raloria

These were taken with my smaller Canon camera and are not the greatest quality. My normal practice is to take a few shots with this camera at the beginning of each panel and then switch to my bigger Canon camera for the rest. I did no editing at all on these, they're simply presented "as is". Hopefully, you'll still find these pics enjoyable despite the light/contrast or blurriness issues. :)

A shot of the darkened stage from my 3rd row seat, then Rob and Rich kicked off the con with Rich going on about Canada being a city (LOL!), then our first panel was with Alaina & Gil.

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// Click on the large thumbnails for the originals //

Time to start in on my VanCon videos and I'll be posting them 2 or 3 at a time, otherwise it'll take forever. LOL

We start with 3 short videos from Jason's Quoncert (Questions + Concert = Quoncert). Wish I'd gotten the whole thing of the first song. Jason and Rob's voices harmonize so nicely!

The con is over so I have time to catch up on what happened...

Btw, sorry if I'm not super descriptive about panels. The thing about taking photos is that you're pretty much watching these panels through a camera lens the entire time, plus monitoring your settings so at least most of your shots come out with the right exposure. So I'm not able to really remember what all is said and happens during panels. This is why I rely on watching panel videos on youtube later, even for cons I've been to. ;)

We kicked off the day with a hilarious panel with guests Ruth Connell, Brianna Buckmaster, Alaina Huffman, and Gil McKinney. The best part? Gil doing a deep, sexy voice commentary on the hotel toiletries Ruth gave away to fans who asked questions. :P

Then we had a panel of Rob, Rich, and Matt. These 3 are always a delight and they didn't disappoint! All that comes to mind right now is them talking about creating donuts that would build up your abs if you ate a whole dozen of them. LOL

Watched the Costume Contest and there was a very small turnout. Adam surmised due to people participating in GISHWHES instead. There were only 3 contestants dressed as Castiel, the smallest I've ever heard of.

Next up was Mark Sheppard's panel. As many of you know, since the death of Crowely on SPN, Mark has decided to no longer do anymore SPN cons and is only fulfilling his 2017 commitments. So this is probably the last time I'll ever see him in person, which is a shame. There's certainly nobody else like Mark Sheppard. But he did seem a little different this time. There was no wandering around the room like he normally does, none of him telling people his traditional "No" to questions, none of the real fire and spark he usually has at a con. Sure, he was still sassy and unwilling to answer "stupid questions", but there was definitely something missing. Then he informed us he wouldn't be playing drums at that night's Saturday Night Special. A big shock! Sorry he didn't play, it was always a highlight for me during the SNS.

After Mark's panel, a lot of the room emptied out and they did the Yes/No Game. I've played this before and almost won (it was down to me and one other gal, but she won). Anyway, after they played one round I figured, what the hell, I was just sitting there, the room was pretty much empty...why not? Sure enough, I won the second round, winning a Creation certificate worth $200 on their merchandise at this or their other cons, for a year. Plus, I was automatically to play the 3rd round to see if I could win again. And I did! It was so crazy! Again, it was down to me and one other gal and we either kept both getting the questions right or both getting them wrong. The questions were really difficult, too. I was totally guessing at the end, including the final question (don't ask me what it was about). But indeed I was the winner, adding another 2 certificates to my other one, giving me a grand total of $600 to use in buying Creation's merchandise!

Now they had 2 tables in the Vendor's area, so you could only use the certificates there, and only on Creation products. So the choices were mostly shirts and glossy pics of the SPN cast...along with a few other odds and ends. No way could I spend all that on myself, so I invited a couple of friends to pick out goodies they wanted and we made a pretty good dent. Who knew SPN knowledge could be so economically beneficial? :D

After a very long break in panels, we finally had our final one of the day with Misha. Again, I'm fuzzy on most of what went on, though I do remember him telling of getting his GISHWHESers to pick blackberries for him and then having to figure out what to do with all the hundreds of berries! So he brought some fruit leather (which Rob and Rich later fought over) and some jelly, which Rich totally grabbed as his own at the end of the panel!

Right after Misha's panel I got my photo-op with Gil. He had mentioned in the morning panel that a lot of fans want him to do his best Jensen face during photo-ops and sure enough, several of the gals ahead of me in line asked for that. Gil said to Chris the photographer, "I've created this thing now, of doing the Jensen". But then I waled up to him and said I just wanted him to be himself. :D He was so nice! Pressed his face right up against the side of mine. *dreamy sigh* Ah, Gil...I do adore you.

Last thing of the day was autographs from Mark, Matt, and Misha.
Mark was doing his pretty fast, which he always does. But I did get a "Thank you, sweetie." out of him. :)
Matt's showing a little grey in his hair! Is that for his role on General Hospital or just his natural aging? Anyway, I noticed it right away (but didn't comment on it) instead I asked him about the bracelet he was wearing because it was similar to the skull bracelet Dean used to wear. He said a fan gave it to him. Cool!
Misha's line was quite long, stretching to the back of the room, but eventually I got there. And for the life of me, right now I can't remember what was said! *sigh* It was the end of a long day. That's my excuse.

Of course, the highlight of the evening was the epic Saturday Night Special, with surprise guests and a lot of new songs!
I shot video of pretty much everything, so I'll be putting them all up on youtube (along with lots of videos from Karaoke, Jason's panel, and a few extras). Some of the highlights: Emily Swallow singing with Rob, Ruth singing and dancing, Briana's new song, Robert Singer playing harmonica and singing, and of course....JENSEN ACKLES singing "Whipping Post"!!! Damn, but he is just full of passion and force when he sings like that. My video sadly, isn't perfect audibly, but the visuals are quite stunning.

