BotCon 2000

July 28-30, 2000
Grand Wayne Center
Fort Wayne, Indiana

BotCon 2000 - Daniel "Suspy" Suh

Wow.

Whoa.

Cool.

Those are the three words that best describe my very first Botcon. It almost feels like a wonderful dream, and yet it was a dream that came true. I shall proceed to describe my experience in vivid detail, or rather, as vividly as my memory permits.

Friday

I'd left home the day before and driven to Peterborough, where I would spend the night at my friend and fellow Botcon attendee Fletch's apartment. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of turning down his offer to sleep in his bed, insisting that I'd be alright with the floor and a sleeping bag. I hadn't slept in a sleeping bag since summer camp many, many years ago, so I'd forgotten how @#$%ing uncomfortable it was! I literally did not sleep a wink. Not one. Nor did it help when I tried moving to his very narrow, very oddly shaped couch. Even more uncomfortable than the floor, it was. Gah. Nevertheless, I got up at 5AM sharp, took a hot shower, downed some coffee (which I hate), and packed the car. Fletch awoke from an apparently bad sleep as well, and we were off. Anticipation and caffeine are an optimal combination for driving on no sleep.

The traffic along the 401 in Ontario and I-69 in the States wasn't bad. Not bad at all. The only delays were when we came across some very extensive construction in Indiana, which took us quite a while to get through. The weather was also very strange. We encountered about every condition save for hail and snow: fog, heavy rain, searing heat, sunny blue skies, black clouds, the whole kaboodle. At some point, I called Black Zarak to say hello. It was both strange and neat to hear his voice, having only communicated with him previously through email. A taste of things to come. We arrived in Fort Wayne around 2:30 PM, much earlier than we'd expected. With the help of the directions provided with our registration material, we made it to the Holiday Inn without difficulty. I'd told our roommate Gordon that we'd meet him in the lobby at 4:30PM, and he wasn't in his room when we arrived--obviously over at the convention. So we headed over there, me half walking, half running. Prepare. Prepare...

The first thing I noticed upon entering the Hilton was the large mass of people milling about. Transfans, no doubt. We were directed over to pre-registration, which had been carefully organised according to registration number. The badges were nicely designed, with a picture of Jetstorm, but the first thing I noticed was that they'd misspelled my name.Instead of "Daniel M. Suh," I got "Daniel M. Sub." Arrrgh. At least they got my ATT name right. We also received a booklet containing a schedule of events, guest star bios, a BW poster modelled after the TFTM poster, and a complete list of preregistrants. Funny, they spelled my name correctly in the list. Sheesh. We then headed back to the lobby, where I immediately recognised a number of the people from wiigii and ATT. Walky, Rob Powers, Windchaser, Trixter, Doug Dlin, Phil Zeman, etc. I suddenly felt very shy. After all, these are veteran Botconers I'm dealing with, a very close-knit group of people. Sounding like an idiot (at least IMO), I squeaked "Is anyone here from ATT?" Introductions went rather smoothly, I think. Hooper X glared at me in a strange way, which I'll assume was meant to be friendly. I found that the easiest way to relax was to talk about toys, pointing out certain features on Beast Mutant Soundwave for example. Some guy (darn, what's his name) had Mechatron, and it looks pretty cool. But why, oh why, does it only accommodate Basics and Deluxes?

The person whom I really wanted to meet was Nightwind. I had her Japanese Tigatron all ready for her. But for some odd reason, while I'd been able to call her cell phone from my car phone earlier, I couldn't get through using any of the hotel phones. And she wasn't registered under her own name, so I was kind of screwed. I figured that the best thing to do was to wait around and hope that eventually she'd get sick of waiting for me to call and come down to the lobby herself.

Finally, I saw a red-haired woman wearing a black T-shirt with "Nightwind" printed on it. Yay! She recognised me immediately as well, thanks to my "Sue" T-shirt. We greeted each other, and I handed Tigatron over to her. She showed me a picture of her little daughter Maya. What a cutie pie. Give her fifteen more years, and Nightwind'll be beating off those boys with a log. Heh. She also introduced me to her roommates, Judy and Mike.

Men in Black Collectibles had set up their shop in a room on the second floor, some distance from the video room. Why they did, I have no idea. I heard rumours that they were barred from the convention room, but quite frankly, I didn't care what the reasons were. I snapped up a MIB Sky Shadow at retail price, yay! Some of their others prices were not nearly as reasonable though. $250 for a boxed Sky Lynx or Omega Supreme. No thank you. Mike and Judy each purchased loose Shockwaves, one purple and one gray. I tried to demonstrate its flimsiness in laser cannon mode by assuming a John Wayne stance and whipping it out quickly, but the gray barrel piece went flying off and almost hit Nightwind in the face. Oops! Fortunately, we all took it in good humour. I also pondered whether old Dotface--I mean Shockwave, had ever kissed a girl. What with having no mouth and all. Maybe that's why he hates the female Autobots so much? I also overheard someone mentioning that Spqqky had a figure called Apelinq up on eBay. Apelinq? Who the heck was that? I already knew that Shokaract was a recoloured Rampage, but I'd assumed, as had most other attendees, that the other exclusive would be Cataclysm, a recoloured TM Cheetor. Hmmmm . . .

Fletch and I left the Grand Wayne around 4:15 PM to meet Gordon. He was waiting in the lobby of the Holiday Inn when we arrived, and we hit it off right away. I found him to be quite like he was in his emails to me; open, friendly, knowledgeable, and a little younger than I'd thought he was. Our room turned out to be fairly nice as far as hotels go, with a good-sized bathroom and comfortable beds. Gordon was attending the Botcon dinner, but Fletch and I would have to fend for ourselves. I ended up getting McDonald's, while he chose Subway. On that note, the McDonald's in Fort Wayne was pretty lousy, with rude staff and dingy tables and floors. After dinner, we returned to the video rooms and watched various G1 eps. Robobase was outside the video room with a big box of loose figures and spare parts for trade. Having written several reviews for his site, I went and struck up a conversation with him. Nice guy. I also learned that some G1 figures are really unimpressive, at least compared to BW and BM. And finally, I came to the conclusion that Override is Thrust's great granddaddy.

Around ten, people started returning from the dinner. But what was this? There was no Cataclysm! No, it had all been a Machiavellian scheme concocted by the devious 3H! Instead of a purple, green, and black Cheetor, there was a gray, black, maroon, and vac metal silver TM Optimus Primal, Apelinq, packaged under the BM logo. The gorilla mode looked very garish, IMO, but the robot mode pics seemed more promising. Shokaract's G1 style box was nice, but I still think that Antagony and Sandstorm had better packaging by far.

We met up with Gordon again and returned to our hotel. He showed us the other exclusive dinner item, a Botcon plate with Megatron and Optimus Prime painted on the top, and the Botcon 2000 logo underneath. We went to bed around 11, but stayed up talking well past midnight. Gordon had warned me previously that he had a tendency to snore, but he didn't that night. Or if he did, I was too tired to hear it.

Friday had been an interesting day. Hopefully though, tomorrow would be a lot better.

Saturday

Some Minor Spoilers Ahead.

Forgot to mention in my Friday report that I ran into White Dove after eating dinner at that awful McDonald's. Recognised her as I was walking past due to her white cloak that she said she wears. She was kind enough to offer me a Ducky for my TM Megs, but damn it all, I must have left it somewhere in my room at the Holiday Inn! Sorry, WD. It was very well made.

Saturday:

What a nice sleep. Probably would've been a lot nicer if I could have slept in, but Gordon and I knew that we'd best line up for the dealer room early. So we arose at 6:30 AM, showered, got dressed, and headed over to the Grand Wayne. Fletch, who isn't a toy collector, remained snug and snoozing in his cot. Lucky bum. Then again, he was the one who ended up using the cot both nights, so I guess he ain't that lucky.

Even two hours before opening, there was a line outside the dealer room. Gordon and I sat down behind a kid from Tennessee who was there with his mom. I suppose if I were younger, I'd have dragged my poor mom along too. A guy standing behind us showed us pics of a Jazz costume he made for Halloween one year that--get this--actually transforms! You had to see the pics to really appreciate the effort. He basically hunkers down on his knees and pulls the roof over his head, but it's still pretty darned cool.

Breakfast consisted of a Fruitopia and blueberry pop tarts courtesy of a vending machine. Yummy.

We were soon joined in line by Dinogrrl and Rob Jung, the Tranny Master himself! Come to think of it, those two butted! Not that I was complaining. As far as I'm concerned, Rob's about as cool as a Transfan can get. He turned out to be a very friendly and witty guy. He also did what I was too lazy to do; go over to McDonald's and get a proper (relatively speaking) breakfast. Dinogrrl was also very nice. She's from Australia, and apparently this was her first Botcon as well. Someone came along and told the crowd that they had to start lining up outside, so the four of us ended up just inside the entrance. Better than sitting on the pavement at any rate. We had ourselves a nice conversation about Beast Machines, and the personalities of the Dinobots as we counted down the seconds and minutes to 9AM. Then who should come along, but Wonko the Sane himself, Benson Yee! Sure, he's never been in any movies, but let's face it, among Transfans, Ben is something of a star. My first impression of him was like that of Rob Jung: friendly, down-to-earth, and clearly excited about the events to come. Unfortunately, he and his friend, Rob Yee, had lost their luggage courtesy of those blundering folk at the Fort Wayne airport. Guess there are some advantages to driving down after all, aside from economics.

The line continued to grow, as did the excitement. Finally, the doors opened, and the masses surged forth. It wasn't quite as insane as I had feared it would. No one, thankfully, sprinted or tried to climb over one another.

Being in a dealer room for the first time is something like being six years old again. It was that wonderful feeling you get when you're walking in the aisles of TRU or Wal-Mart and suddenly come across some new toys. Everywhere I looked, there were Transformers. G1, g2, Beast Wars, Beast Machines, Japanese lines, a collector's dream! I spent the first five or so minutes just walking around the entire room, marvelling at the sight of it all. I think it was at that point, more than any other point during that weekend, that I felt most grateful about having come to Botcon.

