A Station Eight Fan Web Site

Gargoyles

The Phoenix Gate

Ask Greg Archives

COMEBACKS 2007-01 (Jan)

Archive Index


: « First : Displaying #4 - #13 of 113 records. : 10 » : Last » :


Posts Per Page: 1 : 10 : 25 : 50 : 100 : All :


Bookmark Link

Spacebabie writes...

Saturday June 24th.
9:30 am. Revel and I didn't have much planned for the day, so we slept in and ran off to the mall for breakfast. I wanted to try one of the crepes from the Melt and ordered the deviously popular strawberries and crème along with a chilled coffee drink. We returned to our room and enjoyed our breakfast before we returned to the art room to vote.
11: am ZOMG so much great art to look at and vote for and it was difficult this year with so much great art. I am so proud of my Revel. He and Y2Hecate had brought the most amount or pr0n. I enjoyed watching Lanny's expression when he saw Kyt's "Blue Light."
1:00 pm. Ellen and I decided to meet in the hotel restaurant and were joined by Gregx and Allaine to discuss our future panels. After looking at the prices both Gregx and I decided on just a soda.
2:00 pm. Ellen had to get the last half of her meal in a take out so that we both could make it back in time for Crispin Freeman's Mug a Guest. Crispy was a lot of fun. He mentioned he got into the business and what anime series he had worked on.
3:00 the next two hours was devoted to panels. The first was the villains with Christine, Gregx and Ellen. The points that were brought up were
· The different kinds of villains aka
· What motivates them and how they advance the plot
· Writing for canon villains
· Creating your own
I got a little bit passionate when we talked about our favorite villains to write for in the Gargoyles universe.
4:pm Villains ended and we switched Gregx for Allaine to discuss romance and drama. Points that were brought up were
· Tension and drama from the various couples
· The bickering couples
· Odd and unique pairings
· The dialog that flows between the couples
5:pm Next up was the Radio play. I knew when I heard the first character was Random Gargoyle A, it was from Gargoyles. I guessed from which characters were in the script it was "The Mirror." My guess was confirmed when I heard Puck was in it. The Mirror is a classic episode that is a number one favorite of many fans. It was great to hear Keith's deep voice and Crispin's Hudson. We all laughed when he made his pirate sound. We laughed again when he covered one eye with his hand.
6:pm. Food at the mall again. This time I wanted some West Coast Cuisine…aka food I can't find in East Texas. I had a Panda bowl form Panda Express. I had Kun Pao Chicken and steamed veggies on the rice bowl. Revel and Gside tried the Hot Dog on a stick. Allaine and Lynati also had some Panda Express. All three of received some silly fortunes from our cookies.
Allaine's="You will find a Great Bargain."
Lynati's="Success will come from your plans."
Mine="You Love the thrill of showmanship and Display."
7pm. We hung out in Aaron's room until nine thirty. I painted my nails a metallic purple while Y2Hecate showed us picture's of next year's hotel, and she showed us something else…something that broke a lot of people's brains. A hentai anime that not only have any plot but no point. It was to prep us for the Blue Mug a Guest.
9:30. We headed over to the Con Suite, passing by Keith David on the way. He wanted to know when the Mug started and we told him. There were several people in the Con-suite already but still plenty of room to find a place on the floor. That plenty of room got filled up fast. Norcumi and Quindar gave out new Gargles shirts featuring a blending of two in jokes. When our guests arrived I got twisted around and separated from Revel and ended up being sandwiched between Seth and Siryn. I gave Siryn a well-deserved massage. She worked hard on the program for this year and deserved to be pampered.
The questions for this year were not too Blue but there were plenty of dirty questions and Greg W asked Christine if she had any dirty questions and she did. Favorite Question: "Are you a Werewolf?" Gregw's response: "No, I'm a robot" Keith David explained the Jalapena story and sang for us and Crispin Freeman was asked if he was willing to dub any Yaoi anime or as Steph had to explained to GW "Boy sex"

Greg responds...

silly fortunes from our cookies.
Allaine's="You will find a Great Bargain."
Lynati's="Success will come from your plans."
Mine="You Love the thrill of showmanship and Display."

...with no pants on.

Response recorded on January 31, 2007

Bookmark Link

Spacebabie writes...

Friday June 23

I woke up sometime after Gregx left, washed my hair and got dressed. After Revel was ready we went out to seek breakfast and were joined by Ckayote. We ended up in the mall food court and at a Cinnabon we got classic Cinnabons and I tried a caramel chillata. Ah sweet ice-cold caffeine goodness. We scrambled back to the hotel and scarfed down our breakfasts while in the lobby.

10:00 am. I got separated from Revel on the way to the registration table. Talked with Ellen while we both waited in line for our Reg packets. Our packets contained our con badges, beautiful programs, participant ribbons, copies of the anthology and our name cards for our panels. This was my first time of being published in the anthology and I still can't believe it. The end results were beautiful. I loved Kyt's design of the book.
After receiving my packet I went into the art room to help Revel set up his art until about 11.

11:am Ellen and I joined up with Gregx and Christine in the dealer's room to do some prepping for the panels. The first writing panels were about characters and their development but since the four of us was also on the villains panel. This was one of the few times where we could have a group meeting since both Christine and Greg were one staff.

11:55 am. I dashed back to my room to make sure Pippin had finished his feeding. To explain, Pippin is my Compaq Presario 2200 laptop, named after a hobbit since it's small and it travels well and if I get mad at it I can shout "Fool of a Took." When I say feeding I mean recharging his battery. I brought Pippin since he has my list of original characters.

