Guests of Honor

No AOD is complete without its esteemed list of Guests. In the coming weeks we will be announcing our official AOD 2010 Guests of Honor. Check back here for further Guest updates and announcements!

Guests are listed in alphabetical order by last name.

Phuong-Mai Bui-Quang (aka P.M.B.Q.) has been writing and drawing in the U.S. comic scene since 1994, debuting in Antarctic Press' Ninja High School anthologies. Since then, she's gone on to creating everything from websites to t-shirt lines to her creator-owned comic series, Tea Club. Additionally, P.M.B.Q. is the co-founder of Manga Start, a fun, interactive and free way to learn about drawing manga. But really, her main goal in life is to draw as many bears and pandas as possible. See the madness at www.pmbq.com.

Kyle Hebert is a Los Angeles-based anime and video game voice actor whose credits include Street Fighter IV (Ryu), Naruto (Kiba), Bleach (Aizen, Ganju), and Gurren Lagann (Kamina). He is best known as the Narrator and teen Gohan from Dragonball Z. Other notable roles include Ouran High School Host Club (Kazukiyo Soga), Fullmetal Alchemist (Vato Falman), and Tales of Symphonia (Richter Abend). Kyle also provides voices in video games for Watchmen, Star Wars: The Old Republic, and Wolfenstein. He cohosts a podcast dedicated to news on all things geeky called The Big Bald Broadcast. He also does private voice acting critiques and consultations online. Download episodes and keep posted on his latest projects at www.kylehebert.com.

Carl Macek has been involved with various forms of entertainment media since the mid-1970’s. Along the way, Macek wrote or co-edited several books on filmmaking. Eventually he became a “genre expert” specializing in science fiction and animation.

In 1984, Macek began his association with Japanese animation. He worked with Harmony Gold, U.S.A. to develop the groundbreaking anime series ROBOTECH that has been credited with igniting the still growing anime movement outside of Japan. Following his success with ROBOTECH, Macek began working for D.I.C. to develop original animation and merchandising properties. This led to his association with John Kricfalusi and later Bill Kroyer. Macek worked with Kroyer as a writer/producer and then split off with Kricfalusi during the period in time leading up to the start of an independent animation studio that later became SPUMCO. In 1988/89 Macek joined with Jerry Beck to create STREAMLINE PICTURES – a distribution company dedicated to bringing iconic Japanese animation such as AKIRA, VAMPIRE HUNTER D, FIST OF THE NORTH STAR, ROBOT CARNIVAL and WICKED CITY (among others) into theaters, television broadcast and home video. One of his most enduring projects during this period was the English-language adaptation of the Miyazaki classic MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO (later distributed by Fox Home Video). In the late 1990’s, Macek returned to original animation production and was instrumental in developing several projects (HEAVY METAL 2000 and later LADY DEATH). However, he still maintains his interest in anime. Most recently, he has adapted, produced and directed English–language versions of Tomino’s classic 49-episode fantasy AURA BATTLER DUNBINE. He continues to adapt Japanese anime for the North American market – most recently with GALAXY RAILWAY, NARUTO, BLEACH and KYO KARA MAOH!

Currently Macek has been working in on a slate of original projects as well, including: WAR EAGLES – a novel and screenplay inspired by Merian C. Cooper’s unrealized masterpiece set just prior to the start of World War II; THE D’ARC – a high adventure tale set in pre-WWII Europe that falls somewhere between Raiders of the Lost Arc and The da Vinci Code; GIRL IN THE IVORY TOWER – an oriental fable - and several others.

Ian McConville and Matthew Boyd have been making webcomics for almost nine years now, first gaining attention for Ian's vibrant color art in the college life strip MacHall. These days, they're taking a more subdued approach with the (mostly) black-and-white Three Panel Soul. Their work can be found at www.machallproductions.com.

