“Embrace Humanity” – CommuniCon Returns

Posted by Kim

There are times when it is really hard being a Community fan.  We’re constantly fighting NBC to get on the schedule…and once we get on the schedule, we’re fighting to get them to PROMOTE the show (ahahahaha) and to get people to WATCH it (ahahahaha).  We’ve lost two of the Greendale Seven this year (and no matter HOW WELL they do it, I’m never going to get over losing Troy Barnes).  And most frustrating of all, the fandom has been subjected to tons of behind the scenes drama, thanks to the immediacy of social media and entertainment websites trying to out-scoop each other for page views.

Use Twitter for GOOD, people.  That’s all I have to say about that.

And then there are times when it is absolutely GLORIOUS being a Community fan.  The weekend of October 19, 2013 was one of those times.  A mere 8 months (give or take a few days) after its initial incarnation, CommuniCon made its return, and like its predecessor, proved to be a weekend filled with laughter, love, and all things Community.

When my friend Gillian (the Queen of CommuniCon) emailed those of us that helped plan the original con over the summer saying that we were going to have a second con in the fall, I thought she was insane.  I also thought there was NO WAY I could go.  I had cashed in all my frequent flier miles for the first CommuniCon and don’t exactly have a disposable income.  So I resigned myself to the fact that while I would still help plan the con, I wouldn’t be able to go.  I responded to every one of Gillian’s emails with various versions of *sobs* *dies* *weeping and gnashing of teeth* and *throws self into traffic*.  And then the peer pressure began as more and more of my friends began booking their tickets to LA.  I still cried poverty.  Everyone that really knew me began saying “Kim, you’ll kill yourself if you DON’T go.”  I knew they were right.  I set a price alert on Kayak.com and promised myself if a good flight came up, I would book it.  And I did.  After all…that’s what credit cards are for, right?

I was going back to Greendale.  And I couldn’t be happier about it.

And thus a mere 5 days after the end of New York Comic Con (for future reference, I TOTALLY recommend doing conventions two weekends in a row.  Exhausting and exhilarating.), I boarded a plane to Los Angeles.  While I didn’t arrive until Friday, Communies started trickling into the area as early as Tuesday.  While I was en route to LA (I was literally boarding my connection in Salt Lake City), the news came through.  Season Five of Community had an airdate.  Sure, it was back the 8 PM Thursday Death Slot (copyright pending) and sure it was premiering in the midst of College Bowl season, but at that moment, none of those things mattered.  WE HAD AN AIRDATE.  It was a good omen for the weekend.

My flight didn’t arrive in time to join the flashmob at NBC Universal but it DID arrive in time for the free Happy Hour at our hotel.

You read that correctly.

This time around CommuniCon was held at the Embassy Suites in Glendale and let me tell you…if you are ever seeking a venue to hold a convention in, an Embassy Suites is the way to go.  The rooms are quite spacious and can comfortably fit five people.  They offer a FREE full breakfast that features everything from made to order omelettes to pancakes to all the bacon and scrambled eggs you have.  But best of all…they have an evening cocktail reception with snacks and complimentary cocktails.  I am sure it was not INTENDED to be a situation where people sit there for the entire two hours and get TIPSY…but that’s what we did.

And then tipsily walked to the nearest In and Out Burger.  As you do.

The other wonderful thing about having the convention at a hotel was the fact that the majority of the attendees stayed there too, which meant lots of time for socializing, which is really the best part of CommuniCon.  After countless hours tweeting with each other, it was a real treat to get to hang out with each other in person.  I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again…I have yet to meet a Community fan who isn’t JUST as delightful in person as they are on Twitter.  We all piled into one hotel room on that Friday night for a raucous game of Cards Against Humanity that lead to a security guard (Officer Cackowski, is that you?) knocking on our door at midnight telling us we needed to keep it down.  Whoops.

