Vegascon is one of my favorite conventions – it’s four days of craziness, tons of my favorite fangirls and fanboys, a thousand miles of walking, and Jensen Ackles singing at the Saturday Night Special. What’s not to like? (Except maybe the thousand miles of walking part…)
This year was even crazier than before, since I was also working in the vendor room to sell Family Don’t End With Blood and our other books. But in between meeting tons of awesome fellow fans and signing lots of books, I managed to take in a bunch of panels. So I thought I’d share some of my favorite moments and photos below.
Day One: Thursday
I had to work late on Wednesday teaching, so I couldn’t fly in until Thursday afternoon. I was trying very hard to get there in time for Richard and Rob’s kick off, but the shuttle I booked to save money took its sweet old time winding its way through Vegas before finally stopping at the Rio – which was, predictably, the very last stop. That means I missed Gil and Osric onstage together, which made me very sad, and caught only part of Jeffrey Parise’s inaugural con panel. I have to say, I was taken aback by what a nice guy he is – and how attractive! Let’s just say Asmodeus is neither of those on the show, so that was a pleasant surprise. He’s also very amusing. And he spells his name the same way as my son, so of course that’s a point in his favor too. Also, he looks sort of familiar…
@Kreespa: Have you and Tim Omundson ever been seen in the same place?
Hmmmm.
Fan: Where would you like to see Asmodeus go?
Jeffrey: Ruler of all? Oops, did I say that out loud?
At one point a fan brought up a film he was in, I think called ‘The Love Witch’, in which you can apparently see his naked backside.
Jeffrey: You can call me Ass-modeus…
My favorite exchange was this one, when a fan asked how he wanted Asmodeus to ultimately die on the show.
Jeffrey: I’d like to be taken out by the Winchesters. Both of them.
Fan: Me too. Both of them.
Everyone in the room: *is nodding*
Of course someone also had to bring up the obvious.
Jeffrey: I do NOT look like Colonel Sanders! He’s got a black tie and he’s old! I don’t even LIKE chicken!
Next up was Wayward Sisters star Katherine Ramdeen, who is awesome. She talks a mile a minute and goes on tons of tangents, which often turn out to be my favorite parts of her panel. I just sort of want to hang out with her and talk about whatever. I did have a chance to hang out with her a little at a tiny little “Women of SPN Con” a few years ago in Seattle, and I’ve been rooting for her ever since.
Katherine on what she’s most excited for about WS: It’s like a dream come true, working with people I actually love.
She has an interesting backstory about getting into acting.
Katherine: As a kid, I wanted to go everywhere, and I thought acting is the way to do that, only in your mind.
She applied to just one theater school and got in – and it happened to be in Vancouver.
Katherine: Then I was dismissed from film school because they didn’t know how to cast me but there was a small part of me that was like f–k you I’m doing this!
It totally makes sense that she ended up on Wayward, right?
Katherine on “Sam and Dean”: They’re like big uncles. And you feel safe with them.
Awwww
Next up was Gabe Tigerman, who we haven’t had the pleasure of seeing at a con in a very long time. Gabe was one of our first interviews when we started writing books on fandom and Supernatural, literally a decade ago. (If you’ve read Fangasm Supernatural Fangirls, you’ve read a lot of Gabe’s thoughts about Supernatural and fandom).
Richard introduced him by saying, “We feel like we see you a lot because you’re always on TV”
Gabe: That’s right, I’ll sell anything!
He was asked about being pranked in the early days of Supernatural.
Gabe: Yeah, so Jared thought it would be fun to keep stepping on my foot while I’m trying to act. It was like a tree falling on your foot!
He also told two stories that I’ve heard before (one is actually in Fangasm in longer form) but that I will never get tired of hearing again. First, on Gabe’s discovery of fanfic:
Gabe: The best way to discover fanfic is when you read about you Chad Lindberg doing stuff… While at your mom’s house…. I met Chad AFTER I read that fic…
Me: Awkward.
The other is the world’s largest groundhog and 6-legged steer story, and if you haven’t heard it, go find the video because I cannot do it justice. OMG I laughed so hard my stomach hurt!
Gabe is one of only a few guest stars who have driven the Impala. He said he wasn’t nervous about driving her until he looked around and the entire crew looked terrified.
