Heroes Con 2015 Cosplays

Below are some of my favorite cosplays seen at Heroes Con 2015. Due to the chaotic nature of these events I was unable to get anyone's names to give credit, so I'd like to apologize in advance for that. If you see yourself below feel free to send me a message and I'll happily give you credit for your excellent cosplay. Can't wait to see more next year!

Click each image to expand.

Here's my buddy Rob as the Netflix Dare Devil.

Heroes Con 2015

This past weekend I had the pleasure of attending Heroes Convention in Charlotte NC thanks to my buddy Rob. Once again dude, thanks for the ride to the con, letting me crash on your couch, and for always being such an awesome host. It was an incredible weekend!

I think this was probably the biggest vendor room I have ever seen. I've been to a lot of anime and smaller comic cons in my day but this thing was huge. Had to be at least the size of a football field or more. I think for the first 45 minutes or so we just kind of wandered around aimlessly just to take it all in. I don't think I've ever seen so many comics, toys, and aother nerdy junk all in one place before.

The thing I loved the most about this convention was the focus on meeting artists and writers over big celebrities.

As such I was able to meet Ian Flynn, writer of Archie Comic's Sonic the Hedgehog and Mega Man series, and his wife Aleah Baker, who is a colorist for the Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic Universe books.

I asked them if they could say any more on the cancellation of the Sonic Boom but they didn't have anything else to reveal that we didn't already know, just that the word came down from higher up at Archie and that it wasn't due to poor sales or by the request of Sega. I suppose the cancellation will have to remain a mystery, for now at least.

I was also able to meet Tracy Yardley, who is an artist on just about all of Archie's action series comics. Unfortunately I couldn't get a picture of him as his booth was pretty swamped with people trying to get him to do sketches for them. Eventually I did get to speak to him for a moment and got him to sign some things for me.

So thanks to the great folks at the Archie Comics booth, I'm now caught up (until Wednesday anyway) on the World's Unite crossover event with signed copies of each to boot!

Ian also hooked me up with this sweet signed collection of Sonic Boom alternate covers that all line up in a single image. I've got to find a way to safely display this thing.

That's it for the comic loot I scored over the weekend. Stay tuned for my follow up post where I'll be sharing my favorite cosplays from the weekend.

Thanks for reading!

Lost Level (+UP) Gaming Tournament and Birthday Weekend

This past weekend I attended the Lost Level (+UP) gaming tournament in Roanoke VA, hosted by the Lost Colony Campaign. I've been retired from the competitive gaming scene for some time, so I thought it'd be a fun thing to do for my birthday weekend and I'm really glad that I did.

I want to send a very special thanks to my life long friend Rob for hosting me, letting me crash on his couch, and showing me a great time in Roanoke. You're the best man!

As I said, it's been a long time since I've competed so I wasn't quite sure what to expect from my performance. I decided to just not care, have a good time and not even bother with the tournament mind set. That worked in my favor and thanks to the lack of tournament jitters I was able to place 2nd in both Street Fighter III Third Strike and Ultra Street Fighter IV.

The best part of the event though was seeing old friends from my tournament days. Everett and Justin you guys look great and brought some mighty skills, it's been too long! Shane it was awesome to see you and meet your lady and beautiful baby. My kids are gigantic now so it was wild to actually hold a baby again haha. Tyler, your commentary was awesome and I can't wait to see those match videos. You also make me miss my long hair terribly. Joshua, thanks for all your help and bringing games, we need to get into some casuals next time. Corey, it was great seeing you again and thanks for the intense matches. My heart was in my throat by the end of those finals, can't wait to face you again. Michael, I didn't get a chance to chat with you but I'm super proud you took BlazBlue.

The venue was great and the Lost Colony ran a solid event. They've announced that they're going to be doing tournaments like this every 3 months, so I'm sold there. Be sure to visit their campaign Facebook page to show them some support and help get the Lost Colony Bar going.

Their food confirmed awesome. This IS a tasty burger!

Also be sure to check out Star Powered Gaming for more information on tournaments and other gaming related gatherings happening in the Roanoke area. I see many more trips to Roanoke in my future thanks to this group.

So once again, thank you everyone for showing me a truly awesome birthday weekend. I hope we can all get together again soon.

Thanks for reading!

