TFCon LA 2022 Recap

Hey, this is Steve Bloom, and you are listening

to the Geekcast Radio Network. Starscream here.

And I am Lord and Master of all things Transformers.

Don't tell Megatron. This is Optimus Prime, and

you are listening to all things Transformers.

Hello and welcome to All Things Transformers.

I'm your host, Steve Megatron, and joining me

on this adventure into the Transformers fandom

is TFG1 Mike. Hello. Hello. And we're not alone

this episode. No, we're not. We have a guest.

Yes, we do. Hello. Hello. Guessing that's where

you wanted me to say something, right? Of course.

Insert random catchphrase right here. Catchphrase.

Catchphrase. Catchphrase. You get the reference.

It's great. This is a really, really cool catchphrase.

Catchphrase. It's like the perfect thing to say

in a place where you want to be completely random,

but you're like, oh yeah, that was smart. See,

if people would actually say that instead of

saying the other thing that I cannot stand, I

would be fine with it. Now you've intrigued me.

What is the other thing? You know the other thing.

I've been complaining about it for like three

weeks now. What are you talking about, Um? I

thought you were thinking, you know, the other

thing that I'd bother you with, like Yetis. Oh,

no, no, no. The Yetis is a whole other situation.

No, no, no. Okay. No. You insert catchphrase

instead of saying, Um, I won't edit that out.

Catchphrase. Catchphrase. That's right. We're

going to beat this to death. Yes. Yes, we are.

So go ahead, Mike, and proceed with why we're

here. Yes, we are here and we are no longer waiting.

No. Amy went to TFCon LA. No, I didn't, did I?

Of course I did. Of course you did, yes. And

on all things Transformers, as well as I believe

we used to do this on Toycast as well, we used

to do TFCon pre -shows and post -shows. Normally

we would do this with Proto Man, Daniel, Daniel

Arsenal. All the cool people. Yeah. Well, generally

the people, the person that, great. Now you make

me sound like a jerk when I agree with what's

great. I was like, they're way cooler than me

is what I was saying. So I'll just settle for

you. No. No, stop it. No, no, no. But generally

when we would do the pre -show and post -show

for TFCon, it was with the, one of the people

that helped organize it and things like that

to kind of get the behind the scenes of how the

convention ran. Well now that apparently people

can go to conventions again. We can have somebody

that went to the convention tell us all about

it and we've got several different categories

and several different headers here. First of

all since both of you are parents conventions

with kids. Yes. This is the dilemma of the adult

collector, transformer fan going to conventions.

Yes. I remember when my mom would take me to

Disney World and I just, I was six years old.

It was in the eighties. It was whatever. I didn't

want to walk all the way across that stupid park

in Orlando, Florida in the middle of summer when

it's a hundred and frigging degrees. So That's

my experience with just going to places that

have large crowds and things like that. But basically,

what is, let's start with Steve and then we'll

go in with Amy. How many times have you, before

obviously the pandemic happened, how many times

had you taken your kids to any kind of convention

thing? Never. Cause I haven't been to a convention

in years. This is my first time actually and

my oldest the only one that I dared to take was

18 So I've skipped that whole little kid little

toddler tween teenager to gone straight to the

18 year old age So there are a few reasons why

and one of them is because I'll be honest, I

know my kids and conventions. There's the walking

around the dealer room, which is fun. But the

sitting at the panels thing is kind of hard for

a small child with a very short attention span.

And I happen to have those kids with very short

attention spans and I don't want to have to supervise

them the whole time. So that's why I said, nope,

I'm going to wait till they're directly 18 years

old. And I say, okay, you go to bed when you

want to. You're 18. I'm gonna go downstairs and

hang out with some friends. I'll be back in a

while and not come back till two o 'clock and

hey, he'll take care of himself. So, yeah, I

don't think that I qualify as a really good judge

for bringing small children to conventions. I

know other people that have done this and have

done it better. I mean, I just decided that I

was going to be the one that said, I don't want

to have to have my mom hat the whole time because

I have that at home. If I want to do that, then

I'll just stay at home and listen to the panels

from home. Yeah, but yeah, and it was a great

experience in the sense that like he went and

did some things I pointed out a couple things

that I thought would be interesting for him and

he checked him out and he liked them and I didn't

have to sit there and mom him the whole time.

I was like you're 18 I fully want you to go and

participate, but if you choose not to That's

okay, too. You brought stuff to do. You can always

go up into the hotel room, you know, behave.

