I survived New York Comic Con, well... mostly

[wraithfodder]

I made it to New York Comic Con for Saturday, which of course, was the most jam-packed day of the weekend (at least I'm sure - read that 106,000 fans attended and I'm sure most were there Saturday!). My friend Dawn and I went in very early - had to wake up at 4 a.m., then drive to her place, pick her up and we caught a 6ish train into NYC. There was that side trip to Dunkin Donuts of course as I needed caffeine and sugar to keep me awake. Fortunately NYCC supplies a shuttle bus between Grand Central and Jacob Javitts Center. One year it was obvious - ads on the side. This year, alas, just a piece of paper in window signifying it was the shuttle bus. Once we got there, we had to go to the blue entrance, where the press, exhibitors and any handicapped folk went. Since Dawn was using a walker, she qualifed and I was her helper. I noticed several chilly anime fans on the way to that door. Chilly not in attitude, but in they looked half-frozen as this was the coldest day of the Fall and some anime outfits are, um, skimpy. So we were hanging around with several dozen other fans, while the horrendous throngs of fans were at the other door, and there were probably lots of freezing zombies as The Walking Dead is a very popular fandom.

My goals at the con were to see the Person of Interest panel, get to the Person of Interest signing, see part of the Haven panel as I had to leave it early to get to the POI signing, and hopefully buy something in the massive dealers room. I didn't see the germ keychains I got last year, so will check online as I wanted a MRSA one. Worrywoos weren't selling at the con this year, but they're online. Didn't see any Godzillas that screamed BUY ME! but did get a great t-shirt of an adult teaching a trio of little Daleks how to exterminate humans. Adorable! I saw lots of Doctor Who stuff but didn't need it and as often happens at cons, it's a tad bit overpriced as well.

At 10 a.m., I went to the IGN theater., which holds a LOT -for the Haven panel. It was half full, and at least 1/3 was there for the 5pm Walking Dead panel. The con doesn't empty rooms between sessions. Sigh.  I stayed about 30-45 minutes and the cast was entertaining. Emily Rose (@EmilyRoseLA), Eric Balfour (@ERICBALFOUR) and Lucas Bryant (not on Twitter) were there, and the chemistry definitely shone. Another new cast member was there - a former wrestler - and my brain has forgotten his name. They talked spoilers and episodes I haven't seen, but fortunately I have forgotten then. I have to catch up.




Haven booth in main dealer's room, before the hordes descended.



So I left that panel early and headed to the Lego booth, which was in the center of the dealers room. Once you found that, you could get your bearings and then I found where the Person of Interest (POI) signing was. I was there over an hour early. However, I then discovered, much to my frustration, that there were only a limited amount of autographs being done and they handed out wristbands earlier. Nowhere did I read that anywhere. SIGH. But I came back when the signing took place, hanging behind the line, just to see the cast. Spoke with a fan from somewhere other than the U.S., judging by his accent, who also ran afoul the wristband policy. In fact, a number of fans showed up unaware of it as well. The POI actors showed up - Michael Emerson (Finch), Taraji P. Henson (Carter), and Kevin Chapman (Fusco). Creator/executive producer Jonathan Nolan was at first listed being there but he wasn't, but he was at the panel. So after taking a few pictures, I went to the panel, only to discover the chaos of disorganized lines. There ended up being two lines for POI, but it didn't matter all that much as they didn't empty out the room, and half of it was hanging out through the whole day, no doubt, to see Stan Lee. I ended up in the back in the nosebleed seats, half behind a concrete pillar, so the actors looked like ants up on the stage. Darn. There were huge screens though so we folk in the back could actually watch, although the camera guy got lazy at one point and focused more on the interviewer than the actors, which was annoying. At one point they brought out the newest cast member - Boker, a Belgian Malinois who plays Bear (the dog). Then a bit later, Jim Caviezel (Reese) showed up, to thunderous applause. It was an interesting panel, and at the beginning of it they showed a cool trailer they made for the con.


Autograph session which I missed out on :(




















More in the next entry.

Comments

[black-raven135.livejournal.com]

The whole thing sounds rather chaotic, but interesting
I don't watch POI, but am familiar with it, even saw the pilot. . .
You don't see Reese smile very much, from what I have seen on
trailers, so it must have been a real treat......

