First, to the idiots that kept running up and down Shoreline Drive at 2 and 3 AM blasting their music and revving their engines… You all suck… Now that I have that out of the way…
I started day 2 with a 5k run. About a mile into my run I joined an actual live running event I didn’t know about. I would have signed up and gotten another metal. π
So here is my fit and some pictures of me, before I got too hot and had to change.
I decided to skip going for breakfast and instead chose to eat when I got to the event. So, I had mac and cheese with pulled pork for my brunch. Right? If you eat fancy food that’s not typical for breakfast after 10 AM you call that brunch? Whatever it’s called, it hit the spot. Sorry no pic, I was hungry and forgot to take a picture.
The first panel I wanted to see was the historical connection to Anime and Manga to Japan folk tales. The presenter, Chloe from the Texas State Museum of Asian Culture, used a flip book to tell a story, a modern adaptation, about a kingdom being attacked by a monster and the king calling for heroes and only 2 respond, a Texas ranger and a samurai. The presenter read the story in Japanese and then in English. She mentioned that many of the Manga and Anime comics and shows link back to eastern mythology and common cultural experience that are not originally found here in the West.
The second tale was about a giant peach. This story she told in English only, but if you’ve ever played Pokemon Scarlet, you see this similar story, but instead of finding a baby boy, the player finds a baby pokemon.
If you are interested in the story, Chloe has published this book, and you can purchase it on Amazon and learn some Japanese.
The second panel was about the voice actors for the original Avatar: The Last Airbender
Michaela Jill Murphy (Toph) and Dante Basco (Zuko) talked about their experiences voice acting these characters for Nickelodeon years ago.
Michaela discussed at the time as a kid (13 years old) she just read the lines, did her job and didn’t really think much about the show. When the show ended, her thoughts were… time to focus on school and get ready to become a doctor (she changed her mind later); however, as an adult she has gone back and rewatched all the episodes and was amazed at the writers storytelling and how good it was, making her job as a kid easy and how that writing still resonates with audiences today.
Dante discussed his impact as a Filipino actor, giving representation to people normally not seen in leading roles in Hollywood. At the time he was still young, and even his role as Rufio in Hook, was letting in his words “brown people” be seen. Now as an adult, looking back, he can see the impact especially when he interacts with fans, when they tell him the impact his career has had on their lives.
And yes, the crowd did get him to say his immortal words from Hook, “Rufio, Rufio, … ” go watch the movie.
The 3rd panel of the day was another presentation on story telling and folklore but this one was connected to Pokemon more directly.
This was a presentation give by historians that work at Texas State Museum of Asian Cultures & Education Center. The presenter started off asking what, the capital of France, the tendon that connects your ankle to your foot, and the popularity of people being named Hector. Paris, Achilles, and Hector are all from the mythological history of Greece and the Trojan war. Those stores are 1000s of years old yet everyone in Western culture knows them in some fashion. The same is true in the Eastern world, but with different mythological histories.
Now, I missed the craze in 1990 when Pokemon came to US. I would have enjoyed the translation error that happened in the episode about “jelly doughnuts“. Confusion, needless to say, children in the USA were confused by these triangular rice treats.
Ninetales is based on the Kitsune (and Chinese Huli Jing), a mythical fox that gains magical abilities
The concept of a duck with an onion or leek in its mouth comes from a classic Japanese proverb, kamo ga negi o shotte kuru. This proverb translates literally to “a duck comes bearing green onions,” The proverb is used to describe a scenario that is unbelievably convenient or a stroke of good fortune.
In Japanese folklore, the DorotabΕ (muddy rice-field monk) is a yΕkai (spirit/demon) that rises from rice paddies. This demon punishes rice farmers that neglect their rice pads.
Just like our Greek myths in the western world, these myths listed about are just as common to Japanese people.
Yes, my experiment is working. I started one of the Pokemon puzzles yesterday and people are actually helping to complete it. I only did the edge and a bit of the right side.
Before the Adult cosplay contest, there is an Anime cover band out of Houston,Tx called, Itzakaiju, performing. Seeing as the majority of the people cosplaying are in anime dress, I will go check them out.
If the link below works, this is a reel by the band as the enter Corpus Christi, walk the Con, Setup and play, then walk the Art Fest that happens the first of every month here in Corpus Chrisit.
I chose not to sit in the VIP section even though my pass let me, it was just too close. Crap, I should have brought my concert ear plugs. The ear plugs are awesome devices that drop the decibels noticable but don’t degrade the quality. Sorry, pictures only search for the cover band and you can find their Instagram and TikTok.
After the amazing performance by Itzakaiju, I headed back to the VIP lounge to get a snack, recharge my phone and work on the Pokemon puzzle a bit. While in the room an epic game of Jenga took place. These two girls ended up standing on chairs and using the second Jenga game to battle out. They actually ran out of moves and decided to call it a draw.
I don’t know half what these people are cosplaying… But here are the pictures from the contest.
OMG, almost no one paused to take a pose. I’m not sure how the judges even got a look. Once the official pictures are posted, I will link them here.
LiNK –> Corpus Christi Comic Con (the photos from last year (2025) are linked at the bottom of their webpage, so expect 2026 in the coming weeks.
Until then here are the crappy ones from my phone.
Here are the winners…
3rd was The Mad Hatter
2nd was I don’t know. π€·ββοΈ
1st was the Chameleon from Kungfu Panda 4
Well, that’s the end of Day 2… Time for dinner and some editing of this blog via my laptop. Until tomorrow.
Carl's Blog 
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