BotCon 2014, My First BotCon

I may have not said it so explicitly, but…I am a fan of Transformers.

When my sister and I found out there was going to be a BotCon in Pasedena this year, we decided we would go during the General Admission days Saturday and Sunday. 

We’ve been fans of Transformers for one year.  June 2013 we started watching Transformer’s Prime.  Then September we started watching Transformers Armada.  Starting in mid-April we’ve caught several good episodes of the classic 1984 Transformers cartoon on its second season.  We love all of these shows.  We haven’t finished watching the entirety of all three of them, but we will.  We now have seen all three Michael Bay Transformers movies and are at this moment giddily looking forward to Transformers: Age of Extinction—no matter what others will say.  It’s Transformers.  Why not.

I think it’s safe to say we aren’t noobs to the franchise anymore.

So we went to the Pasedena BotCon 2014 at the Pasedena Convention Center.  We didn’t know what to look for—we aren’t collectors of the Transformers toys—so upon entering the Exhibit Hall, we were quite lost on what to do.  It is very different from going to an anime convention.  The majority of items sold and displayed there is the Transformers toys, but there were other cool things too.  There were artists who displayed and sold their fan art.  There was a Transformers Art competition.  IDW Publishing was selling their Transformers comic books at their booth. The writers and artists of The Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye and The Transformers: Robots In Disguise attended the Exhibit hall and sat at tables for fans to meet them and possibly buy their artwork.  James Roberts (writer of The Transformers: MTMTE) and John Barber (writer of The Transformers: RID) were there.  A video game demo was set up for Transformers Universe (the designs of the characters are reminiscent of Transformers Prime).

The panels were held at the Conference Rooms at another building within the Pasedena Convention Center.  Sis and I went to several of the panels in the course of the two General Admission days at BotCon.  It didn’t leave a whole lot of time to absorb everything that was in the Exhibit Hall.  We needed to eat and use the restroom too; if we wanted to enjoy ourselves, we needed to take care of ourselves too, and at least drink water and eat a snack if not a lunch. 

My personal favorite panel at BotCon was “James Roberts: Storyteller.”  I absolutely love the TF:MTMTE comic books; it was such a treat to hear him tell his fans about what was behind the scenes in creating the story for the comic book. There was a nice long Q and A session. Unfortunately I came up with a question to ask soon after the panel was finished.  And we didn’t get to meet him in person.  But it was so awesome just to be in the same room as James Roberts and hear him talk about his work.


We took pictures of some cosplayers (Sis took most of those—I took a couple myself), got to chat a bit with a couple of comic book artists, and we were even lucky get our copy of the Transformers: Dark Cybertron comic book volumes 1 and 2, before they ran out. This way we get more of TF: MTMTE and are introduced to TF: RID.  Maybe we might get into that and start reading TF:RID from the beginning sometime later.  Sis and I just finished Volume 5 of The Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye and…well, we want to continue reading it.  At the risk of meaning we’d lose our favorite characters further in the story.  The stories in this comic book can be so heartbreaking sometimes.  I have a few favorite characters I don’t want to see killed off, as well as plenty of characters that are not necessarily my favorite but are cool to appear every once in a while.

FAVORITES:

*Rung

*Drift

*Skids

*Fortress Maximus

*Tailgate

*And maybe Rodimus.

I’d regret if I didn’t go to this year’s BotCon.  We owed it to ourselves as newish Transformers fans to be introduced into the world that is—well, for us, just nice toys to look at, but also the beautiful artwork and storytelling that goes into the franchise as a whole.

Watching TRANSFORMERS PRIME, even though I am an adult

About my favorite Autobot: Bumblebee

 

My favorite Transformer is Bumblebee.  It’s an adorable name for a Transformer robot.  I knew about Bumblebee for a while but I didn’t know much about his backstory or personality until watching Transformers Prime on the Hub.  He’s such a robot-y robot.  While the other Autobots can speak verbally, Bumblebee makes buzzing beep sounds.  This has to do with the loss of his voice box in the past.  I was like, awww, poor Bumblebee :’(  So I love him even more because after learning about that and listening to the buzz/beeps he makes for communication, I can tell how he’s feeling; curious, explanatory, angry,  annoyed, saddened.  And the other Autobots (and the humans who stay with them in their headquarters) understand exactly what he is saying, like Kenny from South Park!  His name also matches his color scheme on his armor.

     I’d like to think he is the kid brother of the Autobots.  He is sort of in the middle in terms of size (with leader Optimus Prime being the largest) but his personality makes him seem more kid-like.  As a matter of fact, he may even seem immature and defy authority, especially demonstrated in the two-part episode “Operation Bumblebee.”  The episode titled  “Operation Bumblebee”  features Bumblebee as a major character in that storyline.  If you want to read my summary of the episode, you may read on.

In the first part of the episode, Bumblebee’s T-Cog is stolen, and without the ability to transform into a vehicle, he is in danger of revealing the Autobots, so he is ordered to stay in the HQ.  But he feels useless and wants to make himself useful, even if it means trying to get his T-Cog back himself.  He has a strong spirit—a strong “spark”, as the Transformers call it—that shows his determination to reach his goal, whether it’s personal or for others.

I have not seen the entire series of Transformers Prime yet.  I only have caught a few episodes from season 2 for one week, but my sister immediately fell in love with the show and bought the DVDs of the first two seasons.  We are a little over half done with watching the first season.  I definitely look forward to watching them.

Transformers Prime is not just for kids; the storyline is sophisticated enough that adults can enjoy the show too.  There are interesting character relationships and complex storylines that I don't think children can appreciate as much as they watch it for the action. 

Please check this TV show out!  Season 3 is airing on the Hub now, but the DVDs of seasons 1 and 2 are each around $20 if you'd like to enjoy it anytime and watch it from the beginning.  There is commentary included with some episodes, too!