It's a convention held once a year, that has been huge in the Eastern states, especially Sydney and only recently come to Perth. It's basically a big display of stalls and events and crowds where you can get your pop culture fix.
But it's one of those conventions, you know, the type that has comics, anime, manga, sci-fi TV series, all the sort of things that I have begun to roll my eyes at, since working in animation (since Tim and most boys in animation can go on, and on, AND ON about, so much that I have begun to hate on the things that I used to possibly like). So I had my reservations.
And shame on me, but I have typecast events like this in my head, from the few people I have met thoughout the years, who have actually been the negative stereotype 'geek' of the anime/manga/sci-fi genre. Boo to those annoying, obnoxious people, but boo to me for generalizing the whole fan base as something to avoid.
So I tried to go to this "Supanova" Perth, 2011 with an open mind, and mostly for the purpose of observing all the interesting people-characters I could life draw into my sketchbook. Tim wanted to go to hunt for any rare indie comics and anime. I guess we both also wanted to scout out the crowd and market, to see if it could be something we'd want to set up a 'cat and rabbit' stall at next year to sell our art.
This is my observations of the day:
I actually didn't get to draw much at all when I was there, the girl on the top right with the gorgeous ginger hair was the only person I got to sketch. Then I was just accompanying Tim for an hour to find his 'swag'. We bumped into a few of our old comic artist friends there (and met a new one), who DID set up a stall and were doing a fantastic job, love their work. I think Tim and I will set up shop at next year's.
Then we sat down on plastic chairs and bought a muffin and coffee which was so tiny, compulsory Skim milk, and so expensive (that's Claremont Showgrounds trailer food for you) that I got obsessed with sketching it to show how small it was.
The rest of the things I drew off memory and ref pics from other Perth goers. There was a cute girl that had dressed up as Finn from Adventuretime which I think was the most original costume for me. One of the scariest was a girl with dishwater unkept hair, a careless dress-up, and loudly saying "WOI DOESNANNYONE WANNA HUG?", holding up a penciled "Free Hugs" sign.
There was the ghostbusters team, and one of them was shuffling around left to right as he tried to make his way through a narrow gap and his great hunking backpack of a proton pack knocked an action figure toy packet to the floor. The guy looked around through his dark shades and after effort, located the item he just knocked over on the floor. He then proceeded with much more effort, to make a 180' turn around without knocking anything else over, and also huffed and puffed trying to crouch down with the straps of the belts and proton pack strap obviousy holding him back. Ah the hinders of the hi-tech ghost-catching gear. I felt so bad for him, I swiftly backtracked and grabbed the toy off the ground and put it back on the display for him in less than a second. The big guy said a grateful but slightly embarressed 'Cheers.' and shuffled off. Tim said to me "You just helped a Ghostbuster!" and I grinned.
Now the most interesting thing for me was that guy I sketched in the navy blue t-shirt. I got a bit obsessed with drawing him over and over again to get him right too. Who is he? He was one of the special guests that Supanova had organised. On a row of tables were posters of celebrities and one could line up to meet and get a signature of any one of them. There was a significantly longer line behind one of the tables. We stretched out necks (well I did) to see who it was, and it was that guy from Harry Potter, no not Daniel Radcliffe, the other one. The villain. The blonde haired kid. Lucius?
He was the only one out of all the celebrities there that I actually recognised, and was a fan of (well Harry Potter). I was more curious to see what his looked like, as in: Was he tired? Did he actually want to be here? How was he relating to the fans? Was he happy to be signing things over and over for people? Was he jetlagged? I wonder what his flight schedule was like and if he'd seen much of Perth yet?
Tim asked me if I wanted to go and get a signature?.....and then suddenly I did want to...but then the reality of lining up and actually meeting him and having to say something, and what if I had nothing intelligent to say?What if I appeared as just another annoying fan? ....And I suddenly became STAR STRUCK! I got all nervous, my heart galloped and I had a mini freak out in my head. 'No!' I replied to Tim. But I lingered around and kept going umming and uhhhing.
Even after we did another round of the stalls, I wanted to go back and possibly meet this Lucius actor.
But I didn't even know his actor name, how poor is that of me!
And THEN, I realised, it's not even "Lucius".
It is "DRACO" Malfoy. DUH!
Ok, I really didn't deserve to go up and meet him.
So off we went home.
And now I've gone and done my research and found out that to meet "Tom Felton" and get a signature at Supanova costs $30. And for a photo with him, $50. Seems kind of wrong.
But I also found out that Tom Felton is a really great interviewee and really humble and warm to his fans. He's so comfortable and confident with the public, friendly, appreciative, and has that British cordial and charm, and he happily answers questions adding funny annecdotes, and even takes difficult ones with good humour. This is him only last weekend (19Jun2011) at the Sydney Supanova Q+A:
I must say he is quite the nice guy, and I can see why he has such a growing fanbase. I think he's just gained another fan in me (for real, sorry about calling you 'Lucius' before).
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