Minncon 2015
So Minncon 2015 has been over for a few days, but I'm only just sitting down to tell you all about it now. Why the delay? Because i was EXHAUSTED, dagnabit! After a 4.5 hour drive to Minneapolis, 3 awesome days at the con, and then another 4.5 hour back home, this introvert desperately needed some recharge time. I've also been mad at technology lately because I've been trying, and failing, to send pictures from my phone to Twitter. It just won't work. I don't know what's changed (nothing, so far as I can tell), but something HAD to have, because I haven't been able to tweet any pics since Thursday night. Texts, yes, but no photos. Now I have all these fun pics on my phone that I'm unable to show you. So unfair. But at least you can see a few I took on my camera, plus the photo-ops, so there's that, but still...damn you, technology! ::shakes fist::
I'll cut now so I don't take up all the space on everyone's friends feed...
Now I'm not going to go into NEARLY the detail I did the last time I went to one of these, suffice to say that I've been there and you've read that. But I will give some highlights, especially about what differed. First off, the venue: The Minneapolis Convention Center ran circles around that hotel in Chicago. Miles and MILES of circles. The room was a real auditorium, first and foremost, with excellent acoustics and lots and lots of big speakers. Second, the room was HUGE. My camera's panoramic mode was being stoopid so, while I was lined up early to ask J2 a question, I took the following pics so you could see the room:
Hopefully you can make out the raised section waaaaaay in the back. Richard, Matt, and Rob all went back there during their panel and during the Louden Swain concert.
That's Alainah Huffman on stage, by the by :) So yeah, GIGANTIC room. They should always have these conventions in such a room! You can see, you can hear, and the chairs were even comfy. Five stars for this venue :) Another great bonus were the long aisles on either side. Some of the guests ran up and down them, as I mentioned above, while others meandered as they spoke (such as Mark) and even climbed on top of the chairs, doing their best rock star dancing (looking at you, Sebastian!). There simply were no bad seats in the house, and you could tell that the panel guests really enjoyed being able to get off that stage and closer to the audience. Not one of my pics of Mark and Sebastian wandering around came out (dammit!), but there are plenty from others online; I'm sure you'll stumble across one soon enough.
The third big difference twixt 2008 Chicon and 2015 Minncon was the mood. It wasn't just good, it was GRRRRREAT, to quote a certain cartoon tiger. Don't get me wrong--the mood in Chicago was really good, too. But this was ecstatic--fan to fan, it was all smiles, cheers, hugs, supportive pats on the back, and so on. And that was outside of the auditorium! Inside it was all of that PLUS this electric excitement...you could really feel it :) You'd think the show was just becoming a hit instead of starting its 11th season! Of course, it could also just be the amount of first timers in the audience. Richard Speight asked each day of the con for a show of hands of who was a newbie to Creation Cons, and 2/3 of the audience's hands went up, no exaggeration. It was crazy! Is it like that every time they go to a new city? If anyone out there knows, please let ME know, because I'm curious. Anyway, yeah, the mood was downright giddy, and it lasted all weekend, even after the Misha incident broke (and man was that weird, but I'll get to that in a minute). So much positive energy! No wonder I'm so exhausted, heh.
So what was great? Pretty much everything. Panels were great. Photo-ops went well. Got to hang out with Alexandria and agent_jl36, so had great company :)
Met lots of other great people, too. So much fun to be at a place full of people that totally get why you love Supernatural, y'know? Yeah. Good times :) But I think my absolute favorite thing about this past weekend and Minncon was getting the chance to hang out with my sister, Jess, for more than an afternoon or on the eve of a holiday. We haven't had extended hanging out time with each other, much less a roadtrip, for at least a decade, and it was SO much fun being there with her, laughing, snarking, drinking our body weight in coffee, you name it. I love and adore my sister, and I am so blessed to have her in my life :)
See? Others would have mocked my idea of pretending to hitchhike for Baby. Jess just grinned and ran over :) Too bad I look so chubby in this pic. Ah well. At least Jess and Baby look good!
