BotCon '99 - Raksha

In the style of my usual "BotCon reports", this will be less an exact, chronological sequence of events, and more a rambling on my personal experiences and highlights. I should note that while I crosspost to both ATTCM and ATT, I will only see replies that are likewise crossposted to the Classics group in response.

Before I go into anything else, I want to make mention of the art contest situation. As most people probably know, Starshadow who was running the contest was in a car wreck a few days before, and was in the hospital over that weekend. I've since heard from her, and it sounds like she's going to be okay with some recovery time, but I really felt bad for her that the situation happened as it did. A number of people, myself included, were asked to step in at the last moment and handle the art contest. While it still seemed that people came to me about it by sheer force of habit (one person at one point was sent from Barb Brewer to Jon Hartman, who referred them to me, and I in turn referred them back to Barb), all I really did was make some ballots and label forms at the last moment, just in case no one else had any, and thereafter helped people to some degree to find each other and get the prizes straightened out. Stood guard over the art room at one point at the very end. Had practically no involvement with it at all, in other words. No set-up, no organization, no ballot-counting. The real organizer of the art contest this year was Barb Brewer, along with various friends, and Malin Huffman who brought more ballots, artwork, and other items sent by Starshadow. A lot of people actually stepped forward and offered assistance, and I'm sorry I can't remember everyone for proper credit ... Hydra was among them, as was Chris Meadows, but I know there were others as well. It was very much a group effort despite extremely short notice, and it really speaks well for TransFans that they're able to still draw together and get something done to promote the creative side of the fandom, even in the face of adversity. I spoke to Karl Hartman a few days ago, and he said he would have the winners of the contest up on the BotCon web site in the near future (I don't know who won the contest myself), but needless to say they're still busy with the BotCon wrap-up, so give them a while yet. The info will be posted as soon as possible.

Now to the rest of it.....

BotCon preparations for me started some time before the convention, as I had several projects in mind that needed to be done in time. Toward the end I knew for sure that I'd have some panel-time on the schedule, but some of the last items got put together the morning that we had to leave for the drive. The slides had gotten done a couple of days before, but the Con-Quest issues, I picked up from the printer that very morning, and before that I was still putting together the TLY music video, which was an event in itself. As I said at the time of the panel, it's by no means a professional-quality production, and if I'd had 5 more days to work on it, it would have been better, but I still was happy to see that it came out reasonably well and showed up nicely on that excellent big screen in the video room. It hopefully showed off some of the artistic talent that we have among our players, as well as conveying a bit of the atmosphere of the Mush and providing a couple of minutes of entertainment. (Here I will take the opportunity, lest I forget later, to thank Dennis the video guy who made sure the tape and the slides would work, and helped structure the timing of the panel Saturday afternoon.) While on the subject of the TLY video, I found that my own video capture board no longer wanted to work, and so I had to use the equipment available at school, going back and forth over several days to get it into final form. What was interesting to me was how many people recognized the characters and the Transformers concept while I was working in the multimedia lab. One lab helper, while closing down the lab for the night and running us out, wished me luck at the convention and asked me to say hi to Megatron for him ... this without any indication from me as to where my allegiance lay. I thought it was great. In any case, the end result was not only copied to video tape, but also turned into a 47-meg Quicktime movie, which I should like to make available for download for the TLY players (and anyone else who should be interested), but I don't know how it might be compressed to make such a thing possible. Anyone with experience in the matter, do please let me know....

I was sorry, however, that I missed Blue Jackal's music videos, and perhaps I can pester her for copies at some later point.....

So back to Thursday morning. After returning from the printer's and the multi-media lab, we packed up Soundwave 2, who once again proved that he has some of the capabilities of his namesake, namely that he can store far more inside than you'd think from the outside. The end tally was 5 boxes of for-sale stuff, an antediluvian slide projector, various bags of personal belongings, Avatar in her carrying case, and 3 people. Magic had arrived from Germany for the convention again, and additionally we detoured to Indianapolis to pick up one of the Lost Years players, Revamp/Heather. I'd warned her in advance that it was going to be a tight fit, and that Soundwave 2 boasted the latest in "2/75 air conditioning technology" (both windows down, 75 mph) - but we all arrived in relatively good shape around 5:30 in the morning on Friday. Whereupon we caught up on some sleep before starting to get ready for dealer-table set-up and started to meet up with other friends.

