This past weekend we attended Armageddon Expo, a national pop culture convention held across New Zealand, this time in Palmerston North, on August 3rd and 4th. This event is a 6 hour drive south from our home city, and the first day of the convention coincided with our daughter’s birthday, so it was a special family weekend trip away.

Check out our highlights video from the event –

We always love attending Armageddon Expo events around New Zealand, as there is always lots of Star Wars entertainment to see and collectibles to buy.

A last minute guest announcement two weeks before the event was especially exciting for us – Ivanna Sakhno, the actress who played Shin Hati in the Ahsoka live action series! Ivanna is currently here in New Zealand working on another film project, and was able to fit in an appearance at the convention over the weekend.

Our daughter is a huge fan of Shin Hati, so after gathering costume supplies, we helped her put together a Shin Hati costume, all made in the week before the convention. She had a great time meeting Ivanna in costume, a really special birthday treat for our daughter. Ivanna was absolutely lovely to meet in person, and of course we had to get her autograph as well for our collection.

We attended Ivanna’s main stage panel, which had a few stormtroopers from the local NZ 501st Legion garrison there as supporters. Ivanna talked about her experience filming the Ahsoka series, sharing some great stories, and also spoke about working with the late Ray Stevenson who portrayed Shin Hati’s master Baylan Skoll.

We are always impressed by all the wonderful Star Wars costumers in attendance at every Armageddon Expo, and we love to stop and take a quick photo of as many Star Wars costumes as we can find around the convention.

As usual we spent a fair bit of time at the Star Wars costume club booth, as we are members of both the Rebel Legion and 501st Legion groups. It’s always a great spot to catch up with our friends in the clubs, check out all the wonderful Star Wars costumers gathering for group photos, and groove to some iconic cantina music.

Shin Hati herself Ivanna Sakhno also stopped by the booth to take a group photo with Star Wars costumers, an absolute highlight.

On both the Saturday and Sunday of the convention, a cosplay parade was held on the main stage, where fans can show off their costumes, whether they are bought or made, all are welcome at any skill level, and there’s always a fun variety of Star Wars costumes in those shows.

We had fun browsing the wide range of dealer booths around the convention floor, to check out the variety of Star Wars items available.

At the Retro Nerds booth (previously known as Cameron Percy Antiques), we had fun browsing through their range Star Wars items, and checking to see if they had any figures on our shopping list. From vintage figures to prequel era figures, Black Series and Funko Pop! Vinyl, there was lots to check out, so we always end up spending a while at this great booth.

The Palmerston North convention is a little smaller than our home city Auckland event, but there was still plenty of great booths to browse. We spotted Micro Galaxy Squadron vehicles, Star Wars Shatterpoint sets, Star Wars Unlimited starter sets, lots of Funko Pop Vinyl figures, Star Wars board games, jewellery including earrings and pins, Star Wars comics, and assorted carded figures at several different booths.

We always check out the cool lightsabers at the Kyber Forge booth, I’ve got my eye on a few neat sabers there. In the end, our picks from this event were Funko Pop! Vinyl collectibles. We found the Galactic Convention exclusive Hoth Princess Leia figure, and in a great bundle deal, we got the Luke Skywalker and Han Solo each with TaunTaun deluxe figures – I love tauntauns, so happy to finally add these two to our Funko Star Wars collection.

Palmerston North is a long drive from home for us, but we always have a great time at each and every Armageddon Expo convention. A last minute Star Wars costume project for our daughter came together so she was able to meet a favourite Star Wars actress in costume, an absolutely special moment for her on her birthday.

We are so grateful that Ivanna was able to make time in her current filming schedule to attend the convention. It was a really special weekend for our whole Star Wars obsessed family. While we catch up on sleep from the long drive home, we are already planning for the next Armageddon Expo in October – in our home city this time.

May the Force be with you!

