FanCons.com Press Releases


April 28, 2010

News for Shuto Con 2011:

Shuto Con announces Michelle Ruff and other guests

Lansing, MI (April 27th, 2010) – Shuto Con is excited to announce their Guest of Honor - Michelle Ruff, and special guests Year 200X, Doug Smith, and Hobocon.

Shuto Con is Lansing's Premiere Anime Convention, coming March 25th-26th, 2011. This convention will be a two day event held in Lansing, MI that focuses on Artists and the art of Interactive Cosplaying!

Michelle Ruff - Michelle is excited to be here from Los Angeles and is looking forward to meeting all the anime fans from her home state of Michigan! Most recently, Michelle won the SPJA 2009 Best Actress Award for her role in Cartoon Networks "Bleach" as Rukia Kuchiki. She began her acting and voice studies in Chicago, where she worked and studied at the legendary Second City, as well as at Player's Workshop and the renowned ImprovOlympic. Ruff relocated to Los Angeles to focus on her voice career, and has been working non-stop in the VO industry ever since. She also enjoys doing theatre and recently appeared in a show called Friday Night Quickies at the Whitefire Theatre in Sherman Oaks, CA.

Having the ability to bring to life to a number of characters, Ruff can voice any age. A specialist in young voices, she has mastered babies to teens: girls and boys, as well as twenty to thirty-somethings. She also is exceptional at character voices of those in their forties and fifties, and can adeptly handle most any accent. She lends her voice to original animation, video games, dubbing, commercials, television shows and feature films. Michelle's lent her voice to many favorite anime Characters including Rukia in Bleach, Yoko in Gurren Laggan, Yuki Nagato in Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumia, Tsukasa in Lucky Star, Chi in Chobitz and Aoi-Chan in Ai Yori Aoshi as well as lending her voice to many fan fav video games. You have heard her voice in animated features including Kung Fu Panda, Biohazard: Regeneration, Monsters vs. Aliens, Madagascar 2, The Tale of Despereux, Polar Express, Through the Moebius Strip, What the @#$! Do We Know, and the animated TV Show Tutenstein. Television shows Ruff has done voice-over for include CSI, Greek, The Mentalist, The Sarah Silverman Show, Smallville, Battlestar Galactica, Melrose Place, Supernatural and Eureka.

http://www.voiceofmichelleruff.com/

Year 200X - Year 200X is a heavy metal video game cover band from Lansing, MI. Y2KX was formed in early 2006 by Tim Lydon and Tony Oliver. Joined by friends Rance Tatroe, Ian Whiters, Jake Bryan, and occasionally Kyle Hoke, they came together for two purposes: to have fun, and to play the awesomest guitar-driven video game covers that they can. Almost immediately, they were featured in Nintendo Power Magazine (June, 2006). Their debut album "We Are Error," a compilation of 13 tracks from games for the Nintendo Entertainment System, was released in August 2008 to great reviews by the video game community and fans of metal alike.

The band is currently working on new material, which will broaden their game selection by including music from systems other than the NES.

http://year200xband.com/

Doug Smith - Doug Smith is an accomplished freelance artist and voice actor who has performed many roles for ADV and Funimation, including the lead, Kintaro Oe, in "Goldenboy".

His artwork has been used for CD album covers, magazines, comics, posters, anime con program guides, badges, DVDs, TV and is currently working with Meta 3D Studios illustrating and assisting in the creation of their online video game, "Fantasy Kingdoms". Doug is also the Art Director for non-profit Voices For, an organization which works with talented people in the anime/manga industry to create products, the profits of which are donated to charity. Be sure to stop by Doug's table, view his art and say hi!

For more information:

http://www.dougsmithart.com

IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0808008/

Voices For: http://www.voicesfor.com

Meta 3D Studios: http://www.meta3dstudios.com

Hobocon - Hobocon follows three fun loving friends as they journey through one of their most epic adventures of all time, or as they like to call it, their best worst idea ever! Dr. Boxcar (Jason Slingerland), The Pixie (Wilhelm Rumpf) and Benny (Rob Couch) let the cameras roll as they chronicle what it is really like to be a hobo at a convention from a gamer's point of view. Watch them as they stave off sleep and forage for food, while trying not to get discovered and thrown out.

Hobocon is not like other notable gaming themed documentaries. Hobocon "gets it". We did not make a movie just for the hard core gamer nor did we set out to make a stare–at–the–freaks exposé. Hobocon is for everyone from the non-gamer to your over-the-top cos-player. Throughout the movie, we take the time to interview a wide cast of characters and let them voice what this culture is all about. Simply put, Hobocon is more than just a fun look at GenCon, it is 'gaming convention 101' for everyone!

http://www.hobocon.com

http://www.screenhead.com/reviews/hobocon-review-the-best-worst-idea-ever/

Pre-registration is only $20 for the entire two-day weekend! This will grant you access to the Artist and Dealer's Alley, all the panel rooms, and the Main Events hall. The first 50 people to pre-register will also get a coupon to claim a special Shuto Con collectable item at the convention! To pre-register for Shuto Con please visit http://www.shutocon.com