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Vol 2 Ch 19 | Grandma Funko Pops feat Vamplettes
231 Plays1 year ago
The Dames are joined by first guest of the year, Collette AKA Vamplettes! Collette (she/they/he) is a cosplayer, model, and content creator that takes the time talk to us about conventions, being a full-time cosplayer, and even tell ghost stories. Check out their stuff @vamplettes on all platforms!
Vamplette Socials: https://beacons.ai/vamplette
Join our discord here! https://discord.gg/fNKWGs4
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Transcript
Introduction and Humor
00:00:11
Speaker
Welcome back to Fandames, the sleepover podcast. This is Fandames with Parks and Nebula. I am Nebula. I'm Parker.
00:00:21
Speaker
With no enthusiasm whatsoever, even though we have a really awesome guest with us at our super amazing. No, the enthusiasm is there. The enthusiasm is not for me. I asked in our writing call if I could do the intro and it was like, no, no, no, no, you always fuck it up. So I'm just slightly bitter. Oh my God. I never get to introduce it. Okay. Well, a sleepover guest. Do you want to introduce yourself?
Guest Introduction and Format Shift
00:00:48
Speaker
Hi, I'm Van Polette. I go by Collette. Yeah, I'm a cosplayer. Woo! Woo! We're so thrilled to have you on. Yeah. Thank you.
00:01:00
Speaker
If you're not familiar with our show, instead of doing interview style per what we've done in the past, I figure because you and I both know each other as cosplayers, we can have a little bit more of a talk show style, talk about experience, whatever, ask questions, go from there. Sounds good to me. Sorry, there's a loud truck outside on its brakes.
00:01:21
Speaker
There's also a loud train outside, so if you hear that. Wow. Sorry. We're in sync. I won't hear anything. You're good. Wow. I don't know what it is about my mic. It picks up every damn thing out there. Also, the little bits that you decide to chew on during our recording are little almonds and chips. I purposely ate a big croissant before we started, so I don't want to hear it from you. Great. We need ASMR. Yeah.
00:01:47
Speaker
Do you want to tell not only me, but also our listeners how you guys met?
Meeting at Level Up and Convention Stories
00:01:53
Speaker
So we met at Level Up last year.
00:01:57
Speaker
not on the day that we meant to meet, because on Saturday, that was when we were in our huge One Piece group, and Vampos was a guest. I was just with Gavin and Eli the entire weekend. But because we were like the only real One Piece cosplayers there at the time, a lot of people were like hearing of us and trying to get pictures with us.
00:02:18
Speaker
But because we were getting stopped every five minutes, we didn't really stay on the con floor for that long because we couldn't really see anything. So the next day on Sunday, we're walking around and one of Eli's friends, who is a photographer, comes up to me and he's like, you guys need to come over here right now because my friend is a huge One Piece fan and they saw you and they just need you to come over. And so we came over and we started talking and that's how we met and we started following each other immediately and we've been following each other and supporting each other for like a year on social media now.
00:02:47
Speaker
Yeah, so cute. I also don't know if you remember at the level up after party, you were still wearing Nami and I went up to you and I was like, you're so beautiful. I didn't realize that was you both.
00:03:02
Speaker
I was so drunk because Utah liquor laws are very, very, very strict. And so Gavin and I went and got like a pack of Mai Tai's canned. And I don't know what the hell is in those. They're like 15% each. And we were wiped out before because we pre-drank really hard. So by the time we got there on Saturday, we were wiped.
00:03:25
Speaker
Yeah, I went up to you. That's why I actually told Anthony to bring us over. I told him, I saw this Nami cosplayer. I want to know who she is. And he was like, wait, I know who that is.
00:03:44
Speaker
Yeah. Everyone knows Eli. It's really easy. If you know Eli, you'll find me. And then people will know Eli and then know me by just happenstance. Like it happened to Akon. Someone's like, oh, your friend, like your homie, the black Josuke Cosplay. I'm like, that's him. That's my guy. Yup.
00:04:03
Speaker
Yeah. And so most people are able to spot me from there, but I was so excited. I was almost in tears when he was like, you got to come over. Like they saw you. They love you. Please come over. I was ready to start crying, but also I don't know what it was. The Sunday at level up was kind of a wash. It was exhausting being there. Yeah. But it's okay. I'm excited for next year. Do you both go to level up every year?
00:04:27
Speaker
I do. That was my first year. Because I turned 21 in COVID, I didn't do con travel until this year or this last year because it was just not accessible for me on my own. I didn't really have anyone to go with. Most of the people I did hang around weren't able to really leave the Utah bubble too much.
00:04:51
Speaker
So they just didn't. And I was one of them because I just was too young. I couldn't get a hotel room by my damn self, so I didn't. But Level Up was my first one, and then Akon, and then now I have four more this year. I've convinced tons of people to come to Level Up this year, so it's cool. Lots of people coming down. My first Level Up. So I'll actually be able to meet you in person in just a few weeks, which is so cute.
00:05:16
Speaker
I hate remembering it's in two weeks, but yeah, thanks. It's not. Yeah, it's very, is it two weeks? That's three weeks exactly. I don't care. It doesn't feel like it. It cuts into it. It starts for us on like Tuesday, Wednesday. So yeah. So Vamplet, what is your, what are your cosplay plans for level up this year?
00:05:39
Speaker
For a level up, we were going to do a one-piece group, but the two people that were going to do it can't come to level up anymore. So we changed plans. So I'm doing Sabre from Fate, and then I'm doing someone from Chainsaw Man. Not sure yet, either Cobenny or Power, I think, for one of these days. And then Sunday, I'm actually going to go to the Pokemon Go event that they're having out here. It's only cosplaying two days. Okay.
00:06:07
Speaker
Yeah. Here in Vegas, there's always stuff happening down there, I forget. There's so many things. I'm surprised there's still Pokemon Go events happening. Oh, yeah. Yeah. It's huge still. I know it's not where you are because you're kind of in the middle of nowhere, but it's huge. Every time I'm in Vegas, I reboot up Pokemon Go because it's everywhere around me. Yeah, the Strip has all of the stops and stuff.
00:06:35
Speaker
Just being there is already a huge plus for Pokemon Go activities. But either way, I don't know. I don't want to make your guest on our part. We're basically filling with fluff at
Cosplay Challenges and Mishaps
00:06:46
Speaker
this point. But are you going to both after parties? Oh, yeah. Actually, I don't know about both, maybe. Because I really do love the esports arena. The second after party, for sure. But it's at chaos this time, which is like the night club. Yeah, we got a table. Me too.
00:07:04
Speaker
Which section are you in without sounding weird and like gossiping but? Section C? We're in the same damn section. Let's go. We're in the double table party. Ooh. Yeah, I'm excited because both of us are working on one-piece change-ins for that day so I'll be wearing probably Fishman Island Nami. Ooh.
00:07:25
Speaker
And then, I don't know, which carrot we're doing anyway. I haven't fully decided. I ordered two pink dresses to see if I could do the one where it's the carrot that says ninja. Just that pink dress, because it looks comfy. Well, there's also a pink dress that just says carrot on it. It's an orange dress that says carrot. Is it orange? No, it says rabbit. It says rabbit with a carrot. Either way, we're wearing one piece to the after party. Really? It'll be fun. You guys are.
00:07:53
Speaker
Good on you for wearing cosplays for the after party. I can't- Well, I'm wearing onigashima during the day, and so it's like, if I can be in jeans and a bikini, I would prefer it. Yeah. Yeah. I'm just gonna be like in boots and a club dress, so it'll be appropriate regardless, except I'll have these fucking ears that I just finished that are kind of- You have massive ears?
00:08:15
Speaker
They're huge. I didn't realize how big they were. Yeah, they're really big. I got three sets of ears right now. Those are so cute. Thank you. I'm excited. I love them. Yeah. Oh, I think it's Kimpatsu's tutorial that I use. It has wiring on the inside, so it's like a flat wire. And then it's a foam base, and then I do faux fur, and then just hot glue it all down so that I can move them. The wire makes it so that you can pose them how you want.
00:08:43
Speaker
It's so cute. Either way, I love it. Yeah, it's because we're doing our huge groups and I'm so ready and tired for it. But yeah, our Beast Pirates group. That's kicking my ass. Which one? Beast Pirates. Beast Pirates, yeah. She's doing Carrot and I'm doing Nami. And Nami's almost done. But it's fine. I love those outfits.
00:09:04
Speaker
They're my favorite. You've done, you did Robin, right? Yeah, I have both Robin and Nami. Thank you. Yeah, both of them. I bought them off these cosplayers named Yoast Twins. Oh, you got those? Yeah, I bought both. I saw them selling them, but I didn't realize you got both. Yeah, I was tempted. I was really tempted. I don't like making things anymore.
00:09:30
Speaker
I fall between wanting to make things and then not.
00:09:36
Speaker
I've had people who have dissed me because sometimes I don't sew my own costumes, which is very rare because I'm so tall and tiny that I have to sew my own costumes. So getting flack for it feels so weird sometimes, but I still hate doing it. If I can skip a step, I will because working on Nami, it's not that hard. It's just a bunch of straps, but it makes me want to die. It's so bad. I hate it.
00:10:01
Speaker
my machine, I had to like rip the plate off and do surgery on it and I just don't want to sew anymore. I feel like that happens with every cosplay too. Something happens and you have to figure out something and it's just my kimono is boxes and I put it on. And for some reason, none of the math was right, even though I've made a kimono for myself at least five times. So thank God for mock ups. But yeah, that sucked.
00:10:27
Speaker
Yeah. I hate sewing. If I could buy a costume, I will. I don't care. Same. Oh, some one-piece costumes. I hate wigs. I want to love them, but I just can't. I'm a lazy wig person. I don't give a damn if my wig's not accurate. My Daenerys wig is eight pounds. I'm not fucking doing that full-time. Yeah. No.
00:10:53
Speaker
Anyway, it's funny that you mentioned coming up to me at the after party because I don't know if you remember this, but at one point your Blood Moon Diana cosplay got onto Pinterest. So I actually knew you from your Blood Moon Diana cosplay way back when.
