COMMUNICATIONS INTERRUPT: TOO MANY DOG TAGS

WingTacker (thank Primus for the Multiforce; twelve W names with which I can run) has obviously been slacking off here. Understandable, I suppose; still filling notebooks with that horrendously illegible scrawl of hers (won't just buy the cheapest ones, either), spending moronic amounts of time looking for GTS Pokémon trades (it IS moronic when it's happening well after midnight and the alarm clock's gonna sound around 0700), mooning over the Brewers and the latest player to jump off the train (Jerry Hairston just signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers). Y'know. The usual.

Black Friday passed uneventfully for both of us. The 'open' times for stores poking into Thanksgiving late-night meant that all the nigh-solipsistic assholes, the nutbars who do all their holiday shopping then, and the people who were just looking for one or two deals and preferred not to risk missing out on 'em...they were pretty much all gone by 0300 Friday. WingTacker hadda be in at 0645. Fairly quiet shift. Me--I am a charter member of the third group listed above. No dues to pay this year, though--the entirety of Transformers offerings, this year, consisted of old stock, taped together and stickered with a fluorescent yellow SPECIAL VALUE starburst label. Shipped like that from Hasbro--I've seen the case boxes. Generally gotta put a little more effort into the repackaging to get me to bite.

So I stayed home and bought a Ninja. Hasn't arrived yet...

Took WingTacker to see Pokémon the Movie WHITE: VICTINI AND ZEKROM on Sunday. Limited engagements, bleh. Four whole theaters in Wisconsin showing it (once a day for two days), all in the Milwaukee area.

Whatever. I can drive that in my sleep BUT DIDN'T BECAUSE THAT WOULD BE IRRESPONSIBLE. Yomped around the area a little bit, afterward, hoping to find a Transformer that's been sighted in the state and is being snapped up about as quickly as its predecessor.

And BotCon just horked up the dates and location for the 2012 convention. Hopefully, Dallas in late April will be nothing like Dallas (Frisco, whatever, blah frickin' blah) in late September 2005. I'm missing DairyCon for the first time ever for this. Kinda sucks, but then, some of the behind-the-scenes drama is making me feel...somewhat less bad about it.

+++PRIME OUT+++C'EST LA VIE+++

Friday Photoblog: "Hang 'Em High" Edition

A wall display at Dairycon 2011.
(Hang yer hat and sit a spell, pardner...)

Winding Down

We're up to the raffle right now. After that, a few more last minute deals will be made then it will be on to the annual "Dairycon Eating of the Geeks" at whatever unlucky restaurant has to deal with us. I can hardly wait. XD

--Weasel, "Man, I hope it's a pizza joint..."

SOP

Aaaaaand I just failed at the Jumpstarter race. But then again, that happens every freaking year.

--Weasel, "At least it transformed and stayed on the table..."

And We're Live!

It's time again for Dairycon and things are up and running (relatively) smoothly. Except for some crap in Oshkosh (seems they're running some kind of race down there and have shut down a bunch of the friggin' roads) and the usual stuff, things are going off without a hitch.

...and quick note to self: next year, bring own money. Just because.

--Weasel, "Can't wait to crash and burn during the Jumpstarter rally..."

And We're Live!

We are live at DairyCon right this nanosecond! Good times are being had. That is all.

Oh, right. Prime and I were in the same Jumpstarter race heat...my Twin Twist drove off the table and took his with it. He was...not pleased. Possibly because it was the second year in a row that had happened. I, uh, think he's going to wait to submit my 2011 preregistration so we don't end up in the same heat again.

--Weasel, "Wheelin' and dealin', baby. Wheelin' and de--CRRAASSHHH."

...oh dear effing primus...

So apparently I had to perform at a little something called DairyCon Idol.

I sang.
What. The. EFF?!

I never sing. Prime has begged me to sing for him and I won't. I can't stand the way I sound. My voice sucks ass. But here I am in front of people singing Gravity, of all things.

I'm surprised I didn't shatter a freaking window. Thankfully, I didn't move on in the competition. (I don't think I can handle that kind of stress.)

I'm gonna go freak out now. Don't ask me how I used to deal with this slag back in high school; I was a drama nerd, after all.

--Weasel, "I'm supposed to relax on this mini-vacation, not spaz out!"

Live From Wisconsin!

It's DairyCon 2010!

Today was the big tour; we hit a Christmas shoppe. Honestly, I didn't think I'd be spending all that much there. I mean, it's a place filled with frickin' Christmas ornaments. I really don't care about Christmas ornaments.

Yeah.
I kinda spent $200.

They had Disney collectibles. Normally, I could give a shit but one of the caught my eye. It was a rabbit. Sporting a shock of red hair.

I'm looking at a 20th anniversary Roger Rabbit porcelain figure with base. It's literally been years since I've seen anything Roger Rabbit. So yeah, I had to take him home. So if you hear anything about a fugitive Toon rabbit hiding out in Wisconsin, you'll know what's going on. (I just couldn't stop myself. Honest.)

