VanCon: Autographs Report

[raloria]

Sorry about the long wait between posts, folks. I'm still playing catch up with these VanCon reports. Bear with me! This time I'll talk about the autograph sessions. :)






Outside of the Photo-Ops, the autograph sessions took up the most time all weekend (especially Sunday). But Adam from Creation urged us to take our time, that this was our chance to talk to the guests one on one.

They called by row, normally doing half rows. I was in row H, so it normally took from 3 to 4 hours before my row was called. Once you were called, you lined up along the left wall of the room and waited sometimes another 30 to 60 minutes. Yes, it was a long, slow process, but I think everyone appreciated being able to spend extra time with the celebrities. :)

Please don't re-post these images anywhere else. Thanks!

Friday's Autographs - Aldis, Alona, & Gabriel:
We were told the guests would be personalizing the autographs and if you wanted yours done that way, to tell the volunteer that would go along the line and they would give you a post-it note w/your name written out on it. For some reason, I decided to forgo the personalization. Once I got I got up to the little curtained-off corner where the celebrities were, I could see Aldis was first, then Alona & Gabe.

I'd already printed out a lot of pictures from home of most of the guests, so I had a lot to choose from in most cases. However, I didn't have any of Aldis, so I'd bought one in the vendor's room for him.

	I really didn't know what to say to him (an ongoing problem with me in the autograph lines...*sigh*), but he was very relaxed and easy going. Right away he asked me what my name was so he could put it on the autograph. I said I didn't have a post-it note, but he said that was okay, he'd personalize it anyway. So sweet! So I gave him my name. He even spelled it correctly! I pointed that out to him and thanked him.
	Next, was Alona and I'd printed out one of the pics from a recently posted photo-shoot. Her handler was instantly impressed with it and even Alona said, "Oh, it's me!" LOL I think most people had been having her sign pics as Jo, so this one stood out for her. Again, even though I didn't have a post-it note, she wanted to personalize it for me. I seem to recall something was brought up about it being a long day, but she was happy and very gracious.
	This was another pic I'd bought in the vendor's room. I really wish they'd had better pics of Gabe, but there had only been 2 and IMO, this was the better one. Like Aldis and Alona, he willingly personalized it for me! Take that Creation and your rules! Ha! He asked if I wanted him to sign something special and I said for him to put his favorite line. So I got the Jedi Mind Trick one "These are not the droids you're looking for"! *glee*

Saturday's Autographs - AJ, Travis, Jake, & Misha:
This time I had my own printed out pics for everyone but Jake, which I again bought at the vendor's room. Thank goodness for that place! :)

	AJ & Travis sat at one table, with AJ being the first to sign. I kept finding myself at a loss of what to say to these people. It was awful. But AJ was very nice, asked me how I was doing, and took the time to actually look up and smile. It was nice. Travis was equally friendly, asking me if I was having a good time. It was all over pretty fast.
	I do have a bit to say about Jake, who utterly charmed everyone during his panel. When I got up to him, he was trying to keep a fake mustache on his coffee cup! LOL I wish I could remember what I said to him...probably something about being sad that they killed his character off. And this coming from a person who made a whole video about the dreaded 3rd Winchester brother! Egads! Yes, I was one of THOSE people....but I've reformed. The episode proved that Kripke & Co. do know what they're doing and I will never doubt them again. I was sad when Sam & Dean found out Adam was dead. Jake did a wonderful job of making Adam likable and then totally turning the tables once he was revealed as a ghoul.
	Ah, Misha! When it was my turn, he'd just taken a bite out of a piece of chocolate candy, which apparently didn't taste very good. He quickly put the other half of it down on the wrapper. Anyway, he signed my pic and then I said, "I am one of your many happy minions, oh master." I even bowed a little. Hee! He broke out in a big smile and thanked me, very amused by the whole thing. He thanked me for following him on Twitter and then I went on my way. It was over all too quickly, but I was a little giddy about being in front of the guy. Hee! :P

Sunday's Autographs - Jensen, Jared, Richard, & Jim:
The vendor's room again came to my rescue when I needed to buy a pic for Richard to sign. I'd added a photo-op & autograph with him at the last minute.