Okay, chick flick moment is over. Here are my main memories from the event, both good and not-quite-as-good, in mostly chronological order:
1. We (my sister and I) arrived late afternoon Friday. Why is that so important? Because even though we missed Chad Lindberg's panel (which I didn't mind because I just talked to him a few months back at WinchestMidwest, so I was all up to date on his news already), neither of us was pressuring the other to get there ASAP. Not that I slowed up at all--the lead foot was nice and leaden, thank you--but we enjoyed our drive (Madison to Minneapolis goes through some of WI's most beautiful sections), nommed up our junk food, and grooved to the awesome roadtrip CD mixes I made. (Yes, CDs. I'm old school like Dean. In fact, if I could, i'd still do a proper mix TAPE, so there!) And let me tell you, these were two of the best ones I've ever done, if I do say so myself, and I just did. /boasting
2. Even though we got our tickets to this event back in January, the hotel for the convention was already booked, so we got a room at the Doubletree two mere blocks away. Got a nice walk there and back each time. Minneapolis is a beautiful city and I hadn't been there in 10 years, so it was a treat to get to see it again.
3. After a cute panel with Gil McKinney (seriously, the man is such a peach!), we got some great food on a gorgeous Friday night at an Irish restaurant called, appropriately, The Local. I'd have a great picture for you if stupid Twitter wasn't being stupid. ::sighs:: Anyway. I tried a bison burger, and it was great! Tasted like sirloin steak. Unfortunately, a mixture of the creamy sauce they had on the shredded greens underneath the patty and a week's worth of nervous-excitement battled it out in my stomach that night, and my subsequent IBS attack kept us at the hotel that night instead of letting us go to the Karaoke session at the con. Ah well, at least we got to go to the concert the next night.
4. Saturday morning, our breakfast, coffee, and conversation were too good, so we missed Tammoh's panel, but we did get there in time for Sebastian's.
He was a BLAST. I'm so glad I finally got to enjoy The Sebastian Roche Experience in person. He barely answered any questions (not even the very first question, even when the girl sang along her question ala Jim Morrison per Sebastian's request!) because he kept getting distracted by his own need for antics. And let me tell you, those antics? So enjoyable. From getting us all to do the wave to climbing up into empty seats to sweeping up and down all the aisles, the man was everywhere, usually singing his own made-up lyrics to whatever he was doing. I absolutely loved it. Never thought I could love HIM even more, but I do, and I'm happy to admit it :) He could have his own DAY at Creation Con as far as I'm concerned!
5. In complete contrast, though still just as enjoyable, was Mark Sheppard's panel. He meandered all over the auditorium, though it was always walking, not dancing about like Sebastian. This is one of the few times he was actually on stage:
He took his mic with him and answered questions as he strolled, and he was NOT afraid to call people out on bad questions. I LOVE THAT. I'm sorry, but if you're lucky enough to get to ask a question, you should make it a good one, not some vague blah-blah-blah or something we've heard a thousand times. So yay for Mark for trying to make the question-asking world a better place. He was just so cool and funny, and again, I'm so very glad I got to see him in person.
6. Now right after lunch but just before Mark's panel, we heard about Misha's mugging, but not from any announcement. Well, there WAS an announcement, apparently, but the people sitting behind us told me it was given during lunch, when barely anyone was in the room, and then never repeated again. So most of us learned it word of mouth. I wouldn't have even asked had I not seen the note on the auditorium screen saying that the Misha-Mark duo pics had been moved to the time Misha's panel was due to start. I asked if his panel got cancelled, and they said no, Misha got hurt, and told me what little they knew. So bizarre! And poor Misha. I mean there have been some weird incidents at cons before, but no one has ever been mugged, and in Minneapolis, a normally peaceful and safe city no less! But what a trooper to still do his photo-ops. Yes I was disappointed that I didn't get to see Misha's panel; the last time I was at a Creation event, Castiel had just been introduced to the show and so Misha hadn't done his first con yet. Seven years later, I get my chance to see him, but some assholes decided to pick his pocket and push him instead. My sympathy for him far outweighed my disappointment about the panel, and I was not alone. The fans were showing their true colors that day, and I mean that in the best way possible. There were no complaints, no bitching, nothing. Everyone just wanted updates, if there were any. Most of us just wanted to give the poor guy a hug :( So good on you, fandom, for keeping it classy. I was so proud of us :)
7. Back to the con itself. There was a costume contest, and JL was a part of it, looking fan-freaking-fabtastic as Madge from the Christmas ep:
You should have at LEAST been a finalist, hon, and that's the damn truth. There were other awesome costumes, of course. Two of my favorites can be seen in the pics below. First, a "Fight the Fairies!" fairy, and second, an incredible Baby built over this woman's wheelchair, working lights and everything! MAN people have awesome imaginations and mad costuming skillz :)
Of course the costume I saw the most was Castiel. There were so many, in fact, that they had their own Castiel category for judging, heh. Didn't take any pics because they were all so good. Mark was very unimpressed with those costumes by the way, telling a questioner dressed up as one that they should be dressed up like him--"then you get to wear a nice suit instead of a cheap tie and a trenchcoat." Right on cue, a woman dressed as Crowley, complete with bedazzled Burger King crown, ran up to him, and Mark smiled and said that was more like it, "Save for the crown. Crowley doesn't need a crown. His title and reputation are enough." Whatever you say, Mark >:-D
8. The R2M panel was HILARIOUS. You can tell they are such close friends and not only know each other, but are fond of one another, too.
