On April 15th, a cold Friday afternoon, Zana, a good friend of mine, and I drove about two hours to Dearborn, Michigan for probably the most exciting weekend we’ve had since graduating from Michigan State University. We were spending our weekend at the Midwest Media Expo at the Edward Village Michigan Hotel in Dearborn.
It was here that I was able to meet and interact with countless voice actors, cosplayers, video game designers, and vendors. There was so much to do within 72 hours. From having an arcade room to discussion panels, it was every nerd, geek, and fandom’s dream.
I spent most of time, as I always do, in the vendors’ market or tabletop gaming room. Zana and I played exploding kittens (this game has a NSFW edition, which is obviously the one we played) at the tabletop gaming room. I bought trinkets and figurines as gifts for friends (a pendant of the house of Slytherin from Harry Potter, courtesy of The Black Bazaar as you may recall from our cover of Youmacon last year! I also bought a Japanese version of Snow White figurine).
I was pleasantly surprised at the vendors’ market because there was a large number of K-POP merchandise. I also had to pleasure of interviewing a few vendors and quizzed them on their K-POP knowledge (actual interview audio and video still under work).
I asked them so easy questions to hard questions for them to have the honor and chance of getting a gold star from a former Asian Music Mondays host.
“Name 8 boy groups”
“Name 9 girl groups”
“Name all the members of Big Bang from youngest to oldest”
“What boy group debuted in 2005?”
“Name all members, past and now, of Super Junior members”
It was a lot of fun interacting with K-POPers and even educating them on K-POP as well as the upcoming BABYMETAL trio from Japan.
In addition to meeting people interested in Asian Pop culture, I had a chance to meet with two individuals who play a significant our in pop culture here in the United States.
I saw Steven Downes patiently waiting to meet fans and I was able to sit down with him and talk about pretty much anything for 15 minutes. We got lost in our conversation because it was so powerful to see the man behind the voice.
As we previously posted, Steven Downes is widely known for his role in the Halo series as Master Chief. He even honored us with a voice ID for the show (so look out for it!). We spent a lot of time talking about methods of voice acting, embodying a character, and the economy of being a voice actor. Steven Downes has been part of the Halo franchise for over ten years and he’s still going strong! (Interview also in editing process)
I also had the pleasure of meeting Billy West. You may recognize his name from the opening credits of Futurama as Philip J. Fry and other Futurama characters. We had a much shorter time with Mr. West, but it was all worth it! He even gave us a silly voice ID for the show! The best part about Mr. West was the casual atmosphere he projected as we talked about cats and how awesome they are.
After meeting with these two individuals that will forever be in my heart, I needed to relax! I was so pumped and energized from meeting them that I nearly collapsed from shaking their hands and hugging them.
Zana and I spend our last few hours hitting the arcade and tabletop gaming room. The next day, we bid our farewells to another great year at The Midwest Media Expo.
Thank you for having us and we will see you again next year!
Also, don’t forget to tune into tonight’s show at 8 to 10pm on Impact Radio!
