Saturday at Wolfs Bane Origins (& Team Ricky!)
First of all, I got home just in time to watch the semi final of "The Voice UK". Super excited about Ricky having two acts in the final! Hells yeah Team Ricky!!
I thought the performances this week were okay - Emmanuel was good and I enjoyed the Team Ricky group performance. It's always nice to see Rock Star Ricky and as a performance I thought it worked well for the contestants. I'm impressed by Sasha though and her performance with Tom was really good. I think she could win it, you know.
Anyway, onto Wolfs Bane Origins - this morning I woke up at stupid o'clock and hopped on the bus to Heathrow for Rogue Events' Wolfs Bane Origins. I arrived there at about 8.45am, registration was a breeze and I also purchased a ticket for a group photoshoot. I then waited for the main hall to open and took my seat. It was then that I realised this really was a small, intimate convention. I didn't realise it was gonna be quite as small, to be honest. The guests came out at around 9.45 where they were supposed to be introduced by the master of ceremonies but there was some confusion and Orny Adams (coach) ended up taking control of that and handling the introductions himself - in attendance were Crystal Reed (Allison), Ryan Kelley (Deputy Parrish) and Stephen Lunsford (Matt) who stepped in fairly last minute after the cancellation of Arden Cho. All the guests seemed nice during these brief introductions. After that there was an hour break before the 1st talk.
We watched 2x01 (which I hadn't seen since it first aired) while we waited - apparently there was no merch room which was a shame but did save me money! The first talk started at around 11am and was a group one featuring all guests. It was a really good talk, the guests seemed pretty comfortable with each other and I liked the interaction between Ryan and Stephen. The attendees asked some great questions, about the show and about acting in general and got some great answers in response. Then there was a half hour break before Ryan came out for his solo talk. Ryan seemed nice and chatty during his talk and was again asked some nice questions - I especially liked his mentions of Ben 10.
After that it was time for the group photoshoot I purchased so I headed to the photoshoot room - there was only a few people waiting for group photos. There was only a couple of people in front of me so soon enough it was my turn. As I walked up Orny and Ryan were standing up so greeted, Stephen and Crystal were sitting down, Stephen looked back and called out "I like your hair!", I replied "Oh, thanks!". That really amused me because my hair is such a mess today - I haven't washed it in like a week! Lol!
Then it was lunch time - we had an hour so I decided to leave the hotel and go for a walk (I wanted to keep my step count up) so I wandered around the local area. I found a park and then walked around a couple of back streets. It was good to get out.
At about 2.15 I headed back to the main hall and sat down for the next talk - Orny. Now Orny is hilarious! You can tell he does stand up (and even though I'm not a big fan of stand up I liked his style) because his talk had everyone laughing! He also seems like an old pro at this convention stuff. He was asked some good questions and he also rambled on every now and then which added a lot to the talk and he even sang a bit of karaoke using his phone as backing. I really had fun during this one.
Next up was Stephen - he's been a guest at the 2 previous Wolfs Bane cons and I always enjoy his talks because they're fun and crazy. This was a good talk yet again. I always think he seems like a cool guy - I know some of the fandom don't like him but I guess you either dislike him or think he's really cool. I fall into the second group.
Then it was time for Crystal's talk - in contrast to the boys talks Crystals a lot calmer. She answered the questions really nicely and was friendly but didn't talk between questions which led to a few awkward silences while the mic was past to other members of the audiences. She seemed quite shy, especially being there by herself. She was asked some really good questions too and was visible moved when talking about Allison's death and leaving the show.
That was the final talk of the day and then it was time for autographs - Crystal was up first and we made small talk first and then I mentioned that I enjoyed her talk and that it was calmer than the boys' talks, in a good way. She seemed quite shy but friendly enough and very sweet. Then I headed to Ryan - he was very cute, smiley and friendly. We made small talk about the day and then I asked if he was enjoying his time in England, he said that he'd been to England before but hadn't actually left his hotel yet this time, he said he would try maybe tomorrow. I mentioned that they forecast rain for tomorrow though but he said that would be okay, as it rains a lot here anyway.
Then I headed to Stephen, who was at chatty as usual and opened with his usual "hi there!", we made small talk and general pleasantries and then I asked him how his tattoo was doing (he recently got one) and we discussed painful places for tattoos because he said his really hurt even though it's small. I like Stephen, he's a bit loud and obnoxious but I kinda like that. Oh, and he signed my convention booklet saying "I love your awesome hair". Why do people think my hair is awesome when it's a mess?! Lol!
Finally, it was Orny - he seemed really nice and friendly. I was a little bit worried because during his talks he kind of seems larger than life and a little intimidating but he wasn't like that at all up close. We exchanged pleasantries etc and I mentioned that I enjoyed his talk earlier, including the singing. He said that someone on twitter said that the singing made things weird but I said something like "it was fun" and "I sang along".
Then I collected my photoshoot and headed over to the bus stop. I got on the bus at 5.30pm and got home at about 6.50pm - just in time for some quick dinner before "The Voice UK". It was a good day and I'm looking forward to some more talks tomorrow.
