If you’re stuck for something to do on a weekend, what is better than attending a convention full of awesome things you love? Nothing – that’s why I went to Sydney Animania 2009 at the Australian Technology Park in Eveleigh on September 5th!

After being given my media pass, I wandered around to take some pictures of the various stalls and areas before the massive crowd of people outside were allowed in. Once they started letting people in you could tell at least half the amount attending were all about the cosplay!

There were a lot of really well made costumes, and a few that weren’t. However, being that that they made the effort why would I knock them right? Out of the better ones, the highlight for me was the guy (below) dressed as the wonder chef from Tales of Symphonia. I gave him a GA sticker to say thanks for having his photo taken, and he surprised me by handing me a recipe! I am going to try it out soon, and if it’s any good I will post it up for you all.

The stalls were filled with a lot of awesome goodies to waste my money on: figurines, gashapons, hats, shirts, cushions, costume items… the list goes on and on. Animania also had their own merchandise for sale. I bought a coaster as well as their first ever cosplay calendar! So I get to spend 2010 with some awesome cosplayers and their outfits… kind of. And guess what – Trina, I finally got kitty ears!!

Of course the folks from Madman were there selling Anime, Manga and Eastern Eye DVDs to the masses. I’ve grown more accustomed to the fact that when they are at an event you’ll be lucky to get a spot at the stall front. They also had a computer set up for visitors to take a survey about certain things that are Madman associated (e.g. Anime on DVD or online streaming?), and for doing so you were given a DVD sampler. It has full length episodes of 4 different Anime series, some Anime trailers, Adult Swim & some more stuff to check out when I get the chance. I was disappointed that a few stalls were taking advantage of the patrons by excessively pricing some of their wares. I understand that it’s a common practice to do so at conventions, but I would also expect them to be legitimate or worth that amount before I was willing to fork my money out.

There were plenty of workshops, games, panels and demonstrations throughout the day. One demonstration in particular was about the use (and training) of Aikido by Aikido Yoshinkai NSW, pictured below.

There was also a screening theatre (for anime viewing), a karaoke area, and a main stage. They held a game show on the main stage which I stopped to watch for a little while. They also held the cosplay competition there which I wasn’t able to stay for, but seeing the cosplayers in attendance assures me it would have been hard to choose a winner!

Artists of various calibres were also at Animania, from deviantARTists to those from universities, and a few seemingly professional artists as well. There was also a graffiti wall for visitors to leave their mark – which I did. Hopefully my poor attempt at GA’s flying game controller (minus the wings – oops!) will draw some more Aussies into our community.

As well as the fun activities there was food! Japanese food to be exact, although there was a French bakery stall for those who weren’t willing to try any Japanese. Takoyaki was popular on the day and not having tried it before of course I had to give it a go! It was interesting, let me put it that way.

All in all, it was a fun day out and I will most likely go again. Thank you to all of the friendly and helpful Animania staff for making my first visit enjoyable, and an even bigger thank you to all of the cosplayers that stopped and allowed their photo to be taken!

Want more pics? Have a look through this slideshow for more:

(If you were one of the cosplayers and would like a copy of your photo please send me an email at naomi@gamingangels.com, and I will send you the original!)