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Event: SMASH! 2014

Yesterday, I attended SMASH - Sydney Manga and Anime Show. The last time I attend SMASH, it was in 2012 and it was held in the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre. Since it has closed for renovations, this year it was held in Rosehill Gardens. I think SMASH has grown larger with more events spanning two days but in terms of the number that had showed up, I didn't notice a huge difference compared to 2012 but that might be because everyone was sprawled out instead of being cramped into one building. I was only able to attend Saturday's convention and everything was last minute so I ended up having to pay more for a ticket. For the full prices, it was $35 for Saturday, $30 for Sunday and $55 for both days.

Sailor Moon plushes!

Arpakasso! (I didn't buy any but I had my eyes on the one with the pink and blue scarf)
Can you spot No-Face?
I was left to explore the convention alone as soon as I entered the gates. My sister had organised to meet up with her tumblr friends and I had brought no one along with me, so I spent about an hour or so (maybe two) in the arts and crafts area doing origami and making Teru Teru Bozu dolls (which I realised I'm terrible at).
A crane and a failed attempt at a cherry blossom.

Gameboy cube craft
Shuriken
I made a couple of them
The grandfather was my first attempt. When I showed these to my sister, she bluntly stated they were "so bad" and "What the hell? They're not cute at all."
I attended the Kawamoto Toshihiro panel and watched him do a quick sketch in nine minutes. He is an animator and worked on Cowboy Bepop, Wolf's Rain and Fullmetal Alchemist. I also attended the Kotono Mitsuishi mini panel (voice actress; some of her works include Usagi Tsukino in Sailor Moon and Misato Katsuragi in Neon Genesis Evangelion) because I wasn't able to make it to the larger panel in the morning. There was a panel for Reika, a prominent cosplayer, held at the same time as the Kawamoto Toshihiro panel. Of course, I have no photos of those panels I attended because there were strict rules of no video or photography at those events but people still manage to sneak in some photos. I obviously watched the Madman Cosplay Competition - it's the major event at SMASH.

These were some of my favourite cosplays on the competition (except the Attack on Titan fan). Another one of my favourites was a Goddess of the Sun (Amaterasu) from Cardfight!! Vanguard but I couldn't find her for a close-up picture. Her costume was beautiful and that headdress would've been hard to have on all day because of the fragility of it. Getting into bathroom stalls would've been difficult or walking through cramped areas.
Lady Thor and someone in a Shingeki no Kyojin (Attack on Titan) uniform after the competition
King and queen in Studio Ghibli's Whisper of the Heart. The queen had wings with some sort of colourless plastic material and fake flowers all over the cape. So happy I got the photo as I was heading towards the exit because I was trying to find them.
Here's a slideshow with most of the cosplayers in the competition except everything was drowned by daylight peaking through the curtains and blurry because of an old phone camera (my phone ran out of battery in the morning).

The competition ended with a Fairy Tail skit, which I think was everyone's favourite. I don't watch Fairy Tail but I know my sister and one of my friends are fans of it. I thought it was well-written and everyone was entertained and cheered or laughed whenever they should. Apparently the balloon was not supposed to burst and leave a cloud of dust but it looked like everything was planned including the balloon burst.


Nevertheless, all the cosplayers worked hard to get theirs done and all people with skits clearly practiced thoroughly, despite mishaps with music and projector screens (displaying the wrong character).

I didn't bring much money with me, so I couldn't buy a lot of merchandise or various products that the artists were selling. My sister ended up buying a couple of posters and prints, badges and bookmarks though. So this was what I ended up getting:


You can buy the 'Goat and Boy' bookmark online here.

I didn't dress up or cosplayed for the event, so I was in usual getup for uni.

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