-(attendees chattering) -(adventurous orchestral music) [Mike] The folks here call it nerd creativity, and it's all over the place.

So there's gonna be lots of fun stories for us to tell, including the folks who create costumes and dress up as pop culture characters.

They're everywhere.

Maybe that's why something just doesn't feel right.

I think I need some help.

-So we turn -(Amanda laughs) to superstar cosplayer, Amanda Fehlner.

"What if..." (air whooshing) [Mike] So what is cosplay?

Cosplay, the word itself comes from two words.

It's costume play, and that's really what it all boils down to.

That's the point.

It's dressing up in a costume to have fun.

I guess I've always been into costumes.

Halloween was my favorite holiday, of course, as a child, and it was for the costume component.

I didn't really care that much about the candy.

-(Amanda laughs) -(Mike chuckles) And that's still true, actually.

(adventurous orchestral music continues) [Mike] Amanda's definitely got a thing about collecting nerdy pop culture stuff.

-As you can see, I do have- -No, no, no, -I think- -I do enjoy collecting some things.

(laughs) There's like a tiny little bit of shelf space, I think, -up above there- -Yeah, yeah.

-That you could- -I still have some space.

[Mike] Yeah.

(spray hissing) She also has a theater degree, has done professional costume design, and works at a craft store running quilt machines.

A perfect fit for cosplay.

She likes translating animated characters into real life, but has created a wide range of costumes and won Best in Show a few times since she got started.

So in 12 years, any guess how many different characters you've created for yourself?

It's actually probably around 40 at this point.

So what's the hardest one you've ever had to do?

Oh, man.

A character from the cartoon, "Gargoyles," and her name's Demona, and she is a gargoyle.

So she has wings, and she has a tail, and she has, they're not quite stilts, but they're like elevated platform shoe things that I had to build.

So she had a lot of components that were pretty challenging.

(air whooshes) (Mike claps) Now she faces her greatest challenge.

Okay.

-Me.

-It'll work.

Okay.

So we already talked about what I'm gonna be.

How do we get there?

All right, so I think we need to do a little bit of work.

[Mike] What do we do with the hair?

Just came out of a package.

We (laughs) need to trim it down a little.

And this is kinda rare.

Most of the time, you're making your own stuff.

Yeah, usually.

Or with wigs, I often have to purchase one and modify it to the right thing because I'm usually doing some sort of strange cartoon.

Mm-hmm.

This is like a strange cartoon.

(Amanda laughs) (spray hisses) And this will hold me for a few days?

-Yeah, you- -Okay.

You should be pretty good.

First step- Mustache.

I just wanna see what it looks like.

(Amanda and Mike laughing) It's really not bad, actually.

My hair used to be this color.

-What's that doing?

-(scissors snipping) So that's trimming down the actual hair part of this middle piece without just giving it a straight cut.

-Can I try it for a second?

-Sure.

[Mike] You're a lot faster at this -than I am.

-(laughs) I do have practice.

Yeah.

Is the detail part the fun part?

It can be.

Yeah, or- (laughs) Sometimes I'm like, ah.

(laughs) Stop.

(both laughing) Why do I care this much about this little piece?

But that's just me.

Am I gonna be able to eat with this thing on?

It's just a little, little bit that we did, but it's a lot more realistic.

Am I ready?

Yes, I think you're ready.

Here we go.

(Mike snaps fingers) Do we think?

I think you look great.

(laughs) Well, thank you so much for your help.

-Of course, of course.

-We're off.

We are.

Yup, I've become Ron Burgundy from the movie, "Anchorman."

-(air whooshing) -(board thwacks) (attendees chattering) Mike, you have a story to tell.

Are you sure?

Do it.

It's a story you were born to tell.

♪ That we see what we wanna see ♪ ♪ Wanna see ♪ ♪ Most people live a fantasy ♪ ♪ A fantasy ♪ ♪ Dark dreams, stark reality ♪ ♪ Money, clothes, women, cars, cars ♪ ♪ All the things that make you a star ♪ -♪ Insecurity and ego too far ♪ -(tape warbling) ♪ I'm pretty sure you don't even know who you are ♪ [Mike] Now Ron Burgundy and team are off in search of creators.

