Botcon '97 *Sunday's* Journal
Sunday, July 20......... At about 4:45 AM we heard an alarm go off in our room. Not to mention a bunch of blinking lights. We jumped out of bed (of which we were sleeping quite nicely) and listened to the automated voice screaming "Warning...an emergency has been detected....evacuate your rooms". Oh great!! What did we do? Grabbed some stuff and ran. Of course.....I had my Transformers in hand!!! We ran down nine flights of stairs to the outside. The funny thing is....here we are running quickly outside to the front lobby....and a guy asks us for change. Geez. Anyway, the firetruck was there doing nothing. What was going on? We saw smoke when we exited our hotel room. It had to be a fire. WRONG. It was a false alarm. So why did this happen? Because WuTang's group was taking up the entire third floor of the hotel. They set off the fire alarm after completely trashing the floor itself. So what was the smoke we saw? It was a fire bomb set off by the alarm system to put out the fire. I'm sorry but...it looked too damn real to me!!
What's funny about this whole experience early in the morning? Most of the people had some suitcases or cloths with them.....the Transfans......WE HAD OUR TRANSFORMERS!!! No way we were gonna leave them in the hotel to burn. No way!!!! On our way back to our floor, I saw Vince DeCola in the lobby. He looked pretty tired from the alarm but I didn't hesitate to tell him how awesome the concert was. He grinned! Anyway...we proceeded back up to the ninth floor. It was covered with dirt from the fire bomb. We returned to our room. Luckily the fire bomb doesn't go into the room itself. A little shook up (especially since the alarm is one scary device), we all tried to go back to sleep. It worked eventually.
At about 9:00 AM (we slept in), we all got ready for the days activities! We missed the BeastWars panel with David Kaye and Venus Terze unfortunately. However, I wasn't going to miss the Bush/DeCola panel or the MST3K version of the movie. I hurried to get ready. We ran down to the restaurant and had breakfast once again (of course.....you know who had the buffet...it was good!). DeCola and Bush were also there having breakfast! Cool! We then proceeded to the convention center at about 10:30AM. I stood at the back of the Stan Bush and Vince DeCola panel and listened a little to the Q&A. However, I didn't have much time since I wanted a good seat for the MST3K version of the movie.
At about 11:15, we left the panel and dashed to the video room. We got a second row seat. Perfect viewing. Three guys (along with the video operator) sat in front of the TV. They made comments throughout Transformers: The Movie just like it is done on Mystery Science Theater 3000. Their script was quite witty and fun to listen to!! They also had a few little skits in between (one dealing with a game show where they used Shockwave and Galvatron figures as the buzzers). The skits were also fun and were kept short. They stopped the movie in perfect parts to perform these skits and it gave a well timed break from the movie. I was quite impressed with their performance!! They were very good and had me rolling several times. It was very well organized and a lot of fun! It added a little spark to the already awesome convention. Good job guys!! Loved it!!
Afterwards we went over to the Hasbro Toy Group Representatives panel. They began their question and answer session by showing us exclusive drawings of never released Transformers. It was so exclusive that no cameras or recorders were allowed or else they would be forced to put them away. Of course.....someone snapped!! Geez. Anyway...they then began to talk about the direction that the BeastWars line was going. It was quite interesting although the one representative's mono voice put me to sleep. They also mentioned a possible deal for more Machine Wars. They were quite interesting.
After 45 minutes we left because there were a lot of figures at the dealer's area we wanted to check out. However, nothing spectacular. I wanted a Reflector but couldn't afford the $225. It was in nice shape and still in it's box. I went to Rugby's Starbase and bought a couple hats (one for me and one for Melanie). Some of the dealers were packing up so we hurried and tried to see if there was anything we had missed. I guess there wasn't. Unfortunately the packaged stuff they had this year were quite beat up! I did get a Transformers Movie poster. Not the original poster but the smaller one given away at Toys R Us back in '86. It's fine by me and will hang in my Transformers room.
A little bumbed at not finding anything, we all took a quick walk outside. The only thing that would make my day complete is if I could win that sealed Bluestreak that was on the auction at 4:00 PM. The auction was to benefit Shriner's Hospitals and included sealed figures signed by their original voice actors. A Bluestreak is one of the things I was looking for at Botcon anyway so I really wanted it. Not to mention the fact that it would be signed by Casey Kasum. Cool!