Also the Aflac duck is a puppet – who knew? And a diva, apparently.
Gabe also thanked everyone who reached out to him and his family when his wife, Kathryn Fiore, was very ill after giving birth to their child. That’s what it’s all about, really.
Samantha Smith was up next. A fan asked if she felt like Jared and Jensen’s mom (which she is WAY too young to be).
Sam: I feel like their big sister. Cuz I’m the boss of them. Ummm…but don’t tell them…
She gave us some inside information on Jensen’s mad driving skillz (like a stunt driver), then jokingly added “I’m petitioning for a seatbelt!”
As much as Sam has always wanted to play Lara Croft, she said the fight training for being Mary didn’t go that well.
Sam: I ended up kicking Jensen in the jaw. He’s like steel…
Everyone: mmmm
Of course she was asked a lot of questions about Sam and Dean. She said that Mary doesn’t have a favorite.
Sam: I only have one child in real life, but you don’t love them more or less, just different.
She also made me get a little emotional.
Sam: I don’t think Mary has ever told Sam and Dean that she’s proud of them. But she is.
Me: Make that happen, Show!
Rachel Miner was up next – Rachel is one of my favorite guests and one of my favorite people, hands down.
Richard and Rob obviously agree, giving Rachel the homage she totally deserves. Look at all their smiles and I dare you not to break into a big grin too. #SPNFamily right there.
She positive glows when she talks about her work as director at Random Acts, where she’s helping to change the world. Literally.
Rachel: My job is to cheerlead. We can make the world a better place.
I tweeted that and Rachel quote tweeted it, adding: Ha, I have a vivid memory of six year old me storming away from the playground in anger when the boys told me I could only cheerlead as they played softball (I actually said “I would but there’s nothing to cheer for”). But now I am beyond happy to take on this role as cheerleader.
Nobody could do it better, I don’t think.
Rachel loved playing Meg, saying that we see far too much damsel in distress, so she was glad to play something different. She also is a wonderfully unapologetic Megstiel shipper.
Rachel: I love Cas and Meg as a couple… I’d love to see Meg and Cas as a married couple trying to be all “normal” … I think Meg fell in love with Castiel in the sense of she just wanted him to keep existing.
Whew, that’s a lot! And that was only Thursday!
I had two lovely back to back dinners on Thursday night, another on Friday and yet another on Saturday, which means I got to hang out with some of my favorite SPNFamily members. That’s one of the best things about Vegas – so many awesome people! I was on my own in the vendor room part of the time, but no worries – people were looking out for me. A fan who only knew me from reading the books offered to help me out at the table, along with a bunch of my other con buddies. The super talented Scoutstiel was my vending neighbor (and con angel, since she swooped in to save the day for me multiple times) along with the awesome Zerbe. That’s the thing about Supernatural cons, you are never alone.
And speaking of that, I also spent some time with two of my favorite people – jewelry designer extraordinaire Jodi (Eldwenne) and actor (from Supernatural as well as many other shows) Carrie Genzel. We’ve been talking about how we can help make cons even more welcoming and supportive, especially for fans who might come on their own – we got together with a great group of fans at an empty Starbucks one afternoon for a chat about how the SPNFamily supports each other, which was tremendously uplifting. I also got to meet Dawn and a bunch of the Dark Hunters fan group, which was awesome. Hi all!
So that brings me to Friday.
Day Two: Friday
The day kicked off with David Haydn Jones and Adam Fergus – after a short wait during which Rob, our emcee for the day in Richard’s absence working on our favorite show, killed time with a catchy new tune called “He’s Canadian”. David finally danced on stage, all dressed up and looking dapper. David and Adam are fun together, with some great chemistry and shared sense of humor.
They answered a lot of questions about their characters.
David: A bullet in the head can change a man.
Adam: I can testify to that!
Adam: I’d love to come back as a gosh darn angel. And kill Ketch!
David to Adam: We’re gonna hug this out backstage…
Fan: What would you guys be in a Hallmark movie?
Adam: We’d be lovers (drops to one knee)…
They also got serious at times too. Both said they had found a way to love their characters.
David: You bring some of yourself to a role and you build bridges with your character. I think Ketch would like to make amends but doesn’t have the wiring to do it.
Adam: I did skip to the end of the script and see how I got shot. But Mick went out going to be on the side of good.