♪ A stark reality, reality ♪ -Hello, Kasper.

-(eraser scratching) Hi.

Can I talk to you for "Channel 4 News"?

Of course.

(chuckles) -(air whooshing) -(upbeat pop music) I'm an artist, and I do comics, merchandise, concept art, freelance, stuff like that.

I've been drawing since I was two, so it's been a long time.

And I don't know, I also love anime, video games, coffee, cats, (laughs) all kinds of stuff, so.

Tell me about one of these.

One of these your favorite?

(chuckles) I think, out of these, I like that one the best because he's a villain of the series, so he's a lot of fun to draw -and yeah.

-Kinda dark and ominous.

-Yeah.

(laughs) -Seeing a little... Yeah, there's a lot going on- -Yeah.

-Back there, so.

-Which I tend to like.

-Cool.

(Kasper laughs) Yeah.

-(air whooshes) -(energetic rock music) I'm kind of a big deal.

A big deal?

Well, I'd say about a medium-sized deal, but... (air whooshes) (attendees chattering) What are you working on now?

[Andy] This is from "Metroid: Zero Mission" -from the- -Which is?

[Andy] From the Game Boy Advance.

-Okay.

-It's a "Metroid" action-adventure game.

It's a remake of the original "Metroid" from the early, from the mid-'80s.

[Mike] Okay.

And it's one of my favorite games of all time.

I love the "Metroid" games.

-(air whooshing) -(board thwacks) (mellow music) The idea is that I am effectively recreating the look and the aesthetic of pixel art from classic video games.

I'm of the age where, I mean, most of my childhood was effectively defined by this stuff.

I ended up working with computers for a living, working with data for a living.

And I largely think my career today is due to the fact that I've just always had an interest in technology.

And that is largely due to the fact that I was exposed to video games at a very young age.

[Mike] So how did you get started creating paintings with this old-school retro video game look?

Great question.

It's hard to...

I don't even really have a good answer for that.

I don't have any artistic background.

Talk about the process.

The process is I take a T-square and I grid the entire thing out on pencil.

I go with 1/4-inch pixels.

It's just a unit of measurement that I'm comfortable with.

So I grid it out, grid it out like a graph paper.

[Mike] Mm-hmm.

And then I just kinda peel it apart color by color.

I'm making sort of a mustardy yellow.

I tend to try to invent these things in the fly, like I know this is boring mustard, so it's BM.

And I'll just come in here, give it a label in there.

And if I need to figure out where that color goes, I can just hide or show the layer and keep it kinda selected.

And as I peel them apart, I can see what's left and see what I haven't gotten to yet.

You know, you look at it here, it doesn't look like anything.

You zoom out, you squint a little bit, you got it.

It's funny 'cause I'm this far away from it when I'm working on it.

-Right.

-And it just looks like nothing.

[Mike] Right.

And then I stand up when I'm done, and I take a look at it, and it's like, okay.

What I do is a little bit off the beaten path.

Most people haven't seen it before.

So I get a chance to talk to people about it, which is cool.

(Andy and attendee laughing) (funky jazz music) (air whooshes) How's it goin'?

Ron Burgundy, man.

That's awesome.

(both laughing) (lighthearted music) I work in marketing during the day, so this is a side gig.

Definitely hit quite a few events a year.

But yeah, I just do it when the kids go to sleep.

Talk about your stuff.

Each of these is made from about four to 10 layers of the cut paper, and they're stacked, so there's some shading that's gonna occur in the dark.

They have a different look to 'em.

That's kinda one of the things I like about 'em is there's really two looks to 'em, one in the daylight and then one in a darker environment, -so.

-Yeah.

Do you have a background in origami, or light boxes, or any of this kinda stuff?

No, no, not really.

