CONCORD, NC - October 17, 2009 - Ichibancon is coming this January to the Concord Great Wolf Lodge; that's right, an anime convention with a waterpark! Announcing three guests of honor, Ichibancon is proud to welcome Wendy Powell, Michael Sinterniklaas, and Todd Haberkorn!

ABOUT WENDY POWELL: Wendy is so excited to be here with all of you--so let's start this CON out with a bang! Wendy has been a professional voice actress for Funimation Entertainment and Okratron 5000 for over 7 years. She is probably most well known for a little villain named "Envy" on Fullmetal Alchemist. She was most recently in a new role in "Claymore" where she plays the character Ilene. Her most chanallangeing role this years was your role of IKU in Shirguri--you need to watch it to know why! Wendy is also known for smaller parts--in which she usually dies a most painful death. Some of her credits include: Emi, In Baki the Grappler. Amick, In Blue Gender, The Fever Demon in Shin Chan, Kyo‚s Mother in Fruits Basket, and Kasuga in Negima, Paula "Lady Death" In Trintiy Blood. She has also voiced characters in: Kitty Grade, Case Closed, Yu Yu Hakusho, Peach Girl, xxxaholic, One Peice, Galaxy Railways, Tsubasa, Gunslinger Girl, Moon Phase, Glass Fleet and many others. Video Game credits include: Spikeout, Fullmetal Alchemist, Curse of the Crimson and Broken Angel. Wendy‚s first love is the Theatre (although Anime is quickly catching up!!!), she works in local theatre in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

ABOUT MICHAEL SINTERNIKLAAS: Known for his many voice appearances in anime such as Case Closed (Detective Conan), One Piece, Samurai Deeper Kyo, Pokemon, Kiddy Grade, Bubblegum Crisis (OAV), and Patlabor, just to name a few. Another recent role of his in anime is Gai Shishio in "GaoGaiGar". Working with his audio visual post production house company, NYAV Post, Michael's voice can be heard as Dean Venture in "The Venture Brothers", Mikey Simon in "Kappa Mikey", and the newest animated "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", as Leonardo.

ABOUT TODD HABERKORN: Todd Haberkorn is currently a proud member of the Anime community and is hoping to be a mighty cosplayer at some point down the road during at least one convention just to say he's tried it. Haberkorn received his BFA in acting from Southern Methodist University and continues to work professionally primarily in Texas and surrounding states as an actor, director, producer, and writer. Unfortunately, the Funimation Podcast is no more, so you won't see him as the host of that (unless everyone bans together and writes to Funimation!! -there might be a box set in it for ya!!). As far as shows go, catch Todd's voice as lead roles in Suzuka as Yamato, Ghost Hunt as Naru, Claymore as Raki, Holic as Wataknuki, D. Gray Man as Allen Walker, and some others he can't say right now. A few supporting roles include Itsuki in Shuffle, Ichimoruken in Hell Girl, Firo in Baccano!, Kono in Darker Than Black, Hikaru in Ouran High School Host Club and Khoza in One Piece. When not in the booth, Todd is directing D. Gray Man in all its tons of episodes glory.

ABOUT ICHIBANCON: Ichibancon is an anime convention at the beginning of the year, January 8-10, 2010, in the greater Charlotte area at the Great Wolf Lodge in Concord, NC. Events during the 3-day weekend include a cosplay contest, a rave, dealers room, gr8_space game room with tournaments, video showings of new anime, guest panels, fandom panels, and more!