David talked about what an amazing job Adam did playing Mick, so good that he made us all care about the character. The two also did some pretty impressive singing and dancing to “A Whole New World”.
And they both had some nice words for Jared, Jensen and Misha.
Fan: Who inspires you?
David: Jared and Jensen. Misha. And you guys, I’m not kidding. Give yourself a hand for all the charity work you do. I’m just the avatar. J2 and Misha showed me the way.
Look for some Dean and Ketch scenes coming up, since David said that he and Jensen spent three days the week before filming in a snowy wilderness forest – then had a scotch afterwards.
Next up was Jason Manns, whose panel is always a “quoncert”, half concert and half Q & A. Rob and Billy joined him to sing some Station Breaks, which included Billy actually singing vocals on Wagon Wheel since Richard wasn’t here. Which, NGL, made at least one of my good friends hyperventilate. In a good way.
Jason talked about his new CD ‘Recovering With Friends’, which features many of the Supernatural actors.
Jason: We built a pretty three-part harmony with Kim Rhodes’ voice. When we played it back for her, she started crying. She said she hears her mother’s voice.
Me: Tissues…
Jason also said that there are some original songs on the new album he’s producing for Briana Buckmaster, including one that he wrote and one that Rob wrote.
While Jason is quick to joke that he’s never actually appeared on Supernatural so maybe people have no clue who he is, this time he had a different answer.
Jason: I recently recurred on Supernatural in the part of absentee truck stop owner… [Jensen changed the letters on a truck stop sign to read MANNS]
A fan suggested that Jason should actually appear on the show, playing in a sleazy bar. He just keeps on playing while Sam and Dean are in a huge brawl. Which I agree would be hella funny.
Jason’s panel ended with an emotional rendition of Hallelujah along with Rob, for which I was glad I had grabbed for the tissues.
That afternoon we had what may have been the largest panel ever at a Supernatural con, with Jeffrey Parise, Osric Chau, Gil McKinney, Gabe Tigerman and Samantha Smith.
There was so much going on that it was next to impossible to tweet. In fact, I tweeted that Jeffrey said that when he met Misha, Misha was excited that his wife studied Latin – and asked her the words for some sex acts. Jeffrey later responded saying that was Gabe, not him, and in fact he doesn’t even have a wife. LOL. Live tweeting is hard…
There were a few good answers to the question ‘what would your character like to have?’
Osric: Eyeballs.
Jeffrey: Asmodeus wants a stain stick.
In answer to what makes you feel alive, Gil answered that being creative and acting does.
Osric insisted that he doesn’t take risks doing stunts, after telling a story about running into traffic.
Gabe: What?! You run into traffic!
If they saw a Yellow Eyed Demon?
Gil: Run!
Samantha: Attack him!
Osric: Call a doctor…
Osric shared a story of going on a giant slide in Dubai with Jensen, and also going to the Storm Crow Tavern in Vancouver with Dirk Gently co-star Elijah Wood. Turns out they actually have a LotR table there, so of course they had to sit there.
Sam: It’s good to have a hobbit…
Oh, and the ‘Fab Five’ also took turns riding around the ballroom on a scooter. Let’s just say some were better at it than others…
We then had a panel by Samantha Ferris, who was also one of the first people – maybe THE first person – we interviewed when we started writing Fangasm. In fact, unbeknownst to her there’s an amusing story about our trials and tribulations in trying to set up that conference call with her which involves a lot of technical difficulties and swearing. (That characterizes a lot of Kathy and my early interview attempts, actually….)
Sam talked about Eric Kripke, saying that he was one of the first showrunners to introduce The Powers That Be to fandom. (Also a chapter in Fangasm Supernatural Fangirls, since we were the ones answering a lot of his very good questions about fandom back then – that also turned into an amusing story somehow. What can I say, that happened to us a lot!)
She was asked about working with Jared and Jensen, and said they are incredibly nice and kind.
Sam: They could just go to their trailers between takes and not interact, but they don’t. They stay around and interact. And they also care about the kind of atmosphere on the set.
Sam: If you come in with an attitude, those boys don’t take any shit.
And of course they aren’t serious all the time either – she also talked about Jared and Jensen “farting in each other’s faces” which I can definitely picture.
