April 19, 2015  Blogpost #4   Live from Tekko Con.

 

Hello, friends!

TEKKO CON

I’m very pleased to present my first video blog and interview! This is my first foray into vlogging, so I hope you all enjoy it. You will find the youtube link at the bottom of this blog.

I went to Tekko Con on Sun. 4/19 at the David Lawrence Convention Center in beautiful downtown Pittsburgh. It was my first Tekko. It’s billed as Japanese Pop Culture and run by @TeamTekko. I didn’t know what to expect. My experience with Japanese pop culture seemed minimal. I had seen “My Neighbor Totoro” by Myazaki and my kids introduced me to Pokemon, Naruto, Sonic, and Hello Kitty way back when.

I have to say I was surprised at how many cosplayers were dressed as someone I recognized (even if I didn’t know their names) and also how many people were cosplaying non-Japanese fandoms. There was Lord of the Rings, Doctor Who, Game of Thrones, Steampunk, renaissance era, Star Wars and more. I will say this. Tekko is NOT just for Japanese fandoms! It is accepting of all fandoms and the attendees were definitely a mixed bag, however, the majority of cosplay was from Japanese comics, movies, games, etc. So next year, don’t be afraid to attend Tekko, even if you’re not sure you would fit in or find something you like. You will!

THE INTERVIEW

Last week, my daughter and I attended @SteelCityCon. If you haven’t read the blog about it, check it out. We met Nicole Tibbitt there who was cosplaying Ashoka from Clone Wars. She looked awesome.

My daughter really wanted her picture. She got in touch with me via the blog and I asked if she would talk to me about her cosplay. Come to find out, Nicole is a talented artist as well. I looked at her art at nmallenart.com and terribletoadqueen on deviantart.com and myedhead on Facebook. My daughter and I enjoyed looking at her art, which is inspired by her love of Japanese games & movies, scifi tv, and all the fandoms she loves.

I met Nicole and her husband Frank at her booth at Tekko. We filmed a 10 minute interview where I asked her about how she got into cosplay, what advice would she give to a beginning cosplayer, and how did she get into art. Watch the video (see below) to hear her answers and see her work and that of some of her fellow artists as well as a walk through of Tekko.

I asked Nicole’s husband, Frank, about how he feels about her art and cosplaying. He said that ‘this is what makes her happy, so I’m going to support that.’ I’m paraphrasing. Isn’t that exactly the answer you’d want your significant other to give? Nicole mentioned that Frank started getting interested in participating with her when she made him the lovely papier mache head you can see below.

Frank was wearing a clone troopers helmet at Tekko, so it seems he has embraced the cosplaying ways. The Force is strong with this one….

Here is some of Nicole’s art. You can see more on the video blog and on her website. NMALLENART.com

     

Some of the COOL STUFF I found at Tekko.

   

 

COSPLAYERS

          See more cosplayers on the video.

OTHER ARTISTS & THEIR ART

 

See more artists on the video.

Ok, folks, I encourage you to watch the video to hear what Nicole has to say about art and cosplay. She has some great advice for beginning cosplayers.

This Friday, April 24 (someone’s birthday) we are going to celebrate at the Hollywood Theatre in Dormont with a Doctor Who movie party. Join us if you’d like. See the details at http://www.thehollywooddormont.org  I will be blogging about it afterwards, but how much fun if you could be there and experience it yourself. If you say hi to me, I might even put you in the next blog.

Thanks for reading!

April

twitter/instagram @GeeksBurgh

geeksburgh@gmail.com