[Con] SMASH!

[bobbyfischer's ghost]

Hope he links the vid's soon.

[EvangelionFan]

I want pics.

Then please, check out my mid-stream edit:

There is also a Photostream on FlickR for those of you who would like to see some photos of people in costumes and of the cosplay competition, it is updating every couple of hours so I'll mention if I see new pics on it or somewhere else.

I haven't seen any photos or video from the Yuko panel but I will go searching soon. In the photostream there are some Ranka-chans and Sheryl-chans, so do enjoy! :)

I also want Faz's hat but I know such wish is futile

It attracted a bit of attention during the day as you'd expect. Some of it was positive, some of it wasn't all that polite in my opinion but more on that later.

[Xard]

I haven't seen any photos or video from the Yuko panel but I will go searching soon. In the photostream there are some Ranka-chans and Sheryl-chans, so do enjoy! :)

ooohh, sneaky edit.

....I'm interested in pictures of you two, some random cosplayers be damned


edit: oh god, Gil's armor is cosplay-forbidden material, clearly. That guy's cosplay isn't succesful at all.


and that's terrible.

edit2: oh sweet, valkyrie outfit cosplay. That's really rare because the outfit isn't exactly easy to make. The colours are a bit off but whatever, a good effort :P

edit3: DANBO DANBO DANBO

DANBO WITH ANIME HAIR

WAIT WHAT

DANBO DANBO DANBO

edit4: dem mami guns. Anyone would want to touch Mami's gunnaries, lucky girls ;__;

[EvangelionFan]

ooohh, sneaky edit.

....I'm interested in pictures of you two, some random cosplayers be damned

As I said, there is a photo of Fazmotron and I, he has it on his camera, we'll no doubt see it whenever he posts about SMASH!

...

I found some more photo albums of cosplayers from the event; Numba Won, Numba 2, Numba 3 (mostly cosplay competition), Numba 4, Numba 5 (cosplay competition but pics of Yuko at the end). I have seen more, but I believe these are the better ones I've seen so far.

I searched for photos or video of the Yuko Miyamura workshop but I found little so far. I even performed a google search, and found of the results actually link to this thread If you're reading this thread and have or know where there are photos/video of the Yuko Miyamura workshop at SMASH! 2012, please register and tell us or post on the SMASH! Facebook.
Having said that I have found one photo of the Yuko workshop. LtoR: Kay, Yuko, the six participants in the workshop. I should note that the audience was invited to partake in the vocal exercises at the start of the workshop.

Edit: I almost forgot, I did find a video of an interview with Shinichiro Miki.

[Fazmotron]

SMASH! 2012 RUNDOWN

It was a long day for me.

Here's my haul from the day.

This year I decided to drive down the day before and stay with a friend who was also going, which I'm not sure was a good plan or not as we stayed up drinking then I ended up getting about 3 hours sleep on his lounge.
So the next morning we got there at about 8:30am and I went straight through the pre-sale line while my friend had to wait in the day purchase line (he said he was waiting for 2 hours to get in).

The one on the left is the pre-sale line.



Once I had my ticket checked I was led into the holding area until 9am.

The Holding Pen


Then we were all led in and had free rein of the place before the rest of the riff-raff were let in.

First stop was to check on my friends at the AnimeMQ tent, then a wander for a little while before heading off to the front row of the Miyamura Voice Acting Workshop.


Photo from the SMASH! website.

Then I went to a small Japanese Society Panel because they were giving away signed copies of 1.11 and 2.22, but my Japanese onomatopoeia skills let me down.

Then I met up with EvaFan and inhaled some lunch before heading to the Madman Industry Panel, where they revealed what they are planning to release, some of their new acquisitions and answered some questions from the crowd.
I asked a few questions about Evangelion; First was whether or not the original series is now out of print in Australia, which it now is and while they did manage to stash away a few copies before the the license ran out they said they'll only be selling them now at special events like cons.
The second was if they had any plans to do a screening of 3.0 once it's released, which they confirmed they did have plans for, if not with another ReelAnime film festival as they did with 2.0, than as a standalone title, as they said Evangelion is big enough for them to do it.

After that was the AMV panel with some pretty well made videos, including this awesome video, and this really cool one made by the host of the panel satirising the Australian Election back in 2010.

EF had to leave so I headed over to the main stage where I caught the end of the Cosplay Competition, and it was swarming with people.

