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Ein Ruhrpott Mini-Abenteuer

Read in English

Wie ich bereits erwähnte – und wie ihr vielleicht auf Twitter bemerkt habt – waren June Is und ich letztes Wochenende auf der German Comic Con Dortmund Spring Edition.

Bevor ich zu einer detaillierteren Beschreibung der Ereignisse komme, möchte ich nur sagen: Ich war noch nie in so kurzer Zeit in so vielen verschiedenen (und neuen) Restaurants. 😀 Ernsthaft, jeden Abend haben wir woanders gegessen … und wir haben überraschenderweise nie eine falsche Entscheidung getroffen …

Wie auch immer … dieses ganze Abenteuer begann, als die Con bekannt gab, dass Gotham-Star Robin Lord Taylor an der Spring Edition teilnehmen würde. Ich „miep“te darüber, denn damals war meine eigene Teilnahme etwas, das ohnehin aus diversen, u.a. diesen, Gründen, nicht passieren würde:

  • Es liegt Mitte April, knapp nach der Leipziger Buchmesse im März und kurz vor dem Gratis Comic Tag im Mai.
  • Es ist mehr als 600 km (~7 Stunden) entfernt, eine Reise, die ich nicht bereit bin, an einem Tag ganz alleine zu machen.
  • Die Chancen, dass mich jemand auf eine solche Reise begleitet, waren gering bis gar nicht vorhanden.

Im Dezember fingen June und ich an, Gotham zusammen (erneut) zu schauen und früher oder später ließ sie Hinweise fallen, dass wir vielleicht gemeinsam auf die Con gehen könnten. Es war schwer, meine Hoffnungen nicht zu hoch zu setzen, denn bis dahin konnte noch alles passieren.

Aber am Ende hat es wirklich geklappt. Wir bekamen die Tickets, ein Zimmer in Bochum und einen Kumpel von ihr, der als zweiter Fahrer mitkam. Ein Luxus (und Schrecken), den ich auf dem Rückweg benutzt habe….

Starstruck

In meinen relativ begrenzten Erfahrungen mit Cons und Buchmessen kann ich ehrlich sagen, dass ich noch nie nervöser war, jemanden persönlich zu sehen, dessen Arbeit ich aus der Ferne bewundert habe. Buffy’s James Marsters auf der GCC Berlin 2016 zu sehen, war spannend, zumal ich auch die Gelegenheit nutzte, vorher auf sein Konzert zu gehen. Doch ich traute mich nicht, ihn anzusprechen – ich war noch nicht so weit. Das Treffen mit dem Cartoonisten Bastian Melnyk auf der GCC Berlin 2018 war ganz anders. Ich verfolge seinen Webcomic über Fledermausfürst Frederick fon Flatter seit zehn Jahren und ja, ich war begeistert von der Begegnung und es war toll, einen Moment lang mit ihm zu plaudern (FunFact: Ich „kenne“ ihn länger als seine Frau ihn kennt).

Aber das hier? Das Potenzial, RLT zu sehen/zu treffen? Es fühlte sich anders an.
Wie ich nicht scheu bin, es immer wieder zu sagen – es steht immerhin auch auf meiner About me-Seite: Ich mag Batman nicht. Dieser Mary Sue Charakter könnte mir nicht egaler sein … trotzdem war ich neugierig auf Gotham. Es dauerte nicht lange, bis ich gefesselt war, und es lag alles an der unglaublichen Darstellung einer Figur, von der ich kaum etwas wusste (wenn ich mich richtig erinnere, waren die einzigen DC-Filme, die ich je gesehen habe, Green Lantern, der erste Nolan-Batman und Wonder Woman, serienmäßig nur ein paar Episoden von Arrow – ohne Vertigo-Sachen mitzuzählen). Es ist nicht einmal ein Jahr her, seit ich die Serie angefangen habe, indem ich von meiner Nerdwoche: Superheldinnen prokrastinierte und es ist die erste, die ich in ihrer Gesamtheit erneut gesehen habe und eine derjenigen, die am stärksten bei mir hängen geblieben sind – neben u.a. Buffy, die immer noch meine erste Anlaufstelle ist, wenn es um Empfehlungen geht. Sicher, es ist alles andere als perfekt, manchmal völlig absurd und übersät mit Plotlöchern, die einen Lektor dazu bringen würden, schwere Dinge auf einen zu werfen, aber es ist lustig, unterhaltsam und eine sehr interessante Interpretation des Superheldengenres. Vor allem in Bezug auf die Darstellung der klassischen Batman-Bösewichte.

Es war faszinierend, der Entwicklung von – Hauptbösewicht/-charakter –  Oswald Cobblepot/Pinguin zu folgen, die in Kombination mit der Bandbreite an Emotionen, die Robin in einen einzelnen Blick legen kann, etwas ist, das mir so bisher noch nicht begegnet ist.
Der Charakter fand aber nicht nur dadurch besonderen Anklang bei mir, auch andere Dinge kamen mir einfach sehr bekannt vor. Das Ringen, etwas besseres zu sein, als von einem erwartet wird, Verrat und die damit einhergehende unterschwellige Darstellung von Ängsten, die mörderischen Tendenzen … ähm … fiktiv natürlich. Abgesehen von Massakern bin ich mir ziemlich sicher, dass meine Todesrate höher ist, als die Anzahl der gezeigten Morde von Pinguin. Ich meine, ich konnte nicht mal eine Valentinstagsgeschichte schreiben, ohne jemanden zu umbringen … 😀
Kurz gesagt: Er wurde zu einem der faszinierendsten Bösewichten, denen ich je begegnet bin, und das meiste davon ist auf Robins bemerkenswerte Darstellung und sein unglaubliches Talent zurückzuführen. Wenn er jetzt, da Gotham zu Ende geht, nicht eine Menge Arbeit bekommt, wäre es so eine Verschwendung …

Das und mehr sind Dinge, die ich ihm/n gerne gesagt/gefragt hätte (wie ob es ihm gut ging, da er ziemlich erschöpft aussah – und das nicht nur am Tag nach der Feier ihrer Mini-Wiedervereinigung), aber als wir den Mut aufbrachten, an seinen Autogrammtisch zu gehen, hatten wir nicht wirklich die Zeit, zu irgendeinem dieser Themen zu kommen. Was wir schafften, war, scherzhaft die Schuld dafür, dass wir Gotham schauten, hin und her zu schieben. June meinte, dass ich es war, die sie dazu brachte, die Sendung zu schauen, und ich sagte, dass es Robins Schuld war, dass ich daran hängen geblieben war, woraufhin er dramatisch ausrief, dass es ihm leid täte. 😀
Es ist ein albernes Kompliment, aber ich denke, zumindest habe ich/wir es geschafft, ein paar Worte herauszubekommen – und er verstand sie als die ulkige Bemerkung, die sie waren.

Und dann war es vorbei, weil hinter uns mehr Leute in der Schlange standen.

Warum bist du dann nicht einfach zu einem Meet & Greet gegangen?

Naja … einfache Antwort: Weil es sich nicht richtig anfühlt.

Vielleicht bin ich zu verwöhnt von meiner Buch(Messe) Bubbel, aber das ganze Konzept, Leute für Dinge wie Autogramme, Selfies und M&G’s zu bezahlen, ist für mich einfach seltsam.
Versteht mich nicht falsch: Es ist toll, dass sie dadurch zusätzliche Einnahmen zwischen den Projekten bekommen, und ich verstehe es vollkommen, für professionelle Bilder mit ihnen zu bezahlen. Aber das andere Zeug? Nein, das kann ich nicht wirklich verstehen.

Ich meine, ich bin im Grunde genommen diejenige an unseren Buchmesse-Ständen, die die Leute auf die Autorinnen verweist, deren Arbeit sie gerade durchstöbern, damit sie mit ihnen sprechen können – und ihre Autogramme in ihrem Preis oder Kauf bekommen. Ich bin auch diejenige, die die Autogramme der Nornen bei unseren Auftritten und Treffen sammelt, wie beim #NornenHopping und unserem Abendessen am Samstag mit Anna Kleve und Jana Jeworreck.

Hätte ich also für jedes Autogramm, das ich in einem Buch – oder auf einem Lesezeichen – erhalten habe, bezahlen müssen, hätte ich nie so viele bekommen und ich könnte sie sicherlich nicht so einfach als Preise während meines Märchensommers verwenden.

