Last month The Vampire Diaries fandom was all abuzz when stars Ian Somerhalder (Damon Salvatore), Nina Dobrev (Elena Gilbert), Paul Wesley (Stefan Salvatore), and Michael Trevino (Tyler Lockwood) flew down to Australia to meet and greet fans at the Hub Conventions Vampire Diaries conventions in Sydney and Melbourne. For the fans lucky enough to attend the events, it was an experience that they will never forget. For the fans all around the world unable to attend, being glued in front of their computer all weekend, obsessively refreshing Twitter, forum threads, fansites for a photo, a tweet, a snippet of information – anything to make them feel like they were physically there in the experience - was the only way of life during this time.

Forget the fact that it was the middle of Winter in Sydney - on Saturday 3rd July 2010, the temperature at Leighton Hall inside the University of New South Wales, was HOT in the presence of these young stars and their adoring fans! For the more dedicated fans, the festivities kicked off the night before at an exclusive meet and greet session with the actors, with Platinum and V.I.P. ticket holders getting the chance to know their favourite stars a little more in an intimate setting. Come the end of the night, fans (especially the lucky table of ladies that each got a kiss from the charming Ian) went to their beds dreaming sweet dreams and anticipating all the fun that would no doubt occur the next day. For the elite 17 or so Platinum ticket holders, the day would begin with breakfast with the four stars, where we discovered what vampires and werewolves really eat for breakfast – steamed vegetables such as broccoli if you’re Paul Wesley or Michael Trevino, and were witness to Ian and Paul trying out the famous Australian local spread , Vegemite! Let’s just that it’s an acquired taste and that Ian and Paul have not acquired it yet! “Rancid”, was Ian’s description of it, just to paint a clearer picture for you all!

After breakfast, it was time to join the rest of the fans waiting at the convention. Professional photo opportunities were up first and certainly didn’t disappoint! With these opportunities it can go either way – the actors are happy to pose in a photo with you but you’re not allowed to get close to them, or the actors will happily put their arms around you and hug you. Luckily for the fans this time around, it was the case of the latter and more! The actors were more than happy to chat with fans as they were getting their pictures taken and fans could opt for photos with all four cast members together, or a sexy Salvatore brothers sandwich photo with Ian and Paul, or a photo with each individual cast member. Ian in particular was a pro at the photo sessions (perhaps it comes from being a former model and all), and was happy to pose with fans bloodsucking Damon style (yep a few lucky fans have photos of the sexy Damon Salvatore ‘biting’ them, which they’ll no doubt cherish for the rest of their lives!). For others, he put his arm around them and hugged them especially close - making them feel like they were the only two people in the room. And of course Ian flashed that devilishly charming Damon-esque smirk that reduces fangirls to a puddle of goo. Long story short – photo opportunities were a worthwhile investment and consider your money well spent!

With photos out of the way, it was now time to kick off the Q&A panels. Up first was Michael Trevino! Sure Michael is better known for playing the ‘jerk’ characters such as Tyler and Ozzie from 90210 (even Michael admits “Tyler’s such an ass!”), but Michael couldn’t be any far removed from these characters and by the end of his panel, if you weren’t a fan of him before you sure were now! Michael shared a few stories from being on set like how he and the cast prank Zach Roerig, who plays Matt Donovan. Fans may remember in the Pilot episode Jeremy (played by Steven R. McQueen) calls Tyler a “douchewheel” (by the way even Michael remarked who calls people ‘douchewheel’ these days?), so Michael and the rest of the cast thought it would be funny if they programmed “douchewheel” into Zach’s phone. Since everyone was in on it, every time Zach noticed and changed it, someone else would change it back! According to Michael, this went on for awhile. Poor Zach!

Another funny incident involving Michael and Zach occurred while filming the episode “Under Control” and the scene where Matt has just caught Tyler kissing his mother and the guys start brawling. At one point, Tyler is hovering over Matt, who’s on the ground, but the pavement was slick and Michael lost his balance and his knee came down and landed on poor Zach right where it hurts! Michael’s description of the incident as “going down on Zach” had the room in hysterics. Whoops!

