May 28:

Picked up a bud and his roommate from LAX (alongside three others two days earlier), and after dropping them off at the Sheraton, decide to see if I could pick up the novelization of "Revenge of the Fallen". For some reason, the nearby Borders seems to be missing their batch of the novelization, even though it's IN their system. Left me no choice but to hit up Target, also picking up their exclusive of the Adaptation TPB (won't say no to 25% off on the novelization). Found a free all-day parking spot and proceeded to wait in line on pick-up my stuff.

Downside of the pick-up for pre-registration folks was I felt the timing. If it was done earlier in the day, I think a lot more could've been processed a bit faster, rather than get into 1am (from what I heard). Heck, do pick-up on pre-reg the day before the convention is held, and you'll have more time for more panels/events. *shrugs* Well, FP's choice.

Other than the BotCon Wings of Honor set and the freebie Leozack, picked up a Razorclaw/Elita-1 before skedaddling home.


May 29:

Nothing much in the morning, other than me remembering to pick up the Sweeps for a bud. Attended Animating Animated panel, which netted me some sigs from those that showed up (Marty Isenberg, Derrick Wyatt, and others). The second panel, Transformers Movie Q&A, surprised me of them bringing in Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, the screenwriters for both films. 'Course, some inevitable questions were asked and others were dodged because of spoiler reasons; Orci playfully went "# for Unicron, # against Unicron" on his Blackberry when a few brought up whether they'll bring in the big guy into movie-verse. XD Not soon after, hit up on getting autographs from them and Gregg Berger, mostly known as voice of G1 Grimlock and G1 Skyfire. Got Orci and Kurtzman to sign my Blu-Ray version of the movie, while Berger signed my 20th anniversary 1986 "Transformers: The Movie" DVD and my copy of Final Fantasy X (think he got a kick out of that).

Bounced around the dealers hall, but mostly at the IDW booth to get a buncha sigs from the crew showing up there and see if I could hear anything new from both Chriss or Denton. Read up Spotlights Cliffjumper and Metroplex they had on display. I'm a bit intrigued on Cliff's portrayal, because it wasn't what I expected and it's kinda refreshing. Metroplex is "spotlighted" by the characters in his SL, and a two-page spread of him in his glory barely does him justice - you'd need a poster. Tales of the Fallen #1, written by Chris Mowry, was all in ink format; no colors, no text, just black and white. Pictures worth a thousand words, and two familiar faces show up in the course of that issue. The "Robot Heroes: I Am Optimus Prime" is ridiculously adorable and recommended for those with munchkins, while the Premiere Volume 2 should be at the bottom row of the shelf, lest you want to cause serious blunt force trauma if it fell off from a tall height. Met several fellow DAs as well.

Hung around for the Shout! Factory TF Film Fest, which was a contest of fan-created TF shorts - some were hysterical, like "Mr. Potato Head vs Transformers" while one was cool, Ngsmoov.com's "Generation 1" (same guys that did the "Kup recruit" video for Botcon's front page). One of the "entries" shown turned out to be a proposal to his girlfriend. And she said yes. Following that, MSTF brought out G1 episode "Heavy Metal War", Beast Wars "Code of Hero", and Animated "Thrill of the Hunt". I can partially see why my sister enjoys MST3K so much.


May 30:

BIG DAY! Wait since 5am to get Weird Al's sig for my sis (bigger fan than I am) before hauling aft for Davd Kaye's signing session; security had capped Peter Cullen's session at 120 people. Since security wouldn't let us form a line for Peter's second signing session until a later time, I ducked into the IDW panel for the time being. Asked them about a CSI/TF crossover and they reply "anything's possible". :3 They're starting to know me... After that, hauled back out to get in line for Peter's signing, which they moved us outside so we wouldn't be a fire hazard. Sadly, that meant I had to miss out on Weird Al and Kaye's panel on Animated. Bright side was seeing a live-action Jazz and Bumblebee cosplayers (the 'Bee cosplayer was the same one from SDCC 08), alongside a Grimlock in T. rex mode, and a guy acting as kuroko for a 1:1 scale of live-action Frenzy. Finally meeting Peter, he's such a wonderful and sweet man, that you wouldn't believe how many voices he's done over the years. It's incredible how he's able to be such a fatherly figure without even trying! I don't want to use "overwhelming", but it certainly felt that way meeting him in person.

That's done, hung around the IDW crew to get a few more sigs. Didn't really do much shopping, other than pick up a T-shirt and cap from Stylin' Online. Took a few photos of the Peterbilt that was on display in the dealers hall. Haven't been that close to the truck since its display at the Arclight in Hollywood back in '07.

Peter's panel had us ROFLing at some of the questions and requests, like when he mentioned he had one of those stereotypical snooty British butler voices going on in his head at one point and he plays it out. Another request was Ironhide versus Eyeore, but that had Eyeore loosing his tail. XD There was also Ironhide versus KARR from "Knight Rider", with KARR calling 'Hide "Ironpants" before Peter mimics KARR peeling off.

