BotCon '95 - Robert Jung

Well, as I promised/threatened, here are my three Energon cubes' worth of opinions on BotCon '95. I'll try to make it look organized and professional, but don't let that fool you. A "real" professional report would have full names and details and whatnot, which was all beyond my ability to do (I was just busy having fun and staring wide-eyed at everything). Instead, I'll just write on about my impressions and emotions, rambling away all the while (which -- as those who have met me in person will confirm -- is my normal way of jabbering in real life).

GENERAL IMPRESSIONS

*** WOW! ***

It's been almost twenty hours since I stepped away from the Dayton Convention Center, and I'm still stoked. Good thing I took Monday off to "recuperate" -- I'd be an unproductive, hyperactive ball of twine at work if I tried to get any stuff done today. No, now's a good time to slow down, put away all my nifty BotCon loot, and write rambling messages on the USENET.

BotCon was a major emotional rush. It's one thing to be proud of being a TransFan; it's another thing to participate in alt.toys.transformers or one of the TF MUSHes and meet fellow enthusiasts; and it's a third thing all together to be among 350-plus fans, all rubbing elbows and sharing the same unbridled enthusiasm you have.

I think about 85% of the BotCon attendees were on-line denizens of one sort or another, either lurkers on the net, MUSH players, or both. In a way, this was almost the alt.toys.transformers convention instead. Which suited me fine -- my big fear was that I wouldn't know most of the people at the convention, and that my references to newsgroup discussion threads would draw blank stares. No way, no how, nosiree bob.

Anyway, let's get into the details...

FAN MANIA

The big thing about BotCon (for me, anyway) were the fans. It was a major kick to finally meet everyone who I've known on-line. A .sig file is one thing, but having real faces and voices and personalities is another. And even the not-prominent fans (either lurkers or people without net.access) were fun -- just grab a stranger and start jabbering away.

The fans also made sure to keep things interesting before, between, and after the convention. There's something oddly exciting about throwing two dozen psuedo-strangers into a dimly-lit hotel room, watching Japanese commercials and episodes while rummaging through boxes of toys (Nevatron, the traiding outpost, room 826 . Some of the 2006 MUShers organized a live- action role-playing game on Saturday night, which meant they were running around the Mezzanie of the hotel in a plot with Starscream's ghost, the missing Transforming cog, a Decepticon blitzkreig on the Autobots, various schemes, and other silliness. Then there were the lunch and dinner parties; grab a group of people, walk or drive to a restaurant, and freak out the other patrons. And the late-night video showings, and the "toy opening" ceremonies, and...

BOTCON MEMORABILIA

As most people know by now, pre-registered conventioneers got the BotCon exclusive Transformer -- Nightracer. This is the first "official" female Transformers toy, and the character was created by Raksha as well. Who says fans don't have influence?

There was other BotCon '95 stuff, of course. The official convention T-shirt -- Autobot/Decepticon sigils, with accompanying text) -- was available either in Autobot red or Decepticon purple. There was the BotCon '95 magazine, a glossy, heavy stock book with fanzine comics, pin-up art, a fanfic story ("Nightbird -- the Aftermath"), and some cut-out trading cards in the back -- Super Megatron, Grimlock, Optimus Prime, Soundwave, Nightbird, and the MicroZone Protectors. Somehow, I doubt anyone will be cutting up their magazines for the cards...

Then there was the free convention schedule, most notable IMO for the foreward by Simon Furman (short but supportive). Finally, for those who couldn't make it to the 1994 BotCon, copies of the BotCon '94 retrospective were available (yes!), along with leftover T-shirts and buttons.

DEALERS AND DEALS

The dealer room (actually, the dealer half of the combination dealers-and- discussions room) was unarguably the heart of the convention. Most people hung out there, and with good reason -- not only could you rummage for sales, gawk at exotic Japanese toys, admire some TransFan's latest find, play RoboMACs with Dave Van Domelen, and haggle for deals, but you could also luck out and see some of the most interesting things. For instance, someone was showing off his "dead Optimus action figure" -- Optimus Prime, painted ash-grey, head rolled to one side, chest opened, with a Creation Matrix resin kit inside. Or the following scene from Sunday morning:

Most of the dealers were also TransFans, which added to the fun. You might start off haggling over the price of a mint-in-box Skids, then diverge into a talk over how he was portrayed in the comic for the next ten minutes. Sometimes the guy who outbid you on an exotic toy would be another dealer, who needed Star Saber for his own private collection...