Another highlight from Michael’s Sydney Q&A panel was when he was asked by a fan which was cooler – ninjas or pirates. Michael declared ninjas and when he discovered that the questioner preferred pirates, Michael presented a hilarious but valid argument about why ninjas rule, much to the amusement of the audience! When he was informed that there is apparently a ninja school in Sydney, he said he’d make a note to check it out next time he’s in town. Yes, this guy sure loves his ninjas!

On a more serious note, Michael is looking forward to seeing the character of Tyler becoming more developed in season two and instead of playing Tyler as an ass, he’d like to see more backstory to show why Tyler is the way he is. Michael also referred to his time on 90210, where he played mean guy Ozzie and was disappointed that the writers lost their way when trying to write his character, but said he had fun with the cast. He described Annalynne McCord, who plays Naomi - who was romantically linked with Ozzie for a little while - as “a ball of energy” and “crazy fun”.

Back to TVD, Michael wouldn’t mind seeing a bit of Lockwood history in the Katherine era flashbacks. Nonetheless, season two will be a big season for both Tyler and Michael, with the arrival of Tyler’s uncle Mason Lockwood, who will no doubt be there to help Tyler through the new changes he’ll be going through. When asked about love interests, Michael said he’s been checking out the buzz online and is open to a Bonnie/Tyler pairing. When asked the inevitable question when it comes to TVD – Team Damon or Team Stefan, Michael’s Team Damon! Funnily enough, did you know that Michael auditioned for not only the role of Damon, but also Stefan, before he finally landed the role of Tyler?

TVD aside and getting to know Michael away from his TVD character, Michael was sporting a Daft Punk ‘Alive’ T-Shirt that day, which is from their 2007 concert – a favourite of Michael’s, who is a huge fan! If he wasn’t an actor, he would be a marine biologist – just so he could do dolphin shows at Sea World! Michael also loves True Blood, Modern Family, and Dexter and would love to guest star on Dexter! Speaking of other roles, he did a film with John Cusack called The Factory a little while back and is still waiting for it to be released, so if you want to see more of Michael, keep your fingers crossed for that!

Check out the winning fanvid used at the conventions to introduce Michael:

After a break for lunch and the auctioning of some very cool TVD gear, it was panel time again and next up was the young woman girls want to be and all the guys want – the gorgeous Nina Dobrev! Fans were amazed by how petite she is up close and personal and just how bubbly and beautiful she is in real life – photos don’t do her justice! And who didn’t love the stylish ensemble she had on that day – her awesome shoes, she picked up from Top Shop in London, but admitted that they take a little while getting used to and wearing. (After all, check out those heels! Phew!) The pants she was wearing that were like leggings were from a photo shoot she did, where she fell in love with them and so they gave her a pair. And while on the subject of fashion, she loves dressing up in the corsets for the Katherine flashback scenes because they’re so gorgeous, but getting into them isn’t that much fun either!

Funnily enough, one of Nina’s most embarrassing moments on set can be blamed on her period piece costumes. In one of the flashback scenes, you may recall Katherine running around with a football, playing with a young and human Damon and Stefan – not an easy feat in a dress that’s for sure! Nina was running backwards when she tripped on her dress and fell flat on her back! Everyone was too busy laughing to help her up – even Paul and Ian! Shame on you boys! Luckily, Nina’s a good sport and saw that it was pretty funny too!

The flashbacks are one of Nina’s favourite scenes to film, not just because of the costumes but also because playing Katherine means that Nina gets her share of biting people too! She admitted to being envious of Ian/Damon because he got to go around biting people. When asked if she were a vampire in real life, would she take the Stefan route and feed on animals or follow the Damon method and feed on people, Nina joked “How do you know I’m not a vampire and about to lock this whole place down?”, referring to the auditorium filled with fans attending her panel.

Just like the fans, Nina can’t wait for season two of TVD and is looking forward to seeing Katherine messing with everyone! While she may look sweet and tiny, don’t underestimate Nina – she loves the awesome action scenes and stunts she gets to do on the show and would one day love to do an Angelina Jolie/Lara Croft Tomb Raider, female warrior type role! Coming from a musical and dancing background (if you’re a Nina fan who hasn’t seen American Mall, you MUST!), and being a huge fan of the show, Nina would also love to guest star on Glee! She mentioned meeting the cast at an event and found it funny that they all watch TVD, since Glee is the water cooler conversation on the TVD set! Nina on Glee? We would totally support that!

