Asylum Europe Report - Summary: camui

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Asylum Europe Report - Summary

Aug 01, 2011 20:02

So... I was looking at my notes from AE Con in May and...

a) I didn't understand most of them (I scribble down single words mostly and afterwards have a hard time decyphering them XD)
and b) I felt no excitement, no motivation at all...

To be perfectly honest, I was deeply disappointed in this convention... opinions vary, of course, but this was definitely the worst convention I've been to so far (even some of the staff said so)...

So forgive me if I'm not really up to writing a full report, this will be more like a summary of the few good and more bad parts.

Friday

I was very excited about this con, as it was happening in my home town, I basically could drive to the hotel after work and meet my friends there! Normally I would've had to register around 3 pm... I arrived early at the hotel around 2 and met Jen ( reveria) at the entrance and we went inside to look for other familiar faces. Once inside, we got told that registration got screwed up (as usual) and that I should just go and register now XD Okay, Rogue, why not... so I went to the reg room and met Lena and Christina (big reunion hug). I also spotted B. and got my bear hug <3

And since Jen had texted me that morning, squeeing about how my picture was on the back side of the official Asylum 5 DVD, of course I had to buy it ;)

Once I was finished we decided to go outside and have some ice cream, as it was sunny and beautiful. I went shopping with my best friend Sahne then and later we all met up to our big get-to-know dinner! I met two wonderful girls, Claudia and Rina, and since Jen and I had planned to watch the Season finale this night anyway, I invited them over!

So, I have to say, this was actually one of my highlights... Rina is almost as big of a fan of Destiel as I and we were basically weeping all the time!! We were watching 6x18 „Frontierland“ and 6x20 „The Man Who Would Be King“ before and were already fucking emotional when the finale started to air! In the breaks I went to tumblr, blogging about what had just happened and it was so amazing!! The internet was exploding and the other girls didn't know tumblr yet and it was just hilarious!!!

Also I was the only one supporting Lisa, while everyone else around me was like „DIE, BITCH, DIE!“ and I was like „noooo, Dean loves her T____T“ … anyway... once the big bang had happened, we were sitting there like O___________O … no... nononoooononononono!!!!!
After some more weeping and freaking out about Cas being the new God and us having to wait until the end of the year for Season 7, Rina and Claudia left and while Jen tried to get some sleep, I decided to stay up. Since the finale was two episodes long and we had like only an hour left to sleep, I stayed on, tumbling and eventually getting ready (make up, clothes etc.) …

Saturday

The next morning was a bit confusing. I wanted to get my reserved Jensen photo op but every queue I joined seemed to be the wrong one. So I decided to come back later again and queue for a good seat in the main hall. This was one of the downsides of the convention: the main hall was NOT in the hotel, it was in a theater complex right next to it, linked via a glass passage. And once you were inside the „Rosengarten“ theatre, you had to follow a dozen of employees, pointing you around corners, up- and downstairs, until you finally reached the main hall. Of course some of the fans couldn't hold back and fucking started running and shoving people out of their ways, it was ridiculous as usual -_- Jen and I found good places though.

Jensen Panel

Of course Rogue was behind schedule - it wouldn't be an Asylum convention if everything was on time - and the first panel started like 45 min later than planned. Another downside: the main hall. It was fucking huge (that's a plus) but the acoustics were fucking miserable!! It echoed like a bitch and it was so freaking dark, you could barely take any good photos.

Another BIG minus were, and I'm so fucking sad to say that, the fans. Seriously... okay, the microphone WAS a bitch and you can't expect everyone in Germany speaking PERFECT English... BUT there were some fans who really, really, REALLY pissed me off!

a) One guy who showed up basically at every panel, asking some question but not phrasing it correctly, so far so good... BUT when Jensen asked to say it again, he actually got rude and his voice changed into an annoyed tone, like „why the fuck don't you understand me?“ … srsly, I was close to standing up and punching the guy in the face, he was so fucking rude!!

b) Some people had asked questions with a very strong German accent and/or were too quiet and Jensen didn't understand, so he came closer to the fans and let them use his microphone. So fans in my row actually told each other to „speak as unclear/quiet as possible“ … another time where I wanted to kick some asses... how fucking pathetic is this???

