If you were busy waiting for the apocalypse that never happened and missed our guest announcement yesterday, it’s ok, we forgive you. Just to remind you though, this year we have 4 special guests in attendance! Excel Saga director and charismatic afro-man Shinichi ‘Nabeshin’ Watanabe, Yu-Gi-Oh! Abridged creator Littlekuriboh, and, courtesy of Eminence, composers Hiroki Kikuta and Kenji Ito.

Continuing the last few days of excitement, it’s time for some competition announcements! If you like art, BJD’s or AMV’s, you better get your creative thinking caps on.

• The Themed Art Competition returns, which pits your creative wit against your combination of two or more of our themes: At World’s End, Propaganda, and Flowers.
• And what better way to celebrate Eminence’s Memories of Fantasia concert than with a musically themed competition? Mascot Music Madness challenges you to put a musical spin on our very own mascots, Skadi and Cyrus.
• Our BJD competitions return with new and old faces. The Photography competition is back with an escape theme, while those of you joining us at SMASH! with your dolls can take part in the Lucky Draw and Best Dressed events. With an all-encompassing seaside theme there’s plenty of fun ways to dress up for the occasion!
• The AMV competition is also up and accepting entries, now with a handy online form to make your life even easier.
• And not to forget our previous announcement, the Bandai Model Kit World Cup is on and accepting entries!  With prizes including a trip to Hong Kong, you’d be crazy not to try your hand at the fun hobby of model-making.

And that’s this week’s wrap-up from SMASH! HQ. If we’ve tickled your fancy at all, remember you can grab your convention and concert tickets in one spot at tickets.smash.org.au

Having teamed up with Eminence this year, you might be wondering what else they could bring to us in addition to their awesome concert. The answer? Two very special guests who’ll bring back fond memories of your childhood, that’s what.

SMASH! is very happy to announce that we’ll all be graced with the presence of world-renowned videogame composers Kenji Ito and Hiroki Kikuta!

You might remember Kenji Ito’s melodies when you first started playing games such as Final Fantasy Gaiden, Romancing Saga and Chocobo Racing. Ito, who currently works as a freelance composer, still teams up with Square Enix and Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu to add to his arsenal of great gaming titles.

Like Ito, Hiroki Kikuta is also famous for his major contribution to many well-known games such as Secrets of Mana, Soukaigi and Seiken Densetsu 3. Working with Square Enix, he is now an internationally-recognised and professional writer, game developer and game music composer.

Ito and Kikuta will be in attendance at both the convention and the Eminence concert, so don’t miss out! Also coming with them is a new vocal talent, Mari Yoshida, an up-and-coming artist who will be making her debut performance at the Eminence concert and will have a special contribution to the Last Goodbye project.

We’ll be announcing more special guests in the late morning tomorrow so keep your eyes peeled – don’t change the channel! And if you haven’t already, you can grab your SMASH! and Eminence concert tickets in one handy spot.

Fanfic Competition Now Open

Think you’ve got awesome creative writing skills? Well, SMASH! is running its 4th annual fanfiction competition for those interested in writing their favourite characters in weird and wonderful situations.

Entries will be judged by a panel of reputable fanfiction authors, chosen for their skills and knowledge of a broad range of fandoms. To be in on the action, all you have to do is select one of the prompt categories to use as broadly as you like and let it inspire your fanfic in any anime, manga or game fandom you enjoy!

The sky’s the limit for what you choose to write (any scene, any pairing), but all fanfics must be rated G or PG. The word length of fics is recommended to be between 1000 to 5000 words.

Unfortunately prizes will only be awarded to entrants from Australia or New Zealand, but others are most welcome to enter and receive feedback from our awesome judges.

Full details can be found here. The deadline is Midnight, June 5th 2011 so brandish those pens and get your brain juices flowing – encourage your friends to enter too!

Looking forward to reading your works!

It’s the one day of the year where we can wallow in the gloriousness that is free comics (and stockpile some goodies in the inevitable sales).

