BotCon 2016 Recap Review

I'm Stan Bush and it's your time to listen to

All Things Transformers. You're listening to

All Things Transformers version 2 .0. Well folks,

it's actually All Things Transformers version

3 .0 at this point. Apparently we don't have

a current 3 .0 theme song for All Things Transformers.

I am TFG1Mike and April 7th to the 10th, this

year 2016, was the last, the final. It's Kaput

BotCon here in Louisville, Kentucky. So what

you're going to hear in this episode of All Things

Transformers is myself and Lady Rek. myself and

Joe Reed and myself and Optobotamus Me give getting

them and giving them that you know the chance

to give me their perspective on the final BotCon

official Transformers convention and of course

News articles have popped up that next year according

to right now Hasbro has filed a trademark for

the term has con So we'll have to see what what

that's all about. But without any further ado

Join myself and Lenny rec here inside all things

transformers version 3 .0 episode 53 the tri

-predicus council bah Arrogant fools. They do

not speak for me or any of my fellow. Well, I

guess you can call us Predacons These three generals

see clamp ram horn Circadacon, they will not

stand between me and my rightful place as heir

to the Decepticon Empire. Oh, they have their

supporters, their covert agents, their secret

police force, but it makes no matter. It will

be me who rules, and no Cybertronian shall stand

in my way! The Dawn of the Predacus? Do they

really think I'm one to be upstaged? Oh no. You

see, for this shall be the rise of Megatron!

Yes. Come see me and my fellow Predacons at BotCon

2016 in Louisville, Kentucky, April 7th through

April 10th. Visit BotCon .com for all the details.

Yes. Oh my gosh! This is so great! All right,

ladies and gentlemen, BotCon 2016 is over. Everybody

has packed up their tables and booths and panels

and all that good stuff and everything else.

I am one of your hosts, TF2, and Mike. Joining

me in person is the lady wrecker self, hello.

Woo! Hello, hello, hello. This is just so weird.

This is just so weird, folks. All right, so BotCon

2016 was here in Louisville, Kentucky. Amy and

I hung out. We went to the Stan Bush Vince Dakota

concert. You're going to hear some other people.

Hopefully, I'll have to get them on Skype at

some point or another because they're probably

already left town by now. uh... this is basically

telling about on recap reaction kind of thing

and what were you hoping for before you came

here as far as this year's book on sick considering

this is fun pubs last bot com what i was hoping

for uh... Well, I was definitely looking forward

to hanging out with the artists in Artist Alley,

which I did. I hung out with, just went and talked

with different people, and some that I haven't

had a chance to really talk with, like Brendan

Cahill. I haven't really had a chance to sit

down and talk with him all that much. You guys

never interviewed him on the internet, did you?

No, no, that was the thing, and I did bring that

up with him. And I said, hey, we need to get

you on at some point. So I definitely want to

do that. I also got to meet Brian Shearer, which

he's the anchor on. Well, he's inked on both

actually just various different things, but I

know that Alex has said that he's really really

been okay with most of the inks that he does

and all that so I've been following him on Twitter

since like oh, I don't remember how long but

He is good. He's an artist all his own. I had

him He did a commission for me. So I was like

An original branch here, but he's also been doing

on William the last it's a creator owned IP that

he's done and I also signed up for something

like that last year So I'm gonna be getting a

book an original book from him soon soon So but

yeah, it was that my expectations was just to

hang out with the with the artists and you know

Just hang out with them because I haven't done

that for a while. And I've been so out of it

just because I haven't been doing anything with

the interface. Well, because last year you didn't

go, right? You didn't go to BotCon last year.

Yeah, I didn't go to BotCon last year because

I had a little baby. He was like a three -month

-old baby. Younger than that, I think. Yeah,

he's 15 months now, right? Yeah. He's got to

be 15 months or he is? He's 15 months now. He's

15 months now, so yeah. 15 months in a couple

days, so. Yeah, that's um... It's kind of hard

to take a three -month -old to block out. Well,

I didn't even venture out with him until he was

like four or five months old. Even then, I was

still on baby time. There's no way I would have

been able to do that. Even if you dressed him

up as a little tailgate, that wouldn't have worked.

I would not have been able to spend any time

I would be like an hour here go back and give

him a nap and sleep on his time too and then

go back for another hour like you know it's not

worth my while to do that. It would have been

so painful but anyhow yeah so that I was just

looking forward to hanging out with everybody.

We got to do that at the convention and then

after in the bar. So that was my expectation.

So yeah. What panels did you go to? Did you go

to any of the panels? Sadly I didn't. To a few.

They went to a few. Well, because IDW wasn't

there this year. They're out at ECC. They're

out at Emerald City up in Seattle this year.

Yeah, their presence usually is mostly when they

have it in California. But the only presence

that they had, I'd say, was the artists. A lot

of the artists were there. But I mean, like,

there was no IDW panel, there was no upcoming,

like, because they're out at Emerald City Comic

Con right now. Not unless the Hasbro group. You

know tease some stuff about it. They are doing

something this Titans return theme. Yeah, which

I'm I didn't see the panel that did that because

like I I needed a break so I chose my mental

health Going to the BotCon. Yeah, I'm sorry,

but you know Everybody have a different perspective.

So there you go. That's true. You did attend

to the Botcom through the years panel though,

what was that like? I did, I did. Well, apparently

they did more of a, kind of a, you know, it's

their last, this is the end thing at the Collectors

Club panel. And some people said that they were

kind of getting choked up and stuff like that.

So that was more of a, you know, farewell. But

this one, they wanted to show some pictures and

stuff. Where it started and where it went. And

then they had, they did this, they did the same

thing at the... Like two Pat Botcones ago that

I know of, they had everybody in the room stand

up and said, okay, those of you that have been

here for two years or more keep standing. And

three years or more, five years or more, and

then it got all the way down to the last. And

22 years, there were only six guys left standing.

And so for those six, he made a ball, like a

ball shirt. You know like that they have yeah

Botcon on it. Yeah, and it's a 22 on the back

instead of having like individual numbers Oh,

I got like a baseball jersey. Yeah Jersey, that's

what I was trying to say and he gave all All

six that were left standing and then he also

had one himself because he's been there that

long too. So they all got Jersey's and so it

was really cool to see that because it's like

I was very very impressed when they did that

the last time And so this time they they did

it again. I really like that. I really like that

and they just they Brian got out some pictures

you guys photo album out They were just gonna

video it and then they were gonna like put it

like scan it in and then put it up on the screen

But they didn't have enough time to do that So

they just he basically had a video camera that

was hooked up to a tele like a television closed

circuit circuit thing where it was like showing

a picture and he put the pictures in front of

the video and started showing pictures of bot

cons of days of past. And it was really fun to

see a younger Brian and a younger Pete and a

lot of other people, including Carl. That was

fun. That was really great. And of course he

got, you know, the screen time was... where you're

upstaged by one of the guys making faces, so

it was really great. That was the entertainment.

I was like, yeah, see, we don't have to script

this. We got our own entertainment right here.

Got to see a close -up of Brian's head, which

I wasn't really wanting to see, but that's okay.

He's losing the hair 22 years worth of dealing

with this fandom Pulling his hair out It's kind

of like Dr. Scratchensniff with the Warners very

first episode of Animaniacs They talk about how

he did all this stuff with all the other celebrities

and everything else, and when he got to the Warner

Brothers and the Warner Sisters, he just ended

up pulling all three giant clumps of hair out

and ended up bald. But yeah, no, I didn't get

a chance to go to the actual convention this

year, but the one cool thing for me that was

happening was the Stan Bush and Vince DiColo

concert, and we went to that Friday night, and

that was better than I... Even though the weather

didn't exactly hold up till... Well, it held

up till about the end of the thing. And it was

really cool that that happened because I thought

it was cold and blowing earlier in the day and

raining. And then we got there and I said, hey,

if it gets cold, I'm going to go into one of

the restaurants and you can listen to it because

I'm like, I don't want to freeze my butt off.

And we got there and then we're all like, we

were, everybody was not like huddled together,

but we're close enough that you could kind of

feel the heat and everybody there. And it was

great to see that the weather actually behaved.

It was like, wow, you know, this is, I thought

this was going to be a whole lot worse than it

was. And then it was great until the last song.

And then they finished up the last song and then

we... Yeah, yeah the wind picked up we'll see

for people that don't know what we're talking

about here But the bod con concert was at the

Louisville, Kentucky 4th Street live entertainment

complex And it's basically outside But it really

isn't outside because there's this giant glass

enclosure that encloses where the stage is and

stuff like that So it's like an open shopping

area. Yeah. Yeah, pretty much They they they

do close it off to traffic and that kind of stuff

stuff. You know, so that's BotCon. Did you get

to meet anybody? Did you see David Kay and all

them people? Oh, I saw them up on stage, but

then I went out afterwards. I got to meet Aaron

Archer finally, and I have never met him. I went

up and said hi to Venus and got an autograph

from her. I've seen her back at TF con Toronto

a couple years back so it would I you know she

of course didn't remember me because she sees

lots of people and I wasn't expecting her to

at all but I also saw Greg burger and Got an

autograph from him as well. And yeah, so I did

get I get I got all of the the Regular regular

people that were easy to you know that are there

that you don't have to pay extra for and then

I did Pay for the jet not Judd Nelson extra Autograph

photograph things so I've got that that was that

was pretty fun. He was fun. Oh my gosh Okay,

you think that the dude that played Rodimus would

be like you know come in there all manicured

and perfect and stuff like that. It was like

Randy Savage came back to life. So he looks like

he's been off on a walkabout. Living in the rough

life somewhere under some rock somewhere like

communing with the universe the simple life with

hot rod Okay, all right if James gets wind of

this and then writes like a futuristic version

of hot rod Doing something similar But the cool

thing is when I went to his panel I did go to

his panel there was another I guess, you know,

because he's never been to any conventions. This

is his first. He didn't realize just how much

Transformers was a theme. This is the same thing

that Frank Walker said. I mean, Frank Walker

knew, but Frank Walker, before it was at last

year's BotCon, I think, that, you know, he basically

said that Frank Walker's a guy that likes his

privacy, which he's more than entitled. I mean,

the man has, you know, decades upon decades upon

decades of voice acting under the man's, under

his belt, so. That's the same thing he said by

the end of it. He was like, I want to do more

of them. I think if they realize just how much

of an effect it has on people, I think anybody

that we have that is not up in front of the audience

would be just thoroughly amazed at the outreach

and the love and the feels and all of that. Good

feels. Not the evil emperor James Roberts feels,

people. But yeah, no, I mean, and for me also,

Judd Nelson, you know, majority of it is he represents

Hot Rod Rodimus from the movie, but it's friggin'

