Fan Expo Canada Wrap-Up

Welp guys, the 2015 edition of Fan Expo Canada is in the books. It was a complete and total blast and was the absolute largest comic con that I’ve ever attended. There was tons of vendors, great cosplay, and enough panels to keep even the most engrossed con-goer occupied. Both North and South buildings of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre are packed to the gills every year for Fan Expo Canada, with each show seemingly getting larger than the last. I dove head first into this crazy four-day adventure, and below is my (somewhat) detailed account of everything that went down.

Thursday:

We packed our bags and headed out to the con. We live in Michigan, so we had a lovely little four and a half hour drive ahead of us. We knocked the drive out and made it to our hotel safe and sound. We checked in, scoped out our new home for the next four days and then began our journey to downtown Toronto. This is where the fun initially came to a screeching halt. The traffic downtown was NUTS and being new to the area, we almost immediately got intimidated by the sheer intensity of the traffic. I figured because of us being out of the country, neither of our GPS apps would be any good. We managed to struggle through it though and finally found the convention center. By this time though, it was around 6:30 pm, the press room was open until 7, the convention closed at 8, and we had yet to pick up our press passes. We parked and then began a manic journey to the press room before they closed up for the night. We walked for what seemed like hours, but had only been about 10 minutes and just so happened to come across a helpful young man who’d pointed us in the right direction. We slinked into place in the press office to pick up our passes and with 5 minutes to spare even. I wore my press pass proudly and flashed it like an NYC detective investigating a murder as I walked past event security and to the con floor. I felt another rush of intimidation flow through me as the size of this venue and the amount of bodies still inside of it on the first day, 45 minutes before close was insane. I stepped back, took a deep breath and headed into the convention center to scope out the surroundings and get myself ready for the next three days.

Friday:

Team Nerd News was up and at it early, and ready to hit the con as soon as the doors opened at 10AM. We hit the con floor and already, the building was starting to swell with people. I spotted a sweet spot at the top of the con floor in the North building that I could try to get a really good shot of all the people.

I started making my way towards the escalators and WHAM! Walked right into a herd of con-walkers. No matter which way I went, there was no way around it. I gave up on trying to navigate around and simply assimilated into the crowd. It felt eerily similar to watching cows being herded into slaughter lines… ANYHOW, I finally made my way to the top of the con and got the shot that I was looking for. We decided since we already made half the trip, we may as well head on over to the south building and get some shots of the cosplay, and hit up artist alley. Once we made it to the second building and into the lower level that housed artist alley, we decided to take a break and talk with some of the attendees. One guy in particular asked me if I’d seen the gaming area yet, to which my response was a very excited “WHAT??!?” I thanked the young man for his time and tore into Hall E. Once inside, I could hear the deep bass from music playing at the rear of the hall. It sounded like a Toronto nightclub and we were outside waiting to get in. I continued to follow the music, and there it was; right in the middle of the con. A GIANT EB Games store right in the middle of the freaking comic con. Talk about elation, Fan Expo Canada instantly became the greatest place on earth. Not just because of the enormous video game store, oh no, in addition to that there was also a huge gaming section right behind EB Games showcasing the best and latest in games. I was forced to snap out of my infatuation with the gaming section though, because we had to cut all the way back to the first building to make it to a George Romero panel. Getting to see Romero speak was genuinely something special, as the man almost single-handedly created and then redefined a genre with Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of The Dead respectively. The panel kicked off with a reflection on the impact of Wes Craven, along with sharing a story about how the two would meet and subsequently work together.

Romero went on to discuss his entire body of work while expertly weaving through questions from the audience. It was a really awesome panel that made me want to rush back to my room and re watch every Romero flick I had in my library. After the panel, it was time to hit the con floor again. This time there’s easily twice as many bodies aimlessly wandering around, all in the name of nerdom. Most of the celebrities were sitting at their signing tables and the lineup this year was incredible. Mike Tyson, Norman Reedus, Lennie James, Rupert Grint, Karen Gillan and more were all in attendance meeting their most hardcore fans and signing autographs with a sort of assembly line precision. It was around this time the vendors would start to see their biggest sales as people who didn’t have personalized items to be signed started snatching up any kinds of memorabilia to be signed.

