Made in SA: Franklin Moormann - A.C.E.S and OoplesMade in SA: Franklin Moormann – A.C.E.S and Ooples

Franklin Moormann: President of A.C.E.S. and founder of Ooples.com

We enjoy our fair share of manga and anime here at Missions Unknown and so we’ve had A.C.E.S. (the Anime Cultural Enthusiasts Society) on our radar for a while. A.C.E.S. claims to be the number one Texas anime community and with 298 Anime Otakus (members) in their meetup group we’re not going to argue. Then we found out that the head A.C.E. just launched a new site featuring anime and cosplay themed apparel and we just had to know more. To sate our thirst for knowledge we put the questions to Franklin Moormann, president of A.C.E.S. and founder of Ooples.com

Missions Unknown: Tell us about A.C.E.S., the Anime Culture Enthusiasts Society. How long has the group been around? What is your role and what is the membership like?

Franklin Moormann: A.C.E.S. has been around for about 2 years so far. We run 3 meetings each week usually, consisting of things like cosplay nights (where we all dress up in cosplay), ACES Studio meetings (which is where our artists in the group make their own manga and we publish it for them and give them full credit), bloodbath nights (our adult nights), and normal meetings where we usually watch anime and sometimes discuss it. The meetings are almost always followed by hanging out in different San Antonio restaurants where we usually chat and play tabletop games for hours on end. The group is extremely self sufficient. My role is President in title but really all I have been doing for the past 6 months is posting the meetings that members run, and I get the location set up for them and provide them with the materials needed to run the event. Anyone can make their own meeting for anything they are interested in if they like, and we make it happen. Our meetings generally have around 20-30 people at the main meetings and around 15 or so at the smaller meetings.

MU: Are meetings open to everyone? Are anime showings family friendly?

FM: Yes, our meetings are open to everyone and everything we show is family friendly except for our bloodbath nights, of course, which are held at Klub Atomix, San Antonio’s best goth club. If there is any anime that is around PG-13, we will make sure to let the members know before we show it, just in case. Most of our meetings are held at Bobalicious Internet Cafe, which is the best place to find bubble tea and is located near the corner of 410 & Evers, right next to the Heroes & Fantasies store.

MU: What is the appeal of anime to you?

FM: I can’t quite put my finger on why I have always enjoyed anime so much. I have always thought that its because anime is so different from traditional American cartoons and there is so much more variety with anime compared to most cartoons that you see here, not to mention the fact that anime seems to be much easier to come by.

MU: Many people these days claim to be anime fans. There are a variety of videos for sale at major retailers and there are dedicated blocks of programming on TV. What does A.C.E.S. add to that mix? What will attendees get that they won’t get elsewhere?

FM: Well, our main focus with all of our meetings has been to educate, and that generally means that we will show the anime in its original language, which is Japanese with English subtitles. We also don’t show anime that is on TV, so that means we don’t watch the popular anime, like Bleach and Naruto, at our meetings. We almost always watch anime that has just come out in Japan and hasn’t arrived in America yet. We are proud of the fact that we show great anime that will become popular here, and all of our organizers, especially my Vice President Miyu Awan, pick really great anime that you won’t see anywhere else.

MU: You recently launched a new web site/business venture, Ooples.com. Give us the capsule synopsis of what it is about.

FM: Ooples.com is my answer to the problem that most geeks and anime lovers seem to have: Where can I find good quality geek clothing? Our answer is all 100% unique clothing that you are not going to find anywhere else, like our tentacle monster hat, raccoon hat, panda hat, and all of our shirts and other types of clothing. We will be adding posters soon and other things like messenger bags and ladies tank tops.

MU: How is Ooples.com doing? What kind of feedback have you gotten? What are your best-selling products?

Tentacle Monster Hat

FM: We are doing great! We are extremely busy with orders all of the time and we have just recently started to make a profit. We are about to launch a new site layout which will give us the ability to put much more info and make it easier to order and that should be launched very soon. We have received nothing but good feedback so far, but since we are only 3 months old that may not mean much. Most of our feedback has been that people love our original designs and they send us pictures of their kids wearing the product or themselves wearing the product. Our best selling product is most definitely our tentacle monster hat since we are always sold out of it and some of our other great selling products would have to be the I’m With Baka shirt, Get a Life shirt, and our raccoon hat.

We also have a retail location opening up at San Antonio’s Wonderland of the Americas Mall on June 15 in the Marketplace there.

MU: Products like the hats are very unusual, who’s making them? Are you staying up late every night stitching panda hats?

FM: I have two seamstresses, Crystal and Amber, that work for me and do a great job with making our hats, and they have been known to stay up until the wee hours in the morning making hats, especially if we have a big order or an upcoming convention. I’m still trying to learn how to make the hats, and sadly I have never used a sewing machine before, so I’m learning my basics first.

Franklin Moormann creating more shirts

MU: Besides A.C.E.S and Ooples, what occupies your time?

FM: I run the San Antonio Vegan Group called Vegans In Action, and I also run the San Antonio Lyme Disease Support Group. I’m one of those people that like to always stay busy with something. The good part of that is that I never have a boring day, but the bad part is that I never seem to have any time to watch anime or some of my favorite scifi shows.

MU: I recently attended Mizuumi-Con and was struck both by the number of anime/manga fans and even more so by the number of cosplayers and their enthusiasm. Are you a cosplayer? Give us an insight into this subculture…what’s the big deal?

FM: I don’t really call myself a cosplayer, but I have always wanted to make my own costume and dress up as some of my favorite characters. You will see me cosplaying soon though. Most cosplayers do it because they either want to get attention for their hard work or to go all out and become their character for a couple of hours. All of the cosplayers do it because they simply love that particular character.

MU: I would assume that a con like the upcoming San Japan would have a big draw to A.C.E.S. members. Do you attend the local cons? What is your impression? Does the group have a booth/table/presence at any?

FM: I try to help support the local conventions as much as I can, but ever since I started Ooples.com I haven’t had much of a chance to go to a convention for fun unless I’m running a booth in the dealers room. We won’t be at San Japan this year, but we have gone the previous 2 years, and we have been to Mizuumi-Con and O-Conn the past 2 years also. A.C.E.S. has had a booth at most of these conventions for the past 2 years, but we weren’t able to get a table at San Japan this year.

MU: How about giving us a couple of your top fives?

FM: My top five anime/manga are:

• Maison Ikkoku
• Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne
• Kaiji
• Monster
• Moyashimon

My top five SciFi shows are:

• Babylon 5
• Firefly
• Doctor Who
• Farscape
• Battlestar Galactica