HOW AVCON CAME TO BE

Sometime in the late 90s, students at the University of South Australia (UniSA) discovered Japanese animation and formed a club to watch it. The club was called the Adelaide Japanese Animation Society (AJAS), and students from all around gathered at weekly meetings to watch imported anime (in fact, AJAS still exists to this very day – you can even go join it now!). However, in the early 2000s, renovations at the UniSA campus caused AJAS to lose their meeting room, and they found themselves without a space to hold their screenings.

Elsewhere, a small collection of anime and game fans, led by a man named Neil, would talk online and meet up to watch new shows and play games. When Neil (who was studying at the University of Adelaide at the time) found out that uni clubs could book spaces on campus – specifically the Union Cinema – he quickly formed a new club called the Adelaide University Video Games Association (AUVGA, also still in existence – go join!). The true purpose of the club was mostly to gain access to the Union Cinema’s massive screen to play Soulcalibur on. Because of the small scale of the South Australian anime fandom at the time, many members who attended AJAS were also part of Neil’s online anime club. Since AJAS was looking for a new place to watch anime, Neil assisted his friends by setting up a new, temporary incarnation of AJAS at Adelaide University, so they too could get access to the Union Cinema screen.

During this period, many people came on Tuesdays to watch anime at AJAS and then on Fridays to play video games at AUVGA. On paper, both clubs were led by the same man – Neil – so he had quite an influence on the entire anime and gaming community in SA. But something else still had to happen to kick off what would become known as AVCon.

A young anime fan in Adelaide named Shane wanted to watch anime movies and bring them to the masses. He had the idea to do paid anime screening events at a local Adelaide cinema called Palace Nova. To gauge interest, Shane posted about his idea on Madman Entertainment’s infamous anime Internet message forum – the Madboards. These posts caught the attention of AJAS and AUVGA President Neil, who was also a member of the Madboards. The pair got in contact over ICQ (an ancient Internet messaging program). The contact Shane had at the cinema had fallen through, and it seemed unlikely there was any interest in the idea. Neil suggested instead that they hold the paid screening event at Union Cinema, which he could secure for free. But as they talked more, the ideas started to grow bolder.

Attention turned to Melbourne and an event that had been run by an alliance of multiple Melbourne anime clubs on the University of Melbourne campus for the last couple of years. Based on anime conventions happening in the US, Manifest (Melbourne Anime Festival) was a weekend-long festival of anime screenings, artists, vendors, and cosplay. The pair realised they could emulate Manifest at Adelaide University using Neil’s contacts, and create their own SA anime convention. But along with all the usual anime convention activities, the resources of AUVGA could be utilised to add video gaming to the mix. The idea was brought up with various other friends in the clubs, which quickly set off a chain reaction of interest. Others started putting their hands up to help with the fledgling event. Initially, meetings were open to anyone who wanted to participate and were held in places like the Central Market Food Court or outside Regency Cinema. Soon, a core group of organisers solidified and split into different roles (anime screenings, video games, art, events, financial, etc.).

The name was a sticking point for the organisers. Early suggestions included things like ‘Crow Con’ and ‘Con Fusion’, but the team decided not to go with the ‘con’ naming convention. Most other events around the world had “con” in their name, and it felt a bit generic. The name AVConnection had been floated a few times and was ultimately chosen – mostly because everyone was sick of discussing it. The name AVConnection (Ayvee Connection) stood for Anime and Video Game Connection, but was also a play on the type of cable used at the time to plug DVD players and game consoles into a TV.

Now, with everything in place, it was finally time to make an event happen.

AVCONNECTION 2003

After a successful 2002 event, AVConnection returned for another year at Adelaide Uni, this time taking up multiple floors and rooms. Tickets were sold at the door and through Shin Tokyo and the Tea Tree Plaza arcade, Tunza Fun.

The logo for this event featured three small icons: a smiling girl’s face, a crosshair, and a legally distinct ‘space invader’ sprite. Little did anyone know, the invader would soon become AVCon’s most prominent branding asset.

The event was sponsored by Tamarket, Madman, Activision, Borders, and Anime Anytime. The organisers also stumbled upon a local brand of projectors called Mantaray. These projectors, shaped like stingrays, were used for video games and anime screenings. However, they did not work particularly well—trying to play competitive games on them was nearly impossible. They also came with a warning label stating they were not to be used in water.

Activision donated copies of new games for use in free play and to be given away.

