Oz Comic Con

OMG — I dont think I have had this much fun over a weekend in a VERY long time.
This was my first time to convention, so I didnt really know what to expect. But with the wonderful Benedict Cumberbatch as the big star this year, how could any Sherlock fan stay away? :)
There were a few organisational things that could have been improved over the convention as a whole — but I loved the over all atmosphere, people, stalls and panels :)
If you are going to go to convention at any time, and can afford some kind of priority ticket — I wholeheartedly recommend it. The priority ticket that my friend had, meant that she could get into the venue early each day and purchase my photo and autograph tokens before the masses got in. It also gave her access to a special panel (She had a Benedict Cumberbatch Experience Ticket, so it was a special panel with him for just those holding those tickets) and express queuing for his photograph and autograph on the Sunday :) When I had first looked at the ticketing options, I couldn’t see the point in spending all the extra money on an experience or priority ticket, however, I had underestimated the advantage of the express queuing :) I queued for 2 hours for my photo with Benedict on the Saturday, and there were others who queued a LOT longer, where as most of the priority ticket holders queued for less than 45 minutes. This reduced queuing time meant that they got to see panels that I didn’t.
The only feedback that I have in relation to the photographs and autographs was that they should have capped lower, the number of photographs and autographs that Benedict Cumberbatch could do. I know that he wanted to please as many fans as he could, but this resulted in him taking over 900 photos (in two hours) each day and signing well over 1000 autographs each day. This meant that the things we had paid the most money for, were over in a matter of less than 10 seconds. Sir Cumberbatch of London (little in joke from the panel there) was the most expensive of the stars to get a photo or autograph with, but he was also the one who had the least amount of time to spend with any one fan. I got a lot more interaction with both Ian McNeice and Jewel Staite (whos photos were half the price) than I did with Benedict.
However, by far the biggest issue was on the Sunday — when there was an open panel with Benedict Cumberbatch to finish off the convention at 5pm. I really think that the organisers had under estimated how popular this was going to be. They had said that there was not going to be a queue to get into his panel until an hour before, so they kept trying to tell people to go away and come back at 4 — however no one believed them, so the closer it got to 4pm — the bigger the crowd got. There were some people who sat around by the entrance to stage 1 for hours on Sunday afternoon — having been told probably 100 times to move on, they still sat there — and the more people that were there — the more that came to join. In the end they had a crowd of over 1000 people there waiting to get in.
I think, although the organisers should have had a plan to queue earlier which would have alleviated the problem, once the found themselves with this problem, the solution they came up with was very good. They came out to what was the back of the crowd with a megaphone, and said because of the size of the crowd, they were going to take us into the venue another way. They then turned the whole crowd around and fed them into what is normally the showbag hall, through a single door (which meant the crowd automatically condensed down into a queue. They then fed this queue round the wall of the showbag pavillion, counting each of us as we came in. Then just before the panel was due to start, they opened the door to the venue and let everyone in, in small groups. We were lucky — we got in to the main stage. (but we were three rows from the back)
The organisers have copped some backlash on social media for the way they handled this, because this resulted in the people who had been waiting round by what they thought was the front of the queue, were suddenly at the back of the queue, and therefore didnt get into the main stage, only the similcast stage. However, since they had been told countless times to go away and come back later, and warned that if they didnt, the organisers would shift the entrance to somewhere else, I think what they did was fair. Because it meant that the people who had done as they were told and went away and came back at 4pm were then at the «front» of the turned around crowd :)
Apart from all of that — the rest of the convention was a huge success in my opinion. I spent far too much money, but I believe every cent of it was worth it :) I will definitely be back next year — I am already saving for my platinum tickets :)

This event is very well organised and worth attending for the lover of comic characters. Makes it worth while when they have big name guests.
As my son adores the acting abilities of Benedict Cumberbatch we just had to get Experience tickets ($ 350 each). This meant to sit in the panel and listen to him answer audience questions. We also had priority queuing for autograph and photo, and so worth it as many general people would have waited for ages (or missed out) as the line was huge lined with hundreds.
There is also a Charmed Experience panel with Holly Marie Combs, Shannen Doherty and Brian Krause.
If you love Scrubs with Robert Maschio & Sam Lloyd and Nana and Sanctuary panel with Amanda Tapping & Robert Dunn and Jewel Staite and the Hobbit panel with John Callen & Stephen Hunter, and so much more it is totally worth it.
Even Unilocal has a booth and you can have a free photo and eat some mints. Awesome!

I think this is a con for the more serious fans. I don’t say that to discourage anyone from coming — you certainly won’t be ostracised or made to feel unwelcome if you can’t recite the current lineup of the X-​men from memory — I mean more that it is targeted towards people who really get involved with their particular obsession.
A lot of these conventions will have a big variety of attractions aimed at reaching a wide scope of interests whereas Oz Comic Con seems to be a bit more focused on particular fandoms and in getting fairly In depth about them. Which, for fans of those series, is great news! Rather than getting lost in a sea of every nerd niche in existence crammed in together, you get to meet lots of really like minded people and have a lot of convention time devoted to your passion — not just a few mentions across the weekend.
The stuff on offer was photos and signings with various celebrities (including the great William Shatner and Richard Dean Anderson — it feels genuinely special when someone as well known as these guys comes to Adelaide) as well as lots of discussion panels, video game tournaments, stalls full of cool stuff to buy and an indoor mini laser tag rig. I can’t remember if there was a cosplay competition or not over the weekend, but there were definitely a lot of people in some truly impressive cosplay!
My tips are: if you want a photo or signature from one of the guests, get in super early and don’t muck about. These sold out ridiculously quickly! I would actually suggest lining up before the doors open to make sure you get to the front of the queue inside to put your name down for photos, etc.
Also bring cash; most of the stalls do not have eftpos.
I would also like to make a special mention of Richard Dean Anderson; when it became apparent that there were more fans lined up to see him than there was time left before the con closed, he very graciously promised to stay until he had seen everyone who was already waiting in line.