BotCon 2012 Experience

Jazz here, and I am so diggin' the Geekcast Radio

Network! agreement I've reached with BotCon headquarters,

I will be the first to reveal a BotCon 2012 convention

exclusive toy. You all know about BotCon, right?

The official Transformers Collectors Convention?

This year, BotCon 2012 is being held at the Hyatt

Regency in Dallas, Texas from April 26th to the

29th. Transformers fans from all around the world

will be there. There will be so much to do. panels

to meeting celebrity guests, a huge exhibitor

hall with thousands of Transformers toys for

sale, a film fest, art contest, activities for

kids, and Hasbro will be on hand to showcase

all of their 2012 toy offerings. Anyone can come

as either a registered guest or as a walk -in

on Saturday and Sunday. Anyway, the thing I look

for... to is the exclusive BotCon Transformers

toys any attendee can purchase. So... Hello and

welcome to the GeekCast Radio Network's Con Girl.

This time around we have two Con Girls as they

both went to BotCon 2012. I am of course your

host TFG1Mike and joining me is CalliCarrie Shoka.

Hello! Hi! And Mariah Baby is here but she'll

be back in a little while. We also have a very

special limited edition guest in Mr. Derek J.

Wyatt from Transformers Animated Teen Titans

and Ben 10 fame. Hello, sir. I'm no lady. What

am I doing here? Well, we had to even it out.

Oh, OK. He's a limited edition guest. Like, there's

several of him minted and packaged somewhere.

Well, this is the extra jet lag variant. There

you go. There you go. Today we're going to be

talking about the GoBotica... Oh, wait. No, that's

the wrong thing. No, BotCon 2012, the official

Transformers convention. And essentially, for

those that don't know what the con girl segment

of GeekCast Radio Network is, is to essentially

get Mariah's... Mariah is really the one that

is doing it with me, as far as the podcast episodes

go. Because she's going to multiple conventions

over the year. Sorry, guys. No, it's all right.

So that's how it all started, but I figured why

not just have a big old Transformers party tonight.

Hello, Mariah. How are you? Hi. I am very stressed

out and insanely tired, but I'm OK. Just to make

everybody clear, I did not force anyone into

this podcast. I asked everyone, I said, would

you like to do this tonight? Or do we want to

do it at some other point in time? And they all

said, sure, we can do it tonight. I don't remember

him saying that. I don't remember him saying

that. Well, coming from my end, I'm going into

an army family. I didn't know that this was going

to be so stressful and convoluted. There's a

lot of things to remember and I just I have to

drive for ten and a half hours in like seven

hours, so So I think the way that we're gonna

break this up here on this episode of con girl

is We're gonna take the entire weekend and break

it up into the three or four days that the main

part of the Convention is going on which I believe

is Friday Saturday and Sunday for the most part

We'll have each of Callie and Mariah, you know,

talk about their trips to get to Texas. You know,

Derek will talk about his experience of being

a guest at the con. And we'll just do it like

that. So, Derek, how did they, what was the whole

plan for you doing your panel this year? How

did that really come about? It was like, how

did they? What was their idea of having you do

a panel this year? It was kind of just, I guess,

a follow -up catch -up a year later after the

Stunacon job. And Pete asked me if I'd be interested

in doing one, and I said, sure. I brought the

Transformers animated shorts, and I played those,

which a lot of people haven't seen all of them.

So it was fun. Right, right. I want to start

in New York or California first. I think I'll

start in New York first. Kelly, how did your

trip from New York to Dallas go? I took a non

-stop flight on the secret airline Imaginable

for three hours next to a baby. Oh, no. I was

stopped by airport security twice, frisked down

once, and the woman still sitting next to me

on the other side on the airplane congratulated

me for doing so well as an unaccompanied minor.

As an unaccompanied minor? The trip there was

not one of the better flights I've been on. Flying

just sucks now. There's no, I don't, I haven't

had a good flight unless I'm like being flown.

business class by my company, you know, overseas

or something. It's just terrible. I had a really

bad experience too. I had the middle seat on

the cheapest car. But you don't take up any room.

She really doesn't. Yeah, she's like, she's like

publicized. You put her, put her right in the

middle of the seat. That kind of goes back to

something we talked about a while ago. I think

it was talking, I don't know, somehow we got

on the subject of Halloween costumes and I think,

I don't know where it was said, it was either

said on Twitter or Skype or somewhere where people

are like, Kelly was like, do people just think

I'm, you know, a larger size version of a Puggle?

Like an actual, you know, a life size version

of a Puggle former? To be fair or maybe unfair,

I don't know how you're going to look at it.

Most of the people who looked at Callie went,

you're the Puggle lady, aren't you? Like, without

even knowing who she is, you're the girl who

makes the Puggles, right? You should have seen

her line. I guess we shouldn't get into this

yet, huh? We want to talk about the truth. No,

not yet. She's famous. How was your trip from

San Diego? I very unfortunately booked on US.

We don't know what the fuck we're doing airways

So I actually We got sat up in the airplane in

San Diego. Oh We're gonna put put your seatbelt

on and then turn your phone off and okay now

we're gonna go to the safety spiel and they pull

away from the gate And we sit there for 20 minutes

and We try to figure out what's going on and

the captain is just like yeah, we can't get air

to the engines So we're gonna pull back up to

the gate and see if we can't get us started So

they pulled us back up and we sat there for another

20 minutes Eventually, we managed to get off.

They actually made fairly good headway and I

still made my next flight with with very little

problem Yeah, I know you and your horror stories

about going home but Phoenix was Phoenix was

cool. It was all of like 87 degrees in freaking

Phoenix But I didn't you know, I didn't ever

leave you know, because we never made it to Phoenix

Look at it this way. It's better that they couldn't

get the plane engine started then then it suddenly

stopped working while you're 10 ,000 feet in

the air But the state of the American airline

industry, like, I mean, I'm going to get totally

political now. It's terrible. Like, it's awful.

The only people who had good flights were people

who took Virgin US, I guess. Virgin US and JetBlue,

from what I heard, were fantastic. Most people

I had talked to coming to BotCon had terrible

times in any flight you talked to. I know. One

to one after another. It was terrible. The old

standard airlines are just, they just don't give

a crap about us anymore. It's crazy. They really

don't. Unfortunately, I was also stuck on, I

don't know, a plane that was made in the 80s.

So it was very old and decrepit and disgusting.

And at one point in the middle of a flight, luckily

it didn't hit me, one of the overhead compartments

popped open and someone's luggage plopped out

in front of the person in front of me. Awesome.

Didn't actually hit anyone, but it scared the

shit out of the entire compartment. We were all

just like, oh my god. They're supposed to check

that before they take off too. Oh, they did,

but it popped out anyway. And the lady sitting

next to me had her tray table fall on top of

her head. Because she was kind of leaning forward,

because she was like dozing and listening to

her music and it just smacked her on the back

of the head. Well, that's a lawsuit. I had to

turn to the window and cover my mouth to avoid

her seeing me laughing at her. That's a lawsuit,

though. If she was injured in any way, that's

a lawsuit. It is. Hey, plushies. Sorry, I'm unpacking.

Did you hear Maggie's story about when we were

going from Dallas Love to Houston? I know. The

air conditioner was out, so... What? Yeah, it's

like, well... On the plane? What? They're like,

well, the plane's not quite as full as the last

plane, so maybe it won't be so hot, but leave

all your shades down. And of course, there's

15 people... in the plane who aren't listening

at all and never put their shades down. So we

were sitting there waiting to take off. It was

so hot. Once we got into the air, it was better.

Yeah. God, it was ridiculous. So when did you

arrive, Derek? Was it Wednesday, Thursday, or

Friday? We got there Wednesday night. OK. What

about you, Kelly? I got there Thursday afternoon

-ish. And you got there Thursday morning, right

Mariah? No, I landed in DFW right about 120 in

the afternoon. Jazz's legs popped off. There

we go. Put the bag on! No! His arm is missing!

Little Creon Jazz rode home in my checked baggage,

so now his tiny little white arm is floating

in here somewhere. I always take a toy with me,

too, on the plane. I ended up taking Prime Knockout,

but he never actually came out of my backpack,

so... Was it the deluxe size one, or the little

bitty one? The deluxe. The little bitty one for

him isn't out yet. What? The Cyberverse Knockout?

It's not out yet. I don't know what that means.

But okay. The little tiny, itty bitty, dinky

-winky ones? No. That Lux one I have. On that

kind of tangent, actually. Because everybody

else was like, oh my god, we're going to BotCon

on Wednesday! And I was just like, I'm fucking

bored! So I got together with Twitter Dude, EmeraldBeacon,

and we made little mystery surprises for BotCon

that we will talk about later. No, I won't talk

about that later. I'm sorry. Well, maybe maybe

if I remember Dirty yeah And we decided oh, let's

just go hit up a target. I haven't been lucky

yet and Ended up we hit up this target that had

two knockouts two hot shots, but no vehicle So

I wasn't able to get the vehicle, but I bought

but I bought them out of knockouts No, not yet.

