Here's a (very) detailed account of our trip to Botcon 2003. I originally wrote this up for the Transformers newsgroup, but went back and revised it so that normal people could read it. Glossary: Generation 1 = G1 = the original toys and cartoon from 1984-1989 Spychangers = little, simple Transformers, the size of Hot Wheels cars. OTFCC = the actual name of the convention, short for "Official Transformers Fan Collector's Convention". The convention used to be called Botcon. MIB = mint-in-box repaint = a new paint scheme for an old toy, sometimes sold as a different character. For example, a red car might be a good guy, but if you paint it black, it might be given a new name and sold as a bad guy. remold = same as a repaint, but with some physical changes. reissue = an old figure that has been re-released TPB = trade paperback, a softcover book that collects the contents of several comic books PVC = small, nonposeable, nontransformable toys made of Poly Vinyl Chloride IMO = an Internet acronym, short for In My Opinion. Sometimes used as IMHO, which is In My Humble Opinion. 3H = the group organizing the convention (with blessings from Hasbro). MOTU = Masters of the Universe = better known as He-Man Thursday: Me and Amanda hop in our car in Dayton, OH. We drop off our cats at the vet to be boarded. We used to have people watch the cats, but one of the cats has taken to running out of the house, so now we board them. We hit the highway at about 11am. We drive for 45 minutes, the stop and enjoy a leisurely brunch at Cracker Barrel. Mmmm biscuits and gravy. Back in the car. Amanda and I had our anniversary last week, so i bought her stuff to entertain her during the car ride, like a new Game Boy game, Kirby. Around Indianapolis we go, with only a little confusion from the unclear internet directions. A few hours pass. We're making good time! Maybe we'll be there by 5! Or not. Traffic comes to a grinding halt near the Indiana - Illinois border. It takes us over an hour to go 10 miles. We finally hit the toll road, and speed picks up again. We make a short rest stop at one of the Oasis (is that the proper plural form of Oasis?), relearn how to walk, and enjoy a bit of Haagen Daaz. I wanted to get Wolverine's Berry Rampage, but didn't want to look silly in front of the big-city folk, so I just had chocolate mint. Back to the road! The last half hour breezes by, and we hit the hotel around 6:30, which because I forgot all about time zones, turns out to be 5:30. I figured few fans would show up a day early. I was wrong! There's already people gathering in the lobby. One of them is picking up a pizza in the lobby. Smells yummy. We get situated in the room. Amanda insists we take all of our clothes out of the bags, and put them in the drawers. We're hungry. We get a list of local restaraunts from the concierge. Off to pizza! We take a few wrong turns, but find a pizza place pretty quickly. It's busy, but we get seated right away. We get a pepperoni pizza, Chicago style, plus some garlic bread with cheese. I want to get beer, to relieve the stress of driving, but I have a problem. I usually only drink beer with Mexican food; I always get Corona. That doesn't seem right with pizza, so I get water instead. The pizza arrives. Although you can get Chicago style pizza in Dayton, I never have. It was very tasty. After dinner, we take a short drive around the area, to see what's nearby. Some restaraunts, but not much else. We go back to the hotel and take a look around. We pick up some postcards in the gift shop. Tired from the trip, and stuffed with pizza, we go to sleep. Or not. We didn't bring toothpaste. I go to the lobby and they are happy to supply me with some little squeeze packets, which are a bit like ketchup packets. While I'm out, I take a walk along the skywalk out to the convention center to check it out. I turn back when I run into the cleaning staff. The walk is a lot longer than you would expect. Later, I learn that the convention isn't actually at the convention center, but that's neither here nor there. Friday: Dear God, I can't believe how much I've written, and still have 3 days to go.... My plan for Friday: the Sears Tower + Museums. Amanda's plan: shopping. There's a sign in the lobby that lists all of the days events. According to the sign, preregistration packets can be picked up from 8-12am. We go to the area, no Botcon people. Instead, a there's a table taking registration for a McDonald's convention, along with a lot of confused Transformers fans. We decide that the signage must be messed up. The toy pickup is listed as 1-6pm, so that's probably when the pregistration is. A humourous aside: I oversee one guy asking another "Are you here for the Transformers convention?". The second guy points at his Decepticon shirt and replies "Gee, how could you tell?" and then adds "I know, you're just being polite." We drive to downtown Chicago. This is possibly a mistake, it may have been faster, easier and cheaper to take the Subway. Because of the time difference, we're up early. Too early, the museums and such aren't open yet. But the stores are! So we decide to shop. We drive down Michigan avenue, looking at the stores, looking for parking. We hit Lake Michigan. Too far! I take the first turn, which happens to be a parking