Insurgence Germany - Con Report
Jun. 10th, 2013 08:25 am![[personal profile]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gwaevalarinThe cliffs notes: Very small convention due to the other one going on at the same time, but there is no doubt for me that we had the better one. The organisation worked really well for the most part - except for when they cancelled the last panel without ever really telling us. The quality of the photo ops was great, the fans where mostly well behaved. Either the TVD fandom isn't as bad as people have told me or all the crazies were at the other con because they had Ian and Paul. Oh, and the guys' and girls' agent, who organized the autograph session and the group photo, really knows what she's doing and how to handle the fans and be fair when it comes to her rules. Of this season's convention (JIB, AE, IG) this one was probably my favourite.
Michael and Matt didn't leave much of an impression on me if I'm honest. Maybe it's because they only were there for one day, maybe I was too focused on Nate. They were nice, but I really can't give you much more than that.
I had no expectations whatsoever for Kat, because I didn't know anything about her and don't really like her character. She was very, very nice and open, especially during the photo ops. During the group shot, she was the one who opened her arms when I walked over, and truly invited me into the group.
Candice was sweet and friendly, but she seemed a little reserved. The first time I saw her was during the photos and I was under the impression that she absolutely did not want to be there. It was better during the panels, and she was very nice during the autographs. But she still always felt a little distant and her smile looked a little forced. To me it seemed that cons are just a job for her, nothing she really wants to do. That's fine, and it's really nice of her to do them anyway. It's just a little sad when you never feel you're actually meeting her. The only time she opened up a little more was during the group panel. It seemed to help to have everyone else on stage with her.
Sebastian was Sebastian. He just had a little more trouble because he kept running into people who turned out to be under 18 than he does at Supernatural conventions. And in one case even their mother. It was also funny that, when he actually talked about his shows, it felt like about 50% Supernatural and 50% Vampire Diaries. He never talks that much about TVD during SPN cons.
Nate... where do I even start? After Daniel Gillies had cancelled, Nate was the guest I was looking forward to most. Between his Twitter and all the con videos I've seen I thought I knew roughly what to expect. I did not.
I already very briefly saw Nate standing outside the photo studio during Seb's photo op, but the first time I actually met him was in his first Coffee Lounge, and from that moment I was pretty much lost. The moment Nate walks into a room, you can instantly feel the entire atmosphere change to kindness. The Coffee Lounge started normal enough, with Nare asking us where we were all from, and a few jokes about the people who where late, and then there was some comment about how he had managed to make the entire CL cry in Rome, which left me a little curious. About half way through someone (inevitably?) brought up faith and religion, and Nate basically just started talking and never stopped. Not when they told him that he'd have no break if he didn't finally leave now, and not even for a few more minutes when they told him he had to go on stage now.
I know that some people are a little annoyed by how he constantly brings up his faith, and I get that; but I'm not sure how he's supposed not to considering how much it defines everything he is and does. And personally, I could listen to him talk about it for hours, mostly because it's the most honest and open and passionate I've ever witnessed someone talk about something. I don't think anyone could ever doubt that everything he says truly comes straight from his heart and it's the most important thing in the world for him, but at the same time he doesn't judge or force his own believes on others. I just have the greatest respect for his faith, and the way he lives it, and hearing him talk about it truly was one of the most humbling and inspiring experiences I've ever had.
And then we got to the point where he told us a story that was so important to him, that he suddenly sat there with tears just streaming down his face. That was the moment when I understood the making the entire CL cry comment from earlier. Five more minutes and I probably would not have been able to hold back tears anymore either. Not necessarily because of the story, but because of how much it meant to him.
The story he told us was about how he ran away when was 13 (I think). He found himself at some station, and suddenly all he wanted was go back home, but he couldn't because he had no money left to buy a ticket. So alone and miserable little Nate started praying to God to just please, please help him get back home. And suddenly a man walked up to him, and handed him 20 dollars without a word. Nate went after him, or found him again, and asked him why he had done that, and the guy told him that he just suddenly felt that God had told him to give that money to Nate. And that was when he couldn't really continue because tears.
I had actually planned to go to Seb's Coffee Lounge on Sunday. Instead I got up at 6 a.m. to be in line early so I could get tickets for Nates Sunday CL as well (sorry, Seb). In that one we talked more about the show, funny (and sometimes painful) incidents on set, speculations on who was responsible for Nate's cold (that had kept him from coming to the party the night before), and how much we pay for seeing them all which left Nate slightly shocked. It ended with Nate walking around the room and hugging every single one of us and thanking us.
