West Coast | Geekscape

A First Timer’s Convention Experience: Fan Expo Vancouver 2014

by Derek KraneveldtMay 1, 2014

This is the awesome story of my first convention adventure at this year’s Fan Expo Vancouver! Yay, more Pop! figures!

So, since this was my first expo or convention ever, I was pretty ecstatic for the whole experience. I’d heard tales of (my boyfriend) Derek’s many experiences at other conventions like San Diego Comic-Con, Stan Lee’s Comikaze Expo, and Emerald City Comic-Con and I was obviously pretty envious! I decided I really wanted to attend one of these functions for myself and possibly even cosplay if I could gather up enough courage. Thankfully, Derek looked up some conventions that were close by and came up with Fan Expo Vancouver, which was very convenient since it was just a ferry ride away and rather affordable. I was super excited at this point, but also frustrated since it was about 3 months away (I’m not the most patient person in the world and I enjoy doing fun things so yeah, frustration) but this also gave me more time to get a costume together.

Thankfully, I got my costume all finished in time and I felt like I actually did a pretty good job. I was really quite proud of what I came up with (and very rarely have I been proud of something I made), so I was pretty confident and excited to wear my costume at the expo.

Since Derek and I live on an island, we had to take a ferry over to Vancouver, which I personally find quite peaceful, beautiful, relaxing and lovely (and long and annoying). Mostly, I was just excited to be heading out on an adventure with my boyfriend. The weather was wonderful the first day and I was just praying that it would stay that way throughout the weekend…it wasn’t quite as nice the following days, but it didn’t ruin any fun, that’s for sure. After the ferry, both Derek and I were rushing out of the harbour to get onto our bus that would take us pretty much right up to our hotel. Thanks to Derek’s horrible travelling skills we got a little lost and walked a couple extra blocks than we would’ve had to otherwise, but eventually we arrived at the hotel. We were a little early to check in, but we were able to leave our bags so that we could go out and explore some of Vancouver’s many restaurants. Some delicious, fresh Ramen noodles was our first meal there, and after that we had some time to check out the mall and get another good, long walk in. You see, I’m kind of lazy and don’t get much exercise these days, so this, for me, was pretty rough. Derek however, runs all the time and is just super cool like that so he had a fine time. We got back to the hotel and checked in. It wasn’t amazing, we had to climb pretty well about eleven floors to get to our room, (the elevator was out of service) though, that meant a cheaper stay for us, plus the room was actually very nice and cozy. Also, being on the top floor, we had an awesome view of downtown Vancouver.

We were nearing Fan Expo floor opening, and I was already trying to imagine what it would be like. All the people dressed up, the super awesome celebrities, and (hopefully) all the cool Pop! figures, and Totoro things and Minecraft things and… yeah, I was into buying things, that’s for sure.

So, we arrived. The Convention Centre was beautiful. It was clean and gigantic. It had some wonderful tile work, and interesting wood art hanging from the crazy high ceilings. Now that I think of it, I should’ve taken pictures! Damn. Anyways, it was a sweet building, and to me, fit perfectly for a convention. Once we got down to the show floor entrance area, Derek headed over to the special Press table to get his pass, while I headed down to get my super fresh Fan Expo shirt, bag with the Assassins Creed guy on it, lanyard and wristband. I was pretty pumped at this point, but decided to wait a half hour so that I could walk into the expo with Derek for my first experience. (since I got the premium pass I could go in 2 hours earlier, but we got to the convention centre a little later so that I wouldn’t have to wait so long for Derek to be allowed in).

Then, we were in. The first thing I could smell was the wonderful little mini donut stand, that sat right there at the entrance just drawing you in with that lovely donuty smell… but I wasn’t really all that interested in food at that point. I could already see a few of the booths. From what I could see, they were covered in merchandise. So much colour and busyness, it drew me right in. I was ready to spend lots of dough right then and there! Derek was smart though and suggested that we take a look at all the booths first, keeping in mind the things you wanted the most and to watch the pricing, because you could literally find a toy at one booth that seemed a pretty decent price, only to find the same one at another booth for much cheaper. I saw a Sailor Mercury figurine for fifty-something at one of the first booths I saw, but then saw the exact same one for about forty-something. That’s probably the first big lesson about conventions that stuck with me.

