The BotCon 2012 Update Part 3

Current song stuck in my head: The Humbling River by Puscifer.

So today is Sunday, which means the 'Con is over. Am I sad? Yes. But it isn't as bad as it has been in previous years. I'll get to that later. Right now, it's time to sum things up.

April 28, 2012 Saturday

We got up and headed out at a time that we thought was early enough to beat some of the 'Con traffic, but it appears we were wrong. When we got to the parking lot at the Hyatt, the attendants were placing a large 'Lot Full' sign at the entrance. Thankfully, we were able to scoot in and park.

Prime, DA and I headed to the panel room to take in the first panel of the day: Dan Gilvezan and Buster Jones. You know damn well there was no way I was missing a panel with Dan. He’s just too awesome to miss.

It was a great panel and a lot of fun. Dan was hilarious as always and Buster was a good sport about everything. I think Buster was a little surprised at how much we as fans love him and his work. So if you missed the panel, you really missed out.

After that, I hit the club store to buy another BotCon convention comic and hit the line for the noon autographs. That session was for Dan, Buster and Simon Furman. Now, I’d already gotten Mr. Furman’s signature on a pair of comic books but I had a third that needed to be signed and I also wanted a sig from him along with Buster and Dan on my extra Con program. I think that may be a bit of a tradition now: grab an extra program, get a whole slagload of sigs on the cover. Hey, it’s easy to carry and isn’t expensive so why not? (^.^)

I got autographs from all three: Simon was gracious as always and Dan was just a huge sweetheart. I mean that. He is perhaps the sweetest, most charming and funniest guy you will ever meet. A true class act. As to how he puts up with crazy fangirls like me, I can’t even begin to fathom, but he does and I appreciate that. Buster was also wonderful: I thanked him for his work on Transformers as well as that on The Real Ghostbusters. He said he remembered his work on Ghostbusters and thanked me for my kindness. He was truly sweet.

After the autographs, I went back to the panel room and sat in for the Transformers Club roundtable and the Hasbro panel. Epic reveals in each, but they’re all over the net by now so there’s no point in mentioning them. Once those two panels were finished, Prime, DA and I stuck around for one of the most popular guest panels at BotCon:

Peter Cullen.

Before you ask, yes, I have met him and he is amazing. When he greeted us in the panel room, the man nearly brought me to tears: as he looked at the crowd, he said he saw so many familiar faces and we were one. We were family.

I admit it, my eyes were misting over at that point. To hear him, the voice of Optimus Prime, proclaim us as family…all I can say about it is ‘wow’. It’s truly overwhelming.

Once Mr. Cullen’s panel drew to a close, the three of us got ready for the Cocktail Reception, Dinner, Hall of Fame Ceremony and Casino night. Prime and I didn’t hit the alcohol all that much and neither one of us did so well at gambling (well, I stuck to bingo) but that wasn’t the biggest surprise of the night. No, the big surprise of the night was the fan’s choice Hall of Fame inductee. The choices were Arcee, Sky-Byte, Beast Wars Megatron, Rodimus and Wheeljack. The winner?

Wheeljack. I was more than a little surprised.

After the festivities were over (and DA, Prime and myself got tired of looking at scantily dressed girls attending a dance), we headed back to the hotel and crashed.

April 30, 2012 Sunday

The crowds weren’t as thick today; it was as if the Con’s ending was hovering like some vast, predatory bird on the fringes of the day. The three of us didn’t have to deal with the parking issue today and the lot didn’t seem quite as full. After parking, we headed to the panel rooms for the live script reading of Bee in the City 2.

If you missed it, you may be in luck—Pete Sinclair has said that it will be posted to YouTube. When it is, I will link it as you have to watch it to enjoy it. But it was a hoot!

Once that was done, I dashed to the Dealer Room to get the autographs of David Kaye and Garry Chalk. But we also had Abby Collins there as well and I got her signature too.

When I got out of the line for that, I loitered around a bit and waited for the last autograph session, another one with Dan Gilvezan and Buster Jones. You know how you’re at a function and you see that one person at the head of the line and you kinda hate them a little? Yeah, I was that person! I was first in line for that autograph session! I got Dan to sign my name badge and had him sign an ornament for a friend of mine who was volunteering at the show. (Hey, I owed her big time!) I also got Buster to sign it too. Happy? Oh yeah, I was.