Außerdem: Das Zahlen für ein M&G ist im Grunde genommen das Bezahlen von jemandem, mit dir Zeit zu verbringen. Man weiß nie, was die Motivation dahinter ist. Nur monetär oder sind sie wirklich an einer etwas privateren Interaktion mit den Fans interessiert? Und wo liegt der Sinn darin, es zu einem exklusiven Event zu machen (außer räumliche Einschränkungen und jedem einen eigenen Moment zu geben)?

Klar, ich stelle das in Vergleich zu den M&Gs am Stand der Nornen oder mit anderen aus der Buch Bubbel aber diese fühlen sich eher wie eine gewollte und gesuchte Interaktion an, da es ein speziell dafür freigehaltenes Zeitfenster ist und das fühlt sich viel richtiger an …

Also … du hast eine ganze Reise gemacht, um nur einen Schauspieler live zu sehen?

Ein wenig, aber nicht nur? Nach Robin wurden noch weitere Darsteller aus Gotham angekündigt: Erin Richards (Barbara Kean), Camren Bicondova (Selina Kyle), Tonya Pinkins (Ethel Peabody), Sean Pertwee (Alfred Pennyworth), Donal Logue (Harvey Bullock) and Drew Powell (Butch Gilzean/Solomon Grundy).

Mit Ausnahme von Drew ist es uns gelungen, zumindest allen Hallo zu sagen. Wir konnten Donal sogar erzählen, dass Harveys sarkastische Sprüche die Höhepunkte der Episoden sind, was er u.a. damit kommentierte, dass er selten zu Cons eingeladen wird und die meisten Leute Harvey eher ignorieren. Dann rief er Camren, die genauso selten eingeladen wird, um auch mit uns zu sprechen. Während dieses Gesprächs bemerkte Donal anscheinend zum ersten Mal, das Robin Linkshänder ist, es sei denn, er band uns einen Bären auf, was viel wahrscheinlicher ist, als etwas so Offensichtliches wie das mehrere Jahre lang nicht zu bemerken (ich meine, ich brauchte nur ein paar Episoden und Interviews dafür …).
Unser Gespräch mit Sean wurde leider unterbrochen, weil wir zu lange gezögert haben, hinüberzugehen, und er zu seinem Heimflug aufbrechen musste, aber es war trotzdem interessant.

Erin war die erste, zu der wir uns trauten – am Sonntag, wir brauchten einen ganzen Tag, um den Mut dazu aufzubringen, und ich bin mir ziemlich sicher, dass auch eine Metprobe beteiligt war – vor allem, weil ihre Schlange die kürzeste war. Einen Abend bevor wir von Berlin nach Bochum/Dortmund fuhren, haben June und ich die neueste Episode der 5. Staffel angesehen und wir wussten, dass wir Erin von einer unserer Lieblingsszenen erzählen wollten. Leider haben wir keine geeignete Waffe gefunden, um sie nachzustellen – obwohl ich kurz vorgeschlagen habe, eine alte Banane zu verwenden … Außerdem trug June ein Oberteil, das von einem von Barbaras Werbefotos inspiriert war. Kurioserweise war es das gleiche Bild, das auf Erins Autogrammtisch lag, und sie war ziemlich begeistert, als sie es begriff, da es sich anscheinend um ein Outfit handelt, das selten nachgemacht wird. Alles in allem ein wirklich schöner Moment mit einer Schauspielerin, deren Charakter so viel mehr Potenzial hatte, als sie von ihr zeigen konnten …

Dennoch fühlte sich alles ein wenig wie uhm Massenabfertigung an … auch wenn niemand hinter uns war, waren die Gespräche kurz und relativ bedeutungslos und ich bin mir nicht ganz sicher, ob das eine gängige Praxis oder nur eine Taktik ist, um sich den Leuten zuzuwenden, die tatsächlich für Dinge bezahlen. Allerdings könnte ich in dieser Hinsicht aufgrund der oben genannten Zahlungsbedenken ein wenig paranoid sein.

Irgendwas anderes interessantes?

Eine Menge tatsächlich.

Es gab Tonnen von Tischen, die Merchandise verkauften – ich werde den Gesichter-auf-Kissen-Trend nie verstehen – oder selbstgemachtes Zeug. Anstelle von Künstlergassen, die andere Cons nutzen, hatten die verschiedenen Künstler, die ihre Original- und Fanwerke verkauften, ihre Tische unter all dem, was aber eher unpraktisch war.

Parallel zur Comic Con fand das Weekend of Hell statt, früher bekannt als Weekend of Horrors, das 2011 meine erste Convention überhaupt war. Es war seltsam, wieder da zu sein, aber zumindest wurde man nicht von den Massen an DVDs erschlagen wie damals (wir sind nicht in die Rubrik für Erwachsenenfilme gegangen). Stattdessen unterhielten sie das Publikum mit einem Horrorzirkus aus Köln? und Tattoo-Künstlern mit echter Katzen-Mumie. Sie hatten auch ein paar Stars und eine Bühne, aber wir haben uns keine Panels angesehen und sind an den Tischen nur vorbei gegangen. Einer der Schauspieler, Ted Raimi, war übrigens einer, der es in Form einer lustigen Anekdote in den oben verlinkten Beitrag geschafft hat. 😀

Unser Fokus lag auf dem Comic Con Teil, wo wir die Panels von Elisabeth Olsen und Charlie Sheen auf der Hauptbühne und Supernatural’s Osric Chau’s auf der Nebenbühne verfolgten – untermalt von Geräuschen der Wrestler, die am anderen Ende der Halle ihre Übungen vorführten. Vor ihm gab es Panels von Cosplayern, aber ich bin mir ziemlich sicher, dass der Rest des Publikums genauso wenig Interesse an ihnen hatte wie wir, leider….

Während wir auf andere Panels warteten, schauten wir uns die Trainingseinheit des Saberproject an, einer Gruppe von deutschen Star Wars-Fans, die ihre eigenen Lichtschwerter bauen und Kampfszenen choreografieren. Während der Show erwähnten sie, dass sie in den neuesten Rammstein (Deutschland) und Schandmaul (Die Insel) Videos zu sehen sind, was ziemlich cool ist.

Ein paar andere, wie Jennifer Morrison, hätte ich auch gerne mitgenommen, aber irgendwo muss man ja immer Abstriche machen …

Und natürlich haben wir an beiden Tagen die Gotham-Panels angesehen …

Die Panels waren großartig, wenn auch viel zu kurz. Auch wenn ich einige der Fragen – und Antworten – in anderen Interviews schon gehört habe, war es interessant, das mal live zu erleben – es war auch überraschend, dass sich kaum Fragen zwischen den beiden Panels überschnitten. Die Interaktion zwischen den Schauspielern zeigte, wie gut sie miteinander auskommen und wie viel Spaß sie zusammen haben/hatten. Was ich interessant fand, war, dass in anderen Interviews einige der Schauspieler davon sprachen, dass sie nichts dagegen hätten, ihre Rollen in Spin-offs zu übernehmen. Hier waren sie ziemlich unnachgiebig, das nicht in einer Umgebung zu tun, die nichts mit Gotham zu tun hat, wie z.B. Harvey, der durch ein GCPD-Set in einer Arrow-Episode schlendert, nur um den Cameo zu haben – das war ein Beispiel von Donal. Als Fan von Crossovern und verbundenen Universen habe ich das nicht gerne gehört, aber wie sie es erklärten, war es verständlich. Für sie wäre es nicht richtig, New York nicht als Hintergrund für die Show und nicht all die Menschen um sich zu haben, mit denen sie in den letzten fünf Jahren gearbeitet haben. Aber wenn sie immer noch zu Spin-offs bereit sind … 😀
Zu meinen Lieblingsmomenten gehören Erin, die im Schneidersitz auf ihrem Stuhl saß, und Camren, die mit einem riesigen GCC-Kissen kuschelte und damit zeigten, wie wenig es ihnen ausmachte vor Publikum zu sprechen (ich weiß, dass das Kissen auch als verstecken angesehen werden könnte, aber öffentlich Unsicherheit zeigen, erfordert auch Mut). Es war auch lustig zu erleben, wie Robin reagierte, wenn jemand ihm/seiner Arbeit ein Kompliment machte. Ebenfalls großartig war, dass alle von ihnen sich einig waren, dass Harvey ihr Favorit und der am meisten unterschätzte Charakter ist. Das ist er wirklich. 😀

Während des Sonntagspanels verwirrte eine Ankündigung bezüglich Sheen alle und war natürlich wichtig genug, um zuerst auf Deutsch und dann auf Englisch gesendet zu werden, was dem Panel wertvolle Minuten kostete. Sean ging amüsant mit der ersten um, indem er einfach weiter „sprach“, während sein Mikrofon ausgeschaltet war…. während der zweiten sprang Drew auf – ein wenig ähnlich wie Butch es getan haben könnte – und beschwerte sich lautstark darüber … 😀

Der Schalter

Am Montag nach der Con trafen wir uns mit zwei Bekannten von June jeweils zu einem köstlichen Sus(h)i-Mittagessen in Hagen und einem Abend mit seeehr leckerem Met in Zu den vier Winden in Bochum, die ich von einem früheren Besuch in 2012 schon kannte.

