Pop culture celebrated at Fan Expo Canada 2016 in Toronto

September 7, 2016

The 22nd took place at the  this weekend, attracting thousands to the event, one of the most popular in North America. Crossing between the genres of science fiction, horror, anime, fantasy and comics, the event sprawled throughout all corners of the facility. Hundreds of vendors offered products new and old, joined by celebrity guests like, , and. Various local fan organizations were there in a charitable capacity, and thousands of fans donned costumes, many of which they themselves created.

Atwood, a -winner, was there to launch her graphic novel Angel Catbird, with illustrator Johnnie Christmas. Lee was making his final convention appearance, part of a larger farewell tour. Hamill's schedule included a panel with Kevin Conroy, the voice of Batman in , in which the Star Wars lead played the Joker.

,, and all had large areas set up for attendees to try their latest games. In the 20-minute PlayStation VR demonstration of  VR, players are dropped down a secret elevator in Bruce Wayne's manor, to the Bat Cave, to suit up. From there, the demonstration took players to investigate the murder of Nightwing.

The Northern Arena Esports Championship ran throughout the weekend, facing off teams of video gamers in a packed hall. Even in early rounds, the event was well attended, with the stands full of gamers, watching the matches with live colour commentary. The finals saw team Cloud9 and Immortals, from, face off in . Both unbeaten teams going in, the Brazillian team won the championship and $50,000.

Gameplay was delayed during the "third map" (third round) of the finals, when one Immortals player was caught with their headset off. After nearly half an hour, the team was deducted a point, leading to a sudden but temporary rush of success by the team.

Displays of charity at event
The Canadian garrison of returned with their setup of photo-ops, with proceeds to the.

Volunteer organization Comic Corps of Canada collects donations of comics, to distribute to children and youth in the hospital. Along with collecting comics on-site, the group was fundraising through raffles and button sales.

Other charitable fan-based groups included The Ontario Ghostbusters, Doctor Who Society of Canada, and Klingon Assault Group.

Cosplay celebration of craftsmanship and characters
The thousands of outfits on parade around the various halls offered a tremendous cross-section of genres and eras of pop culture. The majority of outfits involved at least some elements made from scratch, a fantastic display of craftsmanship. Of the thousands, Wikinews spoke with a cosplayer going by the name "The Katherinator". She was outside the building in the gardens, waiting for a photographer she had arranged to shoot her new costumed character-style outfit. With shoes as wide as a forearm, and a rigid torso of carved foam, she remained exuberant even when caught in the traffic between halls, many hours into wearing the outfit.

Disney

Superheroes

Anime

Video games, movies, and more