Pasadena Convention Report by Virginia and Lourdes
twinxenas@netzero.netWe're back to work. Back to reality. B-O-R-I-N-G!!! We truly enjoyed
the 2 days we spent at Xenaland, The Annual Hercules/Xena Convention that is.
The "Big One" finally arrived after all of the planning and thinking about
it the whole year. We already planned on buying GOLD SEATING TICKETS
until we found out that Lucy Lawless and/or Renee O'Connor won't be there
this year. We already set our hearts on going so we decided to just make
the most of it. So we did.Saturday
Arrived an hour early to find good seats (even though we only had general admission tickets) and to check out the merchandise. We armed ourselves with a good camera and a pair of binoculars. Picture taking along the aisle was allowed so we were able to
go near the stage, look at the stars and take pictures. A welcome video
from Lucy and Renee was played and both ladies referred to Xena's baby as
"he".Meighan Desmond (Discord) took us by surprise. She looked totally
different from her character. She looked so young for 22 and she's
pretty. Joel Tobeck (Strife), Jeremy Callaghan (Pompey) and Kevin Smith
(Ares) all looked delicious. Strife did his evil laugh which was really
piercing, while Pompey did some Elvis impersonation and Ares showed off
his buffed muscles.The Cleo2525 trio, Jennifer Sky, Victoria Pratt and Gina Torres looked marvelous as they answered the audience's questions seductively. A fan even asked if there will be "subtext" in Cleo2525 and they all replied, "No" as they stood so close to one another. They were really playing it up to the audience's delight.
The auction went well but we had to miss it because we had to eat, check out the dealers room and meet fellow Xenites. Autograph signing ended the night while "Lyre,
Lyre Pants On Fire" was shown to waiting fans. The autograph signing started at 6:20pm and cut-off time was limited to 8pm because of the cabaret that was scheduled to follow the day's events. The 7 stars were signing and as more people still waited their turn, each of the stars had to leave then finally Jeremy Callaghan (Pompey) was the only one left to sign. FYI, we were the very last two people in line and his autograph was still legible.A quick "hi" and a glance and he was gone. The first night of excitement was over at 9:30pm. Got home, ate and slept while dreaming of the next day's events. Sunday Again, arrived an hour early, etc. We came in costume. We both dressed up as Indian Xena from the episode, "Between The Lines."
It was our first time to join a Hercules/Xena costume contest. We never dressed up even for Halloween. We would like to experience it and be part of the fun. Since it's a new year, we wanted to do something exciting. We were inspired and amazed
when we first saw Hercules/Xena Costume Contest at the Santa Monica Con
last year. While we were backstage, we got to see Rob Tapert, Ebonie Smith, Alison Wall and Kevin Sorbo himself. Kevin just arrived and passed by us and there was nothing between us just air. For being ourselves we just smiled at him. He's so tall and handsome.The costumed kids and adults all looked great and very creative. In adults, we had Aphrodite, Gabrielle as Tataka, a group of Amazon women, a couple Gabrielles and
Xenas, 2 Cupids, Indian Xenas, Xena as Kali in "The Way", demon Callisto,
demon Gabrielle, Joan of Arc, Salmoneus, Ephiny, Victoria Pratt in Cleo2525, Widow Twankie, Cleopatra and Lucy as an angel (in the cover of Rolling Stone). In kids, there were Aphrodite, Tataka, Indian Xena, Young Hercules, Gabrielle and Xena, and a baby centaur. We were judged by a celebrity panel which consisted of Alison Wall (Minya), Ebonie Smith (M'lila) and Willa O'Neill (Lila).It was an awesome experience because this time the stars were looking at each one of us and not the other way around. We didn't win. We didn't join to win anyway, just to be a part of the action. The lucky winners were Cleopatra, Xena and Gabrielle. It was
kinda disappointing when the kids each got an 11x14 Xena picture while we adults, got an 8x10 candid picture of the Young Hercules trio. About the stars, we again enjoyed their appearances.Ebonie Smith (M'lila) was so talkative and lively. She even sang a X&G song to the tune of FEVER. She has a great singing voice.
Willa O'Neill (Lila) was so bubbly and brought her own camera to take a picture of the audience. Alison Wall (Minya) was so funny. Michael Hurst (Iolaus) and Kevin Sorbo (Hercules) came out almost at the same time. They shared the spotlight and both have short hair. They answered questions, did some auction, Michael even did a Shakespearean monologue and danced a native New Zealand dance. Kevin's wife, Sam Sorbo also went up on stage. The time allotted for them was long since there was no cabaret that night. The farewell video salute to Kevin and Michael was so touching, even Kevin couldn't say a word after it was shown. They were both crying. Only Minya, Lila and M'lila stayed for autograph signing. All three commented that we both looked great in our costumes. They were so kind and so nice to stay until the last person received thier autographs. Michael had to leave early. Creation asked us to write down our names and addresses on the papers they provided and they will send each one of us an autographed picture of Michael Hurst.
(This we just have to wait and see if they're going to be true to their word.) Another exciting night came to an end. Looking forward to next year's. Hoping against all odds Lucy and/or Renee will be there.
Virginia and Lourdes (Indian TwinXenas)