Pandemonium Gaming at Mellow Mushroom Aug 7th

Last night I attended my first gaming session hosted by the Pandemonium Gaming Co. out of Johnson City Tennessee and I just wanted to give some shout outs to those that attended and give my thoughts on the event.

First of all I had a blast and will definitely be attending their future events.  Their staff was very nice and had their act together in terms of organization and equipment.  I was impressed that they went before the event and purchased additional controllers and equipment in case there weren't enough for the players.  Most events will tell you to have your own equipment ready or face disqualification.  In my personal opinion if you're going to a gaming event you should have your own controllers ready to go, but I understand things can get in the way of that due to traveling and money constraints, which is why I thought it was awesome they made the gesture of purchasing extra equipment.

The area set aside for the event by Mellow Mushroom was nice and spacious enough to host an event like this; it was probably the most impressive set up I've seen held at a restaurant for an event.  Unfortunately in my past experience the owners of similar establishments will gladly welcome your event but then act like you're a nuisance once the event actually takes place.  The staff of Mellow Mushroom seemed like they were glad to have us there though and even gave some shout outs to the gaming event during their trivia game.  Having beer and food at the ready is always a positive as well!

The only downside to the event was that there were a lot of players missing from their usual crowd, so unfortunately they were unable to hold their tournaments.  Regardless, there were still a lot of us there and we definitely enjoyed a long evening of free gaming.

Now I want to give some shout outs to some of the awesome people I met at the event:

Jason and Ted - Thanks for putting this event together!  You guys were super nice and organized.  It made for a very welcoming atmosphere, which is something I think some other competitive events miss the mark on.  Ted, sorry the Street Fighter tournament didn't happen, it seemed like you were ready to see some serious throw downs.

Jacob - Always a pleasure playing you man.  I'm sorry we didn't get to throw down with our mains, I think we were both saving them for the tourney.  Hopefully we'll get a chance to meet in the finals next time!

Fei Long guy - I'm sorry I didn't catch your name.  I dunno if you'll ever see this but your Fei Long was solid.  Thanks for the 30+ sets!

Everyone else I played - You guys are good and you should enter the tournament next time!  But whether you do or not I hope we can play again soon.

Be sure to follow Pandemonium Gaming Co's Facebook page for news on their upcoming events!

Fight for Hope 1 SWAG

I wanna show off some of the swag I won by placing at the first Fight for Hope event. These sweet "game sprite" trophies were crafted by Travis Smithson and are some of the coolest things I've seen as prizes at a tournament. I hope trophies like this will be available at all of the Fight for Hope events.

1st place Super Street fighter IV

I included the figures just as a size comparison, and because they're some of my favorites.


3rd place Marvel vs. Capcom 3

I think I did pretty good for having never practiced the game.


The 2nd place trophies looked really cool too but I wasn't able to get one of those. I'll try to take a picture of one of the 2nd place winners and post it up later.

Playing for charity

This Friday I had a great meeting with my team mates working with me on our Fight for Hope tournament series. So far we were able to paint a clearer picture of everyone's responsibilities at the events as well as a rough sort of expense report for our swag items and food/drinks.

Our next step is to make a final decision on a venue. We're in the process of calling several places now. We just need to find a place that would hopefully host us for free so we can give 100% of our earnings to charity.

This is an exciting project for me as I've never really worked on an event to support charitable causes before. My past tournament experience usually involves competing for that grand prize pot of cash and the pure thrill of the competition.

I'm seeing several events popping up here and there to benefit the earth quake victims of Japan which is a great thing. We want to do the same, but continue further in a series of events that will benefit other causes as well. If we're successful, this will always be the purpose of Fight for Hope.

I want to encourage gamers to organize their own sort of events for similar causes. No matter what genre you play, this is a great way for our hobby to do some good in the world and hopefully look like less of a waste of time to casual observers.

So there's an update on what we're doing and how we're processing towards our first event. I'm welcome to any suggestions anyone might have. Be sure to watch out for our event page on Facebook.

Clear your calendar for May 14th. Fight for Hope is coming

Saturday May 14th will be the first event in our Fight for Hope series of tournaments. The idea is to gather gamers together for some friendly competition while raising money that will benefit the Japanese earth quake victims and other charitible organizations.

