I’ve spent the week happily immersed in VanCon photos and reports and vids, like most of the Supernatural fandom, musing about why VanCon feels so special. Of course every occasion that fans have to get together is special, because we don’t often get to be with our SPN Family face to face. VanCon gives me lots of other fans to squee about Show with, to share my anticipation for S10, and to hash out what we did and didn’t like about S9 (and the eight seasons before that too). And then VanCon does other cons one better by giving me not only the actors but some of Supernatural’s writers and crew – which makes it pretty much the enactment of the reciprocal relationship we’ve written about in all our books. My week in Vancouver was all about those relationships – fans and fans, fans and actors, actors and actors, with some crew members and writers to round out the reciprocity. Relationships are what make we humans happiest, so I guess it’s not surprising that I’m still smiling.
VanCon coincided with the beginning of filming Supernatural’s 200th episode, which seemed entirely fitting. We contributed to some 200th episode gifts for the cast and crew, along with many other fans. Another group of fans arranged for a banner to be flown over the set congratulating the cast and crew on reaching such an important milestone.
The occasion made me think. When we first started researching Supernatural back in 2007, the Show was on the verge of cancellation at the end of every season, with fans rallying with postcard campaigns and network pleas and then crossing our fingers until the renewal was announced and we could finally breathe again. Nobody – not even the fandom – would have believed that we’d see 10 seasons and 200 episodes. But here we are, and going stronger than ever!