For lots of people, attending the FAN EXPO is a noble quest. Hot days and heavy costumes make sure of that. For others, it’s a race. A father dressed as Yoshi pushing a baby Toad in a stroller, trailed closely thereafter by a mother-daughter Luigi-Mario duo, drives that point home. For the boldest, it’s a competition, either through good-natured, informal one-upsmanship or through sanctioned battle royales like the Rocky Mountain qualifier for the Masters of Cosplay.
Originally founded in 2012, this marks the sixth year the event has been held as FAN EXPO. This is the second rebranding after a 2018 trademark dispute and a 2021 corporate buyout.
Whatever the name, the four-day celebration continues to venerate the best and boldest in anime, comics, cosplay, horror, gaming and science fiction. From Thursday, May 28, through Sunday, May 31, nearly 110,000 people descended on the Colorado Convention Center to catch a panel, get a celebrity photo or autograph, or peruse the 273 exhibitors. Stalls carried everything from Baby Billy veladoras to vintage comic books trucked in from Texas. Locally-made plushies, lurid poster art of all shapes and sizes, and an endless array of masks, wigs and costume jewelry could be found around every corner.
Despite the grand attendance and the many outsized outfits, FAN EXPO was a surprisingly civil affair. People filed through the halls with remarkable grace, leaving the many horns, wings and tails largely unruffled.
As much as everyone was there to gawk at or admire their fellow partygoers, most came to see one or more of the celebrity guests. Orlando Bloom spent Sunday stressing out visiting boyfriends. David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson reprised their parts with The X-Files. But the real giants of the festival may have been Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd, who were all there commemorating their roles as the Hobbits in The Lord of the Rings saga.
The sheer extent of what’s on display at FAN EXPO is unfathomable. No matter how deep anyone’s knowledge might be, they will always find something fresh or unrecognizable. There’s inevitably going to be someone there representing a corner of some fantasy universe that will leave even the most devout head stumped.
That there’s no continuous thread uniting the far-flung fandoms seems to be largely the point. FAN EXPO isn’t about finding similarities where there are none. Instead, it’s a celebration of difference, each day an increasingly extravagant reminder that no matter the interest, people always have a place.
The FAN EXPO will return to the Colorado Convention Center on Denver July 2 – 5, 2027. Sign up for the newsletter here or look for more info on its Instagram.
Photos by Evan Dale.
