Thursday was my first time attending an expo for anime and gaming stuff in Australia! I must say though Gencon 2008 was pretty interesting and opened up my eyes about the different "gaming" hobbies that people have. From video gaming to card playing to cosplaying to warhammering to ...any other kinda games relating things. Hobbies are a part of everyone's life, and it kinda made me wonder what exactly is my hobby... for me its from old Pokemon cards to video gaming, to anime nowadays. I guess there's nothing wrong with a bit of everything!

So how did the day go? Like most things, if you go to these events that appeal to a lot of different people, you have to be open minded and be able to appreciate that there is always something for someone there. Otherwise you'd find yourself bored, and leaving pretty early! Day started off pretty early, with heaps of people lining up by then. (Forgot to take a pic of the queue, as most people do for these events xD)

After we got in, with our showbag (there was one and only one T_T, was hoping for more...) we toured around the different stalls where hobby shops have them set up. After browsing and SSBBing there for a bit, ended up wandering to the anime karaoke stand, and belted out some tunes, while realising that I'll never be able to keep up with fast Japanese songs no matter how much you have listened to it. You'll have to memorise it like a dictation test.

Lunch was next, grabbed what they called a "Wagyu Beef Burger" - doubt that the organisers really know what they were on about. Should've taken a pic of the burger, but was too hungry to do so. (FYI - Wagyu beef is considered to be the best beef, more info on wiki; burger was average, and not enough meat!) Not long after, was the cosplay competition, and was interesting to see how much effort some people put into their costumes and pics can be found on this blog here. I came to appreciate cosplaying by being in the audience and as a photographer there too.

Being at one of these expos usually equals increased spending. I was tempted to buy the Haruhi boxset, but the price made me think otherwise. In the end I just bought a bleach booster pack, and was lucky enough to get a Unohana shiny foil card, as shown here (along with random and other character cards):


I guess the one thing here that I thought wasn't done as well at GenCon, was the less emphasis on console gaming as such. The only console gaming tournament being a Guitar Hero one, which just happened to be one of the only genres that I don't play. On the whole it was enjoyable, and I'd like to go to another one of these expos another time. It finishes this Sunday, so you still have tomorrow left if you really want to go. I'll leave you guys with two random Star Wars pics I managed to get on the day:

Why you...

Asleep as usual