Phoenix Fan Fusion 2025: The Mostly Good BUT Sometimes Bad

Every year, in early June, people from all fandoms converge on the Phoenix Convention Center in Downtown Phoenix to spend three days celebrating all things geeky. And this year was one for the record books.

With the likes of The Hobbits from Lord of the Rings, Simon Pegg, fresh off Mission Impossible – The Finale Reckoning, Kevin Smith and members of his View Askewniverse, and even the cast of Red Dead Redemption, the guest list was stacked more than I could remember. AND THEN, they announced Hayden Christensen!

The crowds in the last few years had been down. It was not terrible, but they were not selling out the event and even giving away tickets to youngsters under 12. However, this year, three-day passes sold out almost two weeks before the event, and Saturday tickets sold out the week of.

COVID had a lot to do with that, but also the guest list, although good some years, was definitely lower than other cons, until this year. And in a twist of fate, we only had three guests cancel their appearances. Unfortunately, Charlie Cox, one of the big ones I wanted to see, canceled the week of because of a change in filming for Daredevil: Born Again season 2. Which is fine… I guess.

Let’s talk about the positives of the event.

Panels with Simon Pegg, Anthony Daniels, and The Hobbits were highlights!

Anthony Daniels walked through the crowd during the entire panel, going directly to fans to answer their questions. He has always come across as a warm, welcoming person in interviews, but to see it in person, it showed how true he is. Even if he joked about answering the fans’ questions in his autobiography, he wrote a few years ago.

Sean Astin, Elijah Woods, Dominic Monaghan, and Billy Boyd were as advertised. They were funny, engaging with each other and the crowd, and told great stories about their time together over the last 20 years. They did a fun game where they reverse-questioned the fans about their jobs outside of The Lord of the Rings. After Elijah and Sean asked their questions, Billy offered up a small, “Only used once!” can of mouthwash for anyone who answered his question correctly. Not to be outdone, Dom put up “Three American Dollars” as his prize. Sean Astin upped it to $8 by pulling out five buckets. It reminded me of Nathan Fillion and Alan Tudyk giving away things from their hotel rooms to fans at their panels in the past.

Simon Pegg, being in Star Trek, Star Wars, Mission Impossible, Cornello Trilogy, and so many more films and shows, had stories for days. He could have talked for hours, and I would have been there the entire time. He talked about writing on Paul and Spaced, acting with Tom Cruise, and even how he got the job as Scottie in the Star Trek movies. He was great.

We also attended a couple of smaller panels run by fans. They are always a hit or a miss proposition. This year, they were pretty good. A highlight for me was the Jar-Jarpardy panel, where they did Star Wars trivia, Jeopardy style. The fun part was that if you didn’t have the correct answer, if you made the host laugh, you got awarded points anyway. It was a panel advertised as 18+, and it went there.

There were a couple of things that I struggled with this year. Not negatives, just things that I would have skipped or done differently to make my experience better.

Much of Fan Fusion was set up around Hayden, and for good reason. He is a major, major draw on the convention circuit right now, and it was his first time in Phoenix. Because of that, the panel room was cleared of everyone who attended the previous panel, which normally doesn’t happen, and Fan Fusion sold separate tickets for his panel for guaranteed seating. It made for some interesting decisions for us. As much as we wanted to see Hayden, we also didn’t want to deal with being in lines for hours in the hope that we would maybe get a seat. So, we went to dinner. Good thing too, his panel was supposed to start at 6:30 pm, but it took until 7:15 to get everyone in the two panel rooms before he could start.

With the large guest list and the passes selling out, the vendor floor was often too busy to move around on. This is a good thing for the vendors. At times, we struggled to move from one area to another, finally finding a place to sit and wait for the crowds to subside. Rumor from the vendors on Saturday was Fan Fusion organizers were expecting 110,000 fans., That is pre-COVID-like numbers. I’m happy for the vendors, but maybe just a few thousand less would have made for an easier time.

They just announced the final number was 130,145 people!

Jonathan Rhys Davis was only there for Friday, and wasn’t able to stay to hang out with The Hobbits. He was in a sad mood, which happens. He spent a lot of his time talking about how AI is going to take over the film and television industry in the next 18 months. And he spent time talking about people who have passed away. It was a heavy panel, especially after the joy that Anthony Daniels brought.

Over the last few years, Fan Fusion has included Friday and Saturday night themed rave parties. Themes like Villains Night or 90’s Dance Dance Party were open to all who had passes. With DJs playing dance music until the early morning, it was a great and I mean great topper to the day. However, they tried something new, and I wasn’t a fan. Each night, they had two separate parties, a party open to everyone and an 18-and-over party. I’m not sure why, but neither captured the atmosphere of the previous year’s events. Here’s to hoping they go back to the other way to party.

Now, on to the negatives. If you have read some of my articles in the past, you know that I don’t want to lead with the negatives. I’d rather find the things I like and talk about them. But when the negative affects the overall feel of the event, I can’t let it slide.

Some back story. In 2018, a gentleman got into the building with a real shotgun, with he intent to shoot Jason David Frank. Luckily, a friend notified the police, and they were able to stop him before anything happened. However, ever since then, each person has to go through metal detectors and have their bags thoroughly looked through for weapons and anything illegal.

I am here for the Phoenix Police, the convention center, and Fan Fusion, keeping us as safe as they can. Because of the added security, the Phoenix Convention Center has greatly limited what can be brought into the con, including limiting certain types of cosplay accessories and any outside food and drinks. We are limited to only one unopened 12-ounce bottle of water and nothing else. This forces every con goer to buy anything to eat or drink from the convention center directly, unless you want to leave the convention center and reenter security.

This year, a 16-ounce bottle of water from the convention center was $5 on Friday and $5.50 on Saturday and Sunday. Food was extremely expensive as well. We got six “rolled tacos” on Friday for $18, and at checkout, a small bag of chips was $5.

I’m not one to complain about companies making a profit off fan conventions, I understand. However, Phoenix Convention Center is making a ton of money from this sold-out event. What’s wrong with people trying to save some money to spend with the vendors? If you price out the fans, they will stop attending altogether.

Passes are expensive, and so is parking. If you want to get a photo with your favorite star or an autograph, you are not going to be able to afford much of anything else.

Security does their best, but there was also no consistency. I had to take my gimbal back to the room because it was defined as a tripod. And yet, once inside, I saw several tripods and gimbals in use.

I put all of the blame on the Phoenix Convention Center. They are the ones forcing Fan Fusion to put all these restrictions on the attendees, making it hard for some people to attend. To put a cap on this, however, like I said before, the three-day passes were sold out. So, maybe people made it work.

Overall, we had a great time. We love going to the panels, large and small. The cosplay is always a step better than the previous year. The vendors had every different type of thing you could ever want. The entire second floor was a gaming area, and was full most of the weekend. It is a great event, but it could be amazing with a few small tweaks.

We will be back next year, June 5-7, 2026.

Start planning your cosplay now! 

Author: Sean Miley

I’d rather find the things that I like about a story, movie, or tv show, than lead with negativity. I love Star Wars, Doctor Who, MCU, comic book and conventions.

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