had going on and the panel that we had went really well, but overall, it was it was a logistical nightmare. Um, and the I remember when we first talked about it, it was very much the it was very much the fact that for anyone who has on some level had to organize and coordinate um an event, uh people in any way, in any capacity, it has shown uh it was revealed to us that there were a lot of holes in this wall that we were looking at that was blurred con. Like the the security was very clearly a problem. The um the ability for everyone to navigate and be informed as to what was going on was a very egregious problem. Um, I remember when we were having our panel, we had um one, there was one um person in the audience member who said that communication was the largest issue that we had as far as the convention was concerned, from you know, just a regular, a regular attendee all the way up to like the VIP attendees. And just based on what I had heard from people who were VIP attendees, that in and of itself was its own series of unfortunate events. So yeah, I would absolutely um continue with that same sentiment that there could have been a lot of things that were done organizationally that could have been improved. And the time frame that they had, well, you know, being completely and totally um compassionate and understanding about the fact that, you know, corona threw off a lot of shit for a lot of people. Like the fact that we even went was, you know, by the by the by the grace of them, I guess, needing more programming because they reached out to they they put the blast out last uh maybe like what a week and a half, two weeks before the con was over. Or not over, happening. I don't remember when I think because I think the last day for submission was the 12th before the con. No clue. Either way, um, no, no, it was the 12th. I just looked in my email. Uh so it was the 12th, and um yeah, like and so so even with that grace, it's it's like knowing it knowing everything that they knew or had to deal with last year while saying, okay, we're gonna have this con this year, there was a lot of time to uh to fine-tune everything to where a lot of the problems that people experienced were avoidable issues. Yeah. Yeah. So um, next thing about BlurCon. So as far as um I I kind of want to go ahead and get this out of the way because everyone's been talking about it. I don't want our whole episode to be about it. The uh cosplay contest. Um first thoughts, let's start there. Uh your name.

SPEAKER_00 16:58

Okay. Where do I begin with this? Um I I think that when it comes to a cosplay contest, there should be different here, so to say. Um, you know, we uh you we talk about cosplay and how we say that anybody can get into cosplay and that cosplay is open for everyone. Um but I would I think you know uh if someone wants to be able to express their uh their love and they want to get into a cosplay contest, they shouldn't they shouldn't be, I would say or they should probably different different categories. Like if you want in a category where uh a cosmic based on or out of the car or I would say um realism, things like that. I would I think that that's just my opinion when it comes to cosplay content. Um because then a lot of things are gonna be left in translation. Um lots of translations are uh for instance that a lot of people that had these huge avant-garde cosplays and then they look at it, I guess more similar cosplay, but because of the expertise and skills, the avant-garde, the extra, they were I would say kind of discarded. So I think again it comes into communication because a lot of people they don't know the breakdown of cosplay contests. I for one I did not know. Um I know Gwynn knows, I know, excuse me, I know that the Black McCoy knows, I know that Tiffany Emma Skittles knows because they they definitely know more about the ins and outs of cosplay contests and what the judge is.

SPEAKER_06 18:48

Well, I've actually never entered the cosplay contest ever. Um really, really. I've never, I've never I've gone, I've attended, but I've never like paid attention enough to like truly know. So like I I I've been in them, but I I've been in attendance to them, but you know, just to see people in their cosplays. Um, but I no, I I personally do not have like the the expertise or the knowledge to know what judges are looking for or going through when they're judging different cosplays. I know that they can be really rigorous, but um yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:23

See, that I that I didn't even know. So I'll just I'll just say that I know for sure uh Miss Skittles said that you know they they'll kind of go with a fine-tooth comb and looking for stitching and and uh seeing how well uh cosplays are put together. With that being said, um I was shocked, actually ran into uh my family and I, we ran into the number third, the number three, I think our name is Mimi Pie. And we actually follow each other on uh on uh Instagram, phenomenal cosplayer, does a lot of other stuff by the um, you know, by hand. And so when I saw her, I was like, oh, you know, congratulations. And she's like, that was number three. I'm like, damn, are you number three? Who the fuck is number one, number two? So we were just hyped up and you know, and um when I saw number one, number two, I was like, what? And number two is great, but I didn't know again, it's because of the lack of communication on what they're looking for. I'm thinking they're looking for, I'm they're looking for avant-garde out of this world. I'm thinking it must be a Gundam suit they made. And I saw something so simple, even though visually I'm thinking it's simple, but again, if you're going into a detailed uh lens, you know, they're looking for, I guess, by hand, um, the sewing. And so I was confused. It was more so I was confused definitely with number one, because I'm like, what the fuck? This is a this is a blurred con, this is a black invention. So again, in my mind, this is new to me. And it could be ignorance on my end, but I'm thinking that this was more so a cosmic contest that was just going to make sure you see outer people being included in something you usually don't see. Like I usually won't see um, you know, um a black person, a person of color winning um a contest convention at like Otacon or other content. So I I was in my mind, I was expecting to see something very different than what I did. Um, so um I don't know. I I think I would say I was just more so disappointed with the lack of communication, the lack of tiers as well, because um I'm thinking about Project Runway, how each episode is different tiers. And these are people who have an expertise in sewing, using the machine. And not all the time in those episodes were those classified that they need to be done. You have an avant-garde challenge when you went to a hardware store and make the shit work. As long as it looks amazing, we don't care what the fuck you did to put it together. We just want to see the artistry of it, the avant garde side of it. So I feel like I don't know again, I don't know how it is at different conventions, but I feel like there needs to be a different pair section so that.

SPEAKER_06 22:00

all cos players um can be included um you know and i was uh having a discussion before if that if if it's looking for i guess seamstress talent or uh someone that is an expert in sewing i'm or i'll never be in because i know that takes a long years of practice and i don't sew any of my cosplays i actually get a base i'll buy a base from like uh online and i will manipulate it by adding on so that it doesn't look like what i it doesn't look necessarily store bought unless you know it was supposed to be like a uh casual cosplay i usually will like add on things to transform it to something else so i don't know that i'm sorry i know that's like a kind of like word vomit of thoughts but um that's perfectly fine i absolutely agree with you i think that at i think that cosplay contests should absolutely take um take a what's what i'm looking for they should uh follow the example of like shows like legendary or even Paris is burning like the ballroom scene and have different categories um that would actually suit the people who are in the contest rather than pitting them all against each other in this kind of battle royale you know uh cosplay contest situation which you know uh which would be more authentic and more honest to their expertise in their areas and their fields as cosplayers like if there was a body paint if there's a body paint category or there was a there was a you know handmade sewing category armor armor foam smithing category um um even you know a category that represents more like oh well closet cosplay or like you know different things of that nature like it it would make more sense to be able even if it extended the the um the process or even the programming of a cosplay contest it would be better for the attendees it'd be better for the participants if they put something in place that was actually inclusive of everyone in the way that they want it to be rather than kind of trying to in my personal opinion um inefficiently streamline this you know process of lumping all of the cosplayers together and then not actually judging all of their cosplays in the same judging all of their cosplays on this kind of same baseline that doesn't really apply to everyone or if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 24:27

It makes perfect sense like I I felt a little disheartened um just for myself because I was like oh I could never get into you know and and at first you know I had people that were trying to encourage me and I'm like no maybe we'll see and then you know I actually had my costly wife Diana the Great um was saying you know um with a lot of these contests it has to be 80% handmade. I'm like well that would never you could be 80% you could be 90% hand painted you know and I'm like oh baby that I'm out I'm always out because that's not even that's not my forte and you know you have so many different you have like so many ranges of cosplayers you know and what their expertise is you have foam smithing which I do know nothing of I I will you know and I and I love everyone who who gets into it because I know that's just not my I don't have the patience but then again I have the patience for body pain and people like bitch I could never so you know as I'm like putting contacts in that on foam right now. You know and it's and it's great because it shows the versatility it shows how everybody is so dynamic and that is what makes this community so vast and beautiful because nothing is ever the same. And um for that being you know the situation everyone needs to be seen. You know you can't ask for inclusion and you're separating you know a lot of of nerds, blurred and you know and again it's we're not being exposed. We're all about exposure. We're all about being seen and being heard and uh you still have a massive chunk of people that don't even know you know what foam smithing is you know it's all about education and you know and and some some blurds or you know or people of color that's in this community, they don't even know what it's called that you've seen it. And so you know to kind of open their eyes and and really let let it be known that there is a title to this there this is something you know more people can get into it. So you know it was cool being able to run into a uh a winner so to speak um but the controversy of you know I don't know again the the details I like here a lot of this is what happened, this is what happened. I don't fucking know I don't know if anyone really know for sure except the cosplayer so to speak but I did see yesterday that the um the the number one winner of a BloodCon over there got bumped out and the number two winner is now the number one winner. And so she actually gave up uh her her her her crown so to speak interesting yes okay interesting I don't know blurred kind just left a very very weird taste in my mouth and you know it's strange because I want to go there and I want to see you know I can so to speak you know and all the melanated beautifulness and then it's like this corporation has some very unsavory methods and it doesn't look good because this is my first time going. So um I don't know I'll just I'll just leave it there. I'll leave it there.

SPEAKER_06 27:44

Okay. Excellent excellent so next we're going to move on to the person who attempted to fire me but also they didn't really have the the paperwork in place.

