April7739

Yep. That’s how it happens. In your heart and in your mind, you’re still there.

a fine mess

Can I also say I know Eliza now? Not like we're besties or anything, but now we have met I feel like I can say I know her.

April7739

Yes, you get to say that now!

I tell people I’m now mentally dating a celebrity who does know I exist.

a fine mess

Yes. She knows I exist. Charlie Cox also knows I exist. We had a good conversation about our school system (he's not from the states so he was curious after knowing I am a teacher).

April7739

They’re always interested to talk to people who are teachers, it seems!

Damocles

Cece your picture is so cute!

girl under the floor

Oh my freaking goodness guys
I had the most amazing weekend

I think this post is mostly really long because I wanted to include a lot of questions that were asked at the panels

I arrived Friday evening, Sonja (and her son + his girlfriend, but to make it easier I'll just say Sonja from now on ) picked me up from the train station.
The program didn't start until Saturday morning, but it was a good thing we were there already, cause late at the evening Bob, Richard and Chris came into the bar for drinks.
We didn't talk to them, cause we wanted to respect their personal/private time, but we sure did hang around a bit longer

We got up sooo early Saturday morning Sonja's alarm went at 6 AM Because we wanted to have breakfast (outside of the hotel) and I still had to register to get my ticket and some more extras

First they had the opening ceremony, which was really a lot of intro vid material and then all of the cast was on stage for like three minutes

Allisa Swanson
Then the first panel off the day was Allisa Swanson.
I gotta honestly tell you, I wasn't really all that interested in that But I didn't have photo ops at that time, so I decided to just stay and listen. And y'all, it was Really Interesting!
Allisa explained that she was actually gonna work costumes on another show (When Call the Heart), but that she was asked to come in for The 100.
And she was like: "You normally don't leave a job, but I arranged replacement for myself and I went to do The 100, because ya know, it's The 100"
She was really doing more of a presentation instead of a panel where she got asked questions, but it was really interesting to hear her explain
how she came about designing the costumes

This con, I thought, was really well organised, whilst the panel was going,
the screen would have messages telling people to go to their photo ops and on which
side of the room you had to be for that. I have no ideas if all cons do that,
I've never been to cons before But I thought it was really neat that they did that,
especially since it included VIPS/gold/silver tickets. So the screen would say: VIP Chelsey
photo OP. And then Gold, Silver and lastly Standard. So you didn't have to stand in line unnecessarily.

picture
At the end of Allisa's panel I had to leave for my Chelsey/Chris duo. I had given this zero thought y'all
I hadn't thought about any poses or cute or funny ideas I wanted for pictures.
I always stand with my arms folded in front of me though. So when I walked up to them and stood there saying I didn't know what to do
and just wanted a nice pic, Chris was like, we can do that. And they both folded their arms,
stood on both sides of me and looked tough. After the picture was taken, Chelsey said:
"See? You came up with a fun idea after all." Well, I didn't, but Chris did, but they were so freaking nice y'all.
This entire cast, I couldn't get over how freaking nice they just were all the time.

Chelsey and Chris panel
After Allisa came the Chelsey and Chris panel.
TBH, after seeing so many fan shot clips / vids on Twitter and such of other cons, I always got the impression that Chris was just not . . . interested?
Not like he was bored! But like he didn't care a lot. But I found him to be very engaging and very present.
Chelsey and Chris really made for a good duo on stage and the panel was great.
I actually made some notes on my phone from the stuff I wanted to remember
Sonja and I wanted to know their favorite Marper scene, so I went up and asked.
Chelsey said the scene where she broke down and told Monty she wasn't gonna leave with him. And he then tells her that he never thought she was a coward up until then.
This was really an important scene to Chelsey because she had struggled with depression a lot in her life and she still goes there.
And she wanted the scene to be right. She loved how it was done. She had suggested she'd lie down whilst saying it and the director just gave
her space to do it. And she said Chris kept asking her what he could do for her in the
cene, how he needed to be to make the scene.
Chris said his favorite scene was the scene in Season one where he's (pretending to be) asleep in the tent where Jasper is too.
And then Harper comes in and says hi and Chris tells Jasper off after she leaves.
Chris was like; "Even as far back as then, there was already the little hint that Monty was interested in Harper."
Someone asked what Chris and Chelsey's advice would be for socially awkward, shy people.
Chris' advice was: "Be okay with being awkward. Embrace that you are and let that be okay. Do what you want to do and make sure you do it for yourself.
And feel confident in that." Chelsey added: "Be okay with what you feel. Let yourself feel it.
If you're happy, feel it. If you're sad, feel it." And then Chris said he loves being sad, which
Chelsey really agreed with. Cause after feeling sad you can only go up.
Someone asked what crimes they had committed to get into jail at the Ark. Chelsey didn't know,
cause it was never explained to her, but she felt it was something like burning an ex-lover's mattress. Something to do with passion-revenge.
Chris said Monty was a drug dealer.
And at the question which costume they would wear if they could wear someone else's costume,
Chelsey answered Octavia and Chris answered Lincoln's baby oil from Season 1 (and joked that Ricky's abs weren't real, so he'd like that to be included in the costume).

