Fan Expo Canada, the country’s biggest pop culture convention, is back in Toronto with a spectacular line up filled with celebrity guests, panels, vendors and exciting new activations sure to impress the entire fandom.
Fan Expo Canada began as a small comic book convention of around 1,500 fans, but quickly became one of the most popular, multi-day events in the city bringing in hundreds of thousands of people around the world. This includes TV and film fans, cosplayers, comic enthusiasts, anime lovers and more.
Vice President at Fan Expo HQ Andrew Moyes tells Now Toronto what fans can expect at this year’s convention.
“This is the place to celebrate all things fandom…One thing that I’m really excited to see this year is a lot of the large brands have built experiences for the fans to walk through and get integrated within our South Building. So you know, like Crunchyroll, Prime Video, Paramount, some really awesome experiences that just add to the flavor for the weekend,” he said in an interview on Friday.
Moyes goes on to say that this event is highly important to the community especially following the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic when major conventions such as this were put on pause.
“Since the pandemic, I think we’ve realized that, you know, you just can’t replicate this sort of community connection digitally. So, people have to come together to bump into each other. They’re dressed in the same costume. It sparks conversation and sparks the photo, it sparks, you know, lifelong friendships,” he explained.
Speaking of costumes, the organizer says some of the activities fans enjoy the most at Fan Expo Canada are the costume competition and the cosplay red carpet.
In addition to showing off extravagant cosplay attire, fans also love to shop, thus the hundreds of retailers and vendors on display. There is something for everyone from superhero tee-shirts, stuffed toys, posters, jewellry to action figure galore.
READ MORE: Original ‘Scream’ cast coming to Toronto’s Fan Expo this summer
Between the shopping, fans can also peruse the program schedule where celebrity guests, comic creators and voice actors among others are slated to speak and share their stories.
On Thursday, the convention’s opening day, Scream actress Neve Campbell appeared on stage and was joined by her fellow original Scream co-stars such as Skeet Ulrich, Matthew Lillard, and Jamie Kennedy.
Fans of the iconic cult classic can still catch a photo op with the cast on Saturday. Meanwhile other celebrities expected to be in attendance include Ralph Macchio, Yuji Okimoto, Jon Bernthal, Hayden Christensen and more.
For those going to Fan Expo for the first time, Moyes suggests to look at the program schedule and plan your visit.
“I think you need to plan about 80 per cent of your visit and leave 20 per cent for that surprise and delight…leave a little bit of time just for, as I say, those surprise and delight moments when things just happen. They may be a flash mob or Spider Man or something like that, that just takes you off the track for a little bit,” he said.
At the end of the day, Moyes says Fan Expo Canada is about the fans and the community.
“I think what I love to see is the fans becoming the stars of the show…For us, it’s about giving the fans the best possible ultimate experience we can. And for us, it’s always seeing those individual stories come through of why fandom is so important to them. Why it’s so important for us to connect as a community.
Fan Expo Canada takes place at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre from Aug. 24 to 27.
Tickets can be purchased on its website here.
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