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Botcon
2009: SilverfromOZ and Nurannoniel's Report:
Location: Pasadena, California
Dates: May 28-31
SilverfromOZ:
Saturday, May 23rd: Well
here I am sitting in the luxurious Quantas Business class lounge in
Sydney waiting for my 11:50am flight to Auckland, which will then
connect me to LA and have me arriving at 10:30ish in the morning
meaning that I will have travelled back in time somewhere along that
trip 
As I take another sip from the complimentary cappucino, which was
given the added kick of some Baileys (also complimentary), I ponder
the coming week and the shenanigans which shall ensue.... and how it
is possible to travel back in time without a flux capacitor in a
Delorian casing.
So flash forward about another 11 hours and I've travelled back
in time to arrive in US and A at around 10:30am. I had my car, I had
my bags, I had the location of the hotel. All is well right? Well,
kind of. After getting considerably lost around California, I
finally arrive at the Holiday Inn some time around 2pm. Mental note,
always bring a navigator along for overseas shenanigans. I am proud
to say that I got here without having to ask anyone, however I may
have violated a number of road rules (some by mistake 
).
***************************
LATER:
Last post, I had just arrived, and the "radio silence"
(ooh I like that) is 100% due to the fact that we didn't freakin
stop the whole time. Oh yeah, cruise around in a Mustang, wander
around Botcon, pick up a few figures and go home.. Yeah right!
Shenanigans afoot all over the shop. Through our endeavors we were
able to conscript another whacky whatchamacallit to the BWint group
and he seems very interested in joining. Jason and his girlfriend
(props to her for being really supportive all the way through even
though not a hardcore fan) tore around with us and it was great to
have the Botcon virgin to show around this time round and me act all
pro (SECOND TIME COUNTS AS PRO DARNIT!
). Also we had two younger boys, nicknamed Wheelie and Armada and
patiently escorted by their mother all the way throughout. So the
total group was the newly recruited 5, my manic self, the award
winning Nurann (grats again for the painting of awesome!
), the all wise and powerful Beastbot, and mighty Baron (who spent
most of the time wearing my clothes because of a luggage debacle 
).
The Universal Tour was great fun as I got to run around with our new
protoforms for a whole day, purchase a replica of Arnie's jacket
from the Terminator (as well as get backstage access to the set and
a chat with the actors for the T2 effects show), ride around, do
silly things and hi five a guy who was dressed like Leatherface
before he chased Wheelie out the Haunted House. The real amusing
thing was when Jason was taken up on stage for the special effects
show and "electrocuted". Within seconds, I had placed dibs
on his Botcon set and the rest of us began dividing his collection
up between us, when one of the announcers walked over and informed
us that he had over 450 Transformers and was a huge fan. We informed
him of Botcon and he vowed to rock up some time during the weekend.
After that, the kids looked on in awe and Jason and I devoured one
of the giant Simpsons donuts and a can of Duff "beer" and
felt entirely ill afterwards. Cue Jurassic Park and Mummy rides and
it was time to get our boxed sets. God bless prereg. Nurann joined
the motley crew around this time and we got through the relatively
short line and stole our boxes, whilst posing in front of Optimus
Prime and Bumblebee statues. We rallied afterwards for a drink and discussions
involving the awesomeness of Beast Wars, the good and bad points of
Beast Machines and what parts of G1 were the best. Half a bottle of
wine, a number of cocktails and the final acknowledgement of
"Teen angst prime being not really all that bad." And we
all went home for what little sleep we could get before the LA tour
the next day.
Nurannoniel:
Wednesday, May 27: While I was waiting for the van
to leave LAX, realized that all 6 of us in the van were Botconers.
Did one of us say "bah weep grana weep nini bong?" Nooooo…
After getting to the hotel around 3, I went to look around. Just
across the street there was a mall with a fountain, an antiques
mall, and some really nice looking restaurants. Up the stairs there
were some wine lounges, a Mexican lounge, and a Chinese bistro. I
was chatting with a Botcon staff member, and he told me that the
autobot that Starath won and stuck on my head in '07 is a rare
collector's item. Star, have I told you how much you rock lately? It
was pretty sunny and I was getting crispy by that point, so I headed
off to find a Starbucks for a green tea frappaccino to wait for the
tour bus to get back with Silver.
