Mark Wesley Pritchard
Founding member
Bio
Award-winning cosplayer, cosplay model, influencer, retro gaming fanatic, die-hard Texas Rangers fan, and nostalgic freak. Need I say more?
Threads: @thecosplayerfromtexas
Instagram: @thecosplayerfromtexas
TikTok: @thecosplayerfromtexas
Stories (208/0)
Vocal Highlight: Rangers Nation
Nearly four months after the Texas Rangers won their first ever World Series title, I made a promise to myself in one of my stories I wrote about the Rangers that I would buy a jersey. Despite me being a Rangers fan for over 20 years, I've never had a baseball jersey in my life. Recently, I bought my first two Rangers jerseys, both of Future Hall of Famer, Max Scherzer. One of them was with the World Series Champions patch on the right sleeve. As you can see above, I'm proudly wearing one of my jerseys and with a witty caption. So you must be asking why Max Scherzer? I feel like he doesn't get enough praise for having a determined and never say die approach. He's won a World Series with the Washington Nationals in 2019 and another with the Rangers last November. Despite being hurt towards the end of last season and pitched in three innings of a few Postseason games, he gets the highest praise from me for being such an important part of the Rangers journey to their first World Series championship. These are the reasons why I chose to purchase two Max Scherzer jerseys.
By Mark Wesley Pritchard4 months ago in Unbalanced
10 Years of Texxx-Man Cosplay (2014-2024)
On a sweltering Friday August 1, 2014, a young man heads to his first convention and wonders how much he'll enjoy it. The young man I'm referencing to is yours truly. 2024 marks 10 years since I stepped onto the cosplay scene. I've done over three dozen cosplays as of this writing and won two cosplay contests at two different conventions (2019 and 2020 respectively). So yes, I'm an award-winning cosplayer. I'm not ashamed to refer to myself as that, because I earned it. In the past decade, I've had numerous and incredible moments on social media and at cons as a cosplayer. I'm unable to go through every single cosplay moment I've experienced, but in this story, I'll be counting down my top five cosplay moments from the last 10 years. Also, I'll be highlighting 10 of the most fascinating cosplayers I believe have been inspiring to me and a Q&A session. Before I begin, I want to thank everyone on Vocal for supporting me and allowing me to express myself. Plus, if you would like to support me, please consider sending me a one-off tip, big or small, by going to the end of this story or any story I've written. Your tips will encourage me to write more stories like this and also, subscribe to my page. Finally, please follow me on social media. Information on those will be found in my profile. Now on to my favorite cosplay moments. These are not in any particular order.
By Mark Wesley Pritchard5 months ago in Geeks
Final Thoughts of 2023
2024 is fast approaching and it's an opportunity for everyone to reflect on the accomplishments and memories that happened to them this year. On the other hand, you might have experienced some personal difficulties or even the loss of a friend or loved one. A new year is a way for you to wipe that slate clean and focus on what goals and aspirations you want to succeed in 2024. Before I share my personal thoughts about 2023, I want to show my love and gratitude to a special group of people.
By Mark Wesley Pritchard6 months ago in Humans
My Thoughts About the Houston Astros
Houston Trashtros and Houston Asterisks are two of the names many baseball fans call the Houston Astros since their infamous cheating scandal transpired in 2017 that helped them win their first ever World Series. For those who aren't familiar with this scandal, suspicions about the Astros cheating have been spreading for years. It wasn't until 2019 that the Los Angeles Dodgers organization started to blow the whistle on a claim that the Astros were stealing signs during the World Series two years earlier. Other teams claimed that they used other cheating tactics, such as whistling to relay signs to batters. In January 2020, Commissioner Rob Manfred released the results of an investigation conducted by Major League Baseball and they concluded that the Astros illegally used a video camera system to steal signs during their World Series run three years prior. As a result to the other aforementioned schemes, the Houston Astros were fined $5 million, gave up two draft picks (first and second round), and suspended both Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow and field manager A.J. Hinch for the entire 2020 season. They were later both relieved of their duties. Basically, all of this was a slap on the wrist for the players and for the owner to save his own behind.
By Mark Wesley Pritchard8 months ago in Unbalanced
Unapologetically Defending the Texas Rangers
Recently, I celebrated a birthday and very thankful to see another year. Witnessing the Texas Rangers winning their first ever World Series was the best birthday gift I ever asked for. I've noticed in the nearly three weeks since they defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks in five games was an act of disrespect towards the World Series champions. What do I mean by that? Stick around for a while and by the time you've finished reading this story, you'll have a full understanding of why I felt the need to strongly come to the Rangers' defense. I'll start off with the bad and then with the good, because I want my readers and everyone else to understand where I'm coming from.
By Mark Wesley Pritchard8 months ago in Unbalanced
Texas Rangers: From Heartbreak to Triumph
November 1, 2023: a night that faithful Rangers fans will remember forever If there's one word to describe the 2023 MLB Postseason, it would be exciting. Exciting might be an understatement to you, but to me, it was exactly that. In my personal opinion, this particular postseason was my overall favorite. When most people think of the word postseason, they most likely associate it with two teams: the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees.