As in previous years, the best part of BotCon was meeting up with friends - some of whom I knew from previous years, and some of whom I got to meet this year for the first time, even after having known them over the net for quite a while. Avatar too enjoyed seeing all her friends and fans again, and seems to have made some new friends as well. The second-best part was, of course, buying stuff. I thought I'd complete my collection of BW Neo toys, but ended up buying not a single one; most of my spending money went to UK artifacts and BW2 animation cels. One of my best catches was a Soundblaster Junior toy, which I'd been wanting for years; many of the other purchases will eventually show up on the Artifacts List. Though the prices were high, I didn't notice them to be greatly higher than last year (except for that $1000 Galvatron-colored LioConvoy, which I desperately desperately wanted, but unfortunately could only manage to come away with a couple of photos) - but all the dealers were extremely helpful and friendly, despite in many cases being massively busy.

Running a very close third in the "best of BotCon" department was the chance to get time on the Saturday schedule for the Mush panel I had in mind (which is where the TLY video came in, among other things), and thereafter for the Decepticons panel. As so often, I miscalculated the time that the first part would take, which at one point left us with only 15 minutes for the Decepticons panel; we were about to call it off and try to schedule it for Sunday, when we were told we had an additional half hour left. We still could have done with more time (again, the fault is mine for absolutely and utterly lacking anything resembling a time-sense), but in the time we had, I feel that we stood up well for Decepticon honor in light of how the species and its individuals have been so badly slandered in the last few years by the "official sources." My intent was to convey who the Decepticons *are*, not who their *enemies* think they are, not who clueless BW1-writers think they are, and to clarify a few points about which there is endless confusion - for example, Nightbird is a living, sentient Decepticon; Frenzy is the red one; Thundercracker is not a traitor; Reflector does too have a personality; Galvatron is not Megatron. It simply needed to be said. I think that some really good points were made on the panel itself, namely that those who consider the Decepticons "evil", are only doing so from a very limited perspective. From one's own viewpoint, the enemy is always "evil," and it's just as legitimate for one side to say so as for the other side to say so. From the Decepticon perspective, the Autobots are every bit as evil, and the real point being, there isn't any universal standard against which one can measure such a thing. It's entirely and totally a subjective judgement. When one group considers another "evil," of course, a lot of warped interpretations and downright slander can come up -- Autobots calling Decepticons "unfeeling machines," for instance -- and it's this too that I meant to dispel in the slide show and this that was addressed in part of the panel discussion. It's very easy for the 'Bots to paint the Decepticons as having no loyalties among their own, because that's what they'd *like* to think - while in fact the Decepticon worldview is very much grounded in loyalty to their own, and this is shown time and again on the episodes. Excellent examples touched upon in the panel are Skywarp and Thundercracker, who are sometimes considered to be "lacking in personality", when in fact nothing of the sort is true. It's equally easy for one group to characterize the leader of its enemies as a malevolent tyrant, when in fact if you actually look unbiasedly at the individual (in this case, Megatron), it's very obvious that he's not that way at all among his own kind. Again I'd invite anyone who takes issue with any of it to discuss it with us on the Classics group (not the Rec group - dissing the 'Con panel there, as I've since heard about, is nothing short of cowardice since it's well-known that I won't read or post to the Rec group), because the time *was* somewhat limited, and there is certainly more evidence to be trotted out. My thanks to those who participated in the Decepticons panel - Skyflight, Straxus, Magic, Ghost, and Shaun (the latter two also having taken part in the Mush panel) - and my appreciation to the audience who conducted themselves civilly despite in some cases disagreeing with our points. The floor is always open on the Classics group to discuss the matter further.

Announced somewhere within the Mush/Decepticons panel was the future opening of a brand-new Mush, of which I will surely post more in the future....

And, I'm pleased to say that Con-Quest is back on track and resuming its old schedule, starting up again with a slightly larger-than-usual issue 25. There will be more posts on that subject too....

Oddly enough a bunch of people asked me what I thought of the first episode of Beast Machines. (Some spoilers follow in the rest of this paragraph, so those who don't wish to see them, be warned and skip to the next one!) All I can say so far is that it's visually extremely impressive. But there's no substance - I'm still waiting on the story and on the characterization. Naturally it didn't help that the characters who *were* shown, are those whom I have nothing but loathing for - but even those, to someone who doesn't know them, received no characterization in this first episode. It was as though the studio was showing off what its software could do, visually, and that's all the episode was really about. It did achieve *that* end, but little else to date. At least I didn't see anything I hated, which already puts it light-years ahead of the BW1 series in its entirety. I thought the bit with the "oracle" and the notion that robots came to Cybertron from elsewhere and had to learn to transform, was a little silly, but not something I found personally offensive. So while not having seen anything I *liked* (other than the animation), I also didn't see anything I hated. In other words, I'm willing to sit back and give this one a chance, in the hope that there will actually be Decepticon *characters* this time, rather than just moving scenery and hordes of mindless drones.