Bender from Breakfast Club. I mean, you know,

it's, you know. So he's done other stuff so oh

absolutely I saw I'm one of these People and

I can't believe I'm about to admit this on a

Transformers podcast But I'm one of these people

that at Christmas time I will find the most cheesy

Christmas like Hallmark kind of movies things

He wasn't Santa he what was he he played some

Judd played something recently in last couple

of years That was like essentially like a Christmas

movie, and I was like oh wow The picture that

BotCon has of him they used for the promotion

for the website yeah to me He looks like a younger

thinner more more intelligent less less less

Cone -over version of Donald Trump because they

have this picture of him on there where he's

like at this boardroom table with his hands on

the edge of the table and it's like Are you ready

to get in the boardroom? I'm like, oh my god,

so Alright folks that's gonna wrap it up for

Lady Rex Impressions of BotCon 2016 the the final

fun pub BotCon We'll be back with somebody else

talking BotCon here in a bit on all things transformers

All right folks continuing on in the all things

transformers BotCon 2016 the final BotCon from

under fun pub We have Joe Reed here from off

the cuff and the pull bag and geek stuff garage

cast and All the other stuff that he does all

sorts of other things. Yes all sorts of other

things So you're here in my town. Yes on April

7th to 10th 2016 uh... we actually for the first

time at the stand was called indian it was uh...

i'd the whole time i know you're i'm leading

up to a like i'm going to meet mike i'm gonna

get to meet mike and what i find that he was

like no this is a letdown i feel like i've already

known you for like three years we've hung out

all the time just because i mean it was totally

like just normal so just look at the beach where

the back of the room but but but but all that's

pretty much what it is here to be true local

police i could i could Beard you under the table,

I have. I have many pictures, there's no way

you could outbeard me. Yeah, I, uh... Facial

manscaping everyone, so I gotta, I gotta shave

my neck, it's driving me nuts. Anyway, a BotCon?

Usually, yeah, yeah, usually I have to have a

lawnmower taken to my face, but anyway. So BotCon

2016 happened, it is the... Was the final BotCon

under Fun Pub? uh... and brian savage and people

think they're all that stuff those guys are in

uh... the but on a joke on all that stuff uh...

so do you know those guys are uh... i've interviewed

in the level i've never never interview one of

them uh... i know people who know them I know

people who talk to them on a semi -regular basis,

but I've never met Brian Savage or Pete Sinclair.

Pete seems to be a pretty cool guy, but he seems

to also be that super in -depth PR guy where

it's like, hey, if we need promotion, we'll promote,

but if we don't want to say anything, you ain't

hearing nothing from us. I just wondered, because

I wonder what they'd have to say about this being

the final BotCon. There was an error of slightly

being uncomfortable there at the con. there'd

be jokes made both by the presenters who work

for BotCon saying things like so next year we'll

try to have and then he'd like uncomfortably

look around the room he knew he was saying it

he knew what he was up to but uh yeah next time

we'll fix this problem and uncomfortable stare

and and you know that the attendees are making

the same kind of jokes like i can't wait for

next year and then the realization hits them

oh yeah so you came into town what was your original

plan for the convention itself when you were

actually going to go. Did you just want to go

see the displays? Did you want to go see the

panels? What was your plan when you came into

town? Well, the main thing that I ended up doing

at BotCon was the vendor hall. having that many

people there selling cool stuff for good prices

is too much for me to really kind of get. Last

year was my first BotCon. This year is my last

BotCon. And so last year I went and I was kind

of like, yeah, I don't know. And my friend who

dragged me across the state and made me buy the

giant $400 box set so you get the admission,

it started to get worried. Like, oh my God, what

did I do? Did I drag him to do something he's

going to be miserable at? Oh no. At that first

botcon, we had Kojin Ono who invented the concept

of a transforming vehicle to a robot. And when

he talked, it was like my eyes exploded, my brain,

rainbows shot out, and Transformers symbols came

out of my nipples. It was great. And so this

con, knowing that I was going to enjoy it as

much as I did that first one, kind of not expecting

to, and then boom, I'm just excited to come down

to this one. Voice actors, if you got the right

person, I'd be super excited to see. Judd Nelson,

yeah, he's not really a Transformers guy. He

was the celebrity they got on the movie. Greg

Berger, you know, okay, I was never a giant Grimlock

fan, but it's still cool that he can do the voice

of... Plus, he's done so many other... I mean,

he's the voice of Odie from Garfield. He was,

uh, he was... Ripped? Was it ripped? What's it...

He's one of the Spyros... friends from the Spire

of the Dragon series. God, I forget what that

guy's name is, but anyway. But yeah, I mean,

he's done a lot of stuff, and he's a pretty cool

guy. I have interviewed him before, and he's

pretty awesome. He is awesome. You get some of

the voice actors last year that you can kind

of tell they were uncomfortable by us nerds,

but he was just diving right in and participating,

so he got into it. Venus Terzo was excited to

be there, and the voice of Blackarachnia, and

I'm sure many other things. The creepy thing

about her, and my son and I have just started

watching Beast Wars recently, so I had her voice

in my head. I could hear, while in line for autographs,

I could hear her talk, but it wasn't until she

laughed that, like, your skin crawled, and you

kind of like, ooh, slimy. Because her laugh is

Blackarachnia's laugh, and it's like the same.

The voice isn't, you know, she has to put her

voice there, but the laugh was the same. So that

was kind of a neat thing and getting to talk

to her. But David Kay, I think was who I was

most excited for. And everybody talked up his

Megatron. But for me and my son, it's Transformers

animated Optimus Prime. And I had him sign a

sealed Optimus Prime action figure to Oliver,

to my son. And so that'll that'll kind of be

a memento. Yeah, David's there are a few of the

people. voice actors that have been in the Transformers

fandom for years and the Transformers franchise

for years that they'll just show up. I mean,

they'll just come to have a good time. I'm sure

there's behind -the -scenes stuff with getting

them there and all that stuff But when they come

to the place it's like in David K's case because

what we've interviewed him a couple of times

He has said he'll just come to have fun and that's

that's pretty much what he does Judd was a pretty

cool get considering. This is the 30th anniversary

year of the movie So that that was pretty cool.

I just Me personally, unless I was actually going

or unless I was actually there, I just don't

like the whole golden ticket thing. Oh, no. The

only thing that I'm just not like. If you're

going to have a convention, have all the guests

be available to everybody, not just those who

can pay you extra money. Anyway, the golden ticket

is something different and to I don't. in the

lines of those golden tickets and Primus packages

and I don't even know if the golden ticket got

Judd Nelson access because Judd Nelson access

is extra for me. Right, that's what I'm saying,

the golden ticket stuff. The way they said it

last year with Frank, with Frank Welker was,

there's a $200 package you can add in for Frank

Welker. And I could have sworn they advertised

that as the golden ticket item. So I could be

wrong. I honestly don't remember. I just know

that Judd and Frank were both an extra cost.

in addition to, and you're talking about people

that fly in from all, you know, it doesn't matter

where the convention can be held in Massachusetts,

in Kentucky, in Calais, at some point somebody's

gonna have to fly in for a convention. So you're

looking at airfare, you're looking at hotel,

or. Shipping your swag back if you buy stuff.

Yep, yep. Buying all the stuff you wanna get

if you wanna buy stuff. Plus the convention costs,

it's just. Yeah. So, you guys came in, you're

mainly looking at the dealer room, but what else

did you guys experience? So, yeah, we did the

voice actors, we did the voice actor panel with

the three of them, we did the panel reading with

Judd Nelson and everybody, they went through

the script together, kind of tying Beast Wars

into G1, I don't know, some fan wrote it, it

was actually really good, and Judd Nelson looks

like Alan Moore to me. He's just like, I don't

care about my hair anymore. And it's this big.

frizzy fro. We did the casino night which was

weird. The botcom thing, if you buy the big ticket,

you get in and they feed you dinner, you dress

up, and they had this big event last year where

Frank Walker came and talked a little bit. They

gave him the lifetime achievement award and this

year they did the casino night which was weird.

Okay, hey it's a casino thing. You bid this fake

money, they give you fake money, and eventually

there's an auction at the end with the fake money

that you can win at the casino. My friend and

I combined our money and tried as hard as we

could because we don't know how to do any of

the poker games and Ended up not being able to

bid on anything because it was like yes a billion

dollars I'll take a billion dollars for that

piece of crap thing because I have money and

so we didn't get any cool but the highlight I

I guess two highlights for me the big punctuations

On the event were First was on the last day on

Sunday I look over at where they have the signature

things and I see, hey, wait, that's Aaron Archer,

the designer of the movie line and the alternators

spinal tech line. That dude's a celebrity designer.

