#62M9 Button Pack

Having just wrapped up our second “6 To My 9” Giveaway, I figured now would be a good time to elaborate on the prize. If you didn’t know already the prize is an exclusive button pack consisting of five different designs. This pack will not be available for sale and can only be obtained through winning the giveaway. Up until this point only two of the five designs have been officially unveiled. The pack as a whole is random as fuck so allow me to break down and explain why each design is included.

DABBIN DAPS

Some of you may know back in January we had an Artist Alley table at SacAnime Winter 2016. The table provided us with our first IRL meeting with our now friend, artist Book Jackson. He was unable to snag a table at the convention so we offered to advertise his art in exchange for an original piece. He drew up our mascot Daps doing our signature pose for that convention, The Dab. Needless to say we loved it and wanted to return the favor. The Dabbin’ Daps button was included to utilize the drawing and give Book more exposure as a thank you.

WONTON SOUP!

As fun and exciting as having a table during a convention is there is also a lot of downtime that goes with it. You can only see the same cosplayers walk by so many times before you have to find new ways to entertain yourself. We had a few extra buttons around so we offered them to anyone who would come to our table and yell “Wonton Soup!”. Why Wonton Soup? Because it’s delicious. Why Lemongrab? Because having anyone else on the button would be UNACCEPTABLE!

BRA MEMORIAL

I’m now realizing there is an unintentional theme forming with all the designs. The Pink Bra button stems from yet another SacAnime Winter instance. As we were setting up our Artist Alley table on Day Zero we ran into a small problem. After some brain storming I concluded that the solution to our problem was a giant pink bra. The bra also served as a landmark to direct people to our table incase they had trouble finding us. Unfortunately we were told to remove it because selling hentai is ok but a hot pink bra is offensive.

FACES

We just thought these would be funny.

There you have it, the #62M9 Giveaway button pack. Our gift to you. Be sure to enter the next round of the giveaway on May 6th!

-Matthew

Pokemon 20: Here To Remind Me I'm Old

Lately, I’ve been watching what some would say is an unhealthy amount of Funhaus videos using the YouTube App on my PS4. As some of you may know there is no ad blocker on the app, therefore I’m forced to watch at least 10 seconds of any given ad. The Pokemon 20 ad came on about every other video and it wasn’t until the 20th (see what I’m doing?) time I saw that little indian boy running that it hit me. Pokemon is 20 years old

In first (or maybe it was second, I’m old) grade a couple of my friends were talking about this awesome new cartoon known as “Pokemon”. They turned to me and ask me “Whose your favorite Pokemon?”. I had no idea what Pokemon was at the time but from what I understood it was a show about monsters that fought each other. Instinct told me any show that involved monsters fighting usually had a dinosaur in it so I looked them dead in the eye and confidently said “The Dinosaur One.” Sure enough Charmander and all his evolutions are still my favorite Pokemon to this day. I retold that story because I still remember that moment perfectly. It was my first introduction to Pokemon, which unknowingly gave me my first taste of anime fandom.

Pokemon was the first video game series to completely consume me. I still remember walking around Target with my copy of Red version in hand alternating the box from front to back. When Pokemon Yellow was announced my Dad drove me to Toys R Us to reserve my copy. I lost my shit when Pokemon Gold & Silver revealed to me that there was more than just 151 different Pokemon. Pokemon Stadium was the last Pokemon game from my childhood that had its grip on me until Fire Red and Soul Silver tugged on my leash. And now here I am, a twenty-something year old trying to EV train my gang of pocket monsters.

Of course you can’t reminisce about Pokemon without mentioning the trading card game. I was never into baseball cards so Pokemon cards were the start of my short lived card collecting career. I remember going into collectible stores and staring at the Charizard card through the display case. My little ass hole brain couldn’t comprehend why my Dad wouldn’t just buy this $80 piece of shiny paper for me. I mean, I asked nicely. My binder game was on point though, with my whole collection beautifully displayed in protective sleeves. Unfortunately I have since lost my entire collection.

Last but not least, the Anime. I bought the VHS (google it kids) which contained the first three episodes of the original series. From the moment Ash got fried to shit by thunder I was hooked. I remember having to constantly adjust the tv antenna (google that too kids) so I can watch the show since I didn’t have cable. I wasn’t able to watch every episode but there are two that stand out to me in particular. The first being when Ash decided to try to release Pikachu to be with the wild Pikachus and the Cubone episode. Those episodes did what no other cartoon (or show) had ever done to me before, they got me choked up with emotion. The theatrical movie gave me my first dose of plot twist when they killed Ash for five minutes. What a rollercoaster ride that was, and I HATE rollercoasters.

