Monday, July 20, 2015

#JennAtSDCC: Comic-Con, Saturday Edition - Part 1 ("I fashion myself a witty individual.")


When I woke up on Saturday morning, I didn't feel that bad. My nose was stuffy and my throat slightly sore, but I honestly brushed it off as nothing more than allergies or dust in our room. I thought it would probably disappear as the day went on. Pro-tip: if you ever venture to San Diego Comic-Con, bringing hand sanitizer is important. (I never leave home without some in my purse normally anyway.) But the moment you begin to feel under the weather, bring Airborne or Emergen-C and take it. It'll save you trouble in the future, I promise. Nevertheless, I headed off toward the convention with Ilene (we made a pit-stop at a Starbucks far enough away from the convention center that it wasn't muddled with crowds), dressed in cute but comfortable clothes in preparation for my LONG day at the convention. 

It was such a long day. in fact, that I'm breaking this up into TWO posts: you'll get to hear all about everything up until Hall H in this one and I'll compile another in the near future detailing all of my exploits in Hall H, the press pit, and how I survived being close to Stephen Amell's leather-clad self. ;)

Coffee selfie with Ilene! I knew I'd made a good friend when I tentatively ask: "Okay, selfie with our coffee?" and she emphatically replied: "YES."

Saturday schedule:
- Once Upon A Time panel (10-10:45 AM)
- TV Guide Fan Favorites panel (11-11:45 AM)
- Entertainment Weekly: Women Who Kick Ass panel (3:45-4:30 PM)
- 20th Century Fox presentations (5:45-7:30 PM)
- Warner Brothers Television and DC Entertainment Screening Block -- Superhero Saturday Night (8-11 PM)

As you can see... BUSY day. Here's another pro-tip from Comic-Con: if you migrate on over to San Diego from the east coast (or really, any other time zone I suppose), be sure that you try to stick to a regular schedule regarding your eating habits. I forgot -- yes, forgot which I didn't think was possible because I love food -- to eat until after 12:30 on Saturday. I hadn't eaten since the night before. My breakfast had been a venti iced caramel macchiato.

Don't do that, kids. It's baaaaaaaaad.

ANYWAY, lets talk less about my eating habits and more about Saturday! Because even though it was insanity, it was also a LOT of fun.


Once Upon A Time panel highlights:
  • As with most shows that came to the convention, OUAT debuted a sizzle reel -- narrated by Ginnifer Goodwin in character as Snow White -- and it was really fantastic. She did a wonderful job with it.
  • Adam Horowitz and Eddie Kitsis informed us that even though The Author writes the stories of our characters, they all still have free will (admittedly, something I wondered about last season).
  • Notable quote: "What do you [Emilie] want for Belle in season five?" "A vacation! Maybe the Bahamas?"
  • Yvette Nicole Brown moderated the panel which was such a treat because she's a huge fan of the show (and was a special guest star at one point). So she asked really good and interesting questions.
  • Apparently Jane Espenson wrote a video (featuring, among other people, Patton Oswalt) about why residents of Storybrooke choose to stay in the town in spite of the insanity and danger that constantly occurs. It was pretty funny and I feel like we definitely need to see something similar for the residents of Starling City. ;)
  • Colin was asked about Hook's character, now that Emma has gone dark. Since he was once a villain, would he find it easy or natural to slip back into the darkness? Colin's response: "Hook has desperately been trying to hold onto the man he is to keep Emma's heart safe." Awwwwwwwwwwww.
  • When asked about playing such an insane villain, Rebecca Mader said that she loves playing "someone so batsh-t crazy! ... This is the best thing that has ever happened to me."
  • Since Colin fakes a British accent on the show (for those of you who didn't know, his Irish accent is beautiful), a fan asked if Jennifer could fake something in an Irish accent and say it to the room. Colin leaned over and told her what to say. It was adorable. There was a hand wave involved.
  • Notable quote: "There is some fun to the villainy." - Jennifer Morrison on Dark Swan
  • Notable quote: "She's going to figure out how to truly overcome it [the darkness] rather than just repress it." - Jennifer Morrison on Emma's darkness. Honesty, this made me SO happy because Emma doesn't deal with her pain and that's why she has issues. She ignores it. So I'm glad this Dark One trajectory will lead to some growth.
  • We were treated to an exclusive clip of Dark Swan, which was honestly kind of terrifying. I'll spoil it for you guys in 3... 2... 1... It involves a guy bringing a tray of food to a jail cell. He nervously looks around and suddenly Dark Swan peers through the bars. "But they said you were a monster," the man notes, clearly surprised at the woman. Emma coldly replies: "Only on the inside," before ripping out his heart and slowly turning it to dust.
  • Notable quote: [after the spoiler clip] "... I'm very disturbed and Jennifer, now I'm afraid of you." - Yvette Nicole Brown
  • When they were asked about what they thought made OUAT so special for fans, Eddie talked rather brilliantly about its underlying message of belief and hope. "[It] united people who were tired of cynicism and who just wanted to believe... to believe in magic."
  • Notable quote: "We all just want to be Lana Parilla." - Yvette Nicole brown #whereisthelie
  • Lana talked about who had the biggest influence on Regina as a character last season. And while she noted that Emma played a huge role in Regina's growth, she doesn't think she played the biggest role -- Henry did. Jennifer said the same thing in regards to Regina when a fan asked. Though she thinks Emma would do a lot for Regina, it was more than just a decision to save Regina in the finale. She did what she did in order to save the ENTIRE town -- for everyone that she loved and cared about, not just one person.
  • Adam and Eddie joked that now they've discovered The Author but -- a fan noted -- the book is illustrated, they'll be in search of The Illustrator.
  • We got ANOTHER exclusive look at OUAT and... Merida is coming to Storybrooke!
More photos from the panel:






