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Vol 2 Ch 29 | A Moment in the Scream Cube feat. Kevin Thelwell
120 Plays1 year ago
Our sleepover guest this week is the super skilled and delightful Kevin Thelwell! You might know Kevin from his work in Girlfriend, Girlfriend, Beast Tamer, BLUELOCK, and--surprise, surprise--One Piece, with dozens of other acting and ADR credits.
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Transcript
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00:00:00
Speaker
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00:00:28
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Introduction to Sleepover Podcast
00:01:04
Speaker
Welcome back to the Sleepover Podcast. This is Fandance with Parks and Nebula. This voice you're hearing now is Nebula. Oh, and I'm Parks. I thought you were going to just do the full intro like you did last time. Way to put me on the spot. This episode, we have a wonderful guest, or wonderful guest. Would you like to introduce yourself? Yeah.
Meet Kevin D. Thelwell, Voice Actor
00:01:23
Speaker
Hi, I'm Kevin D. Thelwell, and I'm a voice actor. So the D is real. It's not a one piece reference.
00:01:30
Speaker
Oh, no, no, my middle name is David. Yeah, it is real. That's awesome. I love that. You just see a D and you assume these days. We poisoned your brain. I wanted to ask because we were introduced to Kevin via Marianne, and it was because you also work on One Piece with her. So I was wondering if it was like, I'm gonna sneak that in there.
00:01:53
Speaker
No, that's just the thing because there's a couple other Kevin the thevels in the world I like to just make sure I differentiate myself from them. But yeah, the D is a fun because of one piece I was remember working at one piece at one point and I was getting directed by Marcus Stimmick or Marcus D. Stimmick and he brought that up and like oh my god think about that holy crap that's so funny. That's so fun.
00:02:18
Speaker
Well, thank you for joining us,
Kevin's Voice Acting Journey
00:02:20
Speaker
Kevin. You are already such a delight to talk to before we were even recording. And I'm so excited to hear all about your experiences in the voice acting industry and all your favorite animes and everything in between. I wanted to ask you if you would give like a little bit of a background of some of your work for the listeners and just kind of, because I know you don't just do voice acting, you also do some ADR work.
00:02:45
Speaker
And just a little spiel so everyone knows all your cool accomplishments. Yeah, sure. I guess things that people would know me from would be like, I've been the lead to several shows, anime dubbing. So I've done Girlfriend Girlfriend, was playing Nalia, the lead in that show. Beast Hammer was playing Rain, the Iceblade Sorcerer shall rule the world, played Ray, the Iceblade Sorcerer.
00:03:12
Speaker
most recently right now playing Haruto in Am I Actually the Strongest Lead of That Show. And yeah, like we mentioned earlier, I've done Zeus in One Piece, Kita in Haikyuu, and the list goes on. That's so cool.
00:03:29
Speaker
I'm very, sorry, I'm very impressed by your entire page. I like your variation of characters. I'm very impressed by all of them overall because it's from stuff that's up and coming like Blue Lock even, which is incredible.
Home Studio Setup and Adaptations
00:03:41
Speaker
I'm blown away by it. And so like when I was looking over your website and stuff, it says you do a lot of home studio because of your positions. Are you able to completely record from home with most of your work that you do?
00:03:54
Speaker
Well, things as of currently have been switching more to in-studio, at least for like, dubbing with Crunchyroll. That's mostly in-studio, but I've done a lot of work from inside of this booth. I still do a lot of work from inside of this booth right now with, you know, multiple studios out of state in LA or other places or countries too. Like, I mentioned Girlfriend Girlfriend. I recorded that show entirely from this booth.
00:04:19
Speaker
So that's something I've done, but all the other like leads I've done I've done in studio. So it just depends. But yeah, this booth still gets a lot of uses though. Do I have to ask, is this just free floating in your room right now? With the booth? Yeah. Oh, no, this is in like the living room kitchen areas. This is like the common area of my house. I can't
00:04:40
Speaker
This thing weighs like a thousand pounds and I'm on the second floor. I can't put that upstairs. No, I don't know. Yeah, I saw the picture. I was curious. I was like, wow. Because my friend also has a booth and so it just kind of hangs out because there's nowhere else to put it. So I was just curious if it was the same sentiment for everyone who owns a similar booth. I'm just like, I don't know what's here.
00:05:00
Speaker
You know, it's just like in the living room, like it's got a big glass door so my roommates can walk by. I have a little sticky switch on the end of it that I'll just like swipe to the right where they, hey, it's red. Please knock. It means like I'm doing something here that requires me to like, you know, have my full attention or if I'm just like doing auditions or something like that, it'll be green. Or if I'm not in there, something just walk by and say, hey, what's up or bother me? So.
00:05:24
Speaker
No, that's awesome. I love the booth. I love the setup of it. I think it's it's a little funny in a way of just like this is my big my big closet or
00:05:33
Speaker
it's compared to the people who actually are like recording in their clauses because this podcast was born out of NEP's closet. I just like to see other people's setups and how they adapt to having to work from home compared to recording in the studio due to like 2020 and so on. I just I think it's funny I like the way that people have to adapt especially in this industry because it's like if we can't provide our voice in some way we're out and so
00:05:57
Speaker
Yeah, you don't even need a booth like this fancy. I'm just extra, like, my roommates, my roommate, Alex Mai, he has his own custom booth that he made out of wood by hand. And it's basically just as, like, sound just sounds just as good as this booth. He made it by hand, but I'm not a handyman, so I bought one myself. And my other roommate, Ben Balmaseda, he records out of his closet, just puts a chair in there, sits down and has it all padded out, which works out
00:06:25
Speaker
I just, I can't do that. I can just stand up when I act and I'm just a little extra. So I bought it and customized this boot to fit my needs. Like I soup it up almost every year right now. I've got like two screens in here right now. I've got a special gamer mic to fit in here, a preset table, and like I have a whole gaming PC connected this thing to make sure I can run everything perfectly. Wow. You are extra.
00:06:50
Speaker
I do like the idea of don't bother me. I have to go into my work cube. I have to go into the box and do my work. Yeah. It's like the university screamed things. I don't know if other colleges use these or just mine, but they had just the straight up boxes that are soundproof. So you can just go in there and scream. They're mostly in the law office, but they look ridiculous because they're just kind of
00:07:11
Speaker
glass acrylic or acrylic boxes like right in the way, fully transparent. So everyone can see when you're in there. But I guess no one can hear you. So you back up, you just go in and scream, scream, but everyone can see you. It's not a it's not a covered box. Have a phone calls to I've seen those. Yeah.
00:07:31
Speaker
Yeah, a little bit. But yeah, people use them for a minute. I was like, this is a little dumb because it was on the floor I had to study on because I was a nursing student. So I would be on the floor trying to get through those books and I would just look left and someone's in there like having a meltdown. I'm like, okay, we could have made this a little bit more private when you think about it.
00:07:51
Speaker
Yeah, I think there's a good reason why it's not, you know, why it's see-through, but like, yeah, that is weird. No, I understand, but maybe the door. At the very least, put some tinting in there. Good Lord. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I understand why it's not fully private, but like, the full thing is- and it's not like, tucked against a wall, it was kind of free-floating.
00:08:13
Speaker
Yeah, like on the staircase, like area where the landing is to go both ways smack dab in the center. There are a lot of opposite just have that now too. So yeah, you see that pretty commonly. Wow, that's a good way to get fired. I'm going to go have a moment in the scream cube. I will be back and they're like, what do you need the scream cube for? Why are you using that? It's not new to me for the cube. You're the one that put the cube here.
00:08:42
Speaker
But yeah, I just think it's funny how everyone has to go to soundproof to a degree of just like the adaptation is
Musical Background and Transition to Acting
00:08:49
Speaker
insane. And I think it's funny at the same time because it's like we all have to work, but now we're recording in a tiny hot closet for 12 hours.
00:08:57
Speaker
Yup, that's convenient though, especially with like, you know, if I want to do auditions at 4am because I'm, you know, nocturnal, I don't disturb my roommates usually unless I'm like screaming on top of my lungs, which sometimes happens. Or if I like get really bored one day and I'm feeling a vibe and I come in here and like just play my trumpet a little bit and it's fun that way too. You play trumpet, that's awesome. Yeah, I play a lot of great instruments. How long have you been playing?
00:09:21
Speaker
I've been playing since like middle school. So like what? 10 years or something like that. I can't remember but it's been a while. I've been playing it since I was in middle school up until now. So I just have really fun like trumpet, trombone, all the brass, all the like. I love that my partner played tuba and trumpet and I think a couple other things.
00:09:42
Speaker
And he can still do the little mouth sound for Tuba, so he'll just walk her in the house and be like, how do you do that? It's not fun.
00:09:52
Speaker
I can't remember what Gavin played, but if I don't say it, he'll get mad because I'm pretty sure he also played the trumpet or the horn. So it's in the closet. But he also does the same mouth thing all the time because it's just he had to do it for so long in marching band. Even though it's been years, he'll still just do it. It also made him a really good whistler, which kind of pisses me off because I myself do not know how to fucking whistle properly. Like I can do it, but I just have a weird mouth shape that doesn't accommodate like a loud whistle.
00:10:20
Speaker
Yeah, it's like the thing you do with it. And it like, yeah, it helps. I can't do it. It's a muscle. I know. I have to develop it better. Yeah. So do you do music professionally at all? Or is it just like I'm keeping this for me?
00:10:38
Speaker
No, like the reason I do acting is because when I moved on from like I did music in middle school, all high school, and got to college, and I'm like, all right, let's get that music degree and do music stuff because music is fun. Oh, professional musicians aren't fun. No, I don't like this. All right, it's time to change like careers. So I picked up acting after that and had way more fun with that.
00:11:04
Speaker
basically equally stressful because they're arts careers, but I have way more fun doing acting than I do music professionally, at least for fun. I still love music, but professionally acting is just more enjoyable. Did you act at all like growing up? Were you involved in any like school programs or anything? Or was it just kind of, it came to you in college?
