OTFCC 2004 - Dave Connell

This year, the convention was held in Chicago July 30-August 1. After 7 years of badgering, I finally convinced my cousin Michelle to go. We actually left on Wednesday the 28th, and returned home the following Tuesday.

Wednesday

We left Wednesday night, after a stop at the Granite Run Mall. Michelle needed to pick up shoes to go out to dinner, and wanted a Jetfire for Scott McNiel to sign. (I'd picked mine up the day before.) We grabbed some dinner, and actually set out from the Philly area about 7 PM. About 11:30 I stopped to get a hotel room in Souderton PA. (Don't worry, it picks up after this.)

Thursday

Michelle & I started out from Souderton about 8 AM. We'd gotten an invitation to visit from my cousin/her aunt Reenie, who lives in Brecksville just outside of Cleveland. We both agreed it would be a good break.

Unfortunately, I overshot the exit by one, so we had to get off the Turnpike, turn around, and try again. We chatted for a while over lunch, and Reenie showed us a bit of the Cleveland park system. It extends through the whole city, for a total distance of something like 150 miles!

It would have been nice to spend more time, but the hotel reservation was for that night. We checked in at the Holiday Inn O`Hare around 8 PM. After a soak in the hot tub to relieve our sore muscles, we both turned in.

Friday

We woke up pretty early, to do a little sightseeing before the convention check-in. We decided to hit the Shedd Aquarium, and if there was time, the Field Museum of Natural History. Both are located by Lake Michigan, and the view was spectacular!

We caught the dolphin show, which was great, and then wandered the halls. It was a great time, but unfortunately we ended up spending so much time there that we didn't get anywhere else. We returned to Rosemont, and picked up our badges.

Next up was dinner. We had decided to skip the "Whodunit" dinner and just go to a nice restaurant instead. At the concierge's recommendation, we chose Gibson's Bar and Restaurant. It ended up costing as much as the OTFCC dinner, but the food was unforgettable! Sorry guys, I don't have any pictures of Michelle dressed up.

Saturday

After a quick breakfast at the Holiday Inn's Metro Cafe, we got in the long line for the convention. Since we had Platinum Passes, we got in the short line. Michelle felt guilty about this all weekend, but it was really a necessity. She's vision-impaired, and would have missed most of the goings-on if she had to sit in the back. Besides, we paid for the privilege, might as well use it, right?

First up was the G1 comic creators panel, featuring Simon Furman, Andrew Wildman, and for the first time, Bob Budiansky! It was a real treat to listen to Bob - an insider's view of the beginnings of Transformers!

Next up was the MSTF panel, which was hilarious as usual. This time Sipher & company tackled the GoBots video, and More Than Meets the Eye. The GoBots video actually wasn't bad, IMO, allowing for the age group its aimed at. Michelle thought it might have done well if it had been put on the air.

After our yearly dose of TF show mocking, we hit the dealer room and the Hasbro display. As there are hundreds of pictures of Hasbro's upcoming product on the web, I won't spend a lot of time on it, or the Hasbro panel, here.

Once the Hasbro presentation was done, we decided to get some lunch. Since we both liked Gibson's Bar the previous night and it was right across the street, we just went there again. I commented that the hostess was quite attractive (major understatement). When we got up to leave, Michelle stopped dead right next to the hostess' station, intending to block my escape. After a few moments with a "deer caught in headlights" expression on my face, I said to her, "You're not going to let me out until I talk to her are you?" Response: "Correction; Until you ask her out!" To make this part of the story short, the hostess had a boyfriend. At that point, we noticed the $800 ring on her finger. Well, Michelle has an excuse for missing it with her vision. I obviously was too distracted by the woman's other features to notice.

Since she'd made me ask out a woman who clearly was taken, Michelle agreed to enter the voice impression contest as Waspinator. We got there at the end, and she was the last person in line. Her entry was, "Waspinator tired of getting his head blown off. Waspinator quits! Medical is good, but 401K sucks!" We were both shocked when her name was announced, and she was looking around for the other Michelle who must have won. Then she found out what the prize was: a part in the evening's script reading! Her turn for the deer in the headlights expression. "I WON WHAT!!???!!!?!?!?" Of course I exacerbated matters by mentioning Rhino's documentaries of previous Botcons/OTFCCs. "Yeah, Rhino has had a bit on the convention on a few of the DVD sets. You might end up on this year's.... Please don't kill me."

Anyway, I spent the rest of the afternoon running for my life, and at 7:30 dragged Michelle to the ballroom for the rehearsal. She was assigned Optimus & Sideburn, and she dragged me to the back of the room to help her memorize.

At any rate, all went well. Michelle was obviously nervous, but still enjoyed herself. Vince DiCola provided the music and sound effects for a witty Furman script. Simon also served as narrator.

All through the rest of the con, people were asking Michelle for her autograph. In fact, one guy who came up to get her autograph said "I'm so excited to meet the original voice actor for Optimus Prime!" Michelle explained that she was a stand-in, and an alternate Prime to boot."I'm not Peter Cullen. My name's Michelle." His response: "Oh." Afterward, we snickered much, saying, "Wouldn't that be something, a 6 yr old prodigy with the voice of John Wayne!"

Sunday

This time Michelle & I took time for a real breakfast, and got a nice surprise when Simon was seated at the table next to us. He chatted with us for a few minutes while waiting for his meal.

There weren't as many panels we wanted to see on Sunday, so we finally had time to hit the dealer room in earnest, and the art room. It was also a good day for autographs. Michelle had gotten her script autographed the night before, but we both had toys to get signed. I got my copy of the TFTM Soundtrack signed by Vince.

Then there was the Voice Actor panel, with Dan Gilvezan, Michael McConnohie, and Scott McNeil. My favorite line was Scott's "The only thing that ruins my voice is ... DOING CONVENTIONS!"

At this panel we met Rose & Tony, two fans who turned out to also be from the Philly area. Michelle & I ended up hanging out in their hotel room Sunday night, and their room hosted the world premiere of my Script Reading video.

The last hour or so of the con was spent shopping. I picked up a copy of the script from Saturday's reding. In fact, I got Simon's copy! He offered me the choice of a nice, clean one, or the "slightly rumpled one" he'd used at the show. Well, what one would you have chosen? Michelle got a fantastic deal on a bag of loose Constructicons - enough for at least 2 Devestators, except it was missing the combiner parts and a Hook. So we tracked down most of the parts she needed.