It was also at that point that I realised I'd forgotten to pick up my exclusives. Forgetting that you could grab them at any point before noon on Sunday, I raced back out again and got in line to receive Shokaract and Apelinq. Fortunately, the line was very effective, with Jon Hartman checking off names as each person came up to receive his or her toys. I waltzed back into the dealer room proudly bearing my exclusives. Time to shop!

The first items I got were Bazooka and Sling, of the BW Neo line. I purchased them at Rugby's Starbase, which had a wide variety of toys on display. Thank the Matrix that they also provided bags. It'd have been awful trying to stuff two or more boxed items into my knapsack. Later, I snapped up a FKTM Tarantulas from them as well. I have to say that I really like the new colours, even more than the original's. "Metal Force Ranty," or "Goth Ranty" as someone else dubbed him. Also got a Thrustol from another dealer for $27, which I understand is a good price. I'd been considering getting a TM2 Blackarachnia, that is, until I saw the prices. $90 at one table, $100 at another! I don't care what anyone says; those prices are nuts, pure and simple! Ben Yee himself mentioned to me later that he would never pay any higher than $35 for one. No BA for me.

I saw the Bludgeon toy for the very first time. His Pretender shell looked okay, considering that it was virtually a statue. But good gosh, his robot is tiny. Really, really tiny. As tiny as Bumblebee if not more so. He looked so cute, I couldn't resist mocking him. I waved him about and said in a squeaky little voice, "Hi, I'm Bludgeon. I'm a master of Metallikato! Fear me, bub!" Suddenly, I was grabbed around the throat by Rob Jung, furious that I would dare to insult the great Bludgeon. "Your tongue is sharp, warrior," he snarled as he shook me in his massive grip. "I shall rip it from your mouth and wear it as a trophy!" Yikes. Good thing Robert Powers wasn't there as well, 'cause then he'd have probably held my mouth open while Rob Jung extracted my tongue. Funny guys, these Transfans.

I ran into Black Zarak and Astrotrain. A sweet couple if there ever was one. They'd just bought a Supreme Cheetor, so naturally I requested a gander at 'im. Neat toy, and hella huge to boot. Rob happened to come across us as I was describing my incident to them, and promptly began throttling me once more! I also got to meet Raksha, the advocate of Decepticons, adversary of all things Beast Wars, save for the toys she was selling. Again, she struck me as very nice and polite. Mind you, I didn't try to get into any debates with her, at least not then. Also got to see Avatar, the very beautiful albino Burmese python.


John Moschitta
The John Moschitta panel went better than I had expected. John did a marvellous job of keeping the audience entertained, and was very open and friendly at all times. His ability to speak the way he does is nothing short of amazing. He revealed to us that he'd once been up for the part of Mumbles in "Dick Tracy," but at the very last second, Warren Beatty opted for Dustin Hoffman instead. What WAS he thinking? John also described all his charity work to us. The funniest part though, was when he did an impression of Blur trying to pick up girls in a Cybertronian bar.

Alec Willows rocks! He's one of the funniest people I've ever had the privilege of encountering, full of wit and wisecracks. His "I'm hung like a spider" line drew tons of laughs. Ian Corlett was also quite funny, especially due to the fact that he sounds like Cheetor in real life. Venus Terzo, well, she's quite the stunner. And talk about your sparkly personalities. Could this really be Blackarachnia, who's so often cynical and deceitful? I asked Mr. Willows about what it was like reading the lines for "Other Victories." Like Scott McNeil and "Code of Hero," he too didn't know that his character was going to bite the big one until he came in to do his lines. Poor guy.

After the panel was over, myself, Gordon, Black Zarak, and Astrotrain got in line for autographs. I passed the time by examining BZ and Astro's Supreme Cheetor some more. Neat figure overall, but I highly doubt that I'll be shelling out $50 for it anytime soon. I did think it was neat how Cheetor can actually flip someone the birdie. Okay, he can only do it to someone behind him, since he lacks wrist articulation.

We were all under the impression that the Hasbro panel wasn't about to start for at least an hour. Then, about half an hour into the wait, someone who passed by casually mentioned that the Hasbro panel was going on right then and now. Doggone it! I'd never heard any announcement beforehand, unless it had been made while we were at the voice actor panel. Black Zarak and I rushed off to catch a glimpse. I didn't stay for very long, but I was there long enough to hear someone ask whether there would be a Savage/Noble toy coming out in the near future. The Hasbro people debated amongst themselves for a few seconds, then responded by saying that "it would make a good present for under the Christmas tree." Neat! Still, I reserve my judgment until we've seen some pics. I was not present when a certain individual stood up and began making all sorts of tasteless and inappropriate comments about the Beast Mutants. But I did hear that he got booed and shouted down by the rest of the audience. Good. If I'd been there, I'd have probably been booing the loudest. Number one, I like the Beast Mutants. And number two, Hasbro is doing all of us a big favour by sending reps to Botcon each year. They should not be rewarded with such vulgarity and lack of tact. I can only hope that the fierce reaction of the crowd towards that dimbulb convinced the Hasbro people that not all Transfans are like that.

Anyway, it was a real pleasure to meet Alec Willows in person. He kindly wrote "More Energon!" on Ranty's blister card and noted that he liked the recolour version better than the original. Ian and Venus signed my Botcon poster with "Beasties Wishes" and "Ultra Gear!" Venus sympathised with my lamentation that the TM2 BA toy had never made it to Canada. What a sweetie. And I'll say it again, she is quite a stunner.

At a later panel, we got to see some of the storyboards for TFTM that featured some scenes that never made it to the final cut. The first was where Devastator recovers from the Dinobots' attack and begins attacking Autobot City once again. Ultra Magnus comes along in car carrier mode and deploys Tracks, Sideswipe, Mirage, and Red Alert. Yes, Magnus actually carries other Autobots, for once in his life. The five of them all fire their missiles at once, and the blast causes Devastator to separate. The Constructicons then get into a laser battle with the Autobots, in which Red Alert is fatally shot. What's with all these Autobots dying and no Decepticons getting the slag? Then again, RA was never one of my favourites. Sorry, but he wasn't.

The second scene was where Optimus Prime confronts Megatron. Just as Prime is saying "One shall stand," Dirge tries to make a sneak attack from behind. Without missing a line, Prime nails him with a backhand, hoists him up by the leg, and piledrives him, all with one hand! And you're saying Prime's the one who gets killed?

Yet another highlight was the display room containing the Hartmans' TF collection, plus the entries for the art contest. It was like being in a museum. Every TF you could ever imagine, still in its original box or blister card. I almost went down on my knees in awe. They also had the upcoming BM figures on display, which, naturally, attracted the most attention. Silverbolt, strangely enough, is packaged in his robot mode, possibly due to the fact that his condor mode is something of a joke. Nightscream has his own box art. Why in the heck does Guanoboy get such an honour and all the others don't? Blastcharge, Skydive, and Nightviper look pretty neat, as does the Target exclusive Magmatron. Magmatron retains his original colouring--at least this one did. The Deployers and the Beast Riders are intriguing, though I'm not entirely certain whether I'll get any of them or not.

I did not attend the charity auction, but I did see the items on a table outside the room at one point, and I got a look at Nightscream's tech spec. He has an intelligence of 9.9!? Funny, based on he acted on the series, I'd have given him a 3.9. His motto is "Let's make some noise!" Ugh. At this rate, the next series of TFs will include one whose motto is "Yeah baby, yeah!"

Once we'd finally returned to our room, I decided that I wanted a peek at Shokaract. Carefully, I slit open the box and pulled out the treasure inside. It was love at first sight! His colours were actually somewhat different >from the photos on the box. He looked very cool, very fearsome, and very fun to play with. I decided that he would be my companion for the evening, like Pikachu to Ash. Wisely left his small rifle and missiles safe in the room. On our way to find sustenance, we ran into some Allspark guys, one of whom had successfully bid on Primal Prime. How much did he bid, you ask? $605, if I recall correctly. Yikes! OTOH, Hasbro is apparently releasing only 10,000 Primal Primes, so it will no doubt be a collector's item.

We ate dinner at Arby's, which was a decided improvement over McDonald's. Raksha was there with Avatar (wonder what the staff thought about that?), as was the Allspark guy who had gotten Primal Prime. I sauntered over to take a closer look at him, and had Shokaract point his tri-barrel cannon straight at Primal's head! You may well be the living reincarnation of Optimus Prime, but that still amounts to nothing next to he who possesses the Matrix of Conquest! Bwahahahahahah!!!

Then it was time for the movie showing. Rather than try and ship select numbers of preregistrants off to some theatre twenty minutes away, 3H had managed to book the Embassy Theatre just across the street. It was one of those old-fashioned placed with a balcony and lots of fnacy decorations lining the interior. Very appropriate indeed. I only wish I hadn't left my camera back at the hotel. Quite a few people were very interested to see what Shokaract was like. I believe I was one of the few people who removed theirs from the box. I, we, quite enjoyed the attention.

Watching the movie in a theatre full of Transfans was nothing short of incredible. Absolutely incredible. The energy levels were off the scale. People cheered when Brawn and the other Autobots met their demise on the shuttle. They whooped when the Dinobots made their appearance. "Gooooo Grimlock!" They hollered when Starscream met his untimely end. One of the funniest points was when Galvatron made his debut. Right after Unicron said, "Behold . . . Galvatron!," someone (I later learned it was Chi) shouted "YOU SUCK!!!" Everyone who heard it laughed. I think he basically summed up how the majority of people feel about Galvy with those two words. Another funny moment was when Grimlock tells Wheelie he doesn't like him, and gives him a good slap. You should have heard the cheers, and the cries of "Step on 'im!!!" We hate Wheelie! And when the movie finally ended, the result was a standing ovation. What an experience.

