BotCon report finally finished

[griffin]

At least, the BotCon parts are done.

Start here (http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc13/bc13intro.html), and you can "walk through" the entire BotCon weekend now.
(I have to add the Hasbro Q&A though, as it was questions I asked myself at their exhibit... so have to edit them a bit first)


I just have to do up my own "day pages" now, and few hidden extras I like throwing in each year.

I'll post an update when the entire thing is completed, to save you from checking back again and again.

[Zippo]

Woohoo, love these reports and I look forward to reading them every year.

[lancalot]

i was waiting for this to come up...love reading them .... Just like been there with you :) ...1600 photo ...OMG! It taken me around an hr to read and look through up to the second day of the con .... Thanks for the report.. must of taken you ages to go through all them pic and then writing all that up....

[CHILENO20]

love how dispenser got in on the act in the custom class, great report boss bot!

[orionpax1]

Awsome, been waiting for these and an awesome read as well makes you feel like you are there and love how you add other stuff that is not transformers.

[Sam]

Wow, monumental effort !

[rocman12]

Dealer room looks like heaven to me! Always wanted to go to botcon, hopefully one day my dream will come true!!!

[Raptormesh]

Have been reading since last Saturday as I managed to figure out the URL. I love the none botcon days way more than the botcon focused ones. Gotta love the focus on food and general surroundings. Thanks very much grif for doing this series.

[Paulbot]

Looking forward to reading the whole thing.

The Hasbro female fan photo sounds... misjudged.


Dealer room looks like heaven to me! Always wanted to go to botcon, hopefully one day my dream will come true!!!

Just looking at the pictures of the Dealer room makes me want to spend money. The compulsion is even worse when you're actually there. :o

[i_amtrunks]

So far so good as a read, always love all the junk food and other delicacies you post about as well. I think with the Machine Wars theme that the food and trips are more interesting than the tf related information! :p

[nexusnixx]

The read makes me feel like I am at botcon. Now to convince my wife I need to go too!! Thanks griffin!

[Sinnertwin]

Now that is a report. I'm gonna need a week to read it all ;) :) Here's to you, boss

[Skullcruncher]

Thanks Griff, dealer room as always looks great. The japanese seller must of had a few big ticket items to make it worth his while. If I ever went to botcon im pretty sure I would spend most of my time here. :D

[Sky Shadow]

The IDW pack-in comics are a clever move on Hasbro's part.

[UltraMarginal]

Just looking at the pictures of the Dealer room makes me want to spend money. The compulsion is even worse when you're actually there. :o

I don't know what you're talking about?!:o:o:o

The trick was trying to figure out how to get it all home.

I really look forward to reading your repot Griffin, thanks for putting it together again.

[ohmic12]

Can you give us a few examples on the different psychological demographic between us TF fans and the GIJoe fans? just curious.

[griffin]

GIJoe is more based around real military equipment, weaponry and concepts... even when it has occasionally strayed into sci-fi (space, aliens & TFs) and fantasy (some of the more mystical ninja elements).
The original 12-inch toyline was purely a military toyline, and most of the smaller action-figure series toys include realistic military vehicles and accessories.
As such, the demographic is more mature and serious about their concepts, characters and stories.

Transformers on the other hand is more Sci-fi & Fantasy, which we don't take that seriously... we generally take to it in a more child-like manner, immersing ourselves in the fiction elements more than the factual ones.
As such, the inconsistencies and contradictions are less important to us, because the easy enjoyment of the toys and the story is more fulfilling than trying to make sense of flaws (that aren't based on anything in reality to begin with, so can be difficult to explain).

This is why a joint convention wouldn't really work, as Transformers fans are more carefree and willing to leave behind their maturity for the weekend, while GIJoe fans would be more grounded in the rationality behind their Universe.

(from what I've observed at least)

[Deonasis]

Thanks again for the annual write up griffin, I read 99% of it yesterday while i was pretty sick - it reeeaally helped pass the time.

