Exploring Central Florida Comic Con ‘26

This year’s CFCC pays homage to 80s and 90s ninja pop culture with voice actors from Naruto and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Day 2 of Central Florida Comic Con 2026, with the voice cast from the original 80s TMNT cartoon series.

Day 1

Central Florida Comic Con is the one reason I look forward to January every year. This year’s CFCC was pretty chill but incredibly enjoyable. I liked how it was chill this year because I had time to decompress between visiting panels and checking out the vendors. This year’s CFCC made it a 2-day event again, down from three days.

I believe CFCC made last year’s event a 3-day event because they probably anticipated high turnout, since that day was supposed to be an early release day. Still, it got a full day because of Hurricane Milton in October 2024.

Last year’s CFCC was a marathon because of the insane number of guests, which meant so many panels. But I’m NOT complaining because I got to meet Michael Yurchek, Michelle Ruff, Dante Basco, Emily Swallow, Mick Foley, and a lot of other awesome guests.

This year, CFCC showed its love to all the 80s (I’m an 80s child!) and 90s children with the lineup of special guests. It further showed love to those who love ninja culture, too!

I didn’t pay attention to the panel schedule because I assumed it would be posted past the front entrance. In my DEFENSE, though, I was sleepy because I got home late after watching Tony ‘n Tina’s Wedding the previous night, which I also had two full helpings of pasta (which was part of the show experience).

I go into the main hall where the panels take place and catch the last 15 minutes of Daman Mills' panel.

I wasn’t paying attention, my bad!

I caught enough of Daman’s panel where he talked about his jobs as a voice actor and dubbing director for multiple works. He also advised on getting into the voice acting industry, too. For those who don’t know, Daman took over the voice of Frieza in Dragon Ball Super after the death of Christopher Ayres.

Daman talked about juggling multiple jobs in the industry.

Then I had an hour to walk back and forth between the rooms, checking out the vendors, and I took my chance to get a selfie with voice actor Cam Clarke. Clarke is the main reason I wanted to attend this year’s Central Florida Comic Con. Clarke is known for many roles, such as Leonardo in the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series in the late 80s and going into the mid-90s.

I particularly remember him as the voice of Liquid Snake, Solid Snake’s long-lost and estranged twin brother, from Metal Gear Solid. When I got my selfie with him, Clarke did his famous “Snaaake!” rant.

I had a bit of fun and brought up the Jake Paul and Anthony Joshua fight on Netflix. Cam doesn’t follow Boxing and one of the CFCC volunteers had to give the details of the fight. I asked how it would play out if Liquid Snake and Solid Snake watched the fight, then Cam spoke in his Liquid Snake voice and told Snake to change the channel.

I returned to the panel room an hour later for the next event, a Naruto trivia show where audience members are chosen to team up with voice actors from Naruto and Naruto Shippuden who were at this year’s event.

Cast of Naruto and Naruto Shippuden.

The game was hosted by the voice actor of Shikamaru, and the team leaders were the voice actors of Rock Lee, Asuma Sarutobi, and Madara Uchiha. This game trivia was a major example of this year’s CFCC catering to ninja fandoms. I’m reminded of the improv show held by some of the voice actors at CFCC 2024.

I walked around some more and ran into a couple of acquaintances on the con & festival trail, which we talked about WasabiCon and Florida Polycon, which are respectively held in Jacksonville and Lakeland. I inquired about WasabiCon’s fate because I learned at BartowCon 2025 that the convention (WasabiCon) was on its way out. After all, one of the convention’s photographers did an upskirt shot of the cosplay contest winner, a minor, put it on the website, and the people in charge REFUSED to take it down.

While I was catching up, one acquaintance mentioned that WasabiCon got heavily boycotted.

You royally f–k at a major event like WasabiCon, the rest of the community WILL know about it!

I continued walking the floor again and met retired professional wrestler Glacier, whom I knew back in his WCW days. I remembered watching Glacier on WCW with his Sub-Zero-inspired motif, when Sub-Zero unmasked himself in Mortal Kombat 3, and knocking one opponent down after another with his awesome kicks. We talked briefly about martial arts, and Glacier told me that his background was in Kung-Fu. He took Judo during his college football days to improve his balance.

Then I showed my surgical scar from the arm injury during Judo class many years ago, which made him wince.

When a professional wrestler winces at your surgical scar, you know the injury’s bad.

Mick Foley and Danhausen winced at the scar when I met them at CFCC 2025.

I also got the chance to catch up with Steven Cardenas, who played Rocky Santos, the second Red Ranger in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.

I bought an action figure of Prince Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender, whom I’m going to use with my Major Dutch Schaefer and Linn Kurosawa figures from Aliens vs. Predator for a future stop motion series.

The final event I attended for the day was an anime bingo event hosted by professional wrestler and cosplayer Mikal Mosley, whom I met at the previous CFCC. Because of my ego, I like to one-up my opponents by being specific about songs. Mikal played the opening theme for Ghost In The Shell, which I was compelled to show off by adding that it was from Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex — 2nd GIG.

After the panel, I walked around a little bit more until the day ended. I decided not to watch the wrestling match later that night because I’d be sleepy. I originally thought I’d come home early enough, but I was wrong, as other things waited for me that night.

I also asked Shikamaru’s voice actor how Shikamaru would respond to the Jake Paul fight. In Shikamaru’s voice, he rhetorically asked why Joshua couldn’t have broken Paul’s jaw in a couple more places.

It was a priceless answer.

Ended up buying an action figure of Prince Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Day 2

Like it was on Day 1, Day 2 was chill.

I walked around to kill time before I attended the first panel of the day, Steven Cardenas, who talked about selling all of his martial art schools so he could focus on other things. I walked around the venue for another hour until the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles panel. Rob Paulson, who voiced Raphael, couldn’t make it.

I attended the panel for one reason: Cam Clarke.

It was a sobering panel as the guests talked about what happens when you’re in the industry and get older. It takes longer and becomes physically tiring to do the same voice because the body gets older. This reflects on how many people lighten up their physical routines when they get older.

Clarke said that if he did one voice at a certain pitch, he needed to take a break afterward.

Age catches up with everyone. This is one reason many try to break into an industry at a younger age, because it means they can stay longer. I managed to get a question in, but I began by saying, “Hello, Liquid.”

Clarke played along and responded with, “Snaaaaaaaaaaake!”

My question focused on what collaborations they thought were interesting or weird. I wanted to ask a Jake Paul vs. Anthony Joshua-related question, but I don’t think any of the guests would’ve gotten the reference.

It was a great panel.

After the panel ended, I had more time to walk the venue, and I bought an action figure of Uryu Ishida from Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War from McFarlane Toys. I wanted to kick myself for not buying the Hawkeye figure I saw in one of the bins because it would’ve been a good addition to my collection of figures.

As Day 2 wound down, I attended one final panel.

The panel was participatory, where audience members built a story universe. We started simple with a society of those who could use magic and those who couldn’t, where the latter got persecuted. Further universe-building got political, where we talked about the military and the church.

It was fun overall, a great way to close out Day 2.

This year’s CFCC is nice because I had time to walk around the venue without rushing. I enjoyed last year’s CFCC, but damn, there were so many panels to attend. Anywho, I look forward to what CFCC 2027 has to offer.