I like that guy. And I'm walking around to the

booths and I didn't have my alternators with

me. I should have brought one. I didn't know

he was going to be there. Ben, my friend says,

hey, look, there's a smoke screen. which is my

favorite car. When I have a midlife crisis, it's

going to be to buy a Subaru Impreza because of

the smoke screen action figure. And I'm going

to do the whole Subaru decals up the side. Anyway,

he finds it. I talk the guy down to 30 bucks

for this vinyl tech, this shiny, beautiful diecast

thing, and I go to get in line for this autograph,

and the BotCon dude says, even though it's got

15 minutes left and the line is nearly gone,

he says, oh, I'm sorry, we gotta cut it off,

they need to get on a plane. Like, oh, you're

kidding me. So I'm kind of like pacing around

all grumpy, because I just spent 30 bucks on

this vinyl tech that I didn't really need. And

I go back to my buddy Ben and he says, well,

dude, he's just standing there, go over there.

So oh, I don't want to bother him. They need

to get out of here. Just just go stand over there

So I take his advice I go stand over there and

and people are coming up to him and talking to

him and he's not on the rush out so like hey

sweet, okay, and I kind of wander around the

body language signal that hey, I want to talk

to you and yes on his way up is hey thanks i

know you're trying to get out of here and do

your hotel room and come back down and spend

some time at the show could you put your and

he signed my vinyl tech erin archer so now i

have that sitting on my shelf here uh that was

that was one of the big um punctuation marks

for me um and now i said now i said two And for

the life of me, I can't remember the other one.

But my son is five and he sent me there on a

mission to find the Skylinks combiner and bring

home Devastator. So I bought the giant Devastator.

And Monday night after I got home from the con,

he and I had a giant combiner wars war in the

living room. I'll get you Devastator. No back.

And that was kind of another little highlight

for me just to have all the all the other thing

of his optimus Dino bots destroy Devastate the

big rib lock love a challenge as he's biting

his ankle You know, Slag is the only one that

actually got in a good shot on Devastator in

the movie. I need to sit down and watch that

movie with Oliver, because I think he's old enough

now to really understand that Optimus Prime died.

But of course, he dies in Prime, and Oliver kind

of dies in Prime. Oliver's seen that. I don't

know if watching the animated movie would, if

he would weep like I wept. How much of the how

much of the g1 show has he seen already quite

a bit? I mean, we're not watching in order or

anything, but oh, hey Oliver Do you know who

the combaticons are? No, so I go queue up, you

know, whatever episode they're on. We'll watch

it You haven't shown him Dark Awakening or the

return of Optimus Prime. No, he has not seen

anything He saw one episode with skylinks later

because he wanted to know who skylinks was but

he hasn't seen the return of Optimus Prime in

any form in those Have him watch the movie. Yep.

Have him watch Dark Awakening because that's

gonna freak him out even more. That's horrible.

The zombie prime comes back. And then have him

watch the return of Optimus Prime. I haven't

seen that one to know exactly what happens. I

know he eventually comes back because he comes

back as a power master eventually. Well, see

that that's a that's a strange. It did happen,

but it doesn't happen the way you think it does.

The Power Master Optimus, that was just part

of the gimmick of breaking up the movie into

five days where Peter Cullen voiced this oversized.

I remember that. Prime and he's talking to this

kid named Tommy and he's basically It's basically

like story time with cup except it's story time

with optimists And he's basically telling Tommy

the story and then they unfold it as far as what

that's how they broke up the movie for syndication

I remember seeing that but basically Well, I

don't want to give it away for you basically

he has to He has to come back because he has

to save the world from a certain place. So But

yeah, no, it's a it's a pretty awesome one and

I really as scarring as dark awakening is zombie

prime That really isn't his fault because the

quintessence were controlling him. That was their

fault. I'm not here So I really don't I kind

of push it but yeah Yeah, I don't know. I mean,

I don't know how much of an effect it like I

know for me at Think I saw the movie when I was

seven because I know I didn't see it in theaters

and it hit videocassette like a year later It

was 87 or so. So I know when I saw the movie

I was watching the show as it was going on and

syndication and reasons and all that stuff So

I had seen multiple episodes multiple times and

I got to the movie and I'm like wait what? Seven

-year -old me just balls out. I was crying. I

thought that was 30. So, you know, it was 30

you know, 30 years ago now and everything else,

but it's just one of those things where you just

don't expect that to happen. Yeah. And as 30

years ago, when, you know, we're six and seven

years old, we had no concept of time to know

that we just watch an earlier episode and he's

alive again. He at that was like killing grandma

for us. Yeah, pretty much. I mean, I remember

bawling at that and I associated not the score.

over the death of optimus prime but i associated

you've got the touch with the death of optimus

prime so that song for me for years would just

trigger immense sadness yeah yeah thank you stan

bush for ruining our child no just just kidding

stan but that and that was that was another cool

thing you know that that song for years has like

put me in a crappy mood because but but Hearing

Stan Bush and Vince Dakota play live and Stan

comes on with this you've got the touch thing

to close the concert out that Changed the bat

that song for me now. It is the song that will

take me back to how awesome BotCon is So I feel

a lot better about the song now having met Stan

Bush having gone to that concert with you and

Perform it live. That was neat The concert was

just amazing. It really really was The other

awesome thing, this is the other thing that punctuates

my afternoon at BotCon, my days at BotCon, was

talking to the Hasbro people. Hasbro sets up

a booth, and it's the same booth that we saw

in videos from a toy show a couple of weeks,

months ago. But, you know, it's neat to see the

new figures, and I got excited about the new

brainstorm, I got excited about the new Power

Master, well, it's a Headmaster that looks like

a Power Master Prime, and the Galvatron, and,

you know, I don't need to say spend that much

money to get Fortress Maximus. I had that as

a kid, don't need it again. But I got to talking

to some of the guys and I got to ask them the

questions that I've always wanted to ask. Like

what type of paint do you guys use because the

stuff that I get to paint and customize just

peels right off. And so, oh no, it's sprayed

on, it's baked on, it's just, it's this or that,

but that's why it's so durable because of how

it's applied. Hey, thanks for answering that

question. Then I got to talk to a guy and I wish

I knew his name, Mark. Is his first name and

and he's the guy who does the paint apps He decides

where the colors are and how much time they spend

on him and he he'll want to put on this many

paint apps But then it goes to a committee meeting

they'll come back No, you've got to get that

down by 25 % because it'll cost too much and

he's the guy fighting for us to make our figures

look good But, you know, I was asking him all

sorts of questions about how these things are

developed, and I could read it in his face that

he was really excited to talk about the boring

parts of his job, which I was perfectly content

to listen to, because I'm sure that all weekend,

you know, he has people coming up, how come they

killed this guy off in this episode? And these

guys have no clue what's going on there. You

know, drawing pictures of toys that we'll see

in three years and talking about them in meetings

with Japanese people. Well, that's the thing

with, well, back in the day, Hasbro is the end

-all be -all, obviously when it comes to their

brands, because they're the ones that have to

figure all this stuff out. I remember David Wise

was telling us a few years ago when we interviewed

him, he said that - What's his role? David Wise,

he was a story writer on G1. Okay. He basically

said that they had to rebirth the quote unquote

series finale where they do nebulous and all

that stuff and you meet. fort max in score but

i can all that with the three part of it is the

series originally i was supposed to be a five

-parter he said they you know they had to cut

it down and then has grossed oh yeah you also

need to include this this this and this and this

basically they had to put in they had to cut

out two other half -hour episodes make it into

a three -parter and introduce one hundred twenty

new characters for all hundreds of other characters

you know It's it's neat to see and you think

the Hasbro guys will talk about their their brand

and how they're trying to keep it consistent

And I'm glad that that doesn't happen like that

anymore that one's not a slave to the other That

they're all working kind of in unison and I appreciate

that But I'm looking at my masterpiece 10 optimus

prime which mark. I gosh. I hope that's his name

mark I have his business card upstairs. He gave

me his personal business card. That was really

cool But he says he's responsible for painting

the buttplate on optimus prime red That he went

through the movie frame by frame, and that's

the figure that he Kind of feels the most ownership

over kind of interesting these guys they don't

work in unison They work with so many other people

that they'll only have a part of this figure

a part of that figure They'll have the overall

design on that but then it goes to other people

that was kind of fascinating to hear him talk

about that process that of Masterpiece prime

which the dude did the paint apps for but the

only part that he feels ownership for is that

red buttplate Really really neat, but you see

he says that the designs will get done here It'll

get shipped off to Takara. They make the molds,

they start producing them. They'll send them

back a gray prototype, which this guy that I

talked to, Mark, is the guy who dismantles them

and paints it up to make it what the production

toy will look like, and then that goes to meetings.

They'll say, nope, let's paint apps. Comes back,

takes it apart again, strips it, paints it again

with the new layout, and eventually they'll get

the one that they send back to Takara for building

the actual die from the actual... colored pieces

from Awesome very cool. So that was another highlight

getting to make those guys day asking them technical

questions about designing these things Yeah,

I'm gonna have to go back and look at the pictures

of that Galvatron because I think I only saw

him in robot mode As long as he turns into a

can and that's all yeah, he'd say it's it's really

really in the spirit of the old toy Really well

done That's that's good. Oh that old toy all

those old toys. Oh my god Galvatron was so out

of scale Back when they didn't care about scale.

Let's just make it a toy Well, I think they were

probably scaling it to be a gun and then just

whatever and they had to go with it Yep Alright,

so you've been the two bod cons. Are you ever

gonna go to any of the North American TF con

shows TF con has I think they have a show in

Chicago this year and they have a show Toronto

in the middle of the summer. Yeah, I Would probably

won't do that when Jenny mentioned like oh, yeah

Toronto, but you know that involves getting at

least a modified driver's licenses for Michigan

if not passports, but Our modified licenses will

do it that just seems like a bit crazy. Although

our dollar is strong compared to theirs So it'd

be a good it'd be good value wise, but i'm gonna

I think i'm gonna try to get to the chicago one

Yeah, just to see and I don't know what the energy

is going to be like I think you know, they kept

talking about fun pub lost the license That's

the line that kept getting spoken about with

it. And when I hear that I think Hasbro just

didn't like the long lines the kind of disorganized

nature of it the the expense of it You know how

much you they they wrangle you into buying that

$400 box set to get access to the things and

I don't you know Maybe they didn't like that.

