Hello and welcome to the return of Toku 101; I'm your columnist, Wheelchair21. After being on vacation and attending Power Morphicon 3, I'm here to bring you some cool details and news! So let's get back on track and get some coverage on this amazing event.
Power Morphicon 3
The event lasted for three days, in Pasadena California at the Sheraton Convention Center. It was from August 17th to the 19th, and was sponsored by Bandai. This was to comemorate the 20th anniversary of Power Rangers by closing out Samurai and promoting Mega Force. Along with that we had Johnny Yong Bosch and his band Eyeshine as the guests of honor, followed up by the special appearance of David Yost! The convention was amazing and worth the trip, but will I do it again well that all matters on what will happen and occur at the next Power Morphicon. Just as for this one there was alot to with not so much time to get it all done!
On Saturday, when the cast of Power Rangers Samurai was at the convention everything was a buzz due to the looming appearance of David Yost. Well the Samurai cast caused huge lines to form up, for the meet and greet/signing before and after their panel. It was so long of a line that people were practically blocking all the entrances to the panels. Then when it came time to the David Yost, event/panel his signing actually almost caused the convention to be shutdown, due to fire hazards as the line had three paths within the center leading all the way to outside entrance. Finally to end Saturday was the Paul Schrier's Ice Cream Truckers and Eyeshine Concert, which was amazing. That was Saturday thou, practically all about waiting on lines for autographs and photos. While Friday and Sunday were come and go days as the thing was starting/ending on those certain days.
Friday was mostly people walking around the merchant room, and people going around getting autographs. Along with that people were busy trying to get the Power Morphicon exclusive Samurai 2 Pack with Shark Attack Red Ranger and Super Mooger, while waiting for the '+18 Panel' with Johnny Yong Bosch, Walter Jones, Catherine Sutherland, Jason Narvy, Tony Oliver, Ron Regge, Dan Southworth and Jason Faunt. The plus '+18 Panel' was problem the utter most show stealing panel at the whole entire convention since people were just asking questions you wouldn't get at the actual panels meant for the show. Other than that Friday was just for fans becoming aware of their surroundings.
Sunday though didn't do much better than Friday, until Rick Medina, and other members of the Samurai Cast appeared for signings. Medina came with full force as he came bringing his Blazing Lion jacket for people to while for photos with him, along with cool on set photos of him on set of Wild Force. So mostly he got over the most with fans for just bring his old Wild Force things with him. The other Samurai Rangers, held their quite while except for Najee "Kevin the Blue Ranger" because I believe he's the least liked Ranger on the entire show. Hector and Brittany (Mike & Emily) got alot of the attention out of the returning Samurai Rangers for the last day of the convention. (Me with Medina up-top)
One cool aspect while attending the convention was the filming of the web-series "No Nerds Here" starring Jessica Rey (Wild Force White), Jason Faunt (Time Force Red) and Nika Burrise (Zeo/Turbo Yellow). I along with TokuAnimeNews co-host Projektrdm and Reviewtopia's EZ Rider took part in this filming. We found it to be entertaining while, yet cheesy, corny and boring as some of the takes weren't too exciting. The Cast and Crew thou that were hired on, were quite nice and interacted with us extras. I along with Projektrdm and a few selected PMC attendee extras really warmed up to specifically the director of the series, Skylar who was a really cool individual. Anyways that was a great convention, and panels of the convention are all over the web by now so go check them out. Along with the panels is the trailer for Mega Force, along with the demos of the Mega Force toy line such as 4" Figures, Retro Fires, Deluxe Megazords and Roleplay toys. So we got a lot cool news, while enjoying some witty panels while being forced to wait for the upcoming finale of Super Samurai...
As for this has been my partial coverage on Power Morphicon 3, to see more go check out TokuAnimeNews at
http://www.tokuanimesnews.blogspot.com/ or wait for next week's Toku 101! That's when I'm actually allowed to go into full details on my experience at PMC, since I'm contractionally obligated to first release all stories there first. Just here's my highlighted listing of the Panels from Friday to Sunday:
Friday August 17th
5:00 PM Panel A
"Behind the Scenes: Power Rangers Feature Film Retrospetive"
Join cast and crew from MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS: THE MOVIE and TURBO: A POWER RANGERS MOVIE as they look back and reminise on their favorite experiences from the feature film adventures of the Power Rangers!
