(Not-)Sharon Delaney, Fan club president

Shock! Horror! Sharon Delaney, fan club president, did not get a time slot to show us slides and talk about upcoming episodes! Can it be a real convention without her? Well, yes, especially if you get the chance to tackle her in the lobby see the photos she was carrying tucked under her arm.

Big ol' spoiler warning!
There's nothing but spoilers here for the upcoming episodes. No plot giveaways, because Sharon doesn't know the plots, but lots of discussion of pretty pictures. If you don't want to see these, turn around and go back.

First and foremost: The haircut. Sharon had a couple of photographs of Gabrielle in the short 'do. Her hair's looking very blonde, very fluffed and brushed, and cut right up to around the ears. It gets cut sometime during the India episodes - some India shots had Gabrielle with long hair, some with short.

Most of Sharon's pictures were from the India episodes. Lots of major costume changes go on here - Xena and Gabrielle go way native for these episodes. Xena in a blood red robe. Gabrielle in gold beaded clothes, sitting in a lotus-like position on cushions in the middle of what looks like a temple or palace.

Picture with me three little words: full body tattoos. I know there's a name for those designs that's escaping me, but whatever it is, Gabrielle's usual skimpy attire shows that she has them across her shoulders, her stomach, her legs, the works. Xena gets them, too, completely across her back, her arms, and her hands... and Gabrielle gives them to her, using what looks for all the world like a fat magic marker. There was also a couple of shots of what looked to be Gabrielle teaching Xena some of the hand positions that you see in classic Indian meditation or religion. Very different from any of the looks we've seen before.

Drat it all, I had been content to wait patiently for the India episodes before this weekend.

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