#epic cons

[hawkeified]

them 🥺🫶🏻

[ronenrubinsteinsource]

Ronen Rubinstein with Alberto Frezza at Epic Cons - September 14, 2024.

[911lsbts]

Rafael Silva, Ronen Rubinstein, Natacha Karam, & Bart Johnson at Epic Cons Chicago 2 Lone Star Panel - September 15, 2024.

[ejzah]

As promised, here is a summary of my experience at Epic Cons Chicago and meeting Eric! I’m including some of the pictures I took (with poor attempts to censor my face). Heads up, this is a long post.

I started off early in the morning with a long drive since I’m a scaredy cat and avoid the expressway as much as possible. The convention center was very full when I arrived and it took about 50 minutes for me to register because the process didn’t seem well-organized, so that wasn’t the most fun.

But after that, I was on my way to watch Eric’s panel! The panel he appeared on, had actors from several different shows, so he wasn’t asked that many questions. As usual though, he was charming and disarming. One fan asked everyone what word they would use to describe their character and I believe Eric chose “fearless vulnerability”, which is technically two words, but so very in character for Eric. I always love listening to him talk about Deeks and the depth that he infused into the character.

I have a few poorly filmed videos from the panel that I can share if you message me. I’d rather not post them just in case my account would get deactivated again. I thought of asking a question myself, but chickened out.

After that I had a very long break before my next event, so I got some tacos from a little place inside convention center. I’d give them a 5/10. They were overpriced, pretty tiny, and overall mediocre.

Now on to the really good parts!

Next I attended a meet and greet with Eric. I was super nervous leading up to it, and kind of regretted the tacos at that point. About ten of us were ushered into a small private room with chairs set up in a circle. We were instructed not to take any videos, picture, etc, before the start, so I don’t have any additional content. Eric came in a few minutes later and ended up sitting one seat over from me (😱), which was pretty darn distracting for me.

After telling us he’d never done a meet and greet before, answered several questions and chatted with us. One of the things that really struck me was just as with every video and interview I’ve seen over the years, is that Eric was so genuine, honest, and generous.

In answer to questions, he talked about the last few seasons and why there were some irregularities. Such as that the show was supposed to end after season nine and each season after that was considered a bonus and based on ability to form a tight budget. He also confirmed that none of them knew what was in “the box” aside from possibly Shane Brennan.

The greet part of the event went by far too quickly, and before we knew it, one of the volunteers announced it was time for the selfie portion. Fortunately, another fan noticed I had been trying to ask a question and spoke up for me.

Before I asked my question, I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to shoutout wikiDeeks first. Eric really lit up and expressed how much he appreciated the hard work and thought put into the writing and contributions. He brought up an episode many fans had issues with (we figured out it was probably from the FLETC episode that shall go unnamed), and said he showed a piece of wikiDeeks writing to the writers/TPTB and basically said that it was deeper and better writing. I believe that might have been @anonkp’s wonderful work! In general, he was very appreciative and complimentary of everyone at wikiDeeks. He’s so very gracious!

We were really short on time, but I did get to ask the question “what would you change about Deeks if you could?” Eric couldn’t come up with a response on the spot, so he asked me the same question in return. I told him I didn’t think anything needed to be changed about Deeks, but didn’t always enjoy how silly he was written in later seasons.

Eric shared that he tried to play those moments in a way that put Deeks in on the joke instead of being the butt of the joke as much as he could. Unfortunately, he didn’t always have that luxury.

During our conversation, Eric was very engaging and attentive. For those couple minutes, I forgot to be nervous because he made the atmosphere so comfortable. It felt like he genuinely cared about what I was saying. My only regret is that I didn’t have time to emphasize how much I appreciate Eric’s acting and portrayal of Deeks.

After that, it was selfie time! When it was my turn, Eric bent down to my level (oh my lord he’s tall), naturally in my usual awkward way, I bent down too. 🤦🏻‍♀️ Hopefully Eric saw it as charming rather than incredibly silly and awkward. Hey, at least I made him laugh, right?

He’s so beautiful!

If any fans on here were present for the meet and greet, please let me know if I forgot anything or misremembered events. My memory is often faulty.

I also chose to get a professional shot with Eric and for that one I got a hug! I’m still not over it yet.

It was a really long day and a lot of driving, but so worth it for the chance to meet and talk with Eric. And, I’m pretty sure I came out this experience even more of a fan of Eric than ever.