No, Hotshot is just a repaint of Bumblebee. It

looks weird. Isn't it blue and stuff? What was

that? What was that? Was it Dead End that was

like orange and green and black? Yeah. What's

that in reference to? I didn't understand that.

I don't have any clue, actually. Okay, I'm glad

I'm not the only one. No clue. I think those

color schemes look great on that vehicle mode,

but that robot mode of Dead End is just fugly.

Alright, so was Thursday night pickup night for

you guys? Yes. So how did that go? I mean, it's

not a problem for me, so I don't know if we should

ask them. Right, that's, yeah, I was asking them.

Mr. Guest, dude. Callie, want to go first? Callie,

how did your pickup night go? That line separated

alphabetically by your last name, so your last

name, like, A to... J or whatever the hell, just

by your last name. So you got online and that

was it. They had it very orderly. The lines weren't

that long. It was pretty good. I accidentally

got on the wrong line because exhibitors and

dealer were supposed to go to different lines.

So I waited on my line and then I felt like an

idiot and then they were like, it's okay here.

We have your stuff anyway. And Pete was like,

hey, get on the other line. Pete got to the front

of the correct line to get my stuff. I did hear

from the TFW guys, they said it was a lot better

than Pasadena. They seem to think Pasadena was

like... It was man -fucking -tastic. Was it really?

Oh, it was. Pasadena was a hellhole and I didn't

know why. There was nothing... I don't know what

happened in Pasadena. From last year, because

I was in a wheelchair, so I got that quote. preferential

treatment or whatever. So I got to go in an hour

early before what was on my time card, which

was six o 'clock. We got to go in at six o 'clock.

I did with one other person. By eight o 'clock,

when all the rest of my friends were filing in

with their times, we were still sitting in the

same exact spot. We never moved. For two hours,

we never moved. It was just like, okay, this

is stupid. I don't get what's happening. This

time, oh my god, I had the time of my damn life.

Because the second I got in there, I looked at

it and I'm like, oh my god, there's a really

long line. And then I realized that that was

the line right next to my line. My line was 10

people short. And I lifted my arms up in the

air and kind of squealed as I ran down the line

and going, oh my god, this is really short. I

stood in line for all of like 10 minutes. Wow.

10 minutes, got my box, I was out. Fantastic.

Hi, yeah, they must have broken up the lines

in a different way than they did last year Because

usually usually the I threw L line which is mine

because my last name is J My last name starts

with a J. So that's Just usually that line is

really long, but it's not Which I was totally

damn pleased with because it was just in album

and done unfortunately the Exclusives line is

a totally different story. For you, maybe. Well,

unfortunately, little Miss Callie here hadn't

eaten anything since she left New York. Is that

right? What? Repeat that? When was the last time

you ate on Thursday? Before you got to Dallas.

Whatever. On Thursday? On Thursday I got there

pretty late, but the thing is I had the exhibitor

badge thing, so the following day I got to pick

up my toys an hour early? Well, but my point

is, yeah, okay. When she got there, she was,

she was, okay, we're hungry, so we're gonna go

down and, you know, do our thing, and then ended

up sitting in the, or standing in the exclusive

line, which was broken up into three separate

lines this time. There was the cash line, the

credit line, and then the exclusively exclusive

line. Oh yeah, we were on that line for like

three hours or something. Oh yeah, that line

was long. After a few minutes, I had to eat something.

I was gonna faint if I didn't get anything into

my body. So I was like, screw this, I got off

the line, ate French fries at the hotel restaurant

for highly expensive, but I expected it to be,

but I was hungry. And then I saw how long the

line was and I was just like, I'll pick it up

tomorrow. And the next day I... the gibbers up

their toys early, she was like, yay. Yeah, we

managed to, like, I don't know, like, with the

exclusives line, they had that one that went

through actually incredibly quick. And that was,

you know, the exclusive add -ons, which for whatever

reason didn't include the Soundwave headband,

even though that goes with the freaking toys.

So I had to stand in the normal line with everyone

else. I don't know how long it took. I wasn't

watching my clock, but it took a long time to

get through that line. It was convoluted and

terrible. Apparently, a fight actually broke

out down there. What? A fight? A fight had apparently

broken out, like, just, you know... Well, I guess

you know well Callie will know this and Derek

will know this but when when you went into the

exclusives When you went into the to see that

the club store There it was it was a doorway

and then steps and then right in that doorway

I don't know exactly what happened Apparently,

I think I think some dude was was was trying

to cut or some I don't know exactly what happened

But a fight broke out and they actually had to

break some people up because of that. I wish

it was two people's moms. A fight like that can

happen anywhere but any. That's true. That's

true. But another one of the debacles, unfortunately,

with that line is the credit card line. For whatever

reason, Fun Pop thought it was a fantastic idea

to set up a credit card on a wireless signal

in a basement. Yeah, they couldn't get a signal

to the basement at all. They could not get a

signal to the basement of the hotel. I think

they were trying to get a cable to run, but the

hotel didn't have that or something. I don't

know, but yeah, that was another thing. Yeah,

there was something like that and just that I

felt so bad for the people on the credit line.

First off, I don't know why anybody would even

want to use credit at BotCon because that would

just terrify the hell out of me right now. Well,

it's like, you know, they said You know, it's

like, I think that right now is probably the

safest time it's ever gonna be, you know, because

they're completely tracking everything. It's

like right after, you know, right after, I don't

know, an earthquake, everybody gets ready for,

is more prepared for an earthquake. Exactly,

but I still I still wasn't gonna personally trust

it people You know what props to you? I guess

if you're brave enough to do it, but I was just

like nope I had cash on hand the entire weekend,

which was a hell of a lot of fun carrying around

$1 ,500 But I felt that that was a hell of a

lot safer than carrying a card I went plastic

I didn't care I try to use credit cards as little

as possible. Even when not dealing with Fun Pub,

just generally. Because even Michael's art store

had a fraud thing last year with a lot of debit

card swipers. So I try to use credit cards as

little as possible. I guess I'm used to it, too,

because our company has had that stuff happen,

and our payroll agency. Has that stuff happen

so it's like it's just like if it's gonna happen.

It's gonna happen. Hopefully they'll catch it

I have actually a question from the for the rest

of you that aren't in New York City does do other

cities have Adverts about how to protect your

credit card against thieves at Penn stations.

Oh, yeah cover it with your hand and yeah Yeah,

I mean those life lock commercials are everywhere.

No, no, not LifeLock. We have news like frequent

reminders that if you're using an ATM, cover

the PIN card with your hand so any camera that

might be mounted by thieves cannot capture the

PIN number, things like that. How can they have

the cameras that good and then when they have

those like the police camera or the security

cameras, they're so crappy, like you can't see

anything. I know, I just, I guess here we're

a little bit more paranoid. I guess it doesn't

help that New York's like, or that area of New

York is a very big hub, central hub, so I'm sure

a lot of information gets stolen daily out there.

It's a hub and a hub of commerce. It's a tourist

trap, so, you know, hey, tourists are, you know,

they're on vacation, they don't care, they're

being frugal, not frugal, but they're just spending

and really not caring. Yes. All right, so Thursday

night you picked up your toys you got your toys

What happened in the shenanigan suite? This shenanigan

suite was all kinds of full of fun Yes craft

party. I'm sure this is the point where you want

to tell your story about the special gifts Um,

yeah, miss Callie was was very very artsy craftsy

I had a banner of paper and crayons. Yes. And

then we drew the puggle banner for my table with

crayons and art things, and it was awesome. Cool.

Cool. It was. All right. So Friday morning, Friday,

Kelly, what happened with you, you know, Friday

morning? I was up at like seven in the morning

or around about you were not I Tried to get you

up at seven and you didn't want to get up I Got

dressed I can just see it now. No, breakdown.

Go away. Five more minutes. Yeah. There's a giant

effing robot looming over you. You're going to

get out of bed. Right now. That didn't happen.

I got up. The first thing I did, the artist's

alley, the dealer room, didn't open until like

two o 'clock. But the toys, the ones that I give,

they let the dealer room people in early was

like nine. Eight, nine o 'clock, something like

that. I don't remember and my tag is somewhere

in my luggage. So I went down there and they

told me that they actually closed half an hour

early for the dealers because they opened half

an hour early. I don't remember what people were

saying that they wanted to take a break. So they

told me, get on the line with all the people

waiting for the regular opening. I was like,

screw that. No, I just wanted one toy. I'm not

going to wait in line for that. But Pete showed

up. And Pete was like, what the hell? It should

be open here. So even though other dealers were

complaining trying to get the toys early, he

wasn't really aware who wanted what. But I was

there. And Pete knew me. So Pete got them to

get me the toy that I wanted. Because the sets

were like $100 each. And I couldn't. So I got

the set that I wanted and then I went back to

my room and then I ate stuff and played and played

Plants vs. Zombies for like two hours. What was

the set you wanted? Um, the SG Optimus Prime

and the kickoff I believe his name is or kick

over or kick the lamp. Yeah, kickoff is really

good. Did you keep any, any uh, Mariah? Did you

end up keeping any? Um, no, I didn't I was Insanely

tempted to get my hands on those junkie ons.

