Transformers voice actor Michael Bell to attend TFcon Los Angeles 2023

Captain Cid

Not sure if anyone here is a Blade Runner fan. It's my favorite movie. I realized when I was in Union Station that this was a Blade Runner shooting location. I tried to replicate the famous Union Station shot (it's a police station in the movie).

While I'm not familiar with the Blade Runner reference, Union Station is indeed pretty iconic, and gets used for TV and movies all the time. I'm glad you had the opportunity to connect with a scene that was important to you.

This was my first time in L.A. and only my 2nd TFCon since October, so I took a lot of photos.

This was the massive 13 person G1 panel.View attachment 29867636

Someone had a 280z painted up to look like Prowl outside the con
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This is the cartoon soundtrack LP I brought to have signed by voice actors. Gregg Berger's autograph got smeared, but that's because I was so engrossed with talking to him that after he signed it, I absent mindedly let the record sleeve touch my jeans. I don't mind the slight smear considering why it is there. It's signed by Alan Oppenheimer, Gregg Berger, Peter Renaday, John Moschitta, Michael Bell, Dan Gilvezan, Neil Ross, Paul Eiding and Terry Mcgovern. If I end up going to TFCon again, this is going with me for more autographs.
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These are the books I had autographed. Jim Sorenson on Transformers Legacy The Art of Transformers Packaging, Ron Friedman on I Killed Optimus Prime and Flint Dille on The Gamesmaster.
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This is the artwork I bought, the Stunticon team one is replacing my Galvatron art near my collection:
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My toy purchases
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I wish I could experience this every two months. It was like mainlining Transformers as a drug for 2 days straight. I am still in a great mood.

Not sure if anyone here is a Blade Runner fan. It's my favorite movie. I realized when I was in Union Station that this was a Blade Runner shooting location. I tried to replicate the famous Union Station shot (it's a police station in the movie).

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G.B. Blackrock

I was there as a volunteer. One surprise was getting to chat with David Mendenhall (the voice of Daniel Witwicky in Seasons 3 and 4 of G1), who was there as an attendee. Really warm guy.

Yeah it was cool that he hung with us in the staff room.  

Just got back from my very first TFCon and man, I am so happy I went! It was amazing to meet fellow fans and talk about many things, and I enjoyed knowing people were enjoying my embroideries as well! It was such an honor to meet Peter and yes, I cried.

I was there as a volunteer. One surprise was getting to chat with David Mendenhall (the voice of Daniel Witwicky in Seasons 3 and 4 of G1), who was there as an attendee. Really warm guy.

Swoop Dogg

Great post! I enjoyed reading it! I hope you do a similar post for day 2.

It's interesting that you said that Neil Ross was the least personable voice actor you met. I felt the same way when I met him. He wasn't bad or mean in any way, but he did seem like he was counting the hours until he could get out of there.

I hope you were able to meet Paul Eiding. He was far the best voice actor I have met. So easy to talk to.

I knew Paul Eiding was signing on Sunday, so I saved my meeting with him until then. I met him in Chicago in October and had a great talk with him. At the time, I told him I was very into science as a kid and Perceptor represented my interests on the show. When I told him I ended up getting a Biology degree, he was visibly moved. I wanted to have a lot of time to talk to him with nobody waiting in line behind me, so I figured Sunday would be good for that. I was right. He recognized me from 6 months ago and we talked for well over 5 minutes. My wife was with me and was impressed at how nice and talkative he was. GREAT guy. Like Flint Dille and Ron Friedman, I could talk to him for hours. I asked him to come to Denver's FanExpo. He told me he would have to be invited. I am going to contact them and make that happen. I looked for Flint Dille again but he was nowhere to be found. It's strange that for an announced guest, he participated in no official functions. I am very glad I found him, he is very easy to talk to.

I also got Jim Sorenson to sign my copy of The Art of Transformers Packaging and we talked for a bit. Much of what he was talking about kinda went by me as he is a writer for the comics and I'm pretty much a strict gewunner. I told him I collect Tron and he mentioned one of the Robots in Disguise writers was big into Tron, Martin Fisher. He and I are close to the same age, so we talked about collecting for a bit and I mentioned that I am going to buy his The Ark Complete book on ebay. He told me to bring it next year for an autograph…if i come. I may not, this was not a cheap trip. We'll see. I know next year is 40th anniversary.

