How to do a day at Oz Comic-Con without spending over $150
You don’t need to break the bank for the full pop culture convention experience.
Geeks Down Under
You don’t need to break the bank for the full pop culture convention experience.
Pop culture conventions are literally a hall of happiness.
But sometimes they can also be a bit costly. Some of us (*coughs* me) have walked away at the end of the weekend having spent hundreds on souvenirs, signatures and photos.
With Oz Comic-Con Sydney coming up next weekend followed by Brisbane the weekend after, we thought we’d help you guys (and me, my bank account actually won’t let me overspend this year), by doing a little research into how you can get the full pop culture convention experience (on Saturday and Sunday) for under $150 per day:
Booking online doesn’t just save you time, it can also save you $10. You can pre-purchase your weekend ticket online for $52.50 or buy it in person on the day for $62.50.
Have you been yearning to ask one of the attending celebrities a question? Both Oz Comic-Con and Supanova hold Q&A sessions for the majority of their guests. These sessions are free to attend and can go for up to an hour.
Earlier this year, we attended one of these Q&As to ask Tyler Hoechlin how he planned to prepare for his role as Superman in Supergirl.
However, depending on the popularity of the guest, these sessions can fill up quickly. So make sure to plan your day and line up for entry at least 15 minutes before it’s scheduled to start. Also if you have a question for the guest, be sure to raise your hand as early as possible.
Click here to check out the speaker schedule.
Oz Comic-Con has a Screening Room inside the Anime Station. Attendees can check out some new shows as well as a few popular ones.
The Anime Station also has a Manga Library where fans can pick up a title, get comfortable on a bean bag and have a good read.
Fancy yourself a bit of an artist or simply want to check out other people’s skills? Then head to the Scribble Wall, which Oz Comic-Con has set up for attendees to leave their mark or a quick message.
The Oz Comic-Con floor is generally full of attendees dressed as their favourite comic, film and anime characters, but there’s also plenty of opportunities to check out professional cosplayers doing their thing on stage.
Cosplay Active, held on Saturday, lets those new to cosplay build their confidence by either performing a skit or revealing details of their costume to the audience.
There’s also Champions of Cosplay on Sunday, which invites cosplayers to compete for the best costume design in the country. The winner then represents Australia in the C2E2 Crown Championships of Cosplay held in Chicago next year.
The Cosplay Parade on Saturday invites everyone to get up on stage and ‘strut their stuff’, while the Kids Cosplay on Sunday is probably the cutest thing you’ll see all weekend.
Click here for more on Oz Comic-Con’s cosplay.
You can BYO a few snacks and water, but you might also want to put around $15 aside per day for food and at least two bottles of water β insider tip: you’re walking around a lot so be sure to stay hydrated.
As much as you’d like to meet them all, a budget will force you to limit your celebrity choices to around one per day. So, check out the list of guests, pick two (one for Saturday and one for Sunday) and then purchase the signature tokens online.
This year, Oz Comic-Con has some awesome guests, so we understand how hard it will be to cull it down to just a couple. Click here to check out the list for Sydney or click here for Brisbane.
You can also get your photo taken with guests, that will cost extra.
Oz Comic-Con has some awesome workshops available at the Workshop Stage where attendees can pick up some cool arts and craft tips. So far, we’re enticed to attend the ‘chain maille’ workshop on Sunday at midday and the face casting demonstration with ODDBOD silicone on Sunday at 1.00pm.
Stage 4 is reserved for content created by every day folk. There you can learn about new products or cool new things created by fellow Oz Comic-Coners.
If you love your games then you’ll want to head straight to the Gaming Zone where you’ll have access to a variety of games.
Exhibitors always have fun stuff going on and you don’t necessarily need to pay for it. For example, earlier this year Roadshow Entertainment set up a Harley Quinn Tattoo Parlour to celebrate the release of Suicide Squad where attendees could get free temporary tattoos.
So far, you’ve only spent around $132.50 on the Saturday and even less on the Sunday (because you don’t need to fork over $52.50 on Sunday for entry), so why not pick yourself up a few souvenirs or use the extra cash to add a couple of extra celebrity autographs and photos.