After that it was pretty much over.
I went out with friends and had some dinner, then had a long drive home and got there a bit before midnight.

Here's some more photo's from the day:

There was one Eva model in the Gunpla builders world cup display area:



After a while things started getting a bit more crowded (this is in the main area with all the stalls).






The gaming area.


The AnimeMQ Stall.


Some Community Stalls, selling fan artwork and stuff.


The Madman Stall was awesome.



Cosplay Comp.



I only saw two Eva cosplays this year, both of them Asuka.



Some Kaworu & Mari plushies:


I was surprised to see some Diebuster merch:


The Crowd dispersing after SMASH! was over:





Me and my Nerv cape


Me and EvaFan



News post.

[Xard]

we stayed up drinking then ended up getting about 3 hours sleep on his lounge.

Everything involving drinking with mates is a good thing!

This guy's hair....

Some Kaworu & Mari plushies:

and a shitton of Macross ones too... damn there's even iSlug, I want one ;__;

Me and my Nerv cape

a goddamn batman!

That's pretty wicked

though I can imagine it got some, uhh, interesting attention

Me and EvaFan

You guys look like jewish nerd kids from 90s sitcom and I mean this positively!

[Fazmotron]

Oh, I didn't actually mention anything about the reactions I got throughout the day.

The first guy approached me in that little holding room after seeing my hat, he said he was a member of the forums, I believe his name was Dark Elfen, and he took a photo of my cape.
A few people asked me where I got the flag, and were disappointed to hear that I had to go to Japan to get it, and that they couldn't get one online.
One guy came up and showed me his EvaPhone (one of the first ones), which he paid $500 for. He even had the strap holder thing that came with it. It was very awesome.
One of the guys that EF was Poke-battling asked me since I was wearing the hat and cape, if I understood the series, which I answered with a resounding "maybe".
Outside the con someone yelled across the courtyard asking why I was wearing a NERV cape?, to which I replied "Because it's awesome".

Other than that there were a few High fives and handshakes throughout the day, as-well as questions about what EvaGeeks.org is.

Was a great day.

This guy's hair....

I know right, it's freaking awesome.

[EvangelionFan]

Dear Faz and Xard  SPOILER: Show

This year I decided to drive down the day before and stay with a friend who was also going, which I'm not sure was a good plan or not as we stayed up drinking then ended up getting about 3 hours sleep on his lounge.
So the next morning we got there at about 8:30am and I went straight through the pre-sale line while my friend had to wait in the day purchase line (he said he was waiting for 2 hours to get in).

I don't remember you mentioning this on the day.

I asked a few questions about Evangelion; First was whether or not the original series is now out of print in Australia, which it now is and while they did manage to stash away a few copies before the the license ran out they said they'll only be selling them now at special events like cons.

To clarify: the panelist said that Madman has been blocked from renewing the license / printing new copies until after all four of the new Evangelion films are out. I forgot to inquire as to whether this referred to the release of the films in Japan or an eventual local release.

I only saw two Eva cosplays this year, both of them Asuka.

I said thought I saw a Misato cosplayer in the vendor hall, but I guess she vanished away somewhere.
Edit: turns out there was a Mari Cosplayer at one of the artist stalls.

Some Kaworu & Mari plushies

and a shitton of Macross ones too... damn there's even iSlug, I want one ;__;

I know right? I was like 'here's a Ranka there's a Ranka'

I was surprised to see some Diebuster merch

So was I, and they are rather nice portait statues, but unfortunately I didn't want to spend my money on figures so...

Me and EvaFan

You guys look like jewish nerd kids from 90s sitcom and I mean this positively!

...

SMASH! 2012 Part 2 of 3

If you haven't already listened to Fazmotron's recording of the Yuko Miyamura panel I highly recommend you listen to it as Yuko's use of English is really, really funny. I also recommend having Episode 9 at-the-ready so you can watch it on mute alongside the live dubbing; for the first scene you'll want to start where Touji and Kensuke are in the elevator, and for the Kay and Yuko dub you'll want to start at the shot where Unit 01 and Unit 02 have fallen in the crater.

I attempted to chase down Fazmotron after the panel, but alas, he got away. So I went and looked around for a bit, bought some CDs, until I saw I got a text from Faz. We met up near the gaming area, and went to look for food and get food and eat food before going to the Madman Industry panel.

