Shitting Their Prime Pants

It feels like ancient history now, but then again, I suppose it was almost 20 years ago. At the time some major drama in the Transformers fan world went on that seemed larger than life. For outsiders- the Transformers fandom is more of a subculture than other fan bases. It's a little world of it's own that many members stay pretty wrapped up in. These days it's much larger and segmented, but it used to be much smaller and more tight knit. This particular event took place from 2003-2004, when things were starting to get a growth spurt. The internet was becoming more of a common thing and message boards for various interests were popping up all over. These were quickly taking the place of older online gathering spots, much to the dismay of some assholes.

There was one constant, BotCon. Prior to the last years, it was a smaller more personal affair back then. There were occasional attempts at other TF conventions and some TF programming at other shows, but BotCon was pretty much viewed as the only one. It was like our annual family picnic and a must go destination for many. Hasbro supported the show, but it wasn't officially official until around 2002.  I'm not going to go into the complete history of the con, but here it is of you're so inclined. In short, the brothers who founded it had a partnership with their friend Glen a few years into the cons life. This partnership ran the show for about 6 years. In 2003 they had a falling out and split up. Glen who owned the official license would go on to run the official fan club and con now named The Official Transformers Collectors Club/Convention (OTFCC for short). The brothers would run BotCon as an unofficial show in 2004. And within the fan community, a battle line in the sand was drawn. 

Bee real

Back before Bumblebee was forever a hatchback (or Camaro, beep beep) there was an honest attempt at making him a Beetle in the Alternators/Binaltech line. Though Volkswagen didn't want their products associated with war (anymore) it never made it past conceptual art and as his body in a BotCon comic appearance. There was talk for awhile of making him a Mini Cooper which for the life of me I could never understand. Sure, other characters all day, but Bee? I find the sporty hatchback a good alternative. It's similar to the Beetle design, while still up to date, and lends itself to a very unmistakable classic looking robot mode.

You know, I really liked Alternators. They weren't really good toys, though they wasn't intended to be. They were intended to be pretty things to put on a display shelf before Masterpiece was a thing (it was just Optimus with a repaint as a cab mode Ultra Magnus... and a Brave guy). There was even comments from the Hasbro design team at OTFCC at the time that they intended them to go along with the Masterpiece Optimus Prime. Some fans derided them at the time (those magical ones who seemingly hate anything everyone else likes coincidentally...why do people keep giving these guys a platform to be heard?), but mostly everyone liked them. They were a nightmare to transform, but were really sharp looking robots. That initial Smokescreen toy is still one of the sharpest looking Transformers toys I've seen to this day.

I wish this never ended

The 3H version of the TF fan club wasn't without it's problems, but that one lone issue of the magazine was spectacular.

Unpolished Metals

A thread earlier in Talk Transformers combined with my earlier post got me missing those older BotCons. They were basically officially recognized fan conventions. A little rough around the seams, but still pretty great. These days of even small run comics being super slick makes me yearn for these older convention comics even more.

Should get a Big Mac and flip through my old copies.

You see, he kicks.

While the cartoon at times felt like a fever dream, I absolutely loved Energon in comics and on tv. In fact I was a big fan of the Unicron Trilogy as a whole. Just like any incarnation of Transformers (past, present, future, whatever), it had it's detractors (surprise, surprise). Personally I had a ball with it. 

Following the events of Armada, Energon was a jump forward into the future. Alpha Quintesson was utilizing his huge Terrorcon army led by Scorponok to take all the energy they could (by force!) to revive Unicron (whose corpse they were floating around in). Megatron gets revived and brings his Deceptions into the fray (because there wasn't enough going on already). Optimus Prime and the Autobots were left with the only choice they ever have, go save the day! But this time with combination powers giving them a much needed power boost in this far out space opera cartoon.

It was insane.

The toys were super neat. The Autobots from deluxe sized and up could almost all combine with each other in some way or another. The Deceptions from deluxe up  mostly had an attack mode gimmick following in the idea that they were much more dangerous this time. The basic class of each faction had weapons that were essentially a building toy with parts for creating your own weapons. It was a super modular themed toyline that was fun to play around with.

I still remember waiting after the new product panel at OTFCC 03 for the toys to arrive on shelves. Armada had finished and it's last figures were still on shelves with the first incarnation of Universe. Christmas shopping season had rolled around and as usual, during the rushed restocking, the new Energon figures found themselves on shelves just before Christmas day. I had just gotten off work and was grabbing the new toys at my local Walmart.