NOON: Time for my first panel, Creating compelling characters. We had a good-sized group who were very attentive and asked a whole lot of interesting questions. Points that were covered:
· Avoiding the Mary Sue and Gary Stu syndrome.
· Believable dialog
· Making the characters into real people, aka giving them well developed backgrounds
· And listing several examples

1:00 pm basically went around the art room to look at the art and show Cindy what Mara drew for me, the picture of Matt Bluestone in his underwear.

2:00 pm I rejoined Revel during the voice-acting workshop hosted by the talented couple: Crispin Freeman and Thom Adcox. I'm a fan of both, Thom for being Lex and occasionally dropping his pants and Crispin from various anime I have seen. Crispin had brought some anime dubbing equipment and asked for volunteers. The first was Blaise who voiced a comedy relief character and was ZOMG amazing!!!

3:00pm my next panel was Tools, Tricks and Traps of the trade with Christine. Here is me, the fanfic author and I'm teamed up with The Christine Morgan, creator of Jericho, author of one of the best Gargoyles fanfic saga's and pro author of several book series. She was fun to work with and just as easy going and fun to talk with, as she is online. We both brought up the tips we had used when writing and also brought up the mistakes we had made in the past and how to avoid them.

4:00 pm. After our panel, Christine and I both raced back to the dealer's room for the Anthology signing party. That was a fun experience. The writers and artists passed around their books like high school yearbooks and signed our names and wrote funny messages before we singed copies from other people. It was a good time to kick back and relax a bit before opening ceremonies.

5:00 pm. Opening Ceremonies began with a beat, a rocking beat. We got to view several great music videos including Jen's "Bring Me to Life." Video, Gregx's "Sympathy for the Devil" Video. The hilarious "Can You Feel The Love Tonight." Vid and the emotional "Hemorrhage." Vid.

Jen and the rest of the con staff greeted everyone and asked to see who were this years con virgins. There was a great show of hands. Then came the second timers, third timers and so on until there were only a few hands for those who have had been to every Gathering. They got a special award ribbon.

The Fan Guest of honor award went to the one who started it all. Mai Li aka Beth Maza.
Allaine, Ellen, Y2Hecate and Kyt received special awards for being featured in all three anthologies.

Y2Hecate came up and announced next year's Gathering at Pigeon Forge Tennessee.
Greg Weisman came up and did his thing: which was tell the story of how Gargoyles came to be, along with show us his usual video goodie of the intro's to the series, the pitches of New Olympians, and Dark Ages, and the Leica Reel of Bad Guys. Revel had to remind him to tell everyone not film it and we got to see some of The Last video that was a collaboration between fans using the storyboard and art panels created by Greg's team and the recorded voices.

There was a bit of bad news. There is no definite release for the second half of Season Two.
8:PM FOOOOOOD! I was hungry. Revel was hungry. A lot of people were hungry. It was time for another walk to the food court, but first we got a surprise from Norcumi and Quindar, the creators of the Gargle pun and shirts. They handed out custom Gargle toothbrushes out to everyone.

A good-sized crowd was organized and we set out for dinner. Revel and I both decided on Arbies and I had a classic Arbies with cheese combo. We hung out in the Food Court until it was time for the mall to close and we returned to the hotel to catch the tail end of MST3K before we hung out in Aaron's room until we got tired. Marty/Kai talked about the comic and a very disturbing video game.

Greg responds...

Lots of action for Day One, huh?

Response recorded on January 31, 2007

Bookmark Link

Spacebabie writes...

It Begins Again. The Con Journal and Road trip.

We a lot had happened since the last Gathering. I moved to Conroe Texas and I am living with Revel. Do I miss Orlando? I do a bit, but home is where the heart is and before I get any more Saccharine I shall begin the journal.

Tuesday June 20

The trip began days before as usual, or at least usual since the past three years. The nights before I prepared for everything, cats were taken care of, gave my apartment key to Revel's mother, had everything packed. All I had to do was wait until work ended. Hard to focus on work when all you are thinking about is The Gathering. Time also seemed to move even more slowly, but hey, I got through it.

We loaded up our suitcases into Hyena and set off for San Antonio, only stopping on the way for food like chicken nuggets and fries.

When we arrived at the apartment of Aaron, Mara and Lynati the gate was closed and Aaron was at his mother's place. This was a problem because it Aaron was the only one who knew the code to the gate. We had to wait until somebody else came up to the gate and followed them in.

Lynati and Mara did meet us halfway between where we parked and their apartment. We dropped off our backpacks and chatted while we waited for Aaron. Lynati had her computers in Stereo. She had her desktop on one side of her work area and her laptop on the other. She showed us the art project she is working on with Mara while she printed out Mara's pr0n. Meanwhile, Mara drew a picture of Matt Bluestone in his undies, and Lynati gave me a purple crayon to color it.

Aaron returned and went back to the World of Warcraft. He and Revel went over the last details of our route while us gals looked through more pr0n. Not long after we went to bed. Revel and I drifted off to sleep while listening to Aaron play World of Warcraft and curse at the screen.

Wednesday June 21

The guys went to get the rental van while us gals did some last minute packing and Mara played some funny anime music videos.

Revel returned and we loaded the minivan and Aaron took his car to his mother's place. Aaron returned and Revel gave him the keys. Aaron went back to the apartment to feed the cats. Aaron couldn't leave until he had locked up. The apartment keys were in Lynati's purse, Lynati's purse was locked in the van and Aaron had the keys to the van.