Tony Oliver, began his career 25 years ago as an actor on stage and camera performing in several feature films and dozens of plays. He found success as a voice over artist, lending his voice to one of the first foreign made animated features to receive wide US release ("The Sea Prince and the Fire Child"). His first foray into television was as the lead voice in the groundbreaking animated series "Robotech". Following that he turned his attention to writing but continued his voice acting career. In 1988 he joined Saban Entertainment as a story editor where he wrote and produced an award winning adaptation of "The Jungle Book" and story edited the long running Nickelodeon anime series "The Noozles". In 1992, Tony was tapped to help create a new kind of children's television show. The result was the mega hit, "The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers". Tony not only served as the development producer but also wrote the pilot, produced the network presentation, Co-Produced the series, directed the voice actors, and produced the Power Rangers live appearance at Universal Studios, which drew an estimated 50,000 people on a single day. In 1999 Tony left Saban Entertainment but has continued to develop, produce, voice and direct numerous projects for TV, Video Games, and New Media. More recent projects include “.hack//GU” a multi-player online video game; “Daigunder”, an animated series for ABC Family/Disney; and “Gurren Lagann” a breakthrough anime series airing on the Sci Fi Channel, “BlazBlue” a hot selling new video game’ “Eureka Seven: Good Night Sleep Tight, Young Lovers” which premiered on screens nationwide earlier this fall and “Gormiti” and new original animated show currently airing on Cartoon Network. Tony’s many voice acting credits include, the title character of Lupin in “Lupin the 3rd”, Hibiki in “Vandread”, Gojyo in “Sayuki Reload”, Harry in “Gun Grave”, Ranmaru in “Tokko”, Shinbo in “Cho-bits” and Saba in the “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” as well as numerous voices in video games such as “Delta Force: Black Hawk Down”, “Lord of the Rings: The War of the Ring”, “Dynasty Warriors”, “World of Warcraft”, “Everquest”, “Neverwinter Knights”, “Xenosaga” and “Magna Carta II” .

Ken Pontac has been a Guest of Honor at AOD for so many years that he’s lost count (indicating that he can’t count beyond the number eight, for which he blames our schools). In 2010 Pontac, who has worked on the extremely violent Happy Tree Friends series for more years than he can count (damn you, schools!), has attempted to balance his karma by writing episodes of the charmingly pro-social Arthur animated cartoon. He is also still enjoying royalty checks for writing the LazyTown song "You Are A Pirate," which has become an Internet meme, enjoying millions of hits on YouTube and inspiring multiple mash-ups and karaoke videos. Pontac lives in Sausalito with a beautiful redheaded nurse and his crazy dog, Whistle.

Cristina "Vee" Valenzuela is an anime and video game voice actress residing near Los Angeles, California. Her story from a anime fan and cosplayer to a professional voice actress and singer is a unique one. She dreamed of becoming a voice actress years before she was discovered by Bang Zoom Entertainment at Anime Expo at the ripe young age of 16. Now, at 22, she has starred in anime such as Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha as the title character, Rozen Maiden as Kanaria, The Familiar of Zero as Louise, and Aika in Aika R-16. Other anime roles include Machi in Blade of the Immortal, Misaki in Kannazuki no Miko, Rachel in Hare + Guu, among others. She also has voiced for popular video games such as Avalon Code, Luminous Arc 2 (Sylphy), Rune Factory Frontier (Cinnamon), and, most recently, in BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger as Noel Vermillion and v-13 (Nu).

Cristina has also gained popularity through her YouTube channel as MilkyCabbage and ValliereVee with her English dubs and Japanese covers of anime songs. She is currently co-starring with Johnny Yong Bosch on the popular AnimeTV review show. You can also see Cristina in various short films. She still cosplays.

David Vincent is thrilled to visit Animation On Display for the first time. A Voice Actor / Producer based in Los Angeles, he has lent his voice to a variety of Anime and Video Game titles, and numerous Commercials for Television and Radio. Some of his best known Anime credits include, Code Geass as Li Xingke, and Grimmjow Jeagerjaques in BLEACH. Other Anime credits are Van in GUN X SWORD, Chester Barklight in Tales of Phantasia, Assassin in Fate/Stay Night, General Logi in Blue Dragon, and Giichi in Blade of The Immortal. Some of his more recent Video Game credits (that he's allowed to disclose) include Marshall Law in TEKKEN 6, Jin Kisaragi & Hakumen in BlazBlue, Final Fantasy: The Crystal Bearers as Keiss, The Last Remnant as Blocter, Infinite Undiscovery as Edward, and Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles as Richter. Dave's happy to be a guest and looks forward to meeting you all over the weekend!

Tommy Yune has worked for over a decade in the comic book and video game industries. His early game development experience includes character design of the pioneering 3D fighting game FX Fighter for the Nintendo SuperFX chip and conceptual design of the award-winning Journeyman Project series. He also wrote and illustrated hit comic book titles such as Speed Racer, Racer X, Robotech, and Danger Girl: Kamikaze which were published by DC Comics' Wildstorm and Cliffhanger labels. His first work in feature animation was creating the computer-generated opening sequence of Kevin Altieri's Gen13. Tommy first worked in an official capacity for the Robotech universe by helping design Robotech.com for its launch in 2001. He has since come aboard as Harmony Gold's creative director and oversees new development, including Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles which completed production in 2006. His recent work can been seen on Robotech.com.