Danach kam June zu dem Schluss, dass das, was Stars auf Conventions jeden Tag für Hunderte von Menschen tun, bemerkenswert ist. Sie war bereits erschöpft, nachdem sie zwei neue Menschen kennen lernte, mit denen sie zumindest zuvor Kontakt hatte. Ich dachte einen Moment darüber nach und versuchte, es in Verhältnis zu meinen eigenen Erfahrungen von den Nornen-Ständen zu bringen.

Grundsätzlich gibt es zwei Arten von Menschen, die sich einem Autogrammtisch/einem Messestand nähern:

  1. Diejenigen, die nur das Angebot wollen (Autogramm, Selfie/Preise).
  2. Diejenigen, die ein echtes Gespräch wollen.

Die erste ist einfach zu handhaben. Es ist im Grunde genommen ein Austausch von Dienstleistungen und dann sind sie weg. Preise austeilen, mit jemandem ein Foto machen oder etwas unterschreiben. Ich sehe dort keinen wirklichen Unterschied. Es ist eine kurze Interaktion ohne tatsächliche Folgen.

Die zweite ist eine ganz andere Sache. Hier muss man auf die Person hören, die zu einem kommt, und entsprechend darauf reagieren. Auf Buchmessen nutze ich dies gelegentlich, um sie sanft zu einer der anderen zu schieben, wenn ich denke, nicht der richtige Gesprächspartner zu sein. Wie als ich die Reporterin vom NDR Radio zu Stella Delaney schickte, da sie die ganze Erklärungssache viel besser macht – auch wenn die Reporterin letzten Endes meinen Namen falsch aussprach (beginnt ab 13:50), da ich der Grund war, warum sie überhaupt an den Stand kam, aber das ist etwas für den LBM-Bericht, den ich noch schreiben muss …
Stars haben diesen Luxus jedoch nicht und es ist daher viel bemerkenswerter, dass sie es schaffen, auch nach einem langen Con-Tag offen und interaktionsbereit zu sein.

Durch diese Buchmesse-Erfahrungen merkte ich, dass ich persönlich so etwas wie einen „Messe-Modus“ habe, in dem ich einfach ohne viel nachzudenken reagiere, wenn ich eine Aufgabe habe und diese einfach erledige. Es ist, als ob ein Schalter von der sehr introvertierten Person zu der Person umgelegt wird, die nichts dagegen hat, mit Fremden zu reden, die sie nie wieder sehen wird. Ich stellte auch fest, dass dieser Schalter umgelegt wurde, während wir mit den Gotham-Leuten sprachen, und ich bin mir immer noch nicht sicher, wie ich das finden soll …

Ich habe auch von anderen Autorinnen gehört, dass sie mit bestimmten Accessoires im Grunde genommen zu ihrer Schreibpersönlichkeit werden, um diese Art von Interaktionen durchführen, vor Publikum zu lesen oder einfach nur an einer Buchmesse teilnehmen zu können. In gewisser Weise, denke ich, tue ich das auch, mit meiner schwarzen Kleidung, den spezifischen Band-Shirts (niemand hat den grinsenden Jester –Edguy-Shirt-Witz verstanden… =( ) und den Festivalbändchen. Ich fühle mich einfach sicherer, wenn ich in meiner „Kampfrüstung“ bin, und sie auch.

Keine Ahnung, welche Techniken Stars auf Cons verwenden, aber sie sind vielleicht nicht ganz so anders, wie das, was wir in der Buch Bubbel verwenden. Und ich bin mir ziemlich sicher, dass ich eines Tages einen Con vs. Buchmesse Beitrag schreiben werde….

The Plot thickens …

Da wir etwas Zeit hatten, bevor wir zum Mittagessen nach Hagen aufbrachen, nutzten June und ich die Gelegenheit, die RAC-Story weiter zu plotten – der offizielle Hashtag steht noch aus. Wir haben sie im Oktober oder November mit einer Kurzgeschichte für den Adventskalender des Bücherstadt Kuriers begonnen und hatten so viel Spaß an der Entstehung von „Operation ‚Joker'“. (Pt. 1, Pt. 2), dass wir nicht anders konnten, als die Welt weiter zu erkunden.

Inzwischen haben wir den groben Überblick über zwei Hauptplots, alle Charakternamen und Berufe und wissen ein paar Dinge über ihre Beziehungen zueinander. Obwohl viele der Wortspiele und Easter Eggs, die wir in die Namen einbauten, wahrscheinlich beim Publikum nicht ankommen … naja, wir haben zumindest etwas zu lachen … 😀 Es fehlt noch einiges, ein paar Nebenhandlungen sind noch offen, aber damit können wir sicher bald anfangen, die Geschichte von Cosplayern zu erzählen, die versuchen, ihre Charaktere in das wirkliche Leben zu bringen – und dabei etwas freisetzen, das keiner von ihnen erwartet hat. Ich kann es kaum erwarten, mit diesem Projekt weiterzumachen … und ich bin immer noch neugierig, wie viele Leute die Kurzgeschichte gelesen haben, nachdem ich sie in unserem Diversitäts Talk auf der LBM erwähnt habe.

Und jetzt: Wünsche ich euch ein schönes Osterwochenende, viel Schokolade und Momente zum Entspannen!

Anne

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Lies auf Deutsch

A Ruhrpott Mini-Adventure

As I mentioned before – and as you might have noticed on Twitter – did June Is and I attend the German Comic Con Dortmund Spring Edition last weekend.

Before I get into a more detailed recollection of the events, let me just say: I’ve never been to so many different (and new) restaurants in such a short amount of time. 😀 Seriously, every evening we ate somewhere else … and we surprisingly never made a wrong choice …

Anyway … this whole adventure started when the con posted that Gotham star Robin Lord Taylor would be attending the Spring Edition. I „miep“t about it, as back then it was something that wouldn’t be happening anyway for several reasons, amongst others:

  • It’s in the middle of April, closely following the Leipziger Buchmesse in March and just before the Gratis Comic Tag in May.
  • It’s more than 600 km (~7 hours) away, a journey I’m not willing to make all by myself in one day.
  • The chances of someone accompanying me on a trip like that were low to not existent.

Then in December June and I started (re-)watching Gotham together and sooner or later she dropped hints, that mayyybe we could be attending the con together. It was hard to not get my hopes up too high because anything could happen until then.

But in the end, it really worked out. We got the tickets, a room in Bochum and a friend of hers, that tagged along, as a second driver. A luxury (and horror) I used on our way back …

Starstruck

In my relatively limited experiences regarding cons and book fairs, I can honestly say that I’ve never been more nervous to see someone in person whose work I’ve admired from afar. Seeing Buffy’s James Marsters at the GCC Berlin 2016 was thrilling, especially as I also took the chance to attend his concert beforehand. Yet, I didn’t dare to approach him – I wasn’t ready. Meeting cartoonist Bastian Melnyk at the GCC Berlin 2018 felt entirely different. I’ve been following his webcomic about Fred the bat for ten years and yes, I was excited about the encounter and it was great to chat with him for a moment (FunFact: I’ve „known“ him longer than his wife has known him).

But this? The potential of seeing/meeting RLT? It felt different.
As I’m sure I’ve made clear over time – well, it is on my about me page: I don’t like Batman. I couldn’t care less about this Mary Sue of a character … still, I was curious about Gotham. It didn’t take long for me to get hooked and it was all due to the incredible portrayal of a character I barely knew anything about (if I remember correctly, the only DC-movies I ever watched were Green Lantern, the first Nolan-Batman and Wonder Woman, show-vise only a couple episodes of Arrow – not including Vertigo-stuff). It hasn’t even been a year since I first started the show through procrastinating from my Nerdweek: Superheroines and it has become the first I re-watched in its entirety and one of those that stuck with me the most – alongside Buffy that is still my go-to series when it comes to recommendations. Sure, it’s far from perfect, totally absurd at times and littered with plot holes that would make a copy editor throw heavy things at you, but it’s fun, entertaining and a very nice twist on the superhero genre. Especially in regards to its portrayal of the classic Batman villains.

