The Ten Most Heart Warming Moments Of Comic-Con 2012

Cross-posted on Film.com


For all of the criticism of this years Comic-Con for being more Hollywood than ever thanks to giant spectacle and the number of parties per night giving the number of panels per day a run for their money, what the Con is truly and still continues to be about is being overlooked - the connection between fan and property or artist. This year I saw more tears than in any year before, and not a single one was shed out of sadness. While this may have on the one hand been a year of bombast, it was also the year of joy and appreciation, and we thought we'd give you a rundown of the best of those sweet moments.

Twilight Does Some Good

The last ever "Twilight" panel managed to have one second that actually for a moment made me appreciate what the franchise has perhaps done for people. A male fan who somewhat resembles Taylor Lautner, took to the mic to have a "bro moment" with Lautner, thanking him for the inspiration to get in shape, losing almost 100 pounds so far. He asked for advice on how to stay in shape and whether or not Lautner cheats on his diet, to which Lautner gave the fan genuine advice. For some reason the positivity of that moment had at least one audience member getting misty eyes (read: me)

Fans Show Some Tim Burton Love

There were multiple moments of overwhelming sweetness during the "Frankenweenie" portion of the Disney panel. First, when a giant group of fans, each dressed as a different Burton movie came to the mic to ask a question, to which Burton exclaimed, "It's like my family came to see me!" Later, a girl at the mic was asking Burton how it felt to finish a project he started working on so many years ago and burst into tears, eliciting awes from the entire hall. Burton empathized with the young fan, "I feel like you do, when I think about it, I start to cry myself."

Firefly - We're All In This Together

Nothing beats the high emotions that took place at the end of the "Firefly" reunion panel. Being in that room for the reunion trumped pretty much anything else that happened during the entire weekend. The intangible energy alone was enough to bring any passer byer (if that was possible at Comic-Con) to tears. Although a few panelists got misty eyed during their entrances (Summer Glau most notably), everyone lost it at the end. When Joss Whedon was talking about what he would have changed about the end of Firefly had he known it was getting canceled, he said "We would have learned about Book and we would have learned about Inara and for some reason that's the question that's gonna make me cry? That's okay, you know what, that is a good last question." As Joss started to tear up, the audience showered him in applause. But it goes beyond that. Jeff Jensen, before wrapping the panel up, posed this question to Whedon, "What do the fans mean to you?" Already fighting back his emotions, Whedon had a hard time mustering up the strength to answer, which immediately cause Nathan Fillion to wipe his own eyes and inspired the audience to collectively scream "We love you!!!" After a few more moments, the audience packed to the brim with 4500 people took to their feet applauding Whedon, letting him know how much he means to us. As Whedon couldn't hold it together any longer, Glau leaned over and kissed his shoulder and the whole cast stood up with the audience, applauding Whedon right along with us. Now fully in tears, along with most of the cast, Whedon gave the following speech to the crowd, who stayed on their feet for the whole conclusion of the panel,

“Only an idiot would actually try to follow that with a sentence. When you come out of a great movie…you feel like you’re in that world. Like you come out of Brazil and suddenly everything is duct piping and…buerocracy and everyone's weird and everything's too much. You know, you come out of these certain things and the world has become that. When you’re telling a story, you are trying to connect to people in a particular way. It's not just about what you want to say, It’s about inviting them into a world and the way in which you guys have inhabited this world, this universe, have made you part of it, part of the story, you are living *in* Firefly, when I see you guys, I don’t think the show is off the air, I don't think there's a show, I think that's what the world is like. I think there’s spaceships, I think there's horses, I think it's going on in all of us — the story is alive.”

A whole lot more after the jump!

Tarantino Compliments a Superfan

A young woman dressed as The Bride was the first to ask a question during the "Django Unchained" panel. Tarantino immediately said, "Hey, I like your tailor young lady!" She burst into giggles and thanked him, then got to her question - "Quentin Tarantino, this is crazy, I'm your biggest fan, a bunch of us camped out here last night to see you today - " Tarantino interrupts, "Thank you very much - you look damn hot in that Bride outfit, I gotta say." After covering her mouth in delight and jumping up and down, she responded, "That's going on my blog later" But Tarantino wasn't done making her day, as he continued to compliment the curly haired bespectacled fan - "It's like Charlize Theron is playing the Bride, you look awesome honey" The young fan thanked Tarantino and fanned her huge smile and giggling face in order to gain enough composure to ask the very intelligent question she had written down about his tendency to write strong, assertive women.

