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kyndaris · 9 months

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From Supanova to SMASH - A Convention-al Story

In the city of Sydney, Australia, there aren’t too many events where nerds can get together to celebrate pop-culture. Sure, we have a somewhat lowkey medieval fair that’s located about 62 kilometres away from the heart of the city (or, as we Sydneysiders like to call it: the CBD, which stands for central business district) as well as a few few board game events, but the ones that really catch the attention of most people are the holy trinity: Supanova, SMASH and OZ Comic-Con. None of which are as big as any of the events held overseas. That means that many of the guests certainly aren’t as up to snuff as those that attend similar events in America. We certainly don’t attract A-list Hollywood actors for a start!

Although, several years back, we did have Chuck Norris down under. So, that’s a plus?

Long story short, San Diego Comic-Con, this is not. There is no dedicated Hall H to showcase all the latest films that are in the works. Nor do we have attendees like James Gunn or Jamie Lee Curtis coming through.

It’s a far simpler affair than all that.

One that I had intended to check out again with @bleachpanda. Unfortunately, to my dismay, my friend couldn’t wouldn’t attend with me. She said she’d undertaken a translation course with mandatory classes on the weekend. I called bullshit, of course. But she was adamant that there were limitations to how many classes she could skip.

So, I was left to attend Supanova on my lonesome.

Or so I thought!

Enter @mrsarmageddon!

A starry-eyed Generation Zed that I’d taken under my wing at work as the older, wiser and cooler colleague. Little did SHE know that I was actually a cantankerous miser who shook my fists at all the younglings throwing out words like ‘slaaay’ and ‘yaas queen.’

I think I might have thrown up in my mouth a little.

Anyways, she’d recently joined my team and I’d threatened that if she so much as thought to ask me questions, I’d bore her to tears by listing useless facts about Star Wars or Harry Potter or whatever video game that I could think of in that moment. But instead of being turned off, she’d actually seemed excited! In fact, she wanted more!

After some light Facebook stalking, I discovered she was one of those Tumblr fiends back in the day. One who was tangentially involved in the SuperWhoLock fandom.

But more importantly, she was ALSO big into musicals. And, although, she didn’t read as much fantasy fiction as I did, she had delved deep into the realm of YA.

I had found...a kindred spirit. A mini-me! One that I could sculpt into my own image with just the right encouragement.

Purely by chance!

Okay, well, maybe it might be a tad bit impossible to make them COMPLETELY like me. I am, of course, the superior and more worldly lifeform that is perfect in every way - an Apex Predator if you will - in the world of social interaction.

Honestly, it’s not everyday that I find someone that ticks most of my interest boxes and gets all of my references. This was something special. I could feel it in my bones.

(Editorial Kyndaris here: The claim of being an Apex Predator? Yeah, that’s a lie. I’m actually the complete opposite. Honestly, I’m definitely more of a wallflower. And an incredibly awkward one at that. I’m a person who sits on the sidelines and who just thinks terrible thoughts of the people around me. NO-ONE should idolise me in any way and I’m certainly not a good role model for anyone to emulate).

In any case, @mrsarmageddon was not good at making good financial decisions. Despite already going to Dreamhack in Melbourne earlier in the year, she still wanted to go to Supanova. Something I, the enabler, well...supported! After all, going to such events is much more fun with friends. Even those that you meet through work.

Is it a little strange to see them outside the work context and free from the confines of Microsoft Teams? Sure. But well, what can you do?

Arriving early at Supanova, I snuck in late to the Cristina Vee panel before sitting down for a discussion on the art of writing with Levi Grossman. The panels themselves did have their highlights but, especially with Levi Grossman, author of The Magicians, it just wasn’t as exciting as I had hoped. Once again, I was reminded that even authors, be they great or small, are just human. Not all of us are great orators.

Even in our field of supposed expertise, we can struggle.

Still, it was good to learn that Levi Grossman had learned some of the tricks of the trade by working in the field of journalism before becoming a bestseller author. Along with the fact that he had written other books prior to his breakout novel starring the likes of Quentin Coldwater but it had been a struggle to find his voices.

So, maybe there’s hope for me yet!

@mrsarmageddon, unfortunately, was late for our very first out-of-office meetup. By the time she’d arrived, I’d already done a tour of the artist stalls and had picked up gifts for my friends, including @bleachpanda.

@bleachpanda, I hope you’re happy!

As we resumed roaming the halls, I got to meet @mrsarmageddon’s circle of friends (which was nice because most of my friends...well, they tend to like going to SMASH over Supanova). It’s always good to expand my circle of associates. One never knows when that can come in handy.

I jest.