I loved all the stories they shared, particularly the "brown and grey" one. Apparently in England, a fan asked Rob after their photo op what he calls his hair color. He said "I dunno...brownish...reddish?" And she stated, "It's brown and grey." Then she walked off a little ways, turned, and repeated, "brown and grey." And now Rich baits Rob whenever he can so that he (Rich) can text or say to him "Brown and grey" followed by a second text/spoken "brown and grey." LOL. So that was good, but for me, the best part was when they were doing their impressions of each other. I think my favorite was Rich doing Jensen; apparently he speaks in all nouns on the phone, LOL. What's even better was the next day, Rich did the impression to Jensen, who couldn't stop laughing and admitted that the impression was "so freaking on" or something like that. They both did the "comedy elbows," too. Anyway, if you want to see the impression, there's a great video here shot and shared by rosworms.
9. Since most of the rest of the day was photo ops and autographs, we had the evening free until the concert, so we had dinner with an old friend and her parents, who just happened to be in town. It was so awesome to get to see them all and catch up on things! Such a shame badger99 couldn't have been with us, too :( But what partially made up for that is that the Greek restaurant unknowingly continued the SPN theme with its name: Christos. Thank you and good night :)
10. Loudin Swain concert kicked my ass up and down the room, and I kept coming back for more! What an incredible band. I'm buying all their music this weekend (I get paid Friday; broke till then).
Original songs were great, covers were great, guest singers/performers were great. We got Mark Sheppard on the drums for 3 songs, Sebastian on vocals and later on cowbell, Gil McKinney on vocals, hell, we even got Matt Cohen covering Blur's "Song 2." I could have died happy right there :)
The pic above is from the end, when they brought everyone out and did the Joe Cocker version of "With a Little Help From My Friends," and kids? Rob Benedict can WAIL. I cannot tell you how much fun it is watching him go from shy, self-mocking Rob from the R2M panel to this crazy guy who is running and jumping everywhere, singing and screaming his heart out. I am officially smitten :) All the panelists were, too, because they each kissed Rob on top of his head when he left the stage to let them do their panels. It was adorable :)
11. Next day, I found a ton of hungover Castiels at the con, heh. Seriously, I think I saw six. Drinking to Misha's health or drinking to help with the No Panel thing? The world may never know. Anyway, after that, the day was a blur of photo ops and panels. The photo ops came first, so here are mine. First up, me and Jensen. oh wait! Cute story before that. So while I was waiting in line, a girl of about 10 dressed as Castiel came into the photo room and started jumping up and down when she saw Jensen. I leaned down and told her "He's super nice and he smells really good." That made her squee into her hands pressed over her mouth, LOL. I wish I could have stayed to see her pic with Jensen, but you know how it is with him: you see him, he touches you, and you sorta float out of the room ;) I DO remember asking him if I could get a hug from behind, and he said, "Absolutely" and curled his arms around me. After the pic I looked up and said thank you, and he said, "Thank YOU," looking me right in the eyes, very sincere. His mama raised him right :) So anyway, here's the pic:
Finally got my Jensen hug :) I also got a J2 photo for Jess and I (though that meant I didn't have enough for a Jared solo, sadly). We decided to go with a cheesy thumbs aloft, but they took the pic before I got my thumb in the air, LOL. Ah well. No idea why Jensen decided to go serious while Jared went for excited, but I love it regardless :)
Oh and if you see my sister, tell her how cute she truly is in this pic. She keeps saying otherwise, and I keep insisting it's cute. And I'm in the right, so there ;)
12. Alainah Huffman's panel came on before the boys, and she was equal parts funny and charming. Rob and RIch admitted they can't even really talk to her because she's so awesome and beautiful, and she just laughed and hugged them. I love that she wants to name Abbadon's hellhound "Roxy." Such a perfect name! Also got to hear some great stories about how her and Gil McKinney go way back.
