It has been four long years since I last went to Fan Expo Canada and a whole lot has changed since then. I was astounded on how the convention has grown in size especially video game portion of the convention. Back in 2010, the entire convention was held in the North Building of the Toronto Convention Centre with less than five percent of that space being dedicated to video games. This year, the video game portion of the convention took up a whole quarter of the South Building and a large area of the North Building. The video game industry was more than well represented at Fan Expo 2014 and a lot of the thanks has to go to EB Games Canada and their Gamer Zone. EB Games Canada brought in the likes of Ubisoft, Sony, Microsoft, Bethesda, Disney, WB Games and 2K Games to demo some of the most anticipated games coming out in the next year. There were well over 30 games on the show floor to demo including Evolve, Destiny, Far Cry 4, Sunset Overdrive, The Evil Within, Mortal Kombat X and Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. Personally, I spent the majority of my time in this section playing all the upcoming games I could get my hands on. Considering I went for the one day, I only got to play about a third of the games available, but it was well worth all the kilometres traveled and the time spent waiting in lines. I look forward to sharing my impressions on the demos I played in the coming weeks. So stay tuned.
I did not spend my entire Friday in the video game section of Fan Expo. There were tons of vendors selling video games, comics, art books, t-shirts, framed artwork, action figures, plush toys and anything you can think of. Out of thousands of items available to buy, I picked up two Official Nintendo Legend of Zelda shirts for 40 dollars. A lot of time outside of the games section was spent taking pictures of all the incredible statues set up on the floor such as giant Lego statues of the Shedder and Lord Business, and life-sized models of Prowl from Transfromers G1 and the Batmobile from Batman: Arkham Knight. I also got to watch the very first episode of Star Wars: Rebels, the new Star Wars animated TV show set between Episodes III and IV, in the John Bassett Theatre with tons of excited fans both young and old. It was a completely different experience watching a show with hundreds of other people as you got to hear live reactions from everybody in the audience, not just yourself. While Rebels is geared towards a young audience, I found it to be very enjoyable for Star Wars fans of all ages. It will definitely worth a viewing when it premieres on Disney XD this October.
Last but not least, I got to meet the cast of Reviews on the Run and Electric Playground along with famous video game composer and founder of Video Games Live, Tommy Tallarico. Even though I met most of these gaming celebrities before, I was incredibly starstruck in front of all of them. Some people idolize athletes, film stars or musicians, I idolize people in the video games industry including the developers, journalists and game analysts. While I may have awkwardly stumbled over my words while talking to them, they all made me feel welcomed and appreciated. I would like to thank Victor Lucas, Ben Silverman, Jose Sanchez, Marissa Roberto, Steve Tilley, Raju Mudhar and Tommy Tallarico for making a great Fan Expo even more special for me. It was an excellent day and I cannot wait to go again next year.