lot. So we park and look at the lake for a few minutes, snap a few pictures. We get back in the car, and fight our way back to Michigan avenue. This time we find a parking garage. Perhaps the most expensive parking garage in the world. We park. Up and down Michigan avenue we go. We go into dozens of stores. We get some coffee and muffins at Nordstroms. My big thrill is the Virgin Megastore. Some of the music I listen to is hard to find, so I'm always excited when I get to go to a Virgin Megastore. My trip is not wasted. I just about wet myself when I find "Now for a Feast" and "Box Frenzy" by Pop Will Eat Itself. I've been wanting these two discs for some time, but they've been out of print. Yay for reissues! They also have a big sale going on, clearing out overstock, and I pick up "Holy Diver" by Dio (my old copy is scratched), and "Devil Without a Cause" by Kid Rock. Upstairs, I find out there's a 25% off sale on some of their Graphic Novels, so I pick up Batman: Hush vol 1, and Hellboy: Seed of Destruction. Plenty of Transformer books; I looked for the War Within TPB, but it must not be out yet. Lunch is at one of the malls. I get Panda Express. I love Chinese food, but fast-food Chinese food is best described as ... adequate. One of the malls has a cool Lego store. I get some pictures of Amanda with a life-size Lego R2-D2 and Darth Vader. Another mall has a Sanrio (Hello Kitty) store. How cool is that? Amanda laments that we already have a coffee maker, as a Hello Kitty one would be superior. I concur. We go in the Levi's store and are badly scared. There's a woman working there dressed like some kind of crazy hip-hop star. Which would be cool, except she was around 60. Near the end of the street is a church that's having a free art showing. We check it out, pretty neat if you're into religious art. We get a photo or two in the courtyard. We go in some more stores, but our legs crap out on us. So we go back to the parking garage. $27!!!!! Back to the hotel. Time to pick up the preregistration packet. Not much of a line now, which is cool. We get our packets, our shirts, and I get the toy you get for staying in the hotel. The Hotel exclusive is Sunstreaker, a yellow Lambrogini Diablo, he is a repaint of Robots in Disguise Prowl. We go back to the room, and I open up Sunstreaker. I'm a bit disappointed. The clear plastic on the box is really flimsy. Parts of him are molded in black plastic, but have yellow paint on top. This looks bad, the yellow doesn't cover the black right. He also has several gold paint apps. IMO, gold looks bad next to yellow. The metallic red Autobot symbol is kind of messed up on mine. Worst, mine has two left missiles. Oh well. I read through the (very short) comic. It's pretty good. Thankfully, it also has a map and schedule in it. Now I know what's going on and where. Time to get ready for the semiformal dinner. I've not been to one before. I brought my suit, figuring it would be overkill. Turns out it was just right. The fans clean up nicely, many were sharply dressed, and only a few were sloppy. There was at least one person (probably 2 or more) toting around a Unicron. Most of the seats are full when we get there (this was to be a recurring theme this year). We luck into some great seats though, with a clear view of the projection screen. Joy! I figure they will show an Energon episode. I'm excited. Dinner is served! I ordered the beef, Amanda ordered the vegetarian pasta. The pasta looks very tasty, it's a kind of cheese lasagna. My beef looks surprisingly like chicken. That's because it is chicken! I tell the waiter, and he says he'll go look for a beef dinner. Well, chicken's ok too, so I just tell him to forget about it, and eat the chicken. It was chicken, mashed potatoes, carrots, and green beans. Very tasty. They sort of rush us through the dinner; I'm a fast eater, but I'm not quite done when they put a slice of cheescake in front of me. I love cheesecake. This one had some strawberry sauce on it. IMO, raspberry is the perfect complement for cheesecake, but strawberry ranks a good second. Glenn comes out, and says some nice things, and reveals the exclusive toys. Besides the toys I got (see below), there's a 6-pack of Heroes of Cybertron PVC figures, which includes Starscream, Thundercracker, Skywarp, and three generic drone jets. If you preregister for next year's event, you get an orange repaint of the Starscream PVC named Sunstorm. Very nice, although there's some confusion about how to get the PVC 6-pack. No toy dinner exclusive, either. We do get 2 prints, a magazine, and one of 2 collector's plates with War Within artwork. The plates aren't quite ready, so they'll be mailed to us. He also reveals the Hasbro people had some kind of problem, so no movies for us. Darn. To make it up to us, they would show Energon clips during the Hasbro panel tomorrow. After dinner, a line forms for the toy pick-up. I left my paperwork upstairs, so we head up to get it. It later turns out I didn't need it, they just check badges. Instead of getting right in line, we go back to the room we had dinner in, and get a close look at the exclusive toys. By the time we get around to picking up our toys, the line is very long. I tell Amanda to just go back upstairs. We don't both need to suffer. The line moves pretty quickly, and I get my stuff. Two prints, one magazine, and both toy exclusives. I head back upstairs (a little tricky when holding toys + posters!). The first toy exclusive is Sideswipe, a red Lambrogini Diablo. He is also a repaint of Robots in Disguise Prowl. Him and Sunstreaker are supposed to be brothers, and also reincarnations of the original Generation 1 characters. Sideswipe is nice. A little bland, but definitely a better color scheme than Sunstreaker. The second toy exclusive is a two-pack, Roulette and Shadow Striker. They are both Dodge Vipers. Roulette is a silver Autobot, with purple racing stripes, while Shadow Striker is a black Decepticon, with blue racing stripes. They are supposed to be sisters. 