Celebrate your FCBD in style

Our friends at Books Kinokuniya have cooked up a treat with a zine fair featuring some pretty awesome artists, including Nicola Scott (Birds of Prey), Billy Tan (Uncanny X-Men), Madeleine Rosca (Hollow Fields), Queenie Chan (The Dreaming) and many many more.

On top of that they are also holding a Cosplay Competition with $100 vouchers to be won for best dressed in a variety of categories, including Best Lolita and Best Undead.

Check out their Facebook Page for more information. SMASH! will also have a stall there with some prints and copies of the Generation anthology, so drop by and say hi!

Also getting in to the spirit of things are Kings Comics who are having a 20% off sale, so the city is definitely the place to be this Free Comic Book Day!

Don’t Forget

Tickets are on sale now for SMASH! and the after-event Eminence concert! Eminence will be performing a few exclusive pieces for what is sure to be an amazing concert called Memories of Fantasia. Tickets are limited so buy now to ensure you don’t miss out!

Tickets can be purchased at http://tickets.smash.org.au/.

Pre-registration of tickets for entry to the convention are now open! Be sure to buy your SMASH! day passes online – not only do you get earlier entry than if you bought your ticket at the door, but you also get to save a handy $5. Don’t forget how fast tickets sold out last year, so beat the crowd and pre-register as soon as you can!

Tickets to the Eminence concert are sold at an additional $35. As previously mentioned, the concert is expected to sell out so it’s recommended that you buy them online quickly as well.

You can buy both sets of tickets here. Go go go!

Artists’ Circle Now Open!

Hope your all had a great April 1st and things weren’t too … topsy-turvy*?

We at SMASH! are here to turn that frown upside-down* and just want you to know that registrations are now open for the SMASH! 2011 Artists’ Circle. Come this way to begin your application and make sure you:

• Have your contact details (real names for billing, address, phone numbers, email, etc.)
• Know how many people & who will be working at your stall (real names so we know it’s really you! Trust us, there’s fakers out there)
• Have your table name, website(s) and logo details ready
• Have your artist blurb ready to go on the SMASH! website once everything is finalised
• Are an artist (which may kinda be the point!)
• And follow the prompts. ‘Cause prompts are awesome!

Once again, just to warn all who are interested, last year’s Artist Circle filled up in record time so we highly recommend anyone who is interested to apply as fast as possible!

*Lame puns and/or jokes may or may not be endorsed by SMASH!

Website

You may have noticed that yesterday our website fell over and couldn’t stand back up. Well we helped it get back up … with the completely new makeover you’ve all been waiting for. Go on, explore the shiny pretties all the way from the front page! You know you want to.

Tickets Delayed

So we’ve already announced that the pre-registering of tickets for the convention are going up today, but unfortunately, due to a few unforeseen circumstances, we’ll have to delay it by just under two weeks. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience but pre-registration will now start on Wednesday April 13^th.

However, hopefully the following news will make up for it …

We’re proud to welcome… EMINENCE!

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we’ve also got an awesome concert lined up for your enjoyment! Eminence will be performing a few exclusive pieces for what is sure to be an amazing concert called Memories of Fantasia after the convention. You’ll be able to buy these concert tickets at the same time as regular SMASH! ticket go on sale, Wednesday April 13, on a first-in-first-served basis (since the huge auditorium is expected to sell out). To ensure you don’t miss out on the Eminence experience, buy your tickets all at the same time as soon as they become available!

More information to come in the next month or so – please stay tuned!

Calling all Gundam builders! Young and old, newbie and pros! Back again at SMASH! is BAKUC Bandai Model Kit World Cup (Oh yeah, that’s right, they changed the name!).

Bandai, Hobbyco and SMASH! are proud to bring you this fantastic competition again at SMASH! 2011. The Grand Prize winner of this competition will have a paid return trip to Hong Kong to represent Australia in this international competition. Check out the details and rules of this competition!