I have kind of a fascination with lamps, and lights, and things like that, so kinda worked out.

I definitely enjoy like nerdy stuff, so that's what I like to make.

Also, animals and some scenic stuff.

But really, yeah, I gravitate towards nerdier stuff.

It's just kinda my wheelhouse.

[Mike] Like what?

Superheroes, that type of thing.

This is actually the first one I made -for my daughter.

-Oh, that's the one you made -for your daughter?

-Yeah, for my daughter.

-Okay.

-So that's...

It's pretty simple, but just enjoy that because of the memories that, her enjoying it.

[Mike] The "Star Wars" one back there -looks pretty complicated.

-Yeah, it's pretty intense.

A lot of this is- [Mike] Yeah.

Actually, that owl there, that's a lot of hand-cutting.

That one took a lot of work.

But I enjoy the design of that one 'cause it has a couple layers to it, so.

[Mike] Best costume you've seen so far?

I don't even know what it was.

It was like an Egyptian kinda look to it, like bejeweled.

It was awesome.

Not Ron Burgundy?

Actually, you were leading me.

You were leading me.

-Yeah, I should've, -(Mike laughs) I should've known.

-(air whooshes) -(funky pop music) But do you smell like rich mahogany?

(funky pop music continues) I immediately regret this decision.

(cosplayer grunting) Do you wanna talk to "Channel 4 News San Di-ah-go"?

-(mellow music) -(air whooshes) (attendees chattering) I've been tatting for 13 years and that's my thing that I do.

(chuckles) (mellow music continues) [Mike] So how'd you get started doing this?

I saw a pair of barefoot sandals on Etsy that I fell in love with but I couldn't afford.

Now I know why.

(chuckles) Because of that, I went to my local library, and they had a book there that came with a DVD.

Even with that, it took me a week just to do my first successful stitch, but I stuck with it.

[Mike] And this is kind of an old-school form -of art, right?

-Yeah.

-It dates back to when?

-This is a Victorian era.

That's why I started working with the cameos 'cause they were the same era, and then I kind of expanded slowly into...

I am a horror movie fan.

-Mm-hmm.

-So I found more horror-related cameos, images, things like that.

My favorite piece is this one.

So this one, I actually designed.

I think this one has like 10,000 knots in it maybe.

10,000?

Yeah, knots.

And so this is a really complicated piece.

It takes two shuttles instead of just one.

[Mike] What's a shuttle?

So this is a shuttle.

And actually, I'll give you guys a short little demo here.

Okay.

(air whooshing) -Could I try that with the- -You wanna try tatting?

-Yeah.

Okay.

-And then go around -and wrap it around your pinky.

-Around here.

And then really tight here?

-Yeah, okay.

-So hold it like this.

Yeah.

-Flip it over, and I wrap.

-So just wrap it, so just so it goes -around your hand.

-Like this.

Yeah.

Bring the tension back up on your thread so that it's tight.

This?

Yeah, and you'll go over top of this green thread.

[Mike] Okay.

Put the back of the shuttle underneath.

So close your hand up.

Okay.

And we're gonna pull.

And now you can open your hand back up.

And I made a... [Liz] And there you go, you made a knot.

[Mike] That's one knot.

[Amanda] That's one knot.

[Mike] Out of probably another 1,000 I need to make.

So could I tat a new mustache?

'Cause this mustache is- So there is actually a tatter who makes mustaches -that you can stick on.

-What?

(laughs) Yeah.

Anything that you see on my table is something that I love.

What I tell people is that's how I feed my inner magpie.

I'm able to go, oh, I like this, I like this, I like this, and then throw, send it out to the world.

(mellow music continues) (funky pop music) (eraser scratches) You're so wise, like a miniature Buddha with hair.

(funky pop music continues) -(air whooshes) -He's in cosplay, I love it.

Ah.

How's it goin'?

Good.

-(air whooshes) -(lighthearted music) And these are blowing up right now on my Etsy because it's really close to "Shark Week."

Uh-huh.

