The 2011 Hal-Con Sci-Fi, Fantasy & Comic Convention began at 9:45 on a cold but beautiful Saturday morning in downtown Halifax. On November 12 to be exact. The con began with an adorable short film of a robot's origin story and his quest to find a place where he belongs.
The scene photographed of Nelson the robot waiting for the ferry to take him to Halifax had the audience fill the room with wild laughter at such a familiar experience. The humour was quite ingenious, the quality of the film fantastic and the acting quite adorable and funny. We were all thoroughly entertained right from the start.
You can tell Reg and I were absolutely entranced and super excited to be at the con. I had only been to a tiny one in Vancouver years ago. Reg used to go to Hal-Con when he was in high school and has missed them ever since.
You can watch the introductory film here. Charming, hysterical, speculative and well, we just love any story that has robots. So cool to have a Canadian robot's perspective!
The short concludes with Nelson finding "his people/robots" who take him to the con, assuring him he will feel at home there.
I told Reg that I really felt the film was quite symbolic. Always an outsider, loner, closet literary goth geek who is also a foodie... Most of my life I have wondered where my people are? Just like Nelson.
After a weekend at such a creative, wild, fun and friendly event, I think I found my people/robots too
It was a great start to Hal-Con and I even got to hang out with Nelson for a little while. As a former employee of Canada's Wonderland, I can officially say I have never seen a mascot character as beloved as Nelson.
He truly represented not only the spirit of Hal-Con but all the supportive, talented and slightly obsessed (in a good way) fans who are completely passionate about their particular genre of fandom. I was proud to have my photograph taken with him!
It was only just the beginning of the convention and we were already having the most amazing time! We felt completely at home.
