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I would love to come to your gatherings if you do one.
The Gargoyles Universe, Fandom, and Show is just so chill, nice, and very welcoming.
in 2019 I shall be praying to go and be at your Gargoyles Gathering.
I'm afraid the last true Gathering of the Gargoyles was in 2009. We had a reunion for the series 20th anniversary at CONvergence in 2014. I tried to convince a convention to host another reunion for the series' 25th anniversary this year, but I found no takers. :(
Hi Greg.
Been a long while since I've asked you anything here. I hope things are well with you. Sounds like you're busy these days and I'm glad to hear it.
I'm writing to ask you about Gargoyles. It's crazy to think that the property is approaching its 25th year. And very cool to think that "in-universe" Artus and other gargoyles around the world are less than a year away from hatching!
But what I'm writing about is the future of Gargoyles on television, in comics, novels, etc. It feels like the last few years have been very quiet for Gargoyles. The last Gathering is nearly a decade behind us. We've had no new material in even longer. Revisions on GargWiki only trickle in these days. Gargoyles fan sites are steadily being abandoned or dying. Even Ask Greg is far more of a Young Justice site these days. The Comment Room is pretty quiet, a shadow of what it was when I first discovered it over 17 years ago. And we fans are slowly growing older. And with all of these disheartening facts, I'm beginning to lose hope in new Gargoyles material from here on out.
It's hard for me to even admit that. I can remember getting very fired up and launching into pep talks when others would express similar thoughts over the years. Maybe I'm writing this in hopes of getting a pep talk myself. I don't know. Really, I just want to know what your thoughts on the future of Gargoyles is. Good or bad, I'd just like to hear it from the man himself.
Let me be clear: I'm not asking if you've given up on the property. I know that you have never failed to look for an outlet to tell your stories and I know that if you were given a chance you'd happily tell those stories in any medium. I'm just curious about your personal and professional opinion on any future Gargoyles products.
I will always be a fan. I will always love the stories you've told us. I will always have some hope that more stories will be told and I'll be quick to support the property if/when that happens. I'm just feeling like Gargoyles is all in the past. Honestly, am I right? Or am I just being dramatic? And if Gargoyles does have a chance in the future, what can we do to help it along after all these years?
Thanks, Greg. You rock. Thanks for everything!
Hey Matt,
You're just being dramatic. Which doesn't mean you aren't also right. Which doesn't mean there isn't hope. Confused yet?
Here's a hard truth: Disney bought Marvel and Lucasfilm. Why take a chance on a 25-year-old action property that (to their mind) has an aging/shrinking fanbase when you can exploit sure things like Star Wars and Spider-Man?
That's the big hump right now.
In addition, comic book publishing of Disney's licensed properties has been in disarray. As I'm sure you've noticed, we made some progress with Joe Books... and then it all fell apart. We're now waiting for Joe's license to lapse and are hopeful -actually hopeful - that we can make new comics happen with a new publisher. [Name of new publisher being withheld for now until a deal is made.]
So, no, of course I haven't given up. Gargoyles is my baby, and I'll never give up on it. I hope the fans won't either, but I understand there isn't much new to talk about these days, so it's natural that interest wanes. But I hope if and when there is something new to talk about, the fans will help me launch a campaign to get that new stuff noticed.
I truly believe that our best bet right now is, in fact, comic books. I can tell original canon stories (with little or no interference), and then we can use the comics to demonstrate that the property is still viable, just as we used Netflix to prove that Young Justice was still viable.
I'm also hopeful that once Disney has its own version of Netflix up and running in 2019 (just in time for our 25th Anniversary), that they'll put Gargoyles up there for streaming. Then we can begin a #KeepBingingGargoyles campaign, and who knows what might happen?!
Meanwhile, though it's true we haven't had an official Gathering since 2009, we did have a Gargoyles-convention-within-a-convention that was VERY successful at CONvergence in 2014 in Minneapolis, honoring the show's 20th anniversary. We did all the old Gathering stuff: showed the videos, multiple panels on the subject (including the biology/cultural panel), an original Gargoyles Radio Play, and we had Marina Sirtis, Frank Paur & Greg Guler there, as well. Many old Gargoyles fans showed up, and we had a blast. http://www.convergence-con.org/about/archive/2014-convention/
I'll be back at CONvergence in July of 2018, and although it won't be a full-on Gargoyles convention-within-a-convention again, we will do a Radio Play, and I always do at least one Gargoyles panel.
Plus, I've been talking with a venue to do another Garg-con-within-a-con to celebrate our 25th anniversary in 2019. I'll keep you posted here, but you should think about attending. It'll get the juices flowing.