After we got that fixed up Revel and I followed Aaron in Hyena to Aaron's mother's house. We parked Hyena, got up in the rental and we were off.
Our first stop was a sandwich place where we got sandwiches to eat on the road. I had the Manhattan.
Our first big stop was in El Paso where we had Burger King for dinner. I had a whopper combo. After we ate, we made some comments about our scenery. There was an oil refinery on fire and we joked about the Eye of Sauron. There was also a star set against a mountain. At night it looked like it was floating.

Thursday June 22

Our second main stop was Tucson Arizona were we crashed at a Days In. It was a pretty decent motel, had a microwave and a fridge. After we showered we returned to the minivan and it was onto Valencia. We stopped off at a McDonalds and got breakfast to go. I got a yogurt parfait and some coffee.

Another place we stopped at was a historical site that had a few shops, a gas station, a historical post office and a lot of tanks. Revel got several pictures and bought me a bag of wasabi peas to munch on.

We made it through the dessert and the L.A. area traffic till we made it to Valencia. We stopped by at this one traffic light before we could turn to get to the hotel and there was a crowd of people that crossed in front of us.
"Hey could that be?"
"I see Silver."
"There's Jen and Greg X."
"I see Nikki."
"There's Greg Weisman."
"Open a window."
Aaron and Revel opened their window and waved to them. They waved back. Greg Weisman said something pointed to the hotel and then to the restaurant. We were not sure what his exact words were but we think he told us to park the van and join them, and we did…well after we parked we helped Ckayote take his stuff up to the room he was sharing with Aaron, Mara, and Lynati and by the time we caught up with them we had a bigger crowd than before.
Jen's group was seated first and after they had cleaned up a few more tables we were able to sit us down. Revel and I were at the table with Silver, Kirsten, Ckayote, Shaun, Kyt, Greg Weisman, Liz, Siryn and a few other people. We caught up with everyone while waited for our food. Silver, Revel and I shared a pizza and I had a margarita. You know you are getting old when you are glad they card you.

After we returned to the hotel we grabbed our bags, got the hotel situation worked out with Gregx and got the keys. We dropped off our stuff and we hung out in Aaron's room for a while until we got tired and returned to our room. Gregx joined us and set the alarm for the con staff breakfast and we talked before we went to bed.

Greg responds...

Spacebabie is like me. Both our conjournals spend a great deal of time detailing what we ate. It's my favorite thing to talk about.

Response recorded on January 30, 2007

Bookmark Link

Zeki writes...

When Owen is assissting Xanatos in his less-than-nice plots, does Owen's 'inner Puck' ever feel remorse for it? Does he have any ... I suppose I would call it 'moral disagreements' with what Xanatos does? Trickster or not, Puck doesn't strike me as the type that would get off on ruining people's lives. Can he feel guilt? Or are Oberon's Children above that sort of weakness?

Greg responds...

I don't generalize about Oberon's Children, but I do think you may be giving Puck too much credit. He enjoyed (most) of the events of "The Mirror". He played his very cruel "Future Tense" trick on Goliath. He's a Trickster. I don't see him as being particularly benevolent. I just believe he's developed specific feelings of loyalty toward Xanatos, Alexander and (to a lesser extent) Fox.

Response recorded on January 30, 2007

Bookmark Link

dph of rules writes...

sorry for the delay between my pre-trip Gathering Journal and this one. There's certain things I wanted to wait for before writing the latter gathering journals.

Gathering Journal Day 1 - The Trip there - Friday
Originally, my stepmother was supposed to take me to the airport, but due to bad weather, my dad ended up taking me. I want to stop to say it's 11:09am Saturday morning when I'm writing this part of the journal. I got to Little Rock airport ~7:15am and was waiting on my flight and was very nervous. I had a 30 minute delay in take-off because of bad weather in Dallas. The flight was ok, I slept about 30 minutes during it. Dallas-Fort Worth airpot was big to me. Luckily, I was able to find my gate in time and eat lunch before takeoff. On the flight to LAX, I slept about two hours. Boy, is LAX airport big. The trip from LAX to the hotel took over an hour - mostly because of rush hour traffic - rush hour traffic at 2:30pm, what a concept. I don't get why people complain about traffic in LA - it's just the same as my local rush traffic traffic multiplied by a few more lanes. So I got to the hotel, signed in, saw Patrick & GXB, and promptly asked where A Fan was [A Fan was my roommate]. They told me the con suite (I forgot what room number that was) so I headed there. I handed A Fan my half of the room expenses in the form of a money order, he gave me a keycard, and somehow I misunderstood him and went to the wrong room number (occupied by another con-goer) and went back and got the right room number, and went to our room. There I unloaded by suitcase. [Random note: A Fan, what a name, sorta like a restaurant in my home town called 'A Place To Eat'.] I had about 90 minutes to kill before Opening Ceremonies were scheduled to start. They actually started an hour later and my back (*pauses writing the journal momentarily to go to the Gargoyles Physiology panel*) was sore for standing so long. (I should have set down sooner. [Now, it's 9:55 pm Saturday when I'm writing.] I enjoyed the Opening Ceremonies a bunch and it seemed like half the people present were con newbies like myself. I was shocked by the Bad Guys reel (in a positive way) and seeing that suddenly explained Lain and Gunjack's feeling towards that. Afterwards, I got lost trying to find my way to the mall food court [with me, it's a given that I will get lost on either the way there or the way back the 1st time I go anywhere.] I should have just followed Gside's (I think) group the way there and I would have saved time. I got back to the hotel room ~9:15pm that night and fell asleep for about 2 hours and awoke with A Fan in the room. We chatted for an hour or so about Gargoyles/Gargoyles Theories/Alternate Gargoyles universes. My pet universe was the one where a modified version of Vows occurred: Xanatos & company were not around to foil the Archmage's attempt to get the Phoenix Gate and a theory about how the gargoyles universe would have confisicated for that non-event. Then we hit the sack. Somehow, sometime during the day, I bought a gargoyles comic book for $3 (that being all the cash I had on me) and I really owe him something for that.

