[El Ken]

After an incredibly rocky start, and less than 3 weeks till con, the guest list is finally complete. And although I really didn't get the international representation that I was looking for, I feel that we overall have a solid lineup. The following is the complete list:

American Guests
Brina Palencia
Cassandra Lee
Chris Cason
Christine Marie Cabanos
Christopher Sabat
Cristina Vee
Eyeshine (Johnny Yong Bosch)
Ian Sinclair
Jamie Marchi
Joel McDonald
Mike McFarland
Todd Haberkorn
Travis Willingham
Vic Mignogna
Video Game Orchestra

Educational/Cultural Guests
John Bivens
Russell Lissau
Samurai Dan & Jillian
Steve Horton
Trevor Mueller

International Guests
Angelic Pretty
Hangry&Angry
IMERUAT (Masashi Hamauzu)
Iruma Rioka
LM.C
Shinichi Watanabe (Nabeshin)
Sixh.IBI
Yasuhiro Koshi

Additionally, we have all the international and domestic DJs that will entertain you in the overnight hours of the convention. And, wow, that's a lot of musical guests, too. I didn't mean to get that many; it just kind of happened.

So, there it is! I hope there's a little something for everyone in there. Leave me your feedback, and I'll get started on planning for 2013!

[pontaku]

No Yukapon, then. Maybe next year!

[KnitChick]

Somehow I missed Nabeshin being announced, and seeing him on the list makes me SO HAPPY! Cuz last time he was here I was too dang shy to go meet him, and I didn't have anything he could sign. Now I am going to take that shyness and BURY IT and get my Nerima Daikon Brothers DVDs signed *dances*

THANK YOU KEN!!!

[Lina]

I'm still pretty disappointed, but at least there are few people who I want to see and enjoy seeing. Only 1 new guest that I haven't met, that I want to meet, though. That's disappointing. D': Thanks for trying Ken.

[XenoBlade]

So uber pumped for hamauzu.

[Darkspawn]

I'm quite pleased with this list. Just wish it had been announced a little earlier.

[Ashori]

Despite all the troubles you guys got over the guest announcements this year, I'm extremely pleased with the list this year and can't wait to meet everyone either again or for the first time ever. This is going to be an amazing convention!

[rondo]

And boom goes the dynamite.

[Iris]

I would have liked some more international guests (especially since I tend to watch almost everything subbed), but I am quite satisfied with what you guys ended up with. :3 It's quite a long list so hopefully everyone will have at least one person that appeals to them. I for one will be picking up some Rosario Vampire and Sekirei merch to hopefully be signed along with all my video game stuff.

[AnimeGeek120]

I know there are those who are annoyed at the lack of Japanese anime guests, but let me just say I am SUPER impressive with the English VA's you are bringing this year.

For me there is a good mix of those I've seen already and those I haven't. Several are on my 'I want to meet' list. I'm also excited about the comic book guests.


Great job and thanks for all your hard work El Ken.

[myrla]

I think it's a great mix of guests. There is one guest I would love, love, love for you to bring, but I doubt it will ever happen (Uematsu~).

My only.. weirdness? is that yeah, having announced guests is great and all, but the information to find them while at the con seems to feel like it is last minute. Better planning for that would really help, IMO, because I have to rank who I want to see when etc. balanced against panels balanced against Cosplay.

This post has been edited by myrla: 07 April 2012 - 09:53 AM

[Soy Sauce]

I wouldn't say this is the strongest guest list that ACen has ever had, but nonetheless, the list is alot better than a few months ago.

And as much heat Ken has have for the past couple of months. I respect you pulled through. Hopefully everything from this year, can be applied better for next year's ACen.

As for attendees, lets all settle down now that ACen has guests and look forward making sure ACen is a good time for us.

This post has been edited by Soy Sauce: 07 April 2012 - 12:35 PM

[EmoSasuke]

Thanks for all your hard work, Mr. El Ken! Glad to see the final list is up! It's a really good mix of people from all different areas, which is super nice.