Because Nate? He is truly grateful for the love he gets from his fans because he would never take it for granted or even believe that he deserves it. But he does.
Now, I really want to avoid anyone getting a wrong impression here. Having Nate around is most definitely not like an extremely improved version of going to church. He is just a 29-year-old guy too. He's funny, and open and at times loves to tease people a little bit, but there is always this underlying kindness and honesty with everything he says and does.
And I guess that combination is why![[livejournal.com profile]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
raths_kitten kept telling me that he reminded her of a younger version of Misha; to the point where I couldn't unsee it anymore, and we kept finding more and more details that seemed to confirm it.
And between that, my constantly talking about how believable Seb and Nate are as father and son, and a chat we had about fanfic that have angels have children with no explanation, we (orraths_kitten, she deserves the credit for this) somehow ended up declaring Nate the illegitimate love child of Castiel and Balthazar. I'm okay with that. ;)
What came as another surprise was the amazing chemistry Nate and Sebastian have together. As far as I know, they had met once before at Dragon Con, and they really seem to like each other. They are so different, but it's like... they balance each other. During the group panel they sat next to each other, and I hardly paid attention to anything else because it was so great just watching them. They shared a microphone, they played off each other, they whispered comment to each other. They just seemed really comfortable around each other.
Then Nate crashed Sebastian's last panel. Or, well, actually Nate was quietly sitting in the back watching Seb's panel, until Seb mentioned him sitting there. So Nate went up to the microphone - actually he queued behind the girl who was standing there to ask a question until she told him to just walk right up. He asked Seb two questions (in an Eastern European accent which was the moment I just gave up on questioningraths_kitten's younger version of Misha claim). Nate decided to ask the second question first, and the first question second. One was about what advice Seb, as the father of the Originals, would give him as a potential future father (by the way, Nate desperately wants children. He doesn't know how many, but not just one and it has to be an uneven number. And he won't tell us any names because he's afraid someone will steal them). I think Seb's advice was "a lot of foreplay" - which had turned into something like a running gag during his panel. I can't remember the other question, but it did end with Seb coming down from the stage to hug Nate.
So, basically, can the Originals please bring Mikael and Kol back, or have them in flashbacks, and let them have tons and tons of scenes together? Because anything else would be an almost criminal waste of potential and chemistry.
Michael and Matt didn't leave much of an impression on me if I'm honest. Maybe it's because they only were there for one day, maybe I was too focused on Nate. They were nice, but I really can't give you much more than that.
I had no expectations whatsoever for Kat, because I didn't know anything about her and don't really like her character. She was very, very nice and open, especially during the photo ops. During the group shot, she was the one who opened her arms when I walked over, and truly invited me into the group.
Candice was sweet and friendly, but she seemed a little reserved. The first time I saw her was during the photos and I was under the impression that she absolutely did not want to be there. It was better during the panels, and she was very nice during the autographs. But she still always felt a little distant and her smile looked a little forced. To me it seemed that cons are just a job for her, nothing she really wants to do. That's fine, and it's really nice of her to do them anyway. It's just a little sad when you never feel you're actually meeting her. The only time she opened up a little more was during the group panel. It seemed to help to have everyone else on stage with her.
Sebastian was Sebastian. He just had a little more trouble because he kept running into people who turned out to be under 18 than he does at Supernatural conventions. And in one case even their mother. It was also funny that, when he actually talked about his shows, it felt like about 50% Supernatural and 50% Vampire Diaries. He never talks that much about TVD during SPN cons.
Nate... where do I even start? After Daniel Gillies had cancelled, Nate was the guest I was looking forward to most. Between his Twitter and all the con videos I've seen I thought I knew roughly what to expect. I did not.
I already very briefly saw Nate standing outside the photo studio during Seb's photo op, but the first time I actually met him was in his first Coffee Lounge, and from that moment I was pretty much lost. The moment Nate walks into a room, you can instantly feel the entire atmosphere change to kindness. The Coffee Lounge started normal enough, with Nare asking us where we were all from, and a few jokes about the people who where late, and then there was some comment about how he had managed to make the entire CL cry in Rome, which left me a little curious. About half way through someone (inevitably?) brought up faith and religion, and Nate basically just started talking and never stopped. Not when they told him that he'd have no break if he didn't finally leave now, and not even for a few more minutes when they told him he had to go on stage now.