The downside to the panel was near the end. This one dude - I don't know whether to call him a glitch head or not - proceeds to sit down at the mic and goes "I know this question is really, really, really, really inappropriate, but I gotta ask anyhow", which lead to this sinking feeling and a couple uh-ohs. The question? If Peter ever read any Optimus/Megatron slash fanfiction. ... That is one of THE most stupidest things you could ask of someone as big as Peter. Heck, even ANY of the original G1 voice cast! Hasbro staff Greg Lombardo, modding the panel, KNEW and immediately ordered the guy off the mic before Peter could answer - doubt Peter knew what slash fic was, but I think he felt he was better off NOT knowing. I suppose half of those nearby were ready to beat the guy up for that question and he pretty much booked it out of the room. Glitch... D:<

After that sour note, prep for the Party at Paramount! When we got there, they announced special guests were going to show up. Well, we already have vehicle-mode Optimus and the Topkick that is Ironhide on display at Paramount, so who else shows up? Vehicle-mode Ratchet rolls in with his emergency lights flashing and a few bursts from the siren! Kicker to that was Tyrese Gibson popping up from the driver's side! SCHWEET! After a quick blurb on the music stage, Peter shows up as well and Tyrese literally FLIPS OUT before hugging Peter. Tyrese's an actor, but there's no way acting THAT. Was able to get Tyrese's signature on one of those glossy promo photos of him playing Epps in ROTF - had to push my way to the front to get it.

Dinner was buffet style: salad, baked beans, make-your-own-hamburger (beef, cheeseburger, turkey), terriyaki chicken, and mac&cheese (which was quite yummy). Drinks were Coke and Sprite (free), alongside various alcohol for those of us responsible ($5 bucks on wine/beer), and hot drinks (coffee plus hot chocolate). Dessert was there as well, from three different pies and ice cream. Stan Bush and Vince DiCola provided the music alongside Stan's band, the obligatory "Dare" and "The Touch". When it was time to give out awards for the contests (best 2D art, best 3D art, etc.), they surprised us again by herding us to Paramount's own theater for a quick look at two different scenes from ROTF. Comfy seats, killer surround sound, Michael Bay popping in despite being down the wire on finishing final edits...

WARNING! PROBABLY SPOILERISH TO SOME!

The two scenes: Simmons and Leo (Sam's roommate) encountering the Constructicons and a ZOMFGWTF sequence of them combining into Devastator that's quite plausible by movie-verse. The second scene was of Bumblebee SERIOUSLY kicking aft against another Constructicon (IIRC, Rampage) and Ravage, followed by an emotional moment between Sam and Ron. It can be June 24 nao, kthnxbai.

We haul back to the dining area and awards are divvied out. One of the "awards" turns out to be - whadya know - another proposal to his sweetheart. She said yes as well

Homewards bound. I'm surprised I didn't crash on the freeway.


May 31:

Last day. Picked up a sketch commission from , before heading off to attend Gregg Berger and Michael McConnohie's panel. My request was Cosmos on the loosing side of an argument against Skyfire and it was hysterical. XD They talked about their work, how Gregg was the new kid when G1 got started, how Frank Welker would psyche the recording guys out by making a whistling sound in the mic, the dubbing process, a bit of their video game work, and stuff like that. McConnohie even got a Universe Cosmos from one of the fans, seeing that it's been 25 years since Cosmos has gotten a new toy. Shot out of their panel for autographs, which I got McConnohie to sign sketches of Tracks and Cosmos. Was trying to take a photo of him with the Cosmos sketch but I accidentally turned my camcorder off because I wasn't used to using it in camera-mode, and he goes off mocking me in Tracks' voice about my failure to use technology. XD

Moseyed into the dealers hall again to pick up a couple TF doujinshi a fellow Allsparker had helped me get from Transfunket, a bi-annual Japanese TF-only gathering amongst doujinshi artists in May and late October. Most weren't what I was hoping for, but I was glad for some of the rest. Spotted Tyrese doing some signing at the Hasbro booth, which resulted in quite a line; he had also dropped in during the Hasbro Design panel, surprising a buncha fans. 'Course, security whisked him away after from the Hasbro booth after awhile.

Dropped into the G1 Writers panel and was glad to be able to record it (the guys running BotCon aren't too keen on video recording at most panels, some for obvious reasons). Even one of the original producers popped in to share with them and it was funny when they recalled the more sillier moments back then. Also was able to get their sigs, although my gold pen finally decides to cr@p out on me.

After that, it was just snapping photos of the displayed toys at the Hasbro booth, alongside the cardboard displays they had. 'Course, it was nuts enough to hear "The Touch" multiple times at the Acitivision side over the three days, where they had set up for folks to play the game and Guitar Hero: World Tour where fans can jam alongside Stan.

W000000... Wish I could make it to next year's BotCon, but that'd depend on location and finances. I DO hope BotCon will be back in Southern California in time for TF3's release.

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