The recaps keep coming! Today it’s Day Three, definitely the busiest of them all, from MegaCon Orlando. I did my best to keep things brief but there was quite a bit to cover so let’s not waste any time and get started! Feel free to check out my Day Two recap though if you’re not already all caught up!
What I Wore
I was super excited to wear my new Shiro Voltron dress for the first time! I ordered it from Just Dreaming Designs at Anime Los Angeles, received it in March, and had been waiting for another con to wear it! The fit is PERFECT which was such a relief since I wasn’t sure what size to order initially. The dress is extremely comfortable to wear and very flattering. I am SUPER happy with this dress and look forward to wearing it to many more cons.
Instead of wearing my usual Shiro wig like I did at Anime Los Angeles, I just clipped in the white “floof” part (which I got off the Wish app) into my hair. SO much more comfortable than wearing a wig all day.
For anyone curious, I ordered the lanyard from @buffshiro, the varsity jacket from The Kigu Stop, and my OTK boots are from Aldo.
Met the nicest fellow Shiro stan! She runs a Shiro Tumblr page HeadSpaceDad!
Jeff Goldblum Q&A
Jeff Goldblum really needs no introduction. He’s starred in some of the biggest films of all time like Jurassic Park, Independence Day, and recently Thor: Ragnarok. Needless to say, his panel was packed and since I was running a little late, it being the first panel of the day, I wasn’t quite sure if I would make it in. Luckily, that wasn’t the case and because my dad and his nice camera was with me, I was able to get these great shots.
Unlike other celebrity guest panels, they didn’t do a regular Q&A but instead talked about different little facts about Jeff like how he’s 6’4″ (I had no idea he was that tall) or how he has no cavities or fillings (good for him). They asked the crowd if they preferred him with or without glasses and they overwhelming voted WITH (I agree).
They ended the panel with having Jeff read a series of tweets about himself. This was super funny and made me think that there totally should be a segment on some late night talk show called “Celebrities Read Thirsty Tweets.” I think it’d be hilarious. EDIT: Apparently Buzzfeed does something similar called “Thirst Tweets” and he did a segment which had me rolling with laughter. The tweets in the panel were family friendly enough, the ones in this Buzzfeed video remind me much more of what I’ve come to expect from Twitter XD.
The guy’s definitely got charm and style.
The huge room was filled nearly to capacity.
John Cena Q&A
I honestly am not all that familiar with John Cena’s work. All I really knew was that he’s a pro wrestler who started doing some acting. I think I’ve only seen him in the movie Sisters and on SNL. I hadn’t planned on going to his panel but the exhibit floor was so crowded I decided why not – he’s always seemed like a really nice guy from his appearances.
I’m really glad that I went. John came off extremely genuine, humble, and grateful for his success. I had no idea how many fans he had including many children. He answered every question, even repetitive ones, with such sincerity I found myself almost tearing up a few times. When the moderator tried to end the Q&A panel, he repeatedly refused seeing that there were still people especially kids that were still wanting to ask him a question. He gave up his lunch break and stayed till they basically had to kick him out for the next guest. It was super sweet.
Many of the questions asked referred to his wrestling and rapping. Someone asked how he came up with his “You can’t see me” catchphrase which he explained in a funny story. He mentioned he’s a big K-Pop fan and loves BTS. A couple people asked for shout outs – he ended up doing a general “Hi Mom!” for all the moms out there. One of my favorite responses was to the question, “What motivates you?” to which he gave a beautiful, heartfelt answer on perspective.
Like I said there were a lot of kid fans there and they had a lot of questions. Some were “What’s it like to be famous?”, “What’s it like to work with Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg?” and “Do you like being a WWE Superstar or actor more?” (he said Superstar due to the immediate positive/negative feedback after a performance). A question that got repeated multiple times was “Why did you stop rapping?” Apparently, his rapping wasn’t so kid-friendly which made me a bit concerned why so many children were asking him this. But basically, he said he stopped doing it, ironically, for the kids which is pretty cute although some might say he did so to be more mainstream and family-friendly (which seems like a good move to me).
One kid said he had two questions, one for John and one for the moderator who had been trying to end the Q&A. He asks the moderator who is surprised by the request first. Point blank, the kid just asks, “Who are you?” and the audience just erupts in laughter at the (un)intended shade. This became a bit of a running joke throughout the panel. Overall, one of the most enjoyable celebrity guest panels I’ve gone to. John Cena certainly earned my admiration and respect.
One Punch Man’s Max Mittelman Many Questions Panel
Max Mittelman is a voice actor most known for his work as Saitama, the titular character from one of my top favorite animes, One Punch Man. He’s also voiced characters in Mob Psycho 100, Your Lie In April, and the video game Persona 5. After a bit of waiting in line, I got a seat up front (single people perks).
The Many Questions…
The #1 Question: There were many questions about voice acting and how to get into it. He directed them to accomplished voice actor Dee Bradley Baker’s website IWantToBeAVoiceActor.Com. Apparently, it was a question he got so much himself, he made a website to answer it which is brilliant. Max also said to take acting classes and mimic everything to figure out what voices you can do.