[wraithfodder.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, seeing him smile was like "whoa" as Reese rarely does. I loved that they brought the dog on stage, even if only I saw its ears... but my god, the crowds.

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

Someday, I'll get to experience a comic con too *pouts* But it looked like fun :D

[wraithfodder.livejournal.com]

It's definitely an experience. The last couple years I wore earplugs, but this year, the decibel rating was lower. Intel wasn't blasting out noise and the gaming section seemed quieter. That, or my hearing is going...

[everybetty.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the great pictures! Seeing 'Reese' smile is a rare thing, but really brings out how the group gels so well. One of my favorite shows. But my real treat was the Haven pix! SO sad to hear they were largely ignored; it is the only reason I keep Syfy on my cable lineup. LOVE the show, and from what I read, the ratings are actually pretty decent and growing. They look adorable together, and I actually like the addition of the wrestler, Edge, to the lineup. Maybe he brings in Syfy's infamous wrestling viewership. Thank you!!

[wraithfodder.livejournal.com]

I wish rooms were emptied out after each panel. At least a third of the people in the room for Haven were there waiting for Walking Dead, hours later. Not that the audience didn't seem appreciate but the cheers for Walking Dead seemed louder than for Haven. I'm behind on Haven so missed this Edge character. Man, time to catch up online I guess...

It took a while for me to get into POI but now it's a must watch tv show. Very few of those these days!

[sangate.livejournal.com]

Very jealous you got to go to the POI panel :D Seen some footage on youtube. Seemed like a lot of fun and very interesting!

Yay for Boker to turn up btw :D I just can't believe they are actually speaking my language on the show XD

It sounds rather chaotic though :S I was thinking of trying to go next year, but if it so chaotic, it might not be worth the risk of spending so much money on travel and such :S

Do hope you had a good time though :)

[wraithfodder.livejournal.com]

It's chaotic, and every year I leave going "why would I want to do FOUR days of this?" but if given the chance, yes, I'd do four days of it. It's a controlled chaos and there's so much to see, so if you want to do it, do it now before the con gets so big it'll take an hour to get from one side of dealer's room to other ;)

Oh, Boker (Bear) has a twitter account, too. Can't understand a word of it. @BearDeHond

[sangate.livejournal.com]

Ah that's good advice actually and I guess all cons come with chaos, even more so the bigger they get :)

Hihi yeah I saw :D Been translating for people on tumblr XD

[wraithfodder.livejournal.com]

Can you let me know the link for the tumblr? Would be easier to read that than doing Babelfish translations for each tweet ;)

[sangate.livejournal.com]

Oh of course :D Here it is: http://sangate.tumblr.com/post/33699237583/beardehond-translations

I'm also doing a translation of the stuff said on the show. Gonna update on Friday after I see the new ep, but in the meantime:

2.01 The Contingency
Reese
FOEI – bad dog
STIL - quiet
AF - down
LIGGEN – lay down

2.02 Bad Code
Fusco
LIGGEN *repeats that* - lay down

Reese
LAAT DAT VALLEN – drop that

[wraithfodder.livejournal.com]

Thanks! :)

[wraithfodder.livejournal.com]

Pretty much. Had a sore arm the next day from dragging around a tote bag full of stuff.

[dieastra.livejournal.com]

I think American cons, be they in New York, Atlanta or San Diego, are way too big for me! But always funny to see pictures, especially of the fans and costumes.

"Person of Interest" started in German TV just a few weeks ago, and according to my brother I needed to watch it, so I did ;) Might have missed it otherwise. I like it and I hear the good stuff is yet to come. I knew Michael Emerson from "Lost" of course, so that was a bonus.

I hear the "Arrow" crew was there as well! Do you watch that as well?

[wraithfodder.livejournal.com]

Most cons are NOT this size. The San Diego Comic Con is even bigger than this one! I love looking at photos of fans at cons in costume as I can only really do this con.

I must be the only person who never watched "Lost" cuz they said Michael Pellegrino was going to guest star on POI, but I only knew him from "Being Human" as the vampire Bishop.

