Botcon 2007
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      My trip to (and from) Botcon was much better this year than last year. Last year I spent 24 miserable hours on a bus each way to go to Lexington, Kentucky. This year, I had just an hour drive to Providence, Rhode Island. This year I took the customizing class. It was a great experience to build a toy from scratch. The Classics Deluxe Grimlock I built, I left unpainted.
      Then there was the movie showing on Thursday night. One of the most amazing experiences of my life was seeing the movie in a theater full of fans. The Movie was awesome. I think we witnessed the birth of the next great film franchise, as Spider-Man, Shrek, and Pirates of the Caribbean come to a close, Transformers is ready to start making sequels. I just hope they don't wait too long. Friday morning was the Hasbro tour. This was great to get to see Hasbro's facility, and get a look at stuff they have never shown to the public. Below are some pictures from the tour.
   
      On the tour, we were shown a lot of great stuff. I'll hit some of the highlights. We were shown the gray prototype for the Movie Optimus Prime Voice Changing Helmet, as well as the original design Hasbro had before they knew what Optimus Prime would look like in the movie.
   
      Hasbro had a beautiful display of movie toys set up. The toys are sitting on rotating platforms. It would look really cool in my display room…too bad I'll have to settle for the picture.
      They also showed us some prototypes of toys that were never, or will never be released, though we can hope maybe they will change their mind. First up, are four fantastic prototypes for Titanium 6 inch toys, Cybertronian Mode Bumblebee, Cosmos, Arcee and Shockwave. I really hope Hasbro reconsiders and produces these. I'd even be happy if they made them all plastic and put them in the Classics line.
   
   
      We got to see some older prototypes as well. Pictured below is a Transmetal Fractyl prototype for the Universe line. The big white thing was the original design for the Energon Optimus Prime trailer. We saw a repaint of Laser Optimus Prime for the Universe line. Apparently, it was just too expensive to make it this way.
   
      On the bottom shelf of the display case was the infamous Robots in Disguise Optimus Prime remolded and repainted into Defensor. This was of course supposed to be the third exclusive for OTFCC 2004, but was not produced, as we would later find out, due to the slow collapse of 1H Enterprises. If Fun Publications is listening, PLEASE MAKE THIS TOY!
      Aaron Archer talked to us about how the Movie characters were created. Apparently, Dreamworks designed the robots then sent them to Hasbro. Hasbro then worked with them to refine them into what Transformers are supposed to be, and what we saw in the movie. Below is the evolution of Optimus Prime. Click the picture for a better view.
      This was on a shelf in the model room. I'm not sure exactly what it is. It seems to be some kind of award, or maybe just a display item made for Hasbro, I don't know, but it looked really cool.
   