After the movie, me, Gord, and Fletch returned to the video rooms. We arrived just in time to catch "Five Faces of Darkness Pt. 3." I actually enjoy that mini-series. Any ep that has Sky Lynx seriously beating the oil out of Predaking is A-okay in my book. I stepped out on "Webworld" to use the washroom, and ended up showing Shokaract off to more people. What can I say, I enjoy attention. Missed all of "Webworld" though, silly me. The next ep was "Carnage in C-Minor," which was met by lots of boos and people getting up from their seats, including us. Gordon and Fletch eventually returned to the hotel, but I stayed on to watch more eps. At one point, when I stepped out for a drink, I heard someone playing the piano down in the bar, and people applauding. In retrospect, I should have realised who it was right then and there, but my deductive reasoning failed me that time. Later, as I walked into the bar, I passed by a thin man with a pony tail. "Who was that?" I asked the crowd. The answer: Vince DiCola. Missed a private concert, d'oh!

Around midnight or so, I departed from the Hilton. It had been another long day, and while I would've liked to have stayed and watched more Season 3 eps, I was simply too tired to do so. Time for beddy-bye.

Sunday

In life, nothing lasts forever. All good things must come to end. But there is a continuance...

After such a long Saturday, we were all dead tired that night. Gordon and I both slept like logs, despite Fletch's incessant snoring. I know that he was snoring because he started up just as I was falling asleep, and was still doing it when I got up to use the bathroom at one point. We slept in later than we had on Saturday, but still got up relatively early. The reason: I was eager to attend the famous MST3K panel. After reading the previous scripts on Rob Jung's page, and after meeting him and Doug Dlin the day before, I was looking forward to see what they had in store for us.

After having eaten cold leftover pizza on Friday, and vending machine pop tarts on Saturday, I decided it was high time to have a proper breakfast. Since Gordon and Fletch were less excited about the panel, I went downstairs and had the hotel buffet. Mmmmm, French toast, bacon, and sausages. Fattening! While I was eating, I met a young (13 years old) Transfan, Ninja99. He's from Montana and is apparently one of the many lurkers on ATT. Said he likes my reviews; what an intelligent lad! Headed off to the Grand Wayne just as those lazy roommates of mine entered the dining room. I called over my shoulder that I'd meet them at the panel. Arrived just as they were making final preparations to start the show. Got to meet M Sipher for the first time. I got the impression that he was a little pre-occupied, and why not? Wonder how late he, Rob, and Doug had been up rehearsing this thing? Or do they simply wing it each time? I've done the same thing for various history presentations, and come off rather well.


Doug Dlin, Robert Jung, and Greg "M Sipher" Sepelak
This year, the episodes were "City of Steel," "The Dweller in the Depths," "Forbidden Fruit," (that one got lots of moans and hisses), and "Victory." I'd already seen COS the other night, but it was fun seeing TDITD, since it's one of the few G1 Season 3 eps I got to see way back in the dark times when I didn't know how to program a VCR. Rob, Doug, and M Sipher did a very nice job. I won't try to repeat all their jokes, seeing as how my memory is bad, and how Rob will eventually put the whole script up on his site anyway. They also held a kangaroo Q&A panel that involved among other things, a guy holding a potted plant on his head. Botanica? And yes, they do tear into Nightscream, yay! Guanoboy stinks! Can't wait to see what those three rascals will have in store for us next year.

Towards the end, Gordon and Fletch started badgering me to return to the hotel with them so we could check out. I reluctantly got up from my seat and started shuffling out of the row, in the dark. Then CRASH! Down I go, skinning my knees on the carpet. Couldn't have waited until they turned the lights back on, no, they had to leave right away! Sheesh. Turns out, check out time was at 12PM, not 11AM like those two thought it was. Sheesh again. Having checked out, we quickly returned to the Grand Wayne. My badge fell off (a phenomenon all too common with attendants that weekend) at point, so we had to go a block back to find it.

The dealer room on Sunday was not quite as hectic as it had been on Saturday, but hectic enough. Once again, I was amused to note the wide range of fans milling about. Especially the number of people with families. What a treat, to be taken to a convention full of toys at the age of six. Would my parents have done that for me? Well . . . possibly, with ALOT of persuasion on my part. There were even a couple of folks with babies.

At this point, I was interested in looking for a BW Silverbolt. Saw one that was going for $25, no thanks. Saw one that was going for $15, marked down from $20. Okay, I'll take it. Saw two that were only $12. Darn!!!

Next, I headed to the art and display room. It was there that I got to talk with Raksha for a bit. I foolishly made the mistake of bringing up the Beast Mutant known as Soundwave. Whoops! She's a nice lady to be sure, but don't mention that kind of stuff around her. Sorry, Raksha. I did manage to ask her a few questions about keeping snakes, since I've toyed with the idea of owning one as a pet. Of course, I'll have to get my own place first. Can't keep a snake in a houseful of people who are afraid of 'em.

It was also there in the art room that I managed to have a decent, in-depth conversation with Ben Yee. I'd met him yesterday in the line for the dealer room, but he hadn't stayed long. I told him about how his web site was the one that really got me started on TFs once again. Had it not been for him, chances are I would never have discovered Botcon, ATT, and all the other wonderful web pages that are out there. Not to mention all the neat people I've met on line. So in that sense, I felt I owed him a debt. He appeared quite touched by my story. We also chatted about writing toy reviews, why "Soundwave" is an appropriate name for a bat/alligator mutant TF, Icebird's colours, and other toy-related issues. Ben was very interested in my Silverbolt figure. Apparently there may be a variant type, with white on the undersides of its wings, which mine didn't have. Glad I could be of help. I mentioned that I was torn between getting Dirgegun and Max B. Ben recommended Dirgegun, but Robert Powers, who happened to be there, favoured Max B. The agony of choice.

As for Robert Yee's entry in the art contest, all I have to say is: WOW!!! He had created an entirely new figure, Rodimus Primal, a red and yellow robot that changes into an orangutan as well as a futuristic vehicle. Rob had also created an add-on trailer section that converts into a battle station, just like with the original Rodimus Prime. And if that wasn't enough, he'd set up an impressive display, complete with lights and sounds, and a laptop that continually showed pics of Rodimus Primal in his various forms. Quite phenomenal indeed. It came as no surprise when I later learned that he'd won first prize in the art contest.

But Rob's wasn't the only neat entry. Freds Workshop had created two awesome dioramas. The first was Homer Simpson as Sparkplug Witwicky, with apron, blowtorch, tools, a workshop, and a partly assembled (or is that disassembled) Optimus Prime. His other one consisted of about 200 Topspin and Twin Twist figures, carrying anti-BW and BM signs. Actually quite scary to see so many of them. Watch out, all you Vehicons!

I did not attend much of the Vince DiCola panel, but what little time I did spend there was enough. Let me just say that he is truly a master of the scales, an artist without question. To hear him play the scores from TFTM was an experience in itself. Amidst all the excitement and chaos that weekend, it felt serene and relaxing to just sit and listen for awhile. I rushed out again before it was all over, so as to spend a little more time wandering the dealer room before the 3H panel.

Going back into the dealer room, I recognised a certain ATTer from a newspaper article that he'd put up on ATT a while back. Robowang! He's only 18, but could easily pass for 24. Big fellow too, and quite friendly. Could this really be the same wacky sicko who amuses us so on ATT? Despite his professed love for Decepticons, he told me he'd amassed some Dinobot figures over the past two days. Not that I blame him; the Dinobots do rule, after all! Wanger had his famous Ramjet costume lying around behind one of the tables, and he confided that while it looks great, it's as fragile as a house of cards. Recharge came up to us while we were talking, and Robowang got a picture of the two of us. They told me that Superspy was around somewhere, and I tried to look for him, hoping to finally meet my almost-namesake. Didn't run into him, sadly. If you're reading this, Superspy, there's always next year (hopefully).

The guy who had successfully bid on Nightscream and Silverbolt yesterday at the charity auction had his toys with him, and I got to see them both. Silverbolt's robot mode kinda looks like the one on the show, but the colours are all wrong. The owner was reluctant to transform him into condor mode for me, but I think the pics on Ben Yee's page speak for themselves. His wings become some kind of handheld pincher weapon, but since they curve inwards, they probably look very lame. Nightscream has a built-in disk launcher as well as LEDs. Not that it makes any difference as far as I'm concerned. I have no intention of getting him, simply because the character is just soooooooo freakin' annoying! Plus, the robot mode has that hideous hairdo. Somebody get the scissors!

I finally concluded that the best way to determine whether to get Dirgegun or Max B was to flip a coin. Dirgegun won. Although in retrospect, I probably should'v gotten both of them. OTOH, it gives me something to put on my want list for next year. Dirgegun (see my review) turned out to be quite the awesome figure. Ben Yee clearly knows what he's talking about.

During my final visit to the display room, I stealthily ducked under the barrier and flipped around Magmatron's box in order to view his tech spec. Yeah that's right, I'm a bad boy. While I can't remember the exact words to his bio, he's basically a big time bad ass warrior, come to Cybertron to stop Megatron, feared by all his enemies, respected by his comrades, the usual stuff. His stats are all in the 9-10 range, and his quote is "Till all are one." Neat. Too bad Target isn't in Canada. Guess I'll have to maybe take a trip down to New York when the time is right. Though I will say, I'm unimpressed by the Landasaurus component. That old tail dragging posture is soooooo 1960s.