Nadia, Jessica & Tasya panel
Sachin was master of ceremonies, so he introduced every panel for us.
After he had introduced the girls, he stuck around though
And he kept cracking jokes and interrupting. And then Nadia told him to leave
She went: "Seriously, Sachin, I love you. But these people came here for our panel and they want to ask us questions. You're being really present,
I'm really wondering - not being mean, seriously wondering - if the people here even want you up the stage."
Sachin joked it off and asked the room: "You all want me to stay right?"
Seriously, the silence that followed was deafening
So he got off stage, but I didn't think he really had anything to do, cause he went to stand in line with the people asking questions
I went up and asked the girls which character that they hadn't interacted with, they would've loved to interact with.
Nadia said Murphy and then went on to question if she even had scenes with him Tasya and Jess said each other.
Someone told Tasya she was a big Anya/Echo shipper and wanted to know what she thought of it. Tasya was utterly shocked that it was even a thing and then said that
Echo/Anya would be like two right hands, too similar, that seeing a relationship between the two of them probably wouldn't work out.
Sachin asked them where they got their fashion inspiration from. TBH I don't care about fashion so I didn't really listen to Jess and Tasya's answers.
But Nadia said 'homeless people' and then she went on to explain that that was about blending in and layers.
She said she started wearing long stuff cause she doesn't want people to see her butt. Not cause there's anything wrong with it,
or she doesn't like it, but she doesn't want focus on it. And that she wears layers so that
she feels she blends in more. And wears hats cause hats make her feel safe.

pictures
I left the panel early for a picture with Sachin.
I just did a boring standing next to him and smile
Then it was time for the Bob pic!
The line was soooo long! Bob definitely got most of the pics done this weekend.
And he was so nice! When I walked up to him, he was asking me how I was doing and if I was enjoying myself.
He apologised for being sweaty and of course I said I didn't care.
Everyone was hugging him and chatting and doing poses. And I was too shy to even ask
for a hug, so just stood next to him awkwardly
After Bob I had the Echo and Murphy photo OPS which were kinda basically the same thing.


Bob, Richard & Sachin panel
These guys were just goofing around with each other so much
Someone asked what advice they would give their own character for.
Bob: "Listen to the advice Clarke gave you (head and heart)."
Richard: "Go to Abby for medication." He meant because he's too crazy for his own good, he should be medicated. Bob suggested therapy instead, but Richard wanted meds.
Saching: "Grow some balls."
Someone asked Bob if his belly button stuff was still 'a thing'. To which he replied: "well, it's a phobia, so it's gonna stay a thing".
Then he said his mom told him as a kid that if you played with your belly button it would open up and your guts fall out


We had a break after that and after that it was time for autographs. I only bought a Richard and Bob autograph
and I was gonna have them sign my Bob & Murphy pictures. But I hated the pictures. I just hated them.
I really didn't want those autographed. With another autograph session coming up the
next day, I decided to not get any now and see how I feel the next day.
Sonja was kind enough to let me tag along with her whilst she was getting her autographs though .
It was really, really crowded and it involved a LOT of waiting. It was scheduled to last until 8, but it ended up ending at 09.
Halfway through I just had to leave and went to our room.
Because of the autograph session running late, the VIP party was late. And then the karaoke party started late too.
Like 1,5 hours late. I got it, but nothing was communicated by the organisation, that was a bit annoying.
You had to sign up beforehand for karaoke, but the sign up was 5 pages long and obviously they didn't have time for all songs.
But they really did a lot of songs that the same people had signed up for.
You got to get up on stage and sing with whomever from the cast was feeling that song at the time.
I didn't get to sing a song. Party was until 1. But it was SO loud, that at 12.30 I really just couldn't handle it anymore and we just went to bed.



