BotCon!

[grail]

So i went to BotCon today...man was it groovy!

i'll be putting up a con report on Zen soon (hopefully), but to make a long story short, i got autographs from Pat Lee and SIMON *expletive deleted* FURMAN!!!! the guys who did the voices for the shows too!

and i got some very groovy new toys!

i know it's not Muppets, but i know at least Beaker is also a fan, so i thought i'd share...

[Rufus]

I'm a fan too!

When I went to Botcon back in '97, I got Simon Furman and Andrew Wildman's autographs, got Stan Bush and Vince DiCola to sign my TF:TM soundtrack (unfortunately, that was stolen with all my other CDs out of my car a couple of months later... ) and had Peter Cullen (ol' Op himself) sign my movie poster. Frank Welker was suppose to be there, which would have made it even more kick-butt to have Megs sign my poster as well. I'd love to go to another Botcon, but think I'm going to try and hit a MuppetFest first (here's hoping the next one's on the East Coast!)

- R -

[grail]

you met Peter Cullen?! that's so cool! obviously he wasn't there this year, nor was Welker, but the RiD Optimus was there. he was pretty cool too!

they also announced that next years will be in Chicago! so hopefully i'll go to that too...but you're right, i'm definately going to Muppetfest!

[beaker]

darn right im a tf fan! going on...lesse almost 20 years! I remember when I first saw those Takara import toys in a comic shop during the early Regan administration...oh yeah, been on cybertron ever since!

So Im curious....what size is Botcon? It seems like itd be small, as I just cant imagine a fairly large con about transformers.
I wanted to go to the one in Anaheim some years back tho.
My first con was Muppetfest last year, then my second one was Fanime(which was HUGE) this year. So I love me my cons!(I love how there are cons for all my favorite hobbies!)

So...is that Unicron in your avatar grail? IF so, are they gonna be making available sculpts of that prototype? That seems to be one of the highly sought after TF items ever.

Now some questions:

*what was pat lee and the dream wave team like?
I wont call that new TF anime toon on fox kids an abomination...but when one looks through the new TF manga comic in all its cgi enhanced color glory...one can only begin to imagine what a TF anime based off that would look like.

*what is the attendee estimates

*Is there any plans for a new TF anime movie?

*was TF your first entree into the kickbutt world of japanese animation?

*Did anybody cosplay as Transformers? I can imagien that would be the ultimate cumbersome outfit to put together.

*Oh yeah...any girls at that con, or 100% twenty something+ fanboys?^_^

...oh the endless glory of the 80's!

[grail]

okay, here are as many of the answers as i have...

Pat Lee and the Dreamwave guys were REALLY nice. i got a chance to talk to Pat for a minute while it was quiet. great guys all around! i was really surprised to learn how young Pat is...i'd guess he's maybe 2 years older than i am, max. he's definately not cracked 30 yet.

i havn't heard official numbers yet, though i did try to find out. last i heard though, there were 1400 people that PRE-REGISTERED. and there were a lot of people there that didn't have one of the (very cool) pre-reg badges.

okay, this is an answer that didn't come from BotCon. the rights are "no longer available" to make a movie. what that means is that someone has already purchased them. with the 20th anniversary of TF coming soon, the general concensus is that SOMEBODY is working on one, but no one knows who yet. they're keeping it a secret. unless they decided to announce it today, which i decided to skip.

it was indeed. my parents are about as normal as can be, so no anime exposure there, and i'm only 24, so when it came out, i barely knew what Japan was. TF was really the only game in town.

there were only two people that i saw. one was Arcee, the other was Mirage. i have pictures i can send you if you want. the Arcee pic is with Peter Spellos, who was the voice for Sky-Byte

there were more girls there than i expected. yeah, it was more guys than girls, but if i had to guess, i'd say it was approximately 70/30.

in other news, the guy dressed as mirage gave me a really funky idea, that some of my prop-building buddies and i may have to look into. heck, i'm the guy who can (seriously) repair video games with a pack of gum (don't ask...i dig my electronics), who knows where we could go with it!

how's that?

[grail]

i almost forgot...

yes, that's Unicron, but not a figure.

it's a full-body statue made by the same guys doing the TF busts. they also had the prototype for their next bust, Devastator! BTW, i asked, and their next full-body statue is going to be...Arcee!