Yeah There's they're so damn gorgeous I know

but $99 for three figures that was a really kind

of steep if it was a little it was a little cheaper

I would have gone for it but 99 bucks for three

of them was like, oh my god, I want them but

that's like half my that's like Yeah, not for

that price. They're insanely pretty. First off,

because of the way BotCon works, none of us know

what the exclusives are before the show, and

I'm sure that a lot of people that are listening

to this already know that. Well, unless it's

2011 and you're helping create the exclusives,

oh wait, that already happened. Are you having

to be people in the know? Yeah, raising my hand

here as I knew exactly what was in the set like

a month and a half before everybody else did.

Hey, I helped create Motor Master, so. What?

Yes, I did. Don't lie. I asked you on Twitter.

It was like, it was like last year's before.

Oh, that's true. That's right. Engine here. But

last year. like in like december or january like

like a month or so before they announced what

was going to be happening as far as the overall

theme like three o 'clock in the morning new

york time you tweeted hey what's what's motor

master's box look like what's back there and

i was like Give me five minutes. Like, give me

five minutes. So I went on YouTube and I screen

capped the back of the box head. And I'm like,

here, does this help easily? And you're like,

yeah, it helps a lot. So yeah, I helped create

motor maps. That was like a year early, too,

wasn't it? Yeah. Alright, so 2012. Mariah, what

was your Friday morning like? Friday morning

was very lazy. Where's my badge? There it is.

Okay. Looking on the back of the badge because

BotCon does this awesome thing of printing the

schedule for the convention on the back of the

badge. Yeah, really, I didn't... There was nothing

for me to do. I had already done all of my line

stuff on Thursday, so it was pretty much... We

kind of wandered around and said hi to people

that we hadn't seen in a year or so and and Did

did breakfast in the cafe? the very first thing

cost the very first thing Convention wise that

I did was the Transformers film fest which was

like at 11 so between Between like 8 and 11.

I kind of had nothing to do Okay, now what did

they show at the Film Fest this year? The Film

Fest usually consists of rather nerdy kind of

stupid videos. Some of them were funny, some

of them were okay. I wasn't like overly impressed

by any of them really this year. Oh, so this

isn't like what they did a couple years ago where

they showed you like the 86 movie or... No, no.

These are fan made for contests. It's actually

a contest. It's got prizes and stuff to it. Okay.

The the film fest was it was funny there were

a couple of entries that I loved Green energy

was particularly funny you can find you should

be able to find most of these on on YouTube by

now I think my favorite one of my favorite ones

was See if I can find it real quick because I

don't remember that the whole damn title of it

was so freaking long It was The best the best

the best transformers botcon 2012 fan film thingy

ever made oh That was what it was called That

one was funny Yeah, that one was it was it was

with ravage the insult cat. Oh, yeah, didn't

that one win? No, it didn't Get close Oh, is

that the, um, wait, is that, um, the, was it

the guy with the Ravage puppet? Yeah. Yeah, not

with, not - Was John, John Bailey Crumpton? Was

that his? I have no idea. It wasn't, it wasn't,

it wasn't the dude that made the Glit, the SG

Glit. Right, that Trent and Greg had those. Yeah,

it was the plastic one. I think it was John because

he had one and he was doing that for me to poop

on kind of voice or whatever. Mm -hmm, yeah,

yeah, then that was him. Yeah. Yeah, that one

was funny. The one that won was actually a guy

filming his two -year -old son talking about

his Transformers and the little boy, you know,

oh, this is Optimus Prime, this is Bumblebee,

this is, yeah, you know, like the Megatron and

had him singing the Transformers theme song.

Little two -year -old, really adorable kid. Look

tip tip for everybody out there You want to win

the the film fest stick a two -year -old in there

just having to talk about transformers apparently

that's really gonna be 700 of those next year

now All right, um, so Kelly the F Friday afternoon

when now were you was artist alley in the dealer

room or were you in the dealer room and artist

alley was separate because I I never could understand

that throughout all the debacle of hey we're

not having artist alley this year oh but wait

through fan demand we're bringing it back so

no no that was a Hasbro thing Hasbro right no

I no I know that was actually shoved into into

a tight space when the parent company starts

looming goes we will take away all your toys

right so Was Artist Alley in the dealer room

the same thing, or was it two completely? The

Artist Alley was pretty much integrated into

the dealer's room. There was one artist table

way in the back of the room, and I think I saw

a couple of others, like the guy that does the

walkie comic, David Willis, had that table in

the middle of the room. But the main artist alley

was... That's so he doesn't start any fights

with the other artists. Yeah, I'll take your

word for it. I don't know him that well. No,

I'm just kidding. It was like five tables next

to each other in the back of the room where the

autograph line starts. Kelly was like one guy

down from Simon Furman. Yeah. I sat next to,

I wrote his name down because I suck at remembering

things. Matt somebody. Matt Frank? Yep, that's

what it was. He's good. Awesome guy. We had an

adventure with a masterpiece Grimlock. And there

was like five tables there. Josh Perez was a

little bit down for me. I'm told Simon Furman

was a little bit down for me, but I didn't actually

talk to him that I remember. I might have...

I introduced you to him. What? I introduced you

to him. Also, the convention is a blur of happiness.

I was like, I brought David Kay and Simon Furman

down and they met you. Yes, I remember David

Kay. And he took a card from me later. And Mr.

Sorensen, and I can't remember his name right

now. The Forester? Yes, thank you. My mind isn't

working very well tonight. They stopped by, like,

you made me a Death's Head Puggle and I still

have it. I was like, oh my god, I'm banned. She

made Jim that Death's Head Puggle. Yeah. That

was awesome. I was kind of jealous of that one,

actually. It was a that was an interesting one

to me because I really didn't know how it would

work. Um So that was pretty much it and most

of the convention is kind of a blur of joy and

kind of delirious panic I Don't know how delirious

you can be when you have to pay attention to

a mob of people that want your product The line

their lines were crazy. I know I've seen the

pictures. It's like You know, she's not, you

know... There was one point where her line was

like, I don't know, 25, 30 people long, maybe

more, going down there, and Simon Furman had

like three guys. And I was like, what is going

on here? This guy's getting inducted into the

Hall of Fame. People know all about Simon. I

don't know how any of the other P artists in

the artist alley reacted. I kind of wish I had

the mind to look, but now I'm curious. But yeah,

most of the time I was just going, oh my god,

there are people coming. Yeah, I didn't even

realize it was a line until someone took it out

and I was like, holy shit. So tell us something,

how many Puggles did you take with you? 102.

102? You know, I had a little basket full of

little hatchlings and mystery grab bag eggs,

which were more popular than I thought they would

be. And you left with how many Puggles? One.

Pretty good. 101 Puggles sold. He's on eBay now.

Four days left. I put him up on eBay this morning.

He has six bids. Oh cool Poor little G to poor

little BotCon 2010 street star. I think he'd

come streetwise people know who the hell he is

Well, I'm sure she wanted to go by the official

name but the TFCC guys don't even go by the official

name. They always have the real names in the

comic What were you gonna say earlier Mariah?

Um, I was just gonna say that the dealer hall

opened at 2 and from From 2 to 4 p .m. Callie

had a line Like constant line and she Because

of the way that she was working with it, she

was actually cataloging every single one of them

that she sold. So she could only deal with one

person at a time. The line went relatively slow,

but she was busy for the longest time. Oh, right.

Didn't you say originally, Callie, that it was

going to be a cash -only sale? It was a casual

sale. I didn't take credit. Right, no, I know,

but I'm saying, like, it, you know, you were

busy taking these people's information down and

everything else, but it wasn't because of you

were doing credit cards or anything like that.

No, I'm just a control freak, and I like to know

what I sell when. So I had a notebook where I

was writing literally everything down. After,

like, the fifth couple, I stopped writing down

what time things sold. She seems to be having

fun with it. She kept weighing them before she

sold them. I freak out if I don't know what I

sell when. I forgot to write down when I sold

one puggle. I was freaking about it for like

six hours before I was a ten -year -old kid that

was like, oh, I bought the wrong puggle. And

I was like, oh, yes, I remember you. Why didn't

I write this down? Yeah, she had a little bit

of a freak out. I can't remember what puggle

it was, but she had a little bit of a freak out

when she couldn't find a puggle on the table.

Yeah. But. You know, what was it? No, no, it

was it was I think it was Yeah, I know it was

it was she couldn't find a puggle on a table

But she had it written down as sold and she was

just like what or she didn't have it written

out of sold I have very poor memory So I write

things down in order to keep track of everything

and if I don't write something down and I have

no Memory that of what happened to it. I completely

freak out So so day one did you take After you

were done with day one did Did the first 50 sell

immediately? No, there was actually about six

pugs left at the end of the first day But I know

why um Everyone was looking at the six that were

left and I told them that I would have more tomorrow

So they took it as I will come back tomorrow

to see what else you will have I will sold the

next day very easily Who was left at the end

of day one? I remember there wasn't there was

an iron fist because I kept looking at it Even

though I already have an Iron Fist Puggle, I

kept looking at it and saying, oh, I wonder if

I should buy the Iron Fist. I know he was there.