SPEAKER_04 27:52

Oh we're still processing uh Kaze uh what was your opinion on the uh cosplay contest oh man uh what am I uh I have a few varying uh opinions uh on the contest I definitely agree with uh most of the things uh say and uh say no said I'm I mean both both you said I honestly it's it's kind of it it's kind of it's kind of weird when you uh when you like always always like kind of want to be a fly on the wall in the room like whenever you like like a panel of judges together and it's kind of like and y'all and you're getting your like your standards and all the you know things together because it's kind of like the the requirements to to be a cosplayer is like like you just have to put something on and call yourself a car is a very low it it is it is a very low bar.

SPEAKER_06 28:56

It is and so and so taking that bar into um into account it seems extremely weird to me for you to focus on on skills that take years and and years to uh to master like you can you can certainly you can certainly uh uh take that I mean take that into account I mean you you have to something something massive massively made in general is is is going to look better than than than someone who didn't know what the hell they were doing but to uh uh but but to put to but to weigh way skills like that super heavily over the over what the person actually looks like and the the excitement they bear the the uh you know how you know how they're like in you know embodying that that that character like you know every everyone I like out i remember when we were there and you know someone was striking their like jojo pose and I was like yo god you see that calf bless them like they took lag they seriously right and they had to do it three different times in a row at three different angles like yeah I would have made them niggas walk around because I just I'm I'm still in the post no they got back up turned 23 degrees and got back in the post just so someone could take their so so you know it's just kind of like you know it's it's it's so many things that go into it it seems super weird to me to uh you know and and and if people don't kind of know what I'm coming from this is in this is listening to some of the responses from some of the judges and and and and what and think and hearing about some of the some of the things that they like really look forward and hold on to like you know it and and it's it's it's it's understandable to want something to be um complete uh but at the same time like if uh you know I'm not sure this would be this case anyway but if anyone looked at any uh at at s at miss say on a cosplays and said she didn't do all of that shit I'd say like you're you're you're fucking insane like you know like you know if someone like brings you a a fucking three course meal you don't you don't get mad at them because they didn't make the plate like that's not that that was not the point that was not yeah thank you and and that kind of actually uh like it goes back to Sony's point like we we as a panel know and we as you know a lot of her fans know how much work goes into the body paint that she actually does like we know how much Miss Skittles puts into her cosplays when she does them like she makes everything from scratch um and it always comes out looking phenomenal um her from her Chen Lee to her Hashita that she did for Blurcon weekend um like she like both of them put in so much you know um really very obvious work from the WIP posts to the to the teasers to to the final products like it like it it it it it bothers me that there is there is a there is a possibility that uh the cosplay the Salon had on Sunday Sunday which one which character from Lore Olympus was uh Sunday that was uh so Friday was Persephone Sunday was Victoria Molito yeah and so it bothers me that it there is a universe in which or a cosplay contest in which that would be that would not be at bare minimum in the top three because it wasn't handmade or like it wasn't hand stitched but like who also has the time and the the effort to put into sewing something that elaborate. Now there are people who who do or who have been um and there's some people who commission their customers and that's completely valid too. But it's a it's it's it's the issue of the the degree of scrutiny that takes place just regardless of where the work is consolidated, if that makes sense. Like you may have bought the dress but the body paint took hours to get done.

SPEAKER_00 33:06

It took it took blood, sweat and tears for all that to get accomplished I agree and even the second um so like I think the only one that I didn't manipulate at all was the day the day one Friday because I you know um everything about Blair Khan was short notice on our end too, you know, for us to be able to have a two week um uh timeline to get everything ready and and literally to be in a whole entire different city no no it has nothing no no oh my god no that was joking I'm joking I know it's not our no let me change let me change it has no blame on us at whatsoever. Again this was it ain't got nothing to do with this. I'm just saying the the timeline that was given to us as a group to be able to have organize and flourish the way that we did at this convention we didn't even know we were going to be at this at you know in general was astonishing but it was more so as like the the day two um the Machecto Wattle from Onyx Equinox that was just happened to be a side project that took a lot of time and that was I was spending most most of the time working on the headdress that I made completely by hand. And again there was no sewing involved it was a lot of gluing sticking placing trying to figure out what it was cutting you know and and I'm a big advocate of cosplay does not have to be expensive. So you know and that's another part of costly that a lot of people don't know. They think you have to spend hundreds of dollars I don't have that type of money I don't have that type of funds. So a lot of my times I go to the dollar store I will repurpose broken down Amazon boxes. That whole entire headdress was made out of dollar store items costly that I've had in the past that I deconstructed and felt that's it. Like I think that headdress was probably maybe 15 bucks at most um but you know that alone you know there are a lot of people who I remember that there was this uh this Asian guy he will do these hilarious um very frugal uh cosplays and he'll turn it into something else and he's he floats all around like Facebook and Instagram yes and I think it's how because it's the the the innovation of it all I couldn't even think of shit like that. And for me that has to be congratulated because it's just so funny. You can merge humor and you can merge something being so inexpensive to be something glorious and genius. And you know cosplay it it really brings together how someone can be creative and there's a certain different types of creativity that blends into cosplay. You can be someone that is picture perfect like how the character is or you could be you can um kind of uh blend in um African heritage into Sailor Moon which is something that's fucking brilliant. You know what I'm saying? So there's so many different ways to go about cosplay it's very loose like Brandon said you could do it could be anything. You slap it on hey you know this my character it could be an OC character. So where where I guess the question is how do you judge that? And that it that goes down to the line of there needs to be categories of of such thing because you can't have it's like fashion you know what is fashion there's high fashion there's fashion that you know you can go to the store and get there's trends everything is not just in a box. So um it comes to I and again it could be for BlurredCon, it could be for all cons because I look at OdaCon and the 80% rule is there as well you know there needs to be a more inclusive I would say category or categories uh for people uh to really want to get out of their shell and get into cosplay a lot of people come to me say I don't know how to go about it you know you guys are great it's too much money and I'm like no you can put on a shirt and do you know closet cosplay and be whatever the fuck you want to be and so I feel I feel like that really needs to be explained at these comms so that people don't feel left out.

SPEAKER_06 37:09

I completely agree. Fantastic thank you um so next we're gonna move on to the person who tried open heart surgery for the first time last week but accident but you know they ended up waking up realizing that it was an overwatch fever dream.