It was fascinating to follow – main villain/character – Oswald Cobblepot/Penguin’s journey, which combined with the range of emotions Robin is capable of portraying with just a look, is just something I haven’t really encountered before.
He resonated with me on a quite personal level, the struggle to become something more than what is expected of oneself, the betrayals and underlying narrative of insecurities stemming from those, the murderous tendencies … uhm … fictionally of course. Excluding massacres, I’m pretty sure my death toll is higher than Penguin’s on-screen murders. I mean, I couldn’t even write a Valentine’s day story without killing someone … 😀
In short: He became one of the most fascinating villains I’ve ever encountered and most of it is due to Robins remarkable portrayal and incredible talent. If he doesn’t get a ton of work now that Gotham is ending, it’d be such a waste …

These and more are things I would have liked to let him know/ask (like if he was doing okay, as he looked quite exhausted – and not just the day after celebrating their mini-reunion), but when we worked up the courage to walk up to his signing table we didn’t actually have the time to get to any of those topics. What we did was jokingly push around the blame for us watching Gotham. June remarked, that it was me who got her to watch the show and I in turned said that it was Robin’s fault I stuck with it, to which he dramatically exclaimed that he was sorry about that. 😀
It’s a silly compliment, but I guess, at least I/we managed to get some words out – and he understood them as the playful remark they were.

And then it was over because there were more people waiting in the line behind us.

Why didn’t you just go to a Meet & Greet then?

Well … simple answer: Because it doesn’t feel right.

Maybe I’m too spoiled by my Book (Fair) Bubble, but the whole concept of paying people for things like autographs, selfies and M&G’s is just weird for me.
Don’t get me wrong: It’s great that they get additional income between projects through this and I totally understand paying for professional pictures with them. But the other stuff? No, I really can’t wrap my head around that.

I mean, I’m basically the one at our Book Fair booths that points people towards the authoresses whose work they are currently checking out, so they can talk to them – and get their autographs in their price or purchase. I’m also the one collecting the Norn’s autographs during our appearances and meet-ups, like the #NornenHopping and our dinner on Saturday with Anna Kleve and Jana Jeworreck.

So if I had had to pay for every autograph I got in a book – or on a bookmark – I would have never have gotten that many and I most certainly couldn’t use them as easily as prices during my Fairy Tale Summer.

Besides: Paying for a M&G is basically paying someone to spend time with you. You never know, what the motivation behind it is. Just monetary or are they genuinely interested in a little more private interaction with fans? And where is the point in making it an exclusive event (other than areal restrictions and everyone wanting a moment of their own)?

Sure, I’m putting this in contrast to the M&Gs at the Norn’s booth or with others from within the Book Bubble, but those feel way more like a wanted and sought out interaction as it’s a time slot specially saved for this and that feels way more right …

So … you made a whole trip to see just one actor live?

Sort of, but not entirely? After Robin, more cast members of Gotham were announced: Erin Richards (Barbara Kean), Camren Bicondova (Selina Kyle), Tonya Pinkins (Ethel Peabody), Sean Pertwee (Alfred Pennyworth), Donal Logue (Harvey Bullock) and Drew Powell (Butch Gilzean/Solomon Grundy).

With the exception of Drew, we managed to at least say Hi to all of them. We even could tell Donal that Harvey’s sarcastic remarks are the highlights of the episodes, which he commented by saying he is rarely invited to cons and most people ignore Harvey. He then called over Camren, who is just as infrequently invited, to talk to us as well. During this conversation, Donal apparently noticed that Robin is a lefty for the first time, well, unless he was pulling our legs which seems way more likely than not noticing something as obvious as that for several years (I mean it took me only a few episodes and interviews to figure it out …)
Our chat with Sean was unfortunately cut short because we hesitated too long to walk over and he had to leave for his flight back home, but it was interesting nonetheless.

Erin was the first one we dared to approach – on Sunday, it took us a whole day to work up the courage to do so and I’m fairly certain a mead tasting was involved as well – mostly because her line was the shortest. The evening before we went from Berlin to Bochum/Dortmund June and I watched the latest episode of Season 5 and we knew, that we wanted to tell Erin about one of our favourite scenes. Still, we didn’t find a proper weapon to re-enact it – though I briefly suggested using an old banana … Additionally to that was June wearing a top that was inspired by one of Barbara’s promotional shots. Curiously, it was the same picture that lay on Erin’s table for signatures and she was quite excited when she figured it out, as it was apparently an outfit that rarely got cosplayed. All in all a really lovely moment with an actress whose character had so much more potential than what they were able to show of her …

Still, all of it did feel a little like uhm mass processing … even if there wasn’t anyone behind us the conversations were brief and relatively meaningless and I’m not entirely sure if this is common practice or just a tactic to get on towards the people that are actually paying for things. Though, I might just be a little paranoid in this regard due to the above payment-complaint.

Anything else interesting?

Lots of things, actually.

There were tons of tables selling merchandise – I’ll never understand the faces on pillows trend – or self-made stuff. Instead of artist alleys other cons use, the different artists selling their original and fanworks had their tables among all of that, which wasn’t really that well planned.

Parallel to the Comic Con was the Weekend of Hell, formerly known as Weekend of Horrors, which was my first convention ever back in 2011. It was strange to attend it again, but at least the amount of DVDs sold wasn’t as present (we didn’t go into the adult-movie section). Instead, they entertained the audience with a horror circus from Cologne? and tattoo artists that displayed a mummified cat. They also had a few stars and a stage, but we didn’t watch any panels and just past by the other tables. One of the actors, Ted Raimi, was by the way one who has made it into the above-linked review in the form of a funny tale. 😀

Our focus was on the Comic Con part, where we watched the panels of Elisabeth Olsen and Charlie Sheen on the main stage and Supernatural’s Osric Chau’s on the smaller stage – underlined with the noises of the wrestlers at the other end of the hall. Before him, there were panels of cosplayers, but I’m fairly certain the rest of the audience was as uninterested in them as we were, unfortunately …

While waiting for other panels we got to see the training session of the Saberproject, a group of German Star Wars fans that build their own lightsabers and choreograph fight scenes. During the show, they mentioned that they can be seen in the latest Rammstein (Deutschland) and Schandmaul (Die Insel) videos, which is pretty cool.

I would have liked to see a few others, like Jennifer Morrison, as well, but a few things never work out …

And of course, we watched the Gotham panels on both days …

The panels were great, albeit far too short. Even if I’ve heard some of the questions – and answers – in other interviews was it interesting see this all live – it was also surprising to see that barely any questions overlapped between the two panels. The interaction between them showed how well they get along and how much fun they have/had together. What I found interesting was, that in other interviews some of the actors mentioned they wouldn’t be opposed to reprising their roles in spin-offs. Here they were quite adamant about not doing that in a setting that wasn’t Gotham-related like Harvey strolling through a GCPD set in an Arrow episode just to have the cameo – this was an example Donal made. As a fan of crossovers and connected universes this is not something I enjoyed hearing, but the way they put it, it was understandable. For them, it wouldn’t feel right to not have New York as the background for the show and all the people they worked with for the past five years around them. Though, if they are still up for spin-offs … 😀
Some of my favourite moments include Erin sitting cross-legged on her chair and Camren snuggling with a giant GCC pillow, showing how comfortable they were talking to the audience (I know the pillow could also be seen as hiding, but publicly showing insecurity like that also takes guts). It was also fun to see Robin’s reaction every time someone complimented him/his work. Also great was, when all of them agreed that Harvey is their favourite/the most underrated character. He truly is. 😀

During the Sunday panel, an announcement regarding Sheen confused everyone and of course was important enough the be aired in first German and then English, taking away precious minutes from the panel. Sean dealt amusingly with the first one, by simply continuing to „talk“ while his microphone was tuned out … during the second Drew jumped up – a bit akin to what Butch might have done – and loudly complained about it. 😀

The Switch

The Monday after the con we met up with two acquaintances of June for a delicious Sus(h)i lunch in Hagen and an evening in Zu den vier Winden in Bochum, that I knew from an earlier visit way back in 2012, with some veeery tasty mead, respectively.

