It is the 24th year of Auckland Armageddon Expo (or as fans like to call it Auckgeddon). It’s a hard thing to grasp, but it happened. Oct. 25-28, 2019 fans flocked from all over the world to come to this amazing event; with all the vendors, artists, cosplays, celebrities and games that you could find all around the event. We had guests from movies, tv shows, animations, comics and a cosplay guest. 
The convention has a preview night on Friday which is when fans can go and look at merchandise and all the specials that the stalls have. I wasn’t there for that, but I have seen the photos from people who did go and there were people all dressed up in cosplays, which is always great to see.
My weekend started on Saturday, which is always Auckgeddon’s busiest day, but sometimes it’s worth it to go in and see all the different things.
There were incredible cosplays and amazing times to be had. A couple of the highlights for me was getting to see Sam Witwer’s panel, Sean Gunn’s panel, and getting to see Rob from Millennium Collectables who deals with signed pop vinyls, memorabilia, and photos as well as nerdy artwork by different artists. Also at the convention was Gifts for the Geek, who were the ones behind the Rob Benedict exclusive vinyl.
Sean Gunn’s panel was interesting with all the questions he was asked and how he answered them. We found out some interesting information for example, his work is done before Bradley Cooper comes in to play Rocket. This is because Sean does the physical side of Rocket and there’s some editing involved before Bradley comes in to voice Rocket.
Sam Witwer’s panel was fun. He would do all types of voices when asked; he did “Star Wars” ones like Emperor Palpatine, Chewbacca, and also did ones like his character Mr Hyde from “Once Upon a Time.” He gave us all these different anecdotes about his work and about his life in general. He told us the story of how he got the job on “The Mist” and talked about his dogs and also told us about a running gag in “Star Wars.”
Sunday was a lot of fun, there were a lot of things going on. I wasn’t at any of the panels, but it was a lot of fun getting to see cosplays and being in the moment with a lot of people. We had some of our own Kiwi actors at the con for only this day; Antonia Prebble who is from NZ shows such as “Outrageous Fortune,” “Westside” and is known internationally as Claire Langtree the Gatekeeper in “Power Rangers Mystic Force.” We also had Mike Minogue and Karen O’Leary from “Wellington Paranormal and “What We Do In the Shadows.’ It was great to see homegrown actors be invited.
Monday was amazing. We had a very special panel up first, which started with Ruth Connell for a few minutes and then we had Rob Benedict calling in via Skype which is a rare occurrence for us. Rob had to cancel the week before but sent us a video explaining it was to do with work obligations. He had tried his very best to make it there in person, but it wasn’t meant to be this time around and he promised to try and Skype in for the panel.
He was amazing to do this and it really was special. Part way through the panel he gave us a beautiful performance of his song Bring It In, which was so magical and a once in a lifetime experience. All of it was beautifully amazing!
Thank you Ruth for coming over! Thank you Rob for making time in your busy schedule to talk to us in Auckland!
There were also other panels throughout Monday, like Sean Gunn, Sam Witwer, the wrestling duo Amy ‘Lita’ Dumas and The Honky Tonk Man and many others. The whole weekend was a blast.
Thank you Armageddon Expo for an amazing weekend! See you next time!
Written by Emma Haile
