2017 Adelaide Oz Comic-Con Roundup

The weekend just gone saw the travelling fandom roadshow known as Oz Comic-Con roll into Adelaide, where none other than Charles Martinet was in attendance. For those who don’t know, Martinet is the voice of Paarthunax in Skyrim and Orvus from Ratchet & Clank: A Crack In Time. Oh, he is also the voice for a few other characters, like Mario, Luigi, and Wario, among others. No biggie.

Charles Martinet

The man of the hour hosted a panel each day of Adelaide’s Oz Comic-Con, speaking about his acting history and working with Nintendo. I will publish an article soon containing details of Martinet’s anecdotes, but it goes without saying that he was an absolute hit with fans of all ages.

He spent many hours signing autographs and posing for photos, all while maintaining an intensely high level of buoyant enthusiasm and passion for the work he has done to bring joy to so many people worldwide. He greeted everyone with perfect renditions of his famous characters’ voice lines – you could almost hear his “Yippee!” echoing across the Adelaide Showgrounds. In an industry which seemingly has a new controversy every week, the clean-cut Martinet embodies the pure joy in playing Nintendo video games. He also comes across as genuinely grateful for the appreciation he receives from his fans – he understands how much his work means to people.

Whoops! How did this photo of my old mate Charles Martinet and me get on here?

Nintendo Switch

Unlike Perth, the Adelaide Oz Comic-Con did not feature an official representation from Nintendo. Unfortunately, this meant no hands-on time with Arms or Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on the Switch.

To make up for Nintendo’s absence, I brought my own Switch instead. I caught up with some friends who had not played the console or seen it in person before and sat them down to play Snipperclips.

They had a great time trying to figure out the puzzles and were impressed by the ingenuity of the hardware. The Joy-Cons were a hit, with their portability and ease of use the major positives. It would probably be fair to say they walked away having added a Switch to their shopping lists.

In the convention’s video gaming area, the most popular consoles were the two Wii U consoles set up with Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros. respectively – the latter churning out eight-player battles on a regular basis. Attendees crowded around, watching on and eagerly awaiting their turn. One can’t help but feel sorry for the Wii U, as it was by far the most popular gaming attraction at the convention, but we all know how dismally the console sold. Based on its popularity here at the convention, Nintendo would have been a smash with the Switch, which reeks of a missed marketing opportunity.

Being the fiercely proud and loyal South Australian that I am, I really should be used to cool things skipping over Adelaide, but hopefully Nintendo makes an appearance here sooner than later.

Cosplay

There were heaps of impressive cosplayers at Oz Comic-Con – although many of them were from TV and film franchises, I did manage to snap a few folks repping the Nintendo crew.

It was the first time these gents had dressed up at a convention before – their Mario and Luigi cosplay certainly went down a treat! Bonus points for nailing the height difference, and that Mario is proudly sponsored by Hard Yakka.

The nose and rose (ain’t I a poet?) really made this cosplay. These two totally rocked the Luigi and Waluigi look.

Gotta go fast! *insert Green Hill Zone music here*

Spargos Cosplay as Boba-Chu and Boba-Karp

These two fellas from Spargos Cosplays were among the most popular at Oz Comic-Con over the weekend with their Boba-Chu and Boba-Karp mashup. Do I spot an allegiance to Team Valor on their chest pieces?

It was fantastic to see plenty of young cosplayers out and about too. Especially great work on the Hylian Shield here!

Pokémon Sun & Moon received plenty of love from cosplayers. The attention to detail of Superorbital Cosplay‘s Wicke really caps the look off.

Matte Bat as Team Skull’s Plumeria

Angel Pixie as a Team Skull Grunt

Continuing the Sun & Moon theme, Team Skull was a popular choice, with Angel Pixie and Matte Bat nailing the look and the devil-may-care attitude to boot.

I also couldn’t help by share some of the non-Nintendo cosplays as well – these are all fantastic creations.

This AT-ST was one of many awesome Star Wars cosplays on the show floor. Although I did not get photos of the others, there was a mix of characters dressed up to coincide with the home media release of Rogue One.

There’s no way to adequately describe how awesome seeing this Reinhardt cosplay in person was. Especially when you see the three-metre hammer that comes with it. The guys at Scrap Shop Props have really done an incredible job with this one.

BKG Cosplay as Morrigan from Dragon Age

From the Dragon Age series came BKG Cosplay’s fantastic Morrigan cosplay – there are so many deft touches that would have taken ages to put together!

Zalaria Cosplay as Halloween Mercy from Overwatch

Halloween Mercy’s were also a popular cosplay choice, but the brilliant Zalaria Cosplay’s Mercy was among the state finalists for the Australian Championships of Cosplay. It is immediately obvious great care was taken with each element of the cosplay – including a motor inside the staff which caused the top to rotate like it does when buffing in Overwatch. This fact was not lost on many Oz Comic-Con attendees, who yelled out “I need healing!” on a regular basis.

Artists

Often one of the highlights of any convention is the artists’ alley, filled with beautiful fan-art and original creations. Oz Comic-Con was no exception, with many of the talented artists displaying Nintendo-themed work. Here are just a handful of stalls that caught my eye.

Rachel Loren Designs (left) and Sarah O’Donald Illustration (right) proudly display their artwork

Starting local, these Adelaide-based artists sold a variety of gorgeous prints; mainly Pokémon-related, in addition to some cute Koroks from Zelda. Rachel Loren Designs (pictured left) drew the Koroks, and Sarah O’Donald Illustration (pictured right) created many of the Pokémon illustrations on the right-hand side – including the Charmander family portrait as seen in the top-most photo.

Greninja by Sarah O’Donald Illustration

Korok by Rachel Loren Designs

I bought a few of the irresistibly adorable Korok prints from Rachel, and the Greninja and Lucario prints from Sarah, as pictured above.

Chobi-Pho with his hyper-detailed prints

The Melbourne-based Chobi-Pho featured many detailed prints from a number of franchises: Pokémon, Zelda, and Overwatch, just to name a few. I bought prints of Mega-Charizard X, Mega-Ampharos, and Reinhardt.

It was extremely difficult to not blow my budget here because of the incredible level of detail these digitally-designed prints contain. Maybe next time I’ll splurge on the Tyranitar and Suicune art…

I also spotted these super-cute dresses and tote bags from Curious Empire – Pokémon never goes out of fashion, after all.

That just about sums up most of the awesome things that were at the 2017 Adelaide Oz Comic-Con – thank you to the team at Blue Planet PR for your help over the weekend.