Fazmotron has already mentioned our asking about the original series license and a possible local release Evangelion 3.0, and I've added to it a bit in the spoilers above, so I'll talk about the other stuff that was at the panel. As we sat down they were playing the dub trailer for the upcoming Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt release, and although it's taken ages for it to get licensed and dub from what we heard I thought the dub sounded decent. But that was the only tolerable trailer, because the others, well... sufficed to say it was great to have a friend with whom to riff on these anime trailers:

Sample: Faz and EF riffing  SPOILER: Show

Mahoromatic: I'm Home OVA
EF & Faz: *sigh* "moe"
EF: And now she's flying!
Faz: They're all flying
EF: So it's a show about maids doing everything but being maids
Faz: And wearing the costumes, and look there's a harem too [but it wasn't really]

???????
EF: I have no idea what this is
Faz: I've never seen this before
EF: Could it be Fractale? Wait, no...
Faz: It sort of looks familiar...
On the screen the title Shangri-La appears
EF & Faz: Haven't heard of it
Faz: Oh, hold on
EF: Yeah maybe we have
On the screen the text STUDIO GONZO appears
EF: And there's the dealbreaker
Faz: Yep
As it ended, text said 2008
EF: Oh well that explains it, it's old
Faz: Yeah [something something I forget]

????
EF: Okay which one is this
Faz: Oh wait... no it's
It becomes evident that we are watching a trailer for Strike Witches S2
EF and Faz innermonologue: Oh god
EF: Another Studio Gonzo show
Faz: What the hell are their legs?
EF: I don't know, but KillerBee used to say they were planelegs and/or magic or something
Faz: It's all just fanservice
EF: Yes, though the characters are apparently based off of WW2 soldiers/pilots
Faz: It's fanservice for the history people [but why would history enthusiasts watch this, Faz? And Xard don't say FINLAND because that is not an answer]
As the trailer ended there was a title card with an obnoxious pantsu shot, Faz and I looked down and sighed in disappointment and disbelief, so did a few other people sitting nearby

But there was one more, and while it didn't look like just moe, it was the most confusing

Horizon on the Middle of Nowhere
Sufficed to say that there was a lot of stuff going on in it, moegirls, genki moegirls on computers with screen glare in the dark with big keyboards, mecha fights, girls wearing mecha armor having fights, sword fights, werewolves (?), and it ended on a wide shot showing twenty or so characters in a style reminiscent of the Code Geass OPs...
EF: So much stuff going on
Faz: *brainfreeze*
EF: Usually you just pick one thing and be good at that one thing
Faz: *mumbles agreement*

If there were any moe I MEAN if there were any more trailers I think we would have died inside

As the panel went into Questions & Answers, it was time for Faz and I to ask about the status of the original series license in Australia, but I've said that already. I asked about the possibility of localising Blu-Rays of Haibane Renmei and The Vision of Escaflowne but it was more or less said that it has to be financially feasible because of the cost of buying the BD license and how they sell less BDs than DVDs. I should have asked if they planned to bring the remastered Revolutionary Girl Utena sets here, but someone else in the audience asked about other Geneon titles and apparently Madman is having trouble with Geneon titles at the moment so yeah. At the end of the panel some signed posters of FMA:B:Sacred Star of Milos and CardCaptor Sakura were raffled off in Japanese-style scissors paper rock.

It was 1.30 by that point and we soon realised that aside from attending the AMV panel later there really, really wasn't anything else of interest. So we went looking around in the vendor hall together, and I bought some more stuff - I'll make a post about it in the Hauls topic soon. For a bit Faz was thinking about buying some more little Eva figures, but he decided not to, and when we passed the place with the NewType filmbooks it went something like this: first we saw book nine, I gave that to Faz, he said to look for more, so I look at what was directly in front of me and proceeded to pull out a handful of NewType books, we he subsequently bought. We also went by the Madman booth twice, in fact it might have been the first thing we did... Faz asked about Berserk and I asked about Bebop, I was interested in picking up a Howl's Moving Castle Blu-Ray but as I'd already spent a fair amount of money I decided not to. And sadly there weren't any copies of the original series of Evangelion so I missed out on that; should have got it years ago heh.

