At Carrier Con a few weeks ago, a line snaked down nearly half the length of the USS Hornet Sea, Air, & Space Museum’s hangar bay, where anime, cosplay, and gaming fans waited to meet special guest Pipkin Pippa. Aidan Kim from San Ramon stood in line for over 45 minutes for the chance to chat with her. “She seems fun,” explained Kim when asked about the appeal of Pipkin Pippa. “Fun to watch… If you enjoy something, you might as well interact with it more.”
As Kim edged closer to the front of the line, it became clear that Pipkin Pippa was not actually at Carrier Con. She was on a screen and chatting with fans from a remote location. Also surprising was the fact that Pipkin Pippa was not exactly a person. On the screen, she appeared as a cute anime girl with rabbit ears.
Pipkin Pippa and the other special guests at Carrier Con this year, who have names like Chikafuji Lisa, Radiaactive, and Eve-80, are VTubers. They are podcasters and musicians who stream online as anime avatars. All of them attended remotely.
Like many of the VTuber fans at Carrier Con, Kim said that 2020 was the year that VTubers gained a more mainstream audience. Being stuck at home during the pandemic led many people to discover VTubers who create music, talk about gaming and other popular podcast topics, and do interviews—all as their animated avatar character.
Chikafuji Lisa is a musician. Radiaactive is a scientist who talks about science, gaming, and history. And Eve-80, well, she’s the living embodiment of an aircraft carrier, specifically a Gerald R. Ford Class Aircraft Carrier. She chats with fans about gaming, history, and her real life experience as a United States Navy sailor.
Eve-80 is part of USS Hornet Marketing Manager Gabriel Cherry’s VFleet Project. In 2023 Cherry saw the growing popularity of VTubers and thought that the Hornet could benefit from its own VTuber. He told The Alameda Post that he wanted a VTuber who could, “A: Tell people about the Hornet. B: Play games and community build. C: Be a way for people to donate to the Hornet.”
It may seem like an odd mix of goals, but the USS Hornet has been creatively finding ways to fundraise and outreach to new and younger audiences. That includes putting on Carrier Con.
Russell Moore, Chief Experience Officer of the USS Hornet, pointed out to the Post that while the military veterans who visit the ship are very supportive, “That demographic’s not big enough to keep a museum like this going.” The Hornet was built over 80 years ago and is in constant need of maintenance. “It’s never ending,” he said. “You start at the back and you paint all the way to the front. But by the time you get to the front, you gotta start painting the back!”
Events like Carrier Con fund maintenance and staff at the USS Hornet, but the museum also reaches out to new audiences by bringing them aboard the ship. Moore asked, “How do we get more people to come to the ship? How do we get people to go, ‘Wow, this place is really cool.’”
Like Carrier Con, VFleet is also targeting a younger, civilian demographic to engage it with museum ships like the USS Hornet. Initially a project of the USS Hornet, VFleet is now an independent venture run by Cherry, who has assembled a team of VTubers who represent different ship and jet museums around the country.
The VTubers each have their own personality and look, which reflects their ship or jet. Ali-60, for example, represents the USS Alabama battleship and streams herself playing video games like League of Legends while also dabbling in karaoke. Cherry told the Post that the VTubers’ outfits are a “nod to history,” with ribbon racks and numbers that reflect the ship or jets’ history.
According to Cherry, the VFleet VTubers act as “light docents.” They don’t want to overwhelm viewers with a barrage of ship facts, but they do talk to viewers who are watching their video game streams about their ship or jet. They also encourage visits and donations.
The VFleet VTubers stream on Twitch everyday. The VTubers get 70% of the online ad revenue, with the rest going to VFleet for overhead costs. Cherry, who studied film, media, and history in college, started VFleet because of his “love of museum ships.” He told the Post, “I’ve always been fascinated by museum ships,” recalling a visit to the USS Midway Museum as a child. He started volunteering at the USS Hornet in 2019 and said jokingly that he never left.
VFleet combines his love of media and history along with the need for fundraising for museum ships, which he saw firsthand during the COVID-19 shutdown when the USS Hornet lost admissions revenue. Cherry said he has seen an increase in donations to museum ships, especially when the VFleet VTubers make a specific ask to help fund a project like repainting an airplane. “People are coming from the livestreams and donating,” he said.
Cherry also prioritizes connection-building and educating people about the history of the ships and jets. At Carrier Con, fans could attend a panel talk with the VFleet VTubers, chat with them one-on-one, buy merch, and get posters.
Dominic Macary, 28, traveled from San Diego to attend Carrier Con and checked out the VTubers. “I’m currently active military, which is why I ended up talking to Eve-80 specifically.” He had never heard of VFleet but after his chat he said, “I’m already following Eve-80.”
Andrew Burge is a 25-year-old Navy reservist who told the Post that he learned about VTubers after buying a ticket to Carrier Con. Burge, who is from Rocklin, California, grew up visiting the USS Hornet. “I love the Hornet,” he said. “I love the history of it. I really do love this place.” Josie-62 from VFleet was one of his favorite VTubers. “I actually bought one of her patches… when I first watched her she was playing Minecraft and talking about Carrier Con and how excited she was about it.”
Another attendee, who goes by the Instagram handle @cursed.jam.cosplay and lives in Oakland, hadn’t heard of VFleet before Carrier Con. After chatting with Ali-60 and learning that she was part of VFleet and represented a museum ship, the 34-year-old noted, “That actually makes me more interested in learning about this because I’m a big history buff. I love this kind of stuff.” @cursed.jam.cosplay also added that it was enjoyable to wander around the USS Hornet and see all the different parts of the ship.
It’s difficult not to notice that the overwhelming majority of VTuber fans at Carrier Con were men in their 20s, which isn’t surprising given that the VTubers’ avatars are sexy, well-endowed anime girls who talk mostly about gaming. At the Carrier Con after-party on the USS Hornet, where VTubers including VFleet provided music and entertainment on a large screen, only three women were spotted in the crowd of 200 people.
Cherry says that there are female fans, some of whom came by the VFleet booth dressed as VFleet VTubers. He also was quick to point out the diversity of the VFleet VTubers he has assembled. Magi-41, for example, is transgender and talks about her 10 years of service in the National Guard. “I’m extraordinarily proud of my VTubers,” Cherry said. “They have been a blessing to me and others… they have taken the mission to heart.”
The after party featured music by VTubers such as Tomoe Umari, whose performance was streamed on a large screen while the almost all-male crowd danced along. Video Jean Chen.
He added, “At the end of the day, it’s about the ships and the good men and women behind those ships… I want to support these museums through entertainment and community building.”
Jean Chen is a contributing writer for the Alameda Post. Contact her via [email protected]. Her writing is collected at AlamedaPost.com/Jean-Chen.