[beaker]

wow, 1500+ for the con? not bad. Im scared to know what the final tallies at mfest were, as for the first ever muppet con there should have been an insane amount of people. but then again, maybe jhc is right about their small hardcore estimates.

it still surprises me there is a yearly con for transformers.
just seems surreal to me...maybe not as surreal as an alfest(sorry luke) but still.

surprised more people didnt cosplay, but then again these are big suits were talking about. other fans might not wanna hear this, but in my opinion i believe that the new dreamwave manga comic is the freshest thing to hit cybertron since the tf movie.

btw...is the general consensus that the new tf RID anime kiddy show lame? I think so, as I find it highly remenescent of the high jinks of pokemon...and doesnt have any of the cool tone the original did. Heck, I loved the cgi one better than this new one.
That new Shark character just kills the show.

Yep...Im 24 too. I didnt have cable, so I didnt get to see much of robotech/macross, voltron, or tranzor/mazinger z. but I did get to see virtually every episode of tf and consider that one of the best cartoons ever. that, muppet babies, and alf were my 3 fave cartoons of the 80's(a close followup would be th emighty orbots and fraggle rock animated)

[grail]

yeah, it seems there were not a lot of fans of the RiD show.

my theory is this; it raised awareness of the show among younger kids...young kids that will watch the NEW TF show and be simply AMAZED. and then 20 years from now, they'll have another set of 20-somethings for con attendance.

btw, here are my BotCon (http://www.geocities.com/grailholliday/botcon/botcon.html) pics.

[beaker]

>>>my theory is this; it raised awareness of the show among younger kids...young kids that will watch the NEW TF show and be simply AMAZED. and then 20 years from now, they'll have another set of 20-somethings for con attendance<<<

theres an even newer TF show, newer than the RiD one?
I hope its closer to the Dreamwave comic in look than pokemon, heh.

[grail]

you don't know?

oh my god you don't know...

it's Transformers: Armada!! all the characters were designed by Dreamwave, and it's going to be on Cartoon Network this fall with the new He-Man. it'll debut in August!

i can't wait!

[beaker]

>>>you don't know?

oh my god you don't know...

it's Transformers: Armada!! all the characters were designed by Dreamwave, and it's going to be on Cartoon Network this fall with the new He-Man. it'll debut in August!<<<

holy *i'll delete the expletive so noone has to* cybertron!!!
There really IS a TF aniem coming out soon absed on the Dreamwave style?!?!!?!?!?

oh man, you got screen grabs or a site to point me toward?

meanwhile, there is another hot little anime show hitting airwaves this fall: ghost in the shell(stand alone complex)
http://www.production-ig.com/Ghost_TV.html

unfortunately, this is course a Japan only thing. But while I seriously have little interest in the non anime stuff on cartoon network(never liked heman or gi joe even in the 80's) this TF armada news is sweet!

[grail]

from the FAQ on transformers.com

Q. What time does the TRANSFORMERS ARMADA program air?
A. The TRANSFORMERS ARMADA TV show will debut on Cartoon Network on August 23rd in the form of a 3 part movie beginning at 4:00PM. Starting August 30th it will air on Fridays at 6:30 PM. Look for it to move to the Toonami block Monday-Friday at 4:30PM starting in November.


and here's a copy of the press release, on
BWTF.com (http://www.bwtf.com/tfarmada/tvshow/)

the only people that have seen ANY of the show were at the dinner friday night for BotCon...i wasn't there. i can't wait either though. the only voices i've heard about are that they're the same Optimus and Megatron from Beast Wars/Machines.

[Rufus]

Just some of my 2 cents to throw out to you guys... (hate to interupt! heh.)

Yeah, the Dreamwave books look purty, but have you actually tried *reading* them? yech... after four issues, you'd think the story would be a little more developed, especially with only 2 issues left to finish it up. I can't wait for "The War Within", the next G1 comic miniseries. Simon Furman is the god of TF comic book writing.

I saw most of RID, but wasn't all that impressed. I'm not even worried about trying to catch the episodes I missed. The voice actors were terrible, especially compared to the ones we got for Beast Wars & Machines. And the RID Optimus voice actor being at Botcon actually would be a deterrent for me! His Optimus voice just sounded so forced.

