Fan Expo 2022...

On Saturday April 9th, I went to Fan Expo formerly known as Wizard World in Philadelphia. Early on Saturday, one of the local news stations, apparently either unaware of or unconcerned by the name change, showed file footage from a previous Wizard World event. According to Forbes:

Fan Expo HQ, a division of global events giant Informa, ...announced it is adding the six most popular, best-attended comic and fan conventions from Wizard World [including Philadelphia] to its portfolio of shows.

Highlights of this year's event in Philadelphia include:

• William Shatner, STAR TREK,
• David Tennant, DOCTOR WHO,
• Ron Pearlman, HELLBOY,
• Ming-Na Wen, THE BOOK OF BOBA FETT

There were, of course, many, many other people of note in attendance and a whole list of panels and other events included in the cost of admission and a great many paid events that we could go to if that was the sort of thing we wanted to do. There was supposed to be a large group of us going. We all made plans to go, everyone was excited, but, no one bothered to add the date to their calendars, so, in the end, I went alone. I arrived at the convention floor at around 11:15am -- I wanted to miss the crowds that typically clog the admissions area earlier in the morning.

On the convention floor, there were a large number of vendors and artists on exhibit. But, there weren't very many photo-ready, stand-alone displays. Of note, there were two anime-skinned cars and what appeared to be a mini-patrol car similar to the one featured in You're Under Arrest. Among the vendors, there were a handful selling outright bootleg videos. One vendor in particular, had a giant trove of bootleg material right near the entrance. I kept a wary eye, or three, on them and thankfully, the fans seemed to recognize the bootlegs for what they were.

The main mission for the day was to get Mom a souvenir. I walked through the aisles, looking at all the stalls in the vendor and artists alley area. As it happened, stuffed Grogu's were in very short supply, but, Pokemons of all shapes and sizes were plentiful. I did notice a cosplay costume repair service table -- that was something I had never seen before. Another table of note had a selection of beautiful Egyptian-themed artwork -- it wasn't really something that I could take home, but, it was beautiful.

Concession stands were positioned around the perimeter in the front part of the convention hall and the area reserved for celebrities was in the rear of the convention hall. There was a small stage at the entrance and two panel areas -- a small panel on the right side of the convention area near the center and a larger panel area on the left side of the convention hall near the front. Early on, at the smaller panel, there was a live demonstration of cosplay costume making. Meanwhile, the larger of the two panels featured behind-the-scenes descriptions of the production of some flavor of Star Trek -- I didn't stay long enough to figure out who was talking and specifically which Star Trek production was being discussed. Sorry, panels really aren't my thing.

Along my travels, I spied an Asuka figure from Neon Genesis Evangelion -- it called for me, but, I resisted the temptation. Now, if there was a Mari figure on hand, that would have been a different story. In my quest for a souvenir, I passed by the Fan Expo table and noticed that there was a distinct lack of branded material -- no magnets, keychains, t-shirts or mugs to speak of. In the end, I found a nice Grogu pin to bring home to Mom at one of the vendor tables.

At about, 1:30pm, I decided to take a short break for lunch and headed over to Reading Terminal Market. The plan was to pick up lunch at the market and find a quiet spot to eat, but, apparently everyone else at the convention had the exact same idea and I found all of food areas jam packed with people. So, plan B, head over to the nearby 7-11 for snacks and drinks. Then, I headed back to the convention. I stay until about 4:00pm and took the bus home. I scored a handful of small metal prints -- I don't have a lot of display space for large items, so, I find the small hand-sized prints, just the right size for my limited display space.

Overall, my experience at Fan Expo 2022 was enjoyable and pleasant. But, I do have one gripe. I arrived at the Convention Center at 10:45am and didn't make it to the convention floor for another thirty minutes. Not, because I was waiting in line, but, because after purchasing my badge, it had to be activated and an internet connection is apparently required for activation. I couldn't get an internet connection, so, I ended up having to call upon a very helpful staff member to help me out. There were so many people trying to do the same thing at once that it created a bottle neck. The activation process ended up being so trivial that I don't understand why it couldn't have been done by staff at the time of purchase. I felt so strongly about my experience with activating my badge that I actually sent feedback to Fan Expo staff about my experience via the Fan Expo site. Again, I thoroughly enjoyed myself at Fan Expo 2022, but, I could have done without the badge activation hassle.