AVcon: Adelaide's Anime & Video Games Convention 2014

Last Friday I made the 7 hour bus trip to Adelaide to attend AVcon 2014! This year was my 3rd time at this great convention and every year it's bigger and better. Even though long bus trips aren't usually much fun, I was actually looking forward to it as it would be a good opportunity to catch up on some 3DS games and gaming podcasts (still haven't finished Fire Emblem...).

If you haven't listened to IGN's PlayStation podcast, "Beyond!", you totally should.

After I arrived and dropped off my stuff, I met up with my mates Daniel and Seamus before heading to the opening ceremony that night. While waiting for the show to begin we checked our 3DS' for streetpass', don't want to put those potential puzzle pieces to waste! We also snapped some photos. Aren't we, uh, stunning?

Seamus' head + crowd = win

Daniel photo bombing his own photo. Silly Dan.

Hey look, we're smack bang in the middle of an official photo!

Before long our shenanigans was over and the opening ceremony begun. This year's AVcon was medieval themed so a parody of classic JRPG's played on the big screen while performers acted everything out on stage. It was very well done a pretty funny!

Every year AVcon has some really cool guests, and this year was no exception. Cherami Leigh (voice actor), Chris Avellone (Creative Director and co-owner of Obsidian Entertainment), and Jon St. John (voice of Duke Nukem) all had fantastic personalities and were a pleasure to watch on stage. 

Once the ceremony came to a close the late night anime screenings began. Myself and the others are big Sword Art Online fans so we went out and had some drinks and a bite to eat before coming back to watch the screening of season 2.

I thought the first 2 episodes of season 2 were really good. Gun Gale seems like a really cool place so I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the series.

The next day was the first full day of the convention and I was keen for some Super Smash Bro Brawl, so the first thing I did when I got in was head to the "Super Serious Business" stage. Super Serious Business is a match of Brawl played with crazy predetermined rules. When I got to go up and play the rules were Zelda characters only with the stop watch (item that slows down time) set on high. I played as Zelda and thanks to her spamy →B move I was able to win the sudden death and claim the match!

You can see me in the bottom right of the screen!

Later that day I also entered the Smash Bros Brawl singles tournament. I used my main character Pit and won the first match in my pool quite easily. Afterwards the guy I played against asked me what the controls were, so he obviously hadn't played the game much (if at all). However a win is a win!

Here's a picture of a blurry screen and the back of my head...

I ended up fighting my way up to round 4 were I was beaten by someone playing Wario. Looking back on it I could have done a lot better in that match. I thought about my attack too much instead of concentrating on defense, which isn't a great idea against a heavy hitter like Wario. Maybe next year! =P 

"Why so serious?" 

Later that day we all went into the Indie Games Room and played some pretty cool video games made by local developers from Adelaide and nationwide! Didn't get to play everything, there were so many games and so many people it was hard to get in, but the few I got my hands on were really neat. Won't go into detail here but if you want to learn more check out the Indie Games Room site here.

Great to see so much Australian creative talent in one place. 

 Later that night was the Smash Bros Melee tournament final. It is always amazing watching pro players play that game, so fast and crazy. The player who won the Melee final also won the Brawl final, so he walked away with $500 price money. Not bad for a day of playing Smash Bros!

The final day of AVcon we spend looking through the shops and getting photos with all the unique cosplayers! Here's the photos we got!

Chillin' with the Borderlands crew

Power, Courage, Wisdom and me. So cool to see a family cosplay together!

Random knight

You know that awkward feeling when you're getting a photo taken and you don't know where to put your hands? I do, and unfortunately for me it looks like I'm groping my balls. Oh dear... Great cosplay, though!

Dreaming of food with Snorlax

Really pretty Butterfree!

My Wartortle evolved!

Loved the Penguindrum anime! These guys did a great job with their costumes!
 

OBJECTION!!

Beyonetta!

"Mr Game&Watch I'm like, your biggest fan!"

Super Smash Family!

A new challenger appears!

Love these cosplays!

A steam punk inspired Zelda! It's probably one of the better photos of me, too. 

We found the real Jak!

I didn't buy too much stuff for the weekend. Just a few posters, Golden Sun for DS, Pokemon Origins and a Hatsune Miku statue. I could have spent a lot more money!

  

Also Daniel found a "massage" chair he really likes. Although, judging by the look on his face I think something a lot more erotic is going on. ;)

#Moist

That's it guys! Thanks for reading my AVcon adventures and I look forward to attending AVcon 2015!

If you would like to see more AVcon photos check out their Facebook page!