Greg Bishansky writes...

The Gathering 2009 - Con Journal - Part One

Well, I certainly delayed writing this one. For many reasons, the least of which being that I've been on the road for a couple of days.

For me, this convention started in April, 2008. I think Jen had finally decided she really wanted to do it again in Los Angeles, and while out with her, Greg Weisman, and my brother, for lunch, we toasted the 2009 convention. I never staffed two Gatherings in a row, but I wanted to be on this one. I was the Con Chair for 2003, I worked promotions for 2006, was doing it again for 2008 and Chicago, and I figured, hey... two in a row, why not? I'd take 2010 off, maybe.... but I am about to get ahead of myself.

I volunteered the house I was living in at the time out for boxes to be delivered to. Mountains of boxes from fans donating to our auction; as well as four boxes full of graphic novels from SLG. "Gargoyles, Clan Building: Volume One"; "Gargoyles, Clan Building: Volume Two" and "Gargoyles, Bad Guys: Redemption."

BTW, all three are available here, so buy 'em now, if you haven't already...

http://www.slgcomic.com/Gargoyles-TPB-1_p_609.html
http://www.slgcomic.com/Gargoyles-Clan-Building-Volume-Two_p_1249.html
http://www.slgcomic.com/Gargoyles-Bad-Guys-Volume-One_p_1326.html

Thursday morning, Patrick Toman picked me up, and we loaded this mountain of boxes into the back of the SUV he rented. Then, we headed off to the bank to have some capital in our cash box... they took their sweet time approving of it. Finally we arrived at the hotel and were greeted by Jennifer L. Anderson... big hug, and we got hotel staff to play Tetris with the boxes. We went up to Patrick's room and hung out for a bit, we stalked Karine Charlebois' plane, bringing her to LA from Montreal, on the internet.

Patrick left to go pick up Karine and Kythera, and Jen and I went downstairs to Starbucks, and then to get her checked into the staff suite. And, this suite was... impressive, to say the least. It was the diplomat's suite, and the ceiling was at least twenty feet high. It was on the twenty-fourth floor, so we had a nice view of Universal Studios.

Once that was done, we drove off to the Bob Hope Airport in Burbank to pick up Mara Cordova, and arrived back in time to meet Rebekah, Cindy, and... ugh, I am so blanking out... but we went across to City Walk to Tommy Burger for, well, burgers.

Later on, my roommate, Rob and his girlfriend, Stephanie, arrived. And I went down to the room to drop off my suitcases and take a shower. Went back up to Jen's room, where by now, most of the staff had gathered, and we stuffed envelopes, prepared con badges, and then, upon Greg Weisman's arrival, we went to dinner at Bucco de Beppo's in CityWalk.

We had at least seventeen people at this table. But, it was good. We ordered lots of Italian food, and we shared everything. We all got caught up, traded funny stories... Cindy winning with her story about the obnoxious French tourists at the museum. I got caught up with Tony and Andrea Zucconi, whom I haven't seen in two years. It was good. Karine and I both had a birthday two days before this, so we got a little Happy Birthday song(s) from the rest of the crew.

The rest of the evening is a bit of a blurr, but on our way back to City Walk, we ran into Jade and met her baby for the first time. Cute kid.

Once we got back, I think we continued prepping con packets until we called it a night. We all needed rest.

BTW, the Greg Weisman line of the year is "The %*@&ing Radio Play" ... he arrived after finally finishing his prepping of the %*@&ing Radio Play. But, more on the %*@&ing Radio Play when we get to the %*@&ing Radio Play.

Shaun "BrooklynX" Donagher writes...

Ok, Greg, here is my Gathering Journal. I'll admit this is the one year I almost didn't make besides the first 3 Gatherings (learned about after the fact). Money ended being rather tight because I needed to get my wisdom teeth out back in July. But I managed to catch a couple breaks, so I was able to come.

Wednesday, August 19th:

My Gathering trip started by driving down to Sunnyvale from Sacramento to meet Tigris for the drive down to convention. I left my house a little later than I wanted and got to her place around 10 pm. We gamed for a little while and decided to leave around 10 am the next morning.

Thursday, August 20th:

I got up around 8 and slowly started to unpack a few items I didn't need to bring on the trip. Around 10, we took off and hit Safeway where I picked up some Gatorade for the trip before we got gas. After those two things, we hit the road for the long drive south.

Around 12:45 we stopped at Harris Ranch for lunch. I got a hamburger with jack cheese and wished they had pepper jack. After eating, I picked up a shot glass to add to my collection. Our next stop was just north of the Grapevine for some more gas.