The Armada toys that have just come out look soo cheap... the upcoming ones look better, though, especially Blurr! It will be interesting to see what the cartoon is like.

Err... despite all this, I *am* a TF fan! The RID toys were really nice, especially the Trainbots. And I love the new PVCs... hope Hasbro continues with the "Heroes of Cybertron", even though I've gotten most of the Japanese ones. (Held off on the last couple waves, kinda wiating to see what Hasbro does.)

- R -

[MaxGoof]

Comments, comments...

In case anyone happened to see me at Botcon, I was wearing the *ONLY* T-Shirt sporting a giant face of Hacker Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tuvrusky the 4th from Cowboy Bebop. That should've stood out. I had on a tamer DBZ Young Trunks & Goten shirt yesterday.

Now then...


okay, this is an answer that didn't come from BotCon. the rights are "no longer available" to make a movie. what that means is that someone has already purchased them. with the 20th anniversary of TF coming soon, the general concensus is that SOMEBODY is working on one, but no one knows who yet. they're keeping it a secret. unless they decided to announce it today, which i decided to skip.

The head of marketing from Hasbro gave a panel, and assured us that the rights ARE available and no movie is currently in production. There have been some parties interested in a movie in some form, but that's it. So unfortunately, don't be expecting to see any legit Transformers: The "New" Movie teasers or announcements any time soon. :(

An absolutely minimum of 2000 people attended Botcon this year, and I heard that the number may have exceeded 2500 guests. The official numbers haven't been released, but that's pretty dang succesful.

And for the people that don't get why there's a Transformers convention each and every year: Transformers toys have been in production EVERY year for more than 20 years now. It's the second most-popular toy line in the history of the world. The cartoon is fondly remembered by almost every boy and many girls that grew up in that era. The comic book is the most succesful toy-line base comic book ever. The Muppets are great and I love them and all--but as far as fan-bases go they're a minute flash-in-the-pan when compared with the world-wide phenomenon spectacle that is The Transformers. :D

[grail]

well, that shot THAT rumor out of the water...

i wanted very badly to go to the Hasbro panel, but i had a green badge, and my only chance to get actor autographs was the same the panel was going on (sort of, but i'd rather not get into that), and so since i thought i KNEW most of it (and because i was on MY dime, not Zen's or there as press)i decided to get my autographs. i'm glad you told me though, i had no idea.

[MaxGoof]

Ooooooohhhh... you missed the Hasbro panel.

News from that panel:

Unicron is in the works. The guy who designs all of Armada heavily hinted at it, and brought up Unicron himself.

Hot Shot will be re-released with a new head that isn't atrocious.

Powermaster Prime and Starscream re-releases are confirmed for Christmas.

The Beast Wars voice actors of Primal and Megs will be Armada Prime and Megs.

And oh yes--we saw a picture of the re-release prototype of G1 Megatron that will NEVER be released. No pictures were allowed and it will never be shown again... but just to whet your appetite... the base color of Megs was fluroscent orange where the black parts should be, and bright metallic blue where the gray parts should be. It got a standing ovation when shown on the big screen. :D

[beaker]

>>>In case anyone happened to see me at Botcon, I was wearing the *ONLY* T-Shirt sporting a giant face of Hacker Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tuvrusky the 4th from Cowboy Bebop<<<

Hey, I thought I was th eonly hardcore otaku on here^_^

>>>The comic book is the most succesful toy-line base comic book ever. The Muppets are great and I love them and all--but as far as fan-bases go they're a minute flash-in-the-pan when compared with the world-wide phenomenon spectacle that is The Transformers<<<

Whoah. I'm not even gonna comment on that. I consider TF a huge part of any essential diehard anime fan's diet, but this statement...anyways...

Ok, so grail, somebody. I appreciate the TF armada info(i knew it was a new manga title by DW, but had no idea there was a show) but IS THERE ANY IMAGES??? I couldnt find one single shot.

Also, you guys said theres no movie planned, but the official tf site said there is a 90 minute movie coming to tv?

