BotCon 2016 date and location announced

[Paulbot]

Date and location for BotCon 2016 have been announced

April 7 to April 10
Galt House Hotel
Louisville Kentucky

Details for hotel reservations here
http://www.botcon.com/BotCon2016/

They are getting in early this time!

[griffin]

Since it is in April, it's not really getting in early. Last year they made the announcement in October for end of June... this one is start of April, so by last year's timing this should have been announced in July/August.

Pre-registrations will probably be in April again though...

I was half expecting it to be in California this year, so I'm surprised that it is in the mid-west again (two years in a row), and a little out of the way, but I guess it's considered "central" to get more people in. The city isn't huge, but the airport is only about 5kms from the hotel.

Let's see how many people here are keen at the current exchange rate, or a lower exchange rate by the time registration and the event starts.
I guess that will mean Pasadena for 2017 for the next Movie.

Hmmm... there's a baseball museum about 400 meters from the Hotel and a baseball stadium about 500 meters on the other side, which might tempt UltraMarginal.


Some details for future reference...

Galt House Hotel/Schneider Hotels, LLC
140 North Fourth Street
Louisville, KY 40202
(0011 1) 800-The-Galt (800-843-4258) or
(0011 1) 502-589-5200
http://www.galthouse.com/

Amenities include internet (hopefully free), parking (hopefully free), airport shuttle.
Discount period (US$139 plus tax - currently 16.07%) includes the nights of April 4th to April 10th (checkout the 11th).

Galt House Hotel, the Heart of Louisville, boasts 1,320 guest rooms and suites, 128,000 square-feet of convention space, two ballrooms, an exhibit hall and more than 50 meeting rooms. Galt House Hotel features six full-service restaurants and lounges, including RIVUE, a 25th floor revolving restaurant with amazing cuisine, as well as the Rooftop Garden and Terrace, Club 360° Fitness Center and the three-story Conservatory that connects the two towers over 4th Street. It is located within a day's drive of two-thirds of the U.S. population, offers 2,500 covered parking spaces and is located just 7 minutes from Louisville International Airport and the Kentucky Exposition Center. Galt House Hotel is connected to the KFC Yum! Center and the Kentucky International Convention Center, and within walking distance of Fourth Street Live! entertainment district, the Muhammad Ali Center, Kentucky Science Center, Kentucky Center for the Arts, Louisville Slugger Factory and Museum and Frazier History Museum. It is also within walking distance of unique shops and restaurants.

[Jetfire in the sky]

Kentucky is the home of Bourbon, a very good reason to go

[fatbot]

I'm thinking of going, depending on the cost of flights. Louisville isn't easy to get to or cheap, I'll be looking at going thru New York or Chicago then a train to get there.

[Paulbot]

The link I was at earlier said Internet was available for a fee.

[griffin]

The link I was at earlier said Internet was available for a fee.

Internet and parking most likely have a fee... but it would have been nice to be included without a fee or a daily "resort fee" that you can't avoid, just to make the hotel rate sound cheaper.

The location will make it worth visiting somewhere on the way, if the budget allows it, as I would expect an exchange rate of about 60 US cents by then.

(at least it should be the "off season" for flights, so you should get cheaper airfares, and maybe better sale prices)



Looking at the email announcement, we get a few advance bits of info for next year...

In the coming weeks, fans and collectors will be able to register for BotCon 2016 through the BotCon.com online registration system. Fans and collectors who register for BotCon as a Primus package holder will receive a five-figure TRANSFORMERS convention set, admission to the Friday private sales room experience, priority seating at all panels and seminars throughout the weekend and admittance to the Saturday night Casino Night and Awards party. Finally, Primus package attendees will also receive a special bonus TRANSFORMERS figure to go along with their convention box set. General Admission for non-registered guests will be available on Saturday and Sunday only.

The boxset has five figures and there will be a Saturday night Casino event again.
It also says "in coming weeks" for Registration, but I'll believe that when I see it. (last year they were promising December, then promising January, then promising February... and eventually it was done in May)

[griffin]

Latest email from FunPub (for something else) had noted at the end that their discount Hotel rooms for next year are 90% reserved... so if you have even a slight possibility of going next year, reserve a room and cancel it later if you don't end up going. (you will need to pay a day as a deposit, but it is refunded if you cancel before the cut-off)


So.... their allocated discounted rooms are not sold out yet after a full month. I think that's a first, because even 2005 had their allocated rooms sold out (as I came across the email update from 2005 just the other day).
Ever since 2007, the rooms were booked out within a day to a week of the announcement and there would be a second or third hotel on offer. Last year it took a few weeks, but the St Charles Resort was huge.
I think they are really going to be cutting back on the toy units this year just to make sure they don't have unsold stock 5 years in a row... even after trimming back on the numbers in the last two years.