The Con kicked off on Saturday with a writers panel where former Community writer Hilary Winston joined veteran writers (and past CommuniCon attendees) Andy Bobrow and Tim Saccardo and new season 5 writers Carol Kolb and Matt Roller.  In the green room before the panel, I took GREAT pleasure in showing off my “pathological” Jeff/Annie button to Andy Bobrow, who caused QUITE the Twitter kerfuffle earlier in the year when he lashed out against some VERY insistant Jeff and Annie shippers.  “Oh man,” he laughed.  “I’m really going to pay for that this weekend, aren’t I?”

“Any teasing I do, Andy, I do in love,”  I replied.  I’ve got to  give Andy (AND all the Jeff/Annie shippers who sported the buttons) credit…he took the (gentle) teasing very well and all the fans just let their buttons speak for themselves.   As Jenn just said in a wonderful post about Jeff and Annie, we took the term “pathological” back and made it into an inside joke.

Andy was sporting his own Pathological button by the end of the panel.

What I loved about the panel with the writers was the fact that while they DID talk about the work they are doing on season five, I still feel like I have no idea what is going to happen in the upcoming season.  And as a spoiler-phobe, I like it that way.  I feel like we knew WAY too much going into Season Four, and I think that was due to everyone’s desperation to get the fans to watch a post-Harmon Community and to reassure us that it was still going to be the weird and lovable show it was before.  And now with Dan back…I think they feel like there is no need to bait the fans.  They’ll be there.  Besides, leave the spoiling to NBC.  If they decide to promote Community that is.

The writers praised the work that Breaking Bad‘s Jonathan Banks is doing on the show, but other than saying he was AWESOME (and terrifying) they were tight-lipped about what exactly he was DOING.  Instead of spoilers, we were treated to great stories about goings-on in the writers room, especially in the notorious marathon sessions where writers would be huddled up in a room breaking stories for hours on end.  They also deftly and gracefully avoided (or briefly touched on) questions regarding Dan’s infamous remarks on Season Four and the recent feud (was it a feud? We’ll just call it snarky tweets) between Dan and former writer Megan Ganz (I started rocking back and forth in my seat when someone brought that up in the Q&A).  They were gracious and most of all they were hilarious.  It was really lovely to see the fresh energy that Carol and Matt brought to the panel as new writers and you could tell that they were just loving their jobs.  I’m excited to see what they bring to the table this season.

Also, Tim Saccardo has the world’s most expressive face and I wish I could just make reaction gifs of him.

Immediately following the panel was the return of Fans vs. Writers Community trivia.  The fans still won, of course, but it was a much closer contest that at CommuniCon 1.  Clearly, the writers studied up this time.  Or maybe the questions were harder to preserve the writers’ egos and to keep the fans from steamrolling them.

Maybe it was a bit of both.

Sadly, there were no shirtless Jeff Winger questions this time.

After a delicious lunch (seriously…I would consider moving to LA based on the fact that they bring out ranch dressing with french fries WITHOUT YOU HAVING TO ASK FOR IT) across the street, we kicked off the afternoon with the crew member panel, which was a new addition for CommuniCon 2.  Moderated by precious blueberry Andy Bobrow, the panel featured members from Costuming, Casting, Set Design and Construction, and Make-up.  Andy did a terrific job moderating, joking “This is educational for me too, considering I don’t know what half of you do.”

The crew panel was a fascinating peek behind the scenes as we learned about everything from who takes the longest in make-up (Alison Brie, because they make her look younger.  Also Joel, because he is vain.) to specific wardrobe choices (they have specifically been modifying Annie’s wardrobe through the seasons as she has gotten more mature.  My tweet after they said that? THE WARDROBE DEPARTMENT KNOWS ANNIE IS NEARLY 23 WHY DON’T THE WRITERS? {sorry not sorry}) and the initial panic over the construction of the pillow fort.  One of the set guys was also a big Whovian and talked about attending Gallifrey One, which lead to me excitedly running up to him during the break to talk about all things Gally and what to expect from my first time there.  What amazed me the most about the crew panel was their attention to detail when bringing the world of Greendale to life.  They are so dedicated to their work and it was lovely to celebrate them.

