News

Wai-Con on in Perth this Weekend

Details

• When: Saturday the 1st & Sunday the 2nd of March 2014.
• Where: Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre, Mounts Bay Road, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
• How Much: Tickets start from $35 for a single day pass and $50 for a weekend pass with discounts for PANIC members and associate organisation members. Children under 12 are free with paying adult.

Guests and Special Events

Tiffany Grant

Tiffany is quoted as being the first voice actor hired by ADV back in 1994 and since then she has been responsible for the iconic voice of Asuka Langley in Neon Genesis Evanglion and most recently the Rebuild of Evangelion film series. However Tiffany has over 160 voice acting credits to her name including Koko in tsuritama, Christiane Friedrich in Majikoi - Oh! Samurai Girls, Kaorin in Azumanga Daioh and Kudryavka Noumi in Little Busters!. And she has a couple of English translation scripts under her belt with over 200 credits encompassing series like Ah! My Goddess: Flights of Fancy, Infinite Stratos and Angelic Layer.

On Saturday Tiffany will be hosting a Q & A session at 10:00am in the Main Theatre and a panel talking about Hello Kitty! (apparently Tiffany is a massive fan) at 3:00pm in the Panels room. Then if you want to catch Tiffany on Sunday she will be hosting "Adapting Scripts for English Dubs" at 1:00pm in the Panels room and "Voice Acting with Tiffany Grant" at 4:00pm in the same location. Tiffany will also be signing at various times through the weekend.

Bryce Papenbrook

Bryce Papenbrook is a one of a kind voice actor, he's not only a highly skilled martial artist, web developer and the son of anime voice actors Debbie Rothstein and the late Bob Papenbrook. He has went on to carve out his own niche as lead characters in many video games and anime. Bryce has recently voiced Kirito in Sword Art Online and Red in Pokémon Origins but you would have heard him as Rin Okumura in Blue Exorcist and Masaomi Kida from Durarara!!. He's also the voice of Makoto Naegi in the upcoming English release of PSVita game Dangan Ronpa and he's the voice of lead protagonist Tiz Arrior in the Nintendo 3DS game Bravely Default. Bryce has also done some voice acting under the pseudonym "Dick Smallberries Jr.".

This will be Bryce's first Australian convention appearance and he will be starting out by hosting a panel titled "Efforts & Reactions for Anime & Video Games" on Saturday at 12:00pm in the Panels room followed by a panel on his work for Sword Art Online titled "Link Start - Talk Sword Art Online with Kirito" at 4:00pm in the Panels room. On Sunday Bryce will be starting off with the Bryce Papenbrook Q & A at 11:00am in the Main Theatre and then hosting Inside the Life of an American Voice Actor at 2:00pm in the Panels room. And like Tiffany, Bryce will be signing at various times through the weekend.

Sword Art Online Exhibition

The Sword Art Online exhibition will give fans an inside look at the show by showcasing original artwork pieces covering character designs, storyboards, animation frames and more. The exhibition will also include a photo area for fans to take photos with the heroes of Sword Art Online, Kirito and Asuna, and ‘Lisabeth's Smith Shop’ where official Sword Art Online merchandise will be available with everything from plush toys to keyrings and even Sword Art Online thongs (click here to view the merchandise).

The exhibition has been organised in conjunction with Aniplex of America and will be touring select cities across Australia in 2014. If you want to visit the Sword Art Online exhibition you simply purchase a ticket to attend the partner event (Wai-Con and Supanova) and entry to the exhibition is then free.

If you would like to know more about the exhibition please click here.

Highlights

Here's a few of our highlights for Wai-Con over the weekend;

• Saturday

• Saturday 10:00am - Japan 101: Language and Culture - Panels Room.
• Saturday 12:30pm - Cosplay Competition - Main Theatre.
• Saturday 3:00pm - Bootleg Basics (Pirated Goods 101) - Workshop Room.
• Saturday 4:30pm - Evangelion 3.0 - You Can (Not) Redo - Main Theatre.

• Sunday

• Sunday 12:00pm - Anime on Australian TV: The 80's - Workshop Room.
• Sunday 12:30pm - Cosplay Competition - Main Theatre.
• Sunday 3:30pm - Tiger and Bunny: The Beginning - Main Theatre.

We will be reporting from the Madman and Hanabee panels and reporting on any new acquisitions over facebook and twitter (Remember all times are AWST and there is no DST).

• Saturday 3:30pm - Madman Panel - Main Theatre.
• Sunday 4:00pm - Hanabee Panel - Workshop.

And ANN|AU will be in attendance with Ryan and myself running several panels over the weekend;

• Saturday 12:00pm - Super Hero Time: A discussion on all things Sentai - Workshop Room.
• Saturday 1:00pm - Transformers is now 30: The history and what's coming up in Transformers - Panels Room.
• Saturday 11:00am - Go to Japan: Looking at travelling Japan as a anime and manga fan - Panels Room.
• Sunday 12:00pm - ANN|AU Year in Review: Where we pull out statistics and make sure everyone gets a good hour's sleep - Panels Room.

Final Information

You can find the schedule for Wai-Con here.

Full information on Wai-Con including location and directions and ticket prices are simple to find. But you can visit Wai-Con's website or facebook page for further information.