Traffic was pretty smooth until we hit the 1-5/ CA-14 junction where there was a pretty big slowdown. Speed up for a little bit until we hit Valencia. After got just south of the 405 junction, it was nice and smooth all the way to the hotel.

We managed to arrive around 5:10 and we saw Jennifer Anderson and Karine right we got out of the elevator. On the way to check in, we also ran into Cindy, Patrick and a couple of others. Managed to hi before getting our room keys. Much to our surprise, they didn't work, so we had to go back down to get them recoded. Went back up and got rid of our backpacks.

Our next trip was for the main suitcases and we when we got back, they had put in the mini-fridge that we had requested. The final trip was the drinks and cooler that had come along. Wandered back to the lobby where I ran into Vicky (from the U.K.), Banshee, and Gside. We talked for a while before Jade Griffin and her husband showed up.

Around 8:30 to 9 pm Tigrise, Jade, her husband and kid, Karl, and I all walked over to City Walk to get some dinner. We ended up at a sushi place. I ended up having the Salmon salad, which was actually pretty good. We talked about a variety of things before heading back to the hotel around 10:30 pm.

We said good night to each other before trying to crash for the night. I think I managed to pass out close to midnight.

Friday, August 21st:

I woke up around 8 am. I took a shower and then tried to call Gside to meet up for breakfast around 9. Never did manage to meet up with him, so I went over to City Walk and ended up going to Jamba Juice for breakfast. While it wasn't the greatest choice in the world, it was something.

Went back to the hotel where I ran into Sarah the Great. We chatted for a while before putting her luggage into my room before trying to track the registration desk. I got my stuff and proceeded to help Patrick.

Around 11:45, I helped Greg X move the items for the silent auction and books down to the dealers room. After all of that was taken care of, Susan and I got to work unpacking everything. After a while, it became clear that there wasn't enough room for everything. Once the stuff was labeled and out of the boxes, I helped Karine with the pricing and trying to condense all the auction items.

After that was finished, I sat down with Cindy to take a break. We chatted for a while trying to juggle the sales of the graphic novels and keeping an eye on the art room. I picked up a copy of both Gargoyles novels and the Bad Guys one as well. I spent some time reading through them was happy that we had gotten some additional material since the show got canceled.

I helped Cindy close up the art room around 6 before heading down to the opening ceremonies. I missed part of it, but did get to catch Greg's usual talk and videos. Granted I had seen them nine times before, the tenth time was still a treat.

After that was over, Tony, Andrea, Jade Griffin, Trevor, Cindy, Karine, several others and I headed down to Fat Burger for some dinner. After the guy taking the orders for my name, I spelled it out for him and somehow, it came out it as “Ahun” on the receipt. Usually, most folks mispronounce my last name, but I think this was the first time my first name got mangled.

I decided to take a picture of it since I found it highly amusing after showing the receipt around. Before I got to finish, the second round of folks showed up. Seth, Sammy, Greg Bishansky, Patrick, and several others whose names escape me. And poor Seth's receipt ended up with being named Sith. Most us were highly amused by the misspelling of our names.

After eating, most of us walked back up that blasted hill to hotel before heading to bed.

Saturday, August 22nd:

I got up some time between 7:30 and 8. I decided to check my email, read some web comics and took a look at Station 8 briefly. After a taking a shower, I decided to make a quick run to get some breakfast. I was half way to Jamba Juice when I got a call from Cindy saying Patrick needed help at the registration desk, but by the time I got back, the crowd had cleared up.

I ended up helping at the dealers table once again. At one point, I managed to get away for a few minutes to get Marina Sirtis to sign in Gargoyles Clan Building Volume 1, when I should have had her sign the second one. Oops. I also managed to get my picture taken with her, which was nice.

I joined Guardian at the desk for a bit before she went off to a panel. I decided that while Brianna Garcia was doing some commissions, I asked for her to draw one of my characters. While waiting for that, we tried to get folks to vote in the art show.

And by the time we closed down for the night, I knew how much it was to buy all three of the graphic novels. Or a combination of two of the three. Karine, Cindy, Tony, Andrea, Shing, and I headed over to Universal City Walk for dinner. We stopped at the crepe's place whose name I didn't catch. I had a nice one that was made with ham and cheddar.

After we found a place to sit down to chow down, we wandered into the Lush store for a while before walking back to the hotel. It proved to be a bit interesting since we ended up walking against the crowd that was leaving Universal Studios. After getting back, we chatted for a little before everybody got ready for the Blue Mug panel.