I don't know because Hasbro only made licensing

off that they weren't making the money on the

toys So when I hear lost the license that doesn't

sound like oops, we forgot to renew it That sounds

like Hasbro decided they wanted to take it away

you know and I love that but all of that being

said and I go to a lot of conventions mostly

comic book conventions board game conventions

sci -fi conventions but BotCon is the best convention

I have ever been to I can deal with the lines

but The the vendor booths are just so specific

and directed, you know, I have to hit every single

one of them It's not like comic -con where I

can skip two -thirds of them The guests are amazing.

The panels are amazing the access they give you

to the developers and the voice talent is Incredible

and it's not so big as Motor City comic -con

where you don't really get any kind of access

to anything really Bot cons the best con that

I've ever been to so I'm interested in seeing

what TF con Looks like or whatever comes after

botcon. Yeah, I do know that Somebody there they've

been rumblings that Hasbro is gonna do their

own convention next year Yeah, who knows what

that's gonna be I just I hope it's not all Hasbro

bands together because I don't I don't want a

joke on TF Con Transformers convention and pony

convention all together that will be a wreck

a train wreck a mess and they would need like

a hundred thousand square feet of space to put

all of just those three fandoms in all of our

and all those three fandoms really kind of don't

like each other you know i like it was like sega

or nintendo it was transformers or gi joe maybe

your rich friend had both but you had to pick

one when i was a kid my cousin liked gi joe and

didn't have any transformers so I hope so I hope

I hope it stays its own thing just because that

laser focus is definitely what makes back on

so awesome Alright folks, we're gonna get to

one final BotCon recap reaction this time from

up to bottom as he was out there BotCon this

year as well He did a whole bunch of stuff. So

we'll get his his impressions of the show after

this No, by Primus, no! Whoa, the Ark. Oh, brother,

we're in for it now. Excellent. Keep them busy,

Blackeradea. Yes. Where are you going? I shall

affect them all. permanent solution. We have

to get Megatron out of there! Everything that

is the existence of the entire universe depends

on it! You got it, big bot! cast construction

it's a lost art i don't know what the fuck that

is you what are you you're terra sore you go

there are you terra sore too yes you are terra

sore was not i'm talking to myself oh wait no

terra sore was there you're not recording in

this are you Are you kidding me? I got 11 and

a half minutes of awesome. I believe you do.

I had, I had a feeling. I, I just, I had a feeling.

Alright, there's that, there's that, there's

that. Alright, fuck. Alright, here, we're good,

and I'm done. BotCon 2016, what do you wanna

know? Alright folks, this is our third and final

BotCon 2016 reaction. I am of course, Steve,

you and Mike. And joining me is Optobotavis.

Hello, sir. Hello! Hello, hello. How are you?

I am well. I am well. And I think it's only fair

that we start off with the first thing that happened

to me at BotCon after I went to a certain event.

Asshole, you didn't tell me you came down for

the concert. Well, here's the thing. I was there,

but I went to BotCon knowing that this was going

to be the last BotCon. Well, no, but nobody really

knew but all the we all know by I know I know

it wasn't about by a week before the event We

all knew the end was nigh for fun. No, I know

I know I know I know but what I'm saying it was

there was no official announcement for it and

when when Packages went on sale Several months

ago and things like that. It was there was no

It wasn't even it wasn't clearer then it became

clearer as the event got closer, but now you

got to imagine Three four months ago, maybe even

maybe no. Yeah about four months ago. It was

when I think Registration went up. We weren't

sure and there were rumblings there were signs

that were pointing in that direction that was

going to be close such as Them saying that all

collector club memberships expire in 2017, well,

specifically like December 31st at 1159 PM or

something like that. All of them expire when

the registration information went up. There was

no mention of a BotCon tradition of sorts in

the fact that the very last day of BotCon, they

always have a raffle where if you're drawn, you

are invited, you get a free Primus package or

something to the next year's BotCon. And that

was noticeably absent. So there were speculation

back four months ago. But knowing that it was

going to be the last one or having the chance

that it could be the last one, I was like, you

know what, I'm going to go. I'm going to go.

I'm going to make the most of it. I'm going to

have a good time. And it still is the first and

only BotCon that I've ever gone to outside of

California. Although previous ones that I've

been to, the previous three, which was 2011,

13... Yeah, but that was in Florida, wasn't it?

Or was it 2010? No, well, 2011 was in Pasadena.

I think 2012, I think, might have been... In

Florida, I'm not 100 % sure. I don't remember.

But I didn't go to that one. So the 2011 one

in Pasadena, I went to. So I skipped 2012. I

went to the one in 2013, which I believe that

was San Diego. That was 2013. 2014, I went, which

was back in Pasadena again. I did not go to the

one in 2015. And then 2016 rolled around. We

thought it was going to be the last one. I'm

like, I'm going to go and I'm going to go balls

out. I'm going to do the grand, the grandest

way to go to block hunt. And that was as a golden

ticket member as a golden ticket member for the

concert. It was wrapped up into the golden ticket

meetup, which is an hour long, typically an hour

long. a private gathering of the hundred or so

golden ticket people and all the guests that

are there. So we had David Kay, we had Venus

Turzo, we had Judd Nelson, Greg Berger, all of

them were walking around just kind of mingling

with us. And it was in a bar that was, I don't

remember the name of the bar, but It was in a

building like so if you're looking head -on if

you're if you're staring at the stage In order

to have seen me you would have had to like on

the left -hand side was the hard rock Mm -hmm.

Okay on the opposite side on the right -hand

side You would have had to turn to look to the

right and look up There was a bunch of balconies

up there and that's where we all got to watch

the Stan Bush concert you were down in the pit

area. I was in the Stan and Vince pit, that's

right. Yeah, yeah, exactly. And so you were there

and I was up in the top section. I honestly didn't

remember you saying that you were going to make

it out for that. So I didn't even think about

it. See, this is one of the reasons why I always

reference Bad Boys 2 and the fact that you are

Martin Lawrence and I am Will Smith because you

don't pay attention to shit. I do pay attention,

but my wife has explained it. She's explained

it to me that she honestly believes that I have

an adult form of ADD. In the fact that, yeah,

but mine is more extreme in the fact that I pay

attention to everything at once. So I'm able

to multitask. But if you were to ask me for like

individual specific details of one thing, I wouldn't

be able to remember it as clearly because in

addition to that one thing that I was paying

attention to, I was also paying attention to

10 other things. That's how that's how that's

how my wife explains it She says living with

me is like living with a stoner in the fact that

I'm all over the place all the time, so Kind

of kind of I'll literally be walking around I'll

put something down on a countertop Walk away

because I got distracted by something else and

then be like where the fuck did I just put? That

thing and I literally would have just set it

down two minutes before. So I honestly, I remember

you and I talking some time ago about maybe going

to BotCon. And I remember that conversation.

I remember talking to you about it. But then

I remember certain personal things in your life

happened where you weren't sure if you were going

to be able to go to that. And that was the end

of it for me. I thought I thought that was it.

I don't recall. Ever having a conversation with

you about the the Stan Bush and Vince tecola

concert I guess I mean if I would have thought

about it I guess would have made sense because

it was a free concert so anybody could have went

to it Okay, so here's here's the thing folks

regardless of his You know richy rich golden

ticket status on that the BotCon people allow

you to buy extra at extra cost The Stan Bush

and Vince DiCola concert Friday night April 8th

at 4th Street Live here in Louisville, Kentucky

was a free event for anyone. You didn't have

to be a BotCon registrant. You didn't have to

be any of that. Correct. The bum from down the

street sitting outside the Hilton Hotel could

have walked down. So what 4th Street Live is,

and I think I've already explained this already,

but for those that don't know what it is, is

it's an open entertainment area. They've got

Like Paul said, they got the Hard Rock, they

got TGI Fridays, they got Lucky Strike Bowling.

This whole entertainment section that downtown

Louisville now has used to be this giant enclosed

glass mall called the Louisville Galleria. And

they basically just destroyed all the bottom

part, left the top overhang enclosure of glass,

and put new stores in there and everything else.

So the way the stage is set up is... If you're

coming from Forth and Broadway, you're walking

towards the stage. If you're coming the other

way, you're gonna be behind the stage. It's in

the middle of the freaking street. Yeah, pretty

much. At some point it appears that there was

a street that you could drive through, but then

it seems like they basically said, fuck that,

we're gonna put this giant stage in the middle

of it and we're just gonna make people walk around.

Like I said, Forth Street used to be... It used

to be, that whole Four Street Lives section used

to be the Louisville Galleria. So it was a giant,

you know, you see all the buildings on either

side of it? They all used to be one giant glass

building. And they basically take a Cadbury cream

egg, hollow it out. You know what I mean? That's

essentially what they did. No, I'm serious. That's

essentially what they did. Well, it's very similar

down in downtown LA. out right by where the Staples

Center is, where the Lakers, where the L .A.

Kings play. They have something very similar

to that. It's called L .A. Live, which is an

outdoor venue where there's concerts. It's the

Nokia Theater is where they play. You know, I

mean, you go down there and you basically just

walk around and it's a big outdoor. Honestly,

somebody is I just tweeted this picture. with

all these, here's me with my ADD. I just tweeted

a picture of all these new figures that I got.

