My Buffy Cast Experiences! Big Apple Comic Con 2011 and Philadelphia Comic Con 2012

BuffyIsMyAlways

Mrs. Marsters.
Joined
Oct 29, 2011
Messages
46
Location
Long Island, NY
Sineya
Big Apple Comic Con

May 21st and 22nd, 2011.

Meeting James Marsters

The weekend of May 21st and 22nd, was the best weekend of my entire life.

I never thought that I would be the type of person to go to a Comic-Con. But then again, I’m one of the biggest nerds I know.

I arrived at the Penn Plaza Hotel at around 8:15 am. It didn’t start until 10, but of course we wanted to get there early. It took all of my energy to not freak out my entire time waiting, because it hadn’t even started yet! Time went by fast and they started letting us in. VIPs went in first. Thank God. My mother payed 200$ on my VIP ticket, so I would get to meet James Marsters.

Once we were all registered, I got a cool VIP Pass [Pictures will be at the end], and then I was put in line. I was 2nd. SECOND in line to get James’ autograph. I had to wait about a half hour because James wasn’t supposed to show up until 11, but he was also 15 min late.

The people in front of me went, and then it was my turn. I was peeing. We didn’t really talk much, but it was so amazing. He shook my hand and said “Hello, love. How are you?” I said “I’m good!” I then handed him my picture. It was a promo picture of Spike from either season 6 or 7. He said “Who is this beautiful person right here?” (meaning the photo of course) He then was talking about how the picture of him is pathetic because he can tell that this is him dressing as his part. The clothes in the photo are just his normal street clothes. He signed my photo and he said “I’m gonna write ‘Bite Me’ on it because I can get away with that” I laughed, and he shook my hand again and I said thank you and he said “Thank you, love”. I think it’s adorable that although he’s not really British, he still says love.

I walked away and then I squealed. I did. I squealed. After that there was about an hour until his photo op. My sister and I walked around a bit, and I bought myself an Angel Investigations shirt. We went down stairs and I got online for my photo.

I walked up to him and he said “Hello again, gorgeous”. As I turn to smile he put his arms around me and hugged me for the picture. I hugged him back of course. The amount of happiness that was going through me and still is.

My photo came out a few min later [Picture on the top]. I almost cried. It is such an amazing photo. I’ve never, ever liked the way I looked in a picture. But I love how I look and how happy I am.

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Later that day, I went to his Q&A Panel. I got him talking about things from his time on Buffy, Angel, and Torchwood, his music, his wife, Bin Laden, and how he apparently doesn’t wear underwear. It was so entertaining and amazing.

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After that, my sister and I went to Tom Felton’s Q&A Panel and then the first day of my perfect weekend was over.

On Sunday, (May 22nd, 2011) I went back to NYC for the VIP James Marsters Bard Seminar. For the VIPs only, James read and discussed Shakespearean Sonnets for 2 hours. I didn’t talk or join in with the discussions, but I listened and enjoyed learning about Shakespeare. It was so enjoyable. James is such an interesting and passionate person. The was he spoke about his new wife, Patricia made me almost cry. I was so hateful toward her, because she’s so young, but James doesn’t care. He loves her so much and she makes him so happy. I couldn’t help but hate her just a little bit less because of how happy she makes him. James is such an amazing person. He really is. I don’t actually hate Patricia anymore because he loves her so much and if someone I love so much is happy, than I am too. (Plus, she’s actually really talented and pretty)

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When it was over on out way out, I happened to be behind James. We got on the elevator together. He smiled at me and said “How are you?” and I said “I’m fantastic” and he said “Wonderful. Glad to hear it”. I was actually amazed that I didn’t pee myself. When we got off, I happened to still be walking behind him because we were going in the same general direction. I got up the balls to say something to him again, and I said “James is was fantastic to meet you” He turned around, grabbed my hand, and said “It was wonderful to meet you too, love.” then he put his hand on my shoulder, and then he smiled at me gave my hand a little squeeze and left. I wanted to die. If the world had ended, I would have died a happy person.

I have never been so genuinely happy before. I will always remember how amazingly perfect this weekend was. I still can’t wrap the fact that I met James Marsters around my head. It was the perfect weekend. I’ll never forget it.😀😀😀😀😀😀😀

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Philadelphia Comic Con-BuffyFest 2012

May 31st, June 1st, 2nd, and 3rd 2012

Meeting James Marsters (again!), Amber Benson, Clare Kramer, and Mark Metcalf.

Thursday:
Okay. Thursday was the beginning of the trip. Me and my sister left our house and headed out for New Jersey. That’s where our hotel was. 5 minutes outside of Philly. We didn’t do much that day. We got there, picked up our BeffyFest VIP tickets, and left the Con because there was nothing interesting going on.

Friday:

THIS IS WHERE THE FUN BEGINS.

