Tweeted this right after I arrived

Though I have been to a fair few conventions, fangirling at a premiere was something I had never attempted before. But when you put any of my Golden Trio (Tom Hiddleston, Benedict Cumberbatch, Matt Smith) into the equation, I'm far more willing to put myself through one of my least favourite things in the world: visiting Los Angeles. I arrived in the city on Sunday, November 3, and met up with my friend (and boss/runner of this site), who presented me with a pass to Stan Lee's Comikaze. We went back to the convention centre, had a look around the exhibit hall, and I managed to pick up some free "Hunger Games" posters, a "Hunger Games" t-shirt, an "I, Frankenstein" t-shirt, and bought one of those exclusive little Funko Pop black and white Loki figures! He's so cute and is now sitting comfortably in my room.

I went to sleep a bit after midnight, and woke up at 3 a.m. to prepare for the long day ahead. It took me a bit longer than I'd hoped to find my way to the station, and to purchase a card for public transport, so I didn't arrive until 5 a.m. Upon my arrival, I found that they had sectioned off the street in front of the El Capitan theatre.

Such a fabulous Tesseract necklace!
Made by the remarkable @VeronicaJ_N

I went over to try to grab a spot up against the barricades. I stood at one spot for a bit, until two friends I had met at SDCC 2013 arrived, along with another one of their friends, and then we walked a bit further down to claim a spot for ourselves. We spent the day chit-chatting, I showed one friend the video of  Tom in Korea where he watched "Ehehehe," we all kept quoting Mulan because she's an iconic badass (and we were hoping we'd get to meet Ming-Na Wen), and we made friends with some new fangirls sitting near us. One fangirl reached out to me on Twitter, came over, and joined our mad little group, and even gave us tons of Avengers swag that she had made herself that was leftover from an Avengers-themed party. She gave me a little Avengers/Loki notepad, an Avengers bag, a Tesseract bracelet, and a Tesseract necklace.

I shall now skip ahead to the arrival of various stars/industry folk. Most of these names will be listed out of sequential order. I'll begin with some of the people we saw that didn't come over (just so you may know that we did see them). Tadanobu Asano was repeatedly being shouted at, and I was cringing at autograph hunters shouting "Tadanobu," since it's rude to address strangers by their first name in Japanese culture. For future reference to any of his (non-Japanese) fans that might read this, address him as "Mr. Asano." Don't say "Asano-san" unless you're a native speaker, otherwise it sounds terrible. Liam Hemsworth arrived separately from Chris and it was sweet to see him supporting his older brother. Nathan Fillion was there in all his Whedonverse glory and of course, all of us Whedonites were thrilled to see him. Karen Gillan waved at all of us calling out her name, and it was such an adorable, slightly gawky gesture. She sort of flailed her hands about at us, as if she felt slightly embarrassed at not coming over to meet those of us who genuinely wished to see her. Sir Anthony Hopkins didn't technically wave at us... he simply put his hand up into the air with his palm facing our direction and fingers spread apart. Bow down before the king! Surprisingly and sadly, we didn't see Natalie Portman, Idris Elba, or Christopher Eccleston.

Now on to some of the people that actually did come over. Clark Gregg only visited a chunk of the line (not including the bit where I was), and the same goes for Tom Hiddleston, which was highly shocking considering Hiddles' reputation for spending an enormous amount of time on fan interaction. Chloe Bennett walked by and stated that she'd only sign things for people with Agents of SHIELD merchandise, and considering that I'm not an autograph hunter with a million things in a seedy bag of evil, I had nothing with me for her to sign. I wasn't all that bothered, though. I'm sure I'll find another way to meet her someday. This was my first real encounter with autograph hunters; I had no idea how vile they are. They can all be thrown into a volcano, for all I care. True fangirling is about love, not money.

