How To Hug a Salvatore, or Erin's TVD Oz Con Adventure

For the record, there is only a short, short list of people who and events for which I would willingly get out of bed at 5am on a Saturday morning. These include:

• Bruce Springsteen – because he’s BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN. Obviously.
• The Apocalypse
• A Hub Convention
• A fireman, ESPECIALLY if my house is on fire. Or if it’s not – don’t mind.
• Jake Pavelka, purely for the sheer unadulterated pleasure of doing to him what I do to my alarm every Saturday morning and punching him, preferably right in the snooze button, til he shuts up.

Included is this list, of course, right at the top, is if one Mr Paul Wesley – The Wes, The Dub, and the man to whom we will be singing “Happy Birthday, Mr PWesident” a little later this month – and a posse of Vampire Diaries stars should ever happen to be in my home town.

It was with great joy (and a pair of very bleary eyes, lol) then, that I found myself sitting on an early train into the city for the 2010 Sydney Vampire Diaries Oz Con this last Saturday, run by the fantastic people at Hub Productions, about to enjoy just such an occasion.

Once I got there, despite being extremely early (and absolutely bloody cold – may not have been snowing but it felt like it should have been) the excited mob was already waiting for his arrival (not to mention that of The Brev, The Trev and Captain Smoulder but this is after all, a PDub blog . We all got ushered in around nine and took our seats in the Auditorium.

Firstly we viewed the first of a stack of the best video entries – which were absolutely brilliant, btw – for the Hub Productions competition. The competition, as I’m sure a lot of you know cause so many of you entered, was to create an ‘entry’ video for your choice of the guests, that would be played as they entered the auditorium, and then later given to them as a gift.

For some reason, an awful lot of Paul’s entries focussed on that one…oh, what was it…oh that’s right, that super hot wife-beater-and-chin-ups scene of his (you know, that clip you’ve been YOU-TUBING to death since the season ended ).

Can’t for the life of me imagine why.

In any case, so, so clever. I had newfound respect for the creativity of TVD fans after viewing all of them by the end of the day, as did Ian, Nina, Michael and Paul, who were absolutely stoked to see what people had created.

For the record, the winner of Paul’s in Sydney absolutely brought the house down – by far the funniest of the day, and brilliantly put together.

First big thing of the day, though, was the photo ops.

<insert butterflies the size of Lear jets HERE>

It was a madhouse. I’ve had my fair share of experience with screaming fans at conventions, so you would have thought I’d have some idea of the effect two vampires, a werewolf and a little lady would have on thirteen year old fan girls.

As it turns out, not so much.

Seriously. I heard less screaming in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

I met Ian first (and didn’t pass out from sheer joy because he was a complete and utter sweetheart) then Nina (tiny, cheeky and plum beautiful in every way).

And then there he was.

All six foot wicked huggable something of PDubness with a smile that lit up the room. There are things you tell yourself and your inner fan-girl (face it, we all have one) to prepare for meeting the object of you affection – or in my case, also the object of the fan-site that I work on – in the hope that you don’t drop in a dead faint at their feet (they only take one photo, so you can’t waste it, you know).

My inner monologue went a little something like this.

Ok.

Stop worrying.

He’s just a person.

*looks over – Paul surrounded by rampant hugaholic fan girls. Feeling twinge of smugness that I’m 28 and they’re 15. Still, nervous.*

Yep. Just a really, really, really, super hot person.

Oh crap.

Okay. Just don’t stand on his toes.

And don’t babble. You babble when you’re nervous.

Short words, Erin. Short words.

Okay.

Here we go.

Hi. We say hi. Normal people say things like ‘hi’. Good start.

Far OUT, he smells good.

Okay…arm…shoulder…around mine….me…hug-

I just discovered I hugged him, as in actual arm around the waist – don’t even remember doing it! I’m hugging the…abs.

Good lord, there’s a million of them.

Flash.

Frak it, I think he just squeezed my shoulder again for good measure.

Okay.

Yep.

Let go.

Walk away. Yuh huh. Still with the normal personness, he can still see you.

Walk to the door.

Aaaaaaandwe’redone.

Granted I only got a few seconds with him and to say hi, but I can confirm all reports: he has more abs than Taylor Lautner by half and is a genuinely, sweet lovely guy.

