The Easter weekend saw the fourth Fan Expo Vancouver taking place and despite clashing with WonderCon in Anaheim, the event was still able to attract some big name guests from film and television as well as a large volume of attendees across all three days.

Much like previous years, there was a celebrity guest from the Star Wars Universe, this year being the one and only Carrie Fisher, who was on hand to sign autographs, pose for photos and also participate in a 30-minute Q&A session on Saturday; as you might imagine, this was filled with a great deal of snark and hilarity.

As always, members of the Outer Rim Garrison from the 501st Legion were present, running a Star Wars kids hour featuring Jawa and Death Star bean bag tosses, pin the tail on the Tauntaun, and navigating a course without dropping the thermal detonator from a lightsaber serving spoon! They were also offering photo opportunities to benefit Variety and it was great to see a constant stream of people lining up to have their picture taken with Stormtroopers, Imperial Officers and the like.

Since the first Fan Expo in 2012, the number of dealers has increased quite substantially, but as has been the case since the very first Fan Expo, Langley's Toy Traders took centre stage in the dealers' section with a wide selection of toys and collectibles, including Star Wars items from the likes of Gentle Giant, Sideshow Collectibles and Kotobukiya among others. Not only that, but they also had the new life-size Han Solo in Carbonite and Boba Fett from Sideshow Collectibles on display for photo opportunities, the former of which had been signed by Carrie Fisher! The increase in dealers meant that there were a lot more Star Wars collectibles on offer than ever before, and these were mostly the latest 3 3/4" & 6" figures from The Black Series, as well as figures and vehicles from the Rebels Saga Legends line, though prices were a little on the high side. So much so that I decided to pass on buying a Jedi Temple Guard and AT-DP Driver for $17 each. Sadly, there was no vintage to be found, with the earliest toys available being from POTF2. When I say that there was no vintage, that's not strictly true, as I did see a mixture of both classic Kenner and modern Hasbro figures, along with the JAKKS Pacific TIE Fighter pilot, used by local artist Krystal Lord as the basis for her creations. She also did some rather neat work with the figures from the Star Wars Micro Machines Action Fleet line, and you can see examples of these in the image gallery. There were other artists displaying their work, of which Star Wars was a part, and among them was the very talented Robert Bailey whose first involvement with the galaxy, far, far away was for the Star Wars Art: Visions book.

With the next Fan Expo set for November 2016, almost a year after the release of Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens and a month before that of Star Wars: Rogue One, I for one am hoping that we'll be seeing plenty more Star Wars-related guests and attractions, but whatever happens, it's great to see Vancouver's premier pop-culture convention go from strength to strength.

A big thanks to Shelley and Lauren and everyone else involved in organizing and promoting the event, and also to Chris Hamilton from Star Wars Kidscast, along with his daughter, for keeping me company throughout the day!

Check out pictures from Fan Expo in the image gallery.

Thumbnail above courtesy of Toy Traders.