Ah, there you are! This is Kyle, with my third posting from Pensacon 2023.
In an earlier entry, I spoke about how it felt like the whole city got involved with the convention. And while most shows are inside one large building, with maybe some food trucks outside, the events at Pensacon were all over the city!Does that mean you have to walk all around the town? No, because they’d set up an entire trolley system to take you from place to place.
One quick trolley ride from the Convention Center and you’d find yourself at Hogwarts!
Many of the local restaurants had gotten into the spirit of the show and themed out their whole place. At The Fish House, not only was the whole place decorated, but the staff were all in costume as well.
Another stop on the route and you were attending the theater. They’d set up some panels to be done on stage at a local performing arts theater.
Here you see Steve Agee from Peacemaker in a panel moderated by Mystery Science Theater 3000’s Jonah Ray. And yes, he’s pointing directly at me and my camera.
I was attending a lively panel full of voice actors when I got a message that they’d set up another interview for me, with acclaimed voice actor David Kaye. And in a strange twist of fate, he was on stage in the panel I was watching.
I had to jump on the trolley and race back to the venue to make sure I didn’t miss my time. And by the skin of my teeth, I made it.
You might not know his name, but you know his voice. In addition to roles in Transformers, He-Man and GI Joe, he’s been in Mobile Suit Gundam Wing and Inuyasha. And if you haven’t heard him as the announcer on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, you might have heard him as the voice of the Celestial Arishem in the MCU movie Eternals. (And a couple hundred other gigs as well.)
And, as before, I didn’t want to take up too much time away from his fans, so David asked if we could do the interview right next to his table. Which means in addition to his answers, you’ll get to hear a lot of the crowd too. The area with all the celebrities was always busy, but you’ll still be able to hear him. That’s what happens when you work with a professional voice actor.
Here’s my interview with David Kaye.
And with that, my Pensacon adventure came to a close. It was a wild ride, I had an amazing time at the show and hope I’ll get a chance to come back next year.
