The first half of con season in the US closes with DCCon in the midst of cherry blossoms and spring-like weather (closely followed by the season filming wrap). After the boys get a little bit of well deserved hiatus rest (and most likely grow some hiatus beards), the European con season will kick off. Never a dull moment in Supernatural fandom – we seriously are the luckiest of all fandoms!
DCCon was a bit smaller and more intimate, with all the con activities taking place on the same level, literally right as you walk in the door to the hotel. I had my partner in crime with me, and since Kathy lives outside DC, we didn’t stay at the con hotel to save money. That meant every time there was a break in the action, we raced over to the one restaurant and grabbed some outlets to recharge our phones and iPads. That meant we drank more wine than usual too. As you do.
The lobby was transformed into a sort of mini mental health fair, thanks to Random Acts and the You Are Not Alone campaign and their partners. The most effective part of that, I think, was the giant YANA board on which fans could write their personal messages of gratitude and support.
Misha, Jared and Jensen had a chance to read it and to add their own messages, and CreationStands is now auctioning it off to benefit the Fan Support Network. They probably could have used about ten of those, but it was a nice way to get genuine fan messages to the guys who have been an inspiration, and to let the guys say thank you back.
Richard Speight changed outfits fairly often since he’s onstage all the time, and I have to say they were all very spiffy. Look how cool he is in these shades…
It was lovely to have Samantha Smith back at a con – she’s always a bit incredulous that we remain invested in her character, but seriously, she’s Mary Winchester! There will never be a time when any Winchester is not an integral part of the story, whether onscreen or not.
Sam: I’ve been on the show like three times, and y’all still love me!
She’s a fan of the show herself and has been watching from the start.
Sam: I’m about three to four episodes behind. I think that’s pretty good, eleven seasons in!
It also keeps her up on the mythology – sometimes the mythology of her own character.
Sam: I didn’t know Mary was a hunter until I saw Amy Gumenick’s episode!
In all fairness, pretty sure Kripke didn’t know that from the start either. Although who knows? I bow to Mr. Kripke’s brilliance, always.
Favorite moment of Sam’s panel was when she talked about her episode playing Eve in the diner scene. She loved having a chance to play evil, but when she got the part in the script where she’s supposed to bite Jensen, she felt a little weird about it.
Sam to Jensen: What’s this? I have to bite you? I feel kinda…awkward.
Jensen: It’s fine, just do it.
Fan: We should all be so lucky.
Me and Kathy: (are nodding)
Also? Look at Sam’s kickass shoes.
Julian Richings was also back after a long absence from cons. He made a dramatic entrance with Jason Manns singing “Oh Death” in his beautiful voice. Chills.
Julian: So I’ve been dead for about a year now…
Julian is quick witted and adorable, and I love the way he tells a story.
Favorite moment?
Julian: We all loooooooooooove Jensen. But people forget he’s a great actor. Amongst all the other great attributes.
Julian gave Jensen props for how he played Dean being terrified the first time he met Death.
Jason Manns was also back, which always makes me think of some of the very early cons, when it was either Jason or Steve Carlson who provided the music. I love that Jason and Rob are now such good friends and that they’ve started playing together more regularly too. SPNFamily, y’all.
Jason told the story of Eric Kripke hearing his music and promising to find a spot on the show for it. He wasn’t expecting it to be a scene where Dean hears it and throws the iPod away in disgust though.
By the way, I always love hearing Jason refer to Jensen as “J”. I don’t know why, it’s just adorable.
Favorite moment? Jason gets lots of points for a) having a funny idea and b) knowing when a funny idea will end up not being all that funny.
Jason: I was going to play an April Fools prank on you all, say “and here’s Jensen to sing Crazy Love with me”, but then I thought maybe not…
Wise man, Jason.
But Crazy Love was wonderful to hear even without that Jensen harmony.
The R2M panel is always one of my favorites, and this one was one of the best ever. I laughed my way through most of it, so much that my sides were hurting afterwards.
There was Richard telling the hysterical story of a drunk Rob Benedict who called Rich to tell him he was so wasted he didn’t know where he was (this was at a European con). Richard convinced him to get a cab to take him to their hotel – which it turns out he had just walked away from. Hahahaha.
Also, Rob’s face while Richard was telling this story? Priceless.