I suppose I should close this post off here for now, I've covered most of SMASH! and Faz's recording of the Yuko workshop should certainly please those of you who weren't there or couldn't be there for various reasons (like being in Finland, for instance) so if you do listen to it please extend your appreciaiton and thanks to Faz for recording it and I hope you enjoy it as much as we have. I haven't gone looking for videos since yesterday, and I probably won't again until later today, but for now I can say that SMASH! has yet to make any announcement as to whether or not they plan to upload their recording of the workshop so it is possible we may not see it at all.

[Fazmotron]

I don't remember you mentioning this on the day.

I don't really talk about myself much, but I think I remember whingeing about being tired.

On the screen the title Shangri-La appears
<snip>
Faz: Yeah [something something I forget]

I believe I said something along the lines of, "is that a fucking boomerang, : sigh :, yes it is..."


Also, the trailer for "The Raid" looked pretty cool too, with a cool song.

And yes, hanging out with EF for half the day was awesome. Looking forward to next year.

[InstrumentalityOne]

The Madman Stall was awesome.

Oh god that look Asuka has.
Now that's dakimakura material

Gotta try track down the official art.

[AR-99]

Did either of you get something signed by Miyamura?

[EvangelionFan]

I believe I said something along the lines of, "is that a fucking boomerang, : sigh :, yes it is..."

Oh, right. The metang boomerang that the girl threw at a tank.

Did either of you get something signed by Miyamura?

Unfortunately not, as I didn't have anything that could be signed, and we were both at the Madman panel when it started.

Fazmotron might have gotten something signed in 2010 though.

[Fazmotron]

Yes, I got a bunch of signed things back in 2010, didn't think it was necessary to do it again this year.




Also, Voice Acting Workshop recording is now gone on request from SMASH.

[Blue Monday]

She's gorgeous...

The second was if they had any plans to do a screening of 3.0 once it's released, which they confirmed they did have plans for, if not with another ReelAnime film festival as they did with 2.0, than as a standalone title, as they said Evangelion is big enough for them to do it.

Awesome. Hopefully some time next year and not 2014.

One of the guys that EF was Poke-battling asked me since I was wearing the hat and cape, if I understood the series, which I answered with a resounding "maybe".

LOL, awkward question.

Looks like it was a great day all up...

[AR-99]

Unfortunately not, as I didn't have anything that could be signed, and we were both at the Madman panel when it started

There are these blank boards called shikishi which Japanese celebrities are used to signing. They come in S, M, and L sizes and since they're blank, really help out if you don't have anything that the person worked on. If they are an artist they may also sketch on the board. I get them cheap at my local Daiso where they are treated as stationery items.

Here is an example of a sketch by Ryūsuke Hamamoto (Petit Eva illustrator) that I got at Fanimecon last year on a large shikishi: http://ar99.rubberslug.com/gallery/inv_info.asp?ItemID=349590

Yes, I got a bunch of signed things back in 2010, didn't think it was necessary to do it again this year.

Also, Voice Acting Workshop recording is now gone on request from SMASH.

Very cool. Miyamura needs to come to FanimeCon!

That doesn't sound like a positive development, any ideas why?

[EvangelionFan]

I hope it isn't too late for a post on SMASH! 2012 (Part 3 of 3)

But before I go into it, some replies:

She's gorgeous...

Yes. Very much indeed.

There are these blank boards called shikishi which Japanese celebrities are used to signing. They come in S, M, and L sizes and since they're blank, really help out if you don't have anything that the person worked on.

I had not heard of this until you mentioned it. I'm not sure where one would find these in Australia. Anyway, According to the SMASH! site, apparently we were only allowed to bring in official merchandise or personal fan art for the guest signings - I had thought of bringing either my 2.22 Blu-Ray case or my Shinji Ikari Raising Project Volume 4 book to be signed by Miyamura, but I forgot them when I was packing for the day, and I didn't want to spend money on something just for a signing so, yeah, that's that. Perhaps someone will figure out how to rope in Miyamura for another SMASH!

That doesn't sound like a positive development, any ideas why?

Although I haven't actually asked Fazmotron about this it is fair to assume that it is in the interest of respecting the rights of SMASH! and also out of respect for their guests.

One of the guys that EF was Poke-battling asked me since I was wearing the hat and cape, if I understood the series, which I answered with a resounding "maybe".

