A super long post about my experience at Power Morphicon 3. If anyone's interested enough and actually reads the entire recap, you get virtual cookies and hugs. If not, just know it was awesome. If you're a fan of the Power Rangers, whether of the original series or the newer series, go if you get the chance. Just go. Because it is awesome. That is all.
Whoo! My inner/outer/middle nerd is appeased. I spent this past Saturday at Power Morphicon. Heh. For all those who don't know what that is, it's, simply put, a Power Rangers Convention. Yes. Power Rangers. I believe this past convention was the third Power Morphicon. They hold it every two years and this is the first year that I went. Hell, it's my first convention period. Totally excited and definitely didn't have any idea what to expect...but...Skull got his fingers tangled in my hair, Zack smells REALLY good, and Billy gave me a hug. \o/
Power Rangers (The Original) was definitely one of my favorite shows as a kid. Probably still is one of my best loved shows. I remember being glued to the television whenever it was airing and I always adored it when they had marathons. I loved my childhood and all the things that came with that era, like the music, shows, etc. Of course I had to jump at the chance to experience it all over again! (Hey, who wouldn't.)
Anywho, I took a look at the guest list and even though Jason David Frank, Amy Jo Johnson, and Austin St. John weren't able to make it, I was quite pleased and surprised to see David Yost aka, Billy the Blue Ranger, (from the original Mighty Morphin' series) on the guest list. As I understand it, he rarely goes to conventions, but I think his appearance in this particular con was to raise money, support, and awareness for the Trevor Project. So if y'all are interested, please check out their website to learn more.
I think I only slept about 3 hours or so before I had to wake up at 6:30 AM. I actually didn't even wake up. I set my alarm, but my phone decided to be snarky and not ring. My mom had to wake me up. Phooey. Anyways, my cousin and I arrived at the Pasadena Convention Center around 7:30 AM. I think doors open for registration at around 9:00 AM and panels start at 10:00 AM. We wanted to make sure we got there early to avoid any long lines and other such things. We trekked over to where a line was forming, but we were sort of sure that that line was for people that needed to purchase tickets. We had already registered online, but there weren't any staff members or signs outside pointing us in any sort of direction, so we decided to just hold our place in line until we could spot where we were supposed to go. It's kind of a good thing we did because something totally awesome happened. While standing outside the entrance, JOHNNY YONG BOSCH TOTALLY WALKED BY US. I didn't even notice him because he came from behind us. My cousin happened to turn around at the right time and poked me and said...WAIT. IS THAT HIM. I totally squeaked and everybody who was standing there just sort of followed him with their heads as he walked by. \m/
Pretty awesome eh?
I was surprised that no one stopped him to say hello. I think we were all more bewildered/in awe. Haha, well anywho, waited in line for the doors to open and met some cool people while in line. One of the dudes ended up hanging out with us for the latter half of the con, so that was awesome. Saw some great cosplays/reproductions/etc. When we were allowed in and received our membership badges, we were greeted by a HUGE ASS red ranger in the lobby. I'm not exactly sure how tall the thing is, but it was very, very impressive. After taking a few pictures in front of the Big Red and the sponsor wallpaper-backing thing, we asked when they were going to pass out the tickets for the David Yost panel and the rock concert. They were ticketed events; as such we needed tickets to get in the event. We picked up the two tickets and paid $10.00 for an autograph print and either another autograph or a picture with the man himself after his 3:30 panel. All proceeds went directly to the Trevor Project, so that's really nice. David Yost posted that we raised $5,023. Not bad. Not bad at all!
