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booksteaandtoomuchtv · 9 months

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Galaxy Con 2023: Colin O'Donoghue

My experience at Galaxy Con 2023 in Raleigh, which will be entirely Colin O'Donoghue-focused since meeting him was the only reason I dragged my entire family to Raleigh for the hottest and most humid weekend of our year.

We arrived at Colin's booth at 10 on Saturday and secured the second position in his autograph line. Someone asked the Galaxy Con volunteer when Colin would arrive, but she hadn't met him or talked to him yet. She just noted that his photo ops were scheduled for 12:15 and some of the talent did not arrive until their photo op time. A few of us got nervous about which queue we should remain in as time ticked by ever so slowly.

I got to chat with some lovely Colin fans and their spouses while my kiddos grew tired of waiting. After about an hour and fifteen minutes, the kiddos had it and were taken to a children's museum with their cousins by my spouse. As his luck would have it, that is when Colin arrived. Around 11:25, Colin's agent arrives at the booth and sets up the booth with Hook photos (like the one below) and discusses the flow with the Galaxy Con Volunteer. At this point, Colin's queue is three or four rows deep in front of the booth, wraps around the corner, snakes around to a larger aisle and seems to be rivalling the "headliners" that Galaxy Con heavily advertised.

Colin arrives, following quickly behind his agent and weaving through the crowd. He looks a bit overwhelmed and fairly exhausted. When he approaches there is a mix of awe and cheers and clapping, but as he settles and everyone realises that he is there, a louder cheer follows. It makes him bush. It endears him to you even further.

As he settles in, still absorbing his queue and saying apologies directed to no one in particular because he had a late flight, he looks to the Galaxy Con volunteer that will be working with him and flashes a brilliant smile, greets her warmly, and introduces himself to her. She jokes that everyone is jealous of her and has been trying to trade her jobs.

His face is complete and honest confusion when he asks her why. And, she has the fun task of explaining to Colin that he is Colin. His face turns a deeper red as he settles into his chair to start his long day of signing autographs and making memories for each person he speaks to that day.

Colin clearly takes that part of the con very seriously. He gives every fan his full attention, listening intently, graciously accepting gifts, greeting them and chatting with them so that each person is allowed their moment with him. Again, you cannot help but find yourself more endeared with him as you watch him consciously make an effort to make every single encounter special.

When I handed him the picture my daughter drew of him as Hook last year to sign, he listened so kindly to the whole story. When I was finished, he asked if he could draw her a hook when he signed. It struck me as such an incredibly sweet question. (Of course, I said "Absolutely. You can do whatever you want! She'll LOVE it.") Then, I got a selfie with him...well, after my shaking hands remembered how to operate the camera on my phone.

Photo Ops

The photo ops were incredibly quick. You got just a few seconds with him as they hurried everyone along. In that time, the time to walk up to him, look at the camera and smile, he still put forth the effort to greet and thank everyone as they passed through. It was just lovely to see the extraordinary amount of effort Colin put in to make every moment that you get with him meaningful. It is so striking against the backdrop of a convention that was clearly focused on getting as many people through as possible to capitalise on profits.

Colin Panel and Q&A

Colin's panel fills up quickly. Six minutes before the panel is slated to begin, the room is standing room only. With the SAG strike ongoing, the rules are set forth that we cannot discuss that thing he was in with the thing on his hand but we can discuss stage productions and animated series he has been in.

When Colin walks out to the stage, he is very clearly shocked at how full the room is for his panel.

The moderator starts the conversation with pretty standard questions and some general background - when did you get into acting, etc. We learn that Colin has over thirty guitars, one owned by Ringo, and an amp that Rory Gallagher (his hero, btw) used while he toured. He also dismissed the title of "musician" that the moderator used a few times, saying he was no longer a musician. When asked what his perfect day would be, he gave the answer spending time with his kids since his career means that there are periods that he goes without seeing them for a while. And while the answer is undoubtedly sweet, it also broke my heart for him.

Then, they opened the floor for questions so long as you avoided BTS questions about that thing he did with the thing on his hand. There were times that he danced around exact shows or roles and he was genuinely terrified of saying something that would get him in trouble. The moderator was very, very good at guiding him or the questions to protect him from misstepping.

