Toronto’s Biggest Con: Geeks Unite at The 2010 Fan Expo!

The Metro Toronto Convention Center was the site of the 2010 Fan Expo this past weekend (August 28th). With thousands of comic book, horror, anime, gaming, and sci-fi fans attending the exhibition, it was the perfect opportunity to meet stars of the industry and purchase rare collectibles while dressed in your favorite superhero/villain. Given that you survived the two-hour long wait to purchase tickets, it was definitely a geek’s dream come true weekend to express their interests, without having to wait for Geek Pride Day.

As for me, I had a great time attending the Friday evening’s portion of the convention. Although I was able to purchase my favorable comics and enjoy demos of upcoming games, it was disappointing to miss out on the weekends featured appearances, yes, that includes you Stan Lee and William Shatner. But overall I was very pleased with what I saw and there was more than enough to keep my evening busy.

Before I move on, I want to apologize for the low resolution photos as I only had my iPhone 3G (3.2 MP) handy at the time. I know, it needs an upgrade.

Like many attendees would agree, the overwhelming line-up was very difficult to stand through especially with the heat as it stretched along Front St. and down Lower Simcoe:

Without having dinner I was very hungry while standing in line, but thanks to the hot dog cart I didn’t have to wait until I got in. Fortunately for me it wasn’t the cart in the WIND mobile commercial, surcharges did not apply :). Two-hours later I was finally in.

What surprised me the most when I first got in was the rate of attendance that approached the convention’s capacity:

I had no idea Canada was populated with this many comic, anime, and sci-fi fans, perhaps there’s more to this culture than meets the eye. But luckily there was still enough room to maneuver around the exhibition, as long as you weren’t behind the 6’8 man disguised as Thor.

Indeed, I made a visit to the celerity/artists panels that bordered the convention. As I mentioned above I failed to attend the weekends endeavors, therefore missing out on many notable guests. Nevertheless I was still able to meet Friday’s lineup of actors/actresses and professional artists:

The only celebrities I can recall catching a glimpse of were Felicia Day (above) and Peter Mayhew (Chubaka). Other names you see up there were only name plates for them to appear later, very misleading.

With hundreds of artists from different studios including DC and Marvel in attendance, they were very considerate to discuss their work, sign autographs, and even draw sketches (not for free) of your favorite characters! Only problem for me was a $11.00 budget thanks to the hot dog purchase I immediately regretted.

Representatives from the upcoming film Tron: Legacy also came out to show clips of the movie in 3D and to demo their game releasing in November as well, though I didn’t get a chance to do either :(. I for one did not know it was a squeal to the 1980’s Tron, kind of embarrassing to admit actually.

On to gaming. Xbox 360 had a solid display of games set to release later this year including Halo: Reach, Assassins Creed: Brotherhood, and the “controller-free gaming” Kinect. And much to everyone’s disappointment, Nintendo on the other hand decided not to give a demonstration of the 3DS, but at least their making graphics a priority this time, unlike the Wii (take that!).

And who can forget, the comic panel. Personally I think they could of done a bit more, maybe some trailers of upcoming films or character artifact exhibits but it was enough to draw attention. Special thanks to DC for giving away free comics and pins with some fantastic artwork. Marvel wasn’t exactly featured on Friday, but Captain America’s shield was!

In brightest day, in darkest night, no evil shall escape my sight! Get used to that phrase Ryan Reynolds, you’ll be saying it a lot.

The current artist for Red Robin, Marcus To, was there to represent DC’s signature panel. Very nice guy, in the picture below he drew a sketch of Red Robin as an autograph for someone, for free!

There’s still some Sci-Fi and Anime photos that I left out, but I think this should do it.

So that wraps up my coverage of the 2010 fan expo. After attending only a single evening at the weekend long event, I knew that wasn’t enough. 2011, I’ll think about a weekend pass…

M.N.