So, no, don't despair. I'm always pretty upfront about the likelihood of anything happening, and right now it's a bit slim. But down the road, I still see a lot of potential. Stick with us!
Are there still gargoyles fan gatherings? And how do I get involved in it. I know it been along time, and it come out when I was born ., so I never got to be apart of any of it
I'm sorry. The last official Gathering of the Gargoyles was in 2009. Though in 2014 at CONvergence we had a reunion of sorts. Hoping to do something similar in 2019 for the 25th anniversary of the show. Keep an eye on ASK GREG. If we put something together, I'll announce it here.
Convergence 2016
I've seen other con journals in the past, so I thought I could take the time to write my own. This summarizes my experience at Convergence 2016 and meeting Greg Weisman, Christopher Jones and Khary Payton.
June 30th
I caught a 6am flight from Oklahoma, changed planes in St. Louis and arrived in Minneapolis around 1pm. I unfortunately missed the "Why Gargoyles is Still Relevant" panel, but my plane ticket and hotel had been reserved months beforehand, so that's life…
My friend picked me up from the airport and we had lunch and checked into the hotel. I made my way to the con and got my bearings. I attended one panel and then attended the opening ceremony. It was so funny. The emcee was Paul Cornell, a novelist/comic book writer/screenwriter. The mascots of the ceremony were Connie the Convergence Robot and Connie Mark II, her evil younger sister. You had to be there, but there was something enduring and hilarious about the way Connie Mark II kept calling Paul by his last name, "Corrnnneelllll." The guests of honor were also introduced, Greg Weisman and Christopher Jones being among them. Khary Payton hadn't arrived yet, but they played a pre-recorded message of him.
After the ceremony, there was the Fancy Bastard Pie Competition. It was my chance to finally meet Greg. Greg arrived and stood behind a table and sampled the pies. He was very thorough and made his decision. The prize was that he would give someone an exclusive spoiler. Wish I had contributed a pie…. I waited around and I finally got to meet Greg, which was awesome. I also got some pie as well.
July 1st
For Greg to come to Convergence, there was a crowdfunder on Genorosity and those who contributed were rewarded with prizes. In my case, I contributed enough to have breakfast with Greg and Christopher Jones. The breakfast was nice. I got to chat with two men I admire and they were gracious enough to sign my stuff and take a picture with me. Towards the end of breakfast Greg had to take a call and Paul Cornell walked up and asked if he could join us for breakfast. Chris told him regretfully that we had just asked for the checks. Oh drat, if Paul had come just a little earlier, I could have had a bonus breakfast mate.
I went to the Mall of America with my Minnesota friend (I'm such a tourist!) and returned in the early afternoon to attend several panels. A panel on teenage superheroes with Greg, Chris and Khary was the highlight. After the panel, I was able to get Khary to confirm that he was on General Hospital as Dr. Terrell Jackson. He seemed to be flattered I knew that. Several other panels later, I returned to the hotel.
July 2nd
Saturday was a long day. I arrived at the Double Tree Hotel area around 8:30am and didn't go home till about 1am that night. The day pretty much consisted of attending panels and being a Greg-head.
I attended "Building Worlds for Fiction" panel with Greg as one of the panelists. Then I attended "Why We Need Representation in Superheroes" with Greg, Chris and Khary as panelists. Then the Radio Play, "The Cosmos" with Greg, Chris and Khary as actors along with 20 other fans who had auditioned. The play was the thing. It totally pandered to Greg's fans and was so funny. A rich, rewarding experience.
Later I attended a panel "Superficially Strong Female Characters" with Greg as one of the panelists. Then I attended a one on one with Christopher Jones and Greg Weisman, with Greg interviewing Chris about his career. Something I noticed that Greg and Chris have in common is that they were good at anticipating things when they wanted to break into the comics business. After seeing a Marvel talent search, Greg prepared a packet for DC, knowing that they would have a similar talent search and was one of the first ones to apply. In Chris' case, he knew that when The Batman and Young Justice premiered, there would undoubtedly be a tie-in comic and threw his hat into the ring early on.
Late, at 11:30, I attended the "Animation Blue" panel, with Greg, Chris and Khary as panelists. It was based on the Gargoyles Blue Mug which I have read about where the panelists and audience get into the sex lives of cartoon characters. It was interesting.
July 3rd
I got up and attended a "Young Justice" panel with Greg, Chris and Khary as the panelists. Then I went to a signing that Greg, Chris and Khary were having. I left the con with many signed art prints of Chris Jones. I bought a Young Justice script and Spirits of Ash and Foam from Greg. I also got a signed picture of Aqualad from Khary. Then I decided it was time to get back to my hotel and get to the airport. It was sad that I had to miss Greg's Rain of the Ghosts panel, a one on one panel in which Greg would have been interviewed about his career, and the closing ceremonies.
