I missed Botcon this year, and am dying to know little details. How was the turnout? I saw that the registration lines were long, but am curious to know how the overall numbers looked. How was the venue? How were the hotels? What was the party like - was it buffet food served while Uncle Vince and Stan Bush played? How available was Weird Al during the party? How was the weather? Anything interesting/different in the vendor hall? Any old detail, throw it at me!

Oh, and ... yeah, I've been reading the pinned (and misplaced?) "news here" thread in the main TF Forum, but it's full of figure & movie news and discussion, and thought a new thread for non-toy talk in the Con Forum would be a good idea. Others may disagree.

Rumor has it that there were 5-6000 people showed up. The venue was pretty nice, but the dealer room IMO could have been bigger. Didn't stay in a hotel, but would say that the hotel bar was a little small. It was surprisingly empty the last night of BC. Didn't go to the party either, so someone else could help you out. Weather is pretty good, but since I'm an LA local, I'm pretty used to it.

Was my first show, wasn't really what I expected, but I did end up 'getting it' by the last day or so. Met some really awesome people and would definitely go again next year. Definitely want to give a shout out to Hydra and want to apologize for not saying bye and missing out on dinner.

I can believe that.

Of course, so many people were AT the Paramount party, there may not have been that many left over for the bar....

Buffet food, yes. Ham/cheese/veggie/chickenburgers (your choice), but they allowed people to eat for a bit before any of the concert started, and before that, movie Ratchet (the vehicle used for it, that is) drove up carrying Tyrese Gibson, and he and Peter Cullen had a moment on stage. And, of course, after all that (including the concert), we got to see a couple of short clips of the movie introduced by Michael Bay.

I didn't really talk to him, but he was perfectly available for pictures. I got mine!

It was a bit chilly for this part of the country at this time of year, but generally comfortable.

At the risk of blatant self-promotion, I've written a fair bit already on my blog (http://transformingseminarian.blogspot.com). Specific links may be found in the signature image.

How'd the 2D portion of the art contest/show go? I've seen photos of a few entries -- were there just not that many? Considering the number of artistically inclined fans this genre has, and the number of times the convention has run, I'd figure enough people would know about it. So are people just not interested in participating, even if it's just for the sake of showing support for the franchise?

Great info, thanks! I forgot to ask about the art/costume contests. I did see a YouTube video with some v-e-r-y nice costumes (and a puppet!)

I meant that Sunday night... but in all fairness people were leaving. I kicked it with a few TFW peeps and it was an early night.

Oh. Well, yeah. By Sunday night, most folks have already caught their planes....

The show was great for the most part....Still a tad disappointed in the exclusives.Skipped Elita-1 and Razorclaw,got 2 Sweep sets(lucky me) the Banzitron pack loose set and my set not to mention all the stuff i got while I was there. My biggest complaint was the pre reg line on Thursday night. I stood in line for almost 5 hours because people were buying movie toys and not the club exclusives....That should have been a seperate line. All I wanted were the show toys. My biggest disappointment is no animated Omega Supreme who was in the show more than charecters that got figures. They allude to cost as why but IMO Omega would sell alot better than Clearencestator that's coming out.

So, I hear there were two public marriage proposals during various BC events. How, uh, did that happen?

Did Shout Factory show side-by-side images of their versions with original broadcast / Rhino DVD? How did it look?

And what was "Transform Me" like? Is that a "real" documentary that's going to theaters, or is it a very long-lasting fan project that only we will ever hear of?

I only heard it 2nd-hand myself. I'm as curious (and clueless) as non-attendees on that one.

That was scheduled to be at midnight, and I wasn't about to stay up just to find out....

People have been offering that suggestion for years.

One line for Club exclusives.

Another line for everything else.

To be fair, the movie toys constituted a VERY large "something else" that the club store has never had to deal with at a BotCon before. Usually, there's just other club store stuff that's been around for a while. These were a big attraction all their own. And folks were slowing things down even further by wanting specific toys, and the mintiest packages they could find. I was thinking to myself "Just take what they give you and be happy!" But then, that wouldn't be very collector-like, would it?

