Comic Con Wrap Up: Day 3

Saturday is usually the busiest day at Comic Con, but this year it seemed to be relatively calm. Please note: seemed. We woke up bright and early at 4am, stumbled into our clothes and jumped in the car. What could possibly have had us up and at ‘em at such an hour? No one else but the boy who lived: Harry Potter.

When we plopped down in (the already massive) line at 5:30am, we were not fully functional and definitely not looking forward to sitting stationery for the next 6 hours. But we were troopers. We napped, we gossiped, we tweeted, we photographed and before we knew it, it was 10:30am and we were being moved into Hall H.

And my sinuses rebelled.

My nose just erupted into hot itchy mess that made me want to rip it off my face and not even a Claritin could help. This lasted the rest of the day. I seriously had moments where I thought I could possibly be allergic to one of the two spectrums: nerd or hot men.  Because Saturday was full of both.

The WB panel began with The Green Lantern and I was prepared to snap away lovely pictures of one of my favorite men: Ryan Reynolds (see? Hot). Unfortunately, my camera had another idea. The moment he walked out on stage, it crapped out. Just wasn’t snapping. At all. Really awesome! Unfortunately, I couldn’t really get it to work for the rest of the panel, which was OK because I loved every minute of sitting and enjoying the show. At one point, this adorable little boy grabbed the mic and asked Ryan to please recite the Green Lantern oath. Apparently, this has been something Ryan has been refusing to do during interviews, but how could you resist such a sweet little kid? After touting him to be “the cutest thing,” Ryan used his best super hero voice to say the oath. But the best part was when he was done and the camera panned back to the little boy – whose jaw had dropped completely to the floor and was looking at him with this look of complete and total admiration before flashing him his power ring. It was quite possibly the most adorable thing I had ever seen. Don’t believe me? Here, watch it for yourself right here.

Almost immediately after, Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy) sauntered onto the stage and with him brought the most amazing 3 to 5 minute extended trailer for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Guys, I’ve never seen so many grown adults sit up in their seats at attention and watch in total awe. It was incredible and depressing all at once. I’m not embarrassed to say that a few tears streamed down my face and I definitely was not the only one from all the quick wiping gestures and sniffles I saw and heard around me. Just sayin’.  I both cannot wait and am dreading November because it is the beginning of the end and I’m not so sure I can handle another devastating fandom goodbye.

Finally was Sucker Punch, the new movie by legendary director Zack Snyder. This one really confuses me. I don’t know what to think of it. The cast is horrific from Jena Malone (OK, so her acting is alright, I just can’t stand the actress) to Vanessa Hudgens? Really? Then the premise…the girls are in a mental institution but are taught how to transport themselves into an alternate universe through the use of hypnosis as a coping mechanism. Um, what? However, where the plot and cast lack, the visuals excel. I mean, they are flippin’ unreal. I just really wish Snyder would have made a trailer that was easier to follow and enjoy rather than just making it a montage of clusterfuck. While watching in the panel, I had no idea what to look at. It was just one commercial for visual masturbation. But, decide for yourselves – the trailer is here for you to see.

After my run-in with Hall H (thankfully I did not stay for the lovely stabbing), I was off to start getting in line for Ballroom 20, which would house both Fringe and Vampire Diaries panels. We got in after a pretty short wait (an hour or so) and settled in our seats. Fringe was all that it should have been and more. I was only upset that we did not get a new season tease, but we got a pretty fantastic wrap-up. They have to be the most charismatic cast on TV – I have never laughed so much in a panel in the 3 years I have attended Comic Con. They were just fabulous. They played a game in which all audience members that asked them a question had to answer a question themselves from the cast members. It was mostly obscure show trivia that the cast had to make up on the fly, which proved to be hysterical. Of course, none of the fans could get the questions right, which left the cast no choice but to begin using charades, which only made it funnier. As if all this fan interaction wasn’t enough, as the panel ended, the cast happily autographed their name tags and gave them out to lucky fans in the front row! While all of this madness was occurring, I was able to get John Noble’s (Walter Bishop) attention and tell him how much I loved him and his character – adding that he was awesome. John looked straight at me, smiled and said “no you are awesome, we have the best fans. Thank you so much!” What can I say, John? I guess awesome actors just attract awesome people.

With a huge smile on my face, I made my way back to my seat and happily awaited the hottie fest that would be the Vampire Diaries panel. Although I had another round of camera malfunction, I really enjoyed the VD (unfortunate initials) panel. Again, no teaser, but lots and lots of sneaky mentions of what is in store for the new season including the fact that Damon is not going to be a happy camper when he discovers he locked lips with Katharine and not Elena as he had thought, which will happen in the first episode! Ack! And as if watching these cuties on stage wasn’t amazing enough, I had to leave the panel a little early to make my way to the pressroom. Yes, the Vampire Diaries press room. Ladies, be jealous.

Our teams are pretty easy to decipher, huh?

As we were entering the press room, I noticed the cast of Fringe was exiting (only regret of Comic Con was not attending that press room), which made me a little bit of a sourpuss until I was fiddling with my camera and looked up to see Steven McQueen – no, not that McQueen, but his grandson who stars as Elena’s brother, Jeremy Gilbert. He must have elicited a pretty big smile out of me because he gave me an equally big smile back and winked, which I’m pretty sure ruptured my heart. Wicked, wicked boy. Then the rest of the cast started entering and I was like a giddy little school girl. I calmed myself enough to stifle the freaky fangirl (I have to do this a lot) and sat at the round table. We were able to speak with the show’s main writers, who are absolutely lovely, about where this new season was going and I think it’s safe to say we should expect more weres, love triangles and Salvatore flashbacks. We also got some one-on-one time with some of the actors such as Matthew Davis, Steven McQueen (eeeeee), Michael Trevino and the absolutely beautiful Ian Somerhalder. Thing is, I don’t know who was better than the next! They were all such sweethearts and ridiculously funny. Let’s just say I wouldn’t mind spending more time with this cast – they were a total riot and by far my best pressroom while at Comic Con. Maybe a set visit is necessary? Make that happen, people! 😉

And for all those fangirls out there (I know plenty of you read my blog), I just want to say that Ian Somerhalder is as gorgeous as he is sweet. And I am kicking myself for answering $5 (serious wtf moment) instead of A KISS when he asked me what I was charging him for the photo. Seriously? That was just an open invitation and I was a big fat loser and said $5. Hot boys make my brain melt. I guess I just need a do-over. Right, Ian?

Sigh.

So I somehow found the energy (maybe it was hot boy adrenaline) to get gussied up and ready for my birthday celebration at Analog Bar with all my friends – old and new. I had a great time – we ate amazing food (check it out, locals) and listened to some pretty god awful karaoke. However, at a certain point they started breaking out the jams and we all got down and boogied with as much might as our tired bodies would allow us.

The last thing I remember about Saturday was sitting on my friend, Anika’s, blow up bed, giggling and eating Cheez-It’s. Fabulous.

Tomorrow: a Sunday full of exhaustion, shopping, kill rooms, swag and reluctant goodbyes.