Wow, how did you get the Titan Returns figures

so early? Oh well, he put a little thumb or tongue

sticking out thing. They're clearly the G1 figures,

so hopefully he's not being serious. But yeah,

so I mean, when I saw the 4th Street Live set

up, It was something I was very I was already

familiar with it because of downtown LA so I

knew what to expect kind of so I started I had

Posted what was it on the sixth that I had I'd

actually that was like two or three days before

BotCon I had actually got Stan on the phone and

did a quick interview with him and we put that

up as an episode right before the convention

I posted oh awesome My friend Amy at lady of

wreck on Twitter who was in the first clip in

this all things transformers episode She was

coming into town and originally she thought she

was gonna be able to get me into the convention

Just you know to walk around and stuff that didn't

happen. Obviously. That's fine. It's not that

big of a deal But I said, oh, hey, this was just

announced Stan Bush minutes to call a free concert

downtown. We should go she's like alright sure

cool So I started posting on the 7th of April

had a fun time meeting lady of wreck and hanging

out to Too bad Beatles even where else can beer

I? Posted let's see here April 8th. This was

like oh I don't know about 30 minutes before

the show started okay, so So it's like, oh, you,

you didn't text me and let me know you were here.

I live in the town. I know you do. I know you

do, but you all understand though, that I wasn't,

I was not able to, first of all, one thing that

I discovered is in that area and in the, uh,

cause the convention took place at the Galt house

hotel, which is an absolute gorgeous hotel. Um,

but the reception in downtown Louisville. specifically

down at 4th Street, as well as that hotel reception

is terrible, like atrociously bad. And I was

like, not able to, I was trying for the longest

time, I was trying to upload a video. They didn't

let us record a lot of the Judd Nelson stuff

because apparently it was written into his contract

somewhere that he gets final say on. any of the

panels that he does. But the question and answer

panel was no limits. We were perfectly okay posting

that. So I recorded it and I wanted to get it

uploaded that day. I couldn't because the damn

service in that hotel was butt crap. So I barely

had any connection to anything that was going

on. that entire weekend when we would go up to

our room was the best time that I had to be able

to do anything because we had Wi -Fi, which in

of itself wasn't very good, but at least it was

something better than just regular internet speed,

I guess. So if you would have tweeted that out

or something, I would never have known. I had

no idea, no clue. But what's lame is that you

could have gone to the whole convention. I think

it was only $25 to get in there to buy a general

admission ticket. So you could have gone in there

on Saturday. Why did you do that? 25 bucks. Honestly,

after Friday night, I was sleeping most of Saturday

because that's been the longest time I've stood

up in one place for more than an hour at one

time. Oh, you big baby. Yeah, I'm old. All right,

so you went to BotCon. You had your meetup. What

was your meetup? What was that turn out like?

The meetup was amazing. Anybody who's listening

to this who may have went there, I can't thank

you guys enough. It was absolutely spectacular.

Initially, I wanted to have it be in this. It's

an outdoor cafe. Thing at the galt house hotel.

It was right next to the pool. I figured it would

be a nice place because at the bar Initially,

I didn't know anything about the the hotel itself

So I was like, I know a lot of people are gonna

be hanging out at the bar Saturday night But

I'm like kids aren't gonna be able to go there

So I had to find a more kid -friendly kind of

place So found out that they had an outdoor pool

and they had a little cafe that was right next

door I said that that'll probably be perfect

In hindsight, I got out there and I probably

should have called and checked into this a little

bit more, but I get there to Louisville and it

is cold as shit. And it's raining and cloudy

and it was just the weather was miserable and

they didn't have the pool open. So because the

pool wasn't open, they also didn't have the cafe

open. So I'm like, son of a bitch. I'm like,

well, I guess we could still meet up here. But

then it stayed cold. I'm like, we're not going

to be able to stay out here. People are going

to start freezing their butt off. So at almost

zero hour, I changed the venue from being in

there to have you ever have you ever been into

the Gold House Hotel? No, there's there's a sky

walk or skyway that they call it. The hotel is

on. opposite sides of the same street. And to

connect it and not have to worry about traffic

going back and forth, there's a skywalk that

connects it, that's elevated in the air, and

it's a glass enclosed area, and you can walk

from one hotel to the other hotel without having

to worry about going outside or going across

traffic or anything. And that's where the actual

bar is. Well, they also have a restaurant up

there which has amazing pizza. The pizza there

is... Spectacular film us. Oh my God. I love

that pizza. Um, so we had, we had it for lunch

one day and I was like, this is it. This is,

I'm going to order a bunch of pizzas and have

this for the, at the meetup so that people, even

if they didn't like the meetup itself, at least

they didn't feel like they didn't get something

out of it. So I had, I got food. Um, I ordered

like 10 pizzas. I felt bad because when I went,

to the restaurant and order the pizzas, I could

see the cook in the background just mouthing,

like, son of a motherfucking asshole, bitch,

bitch. I'm like, oh, shit. I'm like, he's going

to spit my food. So I ended up giving him like

a $20 tip just so he wouldn't spit in our food

for that for the night. But all I can think of,

all I can think of when you said 10 pizzas, all

I can think of is Uncle Frank. 10 pizzas times

12 bucks, that's $120. yeah well that's that's

true but um so uh so we were all out there and

we had like a lot of us were at the um the casino

night which is a charity event that botcom puts

out puts on every year um depending on what package

you get if you get the primus package you get

like 200 dollars in casino chips i mean it's

it's it's play money but um you that's how that's

how you go to the different tables you play blackjack

you play craps poker whatever the case may be

i mean they have like tables all set up for this

stuff you're in like a vegas thing they also

have food and everything like that food was terrible

i'll say that much um i mean they try very hard

but the food at that thing was really obnoxious

so i was very glad that i ordered pizzas because

anybody who went there probably did not eat much

of anything at the thing they had uh like four

separate tables lined up but they were on opposite

so there was two on one side two on the other

and you had no freaking clue what table had what

and on top of that everybody just kind of just

globbed together so you had no freaking clue

where the line was for table A and by the time

you would get to a certain point in that line

you realized that you were actually in table

B or the table B line so you were like you couldn't

tell where any of the damn lines were so The

casino night was not very good in terms of the

food. The games were fun. But so you go there.

The golden ticket thing, I think I think we got

like two thousand dollars in casino credits or

whatever. The regular promise, like I said, got

two hundred. So I don't know what the whole thing

was. But I was like, I can only be here for an

hour. And the thing that was ridiculous was it

was at another convention area. So we had to

walk. from the hotel to where this convention

area was. So you had to go outside and you had

to walk there. And then by the time you got there,

you were in another line. All said and done,

that hour that I had in between the start of

casino night and my meetup ended up only now

being about a half an hour. So I got food, I

got food really quick. I just found someone there.

I was like, Hey, I got $2 ,000 in credits. Do

you want them? And they're like, OK. So they

took them. I watched them. They played one hand,

a blackjack, and they lost it all. So it's like,

Jesus Christ. So I gave it to them. We left,

got back. By the time we got there, there were

already people that were gathering. Some people

were outside. I'm like, I'm going to have to

go up there, spend some time in the outside place,

because I know some people are going to go there

that aren't going to get the message. And I just

want to grab them. So I was like, all right,

we're moving it in. While I was out there waiting

for more people to come outside, another guy

that I was there with that was kind of helping

me and his name is Mike. And again, I got to

give him huge props because he has organized

different conventions in Arkansas and knows what

he's doing. And he was really helping me out

with just logistics for things. He was kind of

like at the, he kind of was like my manager there.

He would, he would be like, okay, Paul, this

is what we have going on. I'm like, Do you want

us to do this? Yes, let's do that. You know,

so while when I came back in, he came running

up to me, he's like, there was too many of us.

Like, what do you mean? He's like, we were all

we were literally just blocking the entire walkway

going from one end of the skyway to the other

end. So we had to move it. And I'm like, oh,

OK, all right. Well, where do you move it to?

He's like, well, there's there's an area downstairs.

We moved it on there. It's a big open area. There

are seats and everything. So. come on down, I'll

show you where it is. I'm like, okay, well let

me go and order the pizza and I'll come down.

So I went over, ordered the pizza and they came

down. He met me halfway there and we walked in

and it was funny because as I walked in, there

were maybe five, six, seven people that were

standing in the immediate, as soon as I walked

down the stairs, like the area came into view

and there was like five to seven people standing

there. I was like, wow, awesome. Some people

showed up. This is, this is cool. My biggest

fear going into this was I was terrified that

people, number, number one, that people weren't

going to show up. And number two, that they,

if they showed up, they weren't going to have

a good time. So that's why I decided I wanted

to get food. That way they could have something

to eat. Um, and then I also bought extra Bakon

figures that I gave away. So I was like, even

if they don't have a good time, at least maybe

they'll enjoy the free food. and maybe the chance

of winning some of the exclusive BotCon figures.

So those are my biggest fears. So when I went

down there and I saw, like I said, five to seven

people, I was ecstatic that somebody just showed

up. I'm like, hey, all right. All right, guys.

How are you? And my buddy Mike was there. He's

like, no, it's like we're around the corner here.

I'm like, oh, OK. So they were just sitting there.

I mean, they were part of our group, but they

were just sitting there because that's where

some seats were. And I went around the corner

and there was another 40 people that were standing

there. And I'm like, holy shit. And I'm looking

and I'm like, oh my God. I mean, I was legitimately

shocked. And my buddy later on told me, he's

like, your face, when you saw those people there,

just sold it for everybody. Them seeing how shocked

and surprised how many people were actually there,

he's like, I guarantee you they felt good. because

they were making you happy. And I was just shocked.

You've been doing the YouTube thing for how long

now? Five, six, seven years? Yeah, but I mean,

I'm not, I mean, everybody has this opinion of

me that I have this giant ego. And I do have

an ego. I'm not going to claim that I don't.

But you know, I also am, and this doesn't sound

very humble, but I also try to stay humble. with

things. I don't like getting a big head about

who I am or what I am or anything of that nature.

So for me to think that people would want to

hang out and ask me questions, talk to me, be

there, you know, want pictures with me, want

autographs of mine, it's still to this day very

shocking and very surreal to me. We sat there

in a meetup that, honestly, I expected the last

45 minutes, maybe an hour, lasted for almost

three hours. And we were there. They were asking

me questions. I was answering it. Went back and

forth. We did the giveaways. After the giveaway

was over, we all got together and did a big group

picture. Because it took so long, several people

had already left. It was getting late. And one

in particular, I can't remember his name, I feel

bad. But one in particular drove all the way

down, I want to say from Illinois to go to it.