Afterward June came to the conclusion that what stars at conventions do for hundreds of people each day, is remarkable, as she was already exhausted after getting to know two new people that she at least had had contact with before. I contemplated this for a moment and tried to put my own experiences from working at the Norn’s booths into perspective.

Basically there are two kinds of people approaching a signing table/a booth:

  1. Those that only want what’s offered (autograph, selfie/prices)
  2. Those that want an actual conversation.

The first one is easy to deal with. It’s basically an exchange of services and then they’re gone. Handing out prices, taking a picture with someone or signing something. Don’t really see a difference there. It’s a short interaction with no actual consequences.

The second one is an entirely different thing. Here you have to listen to the person approaching you and react to them accordingly. At book fairs, I occasionally use this to gently push them towards one of the others, if I don’t feel like being the appropriate partner for a conversation. Like when I sent the reporter from the NDR Radio to Stella Delaney as she is way better at doing the whole explaining thing – even if the reporter ended up mispronouncing my name (starts at 13:50) as I was the reason they came to the booth in the first place, but that’s something for the LBM review I still need to write … –
Stars, however, do not have this luxury and it is thus way more remarkable that they manage to be open and willing to interact even after a long con day.

Still, through these book fair experiences, I noticed that I personally have something like a „Messe-Modus“ (Fair-/Exhibition-Mode) where I just react without much thinking, where I have my job and just do it. It’s like a switch is turned from the very introverted person to the one who doesn’t mind talking to strangers, they will never see again. I also noticed that this switch was turned while we were talking to the Gotham-people and I’m still not sure how to feel about that …

I also heard from other authoresses, that they use certain accessories to basically become their writing-persona, to be able to do these kinds of interactions, or read in front of an audience, or simply attend a book fair. In a way, I think, I’m doing this as well, with my black clothes, the specific band shirts (no one got the grinning-jester-Edguy-Shirt-joke … =( ) and the festival bracelets. I just feel more confident when I’m in my „battle armor“ and so do they.

Now I can’t say which techniques stars at cons use, but they might not be that different from what we use in the book bubble. And I’m pretty sure I’ll write a con vs. book fair post one day …

The Plot thickens …

As we had a little time on our hands before we departed for lunch in Hagen, June and I used the chance to continue plotting the RAC-story – official hashtag pending. We started this in October or November with a short story for the Bücherstadt Kurier’s advent calendar and we had so much fun with the creation of „Operation ‚Joker'“ (Pt. 1, Pt. 2) that we couldn’t help but explore the world further.

By now we have the rough outline of two major plots, all character names and occupations and know a few things about their relationships. Though, lots of the wordplays and easter eggs we put into the names will probably be lost on the audience … oh, well, we have something to laugh about at least. 😀 There is still a lot missing, a few subplots still open, but with this, I’m sure we can soon start to tell the story of cosplayers trying to bring their characters into real life – and unleashing something that none of them expected. Really can’t wait to continue with this project … and I’m still curious how many people read the short story after I mentioned it during our Diversity talk at the LBM.

And now: Have a nice Easter Weekend, lots of chocolate and moments to relax!

Anne

On the Road: September vacation

As I’ve just returned from my September vacation I felt like giving you a little overview of what has happened before I resume a more „normal“ schedule again.

Three one quarter capitals in nine days

I started my first longer vacation time in the beginning of September: Nine Days of exploring with Janzy.

We went from Berlin to Prague by train and stayed there in a Hostel for the night. From afternoon til the evening we went through all those alleys and streets filled with tourists, across the crammed Charles Bridge, all the way up to Prague Castle and back, where we also managed to see the last display of the Astronomical Clock. We wanted to do some more exploring on the next day, but the search for our bus station delayed us quite a bit and we pretty much only managed to have proper lunch before we departed by bus to Vienna where we stayed until our return flight back home.

For three days we used up the Vienna Pass for sightseeing where we visited amongst others Schönbrunn Castle, UNO City, the Prater and many more (I’m by the way thinking about extra posts for the efficient usage of the Vienna and London pass, anyone interested?). On our previous to last day we followed up on an invitation by EmmaN of the Nornennetz for self-made Zwetschgenknödel, which were really tasty and just one of several dishes we tried.

Our last day we used for a day trip to Budapest by bus. After some struggling with the transportation system we took a look at the two joined cities and soon discovered that we should give it a little more time and that we were pretty exhausted from all the walking around the days before…

The next day we already flew back to Berlin and with the next parts of a recording of „Moby Dick“ I returned to Neubrandenburg.

Because I’m clever and had to work three days between vacations. 😀

Con’st du noch oder schläfst du schon?*

The katzekagische Kürbisträger**

After the German Comic Con last year and the failed attempt to go there last year, Schmusejacke, AnnaTao and I finally managed to attend the Connichi in Cassel. And yes, one day I was in cosplay  as well – the day after I wore a fandom mix. 😀

With two days remaining we explored some places I had visited before when I stayed at Nazgul’s in 2009: Sababurg and Zoo and the Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe.
One evening we ate at a front cooking Mongolian buffet restaurant were I tried kangaroo for the first time. It’s pretty chewy
You can read up on our exploits through our Twitter page: ASAP Chronicles.

* I’m sorry this wordplay is hard to translate as it uses the IKEA slogan „Wohnst du noch oder lebst du schon?“ (probably used as „Make a house a home“ in English, literally: „Do you still reside or already live?“) mashed up with con as short for convention in a form of can („kannst“). So probably something along the lines of: You’re still going or already asleep?
** Cosplay wordplay: Gaara, the Kazekage from Naruto, Katze is the German word for cat, Kürbisträger means pumpkin carrier: catzekagerian pumpkin carrier. 😉

A phenomenal finish

Celebrating their 25th anniversary I couldn’t resist to end the vacation with an Edguy concert in the Columbia Hall in Berlin. It was great to finally see them in a standalone concert after only seeing them at a Festival before. They are after all one of my first Metal Bands. It was stuffy and great. 😀

What’s next?

Well, tomorrow and Monday I’ve got to work. Tuesday is a public holiday in Germany, German Unity Day, something that leaves quite a bitter taste, seeing that so many Germans made quite a stupid choice during elections last weekend… If your German is good enough, I recommend you to check out the Hashtag #wirschreibenDemokratie (we’re writing Democracy) by the Nornennetz, where different people talk about their view on the election results.

In this time I still have to do a couple of things:

  • write a post for the #Buchpassion Blogparade – which I should have done already…
  • proof-read the translations of the newest Gamers episode – something I don’t NEED to do, but I still want to.
  • finish stuff for Nornennetz projects
  • finally get the postcards for the Märchensommer ready to send off.
  • continue working on this years Advent Calendar.
  • finally start with Inkblood for a Reading Circle that is currently facing difficulties…

and probably something else that I forgot…maybe I should go on vacation again…

See you around,

PoiSonPaiNter

TimeLash 2015: Cosplay-Time

As I told you in my Review for the TimeLash do I want to expand on something I didn’t talk about, namely: The Cosplay competition.
What was supposed to be just us having fun turned into something I don’t even know how to call it, but read for yourself.

Preparations, preparations…

As I told you did Schmusi, Anna and I participate in the Cosplay competition – and I still don’t know what lead me to agree to that. Still, we had a lot of fun preparing our performance.
Quite soon we decided that the sketch we wanted to portray would feature the Tenth Doctor (Schmusi), Donna Noble (me) and Rose Tyler (Anna), wearing a Gallifreyan Wedding gown based on this FanArt.
Thinking back and forth Schmusi then wrote a little sketch for us and I added a couple of thoughts to it, but most of it was slightly changed again when we recorded the whole thing. As explanation of why Rose was wearing that dress, we simply decided that Jack Harkness gave it to her.
We laughed a lot while recording and practising the acting part of the sketch and the more often we heard it and the more running gags (including but not limited to: noise effects, quotes and variations therefore) we created for ourselves, the latter didn’t always work out and we ended up laughing our way through a test-run.
When we arrived in Kassel on Friday, I tried my wig for the first time and Schmusi couldn’t stop laughing as I looked like an old hag to her, so we decided to get some hair tint for me. Well, that didn’t turn out too well, as it barely made my original hair colour a bit lighter, but nowhere near the red of Donna. So we had to use the wig after all and Schmusi styled it a bit, so she wouldn’t have to laugh about it.
Until the very last minute before our departure to the Con on Sunday Schmusi and Anna worked on the last tweaks on the costumes. Schmusi’s suit for the Tenth Doctor was already finished, but Anna’s Rose-gown still needed some work and my cerecloth/table cloth-coat (they couldn’t get their hands on fake leather in time, so they had to improvise using this) got its final touches on Saturday. Schmusi even sacrificed her Sherlock-Cosplay coat pockets, so I could put my hands into my table cloth, yay. 😀 When the coat was finished we practised our performance once again in Nazgul’s living room and to get a feeling for it, I put the coat on. We didn’t even make it through the first part of the sketch, as the coat creaked when I crossed my arms and thanks to that and the smell of the table cloth we just burst out laughing, unable to continue any further. The next try Anna made a pouty face during one of her lines and from that time onwards Schmusi always saw a Jigglypuff whenever she said that line.
As last minute addition I prepared a little sign saying „From Jack with Love“ – were I tried to imitate the characters hand writing as it was shown in the Torchwood book the others got at the Convention – that should indicate that Rose’s dress was a present by him – some people took it as Rose was the present, but we’re fine with that, too -, which Schmusi sew to the dress shortly before our performance.
You see, we had a lot of fun during this part. 😀

The Play

As we haven’t released it on YouTube (yet?) – and it’s in German anyway -, you’ll only get a Transcript for now (and maybe later I’ll add a link to the Channel).