...this brings us back to where I left off in the vendor hall. It was a little after 2pm, and with nothing of interest to see at that time (sorry cosplay competition but that's not my bad) I decided to stop by the Pokemon Battle Arena. Faz accompanied me, and although he said hasn't been interested in Pokemon games since the Advance era (or around that time) he was cool around all these PokeFolk who were talking about 'the metagame' and using a lot of the newer Pokemon he had not seen or heard of before.
Now, although a few people around were playing 6v6 (including one pair that had been in the same battle since before Faz and I sat down and would not be finished when we left for the AMV panel) the official rules for the day were for players to use a 3-man team.

For the day I had organised a team consisting of:
Mienshao (see 'All-Out Attacker' set, but I gave it a Sitrus Berry as its held item)
Zoroark (see 'Choice' set, but it held an Expert Belt)
and Volcarona (see 'Offensive Quiver Dance' set, but it held Leftovers)

I had a surprisingly fair victory against the first fellow I battled. IIRC he used a Wynaut, a Chansey, and possibly Excadrill, all of which I recall I solo'd with Mienshao. The next fellow offered to battle 6v6, so I decided to do that, adding a Slowbro, Hydreigon and Thundurus to my team of three. I initially thought I was not doing so well, but as he shortly said, he had not expected for my team to be so fast, as my Pokes outsped his, netting a few key KOs. So, not counting the one guy I battled in the morning (because he wasn't competetively inclined), I had won two matches so far.
So far Faz had been keeping up with it, accepting some Evangelion-related banter along the way (initially from the first fellow I battled, who said he had to have a friend explain the hospital scene from EoE, to which Faz aptly replied: '[Shinji] batted off') and also mentioning that he had thought to get a Pokemon game a few years back because of the idea of owning certain legendaries. I'm not sure if I battled a third person, if I did I am certain I won, because the only battle I lost on the day was when I re-battled the first guy in 6v6. It was a good battle, and while I had the forward momentum of 3 or 4 straight KOs with Zoroark, it turned in his favour as his second-to-last mon, Excadrill, recieves a speed boost under sand. I could have won, but as it is with Pokemon, my Slowbro flinched from Rock Slide and I wasn't able to heal before finishing it off. After that it was more or less time to go, but I had great a time meeting these people and talking about certain infamous strategies etc.

So, the AMV Panel. I arrived in the middle of a One Piece clip that spoofed the 'Anti-Piracy' campaign ads that used to be stuck at the start of DVDs in the early-mid 2000s. I suppose apart from THE BEST CLIP and the Australian Election 2010 parody clip that Faz mentioned it's rather hard to say if any of the others were worth remembering. I do believe the Ghost in the Shell 2.0 AMV that was at 60FPS or so was a fantastic piece of animation spectacle (from what is perhaps better discussed as a spectacle film). And, uhm, yeah. All of the other clips that we saw were okay - and I say this because each only really had a single good aspect in what were 'AMV-lite' clips that used footage of cute characters from several series, and/or clips with good editing but unfortunately bad colour compisition / special effects. Actually, I have to say the use compositing in these clips was probably the standout part of the AMV panel, and while the panelist addressed the technical side of this he offered little beyond the artistic choice or merit of such compositions other than saying that there were artistic. It was a good panel, but I needed something to eat, so Faz and I left early.

Faz and I shook hands in the foyer before going our seperate ways for the afternoon. I headed off to the mall where we went looking for lunch and got myself a milkshake from an ice-cream place, before going back into the vendor hall for the Pokemon Battle Arena raffle. A crowd had formed around the games area, and at about 4pm raffle ticket numbers started showing on the screen. They were giving away copies of the recent Pokemon anime series and newer films on DVD, as well as some copies of spin-off Pokemon games (e.g. Mystery Dungeon, and Dash) and also the Kanto and Johto boxed sets of the anime. I didn't win anything, and if I had I intended to sell it so not a big deal.

I started a fast pace back to the bus stop at 4.20 or so and got there at about 4.45pm. It's a long walk there from the Exhibition centre, and at that pace, and I was quite out of breath once I found a seat and sat down. I took my classes off, and let a girl take the seat next to mine. The busleft at about 5pm, and while I initially listened to Saturdays=Youth by M83, about halfway into it I had had enough of my earphones and went without it for the rest of the journey.
I eventually took out my DSi, and started talking with the girl who had been sitting beside me. As introduced each other I found out she was fifteen, which was surprising because without my glasses I had thought she was around my age. As I gnerally find it easier to talk to people who aren't my age, our conversation continued for the rest of the evening - initially about Pokemon, but mostly about our aspirations, about school and stuff like that. I was hesitant to exchange contact information for Facebook, but in end my profile doesn't show up on public searches which was a relief, if only because I knew I wouldn't be seeing this person again.

