Supanova Pop Culture Expo

In 2000 the Supanova pop culture convention celebrated geekdom in Australia and has been rapidly expanding ever since. This year's Supanova in Sydney proved to be the city's biggest incarnation yet.

Repeat attendees would have noticed immense expansion in recent years, now relishing in a three-day extravaganza at Supanova's home in Olympic Park. This expansion has made the actual event bigger than ever too, making the auditorium too small as a result, relegating a main stage to the building next-door. It created an awkward set-up that hopefully years to come shall remedy. All things considered, there were plentiful stalls that appealed to almost everyone's tastes, from comics, art, toys, video games, board games, events and more.

The event programme too felt imbalanced, with most panels pushed onto Sunday while Saturday had more events. The extra full day on Friday was the best mix, though it may have proven difficult for most working or school-going folk to attend. Overall, it needs work in future to get the best balanced Supanova experience.

The main draw to Supanova is always the guests. Of this year's line-up, there lacked a true drawcard like some years past. There was however an abundance of exciting beloved cult stars. There was something for everyone, from fans of Charmed, to Marvel, to Tolkien, to Buffy, to anime.

There were plenty of panel highlights, such as Deadpool stars Brianna Hildebrand (Negasonic Teenage Warhead) and Stefan Kapicic (Colossus). Hildebrand showed off cuteness, charisma and some serious singing vocals, while Stefan Kapicic was a hoot, particularly when regaling us with his love of Peanuts in Colossus' Russian accent ("I love the dog and his bird who can't fly. And the small bald man").

Another highlight was the fantasy panel of Travis Fimmel (Warcraft), Eugene Simon (Game Of Thrones) Sean Astin and John Noble (both of Lord Of The Rings), which was insightful, entertaining and smoothly run. Furthermore, there was nostalgic amusement in the energetic resurrection of Cheez TV's Jade Gatt and Ryan Lappin and their cheeky humour. Video game/anime voice actor Troy Baker proved very engaging and Newtown's adopted Lone Gunman Dean Haglund, and his live improv show, was hilarious (he performs Mondays at Newtown's 505 Theatre).

Overall, Supanova Sydney 2016 was a fun, geeky time with a variety of good things, which could be greatly improved next year with better organisation in venue and programme.