"To die for one's people is a great sacrifice. To live for one's people is a greater sacrifice. I choose to live for my people. What do you choose?" Senator Chuchi of Pantora

Thursday, April 19, 2012

First Convention Adventure of the Year


On Saturday 14 of April was the first day of the Wizard World Toronto Convention. This was going to be the first convention of the year for me. And as I found out last year Wizard does put on a well organized convention. This year due to scheduling the convention was moved to the MTCC. In doing so gave a new space for a well placed layout and this gave a few more choices in the on sight food choices. As busy as it became during the mid afternoon, there was room to move about.
Met Up
One of the main reasons for going to the Con was to met up with friends. Most were friends I have met at conventions past as well as new friends that would be our first time meeting in person.
My good friend Kyle was coming all the way from Nova Scotia to partake the con and to have a fun day with me. For last year at Wizard World was his first convention and became hooked on the whole idea of such an event.
One of the highlights for me at any convention is to meet up with Sean Ward and Alice Quinn of Tdot Comics. I have met them years past and have become that no con is ever complete without meeting them J When visiting Sean I got to meet one of my online heroes, Toronto Batman. He is as generous and entertaining in person as he is in his videos. Alice is always a con must to meet up with and this year was no different, for she is fully launching her website.
Then I ran into Jean-Marc Douville of Happy Robot. He is a photographer friend and social media guru. It was truly amazing to finally meet him and have our brief chats throughout the day J
One of the main people to meet up with was Heada Cooper. I met her briefly last year and have since become friends online. We had a great afternoon hanging out and enjoying the con. Also I made up for her one of my silly hats. Which I was relieved at how much she loved it J
Then I met up with Andrew Uys of Paradise Comics and UysFaber Comics. He is truly amazing  person and introduced me to the Indy comic Salt Road . Mat the artist for Salt Road was great and a pleasure to met. While chatting with Andrew I met Andrea Fort. Who is a truly amazing person.
What is a convention without meeting up with the Canadian Garrison of the 501st Legion. It was great to briefly met with Roy and receive one of his famous bear hugs J
Celebrities
One of the reasons that you go to conventions is to meet the actor behind your favourite character. This year I had the great pleasure to met Daniel Logan. The gifted actor, and most generous person, behind the character of young Boba Fett from StarWars: Attack of the Clones and StarWars: The Clone Wars.  He was very welcoming, easy to talk with and made you feel very special. Those that know me know that I am a huge Boba Fett fan, so I made up Daniel one of my Silly Hats of Boba Fett. Which he was so grateful in receiving it. After spending the short time with him you walk away feeling you made a friend with him.
I also had the pleasure to meet Sam Witwer. The gifted actor behind the Being Human USA character Aidan the vampire. I love this show yet I wish to met with him for he has also done the voices to the Son and this season of TCW Darth Maul. His one scene he did with Clancy Brown in my opinion was the best of the season. He was very gracious with my compliment over this scene.
From both Daniel and Sam I learned that the next season of TCW is going to be an awesome ride. Which I can not wait for the return of these amazing characters and the wonderful actors that give them life.
Again this year Jeremy Bulloch was in attendance. I have had the honour of meeting the man that gave Boba Fett life in the original trilogy at previous conventions. It is always a pleasure to talk with Jeremy and his wife Maureen. They always make you feel like an old friend and never gives the feeling of being rushed. This year I made him one of my Silly Hats of Fett. He was most gracious and impressed with his gift. And I thank him for his gift to me as well. I will treasure it always J
I also met Lance Guest that played Alex Rogan of The Last Starfighter. We talked about making the film and having the honour of working with the late great Robert Preston. If you never heard of Preston, I ask you to look him up and watching a few of his movies. In that matter I suggest you to watch The Last Starfighter, to me, a classic of the ‘80’s Sci/Fi movies genre.
I also met Sam Harrington of Being Human USA. Who is very much like his roles that he plays, a friendly and easy person to talk to with a sense of humour. And high point was meeting Meaghan Rath. She is so sweet. She loved my R2 hat and the one I made for my stuffie fox Phen’ik.  Phen’ik by the way is quite beside himself that he got a cuddle from Sally ;)
Swag
The other main reason for going to a convention is to find deals. This time out my big deal was finding the Mouse Guard hardcovers at a great price. I was able to pick up The Legend of the Guard and Winter 1152. I missed out with Fall 1152 yet I will be looking into getting this soon. Another great deal was I picked up at an amazing price the 2 disc DVD of Batman: Gotham Knight.
I usually don’t go to buy main stream books, I am an Indy girl by heart. This year was no different. I picked up the UysFaber’s Salt Road, BuchOfice’s Adventures of the Unlikely, Boom’s Fanboys vs Zombies and Sean Ward’s Tomorrow Never Knows. I will do a review of all these amazing reads in another post.
I was also able surprisingly to pick up a Catherinette Rings. If you have never seen Daniel’s Steampunk inspired jewelry then I recommend that you look him up. To see one in life the photos of them I have seen does them no justice.
It was a full day at the convention. Yet it was an amazing day for me. I met up with friends and made new ones. I do consider overall the planning and layout of Wizard World to other conventions. Not that I am not looking forward to the next convention adventure J

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