I caught up with DA afterward and we talked; eventually we ran into Prime and we made our way to the Activision booth to see a demo of Transformers: Fall of Cybertron. The game looks amazing, but pardon me a moment, for I must rant.

mini rant
Alright people, signs are posted for a damn good reason. I don’t care if you think your kid hanging off a statue isn’t going to hurt the statue--if it says don’t touch, then your kid shouldn’t be climbing on it. Seriously, do you let your kid play in the middle of the damned street thinking, "Hey, little junior dumbass is smart enough to get outta all them there cars’s way. Kid’ll be fine."? Sure he will…then the little dipshit gets hurt and YOU feel the need to sue someone because YOU are a fucking moron. If you are that damned stupid, do us all a favor and adopt a damn goldfish. Or better yet, raise a Chia plant. If either one of those get hurt or die because of your own idiocy, you’ve got no one to blame but yourself. And for the love of Primus, remain a shut-in and stay out of the public eye. We’re tired of dealing with you.
/end mini rant

Aaaaaaaaaaaaah, better.

Anyway, after that, we all got posters. A raffle or two later and the Dealer Room was shutting down, as was the Con. Prime, DA and I wandered around, found Asuza-san’s table and took a look. Asuza let me have a Bumblebee toy for free and we bought a pair of Japanese Happy Meal toys from him. Awesome!

After chatting with some of our friends, the three of us headed outside and to my shock there’s Dan Gilvezan just outside the hotel. So I took the opportunity to hug both him and his wonderful wife and tell them goodbye. He said we’d see each other again, as I’m not getting rid of him that easily. Oh, yeah, huge grin on my face!

We got back to the hotel, chatted and around 7:15, took DA to the airport. We said our farewells, I hugged him good-bye and it looked as though some tears may fall. Well, until Prime yelled, "Stop crying!" We all had a good laugh at that one.

I’ve had dinner and now I’m going to bed. Yeah, I am sad that the Con is over, but not as badly as I have been in past years. As of right now, I’m wondering where our next reunion will be held. I can’t wait to see the rest of the family again.

--Weasel

Today

On this very special day, I'd like to extend an extra special birthday wish to Dan Gilvezan. Hope today's happy, Dan. You're awesome and you deserve the best.

A book will be ordered in your honor.

Friday Photoblog: "I Dared" Edition

"Weird Al" in the Dealer Room at BotCon 2009.
(Yes, yes, I know, how can you tell from the back? Just trust me.)

"Have no fear! Once again I will save the day!"

Not anymore. (sigh) Somewhere out there, a squad of Autobots is missing its Lieutenant Commander.

Aron Kincaid, the voice behind Generation One's mighty and sophisticated Sky Lynx, has passed away. My heart and the heart of every oldschool TransFan goes out to his family and friends. The man played probably the most magnificent bastard of a Cybertronian ever, a character who did everything big and with grand showmanship--and had no problem making sure that you knew it.

Prime picked up an Encore-series reissue of the Sky Lynx toy ('reissue' being a bit of a misnomer to Japan collectors, who didn't get the toy back in the 80s) at some past convention. It was well within sight when Prime told me the news last night. I think I hugged that toy for a good hour, trying not to cry.

Some days, I think I ought to just say 'screw it' and see about moving to the L.A. area, else I'm never going to meet very many more of the people who helped, in ways large or small, to shape my childhood. (I have to face it, as great as BotCon is, the people behind it have a time of it in trying to get new guests. Seems like even holding it in Pasadena only imparts a bit more leeway.)

Wonder what Prime would say about such a move. Probably, the phrase 'I don't think so', in his best Rhinox voice, would be used...

--Weasel, "We miss you, Commander Modesty." (/sad grin)

Along Came a...

Today, as you might know, is an extra-awesome day. It only happens to be Dan Gilvezan's birthday. In honor of this glorious occasion, I shall be playing my copy of Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions. And giggling like a dork.

Enjoy the day, Dan and much love. It's all about you!

Thanks for the Memories

It is with a heavy heart that I post this: Robert O. Smith, the voice of Soundwave from Transformers: Cybertron, has passed away. To some, he will be the master DJ from Planet X, but to me he will always be known as Genma Saotome from Ranma 1/2.

Ranma was a huge part of my teenage/young adult years. There are a lot of memories attached to that series; it was one of my first hardcore forays into anime. Hearing this news is a bit like hearing I've lost a family member. I never got the chance to tell him how much I enjoyed his voice work and how many fond memories of Ranma I have. I wish I could have at least told him 'thank you'.

Since I didn't have the chance anywhere else, I'll say it here: Thank you, Mr. Smith. For everything. I just wish I could have told you that when it really counted. I'll miss you.

Best Wishes!

As you all know (or should know by now), today is Dan Gilvezan's birthday. As always, I wish him nothing but the best, for he is awesome.

Enjoy the day, Dan. Your fans love you, now and always.

