Retro video and table top gamers, card and comic collectors and vintage toy enthusiasts descended upon Cambrian College in Greater Sudbury on Sunday for the 7th annual Northern Game Expo (NGE).
A smaller version of the event was run last fall, when COVID-19 restrictions were loosened after the 2020 event was cancelled due to the pandemic.
This year, some attendees dressed up as their favourite sci-fi, fantasy and comic book characters.
Brad Davidson, co-founder of NGE, said they were excited to see larger crowds returning to the event.
"It is just a good time to be a nerd," he told CTV News.
"NGE is to celebrate nerd culture. As I have said before, back when I was growing up in high school, being a nerd wasn’t cool; like you were ostracized. But now the nerd genre has exploded."
Davidson said he credits people like local zombie artist, Rob Sacchetto, with reinvigorating what it means to be a nerd. Adding that video game collecting is cool again, art is being brought back to the forefront and is changing nerd culture into popular culture.
Sacchetto has attended all of the NGE events since the beginning.
"I am a veteran," he told CTV News.
"I just love the fans so much. Honestly, it’s like I love feeling that electricity in the air when people are excited about their pop culture icons and things and I just keep coming back. I love seeing the smiles on people’s faces."
Sacchetto commissioned a special 007 zombie portrait for NGE7 and was on hand selling his zombie artwork and his comics and graphic novel, Cape Fear.
Hugh Bastard of Studio 613 Electric Tattoo Co., located on the Kingsway in Sudbury, has also been a staple at NGE. This year his business donated a PS5 prize pack to the expo.
"I come for the quality of vendor, attraction and clients that show up and also because I strongly believe in what they are doing here," Bastard said.
"I think this is something that Sudbury really needs and really wants, and I am really proud to be a part."
Representatives of another long-time vendor and sponsor of the expo, Comics North Hidden Level Games, also spoke with CTV News Sunday, saying it was the people that keep bringing them back and without the people they would not be there.
Sudburian Taylor Holloway is a business development officer for B.C.’s Creature Caster. Holloway was on hand to show off many of the company’s miniature lines and promote the brand locally.
"I am looking forward to seeing a lot of people come by and get more involved in the miniature hobby."
Kyle and Stephanie were at the expo representing its newest sponsor, Great Canadian Games & Hobbies, and spoke with CTV News. They said they believe that NGE is one of the few remaining big conventions of its kind in the north.
"We pride ourselves on table top games," Stephanie said.
"We want to represent and come out to show our player base that we’re here ... For me personally, I'm here for the cosplay, it is really awesome."
Cosplay enthusiasts who arrived at Cambrian College added some colour to the expo with their creativity and their costumes. Some dressed up as their favourite comic book heroes, while others took their costume ideas from video games, movies and television.
Other highlights from the expo included a N64 007 GoldenEye tournament, the Klingon Assault Group, a life-sized remo remote-controlled R2D2 and of course almost 100 tables of vendors.
The kids zone was also of particular interest to families in attendance with colouring areas, an obstacle course and scavenger hunt with opportunities for youth to earn prizes.
Over 1,200 people attended the expo on Sunday.
Davidson told CTV News with the returned success and crowds at the event, they will be holding a new event in April.
"We are going full con," said Davidson.
"It is going to be Nostalgia Con. We have three areas in the college that are being reserved. We are going to be looking at panels, it is going a full kids' zone with everything going on in another area and, of course, what everyone comes for is the shopping."
NostalgiaCon will be held April 23, 2023.
For more information on the expo and other upcoming NGE events visit their Facebook page.
