Normally this post would be full of pics of all the stuff that I scored at the con but this year was a more subtle year. That and I’m still so lazy from Fan Expo that I haven’t even taken some of the stuff I got out of the bags I brought them home in. This year was a smaller year for me as we were trying to focus our energy on promoting Omake Designs, our company that sells art in so many formats. That promotion did lead to some of the better moments at the con though but I’ll start on day one.
With the con stretched to four days, Thursday would be our first taste of just what kind of disaster they had running the convention. We had to pick up our passes at one entrance, our parking passes at a completely different spot and passes for my kids at another spot. This meant that I would spend a good portion of Thursday running around and around trying to figure out where the hell I was supposed to go. While waiting in line for my kids tickets, my son passed out. I assume that the people standing around me thought that I was just beating him or something because nobody even budged to help. He’s fine now but that only led to him crying and my daughter crying as she didn’t know what was going on. The rest of the day went much smoother.
Friday was the day that we solved a lot of the problems from the previous day. We had brought a little cooler with us the day before with drinks and snacks but quickly realized that it wasn’t large enough. Friday we made sure to stock a full cooler which worked much better. The day went well and my son finally got to meet Freddy Krueger. A moment he probably won’t forget since I think Robert Englund gave him a bit of a scare at first. As we approached his table Robert yells out ‘How sweet, fresh meat!’ and I could see my son kind of shuffle a little sideways, as if to say ‘That was creepy, this guy isn’t going to eat me is he?’ My son survived and quite enjoyed meeting Freddy!
Robert 'Freddy' Englund probably scaring the crap out of my kid!
Right next to Robert Englund was Lance Henriksen. His line wasn’t as long as Robert’s had been so we jumped in for my autograph. I picked his book up and got him to sign that and he chatted with my son for a bit. Now, my son is young and he doesn’t exactly know who Lance Henriksen is yet. Freddy Krueger he knows, Bishop, not so much. So Lance says to my son ‘I see you’re looking at all the pictures, would you like a scary one like this?’ and he shows him a picture, I believe of himself from Near Dark. My son says ‘No.’ Lance says ‘How about this one?’ Again my son says ‘No.’ At this point I’m thinking ‘Just say yes kid, I’m pretty sure he just wants to give you a free autograph!’ Of course my son just keeps saying no until I finally had to laugh and tell Lance Henriksen ‘Sorry, he’s a hard sell but it means I spend less money here.’ I really have to train those kids better. Always say yes to free stuff. Even if you don’t want it, I bet you’ll know somebody who does. Like your dad, who just wanted another autograph from Lance Henriksen!
Lance Henriksen was a great guy and we bumped into him more than once over the weekend.
Later in the day I managed to get into Elvira’s line. This led to a great conversation as we discussed her new model. It’s from Moebius and features her on a couch with her mohawked little dog. Together we pulled the box open to check it out as she said it had just come out and she hadn’t seen it yet. Of course, meeting Elvira also got me in trouble with my daughter. Apparently she wanted to meet Elvira as well but I hadn’t waited for her. I can only assume that she would have gotten bored waiting in the line because she didn’t make it very long in the line for Robert Englund. Next year I’ll make sure to take both the kids with me for every autograph!
Elvira is still looking good, I only wish I could watch her new show up her in Canada!
Saturday was when things started to get really interesting. Now, my friend had been doing all the promotion the day before as I had been dragging the kids around, but with the kids gone for the rest of the weekend, I was finally able to throw myself headlong into work. Now I couldn’t spend all my time working and as I was wandering around at one point, I ran into a very scantily clad woman directing people to stand in a line. Curious, I asked what the line was for and was told that some cast and crew of Monster Brawl were singing posters for free. See kids, always get free stuff. This free stuff I really wanted though. I’ve been dying to see this flick and it will be screening this year at Toronto After Dark. I jumped in line and scored my free autographed poster.
Just some of the cast and crew of Monster Brawl. I can't wait for this flick.
Now I had been waiting all weekend for the next few moments of the day. Danielle Harris was doing a Q&A followed by autographs and I wasn’t going to miss it. I’m sorry, but she has got to be one of the most gorgeous women to grace the planet. Her Q&A was great, full of laughs and stories about her projects from the past and the future. Now I wasn’t missing my chance to meet her, even though I had forgotten my camera at home. Seriously, how had I forgotten my camera on Saturday! Thankfully my friends had one and my girlfriend has a fancy phone, unlike my older phone, that does all that fancy stuff like take pictures of me with Danielle Harris.
Now, since we had some shirts made up with our designs of the actors appearing at the con, I grabbed our shirt of Danielle from Halloween 4 and headed to her table to give it to her. I had met quite a few celebrities already that weekend and never have trouble talking to them but waiting in line for Danielle sent my nerves into overdrive. I’m sure I had a big, dumb grin on my face and it’s quite possible that I just stared and drooled on her. I handed her our shirt and she loved it, announcing that she would ‘cut it all up and make it really girly’ when she got home. I hope that shirt is finding life with Danielle Harris comfortable!
Easily the high point of my weekend!
Later in the evening we headed out to a panel hosted by Adam Lopez, festival director of Toronto After Dark, for Monster Brawl. We were treated to clips from the film and stories from the cast and crew. If I wanted to watch that film before the panel, I’m dying to see it after all that. It looks amazing and I just can’t wait to sit my butt down with a big bucket of popcorn and enjoy every minute of it with the TAD crowds.
My moment with Danielle Harris sparked an idea in our heads. If I had given her the shirt with her inspired design on it, shouldn’t we do that for everyone? My partner, the one with all the artistic talent Eric, headed out to do just that. Seriously, these next pictures are just awesome. (although I’m still partial to that one of myself and Danielle Harris! HAHA!)
I think we got Doug Bradley to crack a smile with his Pinhead shirt.
Eric informed me that Malcolm McDowell loved his Clockwork Orange shirt.
The best of the bunch. Lance Henriksen chatted for a bit with Eric and absolutely loved his shirt.
We managed to get a Freddy shirt to Robert Englund but our picture didn’t turn out. That one will just have to be a great memory for us. Plans for next year are already underway. We learned a lot from this Fan Expo. What works, what didn’t. We also are preparing to get more pics with the stars modeling our shirts, as soon as we can find out who will be there next year.
There’s plenty of stories that I had to leave out here and if I ever bump into any readers out there I’ll be sure to share them with you. Or you can tell me ‘Hey, shut up, I already heard the good stories!’
Under the marquee – Will