I had my lanyard with work id badge on still with a BotCon Europe t-shirt on. That's specific, because that shirt had an autobot symbol on the left side of the front and the art on the back. Being winter, I had a jacket on. So here I was holding new toy boxes and reading the back when various parents started asking me about the various Transformers toys. Being a nice person, I tried to answer all their questions as polite as I could. After a bit I took my toys and left as soon as I got an opening from all the questions.

As I walked through the aisles towards checkout, I began seriously wondering about the onslaught of questions that just happened. Taking a shortcut through the clothing area I got a glimpse of myself in a mirror. Jacket, cargo pants, lanyard with badge, kinda nice looking t-shirt with obvious branding...

They thought I was a product rep.

Good thing I was in a good mood. I can only imagine what could have happened if I was grumpy or something. That potentially could have been hilarious.

Energon and it's Japanese counterpart Superlink was around during the 20th anniversary of Transformers. Which at the time seemed unreal, can you imagine it's really been 20 years (mind you, we're approaching the 35 anniversary pretty soon)? At the time Masterpiece first raised it's head with a showcase figure intended to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Transformers (which in turn became a successful line in it's own right). However as not only Transformers was celebrating it's 20th anniversary, another related line was celebrating it's 30th.

Microman, which several of it's molds were used for Transformers in those early years was turning 30 in 2004. In Japan, a special figure pack was released to commerate the occasion. A Superlink gift set featuring a deluxe sized Optimus Prime (with wonderful chrome) and a Microman version of Kicker (the human companion of the Autobots at the time) in his trademark armor, also with wonderful chrome).

The two pack was a nice set and while I wanted it, I had learned that the smaller Optimus was to come in a set with the smaller Japanese version of Megatron in a Toys R Us exclusive gift set (sans wonderful chrome). The Kicker was also released as a stand alone Transformers edition Microman (also without wonderful chrome).  So I bought the standard Kicker and held off for the TRU set. Figuring I'd save some money and also get that Megatron.

 

In hindsight I should have got that set, just for the special edition-ness (and wonderful chrome). A few years prior, I had really gotten into Microman/Micronauts and was in heaven with the newer (at the time) Microman toys as well as the Palisades recreation Micronauts toys. The Microman Kicker wasn't released as an American version, though Hasbro did release a Kicker using GI JOE engineering and giving him a scale version of the High Wire Mini-Con to ride. Which was a cool toy in it's own right.

By the time Energon/Superlink reached it's end, I was ready for the next series : Cybertron/Galaxy Force. It had been almost 2 years and time for something new. The comic had ended early due to the bankruptcy of its publisher and while I did enjoy the cartoon, the tail end was very hard to enjoy (that's a nice way of putting it). Looking back though, I can only remember all the fun had with the series and how much as a whole I enjoyed it. The Unicron Trilogy as a whole was a very good time for me in Transformers, with each component being great in it's own right and own way. It's something I'll always have enjoyed while it was going on and look back fondly on despite how much hate it gets from others​.

(with wonderful chrome)

Throwback Thursday- Botcon 1995 Pre Reg

Oh, they're doing it again? I can't miss it again this year!