We get there at like 10, the con started at 12. Fast Forward to when it started. We walked over to Amber Benson’s line. Her security was there, but Amber wasn’t yet. So me and my sister get in line. We’re talking to each other, when all of a sudden, Amber walks past me, and I start to cry. I cried. My sister then tweeted: ” @BeautyEffulgent just started crying when she saw @amber_benson” then, Amber is sitting at the table, because she can’t start yet until someone stops by to give her something. Amber is smiling at me, looks at her phone, and says to me “You’ve been outed. You should check your twitter.” SHE TWEETED BACK AT ME AND MY SISTER RIGHT IN FRONT OF US. “@MotleyMar @beautyeffulgent but she still looks beautiful!!” I POOPED MYSELF OMG. AMBER BENSON CALLED ME BEAUTIFUL EVEN WHEN IM CRYING I CANT. MY FEELINGS ARE EVERYWHERE HELP.

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Then since she still couldn’t start the autographs, we were talking to Amber about stuff. Where we’re from, how she knows the area where we live because her ex (Adam Busch, Warren from Buffy) is from East Meadow (Where we live). She was so sweet.

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Then we finally got to go get our autographs from her, and she said “Hi! How should we do this?” (Referring to the autograph) I said “Any way you’d like!” She laughed and said ” What is you’re name, pretty lady?” I said “Shanna, S-h-a-n-n-a.” She wrote “To Shanna! Still pretty! <3 Amber Benson “Tara”” She said “You’re still pretty!” I then asked if I could shake her hand, and she said “Of course you can!” and she shook my hand.

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THEN WHEN THAT WAS OVER. WHEN I WAS DONE VOMITING MY FEELINGS, my sister and I jumped over to James Marsters’ line. We had to wait there for a little, but that was good because I needed to get myself back together after just meeting Amber Benson. I had my photo and letter all ready.

James Arrived, my sister got her autograph, they talked a little about something…?

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Then it was my turn. eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep. Okay. I went up, he said in his british accent “Hello, love! How are you!?” I said “I’m fantastic!” He said “Fabulous!” I then gave him my letter. I said “I have this for you. It’s a heartfelt, hand written letter. You’ve been a big inspiration to me, and I wanted you to know.” He said “I will read it this evening! Thank you so much!” I have no idea whether or not he actually read it, but I gave it to him, and I feel good about it. Then while he was signing the photo, I pointed out that I was also left handed. He said ” Really? You know in Shakespeare’s time, the left side was known as the ‘sinister side’.” I then told him that I recently read and loved Macbeth, and that I was one of the only people in my class that actually knew what was going on. And he said “Yes! Right on!” We then talked for like another 4 minutes about Macbeth. Then he was done signing, I said “Thank you so much!” He said “My pleasure!”, shook my hand again, and then I was off and vomiting up feelings again.(He wrote his usual ‘Bite Me!’ on the photo)

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Then me and my sister walked around a little, got some stuff. then Fast forward to the James Panel.

It was supposed to be a James Marsters and Juliet Landau, Spike and Drusilla type panel, but Juliet Landau cancelled at the last minute so James was solo for this panel.

It was fabulous. I taped the whole thing.

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There were many great questions, some stories I’ve already heard multiple times, but just hearing James talk is good enough for me.

Then we left the con after that because nothing else Buffy related was going on that day.

Saturday:

PHOTO OP DAY.

We got our photo Ops with James Marsters, Amber Benson, Clare Kramer (she took Juliet’s spot at the Con at the last minute) and Mark Metcalf (The Master).

James was first. We weren’t allowed to hug him because some animal grabbed his ass. I was so furious at whoever invaded his personal space like that. As much as I love the man, I would NEVER invade his personal space like that. He gets so shaken up when people touch him like that. I felt terrible. I just shook his hand, he told me it was good to see me again, he put his lovely arm around me, we took our picture, I thanked him and ran off. The photo Op process was literally absurd. They had us run around in a circle. Reall hard to explain.

Clare was next. HOLY MOTHER OF GOD (No Glory pun intended) SHE IS ****ING GORGEOUS. SO pretty. She said. “Hello! How are you?” I said I was great and told her she was pretty. She thanked me, and we took our photo and I ran off again. omg she’s so pretty.

Then Mark Metcalf. He was cute, creepy, and scary at the same time. He was really tall, asked me my name, and how I was, blah blah. He had “The Master” voice. So it was scary. Photo done, I ran off.

Then last was Amber. She remembered me. She said “Shanna, right? My east meadow girl!” I said “Yeah!” (Internally shitting that she remembered me) Photo done, I thanked her, then ran off.

We walked around a little some more, in between the two hours of waiting for the photos, I MET MELISSA JOAN HART. She was really nice. (I know that's irrelevant to Buffy, but it was part of the day so I'm putting it in.)

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Then fast forward to picking up our photos. THEY ARE ALL SO GREAT.

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Brb having feelings.

Then Saturday was over 😛

Sunday:

The last day :’(

We walked around a little, but the only thing we were there for that day was the BuffyFest 2012 Panel. James Marsters, Clare Kramer, Amber Benson, Kristy Swanson, and Mark Metcalf were at the panel. It was amazing. They are all really pretty people. I taped the whole thing. They are perfect.

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Then after the panel….

