Oz Comic Con

Over the last weekend I attended the Oz Comic Con event at Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre. I don’t generally buy specialty tickets to these types of events but this time I decided to buy a Marvel Mega Fan Ticket. This included weekend entry as well as some other Marvel goodies such as Pins, T-Shirt, Comic and special print by Wayne Nichols. I probably wouldn’t buy a specialty ticket for this type of event again either, as I am not convinced that it was actually worth it.

Nostalgia Costumes

On Saturday I attended with my good friend Jodie who also had a Marvel ticket. We had both chosen to wear costumes this day, and both costume from shows that came out in the ’60s. Jodie was dressed in an original Star Trek costume, and I was dressed as a Herbie driver. Not my best costume, but it was kind of fun to do something different. And it was interesting seeing peoples reactions especially if they weren’t too sure about it.

Marvel Goodies

We started off our time at the event by picking up our goodies that came with our pass. Included in the pass we got to select our own Marvel shirts. I picked out a Red shit with Agent Carter on it that says “I Stand with Her” on it. Jodie picked out a black shirt with Gamora on it, from Guardians of the Galaxy. We each got a blind pin pack, mine was Peter Quill and Drax. Jodie got Peter and Gamora. We also received a Punisher comic book.

Saturday Fun

In general Saturday was a great day, there were only a few issues encountered. One being volunteers not knowing the answers to questions. The queues being a little disorganised and some rude volunteers. It was also a little overcrowded and hard to navigate. It was hard finding the different exhibitor stands. There was also an issue with the photos being printed on the Saturday. Some people were there until almost 7pm waiting to get their photos.

Jodie and I had a good chance to have a look around at all the exhibitor stands though. We visited our friends in the process, such as the boys from Gifts for the Geek and Jeff at Go Figure! We also got to chat with Stewart McKenny and even got a hug, he’s normally so busy. Whilst visiting our mate Jeff, Jodie brought herself a nice collection of Pop Figures. I also brought myself one, a Diana Prince/Wonder Woman pop figure.

Friends

As always with these types of events we had a great time especially seeing and catching up with friends. For a lot of us these events are the only times we really get to see each other and have a good catch up. That’s why they are always like a huge family reunion. As much as queuing up at these types of events is a hassle and can be so time consuming. Queuing with friends is also a great time to catch up and chat. In fact we were all chatting about how so many of the friendships were created standing in queues. Getting to know each other and bonding over similarities. whilst queuing up, a good time waster.

There was one point during the day that I got a bit of a fright. That was because he was dressed in costume and a huge dude dressed as Batman come up and hugged me. It wasn’t until he spoke I realised who it was. Thanks MPS.

It’s all good we had a laugh about it later but next time I will be more wary of people. Especially though who change into a costume during the day. I was being good this year and went without purchasing any photos or autographs. I just did my job of being Jodie’s bag bitch and looking after her stuff. It’s a good job title because it means I still get to walk up and meet the guests. Even though I’m not necessarily after anything myself. I have to admit the huge Mighty Ducks fan in me loved that Elden Henson was there. So much time of my childhood was spent watching those films and wishing I could ice skate and play hockey.

Memorable Moment

Whilst standing in an autograph queue with Jodie, we spotted one of the guest managers, we hadn’t seen in a few years. Julie Caitlin Brown, she commented on how good our costumes looked and then we chatted for a while. We were talking about how it’s been 12 years since the first convention when we met each other (Puddle Jumper One). It was great chatting to Julie after so long, it led us into reminiscing about convention firsts. And how life has changed since that very first event.

Sunday

As the event came to an end, I was sore and exhausted. I was so sore after the Saturday that I didn’t think I would go in the Sunday. In the end I did decide to head into the exhibition centre in the afternoon. Gave me the opportunity to catch up with some other friends who I’d missed the day before. It was nice to have more of a lazy day. Though I did queue up with one friend for Aly Michalka’s autograph and we had a little laugh over her hat choice. She was wearing a Summer hat and I commented that although it looked great it was the wrong weather. She said next time she’ll come back in Summer and wear a Beanie.

Overall, it was a pretty good weekend. Even though it’s almost a week later my feet are still sore. I look forward to seeing my Con Family at the next event and making more memories.

Additional:

Since this event I have now received my special print of the sketch by Wayne Nichols. It is pretty amazing. Got to love a bit of Spiderman. This has made me decide that perhaps the ticket was worth it, after all.