I know I’m
late with this post but there’s a lot of detail to tell!
So I was lucky
enough to volunteer at Adelaide’s Oz Comic Con over the 9th-10th
of April! I’ve never been to a convention before so I was really throwing
myself in head first, but I don’t regret it at all! Allow me to give you a
rundown of each day.
Saturday
My morning
started off with a 4am alarm and getting ready for the day, driving down to the
city and signing in to collect my shirt around 7am. I immediately made friends
with a couple of girls I was in the line with, so lovely and fun!
At about 8am
my team leader took our team to Cosplay Central, our assigned area (you get to
choose 2 preferences of areas you want to work in) and we met everyone in our
team. A few of us had a quick walk around the convention to see the different
stalls, I completely fangirled when I saw Jason Palmer’s art stall – he does a
lot of art for shows like Once Upon A Time, Arrow and The Walking Dead.
By 9am, the
doors were open to the public and I was sitting at the Cosplay Registration
desk with one of the other girls on my team as we spotted all the amazing
cosplayers!
At 9:30am, I
raced over to the Photo Booth area where I got to meet and get a photo with the
beautiful Christie Laing! She was so lovely, down to earth and totally cool
about everything. Her leather jacket was awesome! Not to mention she gives the
best hugs!
The rest of
the day went by pretty quickly with mass amounts of cosplayers coming to
register for Cosplay Active and the Cosplay Parade. At 1pm the registration
closed and I ended up moving to help out with organising the cosplayers for
Cosplay Active and the Cosplay Parade. It was great to not only help out these
talented cosplayers but to also see them up on stage posing as their characters.
At around
3:30pm, the cosplay parades had finished and I didn’t have much to do so I was
put on my break and walked around the convention. Luckily I had some amazing
friends who were attending the convention so we all had lunch together! (Meg
and Hades, rockin it!) – Ooh and thanks for the half milkshake!
During my
break I was lucky enough to go talk to Jason Palmer about his artwork and
purchase one of his prints. He told me all about how he creates each piece and
the techniques he uses. It was amazing and so insightful.
Sunday
It was yet
another early start on Sunday with a long drive to the city. Once I was signed
in (around 8am) I went to Cosplay Central, set up for the day and then made my
way over to the Just Dance area where all the other volunteers were starting a
dance-off between each volunteer team.
The day ran
smoothly yet again with plenty of parents signing up for Kids Cosplay and the
Cosplay Championships, who by the way were so cool! At 11pm we were instructed
by one of Captain Patch-It to make fairy bread for one of the host’s birthdays
as a surprise. We set up a whole station of slicing, topping and sprinkling –
by the end it had looked like a unicorn threw up all over the desk…SO MANY
SPRINKLES!
I had to rush
off to go watch the Once Upon A Time panel with some of my friends and it was
so good! Everyone had such interesting and diverse questions for both Christie
Laing and Eion Bailey, definitely one of the most special moments of my life.
After all the
questions, I had to race over to the Photo Booth area again to get my picture
with Eion Bailey. I felt so confident going into get a photo with him until I
started walking towards him and burst into tears *hides*. The reason why I
started crying wasn’t just because he’s gorgeous and a celebrity, but because
he’s part of a show that has completely changed my life, Once Upon A Time. –
Perhaps I can explain why I love OUAT so much in another post? Would you like
to see that? When we were taking the photo I was in tears, but he said to me
“It’s okay to cry. It shows your raw emotion and how much this means to you.”
Then he kissed my forehead!
I then had to go
help out with the Kids Cosplay and Cosplay Championship marshalling and running
the parades. We handed out certificates to the kids, so many adorable cosplays
– I tip my hat off to all the parents who put in so much effort! – After the
Kids Cosplay was over we sat down to watch the Championship Cosplay for SA and
oh my lordy it was incredible!! The detail, time, effort and creativity put
into each individual cosplay was crazy!
By 4:30, the
registration booth was closed and there weren’t as many people at the
convention as on Saturday. So I had some time to spare, I went and found my
friend who we nicknamed my “Emotional Support” – we literally wrote out a
nametag for her haha. We walked over to
the autograph queuing area where Eion had just finished signing for someone
then left for his break, he was supposed to be back by 5pm. I couldn’t look at
the door because I knew if I did, I’d cry again, my friends luckily kept me
from turning around.
A little past
5pm, he arrived and my friends both went up to talk to him since they met him
earlier. I turned around and my friends were telling me to go over and speak to
him, it was wonderful to talk him again and actually spend some time rather
than being rushed. I gave him my OUAT book to sign whilst I explained my love
for the show and how it’s helped to change my life.
To finish off
the weekend I went to Jason’s stall and got to hang out with him again, plus I
gave him a jar of homemade cookies that he loved. He signed both my prints that
I bought of his, Captain Hook and Emma Swan.
It was
honestly one of the most amazing weekends of my life, I made amazing friends,
met wonderful celebrities and had the experience of a lifetime!
Thank you to
everyone who made Oz Comic Con 2016 the most incredible experience!
Think Lovely
Thoughts xo
P.S. If there
are any particular posts you’d like to see, let me know via my social media – info
can be found in the Behind The Blogger section.
