This should be the final part of my Witchbomb memories. This is from the panels. I didn’t get to all the panels this year, because of clashes with the fan meets. And, as Her Majesty, the late Queen Elizabeth II famously once said ‘recollections may differ’. This is what I took away from the panels. These memories are not in chronological order.
Lyne and Jess were asked, ‘if they could start a cult, what would it be a cult of?’ Lyne’s answer was ‘kindness’. That was clearly something very important to her. Jess thought about it and said ‘cheese’. She loves cheese. Someone in the audience then came and gave her a Babybel cheese, which Jess proceeded to eat.
And so the cult of cheese was born. On the Sunday, Jess did a panel with Taylor and Amalia. When they arrived on stage, there was a Babybel cheese on their chairs. This is Taylor holding hers up to show the audience.
For the record, Amalia and Taylor got asked the cult question too. Amalia’s answer was a cult of chocolate. Taylor wanted a moon cult.
One question was ‘if you could dispense any liquid out of your fingers, what would it be?’ Taylor was straight in there with ‘Mayo’. Jess thought about it and then decided, she would have ‘water’. Amalia decided that she would also have water come out of her fingers, but added ‘Still water, and if you shake it…’ – she demonstrated enthusiastically – ‘you would get fizzy water’.
They were all asked ‘what actions would your character regret / what would you like to go back and not do?’ Amalia immediately answered ‘Not killing people because murdering is wrong.’ She did expand on that and add ‘not murdering innocent people’.
Jess then went into a long speech about how mistakes are part of growing and we learn from our mistakes. Yes, Tally made a lot of mistakes, but she wouldn’t want to change any of them because they made her who she was. Amalia wasn’t having any of this and when Jess came to an end, or at least a pause, Amalia was straight in with ‘Ratting Out Scylla’. She folded her arms and gave Jess THE LOOK. Jess was momentarily speechless. But that didn’t matter because Taylor followed Amalia’s lead with ‘Lying to Raelle about ratting out Scylla’. Then she folded her arms too and gave Jess another strong LOOK.
This was clearly not what Jess had expected, so she thought about it and decided that Tally was just telling her superiors what she saw with Scylla and the balloon, so she wouldn’t change that. But she did accept Taylor’s point that she shouldn’t have lied to Raelle. So yes, she would change that.
A question for Taylor and Amalia – ‘What would happen if Raelle and Scylla didn’t meet?’ Amalia’s answer was very direct, that Scylla would have stayed in the Spree and she would be dead. The audience laughed. Amalia turned to Taylor and asked what was funny. The words weren’t funny in themselves, but it was the delivery, that very emphatic ‘She Would Be Dead’, that got a response.
Jess talked about using a dialogue coach for the pilot to get the accent right. Amalia said that she used a dialogue coach too. She also said that she had trouble saying the short version of Raelle (presumably getting the accent right) so whenever that appeared in the script, she always asked if she could use the full name.
Kandyse was asked about travel advice for visiting Africa. She was very enthusiastic about visiting Botswana and was recommending it as a place she really liked.
Taylor said she would be visiting the UK later in the year for a holiday and asked people to let her know places she should visit on her holiday. There was a whole thread on Twitter (Yes, I still call it that) tagging @taylorhickson, recommending places in the UK to visit.
Amalia and Taylor were asked ‘If there was a musical episode, what song would your character sing to the other one?’ Amalia was straight in there with ‘Lunch by Billie Eilish’. Taylor and much of the audience just fell about laughing. This time Amalia didn’t need to ask why it was funny.
If anyone is not familiar with that song, you can watch it on You Tube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MB3VkzPdgLA
Billie Eilish – LUNCH (Official Music Video) (youtube.com)
Question, ‘what would be your weapon in a food fight?’ Amalia’s first answer was ‘chocolate’, then she thought about it a bit more and wanted something messy, so she chose ‘chocolate pudding’. Taylor eventually chose ‘tuna salad’.
There will be a remake of Twilight and Taylor wants a part in it.
Question, ‘What classic Disney movie would Raelle and Scylla watch together?’ Taylor’s first answer was Lady and the Tramp. Then Amalia suggested Beauty and the Beast because it was all dramatic and Scylla would like that. Taylor came back with Bug’s Life and Amalia’s reaction was an enthusiastic ‘Oh, yes’. So that seemed to settle it – Raelle and Scylla would watch Bug’s Life.
Of course someone asked them about the wedding vows, but neither Taylor nor Amalia could remember them, so a fan rushed up with her phone, which had the vows on it. So, they read the vows together. One of the things about Starfury is that their no videoing policy is cast iron, so although we got to see it, nobody was able to film it. But Amalia and Taylor did take a selfie of themselves on that phone as their thank you.
At the closing ceremony, Jess read a poem on friendship by David Whyte. The text of the poem together with some photos from the reading, can be read at:
https://x.com/AliIsBk1/status/1824491025274114350
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