Where can you come face-to-face with Darth Vader, his fellow Stormtroopers – and Harry Potter – in the same room and at the same time? The answer would be at the Auckland Armageddon Expo in New Zealand, where fans dress up as their favourite characters – from princesses to Star Trek heroes.
Armageddon was in Auckland last weekend!
This year, the expo in Auckland was held from 25 to 28 October at the ASB Showgrounds. 60,000 people came to see displays including cosplay, gaming exhibitions and comic artists at the three-day event.
So since I was in Auckland, I decided to drop by and take a look at what this popular festival had to offer.
Just some of the dolls on sale.
Food, Toys and Games Galore
Merchandise on offer included products such as stuffed toys and even replicas of items from popular movies, TV shows, games and stories such as Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, The Walking Dead, Angry Birds, and even the ever-popular Minion characters from Despicable Me.
One of the toys that particularly caught my eye, was a Sailor Moon doll. I remember hunting all over the place in search of these during my childhood days.
A Cosplay Contest
Star Wars Jedi and Stormtrooper.
Fans dressed up as interesting characters from popular movies, Sci-Fi and Japanese anime stories, such as the Incredible Hulk, Princess Merida from Disney’s Brave animated film and Fleur Delacour from Harry Potter. I was pretty amazed by the time and amount of effort that these fans had invested into their costumes.
Many took part in a cosplay competition to find the winners of the best costume.
To read about an interview with the Incredible Hulk contest participant, who drew thunderous applause from the audience, click here.
Strong with you, the Force, it is.
Harry Potter Quiz
There was an interesting Harry Potter quiz too. Some of the questions asked were relatively easy, such as the first names of Harry Potter’s parents. However, others were downright tricky, and required for example, participants to know an example of a potion taught in Harry’s first year of Potions class.
Celebrity Signings
Celebrities were also present at the event. These were actors in some of the leading films and TV shows, such as Evanna Lynch, who played Luna Lovegood in Harry Potter and Billy Boyd, who played hobbit Peregrin “Pippin” Took in Lord of the Rings. Others included Robbie Jarvis, who acted as Harry’s father, wizard James Potter in the Harry Potter movies. The actors were invited to the event to sign autographs for the public and take pictures with them.
The celebrity that I was particularly interested in though, was Evanna Lynch, who played Luna Lovegood in the Harry Potter movies. But she had a queue that was easily
Evanna Lynch signing autographs.
more than 200 people deep, so I decided to skip the autograph session. However, I did manage to sneak a few photographs of her signing autographs for others, though.
Another drawback was that it cost NZ$10 for an autograph and NZ$40 for a photograph with the celebrity characters. My first thought was that this was rather expensive – especially considering that we had to pay admission fees of NZ$23 per adult to enter the event.
Check out more images of Armageddon Cosplay event here.
Interview with the Incredible Hulk
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