Alan Taylor, the director of the film, came by and was signing several things for fans. He thanked fans for coming out and for having waited all day. He asked how long we'd been waiting, and some fans to my right stated 6:30. I internally scoffed and once he was closer to where I was, I (and another girl) stated, "5:00 a.m. 5:00 a.m. We've been out here since 5:00 a.m." He replied, "5:00 a.m. Wow, you all deserve so much more than just an autograph." It was so wonderful to hear him say that because even though we weren't going to get any more than his signature, he had acknowledged and appreciated our passion for the film and those involved with it. He was the first signature on the copy of Loki-Empire that I had brought to get signatures on. Kat Dennings came by later on, and said that she wouldn't be taking any pictures because she wanted to make sure she signed things for everyone (at the front). She was very thorough, and was the second signature on my Loki-Empire. She looked absolutely beautiful, and she's actually much smaller in person than what I would have guessed from seeing her on screen. (Both shorter, and skinnier - I've never thought that she was overweight, but I do think that she has a much more realistic body type than a lot of the females in Hollywood).

Zachary Levi wins the MVP award, as dubbed by me, because no other person spent as much time on the fans as him. The man signed merchandise, chit-chatted, and posed in plenty of photos with those who asked for them. I had only properly met him once before, at SDCC 2012 after his Nerd HQ panel. At that time, he wasn't taking photos, but he did sign my "Chuck Me" t-shirt and was incredibly sweet and gracious to me, despite my getting embarrassingly emotional. This time around, I was more determined than ever to get a photo with him. But before he got to me, there was a man behind my friends that were standing to my left who called out to Zac saying there was a 9-year-old boy who was his biggest fan and loved "Chuck," and Zac moved to where he could see the boy and said, "Hey buddy!" and signed his mini-Thor-hammer. It was so sweet and my ovaries ached. (Pardon the graphic fangirl slang). Once he was right in front of me, I looked him right in his (beautiful) eyes and said, "Zac, can I please get a photo with you?" He said, "Of course!" and I handed him my camera, stating, "Could you take it since your arms are longer than mine?" He leaned in to me and tried to press the button, but since the light didn't go off, I was highly certain that it didn't take. He checked to see if it had, (it hadn't), and I said, "You have to press the button harder," and he replied, "But I did!" It was so cute. So he tried again, and this time the flash went off, and I finally had my photo with Zac. If nothing else had happened that night, it would've already been more than enough.

Chris Hemsworth came by and signed for several fans. He had a ton of security around him, and take this opportunity to  say that this man is stunning. He kept smiling to himself, as if he were amazed at how far he had come since joining the Marvel family. When he was in front of me, he became the third person to sign my Loki-Empire, and I honestly felt bad that it wasn't my Thor-Empire. I didn't want him to think that I didn't value him as much as Tom, but it was too crazy for me to crouch down and pull out my Thor-Empire, which I had also brought with me, and I also figured it'd be easier for me to just have all signatures compiled on one magazine. When he was in front of me, I kept quiet since so many people were shouting and screaming at him, and I figured it'd be more pleasant for him to have someone who would just give him some peace. I just enjoyed the view, because like I said, he is stunning. Later on, Jeremy Renner came by and signed for fans. He made his way down the line, coming from my right side. When he got to me, I held out my Loki-Empire in front of me, and he was the final signature I got that night. After he had signed it, I didn't have room to pull my arm back, so I moved it slightly to my right (but still out in front of me) to try to get it out of his way. Being Japanese, I'm riddled with concern about not being rude so this action is symptomatic of that. He was still close to where I was, and once he had finished signing things in my area, he paused and looked back at my magazine. I really have no idea why he did this. He might have done this to double-check that he hadn't missed me, but there's really no way for me to be sure. He then looked right at me, which caught me completely off guard since I had seen how he had been more focused on looking at the things he was signing instead of looking at fans as he had made his way down the line towards where I was standing. Not only did he look right at me, he then smiled, and said rather cheekily, "How you doin'?" My head almost exploded and I said "Gooood..." I think my voice had jumped up two octaves. What was I supposed to do?! Jeremy Renner, with his gorgeous face and disarming charm, asked me how was I doing! Jeremy. How am I supposed to remember how to form banter with you when you catch me off guard like that? Give me a warning before you unleash yourself on me like that. (Again, I am speaking "fangirl," so please don't take this dramatic form of speech so seriously). When re-telling this story to people, I often joke that since we're both from the Bay Area, and more specifically the Silicon Valley, he could sense that I was one of his kind. That moment with Jeremy Renner was probably the highlight of my night. What was extra hilarious was that he went on the red carpet for a couple minutes and immediately left afterwards. Jeremy Renner rolled right through that premiere like a Bay Area Boss.