We were waiting around in the lobby for 10:00 AM to swing around since that's when the doors open to let people into the panels. We chose to go to "Spotlight: Where it All Began" over "Spotlight: In the Not-Too-Distant-Future..." mainly because the first one featured most of the older stars of the show. A few minutes into the panel, the most familiar, SCREECHY voice came from wayyyy in the back. It was Rita Repulsa's voice actress, Barbara Goodson! She powered up the aisle, yelling and delivering lines that were either from the show or inspired by Rita. I couldn't really hear her since everyone was clapping and cheering. She totally caught everyone by surprise and then walked up to the panel and proceeded to Rita-yell to the cast sitting there. I think the voice actor for Goldar was there with her too and just sort of followed along...like Goldar does on the show. Heh. Well, she waved and everyone cheered some more, and that was that. After the end of the panel, we walked around the vendors and started to make our way around the actors and actresses of the show. I was trying to be frugal because, face it, college student with no job with at least one more year of school to go? Makes for a not-quite-pretty financial picture eh? I hope that if I do get to go to the next Power Morphicon, I can splurge and get to take a pictures and grab autographs from everyone there. Anywho, while we were making our rounds on the floor, I took a picture with Walter Emmanuel Jones, Johnny Yong Bosch, and Dan Southworth. Awesomeeeee. My cousin went crazy since he saved up for this event and got a lot of signatures and pictures with EVERYONE. Well, not everyone, but a whole lot of people. Whew, he was pulling out his wallet more times than I could keep track. Walked by the villain table consisting of Barbara Goodson (voice of Rita Repulsa) and Robert Axelrod (voice of Lord Zedd). Barbara Goodson wasn't sitting there though and Lord Zedd was on his phone. :3 Is it weird I thought that was a really adorable moment? XD Well, all that running around and waiting in line took us to the 1:00 panel "Pretty and Powerful", featuring the women of the show. I loved how this panel was a lot more intimate. We were in the smaller room, and there were a lot of empty seats so we got to sit pretty close. The questions were also a little more substantial than the previous panel and everyone got to give their own input when the entire panel was asked a question.
After this panel ended, we jumped right next door to "Spotlight: Bulk and Skull-a-thon". We were half an hour late for this panel. I would have loved to see this from the beginning, but I wanted to stay and watch the "Pretty and Powerful" 'till the end. My cousin and that one guy that we met in the morning in line were okay with it. Anyway, Bulk and Skull. 'nuff said. Paul Schrier and Jason Narvy were the fantastic actors who portrayed these two buffoons. As classically trained theater actors, they turned the panel into a lesson on physical humor...using pies and cans of whipped cream of course! Anyone who remembers the duo on the show remembers their tendencies for their faces to attract pies. Aha. Yes, they so did go there. They pie-ed each other, demonstrating the need to be fully cognizant of the partner on the receiving end to make sure no harm comes to them while performing the joke. They then called up audience members to practice the Art of Pie-ing by having the audience pie them. Then they had the audience volunteers pie each other. Jason Narvy one-upped everyone and just squirted whipped cream down a guy's shirt. How awesome is that?!?!? Now mind you, I wasn't actually there to watch the whole pie-fest. I walked in to them being all gross with a huge grease stain on the wall. I watched this scene courtesy of a YouTuber who uploaded this footage. I did however, record most of the remaining panel in which they answered questions and humorously tried to clean their mess up. I was a little miffed though because there was this one scene where Paul Schrier was trying to reach the grease stain on the wall...it was very funny, but I must have forgotten to press the record button and didn't realize it until some time had elapsed. Poo. Anyways, they (the actors) were awesome enough to not leave the rest of the cleaning up to the convention staff. At the end of the panel, Paul Schrier said something to the effect of "These nice people who work so hard shouldn't have to clean up after our mess." They helped out and the volunteers and some other audience members did as well.
Throughout the convention, I had been texting one of my good friends about things that have been happening: Johnny Yong Bosch and Walter Emmanuel Jones walking by, etc. because I know she is a huge fan of the original series like I was. She didn't know that the Morphicon was happening and was jealous that I was able to be here, especially since she was working so close to the Convention Center that she could see it from her window. She was literally like, two blocks away. A five minute walk. She saw everyone congregating and things like that. It then it hit me that I might be able to get a video message from Jason Narvy to give to her since she loved Skull. Actually, it hit me while I was walking up to the panel because I saw someone doing the same thing haha. I texted her and she FLIPPED. She bragged about it to her boss and her boss was jealous too since her boss was a fan of the show. She's only a few years older and so the original series was a part of her childhood as well.