This was my first real vacation in over two years and it was a blast. Convergence was such a nice event, emphasizing the stereotype of "Minnesota nice." Most of the people at the con seemed to be local fans. Many were surprised that I had come all the way from Oklahoma. It was as if I had journeyed halfway around the world for them. Although I mainly attended because of Greg, Chris, and Khary, I got the chance to encounter many other talented and intelligent individuals, such as Paul Cornell, Ytasha Womack, Max Gladstone, Mark Oshiro, "Duck" Washington and many more. I definitely want to come back to Convergence and make it a yearly vacation if possible.
I'm glad you have fun. CONvergence is pretty much my favorite convention. I always have a blast there. Love the people. Do a lot of panels. It's great!
It was also great meeting you! Hope to see you again sometime soon.
Good afternoon. My name is Brian Josephs and I'm a reporter working for VICE. I hope this message finds you in good spirits.
I'm writing you because I'm working on an article examining the furry community. A historian told me that Gargoyles has been a point of interest, and the 2014 CONvergence convention honored the 20th anniversary of the show by featuring a panel.
Are you available briefly for a phone conversation tomorrow about the experience? If so, please shoot me an email at brian.josephs@vice.com. Thanks and hope to hear from you soon.
Hey Brian,
You posted this in March, so I'm assuming that I'm getting to it a bit too late to be of any use. And though I welcome fandom of any fur, I must admit I don't know much about the furry community. CONvergence, for example, is not a specifically furry con. Though I'm sure some furries attend.
If you're still interested in talking with me, shoot me a tweet at @Greg_Weisman, and we'll go from there.
I leave tomorrow for CONvergence 2016 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Okay, really Bloomington, MN, but close enough.) CONvergence is one of my favorite cons. And I have the honor of being their first fan-funded guest. Here's my schedule for the long weekend:
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 29, 2016
GUEST RECEPTION 07:00pm - 09:00pm
Atrium 4
THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2016
"Why Gargoyles is Still Relevant" 12:30pm - 01:30pm
Atrium 6 w/Christopher Jones, Patrick Fisher, Alana Profit, Chandra Reyer.
RADIO PLAY AUDITIONS 02:00pm - 03:00pm
Plaza 3 w/Christopher Jones.
"Physics of Time Travel" 03:30pm - 04:30pm
Edina w/Renate Fiora (m), Dan Berliner, Melanie Galloway, Jim Kakalios.
"Fancy Bastard Pie Competition" 08:30pm - 09:30pm
Garden Court - Southwest w/GPS.
FRIDAY, JULY 01, 2016
SIGNING 11:00am - 12:00pm
Autograph Table B.
RADIO PLAY AUDITIONS 12:30pm - 01:30pm
Plaza 3 w/Christopher Jones, Khary Payton.
"Writing by Ear" 02:00pm - 03:00pm
Bloomington w/Patrick Marsh (m), Emma Bull, Aimee Kuzenski, Jim McDoniel.
"Don't Call Them Sidekicks: The Enduring Power of Teenage Superheroes" 03:30pm - 04:30pm
Bloomington w/ Christopher Jones, Jessa Markert, Khary Payton, Sylus Rademacher.
"Drawing with the Masters" 07:00pm - 08:00pm
Plaza 2 w/Christopher Jones, Ruth Thompson.
"Why Diversity Needs to be Deeper than Marketing" 08:30pm - 09:30pm
Edina w/ Trisha Lynn (m), Kate Norlander, Jonathan Palmer, Dirk Ykema.
"Xanadu Cinema Pleasure Dome Live Podcast" 10:00pm - 11:00pm
Edina w/Windy Bowlsby, Melissa Kaercher.
SATURDAY, JULY 02, 2016
"Building Worlds for Fiction" 09:30am - 10:30am
Plaza 1 w/Michael Carus (m), J.M. Lee, Melissa Olson, Lynne M. Thomas.
"Why We Need Representation in Superheroes" 11:00am - 12:00pm
Edina w/ Christopher Jones, Bri Lopez Donovan, Khary Payton, Lynne M. Thomas.
RADIO PLAY REHEARSAL 12:30pm - 01:30pm
Atrium 6 w/ Christopher Jones, Jim Kakalios, Khary Payton and a cast of tens.
RADIO PLAY PERFORMANCE 02:00pm - 03:00pm
Atrium 6 w/ Christopher Jones, Jim Kakalios, Khary Payton and a cast of tens.
