The rain came but Comic Gong did go on! All kinds of characters rolled into the CBD on Saturday, May 11 to enjoy the festival of pop culture, which is organised every year by Wollongong City Libraries. Here's what some of the visitors had to say.
“We actually have all of our sailors from every planet here today, which is great.”
“We love Star Wars, and it’s a great duo as the hosts of the costume competitions. We thought it would be cool to be a matching set. Every generation’s kind of grown up with Star Wars. Whether it’s this Star Wars or the newer Star Wars.
Old Republic Sith: "I’m dressed as an old republic Sith from Star Wars – I watched it as a kid and just loved it."
Fairy: "I like fairies, I’m obsessed with mushrooms. I even have a bag that is a mushroom. It can barely fit anything because this is how much space it has but I’m carrying lip gloss and my phone."
Rainbow: "I’m obsessed with rainbows." (Fairy adds: "She was gnna go as a fairy with me but she forgot her wings at home.")
“We came as Mario and Luigi, because they're good fun! Our kids play Mario Kart so we play Mario Kart. We’ve met other Marios and Luigis today, so we’ve had lots of photos with them and little kids. We just use the catchphrases and they love that. They all get the giggles. It's very cute."
Mado: "I started liking Mado after I saw the movie The Mandalorian."
Princess Leia: We wanted to bring our cat and dress her up as grogu but thought that would be a terrible idea with the rain. Our cats name is Princess Leia as well."
Qui-Gon Jinn: "I started the day thinking I was Obi-Wan Kenobi but I think with my long hair I look more like Qui-Gon.
"My husband is definitely the most into Star Wars. He liked Star Wars when he was a kid and then he kind of brought us all into it, so we all love it now."
“Our costumes are from different comic books but they’re both from DC Comics. We’re Batman and Robin but from a different universes. I’m the Joker after he killed Batman and for some reason he gained another alter ego and he just wore Batman's costume committing crime while he was asleep. He's a Robin that was corrupted by Batman.”
"I’m Spiderman. But I like Spin, he’s the best, he's more fun."
Finn: "She's too shy to say, but she’s Elsa today. I am Finn from Adventure Time. It’s a show that I kind of grew up with in my early teens. And since having kids of my own I have been able to rewatch it with them. It's fun. I like sharing that with them."
"I’m a huge Zelda fan. I have over 10 games. So I have remakes of old games, newer games, stuff like that. Most of the time I play on my Nintendo Switch."
"I’m dressed as an Odious Tea Trooper from the Halo universe. Also known as Hell Divers, Hell Jumpers, all that sort of stuff.
"I did my own mock – I call myself Legacy in honour of the first costume I ever made, which was this armour about five, six years ago. Same colour scheme and everything.
"It's all 3D printed. It's about [400 or] 500 hours of printing alone. I started this back in about October/November last year.
"I love the story and I love the community around Halo. I love Master Chief, the main hero of it all. Absolute legend. Doesn’t show himself, therefore anyone can be him. That’s what I love about it.
The Joker: "He’s Ryuk from Death Note and I am The Joker. We put this costume together in 2016 for a comic convention in Sydney but we haven’t worn it since, it’s just been sitting in the cupboard. Just haven’t found a reason to wear it and we saw this was on. I had somewhere else to be and it turns out that my day got cancelled because of the weather, so we came. Instead of me wearing that costume, he decided to wear it and I had another costume, I was gonna come as Art the Clown."
Ryuk: "I've scared a few kids today. They hide behind their parents and they're looking around at me going, ‘What is that?’ I am excited to have people write their name in my book today, and just seeing everybody out and about. Some of the costumes are awesome and even the little ones get into costumes and run around."