Latest / The Lookout on RNC RADIO / The Lookout: Episode 198 - The Black Cosplaying Experience (w/ Adrian & David)

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The Lookout: Episode 198 - The Black Cosplaying Experience (w/ Adrian & David) · The Lookout on RNC RADIO

• 0:18
  Speaker 1: And welcome back. Another episode of The Lookout, episode 198. We're getting close to 200. We just celebrated seven years. We just wrapped up our six part one piece with me and AD.
• 0:34
  No Mills still. So you will hear him next week, this week where I'm running it. I'm I'm not solo, but I'm solo because today I have two amazing guests, two amazing people that I have had the pleasure of even sharing the stage with with a panel, and I'm super happy to have them on. We're keeping it super local. We're keeping it super Saint Paul today.
• 1:00
  Okay. So today, I have two great men two great cosplayers, Adrian and David. How are you guys doing today?
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: Doing doing well. Thanks for
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: having pretty good. Thank you. Thank you. That was a wonderful intro. Appreciate that.
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: For life.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: Oh, man. I I appreciate that. See, I'm not usually the one that does the intro. My cohost does. And so it's been real fun kinda doing it for the past couple weeks.
• 1:23
  I've been kinda getting my I'm not like I don't know if y'all listen to throwing fits where he does, like, the 50 nicknames, like, super rapid fast.
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: Gotcha.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: But I'm I'm getting there. Guys, how you so how are you guys doing today? You're doing great?
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Doing great. Doing wonderful.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: So I know you guys both got back from BlurredCon.
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: Mhmm. Mhmm.
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: How can can you tell us a little bit about that? And also too, has there been a a convention yet that is that is your pinnacle of conventions?
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: Adrian, why don't you go ahead and start this one?
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah. So, yeah, BlurredCon. I was doing some digging in the I was finally I started in 2017, so we I'm sure they had some downs over the pandemic, but going on for a few year. You know, of course, Blurred combination of black nerd has been going on for it was, yeah, it was amazing experience. I think all the things they advertised, it was there because we've been to cons, and it's with diversity, you might have a diverse attendees or you might have something, hitting all points of diverse attendees, diverse content, diverse planners, diverse, vendors, all those things, having that space and just being, so, yeah, comfortable and and welcome into that environment.
• 2:39
  So, yeah, that was out in, Virginia last week. Well, a couple weekends ago. It's all flying by, but it was an amazing experience to be able to cosplay and see some stuff that you wouldn't see other places and really enjoy it. Yeah.
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Blurcom for me was, was actually a bucket list place for me to to visit. So it was an absolute joy and honor to be there and to make that happen and appreciative to my guy Adrian for coming along with me to experience that. It was amazing. It was amazing.
• 3:19
  It was everything that I hoped it to be and probably more. It was for me, it was a way more polished con and the things of looking towards like, black spaces. You know what I mean? And so that I mean, like there was just so much. There's such a high that it leaves you with.
• 3:47
  There's so much going on from like one of the things that stood out to me for was how celebratory everybody was, how happy everyone was just to be there, to be in their own skin. It was like, as we like to say, you with family. And so to be there and then just everybody just joyful, everybody being super nerds, but also the culture, that unspoken language that we have with one another. It didn't matter if people were from the East Coast, it didn't matter if people from the West Coast, it didn't matter that we are in the Midwest. Like everybody came from all over the country and just vibed out.
• 4:36
  And I loved every bit of that.
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: Definitely. And that's amazing to hear. I think, like, what we're doing here at the Lookout, being a black anime network, that word that you're saying, like family and community, and that's something that we really strive for here, in this space.
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: Because we've seen it before. We've seen it online where, you know, it can it can get very divisive.
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: Mhmm. You know?
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: You you can you can can see it and to to create spaces for ourselves and for other fans and and, you even outside the anime, you're talking about just, like you said, the whole blurred, you know, community between gamings and comics and whatnot. So it's great to see these, you know, conventions and events that are happening where you can see people who look like you and come from similar experiences from you, but are still able to enjoy all these different assets and different just like channels. And that's amazing to hear, and I'm happy that you guys had an amazing experience out there. I definitely had a couple other friends out there who all said the same thing where it's like, go there and you just feel at home. You just feel like, wow, here are all these other people who look like me enjoying this stuff and just having fun with it, which is amazing to hear.
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. I mean, for years, I mean, there's it's there's there's like it's like layers to the onion. You know?
• 6:13
  There's so many layers to this. And for me, I got into let's just say I grew into myself later in the years. You know? I was already a full fledged grown man with family, kids and stuff like that. And it wasn't till later to where I really came into myself and accepted myself as and in flying that flag as a black nerd.
• 6:38
  Before the word blurred even came about or that recognition or that container, if you will, I just knew that I've always liked these things. It was always a nostalgic feeling for me, but I still continue to enjoy them. And so like going, I started to go to cons and through my photography work that connected me to that community. I really loved being in that because it was still, you were still kind of finding your people, you know, people that enjoy these, these, these different medias and fandoms and things like that. But as a black male stepping into those spaces, you started more and more, I should say, you started to kind of feel that like, I'm kind of feeling a little excluded.
