~ Curious Charlie ~

Oz Comic-Con - Melbourne 2012 @ Wednesday, July 04, 2012

On Sunday I went to the comic convention, arriving at 8.30am the lines were very long and extended about 1/5 of a mile outside. Staff however didn't have to line up :P There was a guy who slept there the night before O.O isn't the expo center closed at night? He bought his sleeping bag and all.

I was meant to do front-house (scanning tickets and giving out twristbands) but they need someone in info, as someone bailed, which was cool, as I got to be indoors the entire time. The only issue was I know nothing about the event, and the info lady (the only one) wasn't there most of the time. Fortunately the most common questions was "Where's x or y?", tokens and autographs/photos. As well as being info right in front of the door we were also the cloak"room". $2 for most items, $5 for suitcases/anything with wheels. Organization fail, we just dump your stuff in a pile. There were a lot of coats, two towering piles of them, and fortunately only one pram. A funny thing happened, an asian guy asked how much one the jackets was O.O XD, he could have actually stole it, as some people lost their tickets, and so tickets weren't required to pick-up your stuff.

Working at the info desk meant that we got to see most of the costumes, as we're right in front of the entrance. There was a few snow whites O.o what does that have to do with comic? Lots of Harry Potter, which is a bit old, but there was one guy who really stood out. Some other interesting cosplays were: Egyptian Goddess from Yu-Gi-Oh! (interesting top...) Rapunzel complete with frying pan, Diva (Blood+), Iron Man (made his outfit out of foam), Wonderland Queens, Jack Sparrow (it was amazing!) and Team Avatar (Korra was amazing, the girl looks the part). Going to have to say Korra was my favourite, as I recently finished watching that. :P More costumes: one, two, three, four links.

Monday, the event made front page of the social paper, MX, for issues with long lines and crowding. It was very crowded, hence lack of decent photos, plus people kept moving. I felt the main issue was lack of food, as there was only two sources a. a licorice vendor b. the center's overpriced cafe. And at the cafe there weren't many choices, just sandwiches $8, small burgers $6, and chips $6-7. Drinks were $4+ and water was around $5. BYO is a great idea. I didn't have time and ended up getting the last fish & chips ($10.50), the fish was very nice, but the chips were average, KFC grade.

As a part of working at the event we got $10 for lunch and a token (not a coin, just paper :P) for an autograph, from either Jason Momoa or Willow Shields (Primrose, Hunger Games).

After our shift we got to enjoy the event, as I'm not really into comics, half a day was enough to check it out. It was mainly vendors selling stuff, and I bought a star plushie, some badges and a very nice silver chandelier necklace. Emma bought a bambi one, but I didn't get a picture of it.

There was some pretty cool plushies including stuff from Pokemon, like pokeball cushions, and other anime/manga/jap stuff.

Not related, but for anyone who's into manga, Madmen is having a sale. ;)