It's not bouncing on the beds. So I don't have

to worry about the hotel trying to track down

a parent saying, hey, we can't have this in our

hotel. You need to stop this. And, you know,

that type of thing. So yeah, that was that's

the direction I went. And I'll probably do the

same thing to my next one. So when he's 18, when

I know that he's fully capable of controlling

himself and being in a room without mom saying,

behave, remember who you are. Don't embarrass

me. Go ahead and embarrass me because you're

going to go up and see if you can do the script

reading and see if the crowd wants you to play

this character. Let's go for it, man. I have

my hats off to all the parents that have brought

small children that are like little little I

the only other time that I've ever gone to catchphrase

I went to a comic -con once with my youngest

who at the time was three months old and I had

him strapped to me the whole time and we He got

fed, he got his diaper changed and then he conked

out to sleep and I ran a panel with him right

there. I was introducing Livio and Livio Ramadeli

and while he did some drawing and stuff on the

device that he brought and I kind of directed

the questions and that was it. It was super easy.

He conked out the whole time. That was the same

convention. I also sat next to, who was the guy

that? One of the writers for robots in disguise

the 2015 version Brain is not gonna work for

me today So I can't remember who the writer was

but sat right next to him and on a panel and

he was asleep the whole time and we actually

Commented on it. It's like yeah, he's like I'm

so so surprised you brought a baby. I was like,

yeah I did he's sleeping. It's great. He's like

you're the best mom I think I've ever had and

I was like, oh Don't don't put me on too high

of a pedestal here Cause that was, you know,

that was the easy part. Cause he was an infant

and walked out. So that was the, those are the

two things I've ever taken kids to. That's it.

Interesting. Yeah. It's like, you know, I just

know my kids. I know it works. And since I've

been in conventions. I just want to be able to

be there and enjoy it, but I also don't want

to take anybody else's enjoyment away from it

as well. If you have little kids running around,

I mean, if you guys might look at that and say,

yeah, kids running around, what's going on with

that? I mean, having kids of my own, I know how

they act. We have a Scouts thing that we do on

Wednesdays too. If I'm not watching them, They're

running around the buildings just like every

other kid. And so oh, yeah So yeah, I mean I

I'm I'm kind of on them like a hawk and making

sure that They are controlled. I'm like just

because other people don't watch and manage their

kids doesn't mean that I'm going to do the same

exactly and and it's like you will be the example

I'm like you can you can behave, you know, and

then if there comes the event whether or not

it just shows me that I can't leave them alone.

And so like some kind of a convention or an event

like that just, I mean, I have nothing against

people that bring their kids. Like, I mean, kudos

to them. I just, I don't find it enjoyable or

I wouldn't find it enjoyable to do something

like that if I know I'm going to have to spend

60 to 70 % of it paying attention to what they're

doing wrong. Exactly. Or just, like I said, the

parent hat. When you have to constantly have

it on, you don't enjoy the convention the same

way. It's just you're not off the clock. Yeah.

It's like anything. If you're at some place that's

super busy, like you go to a festival, you go

to anything, you're worrying about what they're

doing, where they're going. you know, whether

they stay within arm's reach or yelling reach.

And, you know, so it's just, I don't know if

I could actually enjoy myself going to one. Yeah.

If they were present. Yeah. I mean, I have taken

them to like places like, you know, amusement

parks where you have kids and I have lost one

kid because they weren't listening and we turned

around and started walking and they didn't and

oops, guess what? So, I mean, that's completely

expected and appropriate. And of course, we gave

him instructions on what to go do. And so he

went and did the thing that he was supposed to

do. And afterwards, we were like, you scared

us to death. And he's like, I'm sorry. And we

just went on with our way. The consequences were

low because a lot of nothing bad happened, obviously,

but the sad thing is that he got a scare, mom

and dad got a scare. We knew that was enough

and so we just moved on with it. Have you ever

used one of those events as a teaching tool that

they weren't paying attention and you saw that

they weren't paying attention and you hit around

a corner? Oh, no, I've not done that. I've thought

about it. That one's fun. Oh, I bet. We've done

that to my youngest because, and we occasionally

have to do it like once a year because he gets

cocky and forgets where he's at and thinks he

knows better and he's not paying attention wandering

off in his own way. And so we will, or he's being

adamant he doesn't want to move from where he's

at. Gotcha. And so we will go hide around in

a different location that's nearby where we can

clearly have line of sight. Yeah. enough to terrify

him into paying attention. See, now you have

to be careful about that because I have done

the thing where I say, okay, I'm leaving right

now. I'm picking up the keys. I'm walking out

the door. If you come with me, great. If not,

you know, your ride's leaving and I just up and

leave and you got to be careful about those because

sometimes they call you bluff. They did it once

and I walked away. I walked far enough away that

he couldn't see me. But just enough to see, is

he coming? Am I going to have to go back there?