• 7:34
  There's not a lot of the representation that, things that I vibe with. There's not much of my culture. There's not much of the people that look like me that's here. Stuff like that. You start to notice that.
• 7:46
  You start to feel a little exclusion from folks and from the organizations. They ask, hey, give us give us what do you want to see at the next cons? And you start filling out like, I would like to see a little bit of this, little little bit more maybe hip hop r and b, little bit jazz. I don't care. Something that is more represent representative of where I come from and things that I enjoy.
• 8:15
  Maybe I can get some panels that's talking about some movies or whatever media that has a little bit more of the culture that I recognize and I come from and identify with. And when it kind of blatantly just does not get answered at all, you start to notice that more and more. So we'll definitely get into which will segue into confluence and how confluence came about. But Blurred kind of came about just randomly for me. And I saw, I think it was a cosplay music video.
• 8:54
  And I was just like, Oh my God, This place exists. I need to get there. I don't know how. I don't know when, but I gotta get there.
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Definitely. And we'll definitely get in the confluence because I feel that is something both of you guys are working on and been a part of. How how long is con this is what year for confluence?
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: This is the second it'll be the second full event. So his first event was in 2023 last year. Put on some smaller events to keep things going, but the second full con event will be this October. So the second one. Yeah.
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Awesome. And we'll we'll definitely tap into that. Before we get into that, though, one thing that I would I I love about both of y'all is your ability to take a cosplay and turn it into something completely, like, left field where you're like, I couldn't even think of that. Oh, like, what was your I guess, like, what was your start in it?
• 10:03
  Like, you know, obviously doing the cosplay. And then what was the point where you felt like, okay. Like, let me let me start throwing my little extras on it because I David, I saw your Super Mario. Adrian, the the the Prince Jedi is the Prince Jedi at this point is is just as big as Prince. Like, people know who the, you know, people know who the Prince Jedi is.
• 10:28
  Oh. Yes. You know, in the city. So, like, how, like, you know, starting with you, Adrian, like, what was your point where you're like, okay, this is my intro to cosplay and then, what was that turning point where you're just like, you know what? I'm gonna start throwing my extra my extra flavors on it.
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I've always been a a creative nerdy kid and doing those sort of things, but my sort of cosplay intro was was the Black Panther movie after it came out and the the Killmonger character really, just, again, I always say outside of the killing, but everything else he was saying and doing really identified. And I was like, I wanna that's a that's a pretty badass suit. I wanna get that. So I dropped some paid some money and got that and the helmet and all that stuff from war to a Galaxy Con in 2099 and the in 2019 in The Twin Cities and really enjoyed that experience.
• 11:12
  And and, it's gonna be I mean, weird going out in Minneapolis and full body spandex. But afterwards, I was like, I'm gonna feel weird if I wasn't wearing cosplay in this situation. So just kept on doing with that, did some new ones. But today, I think of my most, like, creative ideas I get when I'm falling asleep. And I was like, there's, yeah, this, I was like, get a purple lightsaber, the Mace Windu one, and, I've done some Prince stuff here and there.
• 11:35
  And that's been a fan of that. And I wonder, yeah, Prince could be a Jedi. Just gotta get a role, put these things together, and tweaked it over time and just really enjoyed the it's you're not you're not gonna get as many, photos as Spider Man or some big net things like that everybody knows. But when you get the the people who know that or realize it or connect with it, it's a much deeper connection and much more fun, I think, to have that original idea and creation. So I really enjoyed that, and mine's always racing for new things in the coming years, but I had to initially, I wasn't gonna bring Jedi Prince to BlurryCon.
• 12:06
  Was like, what? After, like, watching more videos, so many original characters, like, the the purple purple one has to has to make it to to DC for that. So it was a good time. Yeah.
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: Amazing. And, David, what about you? Like, what was that you know, your introduction to the cosplay world and then what was that point where you're just like, you know what? I'm a take this character. I'm a take this theme and I'm just gonna I'm a run off with it on my on my own time in.
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: Oh, man. I okay. My introduction to cosplay was I was the cameraman. I was the photography was my introduction to it all, but I legitimately avoided it for many, many years. So it wasn't until probably 2017, '20 '18 maybe when I very first was like, I'm
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: gonna give it
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: a shot. And I literally just threw like Halloween cost like pieces together. My first one was Cloak Tyrone Johnson from Cloak and Dagger in the Marble Run. And it like Adrian was saying, was this thing that sort of just made me feel closer to myself as corny as that might sound is the truth. Like I just enjoyed it.
• 13:31
  Like I had so much fun just being part kind of playing around with this character. And then when people recognize that character, there's a connection that happens. All of a sudden this conversation sparks and you start like bonding over like favorite moments from the comic or from the TV show, so on and so forth. So that was the very first one. And then I just built upon it.
• 14:00
  I started dumping money into it. I found a sister here who's a Rondo, who still is in the Rondo community. Quintellig, I got a drop. I got a name drop her because she's done all my cloaks from scratch. So put it together.
