Saboten Con is coming up once again, and they have been announcing an impressive guest list. The con runs September 4th through the 7th, having moved to the downtown Sheraton. That means bigger and better things, and they have started off with their guests. The guests will of course be hosting panels and events, those of which will be announced at a later date. But, why don’t we get to the guests! One of the most important parts of the con!
Tony Oliver, voice of Rick Hunter, has been busy since he first recorded for Robtech. Tony was named one of IMDB’s top 20 anime voice actors, quite a feat! Tony’s career has spanned over 25 years, doing things from films to on stage performances, but he really found his niche as a voice actor. Tony also enjoys writing, and has added that to his repertoire of skills. In 1988 he joined Saban Entertainment as a writer and editor and even produced an award-winning version of the “Jungle Book”. Tony was even asked to help create a new kid’s television show, which turned out to be the iconic “The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” that is pretty awesome to say the last.
Cam Clarke, voice of Maximilian “Max” Sterling, began his career in 1965 in a show called “The King Family Show” as just a child. In the early 80s Cam really started to begin his voice acting, he even landed a role in one of the most beloved cartoons of the 80s, “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”, as the voice of Leonardo. From there Cam was voicing some of the biggest voices in cartoon, such as Der Fledermaus in “The Tick”, and He-Man in “He-Man: Masters of the Universe”. As for his anime work, it is equally impressive, he voiced Keneda in “Akira”, one of the best anime films to come out. He has also done video game work, like the voice of Liquid Snake in “Metal Gear Solid” and Blood Elf in “World of Warcraft”.
Dan Woren, voice of Roy Fokker, has been voice acting for nearly two decades. He has not only done anime voice work, but also does readings for audio books, having recorded over 70 books. He recorded his voice for a book based on “Minecraft” and “Escape to the Overworld”. As for his anime voice work, that is also a long and extensive list. He has voiced Byakuya Kuchiki in “Bleach”, Haruya in “Durararax2”, Jigen in “Lupin the III”, Zorthy Kanai in “Gurren Lagann”, and many more! His work has spanned years and genres, and continues to be impressive.
Rebecca Forstadt, voice of Lynn Minmei, has been voice acting in Los Angles for 35 years and has done everything from film to commercials to video games; honestly, she is a jack of all trades. Her anime work is rather extensive, voicing Maya from “Captain Harlock”, Tima in “Metropolis”, Sugar in “Snow Fairy Sugar”, Mihoshi in “Tenchi Muyo”, Tachikoma in “Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex”, Primera in “Magic Knight Rayearth”, plus many more. She has also done work in American cartoon shows, like for shows “Hey Arnold”, “My Little Pony”, “Dilbert”, and the “Mr. Men Show”.
Richard Epcar, voice of Ben Dixon, has a huge portfolio of work, having voiced over 400 characters throughout anime, video games, and cartoons. He is best known for a few pieces you might all be familiar with such as Batou in “Ghost in the Shell”, the Joker in several games, including “Injustice: Gods Among Us”, and Ansem in “Kingdom Hearts”. Of course he has done much more than that, even being named one of IMDB’s best anime voice actors. He has voiced for animes including: “Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure”,” Blood Lad”,” Lupin the III”, “Monster”, “Naruto”,” Bleach”,” Gundam”, “Cyber Soldier 009”, “GTO”, and many more. His list of video game works are also quite impressive, including “Mortal Kombat” as Raiden, “Final Fantasy” as Gaius, “Infinite Crisis” as the Joker, and many more. Richard has also voice directed many shows including: “Ghost in the Shell 2”, “Robotech”, “Lupin the III”, “Old Boy”, and that is just naming a few.
Melanie MacQueen, voice of Lisa Hayes, has been acting, directing, writing, and teaching for over 30 years, she was even one of the founding members of The Theatre of Note. She has done a number of theatrical performances, even winning Best Performance Dramalogue Award, as Annie Sullivan in “The Miracle Worker”. She has also worked as a playwright, which she won an award for “In the Name of God: or Honk if You Love Satire”, sold out shows. She has done Off-Broadway productions and has made plenty of programs for kids and adult education programs. Besides voice acting, she has appeared on shows like the “Kroll Show”. MacQueen has even done radio plays, and done work for the Virginia Lottery as a spokeswoman for 23 years.
Tommy Yune, who created Robotech.com for its launch in 2001, has worked for over a decade in comic book and video games. He has done character design of the pioneering 3D fighting game FX-Fighter for Nintendo. He also did conceptual design of the award-winning Journeyman Project Series. He wrote and illustrated comic books like “Speed Racer”, “Racer X”, “Robotech”, and “Danger Girl” for DC Comics. Tommy first worked for Robtech by creating Robtech.com in 2001, and has even directed “Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles”.
Ellyn Stern, is a professionally trained voice actress, writer, and director. Her first experience with anime voice acting was for the classic “Robotech”, where she played a slew of different characters. Along with her voice acting in “Robotech”, she has played Haraway in “Ghost in the Shell 2”, Moru in “Vampire Princess Miyu”, Ichigo’s mother in “Bleach”, and many more! Currently she is working on two different Disney shows. She is also featured in “Wrinkles” starring Martin Sheen and Matthew Bodine.
Kazha, is a rock band from Japan created by singer and songwriter, Kazuha Oda. Before forming her band, she worked as a solo performer, even working with Grammy winner Bob James from Fourplay. Kazha has an eclectic sense of music, having dabbled in everything from classic music to heavy metal. Kazha was recently sponsored by Royal Studios in Memphis, the same studio who produced “Uptown Funk”. The band continues to travel cons and festivals around the world. This will be Kazha’s 5th year at Saboten Con.
Kanako Ito, Coming from Utsunomiya Tochigi Japan, has done work for numerous anime and video games. She has even done songs for a drama CD and anime versions of “School Days”. Her list of work is impressive and long, having done music for “Cyber Slayer”, “Steins Gate”, “Please Twins!”, and many more! Kanako even has song in French for her song “DD” on her album, “A Wish for the Stars”.
So, do yourself a favor and come down to Saboten Con this year! As you can see, they are going to have some amazing guests, and some amazing panels and concerts as well!
Get your passes while they last!
