FanQuest promises weekend of adventure

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This article was published 26/05/2017 (3417 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There’s a new con in town.

FanQuest, launching today at Riddell Hall at the University of Winnipeg, is a fan convention that will try to give C4 (the Central Canada Comic Con, held every October at the Convention Centre) a run for its quatloos.

The event is the brainchild of Dan Vadeboncoeur, who was the executive director for C4 for just one year. He sees FanQuest as an event that will be more of an adventure for attendees.

“C4 is very focused on the shopping experience. You pay your entry fee and there are a whole bunch of vendors selling their stuff, and you can find comic books and toys,” he says. “That’s where comic conventions came from, back in the day — a bunch of comic collectors getting together to buy or trade comic books.”

Vadeboncoeur sees FanQuest as “more a celebration of fandom.”

“So it’s not just comic books, but science fiction, fantasy, film, TV, anime, cosplay — all these things that you do see at the bigger conventions. But we’re trying to make it more interactive and not so much a focus on buying things, although there will be vendors.

“You can go out and not have to buy anything and still have fun,” he says. “There’s going to be lots of activities there.”

Obviously, the modest FanQuest can’t compete with some of the big-name guests who have attended C4, such as William Shatner and Patrick Stewart.

“We raised $10,000 from Kickstarter to help pay for the guests to come in,” says Vadeboncoeur, who is also an instructor in Red River Community College’s creative communications department. “So right now, we’re focused on good guests with interesting stories to tell.”

Those guests include Matt Sloan and Aaron Yonda, the creators of the cult YouTube videos Chad Vader: Day Shift Manager, which details the workaday adventures of Darth Vader’s cousin as he drudges his way through the realm of supermarket retail. Other guests include actor Patrick Sabongui of the TV series The Flash and stars of the web series LARPs.

The convention also throws comedy improv into the mix with four performances by local Dungeons and Dragons-themed troupe DnD Improv at Eckhardt-Gramatté Hall from Friday to Sunday.

“They’ve been doing the fringe (festival) for years and what they do is build on their show every night, and they continue the story from where they left off,” Vadeboncoeur says. “So that’s what they’re going to do at FanQuest. They’re going to do a show on Friday night, two shows on Saturday and the last show Sunday night, where the whole thing kind of comes to a head.”

Also on the program to kick off the party tonight at 8 p.m. is the Star Wars 40th Anniversary Social Celebration: Rogue Fun at the Cresentwood Community Centre, a fête in honour of “the greatest movie ever made” with Star Wars-themed drinks, food and music, trivia and silent auction prizes. (Admission is $10, $8 in costume).

Vadeboncoeur says he is happy with the U of W venue, but hopes to see the convention expand in the coming years.

“We’re hoping to (see it in) the convention centre long-term, if it gets that big, but we’re not really thinking about that right now.”

The full program of FanQuest events is online at fanquestcon.com.

randall.king@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @FreepKing