So yeah... I think I’ve attended my last Fan Expo. The irony is that the Expo itself was much better handled this year, but I just felt it was a waste of time and especially money.
Anyway here’s the story-
Got my Kyle Reese gear on and headed out at 10:30am for the show (I live about an hour from Toronto). The highway started to be backed up bumper to bumper
20 miles from the city so rather than spending the day on a parking lot, I got off the highway and took the main roads.
Ended up getting to downtown Toronto a little after 12pm which wasn’t too bad; only and extra half hour of driving as opposed to last year when it took me two and a half hours to get there in traffic.
So I wanted to park close to the convention center, however they wanted $30 (
WTF?!?) for all day parking! I wasn’t paying that as I knew there was parking a few blocks away for half that amount (it was the same place I parked last year).
So I get the car parked, take my Nerf Longshot out of my trunk, and get walking. It’s about a 15 minute walk to the convention. I’m trying not to attract too much attention so I have the Longshot in my left hand, backwards and pointed towards the ground. I’m still getting sideways looks from passers by (and especially cab drivers parked along the way).
I’m near the convention (or so I thought- more on that later) when some tourists want to take a picture with me on the sidewalk. One of them asks me to “hold the gun upwards” so I do the classic "gun pointed up" pose.
Cop car pulls up with a male and female cop.
“Hey buddy come here.”
I walk over with that “Oh shit” feeling in my stomach.
Female cop: “You know you’re causing quite a disturbance.”
Male cop: “Yeah were getting calls of a "man in combat fatigues walking down the street with a
large gun".”
Me: “Oh umm... I can put this back in my trunk.”
Female cop: “We would appreciate that.”
Me: “I’m just going to the comic convention.”
Female cop: “We figured.”
So now I have to turn around and walk all the way back to my car, risking more 911 calls as I walk back up the street 5 blocks! And people think I’m paranoid about brandishing fake weapons... this was a Goddamn Nerf gun!
Get the Longshot back in my trunk, and start walking back. Now here’s that "I thought I was almost there" part---
I was outside the
North Building and the convention was being held in the
South Building. So now I’m following the crowd (which are all Jays fans going to the baseball game as the stadium is right next to the convention center) looking like “Crazy Army Man”. I expected to get pulled aside by the cops again at any second. To top things off... I don’t quite know which way I’m supposed to be going!
So I spot two people walking in costume and start following them. It ends up being another LONG walk to where the tickets entrance is. AND I had to literally walk down a curving parking garage ramp (that they had closed off to traffic) to get to the ticket booths.
The good news- there was no line up for tickets. I walked up, bought my ticket, walked to the entrance which was 20 feet away, and was inside the convention in under two minutes!
So now I’m inside and start browsing. They had the bigger facility this year so the isles were larger and the place wasn’t as crowded as last year.
I decide to bee-line to the signing booths and meet Michael Biehn right away. Get there and the sign says “Will return at 2:45pm.”
Check my watch: It’s 1pm.
So I do my usual walk around. It is strictly a business convention no doubt. I’m starving and have to eat, so I do the unthinkable (for me) and buy a “lukewarm” hot dog and can of Coke... for $8!
As I’m sitting on the floor against a pillar eating (there were no seats at tables left), two guys dressed in modern Call of Duty and WWII Airborne uniforms walk up and shout, “KYLE REESE! OMG THAT’S AWESOME!”
These guys made my day! I figured “no one” (expect “you know who”) would know this obscure costume. So I chatted with these two for a bit and got some pics. People were asking for our picture which fulfilled my "camera-whore" need.
Here are those two guys and me:
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Now I’m just killing time. Ran into a couple of guys I knew (Ken Rice, and an old friend from high-school who works for Anchor Bay Ent. now), and hung out at the UD Replicas booth as I’ve known David Pea for a few years now.
Well it’s now 3pm: time to meet Michael!
The line has about twenty people in it so I have a lot of time to build up some excitement. I’m going to buy a pic, and get my picture taken with him for $40.
Finally it’s my turn! Here’s how it went word for word
(with “what I’m thinking” in brackets)...Ssgt B: “Hi I’m Kevin.”
(Hmmm... I expected him to have a look of surprise at my costume... I’m getting the typical “smile and handshake.”)M.B.: “Michael.”
Ssgt B: “So I’ve actually met you once before at Dragon Con in 2009.”
M.B.: “Where was this?”
Ssgt B: “In Atlanta.” (
) “I’m also a member of the Aliens Legacy group; we gave you that award if you...”
M.B.: “Oh, yeah, yeah.”
(This wasn’t “yeah-yeah whatever”, but “Yeah! Yeah!” in a positive
way... although I couldn’t tell if he truly remembers or not. In the meantime I still can’t believe he hasn’t blinked at what I’m wearing!)Ssgt B:
(I can’t believe I’m going to just come right out and say this) “So I figured I’d wear something you’d recognize... Kyle Reese from The Terminator.”
M.B.: “Yeah. Cool.”
...
...
(At this point things were so awkward I just picked out a picture for him to sign. He didn’t even have any decent Kyle Reese pics! One of them looked like a behind the scenes Polaroid, and the other looked over pixelated as if it was blown up from a low-rez photo. I ended up picking the BTS one.) He just signed it. That’s all. Just his signature. Didn’t even bother to write “To Kevin.”
Told him I was getting my picture with him, he asked me to sit beside him-
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Got my picture taken, shook his hand and thanked him. He said, “Nice meeting you again.”
This was such a letdown, but I figured afterwards life’s too short to be heartbroken, so I went back to the UD booth and laughed about having to tell Michael Biehn who I was dressed as.
Oh yeah, as I was walking back past the Michael Biehn lineup, a guy and a girl in the line both dressed as Terminators (complete with torn skin and exposed metal skulls) looked at me and said, “That is a GREAT costume!”
At least somebody (else) got it.
Honestly if I knew I was going to get the standard “smile, handshake, thank-you” I never would have bothered spending my money on him.
Oh well. Life goes on.
So I spent a couple of more hours at the con. Here’s some pics:
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Abin Sur display from Green Lantern. Great display... too bad the movie flopped.
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My buddy Ken as comic Wolverine.
(More in the next post as there is a limit of 5 attachments)
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