Prior to the convention, Nina arrived in Australia two weeks earlier so she could travel the country and explore a bit. If you follow her on Twitter, then you’d know that she went scuba diving around the Great Barrier Reef and was amazed by all the beautiful creatures up there, and that she also cuddled a koala and spooned a kangaroo! So seeing as she’d been there for a short while, it was time to test out her accent (since we know Nina does a mean British accent!). For the record, her attempt at the Aussie accent wasn’t too bad – a lot better than Paul’s that’s for sure! – but she did promise the next time she comes back, she’ll have perfected it. We’re holding you to that Nina!

Other little tibits about Nina – she loves the music on the show, particularly in the Pilot and loves “Never Say Never”, by The Fray. She’s a Simpsons fan and Bart’s her favourite character because there’s something about the bad boy. When it came to whether she preferred bad boys on her own show, Nina coyly said she was Team Defan – the other brother. But she did share a little story about meeting Paul and how she wanted him as her co-star. When it came to casting the role of Stefan, they had about 20 guys in the room to test-read with Nina, all of them were being friendly to Nina except for Paul, who was in a corner ignoring her, and thus Nina was intrigued by him.

Check out the winning fanvid used at the conventions to introduce Nina:

I don’t know about you guys, but after this event, this fangirl has decided to join Nina at the Team Defan camp! Prior to the convention, I was all Team Damon – and don’t get me wrong, I still love Damon, especially after meeting the cheeky and charming Ian, but after getting to know Paul a little better and getting more insight into Stefan, I’m not sure I even WANT to pick between the two! Maybe it’s from all the tortured and brooding characters he’s played over the years, but I have to say Paul Wesley was not what I expected – and I mean that in the most nicest way possible! Sure I thought Paul’s probably a great guy with a bit of mystery to him before, but having watched him over the weekend joking around with fans and charming them so much that he had the fangirls eating out of the palm of his hand, it was pleasantly surprising to have him supersede all prior expectations of him! There were so many highlights from his panel that it’s hard to pick where to begin!

Prior to the convention, the convention’s organisers – The Hub Productions in conjunction with Vampire-Diaries.net, ran a fanvid competition, inviting fans to create an introduction video for each of the stars to play before they made their entry. The lucky winners for each star’s intro would win an awesome TVD prize pack, and the actors would be given a DVD with a copy of the fanvid! Paul’s one in particular was a hit with not just the crowd but Paul himself! Unaware of the competition, Paul wanted a copy of the video and was really pleased to find out he’d get a copy of it anyway!

Check out the winning fanvid used at the conventions to introduce Paul:

Throughout the whole weekend, fans saw just how genuinely Paul adores his fans and fellow cast members. When asked who would win in a fight between Stefan and Damon, Paul replied that Stefan would kick Damon’s ass, declaring that Damon was all bark and no bite, likening him to a Chihuahua! (Funnily enough, Paul originally auditioned for the role of Damon!) If there’s one thing that can be said about Paul Wesley, is that he is a many faceted man. One minute he’ll have the audience in hysterics with his smart alec digs at Ian Somerhalder and Damon Salvatore, and the next minute he’s reduced the predominantly fangirl audience to a sighing mess. Said signing mess occurred as Paul explained his motivations behind not kissing up to Nina Dobrev unlike the other 19 Stefan Salvatore wannabes during the screen test process. When Stefan and Elena meet properly for the first time in the cemetery, Paul interpreted it as a magical moment between two people who have never met before, so he purposely stayed away from Nina during in order to capture that moment perfectly. Awww!

Paul’s charm that wormed its way into a room full of fangirls’ hearts continued when he declared that he “loves all his crazy fangirls”. When asked what vampire power he’d like to have in real life Paul replied that he’d like to have mind manipulation, before adding so he could make all the fangirls in the room continually flatter him. But by the time he was asked if he could pick five people to take on a desert island and he replied a comedian, a family member or two or three, and some fangirls, we’re pretty sure he had all the fangirls under his spell and wouldn’t need to use mind manipulation! More laughter was triggered by Paul when he was asked how does he prepare himself to play a 162 year old vampire. He replied, “I picture myself in adult diapers.”