"Superficially Strong Female Characters" 05:00pm - 06:00pm
Edina w/ Crystal Huff (m), Kathryn Sullivan, Chrysoula Tzavelas, Joan Marie Verba.
"One on One with Christopher Jones" 07:00pm - 08:00pm
Edina (m) w/Christopher Jones.
ANIMATION BLUE 07:00pm - 08:00pm
Atrium 6 w/Christopher Jones, Lyda Morehouse, Khary Payton, Jenna Powers, Edmund Tsabard.
SUNDAY, JULY 03, 2016
YOUNG JUSTICE 09:30am - 10:30am
Atrium 6 w/Christopher Jones, Khary Payton.
SIGNING 11:00am - 12:00pm
Autograph Table B.
RAIN OF THE GHOSTS 12:30pm - 01:30pm
Edina.
READING 02:00pm - 03:00pm
Rm 2201.
ONE ON ONE 07:00pm - 08:00pm
Atrium 6 w/Melissa Kaercher.
Greg---I LOVED Gargoyles like you have NO idea.
I was in my late 20's when this was out, and watched it religiously like a little kid. Somehow though, when it switched networks, I think I missed (and still haven't seen) the last season "The Gargoyle Chronicles."
What I would like to know is, when is your next convention appearance? Do you still do signings?
I have many convention appearances still remaining this year (2016), and I do signings at all of them:
June 17 - 19: Wizard World Sacramento Comic Con (http://wizardworld.com/comiccon/sacramento)
June 30 - July 3: CONvergence in Minneapolis (http://www.convergence-con.org)
August 18 - 21: Wizard World Chicago Comic Con (http://wizardworld.com/comiccon/chicago)
August 26 - 28: Comic Con Palm Springs (http://www.comicconpalmsprings.com)
September 17 - 18: Long Beach Comic Con (http://longbeachcomiccon.com)
October 21 - 23: Grand Rapids Comic-Con (http://www.grcomiccon.com)
November 4: BlizzCon (https://blizzcon.com/en-us/)
That's seven convention appearances left this year, after having already done Gallifrey-One, Long Beach Comic Expo and Midwest Media Expo.
Wait! Ten conventions total?! What, am I nuts?!!
I've read the synopsis of the radio play crossover you made for "Gargoyles", "The Spectacular Spider-Man", and "Young Justice" (it'd be neat if you could put up the script for it at "Ask Greg" as you did for "Religious Studies 101", and noted that, near the end, you had Batman asking Goliath to join the Justice League. Now, the obvious reason why you had Batman be the one approaching Goliath was for the joke about Xanatos trying to get both Batman and Iron Man to join his club for rich guys with fancy equipment. But I remember how, back when you were making "Gargoyles", you were concerned that people might see it as a rip-off of "Batman: TAS" (to the point where you even drew up a list of differences between the two series); did you choose Batman for that role as a sort of callback to that?
Not consciously.
I can't believe it's been 20 years since Gargoyles have aired on television! Hard to believe! Thanks for the great memories and storytelling, Mr. Weisman! I want to know if there is going to be a Gathering of the Gargoyles for this year? I never knew that has been one in Los Angeles in the past.
No, sadly, the Gathering of the Gargoyles is a thing of the past. We did have a kind of Gathering Reunion (with new fans always welcome) at CONvergence 2014. And we'd like to do that sort of thing again sometime. Maybe for the 25th anniversary in 2019. Can't say what city it will be in. (The Gathering was in many different cities over the years.) But we'll be back somewhere someday in one form or another.
CONVERGENCE 2014 CON REPORT
DAY 5 AND DAY 6
……………
SUNDAY, JULY 6
11:00 AM CDT
A few things happened in this hour, all of which I tried to get done as quickly as possible to make it in time for most of Greg's first panel of the day: "Protofeminists in Shakespeare."
The main thing was picking up my one successful acquisition from the charity auction: a coffee cup that Chris Jones had used at CONvergence 2013, with the caption…well, I'll just let the image speak for itself:
https://twitter.com/ChrisJonesArt/status/485468921923788800
I had, naturally, bid on the thing as a lark - more or less solely for the reason of being able to say I did. But apparently nobody else at the con shared my particular sens d'humour, because I was the only one who bid. So while I lost out on all the posters and plushies and whatnot that I actually WANTED…Chris Jones' residual DNA was mine.
Which should make the reason for my hurrying clear, I think. Because Chris was doing his final signing of the weekend right at that moment…and if I was gonna be known as the guy who paid $5 for his coffee cup, then I figured I might as well MILK it.
So in addition to getting my "Recruits" print signed, I asked Chris to go ahead and personalize the cup; perhaps, with something that'd commemorate just how crazy I was to pay ANY amount of money for a used coffee cup.