Samantha also talked about her early scenes with Chad Lindberg and his perfect portrayal of Ash as just over the top enough (she was about to film an episode of his show Celebrity Ghost Hunt) and said that she was hoping that she’d get to work with Jeffrey Dean Morgan too.
Me: Understandable.
Sam said she thinks that Ellen and Mary would respect each other, since they had a common purpose.
And as one of the actors who got to work with Kim Manners, Samantha also talked about the producer and director who had such an indelible impact on the show. She said that when Kim got sick, he didn’t want to let on because he didn’t want anyone to feel bad.
Sam: He went home for the weekend and didn’t come back. He had a big effect on us all.
She said that her line “Kick it in the ass” was given to her by the camera guy on the day of shooting. No one knew she was going to say that, and it turned out to be very emotional for everyone.
Sam: Kim never said action, he said that.
Me: More tissues.
Samantha ended with a question, and an unselfish offer, when asked about coming back to Supernatural.
Sam: Who do ya have to screw to get back on the show? If it’s Jared or Jensen, I’ll take one for the team…
That brings us to the Kim Rhodes and Briana Buckmaster panel, which is always so much fun – and so inspiring too. We also got a little behind the scenes glimpses into Wayward Sisters. Which, btw, if it gets picked up, Kim and writer Robert Berens are going swimming with baby otters. Just so you know.
Kim said that Phil Sgriccia fought for that Halestorm song that was so perfect for Wayward. Also, that line “the boys are on a hunting trip” was actually Kim’s little joke, but they ended up keeping it. (which I was glad about because I love that sort of stuff).
Quite a few fans stepped up to the mic to tell Kim and Briana how badass they were – I love the way both women remain steadfastly real and genuine even onstage.
Kim: I don’t feel like a badass. Who I am to you is whatever you need, and that’s fine. I spent so much of my life trying to be something else, I am just me. The more I am just me, the more I can fucking show up for you.
Briana: All you need to be is who you want to be.
Briana said she still gets nervous about singing after years of criticism about how she sounded, but the conventions have made her less nervous. She writes about how the SPNFamily has impacted her in her chapter in Family Don’t End With Blood, as does Kim. So many of us find inspiration in them, but they find inspiration in us as well.
Kim: Supernatural has turned me into someone I like. And that’s a miracle.
Somehow the mantra we all ended up with stuck in our heads after this panel was “I EAT GLASS! F—K YOU!” Thanks, Kim. I kinda love it.
Saturday: Day Three
Saturday I woke up energized despite being cumulatively sleep deprived, because that meant that the Saturday Night Special was about to happen with a performance by Mr. Ackles and a surprise guest. We all spent alot of time hypothesizing about who that might be – my first hope was that it would be Jared, but the reality turned out to be a wonderful surprise (though I still very much want Jared onstage with Jensen at an SNS, universe!)
Saturday began with Mark Pellegrino, who said his favorite part of playing Lucifer was “being an unhinged six year old”. Pretty accurate.
Also this is probably the only time there will be a Lucifer and Gabriel hug. Just sayin.
Someone asked about how much of the fighting they do, and he said that all of them pretty much do all their own stunt fighting. Within reason, of course.
I always enjoy knowing what lines were scripted and which were not.
Mark: Cupid was so adorable. All that patting his head and saying don’t cry was improvised.
The great line about Sam’s great hair though? Scripted.
If you’ve read my episode reviews, you know I wasn’t a fan of the weirdly sexualized grace drinking that Lucifer and Sister Jo do, so the next question was interesting.
Mark: They wanted Jo and I to get in like multiple positions. I was like, nope, not with Jensen’s wife! And not with my wife right there.
Mark had kudos for Jared, who actually played Lucifer first: Sort of a regal Hamlet-esque portrayal.
A fan asked about playing such an evil character on the show.
Mark: I don’t think evil is powerful in real life, I think good is. So I like making fun of the evil in art.
His shirt “Keep Hope Alive” was in support of suicide prevention and the film ‘The Last Train’.
It wasn’t all serious answers though.
Young fan: Why did you give Asmodeus his scars?
Mark: Have you seen his suit??
Then we had more Kim and Briana, this time joined by Ruth Connell. The threesome came out dancing to “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun”, which was awesome.