Paul may have started the show as the good vampire, but he was pleased that we got to see a darker side to Stefan as the show went on, and admits that this was something he pushed for. He felt that there was a lot of pressure on Stefan to always do the right thing that his darker side was a nice change and a lot of fun. But don’t get him wrong – while he enjoyed playing bad for awhile, it’s not something he would want to do all the time. Considering that Paul plays the brooding vampire hero, and he previously played a werewolf in Wolf Lake, the Twilight questions were bound to pop up. But Paul took it all in his stride and said that the two were different and that he actually hasn’t seen any of the Twilight films. He also kept referring to Taylor Lautner as “the 18 year old with 16 abs”.

Other snippets about Paul - if he wasn’t an actor, he’d either be a toothless hockey player or a really bad investigative journalist – because he thinks it looks like fun but that he’d be terrible at it! He may have only been in Australia for about 48hours and not seen much apart from his hotel room and a tour of the Opera House (he was going to go climb the Harbor Bridge with Michael Trevino the day before, but according to Michael, Paul wimped out because it was too cold and windy...), but he did discover Australia’s great chocolate biscuit specialty – Tim Tams and totally fell in love with them, as most visitors to Australia do! Because he had only been in Australia for about 48 hours, we forgive him for his sad attempt at the Australian accent, which sounded a lot like the British accent!

Paul currently has a tattoo on his shoulder – it’s of a rose done by a cool Japanese artist and actually replaced a tattoo that Paul had done with some buddies when he was 16 and outgrew. Other topics that Paul touched upon during his talk was his guest stint on The O.C. and he revealed that he considers Ben McKenzie (who plays Ryan Atwood), one of his best friends. Paul’s dream role would be Holden Caulfield from Catcher in the Rye and Paul shared a story with fans about how he was on a trip to London with his parents when he first read it and was so engrossed with the book that he missed a lot of the sight-seeing while over there!

Rounding up Paul’s panel was the t-shirt auction. Basically what happens is that Paul is given a T-shirt that he then puts on over his shirt (sorry ladies, no shirtless Paul here, but hey it touches him and there might be a bit of Wesley sweat on it!) and then draws all over it, and then it’s auctioned off to the highest bidder and ALL proceeds go to the Starlight Children’s Foundation – a charity that helps ill children. So first Paul tried drawing on the shirt while he was wearing it and wrote on it “I Love My Abs”, then realising how difficult it is to draw on a shirt while wearing it, he took it off and laid it against the ground.

The man is very dedicated and focused – we’ll give him that! His concentration as he drew on the shirt was adorable! Paul tried to draw a replica of his tattoo, and kept lifting up his shirt sleeve so he could get it as close as possible. Oh Paul, we love you and your T-Shirt covered in adorkable drawings! In the end, the shirt was auctioned off for AU$1000 and Paul personalised it and came into the audience to personally thank the winner, leaving fangirls in the room sighing dreamily and enviously wishing it was them!

Last but not least was the devilishly handsome, and equal amount of charm to match – Mr Ian Somerhalder, rockin’ his fedora! Once Ian made his way on stage, a flock of fangirls of all ages raced to the front rows to get a closer look. The welcoming applause was drowned out by the screams of starstruck fangirls, and the room lit up with hundreds of camera flashes going off all at once! It was like a rockstar was in our presence.

Check out the winning fanvid used at the conventions to introduce Ian:

Like his onscreen brother before him, Ian is quite the charmer and had a lot of fun joking around with the audience and poking fun at his fellow cast members. “Don’t believe anything Paul says!” Ian declared, but then surprisingly agreed with Paul’s answer to the question of who would win in a fight between Stefan and Damon. But for the record, only because Ian thinks Stefan would have so much pent up anger at Damon, that it’s like when a child is bullied so much that he finally snaps and cries and just lets loose. However, Ian did add that “Paul would kick my ass, but we would kick the Twilight guys’ asses,” much to the audience’s delight!

