Well, another Fan Expo has come and gone. Seriously, I was not planning to go this year. I thought hard about it. I considered going for just one day on Saturday for Gina Torres (loved her in Hercules and Xena. Yes, those shows and not Firefly), Karl Urban (Hail Caesar!) and Dean Cain (Superman!!).
Then...
Someone, with a week to go, decided to put a Q&A panel for... Lost Girl (what? again?), The Listener (WHAT??) and Covert Affairs (WHAT?!) - 3 shows that I have been watching only a weekly basis. I would have died if they had tossed in Once Upon A Time and Rizzoli & Isles!
Speaking of Rizzoli & Isles, I am so sad to hear about the passing of Lee Thompson Young. From what I read, he seemed to be genuine, loveable guy. And to hear that he was in a deep depression and took his own life is very tragic and shocking. Please, if you have any friends that are feeling depressed, talk to them or get them help. If you have no one to talk to, please go to Canada Suicide & Crisis Hotlines. You will be missed Lee.
Once I saw the announcement for the 3 shows... and spread out over 2 days, I had to buy the tickets but which one to buy. I could get just Saturday and Sunday. Or I could get Deluxe for the weekend. Or I could get the Premium. Decisions, decisions, decisions. I ended up getting the Premium pass with a tshirt, reusable bag and a comic. Also, the premium pass allows me to use priority entrance and enter other Hobby Star events up to July 2014.
Interestingly, I could have attended Thursday but forgot my pass at home. So, I did not go after work. However, I did bring it with me on Friday, so I went after work and spend 2 hours and mostly looking for swags. And swag I did! I grabbed a bunch of posters over the weekend. It included Walking Dead, Call of Duty, God of War and some others then will likely be recycled... but the one that I got and wish I grabbed a few more of is this:
The unfortunately part is, after Friday, they did not have any of it left. Nor did they have Lost Girl or Covert Affairs poster available! Darn it.
Every year at the Fan Expo it's about the costumes but I guess I didn't care this time. It seems always be the similar things, the super hero, the cartoon anime and this year, there were a lot of Assassins... as in Assassin's Creed game series. I did see a Bomberman... and Chewy!
And Fan Expo wouldn't be the same without Legos... GIANT Lego pieces...
I get a feeling that Lost Girl will be returning 2014... because when I got there, there was already a line up. The Q&A did not start til 12 noon and luckily my friends were already waiting in line... at 10am... No joke.
I will just save typing and just give you the Q&A thanks to @Faenonymous
However, I will share some photos cause they're fun. But the highlights of the Q&A?
- KC getting picked on... again
- Kris showing us how Rachel threw the boomerang
- Rachel coming back at Kris for "I am an animal" with kids around
- calling Zoie Palmer
- George Takei!
After that was autographs... they did a lottery system this year which kinda sucks... I did get something signed by Rachel :)
In the afternoon, it was off to The Listener but it's autograph first!
Rainbow is such a funny guy. He got out of his seat and decided to stand in the line pretending to be a fan and then yelled "Hurry up! I want my autograph!"
s
There were highlights from the Q&A. The best part is the story twist to have Michelle get pregnant and the baby looking like Dev...
Unfortunately, it does not looks like anyone has a video of the Q&A... maybe picture helps?
After the Q&A, the cast did a bit more signing... I walked pass Lauren Lee Smith and said Hi again! She is so awesome!
So that ended my Saturday. I went out to dinner with fellow fae friends. It's always nice to see them again. You meet so many people and you build friendships with them. I now have friends in Boston, Montreal, and France. There was this one fan who came from Italy just for the Lost Girl. Yes, we definitely need to get a Lost Girl only con going! Go! Follow! Like!
For Sunday, it was Covert Affairs. It was really the only thing left to do. I recorded the Q&A... I should really invest in a tripod... I held my little camera for the whole 36min Q&A and yes, my arms were tired but it seemed they got more of a work out then anything...
Unfortunately, I was not able to get an autograph (lottery again)... I am not going to even get into it...
How about we end this post with some more pictures?
Does anyone need to make a phone call??
And "Standee Anonymous" or the Gathering of the Standees...
Well, 2014 will be 20th anniversary of the Fan Expo... I'm sure they're going to expand again... and possibly toss in Lost Girl (again)... and if that's the case, you can be sure I will be there.
