
Our feet are swollen and aching from standing. We greet the volunteers at the Javits Center now as if they were old friends. We’re living on a diet of granola bars, chocolate covered pretzels, probiotic trail mix, hot dogs, GIANT soft pretzels, Gatorade, and water. We measure time not in minutes but in percentage of phone battery left. We’re exhausted from flailing about all day. And hot damn if we’re not having the greatest weekend of our lives.
Welcome to New York Comic Con, Day Three. We would stay here forever if we could…
–Kim
* Our third day at the Javits Center started out with a bit of a disappointment: we were denied entrance to the “50 Years of Doctor Who” panel, which was one of the first panels of the morning. We had thought since there was nobody super famous on the panel (no disrespect to the panelists, as they are all well-known Whovian academics who have written fantastic books on the show that everyone needs to read) we would be able to get in the room a mere 40 minutes before the panel. WRONG. We stupidly underestimated the Whovian fandom (who are we? BBC America using movietickets.com for the “Asylum of the Daleks” premiere?) and their passion for hearing anyone talk about their favorite show. Let it be known that our press passes can only do so much. And one thing they CAN’T do is allow us to jump the line.

* While we were sad about the Who panel, we refused to let it bring us down. We’re at COMIC CON for God’s sake…and for every opportunity missed, a golden one lies right around the next corner. We went up to the Press Lounge to regroup and recharge our phones and plan the rest of the day. It was then that we realized that the ever delightful Zachary Levi was at Nerd HQ taking pictures for Operation Smile, so off we went back to the floor. Props to the staff and volunteers at The Nerd Machine booth, who managed to snake a line with multiple sections quickly and fairly through the Con main floor. (Because that could have gotten reaaal ugly, REAL fast.) And to Zach, who showed up on a grueling two-show day to shake hands and look pretty with his adoring fans. He’s taking part in a fundraiser that Sage is planning in November, so they had a lovely chat about looking forward to it. And now it’ll be that much easier for her to be cool in his presence when she sees him again. Or not, we’ll see.

* We learned from the handsome and effortlessly sassy Clark Gregg (who was tragically in LA, much to our despair) on Twitter that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.‘s Fitz-Simmons were appearing over at the Marvel headquarters. Sage headed over to check out the precious Brits (who – confirmed on the panel – are NOT supposed to be brother and sister, so ship away, my friends) and ended up connecting with Marvel Television PR to get a solid in to the panel later that day. Head Over Feels: forever hustling.
* While Sage was starting a Nerd Revolution with Zach, I made my way back to where the Who panel was to meet up with the panelists once it was done. On my way there, I spotted Grace from Rotten Tomatoes, who had been one of the moderators of the panel we had attended the night before. She was once again in her bad ass Cylon costume, so I had to stop and compliment her not only on her hotness but on what a great job she did the night before. We had a great chat about movies and writing and fandom in general. AND I won a free Starbucks gift card from a survey, so my coffee tomorrow morning is already paid for!

* After I met up with the Who panelists, we made our way back to the floor and the Doctor Who shop booth where they were all signing their books (again…you should buy them). Sage met up with me back there and we witness a completely spontaneous Whovian cosplay photoshoot that was nothing short of epic. It all started with a couple of VERY accurate Nines and a Rose and grew from there. Anytime a Whovian Cosplayer passed by they would jump into the picture. Even Captain Jack Harkness showed up eventually.
And then there was THIS little guy representing both Doctor Who and Harry Potter. I snapped this after getting permission from his parents and he delightedly posed for me.
* After we left the Who world, we paid a little visit to Greendale. Even though I’ll be seeing him next week (NEXT WEEK OMG) at CommuniCon 2, I can never resist a little face time with Community‘s Dan Harmon. The fact that I got Dino “Starburns” Stamatopoulos as a bonus? Even better. I stupidly left all my Community memorabilia at home, so Dan and Dino signed Sage and I’s press badges. Also, Dan and Sage are most definitely photo taking face buddies. Go back and look at most pictures of Sage. She makes this face ALL THE TIME. (Especially after a few Jack and Gingers. Someone check Dan’s water bottle. –S)

* But you don’t really care about all of this do you? You want to hear the story of the picture at the top of this post, right? RIGHT. After another run to the press lounge to charge, scarf down some trail mix, and take advantage of a much less crowded ladies room, we made our way to the photo-op booth. The time had come. We were going to get our picture taken with David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson. 17 years of X-Files fandom had led to this very moment. As soon as David and Gillian were announced, we knew we had to make a special shirt to wear to Comic-Con for our picture with them. We settled on the famous “Iced Tea/Root Beer” exchange from season one’s “Tooms” and we could not be more pleased with how they turned out!