Finally, it was time for the 3H panel. I took a seat in front of Nightwind and began fiddling around with Dirgegun as the Glen and the Hartmans began answering questions. I asked them why the Hasbro panel had been pushed up from when it was supposed to be, and if Richard Newman (Rhinox, Tankorr) or Blu Mankuma (Tigatron, Tigerhawk) had ever been apporached as guests. They replied that; a) the Hasbro people apparently had some kind of deadline to make; b) They would definitely consider it. Someone asked if Bob Skir really had bowed out of Botcon due to work related issues. 3H responded that they accepted his reason without question, but they didn't blame him if he really had chosen not to face a potentially volatile group of Transfanatics. They repeated much of what I've said time and time before: that all Bob Skir ever did was try to create a new vision of TFs, that he didn't deserve any of the crap that had been flung at him, and that the behaviour of some fans towards him had been nothing short of infantile. At this, the audience clapped their approval. Another person asked what 3H thought of Spqqky auctioning off Shokaract well before Botcon. Their initial response was "no comment," but they then made it clear that they were NOT happy with Spqqky's antics. Wonder if there will be any fallout from this? In addition, there was the question of why BM Rattrap had not been included in the display with all the other upcoming toys. According to 3H, it's been pushed back due to design problems or something like that. At best, it'll be hitting shelves in late November, so essentially it'll be part of the next wave of TFs. Yeah, I'm kinda disappointed too. OTOH, I'd be lying if I said I was ever in love with his toy, judging from the pics I've seen. The robot mode looks like a BM version of Quasimodo, for Pete's sake.

As other people fielded their questions, I suddenly lost one of Dirgegun's missiles. Damn, where'd that thing go? I think I must've looked pretty silly to 3H, crawling around on my hands and knees during the panel. Fortunately, none of them asked aloud, "Just what is that guy doing?" Finally found the missile as people were getting up to leave. Oh, and for those of you who weren't able to attend this year, take hope! The inside of the back cover of the Botcon comic shows a scowling Apelinq, and the words "2001: Prepare to be Wrecked!" Something big is looming on the horizon . . .

After saying some farewells, Gordon, Fletch, and I returned to our hotel for the last time. Gordon went off to catch the shuttle to the airport, and Fletch and I began the drive back to Ontario. At one point, I got on the wrong stretch of highway and nearly took us to Grand Rapids, whoops! We arrived in Toronto around 12AM, and got hit by a nasty thunderstorm on the 401. We finally reached Peterborough around 2 AM. Woke up around lunchtime the next morning, bid Fletch adieu until September, and then hit the road for good ol' Ottawa, and work that night. Stopped off at a reptile zoo on the way, and at Wal-Mart in Kanata, but there wasn't anything new there. Not that it really mattered.

My acquisitions at Botcon 2000 consisted of the following:

-Botcon "Legends Forever" T-shirt featuring Optimus Prime and Megatron
-Botcon comic book "Reaching the Omega Point"
-Botcon Exclusive Toys Shokaract and Apelinq
-BW Neo Bazooka and Sling
-BW2 Dirgegun and Thrustol
-BW Silverbolt, Sky Shadow, and FKTM Tarantulas
-A whole heap of great memories that will remain priceless

I'd like to extend my deepest, most sincere thanks to 3H Enterprises, that trio of demi-gods called Jon, Karl, and Glen. While I don't have a sample of comparison, I think that they did a helluva fine job organising Botcon 2000. The mere fact that Botcon 2001 will be in their capable hands makes me pine for next summer. If there is a Matrix for Transfans out there in the great beyond, then 3H would be welcomed with trumpets blaring.

Kudos to all those who I ran into that weekend. Robert Powers, Doug Dlin, the wiigii gang, Perceptor, Robobase, White Dove, Rob Jung, Dinogrrl, Astrotrain & Black Zarak, Raksha, Mike & Judy, M Sipher, Robowang, Recharge, Robert Yee, Wonko the Sane, Ninja99, and Nightwind. I hope that you enjoyed meeting me as much as I enjoyed meeting all of you. Sincere apologies to those whose names I can't remember--you know who you are! Heartfelt thanks to my fellow Ottawan Gordon, for sharing his room at the Holiday Inn with us. And to Fletch, whose driving skills got us through that nasty thunderstorm in Toronto.

So, would I attend again in 2001? Well ... that all depends. I'd certainly like to. But, I honestly don't know what lies ahead in my future. I may travel abroad next summer for example. And even assuming that I did stay on the continent, the location factor would be the deciding one. If Botcon 2001 is held in some place like, say, Houston or San Francisco, there's no way I'd drive that far a distance, and flying can be expensive. OTOH, 3H did say that the majority of fans tend to live in the Midwest and the Eastern coast. If the convention was held in some place like Rochester, Buffalo, Cleveland, or Syracuse, I'd say the chances of me attending would be around 80% or higher. And this time I'd book a hotel room early, so that I wouldn't have to walk back and forth each day.

That concludes my first Botcon report. I hope you've enjoyed reading it--I certainly enjoyed writing it. See you all on ATT, and with any luck, in 2001.

BotCon 2000 - Edward "Xiphos" Fuhr

Allrighty, I've had enough people irritate me into writing this up. Let's see if I can recall enough of this trip to be entertaining.

The Preceeding week saw hectic last-minute planning on my part. I should really become better organized. As I work a 10-hour graveyard shift, daytime is more a time to sleep, not do stuff. And with no AC, I often find if I don't get to sleep early on in the morning (when it's still cool) I don't get anywhere near enough sleep by the time midday temperatures awaken me. Never the less, Wensday found me preparing to prepare by clearing out my siut case from my last trip, sometime last December.

Thursday rolls around. Originally, I had to work Thursday night, so all my plans were scheduled around that, but a couple weeks before BotCon I was able to secure Thursday night off. I originally did this with the hopes I could sleep well Thursday night before the con. Instead, it saw me burning 100 CD's of assorted works of mine selected the night before, preparing my now ex-travel computer, Reflector, for the journey, and generally running around like a chicken with its head cut off. A last minute decision found me swapping one printout for the art show for another. The swapped out art will be displayed next year instead.

Friday: The Fun Begins

Early Friday morning (Pacific time) found me waiting outside for the taxi cab to come take me to the airport. In the past, the Taxi has been a good 15 to 30 minutes early, and calls up at the exact departure time to say they are there. This time, I find myself waiting 30 minutes, as I watch this taxicab drive up and down the street. I go back up to my apartment and call the taxicab company, who inform me their guy is on his way. They apologise for the delay. I hang up, and just as I'm heading out the door, my phone rings. I run back to my room, trying not to awaken my room mate or his sister (who is visiting for the weekend). It's the taxi, calling to let me know he's here. That's nice. I make for the door again with my luggage, when the phone rings again. It's the taxi company saying my cab should be out front. That's nice. Now go away. I head out the door once more. The phone rings.

I let it ring.

Out front, I meet the taxi cab driver. He pulls around the apartment building as I suggest, but parks in such a manner that I have to lift my luggage over my head to put it in the trunk (driveway has a steep incline, with a level bit at the top. Taxi driver parked in such a manner the trunk was hanging over the incline, but the taxi itself was level). Nice. I mention as I climb into the cab that I would like to make a stop by my bank before the airport. I am ignored, and he asks which airline. I tell him, and we're off. I continually ask if we might make a quick stop by the bank first, and am continually ignored.

Finally arriving at the airport, he suggests I leave my visa with him, and go get money from the ATM in case it doesn't go through. No, that's not going to happen. So, I have him give me my receipt, and go get cash from the ATM with which to pay him. Virtually no tip. In retrospect, I shouldn't have tipped at all.

Now in the terminal, I start off on a most unexpected adventure. My luggage checked, and boarding pass in hand, I make my way to the gate... which appears to be constructed of plywood and cellophane sheets. Hmm, must be remodelling.

At this point, I should mention I have flown Northwest Airlines once before, for last years BotCon. They are a less than stellar airline, and I will never again fly with them. Their fleet appears to be in poor condition, with flights always being overly noisy, and odd sounds I don't here on flights with other, more reputable airlines.

I decided during the 3 hour overlay I had in St. Paul that the city just hadn't seen enough of me at BC'99

I decided in Detroit the Universe was mocking me.

After standing in a line for a little over an hour to discover that indeed all flights had been cancelled untill the following day, and that it would take an additional 5 hours to pull my bags if I did not want to wait and instead have them with me tonight, I decided I would just continu on without them. Looking at my itinerary, I see that there is a difference of 5 minutes between the departure time in Detroit and the arrival time in Ft. Wayne, so it can't be too far. I'll just take a Taxi.

First taxi has no idea where Ft. Wayne is.

Neither does the second.

The third points me back to the first, who goes to talk to his teamster. The teamster knows where Ft. Wayne is, but syas it's a $300 ride. I start to get out of the cab. They take it down to $250. I reluctantly agree, at this point just wanting to get to the convention before the dinner ends. Getting a rental never even crosses my sleep deprived and now stressing mind.

To his credit, the driver was a very agreeable man. An immigrant from Kenya, he was working on getting his bacheloreates and becoming a gourmet chef.

Reports are going around this was a $300 taxi ride. This is absolutely true. The base price for the cab was $250, however the driver was so nice and helpful at both ends, I gave a ~15% tip. I did this, as I have no idea what's considered a good tip for a taxi driver, so went with what I usually give at restaurants. Then, because he even went so far as to make sure I got to the convention all right, I gave an additional $20, coming to a grand total of $305.

Next year, I drive.

Two hours later, we find Ft. Wayne, and after a quick stop at a gas station, we have directions to the convention center. It's almost 9:30, and I'm feeling a little anxious. Ten minutes later, and I'm wandering around every building on the corner except the right one. After a quick discussion with a cop and a security guard, I'm headed in the right direction. Another 5 minutes and I manage to locate the dinner hall.

That's when it all caught up with me. My stamina failed, and the days eventful travelling just caught up to me. I needed food, I needed rest, and I wanted my damned convention dinner exclusives. And I do this in front of con staff. I think some of 3H was there, too, but at this point my memory starts to fog up. At one point, I recall being huddled against a hall with my luggage, waiting for someone to see to me, and Phil leading me to a table with semi-familiar faces. I recognized Hex, Rob Jung, Raksha, and Vulcana. Then Sipher. Then the fog returned, and all I remembered was voices talking. Someone said something about the food having just been thrown out, which didn't improve how I felt any. Then a pile of leaves was set before me.

