WHAT A WONDERFUL CONVENTION!
This is my second time at LA Comic Con and I enjoyed myself just as much as I did the first time. I enjoy that it is a smaller convention (it is growing though!). It makes the panels with the guest stars much more personal. They actually take time and take fan questions. I have been to other conventions and they take 1-3 fan questions. Here they spend half their time taking questions. ALSO! Some of them would come right to the edge to speak to people or even just to say hi either before or after the panel.
It was so great to be out and about with fellow con lovers. Everyone is so welcoming and just so happy to be there. I met a lot of interesting people and it was wonderful going down Artist Alley and seeing everyone’s hard work come together.
Like I said earlier, this convention is for sure still growing! This year they now had a big gaming and a big anime section. Last year they did have some gaming, but from what I remember it was not something of focus. Ok. I take that back. It was focused on last year, but I feel like it was much bigger this year. They had one whole side of the convention. It was pretty awesome to see.
I can’t wait to see how this convention keeps growing(but then again I love that it is not as intense as other conventions). Thank you LA Comic Con for inviting me to another great show!
Here are the great panels I saw Saturday and Sunday. . . (all 📸 were taken by yours truly 🙃)
🟢 Tom Kenny – Spongebob 🟢
It is always great seeing Tom Kenny at conventions. He does such a wonderful job and you can see that he truly loves being here.
Tom was talking to all of us about how he still enjoys “Spongebob”, and he is enjoying doing “Kamp Koral”. He was also saying that he enjoys being the voice director for all SPongebob related things and that 4 out of 5 days he works on nothing but Spongebob stuff. The other 1 day he is working on “Rick and Morty” and “Star Trek: Lower Decks”.
What was fun about this panel too was that Tom told us a little bit about himself and what he enjoys when he is not working. First, he said that when he was first approached to be a voice director about 6 years ago, he felt like he was not qualified for the job. And now he is happy he accepted the job. The thing he loves to do when he is not working is waching Luchador wrestling.
He also did throw a couple of nuggets our way. Tom said within the next two weeks they will start having group recordings again for “Spongebob”. The other nugget was that he has voice directed something for DreamWorks AND Netflix! He said those projects were still hush hush, but to keep a look out when they finally come out.
🟢 Steve Burns – Blues Clues 🟢
STEVE FREAKING BURNS! This guy was a HUGE part of my childhood. As soon as he came out I was immediately transported back to when I was a little human and watching Steve and Blue on TV.
What was great about listening to Steve in this panel was that he loves all the love he has been receiving from back then to now. He loves how much “Blues Clues” has touched so many different people. But back then, even with all the love, he said he was in a depression. He was depressed because he felt like he was a fraud. A fraud because he was helping teach America’s children, but he was not educationally qualified to do so. But, he said later in life he received help and now feels mentally better.
He did go on to tell us that him being on “Blues Clues” almost didn’t happen. When he was told about his audition he was under the impression that it was going to be voice over work, not something that was going to be live. But once he realized what this was, he decided to play the character over the top. That when the script called to look into the camera lens and talk to the audience, he would go uncomfortable close to the lens. He then told us that he tested well with children, and then they hired him.
Steve was also mentioning what it was like to film “Blues Clues” and said it felt very intimate. He felt this way because in the studio he was filming in, he filmed in front of a green screen, one camera, and bright lights. So he could not see the crew due to how bright the lights were and no one really gave him any direction because he was great and what he was doing.
🟢 Simu Liu – Shang-Chi 🟢
What a JOY Simu was! Oh my gosh. His charisma just oozed off the stage. I am so happy to see that he is as real as I had in my head. What I am saying is that I am happy to see he is genuine. Just like Tom Kenny, you can see he is beyond happy where he is in life.
He was telling us that we should not worry about his career because he is in three upcoming movies. I laughed when he said this because he knows we have not seen him in anything besides Shang-Chi. His three upcoming movies are “Barbie”, a movie he did with JLO, and a romance movie called “One True Loves” (based on the book).
What was beautiful to see was that Simu wore a Black Panther Christmas sweater. He said it has a lot of meaning to him personally and he went on to say how amazing the new movie is. He also wanted everyone to truly understand that representation matters.
🟢 Jason Neese, Jaime Neese, Jordan Claire Robbins, and Cameron Britton – Umbrella Academy 🟢
One thing that was pretty much consistent between them all was that this new season was going to be epic. Other than that, they did not talk too much about the upcoming season. I know they are under contract not to, but still. I felt like they should have given us some sort of a nugget. I guess it being epic and that it is different from the other seasons is a nugget, but still. I wanted more.