Personally, I'm convinced a computerized checkout system would have done wonders.

That just made the "usual" three hour line waits into five hour ones.



Indeed.

The line situation should be getting better year to year but it's either staying the same or getting worse.

IDW panel?

This seems as good a place as any to post some photos!

Bumblebee greeted us in the entryway. Note that this isn't the same BB prop used in the first movie, and put on display in West Hollywood and other places. It's some new statue. The squatting Prime from BotCon 2007 was also present.


I don't know why I didn't get more general photos of the dealer room. But, here's Prime at one end of it.


So many people, including so many children. Hasbro's booth had some fun activities for the kids, where they could draw Transformers, get a free toy, win contests, etc.


We took over Paramount Studios entirely. Really quite amazing.


Nerds swarm the New York backlot.


How available was "Weird Al?" Very. He stood around chatting with people for a good long while before retreating into the VIP section to eat during the presentation/concert. Really nice dude, glad I got the chance to meet him.


Tyrese drove up in Ratchet, and was very excited to share the stage with Peter Cullen.


Stan Bush played for a long time. A long, long time.


I like this photo.


My haul. Not a lot of stuff, but good stuff. I set a strict $100 limit for myself.
Sideswipe: $13 (Club store)
2-pack Animated Prime: $5 (I almost bought the 2-pack a few times last year, but didn't really want Megatron. So now I have 5 Animated toys!)
Downshift: $19 (Complete, plus 4 extra tires and an extra head-gun, for some reason)
Red Bumblebee: $10
Glyph: $15 (I love the G1 Bumblebee mold... now I have the original, G2, new-head reissue, red, blue, and Smallest!)
Slamdance: $30 (definitely my best deal--the booth right next door had one with no weapons for $60, I saw another for $95. Great shape, great chrome, only missing large tank gun)
RPM Bumblebee: Free, from the Hasbro booth

Overall, a good time. I missed meeting a bunch of Allspark folk, but ran into a couple, and met some other fans I wound up hanging out with most of the weekend. And it was great to be able to drive in from home every day in about 30 minutes. Maybe not as epic an experience as 2007, but I'm glad I went.

damn, i was after slamdance and omnibots. My best find was e-hobby crosscut and roadrage for 20 bucks each.

Personally i had a great time, but that was solely due to the guys i was rooming with and people i met from various boards. The organisation of the event was atrocious in every aspect. Despite being one of the first in line on friday morning it still took until gone 10 to get to the club store thanks to them letting people cut the line and being understaffed. The paramount party was worse - buffet of cold burgers and an overpriced bar, not to mention the tour not happening until the very end so 90% of people couldn't get on it. Won't bother with that jive again.

Met a lot of great people though and acquired some good purchases and contacts in the dealer room so will definitely attend in future. Just annoying funpub will undoubtedly credit themselves with the success of botcon, when it's pretty clearly the franchise itself that's responsible.

HOLY CRAP. I saw $140 each and $80 each. I'm so jealous, the silver Skids has been #1 on my want list for years. I tried to get it when it was new, lost a couple of auctions, then it just got more and more expensive. $20 is stunning. How did you manage that?

Yeah, the souvenir line on Thursday night SUCKED, and this was after I had given them props for getting the check-in line running faster this year somehow. The movie toys line should have been separate from the get-go, and I still think people should be able to blindly order the souvenir toys on their registration and avoid the souvenir line altogether if they so choose.

With the caveat that this would slow down the registration line somewhat, I agree (and I do think it would still be faster overall).

Both at the Paramount party. One dude got down on one knee while standing in line for the studio tour. Other dude did it on stage with the microphone. There was some long buildup that I wasn't paying attention to.

Seriously. I was in that line for over four hours. Why the hell won't FP fix this problem? I -- and many others -- would blindly preorder the souvenir toys and pick them up with the box set. That would work out so much better all around.

Unfortunately, I didn't have time to fill out my comment form and turn it in.

Only problem is that I'm not sure how far ahead of the convention they really know what the sets offered will be, how many you'll be able to buy, and how much they'll have to ask for them. If they could get that ironed out though, they could really streamline things for both themselves and us.