After the premiere, I managed to get a photo with Jean-Luc Bilodeau. I loved Kyle XY, so I was pleased to see him, and he was very cute. I managed to make my way over to where the after-party was happening, and I waited outside to see if I could meet anyone else when they left. Chris Hardwick was hilarious when he left, because at one point, he said that he had to leave right now (as a means of ceasing giving autographs) but then he didn't know where his ride was so he began frantically looking around for it like a dog looking for a ball to fetch when the owner only faked throwing it. (I mean no disrespect in likening him to a dog. It's merely the mental image that popped into my mind when it happened). Chris Hardwick is hilarious and has such a vibrant energy and youthful exuberance. I can't believe he'll be 42 at the end of the month when he has the looks and energy of a bloke in his 20's! Brett Dalton came out, signed some things, posed for some photos, and the security people pointed to the girls next to me and said they'd be the last ones he could take photos with. This was very upsetting since I was the only person left in the line and those two didn't even know his name and don't watch Agents of SHIELD, whereas I do and am a massive Ward/Skye shipper. It was so awkward because he looked right at me before leaning in to pose with those girls and I must've looked so uncomfortable (I certainly felt that way). I didn't want to make security mad, so I just let him be.

When Ming-Na Wen came out, she signed for a few people, then moved away from the crowd to stand with security men. I was beyond thrilled to see her because Mulan is my absolute favourite Disney princess of all time, and was such an inspiration to me growing up. As an Asian, there aren't many role models for me to look up to in Western media, though there are more now than when I was younger, so to just have Ming-Na Wen in my presence was already a tremendous moment for me. People kept calling out to her since she hadn't left yet, and she said, "Oh, you guys are making me feel bad," and came back over and signed some more. She moved away again before I could ask her for a photo, and I don't blame her even in the slightest since there were autograph hunters pestering her and those vile creatons always muck up the atmosphere. I kept talking about Ming-Na Wen, to no one in particular, and how beautiful she was and how much I loved Mulan. I couldn't help but gush; she's iconic. Things with her actually ended nicely, because the next day, I tweeted about how much I had wanted to meet her but was unable to do so, and she ended up following and replying to me. I fangirled. Hard.

At one point, the autograph hunters took off running to some other exit because supposedly Karen Gillan was meant to be leaving from there, and apparently Doctor Who autographs sell well. I wouldn't know because I find the idea of purchasing autographs online utterly absurd. I have no interest in autographs unless I obtained them myself and have a sentimental attachment to the experience. I would never sell my autographed Loki-Empire with autographs from the Thor: The Dark World premiere. It's symbolic of the moments I had with each of the people who were gracious enough to sign it. While they were gone, Ray Stevenson came out and since the atmosphere was drastically more peaceful, he took a great deal of time to thoroughly go down the line and sign things for genuine fans, and took several photos. When he had almost reached me, and someone thanked him for their photo, he stated how he was happy to give back to fans and how important we were. I wanted to cuddle him for being so sweet! I was at the end of the line, and when he got to me, I said, "I'm the last one!" and he said cheerfully, "Yes, you are!" and he crouched down to fit in the photo with me. The very top of his head didn't quite make it in, but I still adore the photo. You can still see his smiling face, which is all that matters.

