News

Supanova Pop Culture Expo Opens in Melbourne this Weekend

Details

• When: Friday the 11th of April (Supanova Preview Night), Saturday the 12th and Sunday the 13th (Main Show).
• Where: Melbourne Showgrounds, Epsom Road, Ascot Vale, Victoria 3032.
• How Much: Weekend Pass - $47.50 online $55.00 at the door. Day Pass - $27.50 online $30.00 at the door.

Guests

Neil Kaplan

Having recieved his start as a political impersonator in the late 80's, Neil Kaplan went on to form a impressive resume of work over the years. Having voiced several villians in Saban's Power Rangers (Including the PR movie, Lost Galaxy, Lightspeed Rescue and Time Force) he went onto making a name for himself in the Digimon franchise starting with Hawkmon in Digimon Adventure 02 with roles in every Digimon series since. He has also voiced Optimus Prime in Transformers: Robots in Disguise, Shigekuni Yamamoto-Genryūsai in Bleach, Saber Tiger in Blue Dragon and Obito Uchiha in Naruto Shippūden. Most recently you would recognise Neil as Tychus Findlay from StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty.

Neil will be speaking from 12:00pm on Sunday in the Supanova Seminars room.

Eric Stuart

Brooklyn born and raised, Eric Stuart is an accomplished voice actor and performer having released six albums with his band and has opened for several notable acts including Ringo Starr, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Chicago. However you would most likely know Eric as the original voice of Brock and James from Pokémon (alongside a pile of Pokémon including Squirtle), Seto Kaiba from YuGiOh, Metaknight from Kirby: Right Back At Ya! and Gourry Gabriev from Slayers. Eric was also responsible for voice direction and ADR on Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monster GX.

Eric will be holding a concert during Friday's preview night at 7:30pm in the Madman National Cosplay Championship Theatre and a panel with Veronica Taylor from 3:30pm on Saturday and 1:00pm on Sunday in the Madman National Cosplay Championship Theatre.

Veronica Taylor

Veronica Taylor is kind of a big deal, having voiced not only Ash Ketchum but his mother Delia Ketchum and May, his travelling partner from Hoenn in Pokémon (from the start until the end of the 8th series Pokemon Advance) she has voiced Yukino Miyazawa in His and Her Circumstances, Aoi Matsubara in To Heart, Miyabi in Ninja Nonsense, Megumi Hisakawa in Alien 9 and Amelia Wil Tesla Seyruun in Slayers. Veronica has also voiced April 0'Neil in the 2003 TMNT series, had roles in L.A. Noire, Ape Escape 2 and Dissidia Final Fantasy. She has additionally worked as Kathleen McInerney to voice Yuki Kaionji in Kurokami The Animation, Reiko, Sakonnosuke and Yaobikuni in Phoenix and as B Simpson to voice Gentoku Ryuubi in Ikki Tousen: Dragon Destiny and Kurai in Angel Sanctuary..

Veronica will be hosting a panel with Eric Stuart from 3:30pm on Saturday and 1:00pm on Sunday in the Madman National Cosplay Championship Theatre.

Hynden Walch

Hynden Walch is currently well known as the voice of Princess Bubblegum from Adventure Time, in fact she's attending Supanova alongside Jeremy Shada (Finn) and John DiMaggio (Jake). And while her voice actor roles include many american shows, Hynden has voiced Nia from Terra Toppa Gurren Lagann, Yutaka Kobayakawa in Lucky Star and Emiri Kimidori in The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and lent her talents to several video games including Talim from Soulcalibur, Hitomi from Dead or Alive and Virdi from Kid Icarus Uprising.

Hynden will be part of the Adventure Time panels with John DiMaggio and Jeremy Shada in the Madman National Cosplay Championship Theatre from 2:30pm on Saturday and 3:00pm Sunday.

Sword Art Online Exhibition

The Sword Art Online exhibition will give fans an inside look at the show by showcasing original artwork pieces covering character designs, storyboards, animation frames and more. The exhibition will also include a photo area for fans to take photos with the heroes of Sword Art Online, Kirito and Asuna, and ‘Lisabeth's Smith Shop’ where official Sword Art Online merchandise will be available with everything from plush toys to keyrings and even Sword Art Online thongs (click here to view the merchandise).

The exhibition has been organised in conjunction with Aniplex of America and will be touring select cities across Australia in 2014. If you want to visit the Sword Art Online exhibition you simply purchase a ticket to attend the partner event (Wai-Con and Supanova) and entry to the exhibition is then free.

If you would like to know more about the exhibition please click here.

Madman National Cosplay Championship

The Melbourne heat of the MNCC is scheduled for Saturday in the Madman National Cosplay Championship Theatre at 11:30am. The five contenders include team Big Woman and Small Woman, Rebecca Major, team Twinkle Toes, Wirru and team WILDCATS. If you would like to see the contenders or the MNCC preview video please click here.

Hanabee's Beyond the Boundary Maid Cafe

Hanabee returns the Maid Cafe they ran at Manifest for the past two years with a (recently announced) Beyond the Boundary theme. Maids and Butlers will be on hand to serve themed crepes and drinks, take photos and run performances over Saturday and Sunday. You can view further details here.

Highlights

Here's a few of our highlights for Supanova over the weekend;

• Saturday

• 10:30am - Anime Trivia sponsored by Anime at Abbotsford - Cosplay Theatre.
• 11:30am - Madman National Cosplay Championship - Madman National Cosplay Championship Theatre.
• 4:30pm - Madman Cosplay Competition - Madman National Cosplay Championship Theatre

• Sunday

• 11:00am - Anime Gameshow sponsored by Hanabee - Supanova Seminars.
• 4:00pm - Madman Cosplay Competition - Madman National Cosplay Championship Theatre

And we will be following Hanabee and Madman during their panels and reporting on any new acquisitions over facebook and twitter (Remember all times are AEST).

• Saturday 3:00pm - Hanabee Panel followed by Hanabee Surprise Screening! - Madman Anime Area.
• Sunday 11:00am - Madman Panel - Madman Anime Area.

You can find the schedule for Supanova Melbourne here.

Full information on Supanova Melbourne including location and directions and ticket prices are simple to find. But you can visit Supanova's website or facebook page for further information.