As we were zigzagging through, dodging people, wings, huge horns, armor, wigs, and weapons, I saw many many things I was eager to purchase (I wanted that little Totoro backpack so badly, I tell ya). I saw some gorgeous artwork done by people I had never heard of before. There’s so much hidden talent, I was amazed! It was really fun to flip through portfolios and just let my eyes wander. I ended up buying a beautiful print of a griffin. I was so excited to get it up on my wall at home and it actually motivated me to get back into drawing and possibly painting.

After exploring the booths rather thoroughly, I had decided we check out a Cosplay Panel to have some sit down time, but also because Cosplay is something I really want to get into. Unfortunately the panel wasn’t all that well organized and most of it was improv, but it was interesting to hear what the panelists had to say about their Cosplaying adventures, on making the costumes, and also wearing them. When the panel was over, it was the end of the first day. Though I was a little sad the first day was already over, I was super excited for the next day, being the longest day, with the most people and cosplayers! I as well was going to be dressing up, as San Princess Mononoke. I felt both nervous and ecstatic at the thought of what the next day could bring.

That night, we went out on the town to find some dinner. After walking up and down Robson Street, like 28 times it felt like, we both finally decided on this cool little Mongolian BBQ restaurant. It was pretty awesome. The chef dude was right at the front window just showing off his fresh cooking skills. The process was pretty neat as well. It was somewhat of a buffet like style. You would get one bowl and you could fill it with your choice of meat, veggies, noodles and a massive selection of sauces, and when you were finished filling it, you would just leave your bowl with your table number underneath it on a little counter by the chef. When he had finished cooking it, one of the waitresses would bring it back up to you. It was a lovely meal, and was actually quite healthy too. I really enjoyed it and was so happy to be out with Derek exploring new foods.

After, we got back up to our hotel room we watched a little South Park and then went to sleep, not too late, to make sure we had enough energy for the next day.

It was saturday! The day I decided I would dress up. I was nervous I’m not gonna lie, yet I was very pleased with my costume and was rather confident in it! Derek didn’t dress up unfortunately, but hey, he’s still super awesome.

We both wanted to have a good breakfast that morning, so we decided on waffles…or something like that anyways. Derek using one of his many cool apps, found a little place nearby called Waffles n’ Berries. There we had two wonderful, pretty much gourmet, Belgian waffles. Probably the best we’d both ever had.

Eventually we made it back to Fan Expo once again. It was pretty chilly on the way there, and unfortunately Princess Mononoke doesn’t really wear a big sweater or jacket of some sort, so I had to suck it up and play the part. I’m sure she doesn’t fear the cold so why would I?

Saturday was definitely the best day. There were so many more Cosplayers and just so many more people altogether which made it a little claustrophobic, but also all the more exciting. Derek and I both went around again to check up on the merchandise, to see what needed buying, hehe. I actually had several people ask to take pictures with me too, even after being there for just an hour! I’m not gonna lie, I was really hoping at least one person would ask for a picture. After a couple hours of looking around together, we decided we should split up for a bit since he wanted to flip through comic boxes and I was busy trying to pick out earrings for pretty well 20 minutes at that point. Apparently we agreed on meeting up again at the mini donuts, but of course I didn’t get the whole message or something so I ended up waiting upstairs (also, Derek’s signal was crap so that didn’t help) We did find each other eventually though and that’s when we decided we would check out the Sailor Moon Salute panel.

Neither of us were quite sure what it was going to be, but I’ve always liked Sailor Moon and thought it’d be interesting to see and nice to sit down and relax for a while. It ended up being pretty fun and quite touching. This very devoted Sailor Moon cosplaying fan who was hosting the solute gave us a little dance he learned from watching many of the Sailor Moon musicals, which I had no idea existed, and sang along to the Japanese lyrics as well! That was a fun way to start off, but then they had this big burly guy step up onto the platform. He talked about this little 7 year old girl named Dawn who was a huge fan of Sailor Moon. He talked about how she had passed away from stage 3 cancer and her only wish was to see the famous Sailor Moon team, which thankfully she did get to meet. It was tough to hear, but it was a beautiful thing that team did for little Dawn. It’s remarkable to see such devoted fans so invested in what they love. Even if it’s just an anime, a show, a book, it can mean so much to them, they found beauty in the little things, it’s quite inspiring. So that was definitely a great thing to see and was a cool experience.

