BotCon '96 - Stanley Lui

Rant mode on, or, as the BWADLers like to say, Beagletron, rantorize!

Part One: Trip to Chicago, aka Run For The Plane

Oh neat, traffic is backed up. Oh neat, my bus is making a one-hour trip in two hours. Oh neat, my bag is at least twice as heavy as it was when I left the house. Ug.

Well, at least there weren't any lineups at the airport. Met up with Lia on the way (turns out she got caught by traffic too). Didn't know I wasn't allowed to take fruits, compressed gases, or knives. I have all three in my bag. I forget to ask and simply check it in. Apparently, the observant staff there never noticed any of it. I shrug and count my blessings. The airport lady told me the new x-ray machines don't harm film, but still, she's willing to check my camera by hand. I hope she's right, or I'm getting back six sets of black stuff instead of photos.

The plane trip is fun, even though I carry my large bag with me for fear of crushing GK Superion. I start taking photos from the plane. The guy next to me look at me funny. I smile back and wonder if he'll think I'm insane. The thought keeps me entertained for the rest of the trip.

The airport has a lovely way of telling you where to go. Two bad the arrows they refer to are beside and behind you when you read the signs that refer to them. Ah, intelligence.

The hotel clerk pronounces Botcon "Btcn". I need it repeated to make sure I got it right. They get my credit card so the room can be paid for. Several signatures etc. later, I'm told that Mark/Mirage/ Powerglide already checked in, and I just wasted the last couple minutes and a good deal of ink. I smile at the clerk, and wonder if anyone will miss him if he disappeared. We have difficulty finding the right elevator, but eventually, we get it. We can clearly see plenty of BotCon peole all over the lobby as we head for the room. Excitement is in the air.

Part Two: Setting up, aka Confusion Central

Well, Lia and I were the first ones in the room last year, and this year, we're the second last. Raksha, Mirage, and Magic/Eva are already there, alone with an impressive set of stuff for the art room and to sell. I try to find a little area to stash my stuff, trying not to step on anything rare or valuable. Avatar decides to greet us. Everyone goes gagga over her (naturally!) and I take lots more photos. People say "Neat!" when I take out GK Superion and Star Convoy, then gag as the colors of GK Superion finally register in their minds. I think some people may have been scarred by the incident, but that's okay: it prepares them for the shock of the Unicron prototype.

Part Three: Fooling around, aka The Pool

We check upstairs, where the MUSHers were apparently wasting each other with big water guns. Especially Naomi. Oh geez, she looked like Ripley in Aliens (at the end, with the plasma rifle) holding it. Photos of everyone running around like commandos. I learn to dodge water blasts while holding a camera. Tony gives me the Laser Op that Frenzy bought for me (I'll get the MO ASAP, Frenz!)

People migrate to the outdoor pool. Splashing around! Running around flagrantly ignoring safety precautions! Tossing people into the pool! EVIL ganging up on the poor photographer! Laughter as I mention, a wee bit late, that I can't swim! I towel off, dry as much of my paper stuff as I can, and join Raksha's group in the Dealer line-up.

Part Four: Setting up the dealer room, aka The Wait

Well, we waited until the cows came home. There was a lot of buying in line... so much that I wonder why they bothered having tables at all. Ah well, got to chat with MSipher, something I didn't do nearly enough of last year ( when I didn't even know it was you until you wrote your email address on that card you gave me). I help out by carrying a box, and realize almost too late, that there are handles I hadn't noticed. My sense of observation once again proves comatose.

Some buying that night, but we non-dealers pass people don't stay too long. After getting Eva some cough drops, Lia & I head out for some chow.

Part Five: Getting food, aka FoodQuest

Easier said than done, apparently. Not including the hotel restaurant, we have three choices by foot: McDonalds, a sports bar, and a family restaurant. Hoping it's not another greasy- spoon place, we choose the latter. We see BotConners there, and I miss a great photo op. S'okay, we meet up later anyhow. The waitress wasn't in a great mood. Alllllrighty then.

Hanging around in the lobby, Lia and I meet up with Cosmos and Astrotrain. We chat. We smile. We photograph. We danc-- er, no we didn't. We did laugh about Kup though, and that made my day.

