Asylum Europe 4 Report
So AE4 is over and I'm kind of glad it is...
Don't get me wrong, it was a good con, nothing like AE2 (which was crap) or Chicon (which was just unnecessary)... but it wasn't what I'd hoped for either.
First of all: Misha was really strange.
I don't know if he was tired or stressed but he just seemed so distant and sort of pissy all the time. I mean he wasn't rude or anything but here's the thing: he did answer questions seriously, almost all of them... and he took his time answering them, he wasn't making fun of people like he used to and it sort of threw me off...
But let me start at the beginning...
I arrived on Friday and to be quite frank registration was a disaster (who's surprised? Not me). I met some people from tumblr, some new people and old friends and after having a quick snack we went downstairs where registration would happen. I'd volunteered to be a steward but whoever I asked if I could help didn't know how or who to ask or what to do so I ended up just lining up to get my ticket and buy photos and by the time all that was over and done I just went home. There was nothing happening on Friday except one of those themed parties that I never really participated in so yeah, I just went to meet up with my cousin (who lives in Frankfurt and let me stay with her) and some of her friends.
Saturday
I got up at 5 and was at the hotel around 6am and there was already a line of like 40 people who were waiting for the sale of Coffee Lounges and reserved seats. There was no staff in sight only a couple of security guys and at some point Paul (one of the organizers) showed up all hectic and excited and almost started a fight with the hotel staff. We'd already queued in like 4 different locations and had to move every time either due to emergency exits or blocking the restrooms and other stuff. So before anything happened I sort of took things in hand and we managed to find a solution that satisfied everyone.
After that things were still stressful though, since there were some people who just wouldn't play along (standing in the middle of the room even though I asked them nicely to stand to the sides or go back upstairs to keep the area free) but luckily most people were nice and cooperative. Soon Misha, Richard and Ty's Coffee Lounges were sold out and so were reserved seats and people started flocking in the main hall. By this time I was officially a steward and me and Rea volunteered to help out in the tech area.
Misha Panel
I took care of the queue at one of the microphones during Misha's panel which is something I think every convention should have, just to check people's question prior to them asking them, both to protect the actors and give people with interesting questions a chance to ask them.
The panel went by smoothly, of course I couldn't take any notes as I was working but I remember him being asked if he knew what happened to the angels when they fell. He thinks that they lost part of their grace, sort of like Cas in Season 5. Also he thinks 'Cooking fast and fresh with Cas' would be a great idea for Season 9 and that Cas would probably try too hard, like making breakfast for the guys and screwing everything up.
He also said he didn't consciously play Cas like his wings were physically attached to his body, even though in some scenes it looks like he does (I.e. Knocking the shelf over when Cas goes shopping). He then demonstrated how awkward it would look for Cas to get in the Impala with his wings, it was hilarious.
I got to ask my question as well, which was if there's ever been a situation in his life where he wanted to do something or take a certain path that people told him wouldn't work out or told him not to take and what he thought of his decision now, if he regretted it or was glad he didn't listen to them.
He said his family luckily had always been supportive, his mom and wife in particular and if his dad didn't like something Misha was going to do he at least didn't discourage him. So the inner circle of his most trusted people never did give him the feeling that he was doing something wrong, instead his theatre coach said he never should try being an actor - well, he sure showed him!!
After his panel I went to get my photo with him taken, which was a short thing but I really like the result <3
Misha Coffee Lounge
Next was his only Coffee Lounge on Saturday with about 25-30 people. He kept teasing one of the staff members and asked her to get him milk for his tea but then said he didn't really need it. He told us he had some really bad tick bites on his hand and inside his belly button (when I asked him how they got there he said he always travels with a box of ticks, well, obviously, what a dumb question...)
A girl from Estonia (he tried to remember what the capital of Estonia was but failed miserably ^^) asked him if he thinks Cas will ever really understand that Dean needs him, with or without his powers, and he said that sadly he thinks Cas is clueless and too modest to really understand what Dean meant when he said he needed him.
He got a picture from a fan and then talked about how he recently bought some crayons and tried sketching his son West but how the result looked more like a drunk homeless man and that he might not be an artist after all.
