Quezovercoatl's Super Doki-Doki Love-Love Botcon 2000 Report
Sunday, July 30th: And so Goodbye, Friend...
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Sunday was an interesting day, in that the dealer room was considerable emptied by the MST3K
showing going on at the same time. I was able to be a good little bunny and harass Japanese
dealers in their native tongue.
"Um, I think that guy over there wants to look at that... clear thing on the middle shelf."
I also got to watch as they held a Rock-Paper-Scissors tournament (which they wanted to call
"finger flashing"), where the champion would win the right to purchase the Japanese dealers'
merchandise!
The jolly Japanese Transformers dealers.
(My grandma thought they were Mongolians.)
Outside of the dealer room, I finally found the time to hang out with some of my nearest and dearest buddies. After an all-too-brief catching-up session, I was presented with a series of wonderful gifts, most of them flammable. I was also given a cute l'il Iceman (of X-men fame) figure, which seemed ultra-poseable and high-tech compared to my Firecon Brothers.
Artists and kitbashers scramble to write down their names and minimum auction bids.
(Actually taken on the 29th.)
I think this is when I went to examine the Art Room in further detail, and also explored the
Hartmans' sizeable collection of Transformer figures. The mind boggles, especially given that
most of these were boxed... leading one to wonder if these were the Hartmans' extra
figures.
While in the art room, I attempted to reconnoiter with e-mail pal and artist MCat. I'd spotted
her art earlier, but was unable to work up enough confidence to approach her directly.
Fortunately, she was kind enough to greet me, and we got to chat for a bit before going our
separate ways. Next year, I hope to be less shy...
Three of MCat's paintings.
The photo doesn't do them justice.
Lunch was eaten at Arby's. I think I had something strange, like deep-fried jalapenos, and I
spent the rest of the day convinced that I was hallucinating everything that happened. And
who knows? Maybe I was.
Most of our group scrambled to leave Arby's and attend the 3H panel, where the organizers of
Botcon would be available for comments, questions, and the Art Contest Awards Ceremony.
Fortunately (?) the Vince Di Cola panel was still ongoing when we got back to Botcon Central,
and we were treated to some lovely piano and synthesizer music.
Eventually came the 3H panel. There were a few embarassing questions, the usual "Headmaster
Arcee" request from the legendary Don Who Wants A Headmistress Arcee, and an intelligent
suggestion that questions should be screened before someone gets to stand up and make Transformer
fans look like jerks. There was also an awkward moment when Karl Hartman revealed that:
a) Only one of each prize for the Art Contest had been brought, despite there being several
categories
b) Certain categories had only the winning entry number listed, without the corresponding
artist number.
Fortunately, many artists had their entry numbers memorised. And (this had nothing to do with
luck, and everything to do with effort and artistry and hard work) SwiftEagle's Echowarrior
kitbash took Third Place in the 3D Art category!!
SwiftEagle's Echowarrior, now with William A. Rendfeld's autograph.
And so Botcon drew to a triumphant close. As the doors to the Dealer Room clanged shut, as the
various people came by to tidy up, the #wiigii! crew lingered, posing for photos in the fading
daylight and wistfully filling the air with impromptu Gregorian chanting and mournful cries of
"BYEEEEE!" as one by one, the Botcon attendees departed for their various parking spaces and
airports. Eventually, we were chased out of the convention area by the clean up crew.
Greatly reduced in number, we made our way to the Hotel Lobby, waved a sad farewell, and then
went to the nearest Taco Bell to round up some grub. All that "BYEEEEEE!"-ing can really work
up an appetite.
In Taco Bell, what remained of the #wiigii! group took up several tables and
did our best to be loud and obnoxious enough that nobody would notice the missing people. I
had some kind of bizarre deep-fried-donut-wrapped-around-a-taco food stuff, and entertained
a few people with my increasingly foggy memories of Beast Wars Neo and Beast Wars Metals.
Eventually, someone suggested that we go to a movie or a strip bar or some place where we
wouldn't be actively driving away customers. And so we departed from Taco Bell, as a few
tremulous raindrops began to fall.
As we passed by the driveway into the Arby's parking lot, someone remarked "Hey, what's that?", pointing at a mysterious pale object lying in a puddle.
A slightly light-washed picture of "that".
"That" turned out to be concept art for an Action Master Predaking. Someone in our group claimed
to have seen it on auction at Ebay for an exorbitant price. Fortunately for everyone involved,
it was heavily wrapped in plastic (thus the shiny spots on the photo) and there didn't seem to
be any water damage from the puddle it had been lying it. It was quickly decided that "that"
should be taken to someone, possibly one of the 3H folks, so that it could be directed back to
its owner.
And so we found ourselves speeding towards the Dealer Room (one of the few places easily
accessible from the outside). After proclaiming that we had something of importance, the entire
group managed to sneak into the rapidly-being-dismantled Dealer Room, where we saw many wonders
(and learned from a worker the dirty secret of 3H: "They don't really do anything.")
We were told that there was likely to be a Hartman in the Display Room, so onwards we trotted.
The reigning Hartman, Karl, boggled entertainingly for us as we snapped shots of him and "that".
A few people came forth with (conflicting) stories of who owned the art, and a few people tried
to claim the Hartmans' figures as rewards for bringing in the concept art. Alas, no reward was
forthcoming, and we were eventually pushed out into the lobby once more.
"That", as seen from the back.
The Rest Of #wiigii! held court in the hotel lobby for quite some time, taking photos of
suspected pimps and chatting up the gothy ladies and their (presumed) boyfriends. (Well, some of
us did, anyways.) A young man who was Not Microzone came by our group, and when it was revealed
that he did not know of MG Dinobot or the works of William A. Rendfeld, several #wiigii!
folks took it upon themselves to educate the neophyte on the wonderful wacky world of fanfics.
The gentleman eventually left, promising to drop by #wiigii! when he got the chance. (He later
did, under the name Schokwave. And after that one visit, we never saw him again...)
As most of us had to leave tomorrow morning, we quickly made arrangements as to when to meet, and bid each other goodnight for the nonce. For tomorrow would be a new day... with new adventures... and hopefully, new Actionmaster concept art.
After every weekend, a Monday must come.
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