00:11:09
Speaker
Oh, really? Yeah, it got into Pinterest. It did. And it was on one of my boards. I don't think you I think someone else reposted it from you. But it also pulls from like Instagram stuff all the time. But I saw that because we were looking for stuff and I was scrolling down. I'm like, Oh, shit. This image is burned into my brain. I know them. But now I really know. That's so funny. So how long have you actually been cosplaying for?
00:11:38
Speaker
Way too long. So I started in middle school and I went to middle school from 2001 to 2003. So I'm old. I'm an old lady. Not true. I'm 33 now. So that's 20 years. That's 20 years. That is 20 years. That's impressive. Yeah. So.
00:12:04
Speaker
I didn't take it super seriously back then though. I'd say I started taking it really serious around my League of Legends era, which was 2001, 2002. Or wait, no, I have that wrong. 2011, 2012. When I started taking it seriously. And I did like League of Legends cosplays for like five years. That's all I did. So
00:12:28
Speaker
That's where I started. That's why my tag is Crown Guard Cosplay and that I don't cosplay League anymore. Yeah, me neither. It's just not as fun and everything is too complicated now and not in a fun way. It's complicated in like a headache kind of way. Yes, exactly. When you started to take it seriously, is that when you also started to take like social media seriously or back then social media really wasn't kind of the big push, was it?
00:12:54
Speaker
It was Facebook was actually the one to go on. And I had like about a 10k follower base on Facebook back then, which was a lot back then because you know, it wasn't like
00:13:10
Speaker
There was people who had a ton more, of course, like Jessica Nigri per se, but it was like rare to get a following back then like that. And I did definitely take it seriously for
00:13:25
Speaker
like trying to post and like trying to put myself out there and stuff. But I would only make I'd say maybe two cosplays a year because that's all I could afford at the time because they were league cosplays and those bad boys are expensive. Yeah, I hate it. I hate thinking of how much money I've spent on like arcade Sona and I can never wear it again because it's a single use costume unfortunately.
00:13:51
Speaker
Yeah, because mine too would always end up being a single use, they just fall apart. Just fall apart after one use because, you know, I didn't know what I was doing. It's all a learning process. Yeah, unfortunately. And you can make the whole you can make the same thing 20 times and still not know how to do it. So yeah.
00:14:14
Speaker
Yeah, my first official costume, I've technically been costuming since I was also in middle school, but I'm only 23, so whatever, was my first real one was Battle Bunny Riven. So I made my own bunny suit that looked like shit and had like boning that stuck out
Cosplay to Social Media Transition
00:14:31
Speaker
in the front so it made like a weird awkward V so I couldn't bend forward about stabbing myself. My sword was made out of, you know, the foam where it's like the crystal-y kind that you should not use for things.
00:14:42
Speaker
It was that, and then I had to paper machete, because I didn't know a damn thing about foam. I just guessed. And I swear to God, I inhaled so many of those crystals while I tried to tremble that. Hold on. You mean installation foam? No, no, no, no, no, no. I mean the hard, hard crystals. I know better.
00:15:03
Speaker
I would never inhale fiberglass willingly, but I tried to drill a lie and it was terrible. And then the second time was my sona cosplay and I tried to make my each wall out of the memory foam mattress foam, the green one. Yeah. Oh my God, the green one. And then I war blood that shit. So it was a big box. It's like a war blood mattress in there.
00:15:28
Speaker
So I'm familiar with the ghetto builds for Lee cosplay. None of those pictures exist anymore. They're there if you know how to look, but I've hid them in the best I can. I don't know.
00:15:50
Speaker
I was going to say that it's okay with the cringe League of Legends cosplay because I started cosplaying with Homestuck. I started with Hetalia, so whatever. And SAO. I did Asuna and then I did Romano from Hetalia and that was it before I took a break and then came back with League. Yeah.
00:16:17
Speaker
I think my first ones were, my very, very first one was Chi from Chobits. That makes sense. Yeah. That's so cute. Cause I had come out back then. Then I did like Left 4 Dead. That was my thing for a while. We did like
00:16:36
Speaker
skits and stuff on stage for the masquerades. No, that's a good one to do though. That sounds super fun. It was very fun. Yeah. It would be so fun to do that now but with like Bioshock with all the masquerade splicers. I feel like that'd be so fun. That would be really cool actually have a little sister there too.
00:16:55
Speaker
So did you have a background in doing masquerades and skits for a long time? I know you bring some of that over to like TikTok and Instagram reels now that that's the thing that we have to do. And that's, of course, I've seen your content there. And I love it there. But have you always had a background in doing that? Since you started? I've actually only done three total, like masquerade wise, I'm actually kind of traumatized from them. Because my third one was a traumatic experience. We won't delve into that. It's just
00:17:29
Speaker
I've also worked at haunted houses as a scare actor, so I guess that would be more experience for the whole acting aspect, I guess, that I bring to TikTok.
00:17:45
Speaker
I feel like I'm very cringe. I am cringe and I am free. I'm so sorry that your Pochita leggings blew up on the wrong side of things, but I'm glad you were able to be happy about it. I was so sad. I was like, why are people just mean for no reason? It was so creative and hilarious. Why are they being assholes about it?
00:18:07
Speaker
They were just like, how dare you defile pochita, you know? It's a nice ass. Appreciate it. There definitely was people who did when I took it to Hall Mat. Everybody loved it. Yeah, everybody just got a kick out of it. I was just like, this is pretty fun. It's fun. Just let people have fun. Yeah, it just feels like I'd be front facing and then I turn around and I just hear people crack up.
00:18:34
Speaker
them just crack up. And I'd be like, aha. Gotcha. Yeah, pretty much. How did you sit during the college? I didn't. Okay. I only wore it for like three hours, I think. And I was like, all right, I'm done. And you stood the whole time standing or squatting? Anything else? Nope. Super glued it to my pants, you know, so.
00:19:03
Speaker
That was super glue. I love super glue. I didn't open my windows when I super glued my raised apron together. So that was cool. I inhaled that shit. U6000 does not smell good after two hours of use. Yeah, dumbass. And it had to dry and cure in the living room. So any meal I ate kind of smelled like glue.
00:19:29
Speaker
I had that happen recently, actually, my friend was doing her wig on my head. And she was using the E6000 to like glue on stuff. And then like all of a sudden, I was like, Whoa, wait a minute, we don't open a window. I'm feeling a little crazy. I live in Utah, where it's snowy as hell. And we have the worst wind chill this winter. And so it's like, if I open the window, I'm gonna die in here, like I will get hypothermia inside my house.
00:19:58
Speaker
Oh no. I haven't been able to work on anything inside. I'm trying to resist the urge to work on foam and Dremel and heat it inside because I know that's total just cancer, but I don't know. Yeah, no, not allowed. None of that. Just sit down in your breezeway and do it. It's fine. No, it's cold as fuck in there. Put on a sweatshirt. You don't get it. Oh my. Do you see what I have to live with? Oh no.
00:20:26
Speaker
You know, but yeah, no, it's good. I'm timing it out. I just intended to do it. I'm not. Either way, I'm being good about it. I have so much stuff to finish. It's cool. Kind of on the pochita thing, I am very curious. What is your convention experience as an AFAB cosplayer, but someone who does not identify as a woman completely? Because I am also
00:20:54
Speaker
like non-binary. I don't know where exactly I fall under that, but you get it, you understand. And I am very curious to hear other non-binary or gender-fluid cosplayers experiences in that realm, especially since you do more like feminine posing and feminine characters. So do you have any like positive experiences or anything that you've kind of had to like wade through the the muck of
00:21:19
Speaker
I luckily only had positive experiences, even online, which I was very, very, very surprised about. Because I started cosplaying as like male characters probably, probably only about a year ago, maybe a little more than a year ago. And I honestly thought that my fan base was not going to be happy, like whatsoever, but they all loved it.
00:21:46
Speaker
Which I was like, what? Is that why you made the separate Instagram just in case it wasn't received well? I made the separate Instagram just to have them in a separate category so I could just kind of scroll through and be like, yay, these are all the pretty boys.
00:22:02
Speaker
I was just curious if that was a reason at all. Because I know, do you do social media and cosplay full time? I do. Okay. So that also is another reason because the boy posts do get less traction for sure. So I did that as well, because that is my main account. So I do need it for Yeah, you have to handle it in a professional way.
00:22:26
Speaker
I'll post the boy cosplays on there sometimes though, like the ones that I really, really like. And I'll just be like, I don't care what happens. Yeah. Or you share from your other on your stories and stuff and vice versa. I don't know. You don't hide it ever that you cosplay dudes. It's on your TikTok. It's on your Twitter. It's not a secret. Yeah. It's definitely the best received on TikTok for sure. Yeah. Like I feel like the people on TikTok are more
00:22:54
Speaker
like open to that compared to other platforms like Twitter and Instagram.
00:23:01
Speaker
I don't know if it's because TikTok has this weird culture for over-policing in a way. It's like you have to accept everything or you can't accept any of it. So it's just like if someone's doing something weird there, it's just kind of fully accepted or it's shunned completely. And if you're riding the line that way, you're good or you're not.
00:23:26
Speaker
With the algorithm that way, it's kind of like you're benefiting no matter what. I don't know, I hate TikTok personally, I'm afraid to use it. If I do post it, I don't know. I get weird comments if I just post a video of me having fun that didn't even post to like do anything. I posted a video of me doing a little dance and someone commented cringe when I was just, wasn't even doing a TikTok dance, I was just hanging out with my friends and someone commented.
00:23:57
Speaker
I don't know. They always comment cringe though. I feel like that's just their favorite word on that platform. I'm waiting for the stupid ass Ohio memes to drop off.
00:24:07
Speaker
I'm still seeing them. I hate it. Ohio? Oh my god. You don't see that? Okay. We might be on completely different sides where it's like only in Ohio about something that's weird. It's been going on for three months and they will not let this stupid joke die. Oh. I haven't actually been on TikTok in a while, honestly. I've been kind of like
00:24:28
Speaker
off of it a bit just because I will go on it for hours and be like, Oh gosh, it's been five hours. So I kind of was like, all right, we gotta, we gotta stop.