• 14:20
  I gave her pictures and all kinds of designs and stuff like that and told her this is how I wanted to look and she did me right. So that's how I got my more accurate piece. And then that also led on to like the black Adam.
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: And also shout out to the Rondo babies. We always gotta we always gotta shout out to the Rondo babies. But,
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah.
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I see, I've been I've been wanting to take that step into the cosplay world.
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: Talk is cheap.
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: Talk is cheap. Talk is very cheap. I'll I will agree with that. My issue is that I'd be like, I got a 50 ideas and I do not know how to zone in on one.
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: It's you just jump. You you literally jump head first, feet first, whatever, because I did the same thing. I had a list. I was like, I don't know. There's a bunch of people that look awesome.
• 15:14
  Cloak wasn't my very first idea. That wasn't the very first. I was gonna try to do Buca from Air Gear. And then but I was like, I don't really wanna try and build skates. So let me try to find something else.
• 15:30
  And I don't know. I landed on one that felt easy enough for me to jump into, that wasn't gonna break the pockets, that didn't really require me to invest a lot of time and money. But the moment I did, I was hooked. So you just you just gotta, like, pick and go.
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: Do you feel that it is easier when starting off to just go out kinda find the the the already built costume just to kinda get the the feel for it? Or, you know Yeah. Okay.
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: It's it's it's tricky too because I think I I I I went very hard on my first one as far as price wise and so having that sort of standard
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: of You like half the costume from the movie at that
• 16:14
  Speaker 3: point. Getting that experience.
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: And then, yeah, then you're like, oh, I can't get that spirit Halloween stuff for next. But I've done that too with bought some stuff, and I think I've learned that the community is very welcoming. There are those anything elitist snobs who want the fancy stuff, but people, yeah, people who come in with cardboard stuff, people who do all sorts of different things. People like the creativity, and, again, don't let the don't let perfection get in the way of progress. You start with something, and whether you can keep using cardboard or whatever, it's gonna get better over time.
• 16:44
  So I think that's a very welcoming community for the most part.
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: Right. Awesome. Well, listen. Confluence is coming in October. I'm definitely gonna be there.
• 16:54
  I may pull up in in my first cosplay there. That may be my
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: What's it gonna be? What's it gonna be? Name it name it right now. What are you doing? I don't I
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: think you're putting me on the spot. I'm like, David, I got the list. I gotta I gotta I gotta throw my ball in the list.
• 17:07
  Speaker 3: Just cover your eyes and point and be like, alright.
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: See, that was gonna be, I was gonna hang it up. I'm a have the darts. I'm just gonna turn, throw the dart, whatever it lands closest to. I'm like, alright, that's the one I'm gonna roll with. But.
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: Yes. Yes.
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: One that has definitely been like high on my list is the is the Superboy one, the one where he has the leather jacket.
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: I think Yeah. Yeah.
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: I think that costume is so so hard. So I'm like, alright. That may be the one. Yes.
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: And, yeah, our friend Tyson does a strong one at Natia. It's always never let someone else doing it stop you, but I'm saying, yeah, he's he's had real fun with that one. Yeah. It looks looks badass. That's what's one of my criteria is?
• 17:47
  Does it look badass when I'm wearing it out?
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah. For sure. For sure. I mean, makes you look.
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: I gotta tell you, cloak cloak is my favorite right now because I legitimately feel like a badass. I feel super, super cool, especially when the wind hits that cape or that cloak. I'm like, I feel dope right now.
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: That's amazing. See, y'all y'all inspiring me. See the IDC. I'm I'm feeling the energy. This is more this is probably what I needed.
• 18:19
  I just I just needed the energy of like, no. Go. Just jump off that ledge. Just
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah. You got the time now because, yeah, the con scrambles hard like, oh, you got that amazing thing, but it's not gonna get here in time. But you got time to
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: Get a few thrift shops, order things, get it right, all the different stuff. So For sure.
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: So jumping into confluence, yeah, like, what is Confluence? Obviously it's second year you're going into, I know you guys are both heavily involved with it, but what is Confluence? How did that idea become what it is now? Like, what are you guys doing with it? I know, like you said, October, you're definitely prepping out.
• 19:02
  But, yeah, just just talk a bit about it and and how it came alive for y'all.
• 19:10
  Speaker 3: AJ and Kulai, just jump out there?
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: Yes. Yes.
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: Alright. So confluence, let's very first shout out our queen to Leslie Barlow. Confluence came from Leslie's mind and heart. So this is her baby along with her original teammates that made it happen two years ago. So but it it it is a collective long overdue desire for us here in the state of Minnesota.
• 19:46
  We many of us have attended the cons here multiple times. Many of us have found affinity, real joy and discovery within these cons. Like I talked a little bit previously about as people of color, we definitely felt the lack. We saw the lack, we felt the lack. When it comes to like the effort and when it comes to the actual content, the actual heart of these cons including people of color and other communities that are very prevalent.
• 20:32
  It felt like you were being ignored. And it came a time where it was like, you know what, we're tired of asking. We're tired of being let down. It's time that we create our own space, a safe space, a space that is very intentional. A space that is going to cultivate all of those things that we have been desiring all these years and confluence was born.
