Fan Expo Canada 2024 | Event Recap

It was a fandom celebration at Fan Expo Canada with over 135,000 people in attendance – eager to meet their favourite celebrities including Simu Liu (Barbie) and Bryce Dallas Howard (Argylle) during the annual event. You couldn’t walk more than a few steps inside the Metro Toronto Convention Centre without running into a Stormtrooper or coming to face with Batman as Harley Quinn laughs hysterically from a distance. The energy was electric and organizers continuously find ways to top themselves in terms of programming and entertainment value – a show for everyone that didn’t disappoint.

The North Building was buzzing with attendees waiting patiently to have their items autographed by Celebrity Guests and immortalize those moments with a professional photo handled by Epic Photo Ops in an intimate setting; unforgettable experience every time. I’ve had the pleasure of grabbing a photo with dozens of celebrities in my eleven years of attending Fan Expo Canada – most memorable was that of fellow Canadian Michael J. Fox (Back to the Future) in 2018 because I understood how challenging Parkinson’s disease can be on someone. While our conversation was brief, I’ll never forget how genuine his smile was after saying how honoured I was to meet him; thanking him for making the trip.

This year I decided to focus my attention on some of the other components of the Fan Expo Canada experience, primarily taking in the Celebrity Q&A panels which included several which were focused on the gaming industry. SophistiGamer was seated in the audience during four of those panels:

It’s-A-Him, Charles Martinet!

His name might be unfamiliar but his voice is legendary. Charles Martinet is the man responsible for bringing life to Nintendo’s most iconic mustached plumber – Mario – along with a host of other famous Mushroom Kingdom residents including Luigi, Wario, and Waluigi respectively. Martinet has voiced Mario since 1995 where he became an integral part of my childhood with Mario’s Game Gallery credited as the first time players could hear Mario speaking directly to them. Martinet regaled the attentive audience with stories of his career and how he literally crashed the audition that ultimately earned him a life changing phone call from Nintendo afterwards; whilst relaxing on a sunny beach.

The Electric Playground Reunion

The Electric Playground is the world’s longest running television program – focusing on video games and entertainment. Created by Victor Lucas, the show premiered in September 1997 on G4 Canada and remains a fundamental pillar of Canadian media. The Electric Playground expanded its programming and spawned a spin-off in 2002 titled Reviews on the Run which featured familiar personalities including Marissa Roberto and Shaun Hatton – Marvel Studios Ant-Man actress Evangeline Lilly appeared as a “product girl” prior to being cast in Smallville and Lost which was her breakthrough role.

The panel was moderated by Steve Vegvari with Lucas, Roberto, and Hatton reminiscing about their time shooting The Electric Playground and answering questions from the audience. Having watched a lot of Video & Arcade Top 10 and The Electric Playground during my youth, I can honestly say that sitting through this panel was my favourite thing from Fan Expo Canada that weekend. The desire for the work Victor Lucas produces continues to thrive and hopefully we’ll be able to watch The Electric Playground once again on Canadian airwaves – developers deserve to be celebrated for all of their work.

Enter the World of Sanctuary with Rod Fergusson

The final day of Fan Expo Canada did not disappoint and was firing on all cylinders. Rod Fergusson joined moderator Victor Lucas literally after flying in from Germany the previous day – Gamescom took place that same week and Diablo IV had a large presence at the event. Despite the jetlag, Fergusson opened up about his industry career including his time at Epic Games working on Gears of War followed by assisting Irrational Games with shipping Bioshock Infinite which was in jeopardy. Fergusson has earned a reputation for being a “closer” within the industry – swooping in to save troubled productions whilst adorning multiple hats and learning skill sets in order to support the development team.

Fergusson chatted about the anticipated Diablo IV expansion Vessel of Hatred which is scheduled to launch on October 8th, 2024 and includes the all-new Spiritborn class. After sharing a synopsis of what players can expect in the upcoming campaign, he revealed that his favourite class in Diablo IV is the Necromancer while Diablo Immortal sees him play as the Whirlwind Barbarian and averages 30 hours of playtime with each of his characters; currently has six in total. Listening to Fergusson was an honour and his advice for breaking into the industry was simple yet inspiring – make something cool.

Diablo IV is available on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and Windows PC.

Star Wars Outlaws – Deep Dive With Development Team

A short time ago in a convention centre not so far away…

We concluded our time at Fan Expo Canada with a Star Wars Outlaws panel featuring Navid Khavari (Narrative Director) and Nikki Foy (Lead Scriptwriter) from Ubisoft Toronto who provided some valuable insight into the production of the game. While no gameplay footage was show, Khavari shared that it takes place during his favourite period in the timeline: comfortably seated between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi with players taking on the role of Kay Vess – a scoundrel with a bounty on her back after a job goes south and must pull off a heist to secure her freedom. Humberly González (Ginny & Georgia) and Dee Bradley Baker (Star Wars: The Clone Wars) voice Vess and Nix respectively.

