The geeks were out in force today
by David “Aussie Dave” Lobato, Reporter
Supanova 2012 officially opened to general public ticket holders on a very sunny Saturday the 14th of April at 10am. The Royal Melbourne Showgrounds was the (not so) secret headquarters for the event, with ample parking spaces and several public transportation options (including a special Supanova train service) in operation meaning that getting to the event itself was a rather straightforward affair.
The first thing that smacked me in the face when I arrived was the overwhelming number of cosplayers. Also worth mentioning was that the quality of the costumes worn was impressive, clearly a lot of time and effort went into creating these outfits and I cannot let that go unrecognised, so well done to all of you!
The convention setup consisted of a large number of exhibitor stalls with a vast array of collectibles, books, magazines and consumables available for purchase. Of particular interest to this reporter was a limited run statuette of Marvel’s Thor that immediately caught my eye. Next time, God of Thunder, next time…
Also present was a large interactive game station hosted by ‘Save Point’ and sponsored by ‘Coolermaster’ where attendees could experience the latest in computer graphics entertainment, running games such as Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Mass Effect 3 at the highest system settings known to man, which frankly looked pants-wettingly awesome!
There was also a wrestling display hosted by the Australasian Wrestling Federation (AWF) which was thoroughly entertaining to say the least, and being located in the main exhibition hall meant it created a welcome diversion for those wanting to take a breather from parting with their hard-earned cash.
Towards the northern end of the main building there was a cordoned-off area with ample seating which played host to several panels throughout the weekend, and next to this was the celebrity autograph and photo section where Supanova attendees had the opportunity to receive autographs and have their photographs taken with some of their idols (again, at the sacrifice of even more of their money, which by this stage would surely have had to be depleting bank accounts at an alarming rate).
Over the course of the weekend there were some fairly big names from geek pop culture present such as Wil Wheaton, Summer Glau and Morena Baccarin, all of whom were available for Q&A panels, autograph signings and photo opportunities (stay tuned to comicsonline.com for an in-depth report on the Morena Baccarin panel).
I managed to use my new found “media-hound” status to sneak myself in to the Summer Glau panel where she appeared to be incredibly relaxed and comfortable addressing her large crowd of fans. Summer politely and honestly answered every question that was pitched to her, as random as they may have been. She spoke about her dog which she had rescued from a shelter, and provided insights into her history in ballet. When asked whether she still has the time to dance her answer was a regrettable “no”, as the rigorous demands of constant ballet training are simply too much to fit into her already busy schedule.
On keeping in shape and whether she felt pressured to keep slim because of her line of work, Summer responded (after some thought), “I think keeping healthy and looking healthy is important, not necessarily staying skinny.” When asked about her appearance in The Big Bang Theory playing herself she explained with a big smile that she was told to just react and respond as she would normally, which allegedly was quite a struggle for her, the end result being a portrayal of herself that apparently was nothing like she is in real life!
Of course there were also the inevitable Firefly questions pitched by diehard fans of the series who craved as much information as possible. Summer revealed that her favourite episode to shoot was “Objects In Space”, the scene in particular that she found “really cool” to shoot was when she (as River Tam) is holding a tree branch which then turns into a pistol. When probed about her connection with River’s character, she elaborated on her process in feeling the role and told us that making that connection to River was really easy for her to do.
Summer Glau’s Q&A session was a great panel to observe, she paused and really thought about her responses to the numerous questions posed to her, and you could just tell that she seemed really down to earth, relaxed and everything that fans (myself included) had hoped she would be.
P.S. Summer – if you are reading this, I am still waiting for your response to my marriage proposal.
Thus ended my second day of Supanova in which I had spent the majority of my time wandering around and soaking up as much geek pop culture as humanly possible. Unfortunately I was flying solo on the day as my compadre Jayden couldn’t make it (apparently attending a wedding is more important than salivating over unaffordable comics and collectibles). As such there was much going on during the day including several panels that ran concurrently and I regretfully could not get to them all. That being said my day two (the official day one for regular ticket holders) was an enjoyable experience and my thanks must go out to the organisers (namely Ty) for assisting me on the day.
You never have to put on your costume to visit ComicsOnline.com for more in-depth coverage of Supanova events and celebrities and for everything geek pop culture!
