Charlie Cox experience at Philly Fan Expo 2023
So LET”S TALK ABOUT ME MEETING CHARLIE. I’m actually going to make two posts - this one just about my experiences with Charlie, because they were incredibly meaningful and deserve their own post, and then another one about the rest of the con!
I’m going to talk about Charlie first, because of how amazing the experience was, one of the best I’ve had, especially at the autograph table. I’ve done photos, gotten autographs and such before from other celebs - from niche voice actors I loved to people like David Tennant - but this felt Really Really Big. Obviously, I was nervous as all hell because holy shit Charlie Cox, my favorite actor whose work altered the course of my life. I won’t lie - I’d been practicing what to say to him in case I freaked out, but I’m happy to say that everyone who reassured me it would go great, because he was so, so genuine and kind, were right.
The photo op happened first (and thank you to everyone on tumblr guiding me where to go, cause I was LOST about where that was happening), and that went fast. By that point in the con hall, I’d already ditched my Jessica Jones jacket and gloves cause holy shit it’s hot and I am a creature of snow and ice, and my hair was a mess, but honestly I didn’t care, cause there he is. You don’t get long, but he made the most of it and he was SO sweet. Ya’ll, he asked my name, said my name as he shook my hand, and called me ‘my dear’ in that beautiful voice.
I was literally on the moon, but it was time for the big question:
Will he hold the red thread from TRT?
So in a quiet, nervous, soft author voice, I asked, ‘would you be ok with holding this end of the thread?’
HE FUCKING DID.
HE HELD IT.
HE HELD. THE. RED. THREAD.
I’m fairly certain he doesn’t know about the fic at this point - he wasn’t sure where to hold it until I told him, but he loved that it lit up! AND THEN HE PUT HIS ARM AROUND ME AND I GOT TO PUT MY ARM AROUND HIM BACK.
I’m fairly certain I’m dead in the photo. My soul had left my body. I had ascended. I saw Jesus and he looked like Charlie. I had achieved fic author heights never imagined. My brain filled with enough serotonin and dopamine to sink a ship. I didn’t care that I was hot and sweaty or that my hair was messy or that my cosplay didn’t work out like I’d planned. I had been blessed.
also look at that forearm holy shit
I floated outta that gd room ya’ll. I’m pretty sure @wonderlandmind4 did the same. WE FROLICKED OUT OF THAT HALL LIKE
But things got even better at the autograph table, and I had one of the most touching experiences ever.
not me tearing up thinking about it.
That line was long, but I kept getting glimpses of him and I could already tell he was enjoying interacting with people, and he was making sure everyone got their bit of time with him instead of letting anyone rush people through. He was so happy looking, laughing and grinning, high fives and fist bumps for kids, chatting with fans. Which made me feel a little more confident.
I know some people wondered if I’d tell him about TRT, and I’d already decided I wasn’t going to. Instead, I really, really wanted just a second to tell him what his work as Daredevil had meant for me, as someone who became disabled around the same time Matt did as a kid, and who related to... a lot of what Matt went through in the show. I’d practiced it over and over again, and there was only a fifty percent chance I wouldn’t start crying while telling him, and I wasn’t even sure I’d have time to tell him depending on how much time we had.
He made time.
I got up to him with my art print holy shit he’s even more beautiful in person and his eyes are STUNNING. He said hi, and asked my name so he could personalize the autograph if I wanted (DUH, YES PLEASE), and he apologized about the line after we shook hands. I jokingly told him it was fine since I’d driven hours to get here. A little time in line wasn’t a bother. He even loved one of the buttons on my lanyard - the button of Matt wearing a heart crown specifically! And as he was writing, I knew this was my chance to tell him. He was still signing, so I just decided to go for it in case I ran out of time.
“I just wanted to tell you,” I said quietly, “as someone who became disabled as a kid around the same age as Matt did—”
And then he did something I didn’t expect, something I’d rarely seen anyone do, famous or not, and something I’d never had an actor or artist do for me.
He immediately set down the pen, leaned in close over the table, and made direct eye contact, while giving me the most genuine, gentle, encouraging smile I’d ever seen.
In that moment, I knew everything in him was listening, that he cared about what I was about to say and recognized that this was important to me, and that he’d closed the distance to make this conversation just... us. It felt personal in a way I’ve never experienced at a con or signing.
Just like that, I wasn’t afraid to tell him what I’d wanted to.
“And as someone who related to... a lot of what Matt went through, his struggles in the show, and especially the dark parts of season 3,” I said, more confidently now, “I wanted you to know that all the work you put in, the way you played it, the way you played Matt and treated it seriously, seeing that helped me process and heal from a lot of my own trauma and pain over what I’ve gone through with my illnesses. What you did was important and it really helped me. So I wanted you to know that, how much that meant to me, and to say thank you.”
The whole time I spoke to him, he kept direct eye contact, and didn’t look away once. He didn’t get antsy, or look like he wanted me to hurry up (which I’d have understood, cause damn, these are long days for him). He listened, fully engaged and leaning in, his eyes warm and soft and kind but incredibly serious. I’m not sure how often he’s been told something like this—a lot, I expect; his portrayal was just that good, and I know it was important to a lot of fans—but what I was trying to tell him clearly meant something to him. I felt heard, seen, and understood.
Charlie really does care about his fans. It isn’t an act. I’m sure of it now.