Last to come out was Tom Hiddleston, and sadly, the vile, disgusting, deserve-to-be-thrown-in-a-volcano autograph hunters had returned by then. It. Was. Awful. For those of you familiar with Tom Hiddleston, you are well aware of how generous he is in giving his time to fans. Had those autograph hunters not been there, he probably would have gotten to every single person waiting out there. But the longer he was out there, the more frenzied things became. When he was right in front of me, I tried to ask for a photo, but the foul leeches were shoving their items past me and blocking him from me so he moved right past me. Security and his team rushed him into his car, and a fight almost broke out amongst the autograph hunters. After having travelled to a city I have the lowest opinion of, getting only three hours of sleep, and waiting almost twenty hours, I was denied my moment with the man who was my greatest reason for making the trip at all. He held his hand up in the shape of a heart at the fans as he was driven away, (which I accidentally managed to get a photo of), and I left the crowd after that. I did get emotional afterwards, out of sleep deprivation, and both physical and emotional exhaustion. But I have no regrets about going, and I choose to focus on the good moments rather than the bad. I'm so grateful that I was able to meet some truly lovely people, both from the film, and while waiting for the premiere to begin. I am a firm believer that it's not worth getting an autograph, photo, etc. if you had to compromise your character to obtain it. There was another moment after the premiere that I could have asked Zac for another photo, but I didn't ask since there were other fans who wanted one and I had already been able to get one earlier that night. My honour is intact, and I have nothing to be ashamed of.

If you would like to see the other photos from the night, check out these videos I did sharing the highlights of the night. I've included the rest of the photos in them!

(Part 1)

(Part 2)

(Part 3)

Here's the shirt I wore to the premiere.
I like to think that Hiddles would
have loved it.

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Premieres in general are a crazy mix of happy and utterly disappointing moments. Many fans get out there hours before the actual premiere starts, some before the sun even rises, and all for just a few moments with the stars and talent of the film. In fact the girls that we were with had been there since 5am, and we didn’t have the best of spots. I can only imagine what time the ones who had better spots had gotten there at.

If you chose to go to a premiere know that you will be there for many, MANY hours. Come with plenty of food and good company. Luckily good company was one thing we had in excess. After so many hours sitting in one place delirium can set in, and goofiness is a surety.

The red carpet finally to have some traffic, first the people who know people but aren’t the main talent. And then the talent finally started to arrive. Sure we saw plenty of people, but some were missed completely. Stan Lee made an entrance, but he avoided the carpet altogether. Anthony Hopkins did a sort of palm raised greeting, not quite a wave. Ray Stevenson stopped by for one overzealous person, unfortunately he was an autograph hunter.

Now I have nothing against most people at premiere’s but autograph hunters are the worst. They’re pushier than the actual fans, and they’re the ones usually throwing their stuff on top of you, and causing security to hurry the stars along. It’s an unfortunate plague you have to deal with any premiere.

The cast of Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D. came out in their support, but while Clark Gregg, Ming-Na Wen and Brett Dalton were there, none of them did much of the carpet with the fans. Chloe Bennet did, but she only signed things for people with Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D. items, which was unfortunate as most of those people were autographs hunters, and she would not take pictures with anyone.

Director, Alan Taylor came by and visited with fans, signing autographs. He tried to make small talk with the fans gathering, asking many how long they had been waiting.

Kat Dennings arrived and that girl is far more beautiful in person than she is on screen. And she is pretty great with her fans, although she did not take pictures, made sure that she signed everyone’s items, which was fantastic since some had been there for too many hours waiting.

And fan-favorite Zachary Levi he went above and beyond. Now if you’ve never been to a Nerd HQ, you’re missing out. Not only is it for a good cause, Zac is one of the nicest guys around, and he’s just plain a lot of fun. He not only signed autographs, but took pictures with those who asked, even taking them himself as in my case because it was a better angle. He was funny and teasing. I show him and tell him you have to press the button on the side like a camera, and I enunciate button, because that’s what I do. And he laughs and says “the button.” He turns the camera, and of course now the button is on the bottom, so I have to rotate it, and show him again. He takes one picture, but doesn’t like it, so he takes another. And look who popped up in our shot, one of Museled’s own photographers Brad Smith.

Jeremy Renner came and signed autographs, but the fans were in full frenzy mode. And although he walked the carpet, he didn’t stay for the movie. I almost love celebrities more when they come out for the fans, but avoid everything else, it shows a lot of appreciation.