00:11:25
Speaker
yeah came to me in college i was just all music all throughout my schooling days and then i got into college and i'm like dang i need to find something else i like made like fun little youtube videos skits with friends online for a while and there was this uh youtuber who i really enjoyed their videos who like
00:11:44
Speaker
was funding an animation of a book they wrote. And they're like, hey, I'm going to do a little fun thing. We're going to have open auditions in with my viewers. And whoever wins gets to basically be in the show. And I auditioned for it. I was one of the people that got picked to be in the show. And I'm like, oh, wow. That's my first time I've auditioned for anything acting related. And I got picked for it. That's wild. And I was looking at who else they hired. And the rest of the people were all professional actors who had done a bunch of video games and anime and all that stuff.
00:12:12
Speaker
Oh, what the? This is real stuff. Like what? Okay. So after something, you know, maybe I should like learn how to act now. That's awesome that it just kind of popped up out of the blue. I feel like you hear so often with actors that they're like, oh, he's been doing it since I could walk or whatever. So it's nice to talk to someone who found it, like, not later in life, but later in regards to the arts, I feel like. Yeah, I mean, it comes to everybody at their own point. So it's definitely nice.
00:12:43
Speaker
but from there did it kind of immediately like start to snowball into getting larger and larger roles or pushing you to audition into more and more studios? I know from there like that was just like my start which is like around 2016 after that I'm like I need to like learn how to act so I started taking like classes workshops I started switching like my some of my college electives to be acting in theater and like voice for the stage and stuff because I decided hey if I'm gonna do acting
00:13:10
Speaker
I definitely don't want to do stage acting, but I still got to get the basics of that because I just, I'm an introvert. I don't want to be perceived by, you know, there's too many people. So I decided to learn voice acting. So I went online, went to forums, did like indie game auditions, did like online YouTube projects, did that for
Career Moves and Industry Experiences
00:13:27
Speaker
a long time in a while and I did book a lot of indie games here and there and other projects and eventually I decided to move to Texas because that's where I decided to take my career and I think I moved to Texas in 2018 and it took like six months or so before I got my first big studio job after moving here. So where are you from originally?
00:13:52
Speaker
I was born in New York and I was raised in Miami.
00:13:58
Speaker
What an interesting turn of events. Turn of events. You want to be an actor, you're in New York, you're in the home of stage acting, and you said, fuck that. I don't want to do stage acting. Well, if you're an introvert, I would never, if I was an introvert, but I was also an actor, never would want to fucking start with New York stages. Are you crazy? Yeah. I mean, it's a good way to jump in. Don't just dip your toe in. Just fucking stick to the bottom. No, that's scary. That's too much.
00:14:27
Speaker
I didn't have a choice in leaving New York, though. I was just a wee lad when my parents moved all the way down to Florida. There you go. And now you're out of Florida, thank God. Yeah, Texas has problems, but, you know, it's better than Florida. But it's not Florida. It's not Florida. Just less bugs, no Everglades in Texas, but still just as humid and maybe just as crazy.
00:14:49
Speaker
probably just crazy. But yeah, it's the heats there. Like it's got all the heat without the water that goes with it. And I've never in my life like walked outside and been hit with hot wind before in Florida. No matter how hot it is, the wind is always cold. But in Texas, there's just hot wind and like, whoa, that's different.
00:15:06
Speaker
Yeah, it was gross. It was so foul. I did not enjoy it. I'm from Utah. I'm from a desert. I say this every fucking episode I feel like because it's just like understanding the heat is a different breed here, where any breeze we get is cold for a desert. We get cold breezes, we get cold nights, not humid. We have like a 20% humidity maybe at most when it's rainy, but it's so
00:15:31
Speaker
Refreshing to be here our airport isn't feeling like it's a sweat locker And then my first time in Dallas I felt like I was going to drop dead because it was just like there's no There's no escape from it unless you're in an air-conditioned locked room But I'm one of the few people who enjoys the heat so I could drive here Yeah, I get that. I'm Extremely cold all of the time. So if I'm not in heat, I'm like a little I'm a little dead. I'm not functional
00:16:01
Speaker
But there's a part like the heat is fine. It's the sweat factor of the humidity that yucks me out real bad. So Kevin, I'm very interested to hear about your ADR experience and the difference of experiences for you being as an actor and on that side of things and then transitioning to working as a director and just to kind of
00:16:30
Speaker
Just kind of hear about the balance between the two and like what you learned or gained transitioning into directing.
00:16:37
Speaker
Uh, sure. Well, yeah, the acting experience really helped. What really boosted is that, uh, you know, when the pandemic started, uh, like I was mentioning before, I have several roommates who are actors, uh, during the height of the pandemic, when all the acting shut down for a couple of months and they decided to, to kick it back up with like, uh, I think my hero was the first thing they tried to record from home remotely. And, uh, when me, my, uh, my roommates in the house saw that were like,
00:17:04
Speaker
Huh, interesting, they're doing remote recording from home right now. And I'm sure that they need people to do like the background voices and the extras in the shows right now. And our house has four dudes in it currently. And my roommate conveniently had a pre-built booth, custom booth that could fit four dudes in it. So for background stuff, so we emailed, you know, at the time Funimation and we're like, hey,
00:17:32
Speaker
That's all you're doing in a little social media thing with a remote recording. You need people to do extras. We got a booth that can do that. And we got an immediate sponsor like, you, you have what? You four people in a booth. And then they just like emailed all the higher ups of the company did this CC demo. It goes, do you hear what they say? Read this again for me. And like, send us your audio sample. We're like, OK, we sent it. And they're like.
00:17:54
Speaker
for about two years straight afterwards. We were like the only house for a while that they had doing extras in basically all their shows and we were the most used for it. So we were basically in like every show that they put out because they needed background voices and extras for all the shows.
00:18:11
Speaker
They couldn't at the time have people to record together because COVID and since we're roommates, we're together anyway. So there's no threat of that part. So they had us doing that for a while. So I got hella experience with ADR doing just improv on wallas all the time, just doing extras and all the shows. So that gave me a bunch of experience. Was able to build relationships with basically all the directors at Funimation, Genji roles. So that was a really good time. And eventually I got hit up by another studio. They're like, hey,
Directing and Passion Projects
00:18:42
Speaker
that we worked with before a lot and they're like, hey, do you want to shadow me directing some of my shows and watch what we're doing? And I'm like, hmm, actually it's interesting. Yeah, I'll sit down and watch. So we ended up shadowing directors for like eight hours straight, a couple of days, a couple of weeks going forward. And we stopped for like a couple of months. And then I'm like, hmm, that was really fun. I kind of want to watch some more. So I emailed them again and I'm like, hey,
00:19:07
Speaker
Can we do more of that? That was actually, I learned a lot from watching the other more experienced actors and just seeing the process of, and then the producers just like, uh, how about instead you just direct this thing for me? And I was like, what? Okay.
00:19:22
Speaker
And so we did that, we worked on that project for like, I think like four months or so for a very long time. Unfortunately, that project didn't actually end up coming out or maybe it'll come out in the future, who knows? But nothing ever ended up happening with that. And eventually I'm just like, you know, I want to do more directing. So then I took my stuff to Crunchyroll and I'm like, hey, I have directing experience. Can I like work with you guys for directing?
00:19:49
Speaker
And after a while, what started it, I'm trying to think what picked it up initially, but I started helping out here and there. I know one thing that really kicked off is, I know there was the show that was coming out, Blue Lock, that I really, really adore Blue Lock so much. It has quickly become my favorite sports series of all time, no contest. And when that was coming out, I'm like,
00:20:18
Speaker
Man, I know they're probably not having auditions for this show. But boy, do I want to be in this show. It's everything I love about everything at once. So when I found out like who was going to be directing the show, I know that I'm like, hey, listen, I know you're probably already cast this show, but I would totally love to audition for any other characters that would be down the road or
00:20:43
Speaker
If you've already, like, picked out everybody and you have nothing that you need to cast, that's fine too. I still love this show. Can I at least help do some directing on that show? I'll, you know, just, just let me put my name on this in some way, shape, or form. And they're like, you know what?
00:20:57
Speaker
Bet. Yeah, I could totally use another hand, you know, directing. So I got brought in as one of the assistants for Blue Lock and eventually got to play a character at the end of Blue Lock, which was very surprising. That was super cool because like when that character came up later, which is, you know, Julian Loki in Blue Lock was like appearing like towards the end of the of the series.
00:21:20
Speaker
I was just out with some friends, uh, watching cocaine bear. And then like a day or two, I was like playing Digimon with some other friends and just like, Hey, you guys seen the episode blue lock? And I'm like, yeah, there is a character there who like vocally fits me perfectly. And he's also a black guy in an anime, which is super rare too, which fits me. And there was so much going on that was like lined up, but I'm like, also.
00:21:43
Speaker
he's specifically a guy that's based on of an actual Frenchman in in real life and I'm like are they gonna have us do accents for them like oh no I'm kind of afraid about that and then I'm like I'm like oh shit I wonder if I should even like try to get that character and then like talking to people about it and then the next day I get a text from the director hey how's your French accent I'm like oh
00:22:04
Speaker
No, not the franchise. Yeah. And I'm just like, you know what? I'm going to do my best. And coincidentally, just like a couple of months earlier, I got cast in Jacket Alliance 3 where they had me playing a dude in that game, but they also had me doing
00:22:20
Speaker
a lot of extras in that game outside of the character I was doing, which the extras were French accented. They were African French accented, but they were French. So I actually got experience doing French accents just before doing that game. So I'm like, oh, dang, I can do a French accent, but I'm more used to like the French African parts. But then he sent me like a link to like the guy that the character is based off of. And I'm like, oh, Kylie and Mbappe. And like, wait a second. And I looked him up and I'm like, oh, wait, this guy's like parents are like,
00:22:49
Speaker
African French. Like his accent is an African French base. I'm like, oh, that's literally what I learned from the video game already. So I'm like, ah, yeah. And I did the audition and ended up getting the part. So I'm just like, the stars perfectly aligned to give you this role from directing to practicing this accent that you specifically needed but did not know you needed. Scars aligned to give you a character that looks like you and has similar mannerism. It all worked out.
