Although I was a nerd growing up and still consider myself a nerd, I never considered myself to be a comic book or video game nerd. I always thought the people into comic books were weird (sorry) and said I would never go those crazy conventions such as ComicCon/FanExpo (I have no idea if the two events are the same thing, could someone please clarify?).
Well guess who went to her first ever FanExpo event?
Yes, yours truly.
I didn’t dress up because it was a very last minute decision to attend it, but now that I think about it, it would be fun. I did have a Wonder Woman costume that I wore for one Hallowe’en and then ended up selling it. My sister and I used to watch Sailor Moon (that was the only anime I was ever into) and thought it would be cool to dress up as sailor scouts.
I knew it had a following, but I didn’t realize how big of a following comic book/cult tv shows/movie conventions had. Like my blog post title says, it was pretty much FANDEMONIUM. I never read comic books growing up, so I felt bad for not recognizing ANY of the artists there, except Stan Lee, who had an insanely long line of die hard fans waiting to meet and greet him. I had no desire to look or buy any comic books, so we went through that building quite fast.
The other building for the FanExpo was more dedicated to tv shows, movies and celebrities. They even had a gaming competition going on. I have never seen so many people be so excited for a video game competition. This excitement was almost the same as what you would see at a sporting event.
The celebrities were what gave us the most excitement. Some of the celebrities we saw were :
- Adam West (The Original Batman from the tv show)
- Burt Ward (The Original Robin from the tv show)
- Robert Englund (Freddy Kreuger)
- Ian Somerhalder (LOST)
- Jon Heder (Napoleon Dynamite-if you haven’t seen this movie, watch it. It is hilarious)
- Efren Ramirez (Pedro from Napoleon Dynamite)
-
ELIJAH WOOD
-
PATRICK STEWART
-
WILLIAM SHATNER
So I’m not a true trekkie or Star Wars nut, but I loved the Star Trek movies and I love all the X-Men movies. Heck, I secretly want to part of the X-Men team. I grew up watching the cartoon and thought mutant superpowers were kick ass. I never considered myself one to be excited for celebrities and never understood why people went crazy and started taking pictures, until I saw many of the celebrities mentioned above.
Was it due to the fandemonium surrounding me in FanExpo? Perhaps.
Now if you were considered a die hard fan, you could pay $40/$50/$60 cash to have your pictures taken with the celebrity and fork over another $20 to have their autograph. Did I mention it already cost $40 for admission? There were also epic photo sessions in which you could have your picture taken with two celebrities, ie Adam West and Burt Ward AND the batmobile, for only $185 or something crazy like that. I thought the admission was kind of steep to begin with, but then I thought some of these serious fans could potentially drop hundreds of dollars at this one event.
I’m a big fan of Napoleon Dynamite and Patrick Stewart, but I’m a bigger fan of keeping more money in my wallet. So my sister tried to take as many pictures as she could with her iPhone from afar. Mind you, they refused to let anyone take free pictures of Patrick Stewart.
Oh, all those toys that you tossed from your childhood days? I saw them being sold for a few c-notes.
Damnit. Who knew that Jem would become a collector’s item?
Some Questions, mentions, and then some pictures.
1.Would you be willing to pay money to have your picture taken with a celebrity? Why or why not?
2. Are you a comic book geek? Have you ever attended ComicCon?
3. Who is your favourite mutant in X-Men?
4. Am I the only one who regrets getting rid of her Cabbage Patch doll?
**Today I’m featured at MoneyPropeller as part of their Jet Setter Interview Series. Check it out.
**I was also part of the Yakezie Carnival hosted by Ben Luthi over at the Wealth Gospel.
Stars Wars in Lego form!Jon Heder aka Napoleon Dynamite
Hans Solo Chocolate Bar
Ghostbusters, Ontario Chapter
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