And that is how the cup signed to "Krazy Kevin" that can be seen in the Flickr photos I linked in my first post came to be.
Anyway, with all that out of the way and my farewells said to Chris, I headed back into the Edina room for the aforementioned panel. I'd caught the first ten minutes or so while I was waiting for Chris' line to shorten, and overall I managed not to miss more than about 5-6 minutes, thankfully.
The conversation itself was really quite fascinating - an intelligent, scintillating discussion on some of my favorite of the Bard's plays and characters. It reminded me of being back in college, actually…y'know, in a good way.
This was also where I first learned, through Greg's discussion of the strong women in Will's life and the influence that might've had in how he wrote female characters, what the premise of "Doc Shakespeare" would've been. I'd heard the name bandied about on Ask Greg for years, but I never knew what it was ABOUT.
But now I do. And I want it to exist so very badly. Damn you, Greg Weisman.
I asked one question myself, though as it was at the tail-end of the panel there wasn't much time to really go into depth with it. My question was whether the backlash that "The Merchant of Venice" receives - rightfully - in the modern day over issues of race diminishes Portia's status as a "protofeminist" character (seriously, she spends pretty much the entirety of the final act making everyone else in the play her bitch). The answer Greg gave was that being a feminist character is not mutually exclusive with being a terrible person…and considering he's written for Demona, Nerissa, and Queen Bee, he certainly can say he knows what he's talking about.
A fun discussion, overall, that gave me a lot to think about - something that's been increasingly rare for me since I graduated last May, unfortunately.
……………
SUNDAY, JULY 6
12:30 PM CDT
The last of the numerous, numerous events dedicated to Gargoyles that weekend was this "Gargoyles Fan Panel," composed of a mix of creators, long-time fans, and newer ones.
This one felt a lot more like the Harry Potter "panel" that'd started my weekend than anything else: an intensely, unabashedly geeky outpouring of gushing about how awesome the show was and still is, except with Greg Weisman happening to also be there.
I mean, Jennifer and Karine were up on the panel as well, but it was clearly in more of the capacity of "promoted fans" than as industry professionals. As Karine's epic Hunter cosplay made evident. :)
Favorite moments, episodes, characters; moments that made us laugh, and moments that made us cry; two decades' worth of stories of people discovering, falling in love with, and continuing to enjoy the series, even years after the last piece of canon material was published. All of it was shared, compared, and squeed upon in short order, in a space that felt perfectly safe to fans of all stripes.
Nothing new really came up, but it didn't have to. After a full weekend of bombshells and revelations, it felt good to kick back with the rest of the fandom and just CELEBRATE this show that has meant so much to all of us.
It's been a fantastic 20 years. And this mini-gathering was a great way to welcome many more to come.
……………
SUNDAY, JULY 6
2:00 PM CDT
This was the last space open for walking around that was really available before the end of the con, and I took advantage of it for one final walk around Artist's Alley and the Dealer's Room. And for the first time since Thursday, I did indeed find some art I felt was worth spending my money on: a couple of prints based on Vinyl Scratch from "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic," and a collage of various villains from the same.
Heading back upstairs, I wandered over for the final Gargoyles-themed signing to make my last rounds. Ironically, despite getting over a dozen items signed across the course of the con by him, I had nothing left for Greg Weisman (indeed, all I ended up getting at that time were Greg Guler's and Frank Paur's autographs to complete my radio play script).
But I said goodbye to all of them, and wished them well on their flights back home. Though ironically, it actually WOULDN'T end up being my last time speaking with one of them that weekend (but I'll leave that little nugget until the end).
Anyway, most of the rest of this time was spent waiting in line for the next panel, as it was taking place on the Main Stage and we wanted to be sure to grab good seats. Which we definitely did.
I spent most of it chatting with Brainiac, Chip, and Bookwyrm on numerous topics, from Yu-Gi-Oh! to classic video games to various anime.
But eventually, it was time for one last chance to grill the Wise Man for details. And oh, did we take advantage it.
……………
SUNDAY, JULY 6
3:30 PM CDT
This was the last actual "panel" of the day, but was certainly a great one to go out on: "Young Justice Q&A," with Greg, Chris, and Marina.
There were lots of details big and small dropped here, though there were just as many spoiler requests denied with the now memetic line. This naturally came full-circle when someone asked if Stephanie Brown would be showing up again; I mean c'mon, dude, what'd you EXPECT in response to that question? ;)
Of course, I got largely the same response when asking about the circumstances of Ocean-Master's disgrace, banking - obviously unsuccessfully - that he might be willing to share more about events that occurred during the timeskip by this point.
