BtVS Con: Tara and the Trio

[out_there]

So, yesterday was the Buffy con. It was way fun. I went with in_the_bottle, slashybits, charliequinn, charliequinn's friend Nicole, and my Mum (since she managed to swap shifts). We also ran into monkeycrackmary and vissy and other peoples, but didn't get time for much more than a vague wave of recognition.

I had a fantastic time and Mum had a fantastic time, although had to leave early due to a promised lift. So we'll be going to the Dr Who (Captain Jack!) con in March. I just want to double check with 0bake before I get tickets to see if she's interested/will be in Melbourne at that time. Since, y'know, it's Captain Jack!

The con started with a documentary on Firefly fans -- heh, they know their target audience well -- called "Done the Impossible". It was good for getting into the fannish mood. The documentary was good and had a lot of moments of fannish recognition at some of the fan's reactions to the series being cancelled, to it coming out on DVD, getting the movie picked up: everyone knows someone (or knows someone who knows someone) who's had a strong emotional reaction to a series. So, yay for starters.

Then, they had photos. Because I am tight on a limited budget, I restricted myself to one photo op. So Mum and I got our picture taken with Amber Benson -- who is charming and funny and outgoing -- who wore a totally cool hat (which you can see in monkeycrackmary's photo here, since I'm too lazy to have scanned mine yet) which she got for $8 in a thrift store and mentioned was fantastic for bad hair days.

(I was surprised at the size of her. I'm so used to thinking of Tara as the biggest of the BtVS girls that I hadn't expected Amber Benson to be, like, my height and a size ten. Her face didn't look much different, so I don't think she's lost a whole heap of weight. I guess the other BtVS girls must just be *really* tiny.)

While we lined up and waiting for photos, Danny Strong walked through the crowd to get something and as he walked by me, a girl behind me squealed "Oh my god!" (she'd clearly been surprised: she'd turned, and suddenly noticed Danny two foot from her). Danny just grinned and did a mock "Oh my god!" straight back to her and continued on his way.

Also, clothes. If others post their pictures, you will see that while Amber was a red top, comfy jeans and sneakers kind of girl, Danny Strong went for the suit and shirt (but no tie) look, while Tom Lenk and Adam Bucsh were far more... scruffy.

I was actually surprised that both Tom and Adam were... well, bordering on quiet. Which is not to say that there weren't a few fantastic answers from them or that they didn't get into the spirit of things, just... hmmm. Just that Danny and Amber were clearly more outgoing.

(Also, someone once uttered surprise that Danny Strong always seems to show up to social outings with beautiful women on his arms, despite the fact that he's pretty short. After seeing how charming and gregarious he can be, I completely understand the attraction. and it probably has nothing to do with the way he described himself in five words: Well endowed for my height.)

The Troika was on first. They had little songvids to introduce each of them. For Andrew, "Holding Out for a Hero" which was a crack up, as was Jonathon's "Pretty Fly for a White Guy". Warren's was highly appropriate, although I never would have thought of the connection myself: Billy Joel's "Big Shot". It's perfect for Warren in so many ways, not least the shots of him killing Katrina to the words "all your friends were so knocked out".

The guys took a little while to warm up -- or the audience took a while to start asking questions -- but it was a good Q&A. Went for 90 minutes instead of 60, and I'm completely not complaining. They clearly had fun bouncing off each other, joking around. Adam was more quiet than the others, but he had a fantastic answer to "how they saw Warren and Andrew's relationship?"

Mainly, he said that he didn't think it was about being straight or gay. That if you've *never* had a relationship with a living, breathing person, that if you're vulnerable, with low self-esteem and feeling emotionally isolated that having a relationship with someone becomes less about sexuality and more about a desperate need to be validated, to be loved by someone, anyone.

(Tom chimed in with the point that in Andrew's case, he's a character who very much defines his worth by the esteem of others and that the line between friendship, crush and hero worship could easily get blurred.)

It was a surprisingly well-considered answer and it left me thinking that I should re-watch S6 because from the way Adam talked, it didn't sound like the crush had been completely one-sided (as I'd assumed). I know that by the time the jet-packs show up, it was clear that out of the Trio, Warren and Andrew had started to exclude Jonathon, but I'd always assumed that it was a case of Warren picking the person most easy to manipulate. Hmmm.

Anyway, the guys also talked about embarrassing moments. Adam had two about talking to Joss Whedon. The first was Joss telling him in early S6 that he'd kill someone, and Adam being all "I know" (because Amber had told him about Tara's death; she'd just found out), and Joss being all, "Yeah, it's Katrina" and Adam going, "The hell? Why would I kill Katrina?" and thinking that Joss was just joking around, not realising until later that Joss was giving him a warning and telling him about this cool thing that his character was going to do.

The second was about the band, "They Might Be Giants." Adam's quite a fan, and Joss showed up at his trailer and said, "They might be windmills!" Adam was all, "huh?" and Joss repeated, "They might be windmills!" and then when Adam was clearly confused, Joss walked off. Later, when touring with TMBG, Adam relayed the story, and the group told him that their bandname had come from a line in a Don Quixote film, where the guy looks out and says, "They might be windmills. They might be giants."