I was hungry.

I ate the leaves.


Xiphos, stunned
Someone made the comment I looked like I was ready to kill. I found this amusing and think I cracked a smile. Must have been something else, or a rather sinister smile, as people seemed to become a little farther away at that point.

Someone started talking again. It was M Sipher. I couldn't make it out. "...fo... ...lo... ... ... me... ." OK.

Sipher didn't know why I was following him.

I didn't know why I was following Sipher.

I went and sat back down at the table.

I think it was Hex who eventually managed to get me from the table to a line, where I picked up my toy exclusives. At some point, I also managed to get the plate, comic, and my registration packet. Raksha was sparkly. There was someone at the front of the line in a skimpy leather or vinyl outfit. I saw Scylla. I stared some more at the skimpy outfit. Things went blurry again.

I vaguely recall being escorted by Hex to my room, where he left me to get a key to my room from Sipher (one of the people I was rooming with this year). Once in the room, I set my one peice of carry-on luggage in a corner with my newly acquired boxes of stuff, and went to take a shower.

Amazing rejuvinating powers, a shower holds. Feeling less grungy, and a bit better, I headed back downstairs to socialize in the hotel lobby. There I saw some faces I recognized; Hex, Sipher, and Doug Dlin. I didn't recognize the others, but they seemed sociable enough. I became fascinated by Super Fire Convoy and Gigatron.

Eventually, Ben Yee and Robert Yee (no relation, afaik) showed up. They were tired too, and had a travel story that rivaled mine. Rob Yee mentioned he was hungry, so after being told at the bar they didn't serve solids, we headed out to find food.

The place we found was Arby's. Arby's drive through was open, but not the main restaurant.

They wouldn't serve us unless we had a car.

So I told them I was a car.

They didn't beleive me.

So I drove off in a huff.

We were unsuccesful in locating any other nearby open fast food places, so headed back to the hotel where I had a root beer, and Phil Zeman very kindly donated some breakfast bars to me. With more than a few leaves in me, I headed off to bed.

Saturday Morning

After an early morning that leaves me with a briuse on my arm where my head had been laying on it, I call up the airport to inquire about my luggage. They have it. So, I request they give it to the next courtesy shuttle to arrive from the Grand Wayne Hilton. They agree, and say it should be with me in about a half hour. A half hour later, at 9:30, I call up the front desk. Apparently, I need to arrange for the shuttle driver to pick it up. OK, makes sense. So It'll be another 20 to 30 minutes.

After an hour, I decide I will just go set up my stuff in the art room, and check by the front desk every 10 minutes untill my stuff arrives.

2 hours later, the courtesy shuttle with my luggage finally manages to return from the airport. I still have no explanation why the 20-minute courtesy shuttle took 2 hours to return.

11:00am on Saturday, and I'm finally able to change clothes! Ahh, fresh underwear! Non-smelly shirt! Clean socks! I feel much better. Now, to find Suzanne Ferree.

I spend some time wandering the dealer room, art room, and panel room trying to find her. Eventually, I bump into her. She's been in the video rooms most of the morning. Of course, the one area I just briefly walked by without checking.

The time I spent searching, and much of the time afterwards, is fuzzy time again. Shortly after finding Suz, a group of us headed off for lunch, when I realized I should probably withdrawl some cash for the day. I head off really quick with Straxus, as he knows where the closest ATM machine is. It's not too far, and it doesn't take long for me to insert the card, hear a small "grrrnch" noise, and see "This machine is currently out of service" get displayed across the terminal.

F**k.

That card was my only source of cash.

I spend the rest of the weekend bumming money off of friends (good, dear friends who I now owe money) just so I could eat. Fortunately, for everything else I needed, checks were accepted. The loss of my cash source, however, severely hampered my toy-buying.

Immediately after getting some food from the fast food place we all ended up at (Was it Wendys?) I went up to report the card incident to my bank. Once that was taken care of, I sat down to discover the food place had given me the wrong order.

Marching back to the place, I got the right order, only to discover I had forgotten to ask for no mayo.

I hate mayo.

I was also hungry.

I ate it anyway.

Much of the remaining day becomes blurry from here. I recall walking the dealer room, but not really looking at anything, walking the art room some more, and attending a few panels.

Blurry recollections are of stopping by Raksha's table, stopping by Hex's table, and somehow completely missing the Rugby's Starbase table. I wanted to see what sort of nifty stuff they had for this year. I gave Straxus a pair of squirt guns I had painted up in preperation for a LARP I never became involved with as appreciation for the money he gave me for lunch. He seemed to like them.

I was there for the Hasbro panel, and the BW voice actors panel. Others have already gone into depth regarding some of the emberassing, moronic, and in some cases, inflamatory questions that were asked. But there were also some good questions, and overall I felt a good time was had by all, despite Mr. Vomitus Maximus, and the incessant requests for an Arcee headmaster toy. Aside from that, I felt their impromptu polling of the audience had a largely positive effect, and quite possibly was one of the better things they could have done. After all, it is we who owe them for bringing this line not only to fruition, but it is we who owe them for continuing to keep this line alive. It was one hell of a courtesy to have them, once more, come out, turn their official backs to much of what was in the art room, and then ask US for our opinions.


Alec Willows
I enjoyed hearing Alec and Venus do a few lines from "Anything you can do I can do better," and Cheetor, BA, and Tarant going through a McDonalds drive through. That made for some amusing mental images. And wouldn't mind seeing any of it animated.

Alec [As Tarantulas]: With FRIEEES!! Lots of FRIEEES!!

The voice actors were just loads of fun, and I was really bummed I missed the Johm Moschita panel. From what I heard, it was lots of fun as well.

At some point, Vulcana, Saberwind, Suz, and myself headed off to Target where they grabbed some supplies, and I grabbed a prop [a fake plant] for the TFMST3K the next morning. When we got back, a small group of us started talking dinner prior to the movie.

Thinking back on previous BotCons, I jokingly suggested "pizza!"

Thgis was meat by a death gaze from Vulcana.

Eventually, an even smaller group of not quite entirely the same people as what was initially gathered was hearded out down the street to a small bar with a small restaurant in the back where we ate some acceptable food. Then it was back to the convention center and off to the movie.

The movie was quite enjoyable. I noticed many things I had missed out on before, and got my eardrums almost blown out by too-high a volume and treble level early on in the movie. Either they lowered the volume, fixed the sound mixing, or I adjusted, but it seemed to get a little better after the first 20 minutes.

After the movie, I was carted off to a side room in the Hilton, where I was handed a ladybird book to read. Laserbeaks Fury.

Remembering this from last year as the book containing such wonderful things as Megatrons ultimate line, and Laserbeak being outwitted by a windmill, I decided to make some substitutions; Megatron was played by the part of BW Megatron Starscream was played by whoever I felt like having say his lines. Laserbeak was replaced by a tortured Terrersaur Soundwave was just plain confused (and in a bit of pain whenever Terrersaur burst from his chest, or got shoved back in) Prime was replaced by Primal.

The next story, a post-movie based story, was just bad. Doug ended up taking over, as I was becoming tired. After the readings, I went to bed.

Sunday

Sunday morning found me discussing room payments with a concerned Jameel and Sipher. Apparently, the Hotel room was charged to my card AFTER everyone had checked out. Since my card had already been cancelled, this had become a problem. And the MSTF3K was coming up. So, I grabbed my plant, and headed down to the MSTing, intedning to head to the front desk to take care of things once my part was completed.

The openning skit didn't do as well as we could have hoped. Using TF writer names as quasi-religious faction names seemed too subtle for most people (though I did hear the occasional laugh, so SOME people got it at least), with the "Swarm of Lucasts" line falling almost completely flat. That was dissappointing, but guess it was just too subtle. I sat and tried to enjoy the show, with the stress of having to go try and find a means of paying for the room hanging over my head. My part came up, and I delivered my lines in as amateurish and uninspired a manner as I could muster. Then the moment the lights went out, I rushed out and took care of the room. Luckily for me, they would accept my check, so things were cool. I returned to the MSTing in time for the ending of City of Steel. The rest of the show seemed to go well.

Afterwards, someone was doing some game demo. I wanted to stay, but had to go take care of some matters elsewhere. I believe Suzanne wished to go check out the art room, and go find the dealer room where she could purchase a copy of the BC'97 exclusive CD. In the art room, I discovered someone made a bid on one of my pieces (the Grimlock in static action pose over a blue field). However, the guy never did show up to pay for it, and now I beleive 3H still has it, trying to contact the guy for me. What great guys those 3H guys are! As we navigated to the dealer room to get the CD set, we discovered they had sold out. So, instead, she got the BC'97 Concert CD. I also set my spool of CD's out at this time, so I could distribute my works to a wider apreciative audience.

Afterwards, I went wandering about until the Vince DiCola panel. The Vince DiCola music was fantastic! I don't think I can mention this enough. Some of the renditions of songs he did on the fly... and I REALLY would have liked to have heard more of his demo works and stuff. The man does some beautiful work. At the end of his presentation, he mentioned he had some CD sets available in the dealer room. Jameel gave me money, and I went to buy a set for myself and him. Unfortunately, Mr. DiCola mispoke the price, so I only had enough for one CD. I will be getting more later.

More stuff hapenned throughout the day. Once again, my memory becomes quite fuzzy at this point. I recall receiving my Wildride and Gigatron from Phil Zeman (Thanks Phil! The GigaHand is MIGHTY!), and after saying goodbye to people, retreiving my unsold artwork from the art room, and disposing of my now empty CD spool core, I made my way to my room. I also caught up with some of the #WiiGii! group, met Trent, confused some people with some other people, and eventually ended up back in the room the previous night for more book readings. Ladybird books weren't available this time, but we were able to substitute with other storybooks lying about.

Congrats to Robert Yee for kicking everyone's asses with that absolutely gorgeous Rodimus Primal display! I still say that should have been its own category Congrats also go out to Trent, who beat me out this year in the 3D art category. [Next year, Trent!]

