TROPiCON celebrates geek culture at Darwin Entertainment Centre
A parade of cosplayers showcased the inclusivity and creativity of Darwin’s geek community. See all the pictures.
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Some of the most popular characters from iconic film and game franchises have come to life on the NT stage.
A bright mix of figures both loved and feared filled the Darwin Entertainment Centre for the second year of TROPiCON.
Dylan Bujnowski - who dressed as Knight of Astora Oscar, from the Dark Souls video games - won the cosplay competition.
Fellow parade competitor Sam Santos said her costume – Princess Serenity from Sailor Moon – was a homemade full circle moment.
The Darwin nurse said she made her elaborate costume in just five days.
“I have a full-time job and then when I come back, I’ve just been grinding this out,” Ms Santos said.
“In the sense of decision-making, I was Princess Serenity for (another convention) in 2019 and it went off really well.
“It’s my last con here before I move to Perth, so I may as well compete again.”
Dressed as Wednesday Addams, Mia Johnson said the day’s events – including a scavenger hunt, eSports, dozens of stalls and a parade – were “really fun” for everybody.
Ms Johnson put her costume together in about 10 minutes, but had been planning it for almost three months.
She said she hoped to see more anime at next year’s event.
Allana-Meg Lilliebridge said conventions such as TROPiCON were about inclusivity, acceptance, and respect.
She said TROPiCON in particular was important because Territorians did not have enough spaces like it.
“Darwin is so small and there’s only so many things you can do... and it’s nice that this is a kid-friendly environment that you can get the kids out of the house and not out in the heat of the day,” Ms Lilliebridge said.
She said she chose to dress as a mushroom – and had spotted a few other mushroom-people at the convention – after seeing several cosplay videos featuring the funky fungus.
“I thought they were really cute, and I’m like, ‘I want to do that’,” she said.
Darwin’s TROPiCON to celebrate ‘all things geek’ this Saturday
From eSports tournaments, video game building, cosplay, and virtual reality experiences, the Top End’s geek community will be in hog heaven this Saturday.
TROPiCON at the Darwin Entertainment Centre seeks to build upon its first edition last year in which it drew 1500 fans.
And according to Geek Culture Collective’s Dylan Bennett, this year’s event will be even bigger and better.
“TROPiCON is a celebration of all things geek, it’s a moment for everyone to come together in Darwin, whether you’re into cosplay, eSports, tabletop boards or anime or anything in between and celebrate who you are and meet like-minded people.”
Mr Bennett said he hoped fans would use the event to “try their hand” at different activities.
“We really want children and adults to have their chance at trying all the different styles of pop culture and geek (culture) that maybe they haven’t tried before,” Mr Bennett said.
“So if someone’s really into Dungeons & Dragons but they’ve never played eSports, this is an opportunity for them to try their hand.”
With the Top End renowned for its outdoor activities, Mr Bennett said it was important to celebrate geeky pursuits as well, with collectibles and digital art also to feature at the event.
“There’s a lot of people who like their boating, like their camping, but they also really like to play video games and they also really like to follow cosplay or dress up in cosplay, they also like to play Dungeons & Dragons, they also like to read comic books,” he said.
“Those people exist and we showed that (at) last (year’s event), that they’re out there in force and TROPiCON is an opportunity to show everyone that there’s this really passionate, large, community here as well in the NT and you don’t really have to go down to Melbourne to find it.”
The event will also been an opportunity for fans to connect through shared interests.
“(There will be) over a 1000 people here tomorrow who are all proudly representing their versions of ‘geekdom’,” Mr Bennett said.
“And so recognising there are other people out there who are like you and talking to them and getting to know them is definitely a big, big component of TROPiCON.”
As for the future of TROPiCON? “Grow”, says Mr Bennett.
“TROPiCON will grow and as TROPiCON grows we’ll be able to scale (up) and provide more games and more things.”
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Originally published as TROPiCON celebrates geek culture at Darwin Entertainment Centre
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