These three women are unfailingly supportive of each other, including Kim helping Briana climb onto her chair without flashing everyone. Which entailed Briana climbing on backwards and then Kim spinning her around.
There were some good laughs, like Ruth Connell responding to a gender swap question.
Ruth: I’d still want to wear fabulous dresses. F—k it!
But a lot of the panel was touching. Ruth got all emotional when relating an interview Briana did when she said that who she’d really love to have on Wayward was Rowena.
Ruth also talked about the power of the SPNFamily to change lives, which is what she wrote about in her chapter of Family Don’t End With Blood.
Ruth: Being in the SPNFamily is like a big group therapy session.
Sometimes it is, and I love that about us.
Kim talked about how much it means to her when someone tells her that she has said something that really connected with them (which happens a lot in her panels).
We also heard about Ruth bonding with Kim’s daughter at Mark Sheppard’s wedding, which made me feel sad about how much I miss Mark at the cons but also feel happy because this whole cast together is just…well, you know.
Kim: My daughter was also dancing with Jared. She’d never been up so high!
I also love watching the people we fangirl openly fangirl other people. Briana professed her love for Viola Davis, Ruth Connell gushed over Michael Fassbender, and I think we all know that Kim regularly CAPSLOCKS over Neil Gaiman.
Samantha Smith joined her three colleagues for the last part of the panel, sitting on Kim’s lap since they didn’t have enough chairs. Then they all fangirled over her truly awesome Hamlet fingerless gloves.
I had a chance to chat with Sam later and admire them myself, and I can vouch for the fact that they really were awesome.
It was a Wayward afternoon, because after those four amazing women, we got more Samantha Ferris.
As Richard was still onstage after introducing her, Samantha confessed that when she was first cast, she was hoping she got to hook up with the boys.
Richard: Same for me.
Almost everyone probably: Also same.
Samantha talked about the conventions and her experience at the very first ones.
Sam: It’s so wonderful to be here with everyone else who loves the same thing you do.
She also loves fan art and still has every single piece that has been sent to her.
At her audition for Ellen, Samantha said that she added the “hi, I’m Ellen” after holding the gun on Jared and asking if Sam and Dean were John’s boys – she gave Ellen a sense of humor and they liked that.
Samantha: I think I was meant to play Ellen. The universe gave me that role.
She also talked about working with Misha in that scene where Cas and Ellen were doing shots, saying that they basically just ad libbed for an hour, and it was so much fun.
I enjoy Samantha’s frankness. She talked about how when life gives us shit, we have to talk about it to heal – which is part of the point of Family Don’t End With Blood and what I do as a psychologist. She was candid about the challenge of being an “older” actress in a ruthless business, saying she gets auditions for parts described as “haggard, probably used to be pretty.”
I would never have the guts to be in that business, seriously. Ouch. Also? Samantha is beautiful, damn it.
The R2M panel is invariably a Saturday highlight and this one was no exception.
We had just gotten the big reveal that Gabriel was back on Supernatural, so Matt immediately sidled up to Rob and said “So….you brought Gabriel back…”
Awww. Poor Rob, he’s taken shit from Richard all these years about NOT bringing Gabriel back, now he’ll have to take shit from Matt.
Oh and Richard still blames him for not doing it sooner.
How was it being back?
Richard: My lips really were sealed for a while and the crew had a field day. They were taking numbers.
Someone asked what their superpowers would be, and Rich and Rob joked that Matt would be “Captain Abs”, which then resulted in a hilarious miming of them bouncing a quarter off said Captain Abs.
We also had dog imitations and Rob announcing he was a Hufflepuff, complete with a fan-gifted scarf. Which looked very fetching on him, gotta say.
We didn’t get to hear the infamous bed sharing story, but after they referenced it Rob admitted that right after, he told Richard that he’d written a song for him. lol
We also got a beautiful waltz from Matt and Rob, and the announcement that Rob will write a song for Richard’s album being produced by Jason Manns. Yay!
We all had signs that said “You’re A True Angel” to hold up when Misha Collins took the stage, which seemed to touch him quite a bit. His panels always make me laugh, and coming right after R2M, that’s a real workout for my poor aching stomach muscles. Not complaining though.
Misha told the story of the time that Jared left his credit card out and Misha ordered something fairly pornographic with it.