She was also really sweet with this little boy dressed as The Flash. He was so adorable, and she couldn't resist giving him a hug. We all wanted to, really :)
13. Finally the Js were on. Jensen, Jared, and Rob all rock-star jumped to start things off. My picture of it came out all blurry, but there are really good ones out there. I highly suggest you look for them :) In fact, most of my pics came out blurry, especially in this batch because instead of sitting down in my paid-for seat, I was waiting in line the ENTIRE hour-long panel to ask a question--and no, I did not get to ask my question. It was a good one, too! I wanted to know if anything had been cut out of the big confrontation scene at the end of "My Brother's Keeper," since it seemed so fast and a bit disjointed. Ah well, life goes on. I'm just happy the Js were in such a good mood. Here are three of my not-great pics:
I just love that these guys still love each other and are funnier than ever. Between Jared moving his chair after Jensen when the latter starts moving away to Jensen putting the pin down on Jared's seat, hoping he'll sit on it, I laughed a lot. I think I laughed hardest when they were picking on Misha's injury. I know, that sounds so mean, but it was FUNNY, and Misha was laughing too, they all said so. "It's muggy in here," hehe. Classic. Just watch the video of it if you can find it. There are great vids out there--try and see the Saved By The Bell Movie story, the hair question, Jensen's story about Misha on the boat and his "crabtraps," LOL, the smoothie story, and when Jared asks Jensen if he needs help and Jensen grunts back a "shaddup," hehe. Boys <3
(ETA: Here, I'll get you started: here's the Saved By the Bell Movie story shot and shared by sil9800. It begins with Dean doing a lounge act, hehe)
14. After the J2 panel, we went to a British Pub (well, Minneapolis' version of it) and had a super scrummy fish n' chips and a Boddies. Nice end to a great weekend :)
And that's about it! If you have any questions for me, just let me know! I'm sure I forgot some details already, but the right question will jog my memory :)
I'll cut now so I don't take up all the space on everyone's friends feed...
Now I'm not going to go into NEARLY the detail I did the last time I went to one of these, suffice to say that I've been there and you've read that. But I will give some highlights, especially about what differed. First off, the venue: The Minneapolis Convention Center ran circles around that hotel in Chicago. Miles and MILES of circles. The room was a real auditorium, first and foremost, with excellent acoustics and lots and lots of big speakers. Second, the room was HUGE. My camera's panoramic mode was being stoopid so, while I was lined up early to ask J2 a question, I took the following pics so you could see the room:
Hopefully you can make out the raised section waaaaaay in the back. Richard, Matt, and Rob all went back there during their panel and during the Louden Swain concert.
That's Alainah Huffman on stage, by the by :) So yeah, GIGANTIC room. They should always have these conventions in such a room! You can see, you can hear, and the chairs were even comfy. Five stars for this venue :) Another great bonus were the long aisles on either side. Some of the guests ran up and down them, as I mentioned above, while others meandered as they spoke (such as Mark) and even climbed on top of the chairs, doing their best rock star dancing (looking at you, Sebastian!). There simply were no bad seats in the house, and you could tell that the panel guests really enjoyed being able to get off that stage and closer to the audience. Not one of my pics of Mark and Sebastian wandering around came out (dammit!), but there are plenty from others online; I'm sure you'll stumble across one soon enough.