Saturday:

It’s go time. This is the day that every other comic con gets insanely busy, so I know it’s about to be absolutely bonkers. We got to the MTCC around 10:30 AM and the staff is already talking about taking precautions to ensure the building doesn’t go over capacity. Two buildings. Two giant buildings, packed full. Wall to wall, not one square inch of this place was empty. Surprisingly enough, everybody seemed to be in a really relaxed and jovial mood, which helped ease the anxiety of literally being in a human traffic jam. Saturday was a devoted “media day,” used solely for collecting pictures of all the awesome cosplay and other areas of interest around the con. The cosplay at Fan Expo Canada was pretty next level, with some being so awesomely amazing that I had to stop whatever I was doing to chase the person down for a photo. As with any comic con, there were dozens of Jokers, Deadpools, and of course the go to female costume, Harley Quinn. There were a few pretty sweet gender swapped costumes and a giant, Pyramid Head cosplayer that had several kids terrified to walk up the hallway. There was a pretty adorable Pikachu costume, and a girl who dressed as the most accurate and insanely adorable looking Boo (Monsters Inc.) I’d ever seen.

My personal favorite happened to be a gentlemen who took the “simplicity is key” approach, and in the process made one of the most epic Metal Gear Solid costumes ever. seriously awesome. The downstairs area in the south building was now starting to back up, so much so, that event staff started wrangling people into Hall E and onto the second con floor, or back onto the escalators towards the north building. We were among the crowd that was herded into the show so we started walking towards the gaming area. It was here that I ran into a really bright and energetic young man named Mathew Solie working the Disney Infinity booth, who instantly started in about the latest expansion into the recently released game, version 3.0. I asked him if he’d be ok giving me that spiel again on camera, to which he happily obliged. I reached into my gig bag to get my camera and mic out to cut what I was hoping to be a pretty epic interview when it hit me. I’d forgotten to pack my mic. I was so upset with myself because the con was so loud and there would be no way I was going to be able to mask the noise, but the journalist in me wouldn’t allow myself to pass up the interview, so I recorded anyway and hoped for the best. Halfway through the interview, I slightly lost focus because all I could think of was how obnoxiously loud the guy at the next booth was being, and just how in the world I was going to cut out all this background noise. This was my chance and I was blowing it, anxiety set in. The interview went off without a hitch, I thanked Mathew and departed, tired from the day, and ready for a meal. Day three was over, and I was glad it was, after all, I knew I had several hours of editing ahead of me to fix the audio from my Disney interview.

Sunday:

It’s the final day of the con and I’m super stoked about getting up bright and early to make it to the Walking Dead panel at the start of the day. Con doors open at 10AM and the panel was at 11. All I had to do was help Maria get all our stuff together and packed, take everything down to the car and check out of the hotel. Simple enough right? Wrong! We didn’t leave the hotel until around 10:20, took a wrong turn, and had to park a half a block away (Thanks Blue Jays). By the time we reached the MTCC it was nearing 11, and while we made it into the panel before it started, ALL the good seats had been taken. I wasn’t going to allow myself to get upset because let’s face it, exactly one year ago my site was too small to even be considered for passes. Anyhow, the lights dimmed and a short video package featuring Chris Hardwick was aired in which he apologized for not being there to moderate the panel, but then awkwardly pitched his comedy show later that month. After the package concluded, Lennie James, Chandler Riggs, and Norman Reedus were introduced. The crowd went absolutely bananas when Reedus hit the stage, and he cupped his fingers over his eyes to see the crowd through the lights and on the monitor I noticed he had bandaids on three of his fingers on his left hand. The moderator started by asking his three guests how they’d been holding up during shooting. Reedus proclaimed that shooting was super intense and that it was “weird having this big, fake fight. But these…. these are very real.” Way to get the ladies to swoon Norman, well played.

The panel almost immediately went to a Q&A from the audience which lasted for almost 30 minutes. Most of the questions were relegated to “what was you favorite scene” or “who do you miss more” types of questions, until one guy asked the question that got the party started. A fan asked all three men what their favorite spoken line was so far, and almost instantly Chandler Riggs sat up in his chair and proudly proclaimed, “Mine is coming up!” That sparked a tidal wave of excitement from the panelists, as they couldn’t stop talking about how excited they were for the stunts, and the rawness of this upcoming season. Part of me knows that they are just doing their job and creating buzz and interest around the show, but just listening to their reactions, I’d also have to believe that season 6 will be that good. Now I really can’t wait for October! After the Walking Dead panel ended, Maria and I decided that we were all conned out and wanted to make our way back to Michigan. I had to take one last stroll around the building, so we walked from where the panel was, to the south building, only to run into another wall of bodies. How could this place still be this busy after FOUR DAYS?!?!?!? Hitting my limit, I gave up on taking a victory lap, tippy toed towards an exit and proceeded to bid Canada and her crazy traffic adieu.

Fan Expo Canada was an amazing experience, and one that I was glad I was able to attend. Outside of the infuriating traffic and tons of people roaming the con halls, I’d say this should be a destination for anyone looking to experience a “Big Three” comic con. With no shortage of vendors, panels, or special guests, it’s easy to see why so many people are drawn towards MTCC each year. One thing’s for certain, Nerd News will definitely be back next year.