So yeah, there's that too. They get to a point

where they start calling your bluff and then

you're like, crap. We had an instance like that

and my wife was like, just go. Just go. Yeah.

And we drove down the street and the kid was

like chasing after us like on the sidewalk. losing

it. We parked and let him catch up. He's like,

I thought you were going to leave. We're like,

yeah, we were. We thought we were too. Now see,

if you slow down, wait for him to catch up and

then speed up again, then you'd really be in

trouble. Now the tears will get bigger. Yeah.

I don't know if I could actually enjoy an event

knowing that. I was having to have the parent

hat on instead of just enjoying the surroundings

hat. Yep. Just the Steve Megatron hat on that

says, I'm cool. I'm at a convention and I'm in

my element. I don't have a hat that says Steve

Megatron. I do have one that says Producer Steve

and The Steve. That's awesome. Well, now here's

your chance to make one. I need to make one and

have Megatron's face on it. I have to admit,

I do have a t -shirt that says Lady Rek. Of course

you do. I used to sell them. Not that one. That

one was kind of for just me. Yeah. Oh, okay.

Well. Yeah. I need one that's Steve Megatron

for sure. That would be fun. That's awesome.

But I have gone to a convention, however, with

my brothers, but it was when they were grown.

And the story behind them going to... It actually

was the first and only BotCon I went to. It was

like a year or two before it ended or something.

The reason that they went was because we paid

for it because my wife didn't trust me driving

by myself to not fall asleep in the car. What's

funny is I didn't fall asleep in the car, but

both of them did. Nice. The two that were supposed

to keep me awake were not. Hey, I see how this

is supposed to be working here You're you know,

I'm supposed to be the one that you're supposed

to keep awake and you guys are the ones fall

asleep. Hey The nice part about them being grown

though was I was able to ditch them at a certain

point at the convention and go do what I wanted

to do for a little bit and then I caught up with

them later, but because I got to meet Frank Walker

and I'm jealous I have a picture with him too,

which was awesome. You're really making me jealous.

Thanks to Michael Wilson. That's awesome. I did

meet a few other people too, which was cool.

I met the RFC crew. I met the guys that wrote

the All Spark Almanac. You did all the things.

Jim and Bill. I met them because Michael was

like, hey, here's them. So yeah, that was fun.

Yeah. And then hung out with a bunch of the fan

dub guys. But yeah, I mean, it was enjoyable

because I didn't have to worry about it. Cool.

So in the times that we are currently living

in, no matter how many people say that COVID

is kind of dying down, it isn't. Why was TFCon

LA the choice that you made? Why was this the

first convention you wanted to go to? I wanted

to go to it, one, because I haven't seen anybody

for over two years. I really needed to get out.

The other thing is that they were really good

about putting well in advance that they were

requiring everybody to bring proof of vaccination

and that they were requiring masks. And part

of that was California had their strict rules

still in place. And the other part of that was

that they just said that they were going to comply

with that and have that there. Now, did I see

people without masks? Absolutely. Did I walk

into the hotel and go like, OK, who's not wearing

a mask? It's like most everybody followed it.

It was not a big deal. I mean, the the hotel

was really great about it, too. And it wasn't

just I mean, we were The first panel that I went

to, they pretty much got up and said, please,

they've asked us here. We're respecting the rules

of what's in place in the state, but we're also

looking out for each other as human beings. And

it was not a big deal, but they did ask us just

to be responsible about it and to respect what

we had put in place. what the hotel expected

to. And when we went and picked up our tickets,

they did have a representative from the hotel

checking for vaccination cards before you could

even go up and pick up your ticket. And that

was pretty much it. I mean, everybody just wore

their masks unless we were like outside at the

bar where, you know, the wind was not really

bad. So it was like there was enough space between.

just sitting out there that I didn't feel like

I had to keep a mask on the whole time. Of course,

if you're eating and drinking and talking, it

just kind of mixed in. So that was no problem.