      I have to give Hasbro credit they went all out this year. I had hoped for the last few months, that maybe the movie Optimus Prime big rig that had been on tour at various film festivals would be there. I got my picture taken with him. Standing next to Optimus Prime was like a dream come true.
      I, as always, had a table in the dealer room. Here are my parents at the table. They made the short trip this year. From a dealer's standpoint, I thought it was a great show, there were plenty of people, and it never seemed to die down for more than a few minutes, and things picked back up.
      In the middle of the dealer room, in front of the Hasbro booth, was a huge statue of Optimus Prime. Again I have to say, Hasbro went all out.
      The last big event of the convention was the Saturday Party. As I understand it, Hasbro put on the party. It was fantastic. Stan Bush was great, the food was great, what more can you ask for.
      Anyway, now we have to wait to find out where the next Botcon will be, and even more importantly when. I hope the move to holding Botcon in June/July is permanent. To me it makes a lot more sense, since Transformers is far bigger for Hasbro than GI Joe right now. They'll probably move it back to September/October. Only time will tell.
      Here's a list of what I got at Botcon 2007. A number of items came from target and Wal-Mart, as I was able to hit a few of them during the weekend.
- Conventions:
- 2007 Custominzing Class Booklet
- 2007 Party Gift Bag
- 2007 Charity Movie Screening Gift Bag
- 2007 Charity Movie Screening Wristband
- 2007 First 100 Registrations Pin
- 2007 Charity Movie Screening Pen
- 2007 Target Light Up Folder
- 2007 Hotel Keys Set
- 2007 Timelines #2 Diamond Edition
- 2007 Charity Movie Screenin Autobot Napkin
- 2007 Party Decepticon Napkin
- 2007 Charity Movie Screening Souvenier Ticket
- 2007 Target Prequel Comic #1
- 2007 Program
- 2007 Program Signed
- 2007 Hasbro Press Release
- 2007 Gamer Graffix Advertisement
- 2007 Beach ball
- 2007 JanSport Backpack
- 2007 Pitcher
- 2007 Cup
- 2007 Vector Sigma
- 2007 Hat
- 2007 T-Shirt
- 2007 Box Set
- 2007 Alpha Trion/Weirdwolf
- 2007 Mirage
- 2007 Springer/Huffer
- 2007 Customizing Class Classics Grimlock
- 2000 Plate
- Binal Tech:
- Classics:
- G1 USA:
- Gift Wrap Set
- sEVEN Trading Cards
- Pencil by Number
- Silverbolt Halloween Costume
- Party Like It's 1984 T-Shirt
- Titanium 6 Inch Sunstorm
- Titanium 6 Inch War Within Ultra Magnus
- G1 UK:
- Flying Starscream
- Three Slide Puzzles
- School Supplies Set
- Story Book
- Commodore 64 Game
- Soundwave Soap
- Motovators Flame
- G1 Japan:
- Kabaya Lightspeed and Dreadwind Mini Models
- Sixkinght Collector Card
- Six Pencil Boards
- Sticker Sheet
- Sticker Book and Sticker Set
- Giant Decoy Predaking
- Giant Decoy Trypticon
- Arcee Resin Model
- Famicon Disk Game
- WST Megatron with Scope, Barrell, and Stock
- SDF Fortress Maximus Model
- G1 France:
- G1 China:
- Misc:
- Stan Bush "In This Life" CD with new Transformers Theme
- Stan Bush CD Advertisement Till All Are One
- Seibertron.com T-Shirt
- Sports Label:
- Nike Optimus Prime
- Nike Megatron
- Movie USA:
- Boston Glode Trading Card Sheet
- Six School Fodlers
- Bee-Otch Air Freshener
- Target Prequel Graphic Novel
- Activity Book with Gel Pen
- Trading Cards Hobby Pack
- Video Game Skin Xbox 360 Bumblebee
- Video Game Skin Xbox 360 Megatron
- Video Game Skin Xbox 360 Optimus
- Video game Skin Nintendo DS Lite Bumblebee
- Video game Skin Nintendo DS Lite Optimus
- Video game Skin Nintendo DS Lite Megatron
- Video game Skin Nintendo DS Lite Barricade
- Video game Skin PSP Bumblebee
- Video game Skin PSP Optimus
- Video game Skin PSP Megatron
- Video game Skin PSP Barricade
- Video game Skin PS2 Slim Optimus Prime
- Video game Skin PS2 Slim Megatron
- Video game Skin PS2 Slim Bumblebee
- Video game Skin PS2 Slim Barricade
- Video game Skin PS2 Slim Display Box
- Video game Skin PSP Display Box
- Three Ring Binder Optimus Prime and Megatron
- Three Ring Binder Optimus Prime
- Trans-Portable Activity Center
- Caribiner Set
- Projector System
- Power Airbursh
- Water Reveal Battle Scenes
- Magic Reveal Coloring Case Optimus
- Magic Reveal Coloring Case Megatron
- Tattoo Power
- Plush Prime
- Full Sheet Set
- Interactive Sound Book and Game
- Full Comorter Set
- Play A Sound Bumblebee Rumble
- 3-D Battle Card Game Box
- Trading Card Box
- Undercover Night Scope Caribiner
- Undercover Listening Device
- Color and Carry Gears and Games
- Slide Puzzle Keychain
- Battling Card Game
- Undercover Motion Sensor Caribiner
- Thearter Cup
- Beach Towel
- Bumblebee Three Button Shirt
- Pillow Panel Fabric
- Fabric
- Eight T-Shirts
- Optimus Prime Blaster
- Cyber Slammer Brawl
- Cyber Slammer Ratchet
- Titanium Optimus Prime Three pack
- Titanium Bumblebee
- Deluxe Bumblebee Corrected
- Movie UK:
- Movie Bag
- Optimus Prime Birthday Card
- Movie Japan:
- Toy Catalog
- Mini Poster (City)
- Mini Poster (World)
- TRU Advertisement
- Deluxe Bumblebee
- Beast Wars II:
- Trading Card Album
- Pop Out Card Board Figures
- Cybertron:
- Pop Toppers Lollipops Optimus Prime
- Pop Toppers Lollipops Megatron
- Energon Japan:
- Sticker Sheet
- Deluxe Crystal Optimus Prime
- Beast Wars Metals:
- Beast Wars Japan 2007:
- Toy Catalog
- Optimus Primal
- Megatron
- Waspinator
- Arcadia
- Cohorda
- Rhinox
- Cheetor
- Universe:
- Knockoffs:
- Skullcruncher
- Six Builder
- Monstructor
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