Fan Expo 2012

Current event time once again! On Friday I attended the Fan Expo in Toronto for my ninth consecutive year in a row. I attended the first expo back in 2004 and it has become a tradition to attend every year since. I always go with my best friend Jerry, one or two of his daughters, and of course my son Gabe who has been every year now since he was born.

Back in 2004 when I attended the first expo it was a very new world to me. There weren't many people there that year, no lines ups for autographs, and celebrities weren't charging much for pictures. The first year I went was the weekend before my ex wife and I's wedding so we didn't have much money to spend. We vowed the next year to go all out and we did, we brought $500+ with us to make up for the year before.
Every year since that I've usually brought anywhere from $200-$800 with me for spending money and I always came home with a lot of cool stuff. As the years went on I was buying more and more for my son and less for myself. The expo also rises in popularity annually which in turn brought more and more people each year. With more people comes more inflation! The price of admission seems to creep higher every summer and it seems celebrities are charging more and more money each year for fan meet and greets.

I started attending mainly for the horror aspect of the show and another saddening trend I've noticed is the horror section getting smaller and smaller each year, which is slightly disheartening. This year was no exception as I was majorly disappointed with the horror area. It seemed like there was less vendors than ever and a lot of big, useless displays taking up prime space for no apparent reason. My friend Steve from "The Devils Latex" was really the only saving grace, as well as a few other cool vendors, but I had no intention of buying any masks from Steve as I can do that any old time now, since we are friends and all.

My mask dealer Steve. Devilslatex.com

The show was well organized, which has been an issue in the past but they've really got their shit together the last two years. As always there was lots of cool free swag at a lot of booths, and of course no shortage of fans dressed in costume. I spent months working on my sons Toxic Avenger costume, which he started to dismantle after being there a mere 10 minutes, as he was way too hot. Gabe was also getting a bit bummed out at all the "dang people in his way" so I put him up on my shoulders, and buying him some awesome toys didn't hurt either. I only ended up getting a shirt for myself and the complete collection of Fangoria trading cards. I was actually shocked at the fact I had brought $700 to spend and came home with over $400 in my pocket still,there was just nothing really special that caught my eye this year.

toxie!!!

It was also a little upsetting to see Christopher Lloyd charging people $40 for a glossy 8x10 photo of him and an additional $40 to get his autograph on it. I remember my first year there getting an autographed 8x10 from Doug "Pinhead" Bradley and I only paid $5.00! You can easily judge the size of ego by the variance of prices the celebs are charging. Asides from my disappointments it was still a good day all in all and the tradition continues, I'm sure we'll be back again next August....or maybe even this Sunday!

Christopher lloyd.....will rape your wallet!!!