NJ Con Friday and Saturday – Recap With Pics!

Four years ago, New Jersey was a small con. It was also Misha’s first con and the birthplace of SPN Karaoke (no assigned seats – hell no seats at all!!). The little con has come a long way! Though we think that poster of Jared hanging above Matt Cohen’s head has been to every single con since the first one. Not that we’re complaining about that…

Friday was the first day of the con. It’s always the most laid back day, with plenty of time between guests to catch up with fellow fans and share a little anticipatory squee and more than a few hugs. Seeing the guests is of course a highlight of Creation cons, but at least half the thrill is being immersed in a group of people who “get” you. Who love the Show that you love and understand the significance of pie references and don’t wonder why you’re taking 25 pictures of an old ’67 Chevy in the parking lot. I mean, the car’s so well-used that it has little green plastic army men stuffed in the ashtrays. Sheesh.

We caught up with some of our fangirl best friends on Friday, and with some of our favorite SPN actors too, including Matt Cohen. Look for our interview with Matt coming up soon, but for now, have a picture.

You’re welcome.

The con kicked off with Chad Lindberg. Here’s Chad taking a picture of us taking pictures of him – how meta!!

Chad brought his “tools” – among them a spirit box. He also told us about a spooky experience he had just had in his hotel room as well as about his experience on Ghost Hunters. The spirit box refused to speak to us despite Chad’s polite request. Even spirits are intimidated by an entire auditorium full of SPN fans.

Chad gets sassy.

Next up was con virgin Osric Chau. Osric came on stage with a lollipop in his mouth, looking frankly adorable. We always get a bit protective of a con first-timer, because standing on a stage and entertaining a packed room full of people isn’t what these actors signed up for when they took a guest role on a television show. It’s a different skill set, and some take to it instantly, while others struggle – which makes us want to run up there and rescue them. We didn’t need to worry about Osric – he’s a natural!

Osric’s quite accomplished (he speaks four languages) and well travelled, which perhaps explains his comfort onstage and his facility with answering questions on the spot in one of those languages.

Osric talked about his “Dragon Mother” who put him into every conceivable class she could find, which landed him in front of an audience repeatedly. He also studied martial arts, and kind of wishes he’d get to use that skill set on Supernatural. Unfortunately it seems Kevin didn’t. Too bad, since we’d really like to see Kevin kick some Crowley ass literally as well as figuratively.

That lollipop was still there at the end of his panel – even after Osric gave us a demonstration of how to do a perfect cartwheel. Where did he learn that?? Circus school!!

Next up was DJ Qualls, who’s also adorable. He also brought along Mr. Fizzles to meet the fans. Below, Mr. Fizzles gets friendly with a fan.

Richard says D.J. is the only one who can make Chad look portly. He’s right!

DJ has a wonderfully reciprocal relationship with his fans online. A couple of his biggest fans were at the con, including a fan who had his picture on her birthday cake and brought him a fan appreciation award. That resulted in a very touching moment, and us maybe dabbing at our eyes a little.

Friday night was karaoke, which was so damn much fun that it will take a separate post to do it justice. And then it was a few hours of sleep (which is clearly NOT what cons are for…) and Day Two of NJCon kicked off. Saturday started with Travis and A.J

They confided that Misha loves the Ghostfacers. The web video they did together was his idea. The applause of the crowd when they came onstage suggests that Misha isn’t the only one.

AJ looked a bit different.

AJ: It’s for a part.

Fans: We never would have guessed…

Next up was the AlphaVamp himself, Rick Worthy. To say that Rick has a sexy voice is an extreme understatement. We had the pleasure of interviewing Rick on Saturday, and to say that he’s a nice guy is equally understating things. Look for that interview coming up soon!

Also, Happy Star Wars Day! Love that everyone onstage and off are geeks together.

Rick was asked how the Supernatural set was different from other sets he’d worked on. He said it was very different, and he could tell that was going to be the case on the day he first arrived on set. The very first thing he saw was gigantic Jared riding around on a tiny minibike. He came roaring up, jumped off the bike and said warmly to Rick, “Give me a hug!”.

Seriously, guys – is our Show the best, or what? So many guest actors have talked about how Jared and Jensen set the tone for the set and that filters down from the top. No wonder it’s such a warm and welcoming place to work, and so many of the guest cast and main cast are now such good friends.

We were still feeling all warm and fuzzy when James Patrick Stuart took the stage. He looked like the really nice guy he is until he popped in his Dick Roman teeth. Then suddenly we wanted to run away. *shudders*

Richard Speight Jr., Matt Cohen and Rob Benedict were a triple threat onstage together on Saturday afternoon. Also they made us laugh so much that we could barely keep tweeting.

Fan: What would happen if the guys switched bodies?

Richard and Rob: If we woke up as Matt, best day EVER. Maybe not for Mandy though.

Fan: Who’s the most attractive guy on Supernatural?

Rob: I’m a Misha guy.

Richard: Pellegrino!

Matt: Jensen’s lips do it for me.

Us: Um. What? You were saying something?

Who can keep tweeting through banter like that??

There were some serious questions too.

Fan: Was Chuck actually God?

Rob: That was the intention.

How much do we love that writers are constantly being compared to gods on SPN? Totally makes sense to us. *not biased at all*

After Misha took the stage (see our next post, which will be entirely devoted to everyone’s favorite angel) it was time for the Costume Contest. Cosplay at the cons took a while to catch on for Supernatural, but eight years on more fans are participating (there were too many to get on the stage all at once so there were several rounds of judging in several different categories)! How many characters can you identify?

And the costumes are more creative with each con. One contestant dressed as a Pig in a Poke! Another set herself apart from the array of Castiels in the house by coming as Leviathan!Castiel. And let’s not forget the Busty Asian Beauties!

We confess to missing the cocktail party on Saturday night due to extreme exhaustion (of our tweeting fingers especially…) and possibly too much wine long before the cocktail party even started. If anyone went, regale us with the highlights!

Stay tuned for our Misha appreciation post, more Sunday con coverage with Jared, Jensen and Ty Olsson, a karaoke recap, and our interviews with Matt Cohen, Rick Worthy, Rob Benedict and Ty Olsson.

And chime in below with your own favorite moments of the con if you were there, or if you haven’t been to one, what your favorite parts of a Supernatural convention would be!