3H really went the extra mile with these guys. They are more than simple repaints of Robots in Disguise Sideburn, because they actually gave them new, obviously feminine, heads. I read through the magazine (Super 7) that night, I like it very much. It's very different from Toyfare, as it focuses on old toys, instead of new and upcoming ones. The version of the magazine we got has a unique die-cut cover you can only get at the convention. Saturday: The first day of the convention! We make it down around 9am. First up, a walk through the dealer's room. First booth in, Amanda spots some of the new mini He-Man figures that she doesn't have yet. I take a good look at every booth before I purchase anything. Hasbro has a lot of interesting things up at their booth (with more added later). We get a sneak peek at upcoming reissues, Armada figures, and Universe figures. They also have the Lego-like Built to Rule figures. My first purchase comes from the last booth, where I pick up a US reissue Rodimus Major (Hot Rod). I pick up a few more things, like some Japanese Spychangers, a Botcon Europe Exclusive Rook, and a Decepticon shot glass. Amanda picks up the mini MOTU figures, and a bootleg video of the He-Man / She-Ra movie. We take a break from the dealer room to get some coffee. We head to the coffee shop in the hotel. I see and accost Doug Dlin. I thank him for doing a good job with the Cybertronian (a book series that pictures and details Transformers), but he places the blame on Harold Tietjens. I also spent too much money on coffee. Expensive! The almond croissant is delicious, though. It's kind of cold inside, so we head outdoors for a bit to warm up. I sort through my purchases in the sun. Somebody pisses me off by throwing a cigarette butt down from the balcony near us. It didn't hit us, but it could have. After a bit, we go back to our rooms to drop stuff off. Once our stuff is dropped off, we go back to the elevators to go downstairs. The door opens, and the elevator is partway full. Amanda asks "Going up or Down?" and some old crabby man replies "Down, you can tell by the light." This makes me mad, and I inform him that the light for the middle elevator on our floor is burned out, so we couldn't tell. He then starts to ramble something about how the data ports in the hotel don't work, and then somehow blames it on Al-Queda. Back to wandering around the con. We spend some more time in the dealer's room, then go looking for the video rooms. This year, there's two video rooms, one upstairs, showing G1 episodes, and one downstairs showing all kinds of stuff. I wanted to see newer stuff, so we go to the room downstairs. The sound is off! I'm not sure if it was busted, or it was intentionally turned off because of the panel being held next door. Regardless, we go check out the art room. While not every piece was a DaVinci, many were very very nice. Since the sound was off in the one video room, we went upstairs and watch an episode of G1 - War of the Dinobots. The room was set up very nice. We then take a break and play some Gameboy games in the upstairs lobby. For our anniversary, Amanda bought me Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance. For the second time in one day I am angered by someone throwing things from above. This time, gum lands near us. I start getting a little paranoid, but that was the last such incident. By now, we had hunger, so it was off to McDonald's, where I enjoyed a tasty two cheeseburger value meal. I ate fast, because the number one thing I didn't want to miss was coming up: the Hasbro panel. We make it to the Hasbro panel about 15 minutes early, only to find almost all of the seats are taken. I was surprised. Last year, it was run very differently; the doors didn't open until right before the panel started. We end up sitting so far back, that we can't see anything. The presentation starts, Hasbro shows cool stuff, everyone gasps, Amanda asks me what I see, and I reply "heads". I missed almost everything, but they showed pictures of upcoming toys, and clips from the upcoming show. They also had, on hand, a painted prototype of the upcoming 20th anniversary toy. It's going to be a large, partially die-cast, electronic, cartoon- accurate, Optimus Prime. They stated that he is targeted 100% at collectors (almost all other figures are targeted at kids 8-10). Back to the dealer room. We shop around for a bit, I pick up a set of the new Japanese Spychangers, along with three issues of the Cybertronian. Hasbro's put more upcoming toys in the display case, so I fight