Guest post by Ally Beard
Hello! I noticed yesterday that I forgot to introduce myself! Who doesn’t do that nowadays?
Rude. Anyways, my name is Ally Beard, and I am from Georgia, USA! I’m an elder Millennial
that can’t get behind what the new generation of kids are saying these days, and I am about to
be 40. Boo. Ok, was that a good introduction? No? Too bad, that all y’all be getting, because I
really am just going to be talking about what I did for Saturday, August 24 th in the messiest way
possible. I can’t remember the order of anything and that’s ok. It’ll be an orchestrated chaos that
we’ll be reading through together! Lucifer would be proud! Now, go read!
No, I won’t be starting by saying I went to Mark’s table first thing in the morning…instead I went
to go get coffee through the re-entry line out on the side of the convention center! Boy, do I
regret getting a Mocha Frappuccino from the Starbucks-like store, because the barista put, I
think, an entire sea of mocha syrup in my drink. I could taste the mountain of syrup and thought
I was going to get Diabetes Type 4 or something. -10/10 wouldn’t recommend. I wanted a wake
me up not a knock me out drink!
After that failed morning drink, I went back to celebrity row to see everyone moved tables, and
Hayden’s area from yesterday was now occupied with guests, leaving a whole lot trying to figure
out where everyone had moved to. Katie and Mark weren’t in their spots, but surprisingly
Priscilla Presley’s table took up two tables worth there. I was back to going: where’s Mark?
Where’s Mark? Oh! Tom Welling still in his spot! Where’s Mark? No? Not there! Where? Oh!
There he was! I think I left my entire group behind, because they weren’t with me, other than my
husband, when I found Mark’s table again! Funny part was that Katie was next to him and
Emmanuelle Vaguier, Madison from Season 2 of Supernatural, was next to her! All the
Supernatural actors were right next to each other!
Ok, I don’t recall how many times I went to Mark’s table that day to get a selfie and just to chill a
bit, so I am just going to combine everything with him from celebrity row here! We talked about
some of the same things from yesterday and little fun stuff. We were at his table the latter half of
the day till the event staff turned the lights off, that was signalling for everyone to get out off the
floor. Frankie was asleep in his dog bed. Yes, we were respectful to other guests that were
coming up and asking for stuff too. I got back in the VIP line and got a selfie with my friends!
PS: I forgot to mention on Friday that I showed Mark all the things I got signed. He was saying:
Oh! Carl! Because Chandler Riggs signed a Funko pop of Carl from The Walking Dead. I have a
habit of showing all the people I like things I get. He was joking about how my husband, and I
should come to his panel today instead of doing the Smallville Duo photo op or seeing Andy
Serkis for an autograph. I promise I made it to Mark’s panel just fine and in one piece!
I met Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner, DC Comic Writers and Artists, sometime on
Saturday, but I don’t recall the exact time; so, I am just going to put the fun time with them here
before I get into the photo ops! They’re so cool! Really enthusiastic and lovely people! I know
Jimmy’s signature is a little hard to read, but if you blink, you’ll miss it! I guess I am turning this
into a game of “Where’s Waldo?”. I can’t wait to meet them again! I need them to sign all my DC
New 52 Harley Quinn comics!
Off to my abandoned home of the day! I call it that, because I wasn’t there all day. Neglected
home of the day then! Mark was the first one up for photo op’s and that was fun! So sad Mark
didn’t have his lanyard on this time, so we didn’t become lanyard buddies today! Also, thank you
to the nice photographer lady for working with us as we switched all around to do multiple shots!
She even held my Supernatural artwork I bought off the vendor floor while I did the quad and
duo photo ops! I asked Mark to flick off the picture, because he wasn’t in it. I was thinking about
asking him to do the snappy fingers, but one of my friends said flicking it off would be funnier!
She wasn’t wrong. Next piece I find I must ask him to be snappy!