The third big difference twixt 2008 Chicon and 2015 Minncon was the mood. It wasn't just good, it was GRRRRREAT, to quote a certain cartoon tiger. Don't get me wrong--the mood in Chicago was really good, too. But this was ecstatic--fan to fan, it was all smiles, cheers, hugs, supportive pats on the back, and so on. And that was outside of the auditorium! Inside it was all of that PLUS this electric excitement...you could really feel it :) You'd think the show was just becoming a hit instead of starting its 11th season! Of course, it could also just be the amount of first timers in the audience. Richard Speight asked each day of the con for a show of hands of who was a newbie to Creation Cons, and 2/3 of the audience's hands went up, no exaggeration. It was crazy! Is it like that every time they go to a new city? If anyone out there knows, please let ME know, because I'm curious. Anyway, yeah, the mood was downright giddy, and it lasted all weekend, even after the Misha incident broke (and man was that weird, but I'll get to that in a minute). So much positive energy! No wonder I'm so exhausted, heh.
So what was great? Pretty much everything. Panels were great. Photo-ops went well. Got to hang out with Alexandria and agent_jl36, so had great company :)
Met lots of other great people, too. So much fun to be at a place full of people that totally get why you love Supernatural, y'know? Yeah. Good times :) But I think my absolute favorite thing about this past weekend and Minncon was getting the chance to hang out with my sister, Jess, for more than an afternoon or on the eve of a holiday. We haven't had extended hanging out time with each other, much less a roadtrip, for at least a decade, and it was SO much fun being there with her, laughing, snarking, drinking our body weight in coffee, you name it. I love and adore my sister, and I am so blessed to have her in my life :)
See? Others would have mocked my idea of pretending to hitchhike for Baby. Jess just grinned and ran over :) Too bad I look so chubby in this pic. Ah well. At least Jess and Baby look good!
Okay, chick flick moment is over. Here are my main memories from the event, both good and not-quite-as-good, in mostly chronological order:
1. We (my sister and I) arrived late afternoon Friday. Why is that so important? Because even though we missed Chad Lindberg's panel (which I didn't mind because I just talked to him a few months back at WinchestMidwest, so I was all up to date on his news already), neither of us was pressuring the other to get there ASAP. Not that I slowed up at all--the lead foot was nice and leaden, thank you--but we enjoyed our drive (Madison to Minneapolis goes through some of WI's most beautiful sections), nommed up our junk food, and grooved to the awesome roadtrip CD mixes I made. (Yes, CDs. I'm old school like Dean. In fact, if I could, i'd still do a proper mix TAPE, so there!) And let me tell you, these were two of the best ones I've ever done, if I do say so myself, and I just did. /boasting
2. Even though we got our tickets to this event back in January, the hotel for the convention was already booked, so we got a room at the Doubletree two mere blocks away. Got a nice walk there and back each time. Minneapolis is a beautiful city and I hadn't been there in 10 years, so it was a treat to get to see it again.
3. After a cute panel with Gil McKinney (seriously, the man is such a peach!), we got some great food on a gorgeous Friday night at an Irish restaurant called, appropriately, The Local. I'd have a great picture for you if stupid Twitter wasn't being stupid. ::sighs:: Anyway. I tried a bison burger, and it was great! Tasted like sirloin steak. Unfortunately, a mixture of the creamy sauce they had on the shredded greens underneath the patty and a week's worth of nervous-excitement battled it out in my stomach that night, and my subsequent IBS attack kept us at the hotel that night instead of letting us go to the Karaoke session at the con. Ah well, at least we got to go to the concert the next night.
4. Saturday morning, our breakfast, coffee, and conversation were too good, so we missed Tammoh's panel, but we did get there in time for Sebastian's.
He was a BLAST. I'm so glad I finally got to enjoy The Sebastian Roche Experience in person. He barely answered any questions (not even the very first question, even when the girl sang along her question ala Jim Morrison per Sebastian's request!) because he kept getting distracted by his own need for antics. And let me tell you, those antics? So enjoyable. From getting us all to do the wave to climbing up into empty seats to sweeping up and down all the aisles, the man was everywhere, usually singing his own made-up lyrics to whatever he was doing. I absolutely loved it. Never thought I could love HIM even more, but I do, and I'm happy to admit it :) He could have his own DAY at Creation Con as far as I'm concerned!
