Where are they now: Mark Merlino

[mbanu]

Credited by Fred Patten as being the founder of American organized anime fandom, mostly because he bought a Sanyo V-Cord machine in 1975, making it possible to show recorded giant robot shows off of the local Japanese TV station to those who had not seen them live. (^_^)

Not sure if he's still into anime, but he does have a Twitter account: https://twitter.com/sysable

[davemerrill]

Mark Merlino got into anthropomorphic/furry fandom in a big way. He left the C/FO right as I joined, in the mid 1980s, but he's still active in the furry fandom, as far as I know.

You can see the furry influence in the C/FO's mascot "Fanta" - a furry character, plain and simple. Kimba The White Lion was a popular show among the early membership, that's an anthropomorphic kinda thing, and other early members included Reed "Omaha The Cat Dancer" Waller and Joshua "Cutey Bunny" Quagmire.

[davemerrill]

BTW Don Yee (of C/FO LA) tells me that Fred Patten and Mark Merlino were at the recent Anime Los Angeles convention, where they chaired a panel discussion of the history of the C/FO. Wish I could have been there for that one.

[SteveH]

I think it's instructive to remember that it was the Cartoon/Fantasy Organization. It wasn't originally only about the Japanese cartoons. So the furry connection is not a surprise whatsoever.

Just sayin'.