Regarding the actor-texture, how is the image being applied in Blender? And are you using YABEE to export the model, or something else?
Are you perhaps applying your texture via Blender’s “UV/Image Editor”? (As opposed to applying it via a material that is in turn applied to the model.) If so, and if you’re using YABEE, then that may be the problem: I don’t think that YABEE (in recent versions) exports textures applied via the “UV/Image Editor”.
As to the object being oriented backwards, I know that I’ve ended up modelling objects “backwards” myself.
I think that, when viewed from Blender’s “front” perspective, the model should be pointing “away” from you–that is, showing its back to you. This orients it such that it’s facing along its positive y-axis, which I think is generally the “forward” direction in Panda. I may be mistaken, however!