A girl then told him that in the Chinese zodiac his daughter Maison was a white tiger and gave him a stuffed animal of a white tiger. He told us that this is really amazing because when he and his wife Vicky went to a spiritual retreat recently she had a vision of a white tiger sort of coming out of her back and that it was so powerful that she wanted to get a tattoo of a white tiger. Misha also said he's going to get a tattoo of a sockeye salmon cause ever since Maison had been born West kept calling her sockeye and everyone else does now too.
He was being asked what his most exhausting scenes were and he talked about being very sick during shooting the Season 7 premiere and that it was that bad that Jensen told him to go home. Also the Leviathan make up took 2 hours to be applied and another hour to be taken off.
The favorite scene he ever got to shoot was French kissing Alyssa Milano in Charmed (the scene was cut from the episode unfortunately) and his least favorite scenes were (obviously) everything about Karla and the fight scene in the turf in Finding Home (it was freezing cold, they only melted away the snow and ice at the patch of beach where they had to shoot and they had to do the scene several times).
He also told us about how Maison was born. When Vicki's water broke they rushed to the hospital and Misha called work to take the day off. They were not very understanding though and asked him if Misha could come in later that day after the baby was born. The baby didn't come that day so Misha called the producer again and told him that after talking to the midwife the baby was sure to come that night. It didn't. So Misha had to take off another day at work, which wasn't an easy decision cause every day he wasn't working cost the studio a couple hundred thousand dollars. So the producer kept calling throughout the day to check if the baby was there yet, which wasn't the case. At the end of the day they even asked Misha if it was possible to surgically remove the baby (like WHAT??). It took another day for Maison being born and in the end Misha had been off work for three whole days... he joked about it while telling the story but to be quite frank it sounds like a horrible thing to do, who even does that to someone in his situation?
I think after that I went straight to take my picture with Matt who's just ridiculously good-looking and should be forbidden.
Misha & Matt Autograph
Then I went up to the Autograph room to help out a bit with crowd control. Later I got Matt to sign my kindle case before I went to get Misha's autograph. I'd brought my own gold pen just in case they didn't have some which turned out to be the case. Misha was holding an ugly bronze-ish looking pen and I stopped him and asked if he could please sign with my golden pen. He asked „Why?“ and I said „Because it's ugly“ to which he replied „Oh fuck off“ (my answer was „Fuck off yourself“ - oopsie ^^). I was momentarily distracted because there were a box of gummybears on his desk and he offered me one, so I didn't notice him starting to sign in the wrong corner of the case. I quickly stopped him and told him I'd wanted him to sign in the top area. He just rolled his eyes and said that of course he knew that and, well, this is what he improvised:
I got back to the main hall and helped out a bit with the queues and then went up to the tech room. There were panels with Ty, DJ, Kim, Julian and Rick all afternoon which I missed unfortunately but lovely Sofia took beautiful pictures and I just wanted to include some of them.
Susie, Rea, Siv and I had a very expensive but yummy lunch (SORRY AGAIN FOLKS!!!) before the second half of the day started. I took my picture with Kim (who loved my dress and generally rocked my world) and then basically just zigzagged up and down and back and forth to help out wherever I could, which was fun but also really exhausting (I was so glad I was wearing flat shoes my feet hurt so bad anyway).
After the panels were done the staff was leaving to get their group photos with the cast taken and they spontaneously decided to get me and Rea one too (again, thank you SO much guys, I really appreciate it, thank you thank you thank you!!) and we went to the photo studio. This honestly was my favorite thing of the convention - the guests were just so relaxed and cheery, Ty and Rick were making fun with people in the line before the other actors appeared and then Brian (from the staff) started literally SHOVING us in the picture! It was mayhem but so so so much fun!! I was still recovering from almost crashing into a wall (I'm not kidding, have you seen Brian? That guy could easily crush your bones so yeah...) so I didn't have time to ask for anything in particular and I had NO idea what face I made but luckily I don't look as stupid as I thought I would!