Still, he did at least share one little tidbit: that the reason Orm never got an episode to himself to be the Big Bad was because the "Under the Surface…Here There Be Monsters" two-parter from the tie-in comics was originally meant to be the A-plot of "Downtime," but the executives nixed it for some reason.
It worked out well enough, since subbing in Black Manta allowed them to build on that appearance in Season 2. But I still would've loved to hear Roger Craig Smith belting out Ocean-Master's great lines from those issues, which remain my favorite story from the comics run.
Other "SPOILER REQUEST; NO COMMENT" earners included Shining Knight (considering that one version in the original comics was married to Firebrand, AKA Red Inferno) and the aforementioned Steph. After a few of these, Chris was quick to re-term the panel "Young Justice Q, no A."
All kidding aside, though, there were a number of interesting details presented. When asked about the process of selecting the members of the Light, for example, Greg noted that he was tired of villain team-ups that essentially "defeated themselves" through infighting. As such, he wanted the Light's leaders to be characters whose temperaments would allow them to genuinely collude and work together toward a singular vision, without the constant mistrust and backstabbing previous comics/adaptations have taught us to expect.
Well…maybe except Klarion. But he can at least be kept in line with shiny new toys, LOL.
Speaking of Klarion, Greg also mentioned - in response to a very nice cosplayer of the Witch-Boy, stuffed Teekl included - that the reason he chose Klarion as a member of the Light was because he felt the main villains of "Young" Justice really should be composed of at least one kid (in appearance and disposition, if not literally.
Greg also dropped the bomb that he'd slipped a rather major YJ spoiler into the radio play, which he was EXTREMELY surprised nobody had asked him about to that point. Cue us all jumping to our scripts and flipping through without success…proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that I am selectively blind.
It wasn't until a few days after I'd returned home and reread the script that it became insanely, excruciatingly obvious; the spoiler was clearly in Tigress' line, "I left Roy at home alone watching Lian and J.W." Which I'd noted as a little odd every single time I read it, and then somehow promptly forgot about (several times in a row!) in the midst of all the action.
Not that it would've helped me much, of course, had I figured it out while I was still there. Because if my theory about the identity of "J.W." is accurate, then there is NO WAY IN HELL Greg would ever comment one way or the other on it.
At least, not without some serious pie-making skillz that I, unfortunately, sorely lack. ;)
Marina was (as always) an enormous hoot at this panel, butting into various topics to note that we were "the quietest and best behaved" audience of fans she'd ever seen…as well as that we tended to ask much more intelligent questions than she is used to. As she put it:
"If I get asked 'What's it like to work with Sir Patrick?' one more time…"
She also mentioned, when asked about her thought process in approaching the character of Queen Bee, that when she was initially cast she looked up the wrong reference image and actually thought she'd be playing a…well, a bee-person. So she asked during recording whether they wanted her to add a buzzing sound to her voice. XD
And finally, at one point she ended up going off on a random tangent involving comparing David Xanatos to Donald Trump (context has long since eluded me, though it didn't take much for Marina to go off-topic in the most delightful way). Greg took mock-offense to that, and she quickly noted:
"Of course not. Xanatos is much smarter. And he has better hair."
Since the topic we'd started at was the Light, I then couldn't help but shout from the crowd:
"SO DOES LEX LUTHOR!"
That got a lot of laughs. It was definitely one of my favorite exchanges of the con, and a great way to move toward finally wrapping it up.
……………
SUNDAY, JULY 6
5:00 PM CDT
This was it. The final hurrah. One last celebration of everything this weekend had meant to us, with a chance for the "actors" to take their bows before the "curtains" came down.
After we filtered out of the Main Stage, Chip and his brothers elected to return to the hotel room, while Brainiac and I got back in line to await the Closing Ceremonies.
There really wasn't any more reason to walk around - the artists and dealers were packing up, the panels were over and done with, and we'd run all the errands we needed to (such as grabbing a couple items we'd picked up for Station 8's Algernon, who lives in Ireland and as such couldn't be with us that weekend). So we mostly just stood around and continued to chatter on about video games.
Brainiac was the only one of us who'd attended the Opening Ceremonies (I was busy watching Madoka at the time), so he had a bit more of an idea what to expect than I did.
The festivities started with a sort of elaborate skit involving superheroes, hobbits, and Time Lords…little of which I understood, and almost none of which I found particularly interesting. But there were some good lines here and there, and I certainly didn't begrudge the con's organizers the chance to take a victory lap and enjoy the fruits of their hard work.