During the middle of the panel, Greg has to leave for a little and Edmund Tsabard showed up. Just in the heck is that guy? I swear, he sort of looks like Greg's evil twin, but I could be wrong. After insulting us and talking about his “Last Tengu in Paris” project, he left and low and behold Greg came back into the room. Talk about weird.

After a number of questions, none of which I can remember, the panel closed down for the night. I headed back up the room and was going to make an attempt to try and get 8 hours of sleep after checking a couple things on the laptop.

Just before Tigris and I were about to crash, Cindy's husband Max called while trying get in touch with her. After taking a note to have her call him in the morning, we ended up talking for about an hour or so before finally going to bed for the night.

Sunday, August 23rd:

This time I decided to shower a bit earlier before hunting down Cindy to drop off the message. I loaned her my cell phone so she could call Max while I went off to get breakfast. Once again, I ended up at Jamba Juice. Anybody sense a theme?

Once again I ended up back in the art and dealers room to help out since I was able to do the math for making change in my head. Sales of Clan Building Volume 1 and Bad Guys seemed to be fairly brisk, but we did sell some Volume 2 from time to time.

Most of us ended up talking for a while about a variety of random things. At 3, we closed the auction for all of the goodies that got sent to us. After sorting out what was going to live auction, we started selling everything else. Over the next couple of hours, we managed to take almost everything in the back, save for a few items.

At 5:30, we shut down the bidding for the art auction. After taking care of a few folks who were leaving during the night or very early tomorrow morning, we shut down around 5:50. I quickly back to the room and changed for the banquet and left behind the backpack.

I managed to find a seat with Tigris and several other fans whose names I didn't get. Our guest was one of the Spiderman writers, Nicole Dubuc. We ended up chatting about a variety of things, including how she was nervous about working for Greg at first.

The food was pretty good this year. I loaded up on some of the salad, a roll, chicken, mashed potato and roast beef. And decided to get a slice of German chocolate cake to finish it off. There was supposed to be a trivia game during dinner, but that didn't happen. Oh, well. The Q&A went pretty well despite Thom Adcox showing up a bit late.

After that was the masquerade. There was a pretty decent group of folks in costumes this year. I think the most amusing one was Rebeka as a red shirt. After the awards were announced, some folks danced and others circulated around and talked.

I think around 11:15 or so I headed back to the room to get some sleep.

Monday, August 24th:

I woke up around 7:30 and slowly got to work on packing up things. After I took a shower around 8:15, Tigris took hers. After everything was packed up, we did one run down to the car to drop off the suitcases and drinks. Came back up to get what was left and checked to make sure we didn't leave anything behind.

After checking out, we hung out in the lobby for a little bit before heading out to get some breakfast. I ended up going to Jamba Juice one last time. I had thought about going somewhere else, but decided to go one last time since I very rarely go to the ones up in Sacramento. Probably because the closest one is a good 3 or so miles from my house.

I went back up to the art and dealers room to help out Cindy once again. While she wrote out the receipts and looked up the total including tax, I took the money and gave folks their change. Ah, nothing like doing math in the head. A couple times I tried to calculate the wrong amount of change and she mocked me over it, but hey, it was in good spirit.

Once it started getting closer two, we started to wind things down and started to put some things into boxes to move up to Patrick's room after closing ceremonies. At 2, we walked over to that room and it was a bittersweet moment.

Cindy handed out the art show awards and thanked the few of us who helped make sure she didn't go insane. Quite a few folks were taking this being the last Gathering rather hard. I think a few folks did start crying and I don't blame them. I know Greg, Thom, and quite a few others took it rather hard.

After it was over, we opened up the dealers for a shot time to try and sell a few copies of the trade paperbacks and sell off as many shirts as possible. I decided to pick up another 2009 shirt. After about 20 minutes, the last of the stuff was put into boxes and was hauled upstairs.

A number of us hung out up in Jennifer's room for a bit and chewed down on some pizza. Around 5, Tigris and I said our goodbyes and hit the road for San Jose. I'm going to miss getting to see Jennifer, Patrick, Set, Sammy, Greg X and others year after year.

I felt sad that it came to end, but understand why. Hard to believe that I managed to go to ten Gathering, yes, ten. My first one was the 2000 Gathering in Orlando. I had missed '97 and '98 because I had learned about them after the fact. '99 I learned about 3 months ahead of time, which wasn't enough time for me to save the needed money.

It has been a great ten years. And it's been an honor getting to meet you Greg.

And here are the photos I took this year: http://www.shaunpup2.com/gallery2/v/g2009/

Pardon the red eye. I couldn't find the needed software to fix them up.

Rachel N. writes...