The panel was horrible in my opinion, Jensen did a great job, he stayed polite and funny but the fans just really, really pissed me off... there was like literally almost no good questions...

Also, when Rogue displayed a note on the screen behind him saying that Frederick photo ops were on now, people got up and left the room TALKING LOUDLY and not even making an effort of exiting calmly. Of course Jensen was confused and turned around to read the German text (that was fun XD) and then turned back to us and asked „Do you want me to leave?“ and the audience was like „Nooooo!!“ and Jensen replied „THEN SHUT UP!!“ (cue me applauding like crazy)...

nobody can say Rogue's not funny XD

Brock Kelly

Another huge downside for me was Brock Kelly... I mean, I wasn't really excited about him anyway, he's just not my type and he was only in one episode so far... but, you know, I didn't like Aldis Hodge's character too, or Jake Abel... and they all surprised me in a good way, being witty and funny and charming! Brock? Not so much. He had a panel with Fred Lehne and he was like... not talking at all? At first I thought it was Fred's fault cause he was talking non-stop, but even when people asked Brock questions he replied with „yes“ or „no“ and that was it. Seriously... I've never seen a more boring person at Supernatural cons...

After so many disappointments, Lena and I actually decided to spend our break outside and we walked to the water tower, where we have beautiful gardens and fountains. It was so nice sitting outside, enjoying the sun, that we didn't even want to go back to see the Mark Sheppard and Richard Speight jr. panels...

Jared Panel

When we returned to the main hall to see Jared's panel, Doug (the host) came on stage and announced in a very serious tone, that there had been a fan who had did something inappropriate to one of the guests. She had been expelled of the con but he reminded us all to treat the actors with respect and respect their privacy. Afterwards we learned that some woman had actually kissed Jared... on the cheek or lips, I don't know and I don't care - it's fucking rude and if I had been in the same room, I'd probably have hit her... and thanks to that bitch, they had to double and triple security, which meant that basically nobody had fun anymore; neither the actors nor the fans...

Jared's panel was actually pretty funny, as he kept walking over to the side of the stage, where people were asking questions and laid down or sat down. It was kinda cute XD He also got standing ovations when he entered, which was kind of surprising for both him and me o_o He too read a German text behind him „Bitte kein Blitzlicht verwenden“ (Please do not use flash) LOL He also demonstrated how they would film fight scenes from different angles in order to make them look realistic, on a water bottle. Afterwards he kissed the bottle, apologizing for hurting it XD

Afterwards it was time for the meet & greet with all guests (except J²), for which I didn't buy a ticket... around 7 pm they opened the doors to the Jason Manns concert and that was actually another highlight!

a) Jason is awesome
b) some of the guests were there too (including Danneel Harris, Jensen's wife, Fred Lehne and Richard Speight jr.)
c) Fred and Richard joined Jason on stage and sang several songs together

And that was Saturday... pretty uneventful in my opinion... but I still had hope...

Sunday

We got another hall on Sunday, which was like 1897897 times better than the other! It wasn't as large, it had windows, it had a gallery and the sound was so much better!!!

Richard & Mark Panel

The Richard and Mark panel on Saturday got - as usual - put together and they walked around the hall, among the fans - as usual. It was fun but really nothing new to me... I have to admit I'm not the biggest fan of Mark Sheppard and Richard is fun and everything but there's just... nothing 'new' in his panels... sorry but that's my opinion.

The only thing really worth mentioning about those two shared R&M panels was a story they told about Jared. So apparantly, Jared's wife Genevieve had forgotten one of her suitcases on the platform and when they noticed, the doors were already closed. So Jared tried to get somebody to stop the train and - as a last resort - pulled the emergency brake XDDDDD And... you know... in Germany it's kind of a criminal act to do so, cause it sets everything still for at least 2 or 3 hours! All the trains in Germany were late on that day and who's fault was it? Mister Padalecki XDDD And usually you get like a huge ass fine, but Jared was obviously too tall and too beautiful and he got away with like a 100 € fine XD

Afterwards I got my Jason photo, which I really like! Thank you Jason, you're awesome <3<3<3

And since Jared had looked absolutely gorgeous all weekend and I kinda got really attracted to him all of the sudden, I just had to buy a photo with him... so during Fred's panel I went to get first Jared's and then Jensen's photo. And... again, thanks to the fucking bitch who had kissed Jared, the photos were just horrible!! We lined up pretty much over two floors and then it started and we had to fucking RUN to keep up!! Everyone had like 1 second to take the picture and then got shoved out of the room by Donna (one staff member) and the FOUR security guys!! I was lucky to have enough time to ask for poses but as they were sitting, there was not much of a chance to get anything good... I like my ops but I'm not 100 % satisfied with them... it was just fucking ridiculous and frustrating and once I was finished I felt like punching a puppy, I was so mad!!

