Okay, first off, our camera sucks ass... I could only salvage SOME of the photo's.
We left Edmonton on the 24th, from our local comic shop (Happy Harbor), who charter's a bus every year too the Expo in Calgary. We were supposed to leave at 6am, but ended leaving after 6:30, due to a late arrival. When we got to the show, there was a line up outside of the hall, about two city block's long, that's not counting the line up inside the complex. My wife wanted a photo with Leonard Nimoy, so we had to line up to buy tickets. The first 4 1/2 hours we spent lined up! 2 hours JUST to buy the ticket, which was $65. Then another 2 hours or so for the photo-op. She loved the photo, but it was just basically stand/kneel next to Leonard who was sitting down (totally understandable), which was basically a snap of a photo and you were quickly whisked away, not even allowing any time to even say hello.
The experience was okay for the most part, but it could have been better. The photo-op tickets and various other events you had to pay for should have been handled a lot better. It was VERY disorganized on the part of the event holders. They had the photo-op line crossing path's with the line of people just trying to get into the building, plus the lines of people on the opposite side of the hall. They had several guest speakers and photo's going on at the same time, and nobody directing traffic. At one point there was six lines of people in a small hallway! They had the table you paid for the events on the opposite side of us, in the middle of all the chaos... Nobody knew where they were supposed to go!
Now, with that all being said, it started to get a lot better after that fiasco. My wife and I got to meet some amazing people! Aside from Mr. Nimoy, I first got to meet my own personal favorite writer/artist Eric Powell, who is responsible for "The Goon", I spent a couple of minutes talking with him and found him to be a very delightful person! (for any Good fans, he told me that David Fincher and Mr. Powell are currently working on an animated movie of the Goon). We then met Tony Todd who was amazing! He was so friendly towards up and took the time to talk to us. My wife and I are HUGE Clive Barker fans, so naturally, meeting the Candyman himself was a real thrill, along with his other great roles! Another friendly and funny man was the one and only Sid Haig! He also spent some time talking to us, and we found him to be very pleasent.
After walking around a bit, and meeting other artist's (one whom I can't remember his name right now) signed a large print of his art called "All Hail the Queen"... Very nice fella!. The day was slowly coming to an end so we just managed to meet two more idols (we were literally the last people they allowed through). The first one was a personal favorite of mine and my wife's was the amazing Malcolm McDowell. For as worn out as he was, he was still very pleasant and accommodating to us. My wife did most of the talking because I was a little star struck at the time!  . He signed a photo and the cover of my Clockwork Orange HD DVD. That may well have been a once in a life time meeting with him for us, which we shall cherish!
The very last actor we met was Lando himself, Billy D!!! They weren't going to let us through, but Mr. Williams assistant gave us the okay and let us have a quick chat with the man himself! You could tell he was completely worn out, but he was very nice and signed a photo for us. A funny thing did happen though. My wife spent the rest of the show walking around with me with her chest burster t-shirt and it totally grossed out Mr. Williams! We all had a good chuckle!
All in all we broke even in the total experience, with the last part of the day being the best. I was the only Colonial Marine there. I was approached a few time for photo's (even by the owner of a company called Psyko 5.1, who makes surround sound headphones, and had my wife and I pose in front of his display for a pic). Surprisingly, not very many people knew who I was dressed as, which kind of bummed me out and made me re-think my costume choice. Mind you, once I'm finished and there are other marines, then it might be better! My wife got approached the most because of her shirt. Everybody knows the chestburster!
I did my best and answered peoples inquiries. I gave info about this site, whether anybody joins, I can't say, but I tried.
Thanks for reading my long winded experience. I'm tired and concentrate anymore. Thanks for reading!
CB
P.S. I apologize if none of this makes sense.
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No, but seriously, awesome animal killer! Mike knows his weapons!
sigh. I was supposed to take a couple of my favorite "Moon Knight" comics from way back when to get signed by the one and only Bill Sienkiewicz.... I am seriously kicking myself for forgetting that. Hopefully he will come back next year. That all depends on who they get for guests. Next go around, we are definitely driving. I HATE hauling stuff around with us. You have more freedom with just your costume and nothing else.