After the panel, we settled for a little more merchandise/comic book hunting until we both found ourselves famished and ready to chow down. That’s when we headed over to a food court that was conveniently placed just across the road from the Convention Centre. Derek saw Fat Burger right away which reminded him of one of his many food adventures during SDCC. while I was aiming towards something more like some good ol’ barbecue pork and noodles! (I love noodles). The food court was so full of Fan Expo goers though, it took an annoyingly long amount of time for Derek to get his burger, I was pretty well finished with my noodles by the time he found me. Once Derek was finished and we were both stocked up on energy, we set back to examine the paraphernalia and books some more and spent the next few hours doing that!

That evening we planned to see the Masquerade, where the cosplayers (who signed up for it) got to show off their hard work. It was impressive to see what people came up with, even some of the younger ones! I managed to get a few videos but with it pretty much at full zoom the quality wasn’t spectacular. Then, when the masquerade portion was finished with, the judges left to go do their deciding and left us with these kind of horrible “singers” who sang renditions of popular/geeky music. Derek and I sat there for probably at least an hour hoping it would soon come to an end, but I decided I had enough (and also felt like I possibly might hurl suddenly) and could care less about the results at that point, I mean, it doesn’t really matter who wins right? It’s the costumes themselves that are fan-tastic!

By that time, another Fan Expo day had come and gone, Derek and I left in search of some food, ‘cause at that time it had actually been quite a while since we had last eaten. Fresh Slice Pizza is where we ended up having dinner. I was still all dressed up and felt kind of awkward, and I could tell Derek wasn’t really enjoying his “fresh” cold pizza, however, it was still quite a memorable moment. And I myself, didn’t really have a problem with the pizza (mine was delicious).

We climbed up our eleven stories once again to settle down and get some of our things packed. We decided we’d take a sea plane back home (a twenty minute ride rather than an hour and a half ferry ride) on the last day to give us more time at the expo and still make it back in time for Easter dinner. It was kind of a bummer, the weekend felt like it flew by and it sucked because I don’t remember the last time I’ve had that much fun. I also didn’t dress up the last day cause I wanted to be super comfortable (and didn’t necessarily want to wear my costume on the plane) because there were still a few more things I wanted to check out at the booths, and I wanted to explore the artist alley a little more thoroughly before leaving. I’m pretty sure I ended up spending more that day than any of the other two haha. In the beginning I didn’t even think there was much more I needed (wanted), but with me, I guess there always is.

The last few hours flew by and before I knew it we were on our super terrifying, turbulence filled sea plane ride back to our wee island. Though I was upset it was all over, I was happy with how it all worked out and definitely happy with all my purchases! (my horse mask in particular, and the last three Adventure Time Pop! Figures I needed for my collection!)

I had the time of my life at Fan Expo and already miss it so much! I was in awe at just how much stuff was there and the amazing art that a lot of artists had to show. There were so many dedicated fans there, such as the man who was really into his Sailor Moon stuff. I appreciate your commitment! And I’d like to thank those people who took photos with me, I just felt really special.

Also, I want to thank my lovely boyfriend, Derek, for encouraging me to dress up and just for making the whole amazing Fan Expo weekend come together! I want to go to so many more now and build up my costume making skills! I’m undoubtably going to go to a convention in the States! I WILL, ONE DAY!

We Had A Blast At Last Weekend’s Fan Expo Vancouver: Here’s Our Recap!

by Derek KraneveldtApril 27, 2014

Last weekend marked a HUGE start to a jam-packed convention season, with WonderCon in Anaheim, Sakuracon in Seattle, and Fan Expo in Vancouver all running concurrently from Friday through Sunday.

As I’ll be heading down to San Diego for Comic-Con in July, another trip across the border wasn’t in the cards for me this month (I’m located on Vancouver Island, Canada, if you weren’t already aware). So, I hopped on a ferry, grabbed a bus, and ended up here: the Vancouver Convention Centre. My ever-growing-in-geekiness girlfriend joined me for this one, as she’s never been to a convention before, and was super interested after hearing my many stories from last year’s SDCC and Stan Lee’s Comikaze. She even cosplayed (which you’ll learn all about in her special guest post which should be up in the next day or two).