00:24:37
Speaker
I need to do that. It's a problem for me. Not like to the extent, I can get away from it, but it's also like my brain likes having, cause I have autism and I get the HD. So I just retain whatever I can. And if I'm looking at the same thing for too long, I really, really lose it. And so TikTok being able to just be something new within the span of a few seconds, I can, I can take it that way. Yeah, it's Cocoa Bellum, but for adults. Shut up.
00:25:06
Speaker
I don't need coco melon. I'm not a coco melon kid. I'm not an iPad baby. I can enjoy a meal without it. I'm going to let you live in that little lie. All right. I'll take it either way.
00:25:29
Speaker
So with the way that I don't know if you want to mention this or like which way you'd want to mention this, when it comes to also doing sex work specifically with like camming, do you get any flack for that when it comes to on your social media or in person where people will treat you differently for
Social Media and Monetization
00:25:48
Speaker
doing that? I know nowadays it's way more common, but have you had to deal with people seeing differently from you because of it?
00:25:57
Speaker
I actually haven't, but I think that's because my social media has always been in a sexual way even before the whole sexual way that's happening. Before Rizal, yeah. Because my cosplay name actually used to be Torquette before Vamplette. That makes sense actually. Yeah, I was known for twerking in cosplay before all that.
00:26:23
Speaker
Like that was my original name. Like it was expected of you almost when you did start doing. Yeah, pretty much in a way. It's like the Bart Simpson meme where they say like, say the line. Basically.
00:26:39
Speaker
Yeah. So I've never had an issue with that. I know that a lot of people do have an issue with that, though, sometimes. I think the only issue I've run into was when I did work a full time job, people would find out about my only fans. And that caused me a lot of issues. But now you're doing it full time. So it's like, yes. Yeah. Yeah.
00:27:04
Speaker
So with it, are you being paid from like your social media separately from your OnlyFans or is it mostly just OnlyFans and Camming that's doing both for you? It's all OnlyFans and then sometimes Camming. Sorry, that was totally invasive. I was just curious if like... I don't mind talking about it.
00:27:23
Speaker
Partially figured when you said you were fine coming on but I just wanted to make sure because I know a lot of people who do like specifically do both but it's like only fans and cambings their side thing whereas they're able to get a lot of sponsorships on the cosplay side and then just Swap off. I was just curious where you're doing
00:27:41
Speaker
Yeah, I've never had luck with sponsorships really with companies. Usually it's like a partnership where I'll get a little commission from their sales they make type of thing. I've never fully been sponsored by a company. And then Instagram pays out for reels, but I only make like 100 a month from that. Other than that, I used to make money off of TikTok, but my account got a
00:28:11
Speaker
It wasn't banned. It was like a suspension. Oh. They suspended me. They suspended my creator account for literally seven months. And so after that, I just dropped out of that creator program. All I was making was like two to three hundred a month anyway. So I was just like, whatever. So, yeah, that's that's about it. So I mainly make my income from OnlyFans and before OnlyFans, I did Patreon and Patreon was my income prior.
00:28:40
Speaker
do you prefer OnlyFans to like the way that the program runs itself, like the website? And okay, what's the difference? Like, what do you what do you like more about it? It's just so much more user friendly, in my opinion. And you're able to do like do way more with it. Like with Patreon, I always had to like
00:29:00
Speaker
upload things separately like to Dropbox because the uploads would look wonky if I didn't. It was just like I would have to use separate things where only fancy you can just upload it all there. Keep it all there. It watermarks it for you. And it does like all kinds of other stuff. You're able to have like the messages are in a better place in my opinion. I hate Patreon messages.
00:29:24
Speaker
I hate Patreon messages, actually. So just you saying that already kind of flips me, but... Damn. Fandame's OnlyFans, but not sexy. Just like, here's our podcast. You mean us using OnlyFans for the other thing that people forget it's for?
00:29:41
Speaker
My friend does the plants on her Onlyfans. Only plants. That is cute. So it's a thing. I feel like people don't know that. There's a lot of people that will just do like, exercise workouts type of thing or like, you know,
00:29:59
Speaker
I feel like people just sexualize it too much. Yeah, that stigma exactly makes people forget what OnlyFans does. And OnlyFans has tried to like, say, hey, we are for other stuff. And then they try to limit like their sexual content. I don't know. Were you affected by that when they were trying to do it? Or? Yes. I'm so sorry. I know a lot of people move to the nightmare or whatever. But I think I have a fansley too, because I was
00:30:26
Speaker
preparing if I needed to move over. I neglect that poor app, but it's just not as user friendly. Yeah, that's what I heard. And the people who did try to move over to one got completely screwed over because they gave up their OnlyFans and not everyone who was on OnlyFans was willing to move with it, unfortunately. They also have different payment, what's the word?
00:30:52
Speaker
Like they accept payment differently than OnlyFans did. So some people couldn't use their cards on this platform or that platform type of deal. Does OnlyFans go strictly through card only? Or is it... I think it is card only. Okay. I haven't used it because I just don't want to give them my card information. But I don't know. I've gotten access to it. I just don't use it my own account.
00:31:21
Speaker
Don't mind me, sorry. I'm a complete loser when it comes to that. But yeah, I feel like it's been stigmatized so much because of how people view sex work. They forget that it's also just a platform. It's in the same vein as just using Twitter, except people are paying to see your posts, and that's it.
00:31:37
Speaker
But now Twitter and Instagram are trying to bring on subscription based like levels to it. And I don't see anyone getting success from any of those so far. I have not seen a single person. No, I don't mean Twitter blue. I mean, specifically you can pay to subscribe to a Twitter user.
00:31:57
Speaker
and get their stuff like a Patreon side to their Twitter. So this is in addition to the weird shit that Twitter added where it was like, you can send a tip to this creator. This was added before Twitter. This was before tips. They added tips because no one was subscribing. Yeah, because nobody needs that. We already have it. And it's still everything that you post as a subscription post.
00:32:21
Speaker
is regulated the way a normal tweet is. So they can still hide it. They can still do whatever they want to it. There's no benefit to it. It's just funny. Geez. It just makes me laugh how social media is sometimes. I'm sorry I keep yawning, but I'm going to take a little sip of my Baja Blast to wake me up.
00:32:40
Speaker
Okay. I just, I just wanted to, I just wanted to make a comment about it. So our editor wouldn't be like, what the fuck? And when the, when he hears all the lights, slamming my metal water bottle, I know. And I'm considerate of our editor's ears. Um, either way, I'm trying to look at our list. Cause again, we wrote writing call notes, but they're very loose because I just kind of anticipated us just chatting, having a good time rather than like.
00:33:05
Speaker
pen to paper interview where it's very stressful for no reason. Yeah. Taking it calm, letting ourselves talk.
Anime Nostalgia and Community
00:33:13
Speaker
Gavin actually had a question that he was curious about because we've been rewatching Haji Minow Ipo and he was curious if you had any like secret like vintage animes that no one watches anymore that you wish they did.
00:33:28
Speaker
or any like underground in quotes, animes that no one respects the way they should nowadays. Cause you've been posting old deep cut cosplays like Rosario vampire. So he was curious.
00:33:41
Speaker
This is a great question and I am so bad at thinking of things off the top of my head. I get that. He asked me, he's like, well, what would you say to that? Because I don't know. Mine was like another, which another isn't that underground anymore. Just no one watches it because it's kind of getting that rotation of being old at this point. Another is old. I didn't realize that.
00:34:08
Speaker
What do I have? Let's look at the manga over there. Man, that's a good question. Okay, well you think Parker is another, your answer? No, I just realized how old another was. It really caught me off guard because I read it when I was in middle school. Honestly, I kind of want Robotech to come back.
00:34:36
Speaker
The Robotech. I haven't seen it or read it. Yeah. It's from the 90s. It's like before Voltron, but also simultaneously to Voltron because we had to reboot Robotech like three times. Voltron's from the 80s, dear. I know. That's also when Robotech started, but the main line was animated in the 90s. OK, OK, I understand now. But I grew up with it. My dad had the Compendium where you open like it's a big solid book and you open it and there's a Robotech like figure in there.
00:35:05
Speaker
It was sick and I would fuck with it a lot as a kid. So I grew up watching those on VHS with my mom. So if Robotech had a comeback, that would be fucking dope. I feel like Nana would be one, but then it also got picked up really big and now everyone wants it and now it's hard to get because everybody wants it. Yeah, I was going to say Nana, but I feel like that one's pretty well known. Yeah, it was pretty popular whenever it was coming out. I feel like when it was-
00:35:33
Speaker
Paris Kiss is a good one actually, yeah. Oh my god, what is that? Strawberry Panic. That was the one that I was obsessed with when I was younger. I've heard of that one, but I don't think I watched it. It's like a Lolita Yuri. The manga is very cute. It's... I would say it's like... It's like Utana and then Strawberry Shortcake just kind of mashed together.
00:36:01
Speaker
That sounds cute. I'm like trying to think of more. There's one called Absolute Boyfriend. I've heard of it. I've heard of it. Oh my god. I was typing. What's this one based on a manga first? I don't know if they made an anime actually. I know it was just a manga. I think. Yes, I have read this. Oh my god. I read this in middle school.
00:36:30
Speaker
Well, I used to hang out at a library like a weirdo all the time, so I would just read what they had and it wasn't much. I love supporting the public library system by making them babysit me. Yeah. It's funny because in Vegas, we used to have this gathering called Anime Vegas, and it was held at the library every month, once a month. We have one of those in Salt Lake, but it's called Toshokan, and you can only go if you're
00:36:57
Speaker
younger than 19, which thank God. But they have like a little cosplay meetup and a little tiny artist alley of like seven people. And it's cute. It goes on every time. It's free to go in. You should have to not be an adult because they don't want you there, weirdos.
00:37:13
Speaker
There's one in the town I went to, Collagen, they have, which is in the middle of fucking nowhere, Oklahoma, but they have this tiny little public library and they just started turning into like a, I can't remember if it's every six months or if it's yearly, but a little convention that everyone can go to.
00:37:34
Speaker
For whatever reason, it's very popular to go to ag schools for foreign students that have a lot of money. And so a bunch of rich weaves started showing up with like really nice cars that had the full anime raps on them. And this is in country ass Oklahoma, like the nearest hospital is 30 miles from anywhere.