I actually have the picture here. I know Grapple

was left, Twincast was left, Slugfest was left.

Slugfest was really good, too. That was cool.

Sorry, he was needed. Smoke Screen, I think,

also. No, that Ironhide sold. And I think that

might have been it. No, Acid Storm also. Uh -huh.

Cool. They sold the next day pretty easily. Alright.

Okay, so after the dealer room, what else happened

on Friday? For you guys, Mariah. I mean, what,

what, what, like after all of the dealer room

stuff, what else went on on Friday? Um, actually

before the dealer room closed, like not too,

not too long before, like I want to say she only

got like a half an hour in the dealer hall. But,

uh, Twitter... At sign all roads home, which

is Vete Velocity, actually got to dress up in

her animated RC costume. I didn't even see it.

She got to wander the floor for a little while.

She didn't do it very long, because there really

wasn't much time. She hung out with me and Callie

for the majority of the day and I think did RC

for maybe two hours. She really didn't do it

for that long. But yeah, other than that, I mean,

we did, what did we do? I think we stayed up

like insanely late or something, because we were

just, oh my God, excited, and ah, because everybody

was coming in at that point. We had all the Shanigan

Sweeters, which was 12 people. At this point,

Callie was doing her own thing. I think she was

already in our PJs and in bed But but by like

10 o 'clock we were all just like whoa We're

all gonna go out for dinner at like 10 o 'clock

So we all just kind of we left the hotel and

we went to go find a McDonald's at like 1030

And actually discovered that With the way that

the Hyatt Regency is set up there is a gigantic

for lack of a better term shaft That shot up

into the sky And then yes, and then on top of

it at night this thing lights up this big huge

ball with a bunch of lights on it It lights up

and it's just like dude. It's vector Sigma That's

awesome. So like no matter where we were kind

of in that general area in Dallas We could see

that ball and we're just like we need to go there

to get back to the hotel We have no idea where

our we're gonna go that way Other than that,

we didn't really do very much. We hung out a

little bit down in the bar, just kind of milling

about because everybody was there. The TFW guys

love hanging out in the bar, so I was there a

lot. I like hanging out with them. I think they're

fantastic. The breakdown Puggle, which is actually

staring at me on my desk. He got to see a lot

of the convention because he wandered around

with me throughout the entire convention And

and he got to see the whole convention and everybody's

oh my god. Does she have another one be like

no she doesn't While Callie's table was open

I actually had my Skywarp plush from Moosha and

breakdown sitting on Skywarp's lap on the table

and Like every other person would come up. Oh

my god. Is that breakdown for sale? No Your Skywarp

met up with a couple other Moosho. My Skywarp

did. Only one unfortunately. But he did manage

to find Starscream. He managed to find Starscream.

Later in the day he actually found Jazz. And

then later on in the weekend he actually found

Goldbug, who was actually one of the sweeters

in our room. And Perceptor. Did you see the tracks?

There was a tracks wandering around but Skywarp

never got to meet him. They wouldn't have gotten

along anyway. No, they wouldn't have, no. Ew,

it's organic! Actually, that lady did have, she

had animated tracks, she had G1 tracks. I think

they were both by Musha, and then she had a different

one, but I think it was maybe a non -Musha track,

too. Probably. That's some hardcore tracks action.

I mean, fandom, whatever. You know what I mean.

Yeah. Not like that. Tracks on tracks action.

Saturday was the big day Saturday was the day

So what happened Saturday morning for you Mariah?

God Saturday morning Consisted of wait. When

did the dealer hall open? Dealer hall open 0830.

So I woke up at like 730. No 7 I woke up at seven.

Throughout the entirety of yesterday, a little

bit Wednesday, and especially Thursday evening,

Alrod's home was making a disaster in our suite

because she was actually still working on building

Knockout. She wasn't completely finished with

Knockout, so she was making a mess. There were

costume bits everywhere and hot glue guns and

and you know both both she and I actually had

to make repairs to both break I mean I had to

make repairs to break down because he sat in

her car all day and because she actually came

and did the Wednesday customization class and

so she came a day early and she drove so I just

shipped breakdown to her and then she drove him

to the convention but because he sat in her car

all day there were minor repairs here and there

that needed to just be touched up luckily it

wasn't anything too extreme was that expected

kind of stuff or was it Yeah, I expected little

just just tiny little seams that popped out It

was mainly in like his helmet and in one of his

shoulders because you're pretty you're pretty

Knowledgeable experienced at this stuff by this

point right you yeah, you've done this a little

while yeah by now It's a you kind of tend to

learn how to pack things for shipping after you've

done this for so long But yeah, Saturday was

the big day because Saturday was breakdowns day

to show off and be around people. So... Well,

I thought it was the big day because it was my

panel on Saturday. That's always... Oh, there

is that. We'll get to that later. Getting to

see you is always a plus. Oh, you. Oh, me. But

yeah, that was that was I got into the got into

the rig at that point. I still hadn't eaten anything.

But I had I had my I had my spotter and then

I had three other people I was actually working

on because I needed to get up that early is because

I needed to film things in the hallway or in

in the dealer hall itself before it became convoluted

with the walk ins. Right. Before it became convoluted

with the children, mostly. It didn't seem like

there were that many walk -ins and kids this

year. No, there weren't. There really weren't,

which is kind of surprising, especially for Dallas.

I needed to film something, but four of my sweeters

actually ended up following me around. One of

them ended up ditching me about half -way through

the day, but I had three spotters the entire

weekend. or the entire day. It was pretty fantastic

considering that I have very limited mobility.

In breakdown, I can only raise my arms to about

a 90 degree. I can't reach my face. So we know

you can't hit anyone though. That's a good thing.

I can punch you in the gut pretty hard. Thank

you. She can stiff arm. Yeah. I can outrun you

in that thing, I think. Yeah, you can, but those

shoulders are hard. If I wanted to, I could probably

check you pretty hard. But yeah, that was my

big day. I did a lot of filming for something

that I'm going to be putting up here in the next

couple of weeks or so as soon as I can get the

video codecs to work correctly on my Mac. Otherwise

out of the out of the actual BotCon guests besides

our limited edition guest host here like David

Kay Gary Chalk How many how many people did you

actually go up to in in breakdown as far as the

voice actors? No one actually the only person

that I went up to go see was Peter Cullen and

That was because like this year. I'm sure a lot

of people have heard about this, but this year

BotCon did the lottery tickets, right? So, instead

of, oh, I want to enter the lottery, please put

me in the lottery. If you bought a registered

package, you were automatically entered whether

you wanted to be in that line or not. I think

that Peter Cullen is great. I'm not a big fan

of Peter Cullen, nor am I a fan of Optimus Prime.

So getting his autograph really didn't matter

to me. I would have much rather given it to some

little kid. But while I'm wandering around in

Breakdown, I'm actually in Derek Wyatt's panel

at this point and I've got one of Breakdown's

arms off and the feet off. So that I can at least

attempt to kneel down and roll and rest my arms

rest my legs I'm flitting around on Twitter and

half of my Twitter is freaking the hell out because

I'm on the list For Peter Collins autograph,

and I'm like I really don't want it So I actually

ended up getting something signed for someone

in our suite Which was which was which was kind

of cool Yeah, well, it was we were only allowed

to get one thing sign and I thought I was gonna

get my badge signed and it's like, okay Well,

I'm only allowed to get one thing then I'll get

her poster because autographs I'd not I'm not

a big fan of standing in line and having someone

scribble on a piece of paper for me I'm really

not that doesn't interest because that's just

because she can see me anytime Yeah, I agree.

I agree with you though. I like you know, it's

cool if you get to If it's a panel and you can

interact and ask questions and stuff, I'd much

rather go to something like that than a signing.

Usually when people hear Peter Cullen, he's kind

of practiced. He's in front of a camera. When

he's in front of a camera, he's got this very

practiced, very deeper kind of tone to his voice.

What Brian Savage actually did for me Was because

I was in costume He actually allowed me to get

up right in the front of the line, so I didn't

have to stand in line as You know as a as as

big old breakdown I could actually just jump

in front of the line and get what I needed sign

and get out of there Which was Ryan Savage did

this for you? Ryan? No, not Ryan Savage. Pete

Sinclair did this for me. Oh, yes. Ryan Savage

didn't do shit for me. That's totally different.

No. Yeah. Pete Sinclair is is fantastic. But

yeah, he actually he actually popped me up and

I was like, OK, this is this is cool. But when

I got in front of the line and he saw me, he

went, oh. And his voice actually hit a higher

And while he was talking to me, he had this higher,

just this slightly higher tone to his voice.

