avcon-150As I arrived at the Adelaide Convention Centre on the 25th of July to attend AVCon, (Adelaide’s Anime and Videogames Convention) I felt a bit nervous as I instantly noticed a group of cosplayers, including Cloud Strife and Sora of Kingdom Hearts fame. This got me worried that the whole event was probably not for me, but thankfully I persisted on and had a fun day filled with weird anime, awesome games and all types of weird and wacky cosplayers.

The first place I visited was the video games room, (naturally) which was spread across two halls. Inside there were around twenty stalls run by various retailers including Pulp Fiction Comics, Madman and Gametraders. There were also photography booths, information booths and even a couple of booths containing Rock Band, Guitar Hero and Lips. In the next hall there were a few tables with 60 (approx.) different consoles and TVs to play games on for free, the tournament stage, the Indie Games room, (which I unfortunately didn’t have the time to check out) the LAN room and, best of all, the Rock Band stage. Unfortunately I had neither the patience to wait in line nor the self confidence required to play a small toy guitar in front of over 100 strangers, but the people up there always looked like they were having a blast.

The Rock Band stage, featuring a band of rockers rocking in a band.

The Rock Band stage, featuring a band of rockers rocking in a band.

After looking around for a while, I saw an unoccupied Xbox 360 running Halo 3, so I decided to take a turn in a death match with a mate, Michael, and a couple of strangers. While we did get to play on what is probably my favourite Halo 3 map, Narrows, the controller I picked up was at very low battery power and kept shutting off, causing me to come in last place. For the record, I think I would have done better if my controller wasn’t dying, so there’ll be a definite rematch next year.

Some rather awesome Tetris cosplayers.

Some rather awesome Tetris cosplayers.

Following my abysmal Halo loss, I went to the main stage to watch an event by the name of ‘Super Serious Business’ which, it turns out, was just people picked out from the audience to participate in a short Super Smash Bros. Brawl session with the winner receiving ultimate glory in the form of, well, beating strangers at a video game you’re better than them at, I guess. After watching two or three matches, I was called up to the stage due to Michael grabbing my hand, pulling it up into the air and shouting ‘THIS GUY HERE!’ Volunteered against my will and up on stage, I selected Ike as my Brawler and got started. I was against two Meta Knight’s and a Pikachu, and predictably I pretty much got my ass handed to me, quite like Halo except I wasn’t handicapped this time.

After our Brawl, the Manifest Cosplay Chess was starting, and I didn’t end up staying to watch the whole match, but I did see them setting up with a ‘Heroes vs Villains’ theme. I saw Megaman and Mario on the ‘Heroes’ side of the board, but didn’t recognise any characters on the ‘Villain’ side. Next up, Michael and I decided to head to the anime screening room and watched a weird show called Negima!?, which included a young professor with some kind of magic staff that could transform ordinary school girls into sexy, leather-clad warriors. A lot it was stupid and didn’t make sense, but it was very, very watchable – probably due to the aforementioned lady warriors.

Mario and Megaman in the Manifest Cosplay Chess.

Mario and Megaman in the Manifest Cosplay Chess.

Noticing the Pokémon tournament commencing, I left the screening room and headed for the small wall of TVs connected to Wii systems, a copy of Pokémon Battle Revolution in each. I watched a fairly strong Dunsparce, owned by AVCon volunteer Neil Golding, take on Salamence and Metagross, which, if I remember correctly, did quite well. It was here also that I was supposed to meet with Hyper and Pixel Hunt’s James O’Connor, but unfortunately it proved rather difficult to meet with someone you’ve never seen before.

After a little disappointment, (and another hour or so of wandering) I decided it was time for lunch. The food was quite expensive (as it is at all events nowadays), but left me sufficiently satisfied. Around this time was I got a photo with a stormtrooper, and saw Pedobear wandering around. I caught a glimpse of the Pokémon finals and it looked like someone got beaten even worse than I did earlier in the day. The Soul Calibur 4 tournament finals were being held on the big screen, and the way a crowd of around 300 people were screaming, you couldn’t be blamed for thinking you were at football match rather than an anime and videogames convention. In the end an extremely skilled 7 year old won the tourney, an inspiring win for minors everywhere.

This isn’t actually the Soul Calibur 4 final, but you get the idea.

This isn’t actually the Soul Calibur 4 final, but you get the idea.

Wandering aimlessly for a while after the final, I figured the AMV comedy hour would be a good way to rest my tired bones without being bored (even though I expected it to be a bit lame). How entirely wrong I was. Aside from a couple of the longer videos, they were actually pretty hilarious, and the whole hour was one of the day’s clear highlights.

Once the videos were over, I decided to head home, but not before I grabbed an awesome AVCon hoodie for only $25. I arrived at the train station just in time to eat a couple of doughnuts and board the train minutes before its departure. The last thing I thought as I got off at my stop that day was ‘I’m definitely going next year,’ and I’m sure everyone who attended the event would feel the same way too.

Also, a special thank you goes Andrew-John Birkin for providing TNB with access to the day.

By Ben Hauser