Misha: Gen and Jared each thought the other ordered it. (evil giggle)
Another time he and the family were staying at a hotel and left a few things behind. The hotel called the next day to let them know – a pacifier and…. A butt light. Apparently a fan sent them a light that was a plastic butt. That you slap to turn it on. Of course you do.
The Collins family sounds like a ton of fun, albeit exhausting. Recently Vicki got them up super early for a dance rave, which Misha initially did not want to do. Until Vicki sighed and said “fine…we used to do fun things…” Of course that worked like a charm. Also he did jazzercise for the first time last week, but apparently that didn’t go quite as well as the rave. We really need more photos of all these things, Misha.
He also recently tweeted that there was only room for one Misha on twitter. Unfortunately the other Misha (@mishageofficial) responded and challenged him to a skate off. Fandom, ever helpful, suggested he watch a lot of Yuri On Ice. Because that’s what fandom would do….
Misha talked more seriously about using his platform politically, saying that some people don’t feel that’s appropriate but “I’m just not very good at appropriate”. I love that about you, Misha. He also talked about how Random Acts began, out of seeing the potential in this fandom to help each other. Misha writes about that in his chapter in Family Don’t End With Blood, and the longer chapter he wrote in Fan Phenomena: Supernatural too. He’s such a good writer, which is not at all surprising.
And of course he talked a bit about working with Jensen and Jared.
Misha: When I was playing dead Cas I’m under a sheet, and on the very first take Jensen walks up and slaps me in the balls. My heart was pounding so hard every take after that!
Ouch.
A fan asked if he could start a conspiracy theory, what would it be?
Misha: Probably something about what Jared and Jensen do in their trailers…
The Saturday Night Special in Vegas is very special indeed, with amazing performances by so many of the cast – and then an unbelievably special performance by Jensen Ackles. Louden Swain played some of my favorites, including Present Time, Leg Up, This Is How, and Bandaged Hand. Chris Schmelke joined them on bass for Juliet.
Osric Chau did an amazing version of Prom, one of my favorite Swain songs – it was so great to have him back at SNS!
Matt Cohen joined the band for Joker and The Thief, which was a new song for him too, everyone leaping out of their comfort zones to entertain the crowd.
Ruth Connell sang one of my favorite songs of all time, Number One Crush, with Jeffrey Parise joining her on percussion! And Misha even came by to introduce her.
Kim Rhodes killed it with Dirty Deeds.
And Gil McKinney sang Seventeen – also great to have Gil and his gorgeous voice back onstage.
Briana Buckmaster just about brought the house down with I Am The Fire.
Richard Speight Jr. sang Copperhead Road, which I’m really hoping is on the album he’s working on.
The Station Breaks with Jason/Rob/Billy and Rich on bass did Slightest Thing, with Jason’s endless note.
Then Ackles came onstage and sang Whipping Post, and no matter how many times I hear him sing that, it never fails to take my breath away. He is such a rockstar now, owning that stage, playing air guitar next to Billy Moran’s wailing guitar solo and urging Rob and Rich on as they played.
Dayum Jensen.
He then shocked everyone by bringing out the ‘surprise guest’ that we were all trying to guess – let me just say there’s no way I would have guessed Slipknot’s Corey Taylor! Corey is a big Supernatural fan, and he came onstage looking as starstruck as we all were, saying that it felt like he’d won some kind of contest.
They sang Dead Or Alive and brought the friggen’ house down. They both looked so damn happy to be up there singing that iconic Supernatural song, and to be singing it together. (For a behind the scenes look at what Corey thought about that epic duet, check out my thoroughly enjoyable chat with him about Vegas and loving Supernatural here –
Slipknot Star Corey Taylor on Singing with Jensen Ackles — and Loving Supernatural!
After we were all blown away, Rob kept the emotion going with She Waits, and then Matt Cohen and the rest of the actors came out to cheerlead for a joyous rendition of Mama’s Jam that had us all dancing in the aisles.
The band finished with Amazing and then an emotional rendition of Let Love Rule before we all collapsed into big hugs and wandered off to our respective rooms with unstoppable smiles on our faces.
Not that we slept – my roomie Sharon and I stayed up far too long replaying videos of Jensen’s performances and doing more of that unstoppable smiling.
