TF Views

The 2012 Botcon schedule is up,its a bust/awful/garbage.
http://www.botcon.com/BotCon2012/bc12schedule.cfm

Their seems to be too many non-sense live panels,like cartoon episodes script readings. autograph sessions,costume contest,fan art contest,customizing build a TF class,Hall of fame dinner,etc,,, for my taste. ALL I CARE ABOUT IS THE HASBRO LIVE TF TOY REVEAL/NEWS OFFICIAL PANEL.

Sadly the Hasbro TF toy panel is only on Saturday & it only last 50 minutes. 50 minutes isn't enough time as the hasbro crew spends the first 15 to 20 minutes making jokes & dragging their feet showing TF toys & news. the panel always ends 10 minutes early with more hasbro employees making jokes & running out the door.

un-like previous botcon convention years,Their is no Sunday Hasbro TF toy live official panel. So my guess is botcon 2012 will be a bust as far as Hasbro showing off never before seen TF new molds & info.

For the past few years Botcon has been a bust as far as not showing that much newer un-seen TF toys,info & Pics. It seems like Hasbro prefers to show more newer TF toys,pics & info at SDCC,NYCC & NYC Toyfair in Manhattan.

Since I loathe/dis-like the IDW TF comics. the botcon 2012 IDW panels don't matter to me.

I remember a few years ago Hasbro had TF toy panels at Botcon on Friday,Saturday & Sunday.

It sure seems like Botcon wastes a lot of days like wednesday & Thursday catering to the Elite fans who spend hundreds/thousands of dollars on those GOLDEN ACCESS elite entrance tickets. these wednesday & thurday days seem wasted on fans catering to fans with ZERO Official panels going on.

Since i'm not a TFCC club member & loathe the TFCC club. those 3 to 8 TFCC panels they have going on at botcon 2012 is a pure waste for me. as I don't buy exspensive repaints & don't like their awful comic/magazine.

Their seems to be a wasted Animated live panel going on at this years botcon 2012 convention. this seems like a pure waste as animated ended 3 years ago. clearly no newer TF Animated toys nor Animated cartoon news will be revealed. as everything ended 3 years ago.

The Hall of Fame dinner seems like a joke. as none of the HOF toys get made into new mold MP or regular toys.

Lastly,i'm From New york. I'm use to going to toy & comic conventions in manhattan & new Jersey that open up at 8 am & close at around 11 PM. i'M NOT A FAN OF THE BANKER HOURS BOTCON HAS EACH DAY. Botcon opens it's doors at 10 am & closes them each day before 5 PM.

You don't go to a lot of conventions, do you? It's common for them to "open" on a Wednesday or Thursday but not actually have much going on.

In addition, the panels don't look much different from what they always have at Botcon. (Which is a little disappointing, I really wish they would open it up for fan panels. There could be some awesome stuff going down. For example, why is there no "Japanese Late 80s G1" panel?)

Tigermegatron wrote:Their seems to be too many non-sense live panels,like cartoon episodes script readings. autograph sessions,costume contest,fan art contest,customizing build a TF class,Hall of fame dinner,etc,,, for my taste. ALL I CARE ABOUT IS THE HASBRO LIVE TF TOY REVEAL/NEWS OFFICIAL PANEL.

I don't know what you're talking about, those panels sound pretty cool. Meeting/getting autographs from voice actors/writers/etc from my favorite TF series? Showcases of high-end cosplay from dedicated fans? Customizing class where you get to BUILD your own BotCon exclusive? A nice, sit-down dinner where I could argue IN PERSON with people about why Sky-Byte is awesome? That all sounds way more interesting than fifty minutes of watching Hasbro suits drone on over a slideshow of new toys that'll be up on the internet six hours later anyway. You can get toy reveals anywhere by checking online. Meeting actors and getting up to your elbows in custom-made exlusive toys is something you can *only* do in-person, at the convention.

