OTFCC 2003 - Joe Larson

Greetings all,

After a whirlwind 11 days which involved two transformer conventions and a brief vacation in-between, I have crafted this report on very little sleep. Please be warned that my usual level of lucidity (low) will seem to be much lower than in reality.

OTFCC, or "The Convention that was a Preemie"

1: Organization

Rating: Poor

I have attended "Botcon" since 1999. This convention had numerous problems that can only be described as "operational." It seemed to me like this convention needed to take place sometime in October, so that the dinner exclusives would be finished, the comic would be finished, the schedule would be finished, the shirts would be finished, etc... I place the blame for this squarely where it lies: Glen. I know he's had an incredibly rough year. I empathize. The problems seem to be on a par with last year's convention, and I don't see any marked improvement, yet supposedly he was the guiding force of all that was good about that one as well. There are two simple solutions to these "seemingly" organizational problems: Delegate and Supervise. I know he's got a list of wannabe helpers a mile long. So enlist them (or, more of them, if need be) so business and personal stuff can get taken care of.

2: Hotel

Rating: Poor

For a four-star hotel it was a labyrinthine piece of shit, in marginal repair. Our bathroom fan didn't work, our AC didn't work, and a number of my friends room phones didn't work. My bed had a lopsided pedestal, and listed heavily to port. I was driven to but unable to commit suicide thanks to the windows not opening more than four inches. This was also not enough to compensate for the dead ventilation system. The elevators (and ventilation in same) all functioned for the duration of the convention, which was a nice surprise. The cart nazi's were not a nice surprise, but then again, $5 to schlep 100lbs of toys to my room was a decent bargain I think. Then again, there actually were carts and bellhops available for use at any given time, unlike at Ft. Wayne, where certain people hoarded them in their room. (The carts, not the Bellhops... although you never know.)

There were no easily accessible/quick food options besides Denny's and McDonalds unless you had a car and/or knew the city, so I ate at three of the five food selling establishments on the premises (as well as Denny's and McDonalds, but I didn't have the energy or time for a long walk during con hours.) Out of them, the atrium restaurant on the second floor was the best. The prices were staggering, the service was slow (I swear I could've hand-made the ice-cream faster) but the portions were gargantuan and delicious. The sports bar was terrible all-around (although I suspect it uses the same kitchen as for the restaurant.) The Cantina must've been run by the same Jawas that stock the vending machines. $2.50 for a 16oz Pepsi? $3.50 for a stale croissant? Criminiy! I avoided the rooftop lounge and "The Other Place" due to lack of respectable non-tf branded clothing. Quite frankly, if your restaurant can't have a more creative name than "The Other Place" I don't really have any interest in dining there. That, and it sounded like a title to a bad porn film.

3. Exclusives

Rating: Mediocre

I have all of the Botcon exclusives since 1999, plus a few of the earlier ones. Put side by side, the packaging on this years exclusives sucks rocks. Somehow, with Hasbro being more involved, I guess I was expecting higher quality, or at least a quality on par with previous exclusives. The cardboard is on the thinnest side of thin, and the saran-wrap acetate window is dangerously fragile. (There was a guy selling repro boxes that were on thicker paper than this years exclusives!) One of mine was coming off the "insert" on the way up to the hotel room. This was after careful and gentle handling by the OTFCC helper, who graciously grabbed my hotel exclusive by the window. Maybe they recognized me? My bet is that there will be so few in genuine "mint" condition that the truly perfect ones will command a premium in the secondary market. Mine were all toast before I even got them. The RiD Prowl repaint toys are terribly executed, as far as paint scheme/design is concerned. A sticker over a white piece of plastic? Did Hasbro suddenly run out of red and yellow? Based on the shitty paint job, I see that they could've at least painted that piece, then put the sticker there to cover up the holes.. I have seen far better kitbashes of both of these. I'm not even going to go into the missile fiasco, except to say that it was handled well, ultimately, although people who stayed for only one night were kinda screwed.. Thankfully, the Side Burn repaints (Roulette and Shadow Striker) are at least ten times better in quality and execution. I would've saved the "remold" for the autobot symbol visible from the rear glass on Shadow Striker (or a blown engine intake on the Sunstreaker back panel). That's not a strike against, just a personal aside. I also got the Heroes of Cybertron Seeker Jet set. I loved this thing even though I hate PVC's in general. Unfortunately, it doesn't travel well. It has thick, high quality cardboard, but shorter, tighter fitting bubbles would've been nice... now each jet is disassembled inside it's sealed bubble. It looks like the Autobots snuck in during the night and trashed them with crowbars. So skip the Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, but definitely pick up Roulette and Shadow Striker. Get the HOC set, but only if you can get it in person. Do NOT have it shipped.

