This past Memorial day weekend Carlos Valdes who plays Cisco Ramon on CW’s The Flash, appeared at Central Florida’s MegaCon convention in Orlando, and was not only quite personable, but filled an entire convention room, which seats hundreds of attendees, at what was only his fourth convention appearance, but his first solo convention Q&A panel.
During his panel the actor hinted at a possible Flashpoint paradox storyline emerging in future episodes of the hit super hero show as well as even indicating that his character may very well officially become the comic hero Vibe sometime in the show’s future, but what was most appealing was the actor’s affinity toward his fans along with the fans showing him quite a bit of love from the very beginning to the very end of his hour long panel.
But perhaps most the poignant moment in his panel was when a 6 year old fan named Fynnlie dressed as Groot, (who was accompanied by all of her sisters Cosplaying as The Guardians of The Galaxy), came onto the stage and let Valdes know that she had a crush on him. While the entire crowd’s heart melted upon her letting Valdes know that she was head over heals for the young actor, she then went on to ask him who he had a crush on. To which the actor leaned back and turning toward the young fan said in a very sweet yet innocent way, “I’m looking at her right now.”
With that the entire crowd uttered a heartfelt “Aaawwwww . . .” in unison as Valdes then jumped up and gave the young blushing fan a huge hug, with the crowd erupting in cheerful applause.
While this moment which Fynnlie and Valdes shared on stage was in and of itself very sweet, what he and the other fans in attendance that Saturday afternoon did not know was just how special this meeting was for Fynnlie and her family. Fynnlie you see is the youngest of 6 children and when she was just four years old, her Father died unexpectedly of a heart attack.
After loosing her father, Fynnlie, her sisters and Mom moved back to Orlando from Oregon, largely so that the family could let sunshine, theme parks, laughter and dream-seeking be the things that helped heal their broken hearts. Their father was a big super hero and Star Trek fan along with all things Geek and while the family never did the convention circuit while their Dad was alive, he did enjoy one Star Wars Celebration with the kids.
Dad did however instill in the girls a sense of wonder and a love of all things geek, and his daughters are carrying the torch and fanning the flames of Dad’s fandom even bigger. The Flash is a show Fynnlie and her family all watch together, all the while wishing Daddy was watching it with them.
As to this year’s MegaCon, Mom bought the convention tickets as a birthday present for Fynnlie’s 13 year old sister who Cosplayed as Star-Lord. But Mom had to tell the girls that she couldn’t afford any autographs, photo-ops, food or souvenirs, so it was sack lunches and Q&A’s for while at MegaCon. But knowing how much Fynnlie loved Carlos Valdes, the three older girls pooled their money together as money is a bit tight for the family, so as to buy Fynnlie a photo opportunity with Carlos, which happened on Saturday. And while that photo became her most prized possession in the whole universe, she then got to get a hug from Carlos on stage at his panel and it was for this special young fan and her amazing family, the proverbial cherry on top of the Geek filled cake.
But in truth the whole MegaCon weekend was magical, in more ways than just Fynnlie’s magical moment on stage with Carlos, as the entire family was on Cloud 9 throughout MegaCon because they know that Daddy had a hand in making sure his girls had a good time!
Article written by Tye Bourdony and Fynnlie’s Mom Jennifer.
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