Whattayou care about toy reveals that much for anyway, TiggerMigs? As I understand, you almost exclusively gravitate towards Leader Class/Masterpiece scale figures, and Hasbro's been dialing down their use of those classes for some time now. There *might* be a new Leader Class TFPrime toy or two revealed (Optimus and Megatron? Probably! We honestly likely already know, but I'm too ambivalent about TFPrime to check/care!), but we already know the next Masterpiece (Sideswipe), so the only other thing Hasbro could do there would be to announce their intention to release MP-10 Prime Again and MP-11 Starscream Again. Whoop de doo. And you sure won't be hearing about any of your precious third-party stuff at a Hasbro toy panel.

Tigermegatron wrote:"I dis-like/loathe just about everything I can list about the convention."

I gotta wonder, honestly, why are you even going to BotCon if you think the exclusives are stupid/the panels are pointless/the dinner and HOF are a joke/everything sucks? Doesn't it cost like over a grand to go to BotCon these days? You're willing to put up with all that, just for the Hasbro toy panel, all to, what, see some new toys (which you probably won't even like) a couple hours before the rest of the world? You're clearly a more dedicated, ah, fan than I am.

Reminds me though, I need to register for Fanime and ask for that time off. Some of us only get to go to one convention a year!

PS: Why is this in the TFPrime forum?

BWprowl wrote:I gotta wonder, honestly, why are you even going to BotCon if you think the exclusives are stupid/the panels are pointless/the dinner and HOF are a joke/everything sucks? Doesn't it cost like over a grand to go to BotCon these days? You're willing to put up with all that, just for the Hasbro toy panel, all to, what, see some new toys (which you probably won't even like) a couple hours before the rest of the world? You're clearly a more dedicated, ah, fan than I am.

He isn't! That's the funniest part. I don't think he's ever been to Botcon at all, in fact. He is literally saying, "That convention I wasn't going to go to anyway sucks ass!"

I will say the sit-down dinner is the dumbest thing I've ever heard. You know they enforce a fucking dress code? Fuck that. If I want to wear a polo shirt and black slacks, I'll stay home and go to work.

Reminds me though, I need to register for Fanime and ask for that time off. Some of us only get to go to one convention a year!

How much is Fanime that you can only afford one a year? I'm dropping Otakon this year because, honestly, it's fucking ridiculous. $75 registration! Fuck that! I can literally go to two other conventions throughout the year for that price. Double it since I have the girlfriend, and then tack on hotel (about $80-90 apiece) and food/gas/etc...yeah, it adds up quickly. But you're one guy, how much could you possibly be spending?

PS: Why is this in the TFPrime forum?

Prime is mainline. Presumably Tigger is mostly interested in the reveals of new TF Prime toys, I guess.

Onslaught Six wrote:I will say the sit-down dinner is the dumbest thing I've ever heard. You know they enforce a fucking dress code? Fuck that. If I want to wear a polo shirt and black slacks, I'll stay home and go to work.

Eh, I enjoy classin' it up (I wear dress shirts and ties as my day-to-day clothes anyway, so), and I appreciate their efforts to make the dinner more than a bunch of unwashed guys in stretched TF screen-tees shoving chicken into their mouths. This way it's a bunch of unwashed guys in stretched dress shirts shoving chicken into their mouths! A step up!

How much is Fanime that you can only afford one a year? I'm dropping Otakon this year because, honestly, it's fucking ridiculous. $75 registration! Fuck that! I can literally go to two other conventions throughout the year for that price. Double it since I have the girlfriend, and then tack on hotel (about $80-90 apiece) and food/gas/etc...yeah, it adds up quickly. But you're one guy, how much could you possibly be spending?

Registration for Fanime is only like 65 bucks, which isn't bad considering what other things (IE: AX, Comic-Con) go for. On top of that, I don't spend money on a hotel, since my Aunt lives like twenty minutes away from where it's held, so me, my brother, and whatever friends come with us just crash with her for the weekend (her kids, our cousins attend as well, so it works out). I'll usually spend a *fair* amount in the dealer's room and at the swap meet, but I've dialed that down in recent years. Really, the only other big expense for going is the gas to drive from Fresno to San Jose, and to drive from my Aunt's to the Convention Center every day.

