Well, here it is over two weeks since Botcon, and finally, I have time to write up my Botcon report. Better late than never I suppose.
Well, just before Botcon, on Wednesday, I made a great discovery. I walked into a comic store, and found seven MOC Generation II prototypes. For anyone who doesn't believe that (and I wouldn't blame you a bit) a lot of people took pictures of them at Botcon. I'm sure they will be on a web page somewhere. I found two Jazz Lasercycles, two Soundwave Lasercycles, a Stunticon Dragstrip, a Stunticon Breakdown, and a Protectobot Blades. The Breakdown is identical to the 94 BC exclusive. Speaking of the prototypes, I did end up trading more of them than I had intended. I know that someone took a picture of the whole group of them. If you have pictures of them all, I would really like to get copies of the pictures. I should have taken pictures myself, but I didn't think of it.
Botcon began at 4:30 in the morning on Friday. I kept having to remind myself that their was in fact a reason for getting up that early. Next was Logan Airport. I hate Logan Airport. I hate all airports. I hate airplanes (unless they transform :-). I hate to fly. Botcon is one of very few things that will get me on a plane. The flight from Boston to LAX wasn't bad. The in-flight movie was The Man In the Iron Mask, which I had wanted to see anyway. The landing was another story. I was certain that the wings would fall off the plane the way we were shaking. You know how you can hear the motors in the wings adjust the flaps? Well, if my car made as much noise as they did, I'd take it to the mechanic. But we did eventually make it to the ground in one piece, and on time.
After getting the car, and picking up the luggage, my father, brother, and I began the trip to Anaheim. Now, please don't take this the wrong way, I'm sure their are many very god drivers who live in California, but none of them were on the road when we were. I can't count how many near death experiences we had on that 45 minute drive. We were twice cut off by trailer trucks. Also, I will never understand why any state would not number the exits off the highway. Would numbering them have been so difficult? Instead of looking for an exit number, it's this Street or that Road. Maybe it's just because all the exits in Massachusetts, and I'm used to it. But anyway, we finally made it to the hotel.
After checking into the hotel, it was time to go over and wait for the dealer room to open for set up. After waiting, and waiting, and waiting, and, oh did I mention waiting? It was time to set up. After setup, and dinner, it was time for the party. I went to the party early, and my father and brother showed up later with the news that my father's wheelchair broke. Only a minor problem luckily. It was nice to see all the guests attend the party. Of course, the best part was the revealing of the convention exclusive. Vicegrip was nice, Antagony was AWESOME. But, I must complain about the fact that in five years, seven exclusive toys, their has only ben ONE Autobot/Maximal. How about a repainted B'Boom or something?
Unfortunately, I was not able to attend any of the panels. I was too busy buying, selling, trading, buying, and buying in the dealer room. I figure I'll hear about anything important on ATT. I liked the change to having the autograph sessions in the dealer room, instead of after the panels. It made it much easier to get the autographs.
Well, I guess the next event was the script reading. How can I best describe it? INCREDIBLE!! I think I enjoyed it even more than last year's concert. The only thing I didn't like is that we have to wait until next year to see what happens! I hope all the necessary voice actors are available for next year. Is their an unwritten rule somewhere that you must be crazy to be a voice actor? I mean that in a good way. I loved it when they did the National Anthem. Also, I think having copies of the script available immediately was GREAT!
Sunday was much the same as Saturday. It was a really good time. I think, with the exception of BC96, Botcon has got better every year. I hope that will continue into future Botcons. Thanks to Jon, Karl, and Glenn for putting on another great show.
Well, anyway, here's my list of what I got at Botcon:
Well, to make a long story short, we drove to Las Vegas early Monday morning to go to Star Trek: The Experience. Every fan of Star Trek should go. It is absolutely incredible, beyond description. While in Las Vegas, I found an Office Max, and got a very large shipping carton, and some bubble wrap. I also discovered that the Coke and Sprite sold in Las Vegas is the absolute worst I've ever had.
Early Tuesday morning, it was back to Anaheim, and after a few hours sleep, it we went to Universal Studios. Universal was nice. The Tram ride through the back lot was great. The Back to the Future ride nearly killed me. My back STILL hurts from riding in that damn thing. The Backdraft show was great, as was the special effects show. The Water World show was awesome too. The best part was the Marvel Mania, a Marvel Comics based restaurant and Bar. This place was fantastic. The life size statue on Iron Man, as well as life size items like Doctor Doom's mask, Doctor Strange's Cape, and Thor's Hammer looked great. And the food was great too.
Well, the trip was almost over. Back at the hotel I packed up all my stuff, and decided to take it back with me on the plane with my luggage, instead of sending it home UPS. It would turn out to be a bad decision. The plane ride back to Boston was rough. When I got to the baggage claim, I picked up the five suitcases one by one, and looked for the 24x24x17 inch box full of stuff. It finally arrived. I checked one side, and it saw fine, the next side was fine, the third side was fine, I got to the fourth side, and nearly dropped dead on the spot. Their was a three inch gash in the side of the box! I opened it on the spot, and found that whatever had cut into the box had cut right through Diatlas!!!! It missed hitting the toy by about an eighth of an inch. Whatever did it just got box and styrofoam luckily. The moral of that story is NEVER TRUST AN AIRLINE WITH ANYTHING. The people they have handling the baggage don't give a damn about anything since it doesn't belong to them. They should make it a federal offense to mishandle baggage. Sorry to rant, but this really ticks me off. Last time my father flew anywhere, the airline tore ALL the wiring out of his electric wheelchair. Well, anyway, I guess that was it for Botcon. Where's it going to be next year?
Well, after the convention was over, the trip wasn't. I spent Sunday night driving around to 24-hour Kinko's looking for boxes and packing material to ship home what I bought. I went to two of them, and they didn't have anything! Luckily, we weren't heading straight back home.