00:37:54
Speaker
It's just flat, grass, farmland, nothing. And then here comes this asshole in a Maserati with a Bakugou wrap. Pull it up to the library like, what's up? There's a D.Va Mini Cooper in my complex, so yeah, honestly, I get it. Oh, the D.Va Mini Cooper.
00:38:17
Speaker
My favorite are the really, really trashy ones. Every time I see one, I try to take a picture with it. I love trashy car wraps. They're my favorite act, like seeing to perceive. I would never do it myself, but I love watching them. Well, they're at Level Up, Senpai Squad. They always bring all those car wraps. They blocked me. They blocked me because I commented on their last post because they're bringing someone that people don't like to level up.
00:38:47
Speaker
They blocked me for it. I had one comment and they blocked me. I wasn't even criticizing them. I wasn't liking anything, but they blocked me entirely. And because I was signed into the podcast, they blocked the podcast by extension. Oh my gosh. Damn. They said this bitch vibe rancid out of here. They said goodbye. Goodbye. My comment just said love for real. And that was it. And they blocked you?
00:39:18
Speaker
extreme maybe you should go apologize and level up say them or her them not her apologize to the cars yeah i'm sorry cars well my friend is boothing with them so i'm still gonna go over there i'm just gonna ignore everybody you should just loudly talk about fandames no i'm not gonna they didn't block them
00:39:41
Speaker
They didn't block the podcast purposely. They blocked me because Oh, it was like any other accounts involved. Yeah. I hate that. I love and hate that feature. Yeah.
00:39:53
Speaker
Not that, I don't know. I don't use that other account to stock. I was just genuinely curious. And yeah, they blocked me. But the cars are sweet, so whatever. It was just funny that this interaction was enough to be like, enough of her. We should just speak up and put one of our podcast stickers on the car wraps at level one. No, that's someone's car. The way it works is that they, I'll stick it on their merch. I'll smash it onto their merch. Put it on their tire. I agree with these. Then you can feel it off. It'll be fine.
00:40:23
Speaker
I don't know. Senpai Squad brings their crew of cars. Well, what's awesome is because the parking lot is right across in the convention center, you can see the other people's ugly car wraps.
00:40:40
Speaker
So there was one where it was like Toga, but it was not Toga. It was like if you gave a grown woman with like J cups Toga's hair and the worst outfit possible and then like twisted her like a Spineful 80 on the side of the car and
00:40:58
Speaker
I found it while I was stumbling out to my Uber when I was very drunk on the con floor and it was the ugliest thing ever. I was cracking up. I was making a scene over how ugly this car wrap is. I love it. I love, I don't know, I'm spoiled slightly because I'm so close to Vegas where it's like I get a little bit of the magic gone.
Vegas Experiences and Spooky Tales
00:41:24
Speaker
It's a little bit of the trash. You know what I mean when I say that?
00:41:29
Speaker
Yes, yes. Like when you're a tourist, like a tourist going there, it's a little bit different. There's a little bit more shine to it. It's magic. It's Vegas. And then if you actually like live there or go there a little regularly, it's like you're gonna ignore the people who might be dead on the side of the road. Keep walking past them, please.
00:41:49
Speaker
This is terrifying because I've never been to Vegas. No, you'll love it. I'm not taking you to the strat. You will love it. The strat? The strat? It's the stratosphere. No, the stratosphere. That's where we stayed last time. And we had to walk to the liquor store. Yeah, we were trying to see the walkability. We did not pick the hotel. Our friend did. And I love her for it, but I hate that hotel. Yikes. On paper, it is very close to the convention center.
00:42:17
Speaker
because the monorail stops at the Sahara and Sahara is across the street from the Strip. But there is no way to walk there from one to the other without having to do a huge U-turn around. And you walk by the scariest liquor store of all time that advertises a live Elvis impression or a personator. Not one in there, by the way. And then it's just a strip of like scary sidewalk all the way there.
00:42:46
Speaker
Yeah, there's a lot of that. And there's no food in the strat. There's no food in there. You are not close enough to the strip to go get anything. Complete. It's like the most unlockable place I've ever been in my life. Oh my god. Yeah. Where are you guys staying at this time? The Flamingo. What? Much better. But the Flamingo is haunted.
00:43:10
Speaker
No, why did you say that? I'm not afraid of ghosts, but okay if they give you there's two sides to the flamingo There's the unrenovated side and the renovated side stay in the renovated side. I think we're unrenovated Huh, I think we're in the renovated. Okay, you aren't in a king room. You're in a queen room They might put you on the other side
00:43:34
Speaker
If you go on the other side, just go down to management and literally be like, I can't stay in that room. That's what I did. Because do you guys want to hear my experience? Yes, yes, absolutely. Absolutely. I'll extend this podcast for another hour. I want to hear all of it.
00:43:51
Speaker
I like to stay at casinos like for a couple days to do like shoots for cosplays. Yeah, may as well get some room. Yeah, just to see like all the different rooms. So we booked up the flamingo because they were having a sale and we're like, Oh, wow, that's really cheap. Let's do it.
00:44:08
Speaker
and we get there I walk up to the room and there's like a mark above the door and like the paint was torn off the door as opposed to everybody else's doors and I kind of just noted in my head I was like all right that's weird and then I went to open the door and I'm not kidding you something just like energy went right through me right
00:44:29
Speaker
just I felt this terrible energy go through me. And then for like a split second, I didn't see a whole like a room in there. I saw a construction zone with caution tape and like concrete. And I like blinked. And then I saw the room and it was pitch black in there. They didn't even have the windows open. Like for the sun to come in. It was pitch black. And so I couldn't even find where to turn the lights on.
00:44:54
Speaker
But we walk in there and I was like, oh my gosh, it just feels like there's something in here. And I was like, my dearest friend, we are not staying in here tonight. And she just looked at me like I was a psycho because I don't know if she really believes in that stuff, but I was like, no, no, no, no, no, we are not staying here. So I went downstairs and I was like, I can't be in this room. It's haunted. And she was like, well, we can't change it. I'm like, I want to speak to your manager. So I pulled a Karen.
00:45:25
Speaker
It was absolutely worth it for a fucking cold. When I told the manager lady I was like, that room's haunted. She's like, Oh, yeah, we get that all the time. And I was like,
00:45:35
Speaker
And you still gave it to me? Yeah. She put us on the renovated side and that room felt completely better. But it gets worse. Because the next day, we went to go to a restaurant nearby called Giada's. It's in the Cromwell. So we got dressed in our little fancy dresses because it was like a fancier restaurant. And we go to the elevators and
00:45:59
Speaker
go try to go down. It goes down one floor, stops, opens, no one's there. And we're like, that's weird. It closes, goes down one floor, stops, opens, no one's there. And we're like, oh, is it broken? So we get off the elevator, and nobody's in these hallways. And there's two elevators like here and here that are open, just straight open, won't close. And they're facing each other. And in my mind, I'm like, okay, that's a portal. We ain't going in those. So
00:46:29
Speaker
We literally stayed there for like five to 10 minutes trying to get another elevator, but one wouldn't come. And we were like, what is going on? So trapped going to portal. That's the only option. It felt like but there was these two like another elevator that opened and a lady comes out and she stands with us. And we're like, Oh, did your elevator start stopping at every floor to she just looked at us and said nothing. And we were like,
00:46:56
Speaker
okay and then she just stood there she stood there with us for like two minutes and then she walked away and said must be the ghost kid you not kid you not and she turned the corner right so we were just like what the actual and so we keep trying to get an elevator and i go to the other side because there's two sides of elevators and it crosses the hall i look down the hall she's just standing in the middle of the hall doing nothing and i was like
00:47:27
Speaker
So I was like, we gotta take the stairs. We took the stairs. Do not take that stairwell. Oh no. Okay, it is the scariest stairwell I've ever been in in my life.
00:47:40
Speaker
I, my partner is so afraid of me going to Vegas on my own and he's like, I just don't want to get kidnapped. I don't want anything to happen. He knows, like he knows, but he's still just like, I don't want anything to happen. Like I'm just so nervous. And I'm over here like fucking ghosts. You're afraid of the worst.
00:48:00
Speaker
Honestly, the flamingo was actually honestly, I love this experience. It was really fun. But also terrifying at the same time. But flamingos in a good spot. Flamingos in a very good spot of the strip. Very accessible. There's a lot of other casinos around. It's definitely not a dangerous casino.
00:48:18
Speaker
from like other ones. So you'll definitely be safe there. That's why I picked it is because I like being next to Link. Because out of the hotels I've stayed at, I've stayed at the Link, I've stayed at the Strat, I've stayed at New York, New York, New York, New York is probably my favorite one to stay at if I'm on a budget. I've stayed at, why can't I think of the name of it right now? Fuck, is someone connected to Lux or search the E? Why can't I think? Excalibur. Excalibur is trash, but I kind of adore it.
00:48:48
Speaker
If I want to sleep there for $30, great. I love Cosmo. I love Cosmo. That's my favorite one. That's my favorite for sure. If we weren't there for five days, I would, but it's so expensive. Yeah. Because we get in on Wednesday night and we leave on Monday morning. Okay. Flamingo is definitely a good choice though, or the link either or. Yeah, and they're right next to each other. That's affordable. Yeah.
00:49:18
Speaker
So Vamp, how often do you travel for like photo shoots or anything like that or for like experiences for because you said you liked the hotel experience because there's a very haunted hotel in Arkansas that I have been to. And it's a really pretty area. It's in like a very
00:49:38
Speaker
It's like a retirement heavy gay community is the way to describe it in the mountains of Arkansas, which is not where you think they would be. It's absolutely not where you think they would be. But it's in Eureka Springs. It's called the Crescent Hotel.
00:49:55
Speaker
Yes, it was on like ghost hunters or something several years ago. But I went with my family once and got like all these weird lights and shadows in all my like all my photos that I took and like these giant orbs that were zooming around like not dust orbs, like solid light, yellow light orbs zooming around people. And this picture of my brother walking down the stairs and there's like a woman in a dress following him like a ghost.
00:50:22
Speaker
And my dad got this recording on his phone of a little child, like a seven or eight year old boy that could not have spoken because you had to be 14 to go on this tour that we were on. And it was this little child whispering, it's not fair, it's not fair. And he had it on his phone and we didn't even notice it was there until we got back to Oklahoma.