One of the most interesting sponsors for AVConnection 03 was a company called Making Waves, who sold the PlayStation EyeToy in Australia. As such, AVConnection 03 featured a couple of EyeToy booths for attendees to play with.

As a pre-event, the J-Rock band reset0 played on Friday night at the Governor Hindmarsh. A local kendo club also attended to give demonstrations.

Popular events from the first year returned, along with a few new additions, such as the ‘Ultimate Gamer Decathlon’, a Legend of the Five Rings TCG competition, the first-ever auction, and a DDR competition called ‘Odoru 5’ DDR.

Patrons were offered a special accommodation deal for the AVConnection weekend at the Blue Galah hostel.

A sausage sizzle was held for AVCon, where you could buy “anime sausages” – also known as regular sausages.

Madman provided more premiere screenings, including the first Australian showings of Full Metal Panic and Onegai Teacher, and even sent staff to attend the event and speak with convention-goers during the Madman Entertainment panel.

A game development panel was hosted by now-defunct Adelaide game developer Ratbag, who at the time was the only large studio to have ever existed in South Australia. Their talks inspired a whole generation of would-be game developers and set the stage for AVCon’s eventual focus on game development.

Art by Connell Wood.

AVCON 2005 – RPG

AVCon adopts its first OFFICIAL theme, RPG. All art, website and promotion takes on a classic role-playing game feel.

In order to make sure people knew AVCon was as much about video games as it was anime, a new mascot was introduced this year to represent gamers, a bishi humanoid male with grey hair, red eyes and devil wings. A competition was held on the official AVCon forum to name the new character, with ‘Switch’ as the winner. Behind the scenes, Switch was never an official entry and was named after the piece of network equipment after no good suggestions were made. The pair of Ayvee and Switch begin to star in weekly AVCon comics. With Switch in the picture, Sprite would take a backseat, appearing only in the odd AVCon comic (where he was grumpy about being replaced) until he disappeared altogether.

To host games that are rated higher than M for Mature, a Mature MA gaming room is setup.

AVCon has an official launch party at Mercury Cinema on Friday night featuring drinks and a screening of Steamboy.

A special events sub committee is established to help create and run events of AVCon. One of the first events was a new game show titled ‘Good News Geek’ which unlike the previous year’s game show selected the entrants from well known members of the community and gave them all answers in advance. The idea was it would be more about entertainment than trying to answer obscure facts. The event still managed to earn the title of Train Wreck. One of the event subcommittee built a life sized paper mache figure of Shinji Ikari from Neon Genesis Evangelion which was decapitated during the show. The dismembered head was later auctioned off and a photo of it ended up becoming a meme on 4chan.

The cosplay competition was so popular a ‘live link’ was setup so the event could be streamed in one of the screening rooms for people unable to get into the Union Hall. Using the Nintendo DS Pictochat program became a popular way for audience members to commentate on cosplays.

The event is sponsored by Madman, Pulp Fiction Comics, Shin Tokyo and MRC. Both Sony and Mincrosoft sent various game posters and cutouts to decorate the gaming area.

Art by Daniel Fielding.

AVCON 2007 – ROCK SHOW

Due to the popularity of games like Guitar Hero and Rockband, AVCon’s theme for 2007 was ‘Rock Show’, also known as AVCon 07: The Massive Damage Tour.

Leading up to the convention weekend, an 11-page comic is released on the AVCon website and forum to promote the theme with Ayvee and Switch (some are available on our Facebook page!).

Apart from the usual anime screenings, 2007 featured some live-action Japanese dramas and episodes of YuGiOh the Abridged series.

Not just for cosplay anymore, the first Fruits fashion parade runs at AVCon 07.

Members of AVCon’s sister event, Manifest, come over from Melbourne and run AVCon Idol, an anime karaoke competition.

Vorpal Con, a tabletop gaming convention created by original AVCon staff, runs on the university grounds and is

complementary to AVCon. Vorpal Con staff also run an event called ‘Baron Munchausen AVCon Remix’; the exact specifics of the event are lost to time.

Australian monthly compilation graphic novel OzTaku runs Iron Artist. In this event, AVCon attendees make live art against professional artists on stage.

Cosplay Chess runs, an event where cosplayers gather and act as chess pieces while two players play against each other.

A live ‘Thank God You’re Here’ type stage event called ‘It’s Dangerous to go Alone, Take this!’ and goes about as well as the previous Game Show Train Wrecks.