*****************************************************************************
                             BOTCON '95             

The Second Annual Transformers Convention             
Dayton Convention Center, Dayton, Ohio
Saturday and Sunday, August 5 & 6, 1995
Some planned events include:
- A special Convention Exclusive Transformer figure available only to preregistrants
- A laser light show synchronized to the soundtrack of Transformers the Movie
- A presentation by Hasbro executives on upcoming plans for the toy line,
  including a question-and-answer session
- An art display and contest with prizes awarded in color and black & white
  categories, as well as an art auction
- A display room featuring private collections of Transformer-related
  merchandise
- Continuous videos, including the Japanese episodes and the Movie
- Dealer tables for the buying, selling, and trading of Transformers and
  Transformer-related items
- Presentations by the officers of the fan clubs and club media producersPrices:Non-Dealers:
     Preregistrants $25 for whole weekend, $15 for single day (Sat. or Sun.)
          (Preregistration includes the Convention Exclusive Transformer)
     For non-preregistrants, admission at the door is $5 per day.Dealers:
     $80 per table for whole weekend; $45 per table for single day (Sat. or
     Sun.)
       (Price includes admission for dealer and one helper, and the
          Convention Exclusive Transformer)
Hotel Costs:Stouffer Renaissance Dayton Hotel is connected directly to the Dayton
Convention Center.
$64 per night, single or double room (up to 4 people per room), plus 12.5% tax
(=$8 in tax per night).  To reserve rooms, contact Stouffer Renaissance Dayton
Hotel at:
          Fifth & Jefferson Streets
          Dayton, OH 45402
          phone: (513) 224-0800 (call collect)
Remember that you must make hotel reservations separately (not through the
convention organizers) by *July 14, 1995*.  Be sure to say you're coming for
BotCon '95 in order to get the reduced room rate.
Other things to see in and around Dayton:Wright Patterson Air Force Museum with IMAX theater; International Women's Air
& Space Museum; Dayton Art Institute; Dayton Museum of Natural History;
National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center; Victoria Theater; Memorial
Hall; Sunwatch Village; Paramount's King's Island; The Beach Waterpark; Blue
Jacket Outdoor Drama.
     The Dayton Convention Center is conveniently located close to Dayton
International Airport, and is easily accessible by highway.  Greyhound bus
station is located directly across the street from the Convention Center and
hotel.
Contact:  Raksha, convention organizer
          a.k.a. Jovanka Kink                    Michael Payton, phone contact
          1177B Georges Place           OR       (614) 885-5313 (Sun.-Wed.)
          Columbus, OH 43204-1085                e-mail Micr...@aol.com
          e-mail jk...@magnus.acs.ohio-state.eduArt Contest:   David Kolodny-Nagy
               3701 Connecticut Ave. N.W. #500
               Washington, D.C. 20008-4556
               e-mail st93...@pip.cc.brandeis.edu                         BotCon (TM) by Jonathan Hartman******************************************************************************                                                      _____________________
                    Registration Sheet               |Official Use Only:   |
                                                     |Date Received_______ |
                        BotCon '95                   |Registration #______ |
               August 5 & 6, 1995; Dayton, OH        |Weekend__ Sat__ Sun__|
                                                     |---------------------|Name       _________________________________________________
Address    _________________________________________________
City       ______________________  State___  Zip____________
Country    _________________________________________________
Phone      _________________________________________________
e-mail (if applicable)   ___________________________________               __ Dealer
               __ Non-Dealer               __ Attending whole weekend (Saturday and Sunday)
               __ Attending Saturday only
               __ Attending Sunday onlyPrices:
Non-Dealers:
     $25 for whole weekend; $15 for single day (Saturday or Sunday)
          (preregistration includes the Convention Exclusive Transformer)
     Admission at the door for non-preregistrants is $5 per dayDealers:
     $80 per 8' table for whole weekend; $45 per table for single day (Saturday
     or Sunday)
          (Price includes admission for dealer and one helper, and the
          Convention Exclusive Transformer)Total amount enclosed: $___Hotel Accommodations must be made separately:
$64 per night, single or double room (up to 4 people per room), plus 12.5% tax.
Contact Stouffer Renaissance Dayton Hotel directly at:
     Fifth and Jefferson Streets
     Dayton, OH 45402
     phone: (513) 224-0800 (call collect)
Reservations must be made by July 14, 1995.  Be sure to say you're coming for
BotCon in order to get the reduced rate.Registration deadline is July 20, 1995.
Cancellations must also be received by this date to guarantee a refund.     Return this sheet with check or money order payable to:
               BotCon '95
               1177B Georges Place
               Columbus, OH 43204-1085                         BotCon (tm) by Jonathan Hartman
******************************************************************************

*note* I had so much fun doing this last week, I thought I'd do it again. Not sure how many of these I plan to do, but for the moment I'm having fun. I pulled this from this old usenet post.

Throwback Thursday- BotCon 1994 Pre Reg

Who's all going?
 

BotCon '94 Information Sheet
What:     Transformers Tenth Anniversary Convention
Where:    The Grand Wayne Center, Fort Wayne, Indiana.
When:     9:00am-5:00pm, Saturday, July 16, 1994
Contacts: Jonathan Hartman, Chairman       David Kolodny-Nagy, Art Contest
                209 West Rush Street Box 845     Brandeis Univeristy,  PO Box 9110
                Kendallville, IN 46755-1741        Waltham, MA 02254-9110
                (219) 347-1154                              (617) 736-5485

The purpose of this convention is to celebrate the tenth anniversary of
Transformers.  Fans, collectors, and dealers are all invited to come and be a
part of this special event.  Planned events and activities include:*    A presentation by Hasbro executives on the past, present and future of the Transformers, including a sneak preview of upcoming toys.