The first event is being hosted by Troy Bowers at his place. I'll get the exact address from him by monday. Games will include Super Street Fighter IV, Marvel vs. Capcom 3, and Mortal Kombat 9.

All of the admission fees will be donated to charity. Exact prices will be announced very soon.

Come out to compete for some sweet prizes and meet some other gamers in the area while doing something nice for those in need.

Even if you dont play games we'd love to have you out. We'll get you up to speed.

Stay tuned in the next few days for more info!

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Past Tournament Results

I just wanted to make a record of some past tournament results since I'm no longer using my old blog.

Fight For Hope Gameday Tournament Results - 09/04/2011

The results are in for our Fight for Hope Gameday event that took place on 9/3/2011. I do not yet have the total amount to be donated to charity, but I do know that we had more attendants than last time which is fantastic.

Here are the final results for each tournament:

Magic the Gathering teams

1st. Kyle/Blake
2nd. Phil Gracik/Guy Amazing
3rd. Randy/Robbie Williams

Marvel vs. Capcom 3

1st. Ryan Hamilton
2nd. Jacob
3rd. Drew Smallwood
4th. Josh Anders
5th. Sid Cox

Street Fighter III: Third Strike Online Edition

1st. Ryan Blevins
2nd. Jacob
3rd. Ryan Hamilton
4th. Drew Smallwood
5th. Troy Bowers

Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition

1st. Ryan Blevins
2nd. Jacob
3rd. Sid Cox
4th. Troy Bowers
5th. Phil Gracik

Fight For Hope 1 Results - 05/15/2011

First and foremost I'd like to say that we had an outstanding turnout and were able to raise $210 for the Tornado disaster relief. That's outstanding and I'd like to thank everyone who attended as well as those who just donated for making it possible. Your contributions will make a big difference in the lives of those affected by the recent disaster.

It seemed like everyone had a great time and were excited to attend future events as well, so expect more similar events in the future.

Special thanks to Troy Bowers for hosting our event at his place and for throwing the awesome after tournament cookout for everyone. Also thank you to everyone who purchased or donated towards the food we had, it was great.

Special thanks to Travis Smithson for crafting the awesome trophies for the events. These were some of the coolest things I've ever seen available at a tournament.

Now I'd like to give mention to the winners of the tournaments. Congratulations everyone! Remember that winners of 1st through 5th of the competitions will have their names entered for free in one of our future raffle drawings.

The Bigs 2

1st. Troy Bowers
2nd. Travis Fulwider
3rd. Randy
4th. Guy Amazing
5th. Ryan Blevins
5th. Sid

Super Street Fighter IV

1st. Ryan Blevins
2nd. Travis Fulwider
3rd. Sid
4th. Hoss
5th. Phil Gracik
5th. Randy

Mortal Kombat

1st. Drew Smallwood
2nd. Sid
3rd. Hoss
4th. Ryan Blevins
5th. Randy
5th. Josh

Marvel vs. Capcom 3

1st. Josh
2nd. Drew Smallwood
3rd. Ryan Blevins
4th. Sid
5th. Phil Gracik
5th. Guy Amazing

End Game Tournament Center Results - 7/17/2010

I think we all had a great time at the End Game tournament a few weeks ago. I've been watching the SRK forums and it seems that they are not posting a results thread up, so unfortunately I do not have the exact standings for how everyone placed, sorry guys!

I have an idea about where the members of our scene placed below, along with a few others. I'll be sure to suggest a results thread to tournament hosts from now on.

Blazblue:

1st: Everett "Arcas-V"
2nd: Michael "VR-Raiden"

Super Street Fighter II: HD Remix

2nd: Justin "GhibliCat"
3rd: Everett "Arcas-V"
4th: Rob "UGotRobbed" Campbell

Super Street Fighter IV (singles)

1st: Renegade
3rd: Rob "UGotRobbed" Campbell
4th: Ryan "FistoftheWind" Blevins
4th-5th?: Ryan "Rockstaryano" Hamilton
5th: Justin "GhibliCat"

Super Street Fighter IV (teams)

3rd: Team Rockstar (Rockstaryano, FistoftheWind, UGotRobbed)

Tatsunoko vs. Capcom

2nd: Michael "VR-Raiden"
3rd: Rob "UGotRobbed" Campbell

Kogani Convention Tournament Results - 06/06/2010

The Kogani convention wrapped up late last night and the results below are in. It was a long day of events and many many games, it seemed like everyone had a great time. We'll be looking forward to next year.

