Auckland Armageddon 2007

So, Auckland Armageddon 2007.
It was really a mixed bag for me. On one side I enjoyed hanging out with friends, on the other I just wasn’t all that impressed by the guests or events that were on.
The highlight for me was definitely the Anime Music Video (AMV) competition. Not because Kunfei, Nadea and I were judging them, but because of the huge response we received, and the fun people had during the event itself. I loved chatting with the creators afterwards too.
More about the AMV comp in a bit.

Met up with Nadea Friday afternoon and checked out the event centre. The Madman stall was well under way, but we recognised none of them. All new faces. GNC had the usual crowd of helpers helping them set up, and Gotham Comics was a busy hive of activity. Pulsar Max had brought heaps of figures, but most Final Fantasy and Monsieur Bome stuff, didn’t really interest me at all.
Infact, out of that quick run through, I saw just one thing I wanted to buy.

That same evening Nadea, Kunfei, Edmund, Martina, Sam and I went to the Jervois Restaurant. This was the first time for everyone other than myself and Nadea, and I was really nervous that they wouldn’t enjoy. In the end we all had a blast, amazingly delicious food and great company ^_^
I feel kinda bad for the people on the Madman forum who missed out. When I asked if anyone was interested, only Sam, Martina and Edmund were interested, everyone else moaned about the cost. *grins* if only they knew…

Saturday morning saw me parking just outside the centre and making my way in. The queue was already long, and I have to admit, it gave me a small amount of pleasure to be able to waltz in early, without paying, without queuing XD
Thank god for exhibitor passes!
Made a beeline for the Armageddon stand and had a chat with Bill & Adelle. Bill then took me down and introduced me to the new Madman crowd. After chatting with Sylvester (their promotions dude) we agreed I’d pick up the prizes at noon. And thats where Nadea found me.

Now… incase you weren’t aware, Madman has changed ownership. Previously it was owned by Gamewizz NZ, but as of 2 months ago Madman Australia took over the reigns. It was the new crowd running the stands at Auckland Armageddon… and with new things, one expects changes… but the change that greeted us, I think, would have been a shock to most fans who rely on Armageddon to get cheap deals on anime dvds.

Madman were selling everything at retail price, or, in their words, at “$20 per disc.” This still added up to a hefty chunk, when in the past, we were used to $80 or less boxed sets.
To be fair though, I do understand why they did it. Those massive discounts/sales at Armageddon would have actually been hurting them, as well as other retailers. More and more people would just wait for Armageddon to buy their anime, and not bother buying from local retailers. If the retailers aren’t happy, Madman wouldn’t be either since they sell a large percentage of their stock to these retailers. So yes, I can see why they did it, I just hope people will adjust.

Nadea and I made our way around the event centre… and I don’t know about her, but, I was just dissapointed
It was the same old stuff from last year. Heck, one comic stall holder told me that he just stored away a whole stack of comics here in NZ for the event, and he never brought in anything new or different… so basically we’ve been seeing the same OLD stack of stuff for the last 4 years he’s been coming!

As far as anime/manga was concerned, nothing new on the Pulsar Max front. Gotham Comics and GNC had new stuff but it wasn’t what I would call “wow.”
Down on the gaming floor, we came across Sounds and their amazingly CHEAP sale. Anime boxed sets for $80 with a further $10 reduction off the marked price!
But lucky lucky me… I bought 5 boxed sets, and ended up only paying $220… thats $44 per box… BARGAIN!

But thats about when things started to go bad for me.
Not at the convention centre, but outside of it. Sounds didn’t do Eftpos, so we went into the IMAX complex so I could get some cash. I took out $300, but then remembered I need to withdraw money for my bus pass. I knew I had the money in there… but when I went to withdraw it, it told me I had insufficient funds. Confused as hell I checked my bank balance, and saw that all I had left was $162… HUH??!?!

After a rather abrupt phone call to the bank, I was advised that their system had glitched and taken out a further $300 but not given me the money. They said it would fix itself come Tuesday night. Well that was nice, but I needed the money THEN, not a few days later *sighs*
So, for the rest of Armageddon, I actually didn’t buy much at all
I still had some money, but that needed to be saved for food, drinks and the possibility that I may not have gotten the $300 at all.

