Oz Comic-Con report - day 1
Jun. 30th, 2012 05:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
taluminDid do a con report on Supernova? I forget. Oh well. Here's what I learned from the first day of Oz ComicCon - lines suck.
We planned pretty well to get to the con, and arrived 75 minutes before the first panel we wanted to see. This was not enough time. We spent an hour and a half in line, mainly because after an hour they stopped allowing people into the convention. This was because of safety concerns due to overcrowding and no doubt fire codes. We did get to see a crazy guy threaten to sue the convention and try to get a class action going. We had to wait another half hour before enough people had left so they could begin moving the line again. Basically, you got the wristband for entry at the door - but they also handed them out to people with weekend passes. We had a weekend pass but they didn't give us a wristband until we'd stood in queue.
The Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre is good for many things, but this convention was not one of them. There was an insanely huge turn-out - so large that they stopped selling tickets because they couldn't fit everyone in. Once we did get in, the convention floor was shoulder to shoulder with people. It was difficult to tell where lines began, whether you were even IN a line or if there were just a bunch of people standing around talking.
The guest list was very impressive (Jason Momoa, Sean Maher, Stan Lee, Corin Nemec, Ryan Robbins, Hudson Leick and more) but the panels themselves left a little to be desired. We saw Sean Maher, Ryan Robbins and Hudson Leick today, and they were all amazing - especially Ryan Robbins. There were quite a few awkward moments when people asking questions hadn't been given microphones, or hadn't been given them in time - or in the case of Hudson Leick, there were no questions and we just kinda sat there staring at her for 20 seconds until someone thought of one. It didn't help that Stan Lee was doing a panel right next door behind a thin curtain, so it was really hard to hear.
Stall-wise, there were some great set ups. All Star Comics, our local comics store, was there and had awesome prints. Alternate Worlds was there too, and kinda freaked The Girl out with grumpy security staff. There were stalls for board games, collectibles, cosplay items, the Browncoats and a bunch of other stuff that we didn't get to see because it was horrendous trying to move around.
I feel like conventions should have one Thing that they have that no other con does - Oz ComicCon didn't seem to have that. It just felt like Supernova-lite; the question format was the same and the stalls were very similar. There was a higher emphasis on cosplay stuff, like contact lenses and outfits and jewellery. Actual panels would be amazing, but that seems to only occur with the VIP exclusive sessions (which we were able to overhear because of the lack of walls). Maybe format it like the San Diego ComicCon, with tracks and panels and themes etc etc.
Anyway, we're going back tomorrow, because yay Corin Nemec! And Jason Momoa! But unless it changes venues or has someone REALLY amazing (like Ryan Robbins), we probably won't go back next year.
We planned pretty well to get to the con, and arrived 75 minutes before the first panel we wanted to see. This was not enough time. We spent an hour and a half in line, mainly because after an hour they stopped allowing people into the convention. This was because of safety concerns due to overcrowding and no doubt fire codes. We did get to see a crazy guy threaten to sue the convention and try to get a class action going. We had to wait another half hour before enough people had left so they could begin moving the line again. Basically, you got the wristband for entry at the door - but they also handed them out to people with weekend passes. We had a weekend pass but they didn't give us a wristband until we'd stood in queue.
The Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre is good for many things, but this convention was not one of them. There was an insanely huge turn-out - so large that they stopped selling tickets because they couldn't fit everyone in. Once we did get in, the convention floor was shoulder to shoulder with people. It was difficult to tell where lines began, whether you were even IN a line or if there were just a bunch of people standing around talking.
The guest list was very impressive (Jason Momoa, Sean Maher, Stan Lee, Corin Nemec, Ryan Robbins, Hudson Leick and more) but the panels themselves left a little to be desired. We saw Sean Maher, Ryan Robbins and Hudson Leick today, and they were all amazing - especially Ryan Robbins. There were quite a few awkward moments when people asking questions hadn't been given microphones, or hadn't been given them in time - or in the case of Hudson Leick, there were no questions and we just kinda sat there staring at her for 20 seconds until someone thought of one. It didn't help that Stan Lee was doing a panel right next door behind a thin curtain, so it was really hard to hear.
Stall-wise, there were some great set ups. All Star Comics, our local comics store, was there and had awesome prints. Alternate Worlds was there too, and kinda freaked The Girl out with grumpy security staff. There were stalls for board games, collectibles, cosplay items, the Browncoats and a bunch of other stuff that we didn't get to see because it was horrendous trying to move around.
I feel like conventions should have one Thing that they have that no other con does - Oz ComicCon didn't seem to have that. It just felt like Supernova-lite; the question format was the same and the stalls were very similar. There was a higher emphasis on cosplay stuff, like contact lenses and outfits and jewellery. Actual panels would be amazing, but that seems to only occur with the VIP exclusive sessions (which we were able to overhear because of the lack of walls). Maybe format it like the San Diego ComicCon, with tracks and panels and themes etc etc.
Anyway, we're going back tomorrow, because yay Corin Nemec! And Jason Momoa! But unless it changes venues or has someone REALLY amazing (like Ryan Robbins), we probably won't go back next year.