That's all for Friday.

Greg responds...

Traveling across country with only $3 in cash. You ARE a thrill-seeker!

Response recorded on January 30, 2007

Bookmark Link

KingCobra_582 writes...

My Gathering Report, Part 3
Monday, June 26th, 2006

THE GATHERING, DAY 4

9:30 AM

Well, this is it. The last day of this year's con. I've made some nice friends and had such a kickass time at this con that I wish it didn't have to end so fast. But, then, there is always next year, assuming we can afford it. Which I hope we can. We PROBABLY can. But with David and I trying to save up for an apartment, there's no way yet to know. Even though it will be even cheaper to go next year then it was this year.

10:00 AM

I picked up my "Gummi Trio" bid at The Art Show and then attended the Time Travel panel. Very interesting stuff there. I was certainly captivated. Stayed until about 2 mins before it actually ended.

11:00 AM

Didn't have much to do, so I hung out around in the Dealers Room, browsing through the various sale items, admiring the cache at the weapons table, (Dani would have had a field day there!) chatting with Jennifer "CrzyDemona" Anderson, (I'm very interested in knowing more about ElfQuest) and just generally killing time. Also overheard a little bit of the Thom Mug-A-Guest, (He mentioned something about a hypnotist.) while I waited for Greg Weisman's to start.

I caught Thom after it was over, and we went up to his room to get that Demo tape. I'd noticed that the tape had his name and a phone number on it. Most likely by accident. I guess Thom overlooked it.

12:00 AM

It was fun. Greg touched on subjects pertaining to the Comics and the DVDs. I asked a couple questions, but on the first 1, I was kind of nervous (why, I do not know) and was covering my lower face so he couldn't hear me. Damn nerves. I wish I did better with people all staring at me.

The other question I'd asked (I wish I could recall what the 1st one was) was in regards to Jason and Robyn Canmore. Except I kept goofing up and referring to "JON and Robin" which Greg had to correct me on. Eeps. Crap. Anyways, they are apprently going to make appearences in the comic, should it last long enough, and I hope to god it will.

David set up the camera to get a timed group shot, BTW. He wanted me to be staring right at the thing when it went off.

After it was over, I chatted with Greg in the hall, asking, in these exact words, though I'd meant to phrase it differently, "Shouldn't Bill Fagerbakke be here?" and Greg, sounding a little testy, answered that he'd been doing shows all weekend and was probably tired. Gah, I am not always (rarely ever, in fact) the bext speaker in the world. So, now, I was being annoying AND I looked like a jerk. Gah. Forgive me, Greg.

1:00 - 2:00 PM

Didn't have much else to do but join David in Coloring Methods, which was interesting, though that's more David's thing then mine.

2:00 PM

The last panel. The End of the Con. *grumbles* I had such a fun weekend. It ended up way too fast. Gah. Though all good things must end, I suppose. Now I have next year's to look forward to. There's a 90% chance that we'll be there, so all you guys reading this, look for us next year. :-) Even if I were to lose my job (GOD FORBID!!), I have enough experience, that it shouldn't be much problem getting another one, so I'd still be good to go. Especially since we won't need to rent a vehicle or fly. That makes it cheaper. Just a 6 - 8 hour drive, and we're there. Though gas will be a problem. It's doable.

Anyway.

The last panel was great. Fun times. There were a lot of prizes given out and David took a lot of pictures. No surprise there. I walked up to Greg, and shook his hand for "making the show that made all this possible" and promised to see him next year, and Greg laughed, saying the same thing. Then David and I left for the Hotel 6 near LAX (We'd checked out of the one in Sylmar that same morning before leaving for the con) and it was over. We flew back the next day, and I discovered, to my surprise, Jeb was seated in the row in front of us. We made some occasional smalltalk (when I needed to take my mind off the plane trip) and we hung out in Dallas-Fort Worth airport for a fewminutes, getting some lunch for a few minutes before parting ways (He was headed back to Maryland) and I remember thinking how amazed (and anxious) I was that the layover was so short, (I thought it'd take longer then 10 minutes!) as David and I hurried to our terminal. On the way home, I was more calm about the flight (Guess I was finally getting used to it) though I was still somewhat unnerved. We landed in Port Columbus later that night, and David's dad picked us up.

Until G2007, I count the days.

Greg responds...

Me too, King, me too.

Response recorded on January 30, 2007

Bookmark Link

Matt writes...

1. What did Xanatos do with the "simple American penny" Petros gave him as a wedding present in "Vows"?

2. Did you have any further specific story ideas involving Petros Xanatos?

Thanks Greg.

Greg responds...

1. He kept it.

2. Yes.

Response recorded on January 29, 2007

Bookmark Link

JEB writes...

Gathering 2006 Journal, Part 2

June 25, 2006

I had trouble pulling myself out of bed (after having an odd dream involving a strangely friendly Lex Luthor and the First Celestial Host's connection to the death of the dinosaurs), so I was a little late to the comic book panel. Very interesting, and some minor spoilers:

- There will be a setback in Goliath and Elisa's relationship in #3.
- The first arc, "Clan-Building," will be four stories long (approximately 8-10 issues). (So it'll finish up sometime in early 2008- assuming the comic runs that long.)
- Hudson will play a more prominent role in #5 and #6.