<Intro>
Doctor: „Once more for you Donna, I am the Doctor and I am right. What I say will be done“
Donna: „Oh?“
Doctor: „Ye-hes. You are my Companion and I am the Tour Guide. Whom of us is automatically right?“ <points to self>
Donna: „Me“ <points to self>
Doctor: „Why?“ <in a whiny tone>
Donna: „Without ME, YOU’d still be running around with those three brats looking for the Philosopher’s Stone!“
Doctor: „That – that was Beginners Luck!“ <protests>
Donna: <nods sarcastically> „I am right and you listen to me now. Good thing we  cleared that up“
Doctor: „Of course Donna. You’re right Donna-“
Donna: „So, where to now?“ <interrupts>
Doctor: „But at least my Tardis still likes me and sees me as an honourable owner“ <touches Tardis>
<Fault noise>
Doctor: „What?“
Donna: „See, the Tardis is on my side. Women do stick together after all“ <touches Tardis>
<Fault noise>
Doctor: „She’s is on my side! I knew it!“ <jeers and touches Tardis>
<Fault noise>
<Tardis Alarm noise>
Donna: „What’s happening?“
Doctor: „You tell me! You’re the one who’s right!“ <starts shaking due to the turbulences>
Donna: <grabs suit lapels and shakes him> „Don’t get cocky with me! What’s happening?“
<They stumble about in the Tardis until the noise ceases and everything is silent>
Rose: „The Tardis! Finally a le-“ <opens Tardis door, steps inside and sees Donna and Doctor, steps back>
Donna: „And who are YOU now?“
Doctor: „Gallifrey“ <takes Donna’s hands away from him and walks over to inspect the gown>
Doctor: „That looks like…hmm…that looks…like…like the needlework of Lord Needles!“ <he realizes while poking and pulling at the dress>
Rose: „Doctor! It’s me, Rose!“
Doctor: „No. No. You’re just a hallucination! You can’t be here!  You’re in Norway. I left you at the beach…“ <recalls sadly>
Donna: „Ah, that’s how that happened. Was she right as well?“
Doctor: „Not now Donna“
Rose: „Yes, you left me behind, but I can’t be mad at you for that. But I made it. I’m here. I’m finally back!“ <tells him and strokes his cheek>
Doctor: „Ro-Rose…“ <steps back>
Donna: „You Dösbaddel*. The kids real!“ <smacks him over the head>
Doctor: „Ouch! What’s that for now?!“ <looks at Donna, who points at Rose>
Doctor: „You’re – still here…“
Rose: „I told you so!“**
Donna: „Don’t you want to tell her something? You know, from back then?“ <nudges him and has to point him back towards Rose while he talks>
Rose: „Doctor?“
Doctor: „Y-yes. Yes. Y-yes, it’s time. Rose Tyler, I -“
<Outro>***
*Northern German phrase for dim-wit/dumbo
** This is the Jigglypuff line
*** I listened to this often enough that I quoted most of it by heart before I checked the recording and corrected the few mistakes I made and that even though we didn’t say any of those words live on stage… >_<

Well, that’s it. Our little sketch. It’s nothing special and as far away from canon as you can probably get, but with Rose turning up before Stolen Earth, it’s kind of hard to stay there…
We considered it to be fun and it wasn’t supposed to fit in with canon anyway, it is just something to accompany the costumes…

The Competition

On Saturday we met up with the von PuchsKes and Frank, the couple that presented the competition – and were positively surprised how supportive and lovely they were and it eased the nervousness a bit. We talked with them about issues and negativity Schmusi had experienced at and especially after other competitions, as some reviewers tore her performance apart due to her physical appearance. Kes told us she had experienced similar things in her times as a Cosplayer and that we shouldn’t let stuff like that get to us.
After the Panels were done for the day we used the chance to see how less-large-than-we-thought the stage actually was and try how far we could/had to go to have the space we’d need for the movement during the sketch.
When it was time for the competition, everyone squeezed into the small space beside the stage and one after the other got called to their performance. Some were showing their incredible sewing skills, others had collected their Cosplay over the years. Some said a few lines, others just used the stage as a catwalk. It was a variety of people and Cosplays, fitting for the occasion.
And then there was us:
An unusual group of three stoutly build women playing a pre-recorded sketch, with Cosplays that could not match any of the high quality Cosplays, but were fitted for the person and created using the material available (*cough*table cloth*cough*).
We didn’t plan on winning anything anyway.
We just wanted to present our little sketch and make the people in the audience laugh, when we weren’t allowed to do it ourselves.
And they did.
They laughed when the Tardis didn’t want to work with The Doctor.
They laughed when Donna smacked The Doctor over the head.
And that was enough for us. It felt great.
We didn’t look perfect, but at least recognizable.
Neither of us fell or started laughing throughout the performance and that’s what matters to us.
It was a lot of fun to play our little sketch, even though all of us were awfully nervous.

