Botcon 2001...How does one begin an Obsession?

To say that Botcon 2001 was the beginning would be misleading at best. I mean, I still to this day vividly recall obtaining my very first Transformer when I was still only five years old and carrying it with pride through my father's restaurant.

Now whether that is a real memory or something that has been conglomerated over the years I can't say. But while that might have been the beginning of my relationship with these little plastic toys, Botcon 2001 was the event that changed that relationship forever.

Charticon Exclusive Baleful Head Upgrade

The final Charticon exclusive I want to cover was one that almost didn't happen at all. Originally I wanted to do something special for the wonderful committee of people I had working on the convention with me. Eventually I decided a "staff exclusive" head upgrade might be a good idea and I was originally going to keep it a surprise for everyone. But obviously that didn't pan out as I expected.

Charticon Exclusive Snipenose

Here we are still riding the Charticon Train. The next figure in our exclusive line-up was the custom class Snipenose figure. After we had decided to homage Quake with Warpath we thought it might be a good idea to give him a companion in the form of Needlenose. With Needlenose's recent resurgence in popularity in the RID comic, this seemed like another one of those no-brainers.

Charticon Aftershock, A Personal Look

Let me preface this by saying I know Flywheels is planning on doing a review of this figure if he hasn't already. Because I don't want to go over the exact same things I decided to make this post about my personal experience in creating this figure over the past ten months. This thing has been my "baby" and I am very proud to have such a nice finished product.

It is hard to even know where to start. When we first set up the idea of this convention there was no doubt in my mind that we were going to do an exclusive. And because I am very passionate about transformer toys in general, I decided I wanted to do an exclusive that would exceed all expectations, something that would literally be the best of the best. Did I achieve that?

Charticon 2013, The Charlotte, NC Transformer Convention

I know this may not be as relevant here on the blog since most everyone I know on here lives in a different country, but I thought I would go ahead and announce it anyway. Next August the North Carolina Transformers group will be hosting the first Transformers Convention in Charlotte, NC. We have been working on this for a while now and it is looking to be like a great convention so far. If you are interested in attending (and are close enough) here are a few of the events we have planned:

Voice Actors and Voice Actor Panels
Cosplay and Costume Contests
4,000+ sq ft Dealer Room
Transformers Toy Panels
Trivia Contests
Kids Games
Friday night DJ Party

Plus much more, but I can't divulge too many details just yet. Anyway, Hotel Reservations are already up and pre-registration should be available before the end of the year. Check out: www.charticon.com for full details.

Part of the reason we are doing this is because Savcon 2013 was unfortunately cancelled and we all really enjoyed the last convention. So in an effort to continue the Southern United States TF conventions we decided we would hold Charticon instead.

Is it bad that it is still eleven months away and I'm already really excited for it?

Destination Savcon!

As Transformers conventions go it has been a long time since one has graced my particular corner of the United States. Sure we had Botcon 2010 in Orlando about eleven hours away and of course Botcon 2007 in Rhode Island about thirteen hours away, but not since 2001 (Raleigh, NC) has there been one within only a couple hours drive. I think this was the primary motivator for me wanting to attend Savcon located in Savannah, Georgia; a relatively short four hour drive. However I was also motivated to attend a smaller, local convention without all the bells and whistles that come with Botcon. Since I had only been to Botcons in the past I really had no idea what to expect especially from a first year convention. What I discovered was much more than I could have imagined.

Transformers Animated Tech Specs!

As you probably already know from the flurry of posts recently I was pretty excited about Botcon this year mostly due to the fact that the exclusives were themed from the Transformers: Animated show. So imagine my surprise upon arrival in Pasadena at the two exclusive lithographs this year: Animated Tech Specs in the G1 style! Naturally one for Autobots and the other for Decepticons.

Usually the annual Lithographs don't excite me very much, but this was completely different. The team at Fun Publications (who runs Botcon) had partnered with Art Director Derrick J. Wyatt and Writer/Story Editor Marty Isenberg for the Transformers: Animated Television Show to expand the Animated Universe even further. What is great about these sets is they include all of the Animated Tech Specs that had been shown in the Transformers Collector's Club Magazine in prior years. I had been upset when these specs were produced exclusively in the Magazine and had resolved myself to eventually scan the pages and reprint them for myself. Now, I don't have to!