“Thank you, truly,” he said, just as quietly but with that honest smile, eye crinkles and all, and seeing it in person, that close up, I swear the room felt ten times brighter. “Thank you for coming to tell me that. It means a lot, the idea that something I did meant so much and that it could help you. I’m so grateful that you were able to come visit and tell me.”
We shook hands after that. He wished me a good day and I told him thank you again, and that was that. The interaction only lasted maybe a minute, but it meant the absolute world to me, as did what he’s done as Daredevil. And now he knows that.
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you know now im thinking of a lot of implications. why do the new peace era machines still run on blood? is it because after 200 years of war, the most advanced technology humanity has is so firmly rooted in persistent violence? how does v2 get its fuel, how do the streetcleaners get theirs, how do the terminals, even, if we choose to believe they are also blood-powered machinery? are there blood donations by people willing to give? or is it taken by force like their earliest predecessors? is it all so deeply entrenched in a culture of violent conflict that humanity couldnt even begin to find alternatives?
YEA YEA REAL......i really love how much information we got about the war in this update, and its implications really are. insane. I KNOW IT'S ALL BEEN TALKED ABOUT BUT. i'd have to think humanity truly is just too deep into this technology to change it, particularly with how fast they seemed to have needed to force the new peace. like i keep thinking about this massive timeline that has consumed humanity for generations...how it was 200 years. v1's final firmware update was in 2112, the guttermen fought in trenches, and the earthmovers, massive beings with an incomprehensible amount of technological advance, were its end. that's mindbending when you try to conceptualize just what a people would be like by the end of it. i know this takes place in an alternative timeline, but this war has been humanity. it began in TRENCHES and ended in machines capable of leveling a city in a single blow, machines the blotted out the sun with their rampant destruction. i've thought about this idea with the new peace for a long time, but it's becoming more and more likely that this peace is built on blood just the same. it's 200 years. it's all the technology they have. and their world is dependent on machines (i'm almost beginning to think their industrial revolution, if there is an equivalent here, was robot-based), they can know no other way forward. unfortunately for them, it was tech all based in centuries of war and so it must carry forward. the new peace was a veneer imo large-scale atrocities ended because they had to, because people could live only on the earthmovers, and they were dying. but blood was still needed, just like when the guttermen were made, and i'm increasingly sure it was harvested just as unethically. anyone that proved any kind of "threat" to the peace could be used in this capacity with little push back- civilians this embattled, desperate for security yet now inherently bloodthirsty (hah), would be easily against those deemed malcontents. so the machines go on, powered as they always were...i just have to wonder what finally did them all in
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Out of all the ships, which would you say are the most heavily implied in-game?
generally i have a rule of no shipping on this blog and will ignore any asks i get about it but you know what i'll do this one because idk sounds fun. and also if it's canon i get free pass.
the thing you have to remember is that this is an idol game. idol games/franchises like love live/bandori/enstars etc are known for ship baiting to hell and back but never actually doing anything about it because, well, money. even though they'll tease at lots of ships because that way you make more fans happy the writers often have more obvious favorites (sometimes if one that they don't really write becomes popular within fandom they'll add it in as well), and this is definitely the case with project sekai. will they ever make any characters be official couples? i dunno, but it's unlikely unless they decide to pull a D4DJ (that said prsk isn't subtle about the fact that Mizuki is trans and they did address that gay people exist that one time, so there's always a chance). anyway
it's explicitly stated in the text that An views the events of Buddy Funny Spend Time as romantic. In her Peak Excitement card story she calls it a date and the way that she, her dad and Mizuki talk about it is in a not-platonic way. Out of the four from that event though, she is the only one who seems to view it as an actual date. So she's canonically romantically interested in Kohane. Oh and Kohane is attracted to her and is very heavily implied to reciprocate if the An wedding event wasn't obvious enough about it.
also i wrote this that one time
other than that there's definitely some other instances of characters showing attraction to each other, and some things that are very much written to have romantic undertones that fans can interpret in that way if they choose to, and also the use of daisuki on like 6 ships (which is the idol game's favorite word for love because it's more ambiguous), and some cover songs that are explicitly romantic but then again you can do the "it's just a song" excuse. the above two examples are the most explicitly stated ships though. at the end of the day at least we technically have two canon ships even if it's only confirmed in the text from one side and they aren't dating because as long as the feelings are there that's really what counts as canon, right? like who cares if they're dating it's incredibly unlikely that the game will ever do that so it's not really worth arguing over which ones are more likely to date.
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Does your AU have a renet
Because I’m kinda thinking ronin was the first time she met the turtle
So like when she met him and the others while they were younger she just stared at Mikey for a while trying to figure out who the others were and why Mikey wasn’t covered in scars
She does! That's a neat idea! In the AU it wasn't like that though!
Renet used to be good friends of the turtles, but she disappeared from their lives completely some time around before the peace treaty.
The brothers actually had no idea why she went absolutely awol but Mikey reassured them it was alright and they didn't ask again. After all, the time apprentice didn't exist by their concept of time and used to come and go, sometimes not visiting them for Long periods of time.
Renet actually had a talk with Mikey before disappearing completely from their lives and Mikey wouldn't understand why until later, when everything started going to hell.
She told him that she was sorry and that there was nothing she could do to change the future. That it had to continue it's course.
Mikey didn't get it at the time.
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