Botcon 09 Report

Unread post by **SilverfromOZ** » Fri May 22, 2009 8:54 pm

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. I proceed to look about the mostly empty room and I must say that this is true decadence (not the stupid amounts of dollar's worth, but a damn sight nicer than sitting on the floor next to a wall socket with the laptop teetering on your head just to get a stable internet connection to post about latest airport accomplishments. The thing that tops this whole package off..... the buffet. Thats right. It too is complimentary so before you can say "Holy heart condition fatman!" I have gorged on a number (half a dozen.. maybe more) of soft, fluffy pancakes with butter and maple syrupy goodness. Now, I proceed to stand up and really show off that tourist side that makes all regulars cringe. I take photos of, the buffet, my plate, my plate and coffee, my plate, coffee and camera bag, the bar, the room and just enough to get an idea of how truly awesome this place is. The bathrooms are wierd though. Everything seems stupidly small. I feel like I was washing my hands in Hobbitton and truly felt for poor Gandalf. Then I got lost trying to leave the place. Odd shaped angles and mirrors everywhere made me feel like I was up against a bad 80s Adam West Batman villain..... "Mwahaha! I am... the Confuser...rer... caped crusader!" Mental note... need a cape

Anyhoo, boarding is going to happen sometime soon and my very first Business Class flight awaits so I shall bid you all adieu and I'll try to keep up with this mad ramble throughout the week.

Baron Fel · Unread post by **Baron Fel** » Fri May 22, 2009 11:07 pm

wow, you are gone already.

Well good luck!

Mon May 25, 2009 10:14 am

Cheers Baron

Ok, so whats happened since the last little ramble... flew to New Zealand... which is a really nice airport by the way, and stopped over for about an hour. Whilst there I picked up the new Cosmos figure which is so totally awesome! He's currently sitting in the cup holder in the Mustang downstairs and thus following me on all my shenanigans

So flash forward about another 11 hours and I've travelled back in time to arrive in US and A at around 10:30am. Long lines in the passport check. Long wait for baggage claim. Scramble for paperwork for another check. Run around figuring out where the Hertz place is. Long line at Hertz and finally I jump in the Silver Mustang. The cool indian dude gave me a brand-spanking new one. So new, it still had protective plastic on the inside. I'll forgo a full blown rant about the car, but let's just say the black convertible lid is sooo much fun, the lights and gauges all around the inside are funky and the 6 stack CD player is fantastic (I cranked up the Stan Bush cd yesterday, but more on that later).

Now, at this point, 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

).

So got to the hotel, brought my bags in. Snapped a few shots of the place and went roaming a bit. My nerdy senses kicked in and I managed to locate the comic book store nearest to the convention centre and proceeded to spend about $170USD on completed my Cable and Deadpool collection and befriended the store's owner. Turns out he'll be at Botcon with some of his mates, so we'll see what happens there. More driving, wandering and roaming and I picked up some Burger King and moseyed back to watch some of TF animated Season 2 (which I found in Target here). Chomp chomp, watch watch and I started to get tired. I figured I'd have a little nap then got out for saturday night shenanigans. Good plan, yes? Well my little nap lasted till 3am. Needless to say, partially annoyed at missing the fun, but jetlag is as jetlag does.

Bit more forced sleep and some early morning comic book reading and I head downstairs for some breakfast. After having my cereal, OJ, milk and some wierd meat/custardy-thing I headed out to scout around Pasadena. Word of the wise for fellow foreigners, none of the shops open on Sunday till 11am. So after walking around for an hour or so, life began to trickle into the streets and shops began to open. I check out Macy's, walked into a hair salon and promptly walked out when they were going to charge me US$40 just to shave my head, found various funky CD shops (and picked up a Dragonforce CD) and checked out Terminator Salvation at the theatre. Needless to say, much awesomeness

So spent the rest of the afternoon (and another quarter of fuel tank) roaming the streets with 80s metal and my Stan Bush CD cranked up and the Muzzie's top down. Much fun was had. Went back to the hotel, ordered some Pizza Hut, watched more TF and fell asleep before I could rally and go out again. Curses! I WILL go out one night this blasted week!

So I woke up this morning, threw this post up and am now contemplating going for a beach day in LA. Fun, sun and surf. Good plan, yes? Let's see if it comes to fruition?

The Crab · Unread post by **The Crab** » Mon May 25, 2009 12:20 pm

Dude, that all sounds so amazingly epic and fun and awesome.

But there's one small problem...

You're on the wrong side of the country. I'm over here. D: COME HANG OUT WITH MEEE.

Beastbot · Unread post by **Beastbot** » Mon May 25, 2009 6:32 pm

Be careful with what you wear to the beach. It's going to look pretty weird if you come back with gauntlet tan-lines.