Over the course of the panel, Colin may have revealed that he enjoys cooking. He stated that one of his favourite holiday traditions is cooking the Christmas Dinner (there is turkey, Brussel sprouts, Christmas pudding, amongst other things) and he likes to add a bit of prosciutto and thyme to his pineapple pizza. He has tried jellyfish- "It was weird." And, he likes pistachio and real vanilla ice cream. He must have been starving at this point (his panel was over lunch), because they gave him a blue sour candy and a green sour treat for answering that he'd be Batman if he were a superhero from comic books and the Joker if he were a supervillain and he clearly disliked the candy and still ate the second one just moments later. He didn't like it any better.

He was interesting enough to hold a two-year-old and a four-year-old captive for the entire duration of his panel. They loved seeing "Captain Hook with a Hand" in person and Caden said "Caden Hello" to him almost audibly when I made it to the microphone to ask my question. The little smile that Colin gave my kiddos when they reached the mic was the sweetest and most wonderful thing.

Quick replay:

He likes sour and salty things, crisps are one of his favourite foods.

Yes, he would support his kids if they wanted to go into the film industry. He would want to ensure they really wanted to do it though.

He is always touched to know his work has touched people or gotten them through difficult times. He loves that the show with the thing has brought people together and created a community for so many of them.

He is afraid of absolutely nothing. No fears. Except for panels, which he thinks is obvious by what he said during the panel.

He would be a black labrador x retriever cross. His character from that one thing with the leather thing would have a black labrador cross. If he had a pet mythical creature it would be Cyberus, the three-headed dog, the Hell hound. All three of the heads would be black labrador cross and it would be extremely friendly.

His mum gave him the best life advice that he has ever had. You should put 100% into everything that you do and you should always be kind.

He would be Douxie out of all his characters since Douxie has magic. "Who doesn't want to be a wizard?"

He likes to read everything, especially a good mystery like Stephen King. His favourite fantasy novel is Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.

Star Wars is his favourite film.

As a child, his favourite show was the original Ghostbuster cartoons (he had all the action figures) and Duck Tales (his kids love the reboot).

He hates the beard. But, he does have a new role and he is working on something new.

He does like to do prep work. On the one that he only had three days to prepare, he'd read the book. So, that helped him prepare. He doesn't have to prepare too much for accents because he loves accents and talks to himself in different accents all the time. (And, he did as a kid.) He thinks American comes to him easily because he consumed so much American television while growing up. He was particularly proud that a couple from Oklahoma told him his accent in the thing he only had three days to prepare for was a good Oklahoma accent.

He trusts writers have written the best ending for the shows they are writing. (This was specifically about the Tales of Arcadia series, but he answered generally and specifically.) He said it was valid to disagree with the ending or to dislike because everyone thinks things should end a certain way and that is as valid as the actual ending. He thinks that endings are particularly difficult because people don't actually like when things end.

He isn't a prankster but his friend out there in the world, Josh Dallas, is a prankster. He had a fart machine in a fictional forest that he would set off at opportune times.

NO! (playfully), he is not friends with anyone from that one thing he did. He did see Gen and Josh when he was in LA in January and keeps in close touch with Sean.

He supports Manchester United.

His scent as a candle would be pina colada.

He got to use his Irish accent in Luck and he did heighten it a bit, really leaning into it where he could. In the animation booth, you have to almost overact and overdo it so they can animate it well.

His favourite city that he has worked in/travelled to is Vancouver. It is too far away from his home, but it is where his kids were born and he loved his time there. It felt like home, but his family and real home were too far away.

He got accepted into university for special effects and such. He'd probably have ended up doing that if he wasn't acting.

And, when I asked what song he would play he was to have theme music that played in his life every time he entered a room...he told us about the time he would play INXS' "Need You Tonight" and strut out and do a very fun hip wiggle that is more effective with the leather and eyeliner. (But, he sampled it for us and it was still effective. :) )

I will treasure these memories and this experience. Thanks to all the hard work Colin put into this weekend and to his willingness to spend a weekend being entirely too hot and sweaty with us in Raleigh.

#galaxy con raleigh 2023 #colin o'donoghue #galaxy con raleigh #galaxy con

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