After chilling out for a bit, I headed off towards the convention
center around 6:30. The bus must have gotten back a bit early
because as I was walking up the block Silver, the tall and obvious
figure that he is, could be seen from a block away. After catching
up for a bit, he told me that he'd met up with a couple from Chicago
and they had plans to go drinking afterwards. Awesome. So then Jason
and Tina showed up and we went to one of the lounges across the
street where we drank/talked TF for a couple of hours until it was
time for registration. Jason still had some beer and Silver and I
had half a bottle of wine left, so we snuck our drinks out and back
to the convention center with us. After picking up our packages,
Silver split off to go back to his mustang and Jason, Tina and I
went back to the Hilton. At that point it was time to crash, because
tomorrow we would all meet early for the Hollywood tour!
Thursday, May 28: We'd started out the day by standing
around chatting for about 20 minutes waiting to get on the bus. Tina
went to grab some food for her and Jason from the café across the
street. It's a good thing the bus was loading slowly, because we got
the call to get on while she was still inside. After teasing her to
hurry up or she'd be left behind, we climbed on the bus and found
some seats in the back.
Our first stop was the Hollywood Bowl amphitheatre. On the way, we
got a long-distance view of an old bridge that was part of Route 66,
Paramount studios, Disney Studios, and a giant billboard advertising
ROTF.
At the Hollywood Bowl, we were told that the best view was from the
top of the hill where the Hollywood sign could be seen in the
distance over the hills. Everyone who made that hike up the hill
should have gotten some sort of honourable mention Saturday night
lol. After exploring that for a bit, we got back on the bus and
headed towards downtown Hollywood. After driving around for a bit,
we were dropped off and were led up to the Chinese theatre. We did a
fair amount of photo-taking there, and then we were taken up the
street to the Kodak theatre. During one of the quick exploration
breaks we were given our small band went to check out Hot Topic. Of
course there was some nice TF swag there, but we couldn't stay long;
the tour was off and moving again. From the Kodak theatre we headed
up the street to the Guiness World Records museum. There were
displays on buildings, people, animals, toys, and a video on the
biggest and longest running domino set up which would have run for a
bout an hour. For some reason, everyone was hypnotised by that one
0.o. There were also some movie records, and a cool electrical
holographic display that looked like the holo displays in Star Wars.
Next we were supposed to go across the street to the wax museum, but
Silver and I decided to go wander up and down the star walk instead.
That was when we found the store that had Silver's awesome hat and
my movie clip board. Next we wandered back up the street, stopping
to take pictures of various star's names on the way. Silver and I
stopped at a café for an early snack/lunch, but eventually it was
time for scheduled lunch which would be at the Farmer's market.
While everyone else went in and got more food, I looked at some of
the stores for a bit. It was pretty crowded in the narrow isles
between the stalls, but we managed to find a table for all 4 of us.
After lunch we spotted a candy stand with the most
delicious-looking, gigantic caramel apples EVER. Our insanity got
the better of us, and Silver and I bought the oreo apples while
Jason got a reeses candy apple. Then we went exploring.
Lots of shiny things, like ceramic dragons, gorillas, angel dog
figures that looked like Silverbolt, and of course a lot of fresh
produce. We wandered up and down the street while we gnawed on our
apples – squirrel! - before getting back on the bus and heading
towards our next brief stop, Rodeo Drive. Parking was limited, so we
only had 15 minutes to get off, go up the walkway, and get back to
the bus. There were some really high-end jewellery stores that we
stopped and stared into. At one point Jason and I stopped to reflect
if the numbered tags under the rings were stock numbers or prices.
Suddenly, Jason screamed out "holy s***!" Turns out the
numbers ranging from 7000 to over 14000 were the prices. 0.o We
joked all the way up and down the street that Jason should buy one
for Tina as an engagement ring. All it would take is a house loan…
We started to rush back to the bus thinking we were the last ones to
get back. As soon as we were on, we headed off towards the Tar pits.
