It's been a while since I've done the monthly newsletter thing, mostly because I was running low on ideas, and couldn't get any participants, but let's see if we can change that. Yesterday was Halloween, the 4th Anniversary of the Anime Heretics, and I figured it was time again to tell the history of the Heretics.

In the beginning, there was darkness...but then, that might be because it was night. Three people gathered at my apartment in Austin, a Ryoga, and two other guys without costumes. And we watched the Devil Hunter Yohko Music Videos, and it was good. A few other friends showed up, and we watched Iczer One, and it was good. We had a few beverages, and we watched the Tenchi Muyo OVA Episode #9, when Sasami discovers she is one with Tsunami, and it was good. Then we watched Fist of the North Star, and that was bad, but we heckled the hell out of it, and it was good. "He has no perception!" we cried, and we laughed at the badly thought-out line "My name is Ken. What I'm about to do might feel a little strange at first...."

All-in-all, though we had not a single trick-or-treater, a good time was had, such a good time, in fact, that we decided to do it again....and again....and by the fourth time, we decided to just call ourselves an anime club and be done with it. So I came up with the idea of calling ourselves Anime Heretics, in the view that most anime fans at the time were of the obsessed anti-dub-on-general-principal type, and if that was the Orthodox view, then we must be Heretics. I designed the logo, and Karsten did our first webpage. It still looks pretty much the same now as it did then with only a few changes (I wonder if Karsten still has the Top 10 Lines of the Anime Heretics list that used to be up 3 or so years ago).

We managed to thrive, as in Austin, I always had other circles of friends to draw new members from. I'll always remember when we got together for Christmas, and, after watching the Ranma ½ Christmas Special, deciding for no particular reason to watch Jackie Chan's Police Story 3 (I think it was 3, anyway), that was rereleased as Supercop. I remember when we had some 15 or 20 people there for our first (and I think only) Valentine's Day showing.

I remember our first Pre-Akon Bash, when I had already moved to Arlington, and some friends came up early, stayed the night with me, and we thought it would be a great idea to show all the Project A-ko movies in honor of Project A-kon....this tradition was thrown right out the window in the second year as we realized we had pretty much all seen A-ko at least half a dozen times and didn't feel like it anymore.

So now there were two branches....the Anime Heretics of Austin, with Karsten nominally in charge (when do I get my A-kon 11 tapes, anyway?? -- had to throw that in there :), and the Anime Heretics of Arlington. For a while, we had an Arlington Heretics of Washington, DC -- I don't think they ever got off the ground, an Anime Heretics of Deerfield, IL -- I don't know what happened to them....their page is still up, but hasn't changed since day 1, and they haven't responded to any e-mails, and the Anime Heretics of Wichita, KS -- that page went down, and I don't know what's happening on that front, either...maybe Bree gave up on it after having her kid....Hi Bree! So once again, we only had two groups known to be active. I recently got to e-mail a couple of guys interested in starting a Houston branch...they don't have a website yet, but I'll be checking in with them to see how they're doing, and with any luck, we'll have three thriving groups soon. If anyone's in the Houston area, or knows someone there, let me know....let's give our fellow Heretics a head start, okay?

When all is said and done, after 4 years, 5 Gore-Fests, A-kons 7 through 11, and who knows what else, we're doing pretty well for ourselves -- we're known by some of the people in the industry (just look at how easily we got into the Ultra Lounge at A-kon 11 for that :), and we have two fairly steady groups, with a third trying to get started. When all is said and done, I'm proud of what this group has become, and also hopeful for what it could be. My dream is still to have the Anime Heretics become the largest and most well-known anime club that is NOT affiliated with a school. So as always, participate in club events, do your best to help enrich the culture of the Heretics, and find more members. Because if you're not proud to be a member of the Anime Heretics, then why did you join? :)

Reflections on Life, the Universe, and Pikachu

by Qeorita

My Pikachus vibrate. I just found out the other day. A year and a half, I've owned these things, and I never knew they moved.

It was A-kon 10. The rage in the anime community was Pokemon. The character of choice: Pikachu.

I was looking for something anime-related to buy in the dealer room (like that would be difficult at a convention) to use as hair ornaments. I came across a table selling Pikachu keychains. I purchased one and walked away, full of glee in my investment. Then I went back, and purchased another one. I had Throkda braid my hair, and attach the aforementioned Pikachus to each braid. For the rest of the weekend, I wore my hair in Pika-braids. I think I started a mini-trend, as I saw similar hair-dos later on during the con.

The twin Pikachus (Pika-left, and Pika-right....even I don't know which is which) are now on display on the bookcase with my other stuffed animals.

A year and a half goes by, and the twins experience many things -- being knocked off the shelf, attacked by the dog, and batted by a playful cat, not to mention being wrapped up in their mother's hair yet again. This last weekend, at the 5th Annual Gore-Fest, one of our friends, a non-heretic, mind you, picked up a Pikachu (I think it was Pika-right), and pulled on the chain. To my surprise and shock, a string was revealed & the Pikachu wriggled its way back up the string!

I was speechless! My babies had umbilical cords! I took the keychain back and tried it for myself. Sure enough, it was not an optical illusion.

This little revelation answered a few mysteries I've pondered since I bought them. Why were they so heavy? Were they eating my other stuffed toys? Why were they so expensive? Did they evolve when fed batteries?

I regret all the fun I could have had at various conventions with my little friends. Vibrating Pika-braids. I could have raced them for prizes. I could have used them as advanced cat toys, rather than ordinary ones. Ah, the fun I have missed. But I can have fun in the future, because now I know. And knowing is half the batttle.

This goes to show that no matter how old or young you are, anime fan or not, anime toys can provide you with endless hours of entertainment.

Focus on a Heretic

This is something new I'd like to try....send in a brief biography of yourself....how you got into anime, and then how you got into the Anime Heretics, and what it all means to you. Where do you see the industry or the Heretics going, and what would you like to see that could improve it? Let's get to know each other better, as part of the point is to keep our group close-knit, no matter how much we expand.

Anime Review

Seen an anime you want to voice your opinion on? Well, go for it! I'm updating our library page, and I'd like to have reviews of all the stuff we have by various Heretics, rather than just snagging somebody's synopsis of the show off the web.

What Else Can You Submit?

Well, you can do stories, anime news and rumors, rants,Anime Heretics quotes from your meetings, articles,top 10 lists, essays, artwork, or maybe silly stuff like our Anime versus Christmas Music...I remember when we tried Anime Haiku. You don't just have to submit it here...send it to the mailing list and boost that traffic, so we can all talk about it. We've had a few threads on here that were quite popular for a while. Found a cool website? Tell us! We all jumped onto the one Karsten submitted that let you find out which Seishi's star (Fushigi Yuugi reference) you were born under. I know there's a lot of creativity out there....let it loose! I'm sure all your fellow Heretics will enjoy your works.