#how2015

Anyway, we chatted about various things over breakfast. I can’t even remember most of it, except that we talked about being photographed and how to look good, poses that actresses have to work on, that sort of thing. Eaddy definitely has her stage persona, which is when she’s drawing energy from being in front of a crowd and feeding it back out to that crowd, but the times when it was just a few of us - the dinner, the breakfast, her M&G and Coffee Break sessions - she’s still just as outgoing and open, but on a more personal level. Not so “big” and brash, if that makes sense.

The breakfast was really lovely. Very calm and quiet and casual, and we all got quite emotional thanking the girls for organising the con and making it happen despite all the obstacles they faced. There were tears, there was hugs, it was nice :)

After the breakfast, Eaddy had to go to Comic Con to do the Teen Wolf panel. Holland had flown in over night, and went straight to the Comic Con venue from the airport, I think, but because Linden and Susan had had to cancel, Ryan and Eaddy were meant to join the panel. So Eaddy was there, and I understand she was a big hit, but Ryan’s flight from Lisbon to Porto was delayed because of engine trouble on the plane (that man has THE worst luck with flights, I s2g), so he didn’t actually arrive in time for the Comic Con panel.

Sinqua crashed the panel though, borrowing a wolf costume from the HOW girls. I wasn’t there myself at Comic Con - we could’ve gone, but it was quite a distance from the HOW venue to the Comic Con venue, and I was worried about getting there and back again in time for the afternoon’s sessions at HOW, so instead we stayed in the area and just went to the shopping mall to visit the Disney Store, grab a coffee and have some downtime, which was really nice.

After the Comic Con panel, Holland arrived at HOW at about 2pm, I think, and then had her House Panel for House Martin. The panels for House Argent (Stilinski) and House Hale had been the day before. There was a competition for House points, which had been going on before the con too, and the House that earned the most points would get a special panel with all the guests. I wasn’t sure about that whole concept, tbh, but people got really into it (especially House Hale...), and the guests loved it.

We played “games” at our House panel to earn points (Teen Wolf charades, Teen Wolf pictionary), and Holland was so into it, she really wanted to win. We also took a House photo, and the “best” one was going to win 50 points, so Holland was really keen to make sure our photo was the best. She correctly guessed what Ryan would do for his picture, and declared that it was “lame” and that we would do something awesome so we’d win. She suggested that we form a human pyramid, which we did, and it was crazy. She insisted on being on the bottom level, even though she was far tinier than most of the rest of us, and I was on her back, so - claim to fame - I have kneed Holland Roden in the kidneys.

Can’t even.

I haven’t seen the picture, but about a second after it was taken, we all fell down, because forming a human pyramid is really tough if you a. are not a cheerleader or gymnast with training, and b. weigh more than 100lb.

It was fun though. And Holland was so enthusiastic about doing whatever it took to win, so that was cool. She always surprises me, because on first glance she is quite Lydia like, but after a few minutes you realise that actually so almost NOTHING like Lydia, and it’s a bit of a mental adjustment. Like Ryan is really nothing like Parrish, and Sinqua and Eaddy are quite similar to Boyd and Victoria, but with Holland you’re almost tricked into thinking she is like Lydia until you realise actually she absolutely isn’t.

Anyway, we also talked a bit in the panel, and Holland told us things like the inhaler scene in the pilot had to be filmed in the Producers’ garage because they’d run out of money and couldn’t afford to do any more shooting. I can’t remember what else we talked about in that panel, but it was mostly pictionary and charades, so there weren’t really questions etc. But Holland was really happy and smiling and incredibly generous with her time and very giving - she was volunteering stories because she thought we’d be interested, and she was very engaged with every single fan in the room, partly, I think, because she knew we’d chosen to be in her House and (in later sessions) to pay for her M&Gs and Coffee Breaks, and I guess perhaps she knew that she was the guest that the most attendees (especially those from Portugal) had booked specifically to see, so she seemed to me like she really appreciated the love she was being shown. Some of the other House Martin attendees (I didn’t catch their names) bought her some balloons and they made a poster to welcome her to Portugal, which all of us in House Martin signed. That was such a lovely idea, and I think she really appreciated it.

