April 29, 2009
News for Metrocon 2009:
Metrocon announces Gundam Wing reunion
TAMPA BAY, FL, March 18, 2009 - METROCON, Florida's largest anime convention, has added two additional guests for its seventh annual convention scheduled for the weekend of July 19-21, 2009, at the Tampa Convention Center in downtown Tampa. Brian Drummond and Brad Swaile have been added to a guest roster that includes Mark Hildreth, Scott McNeil, and Kirby Morrow. Thus, five of the voice actors who portrayed major roles in the 2000 animated series Mobile Suit Gundam Wing will all be appearing at the convention. Other previously announced guests include Seattle steampunk band Abney Park, Greg Ayres, Illich Guardiola, Doug Smith, David Stanworth, and David Williams.
Brian Drummond - Brian began his acting career at one of Canada's foremost theatre schools, Studio 58 in Vancouver. He began acting on stage locally in Vancouver, however, after 3 years of exciting acting work but less than exciting paychecks, he began working in the more lucrative area of film and television. Brian has been seen (albeit very briefly) in numerous TV series such as; X-Files, Stargate, Tru Calling, Smallville, Dark Angel, Taken, Traffic, Davinci's Inquest, and Dead Zone, as well as films such as 3000 Miles to Graceland, Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever, Edison, and Clive Barker's Saint Sinner.
Unfortunately, Brian wasn't allowed to 'talk' as much as he'd like to on these shows, so he directed his attention towards the booming animation industry. His first role was Ballistic/EagleEye, on a new G.I. Joe series called G.I. Joe Extreme, and then came the cranky Saiyan Prince Vegeta on Dragonball Z. Fifteen years later, he's one of the busiest voice actors in North America and has lent his voice to hundreds of animated characters. He can be heard on many traditional and CG animated series, voicing characters such as Garu (Pucca), Witch Doctor (George of the Jungle), Dad & Skits (Martha Speaks), Geronimo (Geronimo Stilton), Dr. Claw (Inspector Gadget & the Gadgetinis), Hermes, Hephaestus, & Oracle (Class of the Titans), Streaky (Krypto the Superdog), Floyd & Baby Elmer Fudd (Baby Looney Toons), Sonic Sumo & Buena Dad (Mucha Lucha), Jetstorm (Beastmachines: Transformers), Twobad & Stinkor (He-man and the Masters of the Universe), Eddie Brock & Venom (Spiderman Unlimited), Kurt Wylde (Hotwheels Highway 35 World Race), Matau & Onewa (Bionicle), Keo (Yakkity Yak) and Spike (My Little Pony).
Brian has also lent his voice to many popular Anime characters such as Ryuk (Death Note), Yasu (Nana), Vegeta & Yajirobe (Dragonball Z), Zechs Merquise (Gundam Wing), Benny (Black Lagoon), Allen Shezar (Escaflowne), Blurr, Shockblast, Jetfire, & Jolt (Transformers Armada, Energon, & Cybertron), Renkotsu (Inuyasha), Hambeard (Hamtaro), Andy Waltfeld (Gundam Seed), Tiger of the Wind (Monster Rancher), and Skullman, Whaleman, Snakeman, & Heatman (Megaman NT Warrior) to name a few.
Brad Swaile - Brad began his voice acting career in 1992 with a role in My Little Pony Tales (ACE). Before long, he was cast as Mousse in Ranma 1/2. He has also provided the voices for Quatre (Gundam Wing), Amuro Ray (Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack), Gohan (the Canadian dub of Dragonball Z), Dearka Elsman (Mobile Suit Gundam Seed), Light Yagami (Death Note), Rock (Black Lagoon), Kimba (Kimba the White Lion), Otaru (Saber Marionette J), Nobunaga (Inuyasha), Maxwell (Hamtaro), Nightcrawler (X-Men: Evolution), Chris Hawken (Arjuna), Takeshi Tomoe (Project ARMS), Harry Champ (Zoids), Kyosuke Date (The SoulTaker), Ligel (Meltylancer), and Yota Moteuchi (Video Girl Ai). Brad is also a graphic designer and enjoys playing the drums.
METROCON is a weekend-long celebration of the numerous facets of Japanese popular entertainment - from anime (Japanese animation), manga (Japanese comics), J-pop and J-Rock (Japanese pop and rock music, performed by "idols") to cosplay (costume design and performance) and video games.
Events at METROCON this year includes: - The "Anime Human Chess Match"- Year 6, "The Fantasy Masquerade" formal ballroom dance, "Anime Idol" J-Pop/J-Rock Competition; - A "gong show style" cosplay competition and a costume contest; dealers'/exhibition room; - Artists' Alley; "DDR Extreme" Tournaments; - An Anime Music Video contest; - Official convention screenings of new North American releases; - Panels with North American anime industry guests; - Live Celebrity Commentaries with the industry guests;- Dances and karaoke; - The METROCADE video game room; and finally, continuous hours of Japanese anime and related programming.
Visit www.metroconventions.com for more information.
