Unity Days 2018: Event Recap and Everything We Learned About ‘The 100’ Season 5
The 100 fandom recently descended upon downtown Vancouver to celebrate and participate in Unity Days 2018, the second fan convention hosted by Unity Events Canada. For three days, fans and stars alike shared in their mutual excitement for the show’s upcoming fifth season, which returns to The CW on April 24th.
Even bigger than last year, Unity Days 2018 was an event absolutely brimming with love for The 100, its fans, and its cast and crew.
Here’s a recap of the event, including some of our favorite moments, lots of photos, and a few teasers for The 100 Season 5.
META PANEL
One of the very unique and amazing things about Unity Days is that they host panels not only made up of the cast, but also of crew members and press.
I was lucky enough to participate in the Meta Panel for the second year in a row. Myself, along with Brittany Rae (TellTaleTV and The Aficitionados), Robyn Jeffrey (The Afictionados), and Claire Willett and Erin Drew (Meta Station). Our panel opened the convention after registration on January 19th. The Afictionados and Meta Station both host podcasts reviewing The 100. The Afictionados discuss the show from a film, storytelling, and fan perspective, and Meta Station takes on the show from a scholarly, narrative angle.
You can check out my reviews for the past two seasons of The 100 by clicking on the show title at any point in this article or by clicking here to see all of my reviews.
On our panel, we discussed how each of us approaches reviewing The 100, our hopes for Season 5, as well as our favorite characters and story arcs over the course of the series. We covered a wide variety of perspectives, theories, and aspects of The 100.
Each of us on the Meta Panel has different favorite characters and preferences in storytelling on The 100. Hearing from people who view the show differently than yourself, often opens you up to find interest in parts of The 100 that you may not have looked twice at before.
Each character and relationship on the show is there for a reason; as Robyn Jeffrey said at our panel “that character is important to somebody.”
From Erin’s deeply moving and personal discussion on Jasper’s suicide, to a Kabby Baby surprise for Claire from infamous cosplayers Caitlin and Rogue, to Robyn’s perfectly timed wit and clever jokes about characters no one else remembers, to Brittany’s well-argued defense of underrated characters, to my unwavering love for Abby Griffin, we had a little something for everyone.
CANCER GETS LOST AUCTION
Fandom patron of kindness and positivity, Jo Garfein hosted a silent auction for her charity Cancer Gets Lost. Brimming with over a hundred The 100 themed items, including fan art, jewelry, and tons signed memorabilia, the CGL auction inspired excitement and generosity as fans bid to win their favorite pieces.
The final tally for Cancer Gets Lost’s Unity Days 2018 Auction was $11,330, making it the organization’s most successful auction yet. All of the auction proceeds go to Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. Cancer Gets Lost truly highlights how loving, giving, and kind fandom can be. As founder Jo Garfein often says “be the fan you wish to see in the world, and choose kindness.”
Events such as this really do bring out the best in fandom. You can participate in Cancer Gets Lost’s upcoming online auction beginning August 1st 2018. Follow Jo Garfein and Cancer Get’s Lost on twitter for more fandom positivity and to keep up with the 2018 auction and the items you can bid on this summer!
THE 100 SEASON 5 SPOILERS
This section contains potential spoilers for The 100 Season 5. If you’d like to avoid spoilers, go ahead and scroll down to the next section: Crew panel and prop room.
As stated, without The 100 Season 5 trailer, information about the upcoming episodes was few and far between at Unity Days this year.
The most interesting teases came on Sunday from Marie Avgeropoulos, who let us know a little more about the drastic changes that Octavia’s gone through during her time as Commander in the bunker.
Marie Avgeropoulos hinted that Octavia is much darker in Season 5 as a result of what she’s faced during the time jump. She’s changed so much that when reunited with her brother Bellamy, he has trouble swallowing the woman she’s become.
“It always gets worse before it gets better,” Avgeropoulos teased about the darkness in The 100 Season 5.
Avgeropoulos also hinted that Octavia struggles with old grudges and has a hard time letting things go, which may lead to her punishing her people in unexpected ways.
Namely, Avgeropoulos mentioned that tensions rise between Octavia and Kane with their leadership positions now reversed. She may find a way to punish him for past transgressions, such as floating her mother and keeping her locked up on The Ark, yikes!
Don’t fear too much, because Chelsey Reist says that Season 5 Octavia is one of the coolest characters she’s ever seen.
Avgeropoulos also let slip that the rumors of bunker cannibalism may be true. What exactly that entails, we have no idea, but it’s going to make for some intriguing television. Are you pro or against this plot line? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
Sachin Sahel teased that the bunker feels claustrophobic when we come back to it after the 6 year time jump. He also shared that “Season 5 is the craziest yet, it’s not even close.” He’s very excited for the new season, and he loves Jackson’s Season 5 look.
During his Sunday Meet and Greet, he told us that he’s most excited for us to see the second episode of The 100 Season 5, so keep an eye out for that one!
Chelsey Reist and Luisa D’Olivera are excited for us to see their scenes together in Season 5. I’m excited to see all the space girls interact because most of them haven’t really had time to have deep friendships or relationships with other ladies so far on the show.
Many of the characters we love have become new versions of themselves over the 6-year time jump, including Bellamy and Echo.
Tasya Teles shared that she had to change everything about the way she approaches Echo, from how her character looks at the world to the way she walks and carries herself. Bob Morley said he was surprised at first by the differences in his character, but that this version of Bellamy is his favorite so far.
The entire cast is excited for us to meet The 100 Season 5’s new characters, including the big bad McCreary, played by William Miller.
