This was my first time at PMX and even though I was only there for a few hours on Sunday, November 13, 2011 at the Hilton LAX.  I had a blast.  I got to meet a couple of ladies I had never met before.  Plus Christina Vee showed up in an adorable anime outfit and was the first to ask us our panel a question.

The panel included Petrea Burchard who played Ryoko in the Series, Sherry Lynn who played Sasami and Tsunami, Ellen Gerstal, the original Mihoshi and me, who also played Mihoshi.    I had never met Petrea or Ellen but have worked with Sherry  many times.   Here we all are below at our autograph session.  We had a full house at our panel and a long line for autographs.

It’s always weird when you replace a voice, not to mention awkward, but, hey it happens.    I’ve had my voice replaced as well.  I had done a version of Rorouni Kenshin as Kaouru (Cory)  (called Samurai X) and was replaced in the Bang Zoom version by Dorothy Fahn.  I ended up playing another role on the newer version and wrote scripts for both.

I am sorry I missed the Roast of Richard Epcar which took place on Friday night.  I heard it was pretty funny with roasters including Michael Sorich (always a crazy hoot) Steve Kramer, Mike Reynolds, Ellyn Stern, Mike McConnahie and Paul St. Peter.

While I was there I saw Stephanie Sheh working her We Heart Japan table and she told me she got a nice amount of donations.  To donate to the cause please go to http://www.weheartjapan.com/

Our panel was asked the usual questions that we couldn’t answer such as

“Can you do a line from the series in your character voice?”  

We cold read our lines from a script so unless we are like Marilu Henner, once it leaves our lips our brains zap the memory into oblivion.

Amanda Badillo was our adorable escort through the convention halls.  Here we all are with Amanda and Christina Vee:

Oh, I wish I could wear a cute skirt like that again!

A couple of us were very grateful for the Chinese Food and wine served in the green room.  I hear I will be receiving a video of our panel.  If I get it I will make sure to post it.

See you at the next one.  I’m open for invitations if I’m available to come as a guest.  Contact me HERE.

I have to admit.  Sometimes I feel like I have multiple personalities.  Back in the 80′s when we were working on tons of weird Japanese animation projects, we didn’t have a contract with the union.  It wasn’t until Robotech came along that we realized that maybe we should protect ourselves and most of us came up with fake names.  Mine was Reba West.  For some reason it stuck.  Just last week I attended a screening for a documentary we made at Harmony Gold as a tribute to Carl Macek, the brains behind Robotech.  I was credited as Reba West and signed some autographs with that name.

I always feel kind of funny doing that because it’s not my real name.  Rebecca Forstadt is my true moniker.  Reba is derived from Rebecca and West was the name my grandmother used when she was a headliner in vaudeville in the 1920′s.  (Mirium West)  She was 16 at the time.

After we were able to create a decent contract, I went back to Rebecca Forstadt.  Unfortunately, our contract hasn’t changed much in the last 25 years, so it’s not as decent as it was back then.  It’s odd because dubbing requires much more technical skill than doing original animation.  We are hoping to up the ante, but it doesn’t look good considering that anime projects are not making the billions they used to when Haim Saban got rich doing Power Rangers.   (which I also worked on)  He did honor our contract though and I have to say, those were the good old days.   Internet downloading has taken it’s toll on the industry in general but especially with dubbing work.

That’s OK though.  Life goes on.  I think at the next anime convention I attend I will have to have a T shirt made saying “My name really isn’t Reba West.”  (Sounds kind of like a country singer to me. . . LOL)

Thank you to all the fans who came out for the documentary screening.  It was lots of fun, the food was excellent and it was great to see everyone all dressed up.   Here’s a picture a fan took and put on Facebook.

Darn, where is photo shop when you need it?

I apologize that I haven’t written in my voice over  actor blog for a while.  I have been writing and working on a ton of blogs.  Not all mine.  I discovered the geek in me and now help others install and configure their WordPress blogs.   I was also out of town for about 6 weeks in Rhode Island taking care of parents.  But now I’m back and looking to get connected again.  I’m still coming up high in Google under anime voice actor thanks to all of you out there.

I am hoping that with the terrible tragedy that happened in Japan, that the anime industry will be able to come back.  I’m so glad my son, who was stationed in Okinawa left right before it all happened.  A day before he left there was a category 4 typhoon.  The area of the world does not have it easy.  My daughter had also been there to visit and spent a week in Tokyo.  Pheww!

Whatever happens I know a bunch of you out there have dreams about becoming a voice actor.  I’d love to take any questions you may have about voice acting and answer them for you.  Leave your questions in the comment section and I will get back to you asap.  Let me know what you want to know about.

I’d also be happy to autograph stuff for you.  Check out the donation box in the sidebar.  Cover the costs of shipping and I will send your stuff back to you.  Or, go to my autograph page.

I checked my Rebecca Forstadt Voice Actor Fan page yesterday on Facebook and a fan had made a pretty cool Robotech video.  Check it out.  Jason writes

For all the Robotech fans, This is my resolution to the question of “where is the SDF2?” I made many composites, new scenes and an enriched sound fx bed. Dedicated in memory of Carl Macek.

Lisa launches SDF2 from jaesonk on Vimeo.

The other day I did an interview on the Dennis Daniel Show.  It was a real hoot.  Apparently his last interview was with Henry Winkler, (The Fonz) from Happy Days.  He has a great podcast that you can listen to via Itunes.  I hope you enjoy it.  It is all about my voice acting career.  We originally met at Sugoi Con several years ago.

The Dennis Daniel Show