I've seen the non-existent (besides the preview) comic mentioned in other threads, and that people can't understand why we would think it had already been paid for. The answer is simple: Most people remember the comic being included with one of the exclusive toys for the last couple years. (I honestly can't recall if that was the case last year or not... somehow, I think it wasn't. But it definitely was the case in 2001) No exclusive pre-reg goodies this time... not even a friggin postcard! Given the number of Rooks in abundance at the 3H table, it seems like there could've been, though. But again, I understand the circumstances, and that's not a stike against.

4. Dealer Room

Rating: Good

The space provided for the dealer room was fantastic. It was well lit (for the most part,) spacious, and clean. As I had brought minimal inventory besides my parts, and was priced to sell (as usual,) I basically sold all but four things. This allowed me to be a fan for a change, which has altered my outlook on transfandom in general. There was one huge rant which I heard from several dealers: The '6 tables. The smaller space made people on the corner even more screwed than normal. I would recommend selling 10 x 10 booths and renting individual tables for those booths like most other "genre" conventions and professional conventions do. That guarantees everyone the same amount of backspace, and allows for more creative booths. Security was a joke. Thankfully, I sold most everything on Saturday, keopt the cheap stuff out front, and had very little to worry about. On another dealer related note, the buyer turnout was awesome (the best ever), and the overall layout was pretty good too. Some dealers were able to maximize their space... but nobody seemed to notice or care.

5. Events

Rating: Excellent

Even though I was unable to attend several of the things I wanted to, there seemed to be a great variety and diversity among them. I will say that the art room seemed kind of cramped. It was a good thing that I didn't bring my legions of Sweeps, or they would've had to stand on Action Master Broadside's flight deck. The room chosen for the Hasbro Panel was not good. Supposedly this will be rectified. The Go-Bots kids area was an excellent idea, and while waiting for the Autograph room to open I got to view the Go-Bots cartoon, which appeared to have higher production quality than Armada, and the kids in the cartoon were smarter... go figure.

There were actually a few events scheduled outside the dealer's room hours this year, which was a nice treat. Unfortunately, I was too hungry to attend the script reading. I was also unable to attend the voice tryouts... I got too busy trading parts. (This might've been a good thing depending on your outlook.) The party appeared to be a bunch of fans yelling at each other about transformers while loud, irritating techno music played. I suspect that the party would've been livened up quite a bit by reducing the volume to about half.

Hopefully the trend of having more events scheduled outside of the dealer room hours will continue. Also, none were cancelled. (Granted, the schedule wasn't available until the con, so we would never really know.)

6. Attendees

Rating: Excellent

As I have been reminded, this and any convention is ultimately about the people who attend, and as I actually got to mingle in a non-dealer fashion this time, I was reminded that there is a lot to like about transfandom after all. Some of it is not that nice, but likeable nonetheless. I got to actually chat with the voice actors in the signing line, and chat with other fans while we were waiting for the various events to begin. I seen and talked with many of the people I had forgotten about... and I realized that I actually like most of you, and only hate a select few. It's just that the negatives tend to stick harder. Of course, there was one asshole in particular that almost got a Slugslinger enema, and if he'd messed with it again I'd probably be in jail in Chicago right now.

Final Assessment

Good.

Given the stress that Glen has been under for the past year, and the hullabaloo surrounding this convention, I think it went remarkably well, all things considered.

Will I return to OTFCC next year? No. The hotel, travel, and related dining expenditures are far too costly, and as long as there are West Coast options, that is where I will be. Since the people is what a convention is really about, and the OTFCC toy exclusives will probably be from the Armada line next year, I'll take a pass for sure. I hope to see you all at BOTCON 2004, and CybCon2004!