Fan Expo Day #2

Day 2 at Fan Expo can sometimes be a little heavy and that is putting it lightly. In 2009 the Expo brought in 59,245 fans over the span of three days and Saturdays easily makes up for more than half of the attendance. Friday is usually the second biggest day and sets the tone for what Saturdays will be like. This year by closing on Friday everyone (sellers and fans alike) were saying that the Friday crowd was like a Saturday crowd. With a projected attendance of over 65,000 in 2010 the line ups on Friday were a good thing. It meant that they expo was on par to meet its projection, however this year the expo was in the smaller of 2 wings at the MTCC (Metro Toronto Convention Center).

Saturday morning at around 10am I made my over to the Celebrity autograph section for fun just to see how things were going. Summer Glau but I thought I would still line up for the chance to meet her; I didn’t even want a picture but just shake her hand and say "Good job on Terminator and Firefly". As the line moved along ever so slowly, I noticed two friends of mine; Erich and Daniel from D'Artagnan, and made my way over to them. Yes I am a line cutter, I know it's horrible of me but when you have so much to do it's hard to wait in the lines.... ok no excuse I just cut and I don't feel bad about it. Once I made my way up to Summer, I was my usually charming self and got a huge smile out of her by being; for the first time in my life, nervous about meeting a celebrity. Summer Glau is even more beautiful in person than on TV and it was hard not to comment on that when I met her. By the time I got my autograph and made the rounds for action figures and comic books, it was Noon.

Saturday afternoon, I had decided I wanted to attend all the Sketch duals and made my way to the lower levels of the convention hall to get into the Olivier Coipel and Gary Frank dual. As I sat down on the floor outside the room where the sketch would take place I was texted “do not to leave the sales floor” by none other than CJLO Comic Queen; Robin Fisher. Why you ask? A decision was made by the powers that be to stop allowing entrance to attendees because the sales floor was at capacity. After a 22% increase in attendance from 2008 to 2009 I was intrigued to read¹ that the organizers were only expecting a 10% increase in attendance from 2009 to 2010. On the Friday it was apparent that the expo was going to have a huge Saturday, more than I think anyone expected.

Although the sales floor is the main attraction, even with the set back I know there was enough to do on the other levels that people could have had fun. As I mentioned I went to the Coipel v. Frank sketch dual and then the Ian Churchill v. Bob Layton dual. By the time all the duals were finish, the floor was open again, if Robin had not informed me of the lockout I would never have known. Fanexpo is primarily about the sales floor which features booths from Marvel, DC, Hasbro and many more but you can have as much fun on the lower levels at the different panels, costume workshops and everything else the expo has to offer besides the usual stuff. Those who didn't take the time to try and find something else to do only ended up annoyed because they didn't explore the expo.

A little later in the day when things started getting back to normal I took part in the Marvel Trivia competition and took it to 4th rounds, tying round after round against my opponent before losing in the last round by 1 point...damn Canadian Marvel characters.
Due to the drama of the day, the powers that be decided to keep the expo running an extra hour; it was great for buyers but not all that great for sellers and the people working at the booths. Very good idea but I can understand how some of the sellers were looking forward to ending an already crazy day.

Robin, Ryan and I ended up getting invited to C.B. Cebulski's Marvel after party. Great drinks, great conversation, tons of comic book people and Fanexpo big wigs made for an amazing ending to what I felt was a great day, despite the issues with entrance. Big thanks to Paolo Riviera, Arune Singh, Mike Pascuillo, Alex Maleev and all the folks at Marvel for the hospitality and inviting us to the party.

So ended my night folks; chillin' with great comic fans with a pint and smile.

¹ Page 5 of the Hobbystar 2010 Corporate Kit - http://www.hobbystar.com/2010CorporateKitOnline.pdf