• 21:05
  Is the love baby again from Leslie Barlow. And from those of us that have felt that on our individual selves are coming together and going, yeah, you know what? Yeah, let's do this. Let's make this happen. Back in 2023 when it was very first announced, I lost my mind and I was like I want to support in any way possible that I can.
• 21:36
  And I jumped out there like I bought so many tickets and just for people to go. I think it the first con I ever volunteered for. Long story short, here we are now starting last year and moving on through this year. I definitely jumped in when there was a call put out for those who wanted to be a part of the planning committee.
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: Awesome. And, Adrian, how how about you? How are you you know, how did you start getting involved? Because when we did the panel so I like I said, I had the pleasure of of doing a a diversity and BIPOC panel at the Twin Cities con with these two guys. Adrian was a great moderator.
• 22:28
  And shout shout to the homie, Brenna, who who in you know, who let me know, like, hey. They're looking for somebody and they welcomed me in with open arms. We had a great conversation. It's a lot about what we're talking about now of just being black in the space in this nerd anime comic space and how sometimes the roadblocks that we run into, but also too how we have found our communities and have found people to help uplift whatever we're doing, whether it's a cosplay, whether it's a podcast, whether it's someone else trying to, you know, start their own convention. Correct.
• 23:09
  Is the first time I heard about it then. Unfortunately, I was not able to make it last year, but definitely will be there this year. But, Adrian, how were you how did you start getting involved with it and and helping it grow and seeing it into this year?
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I forgot how I heard about it initially. I think I don't know social media posts or seeing people in person, but the same things Dave was talking about going to cons and just, like, oh, the just people miss identifying your cosplay or just saying weird stuff or con cause cons being just not intentionally unwelcoming, but just because some of them can be like, it's like a high school reunion for a bunch of people that have been going there for twenty years, and you're new to this space, and you don't know the lingo or how it works out. There's not really explaining it much. So hearing about confluence, I attended.
• 23:58
  I think I volunteered to help some setup and things here and there, but just walking in the doors and the space was similar to the experience we got going to BlurredCon. It's just feeling welcome, feeling something new, something, representing the culture, all the different pieces that were put into the the artistic experience, the sessions, the the vibe, everything else. It was a lot of great things to experience. And then after that, I after the evals came out saying, if you need anything, I'm down to help. So I'm helping, me and David helping with the the cosplay competition.
• 24:31
  I'm helping with some of the tech stuff, AV audio visual things here and there, just being able to provide more to a space that I think one of the one of the metrics we're looking at this year is sort of the the first timers, the people who've never been to a con. Yep. A lot of that, yeah, is coming from our community when we're doing some tabling and things. And we see some people, like, we'll be tabling at the at some Juneteenth events and different things, and we'll have some lightsabers out. And we see who's looking at that.
• 24:58
  You know what that is. You wanna touch it. You wanna let them you never realize there's a space where you can dress up like a Jedi or do different things. And so opening the eyes to so many people, Leslie was very fortunate in her life to be exposed to this early on when, yeah, myself and David didn't really get in touch with it until our later adult years, but hoping to provide those spaces for whatever it is, an eight year old or a 80 year old to have the space to feel comfortable in and then be a gateway to other things. And I definitely see confluence being being what BlurredCon was years ago and and could grow into something as big as it as time goes on.
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah. And, you guys are partnering with public functionary on this? Or they're using the space?
• 25:43
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah. So public functionary at the Northrup King Building. Public Functionary is the container for confluence right now. So it's fully operational underneath their 501, I think it is, which is a great thing, especially for con still in its infant years right now and still being developed and and cultivated.
• 26:12
  So, yeah, public functionary would be that umbrella and container for confluence.
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: Awesome. Love to hear it. And if you are in the city or even if you're not from the city and you want to come see what St. Paul and Minnesota is all about, make sure y'all pop out here for Confluence. Come out, come see it, come feel the love, come feel the joy, come with your best cosplay.
• 26:34
  You may see me, you know, start my cosplay streak.
• 26:39
  Speaker 3: We will see you.
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: Will. See, they're speaking into an existence.
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: Yes. You have the opportunity to to stretch your stuff. We got a cosplay runway and a cosplay competition, all sorts of opportunities to to show your stuff. Yeah.
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: Amazing. Amazing. So, here at the Lookout, we are anime network. What was your guys' anime knowledge introductions? Are y'all heavy into that?
• 27:09
  Is your introduction because mine I was American comics into manga. That's how I started. I was reading Batman, Superman, Spider Man all the time. And then Toonami introduced me. It was like Dragon Ball Z and all that, but then Toonami had their block.
• 27:30
  I was just like, oh, woah. This is like cartoons, but they're actually, like, showing blood. Like, what is it?
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: I
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: was like was like, they're fighting. I was like, is that a cuss word? I was like, oh, this is amazing. How about you guys? Like, do y'all have a a starting point within anime or just kinda like in general, just like your your your love for nerdom?
• 27:53
  Like, where did that kind of start for you?
• 27:57
  Speaker 3: Adrian, you can go ahead. I might get a little bit.