Finally, I really hope the new cartoon isnt watered down renderings of the beautiful dream wave title. The Pat Lee, and Armada TF series are to me the coolest thing in TF land since the movie...yet I know how dumbed down American animation can be thats based off something. Heck, just look at the sweet intros to Batman Beyond and Men In Black(or even Savage Dragon) then the *Actual* animation...ugh.

Ok, well anything has to be better than that RiD garbage!

[MaxGoof]

No offense to Muppet fans... it's just that the Transformers cult fan-base is beyond anything sci-fi except for Star Wars and MAYBE Star Trek. Transformers isn't just part of an anime fan's diet: it's for the kids that watched it and the all age-groups that play with the toys and adore the old AND new comics.

The Armada cartoon looks VERY good. It's cel-animated, and isn't rushed like RiD. It's also nothing like the Dreamwave art.

The "movie" is the first 3 episodes of the series show together by Cartoon Network.

There ya go. :)

[beaker]

>>>No offense to Muppet fans... it's just that the Transformers cult fan-base is beyond anything sci-fi except for Star Wars and MAYBE Star Trek. Transformers isn't just part of an anime fan's diet: it's for the kids that watched it and the all age-groups that play with the toys and adore the old AND new comics<<<

its ok...i do realize the true hardcore muppet fans are like the last of the jedi. makes it more special i guess. its funny, i bet some of the attendees at botcon arent big anime fans, which is just sad.
i feel sorry for kids these days, most the good stuff is on cable(ie: invader zim, bebop, tenchi, etc) and what they do have on regular tv sucks you know what. (ie: very kiddy pokemon yugioh medibots digimon garbage) no wonder people dont like anime if thats their idea...just wait til spirited away comes out!

The Armada cartoon looks VERY good. It's cel-animated, and isn't rushed like RiD. It's also nothing like the Dreamwave art.<<<

aw, sounds great. but does it have that *anime* look?
also...im sure they showe dlcips of it at botcon...but IS THERE ANY clips or screenshots of it online???


The "movie" is the first 3 episodes of the series show together by Cartoon Network.<<<

yes, but you know they'll repackage it into one 'feature length' for the home dvd market!

[MaxGoof]

Rhino currently has no plans to release anything except for G1 and Beast Wars on DVD, so don't worry about it being advertised as one "feature-length" movie.

Pokemon isn't so good, although I shamefully admit I enjoyed the first 75 episodes until Ash lost at Pokemon League.

There aren't any clips or screen shots online that I know of, but look for promos to start showing on Cartoon Network in the next week.

[grail]

if there are screen captures out there, i have yet to find them.

they're playing it kind of close to the vest, and not giving us much. the effect is that everyone's DYING to see it. they showed part of the "movie" think about how cartoon network Justice League, three episodes all at once, one story...probably widescreen. the trick is that they only showed it to those at the dinner...which i didn't attend, and i get the impression Max didn't either.

oh, and for the record, i'm a Cowboy Bebop fan too...

[grail]

you wanna talk shame?

as i've stated in other threads, i used to work for Zany Brainy. while i was there is when WotC started up their Pokemon Trading Card Game League. as the only person who worked there that had ever played a card game before (i was a Magic: the Gathering player in high school, surprised?), and fulfilling the cliche of being the one who "missed the meeting", guess who got to be in carge of it. i even ended up on the news in my horrible yellow "gym leader" shirt when that whole "pokemon teaches gambling" crap started up. it was horrible...

[beaker]

>>>oh, and for the record, i'm a Cowboy Bebop fan too...<<<

sweet. have you seen the movie yet(knockin on heaven's door)?
i was a fan of the series, but man when i saw th eimport dvd...oh my! blows the series animation AWAY! btw, when I come to gateway stores for their internet Im usually either wearing a cowboy bebop, invader zim, or electric mayhem shirt;)

So theyre keeping close guard on the new cartoon eh?
I just hope it doesnt look like any of the superhero or typical american cartoons were so used to seeing. so has anybody on here seen ANY clips or screens of the show? I cant find any thoughts on it at all. just the anticipation. i guess i'll just have to wait for tape trades with one of you guys, as i have no cable;)

Whyc ant this be on fox??? awwww

[grail]

i havn't seen the movie yet, just the series...but it's on my list of things i need to get.