SPEAKER_02 37:20

Such and shogun what are your opinions on the uh cosplay contest uh we'll say debacle uh controversy at uh I would love to say something but Kazesh Henry was actually not done speaking oh I'm sorry um well the rest that I had to say about the contest is less about the contest and more about the other stuff about the contest so we're gonna say that now or so we we're gonna save that for next we're gonna say it's queued up okay so so everything I had to say about the actual contest uh that I did not uh go to nor did I go to last time uh no that's about it yeah okay um I wasn't at the cosplay contest I did not see the cosplay contest I feel like I shouldn't I'm also not a cosplayer so I well you know the you know anyway um I I don't feel like I should have much input into it I think the only thing I could potentially say uh is based not based off of um uh is kind of back on what uh Sayone uh said moments ago regarding um the organization like I said I've in I have created and I have um I have executed competitions before I've executed gaming competitions I've executed baking competitions I've executed um programming competitions all types of things uh from high school till now so creating a format for a competition or some type of challenge I I am experienced in um and I I agree with Sayone about um and maybe I have to ask the black McCoy based off of your um your years of going to BlurredCon has have you seen previous years of the cosplay contest there? Yes yes I have and has it always been kind of one category best person wins? Yes. Okay so for me that that kind of goes back uh we we said it last week but also goes back to what the doctor said about how you know over the years they've and you said it as well to Black McCoy over the years they've steadily increased in the number of people who are there. And because of that you you also have to see that if in the first year you did a cosplay contest or the second year I'm not I wasn't there so I don't know but in the earlier years you had a cosplay contest where it was you know you had a certain amount of people who applied to be in it how many ever the count is and out of those people you pick the number one. So maybe they only had a hundred people or 50 people and because it wasn't a lot in their opinion they didn't feel like they needed to have multiple categories. And then the next year maybe there's more people like okay well maybe you know it's getting more popular maybe we should expand it but let you know just the second year we'll do one more time just the main person. As you grow in size and this is going back to what Ms said about other cons, Otacon, Kachukon, whoever as you grow in size and you get more people who are entering the competition, you should look into potentially expanding the categories um baking competitions you have an overall winner but you can also have uh uh best bake paste based look best baked pastry best non-baked pastry uh best fruit pastry best pastry based off a theme so you can have it where even the people who don't win number one blue ribbon still get some type of award based off of what they're skilled at. So kind of you know what Sione Cosplay and Black McCoy were saying about you know the uh avant uh avant-garde uh winner um uh best uh sewmanship if you want to call it that um best body paints uh best um uh uh uh um closeness to topic so maybe uh what what uh Kazai Shunyu said about um embodying the character maybe that entire day you from from the day you walked into the door to the day you got into the competition you completely embodied your character to the point where people couldn't even tell if you were in your right mind because you're you're you are completely in zone into this character. Like I would love that that's fantastic. It's it's an amazing concept and with that it's not only it's not only judges who would vote on that because the judges aren't going to follow you around that would also be crowd participation. Maybe uh the doctor Kaze saw this this person walk in the door and was like oh snap this yeah that person was Yodorishi she was down in a cat like stance when she walked in and started darting all over the room the entire day so which sounds exhausting but that's the dedication but that's the dedication it's the embodiment of the character it's not just you know I don't say resting on your laurels but it's not just it's taking your it's allowing your cosplay not only to speak but speaking through your cosplay as well for me at least like um the uh uh the storm um oh what was she uh oh the um storm general um like bleach uh mix yes yes with the Bankai of the she she say storm bankai um i forget the name of the the the 10 generals uh they have a specific name and i'm i'm brand when when kaze comes back kaze will tell us uh but um her how she carried herself how just by looking at it she knew we wanted a picture and she said i'll give it to you i was like what what don't don't don't give me words and stuff like she was don't give me a character i'm saying i wasn't ready for it she was like walking and she said oh you want a picture out like in the voice in in the persona it like the way she embodied it the way she carried the sword like it was just it it it brought me further like I didn't even know I wanted her picture that's not true I wanted her picture once I saw her but I didn't just know I didn't know she wanted she didn't you know I needed the character I didn't know I needed if she just walked up and said oh hey how are you doing oh you want a picture too I would have been fine with that but the fact that she's in this level and she embodied the character that she created she embodied the the because that's not in the comic book she she fused these two worlds bleach and and X-Men together to create this character and you know it's for me for the competitions and this is like I said before my only input that I have because you know I didn't see it all I see is the backlash and for me unless I can I I did see the um the uh the uh video from the creator of Blurricon I did see the posts from some of the judges I did see the post from the former first place I did see the post from the well not the she didn't post it but I did see the uh the update that uh uh Sayone cosplay uh shared of the second place moving up the first place. I saw all of that but for me because I wasn't at the cosplay competition because I'm not a cosplayer because I I feel like me giving my earnest opinion on cosplayers when that ain't my that ain't my religion like yeah y'all do what y'all do. It's not what I do. I don't put in those hours so I I feel like I can't to a certain degree say certain things. But as it pertains to creating an event creating a competition creating some type of organized function where people are going to come together to and for lack of better words be judged on their skills capabilities and talents I do have that experience and I feel like as Scionai said as the black McCoy said uh some type of breakdown of subcategories or some type of breakdown of additional categories to enable other people the opportunity opportunity to be showcased because imagine getting ready to go to blurcon 2020 working from blurred con 2019 to 2020 on a cosplay whether you bought one thing or two things out of your cosplay you put in effort you put in work and then it blurred con 2020 gets canceled. So now you have an additional year to put more effort and more work into it. Now my work may not be your work your work may not be the black McCoy's work black McCoy's work may not be Sayune's work may not be Miss Skittle's work may not be the doctor's work may not be Kaze's work but I know the effort that I put into whatever I did was painstaking blood, sweat and tears money out of my wallet time that I could have been just chilling time that I could have been working on anything else I put that effort into this particular project and at the end of the day I didn't even place I was knocked out of the first round after all that effort I put in I'm not going to talk about any individual I didn't talk to any cosplayers who were in the competition which is why I'm saying I can't give my input on it. But as it pertains to the competition and I'm not and these aren't participation awards I don't believe in those so before you get the oh you just want participant I don't believe in those at all not for children not for adults not at all these are allowing individuals who have put in the time to also be categorized as this as the best in the skill traits in which they have if 13 people came in and all had some form of body pain which was tribal tattoos full-on body paint like Messiah Nekosplay does um maybe constellations across their face bod battle scars across their body and they come in and they're lined up 13 in a row how can I who who I'm judging and I'm saying this person who's wearing this is anywhere better than these individuals who how the hell did you get that paint on the back of your neck how did you see that how did you get the paint on the small of your back behind you the skill the effort the detail to get a mirror and a prayer but that's what I'm what that's what I'm saying like there's a cosplay that Messiah put out uh a month ago I believe I can't remember the name of the character uh and Kaze's not back so I can't use him um but she was two completely two two different colors yellow and blue what was the name of the character oh Gil I was Gil from Street Fighter her entire body front and back were well maybe hopefully front and back were yellow and blue straight down the middle and I'm I'm I don't know she might she might have hit the the sensitive spots too yellow and blue down to the socks yes so it's like how can you like even though it's two colors the effort the skill in and it was a solid coat there were no blotches there were no splashes the blending like it and you saw like she and the thing is she did she took it a step further she didn't just coat herself in yellow and blue she matched it to the palettes from the game she put the shading where in in the certain style of Street Fighter Street Fighter correct certain style of Street Fighter is kind of almost comic book esque where there's like white and yellow not white and yellow white and black and gray type of uh discoloration in certain portions we all know I'm sure you've been listening to our podcast for some time where Mission has talked about that her her love of art her love of color her love of uh uh contrast and and and and brightness and different shades inside of the artwork that she sees so she has an eye for that so the effort that she put into mimicking not only in her her her her body paint but even in the wig she was wearing the effort she put into that for you to say that this person who did all of that like what are you gonna say uh she didn't make the paint so she's not 80% are you gonna say she's cheating because her mother made her body like what are you gonna say like if you compare like you like and that's what I'm saying if if you're if if you like I feel like after this after this year for Blurcon I'm talking specifically and hopefully any other conventions oh great kaze's back kaze what is the name of the uh the generals from Bleach uh the you mean the captains or the captain did they have a special name or just the captains? No they were literally just uh yeah captains and then the I think you're thinking Shinigami is that what you're thinking about Shinigami um yeah I mean I mean the the I mean the the uh the commander general was the was the old man right so they were just the ten captains of the Soul Society or the ten captains of the Shinigani No their uh their whole organization yeah it wasn't the name of the organization Soul Society was the name of the the organization but I knew I know what you're Soul Society's where they live yes the name of the place I got that wrong yeah yeah yeah I don't remember okay well I'm sure somebody will research it and we'll have the answer soon but continuing on but like I was saying like having having different categories for the different skill sets the the gote 13 there it is I knew there was a special thank you uh see it wasn't even 10 it was 13 um but having certain cat was too well yeah but going back to what I said before about having hopefully blur con and anybody any other convention is looking at this controversy going on if you want to call it that going on blur con will learn that maybe they should add add on and maybe they don't have enough because I think and and somebody correct me if I'm wrong I heard that it was about 35 or 36 people yeah it was like 30 30 to the 35 right yeah people enter the competition now if you feel like maybe that's not enough to have subcategories fine maybe maybe they had a rule that said if it's less than 50 they can't do subcategories I would say put that out there make sure people know hey there's subcategories but we need to make sure we fill it else we can't divvy up these different portions if that's the case. But I feel like okay if it's blur con and it's that small compared to the older con or anywhere else fine. But I think the bigger ones because I believe Saina you said also the bigger ones it's it's just one winner.

SPEAKER_00 51:14

They do the same well from what I because I wanted to compare um so I went on OdaCon's website to see what their guidelines are to be a winner. They do have different contests though I will say that they do have different contests but again like you said it could be because they have a larger group of people that's coming together but they did have contests and and from what I saw they had 85% that needs to be made and um my question is what the how do you know like we quantify that that's a really great question. Like news like like how are they like not victim pants what made so right there you already you only made 40 like how do you how do you quantify that I need I'm a visual person. Like I need to see a stick figure and be like oh the shirt was made that's 25% the hat was made that's another 15% I need to know what the fuck it is. Otherwise I won't know what that means and I don't think anyone knows what that means.

SPEAKER_04 52:12

To be honest I think I think I think that rule might just be there just to let people know that if you that we don't want you just grabbing something off a website or or or a cart.

SPEAKER_00 52:24

They might not actually in practice they might not actually be like uh like I I doubt the judges are walking up to the person and picking up the different articles of of what they're wearing and saying like okay was this knit was this whatever I think you know I think they're just I'm pretty sure they're just looking looking at them I hope so and and being like yeah that's something they did I th I you know most most judges are accomplished cosplayers and they know that I'm pretty sure they can tell by looking you know whether it's something somebody made that you know which is why I brought you up specifically you you are obviously putting in so many yeah hours of work who like who cares about what you're wearing underneath the the the layers of of stuff like you know you just can't be naked because that's not you know that's not I don't know I brought a gill a couple seconds ago that's a different naked that's a different content I'm sorry you had a two top and you had and first of all it was a two piece it was a g it was a two piece just because I got body and I got a lot of mass don't mean that we would be okay I got I was close the bits was the bits was covered so they they they just barely but that's okay though because it was covered though that's I and clearly that that's that's gonna be your 85% three percent being I don't know it it's definitely giving five percent coverage but I don't know we didn't see the back so it could have been three I mean you want to see the back because the back had a whole bunch of ass cheeks and I know I couldn't show that it would be a whole entire different type of sound they constantly page and I wasn't ready for those those views so I was like y'all just gonna see you know not even much clean just so five you know I'm saying I think people really lost their mind when they saw the the little child the zoom up challenge yeah they're like that's a lot of pelvis showing I'm like listen I then it went up but y'all y'all fine doctor you're about to say something oh no uh that's I was just gonna agree with the um basic discussion around the 85% and whatnot um yeah I'm I agree I'm thinking that that's hopefully just a deterrent um you know I could I you know I wanted everyone to finish before I you know into my thoughts on the cosplay contest overall though okay so I don't know if you're finished or not uh oh no I'm done yeah you are absolutely up oh all right well since since the time has come so it's interesting and again you know I wasn't physically at the cosplay house or at the um the convention house out of town and I just I started to see all this on social media and whatnot.