And I was like that this is probably his normal

speaking voice because I surprised him and took

him out of his element. Yeah. And I think I honestly

believe that what I heard was his actual speaking

voice as opposed to the normal voice that you

usually hear on TV. Yeah, I mean. His, and this

is because I've never been to BotCon, I would

love to go, but it's just not in my deck of cards

at this point in time. I've seen people videotape

his panels with Peter Cullen and his voice is

much lower. And it's not as deep and as gravelly

as Optimus's voice is. And he's more quiet as

himself than anything. I mean, essentially Peter

Cullen, even though he was the voice of this

character for the longest time, essentially he

is an Eeyore. Because to me, every time I see

him, unless he's doing the Hasbro promotion thing

for being optimist, he's a very quiet man. Oh

yeah. That's just the impression that I get from

stuff that I've seen him on where he's not actually

promoting the brand. Yeah, as far as, you know,

I've worked with a lot of voice actors and stuff,

but I've never really worked with Peter at all,

so I don't have any experience with him at all.

Yeah, I really don't have any experience with

him much either. Just on a general fan level,

because I really don't much care for him. I think

I've seen him, like actually seen him in person,

like maybe twice. I know. That's about it. I

was, my booth was in front of the line for the

entire time. You know, all Callie had to do was

turn around and she could probably see him. There

was at least one kid that stopped in front of

the booth going, why can't I be Optimus Prime?

Yeah, I felt bad for the little kids that were

just like, oh yeah, no, sorry, not this time.

All right. Callie, what happened to you on Saturday

as far as the remainder of the Puggles and all

that glory? I sat at my table. I sold Puggles.

One remained. I think I played Angry Birds. Not

Angry Birds. I played Plants vs. Zombies for

like the hour and a half at the end of the show.

Just waiting for people to stumble upon my booth.

And there's only one lonely Puggle! Poor little

street star. Hey, he's bid up to 26 bucks at

this point, so... That's good. He's almost there.

What do you think it's up to like 50 and you're

like, uh, I sold a total of 10 prints And six

pendants and then all the bottles those were

the josh perez prints What those were the josh

perez prints? Yes Yes, I think I saw I think

I was asked to sign like two of them. Yeah, cool.

Awesome. Awesome so Besides our special guests

panel, which we'll talk about here in a little

bit, what other panels did you ladies attend?

Mariah or Callie, whoever wants to go first,

what panels were you looking forward to the most

out of this year's convention? I kind of want

to say that the entirety of the actual convention

programming didn't interest me at all. I was

not interested in the voice actor panels. Really

didn't care about the Jagex panels or anything

else, because I'm going to buy the game anyway,

so I don't want to be spoiled on it. The only...

I wanted to see the TCC roundtable, but... That

was probably the best... I'm sorry to interrupt,

but I think that was probably the best panel

I went to with all those big reveals. Yeah, there

were a lot of big reveals and a lot of people

were really pleased by it. I didn't I wanted

to go to it, but I was in breakdown and at the

time I think I was down the dealer hall Trying

to get away from people. No, I'd know it. I think

at that time I was actually with knockout So

I couldn't really Yeah, cuz I came in after that

panel I remember running into you guys right

at the front of the front of the the dealer room

You probably didn't see me because you were breakdown.

I would yeah, it's really hard for me to see

things out of that costume. Yeah I went to Derek's

panel because it was Derek's panel. I think we

all went to Derek's panel because it was Derek's

panel. I went to the Jagex panel. I like to be

the guy who's like, well, hey guys, I don't have

a cartoon anymore, but come and visit me. I went

to the Jagex panel for the MMO coming up just

out of curiosity. And I think that's all I did

actually. Without spoiling anything, was there

anything that caught your eye about? about the

MMO? They claim that the MMO, even though it's

browser run, will be just as fancy and as awesome

as any client -based MMO. Which I am intrigued

by, but also skeptical. Because they also say

that even a five -year -old computer will be

able to run the game beautifully. Wow. I'm a

little bit skeptical. They must be dealing with

five -year -old software then. The people that

are running that seem really jazzed about it,

too. I wanted to go to that panel, but then I

ended up going to lunch instead. I even got to

ask them a question. I was like, why browser

-based MMO? Why not a client -based MMO? And

they said that because browser -based is what

we do. Browser -based is something that Jagex

is very famous for, actually. Yeah, so that's

that's they probably so that was probably Hasbro's

choice then if they chose if they chose to do

this I'm not I don't even know what that means

browser -based or client -based but if usually

The head will decide what they want to do and

then go to the the most suited company for that

Browser -based means that it's on the web It's

a website that you run it by our client base

means you like you download something onto your

computer and you run it from that Yeah It's essentially

like going out and buying War for Cybertron versus

playing Cafe World on Facebook. It's essentially

the difference. So does that mean it's going

to be all cute and like cute style Transformers

or like little two heads tall Transformers walking

around? I don't know. It's the difference between

Warcraft and Bot Shots. Oh, okay. That sounds

kinda cool. Roll the photograph down onto your

hard drive bot shop to open up a website and

you poke people. Alright, were there any other

panels that you went to, Kelly, besides Derek's

and the Jagex panel on Saturday? No. BotCon is

like a glorified shopping trip for me. So much

time selling Pugles that it couldn't find all

of the really good deals so I didn't buy much

anyway. But I sold Pugles and I made money so

I'm happy with myself. The only other panel that

I went to was the Hasbro Transformers brand team

panel. That was that was on Saturday. That was

directly after the roundtable. Oh, okay. Okay.

Yeah, I I saw that one. I love seeing toy reveals

Unfortunately for whatever reason They didn't

actually show my favorite toy my favorite upcoming

toy, which was the Legion Transformers Prime

breakdown They didn't show it. He's in he's in

wave 4 along with two others um but there were

there were two question marks over two of the

squares and the other one was just like yeah

this character's from exodus we'll show you this

or exile excuse me we'll show you this character

from from exiles and i don't even know who the

hell he was i heard yeah it sounded like it wasn't

that much stuff they they showed up okay yeah

really wasn't i was i was insanely disappointed

about how little they showed off this year Thought

breakdown would be in the display cabinets to

be honest with you. I thought he was too I was

I was honestly really looking forward to this

toy panel so that I could see you break down

in color finally because yeah Because Singapore

got to see breakdowns Prototype is great prototype

So I would have figured by now they'd have him

in color and have him like as a color prototype

to show off Yeah, but they didn't have that At

the end of the panel, I actually wanted to ask

the question, but someone beat me to it, was

where was breakdown? Because I wanted, because

at the time I was in the breakdown costume. So

I thought that would have been fantastic breakdown,

asking about breakdown, but someone else beat

me to it. and after talking to one of the Hasbro

guys after the panel just on just just in serious

off -the -record one -on -one why couldn't you

show breakdown and he was actually just like

we can neither confirm nor deny a US release

for breakdown oh jeez so so it's kind of like

it's kind of like animated blackout Yeah, and

I ordered a Takara one. Yeah, I'm nervous about

the car because stickers That's such a weird

like I got the first editions and they look so

nice but the stickery ones kind of scare me too

Yeah, I mean I have the I actually have the arms

micron Takara skywarp I managed to pick up him

for a relatively ish cheap price the cheap quote

-unquote of $40 but but I mean he looks fantastic

just by himself without the stickers so I don't

even know if I'm gonna put them on I heard that

I heard with him in particular because of the

it has that kind of red foil look to the sticker

that they do look really nice when you get them

on if you Yeah, one of my friends did that and

he showed me pictures and he does look fantastic

with stickers, but he does look really awesome

even without them. So I'm half tempted to leave

them off. I haven't decided yet, but I really

kind of don't want to put stickers on breakdown.

I would much rather buy a US release or if it

does happen, then you'd be I get to take paint

to a toy, which I've never done before. But for

breakdown, I might. I just said that The the

worry I have over a non US release for breakdown

It's kind of making me nervous Yeah, I guess

I didn't think about that because I was looking

at the you know the other the first editions

which are all shiny and painted up nice, but

yeah Hmm, but I'm sure like Well, I mean generally

once The mold is done and the figures is being

run that they generally find a way to come out

even if You know, it's on a mass release. Hopefully,

you know. I hope so. But in this case, it might

be interesting to get one Takara one and one

US one. If the Takara one is kind of plain, it

might be an interesting contrast. Might be. Maybe

he'll come with the eyepatch sticker. I just

want them to make him with the eyepatch. Right.

Part of the other... What do you call it? One

of the other reveals that they had during the

brand team panel was the SDCC exclusives. Which

was, I'm sure a lot of other people have seen

if they've looked on Cybertron or TFW or whatever,

just on their news posts, that Fall of Cybertron

Bruticus is fantastic. Oh my god, he's handsome.

Wait a second, wait a second, repeat that. What'd

you just say? I hate that swindle. It's got a

stupid - Really? Yes, it's got a stupid alternator

head. It doesn't have the big purple eyes. It

looks like crap. That's no fair. No, it looks

terrible. That swindle looked cool. No, it's

bad. Maybe combined together they're fine, but

with swindle on his own, I hate it. I don't like

it at all. What damn that sucks cuz it was like

I was thinking of buying Bruticus and just keeping

swindle for myself and then selling the rest

of the toys It's just me like I'm I'm really

picky with him because he's my favorite and it's

like it doesn't yeah really doesn't help They

didn't do it right I don't know why they use

that the alternator head that it's that is based

on trail breaker has nothing to do with swindle

I didn't even see that. I was just I was just

too busy freaking out about the whole combined

mode, I think. I was too busy freaking out about

Swindle's vehicle mode. I mean, you know, I love

Swindle in general anyway, but I just thought

the follow of Cybertron vehicle mode for him

was just a really unique and really cool design.