Both of Chris Hemsworth’s brothers, Luke and Liam, came out to support their brother Chris, but Liam refused to sign autographs to let all the attention shine on Chris, and shine it did. Chris is absolutely stunning in person, and he had a full team of security around him for good reason. People lose their collective minds around him. I still remember the first time I saw him at Comic Con, and not a single person around me knew his name, but they were all curious because he is gorgeous. Seriously, this was right after Thor was announced, they had just had their panel, and he showed up for the Syfy/EW party with his brother Liam, and no one but me was excited to see him, until I called him over. The autograph hunters smelled blood in the water when he came over for a picture, and attacked. I found myself bent over the bar barricade and Chris had to call over security to help him move the autographers off me, so we could get a picture. At the premiere he didn’t take any pictures, but he was kind enough to sign everything presented for him.

So there were autographs had, a few pictures taken, and although we missed many of the other stars that walked the carpet, like Tom Hiddleston, it was still a great night with plenty of memories.

Want to see more pictures from the premiere? Check out our Flickr album!

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It’s that time again, that sad, sad time, the Comic Con wrap up. It’s been an exhaustive few days, but the con has come to a closed, but not without one last surprise. Saturday is normally movie day, when all the big movies do their panels and signing, but one movie still had even more up its sleeve besides its big villainous “Say My Name” attraction.

That’s right, Thor had its big signing on Sunday. Sunday morning was the normal hustle and bustle, but there was a signing not on the schedule, one that was scheduled to take place the day before. Sunday was the last chance to grab the elusive Monster High Doll I was after, and yet somehow I was led to the Marvel booth, literally shuffled into a small line that was drawing cards on the stage. I drew a Thor card, and the guy took it and handed me a slip of paper, telling me congratulations, and to come back later.

Still, what I had in my hand did not dawn on me. For one, it was labeled Saturday, and for two, when I finally tracked down a schedule for that signing the only person on it was Thor: The Dark World director, Alan Taylor. I’m a fan of Mr. Taylor’s and all, but it certainly did not sound like as exciting as some of the other signings that we had attended, but I was still game.

The last day is the perfect time to check out the toys on display, and they displays in general. It’s the time to grab those last few t-shirts you’ve been eyeing, and apparently to finally meet the God of Mischief.

When Tom Hiddleston was announced with Alan Taylor there was a great roar from the crowd. Marvel does their signings up on a stage, with a screen streaming up close shots of the participants. They want the fans to be able to see everything, and enjoy it.  But Mr. Hiddleston has a way of making the crowd go wild. So every cheeky smile, every little moment he paused to dance made them lose their collective minds. Hiddles loves his fans, and he showed off a lot of the artwork that was brought to him.

One girl that wasn’t lucky enough to get a signing ticket first offered money, and when that was refused asked if I could get him to write “Bad Wolf” on a piece of paper for her to be tattooed later. While I’m familiar with the Doctor Who term, I wasn’t sure what relation it had to Hiddleston, as I didn’t recall him ever being on the show. She proceeded to go into the Doctor Who part, and said she was planning to have it tattooed anyways, so it would be neat to have it in Hiddleston’s hand writing. Fair enough.

Hiddleston is very sweet and charming, which I was expecting. I was not expecting him to be so stunning close up. And when he looked at me with those big blue green eyes and said “Wow, you’re very pretty.” I nearly fell off the stage. I stammered a thank you and asked him if he could write out Bad Wolf for me. He quirked an eyebrow, and I told him it wasn’t for me, and gave him a quick explanation about the girl in the crowd. He wrote it, first very sloppily, before writing it again. He held it up, and I could hear the girl screaming loudly, very loudly. So Hiddles flung it into the crowd towards her. It didn’t go to her, and he apologized, saying “I don’t think I should have done that.” I agreed, and so did security, since they took me off the stage away from the crowd.

With the Thor signing done, and the con really done for me, there was one last thing to do, say goodbye to Nerd HQ. Normally I’m at Nerd HQ several times during the convention. This year I hadn’t had a chance to make it over even once.  Sunday as Comic con is wrapping up is not the best time to check out Nerd HQ, but its all I had. Alan Tudyk and Nathan Fillion were hanging around taking pictures, so it was nice to see them. But it was closing time. The solar system was heading out, the convention was done. Bags were packed and planes needed to be caught, so off I went, but not before I was almost run over by Chris Hardwick on a razor scooter. We took a quick picture and I bid San Diego adieu. It’s been a great convention, until next year.

If you would like to see more pictures from the panel check out our Flickr album.

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