Edmonton Comic and Entertainment Expo 2014 review

Guess who had a great weekend? This guy and the wife. We went to the Edmonton Comic and Entertainment Expo and had so much fun. Our weekend started early because we both took the Friday off of work. Get in early and pack in as much nerdity as possible was our plan. And it worked.

Just read the shirts.

We decided to plan our weekend out beforehand so we checked the event website for programming and events. I clicked on the special event link. Seeing as the costume contest was a given I just scrolled down… to see my wife and I. Turns out we are the face of geek speed dating. This obviously declared us the unofficial Mr. and Mrs. Edmonton Expo, right? Despite the fact that neither of us has speed dated and we met online. Well, for those who attended I hope you find a love story for all Time Lords like ours. How was the speed dating? We didn’t go because we don’t need to, with the pictorial decree of being faces of geek love. Or in the style of Stan Lee: The King and Queen of Curiously Quirky Connections.

Friday was great because we got there super early to trade in our passes. We were able to sit, relax and check the layout of the centre. After getting ourselves oriented we lined up in hall H. This was the designated line up hall as well as a space for some extra food vendors, kids play place and the board gaming tables. I was happy to find out food trucks were available this year as it spaced out the lunch rush and kept the flow between halls clearer. For us Friday was all about the vendor booths. We made sure to say hi to our friends at the Mission fun and Games booth as well as Alan Graham of Exterminatus Now. My wife loves to browse and chat with vendors so checking out all of them took the entirety of the day. My back and feet were killing me.

Saturday was our panel day. We arrived about a half hour late for the show but we already had 3 day passes so we were able to go in an alternate entrance skipping the Saturday only people lineup.

Our first panel was the spotlight on Alice Cooper. He delved into a variety of topics. He talked of issues in the music industry, the difficulties of doing shock rock in the modern world, raising kids, and most importantly to me his time on the Muppets. It was like story time about shock rock. Quite the oddly fantastic indulgence for the day.

Story time from Alice Cooper

I'm attracted to two of three here...

The next panel was on the Whedonverse which included Amy Acker, Summer Glau and J. August Richards. It was interesting to hear the shared experiences as well as the variety of experiences of the actors. The panel moderator wasn’t the greatest but the actors certainly kept it flowing. Summer Glau related how being River was a product of the time as it was her first acting role. The being lost, unsure of how to act and being out of her element was something fuelling the role. The topics bounced around on everything from Firefly, Agents of SHIELD, Dr. Horrible, Much Ado About Nothing, Angel and all the other projects the actors were in. This panel was all about the wife’s and my inner Whedon Geek.

Making fun of our picture taking skills no doubt

The third panel of the day was the Big Bang theory panel with Kunal Nayyar and Simon Helberg. The room was packed. The two complained about the weather a bit even though it ranged from 2.2C (36F) at night up to 20.9C (69.6F) during the day; Normal autumn weather. The panel kept sidetracking with a running joke about child rearing in the city. The panel was funny and kept us both entertained.

We ended the day with the costume contest. My wife and I both love the costumes at the con and someday we will work up the nerve to cosplay. I was really impressed with the costumes this year. My personal favourites were the kid in the Princess Mononoke, the Death Star dress, and Wolverine. On a side note here my wife is super into cosplay and wanted to get as many pictures as possible to work on ideas. The bright side of this is I got to take a lot of pictures of attractive ladies in cosplay. The downside is I took a lot of pictures of attractive ladies in cosplay which kinda made me look like a certain nerd stereotype. Meh it was fun.

Who says I'm not fashionable and sexy?

Sunday was all about finishing what we wanted to do. We ran into some friends who had never been to a comic convention and they aren’t all that geeky. The wife didn’t think she’d enjoy the show but meeting Alice Cooper got her into a high and she bounced around like a kid in a candy store. She squeed with glee “It’s like another Halloween!” I was glad to see at least one new addition to the geek world. She is now one of us. ONE OF US!

We hit up two panels. To start was Grant Imahara. He started by dispelling myths about the departure from Mythbusters. He talked a lot about the show; mostly stories about builds. He also talked about his appearance on the Guild, his old jobs in the industry, and his role in Star Trek continues that I hadn’t heard about but am now eager to watch.

The last panel was the spotlight on Jim Beaver. The crowd cheered when he came out and said hi to all his “Idjits” then he called us “Idjits” for liking being called “idjits” to which the crowd cheered louder. I got the impression he doesn’t understand the total fanboying/fangirling for Supernatural but he certainly tried to. I liked his fanboy moment when he talked about acting on a set from his childhood favourite John Wayne movie. I must say that he is totally mistaken about long beards being not sexy. I’m living proof it’s totally sexy. Just ask my wife.

I'm an uncle I can find this cute.

With that we made sure we said hi to some family and friends at the con (at least the ones we could track down) then we made for the exit. My wife is now geared up to re-watch all the old Angel and Supernatural episodes. I’m planning my Viking costume, and we are both thinking of some other cosplay which we will piece together as funds allow. Speaking of low funds, buying a house made a lean year for the comic expo. About all we bought was a dress for a niece. I would have modelled it but it just didn't come in my size. I'm glad geekiness is becoming more normal. The Edmonton Expo is expected to be the fastest growing Comic Expo and hopefully that means it's going to grow more fantastic every year!

I hope you all came out and see you next year!