Tue May 26, 2009 10:20 am

Crab its all a matter of perspective. I'll be surrounded by crazy TF fans alongside an elite cadre of BWint representatives and rocking out to Stan Bush on sat night. Methinks you should quickly jump on a plane and crash in my hotel room for Botcon shenanigans

Beastbot thats hillarious! I actually didn't bring any of my trenchcoat paraphernalia this time round (I'm sure David Kaye will be disappointed) however I will be suiting up for the Paramount party and possibly destroying it as a result of the rocking out

Everyone could picture be cruizing down to Venice Beach in full goth gear can't they?

artemis-lady-warrior · Tue May 26, 2009 12:24 pm

I envy you guys. This is like the third time I've wanted to go but don't have a job to pay for the trip.

Hey if any of you see David Kaye can you tell him I said hi?

Venatrix · Unread post by **Venatrix** » Tue May 26, 2009 6:17 pm

Cant even begin to tell you how much i wanted to go to BotCon, but couldn't, becoz my daughter still has school to attend to, my husbent will be away for the weekend for business, and i cant seem to be able to find anyone with enough time to baby sit.

Well..... i'll try again in 2011, when the thrird movie would be coming out.

I'll be checking any report i can find on the net that weekend, and grovel at what i have missed this year. ^^

Awel.

For those who are going, make sure you have enough fun for both yourselves and those who arent able to come.
And that's an order!

Baron Fel · Unread post by **Baron Fel** » Fri May 29, 2009 10:33 am

Howdy all,

figure it's time to add my arrival report to the mix.

Prime's log, Cyberdate 11235.

I board the plane in Klamath Falls, after making sure my traveling companions, one Sentinel and Optimus Prime, are secured and prepared to make sure this 'elite guard' are whipped into shape.

We touch down in San Francisco where I refuel, then we take off to LA. Unfortunately it seems that Optimus and Sentinel are missing with the rest of my luggage when I arrive. Will have to look into that later. I also find that I can't see the normal shuttle for the hotel and I instead take a joint ride van. Call Silver to let him know that I need entrance into our accomidations. Get there, I check out the elite guards that Silver already purchased along with the dastardly sweeps.

Quite an assortment of goodies, I look forward to procuring them myself. We talked for a few seconds then went to sleep.

Today I've woken up confirmed a deposit to my account and am ready to go. Though later I shall call the airport to inquire about missing funds but that can wait for now.

Signing off,

Baron Fel

Baron Fel · Unread post by **Baron Fel** » Sun May 31, 2009 4:41 am

Hate to double post but I just got back from the Party at Parmount and thought you all should know.

We got to see 2 short scenes from Revenge and they both looked amazing.

One was the constructicons merging to form Devestator! He truly is the mightiest of all Decepticons.

The second was Bumblebee, taking on a Constructicon. It was a great little fight scene and a lot of fun.

Also we saw Michael Bay, he said he took some time out of getting the movie ready to show us all this sneak peak. Though you all wanted to know that the clips were so amazing all any of us could say was 'Wow.' So look forward to Revenge of the Fallen. I know I am 10x as much now.

Wistwin · Unread post by **Wistwin** » Sun May 31, 2009 4:59 am

Baron Fel wrote: We got to see 2 short scenes from Revenge and they both looked amazing.

One was the constructicons merging to form Devestator! He truly is the mightiest of all Decepticons.

The second was Bumblebee, taking on a Constructicon. It was a great little fight scene and a lot of fun.

WOW.

Also we saw Michael Bay, he said he took some time out of getting the movie ready to show us all this sneak peak. Though you all wanted to know that the clips were so amazing all any of us could say was 'Wow.' So look forward to Revenge of the Fallen. I know I am 10x as much now.

Your saying that makes me 10x as excited as well.

Botcon this year seems to be full of awesome. Once again, I wish I could see it myself...

Unread post by **Nurann** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 12:12 am

Hey all, I'm back and about to start sorting reports and 300+ photos, so check back soon for news on full con' shenanigans! The Botcon site has some live photos up from Thursday and the party, so go check those out!

But yes, as Baron reported, HOLY FREAKIN' COW THE MOVIE LOOKS AWESOME!!!!!!!

Oh yeah, one last cool thing:

Sunset won 3rd.

Unread post by **Sapphire** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 3:25 am

Oh wow, congrats Nurann! Also, I am very glad you had such a great time at Botcon. Wish I could have been there. Looking forward to your report (which, presumably you won't mind my using for the site?)

Unread post by **Nurann** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 6:16 pm

Thank you! We wish you could have been there, too.

Lol of course you can Sapph! Also, you've seen some of my photos on fb already - let me know which ones you want for the site and I can send them to you.

Optimal Optimus Primal · Mon Jun 01, 2009 8:44 pm

Sunset won 3rd.

AH! That's flipping awesome, Nurann! XD Congratulations! I'm so glad that all worked out for you! ^_^ You rock!