BotCon '99 - CMQ

Well, this was my third BotCon, and I am still enjoying the wonderful ride!

First day things: the announced exclusive toys were, as most of you know by now, a repainted Silverbolt: Windrazor (formerly Solstice) and a repainted Skorponok: Sandstorm (formerly Quicksand)

I was a little surprised by the choice of a Skorponok repaint, figuring (like many did) that the toy would be a repainted Transmetal...It turns out that they were not available as choices due to the fact the toys were making their debuts overseas...The packaging on both toys featured Mainframe artwork! A really nice touch which made the two look that more 'professional'-looking for lack of a better word...

More surprises, in addition to the really nice watch exclusive (incidentally available in four styles to preregistrants:Maximal, Predacon, Autobot and Decepticon PLUS an exclusive fifth watch with the TRANSFORMERS logo available only in the set of five) which was much more substantial than I thought it would be (it was metal, not a cheapie digital plastic watch, in a felt soft 'case') there were two exclusive posters: Megatron and Prime, done in the photomosaic method which used tiny little screen shots from classic Generation 1 episodes to create the images of the two leaders when seen from afar...

I had to say these were a real treat! I never thought 3HE could get classic Transformers images used in merchandise...limited to 1000 each, and with no limits placed on ordering, I knew I had to get these first thing on Saturday...

The surprises continued...as prizes for the Trivia contest (way out of my league) 3HE also contracted Mainframe to create two exclusive, one-of-a-kind pictures of the Maximal and Predacon forces rendered completely in cgi! Really great pics, I wish they could somehow have made these into posters of some sort so that the rest of us could take home a copy...though I imagine this opens the door for other Mainframe participation (maybe a cgi poster using the Generation 1 character models seen in Agenda, etc? I can hope!)...

The guests were announced and it was stressed that something big was going to happen during the Hasbro panel as the doors would be locked shut for the first 30 minutes and NO cameras/recordings would be allowed at all...for the premiere of Beast Machines would be shown!

And the location of Botcon 2000 would be announced as well on Sunday...

Saturday was pretty hectic, a lot of people cramming the front registration tables ready to storm the dealer's room...3HE admitted they were short on help this year and were seeing for the first time the negative aspects of the ever-growing gatherings called BotCon...I got in line (as did many others) to get the posters, set of watches (why? I dunno, momentary insanity? What am I going to do with 5 + 1 more Transformer watches???), etc before they could sell out...I saw many people picking up extra sets of the exclusives (not just one set but TWO! No doubt in additon to whatever they had preregistered for!)...I took a look at the crammed line for picking up the preregistered toys and decided I could wait to later on in the day...

First trip round the dealer's room (it definitely had more tables than Anaheim last year) I picked up my long-sought after Doublespy (probably overpriced, but you know what they say about looking and leaving something behind...it will never be there when you come back) and a Headmaster Snapdragon (almost $100 bucks in cash'down the drain' already!)...Rugby's Starbase was back in full force...by far they had the most product out there...got in line to purchase an Ultra Magnus cab and waited in that excrutiatingly long line for quite a while before I could reach the one register they were operating...

Headed for the panel room to hear the first panel (AND get a good seat for the upcoming Hasbro panel) and caught a little bit of the NEMESIS episodes from Beast Wars running on a huge video screen (just like last year, a great touch which allowed a lot of people to see what was going on)...

The Hasbro panel started with the showing of the very first episode of Beast Machines, the long-awaited-speculated series...I'll give my thoughts on this much further below so that there won't be a big spoiler in the middle of this post...

The prototypes for two of the new toys, plus design artwork, were shown as well...really nice looking product, although much more different than what the Transmetals line look like in my opinion...apparantly there will be all sorts of gimmicks on these toys, from lights to moving parts inside...the Transformers evolve once again...two new price points are in store which will be huge in size if the 'housecat' comparison is accurate...I had certain misgivings when I heard that some characters would be done in different sizes (why buy a basic Cheetor when you can get the Supreme version?) but I'll have to reserve final thoughts until actual product is seen...

A couple more trips around the dealers room, ogling the Japanese exclusive toys (BW II, NEO, BotCon Japan, etc)...gasping at the $1000 price tag on a Galvatron-colored version of LioConvoy...splurging on a Gen 1 Megatron (at last! Although I did have concerns at sneaking him thru the airport metal detectors!)...

I finally pick up the two exclusive toys at the preregistrants table...they're taking extra steps to make sure everyone gets their toys...apparantly 40 sets of toys got stolen last year by people posing as other registrants...this year they're having people sign the register in addition to looking at their badge number...

Windrazor, nice package! Blister carded, with appropriate 3HE logos and BotCon related touches...I'm a little disappointed in his colors...white is a little too close to Silverbolt's grey...(what if he was done in brown and white like an American Eagle?)...Sandstorm comes in a box with a 5th panel which opens to reveal the 'book's' interior...this is a great looking package (and much less bulky, thank goodness! Suitcase space is going to be scarce by the end of the con)...I'm a little disappointed we didn't get a Transmetal this time around...

Sunday, caught a little bit of More Than Meets the Eye on the big screen...still great stuff which holds up even after 15 years...and some classic Gen 1 episodes (The Key to Vector Sigma, featuring the first appearance of the Stunticons and Aerialbots) which I had not seen in years...

Taking a spin around the dealer's room, there is a little setup where a Quake2 game setup with Transformers related characters and weapons is running...it looks pretty darn cool! The characters can transform too, and drive around the courses in addition to running/walking in robot mode...lots of dead-on sound effects and images...it's being made as a labor of love, totally without approval from Hasbro...a work in progress, it will eventually be made available for download off the net (as long as no one shuts them down first!)...