Anyway, I've rambled on enough about Saturday. Gotta get to Sunday's post before I forget it.

Gotta type this all out now before I forget anything. Sure, it's only 1 in the morning, but this is important!

Rich and Rob kicked things off in their usual hilarious style, with Rich saying Canada is a city. :P
Kinda missed the old Rules & Regulation song, but I guess there's so many now that it would take too long to sing? Our first guests were Alaina Huffman and Gil McKinney. Great to see these two beautiful people on stage.

Right after their panel I got a photo-op with Alaina & Gil and wouldn't you know...Gil remembered me yet again! Even with him not being at last year's VanCon! Amazing! He must really have a memory for people. So that was pretty sweet. I chose to get my solo photo-op with Gil on Saturday (spreading out the Gil love *g*).

Next was another enjoyable Quoncert with Jason Manns. He answered a few questions, but mostly sang songs. I got most of them on video, including part of the song he sang with Rob Benedict at the start of the panel. Oh! And they sang "Hallelujah" at the end. Gorgeous!!!! :D

Then we had a nice panel with the lovely Samantha Smith (so happy Mary's still alive - and kicking ass in the Alt Universe).

Then they had a Stump The Experts game and the first question was about Bugs - What was the name of the housing development? The experts didn't know, but I did - Oasis Plains! I got it right and was the first to choose from the table of merchandise they had set out! I picked out a SPN red cup and a cool canvas bag. Free goodies!!!! :D

The last panel of the day was with our new guest, Emily Swallow and favorite, Briana Buckmaster. So much fun! I also got a photo-op with Emily.

Then it was time for autographs. Gold got 5: Rich, Samantha, Emily, Alaina, and Briana.
I asked Rich about the location for that slow walking shot from his ep "Stuck in the Middle (With You)" and he couldn't really remember, but he did inform me that the house was built by the production (which I didn't know) and the interiors were on the soundstage (which I did know). He thought it was all filmed by a college and a lake, but couldn't place it and suggested I ask Location Manager, Russ Hamilton, if he shows up this weekend. Then Rich said he was curious himself where it was filmed at! I understood it was asking a bit for him to remember, since it was many months ago and thanked him anyway.

With Samantha, I brought up my disappointment that Mary never baked Dean a pie when he was a child. It kinda burst my bubble to learn that last season. She said Mary just didn't have the time. lol

I asked Emily what it was like to wear that black dress all the time. She said at least she didn't have to go in for a bunch of costume fittings, though it did get uncomfortable in the cold weather, but she liked having a nice dress to wear the entire time.

I mentioned to Alaina that Abaddon should totally be brought back in the Alternate Universe and she, of course, agreed. :)

I thanked Briana (and Kim) for their Facebook videos and that I hoped they'd be doing more. She thanked me and said they do hope to film more of them, but they're just a little overwhelmed with work (on the SPN spinoff) but that they'd definitely do more of them in the future. :)

Autos done, I had a chance for a quick supper before heading back for Karaoke!
I'll admit, things started a little slow, but they really picked up at the end. We got a lot of surprise guests: Rich's "Band Of Brothers" actors, the guy who played Ramiel, Carrie Genzel, Erica Carroll, Rick Worthy, Guy Bee, and Osric Chau! When Rich brought Osric out, he had a backpack with him and Rich decided we'd sing the song "Sweet Caroline" but instead sing "Sweet Osric Chau". So we did! And then Emily and Jason started going through Osric's backpack...and they found some underwear....which Jason balled up and then tossed into the crowd...and I caught them! LOL It was a freak one-handed catch, as I was filming video with my camera. I handed them over to a gal standing next to me, but another gal (assuming she was volunteer) quickly came to retrieve the grey pair of undies. Ah, well...as the gal next to me said, at least we got to touch them. :P

Crazy, crazy stuff! Oh, and the narwhal was there! So much fun.

Well, my feet and my back are killing me and it's time to quickly post this and get some sleep for day two.

Well, shoot.
Kim Rhodes had to cancel out of VanCon (possibly for SPN spinoff filming???). So they've added Alaina Huffman in her place. I adore Alaina, so no problem there, but I will miss Kim and her hijinks with Brianna on stage.

From Creation's VanCon Page:

KIM RHODES IS CANCELING OUT OF SPN VANCOUVER. REPLACING HER IS ALAINA HUFFMAN (ABBADON). Alaina will also take Kim's place as co-host of the THURSDAY NIGHT PJ party, q&as, duo photos with Briana and Ladies of SPN photo op. As stated on the site if you do not wish to make the replacement of Alaina for Kim in various separate autographs, photo ops, duo photo ops (other than Wayward Girls Photo Ops) you can get a voucher and use for other stuff or a refund as described. THOSE THAT BOUGHT THE WAYWARD GIRLS PHOTO OP ARE HAVING THEIR MONEY REFUNDED TO THEIR CREDIT CARDS. PLEASE ALLOW UP TO TEN BUSINESS DAYS FOR YOUR WAYWARD GIRLS PHOTO OP TO BE REFUNDED. Alaina will be appearing both Friday and Saturday.

I was hoping for some more new guests, but the schedule looks pretty full now. Maybe we can still hope for some surprise local guests like Kat Ramdeen again. :)