And then it was Sunday. The J2 gold panel was blessedly a half hour later than usual. Poor Jared looked a bit the worse for wear though, having apparently been up far too much with a sick baby.
Jared: Odette has a stomach flu… so I feel great, but I look horrible.
Jensen: I didn’t wanna say it…
Me: ummmm, if that’s horrible…
Jared actually looked gorgeous (per usual) but he never stood still and I had a terrible time trying to get any decent photos of him at this con much to my great dismay. He was also rocking a Family Business Beer Co shirt in support of Jensen’s brewery.
Jensen: Danneel is gonna need her shirt back…
Jared: She can’t have it!
Jensen said that Kim Rhodes was adorable totally fangirling over Corey Taylor at the SNS. Which was also adorable.
A fan asked what J2 wished they were better at.
Jared said he wishes he was better at relaxing, that even on weekends when he doesn’t have to get up and rush to get things done, he tends to feel like he should be getting up and getting going.
Since we were in Vegas, Jensen said he wishes he was better at gambling
Jensen: I’m a bad gambler. I don’t wanna lose money, and I feel bad for people who are!
I laughed out loud because that’s exactly why I have never gambled – both those reasons. Brain twins, Jensen.
This was an extremely entertaining panel because the guys kept entertaining each other. They each took a turn playing the keyboards while the other tried to talk, which was adorable.
Someone did a fan art of my photo, which was a first!
Jensen talked about having a guest star on the show whose work they admire and who they look up to, mentioning Curtis Armstrong.
Jensen: At first, it was hard not to ask him to do Booger lines. But he’s just so good!
Curtis responded to my tweet with a message to Jensen: I’ll do Booger lines for you any time!
Jared and Jensen also told the funniest story about Alex Calvert, who apparently wanted to come to the SNS last night – and for some unknown reason, decided to walk to the Rio. Now if you’ve ever been to Las Vegas, you know that it’s really not set up so that you can walk to the Rio. Alex eventually found that out and gave up!
There were some touching moments too. Jared said he’d like his daughter to look up to Michele Obama. And Jensen said he’d given Jared a book about raising daughters when Odette was born.
They also talked about having Danneel on Supernatural.
Jensen: Danneel has actually known Jared longer than me. It was really nice seeing her in her element again, doing something she’s really good at.
Awwww.
Then we had Sam and Dean’s unofficial “son”, Alex Calvert aka Jack. I love Alex on the show and I love him as a con panelist too – he’s just the right mix of self deprecating, honest and just plain funny. I missed the beginning of this panel, and apparently that means I missed Misha and Mark Pellegrino crashing Alex’s panel, damn it. But I caught plenty of the fun.
Alex: The fun part for me of playing Jack is how he rubs off on the guys.
Audience: catcalls
Alex: I didn’t mean like that!
A fan walked up to the mic and apologized for grabbing his ass unintentionally (I can’t remember under what circumstances)
Alex: Annnnnnd we have a new winner for weirdest fan question: sorry I didn’t mean to grab your ass!
Of course he talked a lot about the joys of working with Jared, Jensen and Misha.
Alex: Walking around with Jared and Jensen is like walking with giants.
Also Alex: Of course the scene where I had to toss Jared, Jensen and Misha across the room I loved.
He said that he was a bit caught off guard by “the prank thing”.
Alex: Most sets they don’t do the prank thing. People were like, ummm, you might be…targeted. I was like, targeted??
Poor Alex. And apparently he did finally make it to the Rio for the SNS last night, but then couldn’t figure out how to get in! Seriously, poor Alex.
He also shared that when he went out to dinner with Jared and Jensen, he offered to pay and then when his back was turned Jared grabbed his credit card and cut it in half! He still carries that half around, which I thought was adorable. Also, awwww J2 being all big brother protective.
On a more serious note, he thanked the fandom for the positive reception, saying that he used to see signs for Supernatural filming all over, so it’s really cool to actually be on the show.
Alex: Obviously something really good is going on here
There were photo ops and meet and greets, and then it was time for the J2 main panel, during which Jared and Jensen were even MORE hysterical than in their morning panel!
Jared: What happens here stays here.