I don’t spend much time in Vancouver, so I’d never actually had the pleasure of seeing its convention centre before. The building was absolutely incredible, to the level of possibly being the nicest building that I’ve ever entered. Seriously, check out the photo gallery on the building’s official website, and you’ll see what I mean.

Of course, I wasn’t here for the building. I was here to see what Fan Expo Vancouver’s 162,000 sq. ft of booths, exhibitors, artists, guests, panels, and more had to offer.

There were also a few specific single issues that I planned on hunting down:

1) The very first issue of Y: The Last Man, especially since series artist and Vancouver native Pia Guerra had a table in artist’s alley. – I failed on this front… apparently there wasn’t a single retailer on the show floor that had a copy. Y is my favourite comic book series, and so this is an issue that I’ve wanted for years.

2) The first issue of Vol 1. of Ultimate Comics Spider-Man. Spidey has been my favourite hero since I was a small child, but this is the series that got me really into comics. I’ve always wanted a copy of the first issue, and artist Mark Bagley was also at the convention. Sadly, I failed here too.

3) Saga chapter one. I read the first issue digitally before adding the book to my physical pull list. Of course, at the point chapter one was impossible to find a first print of. I succeeded here, got a great deal on the issue, and it was signed by artist Fiona Staples too.

Tickets for the Expo went on sale a couple of months before the show opened, and for such a well put together event, I was quite impressed with the price of entry. A pass for the entire weekend ran just $69, while a ‘premium’ pass was $99 and included a t-shirt, bag, collectible badge, and lanyard, along with entry through an exclusive entrance (which exited right by the mini-donut stand) and entry two hours before regular ticket holders. Have kids? They got in for free with your ticket purchase. Very cool.

The shirt included with the premium pass.

Once we picked up our tickets, we walked through the premium (and press, apparently) entrance and were welcomed by a spacious, well laid out show floor. The celebrity autograph and photo op area were wide open, meaning that even if you weren’t interested in paying an autograph fee, you could still get a glimpse of any of the many celebrities in attendance. Those lines got very long, very fast, which meant that there was plenty of room to peruse through the 98+ exhibitor booths (and that’s not including artist’s alley). The aisles were wide, and even at the expo’s busiest times (read: the entirety of Saturday), you had room to move, which is more than you could expect from SDCC and Comikaze. I loved this aspect, as there was never a moment of Fan Expo that wasn’t calm, relaxed, and fun (or maybe it’s just Canadian), while the other aforementioned cons can be outright confusing and overwhelming at (most) times.

Interested in looking at the layout or seeing what events Fan Expo had to offer? Click here for the official schedule.

I spent the majority of the first day following my ecstatic girlfriend while she obsessed over Pop! figures (her newest addiction), studied each and every item at each an every booth (or at least what seemed like it), and excitedly talked to nearly every artist in artist’s alley. It was awesome to see, and reminded me of the perplexed awe that I felt both at my first convention (Emerald City Comic-Con in 2009), and especially last year at my first SDCC.

Once the show floor closed for the night, we walked around Vancouver’s famous Robson street in search of a neat dining experience unlike one that we’d find on Vancouver Island. We ended up at a Mongolian BBQ, which boasted a ridiculously affordable healthy meal that basically had us filling a dish with vegetables, meats and sauces in whatever portions we desired, before the restaurant’s chef cooked it up in front of you. The food was delicious, and more than filling, all for under $10.

The next morning we left our hotel, grabbed some delicious (especially since I’d never had one before) Belgian waffles from a small cafe fittingly titled Waffles N’ Berries, and then headed back to the show floor. Today, we (of course) spent a lot of time on the floor (I did the lion’s share of my book hunting… and failing, today), but also decided to see what Fan Expo’s panels had to offer. Hayley donned the cosplay garb that she’d been working on for the last month (again, look for a guest post about that soon), and it looked great, and a ton of people asked her for photos, so while she was absurdly nervous while dressing up, she was nothing but confident when she arrived.

