Toronto Comic Arts Festival 2011

Dress up as your favourite Anime character and enjoy a day at a fanexpo comicon cosplay event. The next official FanExpo ComicCON event is in August of 2011 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. These are pictures from the 2011 FanExpo AnimeCON.

Until then comic lovers can take in the Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF) 2011 this Saturday and Sunday, May 7 and 8, 2011 at the Toronto Reference Library. Unfortunately it would appear that there is very little cosplay at the TCAF which is too bad as it really brings comics to life when you can see the characters walking around the shows.

To see more pictures of cosplay see more after the jump (click read more >>, below).

I see my Peeps

Easter Peeps stop and smell the early spring flowers like the Hyacinth, above, which are rising from the soil and helping to make this a more colourful time than the just passed dull grey winter. The bright yellow marshmallow Peeps candy are a favourite of the Easter Bunny.

Spadina Avenue Chinatown sign

Motorcycle helmet Royal Flush.

Long lashes at the Fan Appreciation ComicCon

Fan Appreciation of the ComicCON type

Hobbystar Marketing gives back to the Fans during a special FREE Toronto ComicCON event at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.  This Fan Appreciation event runs April 9 and 10, 2011 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. Comics, Illustrated books and cosplay are a big part of the show and there were some really interesting costumes. Don't forget the Fan Expo Canada which is coming to Town August 25-28, 2011.

The program schedule has two full days of entertainment and I looked forward to seeing Richard Hatch  (above) from Battlestar Galactica and the sad guy (Alan Ruck, pictured below) from Ferris Bueler's Day Off among many other entertainment guests.

SATURDAY APRIL 9 (show runs 11am-6pm)

• Q&A with Industry Legends Geof Darrow and Bob McLeod
• Sketch Duel: Chris Sprouse and Patrick Gleason
• Q&A with Battlestar Galactica's Richard Hatch
• Workshop: Drawing the Human Figure from Memory with Ty Templeton
• Q&A with Actor Alan Ruck

SUNDAY APRIL 10 (show runs 11am-5pm)

• Q&A with Actor Dominic Keating
• Sketch Duel: Khoi Pham and Marcus To
• Q&A with Anime Voice Actors Jaimi Marchi and Trina Nishimura
• Workshop: Comic Book Penciling and Inking with Leonard Kirk

See lots more pictures of the cosplay after the jump (click on Read More >>, below).

Toronto Pillow Fight 2011

The annual Toronto Pillow Fight has moved from the Yonge and Eglinton to Yonge-Dundas Square. It also started later in the day from the previous rounds - now the pillows started flying at 8:00pm in the evening. Luckily the nearby advertising billboards provided some extra light on the fun. The pillow fighters wore less costumes due to the cold (even though some brave souls fought without shirts) than last year (see my pictures of the 2010 fight here).

I met Lori Kufner (above), one of the organizers of the Toronto event from www.NewMindSpace.com hugging a large stuffed bunny rabbit (I asked her if it pooped jelly beans and she said yes!), who was enjoying the amount of people who turned out to participate and also the people who were on hand to watch the excitement. The date change was made to coincide with International Pillow Fight Day held around the world on April 2nd.

There was also a band called Samba Elegua that had a groovin' beat pumping the crowd up in a fury of pillow flinging state and a small group friendly people giving out Free Hugs.

See more of my pictures after the jump (click on Read more >>,  below).

The Awesome League

Have you seen my change purse?

Samba Elegua (above and below)

Shirtless

Star Wars: The love continues

Star Wars is a series of movies that started a long, long time ago in a country far, far away (actually just to the south) and it continues making new fans while long time fans get lost in the magic of the costumes and the memory of the excitement of a light sabre battle. Our nephews love the Lego Star Wars, making Star Wars movies and playing Star Wars computer games. During comic fan and anime events people love to dress up and meet the characters that played such a big part in the movie.

Whole social chapters of like minded people gather together and play the good guys, or bad guys, of the movies - although you never see a legion of Jar Jar Binks for some reason. We have the Vaders' 501st Legion Canadian Garrison and the Rebel Legion Canadian Base.

See more Star Wars after the jump.

They appear to have large weapons.

A large mannequin of Darth Maul.

A massive and hilarious Chewbacca Head Backpack

May the Force be with you.