My Con Journal for the Gathering 2009

My friend Kathie and I arrived late Thurs night (8/20) at the hotel. We both met up at LAX airport, she having flown in from Philadelphia, PA and I from Newark, NJ.
Highly recommend Prime Time Shuttle service to and from LAX. We used it and it was very reliable.

The Hilton hotel at Universal Studios: Really nice!!! As was our room.

First day of the Gathering - Friday (8/21):

Waiting for the Registration table to open (which it did @ 10am), Kathie and I met some of our fellow Con goers, including Carol (Guardian) and Gorbash. They were all so nice and welcoming (as I figured my fellow Gargoyles fans would be).

Kathie and I picked up our Gathering t-shirts, badges, and programs at the Registration table, and then I had to go and set up my 3 artwork pieces for the Art Show. As Kathie was helping me out with this, and as we took a peek at everyone else’s artwork being set up, Greg Weisman showed up to observe the Art Show set-up (it was mine and Kathie’s first time seeing Greg in person, and it was exciting to see him taking a look at my artwork).

Around noon, Kathie and I were lucky enough to attend Greg’s “Mug-a-Guest” session, and it was really great! Greg’s answers to all the questions asked were very interesting, insightful, and sometimes funny. We learned A LOT!

1:30pm â€" Kathie and I sat in on the panel “Fanfiction in the Post-Canon Market”, where many great and new ideas for Gargoyles fanfic were tossed around and discussed. Tigris did a really good job as panel moderator, and she had some very interesting ideas and suggestions for all the fanfic writers in the room.

3pm â€" Kathie and I attended Thom Adcox’s Q&A panel, which was a lot of fun. Thom is such an entertaining and funny guy! Like Greg, Thom has a great sense of humor, and he’s so down-to-earth and easy-going. He told some great stories and shared memories of his career and working on Gargoyles.

A little after 5pm were the Opening Ceremonies (led by Greg Weisman, Patrick and Jennifer), and Kathie and I were there of course. Wow â€" it was awesome! Being first-timers, we really enjoyed all that took place, especially getting to watch the videos of the Pitches for Gargoyles and its spin-offs (New Olympians, Bad Guys), and the fan-made “Team Atlantis” episode that tied in to the Gargoyles universe. Terrific job to all who worked on it, and it’s still a work-in-progress! Here’s hoping we get to see it completed one day.

Second day of the Gathering - Saturday (8/22):

11am â€" Kathie and I were really lucky enough to attend Keith David’s “Mug-a-Guest” session (having been among the last two people to sign up for it), and it was without a doubt one of the highlights of the Gathering for me. Pardon me for gushing just a bit, but Keith is awesome!!! I’m such a great admirer of his film and stage acting and his voiceover work, and of course Goliath is my favorite Keith David character. To be able to sit in the same room with him (among my fellow fans) and listen to him talk about his career and the work he did on Gargoyles was so wonderful! And man do I LOVE his voice!!! I could listen to him read the phone book. Anyway, it was such an honor to meet him in person, and Kathie felt the same way. I do hope we get to see him again at a future gathering/convention of some kind. And have I mentioned how much I REALLY like those “Mug-a-Guest” sessions!

Right after the session, I got the chance to meet Marina Sirtis and she autographed a Demona poster for me. She has a warm smile and was so nice! I’m a great admirer of her work on both Star Trek TNG and Gargoyles.

Kathie and I managed to catch the last half hour of Crispin Freeman’s panel on Anime Mythology, and it made us wish we had seen the entire panel because what we did see was fantastic. Crispin is a very engaging and dynamic speaker, and what he spoke about was fascinating! I learned a lot about dragon lore and its influences on certain anime series. Great job, Crispin!

Then around 1pm we attended the panel for “Gargoyles: The Voice Acting Process”
which featured Greg W., Thom, Keith, Marina, Elisa Gabrielli, and Jamie Thomason. This panel was another highlight of the Gathering for me…it was so awesome to see all these Gargoyles voice actors together and the interactions btw them were great! As Greg said in his Con journal, some great stories were told, and a lot of laughs were shared.

Next, Kathie and I sat in on the “Anatomy of Fantasy Creatures” art panel, which was really interesting. And then came the final big event of the day â€" the Radio Play. Two words: TOTALLY AWESOME!!!!!!!! A Gargoyles and Spider-Man crossover was a wonderful idea for the Radio Play at this Gathering, and I can say for sure that Kathie and I really enjoyed it! All the Players, both pro and non-pro, were terrific! They all totally made it work so well, so congrats to them, and congrats to Greg W. on a very successful Radio Play!!! Afterward, Kathie and I stuck around and got autographs from some of the Radio Play actors.

