Twilight fans sink their teeth into three-day convention

VANCOUVER – Eleven-year-old Twilight fan Grace Pero’s dream come true Friday; she got to ask a question to Twilight actor Bronson Pelletier.

Other fans wanted to know how 23-year-old prepared for his role, if he had a girlfriend, and "What it was like exploding into a werewolf."

Grace took a different approach. Shyly, she asked "What’s your favourite muffin?"

The answer is carrot, although he’s also partial to banana, and cupcakes.

It was a charming little exchange, and one of the oddly memorable moments at the opening of a three-day Twilight convention in the Grand Ballroom of the Sheraton Wall Centre Hotel.

The question and answer session with Pelletier was the first of a long line of events featuring Twilight actors like Kiowa Gordon, Cameron Bright, Jodelle Ferland, Charlie Bewley and Peter Facinelli and Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke.

Organizers Creation Entertainment hope to attract about 500 people per day to the convention, which also featured a Friday night karaoke concert, a Vampire’s Ball tonight, and a Breakfast with the Stars Sunday.

General admission tickets are quite cheap ($10), but the extras add up. The Vampire’s Ball and Breakfast with the Stars are $89 apiece, it’s $30 to get an autographed photo from one of the stars, and $50 to get your photo taken with one. If you want everything, a "gold" weekend pass is $269, while a slightly-less exclusive "preferred" weekend pass is $169.

Thirteen-year-olds Emily Lee and Emily Tilton-Gordon took the Skytrain from Coquitlam to check it out, and weren’t disappointed.

"He was a hottie," said Tilton-Gordon said of Pelletier.

"We asked if he had a signature dance move," said Lee. "He said no."

"And what’s his favourite clothing [store]," said Tilton-Gordon. "He said a little shop in Denmark."

The Q&A finished, the girls texted their moms and went to check out the merchandise. There’s a lot of it, including hair clips shaped like skeleton hands ($10), masks ($30), bracelets ($20), umbrellas ($20), bowling ball bags ($25), stickers ($3), posters ($10), water bottles ($20), a graphic novel ($20, puzzles ($10), action figures ($20), autographed photos ($30), a Vampires baseball hat ($20), a rubber key cap ($5), terry wrist band ($6), a "cuff" wrist band ($20), pin set ($5), lunch box ($20), wallets ($15-$25) and t-shirts ($15-25).

We shouldn’t forget about the 100 different glossy pics selling for as low as $5, or the dozen Twilight soy candles and room fresheners for $10 each.

The candles are the brainstorm of Shannon Hickson of Kelowna.

"When I was reading the novels I couldn’t help but notice the description of the scents throughout the novel," she explained.

"I thought that would be kind of cool to incorporate that into a candle."

Hence the world has a Dazzling candle, named after Edward, a Radiant candle, named after Bella, and an Earthbound Sun, named after Jacob.

Hickson’s 12-year-old daughter Taylor was the belle of the early part of the convention, floating around in a black cape and red and black dress she borrowed from her auntie Lindsay. But everybody will probably be donning their coolest costumes at the Vampire Ball, from kids like Taylor to 37-year-old Kathy Jones, who flew in from Brighton, Ont. for the Big Do.

If they want, they can even get the proper blood-sucker pallor from makeup artist Leslie Graham, who worked on the two Twilight movies that were filmed in Vancouver, 2009’s New Moon and the forthcoming Eclipse. The cost: $35.

The convention is the brainchild of Gary Berman, who has been throwing fan events like this since 1971, including a forthcoming Star Trek show in Vancouver that will feature both William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy.

The Twilight tour has hit about 16 cities so far, and a similar number are booked through next year.

"There’s something special about projects like Twilight, Star Trek and Stargate that has that little extra something to get people out of their doors and down to the convention," said Berman, 54.

"No one really knows what it is, but I can tell you it’s definitely there for Twilight."

The fan base varies widely from show to show. In Twilight’s case, the audience is young and female.

"With Eclipse coming out June 30th, I think you’ll see a lot more guys into it, because there’s definitely attention to special effects and more action," he said.

"But Twilight right now is heavily female-oriented in terms of the convention turnouts, I’d say about 90, 95 percent women."

He pauses.

"Good odds, though, for guys who want to come out."

jmackie@vancouversun.com