The guests would each be individually presented and celebrated at a later point, but as Marina had to catch an early flight she came on shortly after the skit to say her goodbyes. And to my surprise, after seeing her in all her frankness and bluntness (meant only in the best possible way, I assure you!) all throughout that weekend, she was…overwhelmed.
With not even the slightest trace of snark, she thanked us from the bottom of her heart for making her feel so welcome. And she made it clear that, while she wouldn't have considered coming to CONvergence without Greg recommending it, she was extremely glad that she did.
Okay…so there was a LITTLE snark. Namely that when saying goodbye to Connie, she actually started to tear up, and blamed our favorite robotic mascot for making her makeup run. But it was all in good humor, and I won't lie - it warmed my own heart to see it unfold.
Speaking of Connie, I really came to fall in love with that cute little gynoid as the Ceremonies unfolded, as she interrupted the ongoing presentation repeatedly to complain about traffic laws and the DMV; it WAS her Sweet Sixteen, after all. Her material was pretty much all pure gold, and it made me kind of regret not attending Opening Ceremonies, if only to see what she might've come up with.
Anyway, while every Guest of Honor got thanked and applauded by name - complete with Chris Jones-created logos for each one - Greg's was a bit more…involved.
One of the con organizers mentioned that Greg had shattered their record for total numbers of panels sat at a single con, with a whopping 26! A clearly exhausted but excited Greg then took the stage to give a great speech about how grateful he was that CONvergence had so graciously opened itself up to the Gargoyles fandom for our little "con within a con"…going so far as to say that, with the Gatherings retired for the foreseeable future, CONvergence was without question his favorite con to attend.
Then, in what can only be described as a grand exercise in good-natured humiliation, said organizer had Greg play a very weird game to guess the total attendance number for the weekend. Various people were holding up signs with various digits, and Greg had to determine which four to use and what order to put them in.
Obviously, the odds were pretty strongly against him getting it with only one shot, and indeed he did not. But it was certainly entertaining - if more than a little bit strange - to watch him make his best attempt.
And for the most part, that was it. There was lots more applause, both for the guests and for the numerous, wonderful volunteers. There were slide shows and videos from the con, including both the rather unfortunate picture of "the role of Lexington will henceforth be played by PILLAR" and the much nicer one of me "on stage" with Marina. There was more Connie, interviewing various congoers in her uniquely cheerful style.
And finally, there was the announcement of CONvergence 2015's theme, which will apparently be run by Connie's totally trustworthy "little sister" Connie Mk. II on account of good behavior. The maniacal laughter and crowd-chanting of "All hail Mk. II!" that followed were only mildly disconcerting.
I haven't yet made up my mind about whether I'm going to try to attend again; I had an unbelievably amazing time, and 2015's "dystopia" theme is right up my alley ("1984" is my favorite book of all time). But scrounging the money for even this year was difficult enough, so I'm not counting anything as a guarantee yet.
Still…I'm thinking about it. And that definitely means they did SOMETHING right.
……………
SUNDAY, JULY 6
6:00 PM CDT
We were informed during Closing Ceremonies that free pizza would be coming shortly, so Brainiac elected to stick around and wait for that. I, on the other hand, was absolutely starving after four days of eating basically only one meal of substance each, and so decided to return to TGI Friday's and splurge a bit.
This was a mistake.
I'll spare the gory details and just say that I had a wonderful ribeye steak that just so happened to give me severe food poisoning, which took me nearly two weeks to fully recover from.
Not that I realized it at the time, of course. After my dinner, I returned to the con to meet up with the rest of the gang - Chip and Dragonlord having returned due to the promise of pizza. We had a last round of chatting with other congoers and saying goodbye to the Doubletree as we waited, before finally driving back to spend our final evening together.
With all the action over with, we occupied ourselves with more Yu-Gi-Oh!, a few rounds of "Super Smash Bros. Brawl" (all of which I won handily, suck it Brainiac), and general geeking out about our various hauls.
Those still hungry ended up ordering in calzones for delivery, while I headed to the Crowne Plaza's business center so I could check my e-mail and Skype one time before takeoff.
I got most of my packing done once the games were over with - not that I really had all that much to pack - since I would be the one leaving first in the morning. Then at around 1:00 AM, we finally all turned in.
Not that I could fall asleep, myself, given what was beginning to happen with my stomach. Yeah, I'll leave out the details, but…let's just say I didn't end up getting to sleep until a couple hours later.
……………
MONDAY, JULY 7
6:00 AM CDT
Unfortunately, since my flight was at 8:48 AM, I needed to get up fairly early to be sure the hotel shuttle would get me there in time to board. Skimping on sleep didn't exactly do wonders for my already precarious health, and by the end I was pretty much limping out of there, hoping my stomach would hold for the journey ahead.