00:23:16
Speaker
Exactly. And I'm like, wow, that's really cool. And I'm like, oh, I've got my couple lines in the show. Yeah. I'll be the end of the show. That was really, really fun. And then I'm like, looking up later and I'm like on the Reddit and like, oh, wait, no, this character is actually a big deal. He's basically probably going to be like the final boss of the show and just like, what? Okay. Wow. All right. Yeah. I love coming back. Yeah. Back in season three or whatever.
00:23:40
Speaker
What a cool role to lock down that's big, especially with the way it's coming out now and the way that Blue Lock has been received is so huge, like almost overnight in terms of how fast the manga got picked up. Now with the anime, it's even faster. And so
00:23:56
Speaker
And yeah, it's incredible. And I've seen everyone praising the dub compared to like how normal animes go become between sorry, slurring my words between how people pick up or react to the dub. Normally, it can kind of be sometimes hit or miss depending on how the dub is unless it's an extremely strong dub.
00:24:14
Speaker
And I've only seen people praising the way that Blue Lock's dub is written and directed and done, especially with the small mannerisms, because you have all those little funny cut in-betweens. The way they're handled in the dub is so relevant. And it's not dated, in a way, with the language. So I've seen nothing but praise for it. So it's very cool that you got to be an assistant director to that, as well as being one of the major characters now.
00:24:42
Speaker
just amazing work overall to be in that position and I commend you for it because it's such a good up and coming project compared to some of the other things that we have coming out within the last year or so.
00:24:54
Speaker
Yeah, just a fun, like, yeah, dream project for sure. Yeah. The people on it are really good. Like to name a few names, like Rico playing Iseki in that show is just phenomenal. And Derek just takes, uh, ego, ego to like a whole nother level. Here it does so well on that role. That's so fun. Yeah. Being a part of that. So cool. All right. I gotta add blue lock to my list now.
Anime Recommendations and Cultural Adaptations
00:25:21
Speaker
I'm not really a sports anime person, but... You can watch all of Haikyuu. I watched most of Haikyuu. There's still a good chunk I have to watch. Similar vibe. Yeah, it's so many seasons, like four? Is he in a movie coming out? I need to catch up with Haikyuu. There's like several movies and multiple seasons, and I think I watched two seasons and was like, that was fun. I'm like 1.5 in seasons, so I need to go with it.
00:25:49
Speaker
Yeah, me too. I read parts of the manga, but I haven't been able to fully or watch it yet because I was trying to catch up on One Piece before the big episode. But now I can actually go back and finish it because I just sit at my couch and like, wow, can't watch One Piece anymore. Figure out what's next. And so it's been, I have a growing list of everything that I'm slowly getting invested to. And because my friends are blue lock cosplayers, it's like, okay,
00:26:17
Speaker
I will do it for you and I will finally get it off my list and stop watching just like little TikTok clips instead of just like actually starting the show. So excited to do that soon. But yeah, it's a major project. It's very cool to see how fast it picked up. I love all of the work that I've seen from it. So congratulations on that. Post date. So what other are your favorites? So Blue Lock's one that you love. Are there any other anime or manga?
00:26:46
Speaker
that you're just like, everyone has to watch this, everyone has to read this. I guess it depends. Like, I would like categorize it in terms of like,
00:26:56
Speaker
genres essentially so sports Blue Lock definitely like just just gets just gets hits hits the park one show that like i also find myself just re-watching all the time is like uh the Monogatari series uh that will never get a dub ever ever because whoever decides to write that script would actually implode because so much talking in that show and cultural references but that's the one where like i've
00:27:23
Speaker
shown the movie to friends several times. I think I've seen that at least seven times now. I own it on Blu-ray and digitally so I can share it with Discord people if I need to. That's another one of my favorites. Ah man, there's just so many shows that one could go through.
00:27:45
Speaker
good slice of lives or romance is like a new one would be like, Chikimori is not just a cutie or other things like that. There's there's a lot of shows. So it's easier for me to just say, hey, name a genre, they're like, all right, I can figure out what's favorite out of the genre on the top of my head. Yeah, that's what I have to do, because there's too many and I never, ever, ever
00:28:04
Speaker
pick an isekai because when I do and someone gives me a recommendation, I don't fucking remember it. It's too many words in the title for me to be like, okay, yeah, I got you on that one. I understand. If it's one word, if it's like konosuba, got it. I can write that one down. Don't tell me anything else.
00:28:24
Speaker
It's made it very intimidating to watch new seasonal anime because it's like, I don't know how to talk to you guys about this without saying 70 words about how a stepdad is a truck and that's a slime reincarnated to someone you love who is also still your dad, even though we are in a reincarnation. But we're also in a dungeon that has slime and cooking, don't know what's going on. I'm like, okay, yeah, that's a good one. Banger alert.
00:28:51
Speaker
It's hard. I really appreciate it though, that there are so many up and coming things being adapted in some way. I just, they're not for me. And so I cannot give those suggestions because it's like, I am going to tell you something that is three words or less, nothing more.
00:29:11
Speaker
It's embarrassing. It's like when you go to a restaurant and the menu has like stupid branded things on it instead of like a cheeseburger and you're having to say like, can I get a sticky sample of Joey's favorite? Like I don't want to say that shit. Yeah. Can I get a number six, please? I want this one and I point. Exactly. That's how it feels going through the crunchy roll screen sometimes. But I love how much is being adapted because it gives work to people who
00:29:40
Speaker
need it, of course, but also people who absolutely just kill the role every time they're able to bring it. They're able to understand that like, because some of these ridiculous these guys have ridiculous roles, that it lets you play out of like your area a little bit.
00:29:54
Speaker
And so I greatly appreciate those and the writing that goes into those because it's funny. I like the way when people get to be funny at work by just dumping shit into it, if that makes sense. My weird little tangent of just like, it's fun when people get to do what they want a little bit. Here's an isekai. Just have a good time. Yeah, exactly.
00:30:18
Speaker
I don't know, that was my silly rant for, I just like it when it's fun compared to some of the Japanese adaptations because, well, they're fun there, some jokes don't travel. And if I feel like that joke does not travel in the dub, it just falls flat in a writing degree, but I haven't seen anything like that since 2010, honestly, where it's like, okay, what are we doing? I feel like that was the era where dub wasn't being taken seriously.
00:30:48
Speaker
So, I don't know. Sorry. Ridiculous tired rant for me in the morning. Didn't make any sense. We're good. I get it. The scripts can definitely elevate the dub in a lot of cases. There are a lot of examples of that too.
00:31:01
Speaker
I can't even think of what it's called right now. There's one anime that was strictly about the Japanese feudal era of storytelling where they have to do the full acted out thing. Very wordy. I can't even think of what it's called, but it's one of my partner's favorites.
00:31:19
Speaker
so wordy it does not even have like other language dubs, not even counting like English, it just does not have any other dub outside of Japanese because the way that it's done is so wordy and so specific that it just it can't be adapted in any way because you have to add all of these asides and all these other information to explain like what the story is or what's going on or the symbolism of each thing
00:31:42
Speaker
Um, it's like all of Wano art condensed into a little story. It's like, I don't know what's happening here. And because you can't explain it, there's no way to do it. I've had to like go on my phone while we're watching it and look up like, what, what is going on a little bit? Just so I can get context for Japanese storytelling, because unless you watch like a documentary about every single thing, you won't know what's going on. And that will never, ever get it done because there's no way to make that make sense. And so I appreciate just.
00:32:13
Speaker
dub work as a whole because people who do go in and write those scripts really put in the effort that I like to see because God knows that would never happen if no one was willing to try.
00:32:25
Speaker
I'm so glad we don't have bullshit translator's notes in subtitle to anime anymore. You remember that era? Those were funny! Yeah, and also like I had to rewind it and pause it and be like, what the f- why did you- what is- why is this here? And we're going back to the fan scans and fan translations of manga with all the extra translator notes and they're like, oh, this means this. Fucking say it, bro.
00:32:54
Speaker
We have to still be true to it. I don't want you to take out the word to dumb it down for my little brain. I can read the note. I can read the note. Like, it's cool. We're good. Yeah. Yeah. Kekaku means planned or however you say it. That was for comedic effect. It's death note. Come on. The entire show is a little bit of a joke to some degree. In the newest one-piece chapter, which there's no spoilers in this, I'm
00:33:23
Speaker
No spoilers. That's not the actual chapter. It's a scan. Yeah, it's a scan. There's a word that the character says uncle, but they put Ojiki. And then the translator's note was Ojiki means uncle. No, it does not mean your uncle. It's similar. He's saying uncle, but he's saying it in a way that you use when you're addressing other yakuza like bosses.
00:33:49
Speaker
It's like uncle in a familial sense of a yakuza family, not like uncle like your own family. That's an important note, Nebula. That's a very clear distinction. In the rest of the dog, they only refer to him as uncle. Uh-huh, because he's still saying uncle. It's just the clarification of how the sense is. And it's very specific in this chapter. I can't tell you because it's a spoiler.
00:34:17
Speaker
Oh my God. I just, I just wanted to say a little funny one piece thing. And then it's a funny one piece thing, but you picked the wrong one. You could have picked the one that was underneath it where it's like, she liked to eat. Like, yeah, we know that. Thank you for putting that note. But I have to ask Kevin for working on one piece. Have you, have you indulged in it yourself?
00:34:40
Speaker
Oh yeah, I see the thing is with One Piece, I only have so many hours in my day. So I have years ago I decided to start One Piece from the beginning, but I set a rule for myself where I will only watch the dub episodes because when I watched the dub, I can multitask by like
00:35:00
Speaker
playing a video game where I can like, oh, something interesting is happening. We pause the game and look at the screen or do chores, clean my room, fold clothes, do something. Whereas if I watch the sub, I have to be staring at the screen full attention and watch them do an episode recap for 45 minutes, you know, of one piece and then, you know, skip back. But I'm like, no, I can just listen to the dub. I hear I'm doing a flashback. All right, fast forward. Cool. Back to new content like.
00:35:23
Speaker
It's just so much more consumable that way. I don't have the time to go through 1,000 episodes. And the dub at the time was, you know, I think it's still releasing like 20 episodes a month or something like that. So I watch a batch. I wait a month. I go back and one piece reminds me, oh, one piece came out? Can I clean my room? Dang, am I 200 episodes behind a one piece? I haven't cleaned my room in a while. I should probably do that. Like, it keeps my life together now.