We stayed in the same room for the "Forever Red(s)" panel, which took place right after the Bulk and Skull one. This was around 2:30. All the guys ribbed each other. Well, mostly Jason Faunt and Dan Southworth (Wes and Eric from Time Force). I wonder how gross the mics were after the pie-fest. Heh. Not much to say about this panel. I don't really remember anything super specific other than the ribbing...well no. I remember one story concerning Dan Southworth and a monkey/chimp that was on set...er. You can probably watch a YouTube video of that panel with that weird story. When the panel ended, they kicked everyone out in preparation for the "David Yost Charity Event and Q&A" panel since it was a ticketed event. David Yost was awesome. I'm really glad that he showed up to the convention that I was able to attend. His event filled the room and he started out by saying that all questions about any topic were fair game, which was enormously brave and generous of him. It was a touching panel. And more proof of David Yost's awesomeness? He gave away a lot of his personal collection for all the question-askers. There were things like original shooting scripts, casting call sheets, pictures with him and pictures with him and the cast together, his original movie script...Pretty incredible. After the panel ended around 4:00ish, everyone who paid for an autographed print and another autograph/picture with him had to line up. They were really rushing this because the halls were closing down in preparation for the rock concert that was going to take place. Remember how Billy was on the show? Soft-spoken, polite, and reserved? David Yost presents himself the same exact way! When it was my turn, I couldn't really say much except "Thank you, thank you, eek! and thank you!" I wish I had said something a little different rather than repeat thank you several times, but yeah...he was super sweet and nice to everyone! I hope he makes an appearance in future conventions!
After that crazy hectic-ness, it was probably around 6:00, give or take. We all walked to an area where kids had been playing with legos. The legos were scattered all over the floor and the table. This section was mostly empty when we got there, so we sort of hung out and relaxed, and shared our memorabilia with each other. We being mostly the dude that we met earlier in line. Anywho, Johnny Yong Bosch walked by us AGAIN and looked at the mess on the floor and joked with us, asking if we were playing with legos. I chipped in a yup! and he sort of smiled/laughed/nodded. He then casually asked if we were going to the concert. We thanked him for letting us know that it was starting and we headed on over. I think this was around 7:30. Paul Schrier's band, the Ice Cream Truckers, was the opening act for Johnny Yong Bosch's band, Eyeshine. The Ice Cream Truckers have a sort of poppy-rock/alternative, Southern sound to their music. I think they have a Facebook if you want to know more about them. Their music engaged the audience and had us clapping along. Other cast members were there to support the bands that were playing. I felt really bad about bothering Jason Narvy and Catherine Sutherland for a picture, but they were so nice about it and smiled and let everyone take pictures with them, when I'm sure all they really wanted was the enjoy the bands. I know I also saw Walter Emmanuel Jones there too. Well, it was about 8:30ish when Eyeshine started to take the stage. By the way, if you've never heard of these guys, you can head on over to their homepage to check them out. They offer a free download of a demo and you can check out their music videos. I like that their rock sound has a little bit of teeth to it. Their drummer also has the most amazing hair. But I digress. They played about 15 seconds of the Mighty Morphin' theme in between one of their songs, which was pretty cool. I wish that they'd played more of it, but it's all good. I'm sad we couldn't stay for the entire concert, but it was about 9:00 and I'm not entirely sure if it would have been smart to wait for the bus if it got any later. There was also a special event at 10:00 that we missed, but hopefully we'll be able to catch more of the event in 2014. ;D
I'm very happy that my first convention turned out pretty darn well. I am definitely looking forward to the next convention. I hope that Pasadena will continue to host the Morphicon. Next time, I plan to save up and splurge! Anyways, I'm glad this was such a positive experience. I was really happy that so many people could come to one place in order to talk about and enjoy this one thing we all have in common. And for people who think this is a dumb event or whatever, here's a little food for thought. Karan Ashley (who plays Aisha) said something in that regard that I've never really thought about. She said that this is probably the biggest thing that any of them will ever get to do. And what she said might be true. Let's face it. There aren't that many shows with such a strong, dedicated fanbase as Power Rangers. Seriously. This show is going into its TWENTIETH season and still going quite strong. There aren't that many actors/actresses who would get recognized by EVERYONE from little children to full grown adults, especially if they haven't been on the show in almost a score (twenty years)! You might not think it's the coolest thing out there, but you have to admit, it is one of the most influential, long-lived shows out there.
I might update and post up photos eventually, but I just wanted to get the words out of the way first. I spent quite a while putting this together, so thank you so much if you've actually read the entire thing.
I hope I'll be able to attend the next Power Morphicon. Until then, IT'S MORPHIN' TIME. ♥
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