So I'm just going to give you a few highlights of day 3 of Vegascon and share a few of my photos!
Anyway…where were we? Oh yes, J day was over, I’d had my Js photos, J2s, J2Ms and Jensen’s meet and greet and after a very loooooong day, was ready to crash. BUT…our photos would be available to pick up around midnight, so after our Misha op, Hazel and I went and grabbed some much needed food with a few of friends and waited until the mighty Chris, had printed up the Js and J2 ops.
We wandered back to the photo room at around 11.30pm to find the photos all laid out and waiting. One of the really fun things about looking through hundreds of photos to find your own photos is looking through hundreds of photos! Some of them are adorable, some of them are hilarious, some of them you think….ooo, good pose, might have to plagiarise that one!
Anyway, we all grabbed our photos, giggled, gushed, grimaced as appropriate. I always find I pretty much dislike all my ops until maybe a week or so later, when I look at them with fresh eyes and love them! It was well after midnight when we headed back to our rooms. Hazel and I sat up oooing and ahhing over the Js for a bit, I uploaded some photos to twitter and then….THE CLOCKS WENT FORWARD! D’oh! Yes, daylight savings kicked in and all of a sudden it was 3.30 in the morning. I did mention that conventions are super exhausting right?
Sunday came around awful quick and kicked off pretty early at 10am. We didn’t want to miss the start of the last day, so we mustered ourselves and made our way down to the auditorium. Richard came out on the stage, bouncing…literally bouncing all over the place. The man’s energy is daunting. There was a little Elastic Waste Band magic, a bit of Richard and Rob re-enacting the lift from Dirty Dancing (Rob playing the chick part) and then we were on with our first guests.
Anyway…where were we? Oh yes, J day was over, I’d had my Js photos, J2s, J2Ms and Jensen’s meet and greet and after a very loooooong day, was ready to crash. BUT…our photos would be available to pick up around midnight, so after our Misha op, Hazel and I went and grabbed some much needed food with a few of friends and waited until the mighty Chris, had printed up the Js and J2 ops.
We wandered back to the photo room at around 11.30pm to find the photos all laid out and waiting. One of the really fun things about looking through hundreds of photos to find your own photos is looking through hundreds of photos! Some of them are adorable, some of them are hilarious, some of them you think….ooo, good pose, might have to plagiarise that one!
Anyway, we all grabbed our photos, giggled, gushed, grimaced as appropriate. I always find I pretty much dislike all my ops until maybe a week or so later, when I look at them with fresh eyes and love them! It was well after midnight when we headed back to our rooms. Hazel and I sat up oooing and ahhing over the Js for a bit, I uploaded some photos to twitter and then….THE CLOCKS WENT FORWARD! D’oh! Yes, daylight savings kicked in and all of a sudden it was 3.30 in the morning. I did mention that conventions are super exhausting right?
Sunday came around awful quick and kicked off pretty early at 10am. We didn’t want to miss the start of the last day, so we mustered ourselves and made our way down to the auditorium. Richard came out on the stage, bouncing…literally bouncing all over the place. The man’s energy is daunting. There was a little Elastic Waste Band magic, a bit of Richard and Rob re-enacting the lift from Dirty Dancing (Rob playing the chick part) and then we were on with our first guests.
I’d met Julie McNiven a couple of times, but I’d never seen Samantha Smith. Talk about pretty! Well, both are of course!
Sam and Julie seemed pretty relaxed and just chatted, as much to each other as to us, answering questions about the show and other things. We had the obligatory character questions that always make me squirm, because it’s not like they’ve been living with these characters for years or anything, but like all cast members, they answered them politely and with enthusiasm. Like Julie was asked, what she thought of Anna trying to kill Sam and she said, she did what needed to be done, she was trying to save the world! [Insert sassy attiude here.] Both the ladies were pretty sassy with their answers. It was nice to have a couple of chicks at the event, adding a bit of glamour. These things tend to be a testosterone-fuelled boy-fest on stage and an estrogen-fuelled chick-fest in the audience, so having the “Supernatural” gals there was a treat. Julie's married to a Kiwi (remember him from Plunky's?), so seems to have picked up the antipodean sensibility and humour...also language, which she blamed on being married to a Kiwi...I was sitting next to a Kiwi at the time...and being an Aussie, I got where she was coming from!
At the end of the panel...there was dancing. Dancing was a theme at Vegascon!
Next up it was Mr Jim “Pants on fire” Beaver!
Ok, so, the episode “Taxi Driver”, was the episode they were shooting immediately before the convention. Sooooo yeah. That Jim is really awful good at keeping a secret! I’d missed Jim’s panel on the Saturday, due to having a lunch date with Jensen and Jared, so I was very happy Jim got to do two panels. Now, as most of you probably know, this was the first time Jim has brought Maddie to a con. He brought her on stage for his panel, but disguised her as Bobby! Complete with hat and beard! So if anyone did get a shot of her, no one would recognise her. It was pretty cute. She's in a couple of my photos, but I've decided not to post those.