The trip held no surprises - good or bad - until I finally made it to the gate, where I was extremely shocked to run into Susan and Karine. Both proceeded to point out the Wise Man himself, whom they were dropping off there and whom I had somehow utterly failed to notice, despite sitting only a few meters away.
For in the strange but happy coincidence to end all strange but happy coincidences, we were going to be heading back on the same flight to Los Angeles; only a couple rows apart, in fact.
Despite feeling utterly like death by that point, this one last chance to speak one-on-one with the man gave me the energy to keep going. It was, to be sure, utterly surreal - only a few years ago, meeting Greg Weisman was this mystical, unattainable thing. And now we were just holding a friendly chat as we awaited our (naturally, delayed) plane.
It was, I suppose, one last opportunity to wrangle answers to the countless questions that I hadn't gotten a chance to ask that weekend…though I didn't really take advantage of it. Mostly because I was WAY too out of it to remember any of the questions I still had burning within me, but also because that really wasn't how the encounter "felt."
Instead, we talked about his kids. About his rather grueling con-schedule that summer. About how Rain was doing, with encouragement that I was excited as all hell for Spirits. About "Young Justice: Legacy," Scooby-Doo, and our impressions of how the radio play had gone.
Not nearly for the first time that weekend, I also reiterated my interest in having him as a guest at Kawaii Kon 2015, and he reiterated his interest in coming. So far, not much has come of my attempts to push the organizers I know on the issue, but it's an ongoing process and I hope to have something more concrete to report soon.
It was an extremely low-key conversation, not the least because we were both pretty exhausted (he, Chris, and co. had made a run on Denny's at 3:00 AM the previous night, which "seemed like a good idea at the time, not so much now"). But it was exactly what I needed at the time.
The entire exchange truly underscored what I loved most about that weekend: that Greg and the rest of the Gathering alums had seen fit to really make me feel like one of their own, rewarding all the effort I've tried to put into Ask Greg with kindness and acknowledgement.
I initially volunteered to help out when Todd reached out in the Comment Room because I so appreciated everything that Greg's work, and Ask Greg itself, had done for me over the years. But no matter how grueling dealing with the umpteenth "Where is Season 3?" or angry rant about Wally can be, I absolutely feel that I've gotten ten times more out of it than I've ever put in.
And that means the world to me.
I said as much to Greg, at least to the degree that I had the energy to articulate it. But all good things must come to an end, and eventually the plane arrived and it was time to board.
We wished each other safe travels, and said our farewells.
And with that…CONvergence 2014 truly came to a close.
……………
MONDAY, JULY 7
9:00 AM CDT
I'll be brief here, just to give an idea of what the aftermath of the con was like.
I flew to LA feeling like hell. I had an hour layover there, in which I felt like hell. I had another, longer flight back to Honolulu, if anything feeling worse than hell (since I hadn't eaten anything I'd kept down for well over 24 hours).
Eventually, though, I made it back home and was able to get the long rest and digestible foods I needed. I managed to make it back to work by Wednesday, though I'd be at least mildly off my game for the next couple weeks.
I called the Friday's in question to let them know about my situation, and calmly requested a full or partial refund; they called back at 6:00 AM two days later to tell me their investigation into the matter showed that they "did everything right that night" and so they wouldn't be able to accommodate my request.
I was too sick to really be willing to argue the point, but rest assured that I won't be visiting that particular restaurant again, should I ever return to CONvergence. And I urge any fellow attendees to do the same.
On a more positive note, Spirits arrived just a couple days after I got back, so once I was sufficiently recovered I got to reading. Once again, I'll be putting together a detailed review for Amazon/Ask Greg as soon as this report is finished and edited….but suffice to say, I dug the hell out of it.
Algernon got his package soon after as well, and was very happy with what we'd managed to find (a figure of Irish deity Brigid, a signed "Recruits" print, and a cuddly pink plushie of Cthulhu). And everyone else managed to get home with their own hauls without too much issue, thankfully.
Overall, despite the rather crappy end, I have little but positive things to say about the whole experience. I'm very proud of what I got to do, who I got to meet, and what I got to bring home…and it's definitely something I'd love the chance to do again.
It was my first "Gathering," such as it was, and it exceeded each and every one of my expectations.
Here's hoping it won't be anywhere close to the last.
NEVER THE END!
For the record: It was Brandon Vietti who wanted Klarion in the Light. Not that I disagreed, but my initial choice had been Wotan. But Brandon pointed out we needed a "kid" on our villain team, and as usual, Brandon was right.
Md - Thanks for this. And for all the work you do, here, at ASK GREG!
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