HomeCon is exactly what the name implies: a convention hosted & attended from the comfort of your own home! The brand new online convention debuted in light of the quarantining & self-isolating happening all over the world. Because of all the individuals staying home, and to help close the gap of not meeting in person at events like comic cons, Rachel Skarsten (Batwoman, Lost Girl, Imposters) & Paul Amos (Lost Girl, Assassin’s Creed, Darken) were excited to announce the launch of HomeCon, a virtual fan convention!
Simply through last-minute word of mouth and social media, the first ever HomeCon was a huge success and brought in 34 guests representing fan favorite shows & other hit media like Lost Girl, Stranger Things, Riverdale, Assassin’s Creed, The Expanse, Batwoman, Arrow, Lucifer, and Watchmen.
Featuring over 15 one-hour long panels from April 10-11, HomeCon was not only a good time, but a way to help raise money for a good cause, too! Ten percent of the con’s proceeds went to #FirstRespondersFirst in the fight against COVID-19. The con itself was super affordable in the sense that it only cost a subscription to the HomeCon Twitch channel ($4.99 or by utilizing your 1 free Amazon Prime subscription) to access the stream/chat. And on top of that, HomeCon’s roster was offering $50 1-on-1 video chats with fans for 5 minutes, plus really cool merch being sold on their website for additional fundraising.
Hosts Rachel Skarsten & Paul Amos were never too far away during the panels and would occasionally pop in to say hi (and did anyone catch Rachel’s amazing panel-crashing during Inbar Lavi’s Lucifer panel to talk about their work on Imposters?). Paul shared that even if it’s just a “virtual” con for 2 days, it’s worth it in order to raise some money, bring everyone together, and ultimately have some fun! And though there were brief discussions on how guests have been spending their quarantine time, most of HomeCon was filled with laughs and encouraging words during these times… The Assassin’s Creed panel even joked that moderator Ming Chen was streaming from the bathroom!
All the while, the thousands of fans gathered online were pouring all the love into the chat with comments and custom-made HomeCon Twitch emotes!
I particularly enjoyed the Arrowverse panels because these CW shows have been really great! In the Batwoman segment with Rachel Skarsten (Alice/Beth) & Camrus Johnson (Luke Fox), there were some fantastic talks about the series, as well as a unanimous hope to see Batwing one day! And with even more teasers and things to come in the show, this hour-long panel really kept you on the edge of your seat with a hilarious game of “Would You Rather”… and maybe a dance off??
Meanwhile, the Arrow panel kicked it up a notch with 3 cool cast members: Ben Lewis (William), Anna Hopkins (Samantha), and Katrina Law (Nyssa al Ghul). With the recent series finale of the highly successful 8-season run, Ming Chen had some burning questions of his own to ask, as well as some fun fan “what if’s” in the chat. For a show as long-running as Arrow, it was awesome to see these guests talk about the history and legacy of Arrow with passion and, more importantly, earnest respect.
Lastly, let’s talk about the ladies from Supergirl!
Moderator Lauren Moore celebrated that so many people who can’t normally travel to cons can enjoy HomeCon and, surprisingly, it was Julie Gonzalo’s (Andrea Rojas) first con ever too! As some of the more recent additions to the show, Julie Gonzalo, Andrea Brooks, Nicole Maines, and Azie Tesfai were a lot of fun to listen to as they reminisced over set memories, hypothetical situations, and how Nicole Maines (Nia Nal/Dreamer) gets very invested & emotional over reading the scripts!
Every panel, though, truly showed that all the guests loved to be there for the fans & for each other in these unprecedented times. And many expressed disappointment that the 5 minute 1-on-1 video chats with fans were oftentimes too short! But time was of the essence for the first ever HomeCon and before we knew it, the 2-day con was already over!
These days, so many streams could get away with pre-recorded video chats, especially with all the complications of multi-user video feeds, but thankfully hosts Rachel Skarsten and Paul Amos (& co.) kept it a true live stream and tried to make the whole event as involved & participatory as possible. It was so refreshing to see the guests even react live to the incoming chats & comments! And just like any other con, you walk away with not just cool swag but also fond memories. So check out their social media to see when the next HomeCon will be plus bonus content (Paul Amos said he really hopes people hashtag the con with their at-home cosplay!).
Stay safe, everyone!
LesDudis 