5:00 PM Panel B
"Power Morphicon Trivia Contest 2012 w/ Database Ranger"
Join host Database Ranger in a fast-paced battle of wits against your fellow fans!
6:00 PM Panel A
"Behind the Scenes: Design and Development w/ Tsuyoshi Nonaka"
Tsuyoshi Nonaka describes the design history of ZYURANGER, POWER RANGERS SAMURAI/SUPER SAMURAI, and more!
6:00 PM Panel B
"Unsung Heroes"
Celebrating some of the show's most morphinominal cast and crew!
7:00 PM Panel A
"Spotlight: Power Rangers Turbo"
The cast and crew of POWER RANGERS TURBO discuss their experiences working on the hit series on its 15th anniversary
7:00 PM Panel B
"Behind the Scenes: The Music of Power Rangers w/ Ron Wasserman" Musician Ron Wasserman (The Mighty RAW) discusses his musical history throughout the series
8:00 PM Panel A
"Friday Night Feature: TURBO - A POWER RANGERS MOVIE"
w/ live commentary from cast and crew
8:30 PM Panel B
"Power Rangers After Dark"
This 18+ panel allows guests to let down their guard with their adults fans. No video recording equipment is permitted at this event.
Saturday August 18th
10:00 AM Panel A
"Spotlight: Where it All Began"
A look back on the start of the series with the casts of MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS through POWER RANGERS TURBO.
11:00 AM Panel A
"Spotlight: Johny Yong Bosch and Eyeshine"
Q&A with the hit band
12:30 PM Panel A
Saban's Mega Power Panel
1:00 PM Panel B
"Pretty and Powerful"
A look back on the women who shaped POWER RANGERS
1:30 PM Panel A
"Spotlight: Bulk and Skull-a-thon"
A look back on the laughs and legacy of Bulk and Skull.
2:00 PM Panel B
"Behind the Scenes: Design and Development w/ Tsuyoshi Nonaka"
Tsuyoshi Nonaka describes the design history of ZYURANGER, POWER RANGERS SAMURAI/SUPER SAMURAI, and more!
2:30 PM Panel A
"Forever Red(s)"
Honoring the Red Rangers throughout the series history!
3:30 PM Panel A
"David Yost Charity Event and Q&A" *Ticketed Event
In this special, ticketed event, David will be hosting a Q&A and giving away some of his Power Rangers paraphernalia throughout the panel. As well as raffling his Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie signed script with proceeds going to Trevor Project.
7:30 PM Panel A & B
"Saturday Night Concert Event: Ice Cream Truckers and Eyeshine Live!" *Ticketed Event
Sunday August 19th
10:00 AM Panel A
"Gold Ranger Member Event: Take a Stance!"
*Gold only pre sold event
11:00 AM Panel B
"Gold Ranger Member Event: Acoustic Concert w/ Eyeshine" Gold Only
12:00 Noon Panel B
"Behind the Scenes: Voice Actors"
The voice actors behind POWER RANGERS and her sister programs give insight into their work.
1:00 PM Panel B
"Spotlight: Villains"
The vilest villains of POWER RANGERS and her sister programs unite to destroy Power Morphicon once and for all!
2:00 PM Panel A
"Spotlight: Ameritoku"
Cast and crew from POWER RANGERS' sister shows, BEETLEBORGS, VR TROOPERS, and MASKED RIDER discuss heir experiences working on their hit shows!
2:00 PM Panel B
"Spotloght: Digimon"
The some of the cast of DIGIMON look back and discuss their experiences working on the hit series!
3:00 PM Panel A
Costume Contest Check-In
3:30 PM Panel A
"Power Morphicon 2012 Costume Ball Contest"
For PMC's final event of the year, the attendees are the stars! Mingle with your fellow fans dressed as your favorite PR characters, or whatever Tokusatsu or Ameritoku theme might strike your fancy!
4:30 PM Panel A and B
Closing Ceremony
It is the finale. The Morphin Bracers vs. Perfect Cell. Who lives? Who dies? And yeah ... there is still some news .... but join us in the finale of the Morphin Bracers/Cell Saga. Damn ... we should have had this done 10 episodes ago ...