Let me say that it took me forever to choose what pics for Jensen & Jared to sign. I had a bunch printed out, even of this picture (of Jensen), but in the end I went with the one I bought. The color was better. And it was super tough to narrow it down to this image, but it's one of my all-time favorites. :)

Now, for the story that is Jensen's autograph. *sigh*

I remember being completely giddy when I first caught sight of him from the line. My seat buddies and I were so excited. Jensen was at one table and Jared at the other. There was security everywhere, with one guard outside the curtained area and one inside. At least they were friendly. The one guy even asked us if we were having a good time. Hee! We got up to Jensen's table and I squeezed in against the wall so I could see him for as long as possible. It was great seeing him smiling and interacting with people. I think a gal ahead of us had him sign about 3 things. My seat buddies got their autographs and soon it was my turn.

Before I could even hand him the photo, Clif Kosterman, their bodyguard, came up to the side of the table and started telling Jensen something. I couldn't even make it out. So there I stood, knowing the line was moving ahead of me. I waited. Then I slid the photo a little closer to Jensen, trying to get his attention, but with the tablecloth it was a little difficult. Meanwhile, the handler for Jared came over and took my ticket and photo for him! Gah! Jensen must have sensed he was holding up the line at this point and without even looking, grabbed the photo and signed it, only looking down briefly to watch what he was writing on. Then he scooted the pic back over to me and went right back to listening to Clif! I thanked him, but got no acknowledgment from him whatsoever and I felt the pressure to quickly move along. Bah.

Dammit Clif! Why did you have to talk to him right then??? I missed out on my chance to talk to Jensen one last time. Grrrrr. Yeah, I'm still a little bitter. This is one of the big reasons why I want to attend the next VanCon....to make up for this moment I had robbed from me. It was the only black spot on the entire weekend. :(

	Luckily, my experience getting Jared's autograph was much better, albeit brief. I was kind of flustered from the incident with Jensen, so I sadly didn't say much to him outside of thanking him. *sigh* :( But he signed and smiled and thanked me for coming. Yep, that was it. Wish that had been better, too. One thing about the autographs kind of sucking is it makes me appreciate the interaction I had with the guys during the photo-ops even more. But again, I hope to do better next time. I really need to be a little more outgoing and talkative to these people. Darn my shyness!
	I'd quickly bought my autograph ticket for Richard only about an hour before. Not too many people had purchased his autograph (which is a shame, he's a sweet guy), so the line was relatively short. It was still a long wait though, and this time I decided to go for the personalization. I got up there and told him how happy I was to learn the Trickster would be returning, that I missed not having him in an episode last season. He was happy to be back, too and very friendly. I really like what he wrote. :)
	Finally, we had Jim's autograph session, which as many of you know, ran for hours! It had been a long day, with messed up schedules and things running way over. By the time Jim started his signing, at around 6 or 6:30, everyone was tired. Row after row was called, but it took a long time....hours before they got to mine. Jim was taking his time and talking to people. Meanwhile, people sat, talked, slept, ordered in food, and listened to the music being played in the room. Some people did leave, but most of us stayed. We did pay for this after all, and Jim is a sweet guy. My row didn't end up getting called until after 11 p.m. My seat buddies & I then stood in line for about another half hour and were quite goofy with exhaustion. Once my seat buddies & I got up to Jim, he happened to look down at his watch and saw what time it was. His jaw dropped open and he looked up at us. We laughed and I said, "Yes, it really is that late, Jim." Poor guy. He had no idea how late he was keeping everyone. He said, "I've gotta sign faster." LOL But he didn't really. He talked to each one of us and it was great. I told him how much I enjoyed following him on Twitter & Facebook and while he tried to shrug it off, I brought up how I liked hearing about him showing old, silent films to Maddie. He said that's what you have to do when you have an eight year old that doesn't want to sleep. Like everyone, he was full of smiles and very gracious.

I do wish my experience during the autographs had been better. Most of it is because I honestly was at a loss for words with the guests. So that's on me. I've always been shy, but I need to find more ways to connect to people. If I think about it a lot, I'm still kinda steamed about Clif ruining my time with Jensen. Dude! So not cool on the timing there! But everything else was so wonderful, that I really can't complain too much. :)