Third day of the Gathering - Sunday (8/23):

10am â€" Kathie and I attended the panel for “Gargoyles: The Production Process”, and it was awesome to see all the Production crew members there and listen to them as they shared their experiences working on Gargoyles. Another wonderful panel at this year’s Gathering! Afterward we stuck around and got autographs from some of the Production members.

4pm â€" The other panel Kathie and I attended that day was Wendy Pini’s “Adapting Stories from Novels to Film”. We learned quite a bit about the history of ElfQuest and its journey to becoming a film. Wendy gave a great talk, and I know I’m definitely going to be seeing the ElfQuest movie whenever it’s released.

6pm till rest of the night:
Good food was had at the Banquet, great conversations with those who sat at our table, and the Guest Q&A afterwards was very entertaining! Then came the Masquerade Costume Contest and Dance. I wore a costume but did not enter the contest, instead choosing to observe it all. It was awesome â€" some really terrific costumes! And while the judges took a break to choose the winners, we watched some fabulous music videos paying homage to both Gargoyles and Spider-Man.
Congrats to all the winners of the Costume Contest!

Fourth (and final) day of the Gathering - Monday (8/24):

10am â€" Kathie and I attended the panel for “The Future of the Gargoyles Fandom”, and some very good ideas were discussed and debated. So hopefully with all the interest there appeared to be in keeping the fandom going, we’ll all be able to attend Gargoyles-related events and gatherings of some kind in the future.

11:30am â€" Next was the very interesting “Gargoyles Biology and Culture” panel led by Greg W., Jade and Matt. Now I know why it’s one of Greg’s favorite panels at the Gathering…it was fascinating with some really great questions being asked.

And finally, after I collected my artwork from the Art Show closing, it was time to attend the Closing Ceremonies of the Gathering. And what emotional and moving Ceremonies they were!!! I think there wasn’t a dry eye in the room! I cried along with everyone else, even though this Gathering had been my one and only, but maybe because of that too, I just didn’t want it to end. Which really made me wish I had attended all the past 12 Gatherings (believe me, I’m kicking myself now). Kathie and I were really touched by all the love in that room; we could see how it was like one big family, and no one wanted to say goodbye. But like Greg said, this final Gathering definitely went out with a BANG!

Kathie’s flight back home to Philly left that night, and my flight back to NJ left early Tuesday morning.

To conclude my Con journal, I want to say that for those who couldn’t attend, you all missed a fantastic Gathering; a really great weekend was had by all!!! It was both fun and bittersweet…we laughed and cried, and enjoyed every moment. It was an unforgettable Gathering! BIG thank-you’s go to the entire staff for all their hard work and dedication in organizing such a wonderful Con. And of course, special thanks go to Greg W. and all the terrific guests from both Gargoyles and the Spectacular Spider-Man, including fellow Gargoyles fan and ElfQuest creator Wendy Pini. It was an honor and pleasure to meet you all, and here’s hoping we can all meet up again at a future Gargoyles-related event. I’m keeping my fingers crossed!

David B. Jacobs writes...

Hey Greg!
I am really upset that I couldn't make it to the Gathering (no seriously, I am - and it was THE LAST ONE??? ;_;), but unfortunately, plane tickets ARE kind of expensive.... And I'm somewhat broke.... (No seriously, I really DO wish I could've gone! I don't care that I would've been a newbie there! I ACTUALLY wanted to go!)
What I most regret missing is that Spidey/Gargoyles crossover. I would've LOVED to be able to see that! (In fact, it was when I heard about that that I was convinced I wanted to go.) But then, just last night, I thought of this: Is there any chance that you could post the script here on Ask Greg?
I understand if you can't, but I would REALLY appreciate if you did, and I'm sure a lot of other people would too.
Thanks for your time!

The Pumpkin Bomb writes...

This wasn't my first con, but it was my first gathering. I was only 4 or 5 when Gargoyles first aired--so now, at the age of 20, it really felt like I was part of this younger generation just barely getting to the point of shouldering the responsibility of the fandom. There were people twice my age who lived with this show and supported it by attending the con, working with Greg and forming these very close bonds--it was really something to see, how your own love and appreciation is reflected in so many other people, especially when they've had to go farther for it, like maintaining the expense of the Gathering and bringing it back for so many years.

So I was a bit sad going in--my first gathering, and it would be the last one? It was hard not to feel this way at certain times, but mostly everything was so fun and exiting I was on cloud nine all weekend long.

