Saturday, July 21, 2018

Random Talks | The Passionate Neil Kaplan

07.21.2018 – There is passion inside every individual out there, but you’ll never see hear from it until they speak about it. This can be interest for automotive, movies, or even building a LEGO set. This is the reason why diverse cultures thrive to be great in sharing unique ideas on what we adore about and writing is what keeps me going.

Personally, I rarely go to events nowadays with the change of lifestyle and interest mainly focused on what I try to learn from my studies, though there are times you can’t stop appreciating what you’ve done before. AVCon 2018 is happening this weekend and they’ve invited me back unexpectedly for another chance to experience their events this time granting interviews to guests.


I had to admit I haven’t seen an anime series in the long time. The closest I’ve watched an animated series is Netflix’s Voltron Legendary Defender. Though I haven’t had the time to catch up to season six now that Netflix announced its return for a seventh season this August 2018. The opportunity to come back for AV Con was unexpected as mentioned and I have already have moved on to other things, but early this year they came and sent an invitation to do a coverage again.

For this year I try not to take so much of the time due to things are different here and my interest has changed about going to popular culture conventions. I have not seen the exhibitor area unlike last year that they toured first-time online media bloggers to the venue. I came from my personal commitments on a very hectic Friday that I almost missed the interview sessions that I signed up for, which was also unexpected that they granted for me. If previous events I did coverage through the site GeekMatic in the blogs and Youtube over the year were serious this one was a bit laid back since I did not come prepared.



But Neil Kaplan was down to Earth and was gracious to talk to during the interview. He was patient and understanding why I was late. Mostly the interview was more like a random conversation since I haven’t paying attention to the detail on what he worked on and didn’t realized that he currently worked on Voltron Legendary Defender, the same show I’ve been following up to Season 5 portraying Emperor Zarkon. But I know he voiced Optimus Prime when Hasbro revived the series in 2001 for Transformers Robots in Disguise or RiD for some older fans pre-live action movie.

Neil talks about his early beginnings as a voice actor nearly thirty years of experience having voiced mostly villainous characters and did voice a character from the videogame Starcraft. His list of projects of works has made him known through the fan culture that has been passionate about. He’s popularity is magnified during the opening night at AVCon wearing a Black Lion costume given by a fan that we have worn going up the stage when he introduced himself.



The informal interview shares more of his passion and the challenges to prepare for a voice acting job. It’s not simple like you step in the booth and have a script on-hand just reading what was for him to speak into.

You can check out the full audio clip via Soundcloud below:



For more about Neil Kaplan just LIKE Neil Kaplan on Facebook, follow @NeKapPix on Instagram and on Twitter at: @NeKap

AV Con (Adelaide's Anime and Video Game Festival) happening from July 20 to 22, 2018 at the Adelaide Comic Convention Center in downtown Adelaide, South Australia. For more details and ticket pricing visit AVCon.com.au and follow their live updates on social media just LIKE Team AVCon on Facebook, follow on Instagram, and on Twitter at: @TeamAVCom

Special acknowledgements to AVCon and its media team for the opportunity to be back at this year’s event and also granting interviews for Neil Kaplan. You can also hear the interview for Spike Spencer also available on Soundcloud via JAMSTORM!

No comments:

Post a Comment