I'm only disappointed that J. Michael Tatum isn't coming back this year - he's never been at any of the cons I regularly go to, and unforeseen circumstances stopped me from going to his (ONLY ONE wryyyyy ;_; )autograph session last Acen. I was hoping to rectify that this year. Le sigh.

[HEDGESMFG]

The fact that you openly acknowledge you'd like more international guests helps things, and I'm very happy with the US guest selection. It's actually a pretty great lineup of currently active VAs.

I'd like to see more directors and Japanese voice actors in the future, but for now, all things considered, I'm happy with this list. It sounds like things were pretty tough this year too, so I appreciate your effort.

[El Ken]

EmoSasuke, on 08 April 2012 - 01:49 AM, said:

Thanks for all your hard work, Mr. El Ken! Glad to see the final list is up! It's a really good mix of people from all different areas, which is super nice.

I'm only disappointed that J. Michael Tatum isn't coming back this year - he's never been at any of the cons I regularly go to, and unforeseen circumstances stopped me from going to his (ONLY ONE wryyyyy ;_; )autograph session last Acen. I was hoping to rectify that this year. Le sigh.

We tried to get Michael for this year, but he had a scheduling conflict that prevented him from accepting our invitation. I will try to get him again in 2013.

[El Ken]

myrla, on 07 April 2012 - 09:53 AM, said:

I think it's a great mix of guests. There is one guest I would love, love, love for you to bring, but I doubt it will ever happen (Uematsu~).

My only.. weirdness? is that yeah, having announced guests is great and all, but the information to find them while at the con seems to feel like it is last minute. Better planning for that would really help, IMO, because I have to rank who I want to see when etc. balanced against panels balanced against Cosplay.

Nobuo Uematsu, eh? That would be pretty spectacular.

Regarding schedules, the late acquisitions of guests push all the scheduling way later than it should be. We are hoping to have all guest panels and autograph sessions scheduled and posted by midweek.

[BreBre716]

El Ken, on 09 April 2012 - 08:48 AM, said:

We tried to get Michael for this year, but he had a scheduling conflict that prevented him from accepting our invitation. I will try to get him again in 2013.

He's going to be at C2E2 this weekend at downtown t McCormick place

[myrla]

El Ken, on 09 April 2012 - 08:50 AM, said:

Nobuo Uematsu, eh? That would be pretty spectacular.

Regarding schedules, the late acquisitions of guests push all the scheduling way later than it should be. We are hoping to have all guest panels and autograph sessions scheduled and posted by midweek.

That's what I figured, but as this was an open forum to talk about stuff, I figured I'd mention it.

Yeah. Uematsu. I think I would probably stand in line all weekend starting very early Friday even if his signing was the last thing on Sunday just to get a chance to meet him.

[Dark Spellmaster]

BreBre716, on 09 April 2012 - 11:17 AM, said:

He's going to be at C2E2 this weekend at downtown t McCormick place

Although the sad thing is that they don't announce many Anime guests on the main page for that. I looked up and down for any VAs from various shows (not just anime) and it seems they're more interested in showing off that they got a third of the Walking Dead cast, which is cool, but rather sad that they don't give space for VAs and ohers in the Entertainment area. Le sigh

[Monica Rial #1 Fan]

I'm really curious as to if there were scheduling conflicts, or other circumstances, that prevented Monica Rial from attending this year. I was hoping, beyond hope, that she would be a part of this convention, but it sounds like she will not. That saddens me quite a bit.

[rlissau]

On behalf of myself, Trevor and Steve, let me say how excited we are to be returning to ACen. And the other member of our troupe, John Bivens, is making his ACen debut this month. Are you guys gonna treat him well?

[obakasan]

rlissau, on 11 April 2012 - 11:02 AM, said:

On behalf of myself, Trevor and Steve, let me say how excited we are to be returning to ACen. And the other member of our troupe, John Bivens, is making his ACen debut this month. Are you guys gonna treat him well?