After a quick walk and a little more browsing at the dealer's tables (couldn't get the damn guy to go to $150 on the Devastator Gift Set), we went over to the auction. I thought this was a lot of fun! There also were a few more things added since the Botcon package first listing the items was printed. The signed items at the auction included: A G1 Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen), G1 Ironhide (Peter Cullen), G1 Megatron (Frank Welker), G1 Soundwave (Frank Welker), G1 Bluestreak (Casey Kasum), G1 Ultra Magnus (Robert Stack),G1 Bumblebee (can't remember name), BW Megatron (David Kaye), BW Tarantulas (Alec Willows), BW Waspinator (Scott McNeil), BW Terrorsaur (Doug Parker), BW Blackarachnia (Vanue Terzo), BW Inferno (Jim Byrnes), BW Optimus Primal (Gary Chalk), BW Rhinox (Richard Newman), BW Rattrap (Scott McNeil), BW Dinobot (Scott McNeil), BW Tigatron (Blue Mankuma), and BW Airazor (Pauline Newstone). Please note that G1 Megatron, G1 Soundwave, and G1 Bluestreak were not yet signed but would be personalized by the autographer for whoever won. Also on auction was a Botcon exclusive set. It came with all the American Botcon exclusives (Breakdown, Nightracer, Onyx Primal, and Fractyl/Packrat) and the two Japanese Galvatron exclusives (lava and regular). What a package!!! There also was a shirt and comic autographed by Furman and Wildman and a model of Blaracarachnia. I believe that's everything.
It was quite fun seeing how much the stuff went for. The BeastWars stuff went surprisingly high. It was fun watching!! However, I knew which one I wanted!! Once Bluestreak came up for bids I waited to see how high it went! Up and up it went. I bid with another guy back and forth. However, in the end....I won the Bluestreak!!! Wahoooo!! It was one of the highlights of my trip. And seeing as how I didn't spend much at the dealer's tables, I could afford it!! Plus.....I found out that not only will Casey Kasum sign it and personalize it to me, but he also will be calling me on the phone in congratulations. Talk about worth the money. Plus...it went to a good cause! Makes me happy. In case anyone cares...the Bluestreak was sealed in a C-8 box. Little ding on top and small rip in bottom corner. Was still a beautiful sight!! I'll post it on my web page when I get it in.
For anyone curious....the signed G1 Ironhide went for $110, G1 Megatron went for $275, G1 Optimus Prime went for $275, G1 Bluestreak went for $250. I can't quite remember the others but the auction WAS successful!!!!
After all the excitement, we took a quick walk to the dealers area to see if that guy would budge on the Devastator gift set since it had been sitting there all weekend. No luck though....he can keep it!! We then went to the panel room at 5:00 to hear the art auction results. It was interesting to see who won what and who everyone voted for! What's left? Well.....the closing ceremony ('sniff'). Glen Halit and the Hartmens started their own question and answer session to start off the closing ceremony. I didn't realize the time and effort put into the convention until I heard their answers to some of the questions. For example: the $15 we paid for the concert covered the lighting. THAT'S IT!! The lighting!! Plus...the convention cost between $100 and $150 thousand dollars. It's amazing to find out that stuff. You really begin to appreciate it even more when you hear about it. The little things you complained about are thrown out the window in comparison to the effort that was put into it. We owe the Hartmens and Halit a lot!! Thanks guys for putting on the best show ever!!
Well....the convention's over. At about 6:15 we stumbled back to the hotel room. For the rest of the night we basically moped around looking for stuff to do until the Greyhound bus came the next morning. We ordered pizza from Shoe's Pizza and had it delivered to our hotel room. Let me tell you...after that crummy meal we had at the hotel restaurant the previous evening...this was a relief! Boy it was hell of a good pizza that's for sure (and we spent $25 less on this meal than the previous dinner). After eating, Melanie went for a little swim in the pool (which I can't understand since we just ate). It didn't bother her though!!! At about 9:30 we made it back upstairs to our room and switched on City Slickers 2 that was playing on TV. We watched a little bit of it and then Melanie and I spread out all the stuff we bought onto the bed and went through it. That was fun! We then neatly packed it away (in case the fire alarm went off again...tee hee). At about midnight we dozed off to sleep!