25 years later: Attending another convention

 

25 years later: Attending another convention

by Jen Davies, nerd

March 25, 2026

So, last week I attended my first fan convention in 25 years. I went with a colleague from the savebensolo.com fan campaign - and I use the term "colleague" on purpose because the entire approach to the convention was project managed by yours truly in a highly collaborative manner (since we're all volunteers), with the intention that it would appear professional-like. 

We had been planning to attend Toronto Comicon 2026 since late November. Our plan was to bring a lifesize piece of art and invite people to take a photo with Ben Solo. Incredible artist Altocello (altocello.com) had agreed to add a bottom-half to the beautiful piece of art that she had already created for the fan campaign website.

We reached out to the company that runs the convention ahead of time and asked if there were any concerns about us bringing the lifesize cutout of Ben. We never did get a response, though that was expected - I at least wanted to say we had asked. Most of the Comicon policies about cosplay props were focused on weapons, and this was clearly not dangerous. Security waved us through each day we were there, as we expected. As long as we were not blocking the flow of people, we had no trouble choosing a spot in a well-attended location at the convention and waiting for people to approach us, or to approach other cosplayers.

Cutout Ben was a great eye-catcher - and not surprising, Altocello's paintings of Adam Driver are beautiful, even if you're not into the Star Wars sequels. People liked it even if they weren’t into Star Wars, and some told us that seeing Adam’s face bobbing through the crowd (when we were relocating to a new area or on our way to ask for a photo) had sparked their curiosity to find us.

People were TOTALLY happy to be in photos for Instagram! As photographer I would take pics with their phone then ask, “Can we take one for Instagram?” and not a single person said 'no.' Star Wars cosplayers especially loved to be asked to be in photos with Ben, and were happy (often thrilled) to share their Instagram handle so we could tag them. Even non-cosplayers were happy to be in photos on our social media. We were surprised, though maybe we shouldn’t have been–we were all nerdy people who had gathered at a convention to talk about stuff we love, so the mood was friendly and positive.

Going to a convention was a lot of fun again, even though (as I shared in my previous post about my first and only previous convention) I still went and met strangers! But at least those meetings were planned this time, and my spouse knew where I was and who I was supposed to be with. 

If you see Ben Solo at an event near you, please come and say hello. You can bet whoever brought him would love to talk about the sequel movies, and catch you up on whatever news there is to share about the future of a Ben Solo movie!

#starwars #thehuntforbensolo #adamdriver