We like to think of ourselves as convention regulars. We've been going to them on and off for the past few years, but this year we decided to visit them all. Kicking off the season was Supanova Sydney - a convention that combines anime, sci-fi and pop culture.
Let's begin with what we didn't like.
Call me crazy, but when you're planning an event as big as Supanova isn't one of your priorities to get the event schedule out as early as possible? And then, once it's out, check to see that people can actually access it? When the event guide actually came out every cheered. But, when they tried to download it all that came up was a blank screen. If you tried to view it online the guide came out sideways. Sorry Supanova crew, but uber fail.
- The convention staff had no idea what was going on.
As we arrived at the convention it started to rain. But that didn't diminish our excitement as we lined up to enter. There was no one to tell us where to go so we just hopped into the only line we saw. After standing in line for about ten minutes we noticed a mob of people of passing us. We asked a random person what was happening. He told us he had been told to stand in another line on the other side of the convention because he had tickets. As ticket holders we followed them.
When we got there we had to stand in another line to show our tickets and get a wrist band. Fair enough we thought and were giddy when we got to the front of the line...only to have a wrist band slapped on and be told to go line up again. Apparently we now had to line up to get into the convention. So there we were, standing in the rain with only our wrist bands to protect us. As we waited in this new line numerous Supanova staff told us we were in the wrong line, but we refused to move. Eventually we made it to the front of this line and no one even checked to see if I had that damn wrist band on! It took us forty-five min to get into Supanova.
- Events were poorly organised and not thought through.
Okay, I may be generalising a bit here. The only events we actually bothered to see were Cosplay Chess and the Cosplay Competition. As for the chess match, omg it was so boring! Let me paint the scene for you: there were squares sticky taped to the floor of the foyer with little markings in them. Cosplayers stood in their positions and wore little tags that told the audience which chess piece they were. The two players then told their pieces where to go. The problem was that no one could see or hear what was going on. Cosplayers would move occasionally, but other than that nothing happened. We bailed after about ten minutes to take more pictures.
Before you think I'm just being a negative Nancy I'll get onto what we loved:
Conventions are all about the people that attend it. That's why Supanova didn't end up being as bad as it could have been. Everyone was super friendly and willing to pose for pictures. Here are some of our favourites:
- The exhibitions and artists
At first I was cautious to ask the exhibitors and artists if I could take picture of their work. But then I remembered geeks aren't like ordinary people. They weren't there for profit, they were there because they love anime and sci-fi. With the artists photos were welcomed and even encouraged! If you want details from any of the artists or exhibitors featured below let me know.
