Weeaboo Artifacts
Cartoon Fantasy Organization
Written by Tobias Fisher, 10/12/2017
Edited by Tobias Cooper, 10/02/2018
Well, it's been almost two years since the first and last article, and I finally got the motivation to write another one!
Now, I decided this article will also bring out a new series, Weeaboo Artifacts. To kick off this new series, we will start with one of the earliest anime groups in America, The Cartoon Fantasy Organization, or C/FO for short.
The C/FO was a club for discussing and viewing cartoons, anime, and other animated media, founded in 1977.
happy 40th borfday
Around this time, some vendors in Hawaii were selling bootleg anime VHS tapes for tourists to buy. People who would buy these tapes would want to learn more about anime, and slowly, growing western interest would eventually lead Japanese companies to sell official tapes for extremely cheap, around one dollar per tape.
The C/FO started and people would bring their tapes, both official and bootleg, to watch with others. Many even brought their own VCRs so they could make copies of others members' tapes.
One of the founders of C/FO, Mark Merlino, was also the co-founder of Anthrocon.
Another founder, Fred Patten, is a meme.
 
They wouldn't look too out of place driving a windowless van.
At its height, there were over 400 members and 36 chapters spread across America and Canada.
In the late 80s, chapter rivalry and early online networks led to member decline,
although C/FO meetups were still going on to atleast 2013, to my findings.
Now that we have a basic understanding of what this C/FO stuff is about,
I wanted to show something interesting I bought off of eBay like a year ago.
This folder that contains three C/FO Magazines, a few C/FO newsletters,
the package that one of the magazines were sent in, and... a halloween mask catalogue spooky
As much as I'd like to post high quality scans of all the newsletters and magazines, two problems arise:
one, I'm using my phone's eh camera to take these photos, and two, I need to conserve space for future articles and other website thingos. Although, if I do get access to a scanner, i'll make a PDF in the future.
So instead, I'll show the highlights of the first of the magazines and two of the newsletters.
Click the picture to see a larger version
Here we have a flyer for The C/FO.
Click the picture to see a larger version
The page for the screening times for March 1982,
note "Those Obnoxious Aliens" is Urusei Yatsura.
The Membership Directory list for September 1983, without the directory.
Even though this list is 34 years old, most all these these phone numbers and adresses are still active.
Those are the highlights of the handouts and flyers and things, now onto the magazine!
Click the picture to see a larger version
The cover of the magazine, featuring Armanoid Lady and Cobra
from the manga and anime series, Space Adventure Cobra
Click the picture to see a larger version
Page showing the treasury report, new members, rejoined members,
renewed members, an advertisement for BOOKS NIPPAN, and a comic.
....Smurf jokes?
I don't have anything to say about this.
Another ad for BOOKS NIPPAN, showing off their videotape catalogue. Fun fact, Radiohead got inspiration for the song Videotape when Thom Yorke saw these prices and almost died.
BOOKS NIPPAN ad for Star Blazers (Space Battleship Yamato).
Not sure if this is for the anime, the manga, or the comic series.
Lastly, the back cover of the magazine. Tobor, The 8th Man.
So yeah, that's all the photos I took of the magazine. Again, I'd love to get a scanner and get high quality scans of everything, but for now, this is all! I don't really know how to end this off, so here's a photo of a C/FO conference.
source: www.fanboy.com
cursed image
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