Once a year in Auckland Dragonball Z comes to New Zealand. For three days (this year April 12-14 2003) there is fun and mania as Dragonball Z voice actors come as well as sales of DBZ CCG, Kamehameha contests, Dragonball screenings and so much more.
Heres my personal acccount of what happened to do with DBZ for the three days of the Auckland Armageddon Pulp Culture Expo 2003
DBZ at Armageddon Day One - Let the Fun Begin...
Well I went to the Armageddon today and what follows a brief account of what I did today...
Got up at 7.45am and caught the bus into the city at 8.50 the bus was due to arrive at 8.25 but that just wasn't the case. Finally I arrived in the city and headed straight for the Armageddon and got there at 9.30 to find a massive queue (at this point the Armageddon was yet to officially open). At 10am the queue finally began moving as the Armageddon opened but it was to be 11am before I finally got in.
The first thing I did was head up to level five and buy DBZ DVDs 5.15 Kid Buu Vegeta's Plea and 5.16 Kid Buu - The Price of Victory as well as DBZ Movie 4 - Lord Slug and The History of Trunks! I spent the next hour searching the Armageddon for other things to buy and found little that I didn't already have or simply didn't want. I had known for a while but ti was proven to me today - Yu-Gi-Oh (sadly) is more popular in NZ right now than DBZ...
By this time I was quite hungy and went out and got some Burger King. Me and a friend I was with then decided to go see a movie, Johnny English. At 2pm the movie was over and so I went back to the Armageddon and immediately stood in line for autographs from DBZ voice actor, Sean Schemmel (Goku, King Kai, Nail). As well as getting my cards signed I gave him the address for this site and asked him if he could check it out. My handwriting is famously terrible though and he probably won't be able to decipher what I wrote! Mr Schemmel said I should improve on my handwriting by the time I saw him again.
Mission accomplised for the day I decided to head home and sat down and watch the two new episodes DVDs I had purchased (including the conclusion of the fight between Majin Buu and Goku) and so I did. But as for the Armageddon I shall return tommorow!!
DBZ at Armageddon Day Two - The Mania Continues...
Using my three day pass I again went to the Armageddon today. Today I took my little brother along with me and again stood in line for half in hour to get two more autographs from Sean Schemmel. While getting the autographs I also gave him a neater version of this sites address (so hopefully he'll find it now).
By the time I had got the autographs it was time for the Cosplay Contest and I went to see if anyone would be a DBZ character and surely enough there was as a girl named Hayley Sharp dressed up as Videl. She also did an awesome voice for her that was spot on (I told her it was good as well). Sadly she didn't win the contest but was in the top 10. The winner was someone who dressed as a psycho Galadriel from The Lord of the Rings
My main purpose for watching the Cosplay Contest was to see if anyone dressed like DBZ and thankfully Hayley did more people dressed up as Cardcaptors though...
While waiting for the Kamehameha contest to begin we were privleged to see half an episode of Dragonball GT ("A Grand Problem") and despite my earlier post it seems Funimation IS using the DBGT rap "What is GT?". Then came the Kamehameha contest which is one word was awesome! About forty people entred to see who could do the best Kamehamehas (including Hayley "Videl" Sharp). Ten finalists were selected and then Sean Schemmel selected the top three. Third was Hayley. The top two Matthew and Robb had to do a Kamehameha struggle to see who could overpower the other. while Sean judged who was best and Robb won the fight thanks to his Kaioken times three million! The audience helped to decide first place as being Matthew who in his victory spech said he was representing Pakuranga and other westies! Matthew won himslef a Gameboy Advance SP while Robb got himself a DBZ skateboard and drink bottle. The competition was awesome to watch and I'd like to give special thanks to the people that made it cool including the two guys that peformed the fusion dance, the little kid that wouldn't and anyone who powered up (especially Robb).
After the Kamehameha contest some people stuck around for a bit of Q & A with Sean Schemmel. I asked him what he thought of NZ and he said that it was beautiful and would move here if he could! I tried to help out with questions as well such as the guy who asked how old Goku was when he married Chi Chi. I got that one wrong though as I said 25 and he was only 19... You win some, you lose some. With my newest DBZ DVD, Cooler's Revenge in hand I left to return tommorow for the expo's final day. Oh and some news to you DBZ fans in Wellington Chris Sabat (voice of Vegeta, Piccolo, Yamcha and others) will be coming to your Armageddon in September!
P.S Sorry if I mispelt anyones name or put down the wrong name!
Special thanks to Hayley Sharp for emailing me and for being the only DBZ character there - I was rooting for you to win!
DBZ at Armageddon Day Three - The Final Day
For the final day of the expo I arrived at midday and spent a while checking out the place for hidden bargains and hen I went to get my cards signed. This time I got King Kai and Nail cards signed. After having lunch I returned and got two more cards sgined which I will have for a competition soon! I also watched some episodes of Dragonball including "Enter King Piccolo" beofre they decided to play the Jimmy Neutron movie instead. At 4pm I went to watch the Junior Kamehameha contest which although was still cool was not as good as yesterdays one. The winner was a girl named Lisa who won herself and Gameboy Advance SP while second place went to Ben who got a Zoids toy and a Transfomers Armada vehicle. All sixty people who entered got a prize as well including DBZ CCG cards, DBZ drink bottles, DBZ lunchboxes and a DBZ money tin as well as other non DBZ stuff After the Kamehameha contest there was a quick Q&A with Sean Schemmel and then he introduced the screening of DBZ Movie 7 - Super Android 13! The movie was cool and I recommend seeing it when it comes out in May.
I am pleased to say that for bot Kamehameha contests in choosing which out of the top two should win I picked both right!
As I left the Armageddon I felt sad that it was over and wondered why they only have this event only once a year?
I was also glad AI got a three day pass meaning I could skip the long queue for day two and three (which made me feel very important..sort of like a royal of president) but sadly even though I wanted to keep it when I entred on day three they took the pass off me...
One more thing...
ARMAGEDDON ROCKS!!!!