#that line is a pantydropper right there

[fandomdancie]

“… Forgive me. Sometimes I forget myself, gazing on the beauty of nature’s creations.”

Oooh Halsin, you fucking charmer

[shinewithalltheuntold]

So, I had the pleasure of attending the Once Upon a Time panel at Phoenix Comicon today.  Sean Maguire, Karen David, and David Anders.  I expected to be entertained.  I did not expect to almost ruin my makeup because they made me laugh so hard I cried.

Seriously, I cannot overstate how flipping funny these three were together.  And adorable and thoughtful and just...this was one of the best panels I have been to in a long time - which is saying a lot because I’ve been to some really good panels.

A few highlights Many highlights under the cut because OMG they were just so entertaining:

- Karen David trying to come up with a way not to spoil people in the audience who hadn’t seen the finale yet (the mod rightly pointed out that anyone going to a panel without having seen the finale of a show knows what they’re getting into.  Still, Karen was adorable about it.)

- David made a comment about Sean looking cooler with his bow and arrow than Stephen Amell and the audience all gasped.  David took mock offense because they were at a Once panel and not an Arrow one.  He then randomly dropped references to Stephen Amell for the rest of the panel.  So funny.

- Sean of course got asked about Robin’s death.  He said he was obviously disappointed about it, but emphasized that an actor’s job was to serve the greater story and that as a writer he understood that (didn’t know he was a writer so that was an interesting tidbit.)  He sounded more zen about the whole thing than the interviews I read at the time - understandably so.

- He then made joking references to Robin’s death off and on, including that if Robin had been in the musical episode the only thing he could have sung about was being in a box.  This led to David Anders singing a Robin Hood theme song.

- David Anders can sing. Both he and Karen sang during the panel.  Sean sort of halfheartedly sang at one point, but he deferred to the other two.  Karen serenaded us with a Galavant song. It was glorious.

- Karen and David would have loved to be in the musical episode, but Karen pointed out that the regular cast has a lot of talented people and they should take center stage over recurring characters.  Sean would not have wanted to be in the musical episode, but was happy it was well-received and that his castmates did well.

- Karen enjoys teasing Colin.  He apparently tried to get her to crack at various points and she took that as a challenge so now it’s a bit of a thing with them. (She apparently tweeted a picture of a ham to him at one point.)  Also, apparently someone tweeted “#pantydropper” to Colin once and it makes him turn red whenever it’s mentioned. So Karen makes sure to mention it.

- Oh, and in the finale scene where Hook calls Snow ‘mom’, the first few takes apparently Colin played it all over the top sexy just for laughs.

- David enjoyed working with Sean on the couple of scenes they had together.  He was impressed with Sean’s ability to cry (holding Peanut) and not break character even when dealing with cheesy lines.

- Sean finds that the more serious a scene is, the more he wants to joke around (which I so relate to).  He made a comment about that possibly being the reason he was let go.

- Karen was really excited to with Ginnifer Goodwin in her first episode.  She shared a care package her dad sent to her with Ginny.  And then gave little care packages, including tea, to her castmates a lot.  She stopped when she realized how expensive it was going to be.  She apologized to Sean because she stopped it before he came back.

- She talked about what a pro Lana is and how when she’s playing the Evil Queen she is totally into it.  But in the diner scene where the Evil Queen is force choking Jasmine, Karen made this really weird, loud choking noise that she broke character and apologized for.  Lana cracked up, and Karen said she had to be looking away in the rest of the takes so she wouldn’t laugh.

- When asked about props or stunts that were memorable, Karen said she absolutely loved the flying carpet stuff.  And working with Joanna.  She is totally in love with being a Disney princess; she referenced it a lot.  It was too cute.  Sean talked about riding the fake horse in the streets of “New York” and how ridiculous he looked and how the people watching the filming looked at him like he was nuts.  He also talked about how sometimes the arrows he used were CGI because “apparently the producers didn’t want him accidentally shooting his castmates.  Or the crew.  Or random citizens of Vancouver.”  David joked that the heart he used in his scenes was real, donated by someone named Doug who died and donated his organs to Once.

- They all love Eduardo and his costumes and what he did for their characters. Sean talked about how it helped him find the character.  Karen said Eduardo told her she’s be on a liquid diet to fit into her costume so she loved when wore the cape because she got to eat that day.  David loved the steampunk look to his costume.

- Someone asked what spinoff they’d like to do for any of the roles they played.  David said there had been talk of a Sark spinoff for Alias at one point.  Sean said he’d love to play the version of Ian Fleming he played in Timeless in a spinoff.  Karen just said she wanted more Galavant - maybe a movie or a musical.

- All three of them geek out whenever they get the chance to act with Robert Carlyle. They all think he’s amazing.

- David doesn’t know how to play anything but villains.

- David and Sean were fucking savage about Trump.  Sean did an impression of him that I’m pretty sure was the start of my tearing up from laughing, and when asked which real life hero or villain he would be he said he would be Trump so that he could shoot himself in the head.  Then at the end when they were asked who they’d take a magic carpet ride with, David said Trump so that he could push him off.  Sean said that David stole his answer verbatim and then looked out and said that they might as well do it right so he would take Pence on his carpet ride.

- Sean’s favorite thing to do besides acting is napping.  A highly underrated pastime. (Clearly a man with a small child.)  Karen likes going into the studio to make music, and is learning golf.  David agreed to help teach her.

- Karen is moving into Sean’s neighborhood.  Sean is helping her move.  Karen joked that she just wanted to see Sean in a tank top and then Sean talked about as actors how they’d all have the perfect “moving day” outfits and that if his clashed with Karen’s husband he’d have to go home and change.

- David moved recently as well into a “cooler” neighborhood and apparently someone wrote something about hipsters not being welcome in the neighborhood.  He left it up because it amused him and was actually kind of cool looking. He referenced Banksy in describing what it looked like.

- Sean liked doing Once Upon a Time in Wonderland because it let him develop his character a bit more.  And because getting two paychecks is always good.

- Now that I’m thinking about it, Karen did reference wanting to do a spinoff called “Once Upon a Time in Agrabah.”  She said she would take the magic carpet with Hook, and pick up Robin and Whale on the way because after spending the weekend with Sean and David she was bummed that she never got to have scenes with either of them.  (Seriously though, they seemed to have hit it off really well.  They were having a great time together and were really comfortable with each other.)

- A gentleman talked about how his wife had been battling cancer and Once was a godsend to her because it helped keep her mind off the pain of chemo and he was really grateful to the show for being so important to her.  Sean said something really lovely about how he thought he spoke for all the cast that being able to create something that was so meaningful to so many people and to hear stories like that was what made their jobs worthwhile.

- Karen talked about her parents and how inspirational they were to her.  They weren’t allowed more than $20 when they emigrated first to England and then to Canada.  Her dad framed the $20 to remind her and her sister of how important it was to work hard to achieve your goals and how supportive and awesome they were.

- She also talked about being bullied growing up and dealing with racism and how seeing Disney princesses like Jasmine and Mulan and Pocahontas helped her to recognize that those things she was being bullied for were what made her special.  When she was done talking, David leaned over and gave her a hug.

I’m sure there’s more stuff that I’m missing because the panel was pretty much an entire hour of amazing and I am so so glad I went.  Karen David is sunshine personified, Sean Maguire is witty and sweet and charming, and David Anders is so much funnier than I was expecting (and also had moments of sweetness.) I highly recommend attending any panel any of them do, separately or together.  But especially together because it was just truly delightful.  (And I am really bummed that I missed the chance to do the photo op with the three of them together now.  Alas.)