The Movie party was LOUD. I didn't mind it so much, because I am admittedly immature and lacking a life. I really wish the MIB made it clear from the beginning, though, whether or not they wanted us to be like that. I like being rowdy, but not if it annoys other people. Please, whoever does the next BotCon: have multiple showings of the movie and make AT LEAST one of them a "quiet, respectable" viewing. And make sure everyone knows too!

We see the Unicron prototype on the way back to the hotel room. One word: disappointing. It's apparent the body is just one flippin' big plastic ball. I decide it's more interesting photographing the people (but yeah, I have photos of Unicron from that night)

Part Six: The next day, aka Taking Care of Business

Money changing hands! More toys! Dealers being annoying! Dealers being nice! All part of the dealer's room, my friends. For once, my first purchase is (for me) a doozy. I spy HM Scorponok at one table, and ask how much he is. "$40" says the person there, who also volunteers that he's fairly complete, missing only a few things. I look at his nametag and see the name "Hartman" on it. Ah. It's one half of the famous Hartman brothers! I'm still thinking when the guy next to me says "'Scuse me, how much for Scorponok?" Mr. Hartman (I can't remember which one) asks me if I still want it. I tell the miser half of my brain to jump out the window and go for it. Whee, I have a giant green guy with claws to play with!

I pick up a G2 Megs for $10, and marvel how on earth the dealer could be making a profit from that. Not to ask too many questions, I tell Mirage about it and run off to my room to put my first two purchases away.

I find a cool dealer with a bunch of nice bagged toys with tech specs printed out on paper included with them. I find out momentarily that it's Hex. He tells me later he wants to sell a Doubledealer whose wheel he fixed. I didn't even have to think about it: the idea of having a patch-up job from Hex was just too cool for words I get a ton of stuff from him eventually, and except for Scorponok, spend more money there than any other table.

We went to the art room and again, saw the Unicron prototype. I'm still having nightmares about it, but we did get a wonderful photo of a bunch of us pointing to it and laughing. I hope whoever created it doesn't see that

Rest of the day had some nice stuff, but nothing spectacular. Except, of course, that Kendrick, Jameel, and Eric joined us and got to ask stuff to the Kenner guys. Everyone loved Jameel's reactions and Kendrick, as usual, got a sh*tload of really cool stuff. We all cheered at the news of simulatneous "Generation 3" and Beast Wars lines (and CARTOONS!) Cheers for bringing in more females.

Part Seven: Dinner again, aka FoodQuest II

Kendrick & co. had to leave before we went for dinner, and too bad: it was easily the weirdest and most fun part of the day. We packed ourselves into four cars, and forced Nixtr to sit in the trunk area of Raksha's car. I suspect photos of that are going to become valuable collectables in time

We go nuts trying to decide on a place to go, and in the meantime, we wave at tourist buses (one actually backed away from us) and passing aircraft ("Oh no, it's gonna crash!" "It's not a near miss until they collide!") We cross the road to Little Caesar's ("Let's try to stop the cars with our minds!" "Okay, but only if you get in front of me"). Everyone with a camera tries to take pics of each other, with Diana getting top prize for luckiest photo- avoidance (Thanks a lot for putting that tray in front of me, Greg )

Somehow, we manage to find something humorous in every toyline we see in the toy section of Kmart, including a Nerf product someone was apparently hungry enough to take a bite out of. We tried not to get TOO nuts, but one little girl passes by our aisle... and starts crying We were lucky security didn't drag out our scrawny little butts right there and then We adjurn to the main aisle, and have to seperate ("Like the Red Sea!") for a little girl who's riding a tricycle through the store (Road Pig jr? Nah) The second time she goes through, we put up our arms to form an arch-tunnel for her to ride through, much to her delight.

Part Eight: Silly stuff, aka Rob's Room-o-kooks

After getting back to the hotel, a bunch of us end up in Rob Jung's room, where we joke around, make fun of the Arcee model (words cannot begin to describe what I'm refering to here), and eventually, watch Doug Dlin transform and describe a bunch of post-TF Japanese toys. The Sevenchanger I'd seen before, but... a submarine? THAT's what that was? Brrr.

That night, Mirage finds out how much non-fun it is being an Autobot in an all-Con room. Heh heh heh.