Jensen: No it doesn’t, that’s why you have that cream…
Then there was some impromptu rock paper scissors and somehow that led to some stripping, showing off Jared’s impressive biceps and then Jensen unbuckling his belt and making a show of starting to take it off. It was hot enough at that point that just about everyone was also thinking about taking off some clothing!
Jensen: It’s like this every day on set…
The running joke of Norton doing rim shots every time Jensen cracks a joke continued, with Jared going through all sorts of contortions trying to get Norton to do one for him.
Jared made a crack about Jensen needing Viagra.
Jensen: (without missing a beat) That’s what happens when they all line up.
Norton: ba dum dum!
There was also discussion of their favorite palindrome, which inevitably centered around “poop” because… well, how could it not?
Jared also apparently loves the blooper reels.
Jensen: Give Jared a blooper tape and you’ve lost him for hours.
Jared: (grinning) True.
I laughed so hard I couldn’t even take pictures or tweet when a fan stepped up to the mic and said she was from Germany, and Jared turns to her and says something in German which I’m assuming he intended to be ‘hello’ – but instead he said ‘goodbye’.
Fan: I’m from Germany!
Jared: Auf wiedersehen. Danke schoen.
Jensen: (cracking up) Goodbye! Thank you!
Jensen was dying laughing, imitating that conversation again and again until we were ALL dying.
We also had Jared wearing a Jensen mask complete with requisite bowlegs.
And Jensen being relieved that Danneel mostly worked with Mark Pellegrino.
Jensen: My wife thinks I do a professional job. So I’m glad she worked with Pellegrino, who actually is!
There was more serious talk too, including Jared expressing his love for the 200th episode, saying that episode could never have been made for any other show.
They both gave Alex a lot of credit too, talking seriously about how good he is. Despite their pranking.
Jared: Misha now gets nervous if he’s NOT being messed with. Like, why aren’t they pulling my pants off?
What would they have liked to happen on the show that didn’t?
Jensen: More demon!Dean
Literally everyone: YESSSSSSSSSSSS
Jared: Charlie not dying.
Ditto.
My favorite moments are always when they talk about their characters.
Jared: I care about Sam, he cares about Dean.
Jared also said that it’s only fair if Sam gets to kill Sister Jo (Jensen’s real life wife) since Dean killed Ruby (Jared’s real life wife). When Jensen pouted, Jared leaned over and gave him a big hug.
Awww.
And a nipple pinch.
As you do.
Then it was time for The Last Question!
The Last Question was for Jared, asking about what it’s like working with director Jensen.
Jared: Having known Jensen for a long time, he’s a great director. I do love working with Jensen as a director because he’ll tell me what to do even when he’s not directing. And he knows me, he knows when I’m not “there.”
Jensen: Jared and I have been trusting each other for years.
Before the panel ended, Jen surprised Jensen with a birthday cake and we all sang happy birthday while he looked grumpy about it but was probably secretly thrilled. Hey, 40 is a big one, celebration is totally warranted!
We had one more Ruth Connell panel before the weekend was over, which is a lovely way to end a con.
A fan asked what Rowena would do to Lucifer if she catches up to him.
Ruth: What wouldn’t I do?
She said that maybe, knowing Rowena, she wouldn’t actually kill him, but instead would glamour him into falling for her. Hmmm.
If Rowena was a Winchester?
Ruth: Sarcasm in the morning, whisky at night…
I’d watch that show.
And speaking of, if Rowena was on Wayward Sisters?
Ruth: Rowena is pretty f—kin’ wayward.
That she is.
I had to fly out of Vegas on Sunday night, which meant that autographs consisted mostly of me going OMG I’m gonna miss my flight OMG I’m gonna miss my flight – but of course staying for them anyway. Shared a cab to the airport with my friend Betty and made my flight too, so I’m gonna count it as a win even if the people sitting beside me didn’t quite understand that a red eye flight means you SLEEP….
Airport – just in the knick of time!
Which inevitably landed me with the flu from hell, aka a horrific case of con crud. I’m still not totally over it. But was it worth it? Oh hell yes.
–Lynn
Read what the Supernatural actors feel about
the SPN Family, the show and the fandom in
Family Don’t End With Blood – the only book
written by the cast! Details on our home page!
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So glad you share. Jealous that I wasnt there but felt like i was after reading your review. So damn glad im part of this fandom bursting with love. Ps love your book to death xxx