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Armageddon: Exciting, exhausting fun

Article writer Emma McCann’s brother Kieran pictured alongside a Star Wars stormtrooper…Emma McCann won tickets to the Armageddon Pulp Culture Expo from The Pulse - and tells us about the experience she had with creatures from other galaxies and super-hot pizza.

In one word, Armageddon was: incredible.

Nothing could have prepared me for the number of die-hard fans I encountered.
Everywhere I looked, there was another storm-trooper, or hobbit. Honestly I felt a little out of my depth.

The Christchurch Convention Centre was packed full of thousands of people, all wanting to see it all. And there was a lot to see - my faves were seeing the 'bro town' cast, a great concert by King Kapisi, with an awesome laser light display.

Seeing John Rhys Davies (Gimli from Lord of the Rings) was pretty incredible, and hearing Brian K. Vaughan, an award-winning writer of comics like The Runaways and Ultimate X-Men, to name a few. Vaughan has also just recently written an episode for hit show Lost, and it was cool to hear him speak about that.

There was free autographs available from comic voices, such as the voice of "Sandy Cheeks", of Spongebob Squarepants (Carolyn Lawrence), and Wonder Woman (Susan Eisenberg). As well as a writer from Spongebob, who was keen to chat about future episodes in the show!

DalekTwo hilarious contests were held on the main stage. The pizza eating contest, which included speed eating, hands-free eating (faces first!) and hot 'n' spicy, where contestants had to eat a dangerously hot pizza covered in Tabasco sauce and chili flakes!

The other competition was a Dragonball Z Kamehameha contest. (kamehameha is where people shout ‘kamehameha’ and build up a ball of energy or light to attack an opponent).
In this competition anyone who wanted to perform was allowed to, and just for competing received a mars bar. It was hilarious, my brother entered, and the winner certainly pulled off an excellent performance - I could certainly feel his anger!

A huge PC-gaming area was a crowd-pleaser, as was the PlayStation3 experience centre and the free laser tag (though that one had a long queue).
On top of all this, there was plenty to buy, hundreds of reduced-price comic books and toys, as well as Weta collectibles and trading cards.
All-in-all, Armageddon was exciting, exhausting and definitely fun and I'm glad I had the opportunity to go.

More information

2008 Armaggedon Pop Culture Expo
Returning in April, this expo will feature Christopher Judge – Teal’c in Stargate SG1, Gary Graham – star of Alien Nation and Star Trek Enterprise, Teryl Rothery – Dr Janet Fraiser in Stargate SG1 and Kyle XY, and Herb Jefferson – Boomer in the original Battlestar Galactica. Held at at the Christchurch Convention Centre.
April 2008