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We had so much fun this past weekend at the Armageddon Expo in Auckland, June 2023 – and bought some fine additions for our collection. Our haul included a Sith Lords print, a Funko Pop! Vinyl chase figure, accessories and more – we can’t wait for the next event!

Check our our shopping haul video –

One of the first things we picked up at Armageddon Expo was this amazing Sith Lords art print by Xteve Abanto. He has done cover artwork for Marvel, which you can see from the style of this awesome print. Can’t wait to get this one framed and on display!

Funko Pop! Vinyl figures are an Armageddon Expo staple, with many different stands stocking a wide range. Browsing at the Card Merchant stand, we spotted the Cobb Vanth chase variant! We already have the standard version (with the helmet) so we are so happy to add this chase version to our collection.

I wasn’t expecting to find anything Old Republic-themed, until I spotted this KOTOR lenticular print at the Lily’s Collection booth! Inspired by Knights Of The Old Republic, this lenticular print shifts between three characters – Darth Revan, Darth Malak, and Bastila Shan. As a huge KOTOR fan, I had to have it.

At the Cobalt Heights booth, I spotted a few cool Star Wars jewelry pieces, but as soon as I spotted these Millennium Falcon earrings, I knew I had to add them to my collection. Made by Frantasy Island, the dangle stud earrings are glittery and just my style. As the inspiration behind my Star Wars fashion blog The Kessel Runway, I try to collect as many Millennium Falcon accessories as I can – and these are just so cute!

Of course I had to stop by the Oasis Scents booth – they had finally restocked the Padme’ Amidala lip balm! I was so sad to miss out when they released this online, and had been eagerly awaiting it to be restocked. I grabbed two, just so I don’t run out for a while!

Our adventures at Armageddon Expo wouldn’t be complete without a visit to the Sweet Rock Candy Artists booth for a sweet treat. We always pick up some candy to enjoy at the event, and save some for afterwards – this ‘crazy mix’ assortment is what we have left from our visit to their stand, the rest has already been enjoyed!

A fun Star Wars haul from an awesome Wintergeddon. It was so much fun to attend an Armageddon Expo in our home town, and we always love to find some cool Star Wars collectibles to add to our collection. We can’t wait for the next event!

May the Force be with you!

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Armageddon Expo was held in Auckland this past weekend, and of course we attended all three days – and had a fantastic time! Armageddon Expo is the pop culture convention in New Zealand, held across the country – but the Auckland event is our favourite, as it’s by far the biggest event, and being in our home city certainly helps too!

We are still going through all of our photos and videos, but we did put together a highlight video each day over the weekend, featuring the Star Wars fun and finds we saw each day.

Watch our daily highlight videos on our YouTube channel or check them out below –

Day One Highlights –

Day Two Highlights –

Day Three Highlights –

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We had so much fun at the Armageddon Expo in Christchurch, held in April 2023 – and bought some fine additions for our collection. From a Star Wars Loungefly backpack, Director Krennic Pop! Vinyl figure, to getting an autograph from Katy O’Brian and more – we can’t wait for the next event!

Check our our shopping haul video –

First up, we stopped by the Appleby Games booth – they had a few Loungefly mini-backpacks, and I spotted one that has been on my wish list for a while. This classic Stormtrooper design has Rebel heroes pictured on a lenticular insert in the helmet lenses, very cool! I had seen it starting to show up on sale from a few places, so I asked the price – half off! So now I have a new Loungefly mini-backpack for my collection.

Also at the Appleby Games booth, we spotted this Funko Pop! Vinyl figure of Director Krennic from Rogue One. We don’t have many Pop! Vinyl figures from Rogue One, so we’re definitely keen to fill that gap in our collection, so this figure was a great find.

A big highlight from this Armageddon Expo was a Star Wars guest – Katy O’Brian from The Mandalorian! She plays Communications Officer Elia Kane in season 2 and 3, serving Moff Gideon. We attended her panel, and of course had to get her autograph. She was so lovely, and had some really fun stories from her time on the Star Wars set.

