Toronto Fan Expo of 2013

What started in 1995,  now annually holds a 4-day event that can be categorized into six different genres.

Comic Books, Anime, Sci-Fi, Horror, Video Games and new to this year - Sports.

This concluded year of 2013, housed the largest gathering to date with over 100,000 attendees,
last year’s record was 91,000.  In preparation for this year's numbers the venue needed to expand.  Home to the Toronto Metro Convention Centre, with its space reserved traditionally in the south building.  This year, the Expo opened up the North Building for the highly anticipated attendance, to a now whopping 600,000 square feet of space.

The most notable trend that took centre stage was the well over 10,000+ people in attendance for cosplay.  Marking it as one of the largest in North America.  Which also lends itself to the breaking of the Guinness World Record for the gathering of Daleks in a room.  The previous record was in the UK of 95 people.  The Doctor Who  Society of Canada smashed that record by gathering 159 in a room; On hand was the 6th Doctor, Colin Baker to witness the event.
 

Also in attendance was the Toronto Steampunk Society who are known to practice all things Steampunk, from holding workshops in  building gadgets & props to advance costumes; and holding a Tea Duel!

Geek Alert!  The Star Wars event held by the 501st Legion made their presence felt; With a Jedi School, Panels, workshops for kids, an incredibly elaborate  booth for photo sessions, and a gathering of storm troopers.

 Video Gaming

On hand was EP Daily host Victor Lucas  and voice actor Tara Strong.

The event mimicked E3, with the X-box One & PS4  display booths, equipped with playable demos.
 Montreal developer Ubisoft’s creative team was also on hand to showcase their soon to be release Splinter Cell: Black List with a playable Demo.
An entire area was dedicated to Board Games, Role playing games, miniature games and tons of videogames.

 In Anime 
Events included Anime music videos , cosplay takeovers, costume designing, live Anime game shows, Lolita Fashion show & Tea Party, and the Cosplay Awards. Also on hand was the cast of Sailor Moon who celebrated their 20th Anniversary

   Comic Books Headlined by Spawn creator

Todd McFarlane and

Marvels Legend Stan Lee

Fan Expo Brought back Artist Alley and featured Artist Sketching Duels,

Like Ken Lashley against Jeff Lemire who went pen to pen. The original art they produce went up for grabs once they’re all done. Workshop seminars for enthusiasts, Q& A Panels with writers and artists, Premiere comic book Artists David Fincher & France’s Olivier Coipel where signing their work plus over 200, 000 Square feet of comic book store booths, t-shirts, posters, props, TV/Film DVDs & Blue- Rays, Lego, and other paraphernalia.

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Horror: Festival of Fear

Headlined by Director Joe Dante (Gremlins and The Howling) and Ron Pearlman (Hellboy)
On hand was the Author of World War Z Max Brooks, The Creator of Hellboy Mike Mignola, Stars of The Walking Dead, Stars of the Cult Favorite Re-Animator movie and its Sequel From beyond.  Rocker Alice Cooper, Members of Evil Dead the Musical, who are making their theatrical stage Return to Toronto in October.

 Guns N Roses Guitarist Slash unleashed  
 SLASHER FILM, his company dedicated to  
 resurrecting 70's & 80's style horror.  With
 'Nothing Left to Fear'. (His first film venture)

 Also on hand was the Canadian Cast of Being 
 Human; and the Cast of Once Bitten who
 came with their Screening of their pilot episode.

Sci-Fi/Fantasy 

Was packed with the most celebrities. 

Ian McDiarmid (Star Wars’ The Emperor) & Carrie Fisher, David Hasslehoff & KITT,  Richard Dean Anderson, Superman's Dean Cain,

CW's Arrow - Stephen Amell,  Linda Hamilton, The Stars of FireFly,  Defiance & Covert Affairs. The Full Cast of  Orphan Black, Lost Girl, Warehouse 13, Helix,& Murdock Mysteries

Actors George Takei (Mr. Sulu) & Michelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura)

Zachary Quinto (American Horror Story/Asylum/Heroes/StarTrek)
 Karl Urban (Star Trek, Judge Dredd & Priest) who was on hand to screening of the Pilot episode of  Almost Human,  Arron Ashmore (Lost Girl & Smallville) & Shawn Ashmore (X-Men's Iceman & The Following).
 

Roberto Alomar

Sports
To commemorate the 20th Anniversary World Series win of the Toronto Blue Jays, Roberto Alomar, Ricky Henderson, Paul Molitor, & Tony Fernandez  were on hand.
Sporting Legends Bobby Orr, Gordie Howe, Joe Montana, Joe Sakic, Martin Brodeur, Olympian Ben Johnson, Secretariat jockey Ron Turcotte, and Hulk Hogan whose infamous Arm wrestling match with Toronto Mayor Rob Ford went Viral.  And tons of retail sports cards and memorabilia

Rounding out the extras at  Fan Expo was, Jason Priestly who was on hand for the screening of the returning  episode of Season 4 of Call me Fitz, The Cast of Storage Wars Canada, Pawn Stars’ Chumlee, Luke Perry, and the Stars of Sons of Anarchy Ron Pearlman and Katey Segal.

Newlyweds David & Lindsey

And marking its 3rd year,

Speed Dating

 A couple who met at the 2011 event, got engaged at the 2012 event and on day two of Fan Expo (Aug 23rd, 2013) they got married at a golf club in Newmarket, Ont..

I first Attended the event in 2010, and that was the year of greatest criticism.  the venue was over capacity in crowds, management became painfully aware with multiple complaints. Just prior I had
just attended wizards Comic-con and was sort of spoiled on how smooth and logically it ran.

Entrance fee and fees for autographs and photo ops made sense, but Q&A sessions were free with first come first serve.  Here at  Fan Expo admission is a little higher, which is understandable with venue size and all the genres of star power at attendance, but  you need to pay for entry for Q & A, plus any photo op, or Autograph Session.   So essentially once you paid to get in , you must also pay for any and all interactions with the stars you come to see.  That year,  2010 to sign for an autograph or a photo op or attending the Q & A,

I needed to double back to another end of the building to register and pay for a select person or cast, then travel back to attend.  whereas with comic-con any signage is in relatively close proximity  and that’s only for photo Ops sessions. I could pay the celebrity directly for autographs.

The cost issue of paying for everything once inside is still a given, but overcrowding, has been addressed.  The Legendary line up for tickets and gaining access are also a given unfortunately, but that is expected even at comic-con...  In 2010, myself and few patrons felt Fan Expo was a large money grab, and complaints of particular incidents due to overcrowding resulted into 'no refunds'; it was their company policy. Jumping forward to today, steps have been made, and management appears to be listening.

For me the phenomena of Comic-con and Fan expo is watching the streets of downtown Toronto fill with cosplay, it’s such a colourful spectacle of seeing some of my favorite characters come to life as they now begin to walk among us.

Next year's Fan Expo is set for Aug 28th to Aug 31st. 2014.