HSVExpo Brings Fandom To The Rocket City!

When you think of Huntsville, most folks think of NASA (it’s not called the Rocket City for nothing). But for one blissful weekend it was also a gathering place for fandom. The 9th annual Huntsville Comic and Pop Culture Expo brought together nerds from all over for three days of pure fandom. I was fortunate enough to get to attend along with my ‘Guild of Calamitous Podcast’ co-host Garden, who was vending, and get to experience some southern hospitality, nerd style.

THE OVERVIEW

The south hall of the Von Braun Center in downtown Huntsville was packed to overflowing with celebrity guests and vendors, making it clear the show may have outgrown the space, I’ll talk more about that later.

Among the big name guests were George Takei, Steve Burns, Tara Strong, Paige O’Hara, Jonathan Frakes, and cast members from the 80’s sitcom Saved By The Bell and the 90’s sitcom Home Improvement. The big ticket seller though was very clear, Melanie Zanetti and David McCormack, the voices of Chilli and Bandit (or Mum and Dad) on the international hit show Bluey.

While Friday and Sunday were full of wandering, meeting vendors, cosplayers and guests, they were relatively manageable. Saturday however was insane, mostly because of the Bluey panel occurring at noon. Throngs of parents, children and people of all ages who are touched by Bluey swarmed the hall. And it made sense, as the following day the highly anticipated 28 minute special “The Sign” was due to drop of Disney+.

I was blessedly able to snag a place at the back of the panel to observe. Moderated by Expo founder, Jeremy Long, they Some of the more heartwarming moments definitely involved the long line of little kids who had to be held up to the microphone to ask their questions. David even had a puppet of Bandit’s in show altar-ego, Unicorse. Probably most touching was the adults who all had beautiful stories that had led them to being fans of the show. Huntsville Expo filmed the full panel and it’s available here.

There were clearly some flaws, most of it being the space constrictions. There were multiple events happening at the VBC at the same time, making parking a nightmare, with on site spots not even guaranteed for vendors. And the fact that it was all forced to be packed into one space meant that the two main panel rooms were separated by a folding wall, making it almost impossible at times to hear the panel you were actually attending. 

The lines were so long for autographs at times that they did have to start having lines for waiting in line in the hallway outside. The volunteers and staff of the Expo were doing all they could with what the VBC gave them and it seems as though they are finally going to be given an additional hall for next year’s con. 

And while overwhelming at times, the whole con was an incredible experience that I’ll gladly attend again. Here’s to HSV Expo 2024! You were a hell of a show. Next year will be even better!

THE COSPLAYS

I myself decided to go in costume Saturday and Sunday as Professor Lupin from Harry Potter and Gale of Waterdeep’s Hand from Baldur’s Gate 3, respectively.

And I was not alone, with cosplayers from a wide variety of fandoms showed off their stuff. Below are photographic highlights!