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I wanted to reach out before you to apologize that I have not gotten deep into the anime world. And I watched a little Pokemon as a kid, but just in general, my nerdym is, yeah, stuff I was watching on TV as a kid from Power Rangers and Gargoyles and Darkwing Duck and and seeing different things.
• 28:15
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: And I never I never, yeah, never got into the anime. And then after time, I was like, there's too much to catch up on now. I guess I'm I'm as you're saying about the cosplay, there's too many things to where do I start. But I guess that the Boondocks can be somewhat categorized anime. I really enjoyed that with the serious nature and various, movies and things.
• 28:36
  Cold world was a animation slash live action one with Brad Pitt and and, who framed Roger Rabbit Rabbit seeing those sort of things. That was a form a formative experience. But, yeah, in general, it was what I saw on TV. I always preface this next statement by saying that I'm I work in higher ed. I have a master's degree, but I in general, I don't read.
• 28:56
  So it's it's either TV or movies or other content. I'm not I'm not picking up a comic book. Haven't yet, but so many things that, I guess, at least in my cosplay and stuff I enjoyed as a kid on on TV and movies and all the other things that lead to my my nerdy side.
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: No. Definitely. I mean, I think cartoons in general, I think now, especially with, like, the nineties babies into now, like, cartoons play and still play a huge role in what I deem is cool. And I've always been even now having a daughter, meet her watch a lot of cartoons together and whatnot. I think tell people all the time, I love animation so much because I'm like, there's just some things that that live action can do.
• 29:51
  Like, there's like a there's like a ceiling.
• 29:53
  Speaker 3: Mhmm.
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: You can only do so much with live action. I'm like, with animation, I'm like, you can go as kooky, as far left, as far right, as far up, as far down as you really wanna go with it. And I think even now, just the level of just animation. I mean, look at things, Invincible just took over the world for a second. There's things animation wise that they can do and they have-
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: Spider Verse stuff.
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Spider Verse, everything that they've been doing where you're like, This is so next level. What am I watching? This is art. This is woah.
• 30:38
  And that was where my love really came from is the fact that I'm like, this is not only great storytelling, but this is in a medium where I feel that there's so many different styles and there's so many things that come into play where you're like, this is it's so enticing. You're just like, I I want to be you're just drawing deeper, deeper into it. But but David, alright. You you say you're gonna get long winded.
• 31:07
  Speaker 3: I'm gonna try not to. It's just
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: I will I will give you the floor now. What was your what was your introduction into into this Nurnum version?
• 31:17
  Speaker 3: So I would say like in my youth, much like Adrian, like I grew up with the Saturday morning cartoons, eating cereal, watching Dennis the Menace, Disney Channel, Nickelodeon. One of my earliest things when it comes to a more adult driven things was written in Stimpy back when it was on MTV, I believe it was.
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, remember they had that Spike TV run too.
• 31:42
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah. Before it even whipped over to Nickelodeon, he dropped Darkwing Duck. Yo, Darkwing Duck and Gargos was my Can we curse? Because it was my age. Yes.
• 31:54
  Have fun. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it was definitely the shit. Those are fond, fond memories.
• 32:03
  Batman, the animated series. So I can go on and on and on. Right? Through my youth, I loved all of that stuff. You know?
• 32:10
  But it was, like, quietly just me. It wasn't until I met my best friend who my brother Samuel. And I was a game head way back in the day and we connected over video games. And he is the he's my OG black nerd. He was the one that was in the anime and the gaming and the comic books, the whole nine.
• 32:35
  So he ushered me into that world. It took him a little bit because he would be like, need to read this. You need to watch this. And I'd just be like, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll get to it. And I jumped in like I told you to do.
• 32:50
  I jumped in all the way in like on the deep end. Like my first comic book, books that I read, I bought the entire series of Transmetropolitan hands down one of the best series ever written that is super potent and till this day very relevant to what we're facing in our times. It's like it's timeless. I jumped in and at the same time I bought the entire Punisher Max by Garth Ennis. I even bought the entire run of that.
• 33:26
  That's why Punisher is like probably my number one Marvel favorite right now.
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: Are you currently watching Daredevil Born Again?
• 33:35
  Speaker 3: I am not. I am purposely staying away until it's done and then I'm just gonna go like lock myself in my apartment and then binge it.
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: Brave brave individual. Yes.
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: Very you know, I I have those same watching habits. I I blame Netflix. The Netflix ruined me because I'm just like, now I'm like, just let the whole season drop, and then I'll just watch it all in the next, like, twenty eight hours.
• 34:00
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I can't I I'm really excited to to jump in but I want to jump in completely blinded. When they dropped the first Punisher, I got a lot of thoughts on it but I absolutely loved it.
• 34:18
  So I absolutely loved the first Daredevil as well. The writing was great but the cinematography was just like on freaking point. That's a big thing for me too. But to talk more directly about anime, when I finally jumped into anime, I don't I can't remember what my first watch was. Actually, I take that back.
• 34:52
  It was Air Gear. I think Air Gear was my very Air Gear and Sekirei. So those were my first two ones. And if you've ever watched those ones, you might understand why I have a little chuckle.
