Carry on Wayward Son: My First Supernatural Convention

If you haven't at least heard of the television show Supernatural by now, you're probably living under a rock. The show, first aired in 2005, is now in its eleventh season and shows no sign of slowing down in terms of popularity. The supernatural drama centers around two brothers, Sam and Dean, that travel across the country hunting the things that go bump in the night. Along the way, they've managed to open and close the gates of Hell, befriend an angel and partner with (if that's what you'd call it, anyway) the King of Hell. Setting Lucifer free and dying a few times every other season is a completely different story.                
                                                                                                                                                                                                                         In order to give back to the fans of the show, conventions are offered with the promise of karaoke nights, panels, photo ops, autographs and obviously, a look inside the lives of Sam and Dean Winchester. I'd heard of the bigger conventions like Comic Con and the ones held locally, but I didn't know that there were convetnions specifically centered around the show until the later part of last year. And as soon as I found one close enough, I'd gotten the tickets and had a few more months to wait.                                                                                                                                
                                                                  Convention day was finally here, after about five months of waiting and I realize that, given the right circumstances, I'm totally a morning person. About two and a half hours and a 'best of' everything playlist, we'd made it to Houston. The hotel was nearly empty, apart from the guests and employees, but it was still pretty early and most of the vendor's area hadn't been set up yet. The closer it got to nine, the more people started to show up and the more the atmosphere began to change. I can't say what it is exactly that makes your head spin and adrenaline run, but the idea of being surrounded by so many like-minded and kind people is something all on its on. I'm pretty sure it could've been the thought of meeting the boys in less than two hours, too.  
                 
                                                        From personal experience, make sure everything that you need is in a smaller bag and you register early because things are going to sell out and the lines are long, especially when you don't get to skip them because of the VIP laminates. And although there's a lot of cool stuff to look at or take pictures of, be prepared for a ton of waiting. In lines, in between panels and in between photo ops. Everything is spaced out, I'm sure, for convenience and easier traffic flow, but make sure you have your phone charged and extra money on hand for  merch and the auction. And don't forget to see 'Baby' before you leave.     

                                                              We'd managed to get four of the photo ops offered and none of the autographs, but we'd found out last minute that Mark Sheppard had to cancel (baby sheppard is supposed to be making an appearance soon) and had to accommodate for that. Some of the Creation staff is a lot less welcoming than I'd thought they'd be (but do remember these people have the right to deny you of anything you paid for so don't be too upset with them) but they do manage to keep everything running smoothly. And from what most of us know about the cast, it's quite a job. And (not that we tried this) don't try to sneak into anything or cause any trouble because they are not shy to let you know not to.                      
                                                                                                                                                                                                                            When you're let into the theater, you're waiting for your photo op number to be called. And if you think you're nervous before the photo op, waiting in line for one is twice as nerve-wracking. You're finally let into the photo op room and you're made to put your phone and anything else you don't want in the picture up and about twenty feet away from you is one of the boys. The first for us was Jensen, and I think I died a little inside once he started talking and laughing with everyone. The line was moving really fast and the music was really upbeat and made everyone a little more comfortable than what they would've been. As soon as we stood at the tape and the person in front of us finished, my heart dropped to my stomach and I looked over at my brother, who, up until two seconds ago was completely cocky and 'okay' about meeting "Dean."  Seeing that he was nervous made me feel better, but as soon as Jensen got a look at my  6' 4'' "little"  brother and his face gave away what he was thinking, I was trying not to laugh.              
                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Jensen shook--and if you're from the south, you know why this is so important--my brother's hand and Tyler grinned like an idiot. I vaguely remember the two having a conversation about what we fed him and then saying that whatever it was worked. The picture was over as soon as we'd gotten it, but we'd both walked out grinning from ear to ear. I wasn't sure what I expected, but I was happy that Tyler's first experience with a "celebrity" was a guy that tried to make it so personal. And for a while, the only thing he kept saying was that he took the time to talk to him. And if I have the pleaure of seeing/meeting Jensen again, I'm going to thank him for that.    
                                                                                                        
                                                        The next picture on the list was Jared's and the process was the exact same. The only obvious difference was the height and my excitement, probably. I wasn't really nervous until we were at the front and then suddenly we were in front of him. I'm pretty sure I gawked at him for a good thirty seconds because he is so freakin' tall. He laughed and told me to come here (and called me sweetheart, excuse me while I melt) and pulled us in close for a picture. We thanked him and I started to walk away, forgetting that I'd wanted to hug him, and my brother stopped me. The lady from Creation was starting to usher us off and Jared was the one to stop her and pull me in for a hug after Tyler mentioned it. I thanked him again after and Jared shook Tyler's hand and we were off again, still buzzing. We still had a little time to kill before all the panels started so we got some food and went back into the theatre.                     
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      I didn't realize how many people were here until we got back in. We sat and waited and then the music video was played on screen and our host came out after ten or so minutes. Richard Speight Jr. is just as funny in person as he in on screen and it's honestly not a wonder as to why he was picked for the host. Jim Beaver was the first guest to talk and he's pretty much what you would expect. And I know he kept denying it, but there is a piece of Bobby Singer in that man. Louden Swain was great for the in-between panels and Rob Benedict can sing . He was such a great entertainer and I wish that we would've gone to the concert and karaoke on Saturday. The panel with the boys was hilarious and included the two boys arguing, Jensen lifting his shirt (a little) and some dirty humor. The next two photo ops were after the panel and Misha is just as down to earth as the boys are. And considering they've done close to 3,000 other pictures with about 1,000 other people, the fact that they try to make it so personal and unique is so great on its' own.   
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             With the day coming to an end and the last few notes of Carry on Wayward Son  being played through the speakers, I finally realized why so many people come to these conventions and why they still do. Amongst the few thousand people in the room, the only thing that you feel is a sense of place and nothing short of love. You have a new-found family and as soon as Jared said, "welcome to the SPN family, guys," I knew then that we'd found a home here, too.

Here are the pictures from the photo ops
March 10th, 2016 at 06:52pm