Sending Out Best Wishes

Today, as most of you already know, is Dan Gilvezan's birthday. I wish him nothing but the best. (And I hope he wouldn't mind swinging by BotCon in the near future. His adoring fans would love to see him again.)

Best. Day. EVER!

So my friend DA is now at the San Diego Comic-Con. I admit, I am jealous as all get-out. He's been calling me off and on the whole day to give me status reports, so when the phone rang about ten minutes ago, that's what I was expecting. We said hi, he told me to hang on, and I had no idea what would happen next.

The person who said hello had a distinctly British accent. My heart skipped at least three beats when I realized who it was.

It was Mark Ryan. I was speaking to Mark Ryan!

He asked if I had ever been to anything like SDCC and I told him that I really hadn't, the closest I had come was BotCon. He mentioned that DA had said I was a huge Bumblebee fan and I said that I most certainly was.

Poor Mr. Ryan. He said it sounded like I was hyperventilating and was afraid I might pass out! I told him I wouldn't. XD

It seems he didn't know he was going to be the voice of Bumblebee until he was contacted after the filming was over; basically they wanted his permission to use the lines he spoke for Bumblebee, but he couldn't remember doing any! They had to play a recording of him speaking the lines so he could actually remember them.

He said yes and thus became the voice of Bumblebee.

He said he hasn't been invited to a BotCon yet, but he would certainly go and "make a fool of himself" again. I said if he could stand the likes of me, it'd be great. He said he could.

I thanked Mr. Ryan profusely and told him it was an honor to speak to him. When DA picked the phone back up, I must have said about three hundred "Thanks" in under five seconds.

Poor Prime. When he gets home, he's going to wonder why I'm so hyper.
I'll be unbearable for the next three weeks, easy.

--Weasel, "This. Day. RAWKS!"

Zero Hour

Well, today's the day.
I honestly don't know when the next update will be, but I'm hoping soon. Maybe next Tuesday if I'm not too terribly exhausted. So until then, you're going to have to find other ways to amuse yourself. ;)

--Weasel, "Next stop, BotCon!"

Counting Down the Hours

I'm taking a short break right now; Prime's clothes are drying and I'm getting ready to eat a late lunch/early dinner. I've been packed up and ready to go for the last couple of days; I just need to help Prime get packed and ready.

We'll be taking in a Brewers game tomorrow (go Brew Crew!). Tuesday morning, we'll be heading to Ohio.

I've had butterflies in my stomach for the past week.

I'll be meeting voice actors, getting stuff autographed, attending panels and acting like a total geek.

It's gonna be great.

--Weasel, "I've been looking forward to this for a long time. This BotCon is gonna RAWK!"

Well, That's Not Prime!

I'd like to take a moment and send a cyber "Get well soon" message to Garry Chalk, who was injured in a fall on February 5th.

"It's not going to be a freaking picnic, Garry is a force to contend with if you try to keep him down."

Get better soon, Bigbot.

Dan In Real Life

Today is Dan Gilvezan's birthday. I wish him nothing but the best.

Oh and please come to another BotCon, if you don't mind. Your fans really miss you. ;)

Saying Good-bye

As I write this, I have the ending theme from Wolf's Rain, Gravity, running through my head. For some reason, I feel it fits. I don't know why.

And I'm doing everything in my power not to cry right now. But it's tough. It's really, really tough.

It's with a heavy heart that I type this news: Walker Edmiston, the voice of Inferno from The Transformers, has died.

To say that I am saddened is putting it mildly. Transformers was a huge part of my life when I was a kid; it made a huge impact on me. I emulated many of the Autobots and idolized them as heroes. A lot of my morals and values came from that simple little cartoon show. And hearing the news that we've lost another member of the cast is quite a blow to me.

I never had a chance to meet Mr. Edmiston. He never made an appearance at a BotCon. I never had a chance to get a G1 Inferno toy autographed by him, never had the chance to hear him tell any tales of doing voiceover work with the rest of the Transformers cast, never had a chance to tell him how much I appreciated the work he did. And that hurts. It really hurts.

I'll never be able to tell him in person, so I'll try to say it here: Farewell, Mr. Edmiston. Thank you for the work you did as Inferno. I wish I could have had the chance to meet you, to tell you how much I enjoyed your work. I'll miss you.

Been a long road to follow
Been there and gone tomorrow
Without saying goodbye to yesterday
Are the memories I hold still valid?
Or have the tears deluded them?
Maybe this time tomorrow
the rain will cease to follow
and the mist will fade into one more today
Cause the road keeps on telling me to go on...
Something is pulling me.
I feel the gravity of it all.