Which brings me to what the limiting factor for me going to conventions is (note that I didn't say I couldn't afford to go to more than one): I live in fucking Fresno, where the closest convention is Fanime, which is over three hours away in San Jose. Means I can't just skip down for a weekend, I have to make a trip of it, getting the Friday and probably the Monday off, coordinating with whatever friends want to go, making sure my aunt will be able to take us in, and saving up cash to have for the weekend. I'm not like Tigger who lives in New York where there are presumably tons of lesser conventions/expos semi-regularly, we get *nothing* like that in the valley. If I want the convention experience, I have to turn it into a goddamn field trip.

BWprowl wrote:

Onslaught Six wrote:I will say the sit-down dinner is the dumbest thing I've ever heard. You know they enforce a fucking dress code? Fuck that. If I want to wear a polo shirt and black slacks, I'll stay home and go to work.

Eh, I enjoy classin' it up (I wear dress shirts and ties as my day-to-day clothes anyway, so), and I appreciate their efforts to make the dinner more than a bunch of unwashed guys in stretched TF screen-tees shoving chicken into their mouths. This way it's a bunch of unwashed guys in stretched dress shirts shoving chicken into their mouths! A step up!

I guess I can understand that, but to me it seems...forced.

Registration for Fanime is only like 65 bucks, which isn't bad considering what other things (IE: AX, Comic-Con) go for. On top of that, I don't spend money on a hotel, since my Aunt lives like twenty minutes away from where it's held, so me, my brother, and whatever friends come with us just crash with her for the weekend (her kids, our cousins attend as well, so it works out). I'll usually spend a *fair* amount in the dealer's room and at the swap meet, but I've dialed that down in recent years. Really, the only other big expense for going is the gas to drive from Fresno to San Jose, and to drive from my Aunt's to the Convention Center every day.

Which brings me to what the limiting factor for me going to conventions is (note that I didn't say I couldn't afford to go to more than one): I live in fucking Fresno, where the closest convention is Fanime, which is over three hours away in San Jose. Means I can't just skip down for a weekend, I have to make a trip of it, getting the Friday and probably the Monday off, coordinating with whatever friends want to go, making sure my aunt will be able to take us in, and saving up cash to have for the weekend. I'm not like Tigger who lives in New York where there are presumably tons of lesser conventions/expos semi-regularly, we get *nothing* like that in the valley. If I want the convention experience, I have to turn it into a goddamn field trip.

Hahaha. That's funny. You think that's a big deal!

I live in Bumfuck Pennsylvania. I go to MAGFest and (formerly) Otakon and a bunch of other events in the Baltimore/Virginia area...rather frequently. It's a 4-5 hour drive. And I don't even have the luxury of a relative down there, we need to do the whole hotel thing. It's 'always' a Goddamn Field Trip to go to a convention. And to me, that's part of the experience--you get out and experience a different kind of city. (Also, screw taking that Monday off, you have Sunday night to rest up. Don't hang around the convention longer than you have to. Bail out around 12-2pm.)

But seriously, for us, we always plan several months in advance.

Onslaught Six wrote:Hahaha. That's funny. You think that's a big deal!

I live in Bumfuck Pennsylvania. I go to MAGFest and (formerly) Otakon and a bunch of other events in the Baltimore/Virginia area...rather frequently. It's a 4-5 hour drive. And I don't even have the luxury of a relative down there, we need to do the whole hotel thing. It's 'always' a Goddamn Field Trip to go to a convention. And to me, that's part of the experience--you get out and experience a different kind of city. (Also, screw taking that Monday off, you have Sunday night to rest up. Don't hang around the convention longer than you have to. Bail out around 12-2pm.)