Other random remarks included Greg Weisman and Dan Vado discussing their respective misadventures at DC Comics. This included how Captain Atom's backstory was ruined after Greg's run ended, so that they could prep him to be Monarch- which ultimately never happened anyway- and how Vado had to suffer through being kicked off of Justice League America and writing Extreme Justice. We also learned that Greg also provided the thumbprints for Rorschach in Watchmen!

Afterwards, they held an autograph session, and I got my second copy signed by Stephanie Lostimolo, Greg and Dan Vado. (Hedgecock was there too, but I already had his signature; he did remind me to pick up my sketch, though.) I mentioned Captain Atom: Armageddon to Greg as a better treatment of Captain Atom than I'd seen since his and Cary Bates' run, but I also mentioned- rather needlessly- that Eiling was permanently ruined. (Frankly, I really shouldn't have bothered.)

After Hedgecock reminded me, I went to get my sketch from a very courteous SLG staffer, and after dropping my comic off (sketch tucked inside) at my room, I went to Crispin Freeman's Mythological Animation panel. That was EXCELLENT, one of my favorite panels, as Freeman really knew his stuff- in that particular field as well as many related ones. I may have to subscribe to his Yahoo group...

I briefly met up with Garrett and Ed, then sought out some lunch, settling on a hot dog place near the Olive Garden. (Pretty tasty!) It happened to be near a Hobbytown USA, so I did a bit of shopping, picking up RPG books for me and twenty-sided dice for a friend back home.

Next stop was the auction, which was rather restrained- even with Greg Weisman's 10-years-at-Disney jacket on sale! That all changed when the autographed poster went for sale, leading to quite the bidding war (which included me). The bidding was finally between an increasingly agonized Gorebash and a strangely calm Leo. Gorebash won in the end, paying over $300 for the poster.

I wandered after that, and waited for the banquet. Outside, I chatted with a fellow I've since forgotten the name of about technology and such, then Greg Bishansky and Gore. The banquet began almost precisely on time; at my table sat myself, Cathie, Garrett, Ed, and a few others. We each received a free copy of the Season 2 Part 1 DVD, which I opted to leave behind so the Gathering staff could use it for promotions (I already had it). Our special guest was Dennis Woodyard, who worked on some of my favorite series besides Gargoyles, such as Exo-Squad (he designed the Neo Lord, among others) and Men in Black. He had much to say, including how Exo-Squad would make a great CGI series (tech looks better in CGI), favorite anime series, tips for industry-aiming hopefuls at the table, and life in Korea and Tokyo. Dinner itself was OK, about what I've come to expect from Gathering banquets. (I'm still curious what that yellow mushy stuff was.)

I looped back to my room, and then returned to wait on the Masquerade. I had a nice chat with Darrell, an archivist at Disney, and I tried to explain as much as I could about the fandom and prior Gatherings. We also gabbed about some of the more unusual Gargoyles merchandise, comparing our respective collections. I also chatted with Aaron and Fan. We also started to get some curious visitors from the nearby wedding party; one woman asked me something about what I knew about the distant past or dawn of time or somesuch. (I still have no idea what she was talking about, or who she thought I was. If she was drunk, I suppose it doesn't matter.)

Terrific costumes at the Masquerade this year, as well as the usual antics. My personal picks were the kid dressed as Lexington and Puck- although I think Christine and Tim Morgan as Brendan and Margot, or Greg Bishansky as Xanatos, should have also participated! After that, I wandered, chatted with people I knew and tried to be friendly towards those standing alone (and I sincerely hope I didn't come across as creepy for doing so).

As promised, the Blue Mug-a-Guest was reconvened, with Greg Weisman, Thom Adcox, and a bit later, Michael Reaves. Revelations included the fact that Elisa was not a virgin when she met Goliath (although she hadn't had many sexual partners, being very careful); that Greg was rethinking gargoyle facial hair after seeing Revel's cool pic of a bearded Thailog; and that Broadway and Angela had been intimate before the end of 1996. Michael Reaves revealed that the three stories that inspired him to become a writer were an episode of I Spy written by Robert Culp, "City on the Edge of Forever" from Star Trek, and "Demon with a Glass Hand" from The Outer Limits. He also said he'd like to write a Demona mini-series for SLG (which I'd like to see, certainly). Greg and Michael discussed their work on the Gargoyles live-action film, and they concluded that 1) Touchstone liked the name, but weren't interested in the show itself and 2) they were only on the project due to a specific guy, which was confirmed when they were dropped a few days after he left. For the comic, Greg plans to have Arthur and Griff show up, and when the day arrives in the comic's timeline, he plans to tackle the difficult task of a 9-11 story. Greg also noted that he hopes- with help- to get Ask Greg caught up to the present by G2K7. After Blue Mug was over, I (somewhat unclearly, I suspect) volunteered my services to help (since I'd worked on the FAQ that apparently no one reads).

June 26, 2006

The Time Travel panel was my first goal of the day. One of my favorite panels- even if it was technically stuff I was familiar with, Greg's presentation on it was the best part. Very conversational, I thought, and far less protesting than I expected. I followed that up with the RPG panel, which was barely attended, and basically became a chat between Tim Morgan and the three of us up front. I stayed in the room for the Collaborations and Shared Universes panel, which was also barely attended. It mostly focused on TGS, which allowed me to contribute more'n usual. After the Collaborations panel, I took the opportunity to talk briefly with Jerry, who I'd seen taking a large number of pictures during the con.

