It’s the end of the Con as we know it…

Sadly, all things must come to an end. This years Comic Con in San Diego was a blast. It was truly one of the biggest (if not the biggest) tweet ups of the year. We Wenches (and our Belle) of course loved being amongst our fellow Trubies whether in the convention center or out amongst the crowds.

In search of True Blood:

Every time I saw any mention of True Blood, I did an internal happy dance, especially when the Red Poster hit my view. The True Blood posters were hung as banners throughout the center, driving by on one of the moving billboards, or even gracing some of the hotel elevators. Imagine the elevator doors opening and… BAMM… You have the red poster right in front of you, with Alex looking good as Eric. While stepping in the white and black posters were gracing the other sides. My eyes were on the upper left side of the red poster the whole trip to which ever floor we were visiting.

The blood drive, not only for an excellent cause of helping your fellow humans (or vampire in need) but was also a good place to meet your fellow Viking lover, Truebies, or vampire lover. And get some True Blood swag.

The IDW booth was also a good source to finding True Blood items: between the comic, the posters, and swag and the occasional True Blood cast member. If you were worried about the whereabouts of Steve Newlin, worry no further, he was in his disguise as Michael McMillan at various signings of the TB comic. Although when Deborah Wahl joined him at the table, he had to be watched very closely in case of any possible staking attempts.

Unfortunately, we did not get to Fangtasia, though we did try. The first time we found the location closed off for a private party *coughs* and when we returned later we found it had been broken down for the year.

The Panels:

While waiting for Friday, aka True Blood panel day and Viking day, we did attend a few panels including HBO’s Game of Thrones (fabulous show and books if you have not checked out yet)and the TV Guides Fan Favorites panel with Kristin Bauer van Straten and Nelsan Ellis. It was during the fan favorites panel I saw a clip of our Viking’s Childe and her situation in episode 5.

Friday. Viking day. True Blood panel day. Needless to say our excitement was at fever pitch and the flames grew higher the closer we got to it. We knew Alex made it into town the night before from the twitter and tumblr streams. After getting in line around 4 am, we played the waiting game to get into ballroom 20. Once we got in, we were not leaving, lol. The seats were OURs! As each panel ended, we got closer till 5:30 and our first official sighting of Alex and the rest of the True Blood crew. Thanks to @truebloodhbo and those on the floor, we were getting updates on how the cast signing was going. And finally, the last panel before True Blood ended and we were mere minutes from screaming our lungs out. The SDCC team started resetting the table for the True Blood Cast. And my excitement grew with every tweet I sent leading up to the moderator Tim Stack taking the stage to bring the cast to the stage. Before the full panel was brought out, we were treated to a special promo giving us a taste of what was to come during the rest of the this forth season.

And then the cast was being introduced. I still get goosebumps thinking about when Alex took the stage. We were loud and proud #teameric. And then some.

As Tim moved the panel and the audience through the Q&A portion, I was doing my best to keep up with tweeting, pictures, lending my voice to the cheers. I enjoyed the moment…err… hour

I am sure you have seen the footage on YouTube from the panel. I know I am still sifting through what I learned from it

A few key things

• Shower scene. Yes, Eric and Sookie will be in a shower… But when added with it’s different from the books, it will be weirder and dirtier (and longer). There are many ways to interpret this, especially as this group is prone say “something”, we interpret it a certain way, and we see something totally different from what was expected (I.e. Joe and Alex teasing about being naked with Sookie by a lake, which was the “come play with me” scene of Sookie and Alcide looking for Eric). I am reserving the let’s wait to see it approach on this one.
• There will be a season 5 and we should see how Eric makes Pam. I can’t wait.
• Alex is AWESOME.
• Interaction between Kristin and Alex was extremely entertaining to watch. The whole “Daddy’s girl” bit… need I say more?
• The crowd didn’t want to even entertain the idea of Bill and Sookie getting back together. Yes we were loud in negating that idea. To the chagrin of the panelist in front of me (Stephen, Anna, and Alan).

Sadly for all of us, the panel had run it’s course and the cast was going to leave us their adoring fans. Or so we thought. In an unexpected move (or expected because he is really this type of guy) Alex started signing items from the stage. Stephen and Anna both came back as well. The crowds went wild and rushed to get closer. After about 10 minutes (and the security barrier almost coming down) Alex, followed by Stephen and Anna, were escorted from the stage and the remaining fans started leaving the ballroom.

In search of Alexander:

One of the questions I keep getting asked after saying I went to SDCC 2011, “Did I meet Alex?”. The answer is no. Would I have loved to? That would have been a big fat YES, I made sure I had a pen and my copy of Dead to the World with me at all times. Should I have searched him out? In my opinion no, I respect him way to much to have done so. I knew from the twitter stream and from conversations that we heard that he was being stopped quite often once he was recognized. There were a few times, when he was recognized (as were a few other celebrities) but were not approached and was allowed enjoy a part of the convention. HUGE kudos to those that resisted temptation. I know there were times I was in the vicinity, but it just wasn’t in the cards to to run into him and fall at his feet.

(Panel pictures will be posted in out Comic Con 2011 page under our Picture page. More will be added as they are linked)