It's another year of the Fan Expo! I am going to just call it the Unofficial Fae Con :P because 1) I wasn't planning to go this year even with Gillian Anderson (not a fan of X-Files... SORRY!), 2) it's $45 + $5 service charge (really? service charge?) and 3) I would only be interested in Kate Mulgrew, Captain Kathryn Janeway.
BUUUUTTT... lo and behold, they announced the cast of Lost Girl will be making a repeat appearance. Really? Fan Expo decided to repeat the awesomeness of Lost Girl from 2011? Ok, you win. I cannot say no to Lost Girl.
Let me split this blog into 3 sections, so if you want to skip my non-Lost Girl and swag rambling, feel free to click on "Lost Girl" and move onto the important part.
Lots of happening at Fan Expo like they do every year. So, I woke up early and drove down and what do I see on the highway? A police car... but not JUST any ordinary police car... It's...
A Chamberlain County Sheriff cop car? Where is Chamberlain County? It's definitely NOT in Canada since I've never heard people use "Sheriff" here. It must be a movie set car! And the tow truck did say something about Film Tow...
A little advice for you, if you plan to visit Toronto for the Fan Expo. Buy your ticket in advance and either have them mailed to you (there was an extra charge) or pick it up advanced! I had purchased my tickets a few weeks before (once Lost Girl was confirmed) and had picked it up at the advance booth earlier in the week. Why? See this:
This was the lineup for already purchased ticket. Now, there was a TOTALLY different line for buying tickets... this picture courtesy of @ri_docculus. Having said that though, the line up to get in was smooth. It moved along at a pace that it took only 15min to go through the snake line. Have to give credit to the Fan Expo organizer for quickness and organization. It could have been disaster like a few years ago. Here's another image from the top of the massive amount of people who had pre-purchased tickets.
And as a bonus picture, I saw Chainsaw Lollipop (the video game) line up...
As usual, there are LOTS of things to see... lots of vendors, previews and samples. If you collect comic books or action figure, this is the place to be since most vendors do have back issues or special editions. I didn't even bother looking at the stuff... I could spend hundreds of dollars trying to find Xena collectibles. As I said, LOTS of things to see... I guess this is the reason why they called this the Comic-Con North!
There's this...
and then Lego Hulk... just look at the size of that kid!!
And... DarthMaus?
And my favourite SHE-RA!!!!! Oh and the Batman guy...
And Back to the Future car!
Other notables that I seriously can't take all the pictures of includes: Sailor Moon, Star Wars Troopers, Star Trek, Princess Leia, Steampunk, Doctor Who, Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Spartacus, Megaman, Portal (video game) and a host of other anime stuff.
End of the Fan Expo rambling! Now for some SWAAAAGS!
Another thing I love about going to Fan Expo is to see new things and to get freebies. Who doesn't love swag? No, please do not call the swag police (Rizzoli & Isles reference. lol)
There were plenty of things available. CTV were giving out t-shirts to promote their tv shows but I missed out on them. But I did pick up other stuff. A bag from EBGames (no picture, it's just a bag...), these "ROXX" thingies which reminds me of a lot of Pogs back in the days...
Then there's this Marvel spintop beans thing and a Michael Jackson Experience disco ball keychain and free itune movie/comic/music (1 time use) but I don't have an itune. I just wanted the card.
Of course, you can't forget the comic books (I only picked up 1 and a Lego one)
Also picked up 7 buttons for the main characters of Once Upon a Time
And I must toss in a game related stuff. Picked up an Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Assassin's Creed card for the voice actors to sign but I just wanted them cause I like the games and it's neat! lol
So, are you still with me? Or did you just skip everything above and just clicked on Lost Girl? I know it's long, I don't blame you.
And now, I present the most important and the reason to be Fan Expo...
At Hall G at 12 noon!
The Q&A officially started at 12 noon but I got there around 10:30am. 1) I'm over excited, 2) beat the crowd and 3) I want a better seat then I had last year! And I did meet up with Lost Girl tweeps!
@Faenonymous, Tim and Sue of @MindReel, @jorjafoxluvr, @Byflutterby, @QuickLookBusy, @mpleaf67, @NellyFFan, and I have to mention these 2
@smellycat1304 and @rocarangi for coming ALL the way from France to be here! I hope you gals had an awesome time!
I probably left out a few people... sorry!!
One thing the Lost Girl fan reminds me is the Xenaverse. The fans are just fantastic people and great people the be with. The cast themselves are just very humble, very friendly and faetastic people. I love Lost Girl for the show, the cast, the fans and the story. I am forever a Xenite and a Faefan!