BTW, i talked to a guy from Rhino while i was waiting for Pat Lee's autograph on Saturday. they were doing interviews for a "future season set release". they then proceeded to talk to Simon Furman and Pat Lee both...holding up the autograph line for a good 5-10 minutes.

the moral to this story? the season 2 boxed set is set to be released in september, so their "drop dead" date should be long gone. my guess is that it's for season 3.

[beaker]

>>>i havn't seen the movie yet, just the series...but it's on my list of things i need to get.

wait, so youve seen episodes of armada??? what would you liken the look and feel to?


>>>BTW, i talked to a guy from Rhino while i was waiting for Pat Lee's autograph on Saturday. they were doing interviews for a "future season set release". they then proceeded to talk to Simon Furman and Pat Lee both...holding up the autograph line for a good 5-10 minutes. the moral to this story? the season 2 boxed set is set to be released in september, so their "drop dead" date should be long gone. my guess is that it's for season 3<<<

hmm, is this about the original g1 series?

btw, why in the world are the going for exact replicas of the 20 year old takara brand of tf with the new armada line in toy stores??? it seems a newer look would be best.
im sorry, but the newer gundam figures and packaging beats the pants of these and the RiD ones.

[grail]

actually, the series i was talking about was Bebop...

as for the interviews and season 3 and all that, i was talking about the Transformers Season sets that rhino is putting out. there has been some speculation as to wether or not they'd be able to do past season 2 because Hasbro threw most of the episodes away. Rhino apparantly went so far as to get episodes from fans who had taped them. because they were interviewing NOW, with season 2 less than 2 months from hitting stores, my guess is that they're doing it for season 3.

and, i'm not sure what you mean by exact replicas? replicas of what?

[beaker]

>>>and, i'm not sure what you mean by exact replicas? replicas of what?<<<

well, i saw the new RiD and armada tf figures, and the packaging and look of the figures looks EXACTLY as they did 2 decades ago.
same cheap plastic look.

hasbro lost the archives of some of tf??? that sounds bizarre, that rhino would go to fan's old vhs tapes(how bad of quality would those dvds be then?) Wasnt TF from japan, and just imported like robotech? (ie: from takara?)

[grail]

ah, i see what you mean then...though i have no good answer. my guess is that they use the cheaper plastic because it makes it easier to import to the states.

and yeah, it sounded strange to me too, but then i realized that while the eps were originally from japan, they were all recut and then dubbed, so one of the japanese episodes is not going to look like one of the american ones. it's all a matter of the editing process that went on in bringing the show to us. as for them looking bad, well...season 1 looked pretty nice, and if Rhino seems to specialize in cleaning up older stuff, so i have hope.

[grail]

for my fellow Transfans...

i stopped by TRU earlier today, and was VERY surprised to see "Rodimus Major" sitting right there on the shelf. i knew he was being re-released, but i didn't realize they were out already! needless to say i bought him (he's less than $20!), and i can't wait to find Ultra Magnus and Optimus Prime himself soon.

(for the record, it seems that the next re-release here in the states will be Starscream...which takes us one step closer to my being able to finally get Prowl!! the next Japanese re-release will be Soundwave)

[UncleDeadly]

Hey Grail, I couldnt get your page to load up, did it get taken down already.

I've always wanted to go to a botcon, but have never wanted to travel alone across the country to one. I have a ton of people I know who go to them (ever hear/meet members of the Dominion of Monkeys and the Fnord Empire) and I would love to actually meeet them one of these years.

And I had not realized Armada was coming out so soon. I'd heard of it, but not much. I will have to find time to watch this in the fall at school!!

[grail]

yeah, it um...was on the site i shared with certain people i don't really wanna talk about right now...i had to get my stuff and go. i'm gonna put up a page of my own soon, and it'll be back then, sorry.

this was actually my first BotCon, though i plan on going next year too. next year's is chicago. maybe we can get a group of the MC people that are Trans fans together to go. save some money on hotel rooms...

[UncleDeadly]

That would be an excellent idea Grail. Although if you want to go, someone should reserve a room soon, I hear the hotel is already filling up quickly.

And dont worry about the page, I can wait as long as is necesary.