Well, it’s over. The weekend that was the newly-minted Fan Expo Denver: Special Edition 2021. Let’s do a wrap-up.
In September, we travelled to Colorado Springs for the first event post start-of-the-apocalypse for us, and it was A) nice to attend one again, and B) it was even nicer that it was small enough to remind us of what attending these things is like, without being huge.
Then, we didn’t have to travel at all to attend a Large event in our own neck of the woods: FanX Salt Lake. 70+ thousand of our fellow geeks back in the Salt Palace for 3 days of awesome.
But now, the combination of the two: a large event that we had to travel to:
[Remember, this used to be the Denver Pop-Culture Convention, but it was recently acquired by the Fan Expo organization.]
I’ve already reported on Day 1, so lets look at the remainder of the event, shall we?
First, I stand by my tweet that I want to stay at the Embassy Suites whenever I go back to future events anywhere, lol.
Second, it’s hard to fathom that I only did two photo-ops during this event. Strange.
Sure, they were Giancarlo Esposito and Billie Piper, but still… only two.
NOT because the guest list wasn’t good, by the way, but because it was just one of those weird things that happened.
FYI: Epic Photo Ops was great, as usual.
Snagged a couple of autographs, as well. Again, not an overbearingly large number of them, but some that I had been lacking.
Now, on to the meat of it.
Attended fewer panels than I anticipated, mostly due to the incredible variety of vendors Denver brought in. Sure, there were lots of Funko sales, standard 2D print art, but there were also some ARTISTS–as in paint-on-canvas artists (not to disparage the print folks; I’m just sayin’)–from who we made a major purchase, and are patiently waiting on it to be shipped to us (because, frankly, we’d never have made it on the airplane home with it, lol).
We also came across a furniture booth.
Furniture? Yes, furniture.
But not just any furniture: Geek furniture. Tables of all sizes, bearing art reflective of your fandom of choice: Star Wars, Star Trek, Marvel, DC, etc… even car branding.
Very, very cool.
We bought two.
Again, waiting for them to be shipped once they’re completed. That’s right; each piece is made to order, not stockpiled in some warehouse, waiting.
Excellent.
But, back to the panels:
The only non-celebrity panel I made it to was “Versus – 2021 Special Edition.” Two members of the Project Nerd Podcasts got together and took suggestions from the audience for debate topics: hence the “Versus.” It was A versus B, X versus Y.
A nice concept, but as they jumped directly into audience topics, it fell a little flat. It may have worked a bit better if they had started with a couple of their own pre-selected topics to grease the wheels, so to speak.
But hey, I’ve been there, having a concept for a panel that doesn’t play as well live as it does in my head. But at least my panel wasn’t 100% reliant on the audience, and was 5 panelists instead of 2… Smart enough guys, though, just a clunky bit of panel, is all.
Moving on to the celebrity panels:
Christopher Eccleston, perhaps best known to American audiences from Doctor Who, was a great panelist. He is refreshingly open about his opinions about both his own career and the industry as a whole in terms of thinking less of the audience than he does. One would think that such honesty would be self-defeating, but he continues to work based on the fact he is an incredible actor, and the fans love him.
So the industry gets it half right, lol. The audience gets it all right.
Billie Piper, Eccleston’s companion during his one series run as the Doctor, was also very entertaining. I’ll admit, I’d never (for some reason) attended one of her panels. I am ashamed. She is, in her own way, as open as Eccleston, though not quite as vociferously. But’s she’s engaging and still 100% as adorable now as she was as Rose Tyler over a decade ago. And she clearly loves her fans.
I’ll admit, I was a Battlestar Galactica denier for at least two seasons before I started watching it, but I’d always been a fan of Mary McDonnell and Edward James Olmos. Who isn’t? What a wonderful walk down memory lane with these two titans of thespianism, as they gushed over one another as well as the fans of BSG.
Michael Rooker. Man, this guy does the absolute best panels. Period. Bar none. Sure, they gave him a moderator, but at some events, they don’t even bother. He’s got a microphone, two legs, and a raging case of ADHD. He is off to the races, back and forth through the audience, grabbing folks’ questions and answering on the go, often snarkily, but always with an eye (and ear) towards entertaining the fans. And he really loves when kids ask him questions. It’s the best show on the circuit.
However… I have to say, as I have about other Fan Expo events, that I’m not a huge fan of the way they handle their VIP attendees. (Yes, I buy VIP passes for FanX Salt Lake and occasionally other events, so don’t judge.) Instead of, like other events, having a dedicated VIP line for each celebrity table, Fan Expo has a central VIP concierge who escorts VIPs directly to the table of their choice. I know it doesn’t sound like it makes a difference, but it feels different when you’re standing in the GA line and reach the front, only to have 2-3 or more VIPs just suddenly appear in front of you.
I know… it’s a little thing, but it’s still a thing.
So, how did the event stack up overall?
Well, I had to cut Sunday short so I could get back to the airport for the flight home (hopefully without any drama like the great Southwest cancellation fiasco from my trip down to Vegas at the beginning of the month), but overall, Denver is just as great an event as it was before being acquired by Fan Expo.
But I plan to be back next July for a full-on, 100% normal-sized event.
Staying at Embassy Suites.
Remember, if you like what we do, consider helping us keep on entertaining you. You can use this handy link:
Or, you could check out the merch in Our Store:
VSMP Merch Store
Not only will you be helping us out if you pick up some merch, you get cool stuff to wear around (including the coveted WTFWT? logo!).
Leave a Reply