Richard Harmon said that this character is like the scary fun house mirror version of what Murphy could have been if he’d gone down a different path. Murphy’s relationships with both Bellamy and Raven are some of Richard Harmon’s favorites in Season 5.
Eliza Taylor is absolutely thrilled for The 100 Season 5 and hopes that we enjoy watching it as much as she has enjoyed being a part of it.
CREW PANEL AND PROP ROOM
This year, Unity Days hosted a Crew Panel with several members of The 100’s prop department, the people responsible for creating all of the incredible weaponry, space suits, and all the pieces that our favorite adventure squad handles that build up the world of the show.
The 100’s prop team works with absolutely amazing skill and creativity, putting so much thought and originality into each piece they create for the show, making weapons, suits, and accessories that are unique to each character that they’re made for.
Some of their favorite pieces that they’ve created so far include Raven’s Season 4 space suit, Clarke’s time jump rifle (with the names etched into the strap), Becca’s drones, Roan’s crown, and Echo’s weapons.
With them, The 100 prop department brought many of the props they’ve created for the show. Seeing the pieces we’ve seen on the show in person really makes The 100 seem even more incredible and really builds out the post-apocalyptic world.
One of the most popular items in the prop room was Clarke’s rifle, the strap of which is carved with names of people who’ve died on the show, several that Clarke herself feels responsible for, seen at the end of Season 4.
Other fan favorites included Lexa’s commander cape, Raven’s incredible (and fully functional) space suit, the flame, Lincoln’s sketchbook, the chancellor pin, and various weaponry. The props team even brought versions of the show’s weapons both for specific characters and from the conclave that fans could hold and pose with.
CAST INTERACTIONS
With The 100’s late return date in April 2018, we haven’t yet seen the trailer for Season 5, making it a little harder to garner information about the upcoming episodes than it had been the previous year. I will be sharing what we did learn about Season 5 in the Spoilers Section below.
Though they had to be fairly tight-lipped about the approaching season, The 100 cast members were absolutely incredible, kind, and caring during Unity Days. Many of the stars stayed long past when they were scheduled to leave in order to make sure every fan who purchased an autograph or photo-op got to spend a few minutes with them.
Each cast member took their time with each fan making sure that their experience was personal. Eliza Taylor spoke with deep kindness, and awareness of how important her portrayal of Clarke is to the fans with warm hugs and smiles in abundance.
Bob Morley interacted with fans with an incredible charm and wit, leaving each person he spoke with beaming. Lindsey Morgan exuded sweetness and a fantastic sense of humor, she was dedicated to making sure her fans know how much she values them.
Marie Avgeropoulos, Nadia Hilker, Zach McGowan, Sachin Sahel, Chelsey Reist, Tasya Teles, Chris Larkin, Jerod Joseph, and Jessica Harmon, each also made sure that each signature, selfie, photo-op, and meet and greet were filled with smiles, hugs, and kind words.
Every single fan that I’ve interacted with experienced a special moment with the actor or actress that plays one of their favorite characters on The 100.
Richard Harmon even stopped by on Saturday to spend time with fans, sign autographs, and take selfies purely out of the kindness of his heart. Other surprise appearances included: Tati Gabrielle, Sachin Sahel and Tasya Teles (on Saturday), William Miller, and Jordan Bolger.
FAN EXPERIENCE
One of the biggest draws to any fan convention is, of course, the cast members in attendance, but that’s not the only reason that hundreds of fans gather to celebrate their favorite shows for conventions like Unity Days.
The thing that makes Unity Days so very special and takes it a step above every other con I’ve been to is the atmosphere of love and friendship created by the fans and the staff. When coming to a Unity Events Canada convention, part of the experience is spending an entire weekend with people you love celebrating the television show that brought you together.
Online friendships are often one of the most underrated forms of friendship, but Unity Days and Unity Events Canada see their value. This convention allows you to make face to face connections with friends you’ve bonded with over the course of The 100’s first four seasons.
These relationships start with a mutual love of a television show and its incredible characters, but they quickly become so much more. I started this weekend meeting many friends for the first time, by the time they’d left the following week they had become my sisters for life. Thank you, Unity Days 2018 for bringing us all together in friendship, this is the true meaning of unity.
Finally, I’d like to send a special thank you to the wonderful team behind Unity Events Canada: Leana Santos, Miah Bannerman, Linda Suurhoff, and Shayne Bannerman. Thank you so much for creating a truly amazing and unforgettable convention. If Unity Days 2019 is on the horizon, sign me up!
—
What are you most excited to see when The 100 returns for Season 5? If you attended Unity Days, what was your favorite part? Let us know in the comments below!
The 100 returns on Tuesday, April 24th on The CW.
Follow us on Twitter @telltaleTV_
Join our The 100 fan group
Want more from Tell-Tale TV? Subscribe to our newsletter here!
Samantha Coley
Samantha (she/her) is a social media specialist by day and a sci-fi junkie by night. As a freelance writer and podcaster, she also enjoys live-tweeting, blogging, good music, and better television. Her current favorite television shows include Star Trek (yes, all of them), Riverdale, and Stranger Things and there will always be a place in her heart for Battlestar Galactica, Leverage, and The West Wing.
One thought on “Unity Days 2018: Event Recap and Everything We Learned About ‘The 100’ Season 5”
The Prop room! Entirely unexpected and what a great surprise to see some of these show relics in real life! Prop crew was great! Fun, super friendly and great to interact with to gain a different aspect of the show. Thanks for the great article wrap up!
Comments are closed.