I always check out the range of Star Wars pins at the Kyber Forge booth, and of course I found two more to add to my collection – a fun ‘Fly Casual’ design and an ‘elegant weapon’ lightsaber pin.

Keeping up with our Armageddon Expo tradition, we stopped by the Sweet booth. Because Star Wars Day was coming up, we decided to treat ourselves – to a huge Mandalorian lollipop!

Lastly, a fun surprise from my daughter – a Mother’s Day hard candy assortment also from Sweet. I love all the little designs on the candy. I’ll be saving this to enjoy on the day, but it was a lovely gift to round out the weekend.

So a slightly smaller haul in terms of the number of items we brought home compared to previous events, but it’s been a while since I’ve bought a Loungefly bag at an Armageddon Expo. The mini-backpack is definitely the biggest single item I’ve bought at the event for a while, but it was such a good deal I wasn’t going to leave that one behind, even if I had to carry it around all day as well as all my usual shopping bags. A fabulous weekend as usual, and we can’t wait for the next Armageddon!

May the Force be with you!

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We always have a great time at each Armageddon Expo event, and come home with a fun array of Star Wars finds to add to our collection. We flew down to Armageddon Wellington this past weekend, and while we couldn’t fit too much shopping into our carry-on luggage, we still managed to find some fun and unique items to bring home.

Check our our shopping haul video –

First up, this adorable Star Wars print from the Artist Alley. This IG-11 artwork is by Eeden Artworks – we always love finding new Star Wars art, especially when it features one of our favourite characters!

Of course we had to follow our Armageddon tradition and pick up a few more Funko Pop! Vinyl figures for our collection. We found these two at the PopStop booth – Darth Vader from Return Of The Jedi, and Chewacca with Porg from The Last Jedi.

We love checking out all the fantastic Star Wars items at Cameron Percy Antiques – at this convention, we spotted The Black Series Gaming Greats Zaalbar figure from Knights Of The Old Republic, so that was a must-have.

During our travels home from Celebration Europe earlier this month, my Star Wars luggage tag got ripped off my suitcase somewhere along the journey, so I wanted to replace it. I spotted this Clone Wars Anakin and Obi-Wan luggage tag also at Cameron Percy Antiques, and it was a fun little find to replace my lost tag.

Keeping up with another of our Armageddon Expo traditions, we stopped by the Sweet Rock Candy Artists booth to pick up some sweet treats for our days at the convention. This was the only bag that made it home – the rest of it was enjoyed at the event!

Kyber Forge always has a cool array of lightsabers available at their booth, but they also have smaller items like pins. These two Star Wars logo pins caught my eye – the Rebel Alliance symbol and the Jedi Order symbol, perfect for my Star Wars pin collection.

Lastly, I finally adopted an adorable little dragon from Turtle Creations. Their booth has a huge range of cute 3D printed dragons in varying styles, colours, and sizes. I knew it was inevitable that I would get one, it was just a matter of which one to choose? Well, it turns out this was the Armageddon where one little silvery blue dragon caught my eye, and after holding it for a few minutes, I knew I had found the one. Now I just need to name it!

So there you have it, our fun little shopping haul from Armageddon Expo Wellington April 2023. I was really delighted at the great range of booths this year, with some fun finds – as well as classic favourites like Pop! Vinyl figures and candy! I had so much fun at this convention, and I can’t wait for the next event.

May the Force be with you!

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So I finally sat down and recorded my Star Wars shopping haul video from Armageddon Expo Auckland! This year, Armageddon celebrated its 100th event with a special winter edition in my hometown of Auckland. We attended all three days, and even with the occasional rain, we had an awesome time!

We were delighted at the range of booths and Star Wars items to buy this year, and we sure picked up a bit ourselves. I’m always on the look for Star Wars collectibles to pick up at our local conventions, and I found quite a few pieces that I just had to buy.