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: I've seen Air Gear. I have not seen Sakurai yet though.
• 35:13
  Speaker 3: All right. It's the whole harem, the unlikely hero, the shy boy who's surrounded by these beautiful, powerful women or deities. You know what I mean? Air Gear was a little bit more centered on kid just being I like that one because he was totally crap at being a skater and he had to really struggle and learn and get his way there. But it was semi harem because he was surrounded by all these beautiful women too.
• 35:52
  But those were the start for me. And similar, it was like this world, it just opened up a whole new world of storytelling for me. And so that's what pulled me in. After that, I was just consuming everything. And as I was consuming things, was noticing like even my own particular flavor of type of anime, what type of stories are being told or like what type of animation is being utilized and like what I'm gravitating towards and stuff like that.
• 36:30
  So I wouldn't call myself like because I forget so much. Like people be wanting to talk to me and I'm like, listen, I don't remember nobody's name, but I definitely remember that it was dope.
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I remember the feeling. The feeling is Yeah.
• 36:51
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah. Like I might remember. I remember the art or I can remember the general story and stuff like that. But if we wanna start talking about characters and stuff like that, unfortunately, names start blending together for me.
• 37:02
  So
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: Definitely. This is amazing. This is so fun. I mean, we have these shout out to my cohost. We have great conversations all the time.
• 37:16
  But like I said, we keeping it so local today, and it feels great talking to two guys from the same neighborhood, from the same Yeah. You know? We no. We and seeing how you guys are are taking everything that that is happening, you know, with the nurse stuff, with all this, the cost, and, like, taking it to different heights and how you guys are applying it whatnot. Is you guys' vision for the future, for yourself, for this community, like, what are you guys wanting to see more of?
• 37:56
  You know, with yourselves and like just this community in general, like, what are you looking like, for more of?
• 38:05
  Speaker 2: Mhmm. Gotcha. Yeah. I I as you were saying that, was something me and David talked about that me and David were clearly in the same circles for many years in the go in the same high school, same same friend group, all these different things, but didn't know each other until we popped up on the Internet dressing up like superheroes and then got connected. And and and me and you, yeah, we I've known you since you were a kid and things, but I didn't know what you were doing.
• 38:27
  And so I think it's just being comfortable talking about this stuff and and creating spaces for people to enjoy it and whether, yeah, whether it's on social media or or in three d, trying to expose more people to these opportunities so they can yeah. It can lead to a podcast. It can lead to a creative fun outlet, lead to a career, whatever else it is. But I think trying to share it more, as I see people, it's again, with a day job, you may not bring it up, but but why not? Talk about it a little bit, share things during an icebreaker, let your friends and family know.
• 39:00
  I got my family to come out to Twin Cities Con this past year, all suited up as Spider Man. My mom even dressed up like a aunt May and she got into it. So just and I got some nibbling who are getting into the world now. So just trying to share it with more people. I've got see, I'm going to to WonderCon next weekend and some other things to to try and explore and meet new people.
• 39:23
  But just having having fun with it is the main thing.
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: Awesome. What about you, David? Like, what is your What is your dream for the future for this community, for yourself and everything else that's going on?
• 39:36
  Speaker 3: Oh man, I'm finding myself transformed by all of this. It very much started just being an observer to being a participant by like going to the events and things like that to now I have I really feel I have a deep passion in trying to figure out how do we create these spaces? How do we invite people from our communities that we know don't always get the exposure, right? They don't really necessarily get the exposure to these things that we really enjoy. Or maybe they did get the exposure to the things, but they don't have a place or space where they feel safe to be themselves, to express themselves, just like, because I'm telling you the moment you meet, you're saying it a lot to us.
• 40:42
  It's moments like this where you meet somebody who comes from the same neighborhood or similar neighborhood, somebody who looks like you or who's somebody who speaks that unspoken language like you do. And so there's a culture significance that we share, but then all of a sudden you're like, wait a minute,
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: you black nerd too? Wait a minute, you watch anime?
• 41:05
  Speaker 3: I'm telling you out here by, I stay in Inver Grove Heights. And so I go to the Walmart that's out here. Right? And I see many people of color, mostly like Mexicans and stuff like that. But it's primarily a white neighborhood and
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: Oh, know. So I work at that. I work right up the road from that Walgreens over there.
• 41:25
  Speaker 3: Okay. So you understand where I'm
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: going. Yeah.
• 41:28
  Speaker 3: There's a young brother that works there. And I walked in wearing a Demon Slayer t shirt. And he's ringing me up and he just stops in mid ring. And he was like, you watch anime? You know, like a little shook.
• 41:44
  And I was like I'm like absolutely I watch anime. And then all of a sudden he was just like, oh what did you think about blah blah blah blah blah. And just to see him completely be himself and feel comfortable in that moment, My brother forgot that he had a whole other customer that he needed to go. It's moments like that that really feed me and that really solidify the movement that we, that not only us here in Minnesota with confluence is trying to do. There's some other, I went to the, I got a shout out at Quito Festival.
• 42:22
  Excuse me if I'm mispronouncing that. That's an indigenous festival that was happening just this past weekend in St. Paul. It's the first ever in St. Paul.