[UltraMarginal]

Hmmm... there's a baseball museum about 400 meters from the Hotel and a baseball stadium about 500 meters on the other side, which might tempt UltraMarginal.

Apart from the lack of interest I have in beast wars and the lack of excitement I have for multiples of the combiner wars toys, it might be almost enough except that our wedding anniversary is on the 4th.

Mrs UltraMarginal is very understanding of my interests, but to drag her to the middle of Kentucky on the week of our anniversary, or even worse, not be together on our anniversary might be pushing my luck.

[griffin]

The Brochure is up on the BotCon website. (direct link to the PDF file here)

Still just the two major guests, so maybe that is all next year.
David Kaye (Megatron) & Alec Willows (Tarantulas).

Noted in several places is that the 2016 BotCon will celebrate the 20th anniversary of Beast Wars... which so far with the toys and guests, looks to be better than their early promotional material for 2014 that was supposed to be celebrating the 30th anniversary of Transformers.

Possible Registration date or timing is not noted (that I could see), but their FAQ page from the main page says "later this Fall", which would be by the end of November... if they ever keep to their schedules and don't have problems with the registration website again.

Costs in US$.
Primus - $399 (five toy boxset plus attendee toy)
Minicon (kids/partners, no toys) - $140
Protoform (no toys) - $210
Iacon (non-attending) - $399

100 Golden Tickets - $325 (down from last year's $400 which had to pay for Frank Welker, but up from the usual $300) Totals $724 with Primus pack.

250 Loose sets - $295

Custom Class (Wed & Thurs) - $120
unpainted toy - $75

Wed Tour - $115 - Horses & Kentucky Bourbon Tour
(8am-4.30pm) Kentucky Derby racetrack, White Castle for lunch, Jim Beam Distillery, Evan Williams Distillery.

Thurs Tour - $115 - Caving and Museums Tour
(8am-5pm) Marengo Cave, Conrad-Caldwell House Museum, Louisville Slugger (bad) Museum, Frazor History Museum.

Saturday has a Casino night and Awards dinner.
The Costume contest is back, as is the Filmfest for Friday (with submissions required by March 15th).

Theme outline from the Brochure.

As they sat aboard their own personal space station orbiting Cybertron,
the Tripredacus Council seemed to defy Maximal Intelligence in every
way. Shrouded in mystery and shadows cast by a single hanging
lamp, this trinity of high-ranking Predacons plotted their own path to
restoring greatness to the Predacon faction. While fans never saw them
in combined form on the show, we know that the Predacons General
Seaclamp, Cicadacon, and Ramhorn combined to form the fearsome
and towering Tripredacus!
Of course, what good is a conspiracy without operatives to carry it out?
And the Predacon Council had some of the best operatives for that task!
Working as a covert specialist for the Tripredacus Council, Ravage was
described as one of the few Generation 1 Decepticon warriors who was
rebuilt and reprogrammed... as a Predacon. Given new stealth abilities
and one of the Predacon’s most advanced ships, Ravage made his
presence known shortly after his arrival on ancient Earth by capturing
the renegade Predacon Megatron and dispersing his troops. Although the
crafty Megatron soon turned the tides back on the famous feline with his
own manipulation and offer, Ravage soon made his true loyalties known -
“Decepticons Forever!”
But the former Decepticon wasn’t the only one who had previously
sworn loyalty to the Council. Sly, secretive, and scheming, Predacon
Secret Police Lieutenant Tarantulas had been a mole inside of
Megatron’s crew from the very beginning! Turning into a disgusting,
giant spider with the ‘occasional’ mad scientist tendencies and
personality gave fans a character the likes they had never seen before in
the Transformers mythos.
As BotCon 2016 celebrates the twentieth anniversary of the Beast Wars
TV series and toy line, fans can relive these great characters through
new toys and a new story! With FIVE new head sculpts spread across
the box set and utilizing the awesome Combiner Wars molds from
the Transformers Generations toy line, Voyager Class SEACLAMP,
Deluxe Class RAMHORN, Deluxe Class CICADACON, Deluxe Class
RAVAGE, and Deluxe Class TARANTULAS are ready to join fans’
Beast Wars shelves individually OR joined together as the unstoppable
Predacon Battle Master PREDACUS!

(if this update generates enough interest, I'll split it off to a new News topic... I'm just pairing it up with the previous topic that had the dates and location for convenience of not repeating those details)

[Verno]

For those that are going, have fun. Let's hope some good news comes out of it.