What Happens In Vegas… Part 3 (Saturday Supernatural Shenanigans)

Where did we leave off? Oh, right, with Tim Omundson being awesome, both onstage and at karaoke. And with him being able to pull off both the gravity of a role like Cain and the humor of a role like the king in Galavant.

At some point in the panel, he put on glasses, and then he was suddenly a version of brilliant (and bloody hot) professor. Who knows what other iterations of Tim Omundson we haven’t discovered yet?

Saturday happened way too early (or possibly Friday ended way too late) but it turned out to be an amazing day. First up was Sebastian Roche, who really knows how to wake up a room full of bleary fangirls and fanboys. Sebastian rarely actually answers a question, but intrepid fans line up to ask him some anyway. Despite the lack of answering, Sebastian’s panels are always entertaining – mostly because he’s a great entertainer. He sings, he dances on chairs, he tosses around innuendo in response to just about anything, and he generally keeps you both laughing and incredulous (unless you’re dancing yourself and joining him in singing ‘Get Lucky’…)

Interestingly, Sebastian in ‘real life’ is one of the most intelligent and thoughtful actors out there. If you follow him on social media, you know how passionate he is about political and social change; more than once, I’ve learned about something important from his tweets. I rather like the way he can express both sides of himself, depending on the platform. Keep dancing, Sebastian!

As always, the interaction between the guests onstage is a big part of what makes a convention so entertaining. Here Sebastian gets carried away in his affection for Rob Benedict (which, by the way, is totally understandable) and literally can’t contain his enthusiasm for the band’s big finish.

Mark Pellegrino followed Sebastian. This worked out a lot better than the con where someone thought it would be a good idea to put Mark and Sebastian onstage together. Pretty sure Mark got in only a few words edgewise that time, though he seemed to be as entertained by Sebastian as we were.

Anyway, Mark answered questions about all his recent roles (look for him on ‘The Returned’!) including expressing his hope that Lucifer might be back on SPN. I don’t know whether to hope for that or fear for it. It sort of makes me want to find Sam Winchester and cuddle him. Then again, I feel that way a lot…

Mark’s the antithesis of Lucifer sometimes. He loves bringing fans onstage to have a more intimate chat with him, and – like all the cast – he loves his fellow actors. Here he is with a lucky fan and showing his affection for Richard Speight, Jr.

Gil McKinney also returned for a solo panel, managing to work in a little bit of singing. Fans expressed their good wishes and absolute confidence that Gil’s plans to go to New York City and tackle Broadway would be successful. He has the most amazing voice, and the stage presence and acting ability to go with it. How could he not make it?

Gil would also love to come back to SPN and explore more of Henry Winchester’s backstory. And wear more of that amazing vintage wardrobe. I know I’m always craving more Winchester backstory, so that sounds like an excellent idea to me. Gil is good friends with Alaina Huffman in real life, so more of the Henry and Josie story would be particularly fun.

In the meantime, we’ll keep listening to Gil’s beautiful voice at cons.

Also, he really knows how to look like a rockstar. Just saying.

We also had Mark Sheppard onstage on Saturday. Mark does answer questions, but they’re rarely the question that was actually asked. He’s amazingly good at thinking on his feet and finding the humor in a question that wasn’t intended to be humorous – which is very funny for the rest of us. He’s snarky about 90% of the time, but if there’s a small child in the audience, Sheppard goes from King of Hell to being a loving dad in two seconds flat. It’s rather endearing.

The other time Sheppard isn’t snarky is when he stops to get serious – about fandom. He identifies as a fan himself, and he gets fandom in a way that some of the other actors don’t. He’s lived it, with multiple shows and multiple fandoms. And he genuinely loves it. When Mark talks about the importance of finding your passion, and how wonderful and healthy that is, I invariably end up with tears in my eyes. It’s what we wrote about in Fangasm too – don’t be ashamed of your fannish passion, embrace it! His gratitude for the support and investment of fandom in the projects that he’s done is so clear, and so genuine. I feel lucky that he landed on our Show, and I think he does too.

Mark: I know that the show I’m working on now has a level of excellence that’s rare.

Indeed.

Rest assured, we also got plenty of snarky Mark (I feel like that should say Snarky Marky, but I don’t want to antagonize the King of Hell…)

Fan: I like your sass.

Mark: [looking scandalized….behind him] My what?!

The costume contest was next, which I swear gets bigger and better every time, and then it was time for R2M, also known as Richard Speight, Jr., Rob Benedict and Matt Cohen. The threesome has been doing cons for quite a while now, and their panels are like the best improv sessions. All three are quick witted, and they’re totally unafraid to rib each other unmercifully – because the respect and affection they feel is so clear underneath.

I defy you to hear one of them tell the airplane story and not laugh until you cry. That’s the time when Rob and a fearful-of-flying Matt endured horrendous turbulence, only to turn around terrified for fearful-of-flying Richard and find him peacefully sleeping through the entire thing! Add to that Misha Collins pissing on himself in the plane bathroom because of the turbulence and you’ve got a story that I seriously never get tired of hearing. The adventures these guys have had going to countless conventions is epic – no wonder they have a web series coming out about it! Make sure to support Kings of Con on Indiegogo at https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/kings-of-con!

And then, as if the day wasn’t already amazing enough, we were treated to Misha Collins. Earlier in the day, Misha had his meet and greet with ten lucky fans. Of course, Misha being Misha, he took them OUT of the hotel for an adventure. I’m not sure where they went, but I’m quite sure they weren’t disappointed. A bunch of us had lunch at Hash House (oh how I love it!) and watched Misha walk by, trailing the ten lucky people who won the meet and greet. Trailing them was a slowly increasing mass of other people – as Misha walked by, heads would whip around, mouths open in OMG IT’S MISHA exclamations, and then more fans would join the procession.

Misha was his amusing and endearing self onstage. He somehow got into a twitter battle with William Shatner, involving some fans in the audience too. We all got to eavesdrop as Misha and Bill battled it out. Virtually of course.

Misha tweeted selfies making faces, and eventually the twitter war escalated to all of us giving Shatner the finger, something I never thought I’d experience, let alone at a Supernatural convention.

Misha: I really hate losing a twitter war, especially in front of a live audience…

And after the mass flipping off pic…

Misha: Shit! He’s gonna be mad!

(Creation immediately began playing the theme from Star Trek with perfect timing)

The entire thing was priceless, but I doubt that Shatner will hold a grudge, considering he and his ‘Cuppers’ go back and forth routinely and clearly amuse each other.

Fans also gave Misha cupcakes and cookies, presumably in recognition of Shatner’s affectionate nickname.

I just want to recognize something else too — Misha’s excellent taste in clothes, because damn. He looked good.

Sorry for spamming you, but have a few more photos to prove it.

(Really that’s a lie, I’m not sorry at all. Pretty sure nobody would be.)

And that was Saturday – but not Saturday night. Saturday night was also Special. Actually, very Special. So stay tuned for more!

–Lynn
Fangasm Supernatural Fangirls,
Fan Phenomena: Supernatural,
Fandom At The Crossroads
(Links at the top of the page!)