That was when the tour guide announced that we had left someone
behind at Rodeo drive, so we would be stopping at the tar pits for a
bit while he caught up in a cab.
Just up the path in the tar pit park was a spot where the tar had
bubbled up from the ground and was now gated off. The tour guide
explained that at cooler temperatures, the tar would harden and then
soften again when the temperature rose. At this point we all jumped
on a squishy patch of ground that was just starting to soften after
the cooler morning. A little further up the path was another place
where tar had bubbled up; the little pit had filled with water and
garbage. We all "eewww"ed as we walked past, then laughed
at the very fresh tar puddle that was roped off with pylons an
caution tape.
By the lake, Silver decided to wander off in search of interesting
things such as Rhinox's shell casings. Waspinator pieces seemed a
little more likely, but we followed anyways. At one end of the lake
there was a display of a mother mammoth stuck in the tar pit with
her mate and baby crying out to her. The edges of the lake had
asphalt on the surface while all across the lake methane bubbled up
from the fissures under the water. We stopped and took even more
photos, and Silver took the opportunity to put his hat on a statue
and take a picture of that. Soon the guy that the tour had lost
caught up, and it was time to do a little more driving and then go
back to Pasadena. We drove past a few more cool things like a
fountain that has flames shoot out of it every 15 minutes and the
Disney concert hall. Finally we got back to Pasadena, where we found
Beastbot waiting in line to pick up his convention package.
http://www.botcon.com/BotCon09/webfiles/DSC_1389.JPG.html
http://www.botcon.com/BotCon09/webfiles/DSC_1394.JPG.html
We talked for a bit, and then since the rest of us already had our
badges we went inside to check out the giant Bumblebee and Prime
statues that had been set up some time that day.
The club store was also opening that night. Jason went off to get a
good spot in line, while Silver and I went to find a tattoo place.
We got lost for a little bit, but eventually found the place Silver
had found a few days earlier. They told us they were booked solid
that night, but there was free space on Saturday if we wanted to
come back then. We thanked the lady at the desk and then went back
to see how the club store line-up was going. We found Beastbot and
his dad in line and talked for a bit. Armada found us around then,
and was introduced to the amazing endless source of TF knowledge
that is Beastbot. Silver and I left them talking while we went to
sneak a peak at what the club store had to offer. We talked to one
of the staff for a bit before Jason grabbed us and told us to join
him in line. By that point we'd decided that there was some really
cool stuff to buy after all, so Silver got some forms and started
filling out shopping lists while Jason and I went to find and rescue
Beastbot and Armada from the back of the line. Once we'd gotten
everyone to a decent spot in line, everyone actually got their swag
and got out at a decent time. After that we headed off to get some
Mexican food and then go back to our respective resting places for
the night. I'm not so sure about the others, but that would be the
last night I would get any real sleep for the rest of the
convention!
SilverfromOZ:
So, with the tour on Thurs, that brings us to Friday... what
happened Friday? Ah, we sat in on a couple of panels, I got a fair
few signatures on my hat and all the new kids nearly wet themselves
when they saw the sales room for the first time. Ah! That's right!
MSTF! How could I forget. That night the company Shout (which is
responsible for the new release of G1 on DVD in a very shiny Matrix
shaped boxed set) put on a bit of a show for us and showcased some
features thanking fans for support. Then there were the fan movies
(the best of which were/was created by Mr Ng and Dr Smoov and was G1
CG awesomeness). There was one movie that was called Megatron goes
to Green and was an overly artistic rendition of what would happen
if he went to Ethanol. The announcer claimed "You wouldn't have
gotten that one if you had taken your drugs in the wrong
order." So when this was announced in the voting, there were
only a couple of cheers, so I decided to cheer, scream and pretend
to catch butterflies which weren't there
MSTF was great as always and I won't even try to recreate any of the
jokes here, but strongly recommend it to anyone who has not been to
Botcon before. After that there was a documentary put together by a
fan but as we were all tired and he was getting all preachy about
"how far he had travelled" #cough cough# Australian over
here #cough cough# we decided to leave as there was an early start
the next day to meet Mr Weird Al Yankovic.
More to Come....
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