I got a lift home with my father, and at home, I found out Fazmotron hadn't posted in the thread yet so I went ahead and made my own.

And yeah, that's SMASH! 2012. Looking forward to meeting up with Fazmotron again next year, and hopefully, buying some DVDs and/or blu-rays instead of CDs.

[AR-99]

It looks like shikishi would be a topic for discussion in the forums.

[EvangelionFan]

SMASH! 2013
Sydney manga and anime show
Saturday, August 10 • Sydney Convention Centre

SMASH! is an Australian anime and manga convention that has been held annually in Sydney for the last five or six years. This year it will be held on Saturday the 10th of August, once again at the Sydney Convention Centre from 9.30am to 6.00pm. I have attended in the two previous years and I already have my ticket for this years' convention.


Guests
In previous years SMASH! has invited international guests from both the Japanese and North American sides of the anime market. Guests confirmed for the 2013 convention include voice actors Haruko Momoi and Masakazu Morita, the Japanese band LOVERIN TAMBURIN, and character design, illustrator and animation/art director Matsubara Hidenori. I'll include little bits about them lifted from the SMASH! site in the spoiler below; you can find the current line-up here.

Guests Info  SPOILER: Show

Haruko Momoi
Haruko Momoi (桃井 はるこ) has provided voices to many loveable anime characters for over ten years. Her notable roles include Anise Tatlin Tales of the Abyss, Sun Seto My Bride is a Mermaid and Feiris Nyannyan Steins;Gate. Known as 'Halko' by her fans, she is also a singer and songwriter, having provided the OP/ED theme songs for over twenty series. Haruko Momoi has released over ten albums and performed at over fifteen conventions outside of Japan.

Masakazu Morita
A motion-capture actor, a radio host, and a dub voice-actor for western series and films, Masakazu Morita (森田 成一) is well-known for his wide range of voice acting roles. From videogames to anime, he has provided voices for iconic characters such as Ichigo Kurosaki from Bleach, Barnaby Brooks Jr. from Tiger & Bunny, Marco from One Piece, and Tidus from Final Fantasy X.

LOVERIN TAMBURIN
LOVERIN TAMBURIN is a Japanese band composed of vocalist and songwriter Aya, pianists and arranger AKIHIRO, Kohta Igarashi on drums, and guitarists Fujio Ryo and Fire, that formed in Hiroshima in 1997 under the name "a.a", before moving to Tokyo in 2001 under their present name. Providing the ending theme for Nanatsuiro Drops as well as covering plenty of anime-related songs, they will becoming to SMASH! 2013 as part of the world-wide tour!

Matsubara Hidenori
Matsubara Hidenori is a character design, illustrator and animation/art director best know for his character design of Ah! My Goddess and Sakura Wars. He was also a key animator for Neon Genesis Evangelion and the animation director for the first two Rebuild of Evangelion films. Hidenori-san will be running an art panel at SMASH! this year!

