BotCon 2000

{{#if: Botcon2000-programcover.jpg | {{#if: July 28, 2000 | {{#if: | {{#if: Fort Wayne, IN | {{#if: Grand Wayne Convention Center |

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Date	July 28, 2000}}
Dates	}}
City	Fort Wayne, IN}}
Venue	Grand Wayne Convention Center}}

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“	This summer, prepare to be reformatted.	”
{{#if:Pre-convention announcement flyer| —Pre-convention announcement flyer{{#if:|, {{{3}}}}} }} }}

BotCon 2000 was held from July 28 to July 30, 2000, in Fort Wayne, Indiana. It was organized by 3H.

Venue

BotCon 2000 was held in the Grand Wayne Convention Center in downtown Fort Wayne. Spaces included a Main Hall with dealers, merchandise, and contests, a display room, an autograph session room, and video rooms.

Merchandise

Convention exclusive toys

• Apelinq - A Redecoed Transmetal Optimus Primal.
• Shokaract - A redeco of Rampage.

Comics and art

• Tales from the Beast Wars: Reaching the Omega Point - Comic book, conclusion the Reaching the Omega Point story.

And ever...and ever...and ever...

• Cheetor Poster - A poster of Beast Machines Cheetor.
• BotCon 2000 Mini-poster - A poster featuring the Beast Wars characters, a pastiche of the The Transformers: The Movie poster.

Some other junk

• A collectable plate, a lanyard, a tote, and a T-shirt.

• Although not an official convention exclusive, the Lukis Bros. produced a "Beast Machines Accessory Pack" which contained two scimitars for Mega Cheetor to hold, a Key to Vector Sigma, and clear stands for both Blackarachnia and Thrust to be displayed in their TV-accurate robot-modes. They even threw in a free Unicron.com T-Shirt.

Guests

Voice actors

• Ian James Corlett
• John Moschitta
• Venus Terzo
• Alec Willows

Hasbro employees

• Joe Mattiko
• Jamie Overbey

Music

• Vince DiCola

Events

Friday

• Dinner/Opening Ceremonies, starring Seafood Louis

Saturday

THAT THREE STRIKE DAN

• 6:00am: Dealer setup begins
• 7:00am: Preregistration check-in begins
• 9:00am: Dealer room opens
• 11:00am: John Moschitta panel
• 1:00pm: Fan Panel #1 ('Fans and Fanfiction' with Sharon LaBorde, Matt Kirby, Tony Buchanan, and Darrin Broussard)
• 2:00pm: Beast Wars