5. In complete contrast, though still just as enjoyable, was Mark Sheppard's panel. He meandered all over the auditorium, though it was always walking, not dancing about like Sebastian. This is one of the few times he was actually on stage:
He took his mic with him and answered questions as he strolled, and he was NOT afraid to call people out on bad questions. I LOVE THAT. I'm sorry, but if you're lucky enough to get to ask a question, you should make it a good one, not some vague blah-blah-blah or something we've heard a thousand times. So yay for Mark for trying to make the question-asking world a better place. He was just so cool and funny, and again, I'm so very glad I got to see him in person.
6. Now right after lunch but just before Mark's panel, we heard about Misha's mugging, but not from any announcement. Well, there WAS an announcement, apparently, but the people sitting behind us told me it was given during lunch, when barely anyone was in the room, and then never repeated again. So most of us learned it word of mouth. I wouldn't have even asked had I not seen the note on the auditorium screen saying that the Misha-Mark duo pics had been moved to the time Misha's panel was due to start. I asked if his panel got cancelled, and they said no, Misha got hurt, and told me what little they knew. So bizarre! And poor Misha. I mean there have been some weird incidents at cons before, but no one has ever been mugged, and in Minneapolis, a normally peaceful and safe city no less! But what a trooper to still do his photo-ops. Yes I was disappointed that I didn't get to see Misha's panel; the last time I was at a Creation event, Castiel had just been introduced to the show and so Misha hadn't done his first con yet. Seven years later, I get my chance to see him, but some assholes decided to pick his pocket and push him instead. My sympathy for him far outweighed my disappointment about the panel, and I was not alone. The fans were showing their true colors that day, and I mean that in the best way possible. There were no complaints, no bitching, nothing. Everyone just wanted updates, if there were any. Most of us just wanted to give the poor guy a hug :( So good on you, fandom, for keeping it classy. I was so proud of us :)
7. Back to the con itself. There was a costume contest, and JL was a part of it, looking fan-freaking-fabtastic as Madge from the Christmas ep:
You should have at LEAST been a finalist, hon, and that's the damn truth. There were other awesome costumes, of course. Two of my favorites can be seen in the pics below. First, a "Fight the Fairies!" fairy, and second, an incredible Baby built over this woman's wheelchair, working lights and everything! MAN people have awesome imaginations and mad costuming skillz :)
Of course the costume I saw the most was Castiel. There were so many, in fact, that they had their own Castiel category for judging, heh. Didn't take any pics because they were all so good. Mark was very unimpressed with those costumes by the way, telling a questioner dressed up as one that they should be dressed up like him--"then you get to wear a nice suit instead of a cheap tie and a trenchcoat." Right on cue, a woman dressed as Crowley, complete with bedazzled Burger King crown, ran up to him, and Mark smiled and said that was more like it, "Save for the crown. Crowley doesn't need a crown. His title and reputation are enough." Whatever you say, Mark >:-D
8. The R2M panel was HILARIOUS. You can tell they are such close friends and not only know each other, but are fond of one another, too.
I loved all the stories they shared, particularly the "brown and grey" one. Apparently in England, a fan asked Rob after their photo op what he calls his hair color. He said "I dunno...brownish...reddish?" And she stated, "It's brown and grey." Then she walked off a little ways, turned, and repeated, "brown and grey." And now Rich baits Rob whenever he can so that he (Rich) can text or say to him "Brown and grey" followed by a second text/spoken "brown and grey." LOL. So that was good, but for me, the best part was when they were doing their impressions of each other. I think my favorite was Rich doing Jensen; apparently he speaks in all nouns on the phone, LOL. What's even better was the next day, Rich did the impression to Jensen, who couldn't stop laughing and admitted that the impression was "so freaking on" or something like that. They both did the "comedy elbows," too. Anyway, if you want to see the impression, there's a great video here shot and shared by rosworms.
9. Since most of the rest of the day was photo ops and autographs, we had the evening free until the concert, so we had dinner with an old friend and her parents, who just happened to be in town. It was so awesome to get to see them all and catch up on things! Such a shame badger99 couldn't have been with us, too :( But what partially made up for that is that the Greek restaurant unknowingly continued the SPN theme with its name: Christos. Thank you and good night :)
10. Loudin Swain concert kicked my ass up and down the room, and I kept coming back for more! What an incredible band. I'm buying all their music this weekend (I get paid Friday; broke till then).