Monday

This day was an even worse blur than Sunday. At some point, I met up with Suz to see her off, then went back to bed. Woke up a few hours later, and was ready to head off. I decided to leave the plant behind.

My trip home was largely uneventful. I got back to San Jose a few hours late as my flight from Detroit to St. Paul was delayed, causing me to miss my connection from St. Paul to San Jose. When I finally did arrive, due to a miscommunication on my part resulted in another hour or two before I was finally home.

Defenitely looking forward to next years BotCon, here's to hoping I can afford it

Epilogue

A week later, I finaly got around to unpacking. Upon openning my checked luggage, I noticed it appeared as though my bag had been opened and gone through. My computer was exposed, and had damage that could only have occourred if it had been removed and very specifically bashed. The power supply was completely thrashed, the case was all bashed, scratched, and smudged with some unidentifiable material that most defenitely did not originate from any of my luggage, and internal components had been ripped from their sockets and strwen about the case. Given the nature of some of the parts in question, this could only have been done deliberately. This is not the first time such things have happened. This is the LAST time I fly NorthWest. I strongly recommend anyone who decides to fly to BotCon in subsequent year avoid this crappy airline, and spend the extra few for a better airline.

BotCon 2000 - Recharge

Well, I'm back from a fun fun trip. I'll try to hit my personal high points and observations, as the important official stuff (what there was of it) has already been covered.

Day One: Reverend Dumbass and the Master of the Universe

I started this as a vacation a week prior to Botcon. I spent a week in Southern Illinois at a friends house prior to his wedding (missing the actual wedding itself for Botcon). I left the Bachelor party at 3 am quite happy for the train station in Carbondale IL.

Amtrack is pretty nice. It was my first time taking a train, and though it was only 4 hours and I was sleeping, I never had a better nap in a moving vehicle. I arrived in Kannakee IL to meet Backsight, who was driving a rental car down from Ohare. As I was standing outside the incredibly small train station waiting area, a person who worked next door came up and warned me to be careful; that somebody got mugged there yesterday. Great. I still had another hour and a half at least. Luckily, nothing happened and I watched Backsight pull up right on time (pretty great timing considering she had no idea where she was going). We drove and talked to Ft. Wayne, switching off the driving as we were both pretty tired.

I have to say, Indiana sucks. At least their roads do. The speed limit was 45 most of the way there from IL, with a few patches of 55. Plus the last 20 miles before Ft. Wayne had road construction which slowed us down considerably. Backsight slept through all of this as I was about ready to put my fist through the windshield.

We arrived at my hotel, which in turn required me to find an ATM. Not an easy task in this town! The main source of ATMs seems to be gas stations. I passed five churches and no banks looking for one. I thought maybe I'd accidentally driven to Salt Lake City. I dunno, maybe they use clamshells for currency here or something.

Finally got in my room, freshened up a bit, and went to the convention center. Backsight dropped me off and went back to her room. I didn't see her again till the next day. Since we ended up arriving late due to traffic (am I the only one who had this problem?) there was no line for registration, which was nice. Got my package, shirt, and name tag. Bought that cheap ass lanyard, and immediately realized I shoulda brought another chain (silly me, I was thinking it was going to be a sticker type badge.). Went outside to smoke a cigarette and look around for familiar name tags. Talked to some girl who bummed a smoke off me who was apparently really out of it. Her friend came and led her away after five minutes of conversation.

Went back inside and upstairs, where I saw a large throng of people waiting for the video rooms to open up. Immediately recognized Rob Powers for some reason; went up and said hi. Immediately saw about another half-dozen #wiigii!'ers milling about, including Hooper X, who I had met before from the Atlanta congent.

Me, Hoop and Rob waited for the rooms to open up, and then went in to watch Scramble City. Hoop had seen it before, we had not. Not bad, but not great either. Talk about your long form commercial.

I cruised various rooms and the convention center after that, met several people and ended up back with Wiigii as we began practicing what would become our trademark for the convention: blocking traffic areas and causing a fire hazard. Seems almost everywhere we stopped was in a high traffic zone. Heh heh. At some point we went to Leozack and Hooper X's room to read the mad rantings of an anti toy preacher, who desperatley needs and editor at the very least. Went back to the hotel again to stand around. Mad Max MFP said Robowang was around in a Megatron Luau shirt. Said he looked like a fat Andy Kaufman. Sure enough, I saw him and he DID! He was flattered at the comparison. Alex Bunchanumbers is really quiet. He stood beside me for an hour before Max pointed out he was there, after I lamented he couldn't make it!

As people started getting ready for the dinner, made my way to the bar with Trentulas's friend, Tim. We were the only two drinking.

After the dinner, everyone came back and we gaped at the exclusives. The comic book rocked. Walky was in tears. Met Bobbi Carothers somewhere in this mess. Complemented her on her fanfics and berated her for not coming into #wiigii!. She ended up with us for most of the weekend anyway, I believe. Trent and Tim were staying in the same hotel room as I and they had a car, which turned out to be a blessing. Went back to the video rooms just in time to see The Immobilizer. And Chip stand up to catch something (which prompted me to yell "He's not crippled! He's just lazy!"). Also watched City of Steele and Atlantas Arise, and I think one other. Watch Trents great home CGI video and caught on to one really lame pun Trixter pointed out (Jen 'Won?).

Day Two: All God's Chilluns Got Yellow Shoes


Evil twins: Greg "M Sipher" Sepelak vs. Edward "Xiphos" Fuhr
Next day, all three of us arrived late (again). Missed the opening Madd Rush (f**k that guy anyway : ) but the room was still packed when we got in there. Trent and Tim immediately snatched up rediculous amounts boxed toys making several trips to the car. I hooked up with Rob, Hoop, and Max again. I ended up buying a complete Blitzwing in good shape for 20. Not bad. Bought a nice piece of Con art and a Megatron sticker too. Hung out around Raksha's table, where I ended up meeting most people. Got a picture of Avatar, didn't get one with me and Avatar though. Maybe next year. Skyflight is a surprisingly soft spoken guy, for someone who looks like a bouncer in a biker bar : D. Met and hugged Nightwind, who stopped by briefly. Heard a fast talking guy talking a little joking trash to Raksha and without even looking knew it was Rob Jung. Talked with him a bit about the MST3K presentation and his fanfics. Went to the Jon Moschitta panel. Very cool guy, lots of stories. Met a billion people I knew, including CoolSlider, Straxus, Superspy, M Sipher (briefly, he looked hurried and paranoid), his evil twin Xiphos, among many others. Met back up with Backsight and another ATLer, Erik Larson, who didn't recognize me at all. Went to lunch and another ATM run with Backsight and missed the Voice Actors panel. Oh well. Hung out with Lithrael at the broken toy bin, where she managed to buy a G1 Scorponok arm. She walked away with a bag of Megatron parts (I mean bits and pieces!) and scattered pieces of Sixshot (near complete when rebuilt, actually). Strange but funny. Mad Max walked up with a toy called The King Kong Sliding Puzzle (something like that), which was a knockoff Pretender Jazz. Funniest knockoff name I've ever seen. We went to another toy bin which had some of the nuttiest action figures we've ever seen. A singing blue cowboy and some large green army men who all looked like they were disco dancing. I think we spent more time with the Bin of Misfit Toys than at any table.

Went to the Hasbro Panel, which nothing of importance was revealed, except for the fact that God Hates You. Standard stuff, Headmaster Arcee (why can't anyone want a regular Arcee? Fuck Daniel!), bring back G1, Beast Mutants suck (and God Hates You!), S2 Spoilers toys by Christmas, etc. covered in other reports. Somehow missed hearing that outtakes of the movie and the PSAs were going to be shown afterwards. Rats. Hopefully they'll be on the DVD. Also missed hearing Hoop have WARenfeld paged. I think he had a longer line for autographs than the BW VA's did. Now his head'll really be swelled.

Wiigii did a mass McDonald's break, and Quez said "Hey You! Move!" to me, which is pretty cool to get a royal order or something. I think her and Swifteagle were joined at the hip. But not as bad as Walky and Windy (bleah).

Went to the Movie afterwards, when Hellbat showed up in his newly aquired Ramjet costume he got from Robowang. I wished I had some toast to throw. Sat up in the balcony, and White Dove herself sat a few rows in front of us. Told everyone jokingly to watch the Wheelie jokes. She smiled. Then when someone cracked some rather nasty ones, saw one of the coldest stares ever. Lots of applauding, I think Wreck Gar got the biggest actually (What is with Sci Fi fans and Monty Python?). The big moments of course were applauded, and nice to hear some "Newsgroup" moments appluaded/yelled at, IE Brawn's Death and Magnus infamous line "I can't deal with that now!" Much better detail on the big screen. Never noticed Megatron was drooling in the Shuttle/Unicron scene.

After the movie, went to the #wiigii party eventually, stopping briefly to play Micromasters with Rob P. and talk to Nightwind again. Came in and watched some dubbed Headmasters eps, which I have but they're so much funnier with an audience. We all went back to the video rooms later and watched Lithrael's Staying Alive video, which was mostly clips of Megs beating Screamer (and their's a LOT). They went to do a WWFF reading, I got consumed watching Nemesis with Backsight. Oh well, I'll hear the tape eventually. Went downstairs and talked to Robowang, Raksha, and Magic. Robowang said Straxus was passed out in some room; we discussed shaving his legs but no one wanted to loan a spare razor. Backsight later drove me back.

Day Three: ActionMaster Orgies and the Secret of the Universe

Next day got going even later as Tim and Trent woke up late and Tim takes an hour to shower (I'm not that bad!). Didn't miss much of the MST3K show, thankfully. Funny stuff. Got to watch City of Steel again, but it was better this time. I mean, its still a gross episode, but those guys make it funny. Went back and watched the dealer room die down to closing time, then went to the Hartman panel. Nothing big to put out either, though they'll be screening questions at the panels next year. We tried to convince them to make next year's exclusive a redecoed Big Daddy, but no dice. BIG DADDY!