Canapés & Drinks (aka Meet & Greet)
After that it was time for the Meet & Greet with all the guests and I met up with Sofia and some others. Rogue, seriously - you have to do this more often! Sure, the tables sucked but having unlimited champagne and wine at M&Gs? AWESOME!! I was tipsy in like 15 minutes (I have a low tolerance ok?) and it was awesome. Unfortunately our table wasn't the most fun but it was still a nice M&G. I can't remember much, just that Richard joined us first and that we were talking about him and Rob's friendship.
When Misha asked me where I was staying for the convention I said at my cousins and he was like „Oh, so cousin on cousin action is legal in Germany *wink wink*?“ to which Sofia's comment was „You should see her, she's so pretty!“ WHOA THANKS VERY MUCH MISHA FOR SHIPPING MY COUSIN AND ME XD
Matt made two convention first-timers sing and dance (he said it's a sort of a fandom initiation, which of course is bullshit) AND THEY DID IT!! They sang Carry On My Wayward Son (with our help) and danced and it was awesome!!
Ty of course was spectacularly drunk (ever since that morning actually, I don't even know if he ever stops drinking) so he was very fun and cheery and dancing shamelessly with people to the music from his phone. Ty Olsson > everyone else, seriously, he's so ridiculously funny!
Julian Richings was charming as ever, it never ceases to amaze me, DJ Qualls was sick but still managed to be so very sweet and Kevin McNally, who brought his daughter, made the best impression for someone who's character I hate as much as I do. Kim told us that the necklace she was wearing was made by her daughter who has autism and isn't the most cuddly person but one of the most fun persons she knows. Rick brought a drink for Sofia who was sick and on medication but drank it anyway (we all clinked glasses and looked deep into each others eyes, cause not doing that means 7 years bad sex :P ), I can't remember if Jason was at our table, if you were sweetie don't take it personally, I was a little drunk and my memory sucks, I'm quarter a century old now, forgive me.
Now, let me tell you something about Mark Sheppard...
I'm not even sorry to say it anymore - I do not like this man.
I know he's talented, he's a fantastic actor and all but to me he's just utterly unlikeable!
I loved his first panel on Saturday and was almost at the point where I admitted defeat and that I might even like him after all - but then the Meet & Greet happened and... well...
Literally the first thing he said when he joined our table at last was that he didn't even want to be there, he'd rather watch soccer.
Wow... really? Like, who do you think you are? I do understand that you'd rather be somewhere else but seriously, it's incredibly rude to say this to your fans and supporters, especially after you just thanked them elaborately at the end of your first panel merely hours ago.
Anyway... so he said that and I just shrugged my shoulders and said something along the lines of „well, at least you get paid for it“ - and he literally froze and turned to glare at me and he was like „Did you really just say that to me? That was incredibly rude.“
I have to repeat myself and state that at this point I was a little drunk (what with the free unlimited champagne and all) so yeah, it might have come out a little more harsh than I'd intended but wow, are you even serious Mister? He DOES get paid to come to these events, a shitload of money to be precise that WE, the fans finance by buying tickets and photos and admittance to special events like the M&G - and then he comes and says he'd rather be elsewhere and I'M the one who's rude? Yeah, thanks but you are the one who's wrong and rude as hell. I did apologize a couple of times but he kept shaking his head, saying he'd make me regret that tomorrow and stuff like that until he finally left. Luckily I'm a happy/clingy drunk and I was also very sleepy so I kind of forgot about it a couple minutes later and we just went downstairs and enjoyed Jason's concert. Some of the guests (Ty, Rick, Richard and Kim I think) joined the concert and Richard, Ty and Rick even participated in some songs (I loved your song Ty, you were awesome). After that I went home to my cousin and just fell into bed, I was that tired.
Sunday
I showed up a little later that day (haha 7.30am instead of 6.00am) and luckily people had managed to form a decent queue by themselves already. So we only had to take care of organization from then on, which went smoothly. Rea and I went to the main hall then and helped Doug and Susie out with preparing the room, Rea showed me how to operate the computer (for announcements on the screens during panels), the sound and the microphones. Then Doug asked me if I felt comfortable handling the camera for the first panel and showed me how to operate it. I have to say it was a lot of fun but also really harder than it looks. Might have to do with the fact that it was my first time doing this and Matt and Richard's panel was the first that day. Jesus H. Christ, you never really realize how fucking much those two guys move until you're stuck behind a camera and have to make sure to capture either one of them or both of them at ALL times. So yeah, that happened and I'm really grateful for the opportunity, I hope I didn't fuck up too badly, I'd love to do it again :)
After that I went to get my second photo with Misha which was actually the worst thing ever. I'm honestly so disappointed and sad I even got a second picture. I wasn't even gonna bother to post it, it really really bothers me that much, but I consulted Photoshop and it looks sort of okay now but I still hate it...