Immediately following the crew panel was the costume contest and once again Communie Cosplayers brought their A game, dressing as everything from the DARSIT and a Blorgon to Troy and Abed during the Pillows vs. Blankets war to a Starburns with AUTHENTIC starburns (he won, though I still feel the Pillows vs. Blankets girls were ROBBED).  The costume contest was by costumer Brian Birge with special help from surprise guests Yvette Nicole Brown and Gillian Jacobs.

Let’s talk about how wonderful Yvette and Gillian are.  They held an impromptu Q&A after the costume contest, where they reinforced the notion started at the writers panel that Jonathan Banks is terrifying.  They sang the praises of departing cast member Donald Glover and reassured us that Troy’s exit was a perfect sendoff for him.  They then did a photo shoot for all the fans where they posed in the most ridiculous poses on the face of the earth.  And lastly, it was Gillian’s BIRTHDAY and she spent her afternoon at a fan convention for Community.  And while she had plans that prevented her from sticking around to get pictures with EVERYONE, she took them with as many people as she could.

Yvette stuck around longer, even staying through the “No Small Parts” panel.  Everybody that wanted a picture got one.  I got to tell her what a great job she did moderating the Walking Dead panel at Comic Con.  She is truly the nicest celebrity I have EVER met and I wish her all the success in the world because she deserves it.

The “No Small Parts” panel is a true highlight of the Con.  This time around returning panelists Charley Koontz (Neil), Danielle Kaplowitz (Vicki), Erik Charles Nielsen (Garrett), Marcy McCusker (Quendra) and David Neher (Todd) were joined by Craig Cackowski (Officer Cackowski), William Love (The Human Being), Irene Choi (Annie Kim), and Greg Cromer (Rich).  The newbies were a great addition to the panel as they all shared stories about favorite moments on set and the somewhat spontaneous nature of being a recurring player on a show like Community (the “soft pin” in their schedule they called it).  The true highlight of the panel was the constant banter Greg had with Yvette, who was sitting in the audience.  During the Q&A Yvette stood up and sang the praises of all these actors (I told you…she’s a QUEEN) and the end of her speech, Greg Cromer sprinted over to her and gave her all the money in his wallet.

A note to the writers: please, please, PLEASE get Greg back as soon as possible.  When he mentioned that he had had a “soft pin” in his schedule for an upcoming episode that later got pulled out, the crowd went wild.  The people have spoken, and the people want more Dr. Rich.

Other Highlights from Day One:

– Yvette bemoaned the lack of Shirley cosplay saying “All you need is a curly wig and a big purse!!!”  If the next con isn’t FULL of Shirley Cosplayers, we have truly failed as a fandom.

– One question to the make-up artist was “Who has the worst face?”.  Cue most of the Joel fangirls saying to themselves “Well that depends on your definition of “worst””.

– During breaks between panels the Community soundtrack and songs famously used in the show played.  Which lead to a massive group sing-along to “Kiss From a Rose”.

– Andy Bobrow bought a piece of fan art from every single artist there, because he is just that awesome.

After the day ended, groups broke off to do their own things.  A large group went to a Mexican Restaurant to indulge in all things taco.  I went off with my lovely California wives Shannon Leigh and Shannon Renee and enjoyed a delicious home cooked meal (prepared for us by SL’s boyfriend, so we didn’t even have to COOK!), girl talk and a trip to The Red Door (or is it L Street?).  We then stocked up on a couple of bottles of wine and went back to our hotel room with our GIANT bed where we watched fan videos and gossiped till we passed out.  Like I said before, those kind of memories are the ones that are the most precious to me.  It’s so wonderful these people have gone from these delightful weirdos on twitter to delightful weirdos who are actually my friends.  It’s about so much MORE than Community now, and that’s what I tell people who think it is weird that I go to fan conventions for television shows.  Because now…it’s also about seeing my friends.

And flailing over Joel McHale’s face.  Always the flailing over Joel McHale’s face.