* As we anxiously waited in line, we were both in denial that we were ACTUALLY about to meet the two people who are ultimately responsible for us being the fangirls that we are today. We kept looking at each other and saying “This is happening” as we TRIED to remain cool. We passed other fans who came out of their sessions flailing about with joy and squealing about David and Gillian’s beauty. We clutched hands as we were ushered into the photo area and we managed NOT to burst into tears when we saw them. When our turn came, we made our Mulder/Scully sandwich and then Gillian and David both stopped as they noticed our shirts. “Wait, what do these say,” Flawless Gillian said. And then they proceeded to read the front and backs of our shirts OUT LOUD. “What is this from,” Gillian asked. “YOUR SHOW!!” Sage and I (maybe) shouted (I even said the episode title). And then David…in perfect Fox Mulder wryness…said to his co-star and secret wife, “It’s called The X-Files.” And Sage said “You should watch it sometime”. Our heroes laughed with us as if we were old pals and then cuddled us and we took our picture. We told them we loved them and thanked them for The X-Files and went on our way. We promptly did a two-handed, jock-style high five and then had an emotional meltdown as soon as we left their presence. That moment was worth EVERY PENNY (we will never say how many) we spent. It was the perfect encounter that was everything we wanted it to be and more.
And yes. I did push my way in to get next to David. Because I am the worst (and it WAS better going in height order. But really…I’m the worst). To repay Sage, I am literally going to throw her at Tom Mison during the Sleepy Hollow press session tomorrow.

* Our day wasn’t over after that! Thanks to Sage and her encounter with the Marvel PR rep, we went straight into the panel for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. where they screened the upcoming fourth episode of the series, followed by a Q&A with Jeph Loeb (head of Marvel’s television department), Iain De Caestecker (Fitz), and Elizabeth Henstridge (Simmons). The episode was the strongest yet of the new series and the panel was rather boisterous as they had just gotten the full series pick-up. I will admit I have been lukewarm on the show so far, but this episode definitely showed me that the series is starting to find out what works. We won’t spoil anything because we aren’t jerks but be warned of this one if you have ANY sort of eye issues. There were definitely moments in the episode where Sage and I buried our heads in each others shoulders because we couldn’t bear to look.
* One thing that DID surprise us during the Q&A was the inanity of some of the questions. As a new Con-goer, I don’t know if it is the norm, but we definitely found ourselves rolling our eyes when fans would question if we are ever going to see any of the Avengers on the series. Come ON people. Do you REALLY think they would tell us if they were? And do you really think that if you rephrase the question you can confuse them into telling you anyway??Also Elizabeth Henstridge admitted her love for Loki, so we can all welcome her into the fold.
* When the S.H.I.E.L.D. panel ended we faced a dilemma. We had planned all along to go to the John Barrowman panel, but it started a mere 15 minutes after the S.H.I.E.L.D. panel ended. And the panel following S.H.I.E.L.D. was perhaps one of THE premiere panels of the Con…The Walking Dead. We went back and forth about it last night and the whole day today. I very much held the position that IF we got into the Mainstage Ballroom it would be STUPID to leave it, especially when it was likely we wouldn’t get into Barrowman’s panel. But how could we NOT go to Barrowman? But how could we leave when we have seats for The Walking Dead, especially when a good chunk of the cast was going to be there?? AND SAGE DOESN’T EVEN WATCH THE WALKING DEAD SO WHAT DOES SHE CARE WHEN SHE’S NOT GOING TO UNDERSTAND ANYTHING? In the end, we made the choice that we knew we were going to have to make all along…and we stayed for The Walking Dead.


* I am SO glad we did because the panel was fantastic! It was moderated by Community‘s Yvette Nicole Brown who proved herself to be a fangirl worthy of the Head Over Feels name but she also kept the panel moving at a good pace and made sure to engage every member of the panel equally. She was warm and funny and showcased her killer Oprah impression. I never want Community to end, but when it does, I think Yvette would be WONDERFUL on a talk show. She also spoke on shipping and uttered these words that will now be the official sub-motto of Head Over Feels:“Keep doing what you are doing and those of us who want to will add it in their minds.”

* With only 45 minutes slated for the panel and season 4 premiering tomorrow, we were only showed a few exclusive clips of the new season, but both were quite exciting and the crowd ate it all up as if they were zombies themselves. It’s very clear the cast loves what they are doing and love EACH OTHER as they shared great anecdotes of life on the set of TWD. Also, Danai Gurira, who plays the rather taciturn Michonne, was so talkative and bubbly, it made me respect her performance on the show that much more.



* The cast was gamely up for anything during the Q&A, from checking out a guy’s Rick Grimes leg tattoo to bringing up a little girl on stage for the rest of the panel after she asked Norman Reedus for a kiss. The entire room MELTED when the cast brought her onstage for the rest of the panel and she gave all of them bracelets she had made for them. Meanwhile Sage and I sat and whispered “WHO LETS A SMALL CHILD WATCH THE WALKING DEAD???” Fan favorite Norman Reedus predictably received most of the attention during the Q&A, but there was also a young boy (WHAT IS IT WITH ALL THE KIDS WATCHING THIS SHOW?) who proclaimed that Lauren Cohen was the most beautiful woman in the world and if Maggie died he would riot. All in all, it was a fantastic 45 minutes that ended with Sage proclaiming, “After that, The Walking Dead is my new favorite show and I’ve never even seen it!” And thus, even with this weeks Parks and Rec and Scandal remaining unwatched, Sage went home to watch the pilot. (Hopefully the oh-my-god moments aren’t the best part, because I’m now spoiled on every character death. Oh well. –S)
* I DO have to make a confession, and it’s one that I am appalled by, especially knowing there were over a thousand people waiting in the queue room next door watching a live stream. We were in the back of the room and there were at LEAST 50 empty seats in our vicinity, so I am sure there were more on the other side of the room. The thing with Comic-Con is that they don’t clear the rooms in between panels, so usually the hard-core nerds that want to see a panel like The Walking Dead will get there first thing in the morning and camp out there all day, no matter what is in the room, just so they can have a seat for the panel of their dreams. Sometimes people leave after a certain panel and lucky individuals in line will get to take their seats. I didn’t see them do this after the S.H.I.E.L.D. panel and it truly saddened me to look around and see empty seats. I certainly hope this is not the norm and was truly a freak thing. We’ll see tomorrow during the panel for The X-Files! Stay tuned!
WHAT AN AMAZING DAY!!! Also, Yvette for the win. Maybe I should ask her to co-moderate the crew panel with Andy next weekend. 😉
SHE WOULD BE GREAT AT IT. -K
That little girl watches walking dead with her older brothers . She didn’t ask for a kiss either she’s 10 years old. She’s ok with watching that but she won’t watch Chucky.All she wanted to do is give them friendship bracelets She is something special. And yes she and her mom were at every panel to see walking dead and she and her mom had a great time . Even with her brothers tried to make her curse she never cursed in her life.We had six kids so far one is a Pharmacist and another is a school teacher.My wife is a great wife and the best mother. So don’t be concern about my daughter she’s in good hands we spoil her rotten and her 5 brothers and sister.We watch the walking dead as a family and we are all Fans and the cast was so friendly and the audience was great . Evette brown did a great job too.Thanks
We were WAY in the back, so it was hard to hear her, hence us hearing asking for a kiss! (Which we thought was precious btw, cause we knew she meant it innocently!) So glad she got to have a great experience.
And personally, I was just surprised that she was a super fan! It’s great that it’s your family show!