When asked what hobbies he had, Ian replied “Trying to be as cool as Paul Wesley. It’s a long road ahead of me,” sending the audience once again into hysterics. But more seriously, Ian has declared that “This year is going to be my guitar year,” but did admit that he’s been trying to learn for about the past 10 years! Ian also enjoys fly fishing and showed his intelligent side as he explained to the audience that it doesn’t actually hurt the fish because they don’t have nerve endings in their mouths. ‘Professor Somerhalder’ certainly has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?

Something that’s particularly intriguing about Ian and definitely interesting to witness in person, is just how passionate he is about the show and invested he is with his character and the storylines. He pitched AC/DC’s “Back in Black” as Katharine and Damon’s song, and thinks that when Damon finds out that it was Katherine he was kissing not Elena in the season finale, “he’s probably not going to be very happy”. He also remarked about Damon “He’s so frickin’ hopelessly in love,”, and had an insightful perspective on the psychology behind Damon and his love for Katherine and attraction to Elena. Ian believes that Damon is somewhat a naive 23 year old, and it’s pathetic when you think about it because he’s crushing on this girl for the past 150 or so years and it’s clear she doesn’t care for him the way he cares for her. So imagine holding onto that crush for 150 plus years and all those feelings and then you meet this girl who looks exactly like her, no doubt you’ll transfer some of those feelings onto her.

Speaking of Elena and Damon, when asked how did he and Nina get their chemistry for the dance scene in “Miss Mystic Falls”, Ian cheekily replied “I slipped her these prescription drugs...” Oh ever the bad boy! (Kidding!) But hey, speaking of the bad boy, Damon is a role that Ian LOVES playing and he too can’t wait to see Damon go back to being all bad ass again next season, as he wasn’t too impressed to see him go a bit soft. He described Damon as being a cross between Mick Jagger and Cary Grant and looks like Marlon Brando. Ian also said that he would love to meet Cary Grant because of his connection to Katharine Hepburn.

Other things Ian talked about was his time on Lost – both TVD and Lost were monumental experiences for him, but unlike Damon, Boone his character on Lost, never really had time to have fun, and Ian said “On this show, if we had any more fun it would probably be a crime.” Looks like he’s over losing out on the role of Jason Stackhouse to Ryan Kwanten on True Blood. Yep, Ian auditioned for True Blood and was disappointed that he blew his audition, but hey we’re glad he did because he was born to play Damon Salvatore! And it seems like Damon’s desire to have fun in life has rubbed off on Ian, who admits when he was younger and just starting out in the industry, he was a lot more serious and very into philosophy, but now he’s all about having fun.

Have you ever seen a man attempt to trace his own abs while wearing a t-shirt before? Let me tell you it is a hilarious sight, and even more hilarious when it’s someone as good looking as Ian Somerhalder! Bidding for Ian’s shirt started off a bit slow in comparison to Paul’s, and Ian noticed, joking with fans to raise their bids because there was no way Paul Wesley was going to beat him! Plus it was all going to a good cause for charity anyway. Just when it looked like Ian might just match Paul’s $1000, the bid was then jumped up to AU$1500! Ian was genuinely touched and blew kisses to the winning bidder’s way. He added a personal message before making his way to the audience to hug and kiss the winner multiple times. Cue fangirls sighs here.

The auction ended Ian’s panel on a high and the atmosphere in the room was just a joy. It was then time for the autograph session, and a last chance for fans to have some quick one on one time with the actors. Before you knew it, the convention was over and the stars headed off to the airport to fly to Melbourne to do it all again the next day. All I can say is Ian, Nina, Paul, and Michael – you guys were so amazing up close and personal and so incredibly gracious with your time and you’ll be welcome back Down Under anytime! And I’m sure all those in attendance with me that day will agree!

Check out Ang’s photos from the event:

Check out Ang’s previous fangirl experiences:
Meeting the cast of Glee
Meeting the guys from Supernatural
Hanging out the guys from Veronica Mars

Related Fansites For more on the cast of the Vampire Diaries, check out these great fansites: Ian Fan Nina Dobrev Network Vampire Diaries Web Vampire Diaries Source Vampire-Diaries.Net Vampire Diaries Online Ian Somerhalder Network Blood Falls (Vampire Diaries Fansite)