Supanova Pop Culture Convention is a convention like the American San Diego Comic Con, but probably not as huge but still pretty big when you account for Australian population density on the coast.
Quick few things I want to point out before I write my article on it:
1: The only games tables there were from Wizards of the Coast. By far, the Magic demo table was cleaning up because you got a free 30 card promo deck and a shiny promo card. I didn't see much of what was going on in the D&D table other than they were using miniatures for it, which just seems wrong to me.
You weren't allowed to use your own decks even if you brought them - so the lack of a set gaming table for people to come and play with their existing Magic decks left me bummed but at least the Wizards table was really successful at explaining the rules to people in a completely understandable way. Two local board game shops had stalls there where you could buy Magic cards as well as D&D - but I think because of the way it was set up, Magic is what people were at that table for.
It was much more professional than a FLGS at explaining the game - and the whole vibe of it didn't leave me annoyed and bitter.
2: There were a bunch of comics shops with surprised me to see - I had always thought of Australians liking manga and anime more than American comics but the Western, or Ameritrash comics - seemed to be going strong here. Gives me hope that maybe, just maybe - the graphic novel section of my favorite bookshop that does specialty stuff for that will be full of young people for years to come.
I also noticed that apart from the die-hard fans - manga and anime tends to be on the decline right now. I'm not saying it's doomed - I just get this vibe that the boom times are over and it will be in this purgatory period like Western comics were in the 1990s. I like Western comics as well as manga and anime - but depending on what mood I'm in I go for either one when it suits me.
3: Good to see the good ol' toy collector shops doing well. If you liked toys and collectables - you wouldn't have been disappointed. I haven't seen that many collectables of varying age since I went to a specialty shop in South Australia or Perth - I forget exactly where - but I was amazed at what I could find there. Lots of DC and Marvel toys both obscure and well known - but also more obscure toys like Usagi Yojimbo. I got me a Superman DC Classics figure because I've wanted one for ages - and those things are damned hard to find in retail shops where I normally go.
In short - Supanova was better than what I expected it to be. A more thorough write up coming soon.
Games
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