In truth, I only met @mrsarmageddon‘s friends in passing before they disappeared to buy more merchandise from a stall.

By the time our feet were telling us to take a break, it was almost 4 PM. Since I had arrived at about 10:30 AM, I was exhausted but glad that I was laden down with impressive prints and a crocheted Appa, key Sky Bison of the Avatar Gang.

Not even two weeks after Supanova, I was back at it again. This time, I was attending SMASH with @bleachpanda. We arrived there early but still had no luck in nabbing spots at the maid cafe. A little disappointing, but no matter. There was always Japan.

Given that @bleachpanda didn’t have a panel she wanted to see until 12, we wandered through the stalls to see what goodies were being sold by entrepreneurial creatives. Much like Supanova, there were plenty of prints and artwork to be had. Although, there were more options for sexy anime figurines to make a grown man blush.

In the end, I purchased a blind box and an Ai Haibara keychain.

Yes. I’m one of those. A huge fan of the Detective Conan anime series. Which, honestly, isn’t getting as much recognition as it should outside of Asia. Who WOULDN’T love Kaitou Kid?

Honestly, it’s a surprise given how prolific Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie are in the Western world.

Alas.

After nearly choking in the mass of humans congregating in artist alley, we headed to Pyrmont Theatre for a panel with the one and only Toru Furuya. The iconic seiyu for many a character including Yamcha, Tuxedo Mask, Sabo and Toru Amuro. For me, who wasn’t as impressed, the panel was a little tedious due to the requirement for translation. That wasn’t to say Toru-sensei wasn’t enthusiastic. He was gregarious and suave throughout all his interactions.

When it ended, though, @bleachpanda was sorely disappointed that we didn’t get snippets of his voice acting talent. Rather, that had been relegated to the Sunday panel. Something that irritated Bleachpanda to no end as we then waited outside another room for an otome panel.

Of course, I’m not one to play otomes though I do very much like the visual novel style of games. After all, I played through all of the Ace Attorney games. But by 1:10 PM, the doors had yet to open. And I was starting to feel hungry. Beyond that, my old high school friend had texted me that they’d be at a nearby cafe. So, I thought, why not join up with them rather than wait in line for something that looked incredibly boring?

And I think it was a good call overall. For, as we walked past, sneaking a glance into the room, the otome panel appeared to be just a normal PowerPoint presentation to regale the audience of all the great things that can be found within.

Even @bleachpanda was taken aback by the lack of interesting slides that were on display.

Unfortunately, I walked in the wrong direction because there were TWO cafes with the SAME name within the immediate vicinity. So, rather than catch-up with my high school friend then and there, @bleachpanda and I ended up buying some food at a nearby food court.

But because of all the puttering about that we were doing, I missed out on the panel with Sungwon Cho, AKA ProZD!

The despair I felt then! Even as I trudged up to World Square to pick up a copy of the latest game from Spike Chunsoft, Master Detective Archives: Rain Code. Junko Enoshima would be proud.

We returned to the convention after fuelling up and spent the rest of it going through artist alley, finally catching up with my high school friend and watching a performance on the Hobbyco stage. I even bought a Good Game mystery box, walking away with three new board games that I’ll play sometime in the distant future.

It sucks to live so far from friends that one can play board games with. But, it’s the hand I’ve been dealt in life and one I’ll simply have to learn to deal with.

Overall, I’d have to say that the two conventions I attended this year had both perks and downsides. It was a shame that I didn’t get to see ProZD but, at the very least, I got a chance to hang out with my friends that I so rarely see now that we’ve hit our 30s and are busy trying to carve out a career, or in the case of my high school friend, contemplate if now is the time to have a baby.

I, for one, am still on the fence on whether I should just accept the fact that I’ll never find THE ONE and just put in some research on IVF and Australian sperm donors. While I like the idea of having a child, going it alone is going to be tough.

Of course, there’s still time. So, while I ponder my next steps, I’ll just enjoy my new Eunie, Tora and Reyn pins (characters from the Xenoblade Chronicles series) , along with the fantastical artworks that I bought that will decorate the walls of my future abode if my mortgage doesn’t force me to sell off my property.

What a time to be alive!

Oh, and before I forget, I’d like to think that I was quite impressive with my ability to find whatever stall I’d marked out to revisit. @bleachpanda was certainly astounded that I could seemingly navigate the veritable maze of straight aisles that was the SMASH convention, whereas she would have still been lost even if she walked through the room twice.

So, yay for my good sense of direction?

#personal blog #conventions #supanova #smash #prozd #voice actors #anime #artist alley #7/10 too much anime at SMASH #xenoblade chronicles #so many people #i would have been a kyndaris sandwich

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