When I went to CommuniCon 1 in February one of my favorite things was seeing everyone trudge in Sunday morning in various states of bedraggledness.  It was taken to the next level with CommuniCon 2 as everyone showed up to breakfast the next morning.  Some people (namely me) got a plate full of bacon.  Some simply sat there drinking multiple cups of coffee.  And some people, who shall remain nameless, said “Go on without me!!!” and slept right up until the start of Day 2.  Convention life.  It can’t be beat.

Day 2 kicked off with a panel featuring the cast and crew of “An Untitled Web Series About a Space Traveler Who Can Also Travel Through Time” aka Inspector Spacetime.  What a treat this panel was!  I must confess that I am a TERRIBLE Community fan and didn’t watch the web-series when it initially came out, so seeing all the episodes cut into one long 19 minute short was awesome.  As a Whovian, I loved all the subtle nods to Doctor Who (The fake BBC logo at the opening, the associate being named Piper Tate, and the Inspector’s constant command for her to “Flee!”, to name a few).  They also screened the prequel for Series 2, and I’m not gonna lie…Shannon Renee and I gripped hands and flailed as if we were watching “Doomsday”.  It’s so spot on.  While the prequel was being screened, moderator Travis Richey (the Inspector himself!) changed into his Inspector gear, and I am desperate to own his GORGEOUS coat.

The cast and crew spoke at great length about how they had approached NBC and Sony with taking charge of this and they both said no.  It ASTOUNDS me that they said no.  It’s so well done, and the fact that a complete history of Inspector Spacetime was on the internet within hours of it airing on Community for the first time proves that there would have been a massive fanbase for it straight away.  It would have been a perfect tie-in for Community and Travis and his team were ready and willing to DO it for NBC and they STILL said no.  They were probably just mad they didn’t come up with it first.

But like any good fan (and Head Over Feels hero), Travis and company just said “Screw it, we’re doing this.”  And look what they’ve done.  An Untitled Web Series has won awards and acclaim.  That probably confused NBC too.

There is currently a kickstarter running for Inspector Spacetime Series 2 (Travis is the only one who can’t LEGALLY call it Inspector Spacetime, but said we were FREE to).  There’s a little less than 2 weeks to go, and they still have a long way to go before they hit their goal.  Toss them some fundage will you?  From what I saw and heard about Series 2, it will be worth it.

The next panel was with the developers of the “Journey to the Center of Hawkthorne” video game, which proved to be another strong example of the creativity and lunacy of Community fans.  This group of developers, most of whom had never even met in person before CommuniCon, took the video game from Season 3’s “Digital Estate Planning” and turned it into an ACTUAL video game, complete with all the Greendale 7 characters, all the levels in the episode, plus countless new levels that even took you to the campus of Greendale.  There were stations set up to play the game and they were busy all weekend.  They are also working with the Inspector Spacetime folks to develop an Inspector game.  Access to the game is one of the rewards in the Series 2 kickstarter…so what better reason do you have to give than that?

The final panel of the con was also its premiere event: Dan Harmon, Chris McKenna and two microphones.  Our returning showrunners were given a hero’s welcome.  I won’t dare try to do a recap of this panel, especially when our superstar live-tweeter Danielle Turchiano did such an amazing job transcribing the entire thing.  You can read Danielle’s full account of the panel here and here and I will just offer some of my impressions.

I walked away from the panel feeling completely excited about season 5.  I must admit, I have been anticipating the season with a fair amount of trepidation, especially once it was announced that Donald Glover was leaving after 5 episodes.  Sure, it sucked that we lost Pierce, but I had thought the show could get by fine without him.  But Troy…that broke me and I wasn’t sure how the show would be able to go on.  I am sure it broke Dan and Chris too.  They have, however promised that Troy’s exit would be worthy of the character…and that was all they had to say about that.  They were pretty tight-lipped on plot for the rest of the season, like the writing staff was, other that to say that the season opener would be almost like a new pilot of sorts.  Not that they are disregarding season 4…in fact they are embracing it.  The opener of season 5 is going to be all about getting our characters BACK to Greendale, which is just how it should be.