Yup, "Arrow" folk were there on Sunday. Alas, I don't watch it, but only cuz Cablevision in squabble with Tribune over fees so they've blocked the channel with old football repeats. Gah!

[dieastra.livejournal.com]

The Stargate cons I went to in Germany had only about 400 fans and four guests, and I even have been to a few where we were only 100 people. Very familiar and relaxed. Also, not two things were on at the same time, it was either autographs or phorotgraphs or stage panels, you did not have to decide what to miss out on, and no long lines necessary either, as it went all by ticket number, so everyone got everything.

And I was told the American actors love to come over here as it was smaller than what they are used to.

I did not always understand "Lost", and I certainly was not such an avid fan to discuss it all in detail on the internet, but I still watched till the end, just because the actors and their characteres were so awesome, and you were just eager to know more. And Michael Emerson was very ambivalent, you never knew whether he's good or bad.

As for "Arrow", an American friend told me you can watch it for free at the CW page. Not sure if this link still works (it's not available in my location) but this was the pilot from last week. It's possible the episodes are only there for one week till the next comes, though. Anyway, if you are interested, have a look:

http://www.cwtv.com/cw-video/arrow/pilot/?play=757c9164-3c62-45b3-8c11-acb9659271a9

I admit I hadn't even heard about before they announced John Barrowman in a recurring role - we all are very hyped up to see who he will end up playing. They make a big secret out of his role! But as everywhere he goes, he has totally charmed them all - it's just the way he is ;)

[dieastra.livejournal.com]

And here's the second episode: http://www.cwtv.com/cw-video/arrow/honor-thy-father/

[wraithfodder.livejournal.com]

THANKS!

[dieastra.livejournal.com]

So does it work? And will you be able to find the next episodes at this page yourself, or do I need to keep sending links?
(and apparently you got my messages even though I got told they were marked as Spam, because of the link I guess)

We got official John Barrowman pictures in the meantime. I might not live long enough to see him in the fifth episode, I will have died from all the prettyness before. Well dressed man indeed! Who cares what his real charactere's name is, that works well for me. Here are the picures:

http://www.greenarrowtv.com/arrow-episode-5-images-john-barrowman-deathstroke-damaged/12149?pid=592

http://www.greenarrowtv.com/arrow-episode-5-images-john-barrowman-deathstroke-damaged/12149?pid=593

[wraithfodder.livejournal.com]

Didn't get a chance to watch, and now the hurricane is coming. I get the idea I'll be catching up a month from now. We got the CW back, but they knocked off one channel, and of course, no cable rewind on the CW. Grrrr.

[dieastra.livejournal.com]

Just found this message again and wanted to check whether you got hooked up in the Arrow fandom? Because I am. Especially after the last episode before Christmas with all its reveals I can hardly wait for next week for it to continue. Hope they'll soon have action figures for my collection LOL

[wraithfodder.livejournal.com]

I tried one Arrow episode - came in later because Cablevision and CW were fighting so they didn't air it. Didn't scream 'watch me' but I may try it later. Oh, did Ben Browder appear yet? I do want to see the episode with him.

[dieastra.livejournal.com]

No, Ben has not been on yet. I think soon this year, though. Maybe this week or next?

I guess you would not understand much of the story if you just start in the middle. The pilot is great and set the pace nicely - it's a fast moving show! Lots of questions raised which get answered during the next weeks. Many mysteries.

I didn't like the 2nd episode after that furious start, but then from there it grew each week with cliffhangers, 3, 4, 5 were really great. 6 was kind of a breather in between, which was nice also, and I did not like 7 and 8 much because of the guest actress. But 9 had a huge reveal about John Barrowman, which originally was the reason I started watching, and I think they will get on with great things. Plus the lead actor is not exactly bad to look at, especially when he does his training sequences without shirt ;)

[dieastra.livejournal.com]

I heard somewhere that Ben is supposed to be on tomorrow. Not sure if it's true. Also not sure how much sense it will make without knowing the previous episodes.

[wraithfodder.livejournal.com]

Answering a day late, but yup, Ben Browder was on ARROW last night.

[dieastra.livejournal.com]

He was indeed, but if I hadn't known beforehand, I'm not sure I would've recognized him! He looked so different. He recently was on "Doctor Who" as well, in a Western setting with a moustache ;)