Fan Expo Vancouver 2018

Vancouver FanExpo 2018 has come and gone in a flash. Three days of panels, celebrities, cosplay, artists, and vendors.

The convention took place in the new Vancouver convention centre which presents its own issues and positive aspects. I do like how it gives people more space to hang out rather than the con turning into a hallway party when the weather is bad, and fortunately this year the weather was great allowing people to be outside and not be completely miserable. I can understand the logic behind having people enter from one side of the building and exit from another, but it is extremely annoying and really doesn’t seem to change the flow when compared to other conventions that use the main entrance as both an in and out. I for sure feel that the traffic flow could be tweaked for the better.

I liked some of the ways the main hall was setup but really feel that blocking two of the three bathrooms for the talent was excessive, leaving only one washroom at the end of the main hall made for some annoying navigation through the crush to get to the washroom. I did feel that the aisles were better designed allowing for people to move more freely and give you some space when you wanted to stop and look at a booth.

I was there assisting Devon with her booth which she has had at every Vancouver FaxExpo. The booth was located near the stage area so we were able to hear a lot of what was going on there. It sounded like there was a great variety in the stage content so there was something for everyone and a lot of people were attending. One unfortunate side effect of this was that it could be difficult to interact with people but every convention gets loud at points whether you are close to the stage of not.

I brought my camera again with me this year and really wanted to get photos of as many cosplayers as I could, but sometimes it didn’t work out. I would make a mental note of a cosplayer and try to track them down later or grab them as they walked by the booth but sometimes it wouldn’t work out. There was a lot of great and well-made costumes and it was unfortunate that I couldn’t get shots of more of them. A big Thank You! to all those with the patience to let me take their picture. Hopefully I will see you there next year.