The other thing that killed me was Matt Cohen (freshly hair trimmed for GH and looking gorgeous) saying that when women say “I’m so mad at you” it’s code for “come stick your tongue in my mouth.” After that, he repeatedly tried to make Richard mad at him so they could make out.
Matt: Are you mad at me?
Richard: Nope.
Richard flustered is a beautiful thing.
Probably the funniest story was Richard leaving his phone in the green room with Jensen, Jared and Misha. Uh oh. He came back to texts from his wife asking “Who’s Monica?!”
Richard: I forgot they have the humor of low functioning 14 year olds.
That was bad enough, but they also switched out his photos. When his wife called, the picture that came up was no longer of his wife. Instead, it was Jared, in a compromising position that “only a Yogi master could do. And it was not a selfie.”
So Misha or Jensen, which one of you had the pleasure of taking that photo??
Richard: All of my photo IDs got replaced with Misha’s ass crack or Jensen’s crotch.
Me to Kathy: And this is a bad thing because….
Ruth Connell was lovely as always. Her panel is always a wonderful mix of sweet, funny, snarky and silly. She brought some giveaways for the hotel toiletries giveaway section.
She led us all in a rousing (and fairly well synchronized) version of V Club Mega Disco Ball Change Flawless Absolutely Flawless.
She roamed the hall saying hello to fans and pointing out any Rowena cosplays with glee.
She flustered Mike Borja with a kiss on the cheek and got a big hug from Richard.
She also got serious a few times, allowing that it would probably be easier for her to find work in this industry if she “had a willy” and asking why, in any given group scene in film or television, there “couldn’t be more vaginas in the room”? Which is an excellent question.
I have to give Ruth all the acting props too, because at DC none of us knew that Rowena was in fact alive and well and back on Supernatural. Ruth brilliantly deflected those questions by claiming that it was still too raw to talk about, which was both true and misleading at the same time – and I’m really glad I didn’t get spoiled, because the moment we saw her back onscreen was a joyous one for me. Good job, Ruth!
For a minute there, it looked like perhaps the Trickster would snap his fingers and bring her back to life anyway…
Ruth meeting an actual practitioner: Can you cast a spell to bring me back?
Tim Omundson was up next, which gave him and Ruth a chance to conjecture about what Cain and Rowena would be doing in hell if that’s where she ended up.
Ruth: Cain and Rowena in hell? Yes please.
Although Tim doesn’t actually think Cain is dead.
Fan: Where did Cain go after Dean killed him?
Tim: He’s not dead. It’s not like any writer told me that, but nobody ever dies on this show. But if he was, he’d be in hell getting it on with Rowena.
Tim loves doing the cons, which he likened to a traveling circus. “We’re all carnies. Really good looking carnies. Especially the boys.”
My favorite moment? Tim as fanboy.
Tim: For those who don’t know, she just called me #Hamilton trash. Who doesn’t know what #HamilTrash is? I feel sorry for you.
We’ve tweeted his impromptu ‘auditions’ for King George to Lin Manuel Miranda repeatedly. What are you people waiting for??
I also love that Richard and Tim have been friends since college — and now here they are, traveling the world together as part of the SPNFamily.
Osric Chau was back with us – his presence is really missed when he’s not at a con!
Richard has come a long way from his initial skepticism about Osric’s con cosplay. He seemed a bit disappointed when Os came out in tee shirt and jeans.
Osric said that his management is encouraging him to put more time and energy into his roles and less into his coplay.
Os: I was gonna wear one today though. But it was too revealing. The slit was…uh…in the wrong place.
Fans: That’s okay…
Osric makes no secret of how much he adores Mark Sheppard and Crowley, so it was heartwarming to see the two of them banter and laugh together.
At some point, a fan wanted to know who Os would bring with him if he was stranded on a desert island. After much deliberating, the final answer was:
Os: Jensen. But I’d be dreaming of Jared’s hands.
As you do.
Mark Sheppard likes to mess with his friends almost as much as he likes to mess with his fans. He came out wanting different versions of his introduction song, “Mr. Crowley,” which resulted in an insanely good a capella version thanks to Louden Swain and Richard Speight Jr.
This pleased the king.
As much as he loves to give them (and us) crap, Mark is always able to express eloquently just how important this dysfunctional little family we’ve got going is.
Mark on the cast: Everyone on Supernatural, men and women, is an alpha.
That will make it hard to write certain kinds of fic…. But more seriously:
Mark: Working together seven years, we really are a family. And it makes the show great. We take care of each other.
