Asylum (convention)

A UK Supernatural and Smallville convention.

Asylum 2007

Summary of events

Asylum was the first official Supernatural convention ever (fan-organised conventions have been organized since 2006). Asylum was held in Coventry, UK, at the Leofric hotel, on the 11-13 May 2007.

Supernatural Guests were: Jensen Ackles (Dean Winchester), Alona Tal (Jo Harvelle), Nicky Aycox (Meg Masters) and Brooke Nevin, (Kat in 1.10 Asylum). Jared Padalecki was to attend, but had to withdraw due to filming commitments on The Christmas Cottage.

Jensen Ackles brought with him his friend Jason Manns, 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 came up on stage with Jason to duet on the song Crazy Love during the evening.

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 as doing invididual panels. Alona was funny, vivacious and eloquent.

There were autographs and photo session with each guest, organized by ticket number. Plus there were also Coffee Lounge events with each guest and only up to 20 attendees, whose tickets were extracted in a raffle. There was also an auction on the Sunday for various signed photos and other items. The money from the auction went to the Christopher Reeve charity.

There were also Guests from Smallville (Allison Mack, Justin Hartley, Alan Richson), and Guests from the Coventry Sci Fi Fair (Mark Lutz, Jenny Mollen, Douglas Arthurs), held at the same time as Asylum and the guests also did autograph signings, photo sessions and talks.

There were over 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 'ridiculous' (referring to the gay subtext and Wincest). He also admitted that Kim Manners had alerted he & Jared to the existence of Wincest.

• 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 version about the filming of that scene in Bugs

Links

Official Asylum Convention Homepage
Asylum Convention at LJ
Fan report on Asylum at LJ
Fan report of the coffee lounge session with Jensen

Asylum 2008

The Second Asylum convention will take place 9-11 May, 2008 in Birmingham, UK. The event now being organised in partnership with 10th Planet who are experienced in organising Dr Who events.

Confirmed guests as of September 2007 are Jared Padalecki, Chad Lindberg and Samantha Ferris.

Tickets for the convention are on sale from [1] and cost £85 per adult and £45 per child. There will be no day passes for this event, only weekend passes. A payment plan can be put in place to spread the cost of ticket. All information about this is on the Rogue Events site. Tickets can be paid for by Paypal, credit card, cheque or postal order (apart from payment plans which cannot be paid for by Paypal).

The convention was due to be held at the Holiday Inn in Birmingham but will now be taking place at the much bigger and better Hilton Metropole Hotel in Birmingham and hotel rooms can be booked soon and then paid for on arrival. A link will be given to enable fans to book directly with the hotel at a reduced price of £77 b&b per room per night and there are also options to book dinner packages with your room for an additional £20.