BotCon 2009: A Fan’s Perspective

Transformers convention is more than meets the eye...

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I’ve been a fan of Transformers pretty much my whole life. I can remember watching the cartoon on television, and at that time I was only six years old. I’ve been fairly faithful to the brand throughout the years. There have been good times (the 1986 Transformers the Movie, Energon toys, Cybertron), and not so good times (Armada). With the many varied incarnations of Transformers across the decades, it’s almost impossible to have liked them all. And so I find myself in a strange place concerning the franchise, which made BotCon 2009 all the more interesting for me. Not being a huge fan of either the current Transformers films or the Animated television show, I still follow the stories and purchase toys.

This was the state of my fandom when I found out that the biggest Transformers convention of the year, BotCon, would be landing not too far from my home, in Pasadena, California. Being a fan and loyal reporter for Figures.com I felt it was my duty to attend, and to share the sights and sounds with all of you who were unable to make it. I had been to a few franchise-specific conventions in the past, but BotCon was a bit different.

Being a working man with a day job, I couldn’t make it over to Pasadena until Friday afternoon. The convention had actually begun on Thursday with badge pickup, club member events, etc. Somewhat strangely, the panel with the two Transformers films writers was held Friday morning, before the vast majority of people had a chance to show up on the weekend. Odd.

Friday night was the grand opening of the Dealer Sales Room, otherwise known as the Exhibit Hall or just “place to buy stuff.” And boy, was that one of the themes of the weekend. As near as I could tell, there were four types of BotCon attendees: 1) toy buyers, 2) autograph seekers, 3)members of online communities, and 4) kids! That first group was ready and waiting for the deals inside. While the name of the game at BotCon is Exclusives, there was plenty to be found from third-party dealers in the big room. Whether you were looking for a 25 year old G1 classic or the newest Revenge of the Fallen toy, this was the place to be!

The biggest booth in the Sales Room belonged, of course, to Hasbro. A sprawling, multi-sectioned affair, the centerpiece included multiple display cases of current and upcoming products, video screens galore, an art area for tracing and drawing, customer service, and some fun and games. It was obvious that a lot of thought went into making this an interactive event for the fans and kids. In one area, fans could don Bumblebee helmets and punching fists while staffers took polaroids (free!). In the next, we were handed Nerf dart guns; hitting a bulls eye on Megatron earned free trading cards. Two dioramas held dozens of toys, which fans could play with and transform. Over the weekend, there were even more games, and by collecting stamps at the various stations fans could earn a spin on a wheel for yet more freebies!

Saturday was the first day of General Admission, and even at 8am the lines were long. Full weekend pass holders got to enter the hall a little early, par for the course. The major events started right away, with the big stars of the Transformers world signing autographs. These included David Kaye, Gregg Berger and Peter Cullen.

There was a full lineup of panels as well, highlighting yet more products and people. I attended the Activision Transformers in Video Games panel, in which the design teams of the various versions of the upcoming Revenge of the Fallen game spoke and fielded questions. The game looks pretty awesome, with multiple storylines, dozens of playable robots, multi-player, and more. The panelists were happy to answer questions and dropped lots of hints about what we’ll discover and unlock in their game.

The next panel was highly anticipated by a lot of fans, Weird Al Yankovic and David Kaye representing Cartoon Network’s Transformers Animated. In the show Weird Al reprised the character from the old movie, Wreck-Gar, while Kaye has been voicing characters for years. He’s most famous for portraying Megatron in Beast Wars, Beast Machines, Armada, Energon, and Cybertron, though in Animated he got to be Optimus Prime! Fans absolutely go crazy for these meetups, and had lots of questions for their beloved icons. Following tradition, many people requested the voice actors “perform” for them, creating bizarre situations like Wreck-Gar and Optimus Prime on infomercials.

The biggest panel of the Saturday lineup was of course the Hasbro Review and Q&A. Attended by hundreds of eager fans, this was pretty cool. For a complete run-down of the event, check out my report HERE.

Sunday was no less action-packed for being the final day of BotCon. More voice stars were in attendance signing autographs and holding panels. In the first major event of the day Gregg Berger and Michael McConnohie, both major voice actors in the original Transformers cartoon, addressed the fans and took their silly requests in stride. We heard, among other situations, Grimlock and Tracks ordering from a drive-through.

Next up was the final big Hasbro event, the Design panel. Three of the guys from the day before returned to go over the new toys in detail, with plenty of behind-the-scenes pics and stories. Scheduled to last an hour, the panelists seemed to wrap things up at about 20 minutes. Fans were confused, until Aaron Archer took the stage and introduced a special surprise guest, actor Tyrese Gibson! Check out my full panel report HERE.

Throughout the weekend Hasbro unveiled new toys at the booth, including a display containing Leader class Optimus Prime, Megatron, and Jetfire. Games and giveaways also continued, much to the delight of the many young fans who attended the convention. Exclusives sold out rapidly, while the booths did brisk business in the Sales Room. Online communities held meetups and parties, where screen names and signatures became faces and friends.

Years after its humble beginnings, Transformers continues to be a force in pop culture, with fans of all ages. BotCon was an excellent reminder of this, where the loyal gathered. It really was a fun event, with a great deal of participation going hand in hand with sales and consumerism. The annual convention hits different parts of the country, so check out the schedule and see if it’s coming near you!

-Scott Rubin

Transformers BotCon 2009 Photo Gallery