SPEAKER_05 55:14

Definitely a lot came up about the issues around clarity when it came to what homemade really means like I think for the purse the woman who won people were saying oh well she hand dyed the silk and whatnot and I mean is that the requirement that we have for something being homemade that like oh if you buy you know pink silk that's not good enough it's not quite homemade. You have to hand dye it yourself. I'm not sure there was a lot of questions around that but I think the thing that generally really kind of struck me or confused me a little bit with with this was it came out that out of the five past cosplay contest winners only one was black. Now I think that's a bigger issue than just having one white person win once which you know that has its own kind of optics questions and whatnot but it is very strange to me that in a convention that's designed to celebrate black nerd culture 80% of the winners of this contest are not black. Like that's something that that just raises a lot of questions for me. And oftentimes in institutions when that's happening where oh we have a certain you know amount of a black uh a black base but that's not being represented in our winners or the people we celebrate um it usually means in some way either directly or indirectly you are judging on whiteness you know or you're penalizing blackness in some way. And I don't know if that's exactly what's going on here but it is it just raises a whole lot of questions you know and it just seems like a really unusual trend for something that is designed to celebrate black nerd culture like oh you know we love black nerds but none of y'all you know are going to win the constantly contest. That's how it starts to come off. And then you know one of the comments that came I think it was Dax who made that tweet about uh oh well you know see you know we're not giving we're not giving you know trophies yesterday people showing up and you know if you try to make some of prevalence cans or whatnot like it's all like it was it was so deeply ignorant. It just really was it was so deeply ignorant. I mean and it just validated every question that anyone had or any thought about like oh well is there some racist bullshit at play here like that's what that just really smells like honestly it just does you know and it has the same vibes as oh well you know we didn't have more black rabbit because they were just smarter like that's it has exactly that same energy and you know that that was not that was not an appropriate response to that. And honestly and it's just even more egregious because blur cut has an interesting relationship with how it deals with or how black it identifies itself as. And I'll explain that a little bit but um it has to walk this line that's kind of really you know by saying oh we're celebrating black people we want to center black people but you know we you know you can't they can't actually exclude you know white people from or people other races because then it's a legal issue potentially and whatnot. So it is a complicated line to walk you know for them. But when you have you know things like this happen and then you know not even just the optics around one winner but that this trend is being noticed and then BlocCon is still saying and they even went to the website earlier and they post really proudly like oh we celebrate black cosplays or black and brown cosplays and you know that's really what we want to celebrate you know and this is a great place to see that um but these people aren't deemed good enough to win like again like it just raises a lot of questions. You know and I I want to walk away from this situation like I'm still not entirely clear on what the roots of all of this are but it is something that one like some things do have to change. I don't know what those changes would be like I'm not gonna you know go and say okay we can't have anyone non-black in the cosplay so like I wouldn't go that far but we don't need to figure out okay what's going on with this judging process because whether they want to admit it or not there is a race component there and maybe hidden in other things but there is one. Otherwise you would not be seeing a trend like that. And I would really encourage you know hey you want to celebrate black nerd culture uplift black people like figure out what's at the root of that and deal with it. Because this whole like oh well you know they should just make better cosplays like that's just it's horseshit you know like we see the black cosplays that people make at this con. They're fucking amazing.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:01

Like we see it all the time like these are amazing cosplays so this is not just a quality issue and it's not just on top of that frickin' uh the the girl didn't think she was going to win she saw what everyone else was wearing and and and and she was just as surprised as everyone else that that they picked her so you know so it's not just it's not just uh it was she was surprised too she was like oh shit really oh yeah every everyone but the judges apparently on a similar was on a similar page so it no it's definitely a a thing with like what are you what are you valuing what are you looking at and yeah and why does this keep on happening like Rod said I know one of the one of the things that I did hear specifically about the judges was that uh or I guess it I don't know to call this more of a critique or just kind of like um uh kind of calling a spade a spade but that the judges um were more versed in sewing and there wasn't like a diversity of the judges as far as foam smithing body painting you know prosthetics stuff like that right like they were all um they were all seems like people who who sew they were sew masters like and that's a lot of apparently that also informed the decision which kind of goes back to what style Ne was talking about as far as having a diversity of people of you know different categor categorical experiences when it comes to judging you know different cosplay contents like this because you know someone who only sews doesn't have the experience to you know really look at a foam costume and you know look at all the details and the layers and things that go into that um and someone who only does foam who doesn't know how to sew at all but doesn't make they don't have the devices there. So I think categories would only be that much more important there. But to kind of go back to what the doctor was talking about like one of the so the first year I went to BlurredCon um can't remember what year it was either way first year I went to BlurCon um and you know everyone was excited all the black people showed up and then we were like okay there are white people here too. Like there are other POC there but you know you know BlurCon um started off with this very interesting conversation with at bare minimum en masse the community with um this idea of creating spaces for black people and not exclusivizing those spaces for black people. And I'm completely in the in the understanding that you know it you cannot make uh you cannot hold an event like blurred con um and strictly you know exclude everyone else um while trying to group everyone group will group strictly black people here like blurred con in and of itself is black nerdcon that's what blurred stands for but the con itself one of the large one of the persistent critiques I've heard from many people and many people in the community is that the there a lot of people are tired of this uh utility of blackness as having to be inclusive of everyone whenever we try and make spaces for ourselves and while simultaneously can having to persistently endure spaces outside of those spaces that aren't tailor-made for us or that continue to radically exclude us in those different kinds of ways. And so that's been a persistent conversation like outs that's kind of resonated not just what outside of the cosplay contest debacle as far as uh blur kind of has been concerned that you know regardless that that whiteness in general um should not well ought not have a space there in the way that uh black blackness ought to have space there. And I don't I'm not saying that I have a solution to that in particular but I agree with the doctor that you know it's it's a trend that we continue to see that you know continues to really make itself um known and present and kind of in our bases. And it doesn't seem that any anyone's really taking it seriously. And you know I don't think that I also want to kind of insert really quickly that I don't think that you know regardless of how you identify as a nerd or how you identify whether you're a cosplayer, non-cosplayer or whatever, right? Whether you were there, whether you weren't there um it does like I don't think that the conversation around this is gatekeep in that way where you need to somehow be there to to notice from the outside of like what's going on. Like just if you see like it's like if you're looking at a glass house and you see if you see like someone getting slapped around in there and getting abused it's like oh well you know I'm not in there so I don't have a I don't have a place to say anything. Like no you clearly see what's kind of happening like you see the trend of what's going on. So it it's okay to it's okay to have a perspective on it. It's okay to have input on it. So I because you know I've seen a lot of people like I've seen a lot of people say that you know folks shouldn't be upset about it or you know there are there are more things to you know draw your draw your attention or whatever. And there absolutely are there are other things that you know went on at BlurCon that I know about personally that you know people should have some sort of awareness about and should you know hold the con accountable for in some way but that doesn't minimize this particular event.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:26

So um go ahead oh no I didn't want to interrupt that yeah no please please continue. No no no I was done um so I had an interesting conversation with Alan Flayne uh you know about uh um I would say blurred con per se and it's not to it's it's inclusion specifically for a safe space for black people but we never wanted to exclude other races at all. That's not even you know like uh the black employees said that's not even the point of blurred con. It was more so as seeing our peers being in the spotlight, which is something that we usually don't see at other cons. But I was, I was having a conversation with him and I was saying, you know, let's say there was a convention that was specifically centered for Native Americans, specifically centered for, you know, you know, other ethnicities, so to speak, that you don't necessarily, other minorities you don't necessarily see at a convention. And I inserted myself into a contest and I won. And I said, um it's more so I wouldn't do that because of bad taste on my end. I would see it more so as this is not about me. I want to give the space of the people who it should be focused on their time to shine. Not saying that I can't be a part of the convention, you know, as an ally to support, but the reason why I had an issue with it was more so as it's not my time. It's not my time. I can sit back. You see what I'm saying? This is a convention that was that is to to put people out there who usually don't have that that that privilege to do so. So I know that you know with the cosplayer um you know her friend uh you know helped to encourage her to enter and that's fine you know but for me and of course other people are different I could not insert myself into a context knowing that it's not about me. Even even if it was a phenomenal cosplay it's not my safe space. It's not my safe space to do that. So I think it's more so I guess personal morals but again that's just for me. And I think that's what why so many people were mad, why so many black people were mad was because there already there are already so many spaces for white people. You don't have to call it white con. No the cons are our most majority are for white people. So that's why there are so many, there are cons now trying to focus on minorities because we just don't see ourselves in the limelight. So I couldn't insert myself I couldn't insert myself into a convention knowing that it ain't even about me. It's for me to be there to be an ally and you know there are a lot of white cosplayers that I followed that were there as an ally um and I love that. You know they were there too like um uh Shannon S SJS cosplay she's a Bahamian um cosplayer phenomenal been following her since I started having my page and she was there and it was such a wonderful thing because she is an ally she wants she's always promoting always there always giving insight and and really just there rooting for us. And I love that. And again that's just as important as having black people there is to also have Alice into support support for us to cheer us on to really big us up you know to show the support and um so it was just that was my final thought I just wouldn't even put myself in that situation to even have the possibility of winning because it's not fucking about me.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:58

It's about the the the minorities it's about the black people who don't have a chance to shine because we're always it's always whitewashed right so 100% agree you know and I feel like we really need you know if you're gonna be in that space you really do need that level of consciousness to not take up that space because really like a ban is not something they can anyone can enforce when it comes to like banning racial groups from X, Y, or Z. Like it's a legal nightmare but just having the consciousness if you're going to be going to be there then don't make yourself the center of the room. And that's you know incredibly important.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:38