In the convention hall, there were a few people

that had it down below their nose or something

like that, but I kept mine on the whole time

and I didn't see that many people out there violating

it or whatever. maybe afterwards when they were

breaking everything down because I went ahead

and to save costs, I carpooled with some friends

here in Phoenix from different parts of the Transformers

group. One of my friends does stuff at the She

has some crafts and tumblers that she had for

sale and also has art prints and she went in

with somebody else that had some pins and some

keychains and stuff like that. And then the other

guy that we carpooled with, he actually has some

3D printing things. So he was on one of the panels

and he had a booth inside the convention hall

and so I helped. them both set up their tables

and their gear and everything and so I was in

checking on them making sure they had water and

if they needed me to go get anything or just

watch their table or whatever so they go use

the bathroom or walk around the hall catchphrase

so I saw a lot of setup and I saw a lot of takedown

because of that and A few people took them off

while they're like, you know, less people are

in the convention hall, obviously, so they're

not wearing it as closely as they probably should

have. But at that point, I was like, nobody got

sick. I came home like my my sons. a situation

where he's immunocompromised. We're trying to

protect his lungs so he can't really get sick

and neither one of us came down with anything

and we both wore our masks really well. I went

to maybe two panels the first night and then

I kind of didn't catch any more of them for the

rest of the night or the rest of the whole weekend

because I got busy real quick. Obviously, those

that were at the panels at the very front, they

took their masks off so they can talk in front

of microphones. So there's that. But everybody

else, I didn't see that many people not wearing

a mask. Everybody was very respectful on that

way. So I was really proud of all of them. And

I would give them all a high five if they were

listening and said, hey, I was like, yes, I'm

going to give you a high five because you guys

are all my heroes. Thank you. So they did a good

job. Awesome. Awesome. What were some of the

highlights for both you and your son? Um, I Don't

know highlights for him. I did ask us. Hey, did

you enjoy this? Did you enjoy that? Yeah, it

was good It was neat and that's probably the

best I probably got out of him Okay, I did recommend

that he go down and check out the the a couple

of the panels and he did listen to one of the

ones and you know the cool thing is him being

18 I've let him kind of like hey mom I want to

watch the show can you help me find it and so

um he came to me uh think in February either

January or February said that he wanted to sit

down and watch the G1 the all of G1 so I said

okay so I cracked out the discs and I gave them

to him and I said here you know Listen to you.

Well, go ahead and watch them at your leisure.

He's probably and he did he'd sat he sat down

for several weeks and went through everything

the movie everything Everything g1 and so the

first I think one of the nights we were there.

I don't remember which one they did have a panel

that like went over like the secrets it was Jim

Sorensen and Go Forester not not Forester for

it not Forester. It was a pictures face I'm having

a hard time with the names because it's late

at night and I have no brain He wrote Dilly Oh

Flint Dilly. Yes. Yes. Sorry. Okay there got

it. Okay, so Flint Dilly and Jim Sorensen sat

down and did like the secrets of the five faces

of darkness or something like that and basically

he in a conversation that he had with Flint over

the I don't remember how he he detailed how it

all started how he Found out that I guess Flint

had this little he has you know all the archives

of everything that was ever done on the show

still and Like he through conversations, Flint

said, yeah, come on over. And so he's dipped

into his art, his personal archives of everything

that he saved since then. And he's, you know,

finding out little minute details. And we're

talking about, we're talking about everything.

We're talking about like emails, receipts of

things they went and did or whatnot like. just

little things that were just like you think is

like, why did you save that? It saved everything.

And I guess this, and I want to say there's another

person that's done the same thing, but just going,

maybe it's not, maybe it's Jim's working with

another person that's like kind of filtering

through all of the mundane stuff while he goes

through all the scripts. And so he was pointing

out things and that. came out with the script

that didn't make it into the show, but intended

to make it into the show, but got cut. And so

it was just fascinating, the little things that

popped out to him. And then of course he talked

to Flint and then it doesn't take much for Flint

to just sit there and talk. So like just going

on about the, you know, what the point is that

Jim. Touched on and I swear this panel was like

two hours long I don't remember how long it was

but it was it was just really unique You wouldn't

get that at a lot of places and it just yeah,

I've been to several of engine conventions So

this was just unique to this one and I think

even I want to say that if they get enough information

together Maybe Jim plans to come out with a book.