my way up there. I can't get to the good stuff, because there's at least three guys crouching and taking dozens of photos. Tempers are running high, and someone is smelly, so I bow out. I figure they'll still have everything tomorrow. It turns out I miss out on seeing Alternator Bluestreak. We walk around a bit more, and I pick up a MOTU Sorceress for Amanda. I've spent most of my money by now, so we go back up to our room to sort through everything. I get out my Rodimus Prime and apply all of his stickers. I'm pretty sure two of them can't be applied the way the instructions indicate, as they get in the way of his transformation, so I leave them off. I'm done purchasing for the day, and there aren't really any panels I want to go to, so we decide to see what's around in the area. We get directions from the concierge, and end up heading out to the Woodfield shopping mall. I'm not terribly impressed after the crazy shopping we did yesterday. It's big, but not that big. We do eat at the Rainforest Cafe, which was a treat. If you've never been to the Rainforest Cafe, it's a theme restaraunt. The theme is.... a rainforest. There are animatronic gorillas, real fishtanks, and the lighting flickers and dims every now and then to simulate a thunderstorm. When we walk in, there's two mascots wandering around up front, dressed like an alligator and a gecko. We try to get a picture of Amanda with one, but are snubbed when the mascot walks off! I get some pasta with chicken and an alfredo / pesto sauce, along with a banana / strawberry smoothie. Then we get lost coming home. It takes us an extra half hour, but we do eventually make it back to the hotel. It's getting to be about 9:30. That's the start time for Transgeneration 2003, a party in one of the Hotel ballrooms. We think about going in, then see that there's a line winding around the lobby, and instead go to bed. Sunday: First things first, we pack up (almost) all our luggage, and load our car. We get some more overpriced coffee, and another croissant. We head back to the con, and find out they are giving out the second hotel exclusive (you get one Sunstreaker per night you stay at the Hotel). I was happily surprised, I thought they wouldn't hand it out until 1pm, and I was going to miss mine, since we had to drive home. Hooray! I get to stand in line again. Some little kid in an Optimus Prime outfit was walking around, so I get a picture of Amanda with him. I pick mine up, and immediately check the missiles. Both the same again! I don't get to check them against my first toy though, as I immediately run into some folks who want to trade, which we do. While I'm doing this, Amanda's inside watching the pick-up line contest. They take two volunteers to play the part of Silverbolt (a male Transformer) and Black Arachnia (a female Transformer), and then fans have to use their best (preferably Transformer-related) pick up line, to try and hook up with them. Some kid won. I wander over to the Hasbro booth again, and finally get a good look at the upcoming Energon figures. I was sad to see that the Alternators Bluestreak wasn't on display, though. They announce on the overhead that there's a sponsored missile exchange going on, so I run to my car, get the other two missiles and head back inside. At first, there's five of us there, all with left missiles. A guy finally shows up with two right missiles, and I trade with him. Now that I've completed my opened Sunstreaker, I don't need the MIB one, so I head over to Big Bad Toystore's booth, and trade him for $90 store credit. I pick up the Takara reissue versions of Inferno and Bluestreak, a Beast Machines Battle Unicorn, and spend my last 5 bucks on a Beast Wars Transmetal II Scarem. Now that I have all the toys I could ever want (yeah, right!), it's time to get going home. I had planned on preregistering for next year's convention, but it seems nobody was at the 3H booth. The car is already loaded, so we put the stuff I just bought in, I check out of the hotel, and we get on the highway. Moments after pulling away from the hotel, I realize I left my suit upstairs! I hastily make the first right turn, hoping to turn around, and end up taking a highway to God-knows-where. After a half hour of random turns, we eventually end up back at the hotel. I explain all, and they give me a one-use key, so I head back upstairs and get my suit. While I'm there, I grab a glass of water. Too late I realize, the staff has already cleaned my room! So the next poor guy to check in will get my dirty glass. Oh well, I don't have any fatal diseases. Back in the car again, and off to home. My haul: OTFCC Exclusive Sunstreaker OTFCC Exclusive Sideswipe OTFCC Exclusive Roulette OTFCC Exclusive Shadow Striker Botcon Europe Exclusive Rook US reissue Rodimus Major Japan reissue Inferno Japan reissue Smokescreen Beast Machines Battle Unicorn Beast Wars Transmetal II Scarem Japan Super WARS Japan Super Ox Japan Super Eagle Killer Japan Super Counter Arrow Japan Super X-Car Japan Super Artfire Cybertronian issue 1 Cybertronian issue 2 Cybertronian issue 6 Battle Protocol (the Allspark's CD) a Decepticon shot glass And I picked up some MOTU figures for Amanda - a complete (if somewhat battered) Sorceress, plus the new mini Orko, Teela, Trap Jaw, and Triclops figures.