I ASKED AMBER BENSON FOR A HUG AND SHE HUGGED ME AND SHE TOLD ME TO BE SAFE GETTING BACK TO EAST MEADOW AND SHE HUGGED ME AND AMBER HUGGED ME AND I DIED BECAUSE SHE HUGGED ME. AND IM DEAD. SHE HUGGED ME SO IM DEAD. IM DEAD RIGHT NOW. SO DEAD.

DEAD.

If anyone read this entire thing I will feel really fantastic. Because it took me like 1000000 hours to type. So if you read the whole thing, thanks a lot. I love you. You are my new best friend.
 
Pike
Pike
that was a fun read!
Tome
Tome
[No message]
Awesome tales. I have never been one to go to cons or stuf like that but after hearing that you hd those experiences, I am tempted to go now. I would totally make an ass of myself as I fanboy out in front of them, though 🙂

I am really pleased that they were so nice because as fans we put them on pedestals and it can be hard for them to live up to our expectations all the time. On the flipside of that, it is great for us as fans when we see that the people we admire are decent, nice people and we aren't wasting our energy on douchebags.
 
I've never been to a Con. I like hearing stories of the actors/actresses being cool and nice. Nothing sucks more than someone who acts like they don't wanna be there. Or are only there for money.
 
Awesome tales. I have never been one to go to cons or stuf like that but after hearing that you hd those experiences, I am tempted to go now. I would totally make an ass of myself as I fanboy out in front of them, though 🙂

I am really pleased that they were so nice because as fans we put them on pedestals and it can be hard for them to live up to our expectations all the time. On the flipside of that, it is great for us as fans when we see that the people we admire are decent, nice people and we aren't wasting our energy on douchebags.
All I can say is, James Marsters is honestly the kindest, most genuinely sweet man I have ever met in my entire life. He is nice, funny, and really respectful to fans. He gives every fan his full attention. He always looks them right in the eyes when they talk to him. Every fan gets a good 5 minutes or more with him because he really takes the time to talk to them and listen to their questions. He seriously is the sweetest.

The same goes for Amber. She too is one of the sweetest people I have ever met.
 
That's awesome! I've seen some interviews online with James Marsters and he seems like a genuinely cool guy. Very funny. It's neat when things like that can just make your year in a way.
 
All I can say is, James Marsters is honestly the kindest, most genuinely sweet man I have ever met in my entire life. He is nice, funny, and really respectful to fans. He gives every fan his full attention. He always looks them right in the eyes when they talk to him. Every fan gets a good 5 minutes or more with him because he really takes the time to talk to them and listen to their questions. He seriously is the sweetest.

The same goes for Amber. She too is one of the sweetest people I have ever met.

Awesome! And yeah I've heard that about James, I'm so sure that he read your letter 🙂
 
Awesome read, Shanna. You had me laughing at times! 😉

Glad you had so much fun; I've went to a Con myself this past month and I've enjoyed it a lot. I would recommend it to anyone. *cough* @NY State of Mind *cough*
 
Aw seems like you had an awesome week-end 😉 Comic Con are the best!

And lucky you, you met MJH! She passed in front of me and my friends at the Breaking Dawn premiere, but she was a little tired so she didn't stop.
 
Great story 🙂
What a great con! You met some very cool people.
I completely agree with everything you said about James. You really hit the nail on the head with this post! 🙂
I went to the Vampire Ball this weekend and he was there and it was amazing!
I didn't think he would spend so much time with everyone during the photo's and signing etc, but he did, and it seemed like he really cared about what we had to say.
I had a great first meeting with him at the photo session. I played it cool, he took his time to shake my hand, ask me how I was & if I was having a good time, and then he put his arm around me, turned to me and said "wow, you look great", =O my legs went to jelly and my face froze in strangest position, and the photo (of me) was terrible, James looked great of course haha!
Then he took my hand again, said it was great to meet me and he looked forward to seeing me again later on... I literally floated out of the room.
After about an hour I regained the ability to walk and talk and was finally able to go back into the guest talk hall and managed to calm myself down and prepare for the autograph session in the afternoon. I'm such a loser!
We met again, and it was just as cool. He took the time to chat with me and my sister and once again took my hand and said "it's been really great to meet you this weekend", I still tried to play it cool and thanked him around 100 times and once again floated off.
I know he is a great actor, but he made me (and everyone else there) feel special so that's all that matters 🙂
Juliet was lovely too. It was great meeting them both at the same con. I don't have a bad word to say about any of the guests this weekend.
And as newbie's to cons, it was nice to be welcomed by the other attendees and not judged or ignored.
Great weekend 🙂 & I look forward to many more.
 
BuffyIsMyAlways
BuffyIsMyAlways
I love hearing other people's James stories. He is honestly the sweetest man ever.
I just got to read this as well and I am sooo jealous!
It is my dream to do something like this one day. My husband makes fun of me for it and says I am too old for it but I don't care. One day!! 🙂
 
BuffyIsMyAlways
BuffyIsMyAlways
You're never too old to do something you love!!!
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