My Experience at MadEX 2024

Earlier this month, I attended the first MadEX convention at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison, WI. While I was unable to schedule any one-on-one interviews, I did attend several panels and wanted to share some information:

Saturday, September 14^th

So You Want to Be a Pro Cosplayer?

As someone who’s been dabbling in cosplay recently (even if I have no plans to do it as a job), this was a panel I definitely wanted to see. All three panelists brought impressive costumes, and did a great job talking about their work and answering questions from the audience. One panelist (rightmost in the picture) had a particularly interesting story where they had used cosplay as an activity at the VA hospital in their area (the panelist was a veteran themselves) to help returning soldiers re-adjust to civilian life.

Mike McFarland

One Piece Q&A

While this was a panel primarily about One Piece, one of the panelists happened to be Mike McFarland, who had a few small roles in the Pokémon anime. During the Q&A portion (FYI, I generally tried to make sure I was towards the back of the line on these sessions so fans of the series could get their questions in first), I was able to ask him how the Pokémon roles came about, and it basically ended up being a case of being in the right place at the right time.

Ray Chase

X-Men ’97 Showcase

Another panel covering a hot show, this one featured Ray Chase, best known as Professor Cerise in Journeys. As it turns out, there was actually some overlap between his work on the two series, owing in part to Pokémon being a dub and X-Men being a pre-lay. The bulk of the panel was, of course, a discussion of the hit streaming series, and it was great to hear about the VAs experiences with the X-Men franchise and working on the show.

Sunday, September 15^th

Elizabeth Maxwell

How to Become a Hero

This My Hero Academia panel featured Elizabeth Maxwell, who dedicated Masters EX fans will recognize as the voice of Dana. I asked her about the role, and she mentioned how it was interesting to play a character with both an acting and non-acting side. She also implied some things were under NDA, suggesting this might not be her only character in the game, or that Dana might be featured in some future events. Regardless, it was good to hear about the ongoing production of MHA.

Robbie Daymond

LAVA: Loud, Annoying, and Very Annoying

This panel was primarily focused on some outrageously funny improv, but it did also have a Q&A portion, which gave me the opportunity to ask panelist Robbie Daymond about voicing Professor Willow in various Go-related media. He didn’t have a ton to say about it, other than he enjoyed the opportunity. At the very least, I expect it was more fun than when he was forced to hold water in his mouth while the other panelists tried to make him laugh.

Cosplay:

As usual, there was a variety of cosplay outfits on display at the event, as well as a cosplay contest for each day. Compliments to the many great attendees who put in the work to put them together!

Other Thoughts:

-I really enjoyed the panels that I went to this weekend (and I missed a few due to conflicts). There were some absolutely wonderful stories, including a voice actor who did some of their work from the hospital where a family member was a patient during the pandemic.
-The shopping was a bit limited, in part due to the size of the venue, and given that next year’s event is planned for August 2025, I hope they can attract/accommodate more vendors.
-Having some sort of dedicated open gaming area would be nice, even though there was a designated tournament area.

A press pass was provided for this event.