I don't know I'm sure that it might evolved at

that point. Who knows? It was just really fascinating.

Because my son had gone through all of this,

he found a lot of that really cool because, hey,

I didn't know that. He's like, well, nobody knows

that. You're hearing this with your virgin ears

and the rest of us are too. He was like, oh,

okay, cool. This is what happens at conventions.

Sometimes you find panels that go deep dive into,

you know, a deep dive. And that was a deep dive

right there, you know, and he's like, Oh, okay,

cool. And then I also told him, you should check

out the panel reading. I was like, every convention

has their little thing that they do a little

bit differently than other ones as they explained

to him. And I said, TF con. They do their live

script reading in front of everybody. You go

up in front of everybody. You audition in front

of everybody. You speak it for the first time

in front of everybody. That's how it goes. you

might want to check it out. It can be really

cool to hear. And so he went to that as well.

And then another highlight that I had besides

just hanging out with friends that I hadn't seen

for a while. I got to sit down with Jim Sorensen

and I can't remember the guy that he was with.

I mean, I know him, but I just don't remember

his name. It wasn't Bill. It was Jim. We sat

down had lunch together and my son came with

me. So he just ate and listened and I talked

and had fun There you go But I've done it I've

done lunch or dinner sometimes with Jim several

times in the past and so it was just It was more

than just hanging out is getting you know Just

hanging out with Jim as a friend again So, you

know, he's he's good people he It's just fun

to talk with and he knows so much and he's got,

you know, he geeks out about all these things

that I kind of geek out about too. So it was

kind of cool to just hear him geek out about

like how it all worked out and this big project

that he's working with Flint on and I hope that

it goes places and I hope that he, you know,

finds enough stuff to make it interesting to

put a book together. I think that'd be fantastic.

Yeah, absolutely. You know, that whole thing,

the whole... multiverse of how many scripts and

how many different versions there were of the

movie or how many different events would have

happened after the movie in five faces or whatever.

All of that is just absolutely super interesting

and amazing. I can't remember all the details,

but I just thought it was kind of cool. You know,

some of the things that intended to make it in

got cut and then what we actually got. And just

to see a little bit of, oh, well, actually if

this line had come in here, how it would have

changed a few things. That was neat to see that

too. I'm pretty sure that they recorded it. I

don't know if it'll be out on their YouTube at

some point, maybe. I think it already is because

I think I've seen it. Yeah. I haven't gone on

their YouTube to check it out yet, but still

though. we're really lucky that people with the

right connections are asking the right questions

and that things were saved and you get to know

the different creators and every single one of

them is unique and different and they all have

their own thing to add that have made it in as

the mythos of Transformers. And they're all approachable.

So it's really great when they sync up and we

start. Gleaning more knowledge about our transformers

Absolutely. Yeah, I know that the TF con YouTube

channel has a bunch of videos up and I've seen

something recently Where they did put up? The

video that you're talking about because that's

how I first heard about it was I saw the article

on TFW where it said something about, oh, the

script this and the script that and the lost

script to the five faces of theirs or whatever

it was. And I went over and saw, you know, Flint

and Jim talking about it on the YouTube channel.

I'll have to find that video for the show notes.

Yeah. So did you meet anybody else? Did you hang

out with anybody else that that you might not

have? Done before seen before did hang out with

some of the friends that I drove up with because

I drove up with them and every year That I've

gone if we've gone separately then we just kind

of like we say hi, we see each other, we walk

past each other, but then we never really sit

down and do anything with each other. So I try

to make a concerted effort to do that this year.

I did get a chance to run into Mike Siebert,

who has his own podcast. Catchphrase. And so

I kind of was able to talk with him for a little

bit too. And that was great because I always

like, you know, touching base with other podcasters.

If I get to meet him in person, then that's even

better. I mean, that's what I did. So let's see,

anybody else? I just got to hang out with like

some friends. And so that was, that was great.

I mean, I'm friends with John 3 .0, the Epic

voice guy. And so it was good to see him. He,

it was really great to see him. I haven't seen

him for a while. And the last time I was there

was like three years ago. Optimus prime does

not speak quickly. We actually hooked up with

our families while we went to pizza together.

Cool. I got a chance to meet his wife and meet

his kids and then I think I came back out for

another thing too and I think the last TFCon

she was there. Just getting to know him over

the years and it was great to hang out and get

to meet his wife and actually talk with her for

a little bit too in person. Very cool. Very cool.

