Moé Moé Rabu

This past month has been a busy one for me in terms of photography work. Two weeks ago was Animania, last week was a wedding shoot, and now this week, Supanova Sydney 2007. This is the last otaku related convention for 2007 so after this, I can finally rest, as well as stop my wallet from crying. It’s Supanova’s second year since they returned to Olympic Park, and after a somewhat catastrophic layout , volunteers, and security, has it improved for the better? Well read on to find out and check out some of the photos. WARNING: Picture intensive post.

Usually when I attend a convention, I get there before the doors open, but today I felt pretty lazy and was still feeling kind of bitter after last night, but I managed to arrive to find only a moderate queue. Having paid and joined the queue, I manage to get inside within 10 minutes. This year Supanova has opted for the use of The Dome compared to the Halls of Olympic Park, which is the best decision that they made. The last time I was at The Dome was earlier this year for Sydney Autosalon, and the place is humongous. Everything was spaced out well and I didn’t have any trouble walking around taking photos.

If there is one thing I always enjoyed about Supanova, it’s the variety that it gives to attendees. Supanova is exactly what it states to be, a pop-culture expo. Compared to conventions like Animania and SMASH, Supanova offers mostly sci-fi, fantasy, comics, anime and all that funky geeky stuff. Personally I tend to enjoy Supanova more as a convention than say Animania or SMASH, where these two conventions it’s more of meeting up with the various friends from the various anime clubs, people of the Internetz, or people I’ve meet through conventions. Personally I was surprised to see NRG bring in a Ferrari.

Another good point about being in The Dome, and exactly why SMASH being at the roundhouse being good, high angle shots! As you can see quite a fair number of people turned up for Supanova Sydney all wanting to spend their gold on various things (I did as well but I shall talk about that in another post).

Amongst the stallholders at Supanova, I happened to find the dollfie collectors that I met a few months ago. I was surprised to see them there but it was nice seeing them again. Don’t worry, I still plan to buy a dollfie, but probably won’t be for quite sometime. There are some big plans coming up which requires me to save my money.

Long cat is loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong. A photo request by good friend neuralplex. His life is half complete.

DYNAMIC ENTRY!!! Now this was totally unexpected at Supanova. Wrestling. Although I have no interest in wrestling, it was a nice addition to the already established themes of Supanova. To me it all looked fake, but at least it allows for some awesome photos like the one above. I would’ve taken more photos but damn me for being short.

My friend neuralplex said that this guy was awesome since he had a Gurren-Lagann shirt, and told me to take a photo of him doing a MANLY pose. You know I’m surprised that I haven’t seen any Gurren-Lagann cosplayers this year at all. Not enough MANLY MEN out to kick common sense to the curb and pierce through to the heavens. Or it must be a lack of spiral power.

Next up is the Haruhi Dance Competition. Not many entries for this competition. I thought there would be more but I guess not everyone can do the dance. Some of the dancers were alright, but I’m getting a bit tired of seeing the dance over and over again. I want to see the Lucky Star dance!! Perhaps next year.

Just some more cosplayers I saw whilst walking around.

That’s it for the usual photos. Normally I’d take photos of the stores, but since there were so many people it was near impossible. The only stores that sold anything anime related were the usual: Madman, Tamarket, Kings Comics, and Borders. With a pop-culture event like this, anime is only a small portion of what Supanova is about, and I think that is what I find most enjoying about it. Not to mention the larger variety of cosplayers to take photos of.

Overall Supanova has improved for the better since last year. Everything was in the one building, and everything was easily accessible. It was well spaced out and there was room to stop a cosplayer and take photos. The only issue I found with Supanova so far is probably the Madman Arena where the cosplay parade was held. The use of a small stage means that not all the cosplayers could fit, so getting entire shots was almost impossible. Still, it’s only a minor issues and it’s nothing to worry about. Also this time, I can hand out my Moé Moé Rabu business cards without having the fear of being kicked out. I managed to hand out most of them and only have a few left. Guess I’ll have to order more!

Anyway, there isn’t really much more I can say about Supanova, not to mention I’m trying my hardest to not pass out. In short, Saturday was a great day. Meet up with friends, buying stuff, handing out business cards, taking photos etc. It’s what conventions are all about, well to me anyway.

If you want any of the photos that you see here, send an email to adun[at] moemoerabu[dot]net and I’ll be able to send you the high resolution version. Also check out my photography partner Bubby’s collection of photos for Supanova Saturday. Click here.

Cosplay competition photos will be posted in 2 separate posts later.