Check out my haul video below –

First up, Funko Pop! Vinyls – because what Armageddon would be complete without checking out the range of Funko collectibles? We made use of a multi-buy promotion at the Card Merchant booth to grab General Grievous and Boba Fett to fill some gaps in our collection – and I also found the chase Bo-Katan Kryze figure! I have wanted her for ages, I can’t believe I found her!

One of my first booths to visit at Armageddon Expo was Cobalt Heights – a local stockist of Loungefly. I’ve had my eye on this Loungefly x Star Wars wallet for a while, but I wanted to see the pattern placement in person, to make sure that Princess Leia was on the front. Sure enough, I finally found one I liked, so of course I had to get it! I already have the matching tote bag (a wonderful gift from my family), so now I have the set.

In my follow up visit to the Cobalt Heights booth (you know, to see if I missed any Loungefly Star Wars items on my first stop), I remembered I hadn’t looked through their pin section – and found this! A Loungefly x Star Wars 4-piece enamel pin set featuring Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and Chewbacca, as seen in A New Hope. I had seen this pin set online a while ago, but it had sold out before I could grab it, so I made sure to get it this time. Aren’t they so cute?

Alongside the Loungefly pin set, I spotted this fan-made Rebel/Imperial logo pin, made by Frantasy Island. It has a wonderful dark grey glittery swirl, and I just love the angled split design.

Next up, Oasis Scents. I’ve been a fan of their geek inspired candles and soaps for ages (I already own several items from their awesome range) so I always make sure to check out their booth early. For this event they had an Ahsoka Tano inspired candle! It smells divine, with a beautiful combination of fig and melon – so of course I had to grab one.

I spotted these beautiful embroidered keyrings in the Artist Alley, from ZubKitty Creates. I saw the Princess Leia design straight away, and then noticed the Ahsoka Tano keychain beside it, so I grabbed both. I think I’ll use these as bag charms – they’re too pretty to use as keychains!

Browsing the wide array of fandom inspired jewelry at the Lola & Alice booth, I found this Princess Leia earring set. I’ve always loved this classic promotional image of Princess Leia onboard her ship the Tantive IV from A New Hope, so it really caught my eye. Princess Leia and jewelry is a combination I can never resist!

The Lola & Alice booth also had a section next to it with a huge array of pins – my family and I spent ages going through all the geek themed sections and picked out a few of our favourite designs. These are the three pins I choose – May The Force Be With You, Millennium Falcon, and Princess Leia Rebel. Perfect to add to a jacket for a little touch of Star Wars flair.

So this next was a completely random find – a licensed Star Wars sewing measuring tape! I spotted this cute little find at a booth that sold geek fabric cushion covers etc, and just loved it. I’ve never seen it before – and it even features Han Solo and Princess Leia! I’m going to keep it as a collectible to display in my little sewing area where I work on my Star Wars costumes.

Check out this cute little gift from my daughter – Star Wars ‘Clan Of Two’ inspired washi tape! She spotted this in the Artist Alley, and saw it featured Ahsoka Tano and Bo-Katan, so she knew I would love it. She also bought me two Star Wars stickers from a nearby artist booth – Princess Leia and BB-8, lovely little gifts. The perfect final addition to my Princess Leia themed haul this year.

So there you have it, my Star Wars shopping haul from Armageddon Expo Auckland June 2022. I was really delighted at the great range of booths this year, with some really fun finds – I picked up seven Princess Leia items, I think that’s my new record for Armageddon! From Loungefly, to pins, earrings, a candle and more, I had so much fun shopping at this convention, and I can’t wait for the next event.

May the Force be with you!

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I don’t remember how or when I became aware of Harley Quinn, but as a big Batman and Superman fan in my childhood, it was inevitable. She stuck in my mind, I loved her look, her personality – so of course when I got into cosplay, she was right at the top of my wish list.

