Canadian Slag Episode 35 - Not Gone to Botcon 2010?

[soundwaveCA]

Originally Posted by payton34

Definitely agree with the sentiment that Botcon is slowly phasing out the fan interaction aspect of the convention. It's starting to look more and more like a company-led trade show for vendors as opposed to a "by the fans, for the fans" type of convention.

What kills me is from what I hear of other nerd conventions most "for profit" cons are piss poorly run (aside from maybe San Diego Comic-Con) and Botcon is no different.

One thing that pissed me off is the location of the club store on the Thursday-Friday as it was tucked away in some room, missed out on the Sharkticons because of that

[Protoman]

Here is some dorky shit for ya.

My "Hunt For The Decepticons" profile image



Got I look like shit. But that's business as usual when you wait in line at Botcon forever.

[Robimus]

I would imagine that its incredibly tough to run a convention of any size without fan involvement - from what I've heard they can be very dry and impersonal(Wizard Worlds endeavors, San Diego Comic Con, etc).

Without the Fan Communities embracing them(and if TFW was under represented thats sounds to be what happened with Botcon to a point), I'd imagine it gets generic.

That said I like the "Nest" setup you guys described. That sounds like a really fun idea that would port over well to a G.I.Joe theme.

We're doing something similar at C4 with our Mandalorian friends. They will be collecting "bounties" on Con goers - as well as taking part in a "shoot a Mandalorian for a buck" nerf gun game with all the procedes going to the Raunbow Society.

They are going to have a jail set up for the bounty thing and people will be able to give a minimum donation to get their friends "arrested" if you will. That friend then needs to be bailed out of the prison set up by someone - or be simply set free after a predetermined time.

Participation is optional of course.

I'm also working on getting a Transformers trivia contest going for C4(Maybe a Star Wars one as well), as I agree with Proto that its a cool feature for a convention.

I'm really jazzed up about the new toy announcements surrounding the Generations linup. I can't wait for Jazz and Tracks.

[GMfan]

One thing I would have liked to have said on the podcast as this text really doesn't capture the emotion I would like it to, but this is regarding the Hall of Fame dinner.

Now at first I thought..."wow we're going to a dinner to be told that Optimus Prime, Megatron, Starscream, and Bumblebee are popular...what a waste of time..." and I totally didn't give a crap and just wanted a free meal.

But once we were there and we we honouring more then just fictional characters we we honouring the people who made Transformers....Transformers. If not for Bud Budiansky we wouldn't have some of those golden personalities that our robots still embody in multiple verses. Without Yoke-san we wouldn't have the framework for eventually what became diaclone and in turn Transformers...Cullen for his iconic voice being optimus prime in the past and present generation...

It was moving...honestly without some of these people we wouldn't be in this place we are now in life and it felt great to just be part of this ceremony to let them know they are appreciated. These men behind the scenes deserve so much more credit then they've gotten in previous years and I'm glad to see they finally got it.

[Robimus]

That does sound really cool. It's nice to see Transformers honoring those who helped make the franchise what it is today.

Star Wars could actually take a lesson from that. Instead we just get George Lucas repeatedly stating "No, nothing anyone has done besides me matters..."

[Protoman]

I was a little choked up with the whole Peter Cullen deal...... the food was not bad either..... a little LIGHT but still good.

[Malwave]

I had a thought; Scott was crying when Dinobot into the hall of fame...imagine how he'd be if HE was inducted.

I vote Scott McNeil as the next inductee!

[omegalaw]

Another good one guys, really liked to hear all of your observation and cool stories.

[Cheers Ian]

I gotta agree with Ryan on the G2 theme. It was a great idea but I think it utimatley fell short.

Most of the figures for the conwere either European G1, non G2 or unreleased G2 figures.

Personally I think were were a lot of easy repaints that would have been more true to the G2 theme ie G2 Sideswipe should have been a featured figure instead of the custom class, same goes for Ramjet.

That's just my 2 cents.

Cheers!
-Ian

[Team Jetfire]

Thanks for the report guys. Only about half way through so I'm getting all the 'Bad stuff' first, lol.

Anyways, I think my desire to go to Botcon is slowly dwindeling. I mean, sure it would be good fun to meet some people, listen to some panells and walk the dealer room, but as it seems like it is becoming more a Hasbro run trade show to which I can get most of the info that they present via the internet.

Now TFCON on the other hand, that is still on my must do list.