After the House Panel, Ryan and Holland did a panel together, I think, which I live tweeted, so I won’t repeat myself (mostly because I can’t remember it). But see my twitter to see all that stuff.

After their panel, we went into a Coffee Break with both Holland and Ryan. I cannot remember a single thing we talked about, tbh, except Holland told us about how she once tried to smuggle Fievel back from Atlanta to LA without paying the airline fees for taking a dog on a flight, and she got caught by this flight attendant and he was so cross with her he put her onto the terrorist no fly list, so she was stopped from boarding her connecting flight and questioned by Homeland Security.

Holland and Ryan are clearly friends and enjoy one another’s company. Oh yes, they also talked about their favourite scenes to do. Ryan talked about working with JR when he had the bar in his chest, and they both talked about JR and how funny he is. Holland said he was “a teenager”, and had never really grown up, just did yoga and rode motorcycles backwards and stuff. They love him though, it was a positive thing

After that, Ryan did his House panel with House McCall, and Holland did her solo M&G. Again, I don’t remember everything we talked about, but I think we can all agree that the most important part was that someone asked her what other genres etc she might want to work in, and she said period drama, so they asked if she could do a British accent, which she did, and it was REALLY GOOD. Like it freaked me out a bit, it was so good. Seeing that accent come out of a face I except to speak with an American accent, it genuinely unnerved me.

So naturally, once Holland realised this, she proceeded to speak to me in her British accent every time she saw me, which was all through her photo sessions and the autograph session and the final panel.

Seriously, freaky. She definitely needs to be in a period drama, she’d be amazing.

She was also asked about her favourite book, and talked very passionately about an audiobook she’s listened to about a guy who went over to Russia in the immediate post-communist era and made huge amounts of money privatising all the Russian state-owned industries. She said she and Max (”my boyfriend”) had initially been listening to the book in the car, but that it was so interesting, they would just sit at home on the couch and listen to it. She loves non-fiction best, and couldn’t get through reading Harry Potter or Game of Thrones. That’s just not her thing. She doesn’t really like genre stuff, she’s more a non-fiction person, biographies and so on, and she loves this book because it was all about economics and how finance stuff works. She’s recommended it to everyone else on the cast and got them reading it too.

What else. She was asked whether she gets scared doing auditions and being on set, which she said no, only in an excited kind of “first day of school” way, and that she’s done so many auditions now, she’s not scared of them any more. She also said she and Crystal are still good friends. I can’t remember the context of how that came up, but she just volunteered it.

After that panel, it was Ryan’s M&G session. He talked about his big family again, and that when he first moved away to LA he wanted to get away and be his own guy, but now he really misses them and hopes to go back to Chicago to work on a show that shoots there so he can see his family more, especially all his young nieces and nephews and the ones that are “on the way”.

He also mentioned a “rumour” that someone from the main cast is going to be killed off this season. He said he’d heard it, but didn’t know whether it was true. He raised it himself though, he wasn’t asked about it by us, and I’ve not heard that rumour (although I don’t really follow TW fandom anymore, so maybe it is circulating?), so I don’t know whether he’d had instructions to plant that rumour to try to rile up fandom, or if it’s a real thing. If it is real, I hope it’s Holland who’s leaving. She needs to get free. So does DOB, but he’s already confirmed for s6, so I don’t think he can get out just yet. Unless they’re lying to trick us, in which case I hope it’s DOB who’s escaping!

Oh, at some point Holland was asked about the change from playing Lydia in s1 and Lydia now, and she talked about how much more physically active she is now and how she gets to do action and fight scenes more, which she likes. I think that was in her M&G.

Ryan also talked in his M&G about stunt work and how much he doesn’t like doing it, which is unusual I think because most actors say they love doing stunt work. But Ryan said he worries that because he is not a stunt guy and doesn’t always get it right, he might hurt someone. He talked about how crazy the stunt guys are, that they just get hurt over and over and they love it, and about the fight scene he did with Holland and how he was so worried about hurting her by accident.

After the M&Gs and CBs were over, it was photo time. I had LOADS of photos, so I was in that photo studio for ages. Holland and Ryan did their singles first, then there was a break, I think, and after that were the duo and triple and group photos. I haven’t had them all back yet, because some weren’t printed in time, but the girls are going to mail them out, so it’s all good. The ones I have had back were really lovely, so I’m very pleased.

Everything was running late, because of Ryan’s flight delays and he and Holland only arriving on Sunday morning, so we didn’t finish until quite late in the evening. After the photos, there was an autograph session. Holland had asked my name during the M&G session, which was a few hours earlier, but when I got up to her table, she not only remembered my name (and spoke to me in that freaky British accent again), she also spelled it correctly, without prompting. And maybe it’s just a skill that actors need, to remember people they worked with months or years before who might now be a useful contact for getting a job, but still, it really made me feel special that she remembered me.

After we’d got our autographs from Holland and Ryan, we went into the main hall for the announcement of which House had won. We all knew it was House Martin, because we were out ahead, although House Hale were very close behind us. But we had to pretend when the guests came out that we didn’t know. As I said, they were really into the whole House thing, and loved the competitive aspect of the con. So that was fun.

We thanked them for their time, and they thanked us, and that was that. They went back to finish off autographs, and after that, there was the Winners Panel for House Martin. Eaddy was still signing, but Holland was there, as our House leader, and then Sinqua joined her and finally Ryan. They weren’t there for long, but it was just nice to have a few final minutes with them. This was when the only shipping questions was asked, except the first day when someone asked Sinqua stalia v stydia. And this final question was a very shipping light question, about the extent to which the actors bring in things like “long lingering looks”, v the extent to which they’re part of the script. So it was a very open question that Holland talked about more generally, rather than “Dylan and I do X”.

Overall, I must say, I was worried about being surrounded by so many stydia shippers, mostly that they would be rude to Ryan or ask lots of anti-marrish and anti-stalia or pro-stydia questions, but the stydia fans I spoke to over the weekend were absolutely lovely, very classy and respectful and just pleasant to be around. We may not ship the same things, but we can all be perfectly nice to one another when we meet in person.

Online, not so much. But in person? It was a really great atmosphere.

By then, it was about 10.30pm or so, and we went to the shopping centre to get some food. The shopping centre was open until midnight, even though it was a Sunday, which was awesome. And it was lovely to sit around with a few of the girls and just chat about fandom and fic and all sorts of things, and to know it was a completely safe space where we all understood and connected with each other. It’s lovely to see the guests, of course it is, but one of the best things about being at a con is always that atmosphere of being among people who just get it.

So, overall it was just a really wonderful experience. I’d been really nervous beforehand, mostly because I haven’t travelled abroad for about 10 years, even longer since I’ve done it alone, and I wasn’t sure how I’d manage, but it was brilliant. Porto was a beautiful, welcoming city, and I’d love to go back.

I doubt the girls will want to run a @houseofwolvescon 2, after how difficult and stressful this one was! But if they did, I’d book in a heartbeat.

Thank you all <3

If any of the above is unclear, or if you’ve heard of anything that was said or allegedly said at the convention, please do feel free to drop me an Ask and I’ll try to remember and/or clarify.

I know how these things get misreported, and how people who weren’t even there will sometimes start making pronouncements about what was said or what it meant, and if I can help clear things up, I will. It’s only my interpretation, of course, and someone else who was in the same room may have interpreted the same words differently, but I can at least try to answer questions and settle nerves <3

Day 1

Addendum