It was also a fast-and-easy way to blow lots of money fast. Japanese TFs were expensive, but they disappeared fast -- I saw one fan walk off with $1000 of Japanese toys within ten minutes of the con's opening on Saturday morning. My own attempts to "wait until the end of the convention and pick up a discounted Japanese TF" went bust -- by the end of Saturday, all of the big, jaw-dropping import toys were gone. I hear Hex bought TWO Star Saber boxed toys, at $200 each.

ART AUCTION AND COLLECTION ROOM

The art auction/collection room was -- appropriately enough -- quieter and more respectable. 3/4ths of the room was taken up by the memorabilia, and it was amazing to see how many different types of Transformers-related goodies are out there. Sure, we can expect coloring books and Colorforms, but what about Optimus Prime fuzzy bedroom slippers? Or the placemats/cups/plates? Or the "sand-bot," for fending off Decepticons at the beach? Or the Soundwave design station? Or... Even scarier was that most (90%+) of the items came from Raksha's own collection, which left you wondering just how her apartment must look like.

Then there was the art display and auction, which was fun. A lot of it were black and white pieces, often done either as blueprints or fanzine comic book pages. But there were also paintings, and 3D models, and mock-ups (the "Alien Decepticon" and the "Lego Transformers" were the most interesting, IMO), and "other" media, such as the embroidered Transformers art items.

The VERY best of the art collection, IMO, were the pieces by M. Ishibashi and Eva Gillmann. M. Ishibashi couldn't make it to the convention, but sent along his regrets -- and over a dozen of his painted drawings. His works were a combination of original characters and existing characters, usually in a dramatic pose next to a box describing their function, group, and quotes, and he even drew mock-up packaging cards for two of his original characters. Eva did make it to the convention (all the way from Germany, even), and her best piece in the art gallery was a detailed, color drawing of the various 1995 Transformers characters fighting it out. It was certainly good enough to grace the cover of the BotCon 1995 magazine.

My only regret (and I know I wasn't alone here) was that neither Mr. Ishibashi nor Ms. Gillmann wanted to sell their pieces. Look, but don't buy. I hope my photos turn out, though...

VIDEO ON DEMAND

Then there was the video room, which was continuously showing Transformers cartoons from the US and Japan on a BIG projection screen. Most of the clips were American episodes, and there wasn't a turkey in the bunch -- "War of the Dinobots," "Enter the Nightbird," "Burden Hardest to Bear," "Webworld"... The high point was arguably the showing of the movie on Saturday afternoon -- the room was full, and leftover viewers were peeking in through the doorframe. It was fun listening to TransFans recite the lines, cheer at the high points, and throw out some MST3K-esque remarks, too. And those who saw the Japanese movie preview (which was shown just before the movie) also got the added benefit of seeing some movie animation that was NEVER seen in the theaters, including a jaw-dropping shot of a hundred Decepticons swarming the skies as they attack Autobot City... *Thunk!*

There were attempts to show the Japanese episodes, but with mixed results. The tapes were third- and fourth-generation copies, and for a while the footage was rolling poorly. But I hear that a tape-swap worked, and fans who stuck around Saturday night got to see some of the Scramble City and Headmasters episodes.

DISCUSSION PANELS

For those interested, the original plans were to have the fanfic discussion panel and Hex's Transformers repair panel on Saturday, and to have the collectors' panel and the fanzine/MUSH panel on Sunday.

I don't want to say anything about the fanfic panel, since I was on it, and I think my opinions might be biased. Someone else in the audience can do the job. I think everyone will agree that H. Jameel al Khafiz and I were uninhibitedly loopy, though, and were ready to do almost anything to entertain the bored crowd (hey, Raksha, I promised that you wouldn't have to worry about embarassing yourself, didn't I? .

Hex's toy restoration panel was bumped from Saturday to Sunday for some reason, which meant all of the other panels were on Sunday, giving folks more reason to stay the entire weekend. Hex's panel was detailed and educational. The only drawback came when he was up there on the stage, trying to point out subtle nuiances in repair, and with no way for the audience sitting six feet away to see what he was talking about. He solved that by getting off the stage and mingling with the crowd. Ah, inginuity...

