After how fun it was last year, I couldn't not go along to TFNation 2025!
The cosplays were brilliant as per usual; my personal (hilariously dark) favourite was Animated Shockwave carrying around a crushed Blurr cube on a chain! Even saw Chris McFeely taking some pics.
Bought a fantastic haul of merch, courtesy of David Cousens, @overlordraax, @lochdandloaded, @captainogilvyart and @amne-chan: all extremely talented artists. Plus I got to thank @howgalling in person for my commission from her, as well as buy some wonderful items from both her and @aktosage!
Scott McNeil sadly had to cancel his appearance for medical reasons, but there was a large blank book on his table that fans were writing get well wishes inside, so I signed my own name too.
Fortunately I did get to meet Evan Michael Lee who happily autographed my Transformers One DVD (he felt proud that he was the first to sign it before Chris Hemsworth or Scarlett Johansson XD). He also shared my hopes that he won't be recast in the potential sequel.
And I attended the panels hosted by him and Neil Kaplan. Some highlights:
Neil's first impression he ever did was Donald Duck sneezing.
He created a very slow and goofy "Optimoose" voice while messing around in the booth for RiD, prompting Steve Kramer to say "Neil, put the moose away". But he did get the chance to randomly use it again while doing Kraven for the Spider-Man 3 game: "I strike from the shadows!"
He recalled how early fan response to his performance as Optimus gradually shifted from "You're not Peter Cullen" to "You're still Optimus Prime" over the years, especially with the resurgence of new RiD toys.
As far as Neil's concerned, being able to make people happy just by talking is "a pretty darn great superpower".
Apparently his first BotCon after he'd done the RiD pilot didn't exactly go smoothly. A fan asked "When is Optimus gonna say roll out?" to which Neil replied "....Is that important?" And when the audience winced, he vowed: "Y'know what? I'm gonna say it in every episode from now on."
He loved working on Voltron: Legendary Defender alongside Cree Summer, Josh Keaton and Steven Yeun.
Neil does a damn good Ed Wynn impression which he used at the end of recording the Naruto movie: "FINISHED!"
Aside from Jazz, Evan would love to voice Optimus (although he thinks Megatron would be pretty sweet too). That'd be sick.
When he mentioned how the adult animated WWE show he was on got canned after one season, he thought of TF One not getting a sequel and remarked: "Maybe I'm cursed".
He then suggested we rob a bank to fund the sequel ourselves. "They can't get all of us, scatter!" XD
When asked what characters he'd include if Jazz had his own TV show, Evan instantly said "Can't have Bumblebee, he'll steal my thunder." He decided on Shockwave as the main villain and Cliffjumper and Blaster as his buddies.
He grew up with the G1 cartoon and his brother had an Optimus Prime toy from their godmother. In 2017, Evan went to a bookstore in Tokyo which had a toy section, and there was an original Optimus Prime toy still in its box sitting on the shelf. He thought "when am I ever gonna find this again?" and bought it as a present for his brother. Evan said his brother is normally very soft-spoken and when that wave of nostalgia hit when he got given that Prime toy, that was the first time he'd ever seen his brother speechless. And that's why he wants to voice Optimus one day. The entire room went "Awww!" at that.
He got asked if there's any game he'd like to work on, and he told us he's currently working on a dream project. Didn't tell us what, we'll have to wait and see.
Would he voice Darth Vader in a movie or game if offered the chance? In a heartbeat. His only condition: "Disney, drop the AI."
Evan's personal voice actor Mt Rushmore is Cree Summer, Elias Toufexis, Jennifer Hale and Ryan Colt Levy.
What would his alt mode be if he was a Transformer? "Someone who doesn't have back issues. JK, a Harley."
Evan went onto Twitter to ask if there are any Transformers comics he should read. Had to delete the post from the swarm of recommendations he got, but he started on the Skybound comics and found them emotionally gripping.
Told a story of how he stood up to this voice director who was being nasty to him and the other VAs in the booth, berating the women in particular. Total badass.
He's most proud of his work on Guilty Gear for being his introduction into voice acting and putting him on the map.
Evan's most difficult role was doing Lille Barro in Bleach when he turns into that owl bird dragon thing. "All that screeching was intense."
The first thing he looks for in a script is one line that tells him everything he needs to know about the story, whether it's his character or someone else's. For Transformers One, it was Optimus saying "We could have built the future together."
If Evan had a beast mode, he'd turn into a bear. "I can sleep all day."
A quote from his friend that kept him going when he hit a low point early in his VA career: "Keep filling your bucket".
Evan surprisingly got quite a few questions about food. His favourite cereal (Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Fruity Pebbles), favourite pizza topping (pineapple), and whether he pours the cereal or milk first (cereal). He did an audience survey on those last two; half and half for "does pineapple belong on pizza?" and only one person clapped for "milk first?" XD
A very fun day overall! And have a great rest of the con tomorrow, everyone!