Maddie chirped up every now and then and proved to be free spirited and incredibly bright. Jim did the obligatory eye roll at her comments and odd little interjections, as he positively beamed. I mean, we all know how much he adores his kid! It was pretty special for him to share that with us all. He's damn well adorable enough, let alone when he's being an adorably besotted dad! So it was a fun panel. Jim’s panels are always great; he’s a lovely man. He has fun with the fans, gives them a bit of cheek but is always very gracious with how he answers questions. Of course, he said that he didn’t know if he’d be back on the show…errrr…yeah! We're never going to believe anything he says ever again right? Anyway, it was lovely to see him as always (on stage and then later in the episode).
And the gals came out and gave him a cuddle too and met Maddie…which was super sweet!
After Jim's panel, we had a wee break. A break? Practically unheard of! But, because we weren't getting a lot of photo ops this day, we found ourselves with a bit of time...which was unbelievably nice! We did get a photo with the ridiculously gorgeous Samantha Smith in her ridiculously fabulous and high heels! Man, she's a stunner!
Next panel was the incorrigible Sebastian Roche!
Now, I've seen a few of Seb's panels. Last October, at Armageddon in Melbourne, I saw him do the rudest panel ever! Even he was shocked at himself. Mind you, a room full of Aussies are pretty much up for anything, including faking orgasms so he could get the whole auditorium making inappropriate noises in unison. The panel at Vegas...well...it was like a panel on crack! He didn't stop moving, dancing, talking, jumping, dancing, moving, singing, bouncing, generally bumping and grinding. It wasn't very dirty...not too much swearing...barely any question answering either...but funny? FUNNY! We were all in tears. I kept saying, "What's happening?" kind of like faux Bob Singer from "The French Mistake", "What's happening? What's happening?" Even Seb was wondering what was happening!
It was exhausting just watching him... I can't imagine how exhausting it must be being him! Or at least him on stage, because at Armageddon, when he crashed a conversation my friend and I were having with Mark Pellegrino at the drinks event, he was perfectly lovely and calm and discussed restaurants and food and was all charm...I think he has an on/off switch!
At one stage he recorded a message for a fan's mum, who loved his character on General Hospital, which was pretty cool! Then he had us all sing The Beatles, Help with him.
Honestly, this panel was pretty much how Vegascon was...very free flowing, lots of music, lots of singing and dancing and just plain, craziness. I don't even know what was going on in Seb's panel. It was a blur of activity and tears of laughter that left all our faces aching.
Next up...Mr Ty Olsson!
Of course, we know that this was Ty's inaugural convention appearance and he was having a gooooood time! Hey, most of us go a bit overboard at our first con right? Ty's panel was fabulous. He told some great stories, including some personal stories. He's had a bit of a life, with foster care and some personally challenging incidents, which he alluded to. He was open and honest and enjoyed having the band on stage - giving them little musical cues, dancing...everyone was dancing! And of course, he had a few drinks going on! He was so worried that Creation would never have him back! He'd tried to get a tattoo done while on stage, but he wasn't allowed to do it, but has promised, if he is at Vegascon 2014, he's going to get it organised, so he'll be tattooed during his panel! I really hope he does! He did get a tattoo later and tweeted pictures.
There was a kid in the audience that he gave cash to every time he let a swear word slip. Semi-frequently. The kid did pretty well, made quite a few bucks. He chatted to a fan's friend on the phone. He answered a fair few questions...but was having too much fun with us and the band and the booze to answer too many. Personally, I think he did a great job...even if he was a bit worried he'd be banned! And of course, there was a special guest who came to visit him...Big Daddy vampire himself, the lovely Mr Rick Worthy, who'd come to town under his own steam and joined in the fun at Ty's panel.
I swear to God, everyone practically bolted to the photo op desk to buy an op with Ty after his panel finished...you just couldn't resist the urge to throw your arms around that solid frame of his. I'm so glad I got enjoy Ty's first "Supernatural" convention with him, we all had a great time!
Our last panel of the day...of the con...was Mark Sheppard.
Mark's such a charmer, with his London accent. I was raised by a couple of Londoners, so it's an accent that is very familiar to my ears. Mark's a fan-boy, he's as much a fan of shows as we are a fan of the shows he's been in and it's lovely to hear him chat about that. He's been in some of my favourites, Leverage, Doctor Who, Firefly, X-Files...he's like a genre God! He's also a rather good drummer! I can't even remember how it happened, but somehow Mark ended up on the drumkit on stage where the band and Mark performed AC/DC's Back in Black. How damn cool is that! That's Vegascon for you!
Rob had to come out to listen... he quietly crouched on the side of the stage and watched Mark, in awe, just as the audience did.
And guess what Mark still has on his phone! Actually, this one is an out-take!
And that was the end...the end of the panels...Richard came out and closed out the show.
We still had our Ty photo op, which was as lovely as we thought it would be. He's cuddly! Then we had our "Baddies" op with Seb, Ty and Mark... I had to shuffle over and get in-between Ty and Mark and I said to Mark, "Can I just squeeze in here?" and he turned to me and said..."Why does that sound so sexy when you say that?" I said, "I don't know, does it?" and he said, "Yes it does" and I said, "Well, then my work here is done." Click...photo..."Thanks guys"...we walk away, Chris grabs us...someone blinked (Ty!), gotta do the photo again.... Me: "Looks like I gotta squeeze in here again" Mark: "Stop it you." It was pretty funny. Cheeky Englishman that he is…cheeky Aussie-gal that I am.
