I thought maybe we could justify a second Botcon thread about less pressing matters such as the tours, contests, Hall of Fame, meet-ups, etc. (If the mods disagree, of course, feel free to shut 'er down)

I enjoyed the Casino Night a lot last year, so I'm glad to see it back. And it also strikes me as a good idea to mix the Hall of Fame ceremony into it, because frankly, I'd be a lot less excited about attending a third one of those.

One kinda-shame (although it did take a decision off my hands) is that the Wednesday tour is out for me because that's the day I got for the custom class. Of the two tours, that was the only one I was even partly considering; the Thursday tour just doesn't really appeal. I guess I'll be using that time Thursday to find one of those places with a 72-ounce steak that's free if finished within an hour.

I'm only one mod, so I won't speak for the rest of the gang, but I don't mind this thread. I say leave it.

I enjoyed the 1st HoF dinner when I went there, so I should be there this year. Casino Night I only attended the one in 2006. Enjoyed it too, had a decent run but went All In on the final hand and - well let's say the auction was a spectator sport

Didn't register for the tours - only tour I ever was interested in was the Hasbro one in Providence. I registered, was in - figured my flight had troubles and I missed the entire freakin' day. And the sneak peek at the 1st movie (Still have the unripped ticket to that)

I wish we could have a repeat of the first Hall of Fame night. I loved the semi-formal dinner. It felt like Old BotCon. I got to get dressed up and eat fancy-ass food. There wasn't Glen and the Hartmen pitching us their sweet exclusive toys, but the HOF event itself was a good replacement. It was super BotConny.

As for Casino Nights, I'm there for the food. I can't stand gambling, so I'm content to just fill my face and leave everything else alone. But with everything taking place in scattered tables and chairs, it's just not quite the atmosphere I want.

Well this is my first botcon, attending anyway, so I have no idea what to expect. I'm looking forward to the customizing class but the tours didn't seem to appealing. Not sure what to think of the casino night. I'm not a gambler at all, think I've been once years ago, and I'm bringing my 12 year old daughter who likes transformers too, so another reason not to gamble. The HOF sounds exciting and I'm always up for food so that seems like it might be a highlight.
Being my first and not knowing how things go, what type of things happen during the day time. I know there are some panels and the exhibit room is open part of the time but what other things are going on?

I'm hoping for this as well as last year's Hall of Fame was an overpriced disappointment in comparison.

Randy

QFT! That was the BEST Botcon dinner ever, and I really wish they would go back to it.

That was a good dinner in 2010, I have to say. I'm usually a very finicky eater (or as George Carlin put it, "a big pain in the ass") who has to be dragged kicking and screaming into trying something new, but whatever that sauce was on the chicken, it was awesome.

I'm really glad the Hall of Fame has gone back to being included in registration, I don't really care that much if there's a meal or not since I want to go more for the event itself than anything. I usually skip out on the casino night-type stuff to go find somewhere good to eat a nice dinner away from the convention, because things like that are a big part of the experience of the weekend for me.

Still, I wouldn't mind seeing them figure out the right way to do things like the dinner and HoF, rather than it changing every year to mixed results. Last year was fun but should have been cheaper, with less doodads included in the grab bag. The problem was that between rumors, the venue, and what we were given in our goody bags, I think most of us were expecting to really see the movie. I felt bad because I talked my friend into going, and he's more in it for the trip than the convention.

Yeah, Hasbro really screwed FP on that HoF fiasco last year. Which painted a poor light on FP because most people don't realize that FP had nothing to do with it. Let's hope Hasbro keeps their hands out of it in the future.

I wouldn't *fully* agree with that. FP was big on promoting it. They took ownership because of that. They built up hype and told us how awesome it'd be. Endorsing things means taking some responsibility.

It'd be like if I told you to go to X doctor because he was so amazingly awesome, and you came back like Ned McCraig - "A leg for an arm, and an arm for a leg!". I mean, it's not my fault the doctor sucked, but I still owe you an apology for misrepresenting him, and in that case, I'd do what I could to help you get fixed.

Anywhos - last time was the first time I've ever done Bingo night, and that was fun. I plan on doing that again if it's there. Hopefully it's not solely the casino thing.

Well, it wasn't THAT bad! I still had a good enough time.

And the hype was basically, "For that price, it's not going to suck". They've over-hyped things before, but I wouldn't count the 2011 Hall of Fame event as one of those times. Mostly since as n10zguy said, it was a Hasbro thing. FunPub didn't really know all the details. So they didn't have a lot to offer as far as hype goes.