(lighthearted music continues) Music was what I'm trained in.

I taught music for a while.

Now I split my time between teaching music privately and this sculpting that I do.

(lighthearted music continues) (attendees chattering) I got into sculpting 'cause I just saw one of those videos that pop up on Facebook and it was like a demo of someone making something out of polymer clay.

And it's just like, I really like doing this, and just kinda kept doing it.

And so I'm a big fan of Japanese anime, so I love when I get to do anime things.

And my favorite things to make are these little chibi figures.

And chibi means like, cute, so they have like really big head, big googly eyes.

These are hermit crab rangoons.

-Oh.

-So this is my own design.

(Sarah chuckles) That is- -And I airbrush- -Let's see that for a second.

Yeah.

-So this is- -I airbrush the rangoon to try and look like fried.

(laughs) -Thanks for stopping by.

-Yeah.

I'm workin' on keepin' my mustache on.

-It's a struggle.

-Yeah.

(laughs) -All right, Mike.

-Definitely a struggle.

(air whooshing) (funky pop music) Stay classy.

(funky pop music continues) He matches.

Look who else we found, cosplay expert, Amanda.

I wouldn't be Ron Burgundy without her.

What are you cosplaying?

So this is Cheetara.

It's a character from "ThunderCats" from the '80s.

-Mm-hmm.

-(Amanda laughs) But I really enjoy doing kind of classic cartoons.

And this one has been on my list for a really long time.

The wig, especially, was a little tricky.

It's got a bit of body paint happening, -so that took a while.

-(Mike laughs) And then fingernails are the claws.

Oh, my gosh.

-'Cause you know.

-That looks dangerous.

(chuckles) Oh, they're not too bad.

-Yeah.

-(Amanda chuckles) [Mike] How you feeling wearing that right now?

Oh, it's fun.

I am very happy to be indoors in the air conditioning.

-Yup.

-(Amanda laughs) Wigs are hot.

Yes, yes.

-Wigs can definitely be hot.

-I've discovered -as a non-wig-wearer, so.

-(Amanda laughs) Just talk about the whole vibe of this place.

-It's a very positive, -(bells chiming) and happy, and creative atmosphere, and people -are excited to be here.

-(horn squeaking) They're excited to be in cosplay.

They're excited to look at all of the neat stuff -that the vendors have.

-Yeah.

It's like a big family reunion, -isn't it?

-It is.

-So.

-Yes, it is, but a family you want to go see.

(laughs) -(mellow electronic music) -(vendor faintly speaking) [Mike] What is nerd creativity?

[Amanda] I mean, it's just applying your creativity to nerdy sorts of things.

You get ideas and you can just like feel the energy from people that are making things that they love.

You know, I feel like it comes from a passion.

I enjoy it and I think a lot of other people enjoy it.

And I think now it's more celebrated than it has been in the past.

When you get to be around your tribe, it just really helps you feel like, okay, yeah, this is great.

There are other people that are like me.

We're all kind of weird oddballs.

(Mike chuckling) So did we pull this off?

-Oh, I think it's great.

-(Mike laughs) (mellow electronic music continues) -Gosh, it's- -Do people know?

[Mike] Yes.

-That's great.

-I've been bombarded with movie lines.

[Amanda] I love it.

[Mike] It's been funny.

So do you understand then part of the draw of cosplay?

It's fun getting that sort of interaction from people.

-Great.

-It is.

I guess I didn't really think about it that way, but yeah, people are shouting out -like "Anchorman" lines.

-(cosplayer faintly speaking) -[Amanda] Oh, yeah.

-[Mike] And stuff like that, -so it's, -(Amanda chuckles) it is kinda fun.

That's part of why I like it.

-Yeah.

-(Amanda laughs) (mellow electronic music continues) (air whooshing) And that's where our story ends.

(air whooshing) We discovered a lot of nerd creativity.

And just maybe a nerdy host discovered his true self.

(bell dings) You stay classy, Nebraska.

I'm Mike Tobias?

(mellow electronic music continues)