Because I was stewarding I got inside as one of the first few people and when he saw me he jokingly said „Can we skip this one“ but still went to hug me. So when I first saw the result I just wanted to cry, like, it looks that bad, and not even because of me (which would be understandable) but because of him. He just looks utterly unhappy and of course I blamed myself... until I saw other pictures and how he looks on those. I mean, you probably heard of Rea, who Misha absolutely loves, and even on her pictures he pulls a face like someone just told him his favorite puppy died. So yeah... I'm starting to get over it a bit but there was a point when I was frustrated as shit and about this close to say 'screw conventions, that's it for me!' ...so yeah... meeting Misha again wasn't as fun as I hoped it would be...
After that I went back to the main hall with a quick pit stop at the restroom - of course when I got out I nearly ran into Mark Sheppard. I'd already walked past him but he was like „Hey, it's you, the rude one“ (which...really? REALLY??) I just turned around and gave him my best ha-ha-very-funny-you-really-piss-me-off-right-now-half-smile and walked towards the main hall but he turned to Doug and said „That one doesn't like me“ or something like that. At this point I was honestly close to just slap him across the face so I simply ignored him and went back up to the tech room.
Unfortunately the whole thing really bothered me for the rest of the day, as did my horrible Misha photo so I couldn't really enjoy DJ and Kevin or Julian and Kim's panels. I just did my job at the queue line and then went back up to the tech room to take over the announcements.
We were running a bit late when Doug came up the (incredibly steep) staircase and before I could ask him what the hell was going on Misha followed him up and dropped to sit down on the floor. He wanted to start the panel from there so we rearranged the second camera and gave him a microphone and he started the panel, saying he thinks he's at a point where he's too famous to even show up personally at conventions and that he's back at LA in his bathroom right now. This went on until the fans yelled 'Get down here!' to which he yelled back 'DON'T YELL AT ME!' and jumped up! He almost fell down the stairs (again, they were really freaking steep) and screamed like a girl (aww, Misha) and then got downstairs and on the stage.
Unfortunately I don't remember much about the panel since I was too concentrated on other things. Later he got joined by some of the other guests who had early flights and had to say goodbye already. At the end of the panel the rest of the guests joined him for the closing ceremony and they made out a little with Doug (Misha and Ty mostly, it was hilarious XD) and then made him sing Bohemian Rhapsody which was absolutely freaking amazing!!
And yeah... that was it really... Rea and I stayed in the tech area a bit longer since the other staff was busy with other things, then we said goodbye and I went home to my cousin.
Like I said... this convention might not have been the best but it wasn't bad per se. I think Misha was generally not in a good mood that weekend (Susie said he wasn't) so I try not to let it bother me too much. Mark Sheppard made me lose every bit of sympathy I had for him but that's ok, I'm used to that by now. Kevin made me like him even though his character might be the absolute worst person in the whole SPN universe for me and the rest of the cast was just generally charming and awesome (KIM RHODES I WANT TO KISS YOU)!
So once more: a big thank you to Rogue Events, Susie, Doug, Brian, Wayne, Paul, Siv, Jayne and everyone else, thank you to Rea and Nina and Charlotte and Christine and Dominik and Julia and Kerstin and the other stewards and volunteers, thank you to Anna and Janka (I'm sorry I barely got to see you the rest of the weekend), thank you to Sofia and Audrey and the people I met from tumblr and also a huge thank you to all the people who were being nice and understanding and did their best to make my job more easy!
I don't think this'll be my last convention, maybe the last time I took a picture with Misha (I think I got enough by now, don't you?) but certainly not the last convention. So... see you again soon?