OTFCC 2003 - Brian Kilby

On the twenty-hour bus ride home (yes, I took the bus, more details later) I thought back on my experiences at OTFCC. Things that should've stuck out probably didn't. Little things, mostly incidental, often stuck out where important things should've been. Throughout the 'con, I hung out with various members of #Wiigii!, which at one point included Simon Furman. Meeting the people I missed in my brief excursion to Botcon 2K1 was fantastic. Reacquanting myself with those I had met before was great as well. I have to say I didn't meet a person I didn't like (with one possible exception.) Everyone was great. There are a lot of great things I remember about OTFCC 2003. Thinking back, the first memory of my trip was a girl...

On the bus from Boone, NC to Johnson City, TN I kept hearing this melodious voice from the back of the bus. It was a girl, not yet out of college. She was carrying a cell phone, a small carry-on bag and a compact disc player. On her phone, she spoke with a friend in a tone full of amazement and wonder. She spoke loudly, which was intentional, I believe, for the entire bus to share in her excitement. On her summer trek down south, she had found true love: It was the love of music. She marveled at this newfound artist she had discovered locally. She told her friend that this was a revelation. One great piece of the jigsaw puzzle that is us, was revealed to her and she would carry it with her for the rest of her life. I never did find out who or what it was, but I was happy for her. I never spoke to her, or even got a good look at her, I didn't need to. I was content in just sharing her enthusiasm.

Man, was I excited about this trip across America now. If the rest of the trip was anything like this, I was going to be in for a time. Sadly, it wasn't. The rest of the trip sucked. Unlike the trip from Boone to Johnson City, which had five people on that bus, the bus was full the rest of the way. I hated that. Not just because I'm a big guy, I hate having to share a seat with a stranger. And these people were stranger than any I had ever come across before. The trip to Chicago was eighteen hours long. I did see a lot of the country that I had never seen before--at night, anyway. From Johnson City we went to Knoxville. I was honestly afraid for my life. We got there around 3:00 a.m. and the bus terminal was as a squalid boiling pot of muck and mire. At the terminal I sat in my seat, keeping to myself, waiting for the next bus to take me to Cincinnati. Most of the other passengers kept to themselves too. There was just something ominous about this place at night. It felt unsafe. Once I was out of there I was a much more agreeable fellow.

The terminal in Cincinnati was the exact opposite of Knoxville. It was a clean, sprawling sea of vending machines, it ran from one of the horizon to the other. (The horizon as far as a sleep deprived Transfan could see at 5:00 a.m. anyway.) They had Snapple machines there. I had never seen a Snapple machine before. I didn't really want any Snapple but was compelled to buy some. I drank down some lemon iced tea and reboarded my bus. The next stop was Indianapolis.

Like the rest of the trip, I didn't sleep. Not only was I somewhat afraid to, I knew that my snoring would keep others awake. I learned how to go without sleep while remaining motionless. I can probably use that later on. Indianapolis was okay. The building had a plain concrete fascade and was sort of rundown. Other than my bus being nearly an hour late, that's all I can say about Indiana. I was there, in a dank bus terminal. I don't really have much else to comment on.

From Indianapolis I took the 'express' bus to Chicago. It was one-way, no stopping. I shared the seat with some kid who layed snoring. Man, was I jealous of him. Most of the time, on the entire trip, I sat and listened to my Nomad Zen MP3 player. I listened to a lot of different things, mostly Johnny Cash but a lot of early Metallica--stuff that I wasn't that familiar with. Whenever Johnny would try to put me to sleep, I'd put on some Wesley Willis or White Zombie. Man, Wesley Willis rules. I was half-expecting to run into him in Chicago.

Finally, I was in Chicago. I didn't realize it until we hit the Skyway bridge, though. That was interesting. I'd never been on a bridge so high. I wasn't scared, as other passengers were, but I was amazed by the engineering. The bus got to the terminal late, really late. Like fifty minutes late. My lay-over was supposed to have been half an hour. I had to catch another bus to the Cumberland terminal in Chicago. My stupid-as-heck bus driver said "For the passenger going to the Cumberland terminal, that bus has certainly left. There will be another in six hours." That ticked me off royally. Once I got into the bus station, I ran for my life for the gate that my bus was supposed to be at. It wasn't there. God.

I saw a driver and asked her where the bus was. "That's my bus." she said. "We're leaving. Get on it now." For some reason, the bus was at the wrong gate--or something. That or the gate and its entrance didn't line up. I didn't care, I was on my way to Rosemont and OTFCC 2003.