Fast forward to 2007. Our local Armageddon Expo announced the line up of guests, which included none other than Harley Quinn’s co-creator Bruce Timm. Well, I was not going to miss out on an opportunity to meet him and get my Harley Quinn comics signed – so why not dress up as well?

I was still quite new to cosplay and sewing at this time. I had only sewn three costumes since I first started cosplaying in 2004 – a Jedi Knight, Padme’ Amidala’s lake dress, and Barriss Offee.

Here’s my original description of how I made my Harley Quinn costume –

• Black Lycra undersuit –
  For hiding undergarments, and just giving a ‘smooth’ finish to the costume. I used Kwik Sew 3052, a pretty good pattern that needed only minor changes to fit me better. I used Nylon lycra, with a small zip in the back.
• Black and Red bodysuit –
  Again I used Kwik Sew 3052 – it was well suited for Harley Quinn because of the front seam. I ended up making it from the ‘bottom up’, with black and red ‘Manhattan knit’ fabric. I sewed it up with the bottom colours being right, then worked out where the cross seam would sit on me, then cut it at that point, then sewed the top up in the correct opposite colours, then sewed the two halves together and added sleeves. The diamonds were carefully cut out and applied with 3M spray adhesive – this held incredibly well, allowed the two layers to stretch together and meant I didn’t have to sit for hours handsewing them all on! The bodysuit does up with a small zip at the back.
• Red and black gloves –
  I knew because of the red, I couldn’t just buy red and black gloves – the colours wouldn’t match, and it’s pretty hard to find red gloves that aren’t satin. I tried using a Vogue glove pattern, but my hands are too small. Instead of spending ages adapting the pattern, I simply traced around my hands and sewed them out of my manhattan knit – worked well.
• White Collar –
  Spent a while drawing squiggly shapes on newsprint and holding it around my neck in the mirror. Just a progress of seeing what looks right in terms of shape and size. It took a while, but I’m very happy with the shape. I originally planned to make it from white satin, but it didn’t sit flat at all – so I used a white cotton drill. It ironed completely flat, and looked great. It is made as two identical shapes – front and back, sewed together across one shoulder, and it closes shut on the other shoulder with little snaps. I hand sewed small pom poms I bought to each ‘squiggle’. To finish I sewed a small strip around the inside neck so it would form a little collar around the neck.
• White writst cuffs –
  I took a strip of white cotton drill and sewed it into a tube inside out – this fitted exactly around my wrist. I then did the same with a really long strip – and sewed it in a zig zag onto the small wrist band. This took some time to do with my machine, but I love how it turned out. They dome close around my wrist with little snaps.
• Black and Red soft boots –
  These took me ages. I originally tried to make them from vinyl then cover them with my bodysuit fabric, but the vinyl sat horribly. In the end I cut 2 ‘v’ shapes out of vinyl, and covered them with the red and black fabric – they dome closed around my ankles, as a separate piece to the boots. The boots are basically pointy toed socks made in three parts – sole, top right and top left. I cut the sole again out of vinyl and placed this inside the sock to give some flatness to the shape. It all worked surprisingly well.
• Red and Black hood –
  One of the most important aspects of this costume for me was getting her hood right. I already had a basic hood shape (from my Barriss Offee costume), but Harley’s had to fit tigher, and has a ‘flat top’ to the face opening. It took a few tries, but I got a shaped that worked well enough (I didn’t get the ‘squarish’ angles around the face that I wanted, but it looks okay). The ears were sewn up like cones seperately, stuffed with polyester toy fill and hand sewn onto the hood – took help to get the placement right. The pom poms were slightly larger than the ones on the collar, and hand sewn onto the ends.
• Accessories –
  For her mask I bough a cheap white plastic face mask, cut it to a more correct shape. I stretched the black manhattan fabric over it, and glued it in place, folding it over the edges. I used thin clear beading elastic to hold it in place. Kryolan white makeup and black lipstick finish it off.

