JAPANESE anime characters, superheroes and even a samurai swordsman turned out for a day of play at Epic Diem, a pop culture expo at the University of the Sunshine Coast yesterday.

Gamers were treated to demos, stalls sold everything from lollipops to Star Wars games and comic books, and archery tag and laser tag was on offer.

"Epic Diem has become like a very exclusive convention to the Sunshine Coast, and it's really fun," Lachlan Dunn, also known as Deathstroke the Terminator, said.

"This place was really fun because it has LARPing, which stands for live action role-playing, and you've got a bunch of stalls inside," Lachlan said.

Lachlan's best friend Jake Oakes-Ferguson said Epic Diem was fertile ground for costume-wearing "cosplayers" to meet and have fun together.

"The best thing about cosplay is there are no rules. If a character exists, you can cosplay it," he said.

"People get very creative with their cosplay - like Star Wars, Star Trek, Batman, Superman, Spiderman, and all these different superheroes."

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Jake had assembled an outfit including an overcoat, thick-rimmed glasses and a Dick Tracy-style hat for his original character, Speakeasy.

Club-wielding cosplayer Thayne Rowtecki took a moment's break from a tumbling play fight with sword-wielding opponents.

"I've been waiting since last year," he said. "It's just fun - you get to meet a heap of new people, buy heaps of (stuff)."

Penelope Clifford, 13, said Epic Diem was a "big get-together".

"I like seeing other people dressed as my favourite characters, and getting ideas from them," she said.

She agreed Epic Diem was like a training ground for locals, who would learn costume-making techniques for big cosplay conventions in Brisbane and other capital cities.

Jess Fowles, AKA Chi Chi from the popular anime classic Dragon Ball, said cosplay was making it normal for children, including her one-year-old son Loki (AKA Gohan), to have fun dressing up.

"Cosplay has brought back a lot of role-playing for kids - a lot of imagination, so they can finally get back into a costume, dress up, do what they want, have fun in their favourite character and no-one's going to look twice. It's becoming the norm now."

Jess and her husband Matt (AKA Goku) and Loki will be judging the costume competition today.

Tickets are available at http://events.ticketbooth.com.a/event/EpicDiem. For more information visit http://www.epicdiem.com.