A Rock Band competition is held called Rock Out!

An interactive game called ‘Capture the Guitar’ runs throughout the convention. A giant paper mache guitar prop was made and carried by a person. If someone challenged and beat that person in ‘rock, paper, scissors’, the guitar would change hands. The winner would be the person who carried it around the longest. During the event, the guitar is lost and is later found damaged and abandoned in a bathroom stall. 

The event is sponsored by Shin Tokyo, Madman, Easy Games, Pulp Fiction and HYPE>> Magazine.

Logo by Julian Austin, art by Erin McGregor.

AVCON 2009 – HEROES AND VILLAINS

After the continued success and increasing size of AVCon year on year, the organisers knew they needed to move to a new venue made specifically for events. In planning since 2008, it was announced that for the first time AVCon would be hosted at the world class Adelaide Convention Centre for the 2009 event. With the move from the university campus, the organisers knew they needed to make 2009 the biggest event ever!

The theme for 2009 was Heroes vs Villains. AVCon city (capital of Avconia) is threatened by ‘A Worldwide Evil Syndicate of Minor Exploits’ (A.W.E.S.O.M.E) led by the villainous Switch. He steals the ‘Dolorean Diamond’ to power his doomsday device ‘The Azurean Crusher MkII.’ Only Ayvee, a super hero with a mild-mannered librarian secret identity, can stop him!

AVCon 2009 was supported by Network 10, TAFE SA, Madman Entertainment, Pulp Fiction Comics and Gametraders.

The larger space featured many more free-play games and game tournaments like Ultimate Gamer, Smash Brothers Brawl, Halo 3, Soul Calibur IV and Pokemon Diamond and Pearl.

Tournaments weren’t restricted to consoles; PC LAN tournaments ran all weekend, like Team Fortress 2 and Starcraft.

Of course, a full selection of Anime screenings ran over the weekend.

Other content included the Lolita, Fruits and Kimono Katwalk, a new game show based on ‘Spicks and Specs’ called ‘Tentacles and Mechs.’ Panels on Asian ball joint dolls, travelling to Japan, Warhammer 40k, popular anime website Anime News Network, AMVs and AMV editing, live ‘Iron Artist’ drawing and even Yaoi and Yuri panels.

For the first time, Adelaide held a leg of the Madman National Cosplay Championship.

Interstate’s sister events, SMASH! from Sydney and Manifest from Melbourne, ran content in the form of SMASH Karaoke room and Manifest Cosplay Chess.

Indie development returned bigger than ever, this time in a section officially christened the Indie Games Room. It is supported by – TAFE SA, Flinders Uni and Holopoint Interactive.

You could stop for a bite to eat with cute maids at the new Maid Cafe dubbed ‘Ichigo Ke-Ki’ (Strawberry Cake) Cafe.

Achievements were all the rage, and the AVCon 2009 booklet listed several that could be accomplished by doing certain tasks around the festival.

The new and improved AVCon at the convention centre doubled the attendance of the last AVCon held on Uni grounds and established AVCon as the biggest anime and gaming event in the Southern Hemisphere.

AVCon hoodies for this year were accidentally printed at a 90-degree angle, while hoodies with the correct orientation were printed after the event. The original ‘sideways hoodies’ are now a collector item.

Art by Serio555

AVCON 2011 – RETRO

AVCon 2011 was officially the 10th AVCon event. It was celebrated by making the theme ‘Retro’ and featuring plentiful pixel art.

The official AVCon forums running on PHPBB that had been running since 2004 had to be wiped as the new forum would be built on vBulletin 4. Many memories are lost. (Though you can check out an archive here through the Wayback Machine!)

AVCon creates the short-lived AVCon Podcast.

Like 2010, Team AVCon bought a pretty pink dress for then (and current as of 2024) promotions coordinator Dustin Wilson to wear at AVCon if they make 3000 pre-reg ticket sales. The results speak for themselves. The dress then sells for $2500.

This is the first year AVCon officially has guests attending that host panels and do attendee meet and greets. The initial guests were Jade Gatt and Ryan Lappin, former hosts of the popular Australian kid’s show ‘Cheez TV’. The pair gave talks about their time hosting the amazingly popular kids TV show and how the early anime on their show (such as Pokemon, Digimon, Yugioh and Dragonball Z) helped create the current boom in anime fandom.

