Homecoming: The Guild at Comic Con 2009, Part 2

By WorldofHiglet

In Part 1 of this chapter from the yet-unpublished “From Cheetos to Stripper Bus: The Ultimate Fan Guide to how Felicia Day build The Guild Level By Level”, The Guild prepared for SDCC and so did the fans – the CCGuildies who were attending and the ‘Left Behind’ that weren’t. After a huge response to signings and hints of more excitement to come, all eyes were on Room 5AB in preparation for The Guild Panel….

Friday 25th July 2009 – Early

Life is tough when you’re a star!



The CCGuildies prepare…

Anticipation was running high about The Guild Panel. The CCGuildies arrived at the convention centre early to try and secure a good place in the queue and it was soon apparent that many of the people in the lineup were not going to get into the Panel. Brian Kameoka, who was tweeting as @theguild described the scene:



Meanwhile, back at the Hotel with the UberGuildies…

Jenni Powell was in charge of the transport and was nervous. They needed to be able to get the cast to the Con without being seen. She wasn’t sure that they would all fit comfortably into the two limos that had been ordered along with the equipment that they needed. She had already spent the morning helping everyone get ready and went down to see if the transport had arrived.

Interlude: Dramatic Reconstruction of the tale of The Stripper Bus

Jenni, fresh from re-lacing Felicia into her corset after her second bowl of jellybeans, heard her cell phone’s unique ringtone (“The Unicorn Song”*).

“Yeah?”

She grunted into the phone while blowing on her aching fingers. She listened for a moment then hung up. Felicia was eyeing a Jumbo pack of Cheetos, so as she headed for the door she gave one last command: “And you can stay away from them an’ all, young fella-me-lad – I’m not adjusting your stays anymore!” **

Jenni rushed to the elevator and punched furiously at the ground floor button. At this rate they were never going to get there on time – never mind in secret. If it wasn’t bad enough that Vork and Zaboo had dressed in each other’s costumes and had woken up the whole of the fifth floor by running up and down the corridors shouting “How d’you like these nerd-nips!”, Bladezz had got into a sulk when he was told his video groupies were not going to be available for the panel. Tink and Clara were supposedly ready but Jenni hadn’t seen them yet. She could only pray they were safe, sober and not in Police custody.

Eventually the elevator reached ground level and she hurried through the foyer and out of the doors. OMG! The limos were not there! She could feel the blood rushing to her face as she contemplated her options. Maybe they were cruising around finding somewhere to park, since most of the taxi spaces were taken up by some big-ass tinted-windowed luxury bus thing.

Jenni hesitantly walked a few paces to try and peer around the big-ass bus but no limos were in sight. She turned to storm back to the Hotel Reception, when a friendly-looking man in a smart suit stepped forward.

“Hello – Jenni?”

“Er…Yes?”

“My name is Antoine and I’m your driver. Your chariot awaits!”

Jenni tried not to gawp as she struggled to understand. “Wha? Who? Chariot?”

Antoine smiled and stepped back, gesturing towards the big-ass bus. “Your chariot. Or, more precisely, your luxury bus!” Jenni saw the twinkle in his eye and took a step backwards. Was this why people had said to be careful at Comic Con? Smiling men in suits abducting you from your hotel?

Always smooth under pressure, Jenni got to the heart of the matter. “I, er…What?”

“Ah, perhaps you were expecting something else, but Microsoft has arranged everything for you and your group. You need space – we’ve got it! You need privacy – no problem! You need…entertainment? It’s all under control!”

It took a little more convincing before Jenni was sure it wasn’t some elaborate ploy. Then she took a look inside. HOLY-MOLY! It was huge, the air con was like an Arctic blast and…there was a stripper pole? And laser lights?

Antoine was watching her in amusement. “Yeah, you’d be surprised what some people like to do in the privacy of their tour bus.”

“Er…okay then! I’ll get the troops!” Jenni raced back into the hotel, already dialing. She heard a rustle as Felicia answered. “You’d better not be munching on them Cheetos! Gather all the stuff, the transport’s here. And you are not going to believe this…!”

Kim Evey and Greg Benson enjoy the light on the Stripper bus during their video tour of its delights.

And on the Interwebs…

The Left-Behind Guildies were tweeting mournfully, trying to work out what was happening at the Con. Having no clue about what was going on, all we could do was speculate and refresh Twitter every few seconds. Tweets like this (from Dr Horrible a.k.a. Jed Whedon) fueled the speculation and anticipation:



The UberGuildies in stealth mode…

…Well, as stealthy as they could be considering what was about to happen. After an all-too-short journey on the Stripper bus they had disembarked in the loading area without hitch. Greg Aronowitz did another check on the weapons and they were all good to go. They did meet an old friend, Wil Wheaton, on the way into the Con but managed to get backstage without really being spotted. Which was going to make the next part all the sweeter.

At last, the time has come…

As the CCGuildies filed into the room hoping to get good seats the Left-Behind Guildies were frantically counting the minutes and guessing what was happening. Brian was tweeting as @theguild and trying to set the scene while helping to organize people. Meanwhile, George Ruiz, Felicia’s agent, was also tweeting from the panel.



Jenni was now on celeb-duty and had the honour of escorting a group (Gaggle? Herd? Pod? Passel? – answers on a postcard please) of Whedons to their places in the front row. As everyone settled down, the buzz in the room was electric. Everyone knew they were about to see something very, very special.

First out was Major (Larry) Nelson from Xbox who introduced the lovely Kim Evey. After a few words Kim then announced the first video. The Left-Behind Guildies were now frantic trying to guess what was happening. And then it started….

Photo by Dani Figueiredo via Flickr - used w permission

In Part 3 we enjoy wave after wave of Guildie goodness at the panel, and look at what they achieved.

* Jenni has long professed her love for Unicorns. Usually served with mashed potatoes and gravy… http://community.watchtheguild.com/group/axisofunicorns
** Spookily, all Guild people who appear in these dramatic reconstructions speak in a broad Northern English accent.

WorldofHiglet is the online persona of writer Mary R. Higgins, a born-again geek reclaiming her heritage bit by bit. A youth filled with sci-fi, horror and adventure in TV, films, computer games and books was crushed by years of office grind. Buffy brought her back into the fold after years of denial. Discovering Firefly sealed the deal. Now she geeks fulltime on her blog ‘the last geek bus home’ . Her first novel ‘Turning left at Albuquerque” is complete and she has just launched HigletFilms.com, a new webvideo entertainment site serving new, original videos every Monday.

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