The Hosting A Gathering panel was useful (although I accidentally raised my hand when they were asking about first-time Gathering attendees- I thought they were asking about first visitors to SoCal). Ellen was clearly intent on hosting a Gathering in Chicago- good luck to her! Greg Weisman also commented that people whose pitches failed were too often just dropping them entirely, rather than trying againg the following year. It eventually changed into a discussion of how to spread the word about the con most efficiently. After I mentioned adding a Wikipedia entry (Greg Weisman can't edit Wikipedia for some reason), Guardian proposed an idea that I can't believe hadn't occurred to me before- a Gargoyles wiki! I did The Gargoyles Encyclopedia, I ran a general fictional wiki, but making a Gargoyles wiki hadn't once popped into my head. Now I intend to make one!

Closing Ceremonies was as usual, awards and applause and goodbyes. I signed up for G2K7 in Pigeon Forge, and chatted with Greg Bishansky. Most of us eventually formed into two large groups after that. One, with the con staff, Greg Weisman and others, went to eat one place and had a wild time (from what I hear). The other group, including me, Lynati, Mara, Aaron, Denis, Revel, Spacebabie, Jade Griffin, Gside and others, ate at the food court at the nearby mall. Mara, Denis, one other fellow and I exchanged retail horror stories and some political views at length. When we were all done, we split up- a few decided to walk the mall, while the rest (those I named plus two) headed back to Aaron, Revel, Spacebabie and Mara's hotel room. We basically spent the rest of the night chatting on everything (the main topics being driven by Jade Griffin, Revel and Aaron; others and I talked less). Jade Griffin mentioned putting together a Gathering scrapbook, leading to some reminiscing. We were later joined by others, including Leo. When Jade Griffin learned I was also taking a shuttle to LAX the next morning, we arranged to go on the same trip (splitting the fee and getting some company at the same time). Eventually, Revel et al had to get ready for tomorrow, so the rest of us left.

June 27, 2006

Met Jade Griffin in the lobby and checked out from the hotel. We spent the time waiting for the shuttle chatting with each other and Greg Bishansky about the convention and Gargoyles topics, among other things. Gside stopped by and offered us a free breakfast through some coupon, but we unfortunately couldn't take him up on it. I also had the chance to say goodbye to Garrett, Ed and Leo. The shuttle arrived a bit late, but nothing problematic. En route in the shuttle, Jade Griffin and I chatted about Gargoyles, Gatherings, and our jobs. When she was dropped off, she hugged me goodbye, which I reciprocated rather awkwardly (I don't hug a lot, nothing personal).

Getting through LAX's security line was hellish, and it didn't help that- due to the shuttle picking up other passengers along the way- we arrived rather late. I managed to get to my terminal with barely enough time to grab and devour lunch. On my plane to Dallas, I discovered- to my surprise- that two other Gathering attendees, King Cobra and VidTheKid (alas, I forgot their real names) were sitting behind me! Talking on the plane was kind of difficult (for me, anyway), although we did speak a little. After landing in Dallas, we had a quick dinner at a Pizza Hut knock-off, before we parted ways.

(Largely uninteresting (except to me!) return stuff snipped.)

Greg responds...

The Gargwiki has become one of the most useful tools in the fandom in less than a year. And not just in the fandom. The various artists we've been using on the Gargoyles Comic Book have all been using it for reference as well. Thank you so much for getting the ball rolling on that. And thank everyone else for helping/participating. I've edited a few entries myself. :)

Response recorded on January 29, 2007

Bookmark Link

JEB writes...

Gathering 2006 Journal, Part 1

June 22, 2006

(Largely uninteresting (except to me!) pre-arrival stuff snipped.)

LAX does the most efficient airport arrivals I've ever experienced. I arrived, got my luggage almost immediately, and was ready to go. Except for finding a way to the Hyatt Valencia. I called the hotel, and they recommended a shuttle service. However, falling prey to my usual geographical ignorance, I assumed a taxi ride to Valencia would be just as good. So I hailed a taxi... and subjected the both of us to a 45-minute drive that cost me about $100. Not making THAT mistake again.

After arrival and check-in, it was time for food. After ordering some pizza, I called Garrett, who was eating dinner at Outback (if only I'd arrived an hour earlier, I could have went along). After he returned, and my pizza had arrived, I went to the room he was sharing with Ed and Leo (Ed's brother) and we chatted at length (mostly about rpgs). I still had some pizza left over- 3 no-longer-warm pieces- and I hated to see it go to waste, so I dropped it off at the con suite. After an awkward moment when I became aware I was an unintentional partycrasher with a lame gift, I quietly left and went to sleep.

June 23, 2006

First thing- assess the surroundings. Hiked out to the nearby mall, and fulfilled two unexpected needs- a toothbrush and mp3 player headphones. The whole time, I kept getting funny looks from the locals. (Garrett later advised me that it was probably my unintentional "Damien" hair.) After returning, I signed in at the con, and hung out with Garrett, Ed and Vince for a while prior to Opening Ceremonies. Red Robin lunch, and then we saw Nacho Libre (weird, but interesting).

Opening Ceremonies started 45 minutes late. (Fortunately, that degree of lateness was not repeated.) Then, we had to watch music videos soon after the ceremonies began. Now, if we'd had a 45-minute delay and had regular opening, that woulda been fine. If we'd had on-time opening and the videos, that would have been fine. But both together? That was enough to make me, Garrett, Ed, Vince (and a few others) walk out after the third video started. We waited approximately a half hour to let the videos run their course, then returned- unfortunately, a bit late. (Unfortunately, I missed Greg Bishansky's video, which I wish I'd seen on the big screen. Oh well.)