So how does this convention rank amongst all

the others you've been to? Well, I've been to

all of the transformer ones. So I've been to

TF con I've been to well, this is TF con. Yeah.

Yeah, I've been to bot con I've been to TF nation

Auto assembly when it was going on. Those are

the big ones I I'd like to say that I think there's

two other smaller ones that I have not made it

to. I think there's a TF Expo and there's something

else that I don't remember what it was called.

But out of all the ones that I've gone to, I

like the fan runs. The fan run conventions much

better where it's less of a business. It's not

official. You get the nuggets of things that

you won't be able to get at a one that has too

many rules and the official stamp type thing.

I like the fan ones a little bit better. It's

good to be able to sit down and talk with organizers

without them having their organizing hats on

and all of that. It's just like real people that

you're like, hey, yeah, this is, you know. I

just have a better rapport with most of them

because I've been going to conventions for a

while and I ran a podcast and they're just very

approachable and I didn't always have that with

the the BotCon crowd, so not a knock -on on any

particular adjust. I prefer the fan -run conventions.

Yeah, absolutely. Not that I think that they

would ever go for it, but I'm actually surprised

Hasbro hasn't approached TFCon to say, hey, want

to be the official new one now since, you know,

the other one kind of went down in flames, but

it is what it is. I have my opinions on that

too. I'd rather them not, because... There are

a lot of little things that when you're an official

that you get lawyers, you get lawyers involved,

you get IPs and this and third party and yeah,

I'd rather not have official to be honest. As

much as it sounds great, it's also you get...

you get what you get. Like when you have somebody

that has, oh, licenses and this and this and

this, you know, interpretations, this and this,

and it just, it gets hard to manage that. And

I would say that it would be hard for anybody,

any one group to do that. I think Hasbro did

the right thing running their own convention,

because now they don't have to work with anybody

else. They can do it any way they want. They

don't have to work with basically a third party

group to do that. It just I think it I think

it'll work better that way just you know You'll

get a different you're gonna get a different

experience if you go to a official convention

as opposed to a non -official I think it just

should be that way there there should be one

of each and I don't necessarily wish that on

anybody that if they if they feel like they can

manage it great Just be careful because it is

a scorpion and the turtle situation Because you're

going to end up, there are going to be hoops

and they're going to have to follow those hoops

because that's what happens when you're official.

Yeah. I mean, I noticed when, because I mean,

I've only ever been to TFCon 2012 and then BotCon

2015, I want to say. Gotcha. Yeah. Could be wrong.

Was that the last one or was that? I think it

was the second to the last one. Second to the

last one. Okay. But anyways, I went to that one

and this stark difference in both of them, like

the TFCon, I just felt more comfortable. And

this was before they really expanded into taking

over all the US locations. This was when they

were in Mississauga only. Yeah. I went to that

one too, I think. I might have met you there.

I don't know. I don't remember. It's possible.

I had a bunch of people come up and say, hey,

Megatron. And I was like, I have no idea who

you are. I had to look them up on Twitter. Gotcha.

So I felt a little bad about that. But then once

they were like, I'm this handle and I was like,

oh yeah, I know you. Which made it so much easier.

But yeah, I mean, I just, I got more of that

community feel from TFCon than I did with BotCon.

And I felt like we were just another number that

they were trying to process in as far as the

guests and everything else that was going on.

I enjoyed it for what it was, but. I think I

got a better experience out of TFCon. That's

been my experience as well. I think in 2013,

I did the trifecta where I went to all three

in one. Oh, wow. And that was the only one that

I ever went to with TFCon Ontario or Ontario?

Yeah, the one that they had only in Canada. And

that was also before they went and did the US

Version or the where they added the US? Yeah

stops as well so I had very much the same situation

where at my first convention was auto assembly

and I went to that several years and then I went

to and I went to that I think two times before

I went to I know I hit BotCon at least five times

I hit Wow Auto assembly the last I want to say

either five or six times before they Closed up

and then TF con or TF nation relaunched With

a lot of the same staff and then they went it

was just put a completely new venue what they

were doing and I've been to three of those I

think Since then because I didn't go to the first

one I went to the second or maybe I did go to

the first one I didn't go to the second one I

don't remember which ones I've gone to the odd

years So I haven't been able to get to every

single one unfortunately and it's it's made me

sad because I really like the I'm closer to the

group out there because When I first started

podcasting that was the group that I podcasted

with it was a lot of the people from the UK That

ended up now running the show. So there I think

there's well At the time, there were two people

that were involved with the new run, but their

MC, David Wallace, was the one who approached

me about doing the underbase. He's been very

involved with TF Nation. Those are my people.