As for purchases, most everything I bought is easily purchasable online. I got MP-18+ Streak for 160 after losing out on the 2 $100 copies Chosen Prime had on display. I waited on those and they were gone in an hour. I love alternate faces and blast effects accessories, so I bought it and will sell my KO on ebay. I waited for the con to get Double Dealer on purpose. Toy Arena had Fans Toys Outrider for $150, 30 cheaper than all other dealers. Despite owning the Takara official Trailbreaker, I bought Outrider. I got the exclusive Bossman, looks great in car mode and lots of accessories. I also bought the Rising Force Wildrider. I love the Magic Square Stunticons for combined mode, but the Rising Force ones look great in alt move, the Magic Square ones have flat roofs because of the feet. It detracts from their alt modes.

I went to the YouTubers panel at 2, but did not recognize anyone. I was hoping Jobby the Hong would be on the panel. Even my wife will watch his videos because he is very funny. I saw him roaming the dealer room, but he was not a part of it so I left shortly after it started. I was only there for maybe 2 hours Sunday. I didn't buy anything else, but looked at all the artist alley booths. I bought some artwork, an artist in the dealer room had great renders of teams, so I bought prints of toy-appearance Constructicons and Insecticons and a toon accurate render of my favorite team, the Stunticons. When I get back home, I will post photos of everything I bought and got signed. I had an incredible time, far better than the Chicago con. I got MP-18+ Streak for 160 after losing out on the 2 $100 copies Chosen Prime had on display. I waited on those and they were gone in an hour. I love alternate faces and blast effects accessories, so I bought it and will sell my KO on ebay.

Captain Cid

I'm at TFCon and Saturday just ended. This is only my 2nd Transformers con, 1st being TFCon October in Chicago. I hope you might be entertained by the long summary of events I am about to share. If not, just skip by. This is probably pretty boring to read.

I came here from Denver with my wife. She went off today to see the ocean and I attended TFCon alone. I got some cash from my bank before leaving home, and as soon as I got in line for autographs I realized I left it in the hotel room…1.2 miles away with no car. We aren't staying at the Marriott. So I had to walk back and get it and return. Before doing so, I grabbed FansHobby Double Dealer and Magic Squares Constructicon set though. I was planning on those and knew I'd be buying more when I returned.

I came here mainly to meet guests. I was told to go to the L.A. one if that is what I wanted and this did not disappoint. After returning, the first person I went to was Alan Oppenheimer. I'm not a MOTU fan, but I love Neverending Story and 3 of his 4 transformers. Beachcomber is a favorite as I love nature and the outdoors, as is Breakdown who is my 2nd favorite character overall. I told him that my wife and I love Neverending Story and watched it as recently as a few months ago. He stood up, took off his mask and asked me if I had a minute to hear a story. Well…yeah! He said that he wanted me to tell my wife as well. It's a small behind the scenes detail from Neverending Story. We talked a little bit more with me telling him how good Golden Lagoon was…and him asking his assistant "Was I in that?". He's really funny. I had him sign the LP record of the toon soundtrack. That's what I brought to collect signatures on.

Next was Peter Renaday. I had to see him because I think Master Builder is one of the best episodes of the cartoon. I knew his session would be short. I told him how entertaining it is that Grapple is so delusional in the episode, he was amused by that. He asked where I was from and I told him originally I am from New Orleans. He told me that he was also from Louisiana, in New Iberia. That region has a strong accent, he must have lost it on purpose. Like Alan, he asked for my name when signing the record. I do hope that anyone who wanted to meet him got to do so.

I went to John Moschitta next. Blurr is not a favorite character of mine, but I've always thought John seemed like a good guy and he is. He was probably the most down to earth of the voice actors I met. We talked about the movie for a bit, but I didn't really have a lot to say to him. This was probably the most obligatory autograph I collected.