NEW OUAT FUNKO FIGURES COMING SOON. I WANT THEM ALL. ... Well, minus Rumple.

Thankfully, the TV Guide Fan Favorites panel was in the exact same room that the OUAT panel was in. And honestly, so many people filtered out that I ended up getting a front-row seat to the panel. Coupled with the press pit being close as well, that panel was a good experience. Here are some fun things we learned and saw:
  • I didn't realize that Norman Reedus gets so much fan art that he actually made an entire book of it and donated all of the proceeds to charity. He's made a second book, too.
  • Notable quote: "Clarke is a much better person than I am." - Eliza Taylor
  • Notable quote: "I've hit up Norman for a LOT of things. ... NOT THAT." - Yvette Nicole Brown
  • The panel talked about whether or not they read spoilers for shows that they love. Yvette actually talked about how she doesn't like doing that and I understand why. She said that the more you read spoilers, the more disappointed you actually become. We always think we want to know all of the secrets of a show or movie, but the truth is... we don't. We like surprises.
  • Ming-Na talked about how she absolutely loves being an honorary stuntwoman on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
  • Norman told us some great stories about how rough it is to shoot in Atlanta. "'I've been escorted to the hospital numerous times." He told a story about how he was literally returning from the hospital and on the way back to set, they saw an accident. So Norman stopped, helped the injured and escorted them back to the hospital where the nurses were like: "... weren't you JUST here?"
  • Maisie Williams is so utterly adorable you guys. SO ADORABLE. She also talked about how much fun it is to be a fan of Game of Thrones and to be in the show as well. She mentioned that whenever the cast gets to do events like Comic-Con or red carpets, it's exciting because they all shoot in different parts of the world so she doesn't see a majority of the cast who are shooting elsewhere. It's like a reunion whenever they have events!
  • Notable quote: "I like you. I like you a LOT." - Ming-Na to Maisie #LADIES
  • The cast got to talk about social media, which Yvette mentioned is a double-edged sword. She can't help but engage with people who are haters, even though she knows she should stay away. But she did discuss the joys of being a fan of shows herself and being able to talk about fandom online with people all over the world. She also mentioned that Twitter really helped Community help connect to its fans, since both emerged around the same time.
  • David Anders told a HILARIOUS story about his online fan experience, back in the day of message board prevalence. Most people really loved his acting and one person critiqued his face and it really bothered him. (The reason the story was hilarious was because for whatever reason, David decided this message board user needed to be extremely Southern. And a woman.)
  • When asked about what the panel is currently geeking out over, Eliza Taylor looked at Yvette and said: "Community." And I cheered really loudly.
  • Notable quote: "I've made out with pretty much everyone on our show... I'm not kidding." - Norman Reedus
  • Notable quote: "Shirley would kick some ass on The Walking Dead." - Yvette Nicole Brown on what show her character would fit well in.
More photos:






After the TV Guide Fan Favorites panel concluded, I headed out into the hallway to charge my phone and await a text from Natalie, who I was supposed to meet up with to attend an exclusive Girl on Guy podcast event from Aisha Tyler. Unfortunately, this was the exact moment in the day that my body started to completely fall apart. My throat was killing me, I realized I hadn't eaten anything since the prior night at 8 PM, and I was exhausted. I still had to survive almost twelve more hours in the day and I knew I was going to need something to help me.

So I meandered over toward the Hall H line -- two hours before the EW panel, seven hours before the Superhero Saturday Night even started -- sat in the grass, and asked Natalie if she could bring me a tea from Starbucks while I saved our spots. Natalie was SO completely gracious and brought me a hot tea and let me use her portable cell phone battery. Seriously, the woman is a saint especially because she was going through her own medical problems earlier that day.

We sat. We moved. We sat. We moved. Thus is the saga of the Hall H line, really. It was my first and last experience with it at the con and I have to say, it was actually a fairly pleasant one. We managed to get into Hall H in just enough time to see the tail end of the Lionsgate presentation.

... And I'll save the fun of that, the Joss Whedon panel, 20th Century FOX's presentation, and Superhero Saturday night for another post. Until then, hit up the comments below and let me know your thoughts/questions! :)

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