I was the only passenger going to Cumberland and I was getting off in twenty minutes, because of that the driver let me sit in the front row of seats, which were usually reserved for handicapped passengers. I originally thought that the driver was a b**ch, but she was just rushed. She ended up being nice. She was also an anomaly, however. The farther you got from the south, the ruder the drivers got. Honestly, though, she could've been breathing fire for all I cared--I was in Chicago! Finally!

I got off the bus at the correct terminal, 1.89 miles from the Hyatt. I had to look around for an exit. I couldn't find one. So, per plan, I got on the phone and called Rob Powers. The conversation went something like this.

"Rob?"
"Yes?"
"Brian Kilby."
"Brian!"
"Hey, can you come pick me up?"
"Sure, where are you at?"
"At the bus terminal, but I don't know where that is."

Rob went to find someone who knew where the terminal was. I called him back and he told me to find the Marriot's parking lot. "Sure, that's no problem." I thought. Man, was it a problem. I went to ask a parking attendent how to get there. She was very polite and pointed out the directions. I walked the sidewalk until there was no more sidewalk. She gave me the directions by car, which was totally not doable. I ended up walking across two exits and walked the perimeter of the Marriot fence surrounding building. I'm a big guy and I was going to just jump the fence. But I was also carrying around sixty pounds of luggage, which included a Nintendo Gamecube and a brand new Dell Laptop. I wasn't going to do anything to endanger that luggage, so I kept walking. And walking. And walking.

A fellow walked up to me, I knew who he was before he told me. "Are you Brian Kilby?" he asked.
"That's me."
"Steve-o Stonebraker."

Steve-o and Rob came to pick me up and Steve-o had apparently followed me across the perimeter of the fence. From the inside, however. He grabbed my luggage and I ran the perimeter of the fence 'til I found an opening. I hopped into the car and met Rob Powers. We discussed the means by which I got to the Marriot.

I looked at Rob and said "Rob, after five years I figured you would know this. I am an idiot."

On the way to the Hotel Rob, Steve-o and I talked about Alt.Toys.Transformers and the 'con. Man, talking to Rob Powers and Steve-o Stonebraker about Alt.Toys.Transformers in real life was immensely cool. After a few minutes, we got to the hotel. I went in and took a shower. Then the fun began.

By the time I got to the hotel, I hadn't slept in more than a day and it'd been nearly as long since I bathed. After getting cleaned up I went back looking for the #Wiigii! guys. I met up with Superspy (Rob Sabler) and we all went up to his room. There I met, for the first time, Hooper_X. For those of you who think that Hooper_X is anything in real life as he is on the Internet...you're pretty right on-target. Hoop is a loud, self-promoting dynamo. I'm very happy to have had the chance to meet him.

Half of #Wiigii!, including Hoop, congregated in front of the escalators in the hotel looking for something to do. I met Robowang there. I introduced myself as "Dave Edwards, Zobovor." He did a double-take. I then told him who I really was. Nobody thought it was funny but me. Speaking of Zob, I really wish he were there...

Walky, being a volunteer for the 'con came up and told us to move from out in front of the escalator. Hoop approached him and asked if this was a friendly request or a demand. Walky said that, being this was Hoop, it was a demand. We didn't move. A minute later Karl Hartman came by and asked us to move against the wall. I found it kind of funny.

Superspy, Ytsetron, Tonyfitz, Dalmatian and I went back to my room and played some import Soul Calibur II. I brought my Gamecube with me so that Liquid Velcro and I could get play each other. It didn't work out that way. The thing ended up only being played once.

Several of us including, but not limited to, Hoop, Tonyfitz, Spy, Ytse, Lynx, Tim and I went to Steak and Shake to get something to eat. There we discussed several topics including the infamous 'rear-end' rendevous of a couple of noted Transfans from Botcon 2K1. In the discussion I found out that Mad Max MFP was still alive and kicking, which made me happy. I hadn't talked to him in more than a year. I got his new AIM handle and made a point to IM him when I got back.

When we got back to the hotel, we all walked to the second level lobby and agreed that those of us who weren't going to the dinner would get together and do something in the evening. We all separated and went our own ways for an hour or so.

Those people ended up going were Ytse, Rob Powers, Spy, Windy, Tonyfitz and I. We took the L-train to the downtown area. From there we walked to the Navy Pier. We had a grand time. There Rob pointed out the architecture and landmarks. Rob got an ice cream from The McDonalds of the Future, which was a lot like the McDonald's of today but with higher prices. We ended up eating some 'cheeseborgers' at Billy Goat's, which was apparently made famous by Saturday Night Live.

