Supanova Pop Culture Expo

When many of the passengers on the tram look like they're bound for a Grimes video set, you know you're on the Supanova Express. Since Supanova launched in Sydney back in 2002, it's developed into a (sub)cultural phenomena, promoters touting it as "Australia's biggest and best celebration of pop culture".

The cosplayers at 2016's weekend-long Melbourne blockbuster (twinned with a Gold Coast event) could be attending an expo-within-an-expo. And the macro-trends in cosplay are: Doctor Who, Star Wars, Game Of Thrones, and feminist superheroines. Nonetheless, several characters are so obscure only a Supa-Geek might pick them. The boldest con-goer spotted? A girl playing Hellboy with heavy red body make-up and tail. Still, while some regard Supanova as a mega dress-up parade, it offers myriad other enticements. For one, two Daleks are on display — #BestSelfiePropsEver. Indeed, Supanova encompasses film, TV, comics, anime, manga, gaming and books.

This year the authors' "Co-Op" has a big name in Philadelphia's Maria V Snyder — a meteorologist who switched to writing young adult fantasy. Even early in the day she has a long queue of readers waiting to have their books signed. We stop by Australian author Wanda Wiltshire's table. Her fantasy romance series Betrothed centres on teen Amy Smith, a "faery" adopted into a human family in... Sydney. Amy learns of her true identity from her 'soulmate' Leif, a prince from Faera. Faeries may yet be the new (sparkly) vampires — and, coincidentally, Betrothed has nocturnal, predatory Shadow Fae who drink the blood of others. Wiltshire is currently promoting Confused, the third book in the saga.

However, the aspect of Supanova that attracts the most fan, and media, attention is its roster of "Supa-Stars" — celebrity actors from the horror, sci-fi and fantasy genres. They participate in Q&A panels, in addition to paid autograph and photo sessions. In 2016 Supanova has secured icons new and old, including Harry Potter's Bonnie Wright, cast members from the Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood, and Wolf Creek's John Jarratt. We just miss a morning Q&A with John Leeson, who lent his voice to the Whoniverse's robotic canine K-9 (the part-time wine specialist is also flogging a cookery book!).

The 'face' of Supanova is Jack Gleeson — infamous for portraying the sadistically evil Joffrey Baratheon in Game Of Thrones. His panel takes place at 1pm on Saturday in the cavernous Cosplay Theatre. Someone asks the laconic Irish man — still baby-faced at 23 — who else as King Joffrey he'd have been inclined to knock off. Gleeson gleefully cites his on-screen mother Cersei plus fan faves Tyrion Lannister and Daenerys Targaryen — to "piss off" viewers. So popular is Gleeson's seminar that, with the standing room filled, latecomers are dismissed. Alas, audibility is poor.

The expo's surprise hit turns out to be the charming Brit Daniel Sharman, whose breakthrough role came with Teen Wolf's Isaac Lahey. Fans are queuing in the cold for his mid-afternoon session in the Film Ink Features Theatre two hours prior. The lad from Hackney, London, in a snug cardi, starts by chatting about his indulging in a pre-Supanova trip to Tasmania "in search of the Tasmanian devil" — his fascination with the isle originating in childhood. He was shocked by the amount of roadkill. MTV's "underrated" Teen Wolf, created by Jeff Davis as a reboot of the '80s flick, has a cult following in Australia. And, as it happens, its main director is Melbourne-born Russell Mulcahy — the man who invented the modern music video with The Buggles' Video Killed The Radio Star.

Isaac, a damaged kid transformed into a werewolf, was written out after two seasons — Sharman exiting on the heels of (real-life ex-GF) Crystal Reed. Reports suggest that Sharman will return for Season 6, but he rejects them. "I think the show is a different show to the one I left," Sharman observes. His character wouldn't "fit" now. Sadly, there are way too few questions about Sharman assuming the part of the acerbically volatile Kol Mikaelson from Aussie Nathaniel Buzolic via body-jump in The Originals — a brilliant spin-off from The Vampire Diaries that is like Game Of Thrones with more diversity, empowered women, and heart(s). So this geeky reviewer coughs up $40 for an autograph — and just to tell him how rad it is.