I forgot to bring it up but a while back I went ahead and got a signed print with Deven Mack (Vangelis, Arin, Nokt, Thunderfang)! I congratulated him on his work as Arin, and as we talked he mentioned how -and according to him it was okay to mention it since it was already a public statement elsewhere- that the Ninjago crew was working towards Dragons Rising being up to five seasons, which was interesting to me! I did bring up how with each season being based on a Source Dragon so far, Iād hope/expect there to be at least six for the six living sources, and he concurred that being paid extra would indeed be nice lol.
Also had to compliment his delivery on āSource Dragons!!! You seven cosmic frauds, youāve kept me from what I deserve-ā because of how the delivery betrayed beneath the anger someone ready to burst into bitter tears because he thinks heās the most oppressed person for not getting what he wanted. Dude agreed, comparing him to Ronan from Guardians of the Galaxy as someone who acted all scary and tough, but deep down was a petulant child throwing a tantrum.
I got a voice recording of Deven Mack as Nokt (the Wolf; He admitted he was a bit surprised to hear that Nokt was supposed to be a wolf man from the design, which I suggested as an idea lost in translation with the set designers). I joked that while Nokt denies the claim, itās exactly what Thunderfang was thinking, and while I didnāt get it recorded he did do an impromptu Thunderfang impression on the spot where he admitted in-character they were more like the forbidden feast!
(As a side note, I pointed out the humor in him being next to Ian Hanlin; Deven and Ian were Sonic and Shadow in Prime, but also Ian was Cinder and there was definitely a trend of Hanlin beating up small yellow children there. Lol.)
Deven also mentioned really wanting to include a line from Arin where he says āItās pie time!ā and for that reason he included the quote on my print. Ngl if Iād gotten the Thunderfang set the box wouldāve been the perfect thing for him to sign given it had 3/4 of his Ninjago roles, which got to be their own print together (RIP to Vangelis having no prints but IIRC Deven actually apologized for the casting of being black for an obviously Japanese character due to not being informed ahead of time about that detail, so maybe that fact and Vangelis being less iconic and tied together like the other three contributed).
Whatās funny is that I did glimpse him in the hotel lobby at one point and heard Deven was actually at the official rave. I was there but didnāt notice.