Because there were SO many questions, I’m just going to bullet a some (yes, this isn’t everything) of the things covered:
- His most emotional voice acting scene was in Your Lie in April.
- He relates to his Persona 5 character, Ryuji the most as he’s had a lot of mean teachers in school.
- If anything COULD kill Saitama it would be boredom (this got a lot of laughs).
- His favorite One Punch Man scene is the one with Crablante in the first episode.
- He got super excited and star struck when he saw Wallace Shawn from The Princess Bride at the con.
- Even he doesn’t know when Season Two of One Punch Man will come out.
- He’s played 8 out of 120 hours of playing time in Persona 5.
- He was pre-med in college for 4 years in college before switching over to theater.
- The most difficult voice acting he had to do was for Star Wars: Battlefront because there was so much screaming, he lost his voice at every session.
- He would most love to voice one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Michaelangelo if he had to pick one.
- He couldn’t choose which Paladin from Voltron he would voice.
- His favorite musical is Spamalot. He got to see it with Tim Curry and Sara Ramirez when he was a kid. Jeff Goldblum was at that same show and he asked for Jeff’s autograph. His mom was mortified but he said he was a kid and they can get away with anything.
Voltron’s Jeremy Shada Q&A
The panel I’d most been looking forward to (along with the 2001 panel)! Jeremy Shada is an actor, voice actor and musician. He has voiced lead characters in two super popular American cartoon series, Finn in Adventure Time and Lance in Voltron: Legendary Defender (one of my favorite shows and the reason I went).
Voltron Questions: There were many Voltron fans in the audience and, of course, they had to ask some Voltron-related questions including who he ships. He was able to stay out of hot water by saying Hunk and Shay. Here are some of the other VLD things he was asked:
- Someone asked him to read one of Lance’s lines in Spanish since the character is canonically Cuba which he pulled off pretty decently.
- When asked what was his favorite line, he said it was Lance’s famous pick up line, “Girl, you’ve already activated my particle barrier.” This was also the line he had read in Spanish.
- H didn’t watch the original Voltron cartoon until after the first season of VLD.
- When asked to do an impression of the Voltron cast, he said he could only do Coran then proceeded to do so and it was spot on!
- He said Lance does not trust Lotor, that “he is pretty SUS of him” as is most everyone else. However, he also said that while Lotor does have some issues (like a homicidal dad), he also has his own goals and when they line up with others’, he can be a good teammate. Not a bad answer.
Although I was mostly paying attention to the Voltron stuff, I jotted down a few unrelated things:
- His last name is pronounced SHAY-da not SHAW-da. Whoops, I’ve been saying it wrong all this time.
- He started acting at age 5 (he’s 21 now).
- He and the audience sang the Adventure Time theme song.
- His favorite cartoons growing up were Avatar: The Last Airbender, Kim Possible, Teen Titans, and Recess.
- Tom Holland is his favorite Spider-Man (he had auditioned for the role).
The man behind the voice of our favorite Sharpshooter.
Team Voltron
After Jeremy’s panel, some of the Voltron fans hung outside the room to take a few group photos. I’m normally too shy to join, but everyone was really sweet and convinced me to jump in.
Space Mom loves her children.
Live Cosplayer Photoshoot with David Love
This was such a unique and interesting demo/panel! David Love is one of my all time favorite cosplay photographers! His work is just phenomenal! As my dad is a a semi-inspiring cosplay photographer himself, I knew this panel would be something we’d both enjoy and learn a lot from.
I was so enthralled by everything he was saying and doing, however, that while I did record two short clips for my InstaStory, I didn’t actually snap any pics. Luckily, I found a photo (below) on the David Love Photography FB page and apparently he even recorded a good bit of the panel for Youtube before the battery died for anyone interested in checking it out. He talked a lot about composite photography and demonstrated the importance of lighting and how it alone can drastically change the mood of a shot.
The model working with him is Danica Rockwood. She’s an incredibly talented and versatile cosplayer (that’s her in all three photos on the screen below) and the two frequently collaborate together. As an amateur cosplayer, I was taking notes on her posing tips because wow, she is a pro! She could go from being super silly one second to absolutely strong and fierce the next. They did a bunch of shots where they played with lighting and it was just fascinating to see the live immediate results.
Master of Cosplay Contest
The last event of the day was the Master of Cosplay Contest. There were so many stunning entries that I decided to dedicate a separate upcoming post to the just the cosplay contest. I’ll link back to it here once it’s up. However, until then, here’s a group shot of all the winners. Don’t they look amazing?
Wrap Up
Wow, what a day! It certainly was jam packed but I never felt overwhelmed despite not getting back to our hotel room till around 10pm. I think it really helped that I focused on panels today instead of walking too much of the exhibit floor where the majority of the crowds were at. I went out there a couple times to meet with my dad and it was exhausting trying to maneuver through SO many people. Luckily, I’d already seen and done what I wanted to do out there so I didn’t miss out on anything. In fact, I did everything I wanted to do! And for such a busy and crazy day, that’s a pretty amazing accomplishment!
Overall, a really, really great Saturday/Day Three! Just one more recap to go!
