Guest Interviews from Virtual Crunchyroll Expo 2020

Oh man, I REALLY enjoy this question because all of these have been a blast in their own ways!

Starting with The Leaderboard/Channel Frederator, it was easily two videos in particular: one about the original Halo trilogy (which was sadly removed part way through my tenure during a “winter cleaning” they did for non-Timeline video essays videos last year) and a video about Mortal Kombat 11 “mains” (i.e. preferred character picks). The Halo one allowed me to very publicly and passionately express my love of the original series of games (which had a deep personal significance when they first released), and the MK11 one was basically a microcosm of my professional+cosplay history since I was hosting a web video about video games while making Aqua Teen Hunger Force references and randomly cosplaying two of my favorite fictional characters in between with gear made by/acquired during times with good friends over nearly a decade by then.

For TTPM, there’s a bunch that REALLY have been a blast for me so far, but the highlights I’m most amused to share were videos about the Flopping Magikarp by Wicked Cool Toys (literally one of the highest scores I’ve given in my time there because it did what it was supposed to, was fun to hold/play with, and brought unfiltered joy to myself and anyone who saw it…which, honestly, is what a good toy SHOULD do in the end), two videos on WWE Figures (one which let us go full “He-Man” in the cold open, and another where I got to work in wrestling parlance and subtle visual jokes that would be hilarious to wrestling fans in particular), a video on the 1989 Lego Batmobile (because that was just objectively cool as a lifelong Batman fan…plus, I got to keep it when we were done!), and the last one released when the current situation started, which was a Marvel and Street Fighter Hot Wheels set in which we referenced the 90’s anime film, worked in some MvC2 footage and memes for full impact, AND took the opportunity for me to go full-blown “wrestling announcer” for the first time in a while. (Plus, it was just a fun callback to one of my last performances as a cosplayer…specifically “Trial of the Century” from New York Comic Con/Anime Fest 2011, which along with the previous year’s “Scott Pilgrim vs Comic Con” is one of my all-time cosplay highlights if I’m being honest.)

BONUS FACT: my cohorts who I make the TTPM videos with are friends I first made during my convention exploits…which both explains a LOT about how silly my videos there got, and is also a theme you’ll be seeing again shortly, hahah.

Kaiju Big Battel was just a blast in general because I became a fan of it around the same time as anime (when I was already a dyed-in-the-wool wrestling fan for years by then); I could probably list every show I worked during that period since they were all unique in very meaningful ways (like the “Bash at the Bell ‘96” which was basically the Kaiju Big Battel 2018 beach episode, hahah), but the three highlights for me were the Twitchcon show we did in 2017 (which was just a good, goofy fun show from start to finish featuring many fan favorite characters), our 2018 “Live and Let Die” show at WWN Live’s More Than Mania weekend (which I got to call alongside longtime friend Trevin Adams, who brought me into the fold for KBB initially and whom I met doing anime conventions at the literal start of the “professional” phase of my journey in 2007) and both our 2017 and 2018 Pittsburgh shows because they were held in professional theaters and featured narratives which bookended each side of the experience wonderfully. (Even resulting in an amazing still that’s become my business card image, hahah!)

As for cosplay-specific things? I basically point to everything I was fortunate to do between 2006-2011 both in competition and as exhibition since many of those performances were done with longtime friends/members of my current team at Digital Era Entertainment and other equally longtime/close friends who’ve helped in past DEE productions who now run a Twitch channel called the New York Snark Exchange! (Which I was a founding member of, actually!) Also, since it was a milestone on multiple levels that truly transitioned my cosplay life from casual to professional, the 2009 “Romeo x Juliet” stage performance at Anime Boston that was done through ACParadise.com for FUNimation (my first time doing promos with FUNi) which I worked on with an amazing crew…BIG shoutout to Jamie Bonsigniore for helping to direct/choreograph/organize this one with me given how ambitious it was going to be with a very limited cast!

