Botcon '97 *Saturday's* Journal
Saturday, July 19......... All I can say is that all of us got about three hours of sleep. This mainly had to do with the large amount of noise outside the hotel. Sirens....breaks.....horns...trucks....and much more rang through our ears all night. Mind you, I liked the atmosphere of the hotel overall. However, the lack of sleep the first night really hindered my enthusiasm a bit. The cool thing is that everyone seems to be having the same trouble sleeping so.....I don't feel as bad.
Anyway.....the clock rang at 6:00 AM. My girlfriend Melanie, myself, and my mom all got ready and left for breakfast at the hotel before the Botcon morning registration. The breakfast was very good. They had a buffet (of which I was the only one who took advantage of it) which gave me a "good-morning" meal. Stan Bush even sat next to us and had coffee this particular morning.
We started over to the Riverside Convention Center which was scheduled to begin at 8:00 AM with the opening ceremony. At this ceremony they introduced the guests who would be at the convention as well as thanked everyone for coming. They also played some of the exclusive CD in the background. Afterwards we proceeded to the registration line (which unfortunately had begun the same time as the opening ceremony) where we spent an hour and fifteen minutes waiting to get to the table. Once there, we received our registration packet with discount vouchers for exclusive merchandise (pre-registrants only), signed drawing by Simon Furman and Andrew Wildman, Botcon '97 program, schedule, autograph cards, and more. Of course, I ran straight to the exclusive Botcon merchandise room. After waiting in another long line, I picked up my exclusive Botcon figure (beautiful two-pack), CD (Stan Bush and Dicola exclusive), and T-shirt (Black with Botcon and drawing on back). I also had Stan Bush sign my CD exclusive (since he had a small panel in there) and pre-ordered the concert video.
I then proceeded to do a little shopping but came up empty. However, I cut my looking around short to hurry to Peter Cullen's panel room (voice of Optimus Prime and Ironhide) to get his autograph. Luckily we were one of the last ones to be let into the room. The cool part is.....my mother and Melanie met Cullen outside when I was holding their place in the registration line. It was kind of neat having a celebrity call you by your first name when you get up there. I had him sign my TF: The Movie LaserDisc jacket. Plus....Melanie, Peter Cullen, and myself took a quick photo together. Cool!!!
Then I proceeded to finish scanning the dealer's area. I found a few things: sealed Kup, sealed on card set of Stunticons with sealed Motormaster, and Generation 2 "red" Slag MIP (still trying to complete those damn multi-colored G2 Dinobots). After searching some more we returned back to the hotel to put away a few packages.
Then.....back we went!!! I didn't go or participate in the Quiz show although I did stand and watch a bit. I also watched the non-serious showing of Transformers: The Movie for a little while. People really got into screaming at the screen!! There was a small dealer's area in the far right room that I seem to have missed. We walked over there. This room was quite expensive (one dealer wanted $500 for a Jetfire in a C-7 box). However, in the corner was a "playable" display of the Beastwars game for the Sony Playstation. I got to check it out for a while. It seems to be pretty cool!! Obviously the game isn't finished yet but you could play it. I beat the first level and then was basically kicked off. At least I got to try it! The graphics are pretty impressive. The gameplay needs a little tweeking!!
We snuck over to the lunch area to grab a little something to eat while waiting for the next panel to open. For $7.00 we got a hot dog, a donut, and two drinks.....eeek.....anyway.....we ate up and waited a little more and spread the exclusives on the table to examine them.
Then we walked over to the Simon Furman and Andrew Wildman panel. We sat in the front row since we finally made it to something early. Obviously, Furman and Wildman talked about their experience with the Transformers Comic book! Wildman focused on the drawing aspect and Furman talked of the design and story line. It was quite interesting and they are very knowledgeable guys. They also touched on their enthusiasm of the Beast Wars line and how they had fun designing the Botcon '97 Beast Wars comic book (that came with the exclusive toy). After their 45 minute question and answer period, they began to give autographs. We were one of the first ones up there since we were in the front row. I had them sign my issue #78 (with Galvatron and Megatron on the cover....love that issue) and my mom had them sign issue #80. Sneaky huh? That was an interesting and fun panel!
We then dashed over to the serious showing of Transformers: The Movie. However, there were a lot of people still there because of the Beastwars episodes being shown in that particular room (these episodes were shown all day Saturday during the festivities). It was tough to find a good seat. After squirming to see the screen, we left the movie fifteen minutes into it. I'll go home and watch my LaserDisc instead. However, we were on a mission to see the Mystery Science Theater souped up version Sunday.