The Feedback

Obviously we didn’t win any of the prices, as those were given to the people that actually deserved them, but we did get a few gimmicks and some positive response by a few people we met afterwards.
E.g. a young girl came up to us and delightedly told us that we portrayed her favourite characters and that she really liked how cheeky our (my 😉 ) Donna was and that really lifted our spirits. Some of the winners and participants and a few other guests gave us their approval as well, which is really great, but can’t compete with the girl. 😀
Still, there was also negative Feedback, though I am not entirely sure if I actually want to call it that, I guess negative Opinions would be the better term.
In the official Facebook group one commenter announced that she was afraid for the on-stage Tardis at some point of our terrible performance. Another guy wrote in his review for Sunday that when he tries remembering our performance his nose starts bleeding and his ears start to buzz. When I asked him – I admit, I didn’t tell him, who I was, but it would have been easy for him to make the connection – he revealed that he considered the performance to be quite bad and that someone even showed him a similar sketch from an English convention and said we just copied it (If someone knows that video, feel free to send me a link, because we had no idea a thing like that existed), but instead of simply asking US, he spread the misinformation.
Though this could be the reason that so far you could barely see us on any of the competition shots…no one wants to include people that just steal their ideas…or wear awful Cosplays…
While I wrote the review for the Convention another German review, this time from the WhoView, was published that called our performance embarrassing and bad Fanfiction that turned Rose into a Time Lady and just wanted to see some naughty action between the Tenth Doctor and Rose, disregarding all female empowerment in 5 minutes and I don’t even want to go into more detail about the paragraph that talked about us in a very bad light and a quite polemic way, as I simply cannot understand how one could get THAT idea from our story… or does anyone feel the same after having read my explanation and the Transcript above? I mean, it’s a flipping Wedding gown/dress, by a Time Lord randomly called Lord Needles that was given to her by Jack to make her look pretty when she finally meets the Doctor again. o.O
Still, it created quite a discussion in the Facebook Group, when we spoke up about the fact that we didn’t agree with the way he talked about us…though we are not entirely sure how many people noticed the connection. We didn’t mean to start such an uproar from it, but it just felt wrong to stay silent. I admit, some of the phrases used in our statements weren’t thought out properly, but I do believe that was the initial rage at the way it was written. Yet, the author and his friends continued talking down on Anna and everyone that tried to defend us, repeating over and over again that it’s nothing bad and just the way the author talks/writes and no one should get agitated by it and it just spiralled upwards from there and all the sides got more and more frustrated by the whole thing.
From what I now learned about the author, I believe it was deliberately written in that way to cause a discussion or at least tuck at the strings of those jumping at the chance to discuss something like that, but I still don’t agree with the way it was written, as it – as a part of the group – felt insulting and degrading, even though he didn’t use any direct insults and wrapped everything in more or less harmless phrases. It still hurt and there would have been several different ways to portray such a dislike for something without stepping on the people involved in the process. The author chose this way of writing and all we can do is accept his decision. I feel like no one deserves a treatment like that, that’s why I will not return fire with fire by insulting the author. We accept your opinion, we do not agree with it and are disappointed that you resorted to such tones to describe us and not even considered talking to us in person, but we accept it and hope that this settles the matter once and for all.
At some point the organizers got involved into this – we had thought about informing them, but in the end didn’t do it -, which caused the Link to the article to be deleted from the group. The author and the boss had a talk and the author apologized to him about the fact that his article resulted in such an uproar and as punishment the author has to participate in next years Cosplay competition. So far he has not said a word to us on this matter nor did any of the officials contact us about it.
I don’t care if someone insults me, I’ve been a target to a lot of negativity before, but Schmusi and Anna are two of the most amazing people I had the fortune of meeting during the last couple of years. They give so much for their friends and work hard on different Cosplays using whatever material they can get their hands on, all the while juggling the organisation of a regular Fandom meeting and everyday madness. They don’t get much in return and then something like this happens to them – again – and this time in a community that for a brief moment felt different, felt more open minded, felt like family.
It is a really disappointing and sad turn of events that what we anticipated and feared to happen prior to entering the competition did indeed happen and that in a Fandom that is supposedly so inclusive and supportive, where individuals suddenly turn on you behind your back because you don’t fit in with the norm – at least that’s what we get out of this. With the encouragement from the Puchs and the overall atmosphere of the Convention we had really hoped that we’d get the respect every participant of a competition deserves and not become the butt end of a polemic joke.
Yes, our Doctor is not as thin as he is supposed to be and neither are Rose and Donna.
Yes, our Donna had a table cloth for a coat and the rest didn’t look nearly as good as some of the more expensive costumes, but we were still recognizable.
Yes, we aren’t the best Cosplayers, let alone actors in the world. (Heck, it was MY first time Cosplaying at all…)
But we had fun and the audience laughed and – I dare to say and some of the positive responses in the group agree with me here – had a good time and that was all we wanted. Obviously except those that fled the room or whose insides crumbled while witnessing our disaster of a performance, but that’s to be expected.
And if anyone has anything to say about us and/or our performance that person should at least have the decency to tell it to our faces – or through a message – and not start talking behind our backs, but that doesn’t mean we’re not open for constructive criticism, so we know how we can improve.
Regardless of that would we like to thank all those lovely people that stood up for us and/or send us encouraging words! After all the negativity this whole ordeal created your words helped us to find the strength again to look at this matter from a different angle. Thank you!

What I got from this experience is

  • As long as you have fun, you shouldn’t let others negative opinions bother you – which they still do and it will hurt, but you have to try to not let them get to you too much and overcome them.
  • As soon as you start playing, you don’t notice the audience any more.
  • Getting applause and laughter while on stage feels great.
  • Table cloth can be quite warm.
  • Anna is a yellow broccoli.
  • Schmusi wears children’s caskets instead of sand shoes.
  • With my wig not prepared properly I’m an old hag with a standing table cloth coat. 😀

Anyway, I know I’m repeating myself, but we still had a lot of fun with this and as we enjoyed the recording part of the preparations and really like the result, we decided to do more with that. So stay tuned. 😉
I/we don’t know if we will be at the next TimeLash as well, we would like to go, but aside from the planning, the whole negative behind our backs discussion regarding our performance really makes us want to stay away, but at the same time there is this urge to not back down, to show everyone that we ain’t bovvered by those remarks and we obviously will continue to create and learn and have fun doing what ever it is we want to do.
PoiSonPaiNter

TimeLash 2015

Even though I am known for taking ages for actually publishing a review for something I’ve been at, I occasionally manage to do something on time and this shall be one of them.
As I have mentioned recently did I attend the TimeLash , the first Doctor Who convention in Germany with AnnaTao and Schmusi from the HGWAnime last weekend and I’d like to tell you a bit about it.

Funding the Fun

Some time last year three German fans (Simone Violka, Ralf Schmidt and Pascal Salzmann) with roots in Convention Management and the like, decided to try and start a Crowd Funding campaign to be able to organize the very first German Doctor Who Convention.
I read about it on Facebook, I believe, and talked about it with a friend from studying, but she didn’t want to participate, so I canned the plans. During one of the HGWAnime-meetings I casually asked Schmusi and Anna if they had heard about it and they didn’t. Well, it didn’t take long for the seed of curiosity to take root.
I discussed it with my parents and my Mum pushed me to buy the ticket, as I would have been disappointed if I hadn’t. So Anna ordered three tickets for us and I asked Nazgul if he’d let us stay in his place and that sorted out the sleeping part of the trip.
In March I shortly struggled with the thought of actually attending and told Schmusi and Anna that I wasn’t sure if I’d really be able to accompany and drive them, due to my Mum’s increasing health issues, as I didn’t want to leave while she was feeling unwell. In a cruel twist of fate that problem solved itself when Mum decided to leave us the next weekend. But I know she wanted me to go and enjoy the weekend, so I decided to do just that.

Twitter-Mania

I’m not entirely sure how we got to that idea, but somehow during the fitting session on Thursday before the Convention we got the idea to start a Twitter-Account and live-tweet throughout it. Said and done and the [ASAP Chronicles] were born.
We tweeted a lot of silly stuff ranging from comments regarding our hour-long drives, the convention itself or our preparations for the Cosplay contest. Most of it is in German, but we did even have some English Tweets, if you want to know what the German ones mean, just let me know. 🙂
As we had a lot of fun tweeting – especially I often asked for the Zwitscher-Phone/Twitter-Phone, as I do not own a smartphone myself(,yet ) – we decided to keep the account longer than the convention and also tweet stuff from the HGWAnime or other adventures. And as it doesn’t really fit with my own Page, we decided to create a new Facebook Page that accompanies the Twitter Page.
You can find it here: [ASAP Chronicles].

Dalek on the loose

As we arrived on Friday we had some time to find the Convention side before we went to get our groceries for the weekend. The Crew was busy with the last preparations and we took a sneak peek through the windows and already saw a Dalek, standing right in the middle of the room. The anticipation rose and we couldn’t wait for the Convention to start.

Pümpel!

Pümpel! Pew Pew!


As the other Cosplay was planned for Sunday Schmusi and Anna decided to keep it relatively simple with a River Song (Anna) and Dalek (Schmusi) Cosplay, while I simply wore my Cyberman-Shirt. 😀
Schmusi’s Cosplay earned a lot of looks and comments, especially the whisk and the plunger (Pümpel in German) she used as improvised weapons. Though we did have to take a de-tour as we realized half-way on the way to the Convention that our Dalek’s memory had a failure as we forgot the plunger at Nazgul’s. Though it kind of became a running gag, that I competed with the satnav in regards to our arrival time…I mean, we were right when it came to judging the time we needed to get from Greifswald to Kassel. WE anticipated all those traffic jams! >_<
The Dalek hat

The duck-taped Dalek hat


Anyway, aside from weaponry, our Dalek had a very cool hat, that I ended up carrying around most of the time.
The Convention was split in five areas: Panel room, entrance, Signing/Props room, Photo-Session/Wardrobe and Merchandise room.
In the Merchandise room there were several tables from different retailers and one in particular by The Who Shop, the official merchandise shop from London and it was quite exciting when a woman (I believe she is called Alex) at their booth was utterly fascinated by said Dalek hat. 😀 Though we utterly failed to put it properly on for her and kind of completely wrecked it in the process and we had to duck-tape the different pieces back together – good thing I still had some of it left in my car or as we lovingly called it that weekend: The Tardis-Tortenschachtel (Cake Box).
Anyway, that day before we started exploring all the different areas we sat down to watch the opening ceremony that started with a little delay, but was quite interesting, as this way we managed to see all the guests up on stage. It was quite surreal, especially when we strolled through the Props part of the other area and there just beside/behind us was e.g. The Doctor  (Paul McGann) or the voice of the Daleks, Cybermen and many others: Nicholas Briggs (Occasionally he and some of the guests even passed by, which was just as weird). Later we sat in the Panel of former Script Editors Terrence Dicks and Andrew Cartmel for a moment, but decided to leave, when we noticed that even though it was quite interesting to listen to all their stories, it was hard for us – especially Anna – to follow and understand Mr. Dicks, which was really quite unfortunate… 🙁
I was upgraded