FRIDAY
I'm from Arkansas, and our NATIONAL AIRPORT in our capitol of Little Rock has a total of TWELVE GATES. This meant a connecting flight in Dallas, which meant a long delay due to bad weather, which ultimately meant arriving at the Gathering at 2 instead of 12, despite those handy hours we gained on the trip. Got my badge, and bought a copy of Bad Guys, talked with some people and eventually found my way for Thom's panel. It was so cool! He's such an interesting guy, and really really funny. I wish I had told him how when I was younger my cousin and I would fight over who got to be Lexington when we played Gargoyles, but I only thought of it after...oh well. Opening ceremonies: it was cool to see how many con-virgins their were--myself included. Huzzah for young blood, if I may cheer for myself. Seeing all the promos and clips was great, because I hadn't seen a lot of them. Was very late for supper, but my dad who came with me (I'm old enough to drive and vote and go to school out of state, but alone in LA for one weekend? Forget about it. But I love my dad and he's good company, even though he doesn't get Gargoyles or cartoons in general) was waiting for me and we got dinner at the hotel. Sushi and smoked salmon, like they don't have in Arkansas. So good.

SATURDAY
I wavered and missed out on Keith David's mug-a-guest, so I went to audition for the radio play. Brought back all those delightful feelings I had in high school drama of the nervous audition, the fragile hope, and ultimate rejection. So I called a friend and CHILLED OUT. And I read for Gwen, and gave my best high pitched shriek. Walking away, and I swear I really thought this--I figured if I got any part at all it would be for the screaming bit.
Went to Cripsin Freeman's panel on Dragons for a lark and was really surprised. I hadn't expected it to be so good--it was really thought out, informative, and entertaining. I've been listening to Freeman in my anime for years (he brought be to tears for his work in Wolf's Rain, but I didn't mention that either--shoot!) but I never expected him to have the same passion for myths and folklore I do. I need to check out his site.
Then I stayed for the Gargoyles and the Spectacular Spider-Man voice panels--words cannot describe how hilarious they were. I asked a few questions but mostly listened and laughed, utterly content. After I shook Phil Lamarr's hand, and told him that I loved his work and could always tell when it was him, even though his range is so varied, which is true--that man has acted in probably every cartoon I've loved (and a few that I merely liked) since I was 11. I took a bit of time out to chat with Karine Charlebois, artist of Bad Guys. I want to work in comics or animation one day, so her insight was very useful. Thanks Karine!

After the voice panels I went to check the cast list, certain that I would merely be watching the players tonight and attending David Hedgecock's panel during the hour before the play--but my name was on this list! It felt like magic. And if wasn't magic it was certainly a little weird, as I had been given the role of the Pumpkin Bomb--the shrieking part. Score one for my intuition!
I was elated all night. Hearing all the actors reprise their old roles and work off of all the other actors WAS magic. It made it seem like that show I loved, those stories and those characters were still out there, just waiting to be brought back. It was amazing fun, and I shrieked with all my might! Phil Lamarr who sat in front of me, I'm sorry if I hurt your ears!

And after the play, I met my dad and we both walked and ate in Universal city. I gushed out everything to him, and while I'm certain he was extremely bemused he was also happy for me. A really wonderful night. Thanks Greg (and Mir. Thomason, and Victor Cook who thought up the screaming pumpkin bomb) for allowing me to be a part in that magic. I'll be the pumpkin bomb forever.

SUNDAY
I attended both panels of the production process for both shows--if Saturday was all about fun and play, Sunday was (for me, anyway) all about fun and learning. I learned so much about how it felt to make a show, both from Greg and his comrades and from Victor Cook, whose mug-a-guest session I attended. Mr. Cook even gave me his card--the shining dream of working in animation (and um...the potential scary parts of that shining dream) seemed so much closer! I came in a bit late for the writer's panel, but still learned a lot. After the panel I shook Michael Reeves' hand, and I was really sad to hear that he was ill. He wrote some of my favorite shows on Gargoyles, and I hope he gets better. I also got Greg to sign my script, and told him how glad I was to be the pumpkin bomb. I still am, Greg! I still am!!

At the banquet I sat at Crispin Freeman's table, and had a nice dinner. The Q & A was also great then too--though I felt bad that everyone had to stand on stage like that; their feet must have been killing them, especially Greg. The Masquerade was great too. If there ever is another one, I'm definitely dressing up at least once. I had to leave pretty soon, as my dad and I had an early flight out Monday. So I didn't get to go at all on Monday, but I still felt that twinge of sadness that I'm sure was felt more acutely at closing ceremonies. I had a great time, but I had a long drive waiting to go to school once I got back home, and not enough time to say goodbye properly. I don't think I want to say goodbye.