Hanging out with the Canadian crowd, it was so

cool because they were just so Like they knew

who I was. Some of them knew who I was. A lot

of the podcasters knew who I was because they'd

met me at BotCon. And we're just, you know, you're

going to get, like you said, exactly everything

that you said. So much more inclusive. There's,

you know, and that's kind of the situation which

you have when you have something official. There's

always going to be the people that run it that

are going to be like, yeah, they're the, you

know. They have to put on a specific business

face, and that's all good. And I'm not knocking

them for that, because that's just kind of what

happens when you have that situation. But I've

always found the fan run conventions just so

much more personable. And of course, they try

to put things in there that an official one won't.

TF Nation's thing is that they always try to

make sure that that that they work out deals

with the actors so that you don't have to be

paying $30 every single time that you go up to

a get a signature and say hi and talk to them

and all that unless it's specific like they have

to work things contractually out. The one that

the TF Nation that they were going to put on

before COVID hit which spoiled everything, is

they were going to have Peter Cullen there and

a couple other people and there was a specific

deal that you paid so that you could have a moment

with Peter Cullen. And they only had so many

of those. And of course I paid for one of those

because I was like, damn, I'm going to go out

there. I'm going to meet Peter Cullen, right?

Then it didn't work. So I was like, oh, sad face.

I'll have to figure out another time. It was

very sad that whole summer. I was like, oh, I

couldn't. Yeah. Not going to meet Peter Covenland

after all. But I will pay the extra to go out

there because I know the experience that TF Nation

has as opposed to other places. And I get it

because there's so many things that can go wrong

when you have voice actors and fans meeting together

at the same time that can go horribly wrong.

It can you know, I'm in Phoenix and there was

a couple situations here in Phoenix with their

Phoenix Comic Con Well, I think it's Phoenix

Fan Fest now. They had to change the name where

there was a guy that said that he was gonna shoot

some guy, another actor, and he got into the

building. And it was big news frenzy over it.

I don't remember all the details, but I do remember

that he was headed upstairs and they hedged him

off before he could get up there. So there was

never... moment where he's even in the same room

with the guy but it it was dicey and the police

got involved and everything got locked down and

now let me tell you the experience that year

was quite interesting getting into the convention

was was difficult and they locked down like all

the cosplayers they people couldn't even bring

in stuff that was clearly not ever a weapon and

it was a big media circus over it so I remember

when that happened Yeah. But you know, a lot

of things can go wrong, is what I was saying.

You know, so far they haven't had too many, I

mean there have been a couple situations, but

they've handled it with grace. I love the people

that I know there. They do, they're professionals.

They know what they're doing. It's fantastic.

And I'm proud of all of the people that I know

that have worked really hard to make fan run

conventions run like they do. So. Absolutely.

Absolutely. So the last thing we have is what

is your advice for other con goers? Oh, wow.

There are YouTube videos on this. I think the

best advice that I've gotten over the years,

and I guess it just depends. If you're going

to be going international, you're going to have

a completely different set of things that you're

going to need to know beforehand than if you're

familiar with the country that you're going to

be in. There's always travel things that you

want to travel with and there's little things,

but I think the best that I... The best experiences

that I've had have been the ones where I look

for if the convention knows that they have a

draw from International guests and kind of do

a like a walk around in the hotel and even walk

through like from this is the airport and you

walk over here and here's the convention. That's

been really helpful. I mean, there is stuff online

that the TF Nation crowd have put out there in

the past that have been really, really helpful.

I think talking with other people beforehand

that you know are going that maybe have gone

several times that have even followed, like sometimes

they'll Some people put out YouTube videos and

you can go and check those out. And that's really

helpful as well. I think it's just, and then

well, and then another advice that I would probably

put is just don't be afraid to go up and say

hi to people. Cause you know, we're all an introverted

group. And you know, you're going to have a completely

different convention if you go and just kind

of stay to yourself. As opposed to one where

you're talking to people and say hey, I'm so

and so I run this so and so or I would like you

know Hey, I I'm looking to see a few people and

you know, aren't you on social media? blah blah

blah, you know, there's just so many ways to

just kind of like make your way into saying something

to somebody and then add to another group or

you know It's hard, but it's also you gotta push

through the hard sometimes and just go, okay,

I'm just gonna put myself out there and, you

know, show up and talk to people. Yeah, absolutely.

