Oz Comic Con Perth 2013: Day 1 Highlights!

So Jacinta, Suzanne, Vanessa and I all spent today at Perth's very first Oz Comic Con, held in the spacious and fancy Perth Exhibition Centre. We are all exhausted from lugging equipment and shopping through crowds of costumed enthusiasts, so our more meaty coverage will commence tomorrow and Monday, but here's a bleary taste of the cavalcade of pop culture awesomeness that just exploded on our unsuspecting shores.

Including this unlikely band of miscreants...

Image: Jacinta.

Amy Pond and Jabba the Hutt together at last! It's like someone hacked into my computer and read all my fan fiction!

More cosplay, sights and stores... after the jump!

The Perth Exhibition Centre is certainly massive and the foyer was jam-packed with lines of eager con goers....

Image: Jacinta.

 Waiting by the wall of windows we were treated to many unusual early morning sights including a baby commanding in a cardboard U.S.S. Enterprise, The Flash in a wheelchair, and a young man seriously and diligently combing a long silver wig. Perth today was definitely under the spell of some wonderful weirdness.

You may also note that in the above photo there is a stretch hummer, which actually has nothing to do with Comic Con, but belonged to the Bridal Exhibition next door. As you can probably imagine, this led to a very unlikely mix of attendees. Young, hopeful girls clutching bridal magazines were no doubt frequently jostled by papier mache swords and anime wigs.

Once inside it was still packed all day, but there was more breathing space than the crowd outside would suggest. A decent amount of space between stalls and plenty of opportunities to photograph con-goers.

Image: Jacinta.

Here's another unlikely mix... Borderlands' Psycho is seen here taunting an unimpressed Batman and Catwoman. Dude, you don't make a gun with your fingers to a guy whose parents were famously shot in an alley...

Image: Jacinta.

Actually Batman was being uncharacteristically sociable. That's what I love about these conventions - fans of all types get together and get along with each other. Looks like things have been patched up here...

Image: Luke.

 And I was lucky enough to run into fem-favourites Catwoman AND Baroness just hanging in the foyer, probably plotting something. Why can't people dress like this everyday? We need to change our social rules...

Image: Luke.

 And then Bender showed up and made things crazy for everybody...

Image: Luke.

Adventure Time still proved to be a very popular costume for convention season. And always great to see Fionna out in force. I think she's quickly becoming a favourite.

Image: Luke.

And today there was no shortage of wookiees. I think they may have been running security.

Image: Luke.

Okay... that wookiee security guy looks like he's slacking. Hopefully we haven't gotten him into trouble.

The cosplay culminated in a parade/competion in the stunning exhibition centre main auditorium. We'll do a proper post on that later, but here's a preview to get you wild and amped.

Look how crazy awesome this guy is! This guy who is dressed as the guy from the thing I don't know...

Image: Jacinta.

 Or how about this young lady who is perfect as the young lady in the thing that I don't know either...

Image: Jacinta.

Okay, so I'm old. But I DO know who Bane is, and this Bane came in and totally rocked the house. I thought he was going to start a revolution. As soon as he pumped his fist into the air I tore two strips off my shirt: one to tie around my forehead like a bandana, and one to stuff into a Molotov cocktail.

Image: Jacinta.

All West Australians had to vote today. I hope you voted for Bane.

But it was that guy in the goofy store-bought inflatable Jabba costume that brought down the house. Everyone went absolutely nuts as he slowly wobbled across the stage. Hopefully Oz Comic Con will recognise this and get him signing autographs tomorrow.

Image: Jacinta.

Speaking of autographs, most of us are yet to get any, but that will be tackled tomorrow. I would love William Shatner to sign my retro style Mirror Universe Kirk doll. Now all I need to do is watch that episode. We didn't meet him but we did get a glimpse of him. And it was glorious!

And we saw the mighty Jason Momoa (Game of Thrones, Conan the Barbarian) roaming around in the wild and plunging attendees into darkness with his huge shadow. He made brief eye contact with Suzanne who later speculated on twitter that he may have made her pregnant. Momoa himself "favourited" the tweet which makes him a good guy in my book, so hopefully tomorrow he will teach us to speak Dothraki and induct us all into the clan. (Update: No - sadly it's just a confusingly named fan twitter account?) Oh well, he's already proven today that his handlers cannot tame him, repeatedly escaping into the wilds of the con floor to hunt and graze, so maybe we'll see him again.

Speaking of the con floor, I want to make a couple of early recommendations for stalls. There was a lot of unique and unusual stuff at Mad Zombie Collectables who join us all the way from Adelaide.

Image: Luke.

These guys were very friendly and accommodating, even if they look a little wary and suspicious in that image. And seriously, if somebody doesn't snap up their Fonz cookie jar by tomorrow then I might have to make a play for it...

Image: Luke.

Sure, I don't know who those anime characters were, but I sure LOVE THE FONZ. Heeeeeeeeeeyyyyy. Stay cool. I wish my office was in a toilet.

And the other very cool store was the hilariously named I'm Rick James Bricks for all your Lego needs. And if you think we love Lego, check out the dedicated proprietor's fantastic classic chef tattoo!

Image: Luke.

IS THAT NOT THE BEST THING EVER!?

And I was totally seduced by all these keyrings... I picked up a Bossk, because who doesn't adore a space lizard.

Image: Luke.

 I imagine Loki was popular too...

Image: Luke.

Also managed to fill in some gaps with my blind-packaged minifigs. He had a lot of open figures to choose from. If you're a Lego enthusiast then definitely check this one out!

And that's all you get for now! That's your first taste. We're back tomorrow and there'll be more cosplay, reports on panels and guests, and hopefully - if we can wrangle it - a few surprises. Thanks, Comic Con! See you tomorrow!