Mark Wesley Pritchard
Bio
You can call me Wesley. Former cosplayer, retro gaming fanatic, die-hard Texas Rangers fan, and nostalgic freak. Need I say more?
Threads: @misterwesleysworld
Instagram: @misterwesleysworld
Stories (401)
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Texxx-Man Cosplay’s Favorite People
The one thing that’s currently on everyone’s mind is the Coronavirus outbreak. While the number of cases and deaths are steadily increasing, people, businesses, restaurants, and even movie theaters are taking precautions of minimizing large crowds. Besides me being a content creator for Vocal, I have a regular eight to five job. I’m going to be taking time off from there for the next couple of weeks. I’m also temporarily putting cosplayer interviews on hold, out of consideration for those who might be feeling ill from COVID-19. I’m still going to write articles, but not doing cosplayer interviews at this time.
By Mark Wesley Pritchard 6 years ago in Geeks
Loving My Dark Skin
“You’re ugly.” That’s the main thing that most people would say about me for absolutely no reason. In fact, I’ve been hearing that for almost all my life. It’s sad that the ones who despise dark skinned people is other dark skinned people. It’s like black people like myself are always the butt of all jokes when it comes to our skin tone. That we’re unattractive and aren’t able to find someone to love us. I never understood the whole light skin versus dark skin debate. It’s ridiculous and dumb, in my opinion. Rappers tend to talk down to dark skinned women and it’s sad. Last month, black cosplayers celebrated 29 Days of Black Cosplay. It’s where they share a pic of their cosplay for each day of that month. I’m going to share some experiences of the colorism I’ve dealt with so far in life.
By Mark Wesley Pritchard 6 years ago in Humans
Fayetteville Comic Show Review
Sci-fi and pop culture fans descended at the Fayetteville Town Center for the Fayetteville Comuc Show. It took place on February 29 and March 1 and it was the town’s first ever convention. This was my first con of the year and I had a wonderful time with my friends. Guests such as C. Thomas Howell and John Wesley Shipp were in attendance for the two day family-friendly event. I’ll be sharing some of my favorite parts from the con and what I thought about it in general.
By Mark Wesley Pritchard 6 years ago in Geeks
Linkin Park Songs That I Can Relate To
Linkin Park Songs That I Can Relate To The songs that got me through my darkest times Greetings, Vocal readers. I decided to take a break from talking about cosplay and instead, talk about one of my other favorite hobbies. This is my first article about music and I’m going to talk about a band that I grew up listening to. That band is none other than Linkin Park. I’m a huge fan of theirs and I first started listening to them, dating back to middle school. It was around 2001, almost a year after their debut album, Hybrid Theory, was released. I was 13 years old about to start the 7th grade. In fact, in October, it’ll be 20 years since that album first came out. Yes, time sure flies. When the news broke back in 2017 that Chester Bennington died, I was in shock and in tears. It was like my heart came out of my chest and cracked in two. His loss hit me so hard and millions of LP fans everywhere. Even though he’s no longer with us, he’s spiritually here in our hearts. Whenever I listen to a specific Linkin Park song, I get emotional, because it’s something that I can relate to. Below are some songs from them that got me through life, in no specific order.
By Mark Wesley Pritchard 6 years ago in Beat
Schools That Are Obsessed with Hair
What grinds my gears, you ask? There's a lot of things that most people do that annoy me, but I'll be talking about the one thing that I've been curious about for so long: some of these school districts who are so concerned about how students, even people of color, choose to wear their hair. Over the last few years, I've seen and read stories about students being suspended for wearing, dying, and having them in cornrows and braids. People being fired from their jobs or not getting a job because of their hair. As a person of color, I take offense to what these schools are doing to children and lowering their self-esteem. Our hairstyles are part of our self-identities. It's part of who we are. Just like what we like to wear: it's part of our own individual personal style. In July 2019, California became the first state to ban discrimination against black students and employees over their natural hairstyles. I believe that more states will follow suit and adopted in all states. Last month, I ran into an article that not only upset me, but was angered. It took place in my home state and I have a lot to say about it.
By Mark Wesley Pritchard 6 years ago in Blush
Favorite Easter Eggs in ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’
While almost everyone was giving their significant others flowers and candy on Valentine’s Day, yours truly saw an amazing movie. A movie that I and everyone else have been talking about for months. That movie was Sonic the Hedgehog. As of this article, it topped the box office and made $57 million dollars and $100 million worldwide, marking the largest showing for a video game adaption and surpassing Detective Pikachu, which grossed $54.3 million last year. It's expected to earn between $68-$70 million through President's Day. Movies based of off video games tend to be epic fails or flops, but Sonic proved critics wrong and if it weren't for the redesign of the titular character, the movie would have not had earnings like these.
By Mark Wesley Pritchard 6 years ago in Geeks
Porygon Perler Bead Art DIY
Greetings, Vocal readers. It's been a while since I've done a perler bead DIY. Having a hectic schedule is normal for me, but it keeps me going and motivated. You must be wondering what the whole point of this picture was shown above. I have an answer for that. The DIY that I've done two weeks ago is none other than Porygon. Porygon is described as a Virtual Pokémon standing at 2’7” and weighing at 80.5 pounds. It’s genderless, meaning that it doesn’t identify as neither male nor female. It also can covert its body into digital data, traveling into cyberspace. For the Porygon perler bead creation, you’ll need the following items:
By Mark Wesley Pritchard 6 years ago in Gamers
Cosplayer Spotlight: Shelly Santiago
Greetings, Vocal readers. I'm back with another cosplayer interview and if you're a fan of the Power Rangers, especially the Green Ranger, you're going to enjoy it even more. Recently, I had a chance to interview Shelly Santiago and got to know more about her. This is my second cosplayer feature of 2020 and I'll be interviewing more cosplayers throughout the year, so be on the lookout for those. In the meantime, sit back and enjoy this interview.
By Mark Wesley Pritchard 6 years ago in Geeks
An Open Letter to the Best Teacher Ever
Dear Ms. McGovern, First and foremost, I want to say thank you for being a great teacher to me. Thank you for always believing in me when no one else did. I realize that being a teacher is a difficult job, but you deserve a lot more recognition for being an inspiration to your students: past and present. It’s been almost 20 years since I first stepped foot in your classroom and I’ve learned a lot every time I’m there. You always encouraged me and everyone else to be the best that we could be. I still have my eighth grade yearbook and look back at all the great memories I’ve had. I remember you giving me a Dallas Mavericks jersey on my birthday and it made my day. Whenever I needed someone to talk to about anything, I would go to you. You were more just a teacher, but a mentor. Even though I was a shy and introverted 14 year old, you always wanted me to do well. You always treated us like we were family and never judged us. Every time I was in your class, I always learned something new. I’m now in my early 30s and still have the most utmost respect for you. I know being a teacher is not an easy job, but you made sure that all of us succeeded in the classroom and in life. If I had the chance to meet you again one day, I would say thank you for changing my life and helped me achieve my goals. Also, for believing that I had hope and dreams. Thank you for encouraging me to not give up. I hope to continue to be an inspiration to other as you have in mine. No matter where I am, I’ll always be a Gunn Gator for life: then, now, and forever.
By Mark Wesley Pritchard 6 years ago in Education
Hobbies That Improved My Mental Health
About two years ago, I had a mental breakdown during my shift at work. I worked at a call center six days a week: Monday through Friday and also Saturday. From November 2017 to the middle of February 2018, I had a job that was stressful and took a toll on me. The long hours and working on Saturdays was the start of my mental breakdown. I hardly had any time off and would work up to 10 hours on most days. I enjoyed it for a while, but it literally sucked me dry. So I ended up quitting a few days after Valentine’s Day of 2018, for the sake of my mental well-being. I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety in February 2012. For almost the last decade, I was on medications for my depression and anxiety, but it made me sleepy and didn’t help. Also, I also sought help for my mental illness. However, it didn’t solve any of my problems either. So I decided to do some hobbies that will benefit mentally and also physically. Things are well with me now, but I wanted to set aside some time for myself by doing hobbies I enjoy and I’m going to share a few of them with everyone.
By Mark Wesley Pritchard 6 years ago in Psyche
#29DaysofBlackCosplay
Greetings, Vocal readers. The month of February has arrived and it's not only Black History Month, but it's also a month celebrating cosplayers of color. Since 2020 is a leap year, black cosplayers have an extra day in the month of February to share their cosplays to everyone on social media. A year ago, I wrote an article about the hashtag #28daysofblackcosplay and asked a few cosplayers what it meant to be a cosplayer of color. I took part in that hashtag and posted my own cosplay pics. In case you're unfamiliar with that hashtag, it was started by a woman named Chaka Cumberbatch, also known as Princess Mentality Cosplay. It's basically when black cosplayers share a pic of their cosplay each day to their followers. At the time I wrote that article around this time in 2019, #28daysofblackcosplay had over 25,000 posts on Instagram. As of this article, #29daysofblackcosplay has over 1,000 posts on Instagram. Representation matters, because I believe that we don't get a lot of recognition and props for our cosplays. While you may have a bunch of positive comments on your cosplay, there are others who want to tear you down and make racist comments. If you're a black cosplayer, you've probably heard comments like these from others such as the following:
By Mark Wesley Pritchard 6 years ago in Geeks
Tecmo Bowl Review (1989)
Super Bowl LIV is in a few days and most of you are planning on attending a party somewhere or hosting one to entertain your friends, family, and other guests. Speaking of football, I’ll be reviewing a game that I’ve been hooked on for the last three years. That game is none other than Tecmo Bowl. Just to remind everyone that I’m reviewing the game that’s on the NES Classic. Tecmo Bowl was originally released as an arcade game in 1987. The NES version of the game was released in 1989, becoming the first game to have real NFL players, via a license from the National Football League Players Association, or NFLPA. If you have the NES Classic, you noticed that every team is identified by their home state or city. That’s because the company Tecmo wasn’t able to get permission from the NFL to use them.
By Mark Wesley Pritchard 6 years ago in Gamers
