Thousands of pop culture fans turn out for third annual Comic-Geddon at Toowoomba Showgrounds
In a shed full of fans dressed in their hero’s costumes, all eyes were on a pair of humble beat cops and their vintage Gotham City Police Department cruiser.
In a shed full of pop-culture fans dressed as their favourite comic book heroes, it wasn’t the caped crusaders who stole the show, rather a pair of Gotham City Police Department officers.
Lachlan Flanagan and Elizabeth Rogers started the cosplay group about a decade ago and delight in entertaining fellow fans of the Batman world.
They formed a troupe of cosplayers who attend comic conventions and charity events, including Comic-Geddon at the Toowoomba Showgrounds on Sunday.
“It is just a good bit of fun that gives back,” Mr Flanagan said.
The troupe is always keen to pose with fans, arrest them, take their mugshot and supply paperwork complete with all the logos and pop-culture references.
“It is like the Stormtroopers from Star Wars, you can have multiple people in GPD officer uniforms and it looks the part, but you can’t have multiple Batmans standing together,” Mr Flanagan said.
“We currently have eight members, with a couple of fresh expressions of interest in the works.”
The centrepiece of their display is a GPD cruiser, built from a decommissioned Los Angeles Police Department vehicle that Mr Flanagan had shipped over from the US.
It is registered and roadworthy and has been fitted with all the extras one would find in a police vehicle, such as a prisoner partition, a dash camera, light bar, radio and a computer.
“It is all as genuine as I can keep it,” Mr Flanagan said.
“The Queensland Police were very interested in it in the early days, I am sure there is an anthology of notes about it on their Q-Prime database.
“Whenever we are pulled over, the police are quick to whip out their iPad.”
Comic-Geddon is run by the Makers Market. Now in its third year, it welcomed more than 1000 fans and heard from a panel of celebrity speakers, including Matt Doran and Sandi Toms, of Star Wars fame.
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Originally published as Thousands of pop culture fans turn out for third annual Comic-Geddon at Toowoomba Showgrounds
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