Moé Moé Rabu

Its been somewhat of a long year for me this year being so busy with so many things but I do make time for this anime hobby of mine. And so with very little sleep in the past few days, I managed to make my way to Animania Sydney 2009, dragging friends Roobar and Blox with me. So hit the jump to check out photos for Saturday where I took a whopping amount compared to other conventions. WARNING: Picture intensive post.

Animania has always been a convention that I usually don’t have much expectations for since I’ve been to most of them. This year is slightly difference since it’s the first one I’ve attended since they moved the the Australian Technology Park. Last year was the first year but I was in Japan at the time. With a convention such as Animania growing in size each year (well sometimes it seems like that) it was time for them to move to a much larger complex, and the ATP is more than an adequate location. But from what people have told me of last year’s “issues”, I was skeptical. But none the less I went to check it out, but as well as do the panel I was a part of. We arrived at 10am and happened to park in the car park right outside the front of the hall itself. The closer a car park is to the event, the less walking. Always a good thing if you plan to buy a pile of merchandise. As always I’m surprised by the massive turn out of people who attend such events and as usual it’s hard to find out which line was which. Well it didn’t matter for me since I could walk right it. The first place I went to was the Asian Ball-Jointed Doll display so I leave Erika with her friends and met up with the other BJD owners. Once done I did the usual rounds of checking out the place and greeting the various people that I know.

Costumes from previous WCS rounds

Pillows! But no full-sized dakimakuras as far as I could see.

The crew from JAUWS

PARIS Patisserie was at Animania as well and I tried one of these strawberry and raspberry tarts. Delicious. And still thinking of doing food photography.

The panel that I am a part of was “Just One More! A Collector’s Life” which is the reason why I’m here at Animania. So being a panelist I get free entry. Saves me from having to pay for the entry fee that most people complain about. Well the panel started a little late due to the previous event in the room was running late. Once everything was setup we were underway. Though not a very large turn out but that is to be expected since this panel was at 11:15am, and most of the convention goers are busy checking things out. Still we had a nice amount of just under 15 people including myself and Jamie, the other panelist. Unfortunately no photos since I was presenting the panel but Bubby or icie will have some soon. As for the presentation I’m quite happy of how it turned out and how I presented. Compared to the BJD Photography panel at SMASH, I was more prepared this time around. If I was asked to do it again I would as it was fun and enjoyable to share my insight on something I passionate about. Once that was done I headed back to the ABJD display to take some photos.

Before when I left Erika she was just sitting on the couch. But one of the BJD owners decided to let her play with a DS. Erika says thank you to whoever owns that DS! This time around Erika is wearing her 6th outfit which is the Little Busters uniform. I wonder how many people picked that out, but I’m guessing no one. One other thing about having Erika a part of the ABJD display and the display itself is how the general public do show some interest in this, whether it’s positive or negative. I get great satisfaction when telling people about Erika and dollfie dreams or ABJD in general. Also I entered the Dollfie Photo Competition thinking I’d give it a go. However I’m surprised at the small number of entries compared to the SMASH Dollfie Photo Competition, but I must say some of the other entries are quite good. Anyway see my entry? Its quite obvious which one is mine. Results of the winners will be announced during the Awards Ceremony on Sunday. Cosplayers this year have been outstanding. The previous conventions showed us that the bar has certainly been raised and people are putting more effort into cosplay. At Animania we once again see some quality cosplays. Due to the large amount of photos I took, the posts will be split into multiple posts.

That concludes Part 1 of the Saturday coverage. Part 2 will continue on with the cosplay photos and give my final thoughts for the Saturday. Part 3 will cover photos from the Cosplay Competition only. Really I surprised myself this year by taking so many photos and having about 250 out of 359 usable photos for one day is something I haven’t done in a while. If you want a copy of any of the photos seen here, send me an email to adun[AT]moemoerabu[DOT]net with the subject “Photo Request” and the name of the photo you want. Other coverage of Animania Sydney 2009.Keep checking this post as this list gets updated:

• Animania 2009 Saturday (Crescent Elusion)
• Post-con report: Animania Sydney (Main) - Hunting the Elusive Gallery Day 1 Gallery Day 2
• Bubby’s SmugMug (Day 1)
• Sydney Animania 09: Part 1 (The Dis-Jointedzone)
• Sydney Animania 09: Part 2 (The Dis-Jointedzone)