And so, PAX Australia 2022 has come to a close.
The first live show since the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the event marked something of a homecoming party for eager participants. Arriving at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre surely marked a cathartic moment for anyone whose dreams were dashed following last year’s cancellation.
It was also a celebratory moment for the team here at EZIYODA, as it was our first official convention as members of the media. I’ve covered previous editions of PAX Aus and Crunchyroll Expo in the past, among others, but this one hits a little different.
Trying to summate impressions of the convention as a whole is a bit tricky, considering the wealth of booths on offer. To wit, for everything we did do, we were unable to partake of about a hundred other things. One can only be so tentacular in their approach.
In case you missed it, we’ve got quick write-ups on the miniatures tables and all of the cat-related indie games on display. Yes, cat games. The branding is real, the branding is true.
To be honest, it was a little easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer volume of humanity darting around from place to place. The layout thankfully allowed for wide thoroughfares, and yet, I was stunned by just how many people were present.
I’m still not used to that after more than a year in lockdown, and I’m not sure if I ever will be again. There was also a small kitten someone was carrying in a backpack, and somehow it looked like it was handling the atmosphere better than I was.
Broadly speaking, our attendance at the convention felt largely like a precursor of things to come, as we wouldn’t mind locking in some interviews or other exclusive content in future. We’re not sure who exactly would want to talk to us (maybe backpack kitten?) but we’ve got plenty of time to figure it out.
It was a thrilling opportunity for EZIYODA, and we’re looking forward to taking the next steps forward as we clamber our way out of obscurity in the website’s fledgling days.
Speaking of opportunity, something came across my radar that reminded me of the mX Newspaper of old; specifically the “Here’s looking at you” section where lovelorn members of the public would seek out the identities of chance encounters they’d had recently.
It leads me to wonder whether this fellow will ever successfully reconnect with this mysterious woman from the PAX afterparty, and humble though our reach may be (our traffic is legitimately 90% me clicking the refresh button on incognito mode), should this signal boost lead him any closer to his goal, perhaps a good deed will have been done.
Best of luck to him, and to any other denizen of PAX Australia who is out searching for their new horizon. Be they attendees inspired by all of the wonderful gizmos on display, developers hoping to take their projects to the next level, or the enforcers who held it all together…
We did it, y’all, well done. Support indie devs. Support cats. And support each other.
EZIYODA 