FanExpo 2025.

Let the right ones in - discussing the Ryan Coogler vampire film Sinners on the Sinners and Vampires at FanExpo. l-r: Stephanie Bedwell-Grime, Andrew Sullivan, me, and moderator Monica S. Kuebler.

There are a number of reasons why I love to get out to Toronto in the summer. I go for the food. I love the food; places like the Sunset Grill on Richmond and Yonge downtown; the place where they always recognise me after a year away when I step in. I love that place, especially when they give me a side of mushrooms with the pancakes, scrambled eggs and home fries. I love catching up with my Canadian friends, some of whom actually live in Toronto, but we all meet up there and go for food and drink, and all that good stuff. Going to FanExpo. And catching up with my horror brethren; the local (Ontario) chapter of the HWA.

Admittedly, this hadn't been the easiest trip. For all my international travel to conventions, I always aim to get into town the day before - on the off-chance that there's a delay or cancellation or some such. Case in point: this year's Toronto trip.

I do a summer trip to Toronto every year; as such, I'm pretty experienced in it. That said, when I got notification the day before departure that my Air Canada outbound flight was cancelled, it was still a mad scramble to get another flight to get me into town before 21st August - the day FanExpo actually started. However, given the knock-on effect from Air Canada's snafu, the subsequent flight with Air Transat was replaced with a smaller aircraft. Airline policy dictated that the last to book would be the first to be 're-accommodated', and so, I was left at the Sofitel hotel at Gatwick Airport overnight, until such time that I could get a replacement flight. Which Air Transat eventually told me would leave first thing the following morning. Given the destination and the time difference between the U.K. and Canada, I got to Toronto by about 1pm local time.

And despite getting up at stupid o'clock (which I usually save for my lifting days) and doing a transatlantic flight, I still hit FanExpo, meeting up with my Canadian friends there after a transatlantic flight, cab ride to downtown Toronto to check in, lounge for an hour and then hoof it for some 30-odd minutes to get my access badge for FanExpo, among other things.

https://fanexpohq.com/fanexpocanada/

For the uninitiated, FanExpo is "the largest comics, sci-fi, horror, anime, and gaming event in Canada and the third-largest Pop Culture event in North America. The show has grown from a small comic book convention attracting 1,500 fans into a multi-faceted and multiple day citywide event that attracts hundreds of thousands of people from around the world." The site infers that 135,000 people attended this year across the four-day weekend.

And you know when FanExpo is in town. Because this is where you might see one or two people en route to FanExpo dressed according to their fandom and, as the Expo weekend wears on, you'll see flocks of people dressed according to their fandom. Whovians, dressed as their favourite Doctor from Dr. Who - I think the ones I see most often are those of Matt Smith's and David Tennant's Doctor(s). You may see a Trekkie, those that revere Star Trek, whether it's Shatner, Picard, Next Generation or otherwise. Or their favourite slasher, whether it's Freddy, Jason, Michael Myers or Ghostface from the Scream franchise. Or characters from Sailor Moon. If there's a fandom, there's probably someone in costume for/of it. Hell, I just absorb the spectacle.

Fandom abounds at FanExpo. Case in point: those who dress as Ghostface from the Scream film franchise.

I don't throw shade at people's fandom. I confess I don't get it, but I don't have to. If people have stepped to FanExpo and had a good time, hey, bully for them. Luckily there's stuff I get out of the Expo. Primarily, I get to spend time with my Canadian friends (not all of whom live in Toronto), and while we'll message or speak every now and then, it's mostly at this time in the summer where we actually get to meet.

Definitely a high-point: Q&A with film and TV legend Ron Perlman.

I might also sit in on an interview/Q&A that moves me - catching Ron Perlman was the high point for me. Eloquent, blunt and armed with both a mindset and memory that couldn't cover his vast body of work, the man was truly entertaining. Plus, courtesy of the local (Ontario) chapter of the HWA, I also get in on the FanExpo programming, e.g., this year with the Sinners and Vampires panel. And, as always, I'm grateful to the local chapter for their hospitality. But, generally, I've found the quality of FanExpo decline over the years, certainly since the Rue Morgue Festival of Fear no longer had a presence. Indeed, the horror programming appears to have dwindled to little more than an afterthought.

Again, I stress that for those who've had a great experience throughout, then fine. I'm not the type to bitch about a thing just for the hell of it. FanExpo does indeed invite critical/constructive feedback at the end of each expo and each time, I do my level best to give balanced and constructive feedback. I doubt that it'll give meaningful improvement to the Expo and, for the record, I know I'm not the only one to level such criticism at FanExpo. Others have told me the same as well.

All I can do is hope it improves. After all, I'm in Toronto every summer, so there.

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