Well, this is certainly overdue…but here it is, my report on Creation’s Salute to Supernatural in Vancouver, BC, 2009. :D

Background

In March 2009 I was home from college (why doesn’t real life have spring breaks?) and met up with LJ friend whispered_theme. In the course of conversation she suggested I try what all my LJ friends’ list was raving about – Supernatural. So I did. Exactly three weeks later (and probably a paper or test as well), I was caught up on three and a half seasons and hooked – line and sinker. Shortly thereafter discovered a convention but hours from my home. April 30^th…whispered_theme and I bought a J2 Sandwich photo. WE’RE GOING TO VANCOUVER!

Friday

Due to being rather cheap, primarily only needing to see the boys, and the possibility that whispered_theme would be teaching that day, we didn’t buy tickets for Friday. So that morning I parked my car at her house and we set off for Canada!

Upon arrival, found our hotel without difficulty. Being, as previously stated, cheap, we decided against staying at the rather spendy Sheraton and opted for a more the budget Burrard Inn across the street. Our first room had bed bugs, so once we got that sorted out, went exploring downtown. Had a delish dinner and called it an early night so we would be rested up for the next day!

Saturday

We headed up to registration maybe an hour before it opened and were the first people there. We found this kind of surprising considering reports from other cons, but would rather be early than late, that’s for sure. We had general admission, so made our way down to the ballroom to snag some decent seats for the day. Yeah, ended up in the back row, but the room wasn’t terribly deep so could still see the stage pretty well (although it didn’t make for excellent photos).

Aldis Hodge
Such a fun guy and a great start to my convention experience. My interest in/knowledge of him is ridiculously minimal, so when a lot of the questions were about “Leverage,” just smiled and nodded. He was sweet – calling his girlfriend at the beginning and having us leave her a message, taking a self-portrait with the crowd at the end. :)

Jake Abel
This was his first con – and it was obvious he wasn’t quite sure what to make of it when he first came out (don’t blame him!), but he got used to us and was just wonderful. Favorite moments: his imitation of Jensen as Dean yelling “Sammy!” – seriously – funniest thing ever! He gave us a fun story about Jared saying “I am Farticus” while filming the scene when they first meet Adam at the diner. I loved hearing him talk about his experience filming – especially the scene where he was dead – knowing from the actor what was going on in a certain scene makes re-watching it all the better! He talked about the blood he had to drink – it was supposed to taste like chocolate but that was a lie. And when he stabs the knife into the table by Sam’s head – that was ad-libbed and he gave props to Jared for trusting him.

AJ Buckley & Travis Wester
LOVE these guys! So funny. :) Highlights…asking if their panel was going to be on youtube (awkward silence in the crowd – Creation was patrolling against video like nothing else) & then leaving a card to give to Jared and Jensen. Telling a story about Jared “throwing” AJ over his shoulder. Travis not wanting to sit down. Pointing out family members who came. The questions were posed by Adam from Creation, and when they were ready to move on, AJ would prompt him, “what else we got there boss.” The Ghostfacers were already awesome but these guys made them even more so. :)

Misha Collins

If any of you were following him on twitter, you may remember he requested his minions to bring black construction paper and eggs to his panel. He seemed a bit shocked at first that people actually did. He had requested to have the panel open to audience questions instead of limiting it to ones that Creation picked. Pretty much the Misha panel was everything you would expect of a Misha panel – hilarity and ridiculousness and general awesome. He wasn’t so into the serious questions and was not above ribbing fans who asked them – as well as fans who came up and said they were from ____ country (aka not the US or Canada) but with a little prodding revealed that they actually currently live in California or something. Apparently Misha’s scariest moment in his childhood was throwing a stick into a river for a dog – which came back as a twelve foot black bird. The audience predictably was amused and he replied “I don’t laugh at your scary moments.” At one point he gave us a little demonstration of how he interjected realistic fighting into choreographed scenes (there’s got to be a youtube video somewhere). As the time came to a close, Adam must have been trying to indicate he should wrap it up, but he looked at him and imitating the motion said “I don’t sign, what does this mean.”

This was followed by Misha’s photo op…whispered_theme and I were rather nervous, but excited. As always at cons, the line moved slowly, but finally we approached! I felt a little rushed by the staff, but we still managed to get a non-smiling photo – which I am thankful for. :) We asked for more of a Charlie’s Angels pose – and it really turned out quite well. Wish we’d had a bit more time with him, but the photo was still worth the $$.

Sunday

The day. Lined up for registration – jealously contemplated the people who paid to go to the breakfast. As we were standing in line, whispered_theme asked what if the boys walked by all these fangirls – and, kid you not, two minutes later they (and Jim Beaver and their entourage of security) did! The line fell silent haha – it was pretty great. :) I think we were all just in shock that they were there.

So registration – pics were first, so we went to wait – and wow. That was a lot of waiting. It was Jensen then J2 then Jared. Cut to the part where we get our picture. Pretty much still makes me grin that I have met them (okay, met is a bit strong, but I’m sticking with it). Shell shock kind of kicked in and I kind of want to go to another con so that I can be more with it next time around. We were going to do another fun picture, but that didn’t happen – thankfully though we got good smiles out of the boys and the picture is pretty fabulous :)

So then we waited another eternity for all the rest of the pictures to finish and the panels to begin. Quick note here that between Creation overbooking the photos and the boys being great with their fans, the schedule got seriously screwed and we ended up with Jensen and then the boys together, but no Jared panel. Lamesauce.

But at any rate, we went for preferred seats to guarantee a spot – not a whole lot closer, but still, everything counts when the room is packed (and they kept bringing in more chairs). I write down quick impressions like I did on Saturday, but a couple things. Jensen gave a couple shoutouts to Daneel (who was actually there) – which I thought was sweet…kind of just an “oh by the way guys, don’t forget about my girlfriend, who I pretty much think the world of.” A fair number of seriously ridiculous questions were asked – along the lines of old shows he’s been in etc. I’ll be honest – I don’t remember a whole lot of the questions asked, the whole being in the same room as Jensen Ackles… haha.

So then Jared came out and Jensen was going to leave, but ended up staying. I think Jared had heard about Misha’s stunt with audience questions, so he asked for that. More fabulousness and double the amazing-ness on stage so consider my brain cells fried (youtube is your BFF for reliving cons, my friend).

After this was autographing and Jim and Richard later, but due to a long drive and whispered_theme teaching early the next morning, we put Vancouver in our rearview mirror *tear* and headed home.

Altogether it was entirely worth the rather ridiculous amount of money paid, and I think the fact that I am considering going to the LA con in March testifies to that fact. :)