• 42:31
  Yo, there's a movement that's happening. So it's not only happening in the black communities but it's which confluence is trying to it is representative of the blacks, indigenous and people of color. Not only us but those of us who have been hushed and quieted like, you know what, enough is enough. We need a space for us. So we're about to take up space.
• 42:57
  So that's what I want. That's what I see for the future. That's what I want for the future. That's in any small place I can help to do that. I'm going to do it.
• 43:10
  If I'm able, if I'm, you know, if I whatever powers that I may have, whether it's just I'm going go and pick up sticks for you so you can have a clean yard to do a sale, right? If even if it's just that minimal, I want to be there and I want to help to do that because I just believe in this so much. And I am constantly reaffirmed that it is needed, it is loved, it is welcomed and it is very much yearned for by these communities.
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: Man, that was beautiful. That was couldn't say it better myself. And I completely agree, even what the lookout, we celebrated seven years on the nineteenth. Congratulations. Appreciate y'all.
• 44:05
  Shout out to Mills because he's the creator of all this. Mills is That's my bestie, that's my man's. I just started off listening as a fan. Just like, just want to support my friend. Then that grew into me you know, pitching an idea to him of like, hey.
• 44:23
  You guys are, you know, doing anime. Like, I read a lot of manga. Can I do a manga show for the network? And Mhmm. You know, ran a manga podcast for a while.
• 44:33
  And once that ended, he was like, yo, just come, you know, come run the mainstay podcast with me. And the opportunities, the people that I've been able to meet, the spaces I've been able to go in, I'm like, Wow. Just off of really wanting to just do something cool with my friend and just talk about something I enjoy and just be a grown ass kid. Now I'm looking at it now, the community I've been able to build and see just see all the wonderful things that other people are doing just like YouTube, where it's just like, man, Adrian probably knows every single person in my family. Every day, you know For
• 45:22
  Speaker 2: Drew, with with Benny last week.
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah. You did. Like, you know and, you know, it was funny because my cousin Nation, I was like, oh, Adrian's gonna be on the podcast next week. She was like, oh my gosh. Tell him I said hi.
• 45:32
  Oh. And David, all of us coming from the same neighborhood, it's beautiful the fact that there's this thing, there's this connecting string for all of us and now look at us all here. I'm with you where it's just like, all I wanna see is just the the connection just grow stronger and bigger. How can we how can we make this spider web become bigger? Right.
• 45:55
  Get more people trapped in. Alright. Last question. Just one for David. Like, I know you have daughters.
• 46:01
  Right? Yes, sir.
• 46:02
  Speaker 3: Yes, sir.
• 46:03
  Speaker 1: Seen them kind of fall into this, like, thing naturally with you? Are they still kind of because my daughter, she obviously has seen me. I've never kind of really pushed anything on her. She's just kinda seen me do this and kinda fall into now. She started like, we went to Twin Cities Con the year before we did the panel and she was like, I wanna dress up as Sailor Moon.
• 46:28
  And so
• 46:28
  Speaker 2: was like,
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: okay, cool. So got her a Sailor Moon outfit and she was able to wear it and, you know, so it's been great to see her kinda just find her own lane in it and just find the things that she likes. You know, she really loves my hero, and she'll find all the, you know, the other animes that she likes and other comics that she likes. Have you been seeing that with your own children? And how does that like as a dad, how does that feel to see them kind of gravitate towards something that you enjoy if they are?
• 46:57
  Speaker 3: Right. I've definitely tried to leave an open lane for the girls to just discover their own, know what I mean? Come into their own. And then I want to champion that. I just want to be the biggest cheerleader for them.
• 47:18
  My eldest daughter has definitely seen, I've definitely lived out my geek life fully. So she knows fully well her dad is a big time blurb and she champions that for me and I love that. She'd be behind me coming with ideas and she's definitely been to several cons with me. She's definitely dressed up herself. I think there was one costume where I was just given suggestions and stuff like that and she killed it.
• 47:56
  She definitely killed. She dressed up as Ryder from Grand Theft Auto San Andreas.
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: Oh, that's tight.
• 48:03
  Speaker 3: Yeah. And I think we went to Anime Detour that year. But yeah, yeah, yeah. So I would say,
• 48:15
  Speaker 2: she
• 48:15
  Speaker 3: definitely digs anime here and there. She's definitely a gamer in her own right here and there. But she moves at her own speed. I wouldn't say that she's gotten deep into the world as of yet, but she's definitely found her lane if that makes sense and I love it. She's got like few comic books that she's gravitated towards and she enjoys and stuff like that.
• 48:41
  But I like to make sure I leave it open for them to discover their way through it. The youngest ones haven't yet. I haven't taken them to any cons as of yet. They are still very much into like Coco Melon and the LOL dolls and stuff like that. So I like to just let them be.
• 49:07
  You know what I mean? Like I see that's what they love. I just be like, I'm a just buy a bunch of toys in that area or whatever the case may be until it changes into something new. Because they're still weaving in and out of the things that they enjoy. So whatever it is, I'm gonna be right there champion.