Steve has a unique talent though that he needs

to employ at every convention he goes to from

now on. You feel like it's difficult to say anything

to anybody? Just talk like Waspinator or Megatron

or whomever. Like if David Kay isn't at a convention

that you go to, fill in for him. I'm not kidding.

I wish there were some that would like pop up

in like Colorado, but some do and some don't.

It's so weird. I don't know what rhyme or reason

they go for picking. I know it has to do with

location for the actors for the most part. Yeah.

But that's honestly with anything though. You

look at any kind of show, convention, or sometimes

car shows, or even concerts. I'm living in Washington

state right now in Vancouver, Washington, which

is at the bottom of the state. I'm right on top

of Portland, Oregon. Half the time, any of the

bands that I would love to be able to see in

concert, They never come to the Pacific Northwest.

They'll go to LA. They'll go to San Francisco.

They'll go to San Diego. They'll go to Bum Frig,

Idaho, or in the middle of Arkansas, but they

won't come here. And it's like, wait, what? I

mean, they'll go to Seattle, which is three hours

north. Okay, fine. Sure. Whatever, but. I don't

know, man. It's really weird how certain venues

and things are chosen for whatever. And this

is even before the pandemic and all that. It's

just really strange. But yeah, no, I mean, TFCon

LA 2022. Looks like everybody had a blast. You

and your son had a blast. Oh, yeah. Yeah, we

had fun. It was good. Would I do it again? Yeah,

absolutely. I hope that we can do it again next

year. I hope that, you know, things being the

way that they are, that it's a good time that

we'll be able to get back. But, you know, we'll

be watching to make sure that everything's good.

So we might still be wearing masks. My husband,

my kid and myself, but we might not be either.

So, I mean, even if there isn't at this point,

I kind of want to say that I'll probably still

be wearing a mask for a little while just because.

I just, I care about my kid. I have somebody

I care about, so it is what it is. Yeah, absolutely.

And just so everyone knows, in case anyone is

interested, the next US stop for TFCon is going

to be in Chicago from October 21st to the 23rd

of this year. It'll be at the Crown Plaza Chicago

O 'Hare Hotel and Conference Center. So, yep,

that's when the next TFCon USA show is as far

as... I think they have the one in Canada in

July. Yep, they did. Or they did or they do?

Oh, they do. It's coming up. TFCon Toronto, July

8th to the 10th, 2022. And they've got some...

So Vince will be at the TFCon Toronto, as well

as Doug Parker, the voice of Terrorsaur. So everyone

can go to TFCon Toronto and terrorize Terrorsaur.

Awesome. So yeah, that's... I think they also

have TF Nation is going to be this August, as

far as I've heard. I don't know what that's going

to look like. planning to not be there, unfortunately,

because it's just too far. And I don't have my

job back after COVID. So I'll be putting off

any international flights for a little while,

at least until I can get back into working. So,

but that being said, I mean, yeah, I think I

want to say I might've seen a thing about TF

Expo. I don't know for sure. I'd have to go back

on social media check and I didn't before I started

this podcast, unfortunately. Sorry. Catchphrase.

But yeah, I think conventions are going to, we're

going to start seeing those. They're going to

be, they're going to be back. So yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. So far TF con. Toronto only has Doug Parker

and Vince DiCola. And of course, even though

that's in July, it's still too soon to tell.

And then Chicago is in October. So, so far they've

only announced the location. Yep. of the place

they haven't announced because it's way too soon

for October. Well, I would expect that they're

probably going to start putting out more of what

they intend to have in July just to put it out

there in the next little bit to advertise and

stuff. Absolutely. Absolutely. All right. You

got anything else you want to bring up, Steve?

Uh, no. All right. Well, I think that's going

to do it for us here on All Things Transformers.

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planned anything yet, folks. For now, I am TFG1

Mike with Steve Megatron and Lady Rek. Transform

and transcend, and we'll talk to you next time

here on All Things Transformers. Optimus Prime

does not speak quickly. Catchphrase. Yeah! I

wish to speak to my lawyer. Good enough. Rodimus

Prime over and out.