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Fountain City Con set for this weekend in Johnson County

Kansas City-area voice actor Andy Barnett to appear
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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Comics and pop culture will take center stage during the two-day Fountain City Con this weekend in New Century, Kansas.

For the first time, the annual expo will feature a cosplay contest in which participants dress as characters from comics, video games, movies and more.

Voice actor Andy Barnett will be at the show both days. He voiced the character Rhinox in the cartoon series "Transformers War for Cybertron Kingdom."

Barnett also narrated "Dino Hunters" on Discovery and was in a "Saturday Night Live" skit. The Lawrence, Kansas, based actor said he’s living out his childhood dream as a voice actor.

“On the playground (as a child), I was always pretending to be different villains and superheroes and stuff like that," Barnett said. "I grew up watching Mel Blanc do all the great stuff on 'Looney Tunes' and mimicking that. Now, I get to do it for a career."

Barnett — who records at Westend Recording Studio in Kansas City, Kansas — said it takes a lot of practice to harness the power of a "Transformer" in just his voice.

“I had to kind of work with my body and get in these stances, get this deeper, guttural voice a little bit and think of myself as this massive machine stomping around," Barnett said. "It was a lot of fun."

This weekend, he’s looking forward to meeting fans of the "Transformers" cartoon and showing off his voices at the event.

Fountain City Con takes place Saturday and Sunday at the New Century Fieldhouse, 551 New Century Parkway.

Tickets are $20 for adults for the entire weekend and parking is free. Kids 12 and under get in free with the donation of a non-perishable food item.