Fan Expo Boston 2022

This past weekend Mrs Dex and I attended Fan Expo Boston, our first comic convention since the Covid hit.These things have been around for decades and they still have co-ordination issues. I'm not saying I could do it better, just that they should have figured some stuff out by now.

For example, here is a section of the autograph area. It's not even the part that was really crowded. If you wanted an autograph (whether or not you pre-purchased it) you had to stand in line. Which is fine, that's unavoidable. They sold a lot more Ming-Na Wen auto tickets than expected and to keep her line down, they were handing out numbered tickets. They would then update the whiteboard near her line saying if you had number xxx or lower, you could get in the line. Why not just make this policy for everyone? Less time in line means people have more time to spend money elsewhere! Anyway, I'll try to keep my griping to a minimum. 

There were a ton of cool guests but time (and money) prevented me from getting to meet them. But I can truthfully say I was in the same building as Ewan McGregor so that counts for something!

One of the main reasons we went was to see this Smallville panel! All three of them were great and really funny. They even went a few minutes long to answer all the audience questions, which was a nice thing to do.

Michael and Tom recently started a podcast called Talkville where they're rewatching Smallville from the start and then discussing every episode. They sometimes have guests on like the most recent one where they had Kristen on with them. It's also posted to YouTube which I actually like better. It's more fun to be able to see them talking about it.

After that panel, we had to go get in line for the Ming-Na Wen panel. She was also super nice and mentioned how Star Wars was like her religion growing up. When she got the role of Fennec Shand, it was initially for one episode and she figured being in one episode is better than none. Ain't that the truth!

Then it was time to get some autographs. We waited in Tom Welling's line for about an hour and just as we were second to next, he had to leave for photo ops. What did we get for standing in line for an hour? A chance to come back later and stand in an even longer line! They should have handed out tickets to everyone in that line when he left. They did cap it earlier but it was well after we got in it.

Luckily, when we returned, the person behind us was gracious enough to hold our spot while we jumped over to Michael Rosenbaum's line which was much shorter. He may not be as popular as Tom, but I'd hang with him any day! We were able to chat with him for a few minutes. Mrs Dex about the podcast and me about what new horror he's watched (he's big into horror). Then he took 12 pictures with us. Of course, you have to pay for a selfie at the table but I actually prefer that to the pro photo where you're in and out in less than a minute. As you can see, he has fun with it.

After that, we got in line for out photo op with the Smallville crew and then had lunch consisting of a small bag of bbq chips and a Hershey bar. Living that con life! Then it was off to Ming-Na Wen's auto line. As I mentioned when I first went there, I got a "deli ticket" and went back to check my number at the time they suggested and it was nowhere near my time yet. We killed an hour or so walking around, went back to check the number and it was good! Still took maybe 45-60 minutes to get through the line.

Unfortunately, she wasn't taking selfies at her table but she was more than happy to chat with everyone. Since she mentioned being a Star Wars fan as a kid I asked her who her favorite original trilogy character was. She said initially it was Luke but then Han after Empire came out. She also said she used to draw doodles in her diary of her dressed as Han. So there's a fun little thing you know about her now. Then she said as she got older and kept going back to the movies her favorite became Leia.

With the last of the autographs gotten, we had just about an hour before the con closed so we walked around the vendor area which was much easier to navigate since the crowds thinned out.

And what would a comic convention be without cosplay? Unfortunately, I didn't get as many pics as I would have liked either due to being in a line or the sheer number of people making it a hard to try and stop someone. But here's a few I did snag.

This guy was Awesome! He even has a sidearm pistol which you can't really see here.

This homemade Dalek was also pretty impressive and yes there is someone in there!

I love when people do a group costume!

I wish I had been able to get over to this Khonshu and Moon Knight to get an up close pic of them. It looked really cool walking around the con.

Here's my whole photo album on Flickr is you want to flip through.