Then there was the collectors panel on Sunday afternoon, which was also interesting. Color variants, package variants, assessing conditions, eveerything and more were touched on, complete with on-stage examples. Though I am not a die-hard collector (hey, my toys number only in the double digits , it was fascinating to hear about all the minor differences that exist out there. Arguing about whether or not the Hot Rod toy had metal feet or not is only scratching the surface...

Late Sunday afternoon had the fanzine/MUSH panel, but I had to catch my flight then, so I ducked out.

But the big smash had to be the Transformers Trivia contest, on Sunday noon. 50-plus questions from the comic, cartoon, and toy line were available -- raise your hand quick enough, pick a category, answer it right, and win a prize! Everything from coloring books to boxed toys to Japanese manga were available, and the hands were flying fast. I managed to snare a near-mint boxed Bombshell, but only because I had seen "The Burden Hardest to Bear" in the video room the day before.

The gem of the contest was a resin kit of the Creation Matrix. For those who haven't seen it, it consists of the matrix from the movie and a storage chamber. You put both in the chest of the original Optimus Prime, and can open it up to use the power of the Matrix in the privacy of your own home. Hand-made, priced at $50. Anyway, the final prize got a very appropriate stumper stumper of a question: "In issue #80 of the Generation 1 comic book, which Decepticon was accidentally struck by another Decepticon?" No cheating, folks...

LASER LIGHTS

On Saturday night, there was a laser light show at the Dayton Museum of Natural Science. In a nutshell, the idea was to play the soundtrack to the Transformers movie, while projected images and dancing laser beams played across an overhead domed screen fifty feet across.

It was a mixed success. The only real downside was that it felt somewhat like a "generic" laser show (the museum's normal display) mixed with the Transformers soundtrack. Plans to have laser-generated Transformers-related images (Autobot/Decepticon sigils, Unicron, etc.) unfortunately didn't work out.

On the other hand, it was still a cool show. The lasers were neat, and the projected images really gave a great sense of vertigo, especially flying through transparent spheres and tubes and whatnot. Throw that with almost a hundred fans, reclining back and singing along with the concert-level music, and you ended up with a lot of screaming excitement. And parts of the show did seem to match with the soundtrack; "The Chase" was accompanied with a constant "tunnel rush" projection, while the death of Optimus Prime included a slow pan out and fade of the galaxy. All in all, a lot of fun.

RAKSHA, RAKSHA, EVERYWHERE

There is no way I could do a write-up of BotCon '95 and NOT mention our mistress of ceremonies, Raksha, the plumed serpent. The woman was literally everywhere, making sure everything was working, making sure everyone was having fun, and generally NOT having a chance to sit back and relax. Despite what some people on the net might think, she is a very caring person who (figuratively) bent over backwards to make the convention a big success. I know of a half-dozen instances where she passed up taking a break or enjoying herself because something needed to be fixed or she wanted to make sure everyone was accomodated. She was the first one up in the morning, the last one to bed at night, and I know she did not get a chance to enjoy the con as the rest of us fans did. Add on top of that all the other things she had her talons in -- creating Nightracer, running her own sales booth, putting together a convention magazine, donating collection display pieces, donating videotapes for the video room, assembling the laser show, making free "Energon cube" snacks, etc., etc., etc., etc., etc. The woman was lucky to get four hours of sleep a night, folks.

Does this sound like gushing? Perhaps, but she deserves it. Raksha (aided by her small army of volunteers -- Michael, Eva, and Vulcana) worked herself silly, doing a job that I will readily admit I could never do in this lifetime. Having seen some of the last-minute, spit-and-wire efforts that went into BotCon, I can say that it was nothing short of unbelievable, and she deserves a LOT of thanks for making it all come true.

Thanks.

CONCLUSIONS

Did I miss anything? Probably. But then, I'm sure other TransFan attendees will be glad to elaborate and/or correct what I've written, and I expect that. Suffice it to say that I spent a lot of money on BotCon (mostly on air fare and accomodations), and I don't regret it one bit. The entire weekend was one big Transformers love-fest, easily the only one of its kind, and I am VERY glad to have been a part of it.

Topping BotCon '95 is going to be a tall order, I think. But I hope someone out there gives it a shot...