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Spring Has Sprung?!?!!!

March is almost done with us by getting the jump on April showers. Last weekend the club went up to LG Cook 4-H Camp, where we happily survived the all-day rain on Saturday despite our disrupted sleep routines. Surprisingly we didn’t talk much about CloverCon, but kept snug & dry in the Winter HQ cabin laughing, eating, watching anime, & playing Smash Bros. Some of us did a lot of crafting with beads & sewing. One of our leaders brought his sewing machine to finish most of his Jedi tunic for a future cosplay. Bring it on! CloverCon! Here are more highlights to shine:

  • The Artist Alley Waiting List is now at 7 with one who got bumped up to join the Alley due to an artist’s cancellation.

  • Dealers Area is now also full with 5 vendors including a new one offering cosplay props & collectibles. See the complete list under About the Con: Artists/Dealers.

  • A returning guest is Lex Winter with his fabulous panel on Godzilla, King of Monsters, telling its life story by highlighting the good & bad plot lines depicted in films starting with its Japanese roots.

  • A new table-top game demo upstairs is BattleTech using detailed minatures of the 12- meter tall BattleMechs to introduce this exciting sci-fi adventure.

  • Magic the Gathering plays their cards thanks to Retro Lotus.

  • Other clubs in 4-H getting into the action: Chinese Culture continues in the Clover Café, Photobombers roam around with permission cards for cosplayers’ info, Clover Ensemble present improv games, Drawing & Sketch help with the Drawing Workshop, & Game On! hands out games from the mountain of choices upstairs.

I’m looking forward to seeing how Clover Baby Baby grows & expands into its preteen years.

But it’s not just about the con, other future events include a Ren Faire & a Table Top Game Day!

Wheels with wheels!

-Betty the sewing sensei

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Spring is in the Air!

Today Spring seems to be promised again with temperatures in the upper 40s, yet yesterday it dipped in the 20s overnight. Weather in New Jersey is a see-saw & so is my expectations of progress of my personal yokai, a.k.a CloverCon. Maybe I should give it a chibi nickname to make it sweet & simple. Hmmmmm…. maybe “Clover Baby-baby” (a tribute to my recent binging of Resident Alien)? To get me & everyone else in the loop (Is this a trap?), here are the present highlights:

  • Artist Alley is FULL with 13 newbies out of the 32 total number of these creative artists. As of now, the waiting list has 5 hopeful artists.

  • Dealers’ Area is almost full again with the same dealers as last year bringing their amazing bounty of goods for sale.

  • Our Guest Presenters include:

    • Adam Hennessey & Jaime Bonsignore with “How the Music Evokes” reveals the emotional responses to the music scores in several anime & video games.

    • Jon Turner with “40 Years of Nausicaä” examines its backstories of Miyasaki leading his team in this tale of war & peace.

    • Tyler Barth with “What’s with the Mask? A History of Kigurumi” presents why these silent masked cosplayers are who they are.

  • Watch for more guests to come as we wait for their confirmations & descriptions of their presentations.

  • The website features new photos provided by 4-H Photobombers. As of now only our own members in cosplay are included, but I expect other cosplayers will be highlighted after their permission is secured at this year’s CloverCon for future inclusion on our website.

Look here & elsewhere on the website for more news & updates as they happen.

So it goes (as Vonnegut liked to say),

Betty sensei

Coordinator and/or friend of Clover Baby-baby

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Update: The Artist Alley is full!!!!

Wowser!  The Waiting List for artists started today on Super Bowl Sunday. Synchronicity, anyone?

There's already three artists on the list for an open spot! If you would like to be on the Artist Alley waitlist, please send me an email along with your registration here: 4hanimeleader@gmail.com. Your Paypal or other payment is not necessary until you are informed, by me, that there is an available opening in our Artist Alley.

But if you've already sent us your Paypal, no worries! I'll email you asap either way that you can be on the Waiting List if you want.  So live in hope that your luck will come through once you're on the waiting list, otherwise we'll refund your Paypal on the April 1st deadline.

Well, back to the game.... Have fun rooting for your favorite team!

-Betty “Sensei” Sommerville,

CloverCon event coordinator & main leader

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