What a crazy month!
Jared’s Epic Nerf Battle: Setting a Guinness World Record – March ?? – ATT Stadium – Arlington, TX
Hard to go wrong with participating in a Guinness World Record attempt, that being of joining thousands for the ultimate Nerf Gun Battle all while raising money for charity.
The event was organised by Jared Guynes as a fundraiser for two local charities: Rebuild Rowlett Foundation for Long Term Relief and Garland Tornado Relief Fund. You may recall Guynes made local headlines a few years ago when he turned his nostalgia obsession for early 1990’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles into a record-breaking crowd-funded party for the ages that featured Vanilla Ice & many others from the first two Ninja Turtles movies & other novelties from that era.
Guynes actually tried to make this attempt for the Nerf record at that party but too many logistics kept it from being secured.
As a patron of that event & this one I can tell you that Guynes is loooooong on ambition & creativity & literally fearless when it comes to making impossible dreams come true but also at times reality comes crashing down with very real circumstances that often go over-looked.
But as mentioned at the beginning, how can it really wrong when your heart & inspiration are in the right place?
Not to say that their weren’t a few frustrations – This is in no way a gesture of disrespect but this was an amateur event put on by simply that, amateurs, so your bound to run into a few problems & I couldn’t document the entire experience without mentioning those as well.
To start, the tickets were sold via the crowdfunding site Tilt (that Guynes also used for the previously mentioned party in 2013). They were initially $16 but I took my time purchasing them to the point that when news of the event picked up steam they had to do several more rounds of ticket sales for higher prices so by my point of purchase they had more than doubled in price.
Once thing that virtually gave the event that legitimate big-fight feel was that thanks to it’s charity connections, Guynes was able to secure ATT Stadium, which just happens to also be the home of the Dallas Cowboys & currently the largest sporting facility in North America & one of the biggest in the world.
Cosplayer Jessica Rabbit & I
For many just to see the stadium & actually get to take the field of an NFL team, let along local heroes, was worth the price of admission, let alone getting to run down said field living a childhood dream of engaging in the largest Nerf gun battle EVER.
Someone that shared that same dream as I, Dallas Pro Cosplayer & frequent co-host on our TrickyKid Radio Podcast, Miss Jessica Rabbit who I invited to join me for this special day where she more than rose to the occasion by donning her best Laura Croft and getting set for the Epic Battle ahead.
Once again, this was an amateur event, this was not put on by the Dallas Cowboys or the stadium, how Guynes was able to do this was basically he sold 3k self-guided tour tickets as entry to the event. Only one gate was made available (& not the one printed on the ticket) so it took it awhile just to get everyone into the stadium & into the seats. Once there we made friends with the other eager participants, many of which whom were also in cosplay.
Once in the stands, began what many started to refer to as Jared’s Epic Wait. More than a bit rude given what was attempting to be accomplished, however not entirely inaccurate. Amateur event or not, it was asking alot of almost 3k people to sit in the stands with fully loaded Nerf guns, repeatedly reminding them (at times even harshly) NOT to fire their guns for over two hours. The stadium only alotted 3hrs for the event, so people, many with small children who had driven from several states away was watching the time tick away and getting antsy.
What they didn’t realize that this wasn’t gonna be a free-for-all where they just start shooting once inside for three straight hours. It was more reminescent of some of the indignities you must suffer to attend a taping of a TV show. Your excited about what’s about to go down, but once you arrive you realize you are not in control of the fun & totally at the mercy of someone else’s behest.
Once on the field however, the excitement became palpable and when finally all the organization requirements had been met (many I feel could have been taken care of long before the participants entered the stadium) the horn at last sounded and IT WAS ON!
It was literally RAINING nerf bullets – Funny story, we realized when we arrived that we had little to no ammunition so we went across the street to the Wal-Mart to secure some, only to discover those little things aren’t cheap. I had the idea that once the battle started we would be drowning in ammunition so best to save the money. Cheap I know but instantly I was up to my ankles in nerf bullets so I just used those to fill our guns.
The actual battle was only 5 mins – until they had a few other mini-battles based on age groups & gun specifications.
After the battle, all the toy pistols were donated to kids in need at the Buckner Children’s Home.
Guinness World Records adjudicator Christina Flounders was on the battlefield sidelines to make sure that all the rules were followed.
The attempt was almost triple the size of the previous record NERF fight (577 people) which was organised last year by Dogtown After Hours, an annual student-led event in Des Moines, Iowa.
