MadFest 2018 was held in the conveniently located Melbourne Convention Center on the 15th-16th of September this year. Once again, the convention was a perfect temperature inside despite Melbourne’s variable Spring weather.
The same venue was used as for their 2017 event but this time the convention’s expo hall operated from a different room.
This year, the convention offered more activities and side events and seemed to have a higher attendance than there was last year, unfortunately, this year’s expo hall seemed smaller and was much more cramped than last year so the convention seemed very crowded, especially in the first few hours as the hall was flooded with excited con-goers.
However, it is always good to see a convention grow as it matures and MadFest, now in its third year, appears to be doing that.
As much as there was to see at MadFest 2017, MadFest 2018 seemed to deliver even more events and activities to keep attendees busy.
There was so much to do and so much to see this year; panels, cosplay and prop workshops, game previews, anime showings, a manga reading area, galleries, a giant head, multiple fun activities, and more! There’s a lot to go through, so I’ll mainly just list my personal highlights.
The first activity, and the one I was the most excited for, was the Custom Nendoroid Face designing in the art and hobby area!
I’m not much of an artist but I love Nendoroids so much I just had to participate. I chose an easy ‘Nyoron’ face which I quickly sketched and filled in with the provided tools.
After making my cute little Nendoroid face, I moved to the next table to make a custom badge I quickly sketched in one of my favourite Digimon (Dracomon) and watched as it was quickly pressed into a badge for me to wear with pride.
As I mentioned, I’m not much of an artist but I still really enjoyed these activities.
There was also cosplay building, art drawing, origami, and balloon art in terms of art activities but I didn’t want to jinx my perfect art making abilities.
In addition to the magnitude of art activities, there was also an exciting One Piece Treasure Hunt which had the participant follow a special map to large red Xs drawn on the convention floor, the participant would then receive a stamp on their map. Once all five stamps were received, the participant would then return to the One Piece area to receive a commemorative and exclusive pin!
Another feature of MadFest this year were the many photo opportunities; a giant titan head from Attack on Titan, a Love Live display, a balloon One Piece display, and many Dragon Ball Super displays.
In addition to the MadMan-provided photo ops, there were also, of course, some of the most wonderfully constructed and fantastically worn cosplays I’ve ever seen.
There were more game demos and previews than last year; from Bandai Namco attendees were given the chance to play My Hero One’s Justice, Jump Force, Black Clover: Quarter Knights, DragonBall FighterZ on Switch, One Piece World Seeker, SoulCalibur VI, and, of course, everyone’s favourite Taiko No Tatsujin, there was also a PlayStation VR experience as well as other VR games using the Vive, and, in addition, Nintendo Australia also made a appearance so that attendees could play Switch titles such as Arms.
Couch Warrior made a returning appearance for those who wanted to play various fighting games on consoles that had been set up.
There were so many different types of games to play and try out, so there really was something for every type of gamer!
As for some fun miscellaneous things, I had to double take when the Visit Japan booth had a poster for Digimon Universe Appli Monsters, and there were also some fun cars on display with anime decals.
Thanks to Stefan Sgarioto for providing Lost in Translationmon with media access to the event. It was a lot of fun and I hope that MadFest continues to grow!
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