Since I couldn't see the movie, we walked into the Botcon art and display room. It was quite interesting. There were a lot of excellent drawings displayed done by Botcon attendees. I voted for my favorite drawings and moved on. Next to the pictures was a prototype panel. Boy was it awesome. It was so hard to see because they wouldn't let you get right up onto the pieces. They even had a security guard on duty. At this prototype panel they had the Transformers: The Movie video standee (which I saw for sale in the dealers room for $300), packaged prototype G2 Stunticons (including the Breakdown) and G2 Protectobots, and the McDonalds 1984 Transformers happy meal toys (which were limited to Saint Louis and a few other areas). The happy meal toys were great since a lot of people didn't believe me that I saw them in a catalog once. They also displayed ATB Megatron and a few others. They also had a Blitzwing and an Astrotrain there for some strange reason. Couldn't figure out why though! The only reason I could think of is maybe because they were "movie poster" boxes. Anyone know why? Anyway...around the corner was hand painted and designed figures. Some were quite impressive. The table was full of original designs. The prototype/art room was quite cool!!!
My girlfriend and I split and walked around some more in the dealers areas. Going through Rugby Starbase (of which had a total of 8 or so tables) took forever. I picked up a Transformers board game called "Defeat the Decepticons". It is quite cool! The playing cards inside remind me of the TF trading cards. While we were looking around, my mom did a little shopping. She got me a package of TF napkins and invitations for my collection. She also got me TF bed sheets (which I'm gonna put on) and a shirt. That was pretty cool!!! After searching around and making offers (of which no one accepted), I bought a sealed Ratchet and we then proceeded out of the convention center.
Hungry as hell, we walked down to the hotel's restaurant. After our eyes bugged out once we saw the prices, we ordered a few meals. It really wasn't very good though. We ended up spending around $50 for the three of us (for something that didn't even taste good!). That stunk...so we went back to the room upset. However, we were hoping that the concert later that night would make up for the disappointment. We took a quick nap!!!
At 8:00PM, we began to get ready for the concert. I really didn't know what to expect from it. For $15 you don't really expect anything spectacular. However, what we got was something interesting and something awesome!! Let me start with interesting. It turns out that WuTang (a hardcore rap group) was having a concert at the convention hall the same day as our Stan Bush concert. Tons of (not too nice looking) people crowded at the ticket booth to buy tickets to the WuTang concert. I'm talking people who were searched before entering. I even saw bullets being taken out of some ladies purse. So.......the Transformers people quickly scurried into the concert area.
Inside there was smoke being pumped from the stage giving you that concert feel. COOL!! We waited for a while as everyone filed in. Then....Vince DeCola and his backup came on stage. They began to play a rumbling sound. No one could figure out what it was and why they were playing it. However, once they began the Unicron Theme....it all made sense. The rumbling was Unicron. What an awesome opening!! After that song he played another and then Stan Bush came on stage. He sang a group of songs (not from TF) without any accompaniment. He was quite good and all his songs were chosen well. Then....DeCola came back on and played us some more TF themes! Stan Bush then returned and both guys finished the concert together. They started with the "Touch", then played a couple others, and ended the concert with "Dare". One hell of an ending that got a standing ovation from Transfans!!! It was awesome! Not to mention the fact that there was somewhat of a light show during the entire performance. It added to the show tremendously. That was one hell of a concert that I don't think any Transformers nut could forget!! Awesome!! Now I just have to wait for my video tape copy to come in that I ordered!! :)
Well.......we were asked to use the sky walk over to the hotel instead of the front entrance. Why? Because WuTang's audience was crowded all over the front doors and they cared for out safety. The funny thing is....when the concert was over....Stan Bush and Vince DeCola ran off the stage and never returned for an encore. You don't think it's cause of the WuTang thing do ya? Noooooo. Anyway....the concert was so awesome I didn't really care much about any danger of us getting back to the hotel!
We returned to the room. It took me quite a while to log into my journal today. My mom was getting ready for bed as Melanie and I read this comic book called Comic Smorgasbord that we picked up for free in the dealer's room. Melanie also checked out the loose Inferno and Wreck Gar she got complete for $8. I thought that was a steal all right!! Afterwards off to bed we went. However, this particular night was not like Friday night. We actually slept. Yipeee. However.......something happened to hinder our sleep.........