All in all a good time was had by all and lots of money was raised for charity while we currently hold a World Record!
P.S. I do want to mention something: As a kid you grow up thinking (at least I did) that the Guinness Record Book is like a branch of the CIA. Like it’s some government issued special task force that only hand out these certificates like the Military hands out Bronze Stars.
In reality, it’s a total racket – See, they charge like 8k just to have a “judge” there and then they charge each participant $30 for their “certificate”.
Your not issued or given one they sell them to you – That’s all Guinness is – they sell certificates. That’s why their is no limit to what a World Record can be and why you see so many silly ones like “Eater of the Most Donuts” etc because they are not in the business of turning down money. In fact they prey upon most people’s inner narcissisism and profit from it.
As nice as a guy as Jared is and doing good things for the community, trust me he is the prime demographic for such a thing.
Texas Pinball Festival – March 18-20th – Embassy Suites Convention Center – Frisco, TX
For the third year in a row, at what has become one of my favorite weekend of the year, the Texas Pinball Festival.Every type of people showed up for the three-day fest to play more than 350 tables.
The games spanned the entire history of pinball, starting with the first tilted mini-tables that became the flipper games of the ’50s.
Many of us grew up imagining the future would look like something out of The Jetsons. What we didn’t predict was that once all of the gadgets arrived, embracing their opposite – the clunky, inefficient ways of the past — would start to become a more exciting prospect.
Older players got to experience new tables with old themes like Creature from the Black Lagoon which has LED lights and three levels of play & Rob Zombie’s horror themed table.
One of my faves of the new machines & easily one of the most popular was the new Ghostbusters machine that had an additional audio interface with headphones for maximum Ghostbusting sounds.
As you can see above above the crowd was really into it and people from all walks of life were enjoying all the games new & old along with the vendors
As you can see in the background of the above picture, locals also displayed and made available for play their classic arcade games (that I must admit I enjoy almost as much at the pinball). I met this super nice guy named Joe who was there with his two young kids about 6 & 8 I guesstimate while he was playing an old stand up cabinet of Track & Field that was THE game during my skating rink era when I wasn’t much older than his kids. Joe remarked that seeing the machine was like running into an old girlfriend haha – I repeated his line for the remainder of the weekend.
I ran into my old friend (& major pin enthusiast) Ziggy who I spent much time on this machine as well as Donkey Kong Jr.
He made this amazing gesture and bought us both silverballs to commemorate the weekend and now when he guests on TrickyKid Radio Podcast, instead of clinging drinks to say cheers, we just rub our balls together haha.
In the end per past years theirs a big tournament that awards trophies to the best players.
I’ll leave you with what has to be one of the coolest pins I’ve ever seen – The Big Lebowski
the Dude abides……
The Cosplay of All-Con Sci-Fi & Fantasy Convention – March 17th-20th – Wingate Hotel – Dallas, TX
Good times at the All-Con Festival in Dallas & to the staff you have cosplayer Jessica Rabbit to thank/curse for me coming.
She was already set on going with her friends and I had the Pinball fest (see above) happening simultaneously so I just shot in and out between pinball & here and managed to get some good shots and have fun just the same.
Thurs –
The first night happening on a sleepy Thurs was free to all – Here’s Jessica Rabbit & co sporting two separate looks.
Friday night –
Friday I had arrive a bit late after pinball just to hang with Jess who looked absolutely stunning as Salma Hayek in From Dusk Till Dawn.
It was so late but people were still milling about so we thought it would be fun to walk around and take pics with other cosplayers.
Saturday
Now Saturday afternoon before heading back to the Pinball fest was really the only day I was able to mill around and meet some of the other super talented cosplayers.
Kelsey Topper (right as Poison Ivy) one of our 2015 Top Cosplayers of the year who has RAISED HER GAME substantially in just a short amount of time.
Be on the lookout for Kelsey during the upcoming Con season, she is so creative and as kind as she is talented.
Callie Calyspo (center in white)
She participated in a very insightful panel on legal prostitution called Modern Day Cathouse – Calyspo is currently an active courtesan herself under the name Kitti Minx working in several Nevada brothels.
Sal Mueller (left in white)
& Erica Muse (far right in fur)
Stay tuned as Con season is upon us and we will have much more coming your way!
Photos –
Roy Turner
Kathy Tran
Kerry Hanson
