Thursday, August 09, 2007

The Top Thirteen: BotCon 2007 Edition

I'm listening to 80s music, which helps "get me in the mood", so to speak. So without further adieu, here are my personal favorite moments from this year's BotCon. Enjoy the geekiness, if you will.

13) Bonding with a Beatmix Bumblebee and causing Prime and our friend Shawn to nearly puke.
Beatmix Bumblebee happens to be sound activated, so when I started talking to a demo version at the Providence Place Sharper Image, it responded. So I kept talking. And it kept reacting. Within a few minutes, it had obviously taken a liking to me..... and Prime and Shawn were trying to suppress their gag reflexes. Easily one of the most fun and geeky moments I experienced. The little bugger won me over so much that two days later, I bought one.

12) Prime injuring himself at the customizing class.
The hazards of being a guy who works with his hands. Prime managed to stab himself in the hand with a screwdriver while assembling his custom figure. When I met up with him after coming back from the tours, he was sporting a homemade bandage. And I thought I was supposed to be the klutz around here. :)

11) The awesome swag.
The exclusive toys, the exclusive hotel keycards, the freebie bag for the cocktail party. We got lots of killer stuff, which helps keep the memories fresh. My personal favorite? The hotel keycard from the Westin. Bumblebee, of course.

10) Made in China? Melamine!
This became a running gag between me and my friend, DA. He'd point out something was Chinese in origin and I'd yell out, "Ut-oh! Melamine!". Then, we'd both laugh. Don't ask.

9) Running on 2 hours of sleep, a handful of tortilla chips, a shitload of caffeine and still feeling fine!
The unwritten rule at any convention is "Thou shalt not eat or sleep". It may sound exhausting (and it is) but while you're there, you realize you don't really miss sleep or food. Caffeine, however, is a necessity, since adrenaline can only do so much.

8) The dealer room.
The dealer room has always been the heart of BotCon. The dealer room is where you meet friends, look for deals and just hang out. This year was no exception. If you wanted good deals and good conversation, you hit the dealer room. I never wanted to leave.

7) The Sector Seven Experience.
If you were lucky enough to hit the Hasbro Toy Shop room, you probably saw a big semi near the back of the room. No, not that one; this one had a a trailer. If you decided to stand in line, you were let in and treated to the Sector Seven experience, which was actually quite fun. A pair of "agents" told you about N.B.E.s (Transformers) and you got a glimpse of some of the footage from the movie. Just make sure you didn't react to the word "Transformer", or one of the agents would start to question you. (It happened to me! An agent asked if I had any aches or flu-like symptoms. I wisely said no.) It was a lot of fun, in a geeky way.

6) Meeting Optimus Prime.... in more ways than one.
We had two special guests this year: Mr. Peter Cullen, who is the voice of Optimus Prime, and one of the actual rigs from the movie. I got two autographs from Mr. Cullen and have a couple of pictures of myself with the semi. (In one, I'm saluting the truck, in the other I'm snuggled up next to him. I hope Bumblebee won't get jealous.) Before leaving on Sunday, I said good-bye to the rig, passed it a kiss(!) and told him to bring Bumblebee next year. I hope he heard me. :)

5) The cocktail party.
Live music, swag and nerds, along with a cash bar. How much fun is that? Plenty. Where else can you see a couple of Hasbro reps dancing onstage or get freak danced by a friend? I'm still laughing at that last one and can't get KISS's "Rock and Roll All Night" out of my head. I'm not really a party animal, but I hope there's another party like that one next year.

4) The tours.
While Prime was injuring himself, I was touring. I got to tour the tours at Wood's Hole (yes, that one!) and went whale-watching. Did I get lucky enough to see whales? Yes. Was it cool? Hell yes. (I seriously need to post some of the pictures.) It was also the first time in nearly eight years that I got to see the Atlantic Ocean again. And having seen it again I realize I actually miss it, but not the hurricanes.

3) The Hasbro tour.
This is the place where it all began. If it weren't for Hasbro, we wouldn't have Transformers. And I wouldn't be a robo-geek. As crazy as it sounds, the brick walls of those buildings just screamed history, and I would have sold body parts to live there. (I could have been a gopher! Hire me, Aaron Archer! I work cheap!)

2) Seeing the Transformers movie before it hit theaters.
Imagine an entire theatre filled with nothing but Transformers fans. Imagine sitting next to your geeky Transformer loving friends and seeing their reactions to a movie you've been waiting to see for a very long time. Yes, it was awesome. Seeing Tyrese Gibson and Rachael Taylor enter our theatre sent us into a frenzy. Tyrese was right: that shit really was off the hook. We cheered, we yelled, we had a helluva time. No matter how many times I see it, the first viewing of Transformers will be my favorite. The huge crowd of geeks made it an amazing experience

And the top moment from BotCon 2007 is....

1) Seeing my friends again.
As much as I love the convention, seeing my friends is what makes it so special. Where else can I discuss in depth, why I love Bumblebee? Where else can the hottest topic of conversation be about upcoming toy releases and variant figures? Where else can I feel so accepted? Normal, even? Being at the convention is like a huge family reunion and I cherish that. So with that I say to my friends (DA, Groo, and everyone else, you know how you are), I'll see you next year, Primus willing. I miss all of you guys!

--Weasel, still re-adjusting to "the real world"

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