Worn at – Armageddon Expo Auckland 2007

Matt made Harley’s over-sized gun for me. The handle part is from a cheap toy gun but the barrel etc is made from pvc pipe and styrene. He then sprayed it silver, and hand painted the grip black. It looks great, and I found it so much easier to pose with a prop to hold.

I had the crazy notion of performing a skit for the cosplay competition. I had been watching the Batman animated series episodes with Harley Quinn in them on repeat, for costume reference, so hearing her voice all the time, I thought I might be able to perform as Harley on stage… yikes! I think back and wonder how on earth I had that idea and courage!

To complete my ‘Mad Love’ skit idea, we made one more prop – the Joker’s ‘Death Of A 100 Smiles’ blueprint. We bought an A3 sheet of blue card stock, and Matt hand-drew the blueprint using a screenshot as reference. After nearly 13 years, we still have this simple prop stored safely away.

I wish I took more photos during the construction process, but rushing to get the two costumes finished in time, I only took a couple of quick progress photos. I’m still amazed it all came together in time, and I had such a great day in costume at the convention.

I didn’t really figure out too many poses for Harley Quinn, so I stood the same way in most of our photos that day. That’s okay, I love the photos we got, and cosplay photography wasn’t the same back in 2007! The photos we took are great memories from an awesome day.

I love Matt so much for being the Joker to my Harley Quinn. We were still newlyweds at the time, but he grew his hair long for me and let me dress him up as the Joker. It felt so romantic to spend the day in our ‘Mad Love’ cosplay – something different to our usual Jedi and Stormtrooper costumes.

I had so much fun being Harley Quinn all day, it really helped going into the cosplay competition that afternoon. With just a quick run down with Matt of what I needed him to do for the skit, we headed into our performance.

The winners were announced later that day – and to my honest absolute surprise, we won Best In Show! I had put so much work into our costumes for the love of the characters, so it was just the most amazing bonus!

I learnt a lot about sewing these costumes, and someday I hope to remake my Harley Quinn classic costume, so I can improve on all the areas where I was still learning sewing techniques.

It was so exciting to finally meet Bruce Timm in my Harley Quinn costume. I was so shy – I’m sure he meets scores of Harley Quinn cosplayers every year, and I was such a novice seamstress, but it was a dream come true.

I took along two of my favourite Harley Quinn comic books to get signed – with Bruce Timm cover art of course! His ‘Mad Love’ cover is still one of my all-time favourite Harley Quinn artworks, it was such a dream come true to get them signed in person!

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To celebrate the animated series Star Wars Rebels, fans have designated today, 5th March (in the US), as #RebelsRemembered Day, in honor of the day the last episode aired in 2018. To celebrate #RebelsRemembered I’m taking a look at the Star Wars Rebels content in a collecting hobby we really enjoy – autographs.

Back in 2019, our local Armageddon Expo convention in Auckland, NZ, hosted four Star Wars voice actors – that coincidently all provided voices for Star Wars Rebels! It was so exciting to see Steve Blum, Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, Jason Isaacs, and Sam Witwer all at our local event. We are not able to attend overseas conventions as often as we would like, so it’s fantastic when Star Wars actors visit New Zealand conventions, and we definitely take the opportunity to see their panels, and meet them while getting an autograph!

Steve Blum – is most well known to Star Wars fans as Zeb Orrelios in Star Wars Rebels, but also voices a number of other characters within that show. Blum has made significant contributions to the Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO game (Andronikos Revel, Baron Deathmark, and more), and did additional dialogue recordings for stormtroopers in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

Mary Elizabeth McGlynn – voices Governor Arihnda Pryce in Rebels, but is also notably a voice director for Star Wars: Resistance.

Jason Isaacs – has a huge filmography behind him (including Harry Potter and Star Trek: Discovery). His contribution to Star Wars is as the voice of The Grand Inquisitor in Star Wars Rebels.

