So today is the first day of the Fan Expo 2008 Convention at the Toronto Metro Convention Center. What is great about going to this Con every year is that it encompasses five different genres (horror, sci-fi, gaming, comics and anime/manga) under one roof. The show encompasses 3 days (August 22-24) and is considered to be the largest of it’s kind in Canada. Though ticket prices have seemed to increased over the years ($25 each day or $49 for a 3-day pass), it certainly hasn’t deterred fans from attending..in fact it feels as though it gets busier and busier each year!

Also, for those attendees who preordered the deluxe or premium pass, will be able to enter the convention 2 hours earlier on Friday (2 pm vs. 4 p.m.). Let me tell you that when they introduced that last year, it was definitely worthwhile to go earlier before the rest of the crowd came in. Besides all the panels, workshops, screenings and dealers, I think many people attend to meet some of their favourite celebrities who act in their favourite movies or shows. This year though, Hobbystar was able to have Buzz Aldrin, the first man to set foot on the moon, to come as the special guest of the show.

Also, there has been a greater emphasis on videogames since last year’s con…with the introduction of professional gaming competitions, whereby professional gaming teams square off for prize money and bragging rights. When this post becomes published on this blog, I’m most likely heading my way into the con and hopefully find some nice goodies along the way. Stay tuned as I’ll blog more about the Fan Expo and take some pics! =)

Update:

So when I got to the convention today, it was pretty busy. What really surprised me was the fact that the line for prepaid premium passes was A LOT longer than the both the regular ticket purchase line and the deluxe pass line. Since I was the only one in my group who bought the Premium pass, I waited in line an extra hour (though the premium pass came with a “goodie” bag, the only thing worth keeping in my opinion was the X-Men comic book with special cover art by Alex Ross).

Once I actually had my pass and got in line with the rest of my friends, it was definitely a wise decision that we got advance entrance pass because the lines were definitely huge and it was nice to get a two hour headstart over the general admission and pick-up all the free goodies. I actually got a “Stark Industries” poster tube and a couple of t-shirts free from the Blockbuster booth (one of the Con’s sponsors). My friend and I agreed that there wasn’t really much in terms of new anime merchandise and so neither of us felt inclined to purchase anything (thankfully). However, we both felt compelled to each pay $30 to buy the Future Hiro Nakamura variant figure at the con since it’s technically a convention exclusive and was limited to a couple of hundred.

After walking around and taking pictures of celebrities like Henry Winkler (The Fonz from Happy Days) and Brent Spiner (Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation), we decided to head for the DC panel discussion and then the Marvel panel discussion right afterwards. Though I haven’t really followed any of the comic book storylines for awhile, it definitely entertaining to listen to stories by some of the writers from each company and finding out about future projects.

I did manage to take a few pictures and I’ll most likely post them once the convention is over. Time to get some rest and get ready for day two! =)

-Stephen