Lot of our group started leaving at this point, and as the hours dragged after the convention closed, it got sadder as all our friends started to leave. Megatron33 left, and I barely even talked to him. We went to eat at Taco Bell, and on the way back discovered the secret of the universe. But we gave it back to the Hartman's cause we're nice people. We met a nice kid in the lobby that night and we regaled him with stories from WARenfeld. I think he's scarred for life. No one should have to take that much Echowarrior stuff at one time. Finally met Ravestrike, whou joined us around midnight, at which they were few of us left. Tonyfitz, Monocle and I arranged action master in various lewd poses for fun. Finally called it a night and took a cab back, which was a pretty penny. Only managed a few hours sleep, and I'm STILL tired.

I left out a LOT of stuff, but this thing is way too long as it is. Sorry if I left anyone out who I had a good time with, but I'll see you next year!

BotCon 2000 - Scylla

Ok, let's see if I can turn my experience into anything interesting. Just so you know, I didn't see any panels at all so don't read this for anything but seeing what my trip was like.

Pre-BotCon

The Sunday before BotCon I agree to meet with several other SF Bay Area TFans (Megatron33, Lord Xiphos, Arcee and friends) in Monterey for what turns out to be a fun but gruelling day. I'm currently unemployed, a mouse potato for the last two months, and on a weird sleep schedule so I accidentally stay up all night which means I've been up 24 hours by the time I meet everyone so I'm a bit out of it and unprepared for the trip to the aquarium and the beautiful hike afterwards. I had a lot of fun but I end up never catching up on my sleep or healing my feet of blisters before BotCon. Big mistake! I get a head cold and worry it won't clear up by BotCon. (It didn't but I survived.)

Thursday

I left early Thursday morning so I'd have time to catch up on my sleep in Ft. Wayne and start out BotCon relaxed. hah! I arrive late due to traffic, barely have time to check in my luggage and board the plane. On the happy side I got the emergency exit row that has foot room, yay! and good seat mates. I strangely don't notice Hydra on the same plane.

When I get to Detroit for the link to Ft.Wayne, I run into Hydra. He had fooled me by bleaching out his hair. (We live in the same town so we run into each other occasionally). We travel together the rest of the way, which is great as time travels quickly when talking TFs. On the shuttle bus to the hotel, we run into Doug Dlin and catch up on things. Weird side note: There's a welcoming committee at the Ft.Wayne airport that hands out cookies.

In the lobby of the Hilton I run into Robowang who looks very familiar but, as usual for me, I can't remember his name. We talk about his roommate troubles and I check in. I decide I can't stay up any longer (having been up 24+) and go up to my room to nap. Silly me, #1 rule of BotCon, eat when you can! (#2 is sleep when you can but the bed is always open as opposed to restaurants.) I wake up at midnight and wander around the place. Dinner is a bag of peanuts form a vending machine. I should say here that I'm working for Rugby's Starbase this year and I expect them to arrive at any point, one of the crew is my roommate. I catch a spectacular thunderstorm with *huge* bolts of lightening. Even since I moved to the SF Bay area, I haven't seen such storms so it's good entertainment for an hour. Reading Richard the III is good for another hour and then I finally give up waiting and go to sleep. I find out later that they told Rugby's that my room had been "cancelled" so that's why my roommate never showed up.

Friday

I know that we don't set up until 1/2/3 p.m. (I receive different times from several sources.) so I sleep in a bit. Then I have breakfast, trying to carbo-load while I can. At the end of my meal I run into my roommate and we clarify that yes, everyone is here. We walk around, I give the tour since I've already been there last night, we go through registration (much easier than last time!) and we meet up to unload the truck. If you've seen the Rugby's display (a whole wall of tables) you understand just what unloading the truck means. We unload and unload and unload and unload. Then we try to set things up for display but are finally kicked out. We hope there will be enough time tomorrow to finish some of it. Only two of us were lucky enough to get tickets, mine was a last minute miracle (Bless you, Jon Hartman!). so the two of us (me and Matt Warsocki, boss of Rugby's) go to dress up for dinner.

We arrive a little late but there's a huge line and delays so it's ok. (Though waiting in heels wasn't. Blah!) Semi-formal was an interesting term for what some were wearing. The women generally dressed up more but some of the guys looked more like they were getting their school pictures taken than attending a dinner. I'm sorry, but if the fashion police were there, many wouldn't have gotten in. I know it's a pain to dress up, but come on, folks! Is dressing up once a year too much?


BotCon 2000 collectors' plate
I was delighted by the vegetarian dish, usually the veggie dishes are bad. My only complaint (other than a *seafood* dish for vegetarians!) was the mystery coloured water we got. Iced tea, maybe? It was hard to tell... The wait staff entertained us with their bickering and rudeness. The exclusives were nice (the comic and plate) but I would have liked the plate more if it was actually functional. I seldom display plates so I would have gotten a kick out of using it. Oh well. I guess it can join my Catwoman collection.

I stood in line with the others to get the exclusives and ran into Lord Xiphos. (Actually, I'd been running into M.Sipher before and kept almost greeting him as Xiphos, damn cloning.) Poor man, they had closed Detroit airport because of thunderstorms (he had been forced to go Friday because of work) and he ended up taking a grossly large amount of money cab ride to get here. Unfortunately it was only the beginning of his troubles...but this is my report, I'll let him tell that story.

After dinner, it's decided that we should go track down the Rugby's crew who didn't go to dinner to make sure they know we have to be in the dealer's room at 6am. (I should note here that, that's actually 4am, my time.) After a search that goes nowhere, apparently they had decided to take part in Ft. Wayne's more risquÈ clubs I came back to my room to be greeted by a sleepy roommate's rendition of a late night prank call someone decided to do. Gee, thanks, whoever...hope this doesn't become a BotCon tradition. :/ My roommate decides to talk all night and I get one hours sleep and then it's 5:15, time to get up to prepare for the Dealer's room.

Saturday

We work as fast as we can but it looks like we won't have enough time. I look around the room briefly, since I know I'll be working most of the time and this will be my moment of peace. I run into Ryan (can't remember his last name who I met at BotCon '98. That was my first BotCon and it seems a good sign to see him there; he has a table and ends up selling most of his stuff. I buy an Arcee T-shirt from Dan Khanna and a BW book and some wind up toys from the Japanese dealers. I'm on a strict budget this year so no major purchases. :/

Going out into the lobby I see the surging crowd and feel fear. They announce the doors are opening and we rush to our stations. We're so large that the 10 person crew has been divided into pricing, register and security. As the wall of people crams forward we all try to be as alert as possible, processing multiple requests while at the same time trying to make sure everything gets paid for. One of the problems with more people attending is the likelihood of theft increasing too and we're vulnerable with all those tables of stuff. Still, everything goes well for us, though not for some other tables. :/

The day seems to go forever. I'm allowed a one hour nap break so I'm not there the entire 12 hours but I'm still exhausted by all the standing, pacing, lifting, etc. This is much more difficult than selling art, like the last two years. (I worked for Dan Khanna then.) Some of my friends come by the table and I have them sign my autograph book. I have had a lousy time getting Voice Actor autographs (missed everyone the last two conventions) so I decide to focus on fellow ATTers, instead. I got: Robowang, Retrax, AlexJ33106, Rock/Pyre, Tykus the gladiator, Trixter, Thylacine2K, Megatron33, Swifteagle, Quezovercoatl, Hydra, Tengu, someone who was so fancy I can't figure out who it is, and surprisingly, Ian Corbett, Alec Willows and Venus. I guess the rest of y'all were good luck! I'll bring my book next con and hopefully get more. It was really good to see Tykus since we've emailed/chatted for a good while now without meeting and I finally got to collect all the hugs he'd been promising.

A BIG highlight was Dalmatian giving me a Frenzy cassette. It wasn't mint but who cares? I LOVE IT! My sad little G1 collection now has another member! THANK YOU SO MUCH DALMATIAN!

Saturday night I go out with the Rugby's crew. One of the things I've noticed is that it's way too easy to spend all of BotCon within a few people's company and miss everyone else. This definitely happened to me. Hopefully next year I can mix some more. Anyway, it's a farewell dinner, as Matt Warsocki is getting out of the TF business (He's selling Rugby's to another crew member so it'll still be at BotCons.) There are many nice toasts (he's the best boss I've ever had, really cares about his crew!) and a wonderful meal. Really, I'm a vegetarian and it was a steakhouse, yet even I was full. All the food inspired a very silly retelling of the entire TFTM as an advertisement for A-1 steak sauce and I really really wish I could have taped it for everyone.

It was late when we got back and I had to leave Sunday afternoon so I packed to be ready for check out and went to sleep.

Sunday


Venus Terzo
Sunday, I didn't have to work and was finally free! Unfortunately I had to deal with the intricacies of checking out and leaving my luggage in the luggage room until my shuttle came later. This would seem simple but I had a 4 pieces and all the luggage carts were gone. I finally get everything taken care of and go track down my missing friends who I brought stuff for so I don't have to take it home. I find that wandering around without feeling guilty about not working is great. I should not work more! I checked out the art show and saw lots of great stuff. Saw the Nightscream toy and thought maybe I'd get it after all. Talked to some friends and then ended up back at Rugby's working after all. How'd that happen? The good part of it was that I was in the dealer's room when they had a special signing for dealers/dealer's helpers which is how I finally got the Voice actors' autographs. But that's not all! In my other life I'm a trained Massage Therapist so I asked the actors if they wanted a neck and shoulder massage and Venus said yes! That was an enjoyable 10 minutes for both of us! The only bad part was that I had brought my massage table (have table will travel...) with me and Venus said if I had said said something sooner she would have wanted a full body massage. D'OH!!! Maybe next time....

