Han Solo, Sailor Moon, a space marine, and Batman don’t often cross paths. But at this year’s Island FanCon, these iconic heroes came together under one roof to celebrate their shared passion for pop culture.
This year’s Island FanCon attracted thousands of attendees to Langford’s City Centre Park from March 28 to 30 to celebrate fandom of all types.
Drake McLie from Vancouver made the long journey to the Island to showcase his prized creation – a meticulously handcrafted Deadwatch Black Templar that took him two months to build – and share his passion for cosplaying.
“Cosplaying is all about making costumes you want from your favourite video games or fandoms, and you get to be a kid,” said McLie. “You get to walk around in a big suit of armour, or whatever costume you want, and just enjoy this escapism from all the stuff going on nowadays and just get to have fun being a character that's not real.”
A few booths away, squeezed between a comic book seller and a Funko Pop stand, is Kyle Timmons with his family, proudly exhibiting his collection of custom-made light sabres.
“I have probably the largest selection of light sabres in North America, ranging from ones made out of wood all the way to custom ones I can make out of solid gold with diamond buttons.”
Travelling across the country each year to attend more than 35 conventions, Timmons shared that his passion for light sabres came from an unexpected place.
During a prolonged hospital stay, Timmons had only a small television, endlessly playing Star Wars movies. That experience alone reshaped his path.
“It just took me away!” he said. “I fell in love with it to a point that it really just saved me, it really did.
“That's why I bring my A-game when it comes to this company.”
A few metres from Timmons’ booth, strolling through the convention's aisle, was a fuzzy ginger-haired gal dressed as the cult-classic character Napoleon Dynamite.
“I just love that movie,” said Karlee. “It's one of the movies where you can just watch over and over and over again and just laugh so much.”
As a longtime fan of Jon Heder’s films, Karlee saw FanCon as the perfect chance to meet the actor behind one of her favourite characters.
“I'd love to meet him and take a photo and all that stuff,” she said. “Hopefully, he doesn't ask me to do like an impersonation of him.”
To learn more about the 2025 Island FanCon, visit islandfancon.ca