At 5pm that day we showed the entries to the AMV competition in the main auditorium. Apart from the fact that the equipment in that room was such bad quality, I think it went well. As mentioned the crowd enjoyed themselves (especially when Kunfei did his impromptu dance to entertain the crowd while the event centre people tried to sort their equipment out… we love you Kunfei!)
We didn’t have enough time to show everything, so arranged time with Bill to show the rest the next day.

Dinner that night with just a few friends at the Mezze. We were so tierd it’s a good thing we didn’t go drinking/partying as we had intended to.

Sunday… not so bright and early (thank god) but we managed to get some stuff signed, and wandered around heaps more. I think Nadea and I spent most of that day outside of the event centre than in it XD
Showed the remaining amvs, had an impromptu q&a then picked up Sylvester from the Madman stand, and took him up to the Mexican Cafe for happy hour drinks before dinner at La Porchetta with the Madman forum crowd.

Monday in early, met Chris Rankin (such a sweety!) and puttered around chatting & visiting the Heroes4Sale store, before heading home. I personally had had enough and wanted some time out to just relax and unwind. There wasn’t anything on that day that really interested me other than the cosplay competition, but even then, I was just too tierd. One thing I did notice that day in particular was how few people were in there. Monday is always the most quiet. Most people have seen and done what they want to see and do, and of course spent their money, but it was never that quiet.
And many stall holders did not look happy.

Hrrmm… after reading what I’ve written so far, I think I’ll just do brief snippets…

* the anime related events at the convention were apparently badly organised, unprofessional and confusing. I’ve had four people mention it to me throughout the event and in email, with one saying ‘it felt like a bunch of kids going “It would be so COOL to do this!” but not putting any planning or thought as to HOW to do it.’
I caught the tail end of what should have been anime games (?) but they ended up showing random anime episodes from their own collection because they needed the animation guests for some reason, but the guests had to leave for their scheduled panel.

* cheap cheap manga throughout the event. At the Madman store, at Gotham Comics, at GNC, at the Palmerston North Heroes4Sale and heck, if we’d looked, I’m sure at every place that was selling manga. $10 a pop, how can you pass that up! I am so annoyed that I didn’t have that $300 ~_~
Thank god I have an angel in the form of Nadea.

* Heroes4Sale Auckland never come to Armageddon but every Auckland Armageddon they sell their stuff at really good prices. People should take the time to go up to their store and check it out, because they often sell stuff better priced than what that same item is being sold for at the event

* I have Martina, Sam and Edmund love ^_^
This is the first time I’ve got to actually spend time with them (previous years was too busy organising stuff!) and quite frankly they are part of what made this weekend fun. Thankyou guys!
And Martina, I’ve already finished Witchblade Takeru, Mindhunter, Overload and Her Majesty’s Dog… damn you! MUST GET! XD
Jeremy has promised to look into it for me.

Anyways… onto the stash…
I didn’t buy much this year, mainly because of the fact that I am downsizing, and also because of that missing $300 (grumps.) Plus, there really wasn’t anything of interest to buy this year. My most favourite purchases were made at Gotham Comics and Heroes4Sale Auckland
(who didn’t even attend the event!)

H’ok stash drill down…

Ghost in the Shell Sold State Society 1/6 Soft Vinyl Tachikoma. This is huge! I wish I could take photos to show just how big it is.

Of course, a tachikoma isn’t complete without Motoko

DVDs
Burst Angel boxed set
Count of Monte Cristo boxed set
Ranma 1/2 Season 4
Vampire Princess Miyu boxed set
Fullmetal Alchemist 1 to 6
Fullmetal Panic Fumoffu! boxed set
Tales from Earthsea
Trigun (sold the R1s years ago, and regretted it!)
Macross Plus Collection

Other stuff…
Battle Vixens volumes 1 to 5
Evils Return volume 4
Seraphic Feather volume 5
Night of the Beast volume 2
Ghost in the Shell Human Error Processor 1.5
Appleseed Hypernotes
Two Mokona plushies with moving ears and flashing jewels
Stardust (hardcover with illustrations)
Invader Zim House signed by Richard Horvitz
Various stuff signed by Chris Rankin
Madman 24 disc case (freebie)
Madman brown hoodie jacket (freebie)

Last, but definitely not least, thankyou so much Nadea for putting up with me throughout the event. I had a fantastic time, yes, even when we were squabbling over how to organise anime events and anime clubs Anyways, now I must write the AMV post. *wipes brow and gets to work*