Right now the rest of the crew is upstairs either setting up their dealer tables or playing games. I've been hitting my DS like crazy. (I'm making good progress on SoulSilver. Finally beat Whitney, HA!) So yeah, fun is being had by all.

I can hardly wait until tomorrow. Let's see how badly I fail at the Jumpstarter rally.

--Weasel, "Cause I know I'll totally blow at it. I always do."

Friday Photoblog: Illegal Download Edition

The Optimus Prime "exclusive" from Dairycon 2009.
(Is this the most awesome convention exclusive ever, or the most tasteless? You decide.)

The Dairycon Update Part 2

When we last left off yesterday, it was almost time for the "Name that Transformer" contest. By the time I got back to the convention room, we were about five minutes from starting. "Name that Transformer" is a 20-questions-type game; we (the convention goers) have to ask the emcee yes-or-no questions in order to get clues. Guessing correctly won you a Dairycon program guide, which contained raffle tickets. Prime was on a tear yesterday and won three times. Pretty darned awesome. ("Fat lotta good it did", Prime sez.)

After that, we had the Jumpstarter Rally. Prime and I were in the same heat.... and I won! I went on to the semi-finals, but didn't make it to the finals. Oh well. Crow was the over-all winner after the most epic finals I've ever seen. (The final heat had to be run three times; the Jumpstarters kept leaping over the end of the table.)

After a short break and more wheeling & dealing, the "Assemble Your Own Transformer" event got under way. Only this year, instead of assembling a TF, the contestants had to identify parts. That was evil Fred, very, very evil! Prime didn't win; it went to Joe.

More wheeling. more dealing and even more fun ensued. Prime made a few more purchases and we managed to sell a few more things from our table. But Dairycon was beginning to wind down.

This year, we actually had an organiser's panel of sorts where questions were asked and sometimes answered. Afterwards, we had the annual spinning of the big wheel. Prime actually won an exclusive...cowbell. ("Shee-eeesh.") Not long after, the raffle and auction were held; we didn't win anything during the raffle and the auction, as usual, came down to Prime and Bill of JRS Toyworld, who brought it up to $285 for A.S.S.-09, ToiletBot, Pretender Motormaster, and various-and-sundry other items before Prime let his semblance of common sense take over (he could've gone higher, but had reasons beyond not wanting to spend that much). Maybe next year, if we're lucky. Bill and Prime both do it because they know a fair amount of money gets spent to put the event on every year, and not all of it gets made back. It's entertaining, too, to watch the back-and-forth bidding, and Prime knows it.

So eventually, the process of packing up began and then everybody who wished to do so headed out to the local Old Country Buffet for the annual "Eating by the Geeks". But something totally awesome happened to me and Prime as we were driving away from the hotel.

As we started down the street, I noticed a car that was trying to parallel park just a little bit down the street. As I looked at its back end, I couldn't help but think it looked weirdly familiar. Then we passed it. I nearly freaked out when I realised what it was.

A red Camaro. A red 2010 Camaro. As in, pretty damn close to movie Cliffjumper. Oh yeah, there was much freaking out. (Thank Primus it wasn't yellow.)

Prime circled the block for me and I was able to get a bit of video of it. (I'll try and post it later.) After that, we were on our way.

We ate, drank and were merry. I haven't had such a great time in weeks. Seriously, I really needed this. After a few hours, our party went about its separate ways. But I had a great time, a really great time. I can barely wait until next year.

Dairycon Update

At the Ramada (again!) and enjoying Dairycon 2009.

We got here about 20 minutes later than we expected; seems we have a bit of a windshield issue that we're dealing with. Why does that sound oddly familiar? Thankfully, our table was set-up in advance, so no harm, no foul.

Already been doing some wheeling and dealing; we've sold a few of our BotCon exclusives and Prime's made a few purchases. But we missed out on a blue-eyed BW Cheetor so Prime's not real happy. (You see, I was hoping to use Alexa-One to post this but I'm kinda hiding out downstairs for a little bit. When Prime's upset, forget trying to cheer him up.) But I'm having fun right now, at least.

That's all for right now. If I'm lucky, I'll try and post another update later today. Right now, it's back to the 'Con!

(edit: Weasel = jerkmunkie) Signed, Prime. Nyah.

Live from Wisconsin!

It's Dairycon 2009!

I'm actually at the Ramada as I type this; they have a 24 hour business center with net access. Been having a pretty good time-- today was the tour, where we got to tour a classic car collector's garage. Man oh man, did he ever have some really nice cars. Saw a GTO that my dad would have flipped for and at least two Corvettes that one of my friends in NC would have salivated over. I've got some video of the place; I may try and post it later.

After our tour, we headed back to our meeting point (the Ramada) and the early dealer room set-up began. Prime and I pretty much have our tables set up for tomorrow, which takes a load off of our minds. Right now there's some gaming going on; since I suck so hard at games (video or otherwise), I decided to sneak out for a few minutes and make a quick post.

All in all, it's been pretty fun. I can hardly wait until tomorrow when the real fun begins.

--Weasel, "Must buy.... multiple Bumblebees..."