00:50:45
Speaker
But it's also beautiful. Like it's very 19th century, like dark mahogany, like pretty wood, very burgundy. And it has a lot of the original interior and a lot of like, there's like this old organ that's like 200 years old, they have in the lobby. And it's just really gorgeous for photos. And there's a really cool courtyard that like leads into a Catholic church that looks over the mountains. So it's beautiful, but it's haunted as fuck.
00:51:15
Speaker
So if you want another experience, that means having to go to Arkansas, like that's the give or take there. It's like the only good spot in Arkansas. I do love old architecture though like that. So that sounds fun. If you ever need like a weird photo backdrop, go to Crescent Hotel. With ghosts behind me. With ghosts with you. You'd be like, come here ghost, pose on the bed with me.
00:51:46
Speaker
Oh no. I do think because you are in Vegas, you are very fortunate to be able to just pop off to California for like beach photos whenever you need it because it's what like a six to eight hour trip for you sometimes depending on how far you're going.
00:52:01
Speaker
Four hours. Honestly, because it's 12. It's 12 from me to Southern California, because I have to go through fucking Nevada no matter what. The long hour is coming from me and Salt Lake to Nevada, which is eight hours and the remainder.
00:52:23
Speaker
It's cool. I'm driving on level up. I'm the driver for that. It's an eight-hour drive to Vegas? About. I think it depends on how bad it is because... To Vegas? No, I think it might be six. No, it's shorter than that.
00:52:38
Speaker
I thought it was six. It depends. I've driven it eight hours because traffic and snow, but it depends. Because the last time I drove where I actually took too damn long was because my mom and I were going on a trip for Christmas. And I swear to God, we went through seven blizzards and drove all night in a little like Volkswagen Beetle we rented. And I was so scared.
00:53:09
Speaker
I just want you both to know, fuck you, because I'm 22 hours from California or from the East Coast. Go to the Texas, bitch. You're in the middle. To what beach, Galveston? It's Texas. I don't know. I don't know. My family goes to Texas for the beach, which I don't really know what that means for them. It means it's cheap and they want to go to the beach.
00:53:36
Speaker
It's not cheap from Utah. But it's cheaper than going somewhere like in California. Okay. If I drive the safe way, it is six hours to get to Vegas. If I drive the other way, it is eight hours. Okay. Depends on if I want to go up to Wendover or not. Oh, that is a long drive.
00:53:59
Speaker
I'll make it. I'm strong. I got it. You guys are little babies. No, I'm not. I just don't like driving at night. I hate driving in general. I can do it if I'm not the only person in the car.
00:54:12
Speaker
I used to regularly do 14 hour road trips when I was a kid because we would go to Colorado from Central Oklahoma. No, I like road trips. I keep them when driving. As I've gotten older, I have done three or four solo road trips that were minimum six hours. Just one way. So 12 hours total. Well, last time I drove to Vegas myself, my car exploded.
00:54:41
Speaker
I think I'm allowed. My spark plugs exploded in Hurricane and we had to take back roads to get to St. George. It was over New Year's and they're like, you're fucked. Good luck.
00:54:58
Speaker
I remember those phone calls. And they kept my car for two months in St. George, which was cool. Two months? Mm hmm. We were tempted because we were going down to level up and we're like, if I'm going down there, can I just like pick my car up? Because I have to go down there anyways. Oh my God. But yeah, I have bad luck when it comes down to driving to Vegas. So we'll see. Hello. Well, I'm wishing you all the luck and no problem. Thank you. Because Neb is flying in from Oklahoma to Salt Lake and then we're driving down together.
00:55:28
Speaker
Okay. We'll be there early or late Wednesday evening. So I get both the experience of air travel and a road trip. You volunteered. I did volunteer best of both worlds. Either way. Okay, I'm gonna get back on our notes after we talked about ghosts. The best like little
00:55:52
Speaker
sidebar. Yeah, it's the most in character for us. Love it. Here for us. Okay. My partner's been watching a bunch of like Mothman documentaries recently. So it's just spooky shit nonstop in this apartment. Oh, no. You've been doing that. Gavin's been getting really into storage wars again. So
00:56:13
Speaker
Storage Wars. Yeah, it's the show where people rip open. Oh my god. We've never heard of Storage Wars. It is the best trash TV because it's just a bunch of trashy people opening storage sheds and then auctioning whatever the fuck is inside of it.
00:56:29
Speaker
And the fun ones are that they do blind auctions sometimes where you don't even know what's in it. They'll just be like, all right, here's this here's a storage unit that's been abandoned for 10 years. Who wants to start the auction? And then they sell it to whomever and then they open after they bought it to see what they bought. So some people get like really cool antique motorcycles or some weird shit like that.
00:56:49
Speaker
or like paintings and then other people get all this weird baby clothes and you know old furniture or pissed on blankets. There was a guy who spent $350 on a unit and he opened it up and there were six garbage bags full of pissed on blankets and then he got his money back because he found like a mobile like
00:57:13
Speaker
CT scan not CT ultrasound scanner for pets And he got his money back It's where the infamous black lotus thing comes up where a dude shows up with the binder of magic cards to a convention and the dudes like Like freaking out having a meltdown about how expensive that card is and the dude doesn't know so he Stiffs him for like 50 bucks on a multi thousand dollar
Collectibles and Figure Collecting
00:57:36
Speaker
card. That's from story doors It is my favorite trash TV because these people are fucking weird
00:57:42
Speaker
Fuck that show for making Black Lotus a big deal again. I worked at a game store in high school. It's always been a big deal. No, it's been inflated because I worked at a game store and I was in high school and that store sold a Black Lotus card for six thousand dollars. Was it minted though? No.
00:58:00
Speaker
That's how much the card is, Nub. But I'm saying it. It's that because people got excited about it after the fact. Like, it's not even a good card for the game. Yes, it is. It's a free Black mana that you can use whatever you want. So not taking that from someone who doesn't play the game because I have proxy Black Lotus isn't my deck. Thank you.
00:58:21
Speaker
I did play magic. We got a magic player over here. I just stopped after I worked at that store because I said, I don't want to associate with these people I'm selling cards to anymore. Well, I still play it and I have fake cards in my deck that I cannot bring to a tournament. I used to play a vanguard. I haven't heard of vanguard.
00:58:42
Speaker
I have not heard of Vanguard. It's like a little anime card game. No way. I think I have heard of Vanguard. Hold on. I need to lift this up. Yes. Oh my God. Yeah. I used to play it professionally and go to tournaments and I even won regionals one time. Have you looked at the one piece card game? Yes, I have some actually. I haven't been able to get any.
00:59:07
Speaker
I'm going to order. Yeah, they're all sold out now. I'm glad I bought one box, but I wish I bought more because I couldn't really make a good deck. But I learned how to play it. It's really, really fun. Yeah, my friend has a purple switch game. I think it's a really switch game. Yeah.
00:59:24
Speaker
And for PS4. Wow, I don't have one of those anymore. Card Fight, Vanguard EX. Sorry, I just got really sucked in. I know, you love looking shit up. I love looking at these little anime bitches. Yes. I still have all those anime bitches. I don't think there was a specific one way back in 2013 that tried to do licensed anime card games, and it was specifically, yes.
00:59:53
Speaker
I have those too. You know exactly. I have the Sort Art Online decks. Me too. Because I was back, that was like Sort Art Online before it fell off really bad. Yeah. When it like first came out. Yeah, I cosplayed awesome. Did you, I think you did too. Yeah, you know how it was when weird Kirito guys with no wigs would approach you. Weird. Didn't like that. Tuned out. That was where I stopped watching SAO because I did not like it.
01:00:20
Speaker
Yeah. But I had a bunch of those cards and they were fucking sick. I felt cool having them. Could not understand how to play the game. Never learned how to play it. I did not understand. I learned how to play it because I had friends that knew how, so I learned how to play that one. But I had Sword Art and Excel World because Excel World was the one previous to Sword Art. I don't know if you've heard of it.
01:00:45
Speaker
I think I have. It's by the same creator, same creator, but that anime did not pop off. It's literally the same premise shot for shot. It just didn't. Um, yeah, it's literally the same storyline, but a little bit different, but pretty similar, but that one just didn't do well. Interesting. Yeah. Oh, oh, I know exactly what this is. Okay.
01:01:15
Speaker
Oh my god. Yeah, I know exactly what this is. I think I had some of these cards too. Damn. Wow. Throwback. Throwback. Neopets. Neopets? Yeah, I was obsessed, dude. You still are? A little bit, not as much. You still draw Neopets in this damage?
01:01:39
Speaker
I drew one piece of Neopet fan art in the past 10 years. It just happened to be like a month ago, okay? I know.
01:01:50
Speaker
But yeah, Neopets had a trading card game and they had some pretty interesting card art and I did not know how to play it. It was just like, whoa, pretty. I'm just going to collect these. I love when every single thing had a card game at one point. I had a Club Penguin card game that was not the Ninja one. It was a separate card game that came out before the Ninja one came out and then the Ninja one came out. I had no idea that had a card game either. It was like all the spy tools and stuff.
01:02:20
Speaker
I'm a little guy, I'm a little kid. All the, I don't know. I still have all my Pokemon cards. I collected those bad boys all throughout the years. I had mine stolen from me when I was in sixth grade and I still hold that grudge very, very dearly. The dude who did it matched with my sister on Tinder and she matched him just so she could cuss his ass out for taking them.
01:02:47
Speaker
Oh my God. That's so funny. It was funny as hell because he really thought he had a chance and all she wanted to do was yell at him. That's so funny. Good on your sister. Good on her. Oh my God. Yeah, I still hold that grudge and I never collected Pokemon. I have a tiny, tiny sleeve of my legendaries that I was able to collect over the years since, but it's very small because I don't do anything with them anymore. I just do magic mostly. I'm a magic guy.
01:03:17
Speaker
My sister had a first release box, like this big box of Pokemon cards. And she is not a nerd in any respect. She just thought the art was cool. And those fuckers are damage to hell. And I am so mad because we could have had so much money.