But seriously, for us, we always plan several months in advance.

Hey, tell that to my deadbeat friends who can't plan/save to do this sort of thing more than once a year. Hell, a bunch of them bailed on Fanime this year because they couldn't scrape together a measly sixty bucks for the registration. I wouldn't mind going to more than one convention a year, but that would involve, uh, finding one that's still within this area that costs the same or less than Fanime, and making time to go down to wherever they are, not to mention NOW I have to afford a hotel in the mix. It's a pain in the ass, and no way am I going through that trouble if I'm going to be the only one I know going.

And this is why I can't

Spoiler

hook up with girls

at various conventions the way other weaboos seem to have no trouble doing. Now I do kinda want to look into whatever other conventions are in the CA area though...

The dinner is....no pun intended, a monkey in a tux.

There are different classifications of conventions, ranging from glorified bazaar (BotCon) up to meetings of professionals and high rollers (PAX is on the lower end of this, but you get the idea). The higher end cons typically have dinners and other networking events. And, because BotCon is a totally real convention, they have to have a dinner as well.

But, the dinner does have exclusives, so the $75 bucks is a bit easier to justify. And, you get a free meal for it.

Thursday and Friday are most dealer set-up days. And, apparently, if you have more money than you know what to do with, you can buy tickets to shop the dealer room on those days. Honestly, this is mind blowing. But, hey, if Savage can make money by charging people for the opportunity to shop before others, (even in these modern days of internet commerce) they I cannot objectively blame him for doing so.

Friday afternoon's "private sales room experience" sounds either like something a kid who just passed marketing 101 would come up with or something I would expect to see at a brothel supply maker's convention.

The exclusive panels for fan club members are a pretty clear advertisement for the club. And, yeah, that is pretty crass. (Hey, you spent money to be at the convention, now here is an add for all the other stuff we sell over the rest of the year.)

The autograph session, especially for non-writers and non-artists, are not exactly my thing. But, they are a convention staple. If I ran a convention, I would have more content based panels. But, not having autograph sessions would be foolish. (Not joke, at NEFE '09, people paid for the basic show and then paid another $50 to get in line for Nimoy's autograph. (I swear that I am not making this up.)

The comic and cartoon panels are the sort of things that conventions were initially built around. Honestly, if you are not going to these, there is no reason to bother going to the convention. (Before going to a larger show, I generally look at what the panels are going to be.

The HOF is a BotCon staple. Casino night? Uh, yeah, whatever...uh. But, hey, if it makes money and people like it....

By all accounts, the custom class is well worth it, assuming of course that you can get in.

The Hasbro panel is, in theory, a good chance for Q and A. But, that assumes that Hasbro wants to answer questions. More likely, it is just a chance to hear about toys that will be, or possibly have been, discussed at length on the internet.

Bumfuck Pennsylvania

I would like to make a weekend trip there. "I am off to Bumfuck with my friends from the forums." "Just another wild Bumfuck weekend." Hehehehehe, bum fuck.

Fuck that. If I want to wear a polo shirt and black slacks, I'll stay home and go to work.

They specify pants now? Damn, BotCon is way to corporate...


Dom
-bum fuck hahhahahahahahahahaheheheheheheheheahahahahahahaha. Sodomy.

Dominic wrote:

Bumfuck Pennsylvania

I would like to make a weekend trip there. "I am off to Bumfuck with my friends from the forums." "Just another wild Bumfuck weekend." Hehehehehe, bum fuck.

Isn't 'Bumfuck, State' just a general colloquialism that means 'middle of nowhere'? Dom, I am genuinely surprised you have never heard this before.

Dude, "middle of Bumfuck". Seriously. "Where are you going this weekend?" "I am goingt to Bumfuck with some of my friends."

Oh, my god, the can of worms that O6 opened.

Yes, I am familiar with the joke. You could say that I am familiar with....__________?


Dom
-eheheheheheheheheeeeeeeeeeee