We only got bad new news this year- the fact that Season 2 Part 1's sales weren't encouraging Disney to release Part 2. (The good news, the release of the comic, wasn't new news.) Thus, Greg Weisman requested that we begin proselytizing for Gargoyles, with each of us trying to reach 1000 people. Quite a request, I'll do my best... Afterwards, we received "Gargles" toothbrushes from Quindar, and I stuck around for MGT3K (which focused on the "Dracon saga"- "Deadly Force," "The Silver Falcon" and "Protection"). Just prior, met a new fan friend, Cathie.

After MGT3K was done, I wandered a bit, and met or talked with Blaise (who told me of the life of a Hollywood extra), Blaqthourne and Crimson Fury, A Fan, Tigris Euphrates and Onyx. I tried to maintain my workout schedule at the hotel's fitness center, but the facilities were too limited to do me much good. So I went to sleep instead.

June 24, 2006

Started out the day with Garrett, Ed and Vince. We had a TGI Friday's lunch (breakfast for me), and then Vince drove us to Brave New World Comics, where I picked up some Arabic comics and Garrett bought the Gargoyles comic. (Me, I'd bought mine literally the day before I left for the Gathering.)

After we returned, I hit the dealer's room, and acquired the Phoenix Gate Anthology, Grimorum Arcanorum Anthology, and Archmage of the Universe from Tim Morgan. I also got a second copy of the Gargoyles comic (for autographical purposes), which David Hedgecock was kind enough to sign. He also offered to draw me a sketch, an offer which I happily accepted. (I wanted Coldstone, but as he hadn't worked with that character yet, I asked for Demona instead.)

The Gargoyles writing process panel was next, which was quite interesting. (First time I was able to see Michael Reaves and Brynne Chandler.) Greg Weisman again referred to the "Weird Macbeth" and "four tricksters" stories, as well as notebooks' worth of stories conceived after the show, all of which he hopes to tackle in the comic book given enough time. Next stop was the Darkwing Duck panel, including Tad Stones and Jim Cummings! Very cool, especially given the rarity of a Jim Cummings convention appearance! (Too bad he had to go home early when his wife became ill.) One interesting new tidbit- apparently, in addition to an origin of Negaduck episode, they also planned to do a Posiduck episode. Stones also said he wanted staffers to have a "comic book cover" in mind for each Darkwing episode, like they had back in Silver Age DC comics.

The Radio Play was "The Mirror," apparently the original script rather than the broadcast version. (There were a few small bits here and there that were new to me, such as a scene of gargoyle-fied humans being kind to gargoyle beast Bronx, and a line from Broadway- "Here they come!") Thom Adcox was Lexington (of course); Keith David was Goliath (naturally), and the fan playing Elisa Maza looked a little overwhelmed at times! Crispin Freeman did an interesting Hudson, and Blaise did an excellent Broadway/Bill Fagerbakke impression.

With the Radio Play finished, I chatted some with Greg Bishansky, then I sat down with Lexy and Solstice (where we agreed that the art on the Gargoyles comic was fine, thank you very much). Unfortunately, I had to cut the chat short when Garrett invited me to Olive Garden for dinner via cell phone. (Probably my best meal all weekend, though!)

After a short time in my room, I decided to head for the Blue Mug-a-Guest. En route, I got some water, and a hotel staffer asked me about the convention, and talked to me about how she'd liked the show. I situated myself in a corner of the con suite, near Gside, Taleweaver and Blaqthourne and Crimson Fury (which also turned out to be right next to the couch where the guests- Greg Weisman, Thom Adcox, Crispin Freeman and later, Keith David- sat). The Blue Mug-a-Guest itself wasn't as "blue" as I expected, but still interesting. Lots of gargoyle biology questions (of the general rather than prurient nature); Keith David also started a discussion on why there weren't more shows like Gargoyles, shows aimed at multiple levels instead of a certain demographic.

Unfortunately, we were producing too much noise for neighbors' and hotel staffers' taste, so we left the con suite and headed downstairs. The plan was to reconvene in Ballroom D or E, but when we got there, it was locked. Some of the crowd wanted to resume in the foyer outside the ballrooms, but a hotel staffer nixed that idea. For that matter, he wouldn't even let us talk outside in the parking lot, and threatened to call the cops when we started to get cranky! Greg Weisman finally stepped in, and told us (over the unreasonable resistance of the staffer, who wanted us gone immediately) that the Blue Mug would resume after the Masquerade. He then told us to return to our rooms, which we did (unhappily).

Greg responds...

It was unfortunate that this particular staffer seemed to have a problem even allowing me to announce that we were going to reschedule for the next night. He made no friends for himself or the hotel. I sympathize that he had a job to do, but we were not being unreasonable. He told us to leave the suite and we did. He told us to leave the foyer, and we were in the process of doing that as well. But he has literally zero patience. Threatening to call the police over a NON-rowdy group of hotel guests, who were simply trying to make an alternative plan (and needed literally less than two minutes to do so) was beyond overkill.

Response recorded on January 29, 2007

Bookmark Link

BrooklynX writes...

Gathering 2006 Journal:

Thursday June 22:

The day started off at 6 am. Quickly ate, dressed and finished the last of the packing. My first stop was the gas station and then I was off to Raley's to get some soda that was on sale, along with ice for the cooler and some Tylenol. A little after 7:30, I was on the road again. Traffic was a little lighter than I was expecting and I managed to make pretty decent time. I made a few pits stops and filled up on gas in the town of Grapevine. One of the roommates called while I was tanking up. Figures.

The rest of the drive in (less than 60 miles) was uneventful. Found the hotel and pulled into the parking lot around back. I quickly discovered just how far it was to the lobby from there. Ran in Jade Griffin and then about 20 minutes later, one of the roommates, Kristen. After lugging some things to the room, ran into Eden and then got some lunch. After chatting for a bit, I realized what time it was. After throwing a few more things in the car, I took off for LAX to pick up Norcumi and Quindar. The trip took a while, but that was expected due to the traffic.