00:35:49
Speaker
That's also such a good reward system of like, you get the reward of you get to watch a show that you like. And also in the process of doing this thing that you like, you're forcing yourself to like keep your cell phone on track with all your chores and stuff. I have ADHD, so that does not work in my house. I can't like keep everything clean or keep the routine going. So I appreciate that. Oh, I shouldn't have to do it in the house. All right, time to put on anime.
00:36:17
Speaker
Yeah, I don't feel bad for binging 12 hours of One Piece by just sitting in my bed versus, hey, I binged 12 hours of One Piece, but I also got my room spickin' this man. Okay, I did a good thing. For sure. I was a dub watcher up until the dub ran out, and I would still be a dub only watcher if the dub was caught up.
00:36:36
Speaker
I just like why I watch mostly sub anime just because if it's out I'll watch it but one piece I'm like there are too many dang episodes for me to want to die for you. It's a whole different beast to want to yeah. Yeah the dub just makes it more accessible to me that's
Dubbing Preferences and Techniques
00:36:51
Speaker
why.
00:36:51
Speaker
I started Dubb, and then I watched all the way to, I finished Alabasta in the Dubb, and then Skypia, I did not like how the Calgara-Nolan flashback was handled in it a little bit. I felt like it slightly dimmed down the homoeroticism between their partnership. Because in the Japanese, the way they're talking to each other, they're a married couple. They are a family.
00:37:21
Speaker
At that point, I was like, all right, I got to switch over just so I can get a little bit more of these moments slightly different than how they were written. But I'm at the point where it took me a little bit to catch up fully in Japanese to the point where I basically seen all of the major parts in the dub just going and comparing the two over and over again. I basically watched the whole series in the dub at this point.
00:37:44
Speaker
to what's caught up, especially once I started to meet voice actors and stuff. It's like, all right, I gotta go make sure I figure out why this little character sounds like this, the one that we see like twice. Ooh, gotta check on that. Because it's like, I like to, once I have like,
00:37:59
Speaker
someone in my circle, I consider them like a friend acquaintance. So whenever I see them on a screen, it's like a soy jack point of like, oh my God, I know you every time. So going back and rewatching One Piece has been very fun. Cause it's like, I know that person. Yeah, yeah. And I'm cheering and screaming. It doesn't work with people like Chris cause it's like,
00:38:21
Speaker
You're in everything. You're everywhere, but like good. Yeah. Glad you're working. Um, but that's part of why it took me so long to also catch up on One Piece again. Cause I was rewatching all the One Piece. Oops. So Kevin, I'm curious if you mostly watch anime in sub, what really inspired you to like become a dub actor?
00:38:44
Speaker
So I, okay, let me clarify that. So I just watch a lot of anime in general. So if something isn't available in dub, then I'm watching the sub by default. But in generally I prefer dubs over such as like hearing things, you know, in the language that I speak because I can hear the acting.
00:39:02
Speaker
but also I do things like uh like with dubs they're just fun if you get really fun scripts like for example like i mentioned girlfriend girlfriend uh that one has a stupidly fun script there's just a lot of lines where like uh britney lotta is in that one she plays the uh the main heroine in that one and she just improved so many lines that was my first show i was the lead of so i was like wait
00:39:27
Speaker
We can do that, we can just do all that with the script. Okay, and I have to do the show, I'm like, okay, well now I'm gonna do improv lines. We had some just really fun stuff in that show, so.
00:39:35
Speaker
There's just so much you can do. Like a dub can make a show that I wouldn't watch in sub, just fun in dub. Like a show like, what, like High School DXD is just a really raunchy show. It has a bunch of seasons and the subs and I'm like, okay, you're just, you know, you're just here for boobs. That's all you're here for. But the dub just makes it a massive comedy. Everything is a joke and they know it's a joke. It's super enjoyable. Love that. It's got that ghost stories treatment.
00:40:04
Speaker
basically the ghost stories treatment except you know it's uh what's the word kosher and yeah it's aged a little nicer than ghost stories the visuals may be not aged well but the dialogue is still like a fine one
00:40:21
Speaker
I don't know, I still see the clip of like where the sniper shots going and her boobs perfectly foam around the bullet. I still see that almost every other month on Twitter, pretty much. No, that's high school the dead. Oops, sorry. They look almost the same sometimes. And they have the same humor. I honestly just mix them in my brain way too often. But they both. High school the dead I also love. It's also stupid. It's so stupid. That one's so stupid. Like, oh my gosh.
00:40:48
Speaker
I have a friend in Alaska. She's a politician. She's got a whole house and guns. And I'm like, what? Uh-huh. Yeah. Okay. What's her name? What? I can't say that on air.
00:40:59
Speaker
Those jokes. I don't know. Even if they don't like particularly hold up, it's just the era of the time that really gets to me, even if they're like, it's like the original Panty Stocking dub. I know they're remaking it now and they're going to change things a little bit more to be a little bit more kosher, but also just to like be conscious of themselves, which is fine. I don't ever mind the change, but it was a sequel.
00:41:21
Speaker
It's a it's both they're technically changing a few things so that it's a little bit more like With the times in terms of adjusting some characters But they're also still so it's like it's a direct sequel, but things are being slightly changed before we put it out
00:41:40
Speaker
Some like retcons, basically. Yeah, yeah, a little bit. Not too much, though. I think Chris stepped down from being garter belt, so that will probably go to someone else because he didn't want to take that character from a person of color or anything, which is cool. Really cool. But like, I'm excited for it because I kind of miss just when things were allowed to be funny and a little dumb. Like, it doesn't need to be purposeful. It can just be silly.
00:42:07
Speaker
stupid lines, stupid things. Yeah, like there are times where we're recording like, again, bringing it back to the girlfriend girlfriend, where the director Peter was just in the middle of recording a minute. He's like, you know what, I'm gonna have you say poggers. And I'm like, can we say that? It's not gonna date this show. And he's like, let me Google this.
00:42:25
Speaker
poggers yeah poggers is 20 years old yeah it's not gonna date the show it's already it's not currently 20 years old yeah poggers like about 20 years old what the hell okay sure he's like it's old enough to not be dated poggers is really old apparently oh my god i know poggers is old i say it too much yeah poggers is not recent slang so he's like yeah this is not gonna date it so i'm like okay and then i said monogamy is poggers and people are still like really enjoying that
00:42:50
Speaker
I'm going to watch this. It reminds me of the fan translation of, oh, I can't remember the number of the chapter, but my hero, whenever Mirio comes through the ground, he goes, Pog, chip. Did that get changed in the adaptation? Has it been adapted yet? It did. Oh my God.
00:43:08
Speaker
It got changed. It was just a fan translation for those particular panels. Life's not fun. Why can't it be fun? It would be in character for him to say that. I know. That's why I kind of believed you for a moment when they're like, fan translation said it. I'm like, okay, well, did it say it for real? Just to suffer.
00:43:25
Speaker
Another part is I feel like there was a writing in the My Hero manga. I can't remember which character it was. I think it was Mirako, where she had like a little bit of an accent and that's made her say some weird things where she was talking in a little bit more of like, I don't want to say slang, but it was Japanese slang. And everyone was like, this sounds stupid. Like she would never say that. And then it got immediately changed to be like way more tame because they didn't like that she had an accent. It was speaking in slightly broken slang.
00:43:54
Speaker
And that was funny. When the chapter came out, it was funny. And then we had to walk it back. It's like, I just wish you people would let them be free with their direction. Please stop complaining. Ochako is the same way. Ochako is supposed to be like a very rural character. She's supposed to have a rural accent and use rural slang.
00:44:16
Speaker
And they did that for a hot minute. And then they're like, actually, we're just not going to keep up with this, which pisses me off because we never see rural characters in anime. It would have been so fun. They did that in like a Dragon Ishin because when you're playing in feudal Japan, you have this guy who
00:44:34
Speaker
is writing letters to his wife in a different, they're like long distance married, but they've never met in person. And she writes letters in her accent. So when you read it, like country music is playing, like American country music will twang on the guitar. And it's being read in the most broken Japanese of all time, because you're like, you're trying to understand how she's writing in this accent. It's the best bit in the whole fucking game. It's so funny. It's like,
00:45:02
Speaker
I had to read it out loud because it's basically written kind of in kind of kind of like English where it's a little bit
00:45:08
Speaker
mixed within country twang is playing in the background best fucking bit it's so funny and it just makes me sad and we're like well we have to make it make sense guys like no we don't keep the bit um because i love improv comedy there was a little bit on mob psycho there's a little bit on um osmatsu it compared to the two because the japanese script was so much of just like improv shit humor instead of like
00:45:35
Speaker
adjusting the two, there's no way to make a faithful Osamatsu script without a little bit of an improv. And so that's always what I seek out a little bit when it comes to like my splash in the pan anime watches, because they're funny, they're memorable. We need to take that lady from TikTok that speaks fluent Japanese but does so in Southern American accent.
00:45:56
Speaker
and just put her in the sub for several hit a thing. Accents are always really tricky. It's always like whenever accents come up in anime and the studio is always sweating like, okay, what are we doing? Are we going to change the words? Are we going to give them an accent? I don't know. Oh God. Like I remember when Haikyuu was coming out and like, like my character's team, Kita, like
00:46:18
Speaker
I think they all have accents in the sub, but they decided not to do the accents when they did the dub, and some fans were like, oh yeah, they really liked it, their friends were like, I'm upset, how dare you not sprinkle the Southern twang? And I'm like, he would sound ridiculous if he spoke with a Southern tank, please, no, especially with how his character is in English. Well, like other shows like Blue Lock, like when my character appears, he's a French dude who does not speak Japanese. So in the Japanese version, he speaks English
00:46:47
Speaker
Like his whole team is him I think is it a Brazilian dude a British dude and like other Spanish dude and they all speaking English for some reason which In real life, they wouldn't be speaking English each other. They just be speaking another language. So that was weird So they're like are we gonna have them speak English or with accents? Or are we gonna have them speak other language like Spanish? So when I got the call like can you speak Spanish? I'm like
00:47:11
Speaker
no but my roommate can teach me and i'm like no but i could learn i could become bilingual for this role i grew up in miami i can mimic enough spanish to make it through a couple lines so like it was always a it's always a toss-up between you know what are they gonna do what are they gonna do this and then like you know we ended up just having them speak english but with accents whether in other languages like
00:47:33
Speaker
like the Spanish dub of Blue Lock, or the French dub, I can't remember which dub I saw on TikTok, but they just, they did what the J didn't speak English, and it sounded super just like the J, but we can't do that because we're speaking English already. Yeah, we're already adapting it to English, we have to change this, but you're also just English the entire time, and it's a little lazy. Yeah, we can't, like they specifically comment, oh, I don't know what the sky is saying, you speak another language in the Japanese, and we can't do that, we changed it to
00:47:56
Speaker
I can't understand their accents. What are they saying? Oh, I listen to regional music. I know what they're saying and it doesn't hit as hard, but we did what we could. But later in the manga, they're just going to write that out anyway. They'll be like, hey, we have earpieces that translate languages automatically. And that's going to be fun when we have to adapt that in the English.