And oh. THAT VOICE. It’s like butter melting on toast. OY.

The rest of the morning was fantastic too, of course.

Mike Trevino was the first guest up and he was wonderful. Like many others Aussie fans who attended either Sydney or Melbourne will agree I think, he was a fantastic addition to the line-up. He also told THE best on-set story of anybody, and according to all reports he smells better than hot chocolate, baking bread and roasted coffee put together.

In short, it was hard – whether you were a staunch Team Stefan of Team Damon-ite – to walk away without even just a *little* crush in the Team Tyler direction.

As I…maybe…sort of…did.

Nina was next up, and likewise she is just a gem.

A gem with AWESOME taste in shoes.

She spoke a lot about what her favourite things were about working on the show, how she got into acting and her new foray into fashion with Aussie company KRMA. If you ever get the chance to meet her, do it – she is a really stunning woman with a lot of class and charm.

She’s also the tiniest person I’ve ever met – it was that moment I realised how much watching TVD in plasma, HD and on a giant TV had warped my perception of what normal people really look like.

I mean, for all my love of Alexander Skarsgard’s height as the luscious Eric Northman in True Blood…well, he’s probably really a midget, isn’t he.

Sorry. Babbling again.

Next was the man himself.

I’m not kidding when I say that the world is in serious danger if Paul Wesley ever discovers just how charming he really is. Cause for my part, within about 10 seconds of him opening his mouth to speak, I swear he could have asked me to go out and carjack a police wagon and I’d’ve done it.

When he walked inside, the place went berserk and rightly freakin’ so. As he leaped up on (actually perhaps ‘launched himself at’ is a better description) the stage in his grey hoodie, dark jacket and dark slacks, I think I literally mouthed the words ‘I can die now’.

I don’t usually gush, but girls? He is every bit as lovely as you think he is to the power of TEN.

The fans asked some great questions (a couple slightly stalkerish but they JUST stayed within the etiquette boundary, lol), and Paul was very open and funny about life on the set and what he loved about working on the show. He spoke briefly about the Edward Cullen comparisons (please don’t bag EC out either here, for the record – I’m a big fan of him too, ) and at length about his audition process in getting the part of Stefan. I’m still trying to see him as Damon – who he originally read for – but somehow I think he was born to play Stefan, don’t you? He looks like a Stefan. But, best part was the shirt he created for charity which they auctioned off at the end of his talk. Considering it had been ON him, had I LOVE MY ABS written across the front and the dorkiest drawings ever done by a celebrity hand (he’d be a disastrous Pictionary player, I think), I’m thinking it was WELL worth the 1000 bucks donated to charity for it.

He was amazing, and I was SO glad I got to hear him speak.

As I was to hear Ian, who rounded out the day with a Q & A session that will take a lot to be topped for me by any future visiting TV stars. He was an utter and complete darling in the truest sense of the world and if they were anything like me, I’m thinking there were more than a few Team Stefan girls wondering if there really was anything wrong about adoring both of the Salvatore brothers. At once.

OY. The UNIVERSE would implode if we all did that, I think.

He talked a lot about what he loved most about playing Damon, and where he’d like to see him go as a character over the next season, as well as stated in no uncertain terms that he thinks when Damon discovers the girl he kissed was really Katherine and not Elena, He. Will. Be. Pissed. Stay tuned boys and girls, cause I think it is going to be one riotous ride with our beloved Salvatore brothers in Season 2 with the reappearance of evil little Princess Fangface.

Ian truly was a joy to listen too, and his talk was a great way to end the day.

By the time it was all over, I think we all of us left a great convention knowing every cent spent to get there was worth it.

If you’re back in the US and considering going to Comic Con to see them, seriously: do it. They are really lovely people and hearing them talk will give you a new appreciation of everything that goes into making The Vampire Diaries one of the best and brightest offerings on TV. They work so hard but I know you’ll agree with me when I say the results speak for themselves.

I had the best time, and know the SECOND Hub Productions announce they’re having another TVD con, I’m there with bells on.

Here’s cheers, lovelies – until Erin’s next convention adventure xo

ps. Photos to come. Here’s hoping I take them better than Paul draws.