Reflecting on the Calgary Expo and best practices going forward

It’s a grift* (so be very very intentional about it)

*unless you cosplay

You’re basically paying an entrance fee to get ripped off even further in whats basically a giant shopping complex by borderline unscrupulous vendors (half of whom I suspect) who just see easy money and easy targets. You don’t even have to take my word, just observe how they interact or ask a question or two and how little some of them know about their own fandoms. I would even further bet, even some of these so called “artisan” vendors essentially got made in china tier “handmade” goods and just see an easy markup in a relatively rich market like Calgary that is used to paying inflated prices. You could probably buy the exact same thing to specifications online (yes even the stuffies, crochet knick knacks, and leather goods). I have zero qualms in supporting local business, but I am not going to pretend that just cause your business is small that you are incapable of the same low quality producing practices as the big guys. I see right through you middlemen/women, AI art resellers, etc etc. That’s not to say they are all like this, I did find some very reasonable prices on some items like TCGs, some props were priced exactly as they would have been online, and some art was within the realm of reason. But what can I say, I notice the bad apples a little more than the ones running a fair game. I don’t want to paint all of them as villains however, I can be convinced that tariffs may have played a role in some of what I saw.

Even the EXPO itself is shady AF from an IT perspective. When you sign up you’re expected to fill in a bunch of personal details. Now for security purposes , all you need is to check people’s badges visually or scan a barcode to confirm its a valid code, and each year has a new and distinct badge design and should not be hard to visually inspect by the volunteers. Yet…

…they have scanners and badges that have to be ACTIVATED where they ask a bunch of marketing/demo questions? There is zero doubt in my mind that they are data harvesting to the nth degree and while they likely claim its for “improving the customer experience” but I call BS - somebody somewhere is probably selling this information. They also had scanners at the entrances to the presentations AND to autograph signings. This means they have EXACT demographic data of who is attending what, who they are here to see, timestamps of when people enter presentations, at what point does that demographic get “bored” or “hungry”, etc. If credit card info is shared due to some contract or clause (they all seemed to have stripe processors likely provided by the event I suspect…) they can easily cross reference the last 4 digits of a card to who paid for which pass and see what you actually bought. I do believe many vendors stated they were in fact cashless so there’s not necessarily a simple workaround. Am I reaching or being paranoid? Maybe. But honestly if you’re in tech and know the wacky shit all these companies get upto, does anything I said really sound that unreasonable to believe a company might be doing?

The only non-famous people who looked like they were having a genuinely good time were the cosplayers, its the one time that people get to dress up in something they worked really hard on and I respect it. And I suspect people stopping you to tell you it looks great or asking for a photo (as I did many times) is a vindication of sorts. Otherwise, just groups of friends looking to just enjoying each others company also seem to be the vibe. I have no idea why on gods green earth you would ever attend anything like this SOLO unless you live in Calgary and are just very very bored. There is NOTHING but hollow consumerism for the most part waiting for you unless there’s a presentation/autograph you really absolutely must get.

My rule of thumbs/best practices going forward:

Buy and use a prepaid credit card for even a dash of privacy. Just get a decent amount like $250 and you should be good if anything REALLY catches your eye + food. Also a good way to catch yourself if you might overspend cause the card has a limit. Ideally , do cosplay. It’s just a better time and you feel like you have a purpose for attending rather than just to consume. Get FAT and eat to your hearts content be so ugly they don’t want to use your photos for their marketing (ik i did , shhhh). Buying just about anything is a rip-off, but I suppose if you know this is your one and only chance to buy a waifu mousepad be ready to pay that premium I guess. FOCUS on the 1-2 experiences you want to partake in such as the parade, perhaps DND or card games, some guest speakers, that is what you really pay for to get any modicum of value from this. Materialism/plushie goods that you pay for is NOT “value”. Do not give nerd vultures at the booths a lick of attention, and honestly use the time you save to explore the rest of calgary and make even better memories with your people in those few hours. Hit the Zoo, maybe skirt off to the mountains, who knows who cares. Buying things at booths is not the play.
Treat the booth areas as if they are there just to get your steps in and burn off all the calories from the food you will indulge yourself in and seeing other peoples cool cosplay. You can do it in a day, 3-4 days is absolutely ridiculous - save your money, just pick the day that has a guest speaker you most want to see.

Ice Cream was really good tho and hit the spot in the afternoon sun.