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Armageddon 2017 roundup: The best and worst moments from the show
Tue, 24th Oct 2017
FYI, this story is more than a year old

This year was a massive step up for Auckland Armageddon, boasting some big TV names, world-famous cosplayers and a great line up of booths.

However the event wasn't flawless, so here are my best and worst moments from Armageddon Auckland 2017.

The best of the show:

The guests

This was by far one of the greatest lineups in the show's history, they had the likes of Nathan Fillion, Jessica Nigri, Tom Felton and John Barrowman grace the floor throughout the three days.

This was reflected in the 'to meet' lines, which often stood outside of the door.

I had the opportunity to meet Jessica Nigri who is perhaps one of the most iconic cosplayers on the internet as well as Jen Taylor and Steve Downes aka Cortana and Master Chief.

The guests by far made this show great and their personalities brought life to what would usually be somewhat stale panel sessions.

I found my self, more than once, laughing out loud at the antics happening on stage.

Updated layout 

When it comes to the layout of the booths and the floorplan the show felt a lot more open this year, meaning that there was often a lot less congestion that we've come to expect from the event.

I only found myself stuck in human traffic about four times over the course of the three-day event.

This updated layout was a double-edged sword, however, but I'll explain this more in the cons section of the article.

Overall the event flowed a lot smoother this year, meaning there were no awkward moshpits of people trying to get through a door.

Cosplay heaven 

This was yet another spectacular year for cosplayers, with some truly breathtaking costumes gracing the show floor.

I'm not just saying that because I was one of those cosplayers.

I wasn't even in the same league as many of the cosplayers, one of whom showed up in a fully operational Chaos Space Marine suit of power armour.

On top of that, the international cosplay guests were incredible to meet and interact with.

The downers:

Wet and wild lunch

I know I can't blame the show for the weather, however, most of the food stalls were out in the open, which meant when we eventually wanted to get lunch, we spent about 15 mins standing in the rain.

It wasn't a major issue for me as my costume was 60% waterproof, however, I couldn't help but feel sorry for all the poor sparsely clothed Spartans and barbarians.

This in no way ruined the event, it just meant that the majority of show goers remained inside.

The rain also meant that most of the outdoor activities barely got a chance to shine as we all avoided the wet slides and damp teacup seats.

It felt empty

Now, not to say that there wasn't anything to see, because there were plenty of stalls and shops, however, compared to previous years it did feel like there were a lot fewer stores than usual and that all of my favourite obscure stalls had disappeared.

In previous years I would spend a minimum of $400 on swords, toys and general nerdy goodies, yet this year I spent about $50 and the majority of that was on food and drinks.

I suspect that this may have been due to the new layout as the vast majority of the first hall was dedicated to the big players like Sony, Samsung and Ubisoft.

Though this meant traffic flowed more efficiently.

On top of that a lot of the stalls were selling the same stuff, so while the show floor was dominated by Pop figurines it did feel like I couldn't find any of those unique tidbits I was looking for.

Other than those minor irks there wasn't anything I'd change about the event and overall this was one of my most enjoyable Armageddon experiences ever.