Geek It! Sydney ComicCon 2014 Impressions

America’s ComicCon is one of the best conventions in the world so when Sydney decided to host its first ComicCon on September 12-14, there was a lot riding on its debut. The verdict? Sydney ComicCon certainly didn’t disappoint fans at all!

Glebe Island? 

For most Sydney ComicCon-goers, Glebe Island seemed very distant from your usual convention locations such as the Sydney Convention Centre, Sydney Olympic Park, and even Rosehill Gardens. Situated near the Sydney CBD, transport could be done via bus or ferry, and the guys at Sydney ComicCon made it very easy to reach the destination without worrying about anything. While it looked like a small venue floating on an island in the middle of nowhere, the actual size of the convention will deceive you. It’s bright and spacious– it was the perfect venue for the birth of a new convention.

Cosplay 

Despite the gloomy weather, ComicCon used its force over the weekend to bring out some of the best cosplayers in Sydney to Glebe Island. It was fantastic seeing an array of comic and anime cosplayers, with a majority of cosplayers in favour of Marvel-inspired characters such as Lady Loki and Iron Man. Check out the cosplay photos below!

Vendors/Booths

Just like its name suggests, Sydney ComicCon specialises in Western entertainment such as comics, TV and film. From autographs to original art to exclusive merchandise, our inner-geek was totally over the over moon after seeing the amount of collectibles that aren’t usually available in stores. But that’s not all! You can drop by fanclubs and receive exclusive content; learn tricks of the trade at workshops and panels; relax and challenge fellow gamers at gaming stations; and last but not least, you can also take interactive photos in fan-favourite settings such as Star Wars and Game of Thrones.

Amongst the vendors and booths, you will also find established local and international comic artists and writers with whom you can discuss their craft, as well as editors from major comic publishers. Such artists and authors include Paul Abstruse (My Little Pony), Queenie Chan (The Dreaming), Tristan Jones (Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Nicola Scott (Wonder Woman), Chris Wahl (Star Wars) and David Yardin (The X-Factor).

Guests and Panels

Where on earth do we start? Fans of TV and film were in for a real treat as they were able to get up close and personal with their favourite stars in guest panels across the weekend. We’ll start off with the popular TV guests — Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Nicholas Brendon and Emma Caulfield; Veronica Mars‘ Percy Daggs II, Michael Muhney, and Jason Dohring; Game of Thrones’ Jason Momoa; and Star Trek‘s William Shatner. Hollywood movie stars also attended such as The Hobbit’s Dean O’Gorman and Stephen Hunter; X-Men’s Boo Boo Stewart, and of course, the legendary Legolas from Lord of the Rings, Orlando Bloom. Now, you have to admit that the *above* is quite an impressive guest list for the first ever Sydney ComicCon convention.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

But hark…! There are more guests to be mentioned! As we are huge fans of Disney and animation in general, we could not help but gush over the voice-acting guest list: Rodger Bumpass (aka Squidward) from Spongebob Squarepants, Jim Cummings (aka Disney’s Winnie the Pooh), Paul Eiding (aka Grandpa Max) from Ben 10, Bill Farmer aka Disney’s Goofy, and Monica Rial (aka Bulma) from Dragon Ball Z. Many teens and adults grew up with Disney’s Winnie the Pooh and Goofy in the 90s, and vice-versa with SpongeBob Squarepants and Ben 10 in the ’00s. It’s such an honour to have these voice-actors attend Sydney ComicCon, let alone talk about their craft and characters with their fans — we were in heaven, no joke!

In our next post about Sydney ComicCon, we will have extracts from the animation panel featuring Jim Cummings, Bill Farmer, Paul Eiding, Roger Bumpass and Monica Rial…until then!