A crowdfunding site is setup to get popular internet personality Martin ‘LittleKurriboh’ Billany, creator of YuGiOh The Abridged Series (and the whole Abridged Series phenomenon), on an Australian Con tour that includes SMASH! in Sydney, Manifest in Melbourne and AVCon.

AVCon’s principal sponsor this year was Australian ISP iiNet. Other sponsors include Eleven (digital channel of Network 10), Madman Entertainment, Siren Visual, Pulp Fiction Comics, Alchemy E-Coustics and the return of Shin Tokyo.

AVCON 2013 – SCHOOL DAYS

AVCon 2013 opened with an Australian premier first screening of Evangelion 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo.

This year also brought various guests, such as Spike Spencer (voice of Evangelion’s Shinji Ikari), Chris Cason (voice of Mr. Popo in Dragonball Z and Gluttony in Fullmetal Alchemist), and world famous cosplayer and model Jessica Nigri.

Early in 2013, AVCon teamed up with Espionage and Retrospekt for an event called ARCADE ALLSTARS!

The AVCon 2013 theme is ‘School Days’ and features art based on slice-of-life school anime. All AVCon hosts and staff wear AVCon High School vests and are nicknamed ‘prefects.’

In theme, AVCon hosted an event earlier in the year called the ‘AVCon Prom,’ which was the first incarnation of what would go on to be the ‘AVCon Ball.’ You can check out the photos here.

While previous AVCons featured a performance for its opening ceremony, 2013’s opening ceremony can be called nothing less than a spectacle. Taking more than 18 months to plan (meaning work on this started BEFORE the previous year’s AVCon ran), it was the brainchild of Daniel Thompson-Hoare, who acted as executive producer. To bring his vision to life AVCon brings on a Director, multiple choreographers, costume and makeup staff as well as professional actors and dancers. The whole team rehearses for 4 months before the event. The performance was split into 3 acts with musical tracks from all different game, anime and pop culture worlds. It utilised special stage builds, AV equipment and light shows. The whole opening ceremony lasted for over an hour. A production of a level never seen at a pop culture-based event before or since. The only snag was that during the final song of the finale, someone accidentally kicks a power cable out, causing a catastrophic power loss. Luckily, through the magic of editing, the recording of the event that can be found on Youtube removes this part flawlessly!

The principal sponsor of AVCon 2013 was again Internode, with Adelaide Convention Centre, South Australia Chinese Weekly and Shin Tokyo also returning. Digital channel GO! (digital channel on the Nine Network) also took up sponsorship duties in 2013. PC accessories company Razer donated goods for prizes. Nintendo Australia set up on the floor and gave away an epic Monster Hunter limited edition 3DS.

In the video game space, Streetgeek brought PC hardware for LAN and ARENA Internet Cafe brought eSports to AVCon for the first time.

In anime, AVCon 2013 hosted the premiere screening of Evangelion:

The AVCon Social Club Facebook page is opened, a semi official Facebook group where Team AVCon can post about official AVCon topics, but fans and attendees can also post their own experiences and questions.

Art by Tarale.

AVCON 2015 – DETECTIVE AGENCY

This year’s theme is Detective Agency. Ayvee is cast as an old-school detective, while Switch is the nosey reporter. There is a mystery to solve at AVCon 2015, and clues have been left all over the convention floor. At certain times throughout the event, Ayvee and Switch would discover clues and expand on the mystery, acting out interactive events for attendees. There was also the AVCon villain stalking the grounds. Could you solve the mystery before Ayvee and Switch could? (Hint: it turned out the culprit was the AVCon villain)

This year’s ball was named the Mysterious Masquerade Ball.

Major sponsors this year were Nine Network, Adelaide Convention Centre, Turner Software, Shin Tokyo, Madman, and UniSA. Minor sponsors were Fresh FM, ASMODEE, VR Distribution, Cosplay Sentinels and Plantronics Gaming.

2015 guests include local cosplayer Eve Beauregard, International Cosplayer Yaya Han and American voice actress Jennifer Hale (voice of female Commander Shepard in the Mass Effect series).

Tabletop gaming is introduced as a major focus of AVCon alongside video games and anime. This year features TCG and board game tournaments and free-to-play and RPG sessions.

AVCon hosted the first-speed running marathon of AuSpeedruns at AVCon 2015. AuSpeedruns would go on to become Australia’s premiere speed running group, putting on their own yearly event to raise money for charity (ASM) and attending events like PAX Australia and Dreamhack.

