BotCon 2004 - Soundblaster

In the year 1994 a convention began that ultimately would sweep the fan world. Put together by fans for other fans, everyone who attended where treated not as mere attendees, but as friends and family that had like interests. It wasn't until the year 2000 that I joined the large contingent that filed through the doors of the Grand Wayne Center for the convention that would epitomize everything good Transformers had to offer, and ten years later BotCon still leads the pack.

In an RV with three others of like minds, I ventured the 2000+ miles from Chicago to Pasadena for what has easily been the best convention of my life. From the moment we arrived at the convention center we were treated as long lost brothers and family of the staffers. Well I was treated like a brother.....Raksha was treated like the true Decepticon she is. Not having the money at the time to pre-register, I was allowed to buy my entry into the sanctum sanctorum on Friday as a Dealer Helper to help Raksha and Liana to load up our tables with goodies the likes of which only God has ever before beheld. This unfortunately led to my first purchase of the convention, the knockoff edition of Devastator...which I promptly broke the first time I merged it...no matter during the course of the weekend I simply replaced the broken member with an actual Constructicon. We finished setting up, and walked around renewing old acquaintances and making a fair number of new ones.

Finally came the time to shower, the word shower is a wonderful word. Made more so by the lack thereof, and my unfortunate ability to mustard gas anyone in the vicinity by the simple maneuver of removing my shoes. Dinner followed promptly, yes dear reader even Madame Raksha was on time, at a local Japanese restaurant where the food may be a bit pricey but the company is well appreciated. A short walk brought us back to the hotel and a long talk with old friends which ran the gambit from Krispy Kreme donuts to GI Joe, with detours at gas prices and past convention experiences.

Day two saw those of us with red badges up surprisingly early in an attempt to do that last minute tidying up and mad scramble for other dealers to pick up those wonderful toys before the general public made the trek impossible. Here I added a healthy chunk into my indebtedness and secured a G1 re-issue Megatron and Ehobby exclusive Sunstorm before the doors opened. The doors opened promptly at 9 am and the ever mindful, yet tastefully clothed (for the most part) attendees rushed into the large dealer room to begin the madness of impulse buying/trading/promising-of-future-offspring to get that one elusive figure that has hounded their waking moments since their mother inadvertently sold their original collections at garage sales or Goodwill donations. One overwhelmed fan collapsed on the way in professing his unworthiness to attend such an austere and highbrow convention.

Panel discussions with voice talents, artists, writers, directors and more filled the day with laughter, inappropriate questions, and autograph hand cramps; while the general 'welcome home' attitude filled us with the sense that this was right and that we belonged, and that we couldn't see ourselves spending an otherwise innocuous weekend in any other fashion. More friends showed up from here and there across the continent as the day progressed and finally drew to a close at around 5 so the staff could get ready for the conclusion of the day, the pre-registrant only panel of the voice talent of Eeyore; Peter Cullen....then of course we found out he was also the voice of Optimus Prime and Ironhide and were flabbergasted. This ended after a few more strange but wonderful questions in the realm of the bizarre, including such things as 'What exactly were you thinking the moment you found out that you had gotten the part of Optimus Prime, over 20 years ago?', me? it would be 'YAY! a paycheck!'. A small script reading involving Peter Cullen, Michael McConnihie, and 2 of the convention attendees who won a contest ended the festivities on an amusing note, as those of us in our now expanding group made our way back to the hotel for more conversations into realms that only other transfans can find meaning in.

The final day of the convention allowed many of us to finally sleep in, unless you don't take into account the time difference from Central time to Pacific time and manage to wake up at 5:30 again anyways. Once again we were all in place as the flurry of movement of people returning to the sight of the previous days triumphs assaulted our senses. Many of us spent the morning in not so quiet contemplation of which to vote the best artwork in the room suitably named the Art Contest room. We watched in fascinating humorous terror as Optimus Prime made out with a Sailor Moon doll in a video entry, and laughed outright as Chibi Unicron got squeezed by a Chibi fan based character who called him 'Cute'. More toys entered our collection from various contributors, and many of us bought dogtags to show our allegiances to factions of fiction.

The epitome of the weekend soon followed as the BotCon panel begun, with the 'almost-make-you-gag-almost' sentimentality on both sides of the big table bringing many a tear to those prone to such things. Presentations of artwork, and a special presentation signed by many of us who have traveled faithfully from the moment we heard about such a strange concept as a Transformers convention, to the Hartman's filled the panel room with a standing heartfelt ovation that had me jumping to see over those in front of me just for a glimpse of the Hartman's reaction. A video retrospective of the 9 true conventions had those prone to it tearing up again, and the rest of us laughing at those moments we remembered from the not too distant past. The announcement that this will be the last UNOFFICIAL Transformers convention instigated by the holders of the throne, was easily held at bay by the wonderful music of the two word answer when asked about OFFICIAL conventions. At that precise moment the words 'No Comment' were perhaps the most lyrical and beautiful in the English language.

As with most conventions, the saddest moments were the last. The packing up and saying goodbyes were more heartfelt and the promises to keep in touch will probably last for weeks or even months. Once again the last night was filled with conversations and this time pizza, every night more and more friends show up to join in. This time, however; conversations were bittersweet as when the time came to say goodbye we didn't have the next night to look forward to. 2 more days cross country in the RV brought us safely home, and sleep deprived, but with no regrets about the weekend spent in Pasadena.