Instead, I'll just say good night, and thank you. To Greg, to Michael Reeves and Vic Cook, to the con staff, to the guests, to the attendees and to the fans who couldn't go but were there in spirit: thank you. I hope I'll see you again.

CUgone writes...

Hey, Greg:

Longtime fan, first-time con-goer here. I attended the 2009 Gathering (sadly, now I'm regretting not going sooner since I had a good time and now it's over) and noticed during the Radio Play that the session's audio was being recorded. Is there an intent to release these recordings or is it for internal use only?

Is there a way to get a hold of the older recordings, if any?

Anton writes...

Greg wrote:

"We have a Radio Play (that has nearly killed me to get ready in time) that presents an ORIGINAL Feature-Length crossover between Gargoyles and The Spectacular Spider-Man, with EVERY voice actor guest performing with fans."

Question, is it canonical to either side?

Tyger writes...

My Con Journal

I never would've gotten to go to Gathering at all if it weren't for Guardian.

Guardian and I met... YEARS ago. And ironically, what brought us together wasn't our mutual love for Gargoyles, but our mutual love for Dinotopia. We met on the Dinotopia Official Messageboard, and our two characters quickly became Dinotopian life partners (NOT what you think - in Dinotopia, that's the term for a very close bond between a dinosaur and a human (I was the dinosaur, and she was the human). When she was attacked on the OMB, I backed her up. And when she left, I left, too.

We hung out at my messageboard, discussing the other fandoms we had in common (Buffy, Gargoyles), and I got introduced to Riftwar (EPIC RP, omg, so sad that it's been wiped from EZ Board), and her main character/self Guardian.

Flash forward to earlier this year when I made the conscious decision to get back in touch with the four old online friends that have meant the most to me, over the years. Two, Guard, and the Chief Rabbit of my old Watership Down forum, I've managed to get into constant contact with. The other two... well, one hasn't answered my email, and the other doesn't have an up to date email address, anywhere I can find... But that's beside the point.

Anyway, while talking to Guard, the subject of Gathering came up. We started talking about how badly Nyx and I wanted to go, but how I couldn't afford it. And Guard commissioned me for enough art to pay my way, essentially, into the whole con.

Now, shortly after that, Nyx's grandmother went into the hospital... and from there into hospice care on a deathwatch. We supported her, and stayed with her, but I wasn't able to finish the commissions on time. When it really began to look like we couldn't go, I talked to Guard again, apologized for the delay, explained it, and asked if there was any way she could get us something, and maybe get the Future Of The fandom panel recorded...

Then she offered to just... pay for me and Nyx to get into the con. After all, I'm already doing the commissions, and she has no doubt I'll finish them... So plans were made, and we met her at the hotel Sunday morning. She bought our con badges after an hour or so of waiting, and then we split up for the day, going to different panels.

The panels the first day were fun. I enjoyed Dynamic Drawing (I think I've finally got a handle (pun intended) on the basic shapes of the hand and foot, now), and also the panel of writers was amazing... I got to meet one of my writer heroes, Greg Weisman, and let him know that he is one of the reasons that I'm a writer today. I got his autograph, as well as the autograph of another writer there who also worked on Transformers: Beast Machines... *geeks out*

Anyway, we hadn't had enough to afford the banquet Sunday night, and we didn't have costumes for the masquerade ball afterwards, so we went home after the second panel. We spent the night at Nyx's mom's house (which lead to me realizing that I don't computer well on a floor), watched all of the first five episodes of Gargoyles (the Awakening saga), and then went to sleep.

Keeping in mind that I'd gotten up at 4am Sunday, after having gone to bed at 1:30 in the morning. I embarrassed myself by falling asleep in the writing panel, but it all worked out eventually - the anxiety of getting the autographs woke me up for awhile. By the time we actually tried to go to bed, I'd gotten my second... or third... wind, and laid awake for awhile. Then, when I DID fall asleep, I jerked awake at 3 am, seeing a light outside and thinking the alarm hadn't gone off. I climbed over Nyx (we were sharing her twin bed at her mom's house), checked my phone, saw that it was 2:59am... thought "That can't be right... Wait!" My phone was plugged into Lona's computer in order to charge. And most of the time, when it's plugged in, it randomly sets it's time zone to something strange... "Enwetok" or something like that, that's -12 hours from where we are. But... it hadn't done that, this time. Yes, it was 3am... And having scared myself awake, I was wide awake. (Keeping in mind, we didn't get to bed until 11:30-midnight.)