Art and design by Jaimie Wearne.

AVCON 2017 – WINTER FESTIVAL

The theme for AVCon 2017 was ‘Winter Festival’, and came with a creative short story to explain its lore. The story reads like an ancient Japanese folk tale. It casts Switch as a wandering warrior for hire who is retained to protect a small village in the middle of winter. He comes across a beautiful crane caught in a hunter’s trap, but is unable to bring himself to kill it; instead, he frees the bird. Later, Ayvee (cast as a mysterious young woman) visits the village and weaves beautiful rolls of cloth for the village to trade for supplies and medicine. Later, Switch discovers Ayvee was the Crane he spared, and that every night she plucks her own feathers to make the cloth. Upon revealing this, Ayvee disappears, never to be seen again. The villagers hold a yearly Winter Festival in her honour.

To drive interest, members of Team AVCon write AVCon blog posts before the event to give inside looks into running the event and the people behind it.

Friday night saw a premiere screening of ‘A Silent Voice’.

Major sponsors were Nintendo, Madman Entertainment, UniSa, Shin Tokyo, Hanabee Entertainment, Adelaide Convention Centre, and the City of Adelaide.

Minor sponsors were Japan Foundation, Eckersley’s, CDW Studio, Cosplay Sentinels, Oaks Hotel and Resorts and The Big Game Theory.

Guests this year include international voice actors Quinton Flynn (voice of Raiden in the Metal Gear series and Kon in Bleach), Jen Taylor (voice of Cortana in the Halo series and Princess Peach in Super Smash Brothers Melee) and Steve Downes (voice of Master Chief in the Halo series) as well as Internet personality Chris Pope.

All through AVCon 2017 an innocent stick is used for various purposes and gains a cult following. It is featured in the opening ceremony, during the quiz night, and as the gavel during the auction. The crowd’s love of the ‘AVCon stick’ results on it being made the last auction item, it sets a record sale of $1200.

As this was the 15th anniversary of AVCon, the closing ceremony contained a retrospective of the history of the AVCon event.

Art and design by Jaimie Wearne.

AVCON 2019 – JOIN THE PARTY

The theme for AVCon 2019 was Join the Party—not an invitation to a birthday, but a reference to joining a party of adventurers on an epic journey or quest. Unlike previous years with a fantasy theme, both Ayvee and Switch were characterised as magic users. Switch was a pyromancer (descended from a fire demon), while Ayvee was a hydromancer (descended from a water goddess). Additionally, Ayvee was canonised as having a pet lizard that Switch didn’t like – a detail that has not come up since.

Major sponsors included Nintendo, Madman Entertainment, Shin Tokyo, UniSA, the Adelaide Convention Centre, and Good Games. Minor sponsors were Oaks Hotel and Resorts, Eckersley’s, and Arda Wigs.

AVCon 2019 introduced a new program called the AVCon Avengers, featuring local up-and-coming cosplayers who ran panels and promotions.

Guests for AVCon 2019 included international voice actors Paul St. Peter (voice of Wormmon in Digimon and Xemnas in Kingdom Hearts) and D.C. Douglas (voice of Albert Wesker in Resident Evil and Yoshikage Kira in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure).

Art by Alana Plume.

AVCON 2021 – ULTIMATE FIGHTER/CANCELLED

It was not clear going into 2021 how much longer the COVID-19 pandemic would continue, and how it might affect South Australian life during the year. Although more lockdowns loomed, the process of organising a 2021 event began, albeit in a limited capacity.

AVCon was able to host a successful event at The Gallery early in the year called AVCon Ball: Championship Edition.

Due to financial issues stemming from the cancelled 2020 event, this year’s AVCon was planned to be run at the smaller and cheaper venue of Morphettville Racecourse for 2021. The racecourse was not strictly suited to hold an event like AVCon and due to its ties to horse racing and gambling, sparked some controversy in the community.

The theme for 2021 was set to be Ultimate Fighter, which had also been teased as the theme for 2020. It was to be a tribute to tournament fighter video games and battle anime.

Planned guests included popular Australian YouTubers The Boys—JoshDub, Mully, and SmashingVR. Adelaide special effects artist and stop-motion animator Michael Cusack had scheduled talks about his company ANIFEX and the history of animation in South Australia. Andy Trieu, host of SBS PopAsia, was set to discuss the sudden surge in K-Pop popularity. Local cosplayers HenchWench and Scrap Shop Props had presentations planned on prop building.