The other stuff they said was Cameron enjoyed working with Mary J. Bleige and Jordan loved the outfits she got to wear. They also said that it is a great cast they are working with. The Neese brothers said everyone is perfectly casted in this show.
🟢 Levar Burton – Reading Rainbow / Star Trek 🟢
I loved hearing everything Levar had to say because he is still an advocate for reading and I am here for it. There really was not much else that he talked about. He did make a side note and say that he enjoyed working with Donald Glover (Childish Gambino).
He did talk a little bit about “Star Trek” and that he is enjoying “Star Trek: Picard”.
Even though he did say too much, I am still pleased with his interview because he was telling everyone that reading is very important. He also said that one question he gets a lot from parents is how do they get their kids to read more. And he said to let them read what they are interested in. If the child is into comic books, then buy them all the comic books. He said to do this because the kid is reading and that is something to be grateful for. So to just buy what they are liking.
🟢 Elijah Wood and Sean Astin – The Lord of the Rings 🟢
Seeing Elijah and Sean together was almost cry worthy! “The Lord of the Rings” holds a special place in my heart. Just like Star Wars and Harry Potter does. It is just ones of those movies I will forever love.
I love seeing how real their friendship is. When they talk to each other and when they talk about Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd, you can hear the respect they have for each other. With a movie trilogy like they made, it makes sense that they are all bonded in a way I don’t think we could ever understand. Sean and Elijah had me rolling when they said they have a Hobbit group chat.
A behind the scenes moment in one of the movies Sean talked about was a scene with Andy Serkis. He said there is a part where Sam and Frodo are getting attacked and Golem pulls them both to the ground. When Andy grabbed Sean, he grabbed a bit too much and he took off his wig and Hobbit cloak. Sean said he got irritated at this a bit more than he should have because it takes a few hours to get the wig on.
They both also said that because of the internet, some things made it on screen and others did not. Studio executives were trying to add stuff to the movie, but thanks to the early days of the internet, Peter Jackson would take what fans were saying and send this to his executives.
What I loved the most out of this panel is Sean and Elijah told us all that they stand with “The Rings of Power” show and they think the cast and show are great.
🟢 Karen Fukuhara, Laz Alonso, and Tomer Capone – The Boys 🟢
This was a great group to see. They were all so happy just to be at LA Comic Con. Karen really enjoyed herself because this was her first time out here.
They talked a lot about the cast playing pranks on each other as well as playing backgammon between takes. Even though they did not talk too much about the new season, it was great to see their chemistry in real life. You could see that they are developing a really great friendship that will last beyond the show.
🟢 Giancarlo Esposito and Ming-Na Wen – The Mandalorian 🟢
Giancarlo and Ming-Na are such a wonderful duo! They were all smiles for the entire panel. It is so OBVIOUS that they are true fans of Star Wars and they truly appreciate their part in it.
One thing that was crazy I thought is when Ming-Na told us she does not feel like the is a badass. I honestly gasped to myself because she is a total badass. Yes, I know she is acting. But there has to be some part of her that can resemble these characters because she does keep getting these roles.
They were both asked by the moderator if they knew about Luke in the last episode of Mando and they both said they had no idea. The cast new something special was coming, but John and Dave kept their cards VERY close to their chest. So they said it was a delightful surprise.
A fun question that was asked by a fan was what colored lightsaber would Gus Freeman and Mulan have. Giancarlo said Gus would for sure have a blue one and Mulan would have a lavender one.
Side note: They both said that sweet Baby Yoda is a definite scene stealer.
🟢 Amy Jo Johnson – Power Rangers 🟢
People! It was awesome seeing Amy Jo Johnson. I have heard that she is a rarity at conventions. So I knew I HAD to see her interview.
She told us that she will forever be grateful for “Power Rangers” and for all the fans. That was her first acting gig and she had no idea how big this would become. Amy told us a story about when her and Steve were doing promotions for the movie and they were in a mall with no security. They were coming down the escalator to a mob of parents who were wanting their autographs. She said once her and Steve got down to the floor they just ran as fast as they could to get out of the mall.
Jason David Frank was on my mind the whole panel and I was wondering if she would bring him up. She did mention him briefly. She said that when she was signing autographs she would see many things with Jason’s signature on it and she could feel his energy. So Amy was saying that she now understands the power their autographs hold.
We also learned that Amy made her directorial debut and directed an episode of “Superman and Lois”. Her episode was called “Tried and True”. I will for sure have to check that out.
Before she left the stage she did tell us that she is currently writing a sexy thriller and a romance movie. She said it is all still hush for now, but she is excited for all of us to see them one day.
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