So what does this mean for people who are just getting started with this hobby? Well, entering the competition means that your work will be on display in the Sydney Convention and Entertainment Centre! How awesome is that! Even if you can’t beat the pros just yet, you can still show off your stuff and learn new skills from the people you meet there!

Although I mention Gundams a lot, any kit made by Bandai is eligible for the competition. Even this one.

SMASH! needs you! Join Now

If SMASH! 2010 was anything to go by, this year will be huge – a monster! We’re moving from the dreary dungeons of the Town Hall to the massive SCEC, after all, and that means more room and excitement for everyone.

In order to make it all work, however, we need faithful assistants and minions. I’m looking at all you potential Igors out there! (Except you’d probably look more beautiful. And aren’t actually named Igor. Which is good, since having to call all of you Igor might end up being confusing for us).

You’ll be helping out the department heads with various tasks from within the sections you choose – there’s never a shortage of help needed. We’re all crazy people here who can’t plot and scheme at maximum potential alone, and who better to give us a helping hand running the world the con than you?

So join the SMASH staff team and we can concoct some beautiful, beautiful master plans for domination together.

(Tip: Don’t put your name down as Igor in the resume unless you actually want us to call you that).

Only 7 days left until Anime Matsuri.

As part of the whole Japanese Film Festival, SMASH! and the Japan Foundation are proud to work together to provide our viewers with an evening of fantastic anime films and activities called Anime Matsuri.

This will feature a marathon of films in two sessions, which includes, Time Of Eve, Tokyo Marble Chocolate, Precious and the nominated film from Japan, Obvilion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror.

We are proud to announce the exciting news that the director of both Obvilion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror and Tokyo Marble Chocolate, Naoyoshi Shiotani will be coming down under for the Anime Matsuri! He will be answering your questions about his work and involvement in the anime industry.

Finally, we will also be having a competition for the best cosplay on the night! So get ready to dress up for an evening of fun.

Tickets are selling fast, so don’t miss out. Pre-buy your tickets through Event cinemas to secure a seat at the Anime Matsuri.

The first session for this exciting event will commence at 2:00pm and will feature the screening of Time Of Eve and Precious which will last two hours and will be followed by a separate event at 4:45 which will feature a screening of Tokyo Marble Chocolate, Obvilion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror., cosplay competition and a Q&A with Naoyoshi Shiotani. Please note both events are sold separately.

You already know that for the first time ever SMASH! will be held in Darling Harbour’s Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre. (Maybe you didn’t know. But you know now. Let’s move on.)

But what does that mean?

SCEC is a venue with more rooms than I could bother to count before writing this post. The layout is varied and you could run hundreds (read: not hundreds) of different kinds of events in the building. There are big empty halls, auditoriums, restaurants, classrooms – you name it, SCEC has it.

Venue

We will not be in a big open hall however. SMASH! is proud to host our 2011 event on two whole levels of Convention Centre Bayside, featuring:

• A 3,000 seat auditorium
• A 2,500 square metre trader hall
• 6-8 Multipurpose activity rooms
• A large glass walled room overlooking Darling Harbour

The building itself is also a short walk from:

• Harbourside Shopping Centre
• Tram and Monorail stops
• Tumbalong Park
• Chinese Gardens of Friendship
• Market City Shopping Centre
• IMAX Theatre
• Restaurants, Hotels, Fastfood

You can find more photos at the SMASH! Flickr page: CLICK HERE.

Date

If that hasn’t got you excited yet, you can now count down the days to SMASH! as we are proud to say that next year we will be on July 16th.

Wait — July? Yep, in 2011 SMASH! will move to July. We’re going to miss August but, let’s face it, August sucked. Here are the things that are better about July:

1. Not during HSC trials
2. Same month as AVCon (those dudes are awesome)
3. Not same month as Manifest (lame-os)
4. Named after Julius Caesar who was totally kick ass
5. Everyone’s on holidays

We’re pretty excited about it and we’ve restarted our countdown. So keep your eyes peeled for a new website and more announcements soon!