*    A special Convention Exclusive action figure available only to those who
     preregister. [Not necessarily a TF then...Dave]
*    A collection gallery displaying private collections of American, European
     and Japanese Transformers items.
*    An autograph signing and question-and-answer session with members of the
     Transformers comic book staff. (Tentative) [perhaps because the team
     itself is tentative - Dave]
*    An art contest and auction for fans to show their talent at rendering
     their favorite Transformer.  Prizes will be awarded in two different
     categories.
*    A video gallery where Transformers cartoons will be shown, including The
     Transformers: The Movie.
*    Dealer and collector booths for the buying, selling and trading of Transformers and Transformers related items.Attendance by preregistration is encouraged as it will allow guests to guarantee a hotel room for staying overnight (if desired), and it will be the only way to get the exclusive convention action figure.  The fee for non- exhibiting guests is $15 per person before April 30, 1994.  After that date it will be $20.  Dealers and collectors who wish to set up a booth are required to pay $45 before April 30, 1994.  This includes drapes and an unskirted table for one 10'x10' booth.  Exhibitors will be allowed to bring one helper for the booth.  Additional drapes, tables, table skirting and booth spaces are also available if desired.  After April 30, the fee will be $50.  Free bus transportation will be available to and from the airport on the day of the show only.  Admission on the day of the show will be $5.  Lodging is available at the Fort Wayne Hilton at the Convention Center which is attached to the Grand Wayne Center.  The special convention rate of $62 per room will only be guaranteed to those who preregister.  The Hilton is conveniently designed so that guests do not have to go outside to travel between the Convention Center or the adjacent parking facility [and the hotel].  The hotel also has a shuttle service to transport registered guests to locations around the city, including the airport.  Many eateries are available to guests downtown, as well as those provided by the Hilton. For more information, please contact Jon Hartman at the above address.  Inquiries about the art contest and auction should be directed to David Kolodny-Nagy.[Fort Wayne Chamber of Commerce type stuff deleted.  For those uncertain exactly where this is, Fort Wayne is in the Northeast corner of Indiana.]

< clip and print! >
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

BotCon '94 Registration Sheet
Name:______________________________          
                                          |Official Use Only:    
Address:_____________________________             |Date Rec'd:__/__/__
                                                  |Reg #:                
City:________________State____Zip_____            Phone: (___)_________Age____


CONVENTION INFORMATION:
Rates:    Non-exhibitor before April 30, 1994 - $15 per person
          Non-exhibitor after April 30, 1994 - $20 per person
          Exhibitor before April 30, 1994 - $45 *
          Exhibitor after April 30, 1994 - $50 *
          Entry fee on day of show for walk-ins - $5 per person
* Fee covers one 10'x10' booth and a helper
  Please inquire if you want more than one booth

HOTEL INFORMATION:
Rates:    $62 per room per night (single or double occupancy)
          Rooms must be reserved by a deposit equal to one night's
               accomodation.
          Earliest check-in time on day of arrival is 3:00pm.  Check-out time
               is 12:00pm.

PLEASE INDICATE ONE OF EACH OF THE FOLLOWING:

_____Exhibitor
_____Non-exhibitor_____I will be driving to the show [Autobot?]
_____I will be flying to the show  [Decepticon?]_____I will be staying in the hotel on Friday night
_____I will be staying in the hotel on Saturday night
_____I will be staying in the hotel both nights.
_____Single or
 _____Double Occupancy
Number of People Attending:_____
Total Amount Enclosed:
$_____Please include your hotel deposit with your registration fee if you need a room.  Return this sheet with your check or money order to:

     BotCon '94
     209 West Rush Street
     Kendallville, IN  46755-1741



*credit* I found this in an old usenet post. Guess I'll go ahead and link to my post regarding older cons while I'm at it. Since I'm at it, check out these scans of Tomart covering BotCon 1994. Some of the copied text didn't format well to the blogger format, so I made an attempt to clean it up so it could be easily read.

Living in the past

It's silly how my mind works. I often think of older Transformers conventions as better automatically. Which isn't fair to newer shows, but I guess that's just me doing a stereotypical "things used to be better" and feeling all smug. Though, those older BotCons had something that the later ones didn't have and it's extremely hard to describe if you were never there. A vibe, a mojo, a something. Not that's not saying newer shows don't get it, Charticon in 2013 had it. My friend Don compared Toylanta (the show where the Botlanta panel track I organize is) to the most similar any con he's attended to the first BotCon (he went to the first and yes that was flattering). Not to mention, I see pictures online of smaller TF shows around the world, and they seemingly have it. I don't know if it was just a moment in time, or me being younger, but there was a certain something about those older shows that I've never let go.

BotCon 01, the hair since has migrated from my head completely to my face

So, if I may relish a bit in old convention videos I found on Youtube. Wait, I can. I totally can. So I'm going to do that. If you follow the links on the video, you can go to the respective poster's page and check out their other work. That's my way of giving a catch all credit to the content. But really, go check them out.