When I think back to Pokemon and my childhood I have nothing but good memories. It played such a huge role in my life and shaped a lot of who I am today. Who knows if Senpai Social Club would even be a thing if Pokemon didn’t exist. So Happy Birthday Pokemon! Twenty years later you still find ways to improve on the same formula that got us all hooked in the first place. Here’s to hoping history repeats itself and you give all the jr Senpais the same experiences you gave us.

Gotta go catch em all, later Plebs

- Matthew

Senpai Social Sounds Vol. 4

I know I know. Another late Senpai Social Sounds post. However there was a good reason for that! We've been hard at work and have began planning our ideas for the rest of the year. All I can say is we're pretty excited with what we have slated and can't wait to roll it all out. Until then feel free to speculate about what's to come over this playlist

SacAnime Summer 2016

Two Minutes. That's about all the time you have to register for tables at SacAnime. The blood in your veins starts rushing at 9:59 AM. Come ten o' clock you click your mouse and type at speeds even the Flash couldn't comprehend. You can only hope any pray that during the time it takes PayPal to load, 100 people haven't already submitted their info. Once you confirm your order and that page loads to say "You paid $100 to SacAnime" it's done. Jizz everywhere. The blue balls you've had since the night before are relieved but only momentarily. The pressure starts to build back up until September. What I'm trying to say is Senpai Social Club will be returning to Artist Alley at SacAnime Summer 2016.

SACANIME SUMMER 2016

SEPTEMBER 2nd-4th, 2016

SACRAMENTO CONVENTION CENTER

X's For Eyes - Restocked

One of our most asked for shirts has just been restocked! Head on over to our store to get yours now! I think the shirt has an interesting little history to it so I thought I'd share some info on the design.

The X's For Eyes was the second shirt we ever released to the public. It made it's debut at SacAnime Summer 2015. After we generated some hype at Fanime 2015 I wanted to offer something other than the Dugout Tees for SacAnime. I guess even back then I was conscious that I didn't want us to be a one-trick pony. We made only about seven of them for the convention and are just now restocking it.

The design overall was inspired by the band shirts I'd rush to Hot Topic to buy back in the day. If you couldn't already tell by the song in the video it was influenced a lot by the Misfits. It was actually just a back up design to another shirt we had planned for the convention. The original shirt we were going to make was themed with a certain famous anime in mind that we didn't have licensing rights to. Shit got rejected by our printer with the quickness. 

A fun fact about this shirt is that it takes a lot from other Senpai Social Club shirts I was designing at the time. Daps' (our character) face was predominantly for a Big Bang shirt I was gonna make to wear at their concert. The stylized text and kanji came from a disney themed shirt I made for the D23 Expo. And the name of the shirt is a twist on a line from the movie Coraline. 

So for those of you that have been wanting this shirt, the wait is over! I hope knowing the history of this shirt gets you a little more excited to own it.

- Matthew

Senpai Social Sounds Vol. 3

Last Saturday we were suppose to put up Vol. 3 of our bi-weekly playlist but were unable to do so due to lack of free wifi at SacAnime (boo Sheraton boo). Without further ado, we present to you...

SENPAI SOCIAL SOUNDS VOL. 3

Better late than never right? Hope you all had a great new year because we sure did.

2016 bitches!

-Matthew

Con Life: SacAnime Winter 2016

Another Con has come and gone and just like the rest of them, it ended too soon. As some of you may know this was our first time having a set up in any shape or form so right off the bat it was going to be a new experience for us.

When we walked into the convention center on Day Zero our jaws dropped. Have you ever seen the exhibitors hall when it’s completely empty? It looks 10x bigger than it does all set up. When we arrived at our table our blood started pumping. We probably had the hardest pre-convention boner out of everyone.

Don’t let the simplicity of our table fool you because when there’s less to look at it’s easier to notice mistakes. Case and point: our banner. Luckily we only had to inform one person of the mythical land of “CALIFORINA”, a place of refuge for Senpais such as ourselves. A short lived highlight of our booth was the now legendary “Pink Bra”, which we had to take down due to whiny babies complaining.

Running a booth like ours in Artist Alley is interesting. We didn't offer any traditional items or art. In the colorful world of Artist Alley we were the literal dark cloud, and we embraced it.

“What are you guys?” is a question we frequently got and the answer depended on what day you asked. The look of confusion and disappointment when people found out we weren’t an actual club they could join was always mildly amusing. But for every couple of people with questions there was a group of people who knew about us that followed. It was awesome hearing about how people have seen our shirts around or stories they had about us personally (some of which were untrue but entertaining). 

Can’t forget about the all the new people we met too! We actually ran out of business cards so I hope a few of you that grabbed one are reading this now. If you are, What up! Hope you guys continue to fuck with us. 