[karihighman]

CANNOT BELIEVE I GET TO MEET THESE FOUR PEOPLE NEXT MONTH WOPEZ AND CHENFORD PHOTOS HERE I COME‼️🤩😍

[golden-tarlos]

i fear i’ve peaked in life with these photos and selfies.

[likes-waffles]

[thedragonqueens]

Danielle Rose Russell - IWFF, epic cons, December 1st 2023

credits

[ramblingdisaster73]

[hawkeified]

tomorrow is epiccons Upside Down con! I’m so sad I can’t be there but looking forward to seeing all the content 🫶🏻🫶🏻

[ronenrubinsteinsource]

Ronen Rubinstein with Rafael Silva, Natacha Karam, Jaina Lee Ortiz, and Sarah Rafferty at Epic Cons September 14-15, 2024.

[shellylongerbeam95]

I NEED photos of Ronen & Rafa together at Epic Cons September 14-15 2024 PLEASE I can't get enough of them together I NEED new photos of them together someone help me find them please.

I really NEED a photo or photos of Ronen hugging Rafa & kissing him on his head PLEASE the help would be well appreciated. 😭🤭😍

[nataliadyernews]

Natalia will be attending Epic's Upside Down Convention on October 19th in Jackson, Georgia!

[karihighman]

Can’t believe Shawn actually made his IG bio the OG internet boyfriend 🤣🙌 love it

[so-long-soldier28]

so... i still haven't recovered from this...

📍covington, ga ❤️

also !!!

met these adorably sweet people! finally convinced my mom to jump in a photo with me. mind my bad posture, I was SO nervous, but it was so worth it and we're definitely going back. neither of us wanted to leave! not only was the convention amazing, so was the town. my mom was on zillow as we were driving home, haha, we've been looking to move anyway! I have so many more pictures and videos, but posting these for now! 🥰

no surprise to anyone that follows me, but I was most excited (and nervous) for chris, but he was such an angel! I wrote him a little note and was able to give it to him. he signed "kai" really small under his auto, and it was so cute!

chord was there because one of his songs is in the show and is really significant in it. got to satisfy my sam evans love on top of my tvd love. he's such a gem of a person.

and then kat and michael are just perfect, too. I met michael in september, so it was great to see him again. kat is so gorgeous, I couldn't speak around her. she's such a sweetheart as well.

the panels were so fun; a large majority of the cast was there. ian and paul were separated so I heard paul talk more than ever 😅. and meanwhile, chris and ian were together, so it was back and forth chaos between them but so entertaining. 10/10 recommend both epiccons and covington. I could talk about it for hours.

additional fun for anyone interested 😅

it was in the upper eighties in temperature, so extremely hot. they had blood bags, some filled with gatorade, which were fun to try.

when I got charles michael davis' auto, he pulled his table outside of the tent because the air conditioning was broken and he was not thrilled about it. he was so nice and super chill, though.

chris brochu was there, too, so I got his auto, and he was just as cool as he seems. very quiet but down to earth and such a nice guy. his eyes are even bluer in person, might I add!

danielle campbell was so intimidatingly beautiful, but such a sweetheart. I was actually able to have a small conversation with her once I collected myself. she's so smiley, it makes you happy to see hers.

scarlett hefner was the last auto I got, aside from chris wood and chord, and much like danielle, she's just gorgeous. I've loved her since pansy parkinson and told her that, too. she was so nice during our short conversation. someone in line before me took a selfie with her with a slytherin tie! she's very shy, too, but that could be because she was in a panel with chris and ian, who are very excitable.

honorable mentions...

a lot of the legacies cast was there, and I didn't attend anything legacies focused, but what I saw of the cast was actually quite nice. leo howard, especially, was fun. I almost ran straight into him, and he was so chill about it 😅.

I regret not doing any of the meet and greets, but my mom has already said that we'll just have to do them next time. I completely agree with that. I also need trevino's auto, haha.

the originals panel was fun, too. there was a mini h2o reunion with claire and phoebe. sebastian roche was there, and as much as I love tvd, he'll always be balthazar to me.

arielle kebbel is also a complete angel, and she has the CUTEST laugh. everyone needs to go watch her new lifeguard show on FOX, because we saw a trailer and she looked great! she's another absolute angel I saw this weekend.

anyway, I need to go to sleep because I have another three hours of driving tomorrow (now today.) but at bell's grocery store (the one in the 1994 prison world), I made sure to get some pork rinds, so I have a good driving snack. and when I get back, I'm going to chill out with the apple cinnamon balsamic vinegar we got at an amazinggg olive oil store in covington. seriously, I'm in love with that little town. I'd move in a heartbeat if I could. ❤️