After that I went to Gregg Berger. As soon as I walked up he eyed me and asked if we had met before. I told him no, which he actually had a hard time believing. Strange. Anyway I told him how I am reading the 80s comic books for the first time, and I can hear their versions of the voices in my head when I do. Grimlock doesn't talk in the comics like he does in the cartoon, which makes for an amusing version of Gregg's Grimlock. He told me that he has actually researched all of Grimlock's media appearances and learned to appreciate how the character evolves or is changed to suit different scenarios. We talked a bit about his The Pain performance in MGS3 and he was very proud of that one. When I mentioned lots of Transformers voice actors are in the Metal Gear series, he said that it is because that series was very character driven, and that attracted them to the roles. Gregg is very personable to talk to. In fact, so were the previous 3.

I did a lot of walking around and while doing so I see the unmistakable Flint Dille taking photos of the nanobot display with his phone. I wait until he is done and as he walks by I ask him if he is signing autographs later. He was very casual about it and said he can just sign now if I wanted. I brought his book The Gamesmaster (which is great by the way, you should read it) and pulled it out, he was impressed by this. This was my best encounter, by far. We talked for well over 5 minutes and it was like I was talking to a friend of mine. We talked about Chris Latta, I told him I had looked up his stand up on YouTube. I asked if they had purposely put in jokes in Transformers that went over kids heads but adults would get, he verified this. I told him a good example I thought was when Powerglide says "hey this ain't the charge of the light brigade". He told me about something he is working on that will merge two franchises he has worked on before. He signed my copy of his book for free. He was genuinely personable, funny and great to talk to. I had to peel myself away out of fear of being a nuisance fan monopolizing his time. I could have just kept talking to him, but he was on personal time. However, if I see him tomorrow, I may have to talk again. This is the one person I met here that I wish I could go to a bar with.

I noticed the line for Dan Gilvezan was forming, and was already quite long…but the G1 panel was going to start in 20 minutes. I guess they wanted to get in line early, I went to the panel. I've seen a lot of Transformers convention panels on YouTube, but this one was different. There were 13 voice actors on it, all from the G1 cartoon in some form or another. This was the best G1 panel I have ever seen. I'm sure someone will post a recording of it, it was filmed by the event staff, as usual.

After the panel I went back for more autographs. I waited in line for Michael Bell. Another MGS3 voice actor. This was a very short encounter, he was not as personable as the previous people. Friendly, but not going into any real conversation. He did sign his autograph "to" my name without asking what it was, by looking at the autographs I had collected so far. That was thoughtful.

Terry McGovern was next. The Stunticons are my favorite group, so even though he was not a major actor on the show, I had to meet him. He was very friendly. I told him about the Stunticons being my favorites, and I felt that Wildrider had the strongest personality of the group. He then replied "Yeah, Wildrider, that voice hurt like hell." His speaking voice has no similarities to Wildrider at all. He was very interested in the record sleeve, looked at the track names and was surprised that the cartoon soundtrack was released as an album.

Neil Ross was next. He was probably the least personable one I met. He did not engage in conversation much. I told him about how, being a singer in a rock band, I followed his advice for using slippery elm lozenges for worn out voice. He grabbed his bag from behind him, opened it, and pulled out a bottle of those, saying he always keep them on hand.

Next was Ron Friedman. This was one I had been preparing for. I watched several of his videos, went to his panel in Chicago, and read his book. I brought it for him to sign. I told him that he has some amazing stories and that lots of them are in the book. We talked about things we agreed on, such as his view of unions. I told him that, like him, I was raised by a single mother and that it influenced my view on feminism. We talked about that for a bit as well. I also attended his panel. Listening to him talk is very inspirational. The man is creative and literary and doesn't seem to ever stop. He and I are a lot alike, it made him very easy to talk to.

The last autograph I wanted today was Dan Gilvezan. His long was extremely long, easily the longest line for autographs all day. When I met him I told him he was a very popular man. He said "yeah, maybe here, but tonight I'll be taking out the trash when I get home." I told him I read his book and more of the voice actors should write books. This was a very short meeting as he had a lot more people waiting. He signs "G1BB" with his name.

