2019 Calgary Comic Expo

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Canadian Michael J. Fox and his former castmates have been announced as guests at this year’s Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo. The Edmonton-born actor was set to be the star attraction at a Back to the Future reunion at Calgary Expo last year but Fox cancelled, citing “unforeseen circumstances.”

He rebooked for the show in April, along with Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Tom Wilson and James Tolkan. Fans will be able to see them together at a special presentation April 26 at 7 p.m. in the Stampede Corral, and at weekend autograph signings and photo ops. Fox will be there April 26 and 27, while the others will be on hand April 26 to 28.

Other guests already announced include David Harbour (Hellboy, Stranger Things), Sean Astin (Lord of the Rings), Zachary Levi (Shazam, Chuck) and Pamela Anderson (Baywatch).

https://calgaryherald.com/entertainm...t-calgary-expo

[CaptainCrunch]

Nice, I might have to go just to get James Talkan to call me a slacker. And ask Tom Wilson if it was Mark Hamill (old Wing Commander joke)

[direwolf]

Fox is a goddamn national treasure. Wish I could go to this.

[CorbeauNoir]

Ahh, the annual Pray-Stan-Sakai-Picks-Calgary-Among-His-Four-Or-Five-Annual-Appearances-And-Get-Crushed-When-He-Doesn't-Athon. A favourite personal tradition.

At least I hope the new organisers picked up on the widespread feedback from last year's Expo. It felt like a big step back in a lot of areas.

[chemgear]

Hopefully they paid attention to a lot of the negative feedback from last year and sorted things out. Still the same organizers I assume?

[Parallex]

Originally Posted by CorbeauNoir

At least I hope the new organisers picked up on the widespread feedback from last year's Expo. It felt like a big step back in a lot of areas.

What happened last year? Had a new baby so I didn't get to go.

[WhiteTiger]

Originally Posted by chemgear

Hopefully they paid attention to a lot of the negative feedback from last year and sorted things out. Still the same organizers I assume?

Yep, it's still Fan Expo running the show, and they are even running it more than last year, so I'm expecting it to suck even harder.

[CorbeauNoir]

Originally Posted by Parallex

What happened last year? Had a new baby so I didn't get to go.

Just generally really poorly organised and laid out. Lots of strange choices for booths in the vendor areas. None of the lineup organisation that has been in place for years was retained, access to the Corral for the big panel events essentially reverted back to being a free-for-all from the BMO Centre like it was five years ago with the same predictable circulation chaos. The tabletop/video game areas were taken out of the Big Four and crammed into side rooms that were clearly too small. No consistency in the locations for cosplay facilities, the prop-check areas seemed to move somewhere different every day of the expo. Can't speak directly to the vendor/artist/volunteer experiences but through hearsay it sounded like things weren't anywhere near as organised on that front either compared to past years, and there seemed to be concern especially among artists over booth prices becoming unprofitable.

I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt that the transition of ownership caused some hiccups, but if it persists this year I might be rethinking how much time I dedicate to visiting in the future.

[KTrain]

I hope they limit the number of vendors allowed to sell Funko Pop figures. It's out of hand.

[WhiteTiger]

Originally Posted by CorbeauNoir

I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt that the transition of ownership caused some hiccups, but if it persists this year I might be rethinking how much time I dedicate to visiting in the future.

Basically, and to add to this, after Fan Expo bought it, they told the old owners/organizers that they'd basically keep doing what they are doing. Then when it came to show time, Toronto was all "We know how to run Expos, we're not listening to anything you have to say" and ran over/didn't listen to anything that the old owners had to say, because Toronto knows everything about everything, of course.

I'm expecting worse this year, as Fan Expo isn't even trying to say they'll listen to/work with the old owners and they've all been either shuffled off to different positions or have quit or been fired outright. So all the experience they had making the show work on the grounds is now gone and Fan Expo gets to figure it all out from start again.

[chemgear]

Originally Posted by Parallex

What happened last year? Had a new baby so I didn't get to go.

A good summary discussion was laid out here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Calgary/com...ing_in_so_far/

Originally Posted by WhiteTiger

I'm expecting worse this year, as Fan Expo isn't even trying to say they'll listen to/work with the old owners and they've all been either shuffled off to different positions or have quit or been fired outright. So all the experience they had making the show work on the grounds is now gone and Fan Expo gets to figure it all out from start again.

Oh Christ. That sounds like a disaster in the making.

Maybe I'll just stick with SDCC.

[KTrain]

A few fun guest announcements.

[CorbeauNoir]

Please please please tell me Feldog is going to perform at the Corral

[Locke]

Short Round is coming?

[CaptainCrunch]

Tom Wilson is awesome!

[CorbeauNoir]

The expo begins today, I assume that's a valid reason to ressurect the thread?

[KTrain]

This is the first year in a long time I won't be attending. I don't really check out the talks or go for autographs/photos unless they have someone really great. Stan Lee in 2013 or 14 was the last time I did a photo. The vendors are always the same and usually the deals aren't as good as they are at the smaller shows.

I do like checking out the comic creators to see if I can afford some original art or but a book directly from them but none of the creators this year are on my favourites list. Seeing everyone's costumes is also great. I'll follow along on Instagram for those.

[Sainters7]

Never been to this before and I'm going to check out the Back to the Future talk tomorrow night. Have a rookie question: tickets to just the BTTF thing are $20. General admission tickets to the Calgary Expo itself are $40 or $50 tomorrow. If I buy general admission would that also get me into the talk? Or separate things?

Thanks! I wrote an email to them yesterday regarding it but it says wait 3-5 business days for a response..yeah that's gonna be much too late.

[CorbeauNoir]

Originally Posted by Sainters7

Never been to this before and I'm going to check out the Back to the Future talk tomorrow night. Have a rookie question: tickets to just the BTTF thing are $20. General admission tickets to the Calgary Expo itself are $40 or $50 tomorrow. If I buy general admission would that also get me into the talk? Or separate things?

Thanks! I wrote an email to them yesterday regarding it but it says wait 3-5 business days for a response..yeah that's gonna be much too late.

AIUI it's a seperate ticketed event. So is the Lynda Carter thing happening tonight - which I'm assuming isn't selling well since the Expo sent out a bulk e-mail to passholders offering free tickets.

[nik-]

That Goonies panel would be awesome if Corey Feldman wasn't an unbearable ######.