From there we went and played some miniature golf. I didn't admit it at the time but it was my first time playing. I never had an interest in doing it before. Boy, did it show. I was awkward as could be. I did end up making a hole-in-one on the 18th hole. That was something, at least. We left there and took a bus back to the loop. On the subway I about passed out. I'd been up for thirty-eight hours at this point. When we got back to the hotel (at about 1:00 a.m.) we listened in on the events of the eveing. Apparently Suspsy and Hoop fought Particle_Man with lightsabers. Suspsy actually got Part in a nasty wedgie. I really regret seeing this but someone did get video. There is audio commentary of this by Suspsy himself on RFC, if anyone is interested. At this time we were all sitting in a big ring of furniture strewn out in the corner of the second level lobby of the hotel. Someone sat next to me recounting a lot of the day's events. I didn't recognize him at the time (it was Starsaber) and another guy sat down beside of me that I didn't know. The next day I found out that it was Brax Cardigan, aka Craig Cicero. Man, it was great meeting him. After an almost full system failure, I decided to go to bed.

The next day I got up at 11:00 a.m. I had missed the TF:MST and the Hasbro panel. Gah. Gah. Gah Gah Gah Gah! Man, it felt good sleeping after forty waking hours--but I really wanted to see the MST. I got up, cleaned up and went to the dealer room. I didn't see anybody I recognized. Like a lost dog, I started looking around at the dealer tables. I really wasn't too interested in what I saw and left to find the rest of #Wiigii! The first person I found was Tim Mann. This is the first time I really had a chance to talk to Tim and, man, was Tim cool. Tim, to me, is one of those guys you really don't know until you meet him in person. Another guy I met later, Rob Springer, is much the same. Tim, Obsequiosity and I sat in the lobby and talked Transformers for what was probably close to an hour. Obs was cool, too, but I had more exposure to him than Tim. Shortly thereafter I met up with Rob Powers, Steve-o Stonebraker, Chip and Monocle. We went and ate at a nearby Subway. That was a good opportunity for me to find out what had happened at the panel. While eating we discussed a bevy of topics ranging from Energon to the Generation One game. I was a bit surprised that everyone didn't know that the characters in the game use their American names. When voiced, anyway. All text uses Japanese names.

We left Subway for the hotel. Steve-o and I attended the Dreamwave panel. There wasn't a whole lot of info, as far as I was concerned. We got some conflicting information Are the DW comics tied into both the old comics AND cartoons--as they stated--or are they separate? When asked about TFTM they said that they wanted to stay clear of TFTM. My guess is that they are disregarding season 3, which irks me to no end. Feh. Pat Lee also stated that BW was his "Favorite Generation." I found that statement to be highly suspect.

After the panel I went towards the dealer room. On the way I saw the greatest thing ever. Some unknown genius was distributing banners proclaiming http://www.goatse.cx as a new TF site. (Banner pictured here: http://www.geocities.com/bluestreak7tf/goatse.jpg) If you don't know what Goatse.cx is, simply go to the website. You'll then know exactly what it is. (That's not safe for work or kid friendly, I have to say.) To be honest, I had the exact same idea--I just didn't have the cajones to actually make the banner. I thought it was too risky. Anyway, we went to the dealer room from that point.

There I got to see the new Energon toys. Man, I want Jhiaxus bad. "Jhiaxus, how is it that you live? I thought you died in the TF Generation 2 Comics number 11." Man, I'll be saying that all day when that toy comes out. I also got to see Alternators Smokescreen. Nice toy. Very nice. Much bigger than anticipated. He's BW Ultra sized. Nice. I looked around some more and broke down and bought Hasbro Reissue Red Alert.

I looked around for a nice MISB Overlord or Skyquake. I saw an Overlord for $450 and scoffed at it. I also saw a Skyquake for $90. Not worth it. I bought a loose one from Fred's Workshop for about fifteen bucks recently. I can live with it. I saw a MISB Thunderclash for nearly $100. I got it for $40 last year. UK stuff is not that hard to find--'cept at Botcon.

Later on came the greatest toy EVER. Super Cock! http://members.aol.com/Megatron33/windyandsupercock.jpg Someone came across this fantastic knock-off and Megatron33 picked it up. Best. Toy. Ever.

The rest of the day was a blurr. I don't remember anything that happened until the voice actors script reading. From my understanding, that panel was only opened to pre-reg's. So I snuck in. It was worth it. I really wish the comic would've come out. It was REALLY fun. I can't wait for the actual book to come out.

After the reading we all went and hung out in the lobby. I had a nice long conversation with Doug Dlin. Doug rules. There I bought a Tidal Wave from Swift_Eagle. Man, this toy rules. I can't wait to review it. I'll get around to that later.

