If ever there was an event that brings out childhood nostalgia and unabashed pride, it’s a comic book convention. The sixth annual Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo took over the Roundup Centre this past weekend, setting new attendance records with nearly 30,000 nerds, hobbyists and sci-fi and horror fans (up from last year’s 22,300).

And while William Shatner, Summer Glau, and other sci-fi stars dominated most of the guest list, the inclusion of Felicia Day and the cast of "The Guild" delivered an Internet-fandom presence that brought them en masse.

Interview with Felicia Day

The web series, created and written by Day, follows her character as she experiences life after meeting her colourful guildmates in person for the first time.

With tongue and cheek dialogue [read: filled to the edge with gaming references], the show is made for gamers, by gamers—a combo that’s resonated with the "expodites" jamming the lines to get an autograph or photo op.

In between signings, I caught up with Felicia Day to chat about food, life and her role as writer, producer and lead actress for a new web series adapted from the video game, Dragon Age.
 

Welcome to Calgary, I know we’ve had a lot of rain since, well, the past few months. Is this your first time here?

It is, and it’s a really lovely city. Every time I come to a Canadian city, I’m just impressed by how clean everything is and how friendly everyone is.
 

Whenever you’re travelling, do you have a favourite spot to unwind?

Well, I always go to yelp.com to look up the best cupcake, bakeries and coffee shops in town because I’m obsessed with those things.

This morning for instance [during the expo], I found this gourmet doughnut place called Jelly Modern. So, I paid $20 for a cab to drive me there, and I brought back 15 doughnuts. For me, what really defines cities is their cuisine. Any kind of local or homegrown artisan-style shop, especially sweets, I’m totally there.
 

Would you call yourself a sweets foodie?

I am! I’m a foodie in general, but I’ll go way out of my way for a really good espresso or cupcake.
 

What are some of your favourites?

In Vancouver, there’s a great cafe called Madina Cafe that serve Belgium waffles and makes one of the best espressos I’ve ever had in my life.

Then there’s a place called LAMILL in Los Angeles. You can literally have a cup of coffee served in eight different ways. It’s kind of ridiculous, but in fact teaches you appreciate how every single bean tastes differently.
 

Let’s talk about your upcoming project, Dragon Age: Redemption. With the franchise owned  by a big company like Bioware, was there a learning curve coming from a show like yours that’s a lot more homegrown?

We’re still working on very much a web-budget scale. It doesn’t even add up to an hour on TV, though we produce an hour of content. Working with them is great. They allowed me to collaborate with their world and give me input to hone it to make sure it felt very organic. I have to handle a lot, almost everything. I was actually sound mixing for 30 hours last weekend, and it was exciting to see how it works in-depth.
 

Did they give you any parameters to work around with?

We agreed that I would be an elf and I would be a rogue character. It’s what I always play [in video games], a redheaded rogue character. So I’m really just portraying my avatar that I’ve played since I was 12.
 

Is there a timeline when that web show is coming out?

It’s probably going to be August-September at this point, and "The Guild" season five is also released at the same time. I’m very proud of what I’ve done so far this year, and I’m super excited to get the projects out there. The Internet will be very full of Felicia.
 

What do you see yourself doing next as you pick up these new skills?

I really enjoy producing. What I’m interested in doing is not necessarily jumping into TV or movies, even though it’s much more lucrative, I’m really interested in expanding web videos.

I think at a certain point, web and TV shows will merge because everybody is getting content on the single screen they’re watching. I love the idea of opening the door for other people to tell stories that are not traditional in a non-traditional ways, and interacting with audiences on a much more authentic level. 

Photos courtesy of the Calgary Entertainment Expo