And he was driving back and forth every day.

He got a Primus package, but he was driving back

and forth. I was like, holy shit, that's like

dedication. That's like a six hour drive. every

day that you got to do to come out here and do

this." I'm like, damn, all right. So he had to

leave and a couple other people as well. So not

everybody was in that group picture. I wish we

would have done that earlier in the day. That's

one thing that I would have liked to have done

earlier in the meetup. So we wrapped up the questions.

I was like, all right, let's do the giveaway

stuff now. So I raffled off a bunch of different

things. I bought an extra BotCon that loose bag

set so like the the figures that you got in the

box set yeah um i mean they're all brand new

i mean i mean when you say loose yeah yeah it's

just a bag set yeah yeah they've done that stuff

for years where it's like if they sell out of

the box sets they will have for attendees for

people who are coming without having bought the

box set of you know general admission people

most likely correct correct you know you can

buy them you can buy the toys new they're just

bags instead of in a box right that's i mean

the the box itself is is a special collector

box um it's for it's for it's for the primus

people you know so the the box set by itself

if you would have bought you know the primus

ticket um not not even talking about the golden

ticket that that's that's a whole other thing

But the regular Primus package, I think, is like

$4 .95. And for that, you get all the Tri Praticus

Council, you get the five Combined Award figures.

You get a collector box with it. Now, those figures,

if you bought them separately, just in the bags,

that was still $295. So for another $100, you

got the box. you know the nice little collector

box and everything you also got the um the attendee

figure which is a deluxe class pterosaur so you

know and then in addition to that you get access

to uh thursday and friday at the convention if

you just went there as an attendee you could

only go in on friday or on saturday and sunday

so there are perks i mean i tell people that

it's 495 that's not just the figures that you're

buying though it's a big chunk of it But it's

not just the figures. It gets you all the other

stuff in addition to it. So I bought a extra

loose bag set of the BotCon box set figures.

That was kind of like the grand prize giveaway

at the end. And then I bought an extra set of

all the souvenir figures. So the the souvenir

figures this year were Tigatron. Unit three or

whatever they're calling or under three. That's

a whole nother thing. I'll go into my review

It's a it's a nod to an original McDonald's toy

that didn't have a name. I might as well just

say now you are under three was It was like,

you know when you get toys for McDonald's they

come in little baggies Well, this this was a

transformer toy back in the Beast Wars days that

didn't have a name on the back It just said under

three And it was the under three toy. I mean,

you go to McDonald's and you can get a regular

kids meal toy. Or if you have a kid that's under

the ages of three, you get a special under three

toy. And the package just said under three. So

everybody for the longest time just thought that

that was its name, under three. And it became

kind of a joke. So BotCon released kind of an

homage to that that was done in the same color

scheme and kind of looked like it. and they called

it unit three instead of under three. So I mean,

so instead of calling it under three and going

with that name, they gave it more of a legit

name, which was cool. I mean, again, you know,

the Transformer Collector Club and BotCon, you

know, that that's where you can do some of those.

Hasbro would never do a figure like that mainstream,

you know, so you got to rely on the Collector

Club for that kind of stuff, which, you know,

that's I mean, we could talk about that later

work. It's unfortunate where That this is gonna

be the last one. We're not gonna have that but

so you had that the big seller was a The I don't

even know actually what it is because I wasn't

a big person in these wars It was Megatron Megatron

was the centerpiece That one sold out the very

next day. It didn't even make it to general Like

all there was 70 left You could go in there on

Friday, you could buy the figures, but we were

all limited. Primus Package people could only

buy one of each figure. Golden Ticket people,

in addition to all the other Golden Ticket stuff

that you got, you were allowed three times the

limit on the figures. So you could, like, so

on Friday I bought three of them, one to keep

for myself, what, excuse me, one to keep for

myself. One to honestly sell, because I figured

that was going to be a good sell, and then the

other one I gave away. That figure, I'll tell

you right now, and I honestly don't care. I mean,

people complain because they'll say that it's

scalping because the figure itself was only $89.

That's not how much it's going for. So I went

on and I saw what the going rate for the figure

was. And it was between $400 and $500 is how

much that one figure was going for. Like I said,

it basically sold out the first day. When Saturday

rolled around, there were 70 left. And I got

in line to buy another three because I was going

to try to sell them. But why the hell not? So

I was going to go and try and buy three. I was

the 11th person from the front. So I got down

there at like 630, quarter after six, something

like that in the morning to get in line for the

store to open at 830. So we sat there and then

we got there and the figures went through all

70 extra or remaining figures by the first nine

people that had gone in line. One person bought

29 or something like that, bought like 30 of

the figure. Uh, another one bought, uh, 12 of

the figure. So, I mean, there was no limit on

the, on the next day, which kind of annoyed people

because it allowed, if you had the money, you

could, you could have bought all 70 of them if

you wanted to. And if, if you're buying multiples

like that, you're buying 12 of them, you're buying

30 of them, you're doing it really just to sell

and make a shit ton of money. And that was kind

of annoying in the first place. So a lot of people

were very annoyed at that. But that was the big,

big selling figure. And that sold out, like I

said, almost right away. Right after that, the

next figure was the Deluxe class wind blade was

repainted into air razor. And that was the next

that was the next one to sell out. That one was

also the least produced amount. So I think, and

I'm going to have this wrong, but I want to say

that Megatron, they made like 850 of the figure.

Airazer, they made 100 less of her. So that sold

out very quickly. And any of the remaining ones,

I do know that Big Bad Toy Store actually went

and bought all the remaining ones for that. So,

I mean, that sucked, but you know, what are you

going to do, I guess? So there's that, there's

that. Reflector was a big one. It's a repaint

with a new head of the Legend Class Shockwave.

It honestly looks better as Reflector. Now, the

various rumors that were going around were that

that mold was originally supposed to be Reflector.

and then they changed it and they just went with

shockwave. I've heard different, I mean, either

way, the reflector was always gonna get made.

I've heard opposite stories being told that shockwave

was always the original, and then they were going

to repaint and remold it to make reflector, but

then Hasbro dropped it and gave it to a thumb

pub to use. So whatever the case may be, I have

no idea. So those were the individual, like,

souvenir figures. I bought an extra set of those,

and I gave each of those away. So there were

six different winners, basically, something like

that, for the figures. So we all had a great

time, though. I think everybody had a fun time.

A lot of people came up to me. There was one

guy in particular. that said, uh, you, this,

he's like, this was my first Foxconn and I expected

fireworks. And he's like, I was incredibly disappointed

by how Foxconn was. But then I came to this and

he's like, we were going to leave. We weren't

even going to come to this, but we're like, let's

go, let's go see Paul. So they came and he said

that you would, you literally have made this

entire weekend worth it. This was so much fun.

This just made BotCon for us. And hearing that,

I mean, that was just so amazing to hear. And

other people were saying that this was the highlight

of their trip, that they wish that it was more

of an official thing, that the actual BotCon

people actually had me as an official panel doing

this. That way there could have been even more

people. because they said you had so much fun

and you're so great just sitting there talking

to us he's like i wish other people would have

been able to be a part of this and they may not

have known about it because maybe they don't

follow you on facebook or maybe they missed your

video or whatever the case may be but he's like

i wish they would have promoted you as being

here as well because they're like this was great

this was great they're like we know who jut nelson

is we know who david k is This one guy's like,

we didn't know who Venus Terzo was. I mean, we

know who Black, we know who Black Arachne is,

but I mean, you know, Venus doesn't do that much

work. So she's not as prevalent as say Scott

McNeil or Judd Nelson or David Kaye. Scott McNeil

was originally going to be there for those of

you that don't know, he was originally supposed

to be there and then canceled like a month or

so before the event, before the actual convention.

But he's like we didn't know who Venus Terzo

was if we saw her walking in the hotel We wouldn't

have known who she was we would have thought

she was someone else, but we know you We would

have seen you just walking around and we would

have been like, oh my god, it's Paul So I mean

like all the always there. I mean, so I I think

that everybody had a great time It was very humbling

for me seeing everybody there Having everybody

come up wanting pictures wanting to get autographs

of mine Uh, it was just, it was an amazing, amazing

thing. It was up to that point. It was my, it

was the best part of BotCon, any BotCon that

I've ever had. That was the absolute best. Um,

on Sunday, something happened that kind of topped

that, but, uh, we, we can get to that later on.

Well, why don't you just go ahead and talk about

Sunday for a minute now? Sure. No, not as well.

That's, that's the segue into it. So we're sitting

there and, um, It was Sunday night. I was sitting

there with the people that work at Big Bad Toy

Store. And there's a couple other people, what

do you call them? The booth people that had tables.

The vendors. The vendors and stuff. So we're

all sitting there and we all went out to dinner.

And we were sitting there and I was talking we're

having a good time the guy was there But I didn't

know who he was. He wasn't anybody That I had

talked to from Big Bad Toy Store. I knew he didn't

work for Big Bad, but he was still there He was

invited along and I mean we were all having a

good time, but I never I didn't really talk to

him too much during dinner he had overheard me

mentioned that I'm originally from Michigan and

that caught his attention. Later that night,

after dinner, we went back to the bar area. We

sat down and got a bunch of drinks and we were

just having a good time. Well, he had then said,

hey, I heard that you say that you're from Michigan.

And I was like, so he says, whereabouts? I said,

well, are you familiar with Michigan at all?

He's like, yeah, very much so. Well, I, you know,

I grew up in a Southeast Detroit area. He's like,

oh, yeah, where about? I'm like about an hour

or so north of Detroit. That's always what I

say. Nobody knows the little town that I grew

up in. So I don't even bother saying it. I just

say an hour north of Detroit because everybody

knows roughly where Detroit is. So that just

kind of gives him an idea. He's like, oh, OK,

cool. He's like, I live in a small town. Um,

around there. Oh, he's like an hour north of

where we're about. And I said, well, pour it

here on. He's like, I know, I know where it is.