After his photo op, had a bit of a snack break and then got right back in line for the Smallville
Duo, Tom Welling (Superman) and Michael Rosenbaum (Lex Luthor), photo op! I’ve met these
two already at Creation Atlanta in 2023! Seeing their energy here; especially, Michael’s was
awesome! I love when these two come around! They’re the life of the party that you didn’t know
you needed!
Had an hour to kill, so my husband went to go get food; and I went to sit in on Robert Patrick’s,
known for Terminator 2, panel. Everyone else was off doing their own thing, so I was thinking:
eh, why not? I got to ask him what the strangest thing was he had ever signed, and he said a
woman’s breast that were big enough to write the entire Gettysburg Address on. I think I died
laughing there and so did the rest of the room.
His panel soon finished, and I moved to front and center of the room to get a good view of the
stage. Some of our friends were with us, and my husband decided to stay in the back. Why?
Something about getting ready to leave just after Mark’s panel for The Lord of the Rings duo
photo op. I don’t get it either, we’re VIP, we won’t have to wait very long to get a photo. Oh well.
The host came on and introduced Mark to the audience. My car pilot friend next to me was
recording and I am sorry in advance for my voice catching on the audio.
Mark mostly answered questions about the tv shows and movies he was in and called on
people with their hands raised in the audience himself after the host made a mention to pick
someone. I raised my hand, he looked at me, and said he would get to us later. I laughed at
that. When he said: go ahead, Ally after I had raised my hand again, I asked my question about
what books he was reading. He answered that with some books about history and talked about
the novel: American Rust. The voice on my pilot’s video talking about Class of ’61 was me. He
asked what character he played, and I told him it was a confederate soldier. When I mentioned I
owned the movie he said: I’m so sorry. Thanks, I think?! I enjoyed the entire panel. I am glad I
also had time to make it there. I thought the Smallville Duo PO was going to take away from it,
but things worked out.
You know where I went to after this? No? The bathroom again! You were thinking the photo op
room, weren’t you? Well, I did go back to that after my side stop. Stop being bamboozled by me!
This one didn’t take very long to get through, but the line looked like it extended forever! There
were so many The Lord of The Rings cosplayers here! I loved looking at all the people dressed up as hobbits or Gandalf. Love the energy everyone has been bringing to the con! Today I was
able to get a group duo photo op with Andy Serkis (Gollum/Smeagol) and Elijah Wood (Frodo
Baggins)! I love Elijah’s smile in this!
I left my second neglected home for the day to go back to the celebrity row to see what
autographs I could get done before going back down for my Charlie Cox photo op. Having VIP
helped so much through these lines, because I did go straight to Charlie Cox table for his
autograph. My husband was with me, and Charlie commented on his Chicago Cubs hat saying
that the C was his double initials. In a way it was. The autograph I got signed was his character
of Matt Murdock from the tv show Daredevil.
The last autograph of the day for me personally was with Tom Welling. He signed a
Cain/Marcus Pierce character photo from the tv show Lucifer. We talked about how he came to
Creation Atlanta, and how come I don’t seem him at Creation events revolving around the road
so far tours anymore. He told me why, and his handler explained to me where in the south the
Smallville or something like it.
PS: Tom’s handwriting of “love ya” was so much easier to read than Mark’s. Sorry, Mark,
sometimes I just can’t read your handwriting.
Once that was done, my husband and I headed back to the photo op room to get our Charlie
Cox photo. Both sessions were lining up, and they were long, as it should be. We did get
through it quickly. I went back to Mark’s table a bit while my husband went to go get an
autograph from Andy Serkis, and that’s when the lights were going out after hanging around for
a while. Eventually we all said our good-byes to Mark and got a hug from the giant teddy bear
Satan. He still gives amazing hugs as I remember them.
I can say for Sunday when I write it the tables don’t move, and you won’t be seeing me run
around like a headless chicken. Only when I need to buy more top loaders for all the
autographs, I spontaneously decided to get…oh…that was today too. We’ll see what I put in the
Sunday’s report! Bye! Remember if you want to be friends on X this is my account:
@NephthysPhoenix.
Ally Beard