This was a great experience. I'm meeting Paul Eiding for a 2nd time tomorrow and that will top it off. If the YouTubers panel is interesting, I'll watch it. The wife is going with me tomorrow, so it won't be an all day visit. I've bought enough stuff anyway. She's into Star Trek and arts and crafts, so I want her to see the artist alley. I'm not an Optimus fan, so the Peter Cullen event isn't one I'll be attending. It was great to meet so many of the people that made entertainment that I saw as a child and has lived with me to this day, many of them also doing so outside of Transformers. I can't imagine going to one of these again and having it be this fulfilling. It's fun to buy stuff in person you can buy online, but that has no real meaning. There was real meaning behind many of the encounters I had today. Encounters with creative people, like myself. My people.

Great post! I enjoyed reading it! I hope you do a similar post for day 2.

It's interesting that you said that Neil Ross was the least personable voice actor you met. I felt the same way when I met him. He wasn't bad or mean in any way, but he did seem like he was counting the hours until he could get out of there.

I hope you were able to meet Paul Eiding. He was far the best voice actor I have met. So easy to talk to.

Captain Cid

I'm at TFCon and Saturday just ended. This is only my 2nd Transformers con, 1st being TFCon October in Chicago. I hope you might be entertained by the long summary of events I am about to share. If not, just skip by. This is probably pretty boring to read.

I came here from Denver with my wife. She went off today to see the ocean and I attended TFCon alone. I got some cash from my bank before leaving home, and as soon as I got in line for autographs I realized I left it in the hotel room…1.2 miles away with no car. We aren't staying at the Marriott. So I had to walk back and get it and return. Before doing so, I grabbed FansHobby Double Dealer and Magic Squares Constructicon set though. I was planning on those and knew I'd be buying more when I returned.

I came here mainly to meet guests. I was told to go to the L.A. one if that is what I wanted and this did not disappoint. After returning, the first person I went to was Alan Oppenheimer. I'm not a MOTU fan, but I love Neverending Story and 3 of his 4 transformers. Beachcomber is a favorite as I love nature and the outdoors, as is Breakdown who is my 2nd favorite character overall. I told him that my wife and I love Neverending Story and watched it as recently as a few months ago. He stood up, took off his mask and asked me if I had a minute to hear a story. Well…yeah! He said that he wanted me to tell my wife as well. It's a small behind the scenes detail from Neverending Story. We talked a little bit more with me telling him how good Golden Lagoon was…and him asking his assistant "Was I in that?". He's really funny. I had him sign the LP record of the toon soundtrack. That's what I brought to collect signatures on.

Next was Peter Renaday. I had to see him because I think Master Builder is one of the best episodes of the cartoon. I knew his session would be short. I told him how entertaining it is that Grapple is so delusional in the episode, he was amused by that. He asked where I was from and I told him originally I am from New Orleans. He told me that he was also from Louisiana, in New Iberia. That region has a strong accent, he must have lost it on purpose. Like Alan, he asked for my name when signing the record. I do hope that anyone who wanted to meet him got to do so.

I went to John Moschitta next. Blurr is not a favorite character of mine, but I've always thought John seemed like a good guy and he is. He was probably the most down to earth of the voice actors I met. We talked about the movie for a bit, but I didn't really have a lot to say to him. This was probably the most obligatory autograph I collected.

After that I went to Gregg Berger. As soon as I walked up he eyed me and asked if we had met before. I told him no, which he actually had a hard time believing. Strange. Anyway I told him how I am reading the 80s comic books for the first time, and I can hear their versions of the voices in my head when I do. Grimlock doesn't talk in the comics like he does in the cartoon, which makes for an amusing version of Gregg's Grimlock. He told me that he has actually researched all of Grimlock's media appearances and learned to appreciate how the character evolves or is changed to suit different scenarios. We talked a bit about his The Pain performance in MGS3 and he was very proud of that one. When I mentioned lots of Transformers voice actors are in the Metal Gear series, he said that it is because that series was very character driven, and that attracted them to the roles. Gregg is very personable to talk to. In fact, so were the previous 3.

