FAN EXPO Dallas 2021: New Coverage From The Illumnerdi

The Illuminerdi was present at the 2021 FAN EXPO Dallas, which took place at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center. Here is our story.

The Illuminerdi was present at the 2021 FAN EXPO Dallas, which took place at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center.

The three-day event was full of fun for the entire family. From a wide variety of vendors, celebrities, voice actors, and tattoo artists, the FAN EXPO gave us all a little reminder of a time that seems so far away.

Our first day at the event couldn’t have started any better, as we were able to get a one-on-one interview with James Marsters. The interview will be up on our channel, so check back soon. Read below for a summary of the rest of the event:

Fan Expo Goes Behind The Scenes

Upon arriving at the venue, the first thing I noticed is how well organized it all was. The event checkpoint had a lot of employees guiding the public towards the event and provided useful information on how to navigate the floor. The Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center was the perfect place for an event of this magnitude. There were lots of room for the main showroom and a spacious eating area with a wide variety of food vendors.

Friday’s schedule included a few celebrity photo-ops, a Q&A with the cast of The Office, a cosplay meet-up, an unplugged acoustic concert with James Marsters, and a lot of anime goodness. The attendance was the calm before the storm. I would argue that Friday is a crucial day to attend. Not only it is extremely beneficial to get familiarized with the sheer monstrosity of the convention center, but attendees can also take advantage to do some early shopping or at least plan out how Saturday is going to be.

Saturday is the day where the Fan Expo convention put the pedal to the metal. The number of people attending that day was mouth-dropping. Even as the doors were opening up, people from all over Texas and the country stormed in. It was apparent in everyone’s demeanor that this was a privilege. A chance to attend an event like this, in the middle of a pandemic felt like normality. As you will see from our video below, during peak times, people were bumping shoulder to shoulder in the showroom. All of the vendor’s booths were busy, people were purchasing a wide variety of items, and attending their favorite celebrity’s Q&A Panel.

Speaking of Q&A panels, we got the chance to attend the majority of the panels that day. The Illuminerdi asked Ryan Hurst about his recent announcement that he will be playing Thor in the upcoming God of War: Ragnarok. Hurst gave a very definitive answer hinting that he is already done with the role. Ron Perlman and Theo Rossi gave us a little glimpse of what they have going on as well. We also got a chance to ask Stephen Amell a question about his acting inspirations. Check out our question in the video down below.

What impressed me about Saturday was how steady and busy the celebrity booths were throughout the day. I remember seeing Zachary Levi stay in his booth literally for most of the day. Some of the actors took precautions and minimized contact with fans. Some of the photo-ops had plexiglass separating them from fans, but for the most part they were all very receptive and happy to be there.