• 49:29
  One thing though I always I may push on all the girls is TMNT. They'd be like, can we watch this? Can we watch YouTube or whatever? And I don't really like to have them watch YouTube unless it's like YouTube kids. And so I'd be like, how about this?
• 49:47
  Let's watch some Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. And they'd be looking at me sideways like, that's not what we asked. I'm like, no. But you don't love it.
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: Don't love
• 49:55
  Speaker 3: it. Don't love this.
• 49:58
  Speaker 2: Listen. It's on a it's on a cosplay dream list teaming up with the with the movie quality Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle suits. One day, we gotta find a sponsor.
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: Yes. Oh, yes. Seriously. Okay. I'll join in on that one.
• 50:09
  Speaker 3: Yeah. I've already priced I've already priced it out. I've already reached out to a cat. He told me not to tell him about it.
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: I just called Deb on Mikey. That's it.
• 50:16
  Speaker 2: Cool. That's cool. Yep. Who who who do you David,
• 50:19
  Speaker 3: who you got? Who you Raf.
• 50:20
  Speaker 2: Raf? Alright.
• 50:21
  Speaker 1: Yep. Who you got?
• 50:23
  Speaker 3: Or Donnie. It's Raf Raf has to be my first one, but I do love Donnie too.
• 50:30
  Speaker 2: Leonardo coming through all blue.
• 50:32
  Speaker 3: Alright. Alright.
• 50:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah. And then Mikey Mikey, that's my guy. He's the he's the goofball of the group. He's the one that, you know, he he mellows out the he, you he mellows out the rest. Yeah.
• 50:44
  That's always been my goal. I just wanna be the guy that mellows out the rest.
• 50:47
  Speaker 3: You know why know why Mikey is really, really dope though and and underrated? Because people, you know, they they don't really pay attention to the like the the person with all the jokes and the one who's always lighthearted and stuff like that. But you know, he's probably like the most powerful because
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: Nunchucks are really hard. But Yeah. Facts.
• 51:10
  Speaker 3: Facts. Have you ever tried to spin nunchucks on your finger?
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: I think You know?
• 51:16
  Speaker 3: But the fact that it's like he's just as skilled as his brothers, right? Like he can whoop ass like them, but he does it nonchalantly. Raph has got a lot of emotion. He's taking everything super serious. Leonardo has got the world on his shoulders because he's trying to be an example and lead his brothers.
• 51:37
  Donnie is a more analytical type of guy, probably more of a little goofy side because him and Mikey got that connect. Mikey is just like, bro, I'm a whoop your ass, but the entire time I'm whooping your ass, I'm thinking about what I'm about to eat tonight, which is gonna be some pizza. You know what I mean? But I think that's powerful. I think there's something to be said about that.
• 52:00
  There's somebody that can just put a whooping on you, but not even be fazed by anything that's happening.
• 52:06
  Speaker 2: There you go. If you need a full series of podcasts on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, you know you know who to call.
• 52:11
  Speaker 1: Right. Right. For sure. For sure. Oh, man.
• 52:15
  But I appreciate you guys, both of y'all so, so, so, so much for pulling up on us, pulling up at the lookout. Where can people find y'all on socials, and how how can people continue to support, confluence and other things that you guys got going on?
• 52:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I'm I'm, Saint Paul Prince on on the socials, s t p a u l, Prince, confluence underscore m n on Instagram. What's the what's the website at, David?
• 52:41
  Speaker 3: It's confluencemn.com.
• 52:47
  Speaker 1: For sure.
• 52:48
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, if you wanna show up, support, attend, buy tickets, the tickets are on sale until April 1 at a discounted price. Share comment, like subscribe.
• 53:00
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 53:01
  Speaker 2: Invite some people.
• 53:02
  Speaker 3: Yes, yes, yes. The date is October 2025 at the North Thrupp King Building, which I believe is 1500 Jackson Street.
• 53:13
  Speaker 1: Awesome. And David, where can people holler at you at? I know you say you're a retired photographer, but
• 53:20
  Speaker 3: Yep. Yep. Tired. Retired. Yeah.
• 53:24
  I'm tired too. That's that's that's a good thing. I'm a tired retired photographer. I'm still got the camera in my hand though. It'll never go anywhere.
• 53:32
  I still get out there and and do my thing here and there. I've been doing some like self shoots. I'm actually supposed to connect with Nikki who goes by Colabear Cosplay on IG. Check her out. We got some things in the work and then I'm gonna be traveling to North Carolina.
• 53:49
  I got some things in in the work with a good friend out there. But you can find me everywhere as Tazumi Zaga. That is t a z u m I underscore Z A I G A.
• 54:04
  Speaker 1: Awesome. Well, guys, once again, just want to thank you all so much for pulling up on us. This is episode 198. Next week, you'll hear the Mills is back. I won't be a part of it, but Mills is back with another great interview with another great guest.
• 54:20
  And then we have episode 200. So as always, make sure you're on the lookout for the lookout. Thank you guys for listening. You know where to find us. Listen and subscribe, YouTube, wherever you like listen to your favorite podcast.
• 54:33
  And, yeah, peace.