*Reporting Live From Fan Expo Canada 2025*
After years of considering going to Fan Expo, we finally decided the time was right to do it. It’s one of the largest travelling conventions in the world for fandom of (sometimes overlapping) TV shows, movies of every stripe, comics, books, video games, table top games, and more.
We’re here on the last day of the convention, as our availability would have it. And even so, it’s at times dealing with crushing numbers of people ebbing and flowing among abundant offerings of guest showings and photo ops and autographs and vendors and seminars and workshops and seemingly acres of artists.
People here range from those dressed for practicality and comfort (like yours truly) to those who go to town with costumes that can be hugely impressive. I’ve seen aliens and anime characters, superheroes, supervillains, sci-fi, fantasy, video game and cartoon characters. I could name some but not most, and that in itself is pretty cool. There are countless entire, rich universes full of lore and events and characters I’ve never heard of, yet they’ve all found their audiences, from the casual to the demonstrably diehard.
The likes of this con are where people are encouraged to let their fandom freak flag fly; a mind-bogglingly diverse and safe, wholly inclusive crowd where all are welcome, and any effort toward looking like your favourite character will almost certainly find fans of the same who will recognize who/what you are and appreciate your minor-to-extraordinary efforts.
We missed a few things we wanted to catch as first time Expo-goers, whether it be due to panel-led seminars overlapping or photo shoots due to underestimating how long it took to get from the South building of the Toronto Convention Centre to the North building (all internal, still a trek). But now that we’ve finally checked this out and have some idea what to expect and how it all works, I suspect there’s a good chance it won’t be our last time coming.
Next year, maybe I go as Conan The Barbarian? Better get working on those abs…