Other notable Events
- Exhibitors, Artist Circle, Clubs & Community Groups (at the main floor of the exhibition centre) - Regular vendors include local folk such as King's Comics. Anime distributors such as Madman, Siren Visual, and Hanabee Entertainment should also have stalls. There is also usually a Gunpla/Hobbyco Gundam display in the centre that has competition entrants for the Gunpla Builders World Cup on display. Around the outside of the main floor are stalls for artists or other craft makers, from these you can expect to see fan art, badges, and other custom stuff available for purchase. A full list of stalls is generally released along with the schedule in the week leading up to the convention.
- Cosplay Competition - I did go to this in 2011 but not in 2012, and although the convention schedule isn't out yet I can tell you that this goes for an hour and a half at least. I might mention more about it closer to the day.
- Art Competitions - Digital Art, Doodling, and Themed Art Competitions.
- AMV Competition - I have not seen any of these before, but last year Faz and I attended a panel by someone who'd done really well in AMV competitions before so if I have time I could look in on that this year.
- Blitz AMV Tournament - I think it is the first time they are doing this, it could be worth checking out.
- Fanfiction Competition
- Hanabee Industry Panel - Although relatively new to the scene, Australian distributor Hanabee has licensed a phenomenal number of titles in last nine months. The Hanabee industry panel will run from 1pm-2pm at the Hanabee panels room; it should be similar to other industry panels - expect previews, perhaps some title acquisition announcements, and close with questions from the audience.
- Karoke
- Madman Industry Panel - Although it doesn't have a page there yet, it is fair to expect that Madman will hold a panel where they will discuss recent releases with or without trailers, maybe announce some new acquisitions, and close with questions from the audience. The Madman Panel will run from 2pm-3pm at the Madman screening room.
- Pokemon DS Tournament for Pokemon White 2 & Pokemon Black 2 versions. Registration runs from 11am-12pm, tournament itself runs from 2.30pm - 4.30pm in the games area.
- Screenings - I anticipate that there will be some screenings, but it is rather early for them to put out information about this so I don't think we'll hear about the screening schedule until the fortnight leading up to the convention See the link for a list of screenings. With the exception of a short screening of Gankutsuou early on, most of the screenings are from fairly recent acquisitions and a few recent local releases.
- Street Fighter IV Competition
- Super Smash Bros. Brawl Competition
- Voice Acting Workshop featuring Yuko Miyamura. Session 1 runs from 11am-12pm, Session 2 runs from 4pm-5pm; at the Hanabee Panels Room.

I'll update this list as other notable events crop up on the site or their facebook page.


Tickets
You can purchase advance tickets online for $29, through Paypal or BPay, and this will also get you in the door at 9.00am along with other advance ticket holders. Tickets at the door start from 9.30am for $35. This is in Australian dollars by the way, so don't bring any Kiwi dollars or cents. Also be sure to look at the other Details. Advance tickets are no longer available.


Other Important Information
- Code of Conduct
- Convention Schedule
- Floor Plan


Who is attending?
As I said above I already have my ticket, and although I have not yet arranged my transport to the event I anticipate I'll arrive around 10.30 and hang around until 3.30 or 4.30 depending on what's on. Fazmotron has attended the last three conventions, and although I have not spoken to him about this yet, but I anticipate he'll want to attend Matsubara Hidenori's panel to hear about Hidenori's animation work on Evangelion. Of the other Australian EvaGeeks users, Leighton attended in 2011 but he hasn't really been around the boards since that time. Otherwise we haven't really met anyone else who identified themselves here. I anticipate Blue Monday would like to go, but he spends all of his money on X-Men comics and probably won't spend money on a return flight from Cairns to Sydney just so he can be at a convention for a few hours ... not that we would ever force someone to do so, I mean it is just a convention ... but who knows he may surprise us

Other Australian EvaGeeks users in the area who are considering attending are encouraged to make themselves known here.



Previous SMASH! threads
SMASH! 2012
SMASH! 2011
SMASH! 2010


Final words?
- I suppose I will be keeping an eye out on cosplay this year, but I don't take a camera to these events and I don't take photos. I usually find photos on the facebook threads and if there are any I think were worth noting I'll share those here.
- If Faz and I do meet up again I we'll find something to do, but whether it be another AMV Panel or the Madman Industry Panel I can assure you there will be banter
- No word on the game events that they'll be hosting other than 'free play' - in previous years they have had things like Smash Bros, Mario Kart, and maybe Halo or CoD, and last year there was an area set up for Pokemon free play but I don't recall any announcements about those so far. Competitions for Pokemon DS games, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and Street Fighter IV have been announced; links have been added to the list.

[Fazmotron]

You beat me to it this year buddy, YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS!

Or rather, you put a lot more effort than I've ever done into making a nice post about it. No pictures though, tsk tsk.



Anyway, I bought my ticket the night that they went on sale, so I'll be there yet again this year and very keen to meet any of you EvaGeeks out there.

I'm sure that I'll also be keen for a few drinks after the fact so if anyone is interested you will be more than welcome to join me (that means you're catching the late bus home this year EvaFan).
Further plans we can make closer to the date, but I am looking very forward to it as always.

SEE YOU THERE

[Catamari]

Now, children, play nicely. Remember, my pretties, I control the Minecraft whitelist.

I've always wanted to go to Sydney. I have enough saved up to go, I may well make the trip. You Aussies are a lovely bunch of people. If Dave L. Jones is there (very unlikely), then I'll mortgage my house to pay for it.