Part Nine: Sunday morning, aka The Restaurant From Heck

Rob and Lizard come up to our room later on and after a lot of talking and waiting for the bathroom, Rob treats us to breakfast/dinner. Shamelessly, we accept (Mental note: Rob gets a coupla photos of the pool party free of charge ) The waiter lets Lizard, Lia, and myself order the buffet at 11:29. We find out at the buffet that it closes at 11:30. Uh huh. Well, the waiter was kind enough to apologize and let us take whatever was left at the buffet for free, and got us some orange juice too, so we weren't bitter or anthing

After a good bit of yacking, it was back to the dealer room!

Part Ten: More buying, aka You Really Wanna Carry That Stuff Back?

Trivia contest got three contestants, as I've mentioned in another post. A normal kid (ie. average TransFan), Rob "Toy List" Jung, and Steve "FAQ-keeper" Stonebraker. The poor kid. Rob clowns around everytime they give him the microphone, thus prompting them to watch him carefully everytime they give it to him. We consider using the microphone to ask Interbot to show himself, but decide against it.

Got some last-minute deals from dealers who wanted to get rid of their stuff (Quickmix w/o weapons for $3? Sure!) The auction fetched $1000 for the Hero Megs repaint and $950 for Megatron ATB. I nearly fainted. Sarai tagged along for a bit while I drove myself batty trying to use up a friend's money buying stuff. I'm sure now I've scared her off

Part Eleven: The way home, aka Delay, Delay, Delay

Well, no tearful goodbyes from or for me, but lots of affection goin' on in the lobby. I get REAL nervous as the pizza guy takes forever to bring the pizza, and then, during the rush to make the shuttle bus to the airport, Star Convoy (in one of my bags) somehow gets turned on, and a loud whirring could be heard. I didn't have time to check it out, and stupidly put it in the back of the bus. Oops.

In line at the airport, I finally find time to turn off Star Convoy. It takes a few minutes for me to find the switch, and I had to open up my bag full of Transformers. The man next to me in line finds this absolutely hilarious. In my mood at the time, I was impressed that I didn't brain him with my 2-ton baggage.

Our flight is delayed. Yay. My mood is getting worse.

Getting into the guts of O'Hare, we have to put our stuff through the X-Ray. Mirage sees us from the other side, but security ask him to stay back. The lady security person asks to inspect my G2 Megs. I blink. She asks me if he really shoots. I say yup, just spring-loaded missiles. She starts to ask me something else when a male security dude comes up behind her and asks what's going on. She says something unintelligable to him. He looks at the package and says, "It's just a toy. A Transformer!" She gives him a quizzical look. He continues, "You know, Optimus Prime!" and starts singing the "Transformers, more than meets the eye" part of the theme. She gives up and lets it through. Mirage is totally confused as he didn't hear any of it. I try not to laugh.

We join Mirage, who's also delayed, and decide to see him off, as his flight leaves before ours. A few minutes later, that changes, and his flight is delayed by another 40 minutes. I ask the American Airlines people what the duty-free limit is. They say they don't know, why don't I ask the duty-free shop? I go to the duty-free shop and they tell me to ask American Airlines. I give up.

We try to call home from the airport. Only one phone accepts Visa. Yippee.

They make us declare stuff on little forms on the plane. I ask the stewardess what one part means. She asks the rest of the crew. No one knows. I wonder briefly how safe the plane is. The man next to me complains that he got a French form. The English version is on the back. I tell him. He looks relieved. I am soooo tired.

Epilogue: Putting stuff away, aka Bye-Bye Shelf Space

I find that Scorponok (including his antenna), is EXACTLY the same height as Overlord. That's just creepy. My roommate gets a real kick out of most of them, and I waste no time forming Abominus, Menasor, and finishing the body of Piranacon. I drool in anticipation of forming Predaking next week. Doubledealer looks cool, even though he doesn't come with the back half of the missile. My friend's "complete" Computron apparently didn't come with either Scat's gun or fists. I'm not happy about that, but luckily for him, I have an extra Computron fist. I also forgot to get him a head to go with his PM Prime trailer, and my Motormaster was missing the Menasor head, but all in all, I was happy with my purchases! Doubledealer looks a lot cooler than I thought he would

Well, I now have to spend time rearranging my shelf space, but all in all, this was a hell of a weekend. Not because of, but in spite of some of the people organizing it (I'm not willing to crucify EVERYONE). It's gonna take me a while to catch up on my sleep, but it was worth it!

Stanley "Who needs a .sig when they have a life? -- oh wait, that doesn't apply to me, does it?" Lui