Guests
Aaron Dismuke
Aaron Dismuke is an American Texan voice actor working primarily through Funimation Entertainment. You've (possibly) heard him as Sakaeguchi in Big Windup, Leon in Black Cat, Charlie in Burst Angel, Hiro Sohma in Fruits Basket, Izuna in Linebarrels of Iron, Chika in Ouran Host Club, Ion Fortuna in Trinity Blood, Ouri in Shikabane Hime, Shura in YuYu Hakusho, Yoh in Dead Man Wonderland, Young Van Hohenheim in Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood, and Alphonse Elric in Full Metal Alchemist. His favorite anime that he isn't in, is Deathnote. He runs Ness in Super Smash Bros, likes cats for their aloofness, and is excited to be a guest this year at Ikasucon!
Eric Stuart
As a singer/songwriter, Eric Stuart has toured the country with such rock legends as Peter Frampton, Ringo Starr, and Lynyrd Skynyrd. He's also opened for such acts as Jethro Tull, Julian Cope, Hall and Oates, and Chicago. All this while continuing a successful voice acting/directing career, starring in hit shows including Pokemon (original Brock & James), Yu-Gi-Oh! (Seto Kaiba), Viva Pinata, Ultimate Muscle (DikDik Van Dik, Mac Metaphor,), Dinosaur King (Dr. Z), Kirby (Metaknight), Slayers (Gourry), Chaotic, Sonic X, TMNT (Gen, Yoshi), GoGoRiki, G.I. Joe Sigma 6 (Hi-Tech), in addition to voicing many national radio and TV commercials and audiobook narrations. The author J.R. Rain has tapped Eric to be his go-to voice to record all of his audiobooks. Eric has just finished recording 'Teeth: A Vampire For Hire Story' and is working on a trilogy about a modern day King Arthur. All available elusively on Audible.com
Eric is currently developing a new cartoon series as both director and actor as well as a full-length animated feature.
The Eric Stuart Band will be releasing their 7th full-length album entitled 'Lipstick And Barbed Wire' early 2013 (where Frampton makes a special guest guitar appearance on the song 'Justified'). You can find the Eric Stuart Band music on many sites including iTunes as well as on www.ericstuart.com.
James Hatton
James Hatton is the creator of many webcomic creations over the last decade. He started with a couple of comics about people working in the comic-store industry, Nowhere Fast and Silver Rage, and changed the way people see the world with This Day In Alt-History. His most cherished creation though is the long-running minimalist comic about the Gods and how they view us (obviously through mockery and sarcasm) is In His Likeness (inhislikeness.com). Along the way he has become an accomplished stage comedian, hosting for some of the biggest burlesque troupes on the east coast, a freelance writer, and abuses social media for personal gain. One day he'll be the supervillain he has always dreamed of, and he's hoping you'll happily be one of his minions.
The Budget Cuts
Ty Jero is a nerdcore comedian and writer from the Cincinnati area. He has been featured in several successful podcasts including 'Corpse Cast Radio', 'It's All Been Done', and will be hosting a new podcast soon with The Rancho Relaxo Duo. He also wrote for the webcomic 'Minimum Requirements'. He can usually be seen around various comic conventions in the Midwest area and doing stand-up for Nerdcore shows.
Josh Griffin is a wildly popular internet phenomenon. He was once recognized in a mall! His character, Hector, has appeared at cons all over the Mid-West. Former member of the comedy duo Grimace. He created the little known (and seldom seen) comic, "Scotch." He has also hosted events from the West coast, all the way to the East coast. Together they form The Budget Cuts. A comedy duo focused on bringing top notch entertainment to the web and specialty events/conventions.
Abracadabra Productions
Abracadabra is a J and K-Pop dance cover group that got their start back in the summer of 2011 as the performing group "Camera Shy." Then in November they changed their name to Abracadabra and entered the Perfume City Dance Choreography Competition. After they were announced the winners, they decided to begin performing at Anime Conventions again. The members' ages range from 15 to 21, and their dancing ability from beginner dancers to Irish Dance World Champion Competitors. Their previous performances at conventions and dance covers can be viewed at www.youtube.com/abracadabraproteam, and their Facebook page can be viewed at www.facebook.com/abracadabraproteam.