00:48:16
Speaker
It just makes me better at hearing accents. It just makes me better at listening. Yeah, you know, it is what it is. I mean, yeah, it's hard. Sorry, no, you go, Parker. No, no, I was gonna say it feels like any time it's a language based joke in terms of like adapting accents.
00:48:38
Speaker
where it's like, if you have someone who's rural Japanese still as the example, and they're speaking in almost like slightly broken English compared to, and then you have to come to English dubbing, you're like, okay, well, how do we make that make sense? I actually never thought about that until you said that. And that's very interesting. That's like having to completely like back out of writing to rewrite the entire part a little bit, because that just doesn't make sense when we're all speaking English anyways.
00:49:08
Speaker
Yeah, we got to make the jokes in the context work. Like, so like, for example, we almost did Spanish, but we decided to keep in English with the accents. But like another show, like it did a lot of extras in Golden Kamali. And there is like other languages in that. So like we had stuff where we just did a bunch of extras and bits in Russian.
00:49:23
Speaker
and they had Russian guide tracks for us and we were doing it and you just hear me screaming, you know, do I do I and all stuff in the background and it and it's like, I'm so sorry for anyone who speaks Russian listening to this, but I think I've heard your Russian in the Golden Chem way because I watched all the way through.
00:49:40
Speaker
because my boyfriend is obsessed with the manga. And people complain about the way the anime was handled, but I think the fucking CGI bears are the funniest thing in the fucking world, because that's exactly how they are in the manga. They are P and Gs of bears in the manga. They are not drawn. So anyone who's ever complained has not read the manga. And it's- It's not a true fan, fake fan. More people need to read a Mosh Golden Camway. Please, it's the best. Oh my God. Yeah. I love it.
00:50:10
Speaker
Well, I was going to ask on the relevant adaptations. I know that you've also done voice work for video games and visual novels. And I'm very curious if that process is much different from dubbing for an anime, especially for something like a visual novel. So what has been like, what's like the same, what's different when it comes to working for gaming dubbing versus anime dubbing?
00:50:37
Speaker
Oh, okay, game dubbing specifically. So in terms of game dubbing, I've done dubbing for Pokemon Masters EX, I did some dubbing for that.
00:50:48
Speaker
I haven't done a whole lot of game dubbing. I've looked at extras in, like, Genshin Impact, so it depends on who you're working with, specifically on how the experience is. You know, in anime dubbing, we've got the reference in Japanese where we follow, we've got lip flaps we need to match, but depending on the game, you're either trying to match flaps if you're doing, like, a cutscene. Like, I've done, like, Chinese gacha game dubs that I've done, like, Tale of Food and stuff like that, so sometimes you're trying to match the timing.
00:51:16
Speaker
of the other language in terms of just here's a file make sure you're stopping and starting at the same time as they are or you're trying to match flaps which can be more specific because we'll have to change the words so it might not be exact as what the other language is doing but you're matching what the animation you know they're doing wise is
00:51:31
Speaker
Or other times, you're just like, yeah, no, we don't really care. We're not trying to match anything here. Just do your own thing on that point. So it really depends who the client is. I think the general consensus is with game dubbing is usually it's just make sure the timing is stopping and starting at the same time as they are, and everything else internally doesn't really matter. Because it's just so hard sometimes to go back and redo the animations. They don't want to do that in
00:51:55
Speaker
Sometimes we don't have the visuals to even say, Hey, are we even making this look correct on screen? You know, I think game doubling in games though, especially the bigger games are getting better because then you're developing software to actually go back and redo the Mount Flaps for characters. Like I know like games like Xenoblade Chronicles, the new ones came out three.
00:52:13
Speaker
They actually had a software that redid, or I'm not sure if it was software or if somebody went back and reanimated it, but they redid the mouth flaps for all the characters for the English version to match what they were saying in English versus us trying to match exactly what the Japanese did because in like previous Xenoblade games it was kind of rough sounding when somebody is trying to match exactly what the Japanese is doing in an action scene or something like that and like you know
00:52:36
Speaker
we're asking, you know, what are you doing when the Japanese just da-da? And it's like, no, wait, that doesn't work. You have to talk super fast for that, you know, or make some weird words. So yeah, it really depends on who you're working with. But game dubbing in general is just kind of easier than anime dubbing because you just have a row of lines and hey, just go through these lines, give me three takes of each, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, go through. If you're not matching flaps even faster, matching timing even faster. But if it's timing wise, super simple where
00:53:03
Speaker
Anime just has so many more moving parts. There's so much more going on with games like smite where you're not even looking at the characters like face while you're playing it. Is it that much easier because you're basically just saying it and then they play it whenever it's cute to kind of deal.
00:53:20
Speaker
Yes, I just had a big Excel sheet of lines that go through it, and I'm like, all right, give me three takes of each. Go, go, go, go, go. Like the most other kinds of like trying to match if I needed to do was, all right, here are your old lines. Here, we're gonna play you some video of what the old looks like just so you know how intense it's gonna be. And like, cool, that's it, but everything else is.
00:53:37
Speaker
Yeah, this is what's going on. Walk in the park. Just say it. We're good. Nothing to match because as long as they have the cut, it's good. Yeah, just like direction, you know, things here are like, hey, you're you're ganking here, but this is this is your line. And I'm like, what's ganking? Like, oh, OK, wait, here we go. Hold on, back up. We got to teach you. We got to teach mobile language. Hold on. Yeah, this is the first mobile I've ever played. I've ever played is I've never played a mobile for Emily. All right. I learned that now.
00:54:03
Speaker
I was a smite player for like a year and then because it was on PlayStation So it was easy to play and then I started playing League and I completely dropped But League is a different horrible beast goddamn is a horrible drug But it has to be yeah, it's it's basically the same thing of just like a top-down There's no mouths to see no one knows they don't even have animated mouths most of the time. Yeah, but I
00:54:29
Speaker
So for visual novels that you've worked on or like visual novel gaming, is it a blend of the two? Is it just like give us three takes of all these lines or is it a little more similar to anime because you're kind of keeping with the narrative?
Voice Acting Practicalities and Community
00:54:44
Speaker
So with visual novels, it's more closer to regular video game work than anime. It's not like usually not even dubbing because I haven't done any dubbed visual novels. Yeah, I've just done like straight just indie. So from scratch. So my my lines were the first ones to be in the game. So just like, hey, do whatever you want here, essentially. And if we want to give you other direction, we will. And we're just slapping that in the game. And
00:55:05
Speaker
I don't think the games I've done have like really cared about having mouth flaps so they just play the audio you know with the character sprite so it didn't matter I was just you know free reign to do whatever okay super simple to do those that sounds like the most fun in my opinion yeah I was just saying the word out loud and it just happens you don't have to worry about it too much
00:55:24
Speaker
Yeah, I don't have to worry about stress about other things, which honestly, like when everyone is on their game when it comes to anime, it's not even that bad. And when there's the, you know, when people who are making the time codes for the anime, like are on point when the script writer is on point, there's really not much work I do outside of putting, setting the words. So I'm not saying them like, you know, too fast because I'm a speed talker or too slow. Like generally it's going to fit. So yeah, just depends on everybody's, you know, working together properly.
00:55:54
Speaker
Interesting. I think you're the first one that we've talked to about doing voice work for visual novels, because I've always been curious about that. Since I feel like every visual novel has their has the template. And then they're like, well, we'll just tweak the template a little bit in this one specific area. And then it just becomes its own like monster to tackle. So it's nice to kind of peek behind the curtain and see that it's really not that big of a deal. That's awesome. I
00:56:23
Speaker
love how long your Anime News Network credit line is and I keep like referring back to it like what else do I want to ask him about because this is fucking awesome and there is just far too much to back into one interview.
00:56:39
Speaker
I did, uh, yeah, I did my time in the gulags and the wall of gulags on there. Very long credits. I feel like I have something around 250 plus credits. I don't know. I'm not going to count, but yeah. An impressive long scroll on the anime's news network page. So if you started in college and you were what, about 19 or 20 when you started doing this professionally?
00:57:05
Speaker
Yeah, I think, let me see, 2016, so I graduated 2014, so two years, so 2014, I was 17, so 18, 19. So I'd say I started acting, yeah, when I was 18 then, yeah, I was before. Wow. That's, I think you might be one of the youngest professional voice actors that we've talked to. I think it's like you and Chris Savage.
00:57:37
Speaker
I know there are plenty of people who started younger than me and like, like Aaron Disney started when he was like, what, 13, 12 or something like that? Oh my gosh, I could not imagine.
00:57:46
Speaker
Here's my puberty voice. Let me have it recorded forever and immortalized. Well, that happens a lot because when we need a child, but we don't want like a young woman to play a child, that's like a literal, literal little kid is here. So their voice is forever immortalized. Yeah. It's like the kids who are on Barney, they are not kids no more. Forever immortalized as a seven year old. They have mortgages now. It's crazy. Oh God. Yeah, they do.
00:58:16
Speaker
I don't like that thought. You don't like thinking of the children on TV growing? Because it's been 20 years since they've aired? No, it's more of I don't like thinking that someone who has been on Barney now like does taxes. Barney did taxes.