Original songs were great, covers were great, guest singers/performers were great. We got Mark Sheppard on the drums for 3 songs, Sebastian on vocals and later on cowbell, Gil McKinney on vocals, hell, we even got Matt Cohen covering Blur's "Song 2." I could have died happy right there :)
The pic above is from the end, when they brought everyone out and did the Joe Cocker version of "With a Little Help From My Friends," and kids? Rob Benedict can WAIL. I cannot tell you how much fun it is watching him go from shy, self-mocking Rob from the R2M panel to this crazy guy who is running and jumping everywhere, singing and screaming his heart out. I am officially smitten :) All the panelists were, too, because they each kissed Rob on top of his head when he left the stage to let them do their panels. It was adorable :)
11. Next day, I found a ton of hungover Castiels at the con, heh. Seriously, I think I saw six. Drinking to Misha's health or drinking to help with the No Panel thing? The world may never know. Anyway, after that, the day was a blur of photo ops and panels. The photo ops came first, so here are mine. First up, me and Jensen. oh wait! Cute story before that. So while I was waiting in line, a girl of about 10 dressed as Castiel came into the photo room and started jumping up and down when she saw Jensen. I leaned down and told her "He's super nice and he smells really good." That made her squee into her hands pressed over her mouth, LOL. I wish I could have stayed to see her pic with Jensen, but you know how it is with him: you see him, he touches you, and you sorta float out of the room ;) I DO remember asking him if I could get a hug from behind, and he said, "Absolutely" and curled his arms around me. After the pic I looked up and said thank you, and he said, "Thank YOU," looking me right in the eyes, very sincere. His mama raised him right :) So anyway, here's the pic:
Finally got my Jensen hug :) I also got a J2 photo for Jess and I (though that meant I didn't have enough for a Jared solo, sadly). We decided to go with a cheesy thumbs aloft, but they took the pic before I got my thumb in the air, LOL. Ah well. No idea why Jensen decided to go serious while Jared went for excited, but I love it regardless :)
Oh and if you see my sister, tell her how cute she truly is in this pic. She keeps saying otherwise, and I keep insisting it's cute. And I'm in the right, so there ;)
12. Alainah Huffman's panel came on before the boys, and she was equal parts funny and charming. Rob and RIch admitted they can't even really talk to her because she's so awesome and beautiful, and she just laughed and hugged them. I love that she wants to name Abbadon's hellhound "Roxy." Such a perfect name! Also got to hear some great stories about how her and Gil McKinney go way back.
She was also really sweet with this little boy dressed as The Flash. He was so adorable, and she couldn't resist giving him a hug. We all wanted to, really :)
13. Finally the Js were on. Jensen, Jared, and Rob all rock-star jumped to start things off. My picture of it came out all blurry, but there are really good ones out there. I highly suggest you look for them :) In fact, most of my pics came out blurry, especially in this batch because instead of sitting down in my paid-for seat, I was waiting in line the ENTIRE hour-long panel to ask a question--and no, I did not get to ask my question. It was a good one, too! I wanted to know if anything had been cut out of the big confrontation scene at the end of "My Brother's Keeper," since it seemed so fast and a bit disjointed. Ah well, life goes on. I'm just happy the Js were in such a good mood. Here are three of my not-great pics:
I just love that these guys still love each other and are funnier than ever. Between Jared moving his chair after Jensen when the latter starts moving away to Jensen putting the pin down on Jared's seat, hoping he'll sit on it, I laughed a lot. I think I laughed hardest when they were picking on Misha's injury. I know, that sounds so mean, but it was FUNNY, and Misha was laughing too, they all said so. "It's muggy in here," hehe. Classic. Just watch the video of it if you can find it. There are great vids out there--try and see the Saved By The Bell Movie story, the hair question, Jensen's story about Misha on the boat and his "crabtraps," LOL, the smoothie story, and when Jared asks Jensen if he needs help and Jensen grunts back a "shaddup," hehe. Boys <3
(ETA: Here, I'll get you started: here's the Saved By the Bell Movie story shot and shared by sil9800. It begins with Dean doing a lounge act, hehe)
14. After the J2 panel, we went to a British Pub (well, Minneapolis' version of it) and had a super scrummy fish n' chips and a Boddies. Nice end to a great weekend :)
And that's about it! If you have any questions for me, just let me know! I'm sure I forgot some details already, but the right question will jog my memory :)