Maybe, but in a way, it's a robot. It's not him

anymore. Oh, bummer. That was me. I don't know.

One of the other things that they showed was

the SDCC exclusive of Transformers Prime Zombie

Cliffjumper. Yes. Comes with a big severed head.

Which is fantastic. I love the toy itself. The

severed head is kind of retarded and I wish they

had gone with like... I honestly wish they had

gone with a clear dark energon case. I think

that would have been much better than this stupid

zombie head we're getting. Well, the zombie head

is just packaging, right? Yeah, it is just it

is just packaging, but the problem is with me

is it takes up a lot of space It's plastic and

all I'm gonna do is throw it away I don't want

if if it was like if it was at a hole in the

top of its head You can use it to go trick -or

-treating then it would be cool I was honestly

hoping that they were gonna go with the dark

energon Casing because I keep the dark energy

on casing if it was that but it's not I still

like the I still kind of like the um The clear

purple to car one too. That one's kind of awesome.

That one is it's really bizarre and Like Stop

looming over me that's creeping me out. I'm still

on a podcast Thank you, sorry Speak if I can

die like hi Like half of Twitter was kind of

like I don't know. Maybe maybe it's true I didn't

get a close enough look at Cliff jumper and I

don't know what the first edition looks like

but like half of Twitter was either jokingly

Freak jokingly complaining or actually complaining

that first edition Cliff jumper was cancelled

to America because they made him an SDCC exclusive

Well, yeah, that was the compel. No, we got the

first edition But then the first editions got

cancelled, which meant that the original Terracon

version that they were going to release got cancelled.

And then they went ahead and made a wholly purple

version, which is not so accurate at all. It's

just a purple -ish cliff jumper. It's not even...

It doesn't, you know... It's Murphjumper. Yes,

yeah. It's essentially, yes. Where's uh, where's

Gargamel Magnus when you really need him anyway?

Okay, so where the hell are we? We're nearing

the end of Saturday, but still have not talked

about Derek's panel. Yes. Yes Let's talk about

Derek's panel. My main, this is not a complaint

This is not a slight against it as I was reading

the the incoming messages about your panel Derek

I just got so sad because it's like... Why is...

Not that I didn't like that you had a panel this

year. I'm like, why did they give him a panel

when he's going to give us all this stuff and

tell us all this stuff that is never going to

happen? Oh, God. Different people react differently

to it. It was like, I did read somebody online

said, oh my God, it's like a funeral. But like

the vibe in that room wasn't like that at all.

Well, right. I mean, it was to celebrate. But

no, we started by watching the shorts and it

was like, God, it was like, even if people...

had seen them it was like they're watching it

again for the first time it was like it felt

great it was like the like people were laughing

hysterically and it was i thought it was really

fun it had a really fun time there was one part

where like a kid um this little kid came up on

the microphone remember that and he was he was

like um i can't find transformers animated on

the tv can you tell me what channel was it on

i was like oh my goodness that is sad so i gave

my toy Why can't I find transformers animated

on TV? That was adorable. That kid was so cute.

Yeah, but mostly I thought it was a good time.

I had fun. The other little girl that asked you

who your favorite transformer was was really

cute, too. Yeah. It's very amused at your panel,

Derek, that you were giving away Takara TFA stuff

and not having it. I think it was just whatever

I had extra of. I gave a regular Ironhide away.

They did I think the question that amused me

the hell the most is I think she was a general

admission lady that the one that asked where

BotCon was going to be next year and When it

was going to be next year when it was going to

be next year and when it will be in Dallas next

year And I was like, um, it'll be but kind of

will be in 23rd the next body count will be in

2013 and I hope we never come back to Texas The

only thing that I can suggest is that she is

a walk -in at that point and doesn't really know

who is in charge of the convention. Yeah, I think

she thought it was Pete or something. Yeah, probably.

Either that or maybe she thought that Vangelis

was staff. Now, your panel happened before the

Hasbro team panel, correct? Yeah. Now, why didn't

anyone that was in your panel go to the Hasbro

team panel and say, hey, when are we getting

Season 3 on DVD, dammit? Because I remember the...

As your panel was going by, someone asked you,

what about Season 3? Someone actually asked about

that. Season 3 on DVD is one of the problems.

Isn't it an issue with Cartoon Network and Cartoon

Network? No, it's not. You don't know what you're

talking about. Okay. Stop spreading those rumors.

Someone actually did ask at the treasurer has

robin panel, but I wasn't paying attention because

I can't somebody asked me that like every day

Have any idea What the issue is why it there's

no issue? Huh? There's no issues So there's no

issue, but yet we're still not getting it. That's

that saddens me. Well, then ask Hasbro Right

What I thought it was a contract dispute. Did

I just say you were totally wrong? You are. You're

totally wrong. I believe that's what like half

of or maybe more than half of the fandom thinks

is that animated actually belongs to Cartoon

Network and they're not releasing it because

they're being stubborn bitches. But I honestly

don't believe that's true. No, yeah, there's

nothing. That's not true at all. Completely 100

% owned by Hasbro. If there's any issues at all

it may be airing rights To you know, but I'm

sure that's even over by now. Yeah. Yeah I love

the stuff with the SG universe that would have

been so awesome to see Yeah talking about that.

It's like this is why I love machines. Yeah Kind

of a spotlight on the animated SG universe in

that Transformers Collector Club magazine and

Tubesmith actually wrote the SG Sorry portion

of that and it came out really good. Cool. Alright,

so what happened on Sunday for everybody? What

was, Callie, what was your plan on Sunday? I

shopped. And then you dropped? I shopped. I ate

food at regular intervals. Now, what did you

buy? I bought a bunch of decoys for the Minibot

collection. I bought the Windcharger Wipeout

Takara 2 -pack, which I've been meaning to get

that for a while. I pretty much stocked the Hasbro

booth for free Creos and Bot Shots. How many

Bot Shots did you get? One. By the time I kept

getting there everyone else was taking them and

then all they had was brawl and Bumblebee and

I already had Bumblebee so I took the brawl and

that was that. Oh yeah, I was there. I think

I got was I there because I took a Bumblebee

when I was there. I managed to convince the guys

at the War for Cybertron booth to give me all

of their posters without doing anything because

I already paid off the game. I paid off the game

at my GameStop and I already liked them on Facebook.

Like, I already did all of that, but I can't

do it here. What do I do? And they were like,

we will give you the posters anyway. Cool. Wait,

on Sunday they put out a lockdown bot shot. Ah!

What? Yes! You look so good. I can't wait till

that comes out. Oh, no, wait. Okay, no. You terrified

me for a second. You mean in the case. Yes, I

saw him in the case. I thought they were giving

it away. I was like, what? No, no, no, yeah,

yeah, sorry. I thought you meant giving them

away. I was like, no. He looked awesome, though.

It was so cool. There was a bunch of cool butt

shots that they showed off. The Power Glide is

really good, and those things are awesome. They're

so fun. I got Derek a laser beak. Yeah, it's

a clear green, what do you call it, immobile

laser beak. It's almost like a decoy, but kind

of a harder plastic. What's that? It wasn't a

decoy? Well, it could have been, but it was a

little bit different plastic than I've seen on

decoys before. It was hard plastic. I don't know

where it's from either. I got a couple mini -bots

of the same type of plastic for myself, because

I have no idea what they are, and they're not

decoys, but they're mini -bots. I'll have to

do research on it. I'm not sure what they are.

This is the first time I remember seeing a lot

of decoys and a few Battle Beasts at BotCon.

There haven't been any of those for a while now,

and I look for Battle Beasts every year, and

I hadn't seen them. Sorry, I was surprised none

of the booths had individual Creons for the first

down. That's true. There were no Creons. That's

weird Maybe everybody has mall but individual

Creons aren't being sold blind -packed yet. So

I didn't miss out someone had a G1 a G2 purple

sees a G2 purple sea spray for 50 bucks I thought

about it walked away came back. It was gone You

know Mariah when you go to Frankenstein's over

here like they'll there will be Places that have

Legos and stuff usual will have even they will

have loose crayons for sale Like you know they

they just pull them out of the sets and then

sell the pieces I guess Okay, but yeah I Know

they're not doing the the blind packs for the

crayons yet, but Yeah, they had like burning

they do cuz they're cuz they're creating a whacked

ton of crayons and then only like a small amount

of cryo sets to go with those crayons. So they

are, as far as I know, blindpacking. That's what

I've heard, at least. It's confirmed, are they

actually making blindpack crayons? As far as

I know, yeah, they're actually doing blindpacked

crayons. Wow. That's gonna make a lot of people

very happy. Which is fantastic. Now I don't have

to pay $10 to get the rest of the crayons each.