And finally, I’d be remiss if I didn’t cite all the work done through DEE; from our early works in 2004/2005 (which feature members of the team who’ve returned to help build out our weekly Twitch offerings after missing out on a big project or two) to our recent livestreams/podcasts/video essays/etc., every project I’ve either spearheaded or helped produce/develop for the brand represents something special from that period of time, and serves as a series of snapshots for the periods those works were released. Take for example our 2009-2010 webseries Doujinopolis, which all happened because of my wonderful friend Jenni Hashimoto (aka cosplayer Mostflogged who now runs indie clothing brand AnimeTrashSwag and is no stranger to CRX, having been their IRL Crunchyroll-Hime in year one): this project is a particularly poignant one because of how it represents the period that was the bridge between the “amateur/fan” days of both myself and DEE into at least a semi-pro period; it also serves as a preview of who would be a part of the next stage of DEE journey (including a preview of where I’d be living for at least four years of my life later in the decade thanks to a location I chose to shoot b-roll footage for my favorite episode at), so there’s lots of good vibes attached to it in general!

Because life is forever unpredictable, there’s been plenty of hardships, setbacks, and generally rough periods I’ve had to work through, but I’ll leave two particular examples since they’re most relevant to what makes this whole VCRX experience so much more poignant to me:

As I’ve said elsewhere, back in 2007 when I was at a unique crossroads with what to do next with my life, I was determined to try and make myself a “proper adult” with a “respectable” resume following (in no particular order) a failed stint the previous year as a real estate agent, an unsuccessful Broadway reality show audition (that thankfully got buried pretty quickly), and a string of unsuccessful auditions for roles/gigs that ultimately didn’t pan out.

A more recent example would be late 2016, because that was when an unlikely (but still surprisingly successful) first-class Broadway conceptual project I worked on between 2012-2016 had to be shelved, leaving me financially devastated and still recovering even to this day…and with how closely tied to me DEE had been up to that point, it basically killed the brand before an end-of-year proposal from a longtime friend/collaborator (and now our Editor-in-Chief for informative content, Kenneth Cardez) provided an opportunity to rebuild with help. I even went through a really dark period during this time when things got so bad at one stage that I was literally lying around staring blankly at the ceiling with nothing but mental fog for days at a time because of a cocktail of bad vibes: I was mentally broken by the gravity of not just the failure, but the hopeless future I was seeing before me thanks to my inability to bounce back by finding good work quickly AND a general self-loathing that affected me and my close relationships with people very badly. It wasn’t until Spring 2017 when the path to my joining Kaiju Big Battel began that I started to mentally pull myself out of the funk. Financially? Not until fairly recently have I managed to stabilize, and even that was thanks to hard work, a few lucky breaks, and having to pass through additional lows that were really rough…all a butterfly effect rippling out from this initial setback in 2016.

Again, these are two of MANY examples I could give, but in each case, there was a common theme that I took away from it: bad things can lead to amazing ones if you remain determined, resourceful, and can rely on some good friends…also, that I owe anime conventions BIGTIME for allowing me to meet many of those great people along the way, hahah!

In the case of 2007, I eventually found my way to Anime News Network for a year which would then lead directly into my twelve years of promo work through ACParadise.com that further helped me (and, by proxy, DEE) at multiple critical points along the journey. In the case of 2016, I lost a dream project, but gained SO much contract and music rights experience (and a generally improved professional network/confidence in my abilities), learned to be extra resourceful with my financial back to the wall (which has been VERY handy during the reduced available work during the current global situation), and saw a rebirth of DEE that’s blossomed further during the past year alone and now stands to end up in a possibly better place than if things had gone right the first time.

(It also inadvertently led to my current relationship which has been not just one of the healthiest and longest lasting I’ve been in, but one that healed me from the emotional damage done during the 2016-2017 period, constantly improved me as a person overall in ways I’m happy to have been improved, and most importantly has been a blessing to be able to properly enjoy during the pause provided by the current global situation.)

In short: things got tough, I broke a few times, but because of the bonds I’ve made along the way because of this wonderful world of anime (and beyond), I’ve been grateful to have the chance to constantly rebuild, improve, and continue having amazing opportunities that wouldn’t’ve happened had things worked out “right” the first time.