Louise & Siri At FanExpo: The 2012 Edition.

The "Frankenweenie" exhibit was a treat.

 After having a really miserable Saturday (Car accident. Not my fault.), I was ready for some big time fun and Fan Expo just seemed to be the ticket for it. And, speaking of tickets, even the 40 minute wait in line couldn't dampen my spirits (although in hindsight, I will probably purchase my tickets ahead of time online next year.).

Q & A with John Barrowman

 By the time we got inside, we headed to Hall G (with many thanks to the friendly staffer, who looked it up for us in his program.) to attend the Q & A with John Barrowmore of Torchwood and Dr. Who fame. I have to admit that this was probably my main reason for attending, being a huge fan of both series and we were not disappointed. Mr. Barrowman is nothing short of charming and engaging. He is a fine storyteller and has a great attitude when it comes to his fame. Listening to him is pure joy. Yes, I am gushing and, hell, I will not apologize for it. Here is a short excerpt, one of many, from YouTube:

After the Q & A wrapped up, Siri and I s-l-o-w-ly managed to make our way out and onto the Con floor as it was ever so busy. Not to complain, but maybe the organizers of this show can not make the "foodcourt" part of the Exhibitors area as it just takes up too much space and getting around it is kind of impossible (Just a suggestion for next year. That's all). But, I digress...

Some of the many t-shirts available.

Anyway, we spent some time checking out the Exhibitors area, which has anything and everything one can ask for in Sci-fi, Horror, Gaming, Anime, Comic swag, Steampunk Jewelery, medieval weapons, Latex masks, items for Cosplay etc. It's kind of overwhelming really. As I was saying to Siri, there was almost too much cool/geek chic. Where does one begin?! My favorites though were the t-shirts that were cleverly ironic: "Neville Would Have Done It In 4 Books" and some of the "Game of Thrones" ones. I ended up purchasing one of those along with a lovely hand tooled leather sketchbook from a very nice vendor from Calgary (me: Hey! Do you have a website, if I want another one? Him: No, man, we're Hippies. But, we'll be back next year!).

But, then it was time to head to our next destination: "The Steampunk Author Panel: Words Driven By Steam". Siri, I should mention is a "writer" (and I mean of stories, books, etc.), where  I would never make such a claim. Realistically, I realize that if one wants to learn to write in a particular genre (or write at all), one will not learn this in a 45 minute panel. But, it probably would have helped to have had a moderator on the panel, to keep things focused and flowing. Otherwise, the panelists did have a lot of interesting ideas about what writing "Steampunk" was about in relation to their own works and recommended a great resource in the Steampunk Scholar, Mike Perschon.
 

Our last few hours were spent strolling the Exhibitors area that we had missed, as well as checking out some of the friendly folks in the  Community booths (Toronto Steampunk Society and The Doctor Who Society of Canada, to name but a few.). There were some really great displays as well; The Frankenweenie Exhibit"; The "Back to the Future" DeLorean; Some great Daleks; Lego's Lord of the Rings Character and Superheroes.

Hey! Christopher Lloyd had to get here some way!

Gandalf, in Lego, my precious...

One of the joys I get out of going to events such as this, is the Cosplay. I had a great time looking at all the cosplayers and their brilliant efforts they put into their costumes. Most were pretty magnificent, but I have to say the one cosplayer who did the "Weeping Angel" from Doctor Who was a favorite.

Holy crap...

 ...Don't Blink!

FanExpo Canada is big, busy and offers a lot to do. It could probably benefit from a bigger venue (Perhaps adding the "North" part of the Convention Centre to it?).  I realize this blog has only scratched the surface of all the things that were going on, but, for the short amount of time I spent there, it didn't disappoint. I look forward to attending it again next year...

 To read my friend, Siri's, take on her FanExpo experience, please go to:
http://siripaulson.wordpress.com/2012/08/28/convention-report-fan-expo/

So. That's how they move...