01:03:41
Speaker
because of the stupid box. You have to get them minted though. You have to get them minted for them to be worth anything in the collector. Right. But it would, because it was a box. Like we had, we still had the box. Oh, like the box was, was it opened? Like everything inside or no? I mean, she didn't open it for a while, but everything was opened after a certain point. But had she just like bought two, just kept one, it would have, we, we would have been set for life. No one knows to do that when it's happening though.
01:04:10
Speaker
Beanie babies though, we knew. We knew how much those were worth. What the fuck? What are the stupid little, they're like Funko Pops for grandmas. They're the little... Sweet memories. Yeah, the sweet... Do you know what I'm talking about? Sweet memories. This is the right one. Hold on. They're the stupid little baby porcelain thingies with the pink hair and the blue hair.
01:04:38
Speaker
No. Oh, man. Hold on. I have to find the Sanrio ones. Oh, I'm thinking of the Sanrio. I know what you're talking about. They're like all white porcelain and like, yes. Okay, it's precious moments. That's what I should. Oh my god. Oh my god. I grandma Funko pops. Yeah.
01:05:01
Speaker
Are those really worth like money now? It looks like one statue is like 40 bucks. No, they're not worth anything. Everyone thought they were going to be worth so much money. And that's why all these middle aged moms in the 80s piled up on them. And now they're just collect us. Well, guess what? They make Batman and Robin ones. So those are like Funko Pops.
01:05:23
Speaker
They make pop culture precious memories. So, you know, they are. I said it to you personally because Zencaster mall open links. Zencaster, why are you like this? I hate pops, but I love them at the same time.
01:05:39
Speaker
That's so bad. I'm not a fan of Funkos. I think they're ugly, but if I'm in a circumstance where the character I want won't get merch otherwise, I bite the bullet. That's true. Yeah. If I want a bunny Bulma statue, but they're too expensive, I'll just buy the fucking Funko. It's not a problem.
01:06:00
Speaker
I also take them out of the box, so fuck. Yeah. I'm a half-hearted Funko Pop collector. I only want nice looking ones or that have decent poses.
01:06:11
Speaker
But then I get really caught up sometimes and then I have to remind myself that I can't. I just can't. Well, my beef with the Funko Pop people is that they're not collecting them for the characters. They're collecting them because they are Funko Pops. Yeah, I only do it for like series that I actually enjoy. Like I have a whole horror collection.
01:06:34
Speaker
which is the closest that I will get to that broad of a Funko collection, but that's just because I like my little goons with their little knives. I've got like five or six Vegeta Funko pops and they're all different. Oh my gosh. I love Vegeta. I hate Funko pops. I'll be a Gundam figure collector before I'm a Funko collector. Same. I love my figures.
01:07:03
Speaker
Do you collect figures? I do. It was a problem. My favorite, I have a $1,000 Una statue. You do? This big, I can't even literally. Like a scale figure? Yeah, it's like one. The one from Final Fantasy? Yeah, Final Fantasy 10 Una. I'm trying to think if I know which one is just from memory. Is it the one where she's like with her hand up and she's on a huge
01:07:33
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, that's only like 500 were made or something like that. And I think if you try to buy one now, they always are damaged in some way because the people who really held on to them don't want to give them up. Yeah, I tried to Google una scale figure and I you're not gonna find a type of figure. It's a full statue. I had a typo and I typed tuna scale figure. Okay.
01:08:00
Speaker
Do you know you can buy Tuna scale figures? I didn't know that, but now I do. Tuna, happy birthday. Tuna. I also love my Krollo. I have a Krollo that's one three and he's a statue. He was 600 and he's hard to get.
01:08:26
Speaker
The ones I want are the Berserk ones, the scale figures, not the pop-up parade one that just came out is really cool, which I was kind of surprised because sometimes pop-up parade can have the shittiest paint job you've ever seen in your life. But those ones looked really cool. But what I really want is the Guts versus Zod one that's like this big. And I think it's like at least $700 now, hold on. I love collecting figures, but I'm really bad at doing it.
01:08:54
Speaker
because I just like to maintain my wallet. Yeah, I stopped because I was just spending way too much on them and I have over three cases of them. You have like, oh, the one I was talking about is fucking $1,500. Holy shit. And that's on eBay. That's not the actual like price that's secondhand. It's a beautiful figure though.
01:09:21
Speaker
I just I don't have space for them the way I like so I'll just get like the simple ones the Bandai ones at cons and call it good I don't want to invest in the huge statues right now.
Japan Travel and Culture Shock
01:09:32
Speaker
I have a lot because Japan I went to Japan they are so cheap dirt. Yeah So I would come home with like a suitcase full of like 20 to 30 figures. I was bringing a separate suitcase I would open all the boxes and then wrap them in my clothes. Mmm
01:09:52
Speaker
How many times have you been to Japan? Three times. What? That's awesome. Yeah. What's your favorite place to visit? Akihabara. It's like the weeb central. Yeah. Yeah. I know that. I have it in, but I'm working on it. My partner and I are talking about engagement and we're both like, hmm, honeymoon in Japan. Let's go have a little nerd party.
01:10:19
Speaker
It's kind of a culture shock though, it's really different. It's like here in another world it felt like it's just wild. Yeah. That's terrifying because even just visiting Salt Lake City felt like another world. There's like mountains here. There's like mountains there and like people interact with you in the way normal people do. And they don't steal your shit. Wow.
01:10:43
Speaker
We went to an amusement park for a friend's birthday and there's a part where you just keep your stuff in the pavilion and I'm like, no, you need to leave your bag there and they won't take it. And no one could fucking fathom that. But it's just, that's how Utah people are. It's like, it's a mutual understanding. We don't steal people's shit back here. And they don't and they didn't get it. And so yeah, that was a huge culture shock to her because I don't know. Yeah, that's not like that here either.
01:11:11
Speaker
No, still everything. Yeah. Yeah. My mom's been a victim to it before, but it's cool. It wasn't anything major. It was like someone took her car, like her slip from a fucking slot machine. Oh, I've had my car broken into. I'm afraid of that. That's why I'm in a parking garage and not move it the entire time I'm there. I'm so afraid of my car.
01:11:37
Speaker
But either way, can I ask, how do you navigate living in Vegas? Are you close to the strip or are you away from it? I'm central, so I'm like 15, 20 minutes away from the strip.
Vegas Living and Travel Tips
01:11:49
Speaker
I drive. I never go to the strip. I avoid it at all costs because that is somewhere you don't want to be if you live here.
01:12:01
Speaker
So it's like if anybody ever comes to visit and they're like, I want to go to the strip. It's like. I've been because I have family out there. I've been down for a reunion and we went to a fucking bowling alley that was super, super far off the strip, but still in Vegas. And I've never been so scared.
01:12:21
Speaker
Oh my god. I think I think that's exactly where I was. I was so scared. I don't know how to navigate Vegas. I grew up in Northtown so
01:12:34
Speaker
Yeah, I tried to walk like from our hotel to a gas station. No, no, not a good idea. Not on the strip. Anyway, the only places you could get away with that would be Summerlin area or Henderson area, but those are about 20 minutes away from the strip.
01:12:56
Speaker
I am, I think now more terrified of just being in Vegas as a concept and then second most terrified of the ghosts. That's where I'm at. Are you guys walking from Flamingo to the car? No, we're taking the monorail.
01:13:12
Speaker
Okay, you should be fine. There's a monorail. I told you this. That's why we picked the flamingo. Because the monorail takes you directly to the fucking convention center. I am so far removed from cities that I forget crazy. It's not a real monorail. It's a Las Vegas monorail. It only goes to six places.
01:13:31
Speaker
Yeah. It just goes in. Trains don't exist here. It's not a real train. It's not a real train. The nearest train that is not a freight train is the fucking train that takes you around DFW in Dallas. That's exactly what it is. It's like you're in an airport. The strip is like a big airport. It's like the terminal train thing. That is like so fucking exciting to me. You do not understand.
01:13:57
Speaker
Well, you won't have to walk. Walk is the most thing you can do in Vegas. That's why I picked the flamingo because A, it's close enough to like
01:14:09
Speaker
getting to HyperX in an efficient manner, and then getting to the convention center. And now since the fucking after party is at Palm, it's even easier. We're central to everything. The only thing we actually have to leave the strip for is because you've never been to Omega Mart, so we're gonna go. And then dinner, I don't know.
01:14:28
Speaker
but I might see if I can take us off path because there's a really good burger place that is super far from the strip that I want to go to. Have you been to Fuku Burger before? Yes. I fucking love those places. Very delicious. Yeah. Yeah. That's the only time I'm leaving the strip. Those two things. Okay, well, now I have to ask since you're a Vegas native,
01:14:48
Speaker
What place would you recommend to like Parks and I, especially if since I haven't been there ever, that you are like, oh, you should really go to this place whenever you hear tourists coming to town. I'm gonna do that bitch. Definitely Omega Mart. That place is really fun. So good thing you're going there. But we actually just recently got that within the past like five years, I want to say. So before that, I usually would just be like,
01:15:17
Speaker
I don't do very much out here. I literally just stay in my house. It's hot. I stay inside. I do like to go hiking. We have a couple nice hiking spots, which would be like Red Rock and Mount Charleston. But other than that, I'm like trying to think what else is cool. I don't even know everything on the strip. That's how like,
01:15:43
Speaker
There's so much shit on the strip that's like shoved in. I see a TikTok where it's like, did you know this is on the strip? And it's like a seedy alleyway that takes you to a weird speakeasy that you definitely don't want to go in. And like, how the fuck am I supposed to know that was there? Yeah, exactly. There's a really weird lingerie shop inside the strat, but you can't get in there in a normal manner. I don't know. It's scary. The strat is scary. There are a lot of those in Cosmo, like secret entrances to places.
01:16:12
Speaker
They have a lot of those. Yeah. It's very weird. I don't know why they do it. I think there's a McDonald's inside the strat, if I recall. That place is scary. I've never thought I would get jump more in a place than inside the strat. I've never actually been there. I've never actually been to the stratosphere. Don't go in there.
01:16:31
Speaker
It wasn't planning on it. Just don't. Do not. I've never been just sold or people try to sell me more CDs than out there. There's no food inside. There is one diner and then I guess like this McDonald's.
01:16:48
Speaker
There's no food in there except these two places that sell food. But they don't. That's the thing. They have weird hours. Oh, okay. They are not running on Vegas time inside the strat at all. And there's only one functional elevator for the main area that people stay in. Oh, no. Out of four. There are four there. They just don't work.
01:17:13
Speaker
So I had to wait in line for an hour to get to my room in full persona cosplay by the way. My ass cheeks were out and I was just sitting there standing waiting for them to let me in the fucking room. I hate that place. I just have a huge vengeance for how much I hate the fucking strat. I'd rather stay in the dirty ass circus circus rooms than be in fucking. I think I am staying at circus circus for Sick New World so that's cool. Oh no.
01:17:43
Speaker
Anyway, I love Vegas and I love the dirty ass hotels. Something about them is very kitschy to me. Yeah. I think Cosmo is the best hotel to kind of like walk around. It's really pretty. They got our best food, best food places.
01:17:59
Speaker
I think the Bellagio is kind of too expensive. My dad works for an MMA company and they do all the merchandising stuff and they have their yearly show in the Bellagio and he likes that area to stay in. That's the only one that I know.
01:18:20
Speaker
I usually go over to Cosmo at least once every single time I'm in Vegas because Gavin is obsessed with egg slut and I love getting an egg slut and then a big like bottle of mimosa and just sitting outside and drinking those.
01:18:36
Speaker
That is the way to be. It's like a donuts and chicken place. I think it's called like 808 or something like that. I think I know exactly what you're talking about because we walked past it, but we didn't eat there.
01:18:52
Speaker
It's actually really good, like ridiculously good. I was just like really surprised. Honestly, it kind of is like that when you're in Vegas. So it's like this is it's a gonna be expensive no matter what the fuck you're eating, but it's gonna be so hit or miss if it's gonna be good or not. Yeah. Yeah, I feel like everything in the Cosmo though is pretty good. I've tried most of the stuff in there and it's pretty good. And the chandelier bar is really pretty. I want to go in there so bad. Yeah.
01:19:22
Speaker
I love that place, but also it's not far from our hotel. It's on the monorail, bro. There you go. Visit it at least once. Add it to the list.
01:19:31
Speaker
added to the list, but yeah. Right next to the weird Tesla circle thing. That's underneath the convention center. Did you see anything about that? No. Because you know how L.A. or L.V.C.C. is split up so far between the convention centers? They added a Tesla mini like taxi underneath it and just Tesla's driving a circle underneath L.V.C.C. What? Yup. Yeah. That's funny.
01:20:00
Speaker
I'm going to do it because it's free, so may as well let them drive me in a circle. That's so funny. It's like a weird valet system. I don't know. Yeah, it's the Vegas Loop underneath and it's a tiny tunnel and you're at Tesla going through this tiny tunnel that has like rave lighting going around. Yeah, you got to look at the room.
01:20:27
Speaker
Walking from the West Hall, which is I think where like specifically where they're doing level up because that's where it was last time to the North Hall is a super far fucking walk. It's like 25 minutes. So now you can just go into a little tunnel and Tesla subway system. That's funny. But then the monorail is above that. But that's so funny. Yeah, I'm gonna get really high and go on the Tesla wheel.
01:20:57
Speaker
Also, those have a Zorts world, so I don't know where that connects to. Oh, that's new. I've actually not seen that one, but I've heard good things. Have you? Okay. Well...
01:21:09
Speaker
I'm gonna take the fucking- Time to go to the resort. I guess, okay, I'm looking at this and it actually, you know where the entrance to level up is? How they have that huge line that the fence line goes down all the way out the south end? It's right down at the end of that strip of parking lot. That's where the entrance is, to go take this stupid loop.
01:21:34
Speaker
Oh, so yeah, we're gonna get super high and get in the Teslas. All right, Omega Mart, Tesla Lube, Tesla Lube, Egg Slut, we got it all planned. And I love how this is morphed from this is such a fun guest episode to let's talk about how to tour Vegas in the weirdest way possible. Vegas native born and raised.
01:21:59
Speaker
And they'll just tell you don't go to the strip. Yeah, basically don't go to the strip. We also have something called Fremont. It's like the more ratchet version of the strip. It's honestly way more fun. Is it? I haven't been. Okay, hold on. I have to look exactly. And when I say extremely, extremely ratchet. Okay. Like it's kind of scary. It's that one's scary. You have to be in a big group of people to go to Fremont, but it is really fun.
01:22:29
Speaker
understandable oh my god i've been to fremont oh you have yeah with my family um wasn't great it's it's it's got its own vibe what a nice way to put it i have been to fremont yeah
01:22:52
Speaker
Either way, it's fun. It's your first time in Vegas, so it's not like the magic is there for you. If I just take you away from the scary things, it's okay. Pay no attention to the guys on the ground outside of the hotel. Don't look at the dudes. If people want to take pictures with you, don't. If you see bumpy, don't.
01:23:17
Speaker
They're going to try to give you cards of nude ladies. Oh, yeah, the escort cards. I've heard of that. My sister has a picture of her doing like the do it to impose with every time we saw tits. And there's at least 30 photos. That's funny. With the trucks going by, we took a bunch. But if anyone in a mascot costume tries to stop you, if anyone with bracelets, like a bunch of bracelets in their hand tries to stop you, or anyone just don't.
01:23:42
Speaker
Just don't acknowledge people. Don't even acknowledge them. You just walk by, don't even look at them. I'm southern. I can't not acknowledge people. But on the blinders, dude. You're gonna have to give someone five dollars for embracing eye contact. It's like going to the beach, like they see you. You think I've been to the beach?
01:24:03
Speaker
You've been to the Dominican Republic, you've never seen it before. Yeah, it was a pretty good place. We had the guy, there was a guy walking around with a parrot and a monkey that would let you hold them. And then if you tried to take a picture, he would jump in front of like, if someone tried to take a picture of you, he would jump in front of you, it'd be like $5, $5. That's what they do. That's what they do. Exactly what they do. They have snakes on the strip where they try to do that same thing.
01:24:29
Speaker
Yeah, you have to pretend you don't see them. The worst time was... Sorry, I'm telling my horror story. We were staying at the Excalibur and we were walking back and there's this like kind of part of the strip where it's not really the strip, it's like a bunch of like, it's kind of like a yard area and then further back is like a liquor store and a souvenir shop.
01:24:50
Speaker
before you get to the sky bridge that lets you cross over to Excalibur and we were walking past that and there's an angle on the escalators where you can see behind it and I saw someone in a Mickey or a mini costume getting a blowjob from someone who was just like Spider-Man.
01:25:08
Speaker
It was a dude in the mini costume. I saw that. I was like 16. That was weird. My mom was with me. Yikes. So don't look at anybody. I'm sitting in the hot boxing inside those things. I'm gonna protect you from the strip as much as I can, but I can't. I think my cat just
01:25:28
Speaker
broke something. I just don't know. It's okay. It'll be fine. You have your cat with you. What's your cat's name? Nominee. I love Kingdom Hearts. It's my favorite. Oh my god. She's so pretty. My cat's name is Lunchbox and she's a menace. She's our little lunch lady.
01:25:57
Speaker
And she is, I guess, probably knocking over our trashcan is what my my guess would be. Oh, it's your fault.
01:26:07
Speaker
Yep, it always is. Either way, I mean, look at this list here to get his background track to see if there really was anything else we have left. I feel like there's mostly talking points on our list. I feel like we hit everything that we wanted to hit. It's been so chill and just nice to chat. That's what we're going for. Love it. This is one of our main episodes kind of coming back. So I figured it was good for a chill vibe. But is there anything you want to talk about before we move on or lead into closing out?
Convention Insights and Creative Burnout
01:26:35
Speaker
Anything like your mind. I think you guys mentioned that you wanted me to cover guesting at cons. I did. I'm so stupid.
01:26:47
Speaker
That's on my notes. I'm just like reading it with glazed over eyes like I think that could be the last talking. Yeah, let's do that. Thank you. Jesus. I am not a professional. Don't take me. Yes. Do you have an agent that you use when you go through for guessing or does it just rely solely on knowing people within cons or hoping you just kind of get lucky with it sometimes?
01:27:11
Speaker
It pretty much for me and my experience has relied on knowing people I've only guested locally actually I think I'm at like maybe four different Vegas cons but for all of them I knew people so Like I know the owners of these cons basically So that's how that would work Other than that there was a time where I did get a guesting spot for
01:27:40
Speaker
He was in Pennsylvania, but it was right when COVID happened. Oh, so it just never happened. And that was like my first one I ever got out of state and I was really excited. There has been one thing though that I did get. It was a DS station. It was in Japan. That was how I went to Japan for the third time. We did work for their AR app. And that's how we went out there. So that was really cool. But for
01:28:09
Speaker
conventions. I it's kind of like you kind of have to just put yourself out there. My voice is cracking. You have to put yourself out there.
01:28:20
Speaker
Like, and reach out to these cons yourself is what I've heard through the grapevine type of deal. Or you need to know people. Like I know people fully on board. We've been working on building a con resume because we do panels. We did not get on the level of one, unfortunately. But because we've done panels, we've started making a formal like resume to show off just to show that we've done the work.
01:28:46
Speaker
So we started doing that to try to pass around professionally, but I feel like it is a whole game of knowing people. And with COVID setbacks and stuff, getting the foot in the door to know people is a little bit harder than it used to be.
01:29:03
Speaker
Yeah, I think the best thing to do to get like guesting spots nowadays would be just to email like say that resume to a con and multiple cons and hopefully one of them will give it to everybody. Yes. Yeah. My one of my good friends does specific booth thing with Akibento and gets to be like, maybe shuttled around. When you've done work for cons, have they paid you or have you taken compensation is in free tickets?
01:29:30
Speaker
or like travel or so on. I've taken compensation for the free tickets and I get a free table in the dealer's hall to sell. So that's how I would make my money. I've had some conventions pay me and some of them give me free hotel rooms. The one in Pennsylvania was going to give me free flight in hotel room and pay me a per diem.
01:29:56
Speaker
Um, it really just depends. You kind of set your own, like, uh, it depends on like, yeah. Like, can you set your own rate? Yeah. And so you, you don't use an agent for anything. All of your only fans, all of your tabling and stuff just goes through you on your own, doing your own thing. I tried a manager once and it ended very poorly.