Additionally, we get a lot of new characters, including techs for all the Animated figures exclusive to this year's convention. Not only that, but the creators opened up a whole new can of worms with four of the 'Con' specs: Shattered Glass Animated. I believe this was done because two of the exclusive toys this year were from the 'regular' Shattered Glass Universe: Galvatron and Thundercracker. However we now have specs for Shattered Glass Optimus Prime (complete with goatee), Bumblebee, Sumdac and Sari. This provides a jumping-off point for future Animated storylines and gives us a whole new universe to consider. I fully expect some intrepid customizer to provide us with real-life examples of these characters sometime in the near future.

As you can see, I cut my lithographs up into the individual techs so I can place them in my tech spec books right behind the Beast Wars. I certainly hope that FunPub continues to produce these in the future as I really like seeing the old G1 style with new characters as well as the expansion of the Animated Universe.

Botcon Video is Up!

Music is by Tony Bacala of TFW2005.

A little taste of the experience...

So I have finally arrived home from Botcon 2011 and I must say that I was overall very impressed with the convention this year. My last Botcon was 2007 so I haven’t had the pleasure of attending in quite a while and I believe that was for the best. I had come to a point where I didn’t think I would ever want to go again; which I believe was due mostly to an overload of Transformers. Now that the Movie franchise is ending (or at least transitioning) I feel more inclined to become involved with the convention circuit again.

I'm not sure if it was just me or if it was actually Fun Publications, but they have figured out how to put on a really excellent show. I feel like they have finally hit their stride with Botcon whereas before I felt as if it were treated as more of an afterthought of JoeCon. Everything ran really smoothly this year and the lines weren’t nearly as long as prior years (despite my previous post; I just abhor lines in general). The two most enjoyable parts of the convention had to be the Transformers: Prime Script Reading with almost the entire cast(!) and the Casino Night Dinner. Having the cast show up free of charge and on their own accord was a great treat for the fans, and I hope the actors know how much we appreciate it. There was one attendant who mentioned how he didn't normally get star-struck at Botcon, but to be in the presence of Ernie Hudson (an original Ghostbuster!) he was overwhelmed. I felt the same way about seeing Jeffrey Combs being a big Star Trek fan myself. The cast did an excellent job as I knew they would and even threw in a few Ghostbusters references to rib Ernie a little. Directly after that we had the opportunity to see the next episode of Prime that hadn’t been aired yet: Operation Breakdown. All I can say about this episode is it is one of the best of the series thus far, not far behind my current favorites Speed Metal and Predatory. Trust me; it is not one you want to miss when it finally does air.

This was my second time participating in the Casino Night and even though I didn't win anything I had a great time. It feels like they have really refined the idea and worked out all the kinks. Of course it didn’t hurt that my group had a friendly, personable dealer. I remember back in 2007 the first Casino Night I attended it wasn't nearly as fun, and the prizes weren't as good either! FunPub had some really primo stuff up there this time, including the big boy: Darksyde Megatron and Waspinator from the 2006 convention. The guy who won that had about $15,000 in casino money. In comparison I only ended up with $1,600 and that was after combing four peoples' winnings together!

The only part of the convention that I felt was somewhat lacking was the Hall of Fame Event. As I mentioned before I really enjoyed myself, but I'm not sure it was worth $90 for me and my wife to attend. The show we saw was great, but I had at least expected to see the entire Transformers 3 movie for the admission price. I must say though, the Erector tribute was completely hilarious and oddly makes me pine for a G2 or Beast Wars Erector! I think most of the money for admission went to rent the extravagant venue and to get Michael Bay to attend, which I personally could have done without. I realize everything he has done for the Brand, but I could tell he didn't really care about being there and had that signature attitude about him. I think he would have been better sending in a video like Spielberg.

Overall though it was a great event and I feel much better about attending another Botcon than I did after my last experience. I hope to put all of my pictures and videos together in a short little montage to give anyone who didn’t go a quick taste of the convention. Over the next few weeks I hope to be showcasing all the items I obtained, but I will have to wait until at least Monday because I had to ship everything back from California and it won’t arrive until then.