After getting back and them settled in, we ended up getting dragged along with Revel and several others to dinner. Ended up at BJs and didn't know until I got there that we were joining Greg Weisman's group. I ended up at his table, along with Siryn, Revel, Spacebabie, Kythera, Silver, and several others. After dinner, I ended up back at the hotel and played some "Go Fish" with Liz, despite the fact neither of us knew the rules of the game. I turned in some time before 11pm.

Friday June 23:

The morning started off with a minor headache, shower, pop tarts for breakfast and a trip to Borders for a sketchbook (I left the I bought last year at home and didn't realize it until I had arrived at the hotel). Finding out they weren't going to be open until 10am, I took a walk around the block and headed to back to my room for a bit. As 10 rolled around, I picked up a sketchbook (I hope this doesn't become a tradition), dropped it off at the room and then picked up my packet. The day was a blur for a bit and then I watched the registration desk for a bit. After a little while, Shing and I did lunch run to Johnny Rockets for ouselves, Patrick, Greg B. and Kythera.

While Eden ran off to do a panel, I kept an eye on the art show. After that was opening ceremonies, which I cut out of early with Liz, Taylor, and Shing to get some dinner at the place next to BJs (the name escapes me). Don't remember what happened after that, other than I finally ran into the other two roommates (Pearl and her husband) and somebody else in the room too. After some chatting, most us turned in around 10 pm or so.

Saturday June 24:

Woke up earlier than planned and attempts to go back to sleep didn't work. Fired up the laptop for a bit before showering, eating and making my way downstairs to help out at the registration desk. After the rush died down, I gave Cindy my sketchbook so she could finish up a sketch she started the day before (Mara did one the night before). At some point, Liz, Silver, Stephanie and Revel also drew in the sketchbook.

Some time after 2pm, Karin, Siryn, Lanny, G-Side and I went off to a salad place for lunch. Things were a blur for a bit before the radio play. It was "The Mirror" and my first time going since... the 2001 Gathering I believe. After it was over, Norcumi, Quindar and I went to Johnny Rockets for dinner. Chatted with the roommates for a while before watching "El Hazard" (which proved to be interesting while a few of them ran off to Blue Mug. After they returned, we talked for a while before turning in for the night.

Sunday June 25:

Once again, woke up a bit earlier than planned. After showering and eating, I fired up my laptop and played a game to kill some time. Went downstairs and helped Patrick setup and run the registration desk once again. Before we even finished, we had two people wanting to register for the day. Always a nice start. Y2Hecate joined us and started selling pre-reg for the 2007 Gathering in Pigeon Forge, TN. The three of us spent time talking and at one point, she did a sketch for me. Also, I got Liz to do another doodle as well. We ended up being a little busy for a while.

Around 2:30pm, I asked Aaron to pick me some lunch from Johnny Rockets while I watched the reg desk. At 3pm, Patrick and I went to the Brigitte Bako mug a guest. Also there was Leo, Norcumi, Quindar, Tigress and a couple others who names I didn't catch. The mug moved by rather quickly and I managed to get her to sign one of my cels with Angela.

After that, I took over the reg desk until 5pm. Helped clean it up and then dropped off things in my room before heading down for the banquet. It was originally supposed to be outside, but had been switched to inside. I sat at a table with Sarah The Great, Ckayote and I have no idea who else. We cheered when we learned that Thom would be sitting at our table. We chatted, dinned and listened to the guest Q & A session. Things broke up a little after 7pm so folks could get ready for the masquerade.

Just before the masquerade started, I ended up helping wrangle a few folks who entered and the judges. It seemed rather small this year, but the costumes were still impressive. I forgot who won what and the dance/ karaoke that was supposed to happen afterwards didn't last long.

Monday June 26:

Woke way earlier than intended thanks to somebody's cell phone going off. Tried to get back to sleep, but just couldn't seem to. After a while, I started packing things up and putting them in my car. At some point, breakfast was eaten. By about 9:30am, everybody was out of the room. I wandered downstairs and ran into Shing. I decided to join her while she went to get breakfast (I was just going to get a bottle of water). We then ran into Taylor, Liz and Karlyl and decided to join them in going to Denny's. And both cars got lost trying to find the place.

After getting back to the hotel, I ended up sitting in the art room with Cindy. After a while, we started tearing down the panels. Taylor and Shara helped out. The elbow joints and the some of the other joints proved stubborn to being pulled off. Patrick showed up and then we set about taping up the pipes for transport. About ten minutes later, we loaded all of the stuff into the van. By the time that was finished, it was just about time for closing ceremonies. I made two runs over to the other end of the hotel carrying stuff.

The art awards were given out and Kythera got best in show by one vote. I also had to fix part of my registration form for next year to let Y2Hecate know I'm willing to be a con bitch, eh, volunteer at the 2007 Gathering. It was sad to see a great weekend come to an end. I started saying goodbye to folks and wished I could have stayed one more night, but didn't have a room. The drive home took a little longer than the drive down, but was uneventful (thankfully).

Once again, I had a great time at the Gathering (even if I was a con bitch again). I hope to see a lot folks at the next Gathering.

Greg responds...

It's always great to see you. I'm guessing that the term Con B**** aside, you actually enjoy volunteering, right? And that being able to call yourself a Con B**** is part of the appeal. ;)

Response recorded on January 29, 2007


: « First : Displaying #4 - #13 of 113 records. : 10 » : Last » :