I will have so many! You can fill a bathtub with

them. Yeah, that's the funniest thing about the

whole Creole line. I don't care about the Creoles

themselves, but the Creons, I love those. Those

things are cool. Unfortunately, the little Creons

is what everyone else is after. So people put

them out on eBay for like 10 bucks and other

people snap them up fairly quickly. Even though

you can buy them with the set for 10 bucks. Yeah,

and speaking on that notion, mirages around here

somewhere, there's mirage. I have a mirage creo

because I think it was Callie's. Didn't you grab

two mirages? I accidentally grabbed two jazzes

instead of two mirages and a mirage. Yeah, it

was two jazzes. So she gave me the other jazz.

I gave the jazz Creo to someone else, kept the

Creon, and then I got the Mirage Creo from Hasbro.

So I now have more Creos to go with, Megatron,

and who the hell is up there anyway? I have Skywarp

is up there, then I have Soundwave. No, I don't

have Soundwave. That's not Soundwave. That's

Shockwave. Megatron, Prowl, and the Matrix Optimus

Prime that they've been giving out for several

years. I've still got one of those. You want

another one? I've got like five. You need one

more. Make it even number. They can get rid of

those damn things, they're just throwing them

away. They should just spray paint them like

purple and call them shadow glass and then see

if they can come out. I was looking forward to

them being a BotCon exclusive and someone was

actually at BotCon there and was actually buying

them from people for like 10 bucks. I remember

that, yeah. Like at BotCon 2011. I have to AFK

for a few minutes, I'll be right back. yeah that

was that was he was just by now it's just like

those things are so damn common i bet that person

feels really stupid now because he was buying

every single one of those creos they had little

crayons well maybe people were giving her them

for free yeah i was I've been given so many of

the, yeah, she has a bunch of them too and when

she and I were down here for STC, for San Diego

Comic Con last year, we got a Creon, we got the

Optimist Prime Creon every single day we went.

Are you going this year? Are you gonna be able

to or are you gonna be busy moving and stuff?

Yeah, I know I'm actually because I'm not moving

until June and then so San Diego Comic -Con I

already have my tickets All roads home and Velocity

rather if I could just call her by her regular

Cosplay and velocity my boyfriend and I are just

driving out from Texas because we are shipping

We're not shipping but we're we are transporting

five costumes, five giant robot costumes. So

we have to get them from Texas to San Diego.

But yeah, that's a bit of a run. Yeah, I'm looking

forward to SCCC. But anyway, not that topic.

This is BotCon. This is BotCon. Just my personal

curiosity, sorry. Right. No, that's fine. What

else happened on Sunday as far as what were the

panels on Sunday? I don't remember. On Sunday

at 10, we had Be in the City 2, which was rather

insanely amusing. It was fraught with technical

difficulties. Fraught with technical difficulties.

They had, which was actually, it was kind of

stupid at the beginning. And like, I don't know,

one of the BotCon staff tried to bring up an

XLR cable to try and fix. He had it in his hand

and he walked from his setup, tried to walk to

the panel where all the panelists were to try

and fix one of the microphones. And it snapped

out of his hand because it was far too short.

He didn't know it. And it like it like blitzed

all of the other all of the other microphones

for a second and made the entire room go, oh,

there was this like everybody who was there before

swears that everything was working perfectly

and they did a test run through and. Yeah, but

it was amazing because it just like I came in

a little bit late and I was sitting in the back

room and the only person I could hear was David

Kay. It was crazy. So be in the city to obviously

is a sequel from being the city which was in

2008 convention, right? Mm -hmm What what's the

plot line here for the sequel? Do you want to

explain right do you want me to or? Go ahead.

I don't remember all the details. Well, I'll

just get the basic. I do remember the details.

I'm retarded Well, it was it was um, it was a

continuity kind of flip -flop because See if

I can read the back of the badge if I remember

who voiced what. Because Dan Gayle, Neil Vazan

and Buster Jones, G1 characters. And then we

had, wait I'm looking at the wrong one, there

we go. And then we had David Kay and Gary Chalk.

So David Kay was the voice of someone else and

then he was actually introduced as the voice

of Joe. Who was, Joe was the alias that Beast

Wars Megatron was using in Be in the City 1.

Because he was the average Joe, so he was introduced

as Joe, but then it was just like, oh, you became

Megatron. And he was also Lugnut. Oh, yeah, Lugnut.

That's what it was. And then I'm a little retarded.

So who was Gary Chalk voicing? Gary was playing,

I believe, Unicron Trilogy Prime. Right, right.

Oh, right. Yeah, Unicron Trilogy. I remember

that voice from Armada, so that's why. And he's

using his infamous Primal Voice, but it's...

Because at one point somebody said, I think David's

character said something about his CG being cel

-shaded. That was when Optimus Prime and Megatron

I think finally confronted themselves. Yeah.

And it was just like Megatron was like, wait.

Why are you not a monkey? Yeah Good stuff in

there there was it was it was pretty good but

the the base plot of the whole script reading

was that Megatron was going to take Bumblebee

and Was it was it kill him or just put him away

for a while? I think I can't remember who was

gonna kill him or I Think it was killing him

because he wanted to kill him and replace him

as the kid appeal character Yeah, these words

Megatron was gonna be the new kid appeal character

And they made wisecracks about Shia and Megan

Fox making out on top of his hood instead of

Bumblebee. And having Beast Wars Megatron being

packed four to a case of eight. Good lord, that's

funny. So it was it was pretty good. It was just

there was a lot of weird technical stuff in the

beginning It actually it actually ended up working

out once they kind of fixed it Yeah ended up

ended up taking away two of their mics and then

poor Gary Chalk's mic blew on him So he had to

speak really loud Which he did really well. Fortunately

he's got a really loud voice to begin with, so

he was actually fairly well heard unless the

crowd was going crazy, which happened a lot.

I had moved up to the front by that point. Yeah,

by that point you did. One of the ones that actually,

I felt it kind of did work. in at least in this

context was that all the other mics were fixed

besides buster jones's and the mic was actually

kind of skipping and blitzing so bad that it

actually sounded like um like blaster's voice

when you know when they when they fed it through

when they fed it through the uh the uh soundboard

and made blaster's kind of that voice that you

hear in g1 that was coming through the speakers

so a lot of people didn't mind it Yeah, a lot

of people actually thought it was on purpose.

So it was kind of funny. It actually worked in

his favor, at least. Unfortunately, he was still

kind of hard to understand. But that aside, it

was still very amusing. I can't believe Dan Govazan

still sounds exactly like Bumblebee. He does?

Oh, yeah. It's such a good voice. I was like,

all the whole time I was thinking, oh my gosh,

who can I use that voice for? It's really good

At the beginning of the panel though I do want

to point out at the beginning of the panel You

won't be able to find this anywhere At least

not on a fan level this this script reading because

at the beginning of the panel just like in 2011

They told you we were not allowed to film nor

take audio of the show at all They've said That

it will be up in two weeks time whether they

stick with that or not because we still haven't

seen the 2011 script reading I don't know also,

but you know, I don't know if they recorded everything

if If it the mics weren't working. Oh, yeah,

I don't know. That's what worries me Yeah, me

too because it was fantastic and like near nearing

the end of it like the odd they were the Autobots

were trying to we ended up trying to convince

Megatron that that that he was amazing just the

way he is and and and like he's he's revered

and he's loved by everyone and And of course

it worked. Yeah, and of course it worked it fed

into his ego Yeah, exactly feeding into his ego

and people scrounge over him and people love

him and and at one point Bumblebee actually got

to imitate Beast Wars Megatron's Brody years

actually got to imitate that either. Yes. It's

like oh you're so cute It was a good script reading

up that was fantastic, I didn't really do anything

else Saturday Sunday rather now we're on Sunday.

I'm retarded. I'm like skipping on because I

just because I just remembered that the the Sabretron

bar the Sabretron TFW bar party was on Friday

that we didn't mention but that's you know, and

a gigantic event I sat next to Derek the whole

time Saturday was Saturday was the Hall of Fame

and cocktail reception. Right, Kelly and I had...

Yeah, that's when we sat together. And I asked

Kelly questions about what she was going to eat

and what she wasn't. Neither of us ate very much

of the food that they gave us, though, I don't

think. That was fun. That part with Abby Collins

and the Starscream Chris Lotta retrospective

was really, really well done. Yeah, that was

great. Pretty classy. fantastic I was really

glad to see her and and super glad that she came

out and it was it was definitely touching to

see her and and I'm sure that it's not just me

it's it's everyone else just wishes that Chris

Lotta was still around and yeah fantastic gentlemen

though I do wish that very much so but I do have

to say And this is I've talked to one of these

guys and no disrespect to the one I've already

talked to But the one voice at this point that

has actually made me like do a 180 of not really

liking Starscream's character is Steve Bloom

in Prime Oh, really? Yeah, Steve Bloom and Prime

has like I love Transformers Prime Starscream.

