If you have already been to a Comicon somewhere, you don’t need me to tell you WHY you should be at Sydney Comicon 2015 (Macgyver is going to be there). If you have never been to Comicon? That’s what I’m here for. To help you fulfil a dream you didn’t even know you had (did you hear me say Macgyver? Why haven’t you booked tickets already?).
Comicon is a place where only very passionate people go. It’s that simple. The entire convention centre is DEVOID OF APATHY for an entire weekend and that sort of vibe can fill you up and remind you why other people are cool and we should like and respect them. How can you not like someone who spent one-hundred and seventy hours hand-sewing his own Assassin’s Creed costume? How can not deeply respect the integrity of the Rebel Alliance who expect your Star Wars costume to be authentic down to the width of the belt and the pantone colour of the linen? And tell me how you can’t be happier knowing that Macgyver is coming to Sydney.
Last year I took two small lads to Comicon for the first time. We caught a bus, then a train and then a ferry – all dressed as Legolas and Frodo. Everybody talked to us. Everybody smiled at us. We got lost and couldn’t find the ferry and a stranger walked a kilometre out of his way to help us get to our destination.
Comicon Sydney takes place on Glebe Island in the temporary convention centre there. Its a vast sprawling place and you can lose your people very quickly. I was the first person of the morning to have the police scouring the building. For Legolas. Literally – they put out a missing persons call for “Legolas”. Again – awesome. He was playing Wii with the kid from Dragonball Z. All good. By the way – you catch the ferry from near that terribly boring Darling Harbour Mall that has a Hard Rock Cafe (likes its 1992 – get yourself a pin).
For all intents, Comicon is kind of a huge mall of geek. You can buy at this event all the things you trawl the internet for at every other moment of the year – post-apocalyptic backbacks, Tusken Raider gaffi sticks, steampunk goggles, wooden katana and replica Spartan armour – and that was just the stuff WE went home with. People are cool and sometimes they’ll throw in a free bow and arrow with your merch. Tell me where else this happens?
It is also a chance to find out about new artists. Comic writers and illustrators and new fantasy writers all take up residency at the stalls in the middle and are happy to talk to you about their books. Buy one – all new artists and writers, in every genre should be rewarded, awarded and bought coffee.
There are many events you can sit in on – voice artists talking about their work, actors talking about that role they did in Xena fifteen years ago that still gets them fan tweets and the usually unrecognised people from behind the geekery who get to tell you how it was all done (yes, it was probably done in post).
Then there is the cosplay. Some of it is terrible and laughable and all the more awesome for it. Maleficent horns made out of gaffa tape, a gender-bending Khaleesi who could have used a date with a razor, slightly worrying guys who clearly just wanted to have an excuse to whip out the sniper ghillie, and far too many Kakashi Hatake costumes. And let’s be frank, there was a solid amount of flesh on display, a lot of it female, but not all. Some of it was part of the costume and some of it was the result of a costume that may have been made for a slightly smaller frame. All of was in keeping with the unspoken cosplay creed that size, shape, skin colour and gender do not matter.
This year Comicon Sydney covers the weekend of September 26-27th and its cheap to get in. What will cost you money is… everything single other thing. Honestly – pretend it is part of a costume and take your own coffee thermos, water, food, pen and paper and if possible, celebrity. Even an autograph will cost you. But how glorious could you autograph book be this year? Admiral Ackbar’s signature could sit warmly beside that of Podrick from GoT, or next to that super weird guy from Sanctuary (and Gotham and Stargate and Twilight and actually everything noir since 2005). Rufio from Hook could write his name next to the guy who draws the My Little Pony comics (the glorious drawcard here is the Bronies! Please let there be Bronies) and next to both of these could be the forever king of TV – Richard Dean Anderson. Let the credits roll here folks: several hundred seasons of Stargate; a solid stint on General Hospital; if you’re old enough – Seven Brides for Seven Brothers; and beyond them all – the glory of the 1980s – Macgyver. (Don’t watch it again by the way… leave it as is in your mind. The misogyny, racial stereotyping and what can only be called “videography” will cause you to cringe into a little lump of chewed gum – possible useful for affixing a fuse to an old Russian missile – and the magic will be gone).
However – let it be absolutely clear – Macgyver will not sign your duct tape.
Everyone at Comicon is happy. Seriously – they are having a really good time. They are lost, and hungry and completely flat broke, but they have on a tight red Avatar costume (The Last Airbender obviously, not that other one), and there is a free bow and arrow in their Fury Roadesque backpack. People smile at each other, pose with each, let you touch their Jon Snow hair, help you find your Legolas and generally remind each other we are all weird at heart.
Get your tickets. Get your cash. Just don’t bring the duct tape.
Lynnette Lounsbury is the Editor of Ytravel, a lecturer at Avondale College and author of the fantasy novel Afterworld (Allen&Unwin). She believes the answer to everything lies in a good costume and another viewing of Star Wars.
One more for the road – this time with the wind lifting his lustrous mullet.