For our Sam Witwer autograph, it was a tough choice trying to decide which image to choose, but in the end we went with Darth Maul from The Clone Wars, so technically it’s not Rebels, but since it’s the same voice actor/character, I thought I’d include it here as well.

Sam Witwer – has a long list of roles in various Star Wars materials, headlined by Darth Maul in The Clone Wars, Rebels, and Solo: A Star Wars Story, and Starkiller in The Force Unleashed (I & II). Witwer also provided the motion capture performance for his character in The Force Unleashed games. He has also provided the voices of Star Wars characters in Resistance (Hugh Sion), Secrets of the Empire, Battlefront (Emperor Palpatine), Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Disney Infinity, and Kinect Star Wars.

Of course we hope to add more Star Wars Rebels voice actors to our autograph collection, but it’s a great start. It was such a pleasure to meet these four actors in person, they were absolutely lovely to talk to.

We’ll be celebrating #RebelsRemembered all day with more Rebels from our Star Wars hobbies and collections – check out other posts here

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Armageddon Expo Auckland is held every year during Labour weekend in October – while Armageddon Expo is held in cities around the country, the Auckland event is the largest geek convention in NZ. Due to current pandemic restrictions, large events can’t take place, so the Auckland expo has been postponed to later this year. As Star Wars fans and costumers, Armageddon Auckland has been a staple in our calendar for over 15 years – so to celebrate this weekend, we’re taking a look back at some of our favourite memories and highlights from Armageddon Auckland over the years.

Armageddon Auckland 2005

This was the first time Armageddon Auckland was held on Labour weekend in October (it was previously held in April). We built a Death Star set to use at the 501st Legion booth – this was my first troop as an official 501st member (Imperial Officer ID 947). This was also the first time we wore our screen-used Necromonger costumes from The Chronicles Of Riddick.

Armageddon Auckland 2006

I had made Padme’ Amidala’s lake retreat gown for our trip to Italy earlier in the year (where we got engaged), so I decided to enter into the Cosplay Competition for fun (I came in the ‘top 10’). We once again wore our 501st costumes together – TK 944 and ID 947 – I wore my engagement ring while trooping.

Armageddon Auckland 2007

Bruce Timm, co-creator of Harley Quinn was a guest in 2007. As a big Harley Quinn fan, I knew I had to make her costume – plus a Joker costume for Matt. It was an absolute pleasure to meet Bruce Timm while I was dressed as Harley Quinn, and as an added bonus, our Mad Love duo won Best In Show in the Cosplay Competition!

Armageddon Auckland 2008

This was the year I debuted several new costumes – femtrooper, twi’lek jedi, and Princess Leia’s metal bikini. A lot of last minute costume work to get these all done in time (I didn’t expect my twi’lek lekku to arrive from the US in time), and I was able to achieve my confidence goal of finally wearing Chainbreaker Leia at a convention.

Armageddon Auckland 2009

This was the first year Armageddon Auckland was held at the Auckland Showgrounds, which is much larger than the previous venue at the Aotea Centre. Lots of space to wear costumes, pose for photos, and enjoy browsing around the huge halls without the fuss of stairs and elevators. Juliet debuted her new Batgirl costume and also wore her Elizabeth Bennet costume with us.

Armageddon Expo 2010

We had our very own Star Wars New Zealand booth this year – a lot of work, with help from friends, but it was great to really showcase the Star Wars fan community. We had props, costumes, and collectibles on display and it kept us busy all weekend. I also attended a celebrity lunch with Michael Shanks from Stargate SG-1 – he shared great stories from his film career.

Armageddon Expo 2011

The weekend before, I had traveled to Melbourne, Australia to visit friends and attend Armageddon Melbourne. I had wanted a comfortable Star Wars costume to wear, something that would be easy to travel internationally with, so I quickly sewed up a Jedi Historian costume, inspired by Jocasta Nu and Atris. I wore my new jedi costume all weekend long at Armageddon Expo, while Matt wore his classic Stormtrooper.

