Sunday, August 26, 2012

Raëlian Movement Protest - National Go Topless Day

Those crazy Raëlian's were down at Woodbine Beach, ready to march north in support of National Go Topless Day in Toronto.
The Raelians believe that life here on earth was created by extraterrestrials, called Elohim, and judging from the makeup of the majority of the group, are obviously based in France, as most were talking french!

Now how they are connected with Go Topless Day, well, I'm not really sure!! But here in Ontario at least, it already is perfectly legal for women, as well as men, to go topless on the streets. In fact, a previous event last year was told they could not protest in a City Park, but this year the City indicated that they would not object.

At the start of the event, the members were doing there own documentary, and interviewed my brother James.



Then then gathered up with there police escort, and headed up the road to Queen St,







where we said bye to them and explored the city a bit more before calling it a day and heading home!

Import Fest

While Fan Expo was taking place in the south building of the Metro Convention Centre, the north building was rocking to the load beat of the Hyundai sponsored ImportFest.

The top floor was full of lots of different models:








A few entries had been at other shows, and won best of show type trophy's, which were also on display.




As a result, some of the models on display may have had some work done,


or had special paint jobs,



while others were almost factory fresh!


Of all the models at the show, this was my favourite!!




Some were from European countries, like this German model



and this fine Portuguese model.


I'm pretty sure these were from Sweden or some other Scandinavian country!



Being an import fest, there was of course a lot of Asian models.







It wasn't all about the models themselves, there were accessories, like tires to make that model go fast!


While others used bolt on body kits to accentuate the shape of the body.


And many of the models were sponsored by company's, so there were lots of logo's over the various parts of the bodies






Now, with all the music, playing so loud, some of the models had to spell out questions to the audience!!



Hopefully they got the answer they were looking for!

Oh, and there were some cars there too, but to be honest, I didn't really notice them!!
 

Fan Expo - Part 3, the other stuff!

A comic con originally was based on the comic book trade, but has grown considerable since then. Lots of booths are at the show, with various items that the fan needs to complete any collection.

There were masks, both latex heads and character masks,




A japanese samuri warrior suit of armour,


lots and lots of figures and statutes of various sizes,



A big mousey looking thing (nothing to see here Disney lawyers, just keep moving along!)



A life size statue of Darth Maul,



A back pack sized storm trooper,





That final item to complete your costume.



The movie Frankenweenie (from Tim Burton) had a large display, include the figures used in the stop motion picture.


LG was on hand with a large display. I really don't know what it was about, but the girls looked good!!





And who says stuffed animals have to be all warm and fuzzy!!



I think that the shirts on Big Bang Theory have helped to establish an explosion of various t-shirts, most of which were on hand from a number of vendors.


And finally these guys. Stuck across from the Alliance Films booth, the guys from RoosterTeeth had to watch a trailer from the Hunger Games about a million times. After the first few hundred times, they started "doing" the "I volunteer as tribute" part, and just cracked me up!


Again, after dealing with the staff of the show (A picture of a camera with a line through it means no photographs!), to the celeb handlers standing in the way of shots, to the massive crowds the flood this event, its the fans that put forth all the effort and make this show good. Everyone but them is in it for the cash, and really, these guys get nothing but smaller bank accounts. Its a huge amount of money to get in, and once your in the door, everything is a rip off, from the 3 dollars for a can of pop, to the 50-60 dollars for an autographed photo, so its a shame that the guys that make this a great show are also, sadly, the ones taking the greatest hit to the pocket book.

Fan Expo - Part 2, the Fan!


While it's always great to see some of the celebrities that we all like in real life, its the fan's who attend the show that really bring it to life. With all the handlers making rules (no flash, no photos, move along, no posing, 50-60 bucks for autographs and pics) for the celebs, the fans make themselves available for everyone. And they love the experience, which to me, makes the show. Really when it comes down to it, they are the ones doing if for the real reason, for love of the experience.

One of the ideas developed was the Photo Wall, where the schedule was set up that on specific days, at specific locations, all members of a particular group were to show up. For example, there was a Dr Who schedule, and one of the groups to pose were the various incarnations of the famous Dr, including a couple of Daleks! Neat idea!




Lots of girls like to attend these shows, and glam up in various costumes, to the delight of many a fan boy!



As I'm not a huge fan of the various comic con genres, I'm not really sure what this three guys were, but they all had welding glasses and gas masks, with amplified voices!



Female comic characters were very popular, such as Poison Ivy.



Again, no idea what it is, but a great costume none the less!



This woman was working the booth, selling items, but I had to stand her with the suit of armour.




Master Chief, a zombie captain and Final Fantasy (I think!) character go into a bar....




Steampunk is very popular as a costume as well.





Not sure the character, but who cares, she looks great!



Mystique and the Joker plotting evil plans, I'm sure!



Not really characters, just cool get ups!




What you normally see on an escalator at Fan Expo!




She will kick your ass, and look good doing it!



She will probably not kick your ass, but still looks good!




Who can resist a heart shapped eye patch!



You know, Harry Potter would have been even better a franchise if they had more students like the girl on the left!!



That is one big ass flame thrower!



I'm pretty sure this is the real life version of Jessica Rabbit!



Lara Croft, Tomb Raider!



A kick ass Loki, who would not hesitate to get into character when you ask, and every time I said thanks to her, she said have a great day. Again, its the fans that make this show!



And whats a Toronto event without the Naked News girl!?!



Our famous Pillow Fight girl is always attending these type of events!




The trouble with Tribbles! I think its only guys in red who always die, not girls, considering Lt Uhura was around the whole show!!



My favourite part about this Super Girl is her flying tie!! Nice touch!



The world famous "my parents are dead" Toronto Batman!!



Who had compitition from a hughley tall batman and his trusty sidekick robin!



But Superman could kick both there asses, and has the hot babe to show for it!



This batman has the cool eye contacts the help the costume.



Thor was everywhere this Expo!!




Warriors, come out to playeaye!! I loved this movie!!


And what would a show be without a few zombies. And don't forget to help out the Toronto Zombie Walk, with they're fund rasing efforts for the walk, which will be held at Nathan Phillips Square on Saturday October 20th.