Oh right... the actual Q&A
And the wonderful @thetelevixen moderating the panel
The cast of Lost Girl
Ksenia Solo and Anna Silk... Is Ksenia tweeting?
Rick Howland, KC Collins, Zoie Palmer and Kris Holden-Reid
They were asked about the triangle... soKmReIoSne mentioned a threesome...
We really doubled the number of people who came last year. I recall, Anna last year said she was surprised by the size of the crowd because the show was only in Canada at the time and that Lost Girl were at the Fan Expo in 2010 with a booth and asking people to watch it. Anna, your wish came true! Rick's comment from 2011 was "It's the number 2 show being downloaded online." Oh yes, he meant that.
But the success of the show has risen so much that that I'm sure we can do a Fae Con, even fan run and be successful... It's a work in progress. Just look at the crowd!
Back to the Q&A
Lots of things were said... but no secrets were given away. However, we were treated to Season 2 bloopers before the cast game out!
Courtesy of underwolrd6667
Rick also served water to Ksenia and Anna... oh Rick, the Trickster came out, didn't he?
KC Collins getting picked on but that's because he loves spooning with Kris Holden-Reid and with Zoie Palmer.
Zoie wants to have Lauren wear nothing but Labcoat...
Kris considers himself as the hunk of the show
Zoie being Zoie... making the perfect timing comments
Kris and his "French Canadian" accent
KC keeps digging himself into a deeper hole and the cast just jump on it
Ksenia living tweeting while in Q&A
I did ask a question... I was the 1st but due to time constraint, I can only ask ONE! I know I'm so greedy... So I asked a question in reference to this:
Hopefully I will get to ask other questions. They are good ones. Trust me! But it will be for another convention.
After the Q&A is OFF to the autographs! It was a long line up. It was great just chatting with random people and I did bump into someone that I didn't expect. He said he watches the show for Kenzi. Sure, Doug... SURE.
Also met Sam, the wonderful Kenzi look-a-like and performing the "Kicking it! I'm the wolfman!"
I totally missed filming it and I was going to do it. I can tell you Kris and Ksenia loved it so much... Ksenia wanted a picture with Sam! She titled Kenzi meets Kenzi
Apparently, some fans didn't get the chance for the up close. It is not really the cast fault. If they could, they WOULD sit through how ever many hours needed to meet everyone. It was due to time constraint for the next person to sign (seriously, what can be more awesome then Lost Girl?) I hope that those who missed the chance to meet the case were able to get the signed picture at least.
OH WAIT: Those who missed it... You MUST click this
So what happened when I got my stuff signed?
When it did get to my turn, Rick looked at me and said, "Hi JOANNE" like I did something wrong. A two questions into my mind, 1) why does he remember my name when he meets hundreds if not thousands of fans, 2) what did I do that made him remember me? Was it good? Bad? Nope either, he remembers me from season 2 finale viewing.
Kris remembered me as "the girl who had too many questions." lol
Ksenia, Zoie and Anna signed my photos and asked where they were from. One was from last Fan Expo and the other was from the pre-show taping. I just love Zoie and Anna. If I could, I'd take you home with me!
And of course, I can't forgot KC Collins, he asked how I was doing. I told him "ah... I'm alive?" and I think he laughed - still love his smile. I seriously don't know how to answer that question. I usually give unexpected answers...
The ONLY people missing was Paul and Emmanuelle. I know Paul is funny and Emmanuelle would fit right in! We may request Emmanuelle to do the "Dancing Morrigan." If these 2 were at the panel, I think the roof would have exploded from too much laughter.
So what did I get signed?
8x10 photo signed!
A a bunch of personal pictures! They're from either Fan Expo 2011 or from the Pre-Show taping.
So, let's make this Fae Con happen, give the account a follow. Yes, shameless self promotion. I know we filled out the room... and with hundreds more that couldn't attend. And trust me, if 2 girls would visit from France... just imagine how BUSY and INSANE it would be if it's just Lost Girl ONLY CON at an ideal date!
And for ALL the pictures at the Q&A and Autograph Session, click here. I have 50 photos up (that's not a lot) but if you have photo and want to share, let me know, we'll find a way to group all the pictures and have one ginormous Lost Girl album...
PS: Sorry, some photos aren't in their proper angle cause Blogger is stupid and decided to auto rotate them inappropriately.
PPS: Wow, that was long... hope you enjoyed it though!
UPDATE: adding new video from different angles
previous video links:
Courtesy of msckaren