Armageddon Auckland 2012

This was only weeks after all three of us traveled to the US to attend DragonCon. A quieter year for us in terms of costuming, as it’s hard for local events to compare to the size and scale of US conventions, but we had fun with local friends. Juliet wore her new Disney Belle costume and her Queen Amidala costume.

Armageddon Auckland 2013

This year Matt and I were part of the hosting team for a 501st Legion panel, where we talked about all things Imperial costuming. I once again wore my Jedi Historian, which had since become my go-to trooping costume – Juliet was now the same height as me, and borrowed my classic Jedi Knight costume to troop together.

Armageddon Auckland 2014

In 2014 Armageddon Auckland hosted Richard Dean Anderson – one of the biggest celebrity guests to ever attend Armageddon at that time, so many of our friends traveled from around the country to attend. We didn’t costume as much this year, as we hosted a big Star Wars costuming group dinner that weekend (so that took a bit of time away from the convention to prep for), but we still took heaps of photos and had fun.

Armageddon Auckland 2015

Juliet debuted her new Star Wars costume – Darth Nihilus from Knights Of The Old Republic II. This was also one of the last times Matt wore his classic Stormtrooper armour at Armageddon – bought back in 2001, the plastic armour is starting to show its age, so it’s been semi-retired from regular trooping for now.

Armageddon Auckland 2016

Juliet once again wore her Darth Nihilus costume, while Matt wore his X-Wing Pilot. Our biggest highlight from the weekend was getting to see Nichelle Nichols from Star Trek – we saw her panel and got her autograph, she was absolutely lovely.

Armageddon Auckland 2017

We debuted some cool new Star Wars costumes this year. Juliet wore her Jedi Knight Jylari Renzell costume – the first costume she made all by herself. Matt debuted his Darktrooper costume from Battlefront, made by local costume maker Oota Goota. Celebrity guest Nathan Fillion actually snapped a quick Instagram pic of Matt in his costume, which was a fun way to kick off the convention!

Armageddon Auckland 2018

This year we really focused on taking photos, but Matt still found the time to wear his Darktrooper armour again. Juliet had fun coming up with a full themed outfit for each day of the convention, and we saw as many panels as we could – including Christina Ricci, and many actors from Supernatural.

Armageddon Auckland 2019

2019 was a great year for Star Wars guests – we had four Star Wars voice actors in attendance! We attended the panels for Sam Witwer (Starkiller/Darth Maul), Jason Isaacs (Grand Inquisitor), Steve Blum (Zeb), and Mary Elizabeth McGlynn (Arihnda Pryce), and got all their autographs – they were all amazing to meet in person.

Armageddon Auckland 2020

We were very fortunate that Armageddon Auckland was able to be held in 2020 – we had no covid community cases at the time, so large events were safe. Of course international guests couldn’t attend, so almost all the guests attended via virtual panels, video calling in from around the world. My personal highlight was Ashley Eckstein’s panel – the voice of Ahsoka Tano in The Clone Wars and Rebels.

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Carrie Fisher’s birthday last year coincided with our local Armageddon Expo in Auckland, so of course I spent the day reflecting on Carrie and Princess Leia. I browsed the great range of dealer tables, and found lots of great Leia-themed items, like this artwork.

This beautiful Princess Leia artwork canvas jumped out at me, and was one of those finds that you instantly know that you have to leave the convention with it safely in your hands.

The artwork features Princess Leia from A New Hope, in her classic white senatorial dress with bun hairstyle. The printed canvas is mounted on a wooden frame, with the artwork printed on the front and plain black sides. It measures approximately 28.5cm by 46cm by 4cm.

It hangs pride of place in my room, so I can see it every day. A year later, once again on Carrie Fisher’s birthday, I love seeing Leia looking over me. A lovely tribute to a princess from a galaxy far far away.

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