Mere weeks before the event, Adelaide went into lockdown again. Team AVCon realised that, even if restrictions were lifted in time, the logistics, precautions, and other factors necessary to run the event safely during COVID would be too overwhelming. Team AVCon was forced to call off the event for the second year in a row.

During the COVID period, however, a new mascot joined Ayvee and Switch. Design Coordinator Rae Harris created a petite, pink-haired, anime-inspired humanoid female to represent the AVCon Maid Cafe. Much like what had been done to name Switch two decades earlier, a competition was held to name the new character. This resulted in the new mascot being given the moniker ‘Juliette’ (an Australian breed of Strawberry).

Art and design by Rae Harris.

AVCON 2023 – 21ST BIRTHDAY

With worldwide lockdowns in the rearview mirror and Team AVCon having spent a year recuperating, AVCon finally returned to the large-scale festival it had been before COVID.

Although a few AVCons were missing from the covid years, 2023 marked the 21st year anniversary of AVCon’s debut in 2002. Thus, the theme for 2023 was 21st Birthday.

In all marketing and promotion, Ayvee and Switch were now joined by Juliette, outside of her previous status as maid cafe mascot. This year instead of taking on roles, the trio got to be themselves—no warriors, mages, robots, pirates, ninjas, birds, detectives, reporters, rock stars, or space adventurers! Official art showed the trio in their own clothes, holding a birthday cake and balloons.

While AVCon 2023 returned to the Adelaide Convention Centre, the event had to be scaled down. For the first time AVCon was without its popular Quiz Night due to lack of space, and the main stage was only utilised on Sunday for the cosplay competition, guest panels, the auction, and the closing ceremony.

On the bright side, 2023 boasted the largest Artist Alley in AVCon history, featuring over 100 artists. It also introduced a manga library for attendees to relax and read, as well as a tattoo section offering nerdy tattoos.

For the first time, AVCon featured both American and Japanese talent as guests. Lisle Wilkerson (voice of Nina Williams in the Tekken series and Joy in Shenmue) and Japanese animation director Hiroshi Nagahama (director of the Mushishi anime series) attended in person.

Virtual guests were also a highlight, with online panels by Japanese voice actor Toshio Furukawa (Piccolo in Dragon Ball Z and Portgas D. Ace in One Piece) and Shogo Sakata (Aki Hayakawa in Chainsaw Man). A special virtual AstroBoy panel featured original cast members from the 1980s English dub: Patricia Whitely (Astro), Becke Wilenski (Uran), Bob Gonzalez (Daddy Walrus), and Jay Rath (Skunk).

Major sponsors for 2023 included Shin Tokyo, UniSA, the Adelaide Convention Centre, Adelaide City Council, Good Games, Lumin’s Workshop, and Team Cherry.

Later in the year Team AVCon collaborated with Rundle Mall Plaza to host a mini convention for Video Game Week. This event featured artists, indie game developers, tabletop activities, and a mall-wide scavenger hunt.

In December, Team AVCon launched its first Artist Christmas Market on the top level of Rundle Mall Plaza. The market showcased Adelaide-based artists selling unique crafts and art just in time for holiday shopping.

Team AVCon also launches their own charity effort in conjunction with the Christmas Market, called Games 4 Kids. The charity’s aim is to raise money to buy gaming equipment for the Adelaide Women’s and Children’s Hospital. Donations were taken and all proceeds from the christmas market were put toward this cause, resulting in the donation of four PlayStation 5 consoles to the hospital.

Art and design by Faewisp.

AVCON 2025 – AVCON RANGERS

At the 2024 Rundle Mall Plaza Power Up event, it was revealed during a launch presentation that the 2025 theme would be AVCon Rangers, based on popular tokusatsu shows Super Sentai and Power Rangers, full of colourful spandex, cheesy poses, explosions, rubber monsters, and giant robots.

Switch has become the Red AVCon Ranger, Ayvee the Green AVCon Ranger, Juliette the Pink AVCon Ranger, and Wayville the Yellow AVCon Ranger. It was also revealed at the launch that Sprite, the koala mascot last seen in 2005, has made a return as a member of the AVCon Rangers, specifically the Blue AVCon Ranger.

AVCon 2025 was confirmed to be held again at the Adelaide Showground, this time taking up both the Jubilee and Wayville Pavilions.

What else will AVCon 2025 give us? Time will tell!

Art by Mai