Supanova weekend, or The Knights Tour of Awesomeness - Sunday
Sunday morning we actually slept in - even alby_mangroves :D and after coffee and breakfast we went to catch the train - which had been cancelled. THANKS, CITYRAIL. So we all sat in the freezing cold and drizzle and waited 25 minutes for the train. I was cold and a bit grumpy, but luckily my mood passed as soon as Alby reminded me that there would be Bradley and knights and happy things YAY.
We got there around 10.45ish and Bradley wasn't going to be signing again until 11.30. F and I waited in the VIP queue (I also ran down to see our friends who were in the non-VIP queue) while Alby went and bought her token for another photo with Rupert. We had this whole conversation about how the auto would be easier than the photo because of the proximity - the table, as I dubbed it of "sanity".
However, when Bradley was marched in to his seat, I started shrieking to Alby and F that the TABLE OF SANITY WAS NOT WORKING WHY IS THE TABLE OF SANITY NOT WORKING and completely lost it all over again. I managed to control myself long enough to speak to Bradley, who recognised F and I from the day before. He looked really tired, but so so beautiful askdjfhaslkfhs. He mentioned to F and I that the requests for hugs were doing his back in, after I told him that we (unlike the few people before us) would not be asking for a hug. The thing that I really noticed about Bradley is that he is a lot more introverted than I would have expected, a lot more serious and guarded when he isn't joking around with his friends - I've seen people talking about him being grumpy and standoffish, but I just didn't see that, what I saw is a man who is not the loud, extroverted fanon version we seem to have in our heads, but is very genuine and considering and generous - which, if it makes any sense at all, made me love him even more. He is not at all comfortable with people objectifying him, and there were some really awkward moments in the Q and A sessions with people getting overenthusiastic and telling him how hot he was and demanding he take his shirt off etc. etc. but in general, he was really accommodating and I honestly fell harder in love with him than I even was before.
Rupert was next, and he was lovely. Asked us if we were having a nice time etc. etc. It was a pretty short but friendly conversation. As with Bradley, he recognised the two of us (they all did, which was kinda nice!)
Then there was Eoin, and okay. This is what I learned about Eoin. When he is talking to you, it is like there is no-one else in the room. He gives all his focus and energy to you and it is amazing. He is so passionate and committed to what he does, too, it just shines through every time he talks about his own projects. But yes, totally focused on the person he is talking to at the time. When he said goodbye to F and I, he clasped our hands in his and was just so gracious and lovely.
Tom we had the longest conversation with. His line was the shortest and as a result we were able to chat for much longer with him. I mentioned that F and I were from New Zealand and he started talking about rugby and how he wanted to be an All Black and would love to be in line with the boys doing the haka. He also asked us if we'd enjoyed the Saturday and that he hoped we weren't too exhausted as it was a very long day (awwwwww, so lovely!). He mentioned that all the boys were very jetlagged and that he had crashed pretty hard after the day had ended. He asked us lots of questions and seemed to genuinely want to have a decent conversation with us, which was unexpected and really wonderful.
After Tom, we went and hung out outside and met up with Rhiannon and Belle again, which was lovely! We chatted about bad fic and Teen Wolf and 1D and Merlin and then Alby came back from her Rupert photo op and we basically just relaxed and ate and gossiped about everything under the sun. We checked out the stalls for a bit and then headed in for the final Q and A *sniff sniff*
I actually thought this was a MUCH better Q and A than the exclusive one on the Saturday. The questions as a general rule were much more interesting (although really guys? what's your favourite food? favourite superpower? WHYYYYYYYYYY) I managed to get some decent video of a few parts of the panel, all are here. There were some lovely moments and F managed to get lots of awesome pictures, which are all on her Tumblr (not doing hyperlinks as there's 1321346646 of them:
http://vileseagulls.tumblr.com/post/53667531772/merlin-knights-supanova-sydney-23-june-2013
http://vileseagulls.tumblr.com/post/53667430917/merlin-knights-supanova-sydney-23-june-2013-in
http://vileseagulls.tumblr.com/post/53667377293/merlin-knights-supanova-sydney-23-june-2013 http://vileseagulls.tumblr.com/post/53667327079/merlin-knights-supanova-sydney-23-june-2013 http://vileseagulls.tumblr.com/post/53666912516/merlin-knights-supanova-sydney-23-june-2013 http://vileseagulls.tumblr.com/post/53666753524/merlin-knights-supanova-sydney-23-june-2013 http://vileseagulls.tumblr.com/post/53666702171/merlin-knights-supanova-sydney-23-june-2013 http://vileseagulls.tumblr.com/post/53666520530/merlin-knights-supanova-sydney-23-june-2013 http://vileseagulls.tumblr.com/post/53666364743/merlin-knights-supanova-sydney-23-june-2013 http://vileseagulls.tumblr.com/post/53666232900/merlin-knights-supanova-sydney-23-june-2013
http://vileseagulls.tumblr.com/post/53666062565/merlin-knights-supanova-sydney-23-june-2013
http://vileseagulls.tumblr.com/post/53665941793/merlin-knights-supanova-sydney-23-june-2013
http://vileseagulls.tumblr.com/post/53665800462/merlin-knights-supanova-sydney-23-june-2013
After the Q and A we headed home (after spending a lovely while chatting to our friend who was volunteering) and hung out watching a few more Merlin fanvids before Alby had to leave to go to the airport. MY FACE HAD A SAD OKAY.
Um... I have probably missed so much, but it was just hard getting the words out.
If anyone has any questions, fire away!
PS: Having alby_mangroves to share such a wonderful, special experience was the best part of the whole weekend. Fangirls are fucking aces, man.