by G. Moritz, Editor
On Saturday, July 9th I participated in a fun and special event in Sioux Falls. Voices Against Cancer is hoped to be a new annual event to raise money to fight childhood cancer. This year’s event was held at the Washington Pavilion of Arts and Science. Voices Against Cancer partnered with the fundraising’s main recipient of the funds, the St. Baldrick’s Foundation.
Behind the scenes, and walking across the floor both as volunteers and costumed cosplayers, were the 501st Stormtrooper Legion. The 501st is a charity organization of Lucasfilm-supported cosplayers who volunteer their time with the goal of raising money and making people happy.
Kory Willard of Sioux Falls and originally of Colton, SD is their elected commander. He and I are old friends, back from our college days. When he asked for volunteers to help with the event I happily said yes.
“The 621st Detention Squad of the 501st Legion was honored to help the Voices Against Cancer Initiative July 9th, 2022,” said Willard. “We were blessed to have the support of our brothers and sisters of the five state Central Garrison, of which we are a part, bolstering our ranks. As Squad Leader, I was thrilled to induct Wally Wingert and Frank Welker into the ranks of the 501st as Honorary Members. It was a privilege and great honor.
“This event is unique for its celebrity guests, the volunteers, and its founders,” he said. “It's not about the name of the venue, or the people that got it off the ground. It's not about us. It's about the cause. The *why* comes first. That is why I'm happy to advocate for this initiative and work hard for it.
“Children should never have to go to battle against something like cancer,” he said. “But our hard work in finding like-minded celebrity guests and bringing the five-state region to them to help raise funds to develop safe treatments is important. It ensures that these and future children know that they aren't going into that fight alone. We're working hard to not only fight alongside them, but to give them the tools to win the battle. This is just the beginning.”
There were some big names at the event, including Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad & The Mandalorian) and Emily Swallow (Supernatural & the Mandalorian). Anybody who knows anything about the Transformers TV shows and films, or has seen animation of any kind in the last 50 years will know or will recognize the voices of Frank Welker and Peter Cullen.
There were three squads of volunteers, Blue Squadron, Red Squadron and Gold Squadron. I was put on Red Squadron, and anybody who knows me will know how appropriate that is. I went to the second floor of the Pavilion and the two celebrity guests I hung out with most were Phil LaMarr and David Sobolov.
I spent less time with Mr. LaMarr, so I’ll talk about him first. He was an absolute laugh riot. I remember watching him on Mad TV with my little brother way back when, and he really was the funniest guy on that show. Some may remember him as Martin in Pulp Fiction or Hermes in Futruma. He was the lead in Samurai Jack, and the voice of Green Lantern and Jedi Master Kit Fisto just to name a few. I got a high five from Phil, and he told us a few great stories.
First, he confirmed that in fact, there is more Futurama on the way, they are recording it actively. He also told us about his experience with Star Wars, specifically the Mandalorian. Back when it was just a script and an animatic presentation, show producer Dave Filoni called him to do some voice acting and narration for the first three episodes. This was so that he and Faverau could have something to show the executives at Disney when they made their budget proposal to get the Mandalorian funded. So, Phil LaMarr got to read and do voice work for the scripts from the first 3 episodes of that now world-famous series before anybody knew about it. It was both an awesome and difficult secret to keep.
Most of my time however, I spent with David Sobolov. I’d heard his name before, but I honestly didn’t know that much about him before we met. I could tell though, right away, that he was a class act.
From his IMDB page: David Sobolov is the voice of Gorilla Grodd on The CW Network drama The Flash, Volibear in League of Legends for Riot Games, Blitzwing in the Paramount feature Bumblebee, The Centurion in the Fox feature Alita: Battle Angel, and Drax in Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy animated series. You can hear David as the voice of Black Knight Garridan in Fortnite, as well as Black Bishop in Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Experience for LucasArts. He's the voice of Shockwave on Transformers Prime, Upgrade and Vin Ethanol on Ben 10, Dr. Fate in Injustice 2, The Arbiter in Halo Wars, and Lobo in Young Justice from Warner Brothers Animation.
David was the voice of Depth Charge on the classic Beast Wars Transformers series, Tatsurion the Unchained (aka Bob) on Kaijudo, Lt. Vasquez in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Jul M'dama in Halo 4, Dr. Garret Bryson in Mass Effect 3, Robocop in Robocop Alpha Commando, Lord Tyger on Spider-Man Unlimited, and Spookie Jar on Sabrina: The Animated Series.
His face and voice were featured in the on-camera performance capture role of Rios in Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel for EA, and in the feature film Sparks. You'll hear David speaking German in the first Call of Duty game, and Klingon in Star Trek Into Darkness.
David studied acting with the legendary Sanford Meisner and Richard Pinter at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York.
“I sorta fell into voice acting,” he said to me and the other members of Red Squad gathered about, when he was asked how he got into the work. “They saw me on stage and liked my voice and so I got a call, and so here I am, thirty years later still doing it.”
Dave has a deep and vibrant bass. I thought of Tennessee Ernie Ford, and yes that does make me weird and archaic. What I thought about Dave is how much I’d like to sing in a quartet with him. I used to be a pretty fair tenor in my time, and I’d bet he’d just kill a piece of music with that bold basso voice of his. When he spoke, he commanded your attention. Both the traveling emcee for the event and the fella from Sunny Radio got great audio from Dave. The other thing about Dave, was that he’s the sort of fella you’d like to have a cold beer or a chilled bourbon with on a sultry day like that Saturday, with good conversation and easy feeling.
What was most satisfying to watch was the kids. Shockwave, the Decepticon is one of his characters. One youngster who won one of the silent auction items, a limited-edition Shockwave, came up to meet him for the second time that day and was jubilant. The kid was so proud and happy, and unprompted, Dave went up to sign it to “give that much more value to the long-term investment.” With this young fella, and with multiple fans thought-out the day, he’d take them aside, his face would shift and he’d cover his ears to drown out the background sound, and he and fans would close their eyes and the characters they loved would come to life in their ears. Kids, shy and timid would approach, and go away with smiles as wide as the corridor.
“It takes so little to make people happy, and it’s worth doing every time,” Sobolov said. “It’s why I come to cons like this and do what I do, to make people happy. For something like this especially, raising money for kids fighting cancer, I will never say no to that, not ever, and I’ll come back again anytime you want me.”
As the day drew to a close, I got a nice group photo of all the celebrity guests and we called it a day. As of press time we don’t have a final tally for the funds raised this year, but it was pretty clear that we had a very successful day.