By extreme contrast, though, I made a point of catching "More Than Meets The Eye" on that fantastic big screen first thing Sunday morning, and the difference in story quality and excellence of characterization between this episode and anything that came thereafter, was overwhelming. I found myself fervently wishing that the BW writers/producers who were at the convention had sat in on that and *seen* MTMTE, because then I would have said to them "See, *that's* how you write a Transformers episode!" MTMTE still sets the standard that has never been met thereafter. Every single character had a personality and a realistic motive, regardless of what side they were on; lots of inter-Decepticon loyalty and dedication and warrior's honor shown. And as so often, I tend to pick up something new every time I see that episode; this time it really struck me tremendously, how many of the Decepticon air warriors were killed in the crash at the end. In other words, how many there were in this episode, who were thereafter never seen again. I don't ever want to hear again that the Autobots aren't killers..... Be that as it may, it was an incredible experience to see that particular episode on the big screen (and the sound system was excellent too - Soundwave's voice on *that* media set-up was amazing!) - akin to how others may have felt to see the Movie on such a big screen. And it inspired me for a project for next year, to which Magic suggested on the way home that I might want to start "sometime next week", to avoid the last-moment rush again. What project? Wait and see....

Saturday evening then involved lots of hanging around with friends, and some highly amusing "readings" from certain TF kids' books. I will let others expound on that, as I suspect they could do the event far more justice. Let's just say we'll never read certain books the same way again. Sunday night saw some more of the same, and overall just the enjoyment of gathering with friends. Predictably there were a few people about who tried their damndest to make trouble for me, but I consider them so totally insignificant and irrelevant that even their best effort couldn't spoil the fun and change the fact that I had an absolutely wonderful time at the con this year. This after a lot of things had been stalled over the last few months, a lot of projects on hold while I felt a bit bogged-down in the lack of sufficient energy to get back to them ... but something about this year's con brought me back into battle mode, more so than ever, and more determined than ever to continue fighting for Decepticon integrity on a variety of fronts. In a very real sense, BotCon '99 was inspirational.

The way home, then, would almost have been anticlimatic except that after dropping Revamp off in Indianapolis, we ran into a rather interesting thunderstorm somewhere around 3 in the morning. Rain so intense that one could barely see one's headlights, that kind of thing. Some very impressive pyrotechnic displays of lightning. Being the type of individual who will continue to drive as long as she can still somewhat see the white line along the side of the road, I continued on without much concern, though it got interesting when a truck came by now and again and doused us with an additional deluge of water.... And then there was the van that came to a dead stop on the highway up ahead. That in itself wouldn't have been such a big deal, except that there was a huge truck barreling down from behind, which very nearly smashed Soundwave 2 between itself and the van up ahead ... though fortunately there was a wide shoulder that I could dart into at the last moment. Nice to have a small, maneuverable car! A bit of an adrenaline rush to keep me awake for the rest of the drive. Much like last year, I must once again disappoint those who were hoping I'd *not* make it home in one piece.....

Much thanks must go out to Jon, Karl, and Glen for once again bringing us the convention and doing such a great job with it. I think a lot of people don't fully realize how much work and time and effort and stress goes into it, and how much dedication is there, in order for it to happen year after year. While I personally don't like the mostly-Beast-Wars focus, I was glad to see that G1 wasn't forgotten, with some of the watch designs and the posters, the cartoon episodes, and of course the panel time that was made available. The toy exclusives, as toys, were interesting (though I still hate that Scorponok mold, in both robot and scorp form - not a one of my scorpions is shaped like *that*), and at least there's a story to go with them. For a moment there I almost thought we had a good character in Sandstorm, finally, in Simon Furman's capable hands, but I was vastly disappointed and angered at the first line in the tech spec. As though a good, honorable, and courageous Decepticon had to be described as an Autobot! Okay, I take it back somewhat, he's still presented as a good character -- but did he have to be insulted by saying he more resembles a "Maximal" in his nature??! Utterly and totally uncalled-for, and one of those things that ruins what could otherwise have been something really excellent. That really is my biggest gripe about the convention, that single line in the tech spec text, and I didn't see that until after I got home and had a moment to sit down and read through all the stuff I'd gathered. Other than that, I enjoyed this con more so than any of the others in recent years, largely just due to the personal interactions and the unbelievably neat stuff I managed to find. And, of course, the inspiration to continue the battle.

Those whom I met for the first time, it was great to meet you even if it only consisted of a quick hello; those who were returning friends and acquaintances, it was excellent to see you again. Hopefully everyone will make it next year, and that others will additionally be inspired to come to the big 2000 con.