I know that some people are a little annoyed by how he constantly brings up his faith, and I get that; but I'm not sure how he's supposed not to considering how much it defines everything he is and does. And personally, I could listen to him talk about it for hours, mostly because it's the most honest and open and passionate I've ever witnessed someone talk about something. I don't think anyone could ever doubt that everything he says truly comes straight from his heart and it's the most important thing in the world for him, but at the same time he doesn't judge or force his own believes on others. I just have the greatest respect for his faith, and the way he lives it, and hearing him talk about it truly was one of the most humbling and inspiring experiences I've ever had.
And then we got to the point where he told us a story that was so important to him, that he suddenly sat there with tears just streaming down his face. That was the moment when I understood the making the entire CL cry comment from earlier. Five more minutes and I probably would not have been able to hold back tears anymore either. Not necessarily because of the story, but because of how much it meant to him.
The story he told us was about how he ran away when was 13 (I think). He found himself at some station, and suddenly all he wanted was go back home, but he couldn't because he had no money left to buy a ticket. So alone and miserable little Nate started praying to God to just please, please help him get back home. And suddenly a man walked up to him, and handed him 20 dollars without a word. Nate went after him, or found him again, and asked him why he had done that, and the guy told him that he just suddenly felt that God had told him to give that money to Nate. And that was when he couldn't really continue because tears.
I had actually planned to go to Seb's Coffee Lounge on Sunday. Instead I got up at 6 a.m. to be in line early so I could get tickets for Nates Sunday CL as well (sorry, Seb). In that one we talked more about the show, funny (and sometimes painful) incidents on set, speculations on who was responsible for Nate's cold (that had kept him from coming to the party the night before), and how much we pay for seeing them all which left Nate slightly shocked. It ended with Nate walking around the room and hugging every single one of us and thanking us.
Because Nate? He is truly grateful for the love he gets from his fans because he would never take it for granted or even believe that he deserves it. But he does.
Now, I really want to avoid anyone getting a wrong impression here. Having Nate around is most definitely not like an extremely improved version of going to church. He is just a 29-year-old guy too. He's funny, and open and at times loves to tease people a little bit, but there is always this underlying kindness and honesty with everything he says and does.
And I guess that combination is why
raths_kitten kept telling me that he reminded her of a younger version of Misha; to the point where I couldn't unsee it anymore, and we kept finding more and more details that seemed to confirm it. And between that, my constantly talking about how believable Seb and Nate are as father and son, and a chat we had about fanfic that have angels have children with no explanation, we (or
raths_kitten, she deserves the credit for this) somehow ended up declaring Nate the illegitimate love child of Castiel and Balthazar. I'm okay with that. ;)What came as another surprise was the amazing chemistry Nate and Sebastian have together. As far as I know, they had met once before at Dragon Con, and they really seem to like each other. They are so different, but it's like... they balance each other. During the group panel they sat next to each other, and I hardly paid attention to anything else because it was so great just watching them. They shared a microphone, they played off each other, they whispered comment to each other. They just seemed really comfortable around each other.
Then Nate crashed Sebastian's last panel. Or, well, actually Nate was quietly sitting in the back watching Seb's panel, until Seb mentioned him sitting there. So Nate went up to the microphone - actually he queued behind the girl who was standing there to ask a question until she told him to just walk right up. He asked Seb two questions (in an Eastern European accent which was the moment I just gave up on questioning
raths_kitten's younger version of Misha claim). Nate decided to ask the second question first, and the first question second. One was about what advice Seb, as the father of the Originals, would give him as a potential future father (by the way, Nate desperately wants children. He doesn't know how many, but not just one and it has to be an uneven number. And he won't tell us any names because he's afraid someone will steal them). I think Seb's advice was "a lot of foreplay" - which had turned into something like a running gag during his panel. I can't remember the other question, but it did end with Seb coming down from the stage to hug Nate. So, basically, can the Originals please bring Mikael and Kol back, or have them in flashbacks, and let them have tons and tons of scenes together? Because anything else would be an almost criminal waste of potential and chemistry.
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no subject
Date: 2013-06-10 04:21 pm (UTC)I left with a slightly better impression on Candice, but yeah. If Nate will come to Insurgence Europe 2, I'll go, otherwise, no more TVD cons for me next year.
no subject
Date: 2013-06-10 04:49 pm (UTC)If Nate is there, I'll go as well. I'll probably also go if they announce Daniel again despite the risk that he might cancel again.