Brock Panel

I eventually went to see Brock's panel and once again I never felt more bored and annoyed by someone in my life (okay, at SPN conventions...) And then he got asked to sing and his voice was horrible and he didn't know the words and it just HURT!! I was praying they'd stop but they kept on singing and he was so uncomfortable and still he didn't stop... it just literally, physically hurt!!

Jared & Jensen Panel

Afterwards we had like one hour until the final panel, Jensen and Jared, and since I wanted to ask a question, I went to the not-yet-existant-queue and waited. I talked to some fans who joined me in the line later and we discussed our questions and helped others phrase them better. Then the panel started and the questions were a lot better this time around, since they had staff members/stewards check beforehand, what the fans wanted to ask them. Here's my question:

Me: „This is probably a stupid question but I'm gonna ask it anyway...“
Jensen: „There are no stupid questions, only stupid answers.“
Me: „So in the Season 5 finale we see Dean returning to Lisa and Ben and Sam standing outside, looking at them. And now in Season 6 we learn that Castiel was the one who raised Sam from hell and I was wondering if you shot those scenes or Jared and Misha had to re-shoot the few scenes and you just cut them together. Cause it looked really good.“
Jensen: „You were right, that was a really stupid question!“ *grin*
Jared: „It's actually not a stupid question at all because in that episode it was a mixture of […] stock footage and newly shot scenes. And for that scene, where the crane comes down and sees me and then turns around that was actually half old and half new. So when it turns around and sees Cas and then soulless!Sam walks away-"

-and he kinda broke off in the middle of that sentence to demonstrate how soulless!Sam walks, with like synchronized arms and legs - it just looks really weird and people were trying to figure out what's wrong with him and Jensen was like „He must have no soul!“

So yeah... that was my question... forgive me if I don't write down the others, I'm not really in the mood... but like I said, questions were at least better than in the single Jensen and Jared panels...

The Closing Ceremony was also a fucking joke, it was only Jensen, Jared, Jason and Brock... they just said „thank you“ and „goodbye“ and that was it. No „it was amazing, you are the best, we will be back“ … nothing... and I can't even hold it against them cause if their experience was anything like mine, I too wouldn't be thrilled to come back...

And yeah... that was it... we went to have dinner with some friends and spent the rest of the evening at the bar. I have to say I was never before actually relieved that a convention was over... sure I'd miss my friends and seeing the stars, but the whole atmosphere was so weird and uncomfortable this time around, that I was glad it was over... weird, I know...

So... that was it... my shortest convention report ever and I don't even feel guilty about it... like I said, this is all based on MY experiences and reflects MY opinion... I heard of people who enjoyed the convention and had a great time. All I know is that I didn't like it... I'm grateful about the few good things, like meeting new people and hanging out with friends, the concert, some funny moments during the panels... but I could've done without everything else, thank you very much...

I forgot to mention another huge disappointment and that was the staff or more precisely, the stewards (fans who help with organization but don't get paid)... there were so many stewards who were downright RUDE and cruel!! They took advantage of their 'position' and made fans feel horrible and yelled at them, showed no sympathy in certain situations. A friend of mine had lost her autograph card, and yes, Rogue had told us beforehand that if we lose it and wanted to get our remaining autographs, we would have to pay a fee of like 50 € or so. But it's one thing telling the disappointed and emotional fan this and it's another yelling at her and insulting her, making her actually cry in front of her... yeah... so much for that...

So let's hope that Asylum 7 in October will make up for the disappointment that was Asylum Europe 2... but I'm pretty sure it will, cause

a) J² are not there which means more relaxed fans and staff
and b) MISHA WILL BE THERE AND EVERYTHING WILL BE OVERLORD AND NOTHING WILL HURT!!

On that note - goodbye and see you soon!

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