The first pop culture expo to hit Cairns has been talked about for all eternity, and it has been in the making for quite a few years with a small team of dedicated enthusiasts who wanted to bring the convention feel to the far north. Most of us have to travel quite far to get to large gatherings like Supanova, Smash and Oz Comic-con, so everyone was incredibly exited at the prospect of it happening in our own town, for locals, by locals. So off I went, with my hopes high, camera in hand and excitement in my heart.
And the verdict…..I would say it was a pretty successful day. It was great to see so many local sellers and independent artist stalls mingled together with the more seasoned convention attendees. Stalls ranged from console/PC games and comics, cosplayers, talented artists, hand made jewellery, and even local computer techs promoting custom built gaming machines. And much to my surprise, there were A LOT of people who came in full cosplay, and some were incredibly high quality too. I thought we would get quite a few, but not as many that were there.
The only things that I would have to pick on would be the choice of venue, which in reality is not a bad place, it was just a bit too small. It was shoulder to shoulder in there, and some of the stalls couldn’t be reached easily because it was just so packed. Due to other big events like Cairns show, it perhaps dwindled their options for the venue this time of year.
I did get to talk to some of the vendors in the very short time I could spend with them, and they were quite happy with how the day was going, and some were very popular indeed so I only got in a “your stuff is great!” before I had to shuffle along. This time around I didn’t get to do any solid interviews or long chats, it was just too busy but I think that is a very good thing too. I managed to get a couple of half decent photos too, not many cosplayers because it was so packed and hard to move around.
A big thanks to all who attended, the vendors, guests, volunteers and organizers for putting this on for us all. Congratulations, and we hope you hold it again next year. For anyone interested in finding out more info on the event, head over to the Tropicon website, or their Facebook page.
For all who attended, I would love to hear your thoughts about the day!
UPDATE: OK so it turns out about 2000 people attended, which is a massive turnout!! If you can imagine the PCYC with that many people then you get an idea of how packed it was. Tropicon have updated their Facebook page with a list of all the guests and stall holders, so please check it out for anyone who wants to get merchandise or custom orders for them.
Sounds like a great start to an up and coming Convention. I do remember AVCon in Adelaide starting out in quite a small space and now it’s at The Adelaide Convention center. Can only go up from here! Well done to the organisers!