Cosplayer Nation
Cosplayer Nation is a globetrotting documentary on American cosplayers. Joshua Adams, an internet radio DJ on Cyberstationusa.com and filmmaker Uke Li, collaborated in December 2010.
And so the journey began at a cosplay ice skating event in Boston...
Since then, they have crusaded from Puerto Rico to Hawaii and many American landscapes, capturing the stories & scenes of cosplayers. Their videos range from cosplayers extraordinaire like Meagan Marie to Project Runway's Malan Breton: and perhaps one of your friends!
Their project has gathered 3000+ followers on Facebook [www.facebook.com/Cosplay.Nation] and 2000+ subscribers on YouTube [www.youtube.com/CosplayerNationTV].
From over 100 cosplayer interviews, Mr. Adams and Mr. Li has much knowledge to share from cosplay-making, cosplay videography, and travel advice for the curious cosplayer. This is their first time to Fort Wayne, IN and they declare this: ONWARDS COSPLAYERS TO IKASUCON!
Rick Henry
Ricky Henry, also known as Babyface Glasses, is a chiptune artist, manga artist and writer, retro game designer and full-time animator for the CBS affiliate in Cincinnati, Ohio. Since he was able to pick up a pencil (or crayon rather) Ricky has always had his hand in something creative. An art school graduate, his first creative endeavors were in television and film, and later manga and 8-bit music. He has published 2 volumes of his manga series, MMSBC: Monster Management Security Bureau of Cincinnati (which spawned it's owned Atari 2600 game!) and a children's book, Monster Wrestler. Before landing a full-time job as an animator for the Cincinnati CBS affiliate, Ricky spent most of his career as a college-level educator, teaching classes in everything from motion graphics to cartooning. With a witty personality, and the gift of gab, he enjoys hosting panels and seminars on breaking into the comic book/manga industry and motivating and inspiring artists to follow their dreams. On the musical front, Ricky has performed alongside popular nerd rock act, Shael Riley, as one of the founding members of Shael Riley and the Double Ice Backfire, and enjoys playing out live nostalgic 8-bit music on the convention circuit to hype the crowds! Ricky will be in attendance all weekend, so be sure to say hello and take a picture or pick up an issue of the manga! I hear his wife Jennifer is also a VERY talented cosplayer and seamstress, so be sure to hit her up as well!
www.rickyhenry.com
Robert Axelrod
Robert Axelrod has carved a career in show business that runs the gamut. Born and raised in New York City, he did commercials and theater as a child and teen, eventually ending up in the Soho Avant-garde Theater scene in a show called "Little Trips", then Off-Broadway in a play called "The Destroyers". Axelrod left acting for the world of music. He spent eight years as a working rock musician playing electric bass and singing in folk, rock, and soul bands. Music brought him to Los Angeles where he decided to return to acting, a decision he never regrets.
Since then, Mr. Axelrod has appeared in over thirty feature films including four with Charles Bronson, the Sci-Fi hit remake "The Blob" with Kevin Dillon and many others. Television appearances include guest star roles on "Amazing Stories", "Star Trek Voyager", "Tim And Eric's Awesome Show", and "The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. He also starred in the Michael Jackson music video "Stranger in Moscow", and the horror dark comedy, "The Revenant". His performance in the short film THE GOLDFISH is garnering rave reviews.
Mr. Axelrod is also a busy voice over artist. He is the voice of Lord Zedd and Finster on the "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers". The Lord Zedd voice is one of the most recognizable character voices around. He voiced Armadillomon and Wizardmon on "Digimon, Microchip, The Punisher's sidekick, on "Spiderman", Rico on "Robotech", and has voiced countless Anime features including "Akira", "The Big O", "Cowboy Bebop", "Brain Scratch", et al. As Lord Zedd, he starred in both the first Power Rangers feature film and the wildly popular live show that toured the country. He was a regular character on Saban Entertainment's "Wowser" series (as Ratso Catso), "Journey To The Heart of the World" (as Scarface), "Hallo Spencer" (as Elmer), and more. He just finished narrating the mockumentary "Safety First: The Rise of Women and voicing four Anime series, "Gaiking", "Danguard Ace", "Captain Horlock", "The Adventures of Nadja", and "Fist of the North Star".