Calling all artists! Saboten-Con is giving you the chance to have your art on a convention badge!

We're now accepting submissions for our Badge Art Contest! The lucky winner of this contest will have their art on one of the badge types at this year's convention! We're accepting art until Friday, September 18, 2009.

Read on for the full rules! If you have questions, email me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . I can't wait to see your art!

Contest Rules

1. Art can be created digitally or drawn by hand and scanned.

2. Files must be submitted in Tiff or Jpeg format and must be at least 300 dpi. Badges will be 3" x 4" and will be longer horizontally. A sample badge can be viewed by clicking here. The borders on the example will be used for all badge types. Please use this as a guide for constructing your art, but please do not include the borders on your finished artwork.

3. Art may be cropped as desired by convention staff when designing badges.

4. The art must be in anime or manga style. It can feature original characters or existing characters from anime, manga, and/or Japanese video games.

5. The winning art will appear on one badge type as selected by convention staff. Badge types include Full Event, Super Otaku, Guest, Professional, Staff, Volunteer, and Exhibitor. The winner will not be able to select the badge their art will appear on--this is up to the design team.

6. The winner will receive one of the badges that features their art for souvenir/portfolio purposes by mail after the convention. This badge will not be functional as a convention badge.

7. Contest ends on Friday, September 18, 2009. Winner will be notified by email by September 28, 2009.

8. Submit your art via email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with the following information:
Full name
Mailing address

9. An artist may only submit three entries to the contest.

We've been busy, busy, busy the last few months cooking up some great programming and inviting great guests for you to enjoy!

For Saboten-Con 2009, the Maid Cafe will be returning with Cafe Moé at the helm! The guys and girls of Cafe Moé have some kawaii entertainment and fun games planned for Maid Cafe attendees. For photos, videos, and more, visit Cafe Moé on MySpace!

The Lolita Tea Party will be returning to Saboten-Con as well, with Kisa and Fuu working hard on their secret theme! Start pulling together your outfit now--this is an event you won't want to miss!

We've also announced two new guests! Joining voice actor Vic Mignogna this year is voice actor Steve Blum, best known for his roles of Spike Spiegel in "Cowboy Bebop: The Movie", Orochimaru in "Naruto", Roger Smith in "The Big O II", Vincent Valentine in "Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children", Tom of "Toonami" fame, and multiple voices in "Digimon", including J.P and Beetlemon. He has also voiced roles in Witch Hunter Robin, Wolf's Rain, Blood+, Zatch Bell, s-CRY-ed, Giant Robo, and more.

Also a guest at our convention this year is cosplayer and model Yaya Han! Yaya Han is a costume designer and cosplay entertainer with over 9 years of experience and 100+ costumes under her belt. After discovering cosplay at her first con almost a decade ago, she quickly absorbed the heart and soul of costume design and creation. To this day Yaya has made a myriad of costumes in the genres of anime/manga, video games, sci-fi and of course from her own original designs. Her intricate and lavish creations have won awards and acclaim nationwide; she has taught a multitude of panels on costume craftsmanship, presentation, makeup, wigs and more; and judged countless costume contests. For more information about Yaya, visit her website AngelicStar.net.

Our forums are the best place to keep up with news on Saboten-Con and make new friends, so if you're not already on our forums, sign up! Just click here!

See you at Saboten-Con!

Cira Peterson
Convention Director

Saboten-Con is seeking new staff members for 2009! If you're interested in becoming a staff member for Saboten-Con, please read on!

Last year's staff was thrown together in less than a month. This year, we've made some improvements to the staff positions, adding new positions, saying good-bye to obsolete ones, and defining each position with a detailed list of responsibilities. Below, you'll find links to the Staff Guidelines (guidelines which all staff members must live by), the Staff Chart (which will tell you what positions there are open), and the Responsibilities (which will tell you what each position is responsible for doing). Please read through them and decide which position(s) interest you.

Also, if you're serious about becoming a staff member, please evaluate your schedule and see how much time you have to dedicate to Saboten-Con each week. Staff members dedicate 2-40+ hours a week to the convention. As a rule, Managers dedicate about 3-6 hours a week, Directors dedicate 8+ hours. This number may change closer to the convention. Many potential staff members underestimate the amount of time it takes to run a convention, so keep these numbers in mind when applying for a staff position.

But enough talk. Below are the documents of which I speak. The first is the Staff Guidelines, then the Staff Chart. The rest are the descriptions. If you're interested in a position in Operations, click the link for "Operations Positions". If you're interested in Guest Relations, click the link for "Guest Relations Positions". Please let me know if you have any questions about anything in these documents. I'm more than happy to help. If a position says "OPEN", it is open for application. If it says "TBD" or "TBA", it means we are nearing a decision on this position and we are not accepting applications.

Staff Guidelines
Staff Chart
Director Positions
Operations Positions
Programming Positions
Guest Relations Positions
Marketing Positions
Volunteers Positions

To apply for a position, please fill out the Staff Application Form found here.

Please fill out your application before February 25, 2009. We would like to fill all positions in the first week of March. We will take positions off the application and update the Staff Chart as they are filled. I will contact you within three business days of receiving your application. For most positions, I will require a phone or in-person interview and will schedule that with you in the follow-up.

Thank you for your interest! If you have any questions about these positions, please email me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . :)

Cira Peterson
Convention Director

The news you've all been waiting for--we're ready to announce the dates and location for Saboten-Con 2009!

Saboten-Con 2009 will be held October 30th - November 1st, 2009 at the Hilton Phoenix East/Mesa! We selected Halloween weekend as the date for our convention. After all, aren't Halloween and cosplay just perfect together?

As we did in 2008, we'll be teaming up with local stores to provide anime fests to lead up to the convention, so don't worry about missing an anime fest! We'll be working with the stores to make them bigger and better than ever with more games, more prizes, and more free tickets to Saboten-Con!

We're also proud to announce our first guest--Vic Mignogna! Vic is a professional music composer and producer, as well as a veteran actor best known as the voice of Edward Elric in Fullmetal Alchemist. Recently, he starred in Ouran High School Host Club as the voice of Tamaki, and is currently playing Fai in Tsubasa Chronicles, Ikkaku in Bleach, and Yukito in Air. Vic is also well-known for his roles as Dark in D.N.Angel, Kurz in Full Metal Panic, Broly in Dragonball Z, Kougaijji in Saiyuki, Tatsu in Peacemaker, and many others.

As a special treat for you, we're offering a special pre-sale for Saboten-Con 2009 tickets! Tickets are normally $35, but at Phoenix Comicon, we'll be selling them for only $25! This is the only time you'll be able to get Saboten-Con tickets for this price! You can purchase these tickets at the Phoenix Comicon booth in the Exhibitor Hall, F7-F8.

We're just getting started with announcements! Keep checking back for more guests, more programming, more fun!

See you at Saboten-Con!

Cira Peterson
Convention Director