Well, I live a little bit of ways in a small

town called Memphis. And, um, and I'm like, you're

shitting me. And he's like, no, why? I'm like,

I graduated from high school there. He's like,

are you kidding? I'm like, no, I'm like, that's,

that's where I grew up. That's where I went to

high school. That's where I graduated from. He's

like, I went to school in Richmond, Michigan,

which is the next town over, where my dad was

a cook at a restaurant called the Flamingo. And

I said, well, are you familiar with the Flamingo

Cafe? And he's like, are you kidding me? He's

like, we went there all the time. I'm like, my

dad was the cook there. And he's like, are you

shitting me? I'm like, no, totally. He's like,

your dad was Bobby? And I was like, yeah. I used

to fucking work with him. And there was another

restaurant much earlier. I mean, I was younger.

The guy that I was talking to is like 40, and

I'm 37. So he's a little bit older than me. He's

like, when I was 16, I worked at another restaurant

that was miles and miles away when my dad just

first started getting out cooking. And he's like,

I was a busboy when your dad was a cook at this

other restaurant. I'm like, get the fuck out

of town. And he's like, no, no, no. He's like,

we were sitting there. And he came up to me.

He's like, one of my first days working there.

Comes over, and he's like, hey, I'm going to

go out and take out the trash. and I looked at

him and I looked at the guy and I was like and

by that he meant that you guys were gonna go

out and smoke weed, didn't he? And he's like,

you're damn right he did because my dad used

to smoke pot. And I'm like, holy shit. So we

sat there and so we sat, I don't remember what

time it was, but we ended up talking. It was

probably around nine o 'clock. I think it was

about nine o 'clock. We started this conversation.

We ended up talking to about three in the morning,

just going back and forth about being in Michigan,

different things, you know, like with my dad

and all this stuff. I mean, he was pulling off

stuff with my dad. He's like, I remember his

laugh. He had this little tackle. I was like,

yeah, that was him. He had a little mustache

with a little part in the middle of it. He was

like, it was fucking weird. I was like, yeah,

that's him. He's like, he always wore hats and

like, that's him. And we ended up, like I said,

ended up talking to like three in the morning

and his name is James and come to find out, I

don't know if you're familiar with it, but he

owns a company called, what is it? It's called

Stylen Online. They sell like officially licensed

apparel. for Transformers, G .I. Joe, Marvel,

anything that you can think of pop culture -wise.

He sells t -shirts of, I mean, you probably,

if you go to San Diego Comic -Con, he's got like

the world's largest t -shirt store there. And

it's, I mean, a lot of people probably know him

and don't even know they know him. But his shop,

he still lives in Memphis, Michigan, where, like

I said, where I grew up, his main warehouse is

down there, his main office or whatever is down

there. He's got a house out there, all this stuff.

And I'm just sitting and I'm like, to meet somebody

who lives in the town that I grew up in, that's

the definition of it's a small world. But then

to say that you met somebody who lives in the

town that you grew up in, that knows who your

dad is, that worked with your dad, that makes

that small world just microscopic. And I'm sitting

around like, we come to BotCon, BotCon 2016,

here I am, and I meet a guy who knew who my dad

was. And my dad's been dead now for almost 10

years. And to meet somebody who knew my dad that

I never knew, it was just absolutely amazing.

So that right there instantly became my most

favorite memory. of any BotCon. I mean, I got

stories all day long. I mean, I can tell you

about... Yeah, we can't be here all day long.

No, I know. Yeah, but I mean, I got stories of

the different conventions that are great memories.

But this was just something that, when I think

back to the very last BotCon, this is something

that's gonna instantly put a smile on my face.

I'm always gonna remember the 2016 BotCon in

Louisville, Kentucky, because of that. And that's

amazing. That's something that... Nobody can

take away. It's the greatest memory that I'll

ever have for an official convention. Amazing

time. Absolutely. You know, that's great. It's

great that BotCon in the last few years that

it was around was able to do stuff like that.

I just have to say, just from looking at the

overall planned events that they had, Yeah, seems

like nobody would like not not guess but like

no pan like There wasn't any big announcements.

There wasn't it like it just wasn't anything

They it was more of a reflective thing this year

because it was you know They had that final panel,

you know botcon through the years on the Sun,

right? But it's like IDW almost had no presence

there as far as writers or anything like that

right It just seemed like there was 2015, 2014,

the last five or six years, there's always been

something major going on. Don't get me wrong,

especially with this being the 30th anniversary

of the film, Judd's a major get. Oh yeah, I really

appreciate it. So then on top of that, you get

the Golden Ticket package. Something else that

they offered was the ability to have a Judd Nelson

experience Where and they did that last year

with Frank Welker? That was it that was in that

was in Chicago, which really wasn't actually

Chicago It was like an hour outside of Chicago,

but whatever it was over here airport people

It wasn't even though it wasn't even over here

airport. It was it was pheasant run It was it

was an it was an hour away from Chicago. So if

you flew into O 'Hare airport, you had to get

in a car or bus or whatever and drive an hour

away. That's why I didn't want to go. I'm like,

there's not going to be anything fucking around

there. I'm like, oh, cool. Frank Welker, neat.

First time at a convention. Awesome. And then

you put them out in the middle of nowhere. I'm

like, that seems stupid, but whatever. And that's

talking to, you know, reflecting on Blokkon through

the years, we could talk about that on another

show kind of thing. Oh yeah. Yeah, but this was

a very similar thing with Judd Nelson. Never

been to a Transformer convention. Burger is currently

trying to fit into a box that is too small for

her. I was going to say, you got Greg at your

house? Oh, no. No, not Greg. Get the hamburger.

Get the hamburger. So for an extra amount of

money, you could get a private thing with Judd

Nelson you get you could have your professional

picture taken with him which I'm kind of annoyed

about because the picture that I got caught him

in the middle of actually talking so he's not

smiling his lips are like in the middle of trying

to say a word so it's not even a really great

picture honestly I'm like if you're gonna take

a professional picture I forget who it was it

was either you or it was Proto Man that posted

a picture of themselves with him and At first

I did a double take because I'm like, wait, Macho

Man's dead. What's he doing at BotCon? Well,

the joke was that Judd looked like he was a homeless

man. I mean, his hair was all over the place.

He had a big, very John Bender kind of trench

coat that he wore when he was walking around.

But yeah, I mean, he's full on beast mode with

a crazy ass beard. His hair was all over the

place. He looked like a homeless guy. There's

no question about it. But as soon as he opened

his mouth and you heard that voice, you knew

who it was. So you get a picture with him. You

could get an autographed item, an item autographed

by him. You got a special limited edition pin,

a lot of the different packages and stuff like

the Primus package, golden ticket. You got a

special pin with it. You got one for hot rod

as well. So I mean, you got a special print that

was done exclusively for the convention, all

that stuff. So it was like $169, I think. Or

no, it was like $139 if you preregistered and

then it jumped up to $169 if you wanted to buy

it the day of. So it was beneficial to pre -order

it. But the Judd Nelson thing, I really appreciated

him going. And I kind of got this impression.

I was able to finally get the question and answer

video with him uploaded. But when you watch it,

it's almost like... You get the impression that

he doesn't get why he's there. He seemed to kind

of loosen up eventually. But to me, I got the

impression, and this is in no way, shape, or

form a knock against him. I mean, the man has

had a terrific career outside of Transformers.

He did a character one time. Well, technically

twice, but I mean, it's one character for him

at one time 30 years ago. You know what I mean?

So it's not like he had a huge investment in

this character. Whereas if you talk to like Greg

Berger or Dan Gilbazan or anybody, you know,

Frank Welker, Peter Cullen, you talk to any of

those guys, they have an investment in that character.

So they can sit there and they can talk all day

long about it. But Judd, it just kind of seemed

like you got the impression that he was there

just because. It wasn't... It didn't seem like

anything special, honestly. I mean, it was cool.

It was cool that he was there. It was absolutely

cool, but, you know... See, that's the thing

with the whole thing of, oh, guess what, folks?

We lost a license. This is the last vodka. With

that whole stigma, and they went in, and the

box set was celebrating 20 years of e -stores,

which is amazing. That's all well and good. I

think they missed out on the opportunity of doing

a double anniversary celebration. They could

have had, you know, one part of the convention

be all 20 years of Beast Wars and the other half

of convention all 30 years since the movie. I

think if they were able to, you know, do that

or bring in Sue Blue maybe again or, you know,

just add somebody else to kind of solidify the

G1 section. Like I said, it just seemed like

looking at, because I looked at the brochure

and I'm like, where are all the awesome panels

that have been panels every, you know, where

are the panels that we had last year? Where are

the panels that we had the last five years? It

just seemed like they threw spaghetti on the

wall and whatever stuck, stuck. I'm not saying

that against anyone that showed up there, anyone

that was a guest. I love all those people. I'm

just saying the convention organizers, and I

know they're good people and all that, but it

just seemed like they gave up at the last minute.

It's like, hey, here it is, folks. Yeah, I mean,

I honestly, I don't know. I mean, I can't. I

don't know. I'm just saying that's my. No. Yeah.

And I agree. Yeah. And I'll agree with that.

I mean, it definitely had a very limited. Sort

of feel to it If we're gonna go that route, I

mean it wasn't anything that Yeah stood out really

I mean but and and I've said this I've said this

before that when it comes to Conventions and

this might be a good, you know way to you know

kind of end things I guess I'm looking at it,

but When and I really regret missing out on the

retrospective panel or whatever they called it

or whatever. Yeah, back on through the years.

Yeah, back on through the years. I really regret

missing out on that because Pete, or not Pete

Sinclair. Well, Pete had some really great lines

and everything there, thanking the people and

everything like that. But Brian Savage got up

there. is doing his spiel and all this stuff,

and honestly, just about broke down into tears.

