The 19th edition of Fan Expo Canada is now halfway through and I finally have some time to express my thoughts on my 5th convention experience. Even though Fan Expo is occupying both building of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre this year, the bulk of the action remains in the main exhibition hall of the South Building. In fact, there is no real reason to head on over to the North Building, unless you want to get a celebrity autograph, attend a panel in the large theatre, and check out Fan Expo Sports. Speaking of which, with all the controversy surrounding its announcement, the sports section of Fan Expo turned out to be only a very small part of the whole convention. Of course, I made sure to go to the section today to try and get a glimpse of wrestling legend Hulk Hogan, who definitely is quite a big guy when you see him up close. At this point I have yet to really indulge in any of the celebrity Q&A panels, mostly because I don’t want a repeat of last year, where I wasted away whole entire days lining up for panels. The only panel at the Expo I’ve seen so far was with horror director Don Coscarelli, whom I later met in person in the exhibition hall, as well as Troma Entertainment’s Lloyd Kaufman. I also attended a screening of The Burbs on Thursday evening, which had, Festival of Fear guest of honour, Joe Dante in attendance for a Q&A afterwards. I opted not to pay for autographs this year, but I did manage to get a free autograph from Manborg director Steven Kostanski. I also purchased the limited edition Manborg comicbook, which was on sale at the expo. Even though I’m not paying for any autographs this year, I am still getting a whole burned in my pocket by the overpriced food items. It really sucks when the least expensive food item is $8 for a slice of pizza and pop. Sadly, leaving to get food elsewhere might result in problems of its own. As I head into the second half of Fan Expo, I’m worried how splitting the Expo between the two buildings will affect the busy Saturday crowds. It was already quite busy today and getting onto the many escalators was sometimes a slow task. I expect that, since I probably won’t be able to really move around the exhibition hall, I will use tomorrow to actually check out some of the Q&A panels. Here’s hoping for a fun second half of Fan Expo!
