I had the honor of meeting Peter at different times at different conventions. Of course, most of those encounters were the usual shake-hands-and-meet-and-greet sort of thing, but there's one particular time that has stuck with me for almost twenty years.
BotCon 2007.
This was just before the release of the first live-action Transformers movie, which, as I've said countless times, changed everything in the Transformers world. With the movie coming out, that year's BotCon was basically one giant media event, including an advanced showing of the film for attendees. It was a huge treat to see it that way, and thanks to the way the seating worked out, I got to watch it with a group of friends, including my best friend since childhood, who came with me that year. That trip is a story within itself.
The showing was Friday night, with the annual convention dinner taking place Saturday night. As was tradition, my group of friends went out for karaoke after dinner, which was only a short walk from the venue. On the way back, while walking with a group of friends, we ran into Peter.
He was standing outside the hotel smoking a cigarette with his agent.
We ended up talking with Peter, who told us all sorts of stories and talked about how much he loved meeting all the fans. It wasn't some big organized convention appearance. We were just a bunch of fans who happened to run into him outside the hotel, and he was happy to talk with us for a few minutes.
Eventually, his agent excused us and took him back inside. Before he left, Peter took a moment to shake our hands and thank us for enjoying his work.
Of course, we were absolutely glowing afterward.
We made our way back into the hotel lobby and started chatting with some of the other friends who were around hanging out. At some point, Peter and his agent were heading up the nearby escalator when the entire lobby of people suddenly yelled:
"GOODNIGHT, PETER!"
It was pretty late.
Peter looked back at everyone and yelled:
"Goodnight... go to bed!"