And that immediately got to a lot of people.

When he was sitting there talking about BotCon,

what it's meant to him, his family, all the stuff,

and he even talked about even the criticism that

it has gotten over the years. Yes. You know,

in terms of how they've done things, have there

been mistakes? Yes. But it's never been about

toys. It's always about the people. And that

was the most important thing that I took away

from what was being said there. And that's true

of any convention that you go to. It's not about

the toys. It was never about the toys. The toys

are always... No, no, I know, I know. I mean,

but other conventions, and I'm not going to name

any names, but hype it up as if they're the best

and they're the be -all end -all of conventions

because it's such a great personal experience.

It's all about the friendships and things like

that. That's what makes that particular convention

better than anything else. And that to me, and

I went up to the several BotCon people that were

there and they were sitting there and they were

just kind of talking amongst themselves. It was

like the information desk or something. And I

just, I went over there and I said, I just want

to thank you guys. Everybody says that it's,

you know, it is what it is that, and you know,

people hype other conventions up and make it

sound like it's, you know, theirs is the only

one that's about the people and the friendships

that you make. And I was like, if you honestly

go to other conventions, BotCon, TFXpo, any of

these other conventions and things of that nature,

and you don't have a good time with the people,

then you're going for the wrong reasons. And

that's what it comes down to. BotCon, if you

go for the right reasons, that being the camaraderie,

the friendships. There are friends that I made

that I would never have made if I didn't go to

BotCon. I mean, these are lasting relationships.

And this is going to be it. This is the last

BotCon in its current form. And that's extremely

disappointing, very sad that it's potentially

possible that I will not see these people again.

And that's what is very off -putting. about the

whole thing and very disappointing because spot

con always was I mean from the very first one

that I went to was about having fun with all

the other fans the toys were great they were

always there but it was the people that made

these conventions great whether it being any

of the other conventions that are out there like

tf con is the one that i'll talk about fuck it

i'll say the name i don't care A lot of people

with TFCon make it out that theirs is the best

because ours is the best one because it's all

about the people here. Great. Then you were not

doing BotCon or any other convention the right

way. If you went there with a chip on your shoulder

because you disliked Brian Savage or Pete Sinclair

or fun publications just in general, then you

were going for the wrong damn reasons. You should

have been going to have a great time and just

have fun with friends. And that's what it comes

down to. Yeah. I think the last thing I'll say

on this, the one thing between BotCon and TFCon,

I think what it is, is BotCon was the official

Transformers convention. They were the one that

was... Promoting themselves all and don't get

me wrong in order to get word out about it You

have to promote yourself all the time anyway

But they were the ones promoting about the packages

and but see the thing is you can go on to the

difference between the two is TF con you can

go very simply by one of their packages Get what

you get right? You know what I mean get what

you're supposed to be getting right then in there

With that at a very minimal price. I don't know

what the TF con prices are gonna be this year

I don't remember what they were last year. I

remember a few years ago. It was like 60 70 bucks

all -in for the entire for everything not and

And that's the difference in them for me. It's

not about The fandoms and which fans are gonna

be at one, you know you We can go to both and

we can still have an amazing time with all of

our friends. The difference to me between the

two is how they're run and how the cost. That's

the difference to me. And that's a valid point.

But in hindsight, and people have talked about

this and people will use that as a difference

between the two. But you got to look at it that

if If TFCon, if they ever became officially ran,

prices would skyrocket. I mean, it would not

be cheap anymore. It would absolutely turn into

what BotCon is. It's not like, I mean, BotCon

is, at the end of the day, they are still a business.

They still have to run it as such, and they have

to make money and things of that nature. TF con

if they if they ever became official and got

the license that license is gonna cost them money

So yes, that's that's it's gonna translate. Yeah

prices will go up I'm not saying prices wouldn't

go up. I'm just saying Wait, okay. No, I get

I get what you're saying. I get what you're saying

It is a lot more defensive the f -con does have

their various packages. They they have the well

from the one that I remember Proto Man telling

me about a few years ago, they had one package,

two package, three package, they had the same

deal. But if you bought that, like let's say

the TFCon version of a Primus package, it's all

inclusive. There is no extra golden ticket thing.

There is no extra fee for seeing a voice actor

or a guest. That's my... I'm not saying if Tia,

I'm not saying the prices wouldn't, of course

they'd go up if they become efficient. Well anyway,

you have to take into consideration as well that

the ticket, like these prices, you know about

like meeting guests and stuff, are also dictated

by the guests themselves. That's true. I mean,

TFX or TFCon, they will allow you to go and you

can buy your package and you can get all the

autographs that you possibly want. That's because

they set it up in a way where they pay the guests

X amount of dollars to be able to go to the actual

convention. And that's, you know, in doing it

that way, you, number one, you make, you know,

tickets prices the way that they are, but you

also, I mean, the costs are shifted around in

that regard. So, BotCon does the same thing.

I mean, You didn't have to get the Judd Nelson

thing. I mean, granted, I mean, if you're going

to go, you might as well. No, I know. I know.

But to get the autograph for Venus or David Kay,

all you had to do was stand in a line. The price

was included in it. So you didn't have to pay

extra. Now, I mean, and I think you and I have

talked about this before, where it depends. The

convention organizer is ultimately what they

want to, or they're the ones that decide the

stuff. They'll say, we'll pay you to sit at this

table and sign however many autographs come your

way. Typically, what that will include is a higher

fee for the artist. So the artist will be like,

OK, I'll sit here and sign however many autographs

come during this period of time, but you're going

to pay me a lot more. Or what they can do. And

that price... Then goes into the ticket package

that you have to pay for because the convention

has to recoup that or What they can do is keep

ticket prices very low and say we're not going

to pay you that much money But what will allow

you to do is sit at your table and charge however

much you want per autograph So some people will

sit there at a table and they'll charge 10 15

20 dollars for an autograph And that's how conventions

will keep ticket prices fairly low. Now, I know

that TFCon does that quite often. They allow

the artists to sit there. I mean, I could be

mistaken. But if I'm not wrong, I mean, correct

me if I'm wrong. Anybody out there, you're perfectly

welcome to. But I thought that their ticket prices

are fairly low. But when you go there to get

autographs, I think the artist charges for the

autographs. Do they not? From what I remember,

no, but I'd have to ask Proto Man again. It's

possible, but that's how it breaks down to different

conventions. I've been to multiple different

ones where they have it set up both ways. I've

been saying for 10 years now, since I've been

in and around Transformers fandom again since

2006. If you don't live in the town or you don't

live in the city that BotCon was being held in,

you've got to pay for airfare, you've got to

pay for hotel, and yes, we all know about splitting

up hotel costs with multiple people and all that.

You've got to then buy your package and all that

stuff and then whatever else you want to buy.

I've said not, you know, and then you've got

to add in food and all the other costs. BotCon

to get the full experience you need to spend

at least two thousand three thousand dollars.

Yes, I agree with that. I agree. Oh, you're absolutely

correct It's not cheap that that's that is for

sure. No, it's not cheap kind of close this thing

out what I find absolutely funny is Apparently

Kentucky is the land of the Beast Wars because

it was held in Lexington in 2006 which was a

Beast Wars 10th anniversary thing and then this

year was in Louisville for the 20th anniversary

of Beast Wars and I had said which we all know

this isn't true because as we've already said

in this hour -long clip here that BotCon lost

the license I had said when I first heard that

I'm like oh Kentucky kills conventions What I

will what I will say which was really cool that

this got brought up and honestly It wasn't it

wasn't really mentioned, but the very first BotCon

there there have been different versions of of

an official Transformer convention brothers.

There was fun pub. There was a couple of correct.

Yeah, correct the one one thing that was Not

brought up was that the very first time that

voice actors were invited to BotCon was in 1997.

And Peter Cullen was there, Simon Furman was

there, artists and things of that nature, Vince

DiCola and Stan Bush were there, as well as David

Kay and Venus Terzo. So it was brought up that

the very first BotCon with voice actor talent

I mean, because before that they had, they had

like, um, you know, Hasbro representatives and,

you know, fully represent, you know, but having

an actual celebrity there. So the very first

one had David Kay, Venus Turzo, Vince DiCola

and Stan Bush. And the very last one in 2016,

David Kay, Venus Turzo, Stan Bush and Vince DiCola.

Yep. That was an awesome way to kind of round

things out. And when me and my buddy asked Pete

about that, he's like, honestly, he's like, we

didn't even think about it. It was just an absolute

happy coincidence that that's the way that it

worked out. So great time, though. Great time,

though. All right, folks. That's going to do

it for the BotCon 2016 reactions, recaps, all

that good stuff. Woo! You're gonna hear a quick

clip and steve and i are going to come back and

let you know What's coming up on all things transformers

in the future? It's a pity you are about to die

so easily Or I might have a sense of satisfaction

now You got the touch last part of out the bottom

of this clip at the end there, folks. I said

Steve and I are gonna be back to let you know

what's going on with all things Transformers.

Steve is not here presently. He's off on some

golden disk quest, I guess. I don't know. ATTF

will be coming back eventually. Steve and I have

not yet formulated when or how or what's going

on, but we do have a plan. I have a whole new

future for the show. that steve is in approval

of all that stuff and it's gonna be fun and exciting

and all that cool stuff basically of willing

to come back at some point in the later this

year or the beginning of next year twenty seventeen

or frankly wrecked joe reid and octobot of us

for taking the time to chat with me here in the

bot con twenty sixteen recap reaction episode

here all things transformers transform and rollout

transform entrance and uh... Till all are one,

all that good stuff. We will catch you next time

here on All Things Transformers, version 3 .0.

Even the Quintessons were not safe from the madness.

I rescued this Quintesson to try to revive you.

That was Rodimus' last instruction before. Rodimus,

what happened to him? I'm afraid that he has

been infected as well. You're our last hope,

Optimus.