By Mark Wesley Pritchard8 months ago in Unbalanced
Cosplay Is Not Consent
Next year, I'll be celebrating 10 years as a cosplayer. I've participated in many cosplay contests and have done over three dozen cosplays. On top of that, I've met and made friends: online and at cons. Let's also not forget the numerous celebrities I had the pleasure of meeting at conventions over the years. Oh and I'm an award-winning cosplayer, winning two cosplay contests at two different cons (2019 and 2020 respectively). As a gay, autistic black cosplayer, cosplay is part of my life and has been since the beginning. Also, going to conventions allow me to meet different people and cherish a lot of memories. To me, whenever I attend a con and post pictures and videos online, there's always stories behind them. Cosplayers like myself have built our own followings on social media. People love our cosplays and our posts. However, over the last several years, cosplayers have been sharing their horrifying experiences online about being sexually and/or verbally harassed at cons by creeps. Yes, I use the term creeps very loosely, because those people actually exist at cons. There might be a chance that a creep might stalk you online, so always be on alert. I've personally never been sexually, verbally, or physically harassed in cosplay at a con, but have been verbally harrassed on numerous dating sites, which I'll share in a bit.
By Mark Wesley Pritchard9 months ago in Geeks
Finding A Purpose in Life: In My Own Words. Content Warning.
September is Suicide Prevention and Awareness Month and in this story, I open up about the struggles I've personally went through and still go through today. It's understandable that suicide is a very taboo topic to discuss, especially on social media sites like YouTube. On there, for most YouTubers, they can't even utter the word or any variation of it, because apparently, YouTube will flag videos of anyone mention such a uncomfortable topic. How are people supposed to honestly talk about their own struggles about this, but they get censored? I believe that spreading awareness about it and sharing our stories could be very helpful to those going through the trials and tribulations of life. It's an uncomfortable topic, but making people feel uncomfortable, especially when it comes to suicide awareness, is necessary. Having open and honest conversations is a start and it shouldn't be demonized or repressed in the media or social media in general. It's okay to not be okay, because as I've stated in my previous social media posts, there's no such thing as a perfect life. We all go through dark and/or depressing moments in our lives. Being open and honest about how we're feeling is one of the ways for us to start a conversation about suicide.
By Mark Wesley Pritchard9 months ago in Humans
Celebrating Five Years As A Creator for Vocal. Top Story - August 2023.
Back in 2018, I was going through some difficult times: homelessness, joblessness, and severe bouts of depression. I was in the process of slowly trying to get my life back in order. One day, I went to my local library and was browsing the internet. Suddenly, I ran into a site called Vocal. It's where you can get paid for writing stories and if your stories are interesting enough, they might get featured and might be rewarded one-off tips. So I looked into it and thought this was something I wanted to do: becoming a creator for Vocal. At that moment, writing became my own version of therapy. It was a lot better than attending an actual therapy session. Since then, some of my stories on Vocal have been featured several times and given one-off tips. Fast forward to today, I'm still writing stories. I write about everything from cosplay to the issues that's going on right now. However, in this story, I'll be featuring my five favorite interviews I've written over the years.
By Mark Wesley Pritchard10 months ago in Geeks
Power Rangers 30th Anniversary
It's Morphin Time! I have a question for you. Where were you on the afternoon of August 28, 1993? I was in Pre-K for a little over a week and a half and also five years old at the time. If you grew up around this time, then your childhood was amazing. As of September 2022, 963 episodes of Power Rangers have been aired over 29 seasons, with the 30th season premiering on Netflix this fall. It'll be called Power Rangers: Cosmic Fury. As a kid, I remember watching Mighty Morphin Power Rangers faithfully and had action figures and a White Ranger watch. I lost interest in Power Rangers for years, but around 2013, I got interested in it again by purchasing action figures, Funko Pops, and other items from Toys R Us and online. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers premiered on the now defunct Fox Kids August 28, 1993 and ran for three seasons. It was one of the longest-running kids' live action series in television history. Despite some criticism early on, fans loved it and three decades later, the fandom is still going strong, especially fans who weren't even born or grew up around that time. It wasn't just for kids. Us adults loved it, too and we would post anything Power Rangers related on social media and attend conventions, hoping to meet our favorite stars. I was fortunate to have met one Power Rangers star, but more on that in a bit.
By Mark Wesley Pritchard10 months ago in Geeks
Breaking Down My WWE Cosplays
As a cosplayer, I'm always looking for new cosplays to do if they catch my attention. Almost a decade ago, I was preparing to attend my first convention as a cosplayer. That's when an idea popped inside my head: What if I went as a WWE superstar? I did exactly that and in this story, I'll be going over the three WWE cosplays I've done in about the last 10 years. I've been a huge fan of old school wrestling since the late 90s, even though my now estranged parents and aunts, who are African, hated it when me, my youngest brother, and cousins watched it. However, we didn't care and loved every minute of it. I grew up watching The Rock, Kane, D-Generation X, and many others. Bet you didn't know that hidden gem about me, now did you? Anyway, without further ado, let's get ready to rumble!
By Mark Wesley Pritchard11 months ago in Geeks