BotCon 1995, the second BotCon. I would have loved to go, unfortunatley I was just a kid in high school and only knew of them from ads in Lee's toy magazine (or was it Tomart?). I used to love that old back section full of classifieds. Pre-internet, that was the main way for people to advertise their toys stores, or zines, or fan clubs, or conventions, or really anything that we easily do on Facebook now and take for granted. I'd often see them in toy, video game, and horror magazines. I'd regularly send in an envelope with a few dollars and enjoy the onslaught of random catalogs and various zines and pamphlets I'd get in return. You'd be surprised at the amount of detail that goes into a book  made at a local copy center.

At about 5:59, that's me in the fire bowling shirt walking up to a table. Oh yea, that's also the same shirt I'm wearing in the pic a little up at BotCon 2001. It was the first BotCon I was able to go to. As a broke community college student, they all seemed so far away and out of touch. Though in 2001, I was on my own and just barely making ends meet. 2001 was in Durham North Carolina, which is about 4-6 hours away from here. My Mom called me one morning to check on me, and while we were talking I brought it up as I was trying to figure out how to go.  She actually woke me up and the Toyfair issue opened to the page with the ad was open laying right next to me. When I asked her how far away Durham was, she offered to take me. We went Friday night, and came back Sunday with the main day of fun being Saturday. Of note, we hit every difficulty imaginable and the trip there took over 12 hours. I wish I was kidding.

OTFCC 2003, despite all the organizers drama that led to the 3H split, I went to OTFCC 2003 (there was a name change) and had a great time. It was a really good show and if you watch that video or as you can see in the preview there was a dance party. I was there a few minutes when some friends and I went to discover it after the line died down. I fondly can remember Brian Kilby making a nervous smile that pretty much said it all and Ant not appreciating the remix of Metallica and TFTM audio clips. This was just before Hooper X launched from our group and started punch dancing to the derision of others.

The following year was OTFCC 2004 and BotCon 2004. I wanted to go to both, but could only go to one. So I went to OTFCC 2004 and had a great time. It really was a good time and the last 'old style' BotCon. Outside of the at show memories, and not in this clip, was Ruben Studdard. There was a wedding going on in the convention center (as well as a few other cons) and they apparently hired him to sing at it. Later in the hotel, I got to witness a drunk Ruben Studdard in the hotel resturant, a well as his entourage get into a fight with the bridesmaids in the lobby.

I didn't get to go to BotCon 2004, I could only choose one, and OTFCC was closer and a lot of my friends went as well, so the draw for what makes a con fun was there. I did order a non attendee pack though, really wish I could have went. I couldn't find a video of the 2002 show which was also a great deal of fun. I'm not doing any travel this year for conventions, I'd love to check them all out though. Hascon is coming up and it looks neat. There's TFCon of course and I've enjoyed those a lot. Pete Sinclair has his new Robot Convention I'd like to check out, ignoring any drama (I try my best too, it has zero to do with why I'm going to a convention anyway), there's going to be some cool displays there and I'd love to go to Fort Wayne again. Botlanta was earlier this month which makes the year wait until next year feel like an eternity. I went to a good deal of the Fun Pub BotCons and always had a good time, though eventually got priced out as the costs started going over what I could justify. There's just something special about these older shows. That's what I want to do with Botlanta, and I hope I can find at other shows. That vibe. It's hard to describe, but once you feel it, you know it.

I could go on and on, but I figure now's a good time to stop inserting videos and help the wife make supper. I've got some TF's to open, I should get to that.

Weekly Spotlight: OTFCC 2004 Megazarak

Functioning is a privilege, not a right.

The sudden appearance of Megazarak on Cybertron's political and military landscape shifted the planet's balance of power forever. This new warlord had a thirst for destruction and chaos unlike any other Decepticon leader before him. With no tolerance for weaker species, Megazarak went on a genocidal rampage throughout Cybertron, beginning with the Destruction of his reality's Matrix-bearer. The remains of the Autobot army were soon dispatched with ruthless efficiency and in a short period of time, Megazarak became the most feared despot throughout the galaxy. In both modes, Megazarak fires a wide variety of lethal electromagnetic attacks from his side-mounted cannon. His Micromaster partner, Caliburn, doubles as a lightning blaster - discharging 60 kilovolt bursts at his opponents, Although immensely powerful, Megazarak does have a weakness - his preoccupation for hunting down the remaining Autobot who had eluded his wrath - Defensor.