I was upgraded


The rest of the day we mostly spent upstairs in a hallway in front of the Merchandise room or outside, as neither of us had that much energy or interest in the Panels and there wasn’t much else to do. We chatted and joked a bit with a group of Cosplayers that started a Vote Saxon campaign (with very smelly flyers…), but we mostly just relaxed or walked around taking pictures of other Cosplayers or ourselves using the displayed Props by the Rockin Robin Dr Who Cosplay Fanclub.
I would have liked to listen to Mr. McGann’s Panel, but the room was already full, so I only stayed in the back for a moment, heard some of it and then decided to go back upstairs to the others.
What we did manage to see completely that day was the Entertainment-Show by Toby Hadoke, which pretty much was my highlight of the whole weekend. He was easy to understand, a lot of fun and even if I don’t know all of the Classic Who stuff, his jokes were on point and absolutely hilarious. That show could have gone two more hours and I doubt anyone would have been bored. 😀
In the evening there was a special Star Dinner for a few selected people, but we instead got back to Nazgul’s place and in a team-effort cooked a very tasty Soljanka.

The big Finish

Still half asleep I caused a minor uproar when I suddenly announced „Guys, it’s seven o’clock!“ after taking a look at my phone. With a grumble Schmusi then reminded me of the clock change and told me that it was still six o’clock. So we kind of woke up before our alarm…oops…
Anyway, as this was the big day for my very first Cosplay and some things weren’t finished at Anna’s we got up early to prepare for the day and still somehow ended up arriving late. But still in time to hear some of Mr. Briggs Panel and it was really great. I even dared to ask a question, but ended up formulating it in the most difficult way possible, but he still answered the question I tried to ask. 😀 He just seems to be a really likeable person. Though all of the guests seemed likeable. Jason Heigh-Ellery from Big Finish even let us/me talk him into trying out a self-playing piano in the hallway upstairs, the day before, though it was unfortunately already turned off by then. 🙁
Big Finish by the way had a large booth as well, but as someone who gets easily bored by simply listening to something, I’m afraid non of their work – as amazing as it is – would help me to overcome the urge to do something entirely different while listening and then stop paying attention altogether, which is quite a pity. 🙁
Still, the writing process interests me quite a bit and while Schmusi and Anna got the last instructions for the Cosplay competition, I sat down in the writers Panel with Nev Fountain, Terrance Dicks, Andrew Cartmel and Nicholas Briggs. It was quite interesting and far too short…
Right after that the Cosplay competition started and everyone gathered in the small space beside the less-large-than-we-thought stage. We were ninth in line and I think at some point I just stopped thinking and simply concentrated on what was ahead of me, but more on that in a separate post.
After the competition we made a last round through the booths, were I got myself an AdiposeFunko Pop! figurine. The other two got – amongst other things – some Dalek merchandise the other day, but I’ve already purchased a couple of things that interest me over the last few months, so my purse didn’t cry as much as it did for others. Though I was kind of thinking about buying a totally un-Who-ish Groot-Scaler and was partly inclined to try getting one of the Supernatural mystery-Mini with the strange feeling that if I did, with my luck, I probably would’ve ended up picking Gabriel…it was irritating enough that one of the crew guys looked an awful lot like the actor…
Anyway, that figurine was still cheaper than the picture that was taken of us on our way back…stupid speeding camera…but taking the longer landscape route gave us a lot of time to discuss future plans, that you’ll hear about, when they are a bit more concrete. 😉
The last thing on our list, was the official ending round. While waiting for it Anna asked if she could have two of the WhoCast’s – the German DW Podcast that was also present at the Convention – posters and they indeed gave them to her. So she and Schmusi now have a Dalek and a Tardis poster from the WhoCast. 🙂 One of the posters still had some easy to remove poster glue left that Anna used to tinker a bit. The Dalek didn’t really work out, but the Adipose turned out quite well. 😀

You need a lot of imagination for this one

You need a lot of imagination for this one


Not so much for this one

Not so much for this one

The Conclusion/Finishing Panel was then another/the last chance to see most of the guests – some had already departed. Everyone said their thanks and the three organizers received a fully deserved standing ovation at the end of their speech. Everything was impressively well organized for the first instalment of a Convention, the star-guests were great, the crew was great and the whole atmosphere was quite familiar and nice. All in all a really great experience, even though we didn’t get any autographs or photo-shoots and simply used our time there to be amongst others with a similar interest.

So, a huge thank you for an amazing weekend!
I/we don’t know if we will be at the next TimeLash, we would like to go, but there are a lot of things to factor in regarding the trip and some of them will be explained in the follow-up post.
PoiSonPaiNter

On a Side Note #3

I feel like I’m really not getting anything done these days…
I managed to low and behold publish five posts in September and four so far in October and seven of those were Weekend Guesses
I don’t even know what it is I’m doing that keeps me from finishing any posts…
I didn’t even feel like reading either and now I have to give back all those books I got from the library back in February when it closed for renovations, unread…
Okay, I admit there were a few series I caught up with during the recent weeks and my trip to Stockholm and two Weekends at the HGWAnime, but that can’t be that time consuming…
It feels like all I’m doing is writing in the bus on my way to work, being at work, writing on my way back from work and doing stuff – possibly typing said writing or writing something else or watching something, when I get back.
Now you probably ask yourself: Why am I not seeing any of that writing?
Well, for one: It isn’t December yet. 😉
But I only need six and a half more Chapters and then it’s time for typing and polishing the whole thing to make it presentable for you. I’m quite exited if you will like that way of story telling, though right now I’m more curious about where the story will take me, as it made a few turns I had not expected in the beginning…
And for the other: I haven’t posted it here and I’m not sure I want to post it here and am even thinking about taking down the Fanfiction section in the Writings-menu altogether…
It’s the amok-running story that started with „Chance Meetings“ – a simple idea of Supernatural characters meeting people that read the in-universe books – and for some reason turned into the Season 11 AU „Light in the Darkness“ that I want to finish before I actually take a look at Season 11, which by now leaves me in a very weird situation between „Ah, I can wait“ and „Arg, I hate Spoilers, why can’t I be able to finish that stupid story and finally watch the show again like everyone else?!“. >_<
It is really frustrating when characters decide that they want you to tell more or different things than you actually wanted to do (same with the Calendar people by the way…)… I could probably write a whole post about that alone – and I probably will when I finished that story.
One thing you could see, however, is „Aequus„, my most recent story for Your Picture – A Story, that is a semi-continuation of this story from my Advent Calendar. Again it is only available in German, but I did manage to translate one of my „older“ stories of the project: The Secret of Milton Road. As Halloween is fast approaching, maybe something you’d like to check out. 😉
And as I’m already talking about the Calendar from last year: Last time I also told you that I left an excerpt of it in the mail box of a local publisher. Well, long story short: They were interested, they liked my stories and wanted to read more, but they also wanted me to support them with 2.500 € to pay for the copy-editing, marketing and what not, while they pay the same amount for the printing itself and only give me 10% royalties. That was not something I was willing to do, so I canned publishing plans for the meantime.
Now onto some more fun news: I probably wont be able to write anything this weekend either, as I’ll be at the TimeLash with AnnaTao and Schmusi from the HGWAnime. The TimeLash is the first ever Doctor Who convention in Germany and I’m quite excited as it will be my third convention ever (as a reminder: #1: Weekend of Horrors, #2 ChiSaiiCon). But I’m also quite terrified as I have agreed to take part in the Cosplay competition with Anna and Schmusi…
It will be:

  • my first Day ever in a Cosplay
  • my first time participating in a Cosplay competition
  • my first time playing after a pre-recorded story in front of a (huge) audience (all audiences are huge if you don’t like being in the spotlight, even if they can be at most 500 people…)

So yeah, I’m kind of practising to not miss my cues and do some acting and most importantly not start laughing, which probably will be the hardest part…
Anyway, noon Sunday it’s show time and I guess I’ll let you know how it went. 😀
We’ll by the way play a self-written (by Schmusi, with comments by me) story starring the Tenth Doctor (Schmusi), Rose Tyler (Anna) and Donna Noble (me) and the Tardis Control-Thingy (a cardboard box). 😀
So, see you around I guess
PoiSonPaiNter