But yeah, by the time I got through the souvenir line, I felt like I'd had my ass kicked, both physically and mentally. I could barely even count out my money, I just handed the guy some amount over what I owed and told him not to rip me off when he gave me my change.

I wasn't the only one? Phew, now I don't feel so bad!

I had heard that there were three... One at the video festival (proposed in his video), one at the Paramount Party (done on stage?), and one on Sunday over the PA...

It'd be nice if we could get a definitive answer, but I still gotta wonder... Who proposes at a toy convention? :-p

There were definitely two at the Paramount party. I saw them both myself.

I'd really expect that any sane woman would reject a Botcon proposal. I can't conceive of a less classy way to propose.

And more mind-bogglingly... who says "yes?"

If there were two at the Paramount party, I totally missed them. Must've been when my group was in the theater, or when we were on the tour, or after we left.

*shudder*

I would say no.

I was there when it happened, and trying not to crap myself. He had it up all day on Friday, but with no price. It was the KO dealer. I think he just had no idea what he had or something. It was all I could do not to shout "WTF IS WRONG WITH YOU!!!!"

Then I spent the rest of the evening being stupidly envious of his find hehehe.

Here's some pictures!

Me and Wierd Al, gangsta-style


Me and buds in the hotel room (courtesy of JoeVil's pictures)


Me and buds eating dinner (courtesy of JoeVil's pictures)


My haul:


All my pictures here!

I never wanted to have the power to kill with my mind more than in that line.

I mean, the line to get into the building was fine. Line to register was fine. Line to get into the dealer room, for Weird Al, for the Paramount buses, no problem. But as that souvenir line edged into the second hour, I began to look at my Wings of Honor box like a bludgeoning weapon.

Heh. I remember you're telling me about that one. Thanks for sharing.

Yep. Even if my significant other was really into Transformers, there's no way I'd propose at the convention itself. MAYBE during the trip, away from the convention, but even then I'm not sure.

People are free to do what they want, but when they make a public display people are also free to think it's tacky and super nerdy.

"who proposes at a toy convention? :-p

i proposed at one, my wife loved it, ( or so she's said for years after) and she's in no way a fan. i did it as a "question" at the Allsparks' transformers quiz show panel. it was planned out months in advance, and she deemed it very romantic, with a mic, on a stage. and very original. she always said it was much better than fancy clothes and stuffy restaurant. but , like others have said, to each there own. i knew i was taking a gamble proposing so deep in nerd territory, but her reaction listening to her tell people the story years later made me think it was a success.

She's humoring you.

The thing that stood out the most, at least, a thing I haven't mentioned anywhere else yet, were these two chicks dressed as Lockdown and Swindle. SUPER-HOT. Wish I got pics. Another thing I wish I indulged in but didn't.

DeviantArt to your rescue:





Actually, there's a ton of people on DeviantArt who uploaded BotCon pics, if you go searching.

Ah, yes, Swindle girl was cute. Never saw her in costume.

Aha! I knew Swindle there was familiar from somewhere! It's Femricade!

But yes. Wow. Gosh. Those costumes. I'm fairly sure that "things that should not be cute" includes cutthroat military-gear salesbots and Meatloaf/Long John Silver by way of Shego and Power Girl.

Don't they look like they've teamed up to wreak havoc and destruction in the name of profit and upgrades?

Mizz Lockdown was delightfully vulgar and Ms. Femricade has a sexy voice. Those pics don't do them justice though. When they'd walk by in costume they had kind of this black widow affect on me; I know they'd probably rip me to shreds in every sense of the phrase, yet, I wouldn't have cared and would have followed then like a puppy dog anyway. They also sat right behind me I think it was at the David Kaye/Weird Al panel. Fun people to listen in on a conversation on. Not stalky, but, just fun to listen to, really. You'd have to have no soul not to be entertained by the things they said.

Anyone also get the Arcee chick? That one was the pure jives, as in AWESOME.

Lonegamer did, actually, as well as a bunch of other cool pics: