Aaron Fechter (Here We Go Again!)

Aaron Fechter (born December 22, 1953) is an American engineering entrepreneur, voice actor, director, and musician who owns and operates Creative Engineering, and co-owns the Rock-afire and Moonrockers Pizza chains. He is best known as the co-creator of the Rock-afire Explosion, an animatronic show featuring a variety of characters used within ShowBiz Pizza Place restaurants throughout the 1980s. A fallout between CEI and ShowBiz, along with the chain's dwindling revenue, led to the formation of Rock-afire. 
In CEI's early beginnings, Fechter intended to manufacture fuel-efficient vehicles, but the company's focus soon shifted to the animatronic industry. The company later developed other products and concepts, but they failed to gain commercial interest. Fechter also claims to have been instrumental in the early development of Whac-A-Mole, an arcade game from Bandai that became popular in the late 1970s, but his involvement was never officially recognized.
== Early life and career ==
Aaron Fechter graduated from Edgewater High Schoolin Orlando, Florida. In 1973, he graduated from the University of South Florida, where he was a member of Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity, at the age of 19. The United States was in the midst of an energy crisis, and Fechter decided to build a fuel-efficient, small car prototype in hopes of eventually manufacturing the vehicle under a new car company. He founded Creative Engineering Incorporated (CEI) in 1975 for that purpose, but in order to raise money for the project, he resorted to selling smaller inventions door-to-door, such as his "Leaf Eater" contraption that collected leaves from swimming pools. Fechter knocked on the door of an individual who solicited his help in designing an electronic control system for a shooting gallery, designed for sale to amusement parks. The gallery featured an animatronic horse, and its success led to other offers in the animatronic industry, which became the central focus for Creative Engineering.
Fechter's father was an early investor in CEI, helping it enter the animatronic industry. Early projects included The Scab, a single talking head, Willie Wabbit, an anthropomorphic rabbit, and a fortune-telling machine called Lazlo The Great. By 1978, Fechter had finished work on the "Wolf Pack 5", his first animatronic series featuring multiple characters including The Wolfman, Fats, Dingo Starr, Beach Bear, and Queenie the Fox (later changed to a mouse and renamed Mini Mozzarella). It was showcased and deemed a success at the 1978 IAAPA show. He completed work on another animatronic show called "The Hard Luck Bears", featuring a hillbilly band of bears and a mimicking bird, which debuted at the IAAPA in 1979.
Fechter combined elements from both shows to form "The Rock-afire Explosion", which debuted at the IAAPA in 1980 with improved animation and other changes. The Rock-afire Explosion concept was ultimately selected by ShowBiz for inclusion in its family entertainment pizza chain.
== ShowBiz Pizza Place ==
In 1980, Robert L. Brock opened the first ShowBiz Pizza Place restaurant in Kansas City, Missouri, featuring Creative Engineering's Wolf Pack 5 display. Although ShowBiz wanted the "Rock-afire Explosion" (RAE) concept, RAE was still in the final stages of development when the first store opened. The pizza chain also featured other amenities including an arcade and restaurant tailored to accommodate both children and adults. Brock owned an extensive chain of Holiday Inn hotels, considered the largest of its kind at the time. Brock originally partnered with Pizza Time Theatre but backed out after discovering Fechter's work. CEI was given a 20-percent ownership stake in the chain and retained all rights to characters, animation, and show development. Queenie the Fox was converted into a mouse and became briefly known as Mini Mozzarella at the first location. Her name was changed a final time to Mitzi Mozzarella as ShowBiz expanded and utilized the RAE in future locations.
Following financial troubles in the mid-1980s, Showbiz explored the possibility of reverse-engineering the animatronics and producing their own shows. This led to a feud with CEI, unwilling to relinquish the rights needed. In 1985, Showbiz purchased their competitor Chuck E. Cheese's (CEC), who had filed for bankruptcy a year earlier. After failing to make progress with CEI, ties were severed in 1986, and Showbiz began replacing the RAE with Leo Lyons and the Rockin' Farm.
== Rock-afire ==
== Other ventures ==
During CEI's involvement with ShowBiz, the company pursued other interests outside of the restaurant industry. They explored the production of toys, including Billy Bob, Fatz, and Mitzi animatronic dolls that had the ability to play pre-recorded showtapes, narrate fairytales, and connect to an Apple computer for custom programmability.
CEI invested $1.5 million in research and development of a secure messaging device called the Anti-Gravity Freedom Machine, capable of sending electronic messages over a phone line. By 1998, however, web-based email had gained traction, and the project went unreleased.
In 2000, CEI developed The Mezmerizer, an arcade game released for Rock-afire locations. In 2015, CEI showcased an arcade game at the IAAPA convention called Bashy Bug (stylized BASHyBUG), where the player attempts to stomp on a bug with a flipflop in a timed skill scenario with multiple levels of difficulty. It was released in January 2016.
Category:Here We Go Again!