Friday at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre was laid out before the exploring geek as an adventure of discovery and treasure-hunting. And it also served as a bracer for what was to come on Saturday, large crowds weaving along the pathways between booths, and the walkways that connected the North and South Building.

I work to keep a lot of my scheduled activities to a minimum to account for travelling through crowds, and allow myself time off the floor, to deal with crowd anxiety. I’m not the only one who suffers through this, and I saw a number of people dealing with similar issues, and then diving right back in, as we are all determined to share our fandom love.

There were Q&As to attend – John Rhy-Davies delivered enthralling tales, tinted with his wry humour, and that brilliant theatrical timbre of voice. But the one I was all for, was writer/director Mike Flanagan who was joined by his partner, the fantastic actor, Kate Siegel, and they delivered a smart, engaging, and informative talk about his creative process and how things come together for work.

In fact, I was determined to have a quick conversation with Flanagan about his upcoming TIFF film, Life of Chuck and how he went about adapting Stephen King’s short story. I also wanted to commend Siegel’s work on her performances, she’s pretty amazing.

The Q&As are always fun, and the moments that each guest makes for their fans are always special. Each time I’ve had anything signed, the guest has always been wonderfully gracious, and attentive, but also aware that they need to keep their line moving because they want to make sure everyone gets their moment.

The North Building was where I staked out most of my claim on Friday, though there were a couple of runs to the South Building. One was to investigate the ‘must have’ convention item, there are a limited amount of The Molly Doll from The Big Comfy Couch at the Retro Ontario booth – the nostalgia is real, and the second was to throw my way into the path of temptation, as the Lego booth keeps calling me. There’s a new Jaws set (but it’s coming for my birthday) and there’s an Indiana Jones set that’s been calling to me.

The North Building houses Celebrity Alley, one whole wall of guests representing almost every fandom as well as iconic names like Danny Trejo. The names and faces are instantly recognizable, and fans flock to them with their posters, pictures, art, collectibles to be signed.

There are booths aplenty in this building as well, movie posters, Funkos, gaming accoutrements, shirt vendors, and one of the coolest things to be added in recent years (just make sure you book early) Tattoo Alley! The artists working here do fantastic work, and offer a variety of styles and are constantly friendly, informative and booked!

Expo has been a lot of fun so far, and there is still two days to go! I think over the next couple of days, I want to work at getting pics of some of the great costumes – stay tuned for that!