01:30:22
Speaker
That's what I've heard. I've either heard it's done extremely well, or it's been a hot mess and no in-between. It did extremely well, but what they had me do was not what I was trying to do, and it felt kind of like coerced in a way. So I, meh. Yeah, I've got that. Totally understandable. Mm-hmm. They also took 40%.
01:30:49
Speaker
Oh, hell no. That's too much. I know you need to make your pay, but I'm not your only client. Reduce. Yeah. Exactly.
01:30:59
Speaker
That sucks. But it just feels like, yeah, I talk about this a little bit on my own stuff, but the monetization of it feels like it can draw from that love. And so when you have someone else hounding you for it, for their compensation, I can kind of see how that would be a huge drain for wanting to do it on your own versus wanting to do it normally, I guess. Yeah. It was definitely a lot easier to have somebody else running everything.
01:31:30
Speaker
But it wasn't worth it in the long run, just because they wanted to make more money. So they would push you to do more than what you wanted to do more than what you were comfortable with, which is messed up. Did that start to push you into a creative burnout at all? Oh, definitely. It made me just... I've been in a creative burnout for a while, I feel, just because
01:31:53
Speaker
I got pushed into something too soon that I wasn't trying to do. And I feel like I've been trying to come back from that ever since that happened. Totally. Your content doesn't reflect like you're in a burnout. Really? No, it doesn't. I feel like every time I look, I'm like, oh, shit, new photos. Damn, I'm always trying. I'm like, ah, it's like trying to flow into comedy.
01:32:18
Speaker
I try to blow them up, but I'm one of those people where it's like, please, I just I'm responding to every single thing to help like your numbers. I'm not trying to be a creep. I'm not a reply guy. I promise. I appreciate it. I'm so bad at doing that. I guess maybe just because I'm traumatized.
01:32:37
Speaker
It's just so awkward sometimes where it's like, I promise I'm not a simp. They were literally making, uh, in my group chat. I was having my boyfriend and one of my friends be like, who you marrying, bro? Who are you flirting with on Twitter? I'm like, please. I'm just trying to help a girl out. I'm not a simp, please. They're trying to call you a simp.
01:32:59
Speaker
Yeah, it was embarrassing. It wasn't I will support you with my whole chest. But it's just it's funny how the algorithm is like making people bend over backwards sometimes. Yeah, I'm always impressed by how much you can put out and still be within
01:33:15
Speaker
a burnout. Yeah, it's been rough. Like I definitely don't feel the same way I did about it. Like when I first quit my job and started doing it like I was so gung ho for that first like year and a half and then it was like slowly but surely starting to get burned out and yeah. Do you feel like because it is work like actual work for how you pay your bills it does impact how you feel about it that way? Yeah, it definitely does. Like I don't
01:33:43
Speaker
Like I have so many like dream cosplays, but I put them to the side because it's like, that's not gonna make me my money. You know, that would just be for fun. So it's like, I don't have time to work on those. Sometimes I do. It's just, you have to do what makes money first. Yeah, it's difficult.
01:34:03
Speaker
Do you feel like that I don't I have to figure out how to word this because I don't want to sound like I'm shaming sexy sexy cosplayers because I do sexy cosplay whatever you do sexy cosplay but do you feel like because most of what you have to do sometimes to get money involves doing those sexy cosplay is that it puts off like a lot more of your tame ones that would just be for you at almost most of the time. Yeah.
01:34:28
Speaker
Yeah, it definitely does. Like, there's a lot of characters that I probably would never cosplay that I've done. You know, because it's just like, well, this is what's doing. Well, guess I have to do it, you know? Yeah. Just like stuff like that. It's also kind of like another thing is like trying to come up with something new all the time, something different that nobody's done. That's why I did Reika recently, because I feel like
01:34:55
Speaker
Nobody had really done a hentai cosplay before. Especially not for a long time, but I liked people trying to guess what it was in your comments and maybe laugh. Yeah, they all thought it was Rosario Vampire and I was like, how? Different hair color, different uniforms, figure it out. Different everything, but okay. It was funny. I liked it. You looked really good. I was excited to see it.
01:35:20
Speaker
Thank you. Hopefully, this year lets you cosplay more things that you want to cosplay rather than what other people want you to cosplay. That's what I'm going to try to focus on this year. Yeah, out of that burnout. Self love, 2023. I feel like a lot of the people who benefit very well because they get sponsorships and stuff will go on things and be like, if you do what you love, the money will follow. And I feel like that's not
01:35:51
Speaker
Maybe in some cases, but not all. If what you love is like, I don't know, only doing like cat suits over and over, then yeah, I'm sure that does make you money.
01:36:04
Speaker
Yeah, I won't diss it. But like be honest, at least. Yeah, exactly. I don't like the way that cosplay is marketed now. And I don't think it's within the cosplayers themselves doing anything wrong with it. It's just the way that other people non cosplayers consume it. That kind of makes it a very toxic area to be in. And never, never used to be like that, which is the craziest part. Like when I first started cosplaying, I get made fun of for doing it.
01:36:34
Speaker
And when you went to cons, if somebody took a photo of your cosplay, you were like, that person's creepy.
01:36:44
Speaker
I still see people at cons with their weird digital cameras and they take them like this. Yeah. It's like someone's dad. No, they're not. It's not someone's dad. No, but I'm saying that's what they look like when they do that. It's like they hold it like someone's dad holds a camera in fucking Hawaii or something. No, my favorite are the ones where you're taking a photo for someone else and you see this guy in the background with his camera and you go like,
01:37:08
Speaker
and then walks away. He's even like, hold it up properly. He just like takes it like that and then walks away like a drive by. They do the under angle, you know, to get people's. Yeah. Yeah. I had people who when I was at level up last year who would do that, they would stand by me and like hug me and I'd be fine with it. I don't give a fuck if someone touches me sometimes. But then they would take the photo like from down here at an angle. I'm like, oh, you're into you're one of those.
01:37:34
Speaker
You're one of those people. Why you need to make me look bigger? What's going on? Yikes. It's cool. Yeah. Mmm, convention culture.
01:37:49
Speaker
I can't wait to see you guys at Level Up soon. Level Up will be fun. It's big. I don't know. When I was at Level Up last year, I had a lot of people who were Vegas natives who were like, this is the first time I've ever seen Level Up be big.
Level Up Excitement and Conclusion
01:38:04
Speaker
It was wild. It was insane. Like double or triple its size from before. Apparently, it's bigger this year too. Yeah, that's what I've heard. It's going to be in the same hall, but I mean, it didn't outgrow the hall. It was small.
01:38:19
Speaker
Yeah, like it was drafty in that hall, but I think they opened up more space probably. Yeah, so I'm pretty sure what they needed to do is utilize more panel rooms because last time the panel notes were kind of
01:38:33
Speaker
a mess. But it'll be fun. It'll be good. But yeah, it was a surprise because that level up was my first level up. And it was a fucking bit like everything about it was so fun. I had such a good weekend. Nothing went wrong. It's probably one of my favorite party cons because of the attitude that people brought to the after parties. I'm excited the after parties at a bigger venue now. Yeah, yeah, it's gonna be wild.
01:38:57
Speaker
Hopefully I help her excited. I don't know who the fuck was DJing last year, but I hope they're doing it again this year because everything that played was so good. There was something about going from like Rob Zombie to like Sailor Moon. Yeah. And then Swamamente. I don't know. Yes, Swamamente played it. Fuck yeah. They were good. I think they usually have the same DJs every year. I hope so.
01:39:21
Speaker
I used to actually go-go dance for the DJs on stage. I met one of the go-go dancers last year in one of the bathrooms. She was dressed like Misa and I was obliterated and we ended up following each other on Instagram and then never talked again. You know how it is. Drunk bathroom hangouts.
01:39:43
Speaker
Oh my gosh. It'll be a good con. I'm excited. And it's in fucking 21 days, possibly, yes. And I get to meet a ghost in a hallway. Hopefully. If my hotel room is in not the renovated part, are you not going to come over to me? Like, are you going to avoid my room if I'm in this room? No comment. Oh my god. I can't.
01:40:17
Speaker
Either way. The scariest fuck dude. The hardest part of level up won't be the ghost. It will be trying to find a spot to take photos in that convention. Yeah, because that's one of the only downfalls is there isn't really any good places for photos. That's why I'm hoping us being at the Flamingo will be good because they have like their inner garden area that we can go use. They have flamingos in there. Yeah, I want to pick up a sandwich.
01:40:37
Speaker
I don't know, I don't know!
01:40:46
Speaker
It'll be fun. You should do a Doflamingo at the Flamingo. She has a Doflamingo. I have Gavin's Doflamingo. Yeah. The pants do fit in their leggings and... I don't know. Print it off because I didn't want to do the real pants for him. Oops. That's fine. It's fine. It's amazing.
01:41:08
Speaker
Well, thank you so much for coming on the podcast call that it's been so like chill and it absolutely felt like a sleepover which is what I wanted the vibe to be so I love it. So nice to actually talk to you in person. After following you for a while because I love all your stuff.
01:41:26
Speaker
So thanks so much. Do I follow you back? I don't know if you do, but I'll like shoot you a DM really fast. How about that? Yes. Yes, do that. And I will follow you back. Oh my god. Sorry. You just stim it over there? Yeah. I've been keeping myself normal this whole time.
01:41:49
Speaker
a little smiley face. How about that? Okay, perfect. While we wrap up, is there anything you would like to plug where we can find you on Instagram, Twitter, everything? Your only fans. Everything is Vamplets. So whatever platform is for. We'll toss the link in the descriptions. People will find it.
01:42:10
Speaker
do your thing oh my thing you can find me on twitter and instagram at nebula underscore inky and parks where can they find you you can find my instagram at crown guard cosplay and you can find my twitter at little light b you can find the podcast as fandame's pod on both and on patreon you can support the show on patreon at fandame's pod
01:42:34
Speaker
Hell yeah. Thank you Vamplet, Colette, Vamp, all the things that I've called you because I can't settle on one. Do you have any parting words you want to tell the listeners? Come to Level Up. I've been lowkey trying to sell everybody on it, so it's cool. Come hang out with us at Level Up in three weeks. Okay, well thank you so much. Bye bye. Bye bye.