Hereos and Villains Fan Fest (Part One)

By Anna B (@traveller15)

I attended the first Hereos and Villains Fan Fest Convention on November 21 and 22, 2015 held in San Jose, California which was attended by the nearly all the cast from of with Captain Amell in leadership, James Bamford, Stunt Co-Ordinator, Robbie Amell and Danielle Panabaker from The Flash, Lana Parrilla and Rebecca Mader from Once Upon A Time, Karen Gillan, Christina Wren and David Rapaport, Casting Director.

Stephen Amell is the founder of Hereos and Villains with James Fraizer from Walker Stalker who wanted to put a show on for Arrow.

It was a fun packed weekend with photo ops, autographs, panels, shennagains by the guests such as nerf gun shootouts by John Barrowman, Neal MdDonough, Katie Cassidy and Caity Lotz and fun things for the kids to do with bungee trampoline in which John Barrowman had a blast on, a shooting alley and a zipline. Stephen Amell had a go on the zipline as did I. Lots of fun.

The staff and volunteers made the weekend run smoothly assisting the fans and without them the convention would not have been a success.

James Bamford the stunt co-ordinator on Arrow came out with David Ramsay and Caity Lotz to show us some stunts.
Stephen Amell also had on Saturday evening Nocking Point Wine event which the guests mingled with the fans. Neal McDonough came along with his harmonica and delighted everyone.

I attended several panels the first being the Fire and Ice Panel with Robbie Amell and Danielle Panabaker from The Flash.

Some highlights are:
If Robbie was any other character on The Flash he would want to play The Flash.
The karaoke episode was Danielle singing and there will be more singing on the show in episode 2.13.
Victor Gaber is super sarcastic and witty but the warmest person to work with.
The crossover this season is bigger than last season with the Arrow as Legends of Tomorrow will be introduced.
Danielle is excited to get her powers as Killer Frost and sometimes sneaks into wardrobe just to see the costume.
Robbie is hoping that Firestorm is still alive in Earth2.
Danielle says that if Killer Frost and Firestorm were in a fight together she would win as she has a cold heart.
Robbie hated wearing the wig as homeless Firestorm.
Robbie would love to work with Stephen Amell. They just produced something together with a mate Geoff which he cannot elaborate just yet which will come out in January.
Grant Gustin bursts out into random dance routines which are very well choreographed.
If Robbie could merge with anyone as Firestorm it would be Diggle as he is a huge Diggle fan.

Some highlights from the Stephen Amell panel:

If something bad happened to Felicity, Oliver would react by confusion, desperation, complete and utter sadness and unbridled rage.
Oliver has grown over the seasons and to be able to flex his muscles.
Stephen was disappointed that they couldn’t utilize Amanda Waller and Floyd Lawton. By having the Suicide Squad episode which was a Diggle eccentric storyline meant that Stephen could have more days off. So when the other cast members have more scenes he gets the time off.
Stephen has enjoyed the Mayor campaign this season as it has been fun for Oliver to be in the public spot light.
The question looming is who was in the grave. He doesn’t know yet. When filming the scene he only had to know he had to kill him and the person in the grave was someone he cared about for the flash forward.
Someone asked how Stephen met his wife Cassandra. He watched an episode of Mad Men which she was on and then googled her. He also found her twitter account. They met at a party they both were attending and he introduced himself. Before he left she tapped him on the shoulder and gave him her number and then pregnant. Left a few things out before them.

It was asked when Damien Darhk was going to be killed. Stephen said he doesn’t know how to get a punch in yet.
No plans for the goatee for the Arrow. Stephen promised he would not be filming over the hiatus break and would grow a horrible goatee when the flashbacks are done. He loves growing a mustache.

Looking forward to Legends of Tomorrow.

If Stephen was tagged with anyone in the Arrow verse he would have Diggle as his bodyguard at Summer Slam and be evil.

Stephen doesn’t look at other media pages as he is running at his own Facebook page.

Oliver is getting close to the person that Stephen is in real life to enjoy family but Oliver is still way to serious and hopes for him to mirror Stephen more.

Arrow would win against Batman.

Colton Haynes is coming back in the red suit.

Please read Part 2 for the Amell Cousins, David Ramsay and John Barrowman panels.