First we went to a Sailor Moon 20th anniversary panel. This one wasn’t my idea, as I’ve never really read (or watched) anything from the Sailor Moon universe. I’m very glad that I attended it however, as it was one of the best examples of fan community and passion that I’ve ever witnessed. The panel started with the somber announcement of the passing of a 7 year old Sailor Moon superfan named Dawn. Dawn was diagnosed with Stage 3 cancer, and one of her final wishes was to be visited by the Sailor Moon team. Here’s the video of the visit:

Post by Anime Evolution.

Dawn passed away just a few weeks before Fan Expo. It was extremely heartbreaking to see the group member, who was a full grown man who looked as though he could easily take me in a fight (not that it would be particularly hard), break into tears and simply find himself too overwhelmed to continue speaking. It brought the entire room to tears, and was truly an inspirational moment of realization of just what fandom and community mean.

The multimedia panel continued with video clips from the multitude of Sailor Moon musicals (which I didn’t know existed, but they actually looked pretty cool), and the little known revelation that a new musical is in the works. Then we were shown some godawful footage from Toon Maker’s version of Sailor Moon. It was an animated/live-action hybrid, and it almost existed, here’s the video:

During the video, the room filled with Sailor Moon fans and cosplayers gasped and laughed at the worst imaginable version of the thing that they loved so much. It was pretty hilarious, but also extremely scary that something so bad nearly existed.

After the panel we grabbed some lunch (FatBurger, naturally) and went back to the show floor. This time we met WolfCop (check out the hilarious trailer here), and then split up for a bit so Hayley could look for more Pop! figures and so I could flip through long boxes. Good fun.

Before the show closed, we headed up to Ballroom A, where the Fan Expo’s first Masquerade was being held. This was essentially a cosplay contest with a hilarious MC, and for the most part it was a fantastic way to see some of the convention’s best costumes. Costumers walked the stage for the better part of 90 minutes (including the opening children’s group, which was ridiculously cute). There were some amazing costumes here, and I wish that I’d had a better camera on me at the time to snap some photos of them. The were just two issues that I had with the Masquerade; first being that a substantial portion of the entrants didn’t show up (why the hell would you sign up if you weren’t planning to make it), and second being that following the final entrant walking the stage, the judges left to talk about who should win… and then they didn’t return for over an hour. We actually left before the judges returned, as the room was reduced to non-performers heading onstage to sing terrible renditions of hit songs.

We were pretty tired that night from a 12+ hour stint at the Convention Centre, so instead of searching from another unique restaurant, we grabbed a few slices of pizza from a nearby Fresh Slice… which was possibly the worst pizza that I’ve ever had in my life. It came out of the ‘hot case’ ice cold, and I’m not overly sure that these doughy pieces of trash were ever blessed by heat.

The third and final day of the expo arrived, and we took it pretty easy this time around. We split up again so Hayley could look at more collectibles and I could yet again flip through longboxes. Being Easter Sunday, the floor wasn’t nearly as busy at this time, so I used the opportunity to go and meet The Walking Dead co-creator and original artist Tony Moore. Being a huge The Walking Dead fan, I obviously love his work, and Tony had for sale a variety of gorgeous TWD and non-TWD prints, and some incredible decked out sketch covers like the one below. I very nearly picked up one of these covers, but it was $600 I thought better put towards my San Diego trip.

I instead picked up a great print (though my first choice was sold out), and also got to grab a quick photo (see below). We chatted about the television series for a few minutes, and essentially agreed on the fact that the show does a lot of things right, but also does a lot of things wrong. He was really nice and approachable, and getting to meet and chat with Tony was probably the highlight of the convention for me.

Aside from looking at a lot of expensive comics that afternoon (I very nearly picked up a 9.9 CGC copy of The Walking Dead #1, but then realized that I just cleared my Visa, and I definitely don’t need to max it out again so soon), we did our rounds a few more times, grabbed some more mini donuts, and checked out more phenomenal cosplay. The show floor closed one last time, so we hopped on a sea plane back to Vancouver Island (which was much bumpier than usual), and went for Easter dinner.

Overall, Fan Expo Vancouver was a stellar and affordable convention, and was an absolutely fan-tastic (ha) time. If you’re anywhere near the west coast of Canada next April, I wouldn’t hesitate to spend my weekend there. I did snap a few cosplay photos (among others) during the weekend, so check those out below, and let us know what you think!