Mark on the fans (after a fan asked my least favorite question ever about what his craziest fan moment has been): Fans are not crazy. Passion is nothing to be ashamed of, passion is everything in life.
Mark Sheppard, quoting the plot of Fangasm Supernatural Fangirls.
Last con, we had the Padalecki kids with us. This con, it was Misha’s turn – he brought along West. Which did create some unanticipated parameters.
Misha: (horrified) OMG I can’t swear!
West was as confused by the dead tree onstage as the rest of us were. He also wasn’t all that interested in watching the hall full of fans, which in all fairness, were probably a bit intimidating.
That meant we watched West from the back for a while, and then he attempted to escape by crawling up inside his father’s shirt, much to Misha’s giggling dismay.
In the autograph line later, Kathy made West’s day by asking for his autograph instead of his dad’s. Awwww.
In between parenting and trying to delay West’s (understandable) need to use the bathroom, Misha told a very funny story that Rob had also alluded to. When Rob was on set recently, Jared and Jensen turned their teasing on him instead of on Misha. Misha would like to have said that he took the high road and protested, knowing all too well what it’s like to be on the receiving end – but he was horrified to find that he instead joined in gleefully, so relieved that it wasn’t directed at him for once!
Poor Rob.
Favorite moment? Misha talking seriously about Castiel for a bit.
Misha: Sam and Dean are the one place Cas feels like he belongs. They make Cas feel safe.
Unlike Jared and Jensen with Misha.
The Saturday Night Special just gets better and better. There were cool balloons bouncing around the hall, and fans passed out glow lights that we could all wave while Rob broke our hearts singing ‘She Waits’ – and then he could get emotional seeing how much he’s impacted us in a beautiful SPNFamily reciprocity.
There was Rob swooning over Ruth as she sang ‘Cool If I Come Over’ with him.
There was Chris Schmelke on bass and Richard Speight Jr. on bass and Mark Sheppard on drums.
There was Osric killing it with Eminem’s ‘Lose Yourself’.
And everyone killing in on ‘Whipping Post’. Sure we all love it when Jensen sings it, but there’s no way you can call the amazing rendition here second best.
Omundson made me all emotional with a soulful rendition of Bowie’s ‘Heroes’.
Rob and Jason did the same singing their gorgeous duet of ‘Hallelujah’.
And fans all stood on chairs to send Matt Cohen a ‘feel better soon’ message during ‘Mama’s Jam’ since he went home sick and couldn’t be there to do it. Ruth and Osric bounded around the stage to cheerlead too.
Then there was ‘A Little Help from my Friends’ and ‘Carry On’ and everyone feeling so much like family.
All in all, it was a wonderful Friday and Saturday. Kathy and I topped it off with a fangirl dinner at a local restaurant with some of my favorite fangirls in attendance.
Stay tuned for Sunday – J2 Day!
–Lynn
Check out ‘Fangasm’ here:
Reblogged this on Ana Fraser Lallybroch Blog.
Excellent summary. I’ve slept at my own home 3 days since DCCon. I’ve had no time to write anything, barely time to upload like 2 pictures. You amaze me with your dedication and attention to detail.
Thank you!
“Tim loves doing the cons, which he likened to a traveling circus. “We’re all carnies.”
Anyone else want to run away to the circus?
Loved the pics with Misha and West! And his quote about Cas brought a tear to my eye…your posts are my favorite thing on the internet!
Great report. I cannot emphasize enough how amazing the SNS is. An absolute highlight and this year’s DCcon SNS was honestly one of the best concerts I’ve ever been to. It’s just a unique experience to share with your fannish friends. (Also, I hadn’t seen my friend and roomie since last convention – where we met – so the con was a lovely reunion for us, too!)
DCcon started off with not a ton of guests – there was a lot of online grumbling about price vs. number of guests, but it came together in the last week. I do mean the last week – Jason Manns, Samantha Smith, and Jake Abel were announced with maybe a week to go, and Julian Richings was added to the schedule on Wednesday night when the schedule was released.
Speaking of Julian Richings, he should do karaoke all the time. I did find it hilarious, though, that when he had to leave, Richard announced it was time for Death to go. To which Julian yelled out “I’ll see you all soon!” and we cheered.
Only at a Supernatural convention can you have enthusiastic cheering for a farewell that essential is, “You’re all going to die soon! Laters!”