Yes but my point still stands. If you told me to go to "X" doctor and "X" doctor sucked, then "X" doctor screwed you over by making you look bad in my eyes for promoting him even though you had nothing to do with "X" doctor's crappy work.

But if Hasbro told FP "This is going to be awesome, you should really tell people to come" and then FP turns around and tells us "Listen, we don't know what it is, but Hasbro said that you really don't want to miss it," I don't think they're to blame anymore than we are for going. And realistically, Hasbro did honestly feel it was a big cool event, because they got Michael Bay in the room, premiered a long preview of the new movie, AND gave out ~$20 gift bags. That's a pretty big deal to them, it's just too bad it didn't line up quite to our expectations for the ticket price (which, really, should have been the whole movie). I don't think anybody did anything wrong, but that there were simply a couple of missed assumptions. Oh well.

I'm glad to see HoF not be a separate item, but I'm not sure I like it combined with Casino Night (which I don't like). I liked that it was a "classy" thing, whereas Casino Night is not classy. The past couple of years, I've had way more fun hanging out with friends - mostly you Allsparkers - at some restaurant or bar or something while Casino Night is happening. Do we know what night this is? And do we know if there's anything happening the other night?

Galen, it's our sworn duty to class up Casino Night then, James Bond Monaco-style.

I'm hoping the actual Hall of Fame event is first so we can catch that, then followed up by a casino night that I can skip to go out with my posse.

Only if you dress like a Bond girl.

Otherwise it's just so hard to take it seriously in a Hyatt Ballroom with all the toys, nerds, and the "Botcon Bux" or whatever they give us. It feels way more "bingo parlor" than "French riviera."

Oooh! I can be the snooty foreigner who tries to one-up Bond! I already got the foreign part, at least.

Still, I'll hold you guys for this. let's turn BotCon into BondCon :-)

Crap, I only have two arms to drape gentlemen off of!!!

While I can't dress "Bond" nice, I can certainly do better than Business casual

at the 2010 dinner, I went full 3-piece suit and tie along with dress shoes. I intend to do the same here.

Of course since my shirts are black I won't pull off the classic "bond-style penguin look" (black suit with WHITE shirt) but still, more classy than Casual here too.

If you're going to be the villain, the infamous Otter, for example, the black would work just fine!

Oh you silly amerricaans and your silly jokes. Zhis neverr ends! ::twirls moustache::

I'm not really familiar with the HOF dinner thing, I haven't been to a Con since the last SG one in Cinncinnati! What all does it entail? Or, for the JoeCon guys here, is it pretty much just the same as Saturday night dinner/Casino night thing?

It's been different every year. the first one (2010). The HoF was a sit-down catered dinner and was really nice. That's what they need to do every year. Basically you watch a montage of videos showcasing the inductees and then the human inductees give speeches.

Last year's was a horrible fiasco. We had to pay $45 extra. We were taken to a auditorium and watched some clips of DotM and we got gifts bags with stale popcorn M&Ms and a candy-filled baby bottle looking thing that made no sense why it was there (though apparently SOME peoples baby bottle featured Bumblebee on it) and a TF-Cinemask for watching 3D video. Then pretty much everything else was the same as far as he montage and speeches. The Erector video was pretty cool though.

This year apparently they are combining the HoF with dinner/casino night. So, who knows what's going to happen.

Hey guys.

Guess what.

Other than the fact that I'm back.

Well, I am back.

AT BOTCON.

This pleases me.

Why, so you can stare at my Ginrai some more?



Pervert.

Cool! Can't wait to see you again 8)

Note to self: Shun Sebastien.

Yay, Fang. It'll be nice to see you. I'll be there too.

Ditto Fang. I'll see you at Botcon

WAIT, WHAT?!??!?!

I wish I could be there.

Too awesome! Looking forward to seeing you there!

Cheets helped talk me into it. I bought my Club Membership and then my Primus package the day registration opened up. Now I just have to buy my bus ticket, and save up some extra cash.

Forgive me, but...

WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.

Heh. Nice

There might be mockery.


M "Just Sayin'" Sipher

Is The Allspark gonna have a booth again? I liked being able to come by and say hi and meet people I don't really know at an easy location to find at any time.

We're looking into it. We're also kicking around a couple of other ideas even bigger than that. You guys will know more as soon as we do. We've been having a busy week ourselves.

Sorry to not have more straight answers, but I don't want to overpromise.

Yeah, Galen always overpromises to me and then leaves me wanting more because he's "busy" or "has a headache."

What a jerk.

Augh, teases, the both of you!!!