2016 Nerdgasm

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FanExpo 2016 has come and gone. This epic nerdgasm that occurs ever year, heralding the end of summer, brings together all things nerdy, geeky, and fun. Sci-Fi, horror, anime, gaming, all together in a one, technically 2 massive spaces.

I worked the event again this year. It is a rewarding privilege that allows me to go to the show and enjoy the experience while getting paid. It is a pretty sweet deal. This year though, I worked the whole show. Like open to close every day allowing me to see everything but no time to take pics and really absorb all of it. Don’t worry. I did mange to sneak in some pics of the festivities.

As usual there was tons of Star Wars stuff but I only managed to grab a pic of R2D2 hanging with some Jawas

Before I continue, I just wanna say that it makes me sad that the sign that they are standing in front of is necessary. Who needs to be told that “Cosplay is not consent”? If you need that sign to remind you of that, you have some serious issues and should go find some help.

But I digress.

I got a couple pics of some classic movie vehicles.

The Classic Batmobile and the Delorian were very cool. It is easy to get clear pics when you get to walk the floor before the show opens.

I also saw Hawkman and Hawkwoman.

These cos-players were very patient in posing with some very excitable people.

On the show floor I passed by the Mega Bloks Booth that was displaying He-Man and Skeletor.

Sadly that was right beside the Lego booth that had some awesome (much better) statues.

Lego Batman just killing it and some new characters from Star Wars: Rogue One. I was lucky to be around while Darth Vader was posing for pics, looking all cool and shiny and stuff. I must admit though the building trough was a little less colourful than usual.

I think this is their new colour pallet. All that black works for the franchises though.

I believe this next guy is supposed to be a StarCraft Terran Marine.

I sadly couldn’t wait around long enough to see the whole thing put together. I watched this guy get cocooned in the costume by his friends for a good 10 minutes, they still weren’t done and I had to get back to work.

Canada Post had a booth dedicated to the Star Trek 50th anniversary. You could get yourself beamed aka transported to another world. It was all very exciting.

It was all very lame but kind of entertaining.

Now one thing I cannot share pics of is the day I was assigned to the Autograph tables. It was epic. Got to see some very cool people up close.  People from Star Trek like William Shatner, Nichelle Nichols, George Takei, Brent Spiner, and Kate Mulgrew. From Gotham Ben McKenzie and Morena Baccarin and her Firefly costar Alan Tudyk. Luke Skywalker himself Mark Hamill was there who, as a true fan you would know, is also the voice of the Joker on Batman the animated series and his co-voice actor, Batman himself, Kevin Conroy. Speaking of Batman, Adam West and Burt Ward, the kings of classic hero camp were there. Representing Marvel was Hayley Atwell aka Agent Peggy Carter.

I am not a Whovian but there were many Dr. Who fans in line for Michelle Gomez, Alex Kingston, and the spectacularly delightful John Barrowman. He was really there for his fans and created an experience for everyone. Absolutely the nicest guy. Makes me feel bad that I do not watch any of his shows. I am not sure why I waited so long to say this but Gillian Anderson was there. I may have audibly squealed. As a huge fan of The X-Files, seeing Dana Scully in person was next level. I must admit I may be leaving people out of this list. There were just so many of them.

It was a crazy, long, tiring day that was just way too much fun. I am happy to say that all the stars that were there were pleasant and kind.

On a side note, While manning one of the entrances I met DJ Romero. Super nice guy who was frustrated by an annoying situation that I could do nothing about. And then there was Ajay Fry from InnerSpace. Who lost his badge and had to get a new one. He seemed shocked that I knew who he was. I don’t know why but I full on fan-girled after he left. He is exactly how you would expect him to be and his wife is lovely.

On the last day I was given an hour, on company time, to have a real look around to check out booths and things. I did end up buying a few items.

See. This is probably the smallest FanExpo haul, both items and money wise, I have ever gotten. Only 4 things and one of them was free!

I was given a free tee coupon and I used it. It is almost the same as the work shirt except it is black and has “2016” on it. They are both now sleep shirts.

While stationed at one of the merch booths I fell in love with this Harley Quinn Figurine.

I refused to get a Harley Quinn figure for a long time because I have always wanted a true-to-the-animated-series version which, from what I have found, does not exist. That is a real travesty. But also I have never seen one that I truly liked. I either found them ugly or overly sexualized. This is a great piece though. It is different than most figures I have seen of her, it is fun plus I got a 20% discount. How could I say no?

I also got a couple of trades.

I no longer have any qualms when it comes to picking up “Sex Criminals” but it was hard to explain it to some of my co-workers. There was a whole lot of, “It’s not what you think!” This is volume 3, I haven’t read it yet, I hope it is good. As you know I read volume 1 and really enjoyed it. I did not do a review of volume 2 but I have read it. It was not as good as the first but it was enough to keep me interested. So we will have to see how that goes.

I also picked up “Chrononauts” volume 1. This one had been on my reading list for a little while now and as I have been trying to maintain a budget I have not been heading to any book/comicbook stores. I had seen it on InnerSpace at some point and thought it interesting enough to add to my book list. It was good. Not great. There is a solid story base with a lot of fun elements but some things seemed rushed or just not flushed out. If I spot a volume 2 at any point I can see myself picking that one up too, just to see where it goes.

Well that was all from FanExpo this year. As usual it was fun, entertaining, and very tiring. Can’t wait for next year!

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