Giant Robots

Sitting in a 7-11 in Stockholm, looking back at my diary- I realise it's been 5 weeks since Botcon finished. On one hand it it's hard to believe it's been that long, since the memories are so fresh- and on the other hand it really does seem like it was a whole world away... which of course it was. Well, half a world

I should preface the coming ramble with a disclaimer- I've been to my fair share of toy fairs, read reports from previous transformers conventions, and seen tv shows about other fandom conventions. To be honest I was expecting a lot of socially retarded geeks. You know the type- like the comic book guy from the simpsons- large, loud, smelly and hopelessly opinionated.
While there were a few choice specimens encountered over the 5 days I spent at Botcon, I was pleasantly surprised to find that everyone I met and spoke to over the weekend were really decent, down-to-earth and friendly folk. I kinda feel a bit stupid for thinking I was in the minority as a socially-adjusted obsessive geek :P

So I rolled into Rhode Island off the bus from NYC, sweaty and tired since it was a scorching 30+ degree day in both places. I met up with the two other Australian fans I had made contact with before leaving- Matthew (aka griffin) and Ian (along with his wife Caroline), and griffin lugged his growing piles of shopping bags into our shared hotel room. They'd already taken advantage of being in town early by hitting the local Wal-mart and raiding the shelves before the convention had begun.
And after our tiny NYC hostel, this hotel room felt like a palace

We checked out the centre of town (consisting of a busport, convention centre, giant mall and about 10 hotels) and made friends with a few other fans who were milling around.

The next morning Ian and Caroline were busy with an organised tour and we didn't need to be back for official registration until later in the afternoon, so griffin and I made it our mission to hit up more department stores, as well as stocking up on groceries and finding somewhere to clear our camera memory cards onto CD. We navigated the bus system, walked a few miles, and ended up on a highway with strip malls in the next state (not hard considering the size of RI).

We managed to tick every box on the list of things to do, and I bought a bunch of movie toys (which weren't out on the shelves when I left home) just because of how cheap they were in the US. Loaded up with bags, we got back into the city and hit the convention centre to register. I was also surprised to recognise a few people in line from various US messageboards that I visit all the time for TF (that's TransFormers) info: I hadn't expected it to be so easy to come across people that I've often had conversation with online.

After half an hour in line for registration packs, we lined up again for the opportunity to buy more exclusive mechandise. We dropped off our piles of toys to the hotel, and got ready to head out again, this time for the exclusive preview screening of the TF movie. While it was a week early for the US, it was actually around the same time as the Australian release, so some of you may have even seen it before me. The screening was great- there's nothing better than a bunch of fans watching something that they love, everyone was laughing, cheering and clapping throughout- and it didn't get out of hand, so it was still easy to focus on the movie. Needless to say I loved it- as long as you go in expecting a big funny action movie and don't think about the details too much, you'll have a good time.

The next big event was the Hasbro tour the next morning, which I had been hanging out for as much as the movie. Finally, a chance to see TF HQ, to see the engineering department, to meet the designers, and to hound them with employment questions I chatted to the design team guys a lot, and then some more that afternoon back at the convention. I ended up meeting the TF head honcho and getting his business card to pass on my folio- I'm not really that hopeful, but it will be nice to get some feedback.

The next couple of days were a blur- consisting of wandering around the dealer room (tables upon tables of toys for sale), dropping off stuff at the hotel, eating and drinking with new friends, lining up for autographs, and sitting in on question-and-answer panels with various creative people involved in all aspects of the TF world. Voice actors, designers, comic and computer game artists, the works. I got to see designs and prototypes for the next year's worth of TF toys, get a movie Optimus Prime toy signed by THE voice of Optimus Prime (a very charming and humble man), buy more toys that I hadn't planned on buying, and spend time with some great people.

I barely made it to the busport (posting a 7kg box of stuff back to Oz took a little longer than expected) but stumbled onto the bus to NYC exhausted and satisfied. I'd never been able to justify the expense of Botcon, and made it to this one due to pure synchronicity with our travels- I hope the same thing happens again in a few years time, maybe when they release the TF movie sequel?

Will post again soon with more stories, we've got a lot of countries to make up for!
Been thinking about Perth and all our friends and family very fondlyrecently, so lots of love!

-Liam