Kristin Wurst is a guess reporter for The Vault and a member our forum. She attended the Ringcon Convention in Germany this past weekend and below is her report of the event.
Since I am a True Blood fan I had dreamt about meeting some of the fabulous actors from my favorite TV show. I live in Germany and all the Cons in US and Great Britain so far away. And, I also heard about many of the Cons are big with thousands of fans making for overcrowded autograph sessions and you don’t really get to meet the stars. Ringcon in Germany is different. When I was told that I thought: ‘Are you kidding’? Why different?
But I should start about the history of Ringcon. Ten years ago Ringcon has started for the fandom of Lords of the Rings only. It changed over the years to a multiple fantasy convention and many other fandoms were added like Harry Potter, Blood Ties, Xena, Twilight, Vampire Diaries and finally True Blood this year.
When I learned that Sam Trammell, Nelsan Ellis, Allen Hyde and Mariana Klaveno would attend, I got my Gold Ticket and, even finally a press card. However, what a bummer it was that Mariana Klaveno’s attendance was later cancelled.
When I arrived Friday morning I had to hurry to get my tickets and attend the press conference. First it seemed Allan would appear for the Press, but suddenly his name plate was taken off without an explanation. Anyway it was a funny and informative press conference with some actors of Vampire Diaries, Twilight, Xena and Lord of the Rings.
Afterwards, I went to my hotel room but I didn’t waste time and quickly returned to the lobby of the hotel. The Maritim Hotel in Bonn is a great place for a convention. Screens informed us about panels, workshops, photo sessions, fan activities, exhibitions and lectures and many more. Sometimes it was hard to decide what to attend. The first important thing I learned was that nothing is certain except change. And there were lots of changes in the schedule. At this time I met a fellow Billsbabe Anne aka “AlwaysBill.” It was her third time at Ringcon and she was a good teacher and guide through my first day.
Allan is such a cute and funny guy. I looked forward to seeing him later during his panel and I was not disappointed. Allan entered the stage and performed some lines of the song ‘Bad Things’ for us. What a blast. He answered some questions from the fans and told the story how he got the casting call from Allan Ball. Two months before he finished high school, he left Denmark to begin his role as Godric. Allan Hyde never earned his high school degree, but it doesn’t look like Allan regrets it. He loves living in LA, but he also likes to be back in Europe. He was asked which supernatural he would like to be if he could choose, and he answered ‘a shapeshifter – especially to be the fly on the wall’. Allan Hyde surprised as with song lines of a popular German band ‘Die Prinzen’ – in perfect German! He joked around and 45 Minutes went by quickly.
Because of the variety of fandom many fans attended the Con in costumes of their favorite actors and TV show. We walked around and had a glimpse to the traders of all the little things fans need to be happy.
Late at night the fans was invited to join a Ball. The theme was ‘Fantasy Night’ and I saw a lot of people in wonderful costumes. However, I had to quit because I had gotten up at 5am in the morning, and I was done.
I heard rumor that Nelsan Ellis hadn’t arrived yet and I was afraid he didn’t come. The autograph session took place at 2pm and when Anne and I entered the huge hall we saw Allan and Sam but no Nelsan. At this time, I read on twitter he was picked up at the airport two hours ago. Great!
A little story in the story: A few weeks ago we had a Billsbabe Day on AllStephenMoyer.com. Several Billsbabes raised money for the ‘Facing the Atlantic’ charity. A Swedish Billsbabe Sara aka Parise knitted socks and donated the money to FTA. Anne had the idea Sara should knit socks for Sam’s twins and send them to her in Germany. So they did – we had a nice gift bag with some things in it but most important the cute socks in colors of True Blood! We went to his table and Anne told Sam the story of these baby socks and Sam was very pleased and surprised. I took photos and Sam was really kind and talked with us for about five minutes. Anne got a special ‘Thank you’ autograph for Sara. What a nice guy!
We then went over to the Allan Hyde’s table. He was kind enough to talk to me in German. We were kidding around about language skills. It was a pleasure for me to meet Allan and Sam and I’m very grateful for that.
At this moment we noticed Nelsan Ellis had arrived for autographs. We rushed over to his line and after a few minutes we got our signed photos.
At 8pm, we got in line again and then, one hour later we had our photo session with Lafayette – sorry Nelsan, a quiet and shy guy and very different to his character Lafayette on True Blood. His panel took place after that at 9:30pm! I must admit we all noticed he was tired after the long journey but anyway it was a pleasure to listen to him. Nelsan talked about wearing all the make-up stuff as Lafayette and that he wears more make-up than any other female character on the show. He talked about how his mom influenced his role as Lafayette.
This was the third panel I attended with a True Blood actor and I enjoyed all three! What a great experience.
Later in the evening there was another party at the Piano bar in the Hotel for fans and stars. And I was told one young Danish actor of True Blood partied until 4am. Great, he had a good time.
Sunday – last day of Ringcon. It was like the day before, when I met other True Blood fans at Breakfast. This time I met two women from Switzerland. We talked a bit about our favorite characters and it was always most enjoyable talking to other fans during the weekend.
Because the last True Blood panel took place late in the afternoon at 5pm, I focused more on other TV shows this day and visited the panels of Twilight, Vampire Diaries and the Kiwi panel. This panel was very special and I was glad I didn’t miss it. It was so funny and we all couldn’t stop laughing. In this panel five actors of Lord of the Rings from New Zealand did a funny show. At this point, I have to say Mark Ferguson, well known from LotR, was the Master of Ceremonies at this Con as he has done in past years, and he did a really great job. Also Lori Dungey was always funny and in a good mood.
All the staff members and the organization team were always friendly and patient and open for all the questions.
The last panel of Ringcon was the True Blood panel. Mark Ferguson came out as a huge True Blood fan and he was always ‘sooo excited’. The fans cheered when Sam, Nelsan and Allan came on the stage. First the fans were a bit shy with asking questions. Nelsan was asked how he prepared himself for the scenes as a possessed person in season four. He told us he likes to be around being with this person allot especially when he has to play women in order to study them. He joked around that he wished Allan Ball would stop making him playing girls.
Sam talked about when he twisted his knee chasing Tommy in last season. And Allan was joking the only time he hurt himself was biting his tongue with the fangs. All three answered several questions. Allan told us how comfortable it was wearing pj’s as Godric. It made him very calm anyway.
All True Blood actors were surprised the German and European fans were so respectful. The American fans were more aggressive and it was not possible to walk around like at Ringcon. Often you could see the stars with the fans and even having a drink with them at this weekend. Or, like Nelsan, who stayed and enjoyed the same Italian pasta dish with the fans after the True Blood panel.
After the closing ceremony the opinion of my first Ringcon was excellent. A lot of dreams came true. We had fun, met nice people and enjoyed this weekend.
You’re asking me where I am next year from 5th to 7th October? At Ringcon, of course!
view more images from this album
Thanks to Brigitte Scherr and Dirk Bartholomae who made some things possible!