Then we had the autos...which we literally had to be guided around by a Creation volunteer, as we had Richard's Meet and Greet and the autograph cues were moving slow! I've been working on getting an Impala poster signed by all "Supernatural" cast that I meet. I'm doing pretty good so far! I'm lucky to get people like Aldis, and Sam Smith and Christopher Heyerdahl. It'll take a while to finish, but it's getting pretty full!
Then it was off to Richard's M&G!
I've only ever done Jensen and Jared's Meet and Greets, so this was new for me. Just 10 people for an hour, (as opposed to 20 people for 1/2 hour). We sat around a table, (as opposed to in chairs in front of the guest) and just yarned. Richard talked a lot about how hosting the convention came about, how he got Rob and the boys onboard (of course, Rich and Rob have an epic bromance) and talked Creation into allowing the band to be part of the show. He talked about how much they rehearsed (not much) and how much they want to do it again (please email Adam at Creation and say we all want them). He told us that the band was not supposed to be on with the Js, but he asked Jensen if he'd like to keep the band on stage...and then the conversation went something like this... Richard: "Do you want the band on stage while you're on stage?" Jensen: "Yes! Unless they have something else they need to do." Richard: "Do you want them on stage with you? Because if you want them...." "Yeah, yeah, it'd be great, but only if they're cool to do it, unless they want a break or something?" Richard: "JENSEN, DO YOU WANT THE BAND ON STAGE WITH YOU?" Jensen: "Yes, that'd be awesome!" BLESS! Thank goodness too...because with the band on stage, we got to see Jensen dance, air-guitar and sing. Yay!
Richard was EXHAUSTED. You wouldn't know it, but he said he was totally shattered...looked pretty good to me though. He has such pretty eyes...it's such a pleasure to chat to him...sorry, shallow for a moment. I really mean, it's such a pleasure to chat to him because he's a very nice, down to earth fellow. Very nice. Basically, this meet and greet falls under the new guidelines from Creation so I'm not going to go into it much, except to say that Richard said a lot ofs, "You didn't hear this from me" and "Don't repeat this, but" so you can see why they prefer us to keep these things under wraps a bit. Mostly we discussed what we thought of the new format, how the band went and how amazing they were and how great the guests all interacted with them, because that really was the case, the guests were having as much fun as we were, in fact, I think some were having even more fun!
Louden Swain was playing later that night and we had every, single, intention to go and see them. We've seen them at Burcon and I, in particular, am a big fan. But...we waited for our photos, picked them up and giggled and gushes and winced...then, we thought food would be a good idea...being as we hadn't eaten anything except the little snacks I'd packed and bought over from Aussie. So we took our drinks and food up to our room...FATAL ERROR. We never made it back down again. By the time we'd got our food and eaten it, the band was well and truly on and our shoes were well at truly off! Next time boys, next time.
And that was it, the first ever Salute to "Supernatural" Convention in Las Vegas was over. I can't even begin to tell you how much fun it was. It was my 5th Creation convention and they have each held their own charms. LACon 2011 was my first, my first Jensen sighting, the Jensen/Jason Jam session and will always hold a very special place in my heart. Vancon was amazing because it's where they shoot and we got to see locations and see them filming complete with Jensen lolling all over the Impala, plus meet some crewmembers. Chicon was small and so had this nice intimacy, it was also my first Jensen meet and greet and I'll never forget the moment he strode into the room. But Vegascon...Vegascon is a party, where all the guests are there to have as much fun as we are. You see them (not Misha or the Js obviously), wandering around the casino. They stay in the same tower as the convention goers so you pass them at Starbucks...or as with Chad as we were leaving Monday morning, pass them coming back from where ever, possibly doing the walk of shame and looking definitely worse for wear! It puts a whole different spin on the experience. Sure, it's massive and the distances you walk during the day are incredible and the bar is way too far away from the auditorium and the queues are a bit longer than any other con, but it's a PARTY and it's so much fun and I seriously can't wait until next year!
But before then...I have All Hell Breaks Loose 4 in Sydney, with guests, Sebastian, Matt, Mark S, Richard and Misha (Corin is scheduled, but I doubt he'll be here...hugs Corin), then I have Dallas! DALLAS! I'm a little over excited about visiting Texas. So there's a bit of fun to be had before Vegascon 2014...and a bit of training to do, because the next Vegascon is 4 days... 4 DAYS!!! I THINK THAT MIGHT KILL ME!
Sorry this was so dragged out...the Show, you know, kind of got in the way! If you missed the other 2 reports, you can read Part 1 with Matt and Chad and Karaoke here and Part 2 with the Js and Misha here!
Thanks so much for reading and if you have any questions at all, please feel free to pop them in the comments or hit me up on our convention page! I hope to meet some of you soon!
-sweetondean
sweetondean is Chief Editor and writer for The Winchester Family Business.
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