Sunday morning we didn't get up that early, cause the program would only really start at around 12.
We took our time with breakfast and checking out and after a night's sleep I still didn't like my pictures
from the day before, so I bought new Bob & Richard photo op tickets.
Their single pics were supposed to start at 12.20. But when I went to the room, I found out they hadn't even started
on any of the photo ops yet (was supposed to start at 10.50, group pics first),
because Bob hadn't shown up yet.
So instead I went to the Chelsey, Tasya and Nadia panel and waited for the screen to tell me to go.
I don't really remember anything from that panel They didn't really tell us anything
new or interesting and the fans didn't really ask interesting stuff either (not that I could think of something).
I think I found this the most boring panel out of all of them. So I wasn't sad I had to leave early for pictures.

pictures
I had my pictures with Bob and Richard.
Sonja had encouraged me to just go for it and ask for a hug.
When I asked Richard he said "I would love to do that!"
When I got to the front of Bob's line, I had to give the PA my ticket.
And she said: "nope, this is a Richard ticket."
Y'all. I died. I had given my Bob ticket to the Richard PA before.
Bob's PA told me to run back (which I did) and thank goodness, Richard's PA still had it.
I asked Bob for a hug too and he was really hot so I didn't want to
hold him too tight, but he really went for it, so I just squeezed him just as hard back


Then was a Richard, Jessica and Saching panel. Sonja and her son were gonna go to the Bob meet and greet, which was at the same time.
But because Bob had been late for the photo OPs that morning, everything that involved him was running late.
And then Sonja's son's girlfriend (fun explanation there ) got a message from Sonja's son that someone
who was waiting was selling their M&G, cause she HAD to leave (to catch her train).
He asked if I wanted it. But I had used my last money for those two new pics that morning.
Then Sonja's son sent a message again that I had to come, cause it was starting soon.
And that Sonja had freaking bought me the M&G ticket
Y'all, I was so blown away and freaking amazed. And a huge thanks you to Sonja.
I cried. I cried more over emotion over the fact that she would do that for me, than the
fact that I was gonna be in a room with Bob for 30 minutes, it didn't sink in yet

Freaking Bob Meet and Greet
Bob immediately said he wanted to go around the table so that everyone got the chance to ask him a question.
Even if it was a stupid one, you HAD to ask one.
I'll just mention the ones I found note-worthy:
Bob's personal feelings about Bellarke. If he was Bellamy's friend and he would have to give him advice,
he would Not advice Bellamy to be with Clarke. Goes for the other way around too.
He said he would Not advice Clarke to be with Bellamy either.

I asked about his favorite Blake moment and he said it was still coming up.
That S5 was gonna be the best work Marie and he did so far.
Speaking of moments that had already passed he mentioned the little things:
Bellamy giving Octavia the blanket, Octavia taking care of him when he was sick from the
Grounder sickness, the little nudge he gave her to go the dance on the Ark.
Someone asked how Bellamy would be if HE had been the Nightblood instead of Clarke and
he was the one who stayed down. He said he would've done a better job with Madi than he
did with Octavia. That being overprotective was not good and that he learned the hard way
and that he was responsible a lot for how Octavia became and the choices she made in live.
I will let Sonja tell y'all what she and her son asked Bob
When everyone had asked their questions Bob started talking about how he gets really hot and
that because of his blood pressure he's not supposed to get too hot. So that yesterday
during his photo OP, all he wanted to do was run out, because he was panicking.
If he hadn't said it, I never would've known, he still seemed so chill and relaxed :O
After someone asked, he also said that fans coming up to him in the hotel, on the street,
at a restaurant stuff like that is totally fine, okay and fun. But fans waiting for him at the
airport is creepy and stalking and they shouldn't do that.
I was kinda sad he didn't say goodbye to everyone individually when he left, but his PA for the
weekend did take a group pic she said she would post later, so if she does, I'll post it


We caught the last bit of the Richard, Jessica and Sachin panel and it was kinda funny cause someone
asked about

Bob & Chris panel
I did NOT expect to enjoy this panel SO much.
To me, this was the panel to be here for this weekend.
I thought Chris was very present and engaging with Chelsey, but she still overshadowed
him a bit during their panel. Bob did not overshadow Chris At All.
Chris was so amazing during this panel I mean, just simply the way he spoke and was engaging.
Someone asked if there had been moments in the script where they were like "WTF, I'm not doing that."
Bob said for him there was a first draft after his Riley speech. When he's left with Echo.
He originally had to kick her in the face and then spit on her. With a line in the likes off
"this was the last time you tied me up." Bob said it didn't make sense and that he asked for that to be changed.
I asked them what from their own heritage they would've loved to bring into the show.
Bob mentioned some weapons. Like a traditional pair of weapons. He had actually
trained with the stunt coordinator with those weapons, but they never got on the show.
Chris was making jokes and said Korean food.
Someone asked what their wish for their character for season 5 was.
Bob said having Bellamy drive a motor bike.
Chris said having just one line with Abby. Cause he didn't have that yet.
What would they change about their characters? Bob: absolutely nothing. Chris: bring back AND kill mom Again.
Someone asked what would've happened if Octavia hadn't returned for the conclave.
Bob said SkaiKru would've been screwed and he was really certain that Bellamy would NOT have been the
one fighting for Skaikru in that case. The fan asked who then and Bob & Chris didn't know.
She suggested Clarke and that just made them burst out in laughter. Then Chris said he thinks Skaikru would send Murphy in.
Someone asked what would happen if Bellamy and/or Monty would run the bunker instead of Octavia.
Bob immediately spoke about how Bellamy & Clarke would run the bunker. That they would be
a good team, even each other out and be a good team. I just loved that he automatically included Clarke.
Chris said that under Monty it would just all fall apart cause Monty's too giving and kind.
Favorite Scene they had together.
Bob: when Monty let the Ice Nation prisoners kill that guy, cause it was so intense.
Chris: the scene in the woods where Bellamy was injured but wanted to go after Clarke.