When you write the script – your part is done and now it’s being taken and someone else is going to implement it, work on it, shoot it. In games, that’s not the case. You are iterating until it ships. You are constantly moving things around – when the script is done, that’s Part 1.

Nikki Foy, Lead Scriptwriter, Star Wars Outlaws, Ubisoft Toronto

With an adorable plushie of Nix – a companion from Star Wars Outlaws – on her lap, Foy went in-depth about what goes in to writing for video games for those interested in pursuing that industry career. Foy explained that emotional beats in stories can be controlled perfectly but when players inadvertently stumble into that particular narrative whilst in the middle of a laborious side quest – they’re likely going to miss it simply to finish the quest. “I’m just trying to gather eight fruits” Foy jokingly remarks.

Khavari also mentioned – with a chuckle – that they know when players skip cutscenes. It’s rare for players to participate in this type of experience outside of venues like E3 (no longer functioning) or PAX and despite Canada serving as headquarters for some incredible talent including Next Level Games (Luigi’s Mansion 3) and The Coalition (Gears of War) on the west coast, there is a notable absence of ways to acknowledge their contributions to the industry. Fan Expo Canada demonstrated that players are hungry for this type of programing and hopefully international based studios can be convinced to make the trip across the border because Canadians are standing by – eager to roll out the red carpet.

Star Wars Outlaws is available on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and Windows PC.

The Witches’ Road – Presented By Agatha All Along

Heading into the South Building, we walked down The Witches’ Road with Marvel Studios Canada at the Agatha All Along booth. The interior was decorated to resemble the route which the titular character follows in the WandaVision spin-off. Costumes worn by Kathryn Hahn, Aubrey Plaza, and Joe Locke accompanied the immersive experience. Hahn and Locke were also joined by showrunner Jac Schaeffer on stage for a sit down with Victor Lucas (The Electric Playground) to discuss the upcoming series.

Agatha All Along premieres September 18th, 2024 exclusively on Disney+.

Neopet’s 25th Anniversary

We celebrated the 25th anniversary of Neopets and reminisced about our favourite moments from Neopia history with the team members. They also had a variety of merchandise for sale including three adorable NeoHoods – Kacheek, Aisha, and Acara – as well as The Void Within bags which were only available during Fan Expo Canada weekend. A panel titled Community & Nostalgia: The Neopet Legacy was hosted on Sunday however it conflicted with a previous engagement and SophistiGamer was unable to attend. Our own Chris Zaiser confirms that Tale of Woe was his favourite plot.

Paramount Lodge

The fan-favourite Paramount Lodge returned to Fan Expo Canada with three cozy attractions:

• SpongeBob SquarePants – 25th Anniversary Miniature Golf
• Star Trek Menagerie – Collection of Star Trek Specimens & Creatures
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Mutants Unleashed Video Game Demo

We enjoyed playing the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants Unleashed demo from Outright Games with Chris Zaiser lucky enough to grab a photo-op with Donatello and Leonardo at the conclusion of his session. The game is set within the Mutant Mayhem universe established with the 2023 animated feature film and subsequent sequel series Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles which is available for Paramount+ subscribers – Micah Abbey, Shamon Brown Jr., Nicolas Cantu (The Walking Dead: World Beyond), Brady Noon (Family Switch), and Ayo Edebiri (The Bear) reprise their roles.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants Unleashed launches on October 18th, 2024 for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and Windows PC.

SophistiGamer Concludes…

The atmosphere at Fan Expo Canada was nothing short of infectious. Whether you were getting an autograph from Josh Gadd (Frozen) or perusing Artist’s Alley for hand-crafted artisans and personalized commissions, we saw nothing but smiles. While there are areas for improvement, Gaming has finally found some decent footing with developer panels being a necessary step in the right direction.

Nintendo and Sony should consider returning to Fan Expo Canada in the future – especially with the PlayStation 5 Pro and an unnamed Nintendo Switch successor on the horizon. Xbox seemingly reduces their presence year after year but with heavy hitters like Gears of War: E-Day and Doom: The Dark Ages currently in development, giving those developers the chance to showcase their work would be a most welcome sight – bigger booths for even bigger experiences! Fan Expo Canada is a gold standard for conventions with attendance numbers to support it. Mark your calendars because the show will return in 2025 and tickets for the event will be available starting September 26th, 2024 at 11AM EST.

SophistiGamer was provided with Media Accreditation by Fan Expo Canada.