Diverse Celebrity Guest Line Up Coming to Ryu-Kon 2013

Convention brings special guests from around the globe to Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls, June 11, 2013: Officials at Ryu-Kon Group have announced an exciting list of special guests coming to the Ryu-Kon 2013 Anime & Gaming Convention, located at The Event & Conference Center Niagara Falls, which is located in the Old Falls Street area. Ryu-Kon 2013 will feature a full range of attractions, events, entertainment, panels, workshops & shopping designed to celebrate and promote creativity, with a focus on Anime, Gaming & Steampunk. The event is complemented by a lineup of exciting professionals, celebrity guests & entertainers.

Rainbow Bubble Girls, featuring Hitomi Himekawa to perform on Center Stage. This popular musical group, based out of New York City, has toured in multiple countries and has even performed for the Chinese Ambassador. Jpop, which stands for Japanese Pop Music, has become very popular in the US as of late. This will be the first time this group has been to this area and is expected to bring the crowds.

Funimation Voice Actress, Alexis Tipton, will be doing 2 different panels, a Celebrity Dubbing Show with other celebs, an autograph session at the convention center and will even be crossing the border to do an additional Ryu-Kon Event at the Dave & Busters on Clifton Hill, Ontario Canada. To have a celebrity guest featured in 2 different countries for one convention is something rarely seen and is another example of where Ryu-Kon got it's slogan- One Con...Two Countries.

Published author & actress, Lizbeth R. Jimenez, will be in Ryu-Kon's Dragon Plaza, to do autographs. Jimenez has been in several films and has been featured on the Conan Obrien Show. Her popular Manga Series, Sacred, will also be available for signings throughout the convention.

Published Author & Illustrator, Rose Catherine Khan, will be coming to Ryu-Kon's Dragon Plaza. Her book, The Mathmagical Wish, invites children to explore the world math in an unconventional way. This book is the first in the Planet Zeep series. Rose will be displaying a sneak peak of her next book as well as signing copies of The Mathmagical Wish.

Fashion Designer, Morrigana Townsend-Pehlke of Spyder Designs, will be doing a Steampunk Fashion Show on Ryu-Kon's Center Stage. Morrigana will be flying in about 20 models for the show and will be revealing her new Steampunk Line for the first time at this event. Morrigana, following the example of Ryu-Kon Ceo, Bev Sotile, will also be doing a panel called, “For the love of Steampunk”, which is her way of contributing to the common goal of assisting young adults of our communities to pursue creative careers.

“Nameless!” comes to Ryu-Kon 2013. “Nameless!” improv comedy stars Brandon Abbott, Bronson Abbott, Sam Abbott and is directed by Bronson Abbott.

Celebrity Comedian Line Up- Ryu-Kon brings in Celebrity Comedians from near and far for a Comedy Show like no other.

-Andre McSween, a NYC Based comedian, known from MTV's Yo Mama as well as many Comedy Festivals will be making Ryu-Kon 2013 one of his stops as he tours Comedy Clubs & Casinos throughout the US.

-Mikey Heller has been performing stand up comedy since 2009. Not only does he perform quirky stand up comedy all around the country, but he also puts on shows, plays and makes short film and comics. He is the cartoonist behind the webcomic Time Trabble.

-Colin Burgess is a stand-up comedian, writer, musician, and actor. He has been performing stand-up comedy since 2009 throughout the Upstate New York region. Colin also writes a local humor zine called "Cat Skeleton" with his friend Lucas, and has produced four episodes of his late night talk show web-series, Dorm Time with Colin.

-Jon Schuta is from Buffalo, NY but currently lives and studies in Ithaca, NY. He has been writing and performing both stand-up and improv comedy for over three years.

-From New Jersey, Ian Rubin has spent many years of his life performing for audiences all around the East Coast. After realizing the amazing culture of convention audiences/performers, Ian is making his way around the east coast, entertaining crowds of geeks, and acting like a fool in public.

-Lucas Gardner is an emerging comedian and writer in the upstate New York area. He is part of Goo House, a collective of comedians and filmmakers from Rochester, who put on bi-monthly live shows in the area, and he recently placed 2nd in the Buffalo Laugh-off Comedian at Helium Comedy Club in Buffalo.

Nameless! Comedy Improv joins the guest line up of special guests that will be appearing at Ryu-Kon 2013. The producer of Nameless! has worked on over 40 Broadway and Off Broadway shows and the cast includes 3 brothers, Brandon Abbott, Bronson Abbott, Sam Abbott, all anime fans!

Director/Producer/Writer, Samuel J. Chase, along with actor, Benny Bohannon share their wisdom with the young adults of our community in a panel called, “The Ups and Downs of the Film Industry”. Both will be available for autographs and signings of their DVDs.

Other musical guests include Pine Fever, who will be making Ryu-Kon 2013 one of their stops as they tour the US, Jyakutei and Pianist, Holly Adams.

Regular pre-admission options also available now at the Ryu-Kon shop website, www.shop.ryu-kon.com. You can read more about Ryu-Kon Group as well as details about The Ryu-Kon 2013 Anime & Gaming Convention at the Ryu-Kon website, www.ryu-kon.com.

About Ryu-Kon Group: Ryu-Kon is a family operated group that is exclusively devoted to promoting creativity and assisting the younger generation with channeling their inner creativity in productive ways. Ryu-Kon is dedicated to hosting fun and educational events that bring communities together to celebrate creativity through fun workshops, panels and activities with themes such as Anime, Gaming, Pop Culture and Steampunk. Ryu-Kon is quickly becoming known for their educational focus and for assisting young adults who are interested in pursuing creative careers. Their Extreme Treasure Hunt that takes place on both sides of the borders in Niagara Falls coined the slogan- One Con...Two Countries. This unique, vibrant and fast growing convention is just what is needed to bring new business from around the world to the Niagara Falls area.