Supanova 2014 Wrap Up

Last weekend Supanova descended upon Melbourne bringing along loads of Celebrities, Cosplay and Comics. It was a spectacular event filled with so much content, I feel that this wont do it justice.

Perhaps the best thing about Supanova is that it is just such a great event, there are loads of people that are there to get a photo from the hottest celebrity around or showing off the months of work they put into their costume. No matter what brings you to the show there is something for everyone. This year perhaps more than the last the celebrities were more varied ranging from Michael Rooker, best known these days from The Walking Dead and soon The Guardians of the Galaxy, Lucy Lawless known to many the world over as Xena Warrior Princess and Lindsay Wagner the Original Bionic Woman to the supreme pop culture stars Verne Troyer from Austin Powers, Peter Mayhew the larger than life man behind Chewbacca and John Dimaggio, voice actor extraordinaire who is currently bringing life to Jake the Dog from Adventure Time.

This guy was on display at both events

Of course for some people just going and having a look around and perhaps purchasing something to show your pop culture love is all you wanted to do. With an abundance of booths providing everything from t-shirts to swords, pop figures to contacts and corsets there was almost every type of item for sale. Pop Culture, is perhaps one of the largest purveyors of, well pop cultures items in Australia. And their booth was busy each and every time I walked passed. Offering up everything from shirts to pop figures to replica weapons and even awesome statues, like the one shown below. The booth was a temptation I saw many people give into.

One of the coolest booths was by Weta Digital, that’s right the people that made Smaug the dragon in the recent Hobbit film were on hand to show off their wares. Art books showcasing the detailed sketches of all the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings movies, hats and production stills. They even had an artist on deck who was drawing through the days and if you timed your visit just right you might have scored the artwork he was doing. Gollum stood watch for them while sampling some delicious fish.

 

Of course for an event such as Supanova, Cosplay is perhaps one of the largest reasons people visit. The chance to see some of the lengths people go to for their costumes is insane, from a prom dress batman to a Pikachu themed Warhammer soldier. If you want to see some of the great costumes from the event click here to see them. Of course, there are those that love to dress up and those that dress up to win. Madman provided just that chance with the Melbourne qualifies of the Madman National Cosplay Championship 2014. Each of the contestants were amazing in their presentation of the costume and their performance as the characters they were dressed as. My favourite was the Ice Climbers, check back this week for a full break down of that event.

Another aspect of these events is the chance to sit down and listen to the stars, maybe ask them a question. So when you have John Dimaggio, Jeremy Shada and Hynden Walch the stars of Adventure Time sitting down ready to take any and all questions, it’s a chance you cant pass up and as it stands most people did not because that panel was packed. Over the course of the 50 minutes or so a lot of people asked a range of questions to the stars including if anyone has eaten Bacon Pancakes. Perhaps the funniest moment came when someone's phone rang and John Dimaggio casually strolled over and as Bender, the robot from Futurama, proceeded to mock the person on the other end for not attending Supanova.

Of course if you are not into things like Anime or movies you are not left out either. Gaming trailblazers Origin were there as well. If you have an idea for a powerhouse of a PC chances are these guys have already made it and will sell one to you. They had Battlefield 4 on show, offering up the chance for people to jump in to an always happening multiplayer match. They even brought out the APC that was used in the Battlefield 4 promotions last year, offering up the chance for people to climb inside and take to the battlefield.

And that is what makes events like this incredible, no matter how much you try to explain to someone what you saw, what someone was wearing or anything like that, you just cant. These events are an experience that you have to have for yourself. It's like trying to describe Ice-Cream to someone. Each time I go to an event like this, I come out the otherside tired and exhusted wondering what I missed on the day, what I need to see next time. And you know what I would not change anything. Bring on Supanova for next year.

Taking a moment to rest up