Oh, yeah, of course is hit steve's bloom's voice

for starscream is just so amazing because he

can do the sinister but he can also do the cowardly

from g1 as well i thought you meant that i thought

you meant you you hated it because it was too

different or something no no no no no no no what

i was saying um but yeah he's he's really good

he's he's awesome nice spiked spiegel for god's

sakes the one thing i want to know about is specifically

from the hall of fame dinner is What was the

shockwave surprise clip? Because I know I'm never

going to... Mariah said that they didn't put...

They said you can't film anything, so I'm sure

it's never going to get on YouTube. No, it actually

will if they go through anything that they've

done in the past couple of years. the next maybe

I want to say maybe two three weeks or whatever

They will end up putting up all of the Hall of

Fame nominee videos whether they'll take that

part out or not is still up for debate But it

was actually at the very end of Shockwave's nomination

video. They did it in a very clever way. Like,

you thought it was over. You saw Shockwave's,

like, single eye on the screen dimming out, and

the music actually ends. So people started to

applaud, thinking it was over. But then on the

screen, TF Prime, Starscream, Cliffjumper, and

people were saying RC, but I can't remember if

RC was in the scene or not. Yes. RC was next

to Cliffjumper. And people were confused, like,

what the hell is this? And Starscream was going...

May I present to you Shockwave, and then it tends

to oversee Transor's Prime Shockwave, and everyone

goes crazy. Everyone went fucking nuts. Everyone

just lost their shit. It was funny. I'm sitting

in my chair next to Derek just going, what? What?

What? People were saying it's a flashback, right?

It is a flashback because Cliffjumper's alive

and RC is right next to him. That's pretty cool.

I am looking forward to whatever it is might

be. I don't know at the end of season two starting

of season three We don't know yet, but I'm sure

that that particular episode is still a long

while off, right? Because I think someone said

something about getting that as priority footage

Specifically for the convention. Mm -hmm. Oh

You know what just to go back for a second there

was that The video game shockwave figure was

in the display case, too. He was, too. He looked

good. Yeah, he did. He looked great. The fall

of Cybertron figure? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So that

could be another good year for shockwave. Oh,

yes. We just keep bouncing around. The fall of

Cybertron sound wave was there, too. The bigger

one. Oh, I didn't see that one. With those round

cassettes of his. Yeah. How was that? Oh, my

god. Those are crazy. God, those are gorgeous.

I can't wait to get that toy. I heard two different

things, like, is Ratbat a separate mold from

the birds, or is he the same mold as the birds,

just purple? I can't honestly remember. I heard

two different stories from different people.

I have no idea. I saw the toys, too, and I -

Well, you're all useless to me. Get me some new

guests. But anyway, it's pretty, I don't know,

yeah, it's pretty exciting. I'm looking forward

to what's coming out so far. I'm looking forward

to the inedible Takara Shiny repaint. Shiny.

Shiny. Yeah, shiny is always good. No, at this

point it's not shiny, it's stickers. Yeah, nothing.

No opinion. There's no shiny, it's just stickers.

All right, Kelly, what is your overall opinion

of this year's BotCon? I really enjoyed it but

I was sitting at a table for two days so I pretty

much only got Sunday for me. But I sold Puggles!

Yes, you sold Puggles! That is the extent of

my experiences this year and it was amazing because

everyone liked the Puggles. What about, Mariah,

did you do the... Cosplay panel or did you boycott?

I did. I did do the cosplay panel. I had to.

Did you want to say anything about it or was

it a case of if you didn't get nothing nice to

say? Yeah, this time it is... If you do, you're

the cosplay queen that we have in there. I'm

not the cosplay queen. Not in this life. Well,

no, I... You're the humble version of a cosplay

queen. The cosplay panel... I I honestly I shouldn't

anything about it because I did personally I

think the other shit Okay You know your feelings

yes How was this year's BotCon um The just like

I said in the beginning the convention itself

This for activities that came and she bought

on first boring frickin boring as fuck I was

just like if I didn't have my friends there I'd

be like this is this is I'm gonna go home Hanging

out with my friends is awesome That is the experience

that I look forward to every year hanging out

with my friends and cosplaying and just having

fun with it They actually had, throughout this

entire weekend, if you had been following BotCon

or the TFCC or had been looking on TFW or Saber's

Round, I think they posted it both there, they

actually had a cosplay contest throughout the

entire weekend. And they were going to put the

winner, they were going to pick three finalists

and then put the winner on the cover of the DCC

Magazine. So the three finalists ended up being

Animated Swoop, animated, blitzwing, and then

prime breakdown, my costume. Right. They couldn't

choose which one. They announced all three of

them. And as far as I understand, they legitimately

couldn't choose a winner between the three of

us, which is fantastic, because they were really

good costumes, all three of us. So they stuck

all three of us on the cover. And what they're

actually going to end up doing, as far as I understand,

because Derek, you talk to them, right? Talked

to Pete about yeah, he said they were gonna try

to do a Some kind of vote through the club Yeah,

I don't I'm sure that they're all those guys

are all dead right now to you. They haven't I'm

sure I haven't thought about it yet But they're

just now getting back and recuperating and now

trying to get their thoughts together for Joe

Khan Which isn't like a couple of months, right?

Right, right a month, but Joe Khan is here Pete

doesn't focus on that stuff. He he's pretty exclusively

belongs to us. I mean anything anything that's

that's really good and really transform is he

about the club is a lot of it is thanks to Pete

because he's he's the genuine Transformers fan

and Yeah, and then Brian is more the Joe fan.

Exactly. Yeah. Yeah, so So, um, yeah. Well any

any time I find if I found any news about that,

right? I'll let you know, but Mm -hmm. Yeah Because

as far as I know from what you're telling me

is that they're going to put them in the magazine

and then let the fans decide. I'm not sure how

they're going to do that. But that would be cool

to try and find a winner between the three of

us. I honestly, legitimately thought that the

animated swoop was going to be mine. Because

I thought hers was just changing things. There

were so many good costumes this year, too. This

one was really good. Speaking of, we mentioned

earlier about kids and costumes. or you know

whatever else and I'm surprised that uh Randall

Nigg's son didn't win because Randall made his

his son an Optimus Prime costume and that costume

was awesome I mean it was like it was beefy and

like had all the right parts it was really good

that kid was so cute There was a little five

-year -old little G1 bumblebee wandering around,

too. Oh, that's cool. He was only in the costume

for maybe a half hour or so. I managed to catch

him just once. Because a five -year -old dude,

he's not going to be in a costume for very long.

Yeah. So Derek, your final verdict on this year's

BotCon, yay or nay? Did you like it? And just

kind of like a last thought here. I had a good

time. I think I took it a little easier than

I have in the past year, so it was a little more...

Low -key I woke up a little later. Maybe went

to bed a little bit earlier. I had a good good

time overall I think it was like I was happy

with the toys, but but they didn't They weren't

amazing enough to overshadow my set from last

year, so I Don't think anything will be better

will be big enough to overshadow your set well

I don't think anything will be big enough to

overshadow that photo you sent Proto Man when

Rodimus came out. He has to sleep. Now has a

legion of fanboy and fangirls added to Puggles

because as we've already said in the last hour

and 45 minutes, she sold everything except one.

Streetstar is currently still on eBay. By the

time this goes up, he will have probably a day

and a half left. He just doubled to 36 bucks.

There you go. I wonder if I'll hit the fraudulent

bidding territory. No, I got my little pony puncher

people are bidding $10 ,000. Oh my god. No. Yeah

I think we have to come up with a name for for

Kelly's fandom pretty soon Yeah, pretty soon

pretty soon. I'm waiting to see what what terrible

shenanigans and Have me end up on the TF wiki

because my goal is to end up on the TF wiki I

just don't know how the hell that's going to

happen and I'm pretty sure it's going to be something

terrible I'm sure that They'll put you on there.

They'll include you with BotCon 2012 listing

whenever that goes up because they include every

kind of artist thing. They already - Previous

years. On the TFW? Yeah, I think so. I'll have

to go back and look. Alright, so that's gonna

do it for the Con Girl episode. I'd like to thank

Derek for being our special guest. Another girl.

Yes, we know. I'd also like to congratulate -

Just in case anyone's curious. I'd also like

to congratulate anybody who's made it this far,

because you have to have some really bipolar

-ass imagination to follow any of this. We stand

out a special prize to anyone who made it through.

And, of course, Callie, who is the Puggle Goddess,

and she is now super famous, even more than she

already was. And and Mariah who will be doing

another one of these with me after San Diego

Comic -Con 2012 That's gonna be a big show. Oh

and Callie I think I think something might have

happened something went wrong because because

I I don't see I Don't see a note in my inbox,

you know for for my for my May Commission's winnings

I think you might need to send it again You said

you wanted to go to bed, I'm trying to end the

show, damn it. Will you guys come visit me if

I have a Ben 10 panel at the compound? Yes, I

will. Sweet. Damn, Skippy, I will. Alrighty.

All righty then. So thank you for listening to

this convoluted mess and we will see you sometime

late July after SDCC. Au revoir. Bye bye. You've

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