They also talked about odd gifts from fans. For Danny Strong, it was a mix CD of random music and he just *didn't* get the point of that mix. It clearly got to him. For Tom Lenk, it was original art of his character, because he felt bad that someone had put so much effort into it and then sent him the original, and not kept it for themselves ("After all, I know what I look like."). For Adam, it was that he's received death threats sent to Warren for killing Tara. And that he *still* gets people blaming him personally for the death and wanting him to take responsibility.

(Which led to a whole thing about how it wasn't *his* fault, he was just doing what Joss told him to do. "Like those people who shoot because Jesus tells them to," Adam said, and Danny piped in with, "But don't get confused: Joss is not Jesus." Adam replied, "No, Jesus is the Son of Joss," and everybody cracked up.)

After the guys, we had the auction (or as I like to think of it: the lunch break) and then Amber came on. She was introduced with a vid to Tara's song from "Once More With Feeling", interspersed with lots of shots of her and Willow, and her and Willow kissing. Not at all gratuitous. Mmmmm.

Amber Benson was way cool -- relaxed and friendly -- and spent most of the time sitting india-style on her chair. She had a wonderful way of talking about her character as a person, saying that she'd "walked in [tara's] shoes for three and a half years". She had a wicked sense of humour, and mentioned her favourite books ("Strangers in a Strange Land" and "The Wanting Seed" and a series by some author who's name I didn't catch). She talked about writing comics, about writing novels with Christopher Golden (and how his nickname is Big, Hairy Lesbian), about doing a guest spot on The Insider and having the cast tell her she looked like Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas (which she totally did with the straight, dark hair and that style of dress).

She answered a question on fanfiction: she doesn't read it (she's scared that she'd get addicted. Hee!) but thought that slash was pairing two unlikely characters up. She mentioned the idea of Willow/Tara/Giles and then talked about Tara/Spock, which she described as uber-emotion meets no emotion, and then sung a bit of Tara's song, followed by her impression of Spock's "That does not compute". The horror was that it was so funny and I'd *just* taken a mouthful of coke, and I had to concentrate very, very hard to breathe and not spray coke across the person sitting in front of me.

Amber also got asked about her two most embarrassing moments. One was from "Once More With Feeling", when she walked into a pole while doing the backup dancer bit. And feeling embarrassed, she looked around to make sure no-one else had noticed, and got away with it. Until she saw the episode screened, and realised that they used the one take where she walks into a pole.

The second was when, as she said, "I slipped Alyson the tongue." Hee! Apparently, because she was good friends with Alyson it was kind of weird to do the kissing scenes, so Amber would imagine she was kissing Johnny Depp. And got a little bit carried away with Johnny Depp one screening. And gave Alyson (and the surrounding crew) a momentary surprise.

After that, we hung around for in_the_bottle and slashybits to get autographs, and to have Danny strong defend his "stake through a heart" doodle, which was somewhat hard to recognise. Then I watched Amber Benson's episode on the Insider (Cree. Pee.) and then we went to dinner, and talked until very, very late, and then I got the train home and got a taxi from the station (too late to beg a lift), and that was the end of my Very Fun Con Day.

In summary: way cool and I'm totally looking forward to March.

Comments

[minna.livejournal.com]

(I was surprised at the size of her. I'm so used to thinking of Tara as the biggest of the BtVS girls that I hadn't expected Amber Benson to be, like, my height and a size ten. Her face didn't look much different, so I don't think she's lost a whole heap of weight. I guess the other BtVS girls must just be *really* tiny.)

They're pretty tiny, but Tara was partly costuming -they /wanted/ her to look a bit larger. At least, that was the impression I got. :o

[out-there.livejournal.com]

but Tara was partly costuming

Hmmm. Well, they certainly always dressed her in big flowing dresses, and things that cut across the hip. I used to long to see Tara in jeans, so part of it could be that.

and part of it is probably the whole idea of the TV screen making you look heavier/wider than you actually are, but still, I was surprised.

they /wanted/ her to look a bit larger.

*nods* Yeah, there was something about Tara that was always... solid, you know? Not specifically physically, more emotionally, but there was always something earthy and homegrown about her, so it wouldn't surprise me if you're right and they were going for a different look.

[catwalksalone]

Bad cat - Is. So. Jealous.

Good cat - is really pleased you had such a good time.

[out-there.livejournal.com]

*ignores Bad Cat*

*pets Good Cat*

[dzurlady.livejournal.com]

It sounds great! I'm glad you had fun. Did you see the article in the Green Guide about it?
It's interesting that they played the vids like that. Do you know who made them, and other such details?

Amber also got asked about her two most embarrassing moments. One was from "Once More With Feeling", when she walked into a pole while doing the backup dancer bit. And feeling embarrassed, she looked around to make sure no-one else had noticed, and got away with it. Until she saw the episode screened, and realised that they used the one take where she walks into a pole.
Huh. I completely missed that! Something to look for, I guess.

[out-there.livejournal.com]

Did you see the article in the Green Guide about it?

I did, and it made me very, very happy.

Do you know who made them, and other such details?

No, I don't, which is a pity. The Warren one I really want to see again, since I haven't been able to get the song out of my head for days.