Tournament results as follows:

Blaze Blue:

1 Donnie "Iceman"
2 Everett "Arcas"
3 Dan "FLCL"
4 Michael "VR Raiden"
5 Koalhtahk

Guilty Gear XX Accent Core:

1 Michael "VR Raiden"
2 Donnie "Iceman"
3 Everett "Arcas"
4 DND
5 Justin "Ghibli Cat"
5 Tyler "Trash"

Smash Bros Brawl singles:

1 Christopher Ra "Narinsoo"
2 Jan "Apple"
3 John Ash
4 Fooly Cooly
5 Koalhtahk
5 D

Smash Bros Brawl teams:

1 HokieDoken
2 Broccoli and Cheese
3 purple cobras
4 babyskulls
5 Rollout
5 blargh n derp
7 Thunder and lighting

Street fighter Alpha 3:

1 Ryan B "FistoftheWind"
2 Robert Campbell "UGotRobbed"
3 Justin "Ghibli Cat"
4 Michael "VR Raiden"
5 Donnie "Iceman"
5 Dan "FLCL"

Street Fighter 3 Third Strike:

1 Justin "Ghibli Cat"
2 Everett "Arcas"
3 Ryan B "FistoftheWind"
4 Wes
5 Robert Campbell "UGotRobbed"

Super Street Fighter 2 HD Remix:

1 Robert Campbell "UGotRobbed"
2 Justin "Ghibli Cat"
3 Ryan B "FistoftheWind"
4 Michael "VR Raiden"
5 Taylor
5 Everett "Arcas"

Super Street Fighter IV:

1 Blake Zucker "Vivaldi"
2 Donnie "Iceman"
3 Robert Campbell "UGotRobbed"
4 Everett "Arcas"
5 Ryan B "FistoftheWind"

Tatsunoko vs. Capcom

1 Donnie "Iceman"
2 Robert Campbell "UGotRobbed"
3 Michael "VR Raiden"
4 Morrison "Zelda"
5 Taylor
5 pierce "Halo"

Tekken 6 BR:

1 Donnie "Iceman"
2 John Tran
3 TA
4 Robert Campbell "UGotRobbed"
5 pierce "Halo"
5 Taylor

MYSTERY GAME: Street Fighter The Movie, The game:

1 Robert Campbell "UGotRobbed"
2 Michael "VR Raiden"
3 Everett "Arcas"
4 Joshua "CNF"

Radford VA Replay Games Tournament Results - 05/01/2010

Here are the results from the May 1st 2010 Replay Games tournament in Radford VA:

12 entrants total, results were:
1. Blake "vivaldi" (Rufus)
2. Robbie "Rush EX" (Honda/Guile/Cody)
3. Ryan "FistoftheWind" (Chun/Ryu)
4. Everett "Arcas V" (Ken)
5. [tie] Michael "VR-Raiden" (Dudley)
5. [tie] Justin "GhibliCat" (Guy/Sakura)

Final Round XIII

 We're back from Final Round and it was a blast. I had an great time and many awesome matches that I learned a lot from. Got some awesome swag too, but the matches were the best of all. Definitely will be attending again next year.

Thanks to Ryan H, Donnie, Rob, Justin and Drew for making the trip and very special thanks to Donnie and Rob for keeping me awake on the trip back.

For more thoughts on Final Round from our local scene click here:
http://www.shoryuken.com/showthread.php?t=56883&page=214

For the tournament results click here:
http://www.shoryuken.com/showthread.php?t=228642

Final Round shout outs here:
http://www.shoryuken.com/showthread.php?t=228775

The original Final Round XIII thread here:
http://www.shoryuken.com/showthread.php?t=200458

Other wins of mine that I no longer have the results for due to my bricked laptop :(

UFSFCIII and UFSFCII

1st Place Street Fighter IV

Bristol VA Anime Club Summer Tourney

1st Place Street Fighter 3 Third Strike
1st Place Street Fighter Alpha 3

SWVAnime Club Halloween lock in

1st Place Street Fighter 3 Third Strike

VHCC Cafe Tourney

1st Place Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter