Asylum (convention)

A UK Supernatural and Smallville convention.

Links

Official Asylum Convention Homepage
Asylum Convention at LJ
Fan report on Asylum at LJ

Brief Summary of the event

Asylum was the first official Supernatural convention ever (fan-organised conventions have been organized since 2006). Asylum was held in Coventry, at the Leofric hotel, on the 11/12/13 of May 2007. Supernatural Guests were: Jensen Ackles (Dean Winchester), Alona Tal (Jo Harvelle), Nicky Aycox (Meg) and Brooke Nevin (Kat in ep. Asylum).

Jensen Ackles brought with him his friend Jason Mann, a song-writer and singer, who performed on the Saturday evening, signed autographs and made his CD available for sale as well. Jason Mann's performance was very appreciated by the fans.

Jensen Ackles appeared in two solo panels, on the Saturday and Sunday. Both times he was very gracious, open and took the time to answer each question at length. Asylum was his first ever convention.

Alona Tal, Nicky Aycox and Brooke Nevin shared a panel on the Saturday as well. Alona Tal also had an individual panel on the Sunday morning. She was funny, vivacious and eloquent.

There were autographs and photo session with each guest, organized by ticket number. There were also Coffee Lounge events with each guest and only ten attendees, whose tickets were extracted in a raffle. The money from the raffle goes to the Christopher Reeve charity.

There were also Guests from Smallville, and Guests from the Coventry Sci Fi Fair, held at the same time as Asylum. (add names please)

There were around 700 convention go-ers. There were some chaos and delays on the Friday and Saturday morning regarding registration and what was happening where.

Noteworthy happenings

• Rugbytackling: An over enthusiastic fan launched herself at Jensen Ackles, apparently knocking him down. She was consequently escorted off the premises. However, Jensen took it in his stride and was only a little late for his panel, and was reportedly upset that the fan had been kicked out. (I personally was not).

• Inopportune Questions: Jensen was asked about fanfiction, and about gay subtext between the brothers. He said that it was 'ridicolous' (referring to the gay subtext and Wincest - which makes total sense, since the whys and hows of fandom aren't clear to outsiders/mundanes).

• Musician Jason Manns, who is also a friend of Jensen's, performed at one of the 'disco' evenings (Saturday night). At the end of the set, Jensen joined Jason on stage and they sang together briefly.

• The Bee Story: Jensen related an extended verison about the filming of that scene in Bugs