[Report] Montreal Sci-Fi/Comic con

Hi all! I attended a Sci-Fi/Comic convention in town last weekend.
Here's a report.


Montreal Sci-Fi/Comic con report


 The convention was really cool. We bought the $12 basic pass, which
allowed us access to the main dealer room, and upstairs comic panel
rooms, for 1 day. Well worth it for the Saturday.

 Much of the dealer room (maybe 70%) were tables selling comics, anime
DVD's, and accessories (cards, posters, few toys). 15% were local
clubs/artists showcasing their work, and the last 15% were the guests'
(comics & Sci-fi) signing tables.

 The Sci-fi actors were at their tables for most of the day and had,
remarkably, small or no the line-ups. Lou Ferrigno didn't make it and
I wasn't too interested in Chewbacca or the Canadian sci-fier, but
mainly StarTrekkers.

 Early on I took pictures with Robert O'Reilly (Chancellor Gowron) and
we wished each other "Kaplah!" (success) during the last picture; it
was even his idea!
 Next up, was the friendly Ethan Phillips who was very down to earth
(not so gleeful as Neelix) and genuinely happy to be visiting
Montreal, where he can speak some French.

 While getting pictures with Ethan, some woman all in black ran up,
gave him a hug and said "Bonjour, bonjour!" then scurried off before I
realized it was Marina Sirtis! There was a longer line for her table,
so I didn't want to take too much of her time (and my camera was
having battery trouble, while attempting to take a 2nd picture of the
2 of us). She said it was no problem and joked about breaking cameras,
herself.

 Scott McNeil made a brief autograph appearance in the dealer room,
but was mostly part of the Anime con, which was only accessed with the
$25 deluxe pass. Hopefully, I'll see him at Botcon next year.

 The Dreamwave panel featuring Pat Lee was in a small room, which gave
everyone a chance to ask multiple questions. Very informative and
fan-friendly Pat Lee remembered me from Botcon and was talking with
some of us afterwards for easily 10-15 minutes.

 I met 2 fellow Transformers fans who I had met at this summer's
TransformersCon; and they both remembered losing badly in the trivia
contest! I also met some other Transformers fans for the first time,
but can't remember their names. 1 was a friendly fellow with the word
"moose" being part of his online name. Many tables were selling new
and old TF comics and some had TF merchandise like the G1 reissues!

 It was great to see the Transformers fandom alive in Montreal! I
asked everyone if they'd ever been to a BotCon before and told many,
including Pat Lee, that I'd see them at TransformerCon in Toronto next
March.

 I went back to Ethan Phillips' no-line table and we talked candidly
about film and theatre for 20 minutes; he even remembered my name!

 The actors were mostly charging $10 to sign items of our choosing or
$20 to sign their own colour photos. They were happy to have pictures
taken for free (luckily, for a cheapo like me!) I thought of
purchasing a photo to show my appreciation, but I honestly knew I'd
just stick it in a drawer and forget about it.
 I remembered a friend and figured he liked Councilor Troy better than
Neelix, so for once in my life I thought, "Money's no object." I was
all ready and excited to ask Marina Sirtis to autograph a picture to
him, but unfortunately, Pat Lee left his table and most of his long
line shifted to Marina's table.
 I may have been mentally prepared to part with 20 bucks, but wasn't
so ready to part with 20 minutes in line, so sadly, I aborted the
mission.

 I picked up a bunch of 50 cent comics of "V", "Robotix", and
"Sectaurs", Death's Head 2 issues 1-4 for $4, and the current
Transformers Armada and War Within issues at non-converted prices (3
U.S.$ covers for $3 Cdn!).
 I bought a Jango Fett/Clone Trooper rubik's cube for $2. Last year, I
considered sending away for this same SW rubik's cube cereal-prize,
but never got around to it and this never-opened 1 was cheaper.
 Laziness is a virtue, Hee-hee!

 I figure most attendees were heavily comic-oriented, given the long
Comic-personalities' table line-ups, as opposed to the actors. In both
cases, this convention allowed a low-key interaction with the guests
that isn't as opportune at the large Transformers and (I'm guessing)
StarTrek conventions. As long as there's a few interesting guests next
year, even 1, I'll gladly go again.

JL
"Don't be Absurd!"
-Galvatron