00:58:32
Speaker
Honey did taxes. Yup. It's, it's crazy. Like, but yeah, it's his life. Yeah. Everybody starts somewhere. Some people start like later than I did. Some people start earlier than I did. Like, I just started on a whim and had fun with it. Asked for, uh, you know, advice for some people, you know, decided to make plans and moved out here and, you know, just did what I had to do. Set a goal, uh, tried to reach it. If I made it, then I made a new goal. You know, move the goalpost kept going. That's awesome.
00:59:03
Speaker
that seems so attainable. I feel like so many actors and creatives talk about it. They're like, oh, I just got really lucky. I did this, and then it just led into this, and I just kind of rolled with it. But to hear someone be very practical about it is always very reassuring to me, because it's like, no, you can do it if you set your mind to it. You just have to actually make sure you're achieving it. Asking someone about it, and they're like, I'm a Juilliard actor, and then I move to voice acting.
00:59:32
Speaker
Yeah! Sure, bud. Cool! I don't even have a strong acting background to start. Again, I started on my online stuff. Like I said, I set goals to reach some small attainable goals and kept moving up, but I also like, I didn't like, you know, have like, Sabbath walk in, but you, you're gonna be the next, you know what I mean? Blah, blah, blah, because I was, you know, a mechanic or whatever the story was with that.
00:59:53
Speaker
But I did get lucky with having a lot of opportunities to do things. Because when I was starting out, I was seeing, oh, there are all these workshops happening online. But also, in Texas, when I was in Florida, or, oh, there's these open auditions for studios at conventions where people will be like, oh, if you come here and do this, and if you win, we'll actually put you in a show. And that's a good way to get your foot in the door, blah, blah, blah. Well, I was lucky in the fact that my mother works at an airline.
01:00:22
Speaker
So when I was a young, uh, under her like plan or whatnot, I could fly for free. As long as there was an open seat on a plane, I could apply for free. So sometimes I'd be like on discord and a friend would be like, Hey, Kevin, did you see that they're doing like an open audition for bang zoom to get in the show in LA? And I'm like, what, when is that happening? Oh, it's happening tomorrow.
01:00:42
Speaker
So tomorrow isn't Saturday? Yeah, it's happening tomorrow. I'm like, oh, okay. Hey, Mom, can I get a flight to Chicago in the morning? She's like, sure. And I'm like, cool, thanks. Hey, Dad, go to Chicago tomorrow morning. You're what? And so I have flown to Chicago several times, flown to San Antonio several times while I was in Florida to do like
01:01:05
Speaker
like competitions and stuff like that and meet people and like, you know, try the stuff or just fly out. I remember I was doing like Chris Rager's, like ADR classes and he had like a once a week class for a month. So what I would do was I would do my day job in the morning in Florida, fly out the same night, fly out to Texas, do the class and then fly back to Florida in the morning
01:01:34
Speaker
and then do my day job like at night the next day. So people will be like.
01:01:37
Speaker
Yeah, I drove an hour to get here. Oh, yeah, well, I drove for us from Houston. And like, I flew in from Miami. They're like, what? We're on the super commuter schedule. Yeah, I was I pulled double duty and they're like, use the opportunities to the best of my abilities. I did crazy, stupid stuff. But I'm like, hey, I want this thing. I want this opportunity. I'm going to make it work. I'd be like, oh, last minute convention thing I got to fly out for. Shoot, I don't have my boss's number to say I got to call out.
01:02:06
Speaker
Uh, oh wait, I have a classmate in college who also works at my job. Text them, hey, can you tell my boss I'm not gonna be around this weekend? I'll owe you one. Cool, thanks fam. Alright, and I flew out and came back and like, boss, they tell you, yeah, I knew you were gone, thank you. Alright, you know, and I did my stuff and like,
01:02:21
Speaker
those same bosses that I would like, you know, like I said, like I earned my good boy points for my job. So like now in the future that I left that job in Texas, my bosses and my coworkers from that old job still followed me on Facebook and stuff like that. I'm like, oh my God, we're so proud that you're doing the thing that, you know, we said that you'd be good at doing it. I'm like, right, it's insane. And like another thing in Florida that I had that was, that helped just give me confidence to do stuff and like set plans was,
01:02:47
Speaker
my high school. I went to high school and lived around the area some other like prominent voice actors so like if you know Alejandro Saab went to my high school and I'm best friends with his cousin so for a while when I started I had this weird like embarrassed thing where I'm just like oh I'm starting voice acting but
01:03:12
Speaker
I can't let anyone know I'm voice acting because they'll think I'm copying Alejandra. I can't do that. I can't let my best friend know. So for like months, I hid it from him, which I can't remember how he found out. But my friend found out they'll start voice acting. He's like, what? You're doing voice acting? And I'm like, oh no, I'm calling my cousin right now. I'm going to get him to give you all the advice you need in the world. Like, no, don't do it. It's too late. I'm already on the phone with them. And it's like.
01:03:35
Speaker
and he calls him and he makes like a big three-way Skype call and it's like yeah I'm directing this game right now in between on break right now but yeah I'll give you all this advice about what to do and all that he told me about moving to Texas and all about like being realistic I'm like hey this thing is hard you might not make it you're gonna bust your butt off you know you're gonna do all that stuff and like hey appreciate the advice I'm gonna take it and I did what I could and moved down here and you know made it work
01:04:01
Speaker
That's awesome that you have such a strong support network in so many different areas. Like professionally, personally, that's that's so that makes me so happy. Like I just I just love hearing about stuff like that. And that it just reinforces what I've heard from so many other voice actors that the voice acting community is very close and very supportive in regards of like helping you achieve what you want to achieve. It's not
01:04:27
Speaker
snarky or egotistical for the most part. It's other people wanting to help other people consistently. Like, oh no, I'm copying them. But like, they're never gonna see it as that. They're seeing it as like, oh, there's somebody else that wants to get into this. Here, let me pass on everything I know. That's so awesome.
01:04:45
Speaker
And it's cool you guys share so many like properties in terms of what you've both been on with him being on blue lock and smite as well. And some other ones that you guys have both been able to like, share and simultaneously work on as projects even if not like fully together because of the circumstances around like, dubbing and working.
01:05:01
Speaker
But yeah, I think it was really cool when I'm like when we did the show Beast Tamer like I played a trailer Beast Tamer in that one rain but then he plays the the hero in in that one, which I I'm probably gonna butcher this but like the full title of the show is Something something I was in the heroes parties a beast here But then got fired wrong and Alejandro plays basically the villain of that show the hero and I play the Beast Tamer So it got cool that we got to play you know the two some of the leads of that show together
01:05:31
Speaker
It's like full circle after the support call of you starting and working.
01:05:37
Speaker
Yeah. I've gotten support from a bunch of people. Like I said, like my roommates, Alex, Ben, they're all really good and like small world with a voice acting community. It's like when I was talking to my best friend, Julian, about like doing voice acting, he's like, oh yeah. Well, my sister's boyfriend, you know, moved to Texas and he's doing acting and stuff too. And then when I moved in here with my buddy, Alex, he's like,
01:06:02
Speaker
Yeah, my best friend, like, you know, one of my friends, he does a lot of acting, too. He's really somebody. He's telling me stories about him. And I'm like, wait a second. Your stories about your friend are very similar to stories about my best friend's sister's boyfriend. What's his name? And it turns out they were the same person in which he's he's a Nizi Tarsia, who's also a really, really big actor.
01:06:27
Speaker
And everyone just knows each other. It just happened. So it just happened that the guy I moved in with was really close with basically a relative of my best friend. So it's all really insane and a really small world. Especially with everyone having to be in Dallas to congregate for Crunchyroll, dubbing, be at their mercy. Everyone in Dallas is a voice actor at this point because of how many people have to come down.
01:06:51
Speaker
But yeah, that is really cool to have that system and be able to work on it. I feel like just because of us podcasting and being able to network with other voice actors, it's also really helped because we've been able to get every single person's origin for how they start.
01:07:07
Speaker
where to start, access to classes we didn't really like have full availability to until they were given to us directly, things like that. And so being able to just have all of these things be accessible to us as well as some of our listeners, it's like, okay, it's a much more realistic, attainable goal to be able to find a good starting point and be able to network a little bit because it's really hard to network in this day at face sometimes because it's like,
01:07:36
Speaker
having to muster up yourself with your resume and reel in hand and just be out there and it's a little difficult and so being able to get everyone's input on how they started and just being able to be like brave enough to ask for that chance um really makes all the difference in terms of just like you can it's fully attainable you just have to make the first step.
01:07:57
Speaker
and work really hard and like, yeah, basically prove that you're working hard. Like, you know, when you get knocked down, you have to take what, you know, what you learned from that and actually improve and come back better than you were before. I like, I was taking so many, you know, workshops and classes and meeting people, just improving my stuff. And you keep getting the same like comments, Oh wow, you got a really good voice for that. You know, you're doing really well. I'm like, yeah, you should be doing fine. And I'm like, Oh, then why haven't I done any work? Yeah, you keep saying I'm doing good. And then like, I remember,
01:08:27
Speaker
one class, which is really funny. I always end up taking so many classes at one point that I've been losing track of classes that I'm taking. So one time I was just in an apartment building a table and I get a call from one of the people running class and go, hey, are you coming to this class today? And I'm like, what you mean class today? The one at like seven o'clock. And I'm like, it's, it's seven 15. I'm like,
01:08:50
Speaker
Oh no, I forgot! So I jumped in my car and sped all the way to go to the class and that was a class where we had to bring a monologue to do. So I forgot that the class was happening. I didn't have a monologue. So as I'm running up there, I'm like, Google monologues, okay, I'm gonna skim this one. There's no way in hell I'm gonna memorize this. So I ended up going to the class and running in there doing a monologue and I had to improv half the monologue because I'm like, I can't memorize this whole thing.
01:09:19
Speaker
So I improved it and ended up really liking it. And the director of that class was Kyle Phillips. And he gave me a lot of praise during that class. And at the end of the class, I went up to him and I'm thinking, hey, you know, I really appreciate all the kind words that you gave me on the class.
