August Part 2

Well, September certainly felt like August Part 2. What with the weather not changing, and all.

I can't let today go without celebrating the 65th anniversary of The Flintstones!

But before I fulfill my promise I made last month, lemme show off a few things.

The Cool Ranch Doritios Locos Taco returned to Taco Bell! Taco Bell's been running a Decades promotion for the past year, bringing back items for every decade. Well, they finally made it to the 2000s/10s, the sweet spot when I went to Taco Bell, bringing this back with the 7 Layer Burrito, the Chili Cheese Burrito, the Double Decker Taco, and the Caramel Apple Empenada.

Seriously, I stopped going when this and the Quesorito got discontinued, so two weeks ago was the first time I walked into a Taco Bell in literal years.

Verdict: It was just as good as I remembered it! I just wish they brought back the 2013 prices. You used to be able to get a dozen of these for what they're charging for three and a large drink. It's criminal.

And speaking of fast food things, Popeye's is doing a Hot Ones promotion, and they have the Smokin' Rojas Chicken Sandwich. It's like their regular sandwich, but with special Hot Ones sauce on it.

Verdict: This is REAL good! Popeyes already has the best fast food chicken sandwich, and the sauce is good, with a real good kick. At last, an actual spicy chicken sandwich!

I forgot to mention last month that I saw the Rifftrax live show of Timecop! The movie was terrible, but the boys brought the goods once again. It made that confusing mess funny.

And without further ado: the other stuff I did in August!

First up, LI Tropic Con! It's a relatively small con on Long Island, but they had some pretty rad guests this year. Mainly Carlos Alazraqui, the voice of Rocko on Rocko's Modern Life. I saw this pic and HAD to get him to sign it.

But kids of a certain age (most of the people who sat in on his panel) knew him better as Mr. Crocker on Fairly Oddparents.

And of course he was the Taco Bell Chihuahua. And I had a plush one on hand to get in a pic with him!

And my buddy who goes to cons dressed as Peter Griffin was there, and you know Carlos went into back and forth as Mr. Weed.

"Peter, you're fired!"
"You're dead!"
"I am an animated character!"

You get the gist. The panel was really interesting, too. He pretty much went through his whole career. The highlights were, of course, Rocko, Fairly Oddparents, and Reno 911.

Also there was Samuel Vincent, the voice of Edd (Double D) on Ed, Edd n Eddy. He was just as nice and cool as you'd expect! 

Matt Hill, the voice of Ed, was there, too, but I met him the last couple of years and he had a mighty line this time. 

Billy West was also in attendance. I'd met him several times, but I still got to hear some fun bits, like Doug and Roger Klotz as prison cellmates.

I met him at NYCC last year and, thanks to the We Hate Movies podcast poisoning my brain, asked him what it would've been like if Roger was at January 6th. I tell you, it hits differently when you hear "we were just tourists!" coming out of the actual guy's mouth.

Rob Paulson was there, too. Cam Clarke is gonna be at NYCC next month, so I finally got started on a TMNT print to hopefully add Barry Gordon and Townsend Coleman to it. They're not getting any younger, folks! We lost Peter Renaday (Splinter) last year!

And now the other big thing I did in August: Anime NYC!

This was by far my favorite cosplay: this guy as a giant pack of Newports for some reason.

And I'm me and I ran off of an escalator to catch the guy dressed as the Sickos meme.

As for actual anime cosplays, my favorite would have to go to this one as Akira Toriyama's self-insert OC, with a halo.

And now some other highlights:

Yes, that's Beret Girl from An Extremely Goofy Movie.

The K-Pop Demon Hunters were popular this year, and I presume they'll be more popular come next month.

The McDonalds Deku was a highlight of the My Hero Academia meetup.

Saw the legend, Dale Gribble. He has the aviators, but one of the lenses popped out.

Panty and Stocking were popular this year.

But no shock that Dan Da Dan was the new hotness this year. Oh sure, there were still plenty of Demon Slayer, Chainsaw Man, Delicious in Dungeon, and Frieren cosplayers.

Look, here's a group of them!

But Dan Da Dan is the new big anime by far. I've been catching up...just not enough when I went to the panel. 

I thought "oh, they'll probably talk about what's coming up for season two!"

They came out and said "how are you all liking season two?! Can't believe we're almost done!"

Eep. I went into a panel knowing ZERO context of what they were talking about. But it was still fun, and it's still a good anime! I like hearing Barbara Goodson as a lead role again. (She voices Turbo Granny, an evil spirit that cursed Okarun that's now trapped in a cat doll)

And now some more highlights!

In previous years, the horny section was stuffed into a far corner of the show floor. Not this year! A bunch of booths had a sweet spot in the middle, right in front of Artists Alley.

Didn't see any doujin vendors this time, though. But I don't think I was looking hard enough.

But in any case, everyone's favorite part: the haul!

A sticker book made to look like a package of raw meat!

Smiling Friends art was surprisingly popular. And Garfield.

And all the pins I bought. I may or may not have a problem.

But I had to stop short when I saw this.

A Frankenberry keychain!

Of course the artist had Count Chocula and Boo Berry, too. It was hard to reconcile that most of the artists in Artists Alley are now younger than I am. I barely had nostalgic attachment (they started going seasonal sometime in the 90s), these kids have barely any idea who they are, let alone Fruit Brute and Yummy Mummy. But I'm me and had to snag it.

And finally, the most in character purchase I made. Last year I bought the Godzooky print, and this time I had to get the Hanna-Barbera Godzilla to go with it. The artist is Mark Dos Santos, fyi.

That'll do it for August, er, September! Next month is NY Comic Con, and that'll be a fun time.

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