Hooper_X's pal apparently got a video interview with Metalhawk Guy at Dragoncon earlier. Hoop brougt the tape. #Wiigii! sat patiently waiting for the VCR that Phil brought with him. During the wait I met Rob and Tierney Springer. Man, were they cool.

Eventually Phil came along with a VCR. EVERYONE went up to Hoop's room and knocked on the door. Being that twenty people wanted in, of course Hoop didn't let us. He told us he would meet us in the lobby. So we all walked to the elevator. The first elevator went down. As the door closed of the second elevator Hoop yelled to me and a few others to come over. I got out and walked towards him. Some poor schmuck was left. Hoop told him to stay in the elevator and we would follow shortly. Once the elevator closed Hoop directed us to come to the room. God, that ruled. The great thing is that Hoop was being totally diplomatic. He totally left it up to whomever was on the second elevator. When we got back to Hoop's room he was totally mature. Well, until the situation with the bottled water happened.

I have to take SOME blame. Abusing the water was my idea. I was thinking about putting it down my pants so the person who eventually drank it was drinking something that had been in contact with my butt. Hoop ran to the bathroom, unzipped his pants, emptied the bottle of water and refilled it. With urine. He has pics on his site--I'm not going to link to them. He then refilled the bottle with water and resealed it. No one was the wiser. That was really funny. Gross, but funny.

After we left there we went to the AllSpark party with the intentions of "crashing it." There wasn't a whole lot that could be done, the party was pretty much crashed already. People stood in line to get into this thing for more than an hour. Man, that had to be a disappointment. It was kind of like an awkward High School prom, with Transformers voice actors. Metallica tracks remixed with TFTM audio played as the dance floor remained bare. Occasionally some people would jump in, dance, and scurry off. Now, I totally dig the AllSpark, but the party was boring. On a side note, I'm going to do some of my own TF-Remixes. The tentative title is "Songs to be LONELY to." The only song I know off the top of my head that will be in there is Kansas's "Carry on My Wayward Son." I'm going to edit in Hot Rod/Rodimus sounds from TFTM. That'll be fun. After that, I went to bed.

Sunday I got up at noon. I went to the dealer room and met up with more of #Wiigii! There I met CyKlanus. A white knock-off of Cyclonus. I got a good picture of Rob Powers trying to impale Megatron33 with CyKlanus while Thylacine2000 watches on. (http://www.tfradio.net/otfcc2k3/cyklanus.jpg) I looked around to see what was left in the dealer room. Not much, to be honest. What was there had been discounted. I walked around there 'til I met up with Hooper_X. I wanted to get his recounting of the "slapping incident" of the night before. (There will be audio of that on RFC when it is updated.) After that we went to the Voice Actor's panel, which was awesome. Some random Transfan asked if the voice actors had as much fun with Armada as they did with Beast Wars. It was a resounding "NO." I don't blame them. Beast Wars was a whole different format and was a different animal (no pun intended) all to itself. Then, David Kaye I think, asked what everyone else thought of Armada. God. That was a bad idea. Most people yelled "No!" Some of us yelled "Yes!" I yelled "Best. Show. Ever." I was lying through my teeth. I did it to make Kaye and Chalk feel better. I got a good chunk of the voice actors panel on tape as well. For some reason, my archaic taping device didn't get the whole thing. (That will also be on RFC later on.)

I was going to skip the Organizer's panel but decided to stay. I'm glad I did. Glen Hallit impressed the heck out of me. This was the first real experience I had with him and it was overwhelmingly positive. He took full blame for the shortcomings of this year's convention (the few shortcomings there were, anyway) and answered every question--no matter how inane--thrown his way. He also showed the hotel incentive for next year, Mega Zarak. Nice toy. It's a repaint of Armada Megatron. Later on someone asked if we'll be getting exclusives using Japanese names. Glen and Dan smiled. It was kind of funny. It's like the guy missed the whole Hotel Exclusive thing.

Another guy asked a question about the plates. Later on he asked THE EXACT SAME QUESTION. It was like something out of my Peter Cullen fanfic. (http://www.tfradio.net/archive/petercullen.htm) After the Organizer's panel I left for home at about 6:00 p.m.

Sunday was a short day for me.

The bus ride home was better than the ride to Chicago. Except for the trip through Knoxville and the trans-gender fellow who rode in the seat behind me from Chicago, IL to Asheville, NC. He/She kept pecking on my shoulder asking if I was going to Asheville. That was creepy. In Knoxville I saw a homeless man wash his shirt in the Greyhound station sink. That sort of freaked me out, but I live in a small town.

I got home the next day at about 5:00 p.m. My cat was really happy to see me.

That's about it. Thanks for reading.

Brian Kilby,
July 31st '03.