Journey into Voice Acting and Panel Experiences
01:09:37
Speaker
But what I want to know is like what do I need to do like outside of this to get my name on the table of directors at you know Funimation at the time and figure out like what do I need to do like have them like know I exist to even consider me for things you know just so I can get my foot in the door with extras or wall and stuff like that you just like don't worry about that I'll work with you soon and I'm just like oh yeah you probably say that to everybody all right cool anyway
01:10:03
Speaker
All right, off to the next day. And then like a week later, I got an email. Hey, do you want to come in for Ace Attorney? And like, yeah. So that was like, I guess I just kept trying and eventually somebody decided to give me a shot. And I appreciate Kyle to this day for getting my foot in the door because years down the road, you know, I'm now doing all this stuff and I'm incredibly grateful, incredibly happy.
01:10:31
Speaker
I cannot believe that you just improved that and the amount of anxiety that I felt hearing the story, I cannot imagine getting up there and being like, anyways, here's this monologue. Oh my God. I did my best. I really, another reason why I'm a voice actor, I really suck at like memorizing scripts. So I do just improve something then memorize it. You know, I don't have a photographic memory. I can't do that.
01:11:03
Speaker
No, just doing ad reels is my biggest nightmare because I'll have it on there and it's like, I can't do this. If I have to read and talk at the same time, I'm lost. I cannot handle it because, I mean, I can do it, but it's like the shame of the smooth recording. It's like, please just stop being anxious and just say it all in one go.
01:11:23
Speaker
I'm definitely more of an improv comedian myself when it comes to how I work and how I function when I'm doing panels. Because when you're at a panel, you have to keep people held very, very, very tight or they're just gonna walk out of the room. And the comparison for running that is so much more different than even a podcast format. Podcasting is easy because it's like, if we don't like it, we can realistically just cut it out. And no one sees this until we're happy. But when you're sitting in front of all of these people and having to just
01:11:52
Speaker
Be a professional and be like, it's kind of like streaming to a degree, but less pressure because, or more pressure because more people are looking right at you as you do it.
01:12:03
Speaker
Being able to engage a room and be a character can be so difficult sometimes. And I can only imagine it's similar to voice acting because you're still having to be in character to a degree and still get those marks. Well, although you're not being viewed by the viewer at that moment, you still have the whole team looking at you to make sure you're getting it right over and over and over again.
01:12:23
Speaker
in terms of both the improv and being able to read directly from the script in terms of just like your delivery, you have to make sure that you are able to make it every single time, of course, because you don't want to just be sitting there having to rerecord for multiple hours at a time. There's so much pressure behind having to like put yourself forward as like almost a caricature of yourself to just make sure things are going smoothly.
01:12:50
Speaker
I did too many church programs as a kid to have the shame still of reciting weird, stupid, memorized lines.
01:12:58
Speaker
Oh, yeah, I've, I've said enough incredibly wild things in anime where like, I don't get embarrassed by, by most lines anymore. So one thing that helps me do is I always try to single out something specific instead of like, all the time, like just trying to make myself a different person when I act, I kind of just think, what's the most familiar thing about this character that I can link back to myself and then just latch on to that thing to get into character that's kind of
01:13:26
Speaker
what I do when it comes to my dudes or I just think on like a memory that of a thing or another person that helps me get into character like with Zeus he has the big old goofy voice and he has the like laughs and stuff like that where like
01:13:44
Speaker
I don't personally identify with Zeus, but I went to school with somebody who had a laugh just like that. And when every time he laughed, everyone else would laugh around him. It was just such a goofy, jolly laugh. So any time I'm playing Zeus, I think back to that dude, and that helps me get into character.
Exciting Roles in One Piece
01:14:03
Speaker
I love Zeus. He's my favorite because I'm a Nami cosplayer. So it's like, that's my son. That's my guy. I'm currently in the process of making a really big one. I think he's going to technically be from like here to here and like this tall so I can hang him on my climax act and just wave him around like fucking psychopath.
01:14:19
Speaker
He's my favorite little guy. And so when Marianne messaged us, I was like, yes, please. I like talking to people who are tied to those characters to some degree, because it feels a little bit, I don't want to say validating, because it's like, I don't need to.
01:14:34
Speaker
I don't know, missing the words I need, but it's a little bit validating to put so much time and work into caring for a character and then being able to talk to other people who have put in so much work and time into the character, even if mine is in a different vein from someone else. It's a little bit validating to have that shared interest of like this thing that we both have
01:14:53
Speaker
positive feeling for do such a degree like I'm I'm obsessed with one piece I cannot deny it but when I also get to talk to other people who have the same interest in it and being able to have a part and it is so cool especially because like I don't know you may feel for a bit where Zeus was like not the biggest major character in the world but now he's making such a big comeback with everything that's happening in current 1-0 it's like
01:15:14
Speaker
wow, you have a very distinct part now throughout everything that's going to happen all the way to the end game, basically. It has to be really cool because it's like you wouldn't think that the cloud is going to be with us for the next 200 episodes, but here we are.
01:15:31
Speaker
It was a surprise when it happened because my first Zeus session was actually in this recording booth. Nice. So I got called in for that and like it was Anthony Bowling who was directing at the time and he's like, hmm, who are we going to, you know, give you in this one? He was like, how about Zeus? And I'm like, oh, Zeus, like, got a thunder? That sounds pretty cool. He's a cloud. I'm like, oh.
01:15:54
Speaker
Okay, sure. And I did the session, I had fun with it, and I'm like, yeah. I went upstairs to my roommate afterwards, and I'm like, yeah, I got a cloud, Zeus. And my roommate, who is a massive, he reads the manga, he's a massive one-piece fan, he's like, you get to be Zeus? And I'm like, what's the meaning about that? He's basically a straw hat now. I'm like, what? Real shit, what? Yeah, you're on the main crew now. Let's go.
01:16:21
Speaker
That was a wild surprise. I didn't like, just because of how long One Piece is, I didn't even think they were going to add new crew members soon, but like, I don't know. This is like, I don't think he's technically a crew member or not, but he's basically with Nami and he's there forever. So that was something I didn't ever like, you know, tell me when I started, you know, acting like, you know, six years ago that I'd get to basically be, you know, one of the main states in One Piece is insane to me, something I would never consider in my life.
01:16:48
Speaker
Yeah, it's extremely cool because there's for the part where I was like, I don't know, I feel just be lost with big mom forever. And then no, we're still here. We're still back. And so being able to like, do it. And it's really cool doing that with one piece because you'll talk to voice actors who were in alabasta only. And then it's like, Hey, guys, it's been 20 years. Can you come back?
01:17:09
Speaker
Because it happens over and over because of how long the series has been running and dubbing for of just like a well if you're here you're kind of either stuck here permanently or we'll see you in 20 years we'll figure it out from there because each arc is like a two to three year process almost in terms of just having to get it all out.
01:17:28
Speaker
Yeah, I'm sure that dude who plays Ace, I can't remember his name. Anytime Ace does new things in the show, I'm like, yo, I died like 10 years ago. Why am I still getting one? Travis Willingham waking up because he's got a film with some 1-0 lines after he died 10 years ago. Yeah, he's like, I didn't expect to be here, but hey, I'll take the paycheck.
01:17:47
Speaker
And we have to call Brandon to come be Shanks again. Hey, what's up, man? Hey, you're probably watching the show. Here you go. Let's go. We can make a whole movie that needs you to be here. What's up? Got a kid now. What? Yeah. OK, here you go. Child support the movie. John Gremion and John Swasey that are eventually going to be coming back in the anime, I think, hopefully. Yeah, they are. Yeah.
01:18:13
Speaker
We've already, you can't say that like it's not a spoiler when we talked to them about it. That's true. That's true. He said on this podcast to John how he feels and he's like, yeah, I'm internally grateful because I just want to be able to work more. I'm like, that makes sense. Jobs. Feels to pay, you know how it is. Yeah, the reoccurring always will get paid because we need you to come back every five years or so just to check how you're doing.
01:18:39
Speaker
Just to see, you know, Dr. Correa has voice actors. Who the fuck is that? Because you got to come back a lot.
01:18:47
Speaker
It's funny because it's like all of these recurring roles will always still be relevant in some way. Like no matter what, you will never lose relevancy as a one-piece character. Delflamingo, we're still checking in with him. Don't worry. Why? Don't worry about it. Call him back in, make him do his laugh session, send him home. Done. He'll be back. We don't know when, but you will be back. Wow. But yeah, so congratulations on being a straw hat now because it means you will have so much work to put in.
Gratitude and Personal Growth
01:19:15
Speaker
Yeah, I'll be around for a while and get to have just all the goofy lines. So it'll be great. And have roles in the end game. Wow. Yeah.
01:19:27
Speaker
Well, Kevin, this has been so much fun. And I would love to move into our final little segment of our show, which is our little gratitude exercise called boss battles and beach episodes. I know I mentioned this to you right before we started recording, and I would love to tack on this recording as an additional beach episode because you've been so fun to talk to. And just to hear your your professional opinion and experiences has been really cool and very eye opening.
01:19:56
Speaker
So, Parker, I am going to ask you if you'd like to share your boss battle first. Mine is, although my photo shoot yesterday was so fucking fun, we did have three people drop out, but that is what it is. It was still super fun to organize, and Gray, our photographers, are already starting to get photos back to us, which is a shock considering it was only 24, not even 24 hours after they got him back to us.
01:20:21
Speaker
Um, but I am not, I am not as young as I'm still 20 fucking three, but I feel like I am 70 years old. My body is not recovering from a two hour long photo shoot. Um, wasn't, I wasn't even wearing a hard costume. I was in a swimsuit and a heavy wig. So I was putting, um, that was it. But for some reason, I feel physically torn to shreds.
01:20:43
Speaker
Like, I don't know what the hell it was. We had to wake up at 6am so we could go to the grocery store and grab some last minute things and get makeup ready. And I had to do the stupid burn on Gavin's face because he was cracker. And so that took a little bit of time to do. And then the wig was a fucking nightmare and a half because we had to basically use four people to drag it on his head because once you glue things to the inside of a wig, it loses its elasticity because of the foam pieces.
01:21:09
Speaker
So it took three people having to gently corral it over his big head. Pain in the ass. Physically, I don't know what the hell happened, but I woke up feeling like I got the shit beaten out of me because of it. That's my boss battle, so I'm just trying to relax today because I'm so tired. It hurts so bad. Well, and you worked so hard on it. Nitro looks super good. Hello, we're recording. What is this? What are you doing? Vacuuming your hair mid-sentence. Are you vacuuming my hair? Don't worry about it.
