Rob Lee has a lot of opinions, many of which can’t be contained to Robcast so here’s Robservations.

Awesomely Marvelous

Rob Lee here, cats & kittens, and I have an Awesomely, hell, Marvelous weekend to share with you. So for those who have listen to Mastermind Team’s Robcast on MTRthenetwork.com, know that I enjoy pop culture and entertainment. I’ll go on record to say that Punisher starring Dolph Lundgren was the first comic book movie I’ve watched and that I am a collector of comics, cards and Funko POPs. Pop culture and entertainment has always been a huge interest for me. In fact, as a middle school student I wrote, drew, colored and so on a comic book called Savages. It was an unabashed rip-off of the 90’s Jim Lee run on WildC.A.T.S. I cautiously call myself a fan in the previously mentioned areas.

A Message to Fanboys

Over the years, I’ve had an interesting relationship with fandom. A large mass of fans annoys me – I’m not saying fans need to be like me and have various interests – love what you love, rep what you rep but there’s a line where you relinquish your coolness, your broadness and possible transitory nature leave and you are then relegated to only circles of that specific fan tribes. Then there’s the sense in many circles of not being accepted because you may not read the same “accepted” source material or you like specific aspects of a property. That said, I avoid conventions and gatherings of fan groups like big movie releases due to my aversion of jerk-ass fanboys.  This weekend I changed my approach and it was great!

The Con is in

I enjoy stacking experiences. For instance, two-years ago #JustGreg and I went to Long Beach for the first time for the New Japan Pro Wrestling G-1 Special. Kenny Omega was crowned the US Champion that weekend. During our time staying in Long Beach, we went to the Little Tokyo section of Los Angeles to get some culture. We went the shops, had sushi and I shopped for a kimono. Also, the Anime Expo was in LA.

We had no idea the Anime Expo was there. We attended an event there that night. We saw karaoke, saw tons of cosplayers and had a great experience. Also, we couldn’t escape the clutches of the notorious Ham-lord – a black Star-lord cosplayer that was overly committed to singing. He is great and cringey.  I’ll deem the Quasi-Japanese experience a success! Not like the Viking Experience – that is a terrible name, almost as bad as the Viking Raiders.

It was Awesome

I seek opportunities to prove myself wrong – I believe that’s how I can learn. This past weekend was another opportunity to disprove the jerk-ass fanboys I try to avoid. I was going to Awesome-con in Washington, DC. DeAyres, guest on Mastermind Team’s Robcast, Unofficially Black and from the mighty CoPlay Media (check them out), invited #JustGreg and I to cover Awesome-con as press. It was a huge honor. The event was in-a-word – mediocre – naw, it was AWESOME.  Awesome-con marked the first time that I attended a convention as press. I was honored to interview JT Sterling from RAE Comics. My compatriots, #JustGreg and DeAyres, interviewed the legendary Lou Ferrigno. Additionally, we did a lot of great networking and made some new friends.

I don’t know if it was the press pass and that I was “working” but my feelings of aversion and unacceptance wasn’t there. I had a great time. I got some great content for CoPlay Media and MTR The Network. I saw some cool costumes as well as exhibits – the 80^th Anniversary Batman exhibit was the bomb!

I only attended Awesome-con on Saturday for about 5 hours, but it was great, and I’m committed to going next year, likely for the entire weekend. It was THAT good.

Marvel at Sunday

While I was at Awesome-con, my deliciously geeky girlfriend texts me an image of our tickets for Sunday afternoon to see Avengers: Endgame. I was stoked. So, get back from DC and meet up with her. Our plan was to get up, get ready and get to the theater. This went off without a hitch.

We get to the theater. The theater was packed to the gills with eager fans. I thought this is going to be huge and people suck so this could also be annoying. There was a group of bros – who likely have a shit podcast – sitting in front of us. Everyone was great the film – there was a respect for one’s fellow movie goer and fandom. I good balance was struck. I was content.

Avengers: Endgame is an event! It is one of the most satisfying events I’ve ever been a part of. Also, #dontspoiltheendgame is great despite the jerks who want to actively spoil it. I truly hope it makes all the money. There are so many mark-out moments in the film that I didn’t mind the long run time – the movie captivated, amused and thoroughly entertained me.

Winter Is Here

To cap off my great Pop Culture and Entertainment weekend, I watched episode 3 of the final season of Game of Thrones titled the Battle of Winterfell. I was wondering what would happen? Who would die?  I had feelings – it was unexpected, but I could only relate what I was feeling to what I suspect other fans feel more regularly about their “thing”.  While some people may complain about the visual aspects of the episode, I felt it was immersive. I felt like I was watching a legit battle, not in a hokey handy cam way but in a “Dothraki can’t see, Jon Snow can’t see, Rob Lee can’t see sort of way.” The episode brings out the tone – a calm before the storm and was simply great TV – well, HBO. Arya Stark is the true MVP.

Summary

Due to my experience this weekend with Awesome-con and Avengers: Endgame, I think I’ve turned a bit on my previous feelings about fans. It’s still tepid and tenuous but I love what I love, and I want to be around people who feel the same way. Those are fans.

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