And then you know also it just avoids a lot of the really you know significant optics issues of oh well having you know the person wins the concept represents blurred con and whatnot and having a white person representing this black con, you know, where this con's supposed to center black people like it's it is an optical it's a it's a huge side eye moment like like like Jose said I mean and not to cut you off uh the doctor but like Jose said she literally showed up there didn't want to be in the contest her friends coerced her into being in the contest then in the contest she ends up winning saying wait the fuck why am I winning I'm at a I'm at blurred con. Why am I winning? And then after she won and granted I'm not gonna deny she got all this hate mail and people said she got death threats and then she was like you know what she first she made her social media private and then she came back and she was like you know what I won wasn't even supposed to be in the contest I didn't want to be in the contest and I acknowledge the fact that in this contest in this space I'm not supposed to be winning and I'm not supposed to be participating. I fully acknowledge that it is called blurred con I'm paraphrasing obviously um but in in this contest I acknowledge that it's it's called blurred con and I am not a blurred and I would like to relinquish you know my win so you know like you said uh uh the the doctor you know having the understanding and the know and the know-how that in a like and I I keep I've been saying this for weeks read the goddamn room read the rooms and I'm not gonna say she didn't I'm not gonna say she did I'm not in her head I don't know her but based off of what she said and what other people have said because even her friends whoever her friends were posted on social media that they coerced her into being in the competition y'all not her friends don't love her y'all don't love her friends new friends sis if you listen to our podcast get some new friends oh my god yeah get some new friends and then where's she had black friends that who were like yeah then make better make make friends that make better choices yeah yeah that was the big that was that was the big thing for me because I know uh you know a lot you know when a lot of times when someone is like you know when someone is coming uh part one of the benefits of of privilege means that you just don't have to notice issues that don't that don't affect you and so so when you're going into into a space like that that is like you know like we if if you're just going to blur con like it's another con, you know you don't have to read the room at a con you just you're just going and interacting and doing whatever the con you're showing up at and and and then and then and if you and then if you if there's anything else for you to know I would expect your black friends the the the people who invited you and the people who that space belongs to to let you know.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:29

So so it's so so it's kind of like so this person didn't know and and was not only uh uh you know kind of pushed by but it was was not was not told any of these things so it's kind of like why would she know this right I I don't I don't I don't know I don't know what uh other like groups of people that I'm not in I don't know what what the issue is what the expectations is and none of that and I would ask but it's kind of like she asked right and so you know so it's kind of like I don't so I don't I don't I don't know this this giant personal oh this this is a this is a system issue there's something wrong with the because no one would have cared if she entered and didn't win yep and and she didn't think she was going to win she wasn't saying everybody else yeah she was participating yep so you know so it's kind of like so this is obviously a cosplay complex judging I agree I agree yeah like even and and even listening to what she said about you know what she said she said Kaze about the fact that she was in the competition even in hindsight she was like I didn't even want to be in the competition her friends said well we coerced her to be in the competition so to me it sounds like and then the fact that she didn't think she was gonna win it sounds like she didn't want to enter they coerced her to try to enter she said but isn't this for blurred not saying she said this but in my mind I'm trying to give her a narrative that makes sense that she said the benefit of the doubt we are trying yeah listen for blurred and then her friends was like well you'll be fine you can enter anybody can enter it and then she entered just trying to participate and then she won and she's like wait a minute I was just like just like the doctor said don't stand out she wasn't trying to stand out like she was trying to mind her business the crowd she wasn't trying to shout all out oh wow okay I'm gonna hand it back I don't even know why I said uh Kazay the doctor one of the uh and that's uh you know kind of and you know again that that was one of my issues with uh with a lot of this um with the the this the sheer amount of noise that this caused with the with the online uh discourse because like you know because because like you know like uh like like the black McCoy said like uh you know anybody who saw this can see that it was an issue but what they don't see is how irrelevant it was according to the rest of the con most people the con did not go nope to the cop to the cosplay contest and and aside from uh them them uh the math the mag fest people downstairs with the food um we'll get to them in a moment uh you name them their name who is it see you you had something in your hand you waved it around so it you look like a fork and he thought about but I was like oh okay because I ain't no other I ain't see no other food in here but Mag Fan and then you name them again out but um I mean they have some Mediterranean something but but um so so you know part of my issue uh part of my issue with this is uh is people people not the con are missing you know context and and well one a lot of people apparently don't know what a convention is because you can go to a trekkie convention and they are not gonna kick the war graymon guy out they're gonna take his money he's gonna walk around people are going to look at him weird yeah and every convention is concl is is inclusive yes and and so and so part of my part of my uh you know part of my problem was like for the who who said white people it were everyone is invited yeah to every convention so so just the fact that you're saying that means you don't even know what a convention is where to go to it like if they did that conventions wouldn't have money to have nobody unless they were like you know strictly like KKK some shit like that but like nonetheless I mean exactly so like you know and a lot of people and a lot of people was like uh like oh well they need to change that no they do not this this tiny matter that you don't change you don't change the name of Taco Bill because somebody is in the bathroom eating Burger King that is wow that was fantastic any of this works so it was that was a quotable that was a quotable let me get my so you know so I I mean so it was just it was a lot of this are you know like armchair this interneting just a lot of people don't didn't care about the convention has no plans of ever buying any plane tickets like you know just making all these like it's it's cool if you if based on this uh you decide you don't want to come I think that's uh I think I mean I think that's uh necessarily the right I mean you can come and find out for other reasons yeah you don't know that there was there are a number you would not want to come but yeah but that was not that was not one of them like that is not uh the the convention as a whole yeah is a celebration of uh of of black cosplay all you you just had to be there and just feel everyone everybody was happy everybody was celebrating yeah uh each other and man like yo the the vibe was beautiful so so it's kind of like so so so for people like to look at this and be like oh no this isn't really for black people no no no it is for us by us for better boo yeah you might you might need to blur that out uh when you're just sure for saying foo boo yeah I think so would have that blur card chat brought up foo boo for whatever reason not too long ago but somebody said for us by us and that's it was the easiest thing to go to lord but um so yeah so I hate I hate how much space this is taking uh versus versus like more you know versus like a more uh productive con you know conversation like how can we change uh yeah yeah how can we do better next year uh how can we you know or or let's you know let's address or let's address the cosplay again let's let's set rules let's discuss standards let's do let's figure out what the the issue is because uh because the the issue obviously ain't that white people are cosplaying better so let's so let's figure out what's going on but it's kind of like you know every every everyone has like you know uh shit to say but there's no honest on on them to be productive or honest or put any thought into solutions and into into into into uh what they're saying so it it was this it was this uh an annoying conversation because it was just so many people like you know and apparently like based off people like well i'm gonna make my own con like you're you're probably not you're not you you don't know how much work goes into that shit like it goes a lot of work to put together like a birthday party like go there that's not you got you gotta find grant let's move on to the next i'll make i'll make a con that's actually for black people like good good luck good luck okay good job with kick out in your backyard like but i think the the the final note that i want to kind of like throw in there like i think the thing that i don't endorse the most about this entire situation is that people were legitimately harassing the judges and harassing the contest winner despite how you may have felt about the circumstance it is never okay to insert yourself in such into someone's life in such a way over something for macrocosmically speaking so menial and so trivial um that you feel no it's okay to send them death threats it's okay to harass and bully them for nothing they did wrong in specifically to anyone like then like it it's it's not okay it like for something like this absolutely not like it it made no sense whatsoever um especially if you wasn't there again right yeah yeah and then having their own narrative on what happened that was the thing that that killed me that's why I was like you know there were so many rumors she made her cosplay she didn't make her cosplay well I know she bought that shit well she bought this and I'm like well y'all niggas weren't even there to know the only person that knows is the cosplayer and for cosplayer and the judges for all intents and purposes yeah so like you know I'm saying it was more so the the I guess the the moral of the story than the the details that didn't make no fucking sense to me.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:13

You know and again this is a lot of unpacking on the convention side the blurred con side on the judges you know and the the processing and the mentality on why they do what they do. And again because the fucking communication wasn't there on all aspects of this damn con, everything was at least very consistent with consistent it was more thematic with the con. It was very themed it was very themed and and I get and again I don't it's still COVID you see what I'm saying it's still COVID time and for for things to not be organized is very irresponsible. It's irresponsible on all aspects it's irresponsible to the people that are working behind the Saints employed con is irresponsible to the people that bought tickets and are trying to come to a con in a safe space and a safe space on when it comes to cultural and health reasons. You know what I'm saying? And you have this variant that's out here that again apparently is not talking about Logan you have oh my god and that uh you know that's that is uh more deadly than the first strain that killed it took so many lives so there there needs to really I'd rather blur con in all conventions to be honest to really sit back and reflect to see instead of taking these dollars and trying to advocate for this convention they really need to think about the bigger picture human lives and that to me was not the focal point when it comes to the safety um when it comes to the PPE you know you y'all need to still have the same energy that you had when people were taking fucking toilet paper off the shelves like wiping our ass is going to cure COVID. So you guys need to have that same energy when it comes to a con, making sure there's wipes everywhere, uh hand sanitizer if you have the option you want to wear gloves if you you know change a mask. If you don't have a mask we'll have a mask for you like it needs to it really there there wasn't that sense of urgency. And I for me it was a little bit greedy on a on their end to have this this convention with no cap um and also just really trying to figure out what is best for everyone. We want a a space where everybody can have fun and but also be safe. And that that alone for me I mean that seven it was a a nice seven that I gave out. So I I just really think that that they they in a lot of cons need to reevaluate um the safety of people before they rush and do a bullshit job of trying to put something together without any organization. And again that it goes it's very consistent throughout the entire con. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:06

Excellent thank you everyone so just to kind of end the conversation on a high note um what were some of the things that you what were some of the high notes for you for BlurredCon specifically like regardless of whether it was being back in that space experiencing it for the first time what were some things about being there that really made that weekend for you and we're gonna start with Suchi I don't want to continue saying the only good part was the panel because that'd be unfair um it was our panel so yeah it would be I will say uh okay so I guess just breaking it down by days like uh first day I thoroughly and granted it's funny because I feel like I was the only one that enjoyed it not well let me rephrase I feel like only me and like the other 50 to maybe 70 people who like walked past over there while he was doing his first set uh enjoyed DJ Senpai. Um that mix he played like on the first day when I first got there was so like nine nine into the 2000s nostalgic I was like literally fighting not to dance and then he like moved into Afro beats I literally lost my shit and was dancing. I was like y'all dancing to nobody just a little bit but he did I I all I did was the moonwalk and he like pointed me out I was like hey hey don't point to me no oh you can moonwalk you can moonwalk he can do a lot of things I don't know what you're talking about anyway so what so oh fantastic so that was that was really fun um uh the different diverse food trucks that was lovely I know they've had food trucks before but um I I I did enjoy the food that they had there um the oh god uh one of the biggest highlights for me the entire weekend was all of the phenomenal artists yes Bender Artist Row whatever you want to call it I forget the exact name that they they had I think um I don't think there was a booth or a table because I believe I went to I'll say I went to like 70% of them uh I'll say I went to 63% of them um every single one I went to and even the ones I didn't every single piece like I this one I I I would wish I could shout her out I don't have her card in front of me but she made so many lovely posters and they like every time I would turn a page in her in her collection or catalog it's okay we're gonna have a black artist episode so I I I bought so many posters I really shouldn't have bought so many that time but they were just so good um and like just you know it it just overall for the artist it was just so phenomenal like I bought bags I man I shouldn't have three bags three bags I pointed at one that's not true that's I pointed at two that's not true I pointed at two you found one of those I didn't expect you to get all three I was like oh get one yes you was like oh shit oh shit how much is that one what you haven't touched it's not in my hand already why is it not in my hand and then there was the uh the uh the business owner who had the the head wraps and the masks and the glasses I think we said cyon A down there um to see her I didn't get a chance to get any yeah it's okay I got her card did I send you her card I'll send it to you that's enough um but yes uh that was phenomenal and then of course um uh I I I think above all for me as a person who's never been to BlurCon before and that was my first time the the one thing I got out of BlurCon was what uh Kaze said earlier which is the the black camaraderie uh being able to interact with all of these different you know black people just people but black people from all over um who haven't who haven't been out the house in a year who haven't seen each other in a year who haven't played video games outside of online I mean some of them have I'm sure but they The vast majority who hadn't, um, just being able to just interact, you know. One of my favorite things is telling people when what I see them wearing looks good, and being able to like stop a cosplayer and say, yo, you were dope. Being even people who weren't in cosplay and they were just wearing like graphic tees. I was like, yo, where you get that from? Being able to give them their flowers or give them that excitement of you did well with what you planned on doing moderately good. Because I'll be honest, other than like the big-headed ones, cosplayers are some of the most modest, timid, timid, timid, humble, timid, uh, no, no, just timid, not most timid, but timid, uh, humble, uh uh reserved, uh, even sometimes uh uh sheepish individuals you will communicate with unless they are embodying their cosplay. Then they're able to really put their the the they combine their persona and they channel it through the persona of who they're wearing. And I'm sure you can tell by sometimes talking about the cosplays of the black McCoy, uh Say Ne, maybe not Miss Skittles. Miss Skittles know she's bad. I'm just saying. Uh, but you know, uh overall, just being able to tell them that what they did was worth the time that they took, and even if it's just me, I appreciate it. I think that was some of the best uh moments of BlurCon, all in all, for me. Uh, but yeah, you can go to the next person.

SPEAKER_06 1:29:28

Okay, we're gonna move on to who I thought was Hit Girl a moment ago because something was swinging around. Kaze Shinryu. I really thought it was a knife. I'm like, what the fuck did you get that?

SPEAKER_04 1:29:40

Um, no, yeah, no, it's a bunch of uh uh moments for me. Uh like honestly, there was a bunch of uh there was a bunch of uh uh complaints, but even uh even the the the the line was merciful. I the the first time I went to Otacon, I was two blocks away in line because the line wrapped around the fucking convention center. And and and we you know it was just it was just it was this the the trail of of cosplay tears just trying to Lord just trying to uh just trying to get in there. So uh so for the so the amount of cons I've been on time at the um you know that would that that that even even that was you know uh not even that bad, especially when they f we finally found out where where to actually be and and that with that delightful uh lady upstairs. Um but uh yeah, no, like uh like uh Suchi said, the uh that's definitely my favorite uh my favorite collection of uh food trucks I've ever uh uh uh been around. Like the I had I I that I had that oxtail, like Lord. I that you know, it's not the best I've had, but it's far from the worst I've had. And so just the fact that that came from a truck was super, like super impressive. The uh that passion fruit tea uh gave gave me all that shaved ice baby. Oh I didn't even I even get to it. The crazy lemonade it looked amazing. Yeah, like lemonade. Oh, you know, especially to um you know, eating all that uh and having uh uh DJ what was it again? DJ Taylor Senpai. Uh okay, Sun Pie, yeah, because I got judged last time.

SPEAKER_02 1:31:35

Yeah, you did. See, I wasn't the only one to judge you, somebody else did. I was like, Well, you was wrong, so you shouldn't have corrected yourself.

SPEAKER_06 1:31:42

But you really be your own.

SPEAKER_04 1:31:46

It wasn't the correction, it was the surprise.

SPEAKER_03 1:31:49

Yeah, like don't think you say what those are very similar words, and I don't want to make some like talking about that.

SPEAKER_04 1:32:02

Uh no, yeah, like uh like you said, the uh I love I love the energy, everybody was happy, you know, happy to uh to be there. Um the uh the the despite some of the potential issues I heard uh going into it, the uh the uh the the the game the gaming setup was I think it was a I think it was a bit uh more sparse, both the gaming and the vending, I think seemed a bit smaller uh than last time. The gaming wasn't smaller, but uh I th I feel like the setups were a bit more spread out. It was less, but again, every everything was kind of less uh uh yeah, less this time around. Uh, but no, yeah, the the you know, gaming had everything uh I expected and wanted to see went well. The uh the tournaments were hype and uh run well from what I what I seen. The uh the vendors again, less less the least amount of vendors I've ever seen, but but the but the people who who showed up, oh man, you know, you know, and uh you know, and then meet you know, meeting up meeting up and seeing Greg again, that was cool. I'm sure it was. Yeah, and I continue. Uh you know, uh, you know, so meeting, meeting all the other uh uh black and up and coming uh comic, you know, comic book artists and this artists in general. This is the most my spent money I've spent at uh any con. Uh because I'm because I'm just usually broke in general. Um but um yeah, no, the food, the people, this con felt like uh like like you went to you went to you went to have Thanksgiving like at your aunt's house. And like and like so like the macaroni is bombed, but she's going through a divorce, and we hear them arguing in the kitchen.

SPEAKER_02 1:33:47

And your cousins got like a couple of video games, they don't have all the good video games, but they got a couple of them. Uh uh yeah, but they got they got they got the shit to batters.

SPEAKER_06 1:33:55

They trying to you know you gotta keep the door closed if they're trying not to hear the arguing.

SPEAKER_04 1:34:00

You know, the you know, your cousin brought edibles. I don't know what that means. You know what it means. You know, you can you know you can hear the you know, you can you hear that you hear the you can hear the argument, but you kind of tiptoe by and get that jungle juice. You know, it was it was such a it was it was a lot uh you know issues here and here and there, but I think the uh I think it was definitely a good positive and memorable time uh overall.

unknown 1:34:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:34:32

Before you go on to the next person, I actually forgot about one of like the biggest highlights from my weekend, which is Karen Ashley. That's all yes.

SPEAKER_06 1:34:42

Karen Ashley was at Blurred Con. Uh, for those of you who don't know, that is Aisha, the first black yellow ranger.

SPEAKER_01 1:34:48

Um still the most I didn't even know she was there. No, no, no one told me.

SPEAKER_00 1:34:57

I was probably struggling, put on this goddamn paint it took all fucking days.

SPEAKER_06 1:35:00

So by the time I came you know well for for you, what were what were the largest highlights of the weekend?

SPEAKER_00 1:35:08

Um, there were a couple. Again, it was the black camaraderie. It felt like it was, you know, it felt like home. Um, in the sense that, you know, you you didn't feel like the the the the black sheep of the family, so to speak. Like you all your cousins, your aunties, twice removed, everybody was there, you know, your your your mom's friend that ain't really the friend, he's you know, the nigga that's the post office man that's coming to the house.

SPEAKER_06 1:35:32

Uncle's roommate was there.

SPEAKER_00 1:35:33

Yeah, uncle's roommate's. It was you heard, you know, the little shady comments there and here and there. It felt like like a black high school, but it was but it was a lot of fun. You know, the food was was slamming, the music was great. Um, I would say that it was my first con meeting, meeting all of the people that I befriended online. Again, this is my first con actually going ask Ione. Um, before I was no name, I was just there, live my best life and disappearing real quick. Like, you know what I'm saying? And and no, that that was not the same.

SPEAKER_06 1:36:10

Now you out there in them streets, you know. But people know who you are.

SPEAKER_00 1:36:14

It was weird.

SPEAKER_06 1:36:15

Like, you know, girl, infamous.

SPEAKER_00 1:36:17

It's no. I don't like it. It's okay.

SPEAKER_06 1:36:20

We we only do it to you for a weekend, then we let you go back home.

SPEAKER_02 1:36:23

And then you can fade off into a hermit, and we'll bring you back next year.

SPEAKER_00 1:36:28

It was it was a blessing though. Um, because again, I I think I I've I've told it month many times, I'm my worst enemy in um in multiple aspects. And um, I never think I'm that good. Um, I might have my D's where I think I'm cool, but I I really always question about myself all the time. And um hearing people say my fucking name, I wanted to, I had to like fight the tears because I was gonna mess up my pain. But yeah, I was it was very uh I I just couldn't believe it. You know, I'm I'm I'm walking around and and people are like, Are you are you Sione? And I was like, what the fuck is going on here? I'm just scratching my head and I'm like, What? Like, you know my name? You know my name? And it's just like I don't, I don't, uh, I feel like about the cry now. It's just so weird. It's so weird and such a blessing that people actually care to know who I am. And you know, a lot of times I'm doing things for myself and I'm just putting it out there as a journey, whoever wants to just tag along. But for people to say that I'm one of their favorite cosplayers, or to say that I've inspired them. Uh, I'm about to crack it.

SPEAKER_02 1:37:37

I'm about to say we've been saying it for months, girl. We were trying to get you ready. We were trying to get them ready for the real world. You out of here now.

SPEAKER_06 1:37:43

So I need y'all to be aware that Sion A is saying all of this, but she has 4,624 followers on Instagram, and she expected none of them to be a blurred con and notice. None of them.

SPEAKER_00 1:37:54

I I really just I don't even look at the numbers. Um, people are like, oh yeah, you have more followers than me, you know, compared to online what's basically we I don't look at my numbers either, but you know what?

SPEAKER_06 1:38:04

I looked at yours in this moment because you needed to realize that people know who you are, and when you go to the cons, people are going to know who you are. You have done phenomenal work, you do amazing work, and we love you, and we're and you know, we we we put you out there all the time.

SPEAKER_00 1:38:17

And you I appreciate y'all. Oh god.

SPEAKER_06 1:38:22

I thought you got to say for president. I was like, yes.

SPEAKER_01 1:38:29

Oh no, you can't do worse than I'll sell it out.

SPEAKER_00 1:38:36

But um, it would it, you know, that was probably my highlight. Um, also I I I always I always big them up, but I would not be here um at sign up without my nieces. They have pushed and pushed. They when I in 2019, when I was at Otacon, um, you know, again, I always tell the story of that that uh Persephone cosplay that I did. And it was just a cosplay that I was like, I I'm gonna just do this. And I almost wasn't gonna go to the con uh because it was like Murphy's Law, everything that you can do.

SPEAKER_06 1:39:06

I remember you told me. I love the story.

SPEAKER_00 1:39:09

Oh my God, like I left my bra at home. I had to tuck in, I had to get a bra that I wore. You know, the action I didn't wear that, I like I packed up for casual wear. I had to tuck in the strips, the straps and shit. I painted on the wrong leg. Like, fuck, I had to have like somebody downstairs help corset me in, or I was gonna have pink paint everywhere. I had to drive from my hotel to Odakon. And at that time, I was like, bitch, let me go home. Like I didn't even want to be there. And then people just said, Oh my god, are you Persephone? Oh my god, are you Persephone? I'm like, Yeah, are you? Oh my god, oh my god. I'm like, what is this? And it was so weird. And my nieces were there with me and they were like, you need to have a page, I didn't want it. They made me. Um, you know, they said I need to have an IG, I didn't want it, they made me and they pushed me. And I always give them so, so much credit um because I I wouldn't even be on this podcast. Let's just say that. I wouldn't have met all of y'all if it wasn't for them. Um, so um just to the overwhelming support, the my mom who wasn't even there, um, wanting to be a part of my cosplay, who crocheted a part of my cosplay, um, because she is also very artsy and she loves to see me kind of in that that realm of art. Um, you know, the overwhelming support, meeting friends that I've I didn't actually get a chance to see until uh BlurredCon. Um it's a it's a different experience that I would never have experienced anywhere else. And I'm I am so glad and honored to actually uh you know be a part of BlurredCon, be a part of this this panel. You know, I wouldn't even be where I am without this panel. People actually hear what the fuck I I sound like. And a lot of people don't know what the hell I sound like or look like, you know, out outside of paint. You know, they think Dan I must be uh uh Photoshop. Like, no.

SPEAKER_06 1:41:05

You wish it were Photoshop.

SPEAKER_00 1:41:09

Um it was it was it was it was a beautiful moment to be black. I will say that. It was a beautiful moment to be black and and to be out there um in in cosplay. Uh it was of course, you know, nowhere is perfect, but um I would say there are a lot more highs than lows so that I I can be able to go again next year. Um, so it was a privilege and an honor to be a part of y'all. I love y'all, and and just to see how wonderful the panel was. Like, I can't believe people actually wanted to hear us talk in eight for 80 minutes. I'm like any minute now, they all gonna start anyway and get on up. Right a whole almost two hours later. They just walking with us insane with us, doing everything. I know, rocking asking questions.

SPEAKER_02 1:42:04

Can we make sure that we um we set up uh Sione's quotable moment? It was a good time to be black. That was a good lips. And then we're gonna put ellipses and then put in cosplay, like just that's the whole thing.

SPEAKER_06 1:42:19

Yes, absolutely. Yes, that's that's a wonderful idea.

SPEAKER_00 1:42:28

But I just want to say thank you to to to everyone here, um, especially and for giving me a voice. Um even even though I I didn't even know this is gonna be a year in the making. The the black the black McCoy, I I don't know how the hell you put me in this. But I I always say I got shim shammed into this panel, and it was the best shim shammery I've ever had in my entire life that it didn't.

SPEAKER_06 1:42:53

Okay, that's how most of my platonic and romantic relationship that's happened.

SPEAKER_00 1:43:01

So yeah, I just wanted to say thank you to all of you and thank you to uh all the people that I uh I got to meet and and really embrace um in in you know in what we call pandemic of of madness. So yeah, it was it was a it was a solid cost.

SPEAKER_06 1:43:18

That's coming up in the Marvel MCU in 2025. Um absolutely um I echo your sentiments. Um, you know, you know, you know I love you, and you know we love you. So I uh we could say it 25 times over um for the next five years, and you we still would not communicate how much we care about you. Um I will say that my highs, my what were my my highs for that weekend, definitely getting fucked up on Friday. Um I uh really enjoyed myself. Um I got a chance to um see all of my like cosplay friends who I have hadn't seen in a while, since who I hadn't seen since 2019, and who I have not yet met, um, and who got a chance to you know be in my presence and I be in their presence. Um I surprised a couple of people. I always have to warn people that I'm taller than uh they think I am, and it always catches people off guard. They're never truly ready. Um so yeah, I was I was really, I was I really enjoyed myself Friday because Friday night, Friday night I was hanging out with Miss Skittles, and we were in a hotel room with some other people, and we were drinking, and there was a whole like slew of shenanigans. Um, and then I got a wee gummy, and then I headed downstairs to the party with Miss Skittles and a couple other people, and then I saw Sayone and Talonflame there, and Talonflame had some moonshine, but what they didn't know is that I was already pretty lit, and so I took some of Talonflame's moonshine because he offered it willingly, and I willingly took it. And uh yeah, yeah, I was I was I was gone. I was gone.

SPEAKER_00 1:45:02

I was definitely strong as fuck, and then he took the rum that I made for the rum cake and put it in that bitch, which you don't know. Yeah, that was yeah, Tal was like you you don't need those rum, dude. I said, Don't put that shit in there. Too late. I'm like, oh my god.

SPEAKER_06 1:45:17

So yeah, yeah, that was amazing. Um tell him kudos. Uh listened to this episode, thank you very much. Um, I also echo Suchi's sentiments like the the artists this year, like uh some of them were new to me, and so you know I saw some of that I didn't that I usually frequent that I didn't see, but the artists that were there, especially the black artists that were there, were phenomenal. Oh my god, we went to this one table with this one artist. Um, he had like hip-hop icons and artists mixed with like the blurdiest shit ever, the nerdiest shit ever. Everyone from like the the Greek R Hella, yeah. The Valkyrie Meg the Stallion, Medusa Rihanna. I bought I bought Medusa Rihanna. She gave me everything that I golden Medusa, yes, golden Medusa Rihanna. Um, oh and Athena Missy Elliott. Oh lord.

SPEAKER_02 1:46:12

They had Odin, uh Kendrick Lamar, they had what was it, Zeus, uh J. Cole.

SPEAKER_00 1:46:18

Oh wow. I don't think I saw this artist. I think I I came in.

SPEAKER_06 1:46:22

That's okay. We have their card too. Uh oh, yes. Um, and they will probably also be on one of our artist episodes that we have covered us. Um, also, um, I think that another one of my favorite highlights for that weekend was getting to introduce Sayone to uh what uh this artist that I love, Nate.

SPEAKER_00 1:46:42

Oh, I have their art. Would you like to see it?

SPEAKER_06 1:46:46

Oh, let me go get uh she's one of my favorite artists. She finally dropped this book on her art that she's been working on for years. Like I met her at the first Blur Con, and every year I've like visited her table or gotten something from her. And uh, she's been working on this book called The Bearers that is like this anthology, well, not really anthology, just like an explanation of the story of all of her art pieces. Ooh, but uh, it's an explanation of all the um bearers that she's created in her art and the stories behind them and how they're all connected and what they're all about. And she'd been talking about the book for years, and she finally had it in BlurCon this year, and it was a joy for me to finally have it in my hands. Um, because you know, I'm a huge fan of hers. She's a local artist in the DMV. And um, yeah, it's just you know, she's just amazing, she's super sweet. And I I thought that Sion needed to meet her because when I ever I looked at her art, I looked at this avant-garde artwork, it reminded me a lot of the cosplay that Sonne does, and you know, give her some inspiration for the future.

SPEAKER_00 1:47:44

Oh yes, yes, and it didn't help that actually looked like one of you know for the Sunday album.

SPEAKER_02 1:47:51

Exactly. Yes, like when I I think we went back to her table on Sunday and I saw it, and I was like, wait a minute, isn't Cyone doing something similar to this? I was like, we have to send her down here like immediately, and then that's why we went to go find you. I was like, oh no, this has to happen, this connection.

SPEAKER_00 1:48:07

It was wonderful. It was like it was like Victorian neo-goth, African Neo Goth. Yeah, it was a wild, oh god, and I love that gothic, kind of like dreamy, um smoke texture uh aesthetic. Like you're in a nightmare, but you want the nightmare, you know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_06 1:48:30

Like that beautiful nightmare that Beyonce talked about.

SPEAKER_00 1:48:34

Yeah, it's so sexy. Oh, I've never seen that aesthetic before. So thank you. Because it was gorgeous, gorgeous.

SPEAKER_06 1:48:42

Um, but to wrap up, I think my major highlight was that I got to share BlurredCon with my partner, and that was actually it was actually when we met two years ago after BlurCon. So um it was really great to finally be there with him and you know, share that, sharing that experience and uh kick off our anniversary week.

SPEAKER_01 1:49:02

So that's beautiful.

SPEAKER_06 1:49:08

Yeah, yeah, the wrap of the episode now. Oh, so no, uh I wasn't done. Wow, wow. You know what? I'm gonna hand the mic back over to you since I'm gonna do it. No, no, no, no. I know, but you decided to interrupt me in that moment. Uh so Doctor, I know you did not get a chance to attend BlurredCon this year. Um, what are some things that you missed from uh 2019 BlurredCon? And what are some things you would look forward to or hope for BlurredCon in the future?

SPEAKER_05 1:49:38

I think the thing that's probably been mentioned the most, the black camaraderie. Like, you know, just black, you know, people being able to be in this one space where we're celebrated and we can explore our interests and you know, like that's something that, especially like in a nerd space, we don't have that many of those, and definitely not on that many on the scale of something like BlurredCon. So Yeah, I think that's the biggest thing that I would love to see going forward, you know. Um yeah, you know, bloodcon is always something I look forward to a lot. Um I think it's the only convention that's really like that or gives that type of venue for us. So, you know, I really, you know, in the future it's something I'm really, you know, looking forward to a lot. And I can't wait for BlurCon 2022, you know.

SPEAKER_06 1:50:23

So phenomenal, phenomenal. So we want to thank you all for listening to our episode today. Please make sure you go like, love, and follow, subscribe. What do we put on our banner? Listen, vibe, subscribe. Yeah, listen, vibe, subscribe to the blurred spectrum podcast. You can follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, um, at the blurred spectrum. Um uh everyone, give where you can be found. I'll go ahead and start. You can find me, the black mccoy, at the black mccoy on Instagram and the black mccoy cosplay on Facebook. Uh Sayone, where can they reach you at?

SPEAKER_00 1:50:56

Sione cosplay on Facebook, Sayone underscore cosplay on IG, Sayone Cosplay on TikTok, but I only got like two videos. So okay, it's fine.

SPEAKER_06 1:51:07

I only got like two myself, my damn self. Uh Suchi no Shogun, where can they find you?

SPEAKER_02 1:51:12

I can be fine on anything on Brol Starcade. That's Twitter, Twitch, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, um, and then on Discord as Suchi No Shogun, as well as on Overwatch as Suchi Show. Oh, we throwing them overwatch handles out?

SPEAKER_01 1:51:30

Okay, you're you are it's cross play now.

SPEAKER_02 1:51:33

So you can find me on any any any platform.

SPEAKER_06 1:51:36

I guess you can find me at Overwatch or uh Vimpress on Overwatch as well, anyway. So uh the doctor, where can we reach you? Rod RT on Facebook. Phenomenal. Kaze, where can they find you at?

SPEAKER_04 1:51:50

Yeah, I'm gonna switch mine up. I'll I'll say uh what yeah, brand up or brand Brandon Bowser on Facebook.

SPEAKER_01 1:51:58

Uh wow, I don't know, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

SPEAKER_00 1:52:05

What did you just say that? So they can hear that.

SPEAKER_04 1:52:09

Yeah, Brandon Bowser on Facebook. Yes, that's my real last name. Yes, that is his name.

SPEAKER_06 1:52:15

I remember when I first met him, I thought it was a joke.

SPEAKER_04 1:52:17

No, it's very no public on uh you know, meeting meeting the peoples and the camaraderie and the whatnot, you know, it's kind of oh you know, I I again I don't like people, but I love y'all.

SPEAKER_00 1:52:31

Yeah, so I haven't even done my real name. Y'all ain't gonna know my name unless and uh and bear and uh Barrett 3B on Instagram.

SPEAKER_04 1:52:47

That's uh B-A-R-R-E-T. Wow, he put out an Instagram, y'all.

SPEAKER_02 1:52:52

Wow. What about the old one? You ain't gonna do YouTube no more.

SPEAKER_04 1:52:55

Uh I if I put something on there, it's just okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:53:00

So so any other things you want to surprise us with today?

SPEAKER_03 1:53:03

Right.

SPEAKER_04 1:53:03

That's that's it for now.

SPEAKER_02 1:53:04

Okay, without us laughing, without us interrupting, say it one more time, both of them clear, please.

SPEAKER_04 1:53:09

Uh Brandon Bowser on Facebook and Barrett3B on Instagram.

SPEAKER_06 1:53:15

Okay, um, y'all don't forget to go and check out and follow Shampoo Bracelets and on Instagram and Shammy B4787 older than me. Um Shammy B87 on Instagram and uh what's the Discord? Discord, um and shampoo bracelets on Discord. Yeah, shampoo bracelets on Discord. Also, today is Ms. Skittles' birthday. She's not with us, but we want to send her a happy birthday. By the time this is posted, it will not be her birthday anymore. But you know, right.

SPEAKER_02 1:53:51

That is all you need to know. And if you are to find out, we didn't say that.

SPEAKER_06 1:53:54

If you are curious to find out more, please go follow her on Ms. Skittles T R underscore cosplay. That's Ms. Mz Z on Instagram, and you can check her out at Ms. Skittles Cosplay on Facebook.

SPEAKER_02 1:54:08

Um yeah, so I forgot about the panel.

SPEAKER_06 1:54:12

Which panel?

SPEAKER_02 1:54:14

Blurred Spectrum.

SPEAKER_06 1:54:15

Uh no, I did that first.

SPEAKER_02 1:54:16

No, you have to do it at the end again, so people remember.

SPEAKER_06 1:54:18

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:54:19

Uh so they don't forget. You're the moderator. Come on, come on, pick it up.

SPEAKER_06 1:54:22

Okay, um go faster than this. You go out. I'm moderately getting there in the pace that you were moving when we first started this transition.

SPEAKER_02 1:54:28

Significantly slow at this. Come on.

SPEAKER_06 1:54:30

Oh, am I getting significantly slower? No, you you know, you just so what we're gonna do is uh we're gonna let you know to continue to follow us at the blurred spectrum on Facebook, on Instagram, on Twitter. You can check out our podcast on Spotify, Apple, Amazon, Google Play. We are everywhere. Just search the Blurred Spectrum and we will check y'all next time. Au revoir. Bye.

SPEAKER_00 1:54:56

Oh shoot, mailbag. Nobody sent us the mail.

SPEAKER_06 1:55:00

Like y'all need to do better about sending us mail so we can have more responses for y'all. That's that's all. So if you do have if you do have the cojones to send us a letter in the mail, yeah, um, please send it to the blurred spectrum at umbralstarcade.com. Again, that is the blurred spectrum at umbralstarcade.com.

SPEAKER_00 1:55:22

Oh, there is one more thing. You can't come here and not say that.

SPEAKER_06 1:55:37

Okay, you could have you could have cosplayer cosplay is at the whole panel we had at BlurCon. Got you. Okay, no.

SPEAKER_01 1:55:47

Fine, all right.

SPEAKER_02 1:55:49

So I did something, but like I said, still not a cosplayer. All right. Uh oh, maybe that should be my name. Still not a cosplayer. No, I'm joking. Anyway, I'm not a rapper. All right, but as the black McCoy said, thank you for listening. We will catch you next week. Please stay tuned for our artist episodes. Uh, black artist episodes, those are coming up in August. And I know as excited as we were to see them, you'll be excited to you know hear from them on those episodes. See you later. Bye, Unada.

SPEAKER_01 1:56:18

Bye.

SPEAKER_02 1:56:19

See you.