fruity oaty bar...
So FanExpo is officially over, and it was pure madness from start to finish. I don't know if I'll ever make the time for a really detailed post (but most of you will probably hear the stories anyways), but here are my thoughts on the convention experience as a whole.
1) I wish someone had told me, "If you're going to make costumes, fucking start small." I rushed through an attempt at a dress from Game of Thrones and didn't end up wearing it because I felt like it could use so much more work and attention. And I was running on three hours of sleep but that's a completely different story. The point is, I could have done a much better job if I'd given myself more time to just get familiar with costuming and sewing, but I wanted to power through it. I'd like to work on it a little more over the coming months and maybe rock that for Halloween, but we'll see how that goes. My other cotumes were pretty good, though, if I do say so myself. Of course, walking around with Leslie often meant I couldn't get anything done, as people are constantly stopping her for pictures. We coordinated the first day so everyone wanted the double shot. I was surprised, though, at how many people wanted the two of us together on day two. I mean, Toadette was adorable, not gonna lie, but she isn't exactly the same caliber as Sonya Blade. The two don't play well together! So most of the time I just got out of the way when I heard "Can I have a picture?".
On that note, Amy's costume was fucking brilliant. She was so adorable and true to what she wanted to portray. So many people wanted her picture! It was wonderful to see :).
2) There are so many people who are way more talented than me and it's god damn depressing.
3) Marina Sirtis. Man, what a woman. Her Q&A session was a high point of the con for me. She's genuine, sweet, and downright hilarious. I was laughing so hard I teared up - full of funny stories about the cast and crew. And extremely personable. A friend of mine was in the independent artist section with a series of illustrations called The Squareheads. Part of the series are portraits of the whole TNG cast, so I thought, "Why not support my friend AND get a neat autograph?". I think getting portraits signed is useless; I'm not the type of person to display that shit, so it's useless. But at the same time, I like having actual things autographed (like my SGU Season 1 DVD) that I can enjoy, and think back to my experience. Theresa was thrilled with the idea of having her "Troi signed by Troi!" so I bought one from her and took it over. As soon as I walked up (totally nervous and fan-girling), Marina shook my hand and asked my name. When I told her, she made a comment on how it was the most common girls name in Toronto, so the only thing I could say to that was "Well I bet none of them spell it like me." She asked me to spell it and I got as far as "Lyns-" "STOP RIGHT THERE! You're right, that's very original!" Then she asked me what I had for her to sign and I gave her the Squarehead print. She thought it was adorable, asked where it came from, so I told her about the series Theresa did. She thought that was great. So I said, sort of cheekily, "Well, she's over in the Artist's Alley, and I'm sure she'd love a visit." And, even though we both knew it would never happen, she replied "You know, I might pop buy if I get a spare minute." Just to be able to say something like that, to say she likes the art, and enjoy something like that. She signed it, I thanked her, and went on my merry way - right back to Theresa's booth, where she totally flipped out with happiness. It was a great experience.
4) Petra kicked some ass at the AC Revelations multiplayer demo. I'll let her tell you about that.
5) Tom Felton. TOM FRIGGING FELTON. I knew that basically the whole cast of HP was pretty cool, but I'd never really bothered with Tom. We got all of our shopping done and we were all pretty tired so we thought "Why not kill some time in Tom Felton's Q&A session? We can chill out in the back and relax a little". Well, I have to say, my opinion of him went through the roof. He was so kind about everything, and so gracious not only to the cast of HP but he kept bringing up how great the crew was, and how sad he was that we didn't all know and appreciate them as well. He never made anyone feel like they'd asked a stupid question (although sometimes he cleverly TURNED a dumb question into a relevant and interesting question). At the end of the Q&A, a little girl was given the opportunity for the last question: "Can I have a hug?". Tom responded, so wonderfully: "You know, actually, at the start of the convetion they asked me not to give hugs, because they slow everything down and all that, so all weekend I'd had to tell people, "I'm sorry, no." But, god damn it, yes! You will have a hug!" And he actually jumped down from the stage to hug her. It was amazing.
All in all, I'm pretty glad to finally wind down and get some fucking sleep, but I cannot WAIT to do this again next year!