[reillyd]

I really enjoyed reading the report, and as always you have some important details that either weren't widely reported or that I somehow missed with the glut of pictures.

I noticed in your club writeup, you mentioned that it was likely we'd see the rest of the machine wars toys (eg megatron) at some point. It wasn't clear though whether you were talking about in toy form (have they abandoned shattered glass?) or whether they will be making more appreances in the comic. Did you get the impression it as further club exclusive toys?

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

(have they abandoned shattered glass?)

ha ha ha! perish the thought good sir. We haven't yet seen the likes of Machine Wars Shattered Glass. Coming to Botcon 2014.

[Zippo]

Hey griffin, Orlando Day 2 pictures are not working for me.
Just me or ?

[ohmic12]

GIJoe is more based around real military equipment, weaponry and concepts... even when it has occasionally strayed into sci-fi (space, aliens & TFs) and fantasy (some of the more mystical ninja elements).
The original 12-inch toyline was purely a military toyline, and most of the smaller action-figure series toys include realistic military vehicles and accessories.
As such, the demographic is more mature and serious about their concepts, characters and stories.

Transformers on the other hand is more Sci-fi & Fantasy, which we don't take that seriously... we generally take to it in a more child-like manner, immersing ourselves in the fiction elements more than the factual ones.
As such, the inconsistencies and contradictions are less important to us, because the easy enjoyment of the toys and the story is more fulfilling than trying to make sense of flaws (that aren't based on anything in reality to begin with, so can be difficult to explain).

This is why a joint convention wouldn't really work, as Transformers fans are more carefree and willing to leave behind their maturity for the weekend, while GIJoe fans would be more grounded in the rationality behind their Universe.

(from what I've observed at least)


Great answer thanks :)

[Raptormesh]

Hey griffin, Orlando Day 2 pictures are not working for me.
Just me or ?

Same here. Only the first map image loaded successfully.

[griffin]

Fixed up.
The images mustn't have gone through to the server with the page itself.

Let me know if any other images are not showing up.

I only have one day left to do.

[Raptormesh]

Thanks Grif, really appreciated all the hard work.

[griffin]

Finished now. (a couple of minor edits still to do, but 99% of it is there now)

[Paul Agnew]

Great write-up, Griffin. Though one part of your report struck me in particular:

"Video 3 had more general support from the audience, but since the creators of Video 2 screamed out loud when each one was polled, it managed to get third prize. Which was a shame, because even though Video 3 was incomplete, it had more effort put into it than random silent cartoon scenes done to music."

Maybe somebody should have entered THIS (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ams7S-zqOCI) and see how it went down. :p


We haven't yet seen the likes of Machine Wars Shattered Glass.

That's already a thing. If the pack-in comic was any indication, characters such as Sandstorm, Hubcap and Prowl already are Shattered Glass versions of their Machine Wars selves.

[griffin]

Great write-up, Griffin. Though one part of your report struck me in particular:

"Video 3 had more general support from the audience, but since the creators of Video 2 screamed out loud when each one was polled, it managed to get third prize. Which was a shame, because even though Video 3 was incomplete, it had more effort put into it than random silent cartoon scenes done to music."

Maybe somebody should have entered THIS (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ams7S-zqOCI) and see how it went down. :p


At least that music video involved someone creating the animation and timing it to that song.... the video at botcon was just random music to random cartoon clips that had no meaning or message to it.

(personally, I think their main prize element of "show dollars" is a total cop-out for FunPub, because it only leaves people with the half day on Sunday to find something still worth buying, and I rarely see those creative people buying anything in the dealer room... as "show dollars" are only a voucher for usage in the dealer room, and FunPub pays the dealer back - the only way you'd make money from it is if you were a dealer, or were friends with one to get actual prize money from FunPub)

[griffin]

Finally did up the pre-convention timeline page (http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc13/bc13bf.html), that just covers the announcements and my own travel plans before departure... so isn't anything special, but means the entire report is now completely complete.