A Man of Steel Fan Gets A Hug

During the "Man of Steel" panel, a grown man couldn't keep his emotion in check as he came to the mic to ask a question. Superman means the world to him and he couldn't hide it. "I'm just so emotional right now," the fan professed as he wiped away his tears. "It's that good. Zack and Henry, you - " the fan was cut off as Hardwick ran off stage to give the man a hug to a hugely supportive audience reaction. Hardwick stood next to the fan as he asked his question, throwing him a "Come on champ, get in there!" The fan continued, "I'm one of your biggest fans, Zack, Henry, you guys just rock!" He then went on to ask about who the villain was, an answer Snyder wasn't prepared to give. Still, it was lovely to see that sort of reaction to the risky "Superman" footage from a true diehard fan.

Frodo Loves The Hobbit Too

In a truly Only at Comic-Con moment, because Elijah Wood happened to be at Comic-Con for "Wilfred", Peter Jackson and the cast of the "The Hobbit" pulled him on stage to join the panel. Seeing Frodo up there with Gandalf, Bilbo, and Gollum created a very special moment for fans, made even better when a warm Wood with a giant smile on his face spoke about his reaction to the footage,

"I was blown away, it was extraordinary. I mean the footage as well, it was so incredible, but it has these amazing emotional moments and that's I think at the heart of what Peter does in his storytelling and what Phillipa and Fran write and to see that presence in this footage, cause I'm so distant from this truly, I really went to New Zealand for a month last year for work, it's beautiful, I was made to feel emotional watching that footage and to see everyone here, it's wonderful"

Supporting this notion, this was one specific case where almost ever question asker had a story to tell first about how much the property on stage means to them.

Vampire Diaries Cast Sticks Up For The Fans

During the second question at the "Vampire Diaries" Q&A, the young lady asking a question opened with a statement directed toward Michael Trevino, "Hi, Michael, I actually don't have a question for you, I think I just wanted you to acknowledge -" and then the mic got cut out, though we could see her continue to say "my existence." , as Trevino said "your existence? I can still hear you sweetie, I can still hear you." As the camera stayed on her, we saw her argue with the person in charge, one of the cast members saying "Turn it back on, what happened" and showrunner Julie Plec saying "no censorship please", until they turned the mic back on and let her ask her question about whether we would see Katherine at all in season five. After Plec answered the question, she requested again that there be no more censorship. Michael Trevino and Ian Somerhalder agreed, "Let them ask whatever they want to ask" Trevino added "Yeah, that's why they wait in line," Somderhalder continuing, "That's the beauty of this, that's why we all flew here and they waited in line." The crowd ate it up. Well done, Vampire Diaries.

This happened too....

True Blood Says Thank You and Goodbye to Alan Ball

When a fan asked for Alexander Skarsgard's signed name card, he happily obliged even though questions like that are against the rules. He didn't have a pen so Stephen Moyer encouraged him to sign it in blood. Instead, Skarsgard licked the namecard and then found a pen, making the young fan's day. But even better, was the last moment on the panel, when Moyer thanked series creator Alan Ball, who will not be returning for season six. "One of the amazing things about Alan Ball is that he never makes you do the same thing ever again. So once he's seen you do something, he gives you something else to do, so overtime you think you've done the most amazing scene [yet], he gives you something more incredible to do. The episode that's coming up tomorrow night is an Alan Ball episode and Episode 12 is an Alan Ball episode our last Alan Ball episode and I think we should all - it would be a very fitting end to this panel to say thank you to Alan Ball for making this thing happen." Cue the standing ovation from cast and audience. Ball then responds, "Thank you guys so much, if I wasn't so old and so tired and so beat up, I would do eleventh hundred more seasons of this show because it's been the most fun I've had in my career."

Happy Birthday To A Marvel Fan

During the "Iron Man 3" panel, a fan who had turned fifteen years old that day was about to ask her question, when Robert Downey Jr asked if she would like the panelists, which included him, Kevin Feige, Don Cheadle, Shane Black and Jon Favreau to sing Happy Birthday to her. So then they did as the young girl clutched her face and couldn't wipe the smile off of her face.

The Cast of Fringe Adores One Another

As if aware that countless other panelists had been crying that weekend, when the cast of "Fringe" was asked to recount their favorite scenes from the show that didn't feature themselves, the hall was treated to a fountain of waterworks. First, Jasika Nicole (Astrid) lost it while talking about a scene from season three when it finally sinks in with Anna Torv's Olivia how much Fauxlivia infiltrated her life, admitting how much it broke her heart to watch. Torv than returned the favor, bursting into tears talking about the Astrid centric episode from season four. Not to be outdone, Lance Reddick was pouring tears talking about that same episode's closing scene with Astrid and her father. 

Three panelists in full tears and an audience doing the same, the appreciation fest turning to laughter when the brilliant John Noble added, "I too am sensitive. I loved it when Peter chopped that guy's fingers off." To top off the high emotions of the panel, the entire cast came in front of the podium and took a bow before signing off, thanking the fans for their support during their last ever Comic-Con panel.