Heroes & Villains Fan Fest:
What a crazy experience. A crazy learning experience too, so now I know what to do and what not to do when I actually go to SDCC. This was my first comic convention and I took advantage of every second.
So I’m gonna rant first! I had no idea how this worked but I knew you had to purchase individual professional photo ops for celebs, but I didn’t know they would also allowed selfies and autographs but at OUTRAGEOUS prices. So basically if I wanted to meet Stephen Amell and 4-5 other celebs, I would’ve at least needed another $400, and my general admission tix was $45. Anyway, one thing was nice; if the celebs didn’t have an autograph/selfie line, then you were allowed to walk up and have a M&G and just talk.
DAY ONE: OK. so we get there, scout the area, found the ins and outs of where the celebs would be and then went to see our first panel. Which btw, in order to see a certain panel, you have to wait for that an hour before it starts. As soon as the first panel ended, which was Arrow’s, my childhood bestie Aniqa and I started watching toward the M&G booths just so we could see the cast up front. Then about 80 ish feet to the right, I saw this REALLY tall/buff guy and thought, WOW his cosplay of Khal Drogo was realllllly good. Then he got closer, and closer, and closer when I realized that was JASON MOMOA.....I literally froze and just starred at his massive body walk past me and my instant reaction was to just follow 7ish feet behind him. I was in shock coz everyone had body guards but he had one irrelevant looking dude walking with him. Then I realized, HE does not NEED a body guard. Bottomline, I learned you can’t be a fangirl at every second. There’s a time and place to scream, but if you casually see celebs walking around, you have to keep your calm.
So anyway, I was determined to get a selfie with a celeb between their walks from the lounge area to the M&G booths. I circled around like a vulture, walked around the M&G booths, looked at all of the beautiful celebs, snuck in a few pics and killed a couple of hours just doing that. Then FINALLY, Jason Momoa walked out coz it was almost his M&G time, and I calmly walked up to him and asked him for a selfie. His manager said no (they have to so you’re forced to buy selfies), but he lifted his left hand up, didn’t even say anything, but his manager knew to back down. THANK GOODNESS for the iPhone live option, coz my flash was accidentally on and the pic came out blurry. But since it was Live, I kept screenshotting it till I had the perfect pics.....but I got a free selfie with Khal Drogo/Aquaman... and he was hella nice and handsome so that was one of my many highlights.
During the Flash panel with Rick Cosnett and Robbie Amell, I mustered up the courage and asked Rick about PC, what is was like working on Quantico, and if he would do a bwood movie. He said he would love to star in a bollywood movie if the role was good. ***Click to watch IG video***
Day 1 was great. Couldn’t afford to pay for an autograph but Stephen Amell stayed till the very end and waved bye to the last few girls waiting aka me.
Day 2: Met more Arrow peeps. You’re allowed to meet them if there’s no one in the selfie/autograph line, so we met a lot of the cast members and had quick conversations with them. But the best time was with Paul Blackthorne. There was a separate interview with just Paul in the back and of course, Arusha, Karima and I were front and center. We told the interviewer to ask him about Lagaan, so once the interviewer asked, Paul got so excited and asked who saw Lagaan haha. He then talked about a low in his career when he got an offer for a movie in India and how to took a leap of faith and accepted the role. ***Click to watch IG video***
Then we went to his M&G stall towards the end of the event. Paul was sooooo nice and actually loved talking about his unique throwback adventure. Of course he talked about the movie, but he also talked about how he went to india and Aamir Khan surprised him with a Lagaan reunion at his mansion. He said Aamir was super nice and welcoming and he showed Paul around. Paul also said he would love to do another Bollywood movie if the script is good.
illMuslims was a cool event. Young Muslims my age were all socializing in a contemporary museum. They had popups and games and ice breaker cards, but most people were too shy to actually fully mingle, so that was a bit of a downer. Met 3-4 new girls that lived in Atlanta but we all somehow lost touch so back to square one....no new friends in Atlanta... LMFAO had to buy a ticket to mingle and I’m still friendless xD
Marshmello is always fun. I went with Bushra appu and Kashfia’s cousins. They’re fun company. A little tooo crazy for me but fun haha. One cousin sweet talked some guy who let us onto the second floor of the Tabernacle, near the balcony. So THAT was cool hahahahah
Austin for NYE was a BLAST!!! Absolutely LOVED going to Texas. We first flew into Houston, and then Shafeen picked us up, I drove us back to San Antonio and then we spent the night with Shafeen’s family.