WonderCon 2015- panel fun times for all!

11 Apr

WonderCon 2015 was a celebration of popular culture and nerdery. It offered fans a chance to meet creators and artists, to see props and replicas, to meet some treasured celebrities, and even to attend panels for creators, mental health considerations, and favorite TV shows or upcoming films. (Also- lots of cosplay fun)

Essentially- any bit of nerdy fun was available.

The NerdLush crew had the opportunity to slip into the Arena and check out the iZombie and Gotham panels. Both panels presented cast and creators speaking about the shows in general, upcoming episodes, and answering fan questions.

The iZombie panel was first on the schedule, with Rob Thomas, Rose McIver, David Anders, Malcolm Goodwin, Rahul Kohli, Robert Buckley, and Diane Ruggiero-Wright in attendance, with Ben Acker moderating. The one sad thing about having such a great group of people is that there were almost too many people on the stage- it was hard to hear from everyone in the single hour allotted. The panel began with an overview teaser, introducing the show and characters. This allowed people who have not yet watched the series to at least have a basic idea of the premise.

Repeatedly, iZombie was compared to predecessors Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Veronica Mars. The audience and the cast were thrilled by these comparisons- loving that McIver’s character, Liv, is strong and interesting, and a great rolemodel (and not just for zombies!). Anders shared a lot of excitement for what is to come- particularly with his character. And the audience was very excited to hear this- apparently even villains can be heavily loved.

On a personal note- one fan asked what reality show the cast would want their characters to do. Buckley said that he’d want Liv and Major to do Naked & Afraid. To which my brother stated, “I’d watch that”.

Click the video for a few clips of the Q&A.

The Gotham panel presented a smaller group- which allowed for more time for in-depth answers- John Stephens, Ben McKenzie, Robin Lord Taylor, and Cory Michael Smith. Just to put this out there- because it is clearly very important before we move onto more in-depth information- the Gotham boys are pretty. And the audience was not afraid to let them (Ben McKenzie, in particular) know.

There was conversation about the setting of the series- a nitpicky thing that bothers this viewer. It was stated that the goal is create a timelessness. Thus, yes, the cars, tech, clothes, etc, do not come from one particular time. It is a blending of many.

Still annoying though. But… whatever. The story arcs have been able to keep me from focusing on this for a while now.

Discussion occurred with the boys about where their characters are going. Obviously, audiences are familiar with the characters- especially who Wayne, Nigma and Cobblepot become- but seeing who they started as is new. The actors were essentially told to make the character their own. Some discussion occurred about whether Gordon would develop the porn stache seen in the comics and cartoons on the middle aged character (still some time before McKenzie’s Grodon reaches middle age).

And apparently Donal Logue is the cutup of the cast. Like we expected anything else.

Click the video for a few clips from the panel.