Edmonton's second annual Comic and Entertainment Expo has come and gone. Two days of whirlwind activity left me a little breathless and in geek overload. As you could probably guess I loved it. As a warning there is no board game information in this post as there was no board gaming to be had at this con. Something of a disappointment I know but it was still a great weekend.
We purchased our tickets way back at in the middle of summer, it's been a lean year so we went with regular weekend passes hoping to save up some money for the show. Well fate decided to kick us a little and we were left with doing the show on a budget.
During the week before the show it was announced that tickets could be traded in on Friday night for the passes in order to save time in lineup in the morning. It took about an hour of waiting in order to get the passes. There was a slight hic-up as the two staff pre-scanning tickets so the trade would go faster turned out to be two older gentlemen who had serious issues with the "scanner dohickeys." They allowed a gap to form in line and several people snuck in the gap as they were trying to fix things. Other than that things moved nicely.
Saturday morning rolled around and we got up early. A quick breakfast of a doughnut and tea and we were off to the show. Parking rang it at $12 per day and we got quite close as we arrived at 8:30. There were several lines as you entered, a staff member at the door helped you select the right one. The line for those who already had passes was about 200 people long so we joined in.
The show started at 10:00, as we were let in we made a b-line for the
Exterminatus Now booth to say hi to our friend, artist Alan Graham. After that we were off to browse the various vendor and artist booths. At over 200 booths to see it took us a while. We had become so engrossed in the booths that when I finally checked the time to see when we should go to the Carl Urban panel we were already 10 minutes too late. So we decided to break for lunch. The food booths are located outside the hall and getting to them was quite easy. We felt the lines for food were too long and just sat for a quick water and fibre one bar. Then it was back to the vendor booths.
It was reported that over 25000 were in attendance. The crowd consisted of families, cosplayers, gamers, fanboys/fangirls, film fanatics, comic lovers, rig pig or biker geeks looking to meet the guys of Sons of Anarchy or Robert Englund, LGBT nerds getting signature tattoos of John Barrowman, full on geeks and nerds (like the wife and I), or just everyday people looking to let their inner geek out for a bit. Really a microcosm of Edmonton looking to have a fun weekend.
The Back to the Future Panel started at 4 so we lined up to check that out. The panel was on the history of the DeLorean that was on display and was quite interesting. It involved a powerpoint presentation of buying the car, rebuilding it, where it has been and various charity events it was involved in.
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| Robert Englund talking to HIS boys and girls |
After that panel we immediately went over to the Robert Englund panel. I'm a fan of commentaries so these panels are something I love. Robert Englund answered questions on a wide range of topics, related stories of his time on set. A tale about sitting in a hot tub as Freddy with Jason and their "victims" between shots was a funny anecdote. He covered everything from how he got into acting, to his various comedic roles, from V to Nightmare on Elm Street, where he is now to where he is going in his career. I really connected with him when he answered the question about how people seem to connect with Freddy and how he might be a negative influence. I forgot a recording device but he answered along the lines that people don't want to be Freddy. They like the emotion he brings out in them. He brings out the primal fear in us and the feeling that we survived the horror of the movie. He is truly and deeply connected with his fans. There was one thing that bothered my wife, he kept walking to the very edge of the stage and leaning out. She felt he would fall off. It wasn't until later that we learned there was an echo on the stage area and he and everyone else on that stage had issues hearing questions. They all naturally gravitated to the edge in an attempt to hear.
Once the panel was over we stood in line for a signature from Ron Perlman of whom I am a huge fanboy. We then returned to the vendor booths and didn't see that last until the 5 minutes to show closing warning.
To end the day we decided on the Comedy Extravaganza which started after the show floor closed. The show was introduced, and a musical interlude started in order to allow for setup. Unfortunately the band seemed to be a teenage garage band who we assumed were friends of someone in the show. The singer was off key and the guitarist was all over the place with overly confident cheesy rock out moves. The first comedy routine was some sort of punishment game. It involved a coffee taste test. It was an unfunny confusing manboy junior high prank game that made the audience uncomfortable. They kept referencing some inside joke about Vancouver that wasn't explained even when the audience shouted for them to do so. This was followed by another bad musical interlude. The comedy group "The 404's" saved the show with an improv session that was actually quite entertaining. They engaged the audience and laughs were had. It was at this point my wife and I had to leave. The fact that we had only a doughnut and a granola bar to eat all day coupled with facing another musical interlude forced us out the door. We should have went to the costume contest.
Saturday started with a proper breakfast and we arrived at the show around 9. The line was shorter as there were quite a few people there for Saturday only. We started the day with an autograph session with John Barrowman to my Whovian wife's delight.
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| Ron Perlman had money waved at him |
Next we started our panel day with Ron Perlman. One of the guys from Rue Morgue started the panel with some questions and then it turned to the audience Q&A. There were some references to Mr. Perlman being naked that some audience members seemed to enjoy and Ron Perlman's sense of humour really came out. He is an extremely funny guy and kept the audience begging for more. He seemed to relish the questions from his younger fans and ensured they left starstruck. I felt connected with him when he talked about his early career and how he felt low self esteem. How he used prosthetics and make-up to hide himself. His feeling of being monstrous and different. His relation of Hellboy to Quasimodo was insightful and helped me reshape my view of the character. Finally his talking about his characters in Sons of Anarchy and Archer helped get my wife interested in these shows.
We exited the panel to complete chaos. People attempting to get in line for the John Barrowman line were attempting to enter the panel room hallway as the people from the Ron Perlman panel were attempting to exit. The result was a milling crush of people. This is something that the organisers will need to work on for next year as it was madness. We merely stepped onto one of the artistic rock garden side displays and waited it out. Suddenly they announced that they panel for John Barrowman was opening so we dove into the surge. I lost my wife and chose a seat near the back so she could find me easily.\
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| Sorry Mr Barrowman I'm a terrible photographer |
Once my wife found me we settled in for the panel. John Barrowman is flamboyantly entertaining. He is super hilarious and a king of the double entendre. He pleased the crowd with stories and kept in constant
motion. My wife and I always love to hear more about Doctor Who so this panel was a definite highlight.
After the panel we went for lunch. The shortest line was for "Hole in the Wall" asian fusion food. My wife's butter chicken was bland and my yellow curry chicken was heavy handed on the spice. I regretted it for the rest of the day.
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| Christopher Lloyd joins the crowd |
To finish the day we hopped in line for the Spotlight on Christopher Lloyd panel. Happily they had organised the crowd better than the mornings debacle. Unfortunately we had to line up outside. We managed to get some really great seats next to a friend of mine and his fiance. I was happy to be able to talk about the con prior to the panel. Christopher Lloyd talked about back to the future, Adams Family, Taxi, Piranha, his voice work and the people he worked with. Unfortunately the sound issues were never resolved so he just wandered out into the room to hear the fans questions. I felt bad that he needed to do that but it was great that he went the extra mile to engage his fans. As with the other celebrities this weekend the questions from children really seemed to bring out the best in Christopher Lloyd. He even related a tale of another event where a child asked if it was good that he no longer had to wear makeup to look old. He really lit up at the humour in it.
As the panel ended I ran to the washroom to regret lunch a little and that was when we decided the show was over for us. We were spent on funds and spent on energy.
To sum up the Edmonton expo was a fantastic event with some minor hurdles for us to overcome. I would recommend coming out next year as it is only going to grow and get better. I recommend buying tickets early and coming for the whole weekend. There is so much to see and do for the whole family. You can wet your toes in the geek pool or dive right in. You will enjoy it no matter what as there is always a little something for everyone.
Check back next week when I review Munchkin Deluxe
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