Once again this year Supanova pop culture expo has returned to Sydney, drawing fans for all things nerdy, geeky and wonderful for a weekend of cosplay, supa guests and tonnes of merch.
The Sydney Olympic Park Showgrounds were home to the expo, thankfully giving a little extra space this year due to the growing audience that attends. It’s now much similar to the size of EB Expo, with stalls taking up the dome and main hall, with the theatres in the end hall and down the bottom end to ensure the panels can hold a lot of people.
These panels were one of the biggest and best parts of the show. Nathan FIllion was the standout attendee, with his panels following huge lines of people. He was a lot of fun to hear from, discussing everything from the inevitable Firefly and Castle topics and even a little about his involvement with Halo – very interesting in the lead up to his role in Halo 5: Guardians.
Other guests included Elizabeth Henstridge (Simmons from Agents of SHIELD), Bonnie Wright (Ginny Weasley of Harry Potter fame) and John DiMaggio (voice of Bender from Futurama and Jake from Adventure Time), among a whole host of other stars. It was near impossible to get to all the panels you may want to but the ones I saw were quite good when good questions were asked, outside of the more redundant or tedious standard Q&A responses.
The Rooster Teeth fans were in for a treat with both a panel by Chris Demarais and Josh Flanagan, and also plenty of meet ups and panels that included the Australian Roo Teeth community. Also unveiled at Supanova were the details for Rooster Teeth Expo Australia, happening in January 2016. It’ll be another great event run in coordination with Supanova, giving fans something to look forward to out of conventional con season.
One of my favourite parts of any convention like Supanova is the artist alley, with aisle upon aisle of talented individuals selling the art, craft and trinkets they’ve made to sell. It’s really special to be able to interact with the people making things you love, taking a moment to thank or encourage them and even have a great chat. There’s something there for everyone, from prints of hand drawn art to indie comics, props and even clothing like Button Fox Crafts. Seeing the alleys jam packed busy for most of the weekend was just fantastic to see.The quintessential part of Supanova has got to be the Cosplay, with at very least half the attendees coming in costume. While I did see an almost endless amount of Harley Quinns walking around the show floor, there were some stellar examples of people’s work and craft on show.
It was also really cool to see some variant costumes and even original twists on characters throughout the weekend – be it post apocalyptic Wonder Woman or sexy Gandalf – it’s a lot of fun to simply people watch from the small balcony, with people being stopped for photos left right and centre.
All in all Supanova Sydney was a pretty cool event, growing as the audience of fans and cosplayers grows. From adults to families with little kids and everything in between, the event was a lot of fun for everyone involved. If you missed out this year, make sure to check out some of our pics and those online – you might even be inspired to come or make a cosplay for next year!