Saboten Con is proud to announce cosplay guests Pikman Link, Vampy Bit Me, and Chris Tang who will attend this year. Saboten Con will be held from September 1st to 3rd at the Renaissance Glendale Hotel in Glendale, Arizona.
Widely known as Pikman Link, Li Kovacs is a cosplayer from Northern California and is scheduled to appear at Saboten Con 2012. Pikman Link’s most popular and personal favorite costumes are of Link from the “Legend of Zelda” series, which for years she has been trying to bring the character and the world of Hyrule to life. Since the age of 7, Pikmin Link has designed her own costumes. She even creates her own armor and weapons with some help from her father. Â As a model, Pikmin Link has an uncanny ability to convincingly perform as both male and female characters.
Pikman Link has made appearances on G4 TV, San Deigo Comic Con, and dozens of cosplay events all around the world. Currently, Pikmin Link attends Academy of Art University to earn her bachelors in 3D Game Design. Saboten attendees can look forward to some of the amazing costumes Pikman  has designed and many more. Her advice for future cospayers, “If you are first starting to cosplay pick something simple or within your skill level. Only you know what your level is.”
Making her first appearance to Saboten Con this year is cosplayer Linda Le aka Vampy Bit Me. Vampy is a renown Asian American cosplayer who is also a die-hard anime/video game/ comic geek. She has appeared at conventions like Fanime, San Diego Comic Con, and events around the world.
Born and raised in a small town in Oklahoma, Vampy and her three brothers spent a lot of time using their imaginations at home. As a child, she found herself surrounded by paint brushes and her Mom’s sewing machines. Vampy’s interest in costume design started when she was 12 or 13. Inspirations for her cosplay came from watching “Transformers”, “G.I. Joe”, “Rainbow Brite”, “He-Man”, and playing the NES. Later, she would move to sunny California with her family.
Heavily interested in fashion and the arts, Vampy Bit Me went to schooling in Japan, London, as well as furthering her education in styling in the states. She then collaborated with “Street Fighter HD Remix” Artist, Long Vo to create artwork and a comic for Udon Entertainment’s book. Soon after her love for toys became her lifestyle, with artistic collaborations with KusoVinyl, Sideshow Toy, Nakanari and other companies around the world trying to promote cosplay in a positive light. In interviews and on her blog, Vampy explains her cosplay style as having extremes. Â She explains, “Whether it be really evil, cute, high fashion or natural, I don’t think I have just one look. I guess it just depends on how I feel and my mood at the time”. As a cosplayer and avid video gamer, Vampy Bit Me can be described as “the girl who refuses to never stop dreaming”.
The “people’s champ” of cosplay and gaming returns to Saboten Con in 2012! “Christophe” Chris Tang is a convention favorite, well known for his multi-talented accomplishments as a cosplayer, video game designer, and competitive gaming champion.
With over 40 awards in costume competitions and appearances in magazines and on TV, his creations are often empowered with lights, moving wings, transformations, and other fun action features!.Favorites include, “Hero Suit” Barnaby Brooks Jr. from “Tiger & Bunny”, Battlized SPD Red Power Ranger, Transforming Autobot Smokescreen WRX, Gundam Epyon, Sportacus, Captain Commando, and Armored Cobra Commander.
Success in cosplay has cleverly hidden Chris’ career in the “real world” as an accomplished Senior Game Designer – having contributed to hit franchises such as “Street Fighter”, “Marvel Vs. Capcom”, “Resident Evil”, “Tetris”, and “Dance Dance Revolution”. Diverse talents have had him doing everything from gameplay, concepts, graphics, story and scriptwriting to voice directing and playing the role of Windrazor in the “Transformers Beast Wars Transmetals” video games. Currently he leads his project, code named “SHINEI” for Hitspark Games to be an inspiration to hard-core gamers and cosplayers alike.
When he’s not creating the future of video games, he helps keep the spirit of the classics alive as the yearly announcer for the Tetris World Championships. He has contributed to, and is featured in several gaming movies and film productions – including the award-winning “Ecstasy of Order: The Tetris Masters”, and can be seen in season 2 of HBO’s hit TV series “Entourage”. Christophe believes “we’ve all got Special Moves and Super Meters, and that with the right motivation, we can accomplish virtually anything we love doing!” In addition to gaming and cosplay programming, Christophe is especially looking forward to simply hanging out and having fun at Saboten Con with his fellow fans!
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About Saboten Con:
Saboten Con will be held on September 1st- 3rd at the Renaissance Glendale Hotel in Glendale, Arizona. This will be our 5th year as the largest Anime Convention in Arizona. Our goal is to build on all the amazing previous years with more exciting programming, more guests, and more things to do. For more information or register, visit:
www.sabotencon.com/index.php/guest/
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