So the convention finally ended which meant it was group portrait time for some reason. So I posed with Rugby's and then with my fellow ATTCM moderators which made me miss my shuttle. :/ But the good news is because of that I got to hang in the bar/lounge with Ian Corbett and Alec Willows and ride the shuttle with them. And Dalmatian, it turned out. That was much fun as they are fun, witty guys. Everything seemed great until I got to the airport and realized they had left one of my pieces of baggage behind. This was the last flight apparently where I could make my connection so if I missed it I was SOL. They radioed the hotel to send my bag on the next shuttle. By the time it came the flight was getting ready to leave, I got to run across the tarmac and yell at them to hold the plane and everything like in some movie. A little too much excitement for me. Fortunately, it was better from then on, since Dalmatian was on my flight to Detroit. I had been upset since he didn't draw a squid in the convention scene in his comic: http://www.funnyfarmcomics.com/ so he drew me a very cute squid shopping at BotCon. What a guy!

After another long flight, a medical emergency on my plane (where another BotCon attendee I didn't know volunteered themselves for help, are you an ATT reader too?) and one of my bags getting stuck back in Detroit I was home. Phew.....

So when/where is next years? I should be recovered by then.

A huge thank you for 3H for having a kickass convention!

A big apology for everyone I left out...

BotCon 2000 - ZacWilliam

Yup, I was definately suffering Botcon Withdrawl Syndrome yesterday, getting back to boring old mundane reality. That was hands down the most fun weekend I've had in a real long time! Wooo!

Well, I know everyone's probably read a hundred of them and is ready to move on by now, but this was my first Botcon, (Primus willing, first of many and I figured I had to try my hand at the traditional Botcon Report...

Let's put it this way, when I woke up at home Monday morning I thought for a moment maybe the whole thing'd really just been a dream, like when you dream you're at a store at Christmas time and they have all these unbelievably awesome new TF stuff, your favorite types and charecters and all... It was a little like that, except I saw all the stuff I bought sitting on my dresser after a moment and smiled.

So here we go...

Friday

Me and my brother got up *EARLY* to fly from Hartford to Pittsburg, and then take the Powerglide mini-plane express from Pitt. to Ft. Wayne. We met the very lovely Dark Angel and found out we were at the same hotel,

which was great since we were worried we'd be the only ones that far (4 miles)away.

After we checked in, the 3 of us got together, met a couple of other great fans stying there too and went over to the Convention center to register. There wasn't a line at all, so we got our packets (cool Rhino TF postcards, and BW S3 variation on TF:TM poster stapled inside the convention book). Then basicly everyone just hung out, mingled with all the other fans, and watched the art contest set up and all. The Video Rooms were going.

Men In Black, apparently banned from the actual con, in a less-than-classy move had set up a "pre-emptive strike" type sales room of their own upstairs. We checked it out quick, but the prices were too high (no competition yet). Later a group of us ordered a Pizza in the Hilton lobby and hung out. For a night with nothing much officially happening, it was still a really darn good time.

Saturday

This was a very long day (in a good way so I'll just touch on the highlights:

1) BOY was the Dealer Room CROWDED when it first opened. You could barely move. (happily the crowd thined out latter) It was great though, as there were so many cool things in there I honestly didn't know where to turn first.

2) Both the Art and Display rooms were great. Absolutely brilliant.

Many of the Kitbashes, drawings, and paintings were simply gorgious. I didn't feel so bad that I didn't bring an entry after all. My stuff was good enough to put up in there, but there's no way it could have stood against the great work that actually (and deservedly) won.

It was simultaneously awesome abd heartbreaking to see that (nearly) complete collection of every TF in the next room too. Ah, where's a convienent blackout when you need one. *yoink* Magmatron is a Heroic Maximal Dinobot, and they are advertising him on the box as a Japanese Import. Cool. I definitely want to see his spec.

3) The Hasbro Panel:

I thought it was funny that the guy seemed to think the McDonalds toys would be a big surprise announcement. Other than that this pannel was low on news.

I groaned along with everyone else at the cliche fanboy "Arcee with Headmaster Daniel" request, but at the same time, atleast the unanimous roaring response Hasbro got when they asked if we would by it may have told them something. Maybe.

I found it interesting that the question about the BWN Unicron prototype wasn't met with the same flat out "no plans now" of other Japanese exclusive requests. There was some evasiveness in the answer that, while not enough to make me hopefull, was a tantalizing tease of the possibility.

We managed, I think, to get across both fandom's general dislike of how far in size and design BM toys are from the show. I think we also communicated that we'd like backstory paid attention to more and enjoy the much improved tech-specs of late. Yes, there were some rude, dumb, or inappropriate questions but it could have been much worse IMO.

Also, we pretty much had it confirmed that Savage/Noble would be in stores for Christmas (likely along with his own wave of more BM deluxes) This isn't exactly stunning since he's been spotted in store computers and the newest Previews listed a previously unknown new wave of Basics at the same time. Still, it was nice to have that backed up and confirmed.

This pannel was the longest I've ever had my hand in the air without getting to ask a question. Oh well, other people covered most of what I wanted to say.



3H Enterprises introduces the movie
4) The Movie!!!! (There was plenty of other good stuff inbetween, but this post is going to be long enough as is WOOOO! THAT WAS COOL! It was unbelievable the difference seeing this on a big screen again. WOW! And in a theater full of that many people who all loved it to. Yeah, we were a little applause happy, but with good cause I'd say. Encore!

5) After the movie we hung out at the convention center again (missed 3 marriot shuttles I think, and had to hire the Hilton's in the end.) Dark Angel got a personal serenade from Vince D'Cola that had her in rapturous emotional breakdown for the rest of the weekend. When we finally got back to the Marriot a bunch of us all got together again relaxed around the outdoor pool.

Sunday

Well, not as much going on this last day, but some cool stuff none-the-less. The MSTing was very funny, and seemed to go quick. Probably got the neatest announcement of the Convention IMO came from Ravestrike at the Video Game Pannel. He and the rest of the group responsible for the recent BW Transmetal fighting game are getting ready to set to work on a new TF game for the Playstation 2. It should be a GENERATION ONE / BW crossover game too! They're set to begin work this fall, with the nominal plan for a Japanese release, since it's easier to get a game out there, and then to eventually bring it here. Wooo! I hope everything works out. I'd be less optimistic just on general princible, but these tallented folks have already manged to get us 2 games, so lets all hope miracles can happen more than once.

Hung around and did some more shopping. Prices really started to plummet at some booths as the end neared and a sort of half auction/feeding frenzy ensued with some great deals.

I got to spend some time with the lovely white-cloaked White Dove discousing the TF Language project she has going (as a fanfic writer I like the idea of mapping out cybertronian words and language, and from what I saw it's coming along great.) She was all out of duckies for Megatron though. *sigh.*

Anyway, when the convention ended I hated to go. The great thing was, the jubilant Dark Angel shared our shuttle to the airport and was even able to rearrange her flights to come on ours, which made it all seem to last that much longer. And she got to sit almost right behind Vince D'Cola again on the flight! I think you could have powered the Ark with her excitment. We all almost ended up following him back to California I think.

All and all a spectacular Weekend. A major hand to the Hartmans for putting on something THAT cool every year!

My Finally Mechandise Tally

1) Shocorakt: Very nice. I agree with Suspy, even better looking in person than on the box, and I think I like his colors better than Rampage too. A Matrix of Conquest accessory would have simply Rulled. Guess I'll have to make my own.

2) Apelinq- Aparenlty he's going to tie into next year's all new Botcon BM story. According to the Botcon Comic Exclusive he seems to be a member of a new version of the Autobot Wreckers, an elite Battle team from the UK Comics. I like the colors, pretty cool, and yet ANOTHER faction in the Beat Machines story. AND he was a surprise, I was totaly expecting Cataclysm (TMCheetor)!

3-4) Botcon 99 booklet and Botcon 2000 Comic- Had to get this whole story cause I love Furman and Senior. Pretty darn cool. Lots of neat revelations, charecters, charecterization for the exclusives and all. Maybe not the best work of either, but great stuff none the less and I hope Botcon keeps bringing us more like it. Loved the cameo's by all the early non-show BW guys. So... now was Sandstorm *always* Scorpious or...

4-5) TF Acessory Guide Part 1 - I definitely needed this. I just wish it was complete for the whole length of the line instead of just through the movie years. Hope the next is done soon.

6-7) Argentine Orange "Halloween" Bumblebee and White "Ghost" Cliffjumper. I got a good deal and I'm making them new characters. Very nice, I just wish they weren't so rare, I really want to open them...

8-9) Two Transforming Kronoform watch robots. They need new batteries but I love these guys. I put one on and couldn't stop playing with it all weekend.

10) Bombshell - Got him for 5 dollars during the final close out sale. Great condition, great deal.

11) TF Car Robots: Trainrobot J7. Great toy. I almost didn't but him, but the deal was so good I couldn't resist. I'm glad I gave in. If the others are this nice I definetly must grab them too.

12) Humble old Nosecone - the only Technobot I didn't have. Look out, here comes Computron.

13) Much needed parts to complete my Omega Supreme and Blur.

14-15) Last but not least two fan made Japanese TF comics. Cybertron Chronicles Part 1 and then that one about Primacron based on the show. Both were very, very well done. FINISH the STORIES PLEASE!!!!. Seriously, the Chronicles one may be the best TF comic I've ever seen done ANYWHERE, including the official stuff, US UK, and Japan. Why didn't he do more! *sigh*

Add to all that that my brother Gabe bought a whole load of cool stuff too and I think thigs worked out very nice on all fronts. I know I know, "post too long." I could go on for much longer though. It was *that* great a time! Thanks again to all the H's, and to Dark Angel, and Meesum, and Fort Max and the rest of the cool folks at the Marriot and Convention for making it a trip to remember. Hope to see you all again next year.

-ZacWilliam, who had something to say here but has forgotten. Oh well, it's not like the post hasn't rambled on enough...