You didn't tell him about the "initiation ritual" did you?

[Dark Spellmaster]

rlissau, on 11 April 2012 - 11:02 AM, said:

On behalf of myself, Trevor and Steve, let me say how excited we are to be returning to ACen. And the other member of our troupe, John Bivens, is making his ACen debut this month. Are you guys gonna treat him well?

We Will give him the best treatment that Acen can give.

[rlissau]

<<< You didn't tell him about the "initiation ritual" did you? >>>

Some things are better left as surprises.
But prepare the arse eels, as Warren Ellis would say.

[Ohki]

I'll be honest; I'm completely disappointed by this lineup. The only guests that interest me this time around are Video Game Orchestra, Iruma Rioka, and Nabeshin. It's better than nothing, and it's not even the worst year I've had in terms of not caring about guests, but it's still pretty disappointing and I seriously hope you'll try to do a lot better next year.

[Sapphy]

Ohki, on 17 April 2012 - 02:19 PM, said:

I'll be honest; I'm completely disappointed by this lineup. The only guests that interest me this time around are Video Game Orchestra, Iruma Rioka, and Nabeshin. It's better than nothing, and it's not even the worst year I've had in terms of not caring about guests, but it's still pretty disappointing and I seriously hope you'll try to do a lot better next year.

I can almost guarentee you that ACen staff try to make every ACen's guest list "the best ever". I have no doubts that the scheduling conflicts from Golden Week made it hard to get a more robust selection of Japanese guests, but Guest Relations still did give us a pretty full guest list for the year regardless. However I'm in the same boat with a lot of people who wished the guests were announced much earlier (and I'm sure they will try to remedy that for next year).

[SprinklePuff]

I like this guest list! I've been waiting to see Todd Haberkorn again for ages. First time I met him I really didn't know who he was. Derp!

[TheStrongJaeger]

Ohki, on 17 April 2012 - 02:19 PM, said:

I'll be honest; I'm completely disappointed by this lineup. The only guests that interest me this time around are Video Game Orchestra, Iruma Rioka, and Nabeshin. It's better than nothing, and it's not even the worst year I've had in terms of not caring about guests, but it's still pretty disappointing and I seriously hope you'll try to do a lot better next year.

I can understand you being disappointed because you don't like the guest list but telling the staff that they need to "do a lot better next year" comes off as awfully rude and condescending. There will be 25,000 at this convention and there is no way to make a guest list that will please everyone.

I think the guest list is great and I applaud guest relations for doing what they do.

[Ohki]

TheStrongJaeger, on 17 April 2012 - 04:16 PM, said:

I can understand you being disappointed because you don't like the guest list but telling the staff that they need to "do a lot better next year" comes off as awfully rude and condescending.

It's overall rather small, and painfully lacking in international guests. El Ken himself admitted that he was disappointed with how things went this year. I agree with his disappointment.

Whether you think it's "rude and condescending" or not, I think it's perfectly fair to criticize the convention. After all, I spend quite a bit of my money to attend. Between travel, lodging, the badge itself, and various at-con expenses, it takes a lot out of me financially. I'm getting closer and closer to making the decision that it isn't worth the money, and in my case, the way the guest list has been going for the past few years is a lot of why. No, a con's guest list won't please everybody, but ACen is one of the biggest cons in North America. I feel as though there's no excuse for its guest list to be so small and so lacking in international guests. I am not the only one.

So sorry but I don't think criticizing an event that I pay so much money to attend on something that I feel they're fallen short in is "rude and condescending". In fact I think I worded it quite civilly.

[myrla]

Ironically ACen is the smallest convention I've ever been to (Otakon being the other). Otakon had so many guests from comic artists to overseas to .. everyone.

ACen does not. I come to ACen to see friends and do photoshoots and cosplay - the schedule here is amazing for cosplayers! - and very little for guests.

VGO is probably the most exciting guests for me this year, and I have the unfortunate feeling that my panel is going to be directly across from their performance.

But I don't even know yet and it's a week away? =/