Pictures:
(click for full size)
I thought the performances this week were okay - Emmanuel was good and I enjoyed the Team Ricky group performance. It's always nice to see Rock Star Ricky and as a performance I thought it worked well for the contestants. I'm impressed by Sasha though and her performance with Tom was really good. I think she could win it, you know.
Anyway, onto Wolfs Bane Origins - this morning I woke up at stupid o'clock and hopped on the bus to Heathrow for Rogue Events' Wolfs Bane Origins. I arrived there at about 8.45am, registration was a breeze and I also purchased a ticket for a group photoshoot. I then waited for the main hall to open and took my seat. It was then that I realised this really was a small, intimate convention. I didn't realise it was gonna be quite as small, to be honest. The guests came out at around 9.45 where they were supposed to be introduced by the master of ceremonies but there was some confusion and Orny Adams (coach) ended up taking control of that and handling the introductions himself - in attendance were Crystal Reed (Allison), Ryan Kelley (Deputy Parrish) and Stephen Lunsford (Matt) who stepped in fairly last minute after the cancellation of Arden Cho. All the guests seemed nice during these brief introductions. After that there was an hour break before the 1st talk.
We watched 2x01 (which I hadn't seen since it first aired) while we waited - apparently there was no merch room which was a shame but did save me money! The first talk started at around 11am and was a group one featuring all guests. It was a really good talk, the guests seemed pretty comfortable with each other and I liked the interaction between Ryan and Stephen. The attendees asked some great questions, about the show and about acting in general and got some great answers in response. Then there was a half hour break before Ryan came out for his solo talk. Ryan seemed nice and chatty during his talk and was again asked some nice questions - I especially liked his mentions of Ben 10.
After that it was time for the group photoshoot I purchased so I headed to the photoshoot room - there was only a few people waiting for group photos. There was only a couple of people in front of me so soon enough it was my turn. As I walked up Orny and Ryan were standing up so greeted, Stephen and Crystal were sitting down, Stephen looked back and called out "I like your hair!", I replied "Oh, thanks!". That really amused me because my hair is such a mess today - I haven't washed it in like a week! Lol!
Then it was lunch time - we had an hour so I decided to leave the hotel and go for a walk (I wanted to keep my step count up) so I wandered around the local area. I found a park and then walked around a couple of back streets. It was good to get out.
At about 2.15 I headed back to the main hall and sat down for the next talk - Orny. Now Orny is hilarious! You can tell he does stand up (and even though I'm not a big fan of stand up I liked his style) because his talk had everyone laughing! He also seems like an old pro at this convention stuff. He was asked some good questions and he also rambled on every now and then which added a lot to the talk and he even sang a bit of karaoke using his phone as backing. I really had fun during this one.
Next up was Stephen - he's been a guest at the 2 previous Wolfs Bane cons and I always enjoy his talks because they're fun and crazy. This was a good talk yet again. I always think he seems like a cool guy - I know some of the fandom don't like him but I guess you either dislike him or think he's really cool. I fall into the second group.
Then it was time for Crystal's talk - in contrast to the boys talks Crystals a lot calmer. She answered the questions really nicely and was friendly but didn't talk between questions which led to a few awkward silences while the mic was past to other members of the audiences. She seemed quite shy, especially being there by herself. She was asked some really good questions too and was visible moved when talking about Allison's death and leaving the show.
That was the final talk of the day and then it was time for autographs - Crystal was up first and we made small talk first and then I mentioned that I enjoyed her talk and that it was calmer than the boys' talks, in a good way. She seemed quite shy but friendly enough and very sweet. Then I headed to Ryan - he was very cute, smiley and friendly. We made small talk about the day and then I asked if he was enjoying his time in England, he said that he'd been to England before but hadn't actually left his hotel yet this time, he said he would try maybe tomorrow. I mentioned that they forecast rain for tomorrow though but he said that would be okay, as it rains a lot here anyway.
Then I headed to Stephen, who was at chatty as usual and opened with his usual "hi there!", we made small talk and general pleasantries and then I asked him how his tattoo was doing (he recently got one) and we discussed painful places for tattoos because he said his really hurt even though it's small. I like Stephen, he's a bit loud and obnoxious but I kinda like that. Oh, and he signed my convention booklet saying "I love your awesome hair". Why do people think my hair is awesome when it's a mess?! Lol!
Finally, it was Orny - he seemed really nice and friendly. I was a little bit worried because during his talks he kind of seems larger than life and a little intimidating but he wasn't like that at all up close. We exchanged pleasantries etc and I mentioned that I enjoyed his talk earlier, including the singing. He said that someone on twitter said that the singing made things weird but I said something like "it was fun" and "I sang along".
Then I collected my photoshoot and headed over to the bus stop. I got on the bus at 5.30pm and got home at about 6.50pm - just in time for some quick dinner before "The Voice UK". It was a good day and I'm looking forward to some more talks tomorrow.
Pictures:
(click for full size)