So, I sat up for an hour, played my DS, sat in the living room (where it was marginally cooler - it was really hot in that bedroom), then finally came back to bed, sleepy, at almost 4:30am. I woke up again one or two minutes before the alarm would go OFF, so for all my panic about sleeping through the alarm, I was still up on time.

A few slices of leftover pizza, the rest of my starbucks coffee from the previous day, and I was ready to go. On to the last day of the Con!

First was the Future Of The Fandom panel. Essentially a panel moderated by one of the people who runs the con, getting fan ideas for how to keep the con alive. I was proud of myself for speaking up several times. I even gave the idea that the con could be expanded to honor the other Disney Afternoon shows that were with Gargoyles in that block. Everyone seemed to like that.

After that, the Gargoyles: Biology And Culture (I asked a question there, too... and Greg Weisman himself answered it!)... that was the most awesome panel, ever. Gargoyles were tied into paleontology, even. SO incredibly awesome. And I learned that I'm not nuts. :P Lots of people question as if the Gargoyles world is/was real, as I do. That was just...awesome. Totally awesome.

The best part of the day, however, was the Closing Ceremonies... So many people, fan and Guest alike, spoke about past Gatherings, their memories... no one was ready for it to be over. We all just kept filling the silence with stories after stories... Greg Weisman, the creator of Gargoyles, was crying through most of it... I don't even know where to start.

The Con was amazing. I regret never having been to all the Gatherings, previous to this one.

Jim writes...

So now that you've released the cast list/title of the Spidey crossover radio play, I have to ask: Is "Religious Studies 101" out of the running for arc titles?

John aka Flanker writes...

Consciousness returned to my body. My eyes were stinging and heavy. I cracked open a dried socket and tried to make sense of where I was. The sun was up, enough light was getting through to help me establish I was in a hotel room. My last memories were hazy, involving a military facility and being rushed onto an aircraft. Was I drugged?

I took stock of myself. I was on the floor, still wearing my clothing from yesterday. I sensed I wasn't alone in the room, whoever was keeping me here seemed to not be paying attention. I clawed my way across the floor into the washroom. I quietly used the facilities and showered, not wanting to find out what would happen if my 'hosts' were woken up. I slipped out of the room and found myself in a large and upscale hotel. I stumbled out into the sunlight. The heat and flora told me I was in California. Disoriented, it took me some time to scale down the hill and find a street. The presence of Universal Studios meant I could only be in Los Angeles. My advanced knowledge of American geography dictates that walking in any one direction long enough will bring me to a McDonalds. Like most Canadians I had a useful amount of US currency in my wallet and obtained some vague semblance of nurishment. And coffee.

The only way to figure out why I was brought here was to get back into the hotel. The climb back was further burdened with the fast food rotting away in my stomach. Approaching cautiously, I found a contact had left a dead drop in the form of an envelope with my codename on it. Inside was a T shirt that would help me blend in with the locals and a book full of coded instructions. I could infiltrate this secret society by hiding in the background or in plain sight. I chose plain sight. A number of events seemed to rotate around a 'Radio Play'. This requried an audition so I feigned an accent to make the leaders of this group think I was European. Ironically, after the audition, the group I was trying to infiltrate offered a lecture on voice acting, which would likely be useful should I be cast in the play. This was also an opportunity to examine the leaders of this strange group. After conducting some surveillance and link analysis I had a chance to speak with a British operative who may have been on the same mission as me. I determined this because other people were noting that nobody had seen her there before. We also assessed together that Top Gear is the best show on British Television that isn't Gargoyles. I also conversed briefly with a fellow Canadian. But being both female and French I knew she wasn't to be trusted. Also her badge identified her as ONE OF THEM. Someone responsible for a project called 'Bad Guys' can't be up to anything good.

Soon it was time for the play rehearsal and play itself. I was delighted to find we weren't going to read 'Dianetics' or something. I was able to keep a copy of the script which, as we speak, is being analyzed for subliminal subversion. Also I felt I may have been losing myself in my cover. I was starting to feel the mind control effects of the group's supreme leader.

I made contact with a former US Navy operator and we able to abduct a 'biology research scientist' that belonged to this secret society and we debriefed her at a 'Fatburger'. What would this group need with a biology scientist? Germ warfare? Genetic manipulation? I was in deep, thankfully I wasn't alone.

Back at the hotel I slid into a late night session code named 'Blue Mug'. Nothing I had seen previously had prepared me for this. People were discussing things like how a gargoyle would [CLASSIFIED=========================================================================================================CLASSIFIED]with salad dressing.

Also a cultist presented a ranking member with somekind of magic underwear. It was difficult to see from the back. Exfiltration occurred around 1150 hours GMT -8

More to follow...over.