After that was the Cosplay Contest, which was really great! People weren't just dressed up, but for this contest they were reenacting entire scenes. It was hilarious, perfect and just great.
Time for the second autograph session. I had picked up my pictures and I just LOVE both. Especially the Bob picture.
I think it's the best picture from the entire weekend. I love it, I adore it, it's a freaking great picture.
Bob and Richard both wrote something on my pictures for me, Richard was sad for me that
the Murphy one hadn't turned out well, so he wrote "This is a good sequel"

And then we had to leave
Everything was running so late that we didn't get to go to the closing panel, cause I needed to catch my train



Random stuff:
April: we mentioned you to Bob, he said :"Oh the teacher! She was very nice!"
Sachin and Tasya were making out A LOT.
They were all so freaking nice At every photo op or autograph, they would really
take a minute or two with every fan. All of them were thanking us all the time after taking pictures and stuff. I'm still a bit starstruck but mostly blown away by how nice they all were
Even now I'm thinking of a lot more I want to say, cause it was so amazing, but it's bed time now
I had an amazing time. Sonja is amazeballs! I can't wait to meet her again.

crash landing

HAHA so Bob WAS hungover additionally on Saturday from Friday - than Saturday night happened HOW do they drink so much?

Huggles with the boys - if I ever do cons - that's my plan, bear hugs

I'll read fully tomorrow

Well I know Sachin kissed Bob don't know who Sachin is [recent cast member] but seems he was kissing everybody

I reading that - Bob and his up|about - having fans ask a question no matter what he sounds so precious I want to meet him

Remarkable he was so open about sounding like getting too hot like panic attacks or anxiety - been finding more and more actors lately [Colton Haynes and Emily from Arrow] have been having mental conditions or at least more open about it

So glad that Bob is generally ok with most fan experiences but creepy is just creepy sometimes

April7739

Paula, I absolutely LOVED reading that! I’m so glad you had such a great time and that you and Sonja were able to do this. And oh my god, Sonja getting you that meet and greet is so nice! Interesting that the Bob/Chris panel was the best one in your opinion, too! That did look good from what I saw!

What would you say was the absolute highlight of your experience?

Will you post pics? I’d love to see them.

And yes, I agree, the cast is just so nice. So nice and easygoing and down to earth. They really put you at ease and are so friendly.

And . . . AHHHHHH! He remembers that I’m a teacher and said I was nice! Makes my day!

BlueDog9

Sounds like your con experience was awesome Paula. Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for sharing it with us.

April7739

Can’t wait to hear from Sonja about it, too!

We are starting to have some good Con luck here on FF! I hope it continues!

kiss the wind

Paula, thanks for your recap. I wasn't able to read it in full (yet), but from what I skimmed, it seems like it was a great experience. I'll read the full thing later.

My hope is that someone creates a convention like Conageddon for the west coast bc I really don't know if I can afford to fly all the way to Boston, sadly. I'd say Congeda in LA, but that's coming up sooner than I can plan for.

April7739

Lindsey is going to be at Congeda, though, Amelia. Do you think there is any chance you could go meet her? I know you’d love to.

I think Conaggedon will likely be in Boston again next year.

crash landing

Conageddon? newer Con cause never heard of it but I'm also bad when it comes to cons - SDCC|Paley and UpFronts are my knowledge well besides Fanexpo and Stephen's Heroes Villains

April7739

Conaggedon literally came out of nowhere, was super sketchy, and then ended up being super awesome, and if Bob goes back, I’m going back next year without a doubt.

Oh, Paula, I forgot to comment that it’s great that Dystopia had a display showing what photo ops were going on during the panels so you knew if you had to get up and go do yours. I think Conaggedon could have used that (and will need that if more people go next year).

Also, I saw a pic of the line for Bob photos. I’m sure he was in high demand.