01:21:38
Speaker
But yeah, that's my boss. I'm very tired. And there's lunchbox, the whole family's in here. Um, yeah, I'm tired, but
Balancing Creative and Personal Life
01:21:53
Speaker
I had to crunch all week basically because I couldn't mount this part of the wig without two other people because he has his two big spikes out and then the one on the top. The ones on the side were easy because I could just hold the wig open and push, but the one on the top, you have to have it fully expanded because of the way the net works on top. And so I couldn't basically do anything and I ran out of glue so I couldn't finish it last week like I wanted to. So basically all this week I've done is just working on this costume. So I'm very tired.
01:22:21
Speaker
I've been thrown down the stairs multiple times, but it's okay. We did it. You did it. We were proud of you. And your big long photo shoot looked so cute. Thank you. I'm excited to get the photos back. I wish that we had our group, but it is what it is. Circumstances are, it's fine. We're going to do it again with everyone else this time as we do the tea party shoot. So. Nice. Yay. More pudding.
01:22:48
Speaker
Anyways, who's next? Kevin, would you like to go next? Sure. Yeah, triumphs and things we have to overcome, right? Yeah, just anything that's like, it can be a minor annoyance. Like, you got a, I don't know, like a tiny parking ticket or whatever, or it could be something big. It's whatever you feel comfortable sharing anything that you are overcoming at the moment.
01:23:10
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, as an actor, we're always trying to overcome so many things that, hey, I want to work at this studio. How do I do that? Hey, I want to get this agency. How do I do that? So I'm always like fighting to improve my skills and stuff like that. But I'd say like one immediate thing I'm overcoming is just like time management, because there are some weeks where
01:23:29
Speaker
I do everything at once, all in one day. So that's tough. I'm the assistant director for the shows Tiny Senpai, My Tiny Senpai, and Ayaka at Crunchyroll. But like I said, I'm also the lead of Am I Actually the Strongest, which is also airing right now.
01:23:48
Speaker
So like there was a few weeks ago where the director for that show was gone for a week gone coincidentally during the started endpoints of the shows of Episodes like three of both of Ayaka and tiny senpai and there's also episode three of I'm strongest to record and so I was in the studio like basically ten to six Recording directing people for that shows, but I still had to record my own show and I couldn't do it during normal daytime hours So then some days I was doing like ten to six
01:24:18
Speaker
And then like seven to 10 at night recording my show so that we can hit the deadlines for all three of the shows. And that was, ooh, that was tiring. That was tough. So that definitely did knock the stuffing out of me for that like week, basically, that I was doing that to make sure we had everything done.
01:24:38
Speaker
That was something I do overcome, but I really enjoy what I do. And like sometimes, you know, just doing hard things is a part of my job and, but I have fun doing it. So it was good. And even though I was tired at the end of the day, while I was in the room doing it, I was laughing. I was having a good time. So that's something that, uh, that I'm happy and that honestly, it's.
01:25:00
Speaker
kind of both, you know, like a triumph and something I had to overcome just doing all those long hours, but also I was having a good time doing it. So it worked out too in the end of the day. Yeah, hard to get through, but rewarding once you do. Yeah, exactly. More like rewarding while I'm doing it, but when I get home, I die. It catches up with you in the end and you're sleeping for 12 hours and it's okay.
01:25:21
Speaker
Yup, it is, it is tough. I wear many hats and you know, I do what I can. I completely understand wearing too many damn hats. It's a lot. It is a lot, but you know. But we choose it as our jobs for some reason. It's so fun, it's so rewarding to wear 70 hats and then when you have the final product, it's like, yeah guys, 100% me, all of the hats. Yup, I did that, you know, like it's really great.
01:25:50
Speaker
similar vain boss battles for the both of us of just being dead as hell after doing too much. Yeah, I have several things that I do contract for like Crunchyroll or other studios. So I'm always struggling. Do I have these auditions done? Do I have this? Do I have that? You know, have I done these checks on this show? Am I, do I need to be directing tonight? You know, am I doing a day job right now? Like there's so many, so much, so much to do.
01:26:15
Speaker
Completely understandable. Damn. My boss battle is that we moved recently and we're still in the process of getting everything set up. So I am like halfway in between, like everything that we need is set up, but then everything that I want to be set up so it looks nice. And I like actually enjoy being around everything. It's not.
01:26:36
Speaker
So I'm just in the middle of like, yeah, my desk is set up, my sewing machine set up, everything's here, but I also still have boxes over here, so don't look at that. We'll get there eventually. Don't worry about that part. Don't pay no attention to the boxes on my right. It's fine. The ugly phase of everything being ready.
01:26:53
Speaker
Yes. My apartment is still in that phase simultaneously. We just barely hung up a mirror. It's behind my desk so you can't see it, but we finally got some little picture hanging nails. Trying to hang it up. We somehow managed to place it directly in between two studs. So when we tried to put one on the left, stud. Tried to put one on the right. Also a stud. So we had to completely move the walls because even though we used the stud finder before we measured any of these out, didn't pull it up at all.
01:27:23
Speaker
Yeah, cool. No, bad luck. So now it's on a completely different wall. Don't worry about it. I love the ugly phases of having to still be unpacking very much into living there. Yes. Hey, do you want to start? Oh, I can start with him. Yeah, go ahead. Go ahead. We'll do the reverse order back. My beach episode is that I even though I didn't get to shoot her yesterday because there was a rainstorm that moved in.
01:27:52
Speaker
There's a cosplay that I finished very, very quickly, and I am excited to shoot her either later this month or early September, but I finished Fishman Island Robin. I got the base outfit secondhand from another cosplayer, and then I hand plucked the lace front wig, which killed me, but it's done. I did it. I fabric painted the shoes, I got the perfect pair, and it's all secondhand except for the wig.
01:28:20
Speaker
And I'm very proud of being more like sustainable when cosplaying as well and not just like supporting all the fast fashion stuff. So that's my beach episode. I don't have fast turnarounds with cosplays ever. So I'm very happy that I got it figured out. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You can grab it. Just be insane. Be terminally insane. And it works out for you. So Kevin, what is your beach episode for the week?
Looking Forward to New Beginnings
01:28:50
Speaker
uh i guess for the week uh i don't know my uh best friend is like moving down here so i get to like have somebody that i can hang out with basically whenever i want they don't have a choice uh so that's gonna be definitely a triumph because i'm very socially anxious like i have friends out here but i don't want to bother people but this is somebody who know i can never bother so it's fine
01:29:17
Speaker
Oh, that's so exciting. Yeah. Every day is going to be a beach episode, whether they want it to be or not. Exactly. You get it. I'm losing that person because they're also a voice actor and costume designer. So they're moving to California to work. And so it's like, why are you leaving me? But it's OK. We're good.
01:29:38
Speaker
But good beach episode. I love having the safety friend. It's the introvert dream of like, I need to do this, but I don't want to ask anyone else. Let's go see a movie so I don't do it alone. Exactly. Everyone needs a safety friend. I'm glad yours is coming. That's so good. Yeah. It's been a while, long time coming.
01:29:57
Speaker
Noobs spoiled my beach episode pre recording, so I'm gonna slightly change it. Utah finally got an 85 C bakery, finally. And if anyone doesn't know, it's a Japanese, Chinese specific, like bakery. So now we have mostly Asian like
01:30:14
Speaker
Desserts and pastry is readily available. They have stupid hours But when you go on the weekend, you can still make it and get everything in time So I've just been going almost every week now on Saturdays or Sundays to go pick up mass pastries and just eating them throughout the week So all day yesterday after my photo shoot, I went to the bakery on the way driving our friend home Picked up hella bread came back played Pikmin until like 1 a.m And then fell asleep in a bread coma so bliss
01:30:42
Speaker
That's mine. Eating bread and playing Pikmin. Yay. Absolute bliss. Absolute bliss. Something about eating like a cream bun and then like a little slice of cake. Wow. Good photo shoot day. That's so good. That's my beach episode. It was just me recovering still. Wow. What's up?
Conclusion and Social Connections
01:31:02
Speaker
This has been such a fun episode, Kevin. Thank you for joining us. Is there anything that you would like to plug or share or anything you're working on that you can announce or talk about?
01:31:15
Speaker
Uh, yeah, sure. I mean, anybody can, who wants to keep up with my stuff can, uh, keep up with like my Insta or Twitter. I update Twitter more. I'm not calling it the other name. You can't make me. Uh, but, uh, yeah, uh, at Kevin D. Thelwell, um, basically everything, if I make new things, I'm going to use the same thing. Or, you know, if you can't find me, you know, whatever, check my website will have like a, a links to any other social media that I have, which is also Kevin D. Thelwell.com.
01:31:44
Speaker
Yeah, and check out, am I actually the strongest? That's airing right now. More like episode, I think four or three of the dub currently. Other shows you can check out, like I mentioned earlier, Girlfriend Girlfriend, season two of that show is coming out in October. Fingers crossed that we get to dub season two. So we'll see, that might be coming out soon. And yeah, it's all around, good times. Perfect. Nebula, where can we find you?
01:32:12
Speaker
If you can find me on Instagram and Twitter, because I'm not calling it the other name, at Nebula underscore Inky and Parker, where can they find you?
01:32:20
Speaker
I'm on Instagram at crown guard cosplay. I'm on Twitter as little light be no spaces. And you can find our show at patreon.com slash fandames pod. And on Instagram and Twitter at fandames pod. Thank you everyone for listening. Kevin, thank you for your time is very much appreciated. And it's lovely to talk to you. Same offer we send to everyone. If you ever want to come back, you have our email, just do it. We do not care. We will happily talk to you over and over again if you have the time.
01:32:47
Speaker
Yeah, well, I'll watch Blue Lock and then we'll all come back and gush about it for an episode. Wow. I'm going to watch Girlfriend, Girlfriend now. Put in the numbers so that we earned a plus go. But yeah, thank you for your time today. Everyone, thank you for listening. Thank you for letting us be snails in your ears at the sleepover. We will see you later. Bye.