A Weekend of Awesome: Unplugged Expo Report

This weekend I attended the Unplugged Expo and as their tag line says, it was a weekend of AWESOME. In a new venue, there were two floors of geekery with everything from traditional photo-ops and autographs to Beyblade contests and panels on DYI approaches to geekery.

There were the Guests of Honour, and Cosplay guests, YouTube content creator guests as well as a number of groups promoting their own types of geeking. Too much to do a full report on, but here’s a list of highlights with links so you can learn more!

Here’s a list of Awesome Things I found:

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers

Joining Black Ranger Johnny Yong Bosch were two Dino Thunder Rangers Jeff Parazzo (White Dino Thunder Ranger) and Kevin Duhaney (Blue Dino Thunder Ranger). Their appearance was supported by Angel Grove Radio: Power Ranger Podcast.

Sailor Moon

Now Johnny Yong Bosch is also the voice of Artemis in the Sailor Moon Crystal, which was being played the the Crunchy Roll screening room. But giving Sailor Moon even more love, Unplugged Expo also brought together a number of the voice actors from the DIC dubbed version of Sailor Moon. It was this dub which aired on regular television, that allowed so many to fall in love with the fandom. Besides guest panels talking about the past of the show, there was an Artemis versus Artemis panel with Yong Bosch and Ron Ruben. One of the voice actors and voice director, Roland Parliament gave a reading for his book Sailor Moon Reflections.

To assist with the celebrations was Emily Gonsalves of Moon Chase, the Sailor Moon news website.  She also did a panel on upcoming Sailor Moon merchandise, with everything from figurines to perfume. Note, the scepter pen set does not actual cause you to transform.

Live Action Role Playing Groups

Dystopia Rising NORTH is an international networked LARP, with the NORTH group being the first one in Canada. What’s the concept? There was a zombie apocalypse set about now. I know, yawn; but the LARP is set four generations later. Each character is aligned with a religion based on transformed memories of today’s pop culture. Each event is a weekend long, and if you travel, as there are games in places like New Jersey and Hawaii, your character can join in different locations! For more info check out: Dystopia Rising North

If dystopias aren’t your thing, try EPOCH – a LARP with two main societies, and the Magical Fae who recently arrived at the end of a Plague which knocked out 90% of the world. They call it a “Medieval Magical Elemental Fae” game. So you can play a human or Elemental Magical Kin, or fae (Elves and Dwarves and cat like Kaern, oh my)  in this live action adventure.

Gaming

For more traditional games there were two rooms set aside: one for table top games and the other for console games. I saw everything from the Disney Infinity Aladdin dance routine, to a good old fashion Nintendo “Duck Hunt”.  The other room had games like Munchkin:Impossible (spy version), Fluxx, Gloom, and Arkham Horror.  Both rooms were sponsored by Genre Con.

There were also rounds of Geek Jeopardy, Anime Singing Idol, Beyblades, and, as a nod to three of the guests of honour: Can You Morph?

I sat in on a panel called Video Games Past and Present with two very genial guests – Sasha the Obsessive Gamer and Daryl Does Show. Both have YouTube channels and both have an encyclopedic knowledge of the history of this industry. They referenced everything from Game Genie to the upcoming Assassin’s Creed. There were also panels on Retro Games, Game Consoles You’ve Never Heard Of, and a panel dedicated to Mass Effect.

Cosplay

Besides the awesome cosplays worn by the attendees, Unplugged Expo brought in several cosplay guests including Glay; Quantum- Destiny, VickyBunny Angel, and Cosmeko cosplay group.The Geek x Girls also had a table and a few panels.

Panels ranged from “how to”s like Cosplay 101, Wig Tips, Working with Spandex, FX Make Up, Fabulous Footwear Makeovers and how to use Worbla. In discussions about Cosplay culture, there were panels on Cosplay Horror Stories and Cosplay Is Not Consent. This last panel discussed both on-line and at con harassment; be it for sexy outfits, body-painting, or cross-play. The panel was run by Geek x Girls and they provided many tips including: have props to hand those you take photos with, or place your hands on YOUR hips, so they can’t. For on-line harassment  they talked about a two strike rule, with a chance for first time offenders to learn before being banned.

Cosplay for a Cure was also in attendance, taking professional photos for donations. All money raised goes to fight Breast Cancer.

Geeky Entertainment

Another neat aspect of this convention is their geeky entertainment track which features all sorts of fun.

The Dandies , who are well known for their long form improv “Holodeck Follies” yup set in a Star Trek type verse, put on two shows, inspired by audience comments.

Fandom Musicals have created several musicals based on geeky material. They performed “Off the Top of Our Heads” improv and screened their second musical, Star Explorers, set in an original science fiction universe. Next summer watch for them at various conventions with an X-Men inspired show.

Reality Radio 101, home to friends of the site, Geek Hard, had a table showing off all their shows.

ConBravo! Not only assisted with the Masquerade, but also was promoting their one day ‘sampler’ con: FanFare Geek Fest II, being held on November 8th, 2014 at the International Plaza in Toronto.

Other performers included Fanfiction the Show with Toronto Batman and the 404s geeky improv.

So yup, this tired reporter had her pass to a weekend of AWESOME!