It was really great meeting a few of you who have been following us since way back when. Despite what Sword Art Online led you to believe, live interactions are way better than online ones. Welcome to the ever growing posse of the Senpai Social Club! Hope to see you all at upcoming conventions.

So here’s to SacAnime Winter 2016. I’ve never had a more productive start to a new year in my life. We exceeded our own expectations and are excited for what 2016 has in store for the club. Thank you all again for your continued support. Artist Alley Gods willing, we will have a table at SacAnime Summer 2016. If we get one, get those lungs ready to yell "WONTON SOUP!". A special thank you goes out to Linda and Michael for helping us run our booth. Free up some time in September guys!

Until next time plebs

- Matthew

SacAnime Prep Part 1

With SacAnime just over a week away we are officially at the start (and crunch time) of our preparations.

Do you know how long it takes to individually package shirts? If you guessed "A Fucking Long Time" you are correct. Doing this first batch took me over two hours. I could of watched Star Wars again with that time and honestly would rather of done that. But here at Senpai Social Club we like to give our own personal touches with everything we do, including something as benign as packaging shirts. We like to give away some bonus items when people come see us at Cons, so with every shirt purchase you get a free white "Senpai 69" button packaged with your item. Here's to doing that for another two hours with our second batch of shirts!

Our shirts aren't the only things that include bonus items! We've added a brand new button design to our existing button pack.

There's still a lot left for us to do in these up coming days but we are beyond excited to see it all come together. We hope to see some familiar faces as well as new ones so drop by!

We are located at table AA H10 (Click here for the Artist Alley map)

-Matthew

Senpai Social Sounds Vol. 2

And Another One! Here is Vol. 2 of our bi-weekly playlist called "Senpai Social Sounds". Senpai Social Sounds returns in 2016 on January 2nd!

SENPAI SOCIAL SOUNDS VOL. 2

Hope you all have a good weekend and happy holidays you plebs!

- Matthew

WWE: Live Action DBZ

I think it’s fair to assume that most people my age got one of their first major tastes of anime from Dragon Ball Z. It is definitely an anime that has aged very well and stood the test of time. Sailor Moon was a “girl cartoon” and Pokemon was a “kid’s show”, but DBZ is forever.

If you watched the show as a kid it’s almost impossible to forget anything about it. The story, the characters, the fact that a power level over 9,000 is really minuscule , all of that is knowledge I fully believe I’ll take to my grave. Even if I deteriorate from dementia I’m 90% I’ll always know who the Prince of all Saiyans is. Dragon Ball Z fans are a dime a dozen but I can’t help but feel a disconnect with the rest of them. Hello, it’s me…the guy who wants people to stop attempting to make live action DBZ material.

Over the past few years fans all over the world kickstarted and released live action DBZ content on YouTube. I won’t knock on the effort, time, and money that goes into all that. For fuck’s sake I can barely put together a 15 second video clip for our Instagram. But all of that doesn’t change the fact that I am continually disappointed by what I see being put out. There’s just Dragon Ball Z things that won’t ever look right on camera. The hair styles top that list without question. Again I’m not trying to rain on anyones parade but I'm here to inform you that we’ve had a live action DBZ right in front of us, in the from of…

That’s right, pro wrestling is DBZ to the tee. The idea first came to me after listening to G of the CWF (Cosplay Wrestling Federation) reflect on their successful year. He explained why he thought a wrestling panel (without any actual wrestling) does so well at anime conventions. G described parallels between the both of them drawing from character types and story lines. We attended CWF panels as fans of wrestling and when he made the connection for us I couldn't help but think "Mind blown".

Before I started writing this I searched to see if I was only one to felt this way (I wasn’t) so I could know if I was on the verge of some huge realization (I’m not). Upon my “research” I found a Reddit post that links WWE Superstars to their Dragon Ball counter parts in detail. With everyone matched up to their characters it gets easier to see the correlation between the two. 

The WWE Universe operates closely to how the DBZ Universe does. There’s always the hero/face of the show (Goku/Roman Reigns #lolamirite) who you know will always prevail in the end. That doesn’t stop a slew of villains from trying to defeat him and take his title/planet. On occasions the villain will prevail. Our hero will get taken out momentarily and the Yamchas/Jobbers the world will try and fail to defeat them. But the hero always comes back better and stronger than ever. Even against guys like Perfect Cell and Brock Lesnar, the Saiyan always grabs the brass ring. It’s a never ending cycle and power struggle. Not to mention the female characters that add little to nothing (sorry ChiChi)

At the end of the day I do have to give these fan videos credit. They take a "Too Many Tacos on $2 Taco Tuesday Night" level shit on Dragon Ball: Evolution. So please film makers, don't gather all your energy and spirit bomb me. Instead save your time, money, and efforts and just watch WWE.

- Matthew