What I also loved about the panel was observing the dynamic between Dan and Chris.  It’s a facsinating one and it’s one that clearly needs the both of them to work properly.  Dan is like the genius mad scientist (not that Chris isn’t a genius…hellooooooo “Remedial Chaos Theory”) who craves the spotlight and Chris is like the silent rock that just gets shit DONE, but prefers to stay behind the scenes (Dan’s constant reminders to Chris to speak into his microphone “EAT YOUR MIC!” became a running joke of the panel).  They are yin and yang and I can see why their working relationship is so fruitful.  I am so thrilled to have them both back on the show.

Towards the end of the panel, Dan and Chris were asked about having a character with a physical disability on the show, and Chris said something that really rang true to me…

“We try to write up to people, write up to human beings, in a way that also does not make them martyrs and saints for having an affliction but also not doing jokes about someone with a disability. So I’ve always thought that we’d be able to do it in the Community way, which embraces humanity and also brings a sense of humor to it so it’s not just oh we’re patting ourselves on the back for doing it.”

And it hit me: EMBRACING HUMANITY.  That’s truly what Community is all about at its very core and it’s WHY we have all hooked into it so deeply and embraced this little low rated show about a bunch of weirdos at a community college.  Because underneath all the snark and the parody episodes and the pretty pretty faces, Community is a show about accepting yourself and embracing your flaws and your quirks.  It’s about finding your family in the unlikeliest of places.  It’s about allowing yourself to be completely at ease with who you are and finding people who celebrate it.  It’s about how we all need each other in order to get through this crazy thing called life.  It’s about US.  That’s why whenever I meet a Community fan, I instantly want to hug them.  That’s why we fight for our six seasons and kickstarted movie. THAT’S why this little low rated show inspires us to throw conventions to celebrate it.  It’s pretty damn special.

When the panel was over, Dan and Chris stuck around for pictures and autographs, even as the sound guys were striking the room all around them.  Catherine (who did an amazing job handling the live feed, even as it drove her to TEARS.  All of you who watched the feed should send her chocolates) left the live feed computer on the podium with Dan, so everyone going through his line would be able to say hi.  I waited in line to get Sage’s “thank you for babysitting my dog and wrestling with her to take her medicine so I could go play in Los Angeles” gift signed (a fantastic Britta sketch I commissioned from Julieta) and was delighted to see the live feed chat window light up with messages from all my friends who couldn’t make it.  “Look! They love me,” I said to Dan.  “Do you REALLY love her?” Dan said to the feed (obviously the screen lit up with YES).  Dan signed Sage’s sketch and I said goodbye to the feed saying “I LOVE YOU GUYS!”.  “Do you think that was sincere?” Dan said conspiratorially to the feed.  Cue me leaning back in saying…”That was TOTALLY sincere, bitches.”

Which basically should be the motto for CommuniCon 3.  And needless to say, I laughed with sheer delight when I discovered that the official CommuniCon photographer caught that moment.

And then it was done.  Another successful CommuniCon in the books.  Of course we all ended up at the evening reception while some people prepared to head to the airport.  Drinks were had, tears were cried and laughs were laughed…and then a magical moment happened, and it’s one that completely sums up CommuniCon.

As we sat and had our cocktails we all turned to see Dan Harmon, wearing a Burger King Crown that a fan had given him, clutching the T-Shirts and Fan Art that he had collected over the course of the day, wandering the lobby searching for Chris McKenna, who we later discovered had left already.  Dan at first wandered aimlessly and then he noticed all of us sitting in the reception area.  He then began to strut about, like he was in some sort of weird performance art piece, and we all began to cheer wildly.  This went on for several minutes as the handful of non-CommuniCon guests at the reception looked on in complete bewilderment.

Dan eventually realized Chris had left, so he went to the men’s room (where he left his crown, which was later retrieved by Clinton).  And as he came back out, he saluted us all once more and we cheered and cheered as he exited the building.

That, my friends, is CommuniCon.  It’s my favorite place to be.

Season Five of Community premieres on January 2nd, with back to back episodes.  I promise it will be more entertaining than whatever stupid college bowl game is on that night.