FXC is spread over both buildings of the Metro Toronto Convention Center, which meant the show floor was divided up into two so that each building had a show floor area. It’s great that there were so many vendors and artists displaying their merch and talents alike. Here are just a sample of the vendors and artists that were there!
Vendors
Apollonie
A small Canadian company that’s based out of Toronto, Apollonie specializes in corsetry. Specifically, nerdy corsetry along with the historical. It was fun to try on a corset – you feel like a sausage wrapped in a burrito. It was glorious and you end up looking fabulous too! They had stock pieces available for you to try, but they do a lot of custom work as well. I couldn’t help it and I put in a deposit for a custom reversible corset. Can’t wait to use it for a future cosplay!
Cakes Cove
Now this booth I was the most excited about ever since I found out they were going to have a booth at FXC. I’ve been drooling over their creations ever since I discovered they existed and Nerdie Foodie came into fruitation. I was ecstatic to finally see their products up close and in person. All I can say is that it was drool-worthy and I took home a chocolate frog. You can check out their website here and their new Youtube channel here where you can catch up on all the shenanigans and tutorials!
Hasbro
Hasbro Store partnered with Toys ‘R Us and brought with them a ton of merch, everything from Stranger Things to Marvel, Star Wars, Transformers and Deadpool. I registered for the Bypass Line Registration and was able to check out all that they had on display without having to wait in the long line up! The Black Panther helmet…it light’s up y’all! And the Infinity Gauntlet with articulating fingers…want! What I ended up buying was one of the Deadpool Chimichanga mysteries. What made it more extra was the size of the bag that they gave me to carry it in…y’all I could have fit inside the bag no problem!
Funko
Of course, I had to give the Funko booth a whirl. It is madness y’all! It seemed like everyone who was able to get in had either a VIP badge (they were sold out of those at the con) or a Premium badge (they lined up super early as the let the Premium badge folks into the Convention Center early, but they didn’t let us into the show floor until closer to 10am). People were civil walking into the show floor. Once they got in people were running and it was absolutely chaos! There was definitely a rush of adrenaline as people were trying to get their paws on one of the coveted tickets for a timed slot. Those whom did not get a ticket were able to line up for the booth after the two timed-slots were over. For a first-timer shopping at the actual Funko booth, it was nothing I had ever experienced before. But after two attempts, I was able to shop at the booth! I was super stoked that I finally got to carry the gigantic blue bag! And what’s even crazier, I’m pretty sure the Funko bag is wider and taller than the Toys ‘R Us bag I got at the Hasbro booth.
Arda Wigs Canada and Lumin’s Workshop
Arda Wigs was one of the sponsors for the Masters of Cosplay contest and they also had a booth on the show floor in the North Building. Aside from all the cool wigs, they had brought with them Lumin’s Workshop’s Foam Clay. I got to feel a small sample and let me say it is one of the coolest products that I have ever touched! It’s very malleable and a bit damp to the touch like clay, but once it’s cured and hardened, it is super lightweight like foam. The fact that it’s super lightweight makes it awesome to create armoury and pieces and a great alternative for cosplayers! Or if you’re one in need of a stress ball, this stuff is just as addictive to squish as a stress ball!
The Devils Latex
Out of all the Horror HQ section, this booth took my attention and held me back to check out all their creepy masks on display. The attention to detail does not go unnoticed to a passerby. Just take a look at their Freddy Kruger mask and their Pennywise mask! Even the TNMT masks! And what’s even more impressive is that they do custom work as well. So, if you’re wanting that perfect mask for your creepy cosplay, check them out!
RevenantFX
Of course, it has to be creepy garden gnomes. Then of course that led to a creepy zombie-fied Santa Clause and Elf on the Shelf. And did I mention the gnomes? There were a lot of them. And zombie-fied witches. It creeped the heck out of me, but all of their things were well done with a lot of detail and perfect for creepy-fying your homes! Check them out here!
Artist Alley
We went through every single booth in Artist Alley on Day 1. There were a lot of talented artists. So much so that I got so drawn into some of the artistry and I forgot to take photos for y’all to sample. But I came through the other end fairly unscathed, I only bought a couple prints. But there were definitely some artists there that I would love to add their beautiful prints into my collection one day, such as Derek Laufman’s chibi-styled drawings, Gillian Newland’s Hogwarts print (soooo puuurdy!) and the one where they have Disney Princesses printed onto aged sheet music (I forgot to take down the name of that company). Those are just to name a few! And in particular (this one is right up Jams and Roni’s alley – you’re welcome), if you love the slightly Halloween-Series of Unfortunate Events-Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children-esque type artwork, check out Dan Holst Soelberg’s creations! I’m not into the horror-ish stuff and even I found his drawings morbidly beautiful – it was the pipe smoking cat that did it for me. Check out his website here!
Modulicious
Two words: Nerdy Terrariums. That was what caught my eye when we walked past by this fun booth! Then I saw the Nerdy Buddha-esque figurines… I was done. No seriously, this all makes total sense when you see these and you can instantly envision having one or two of these in your home. My hat’s off to Paul McCue for these creative nerdcessities. Check out his wares here!
PlushieGal
This one just filled my Nerdie Foodie heart with joy! How could you not squeal at these cute foodie plushies!! IT LOOKS EXACTLY LIKE THE FOOD EMOJIS ONLY WITH FACES ON THEM!!!!!! Can you tell I’m still not over how cute these things are? They’re like fluffy unicorns. That is all.
Overall
It definitely makes it harder to see everything when the entire show floor is in two buildings. If you have a lot of photo-ops, autographs and panels, you may miss out on some of the vendors and artists. What I did like was that they had well defined section for the Horror fans. As y’all know, anything horror is not really up my alley, but I did brave it with accelerated heartbeats and slight panic attack and ventured into the Horror HQ (as they called it) to snap some pics of some of the vendors there…creepy garden gnomes and all. Aside from that, I liked how there was a huge variety of vendors and artists and they do try to have a little something for everyone. And bonus, a lot of them were Canadian vendors and artists!
And that’s a wrap from Fan Expo Canada 2018! I hope you enjoyed the coverage and we hope to see you soon!
‘Til next time,
Stay nerdalicious!