I did a lot of walking around and while doing so I see the unmistakable Flint Dille taking photos of the nanobot display with his phone. I wait until he is done and as he walks by I ask him if he is signing autographs later. He was very casual about it and said he can just sign now if I wanted. I brought his book The Gamesmaster (which is great by the way, you should read it) and pulled it out, he was impressed by this. This was my best encounter, by far. We talked for well over 5 minutes and it was like I was talking to a friend of mine. We talked about Chris Latta, I told him I had looked up his stand up on YouTube. I asked if they had purposely put in jokes in Transformers that went over kids heads but adults would get, he verified this. I told him a good example I thought was when Powerglide says "hey this ain't the charge of the light brigade". He told me about something he is working on that will merge two franchises he has worked on before. He signed my copy of his book for free. He was genuinely personable, funny and great to talk to. I had to peel myself away out of fear of being a nuisance fan monopolizing his time. I could have just kept talking to him, but he was on personal time. However, if I see him tomorrow, I may have to talk again. This is the one person I met here that I wish I could go to a bar with.

I noticed the line for Dan Gilvezan was forming, and was already quite long…but the G1 panel was going to start in 20 minutes. I guess they wanted to get in line early, I went to the panel. I've seen a lot of Transformers convention panels on YouTube, but this one was different. There were 13 voice actors on it, all from the G1 cartoon in some form or another. This was the best G1 panel I have ever seen. I'm sure someone will post a recording of it, it was filmed by the event staff, as usual.

After the panel I went back for more autographs. I waited in line for Michael Bell. Another MGS3 voice actor. This was a very short encounter, he was not as personable as the previous people. Friendly, but not going into any real conversation. He did sign his autograph "to" my name without asking what it was, by looking at the autographs I had collected so far. That was thoughtful.

Terry McGovern was next. The Stunticons are my favorite group, so even though he was not a major actor on the show, I had to meet him. He was very friendly. I told him about the Stunticons being my favorites, and I felt that Wildrider had the strongest personality of the group. He then replied "Yeah, Wildrider, that voice hurt like hell." His speaking voice has no similarities to Wildrider at all. He was very interested in the record sleeve, looked at the track names and was surprised that the cartoon soundtrack was released as an album.

Neil Ross was next. He was probably the least personable one I met. He did not engage in conversation much. I told him about how, being a singer in a rock band, I followed his advice for using slippery elm lozenges for worn out voice. He grabbed his bag from behind him, opened it, and pulled out a bottle of those, saying he always keep them on hand.

Next was Ron Friedman. This was one I had been preparing for. I watched several of his videos, went to his panel in Chicago, and read his book. I brought it for him to sign. I told him that he has some amazing stories and that lots of them are in the book. We talked about things we agreed on, such as his view of unions. I told him that, like him, I was raised by a single mother and that it influenced my view on feminism. We talked about that for a bit as well. I also attended his panel. Listening to him talk is very inspirational. The man is creative and literary and doesn't seem to ever stop. He and I are a lot alike, it made him very easy to talk to.

The last autograph I wanted today was Dan Gilvezan. His long was extremely long, easily the longest line for autographs all day. When I met him I told him he was a very popular man. He said "yeah, maybe here, but tonight I'll be taking out the trash when I get home." I told him I read his book and more of the voice actors should write books. This was a very short meeting as he had a lot more people waiting. He signs "G1BB" with his name.

This was a great experience. I'm meeting Paul Eiding for a 2nd time tomorrow and that will top it off. If the YouTubers panel is interesting, I'll watch it. The wife is going with me tomorrow, so it won't be an all day visit. I've bought enough stuff anyway. She's into Star Trek and arts and crafts, so I want her to see the artist alley. I'm not an Optimus fan, so the Peter Cullen event isn't one I'll be attending. It was great to meet so many of the people that made entertainment that I saw as a child and has lived with me to this day, many of them also doing so outside of Transformers. I can't imagine going to one of these again and having it be this fulfilling. It's fun to buy stuff in person you can buy online, but that has no real meaning. There was real meaning behind many of the encounters I had today. Encounters with creative people, like myself. My people.

What an amazing day! It's very kind of you to point out specific things with each guest that you know about them, especially like your meeting with Flint Dille, bringing his book to sign. That had to make him feel very appreciated. You're a good fan!!!

I have a Reissue G1 Browning, a Macross Logo G1 Jetfire in a Repro Box (100% Complete), a Beast Machines Primal Prime 100% Complete with the Box and both Street Fighter Crossover Sets Sealed.

I'll see what else I can come up with. Missed today as my Back was out

A couple of guys are gonna be selling some stuff from room 231 if anyone is interested!