The exclusives sell out, again! 1200 of them all gone!

Picked up a powermaster jet, and PowerMaster Prime too...I'm spending much more than I thought I would...

Walked into the middle of the Mystery Science 3000 panel...they're NOT showing the movie again! It's Beast Wars and classic Gen 1 episodes given the scathing criticism! (and deservedly so in the case of Carnage in C Minor...geesh I had forgotten how bad this one was!) One of the most hilarious images in the 'credits'...the Grimlock pregnancy test ('Me say you pregnant!')...

The voice-actor panel was much more subdued than last years...just Scott McNeil and Jim Byrnes (who admits to gasps that he has never seen an episode of Beast Wars)....Ian Corlett couldn't attend this year due to the minor little fact that his wife had given birth (as Glen Hallit put it "Cheetor's a dad")...Jim looks sort of taken aback by all this attention from rabid Transformers fans but Scott is in good form as the two field questions and voice requests from the audience...

The new assortment of toys from the Beast Wars line is on display in the Art room...TM2 Dragon Megatron and Tigerhawk have neat little packaging gimmicks which look like their toys are interacting with the box (Mega has flames coming out 'melting' the packaging while Tig is blasting the corner of his box)...also present is the long awaited TM Black Arachnia, Cackle (I think that's his name) the Hyena and Iguanus...a surprise: repaints of classic Beast Wars Dinobot (sort of a amberish color with maroon stripes?), Rhinox (whitish with dark grey stripes) and (I think) Cheetor with FOX KIDS stickers...apparantly Hasbro is going to capitalize on the fact that FOX will be showing reruns of Beast Wars with repaints for kiddies who never got these the first time around...

The final panel is the BotCon Organizer panel is informative as always...a number of locations were looked at for BotCon 99 including Minneapolis, St Louis, Atlanta...most of the choices fell through due to the fact that the convention sites insisted BotCon buy the biggest, most expensive display halls (something which would be cost-prohibitive given the low-to-no profit margin of running BotCons present and past)...St Paul was chosen over Minneapolis because of this very fact...

BotCon 2000 will be held in the same city where it all began in 1994, Fort Wayne, Indiana...3HE recommended making reservations fast for the last weekend in July when they announce the hotels official convention rates...total attendance for this year: over 1000 (with over 700 pre registrants!)...BotCon continues to get bigger and bigger, though with a price...Glen commented that a number of disappointing occurances would cause 3HE to re-evaluate some crowd/exclusive-selling policies...I get the feeling that this year's con is much more stressful than he thought it might be...

Exclusives, all 1200 sold...this is about double the amount ordered last year...it is revealed that the toys are relatively inexpensive compared to the cost of the packaging (up to a 6 to 1 margin)...when it is suggested they sell them sans packaging, Glen recounts how people complained about ViceGrip's lack of packaging last year (guess it's a no-win situation)...there were no Transmetals offered this year by Hasbro...some unused ideas: a repaint of Quickstrike, or Torca (I imagine Injector was probably in there too somewhere!)...had the Transmetals been offered, some choices may have been TM Fractyl, TM Cheetor repaint...It apparantly is getting easier to deal with Hasbro as 3HE has gained a great deal of trust since the wildly successful BotCon 97 experience...

BotCon 99 is over...

OK, spoilers on Beast Machines...

First off, excitement level is high during the first screening of the pilot episode (they actually convince Hasbro/Mainframe reps to show it a second time later in the day)...My impressions, the cgi work is top notch...much more detailed texture mapping on the characters' skins and everyone has shadows now! It's a very dark-looking series from the look of this first episode...lots of new splashy exposion effects...

The familiar characters are back in their pre-Transmetal beast forms...why? ('All will be revealed...' according to Asaphe Fipke)...it's nice to hear some familiar voices though...

The enemy Vehicons are more like generic, mindless automatons in this episode...tank and motorcycle versions...than sentient beings...

The Maximals look like they're going to 'morph' when they transform...that's pretty disappointing in my opinion (it's explained the difference between Maximal and Vehicon transforming is that Maximal's look inward and spiritually change themselves while the Vehicon's are much more mechanical and familiar in transformation technique)...I think part of the charm in seeing these guys transform is watching where all the parts twist and turn and rearrange themselves to reveal a new form...morphing is kind of a 'cheat'...(and I don't know how on earth Hasbro will be able to pull off a Black Arachnia toy if they choose to do so based on what she looks like in the robot mode pics seen online)...The new look Megatron is briefly glimpsed at the end of this episode (hopefully he'll get a much more mobile body to download into otherwise his toy will be very boring)...

New Primal in Gorilla mode looks like a real gorilla this time with a shaved section around his neck exposing wires and such...brass knuckle-ish cybernetic implants...Rat-trap looks much less 'cute' and much more devious (though his greenish coloring is kinda weird) in his rat mode...Cheetor is sleeker looking and Black Arachnia has got really spindly long spider legs!

It doesn't look like any of the Predacons, except Megatron, will be making the leap to Beast Machines...although Jim Byrnes will be doing the voice for at least one character in the new show at this point...

My gut opinion? The show is technically brilliant looking but this leap from Beast Wars to Beast Machines may be a little too far (like from Gen 1 pre-movie to post-movie) and may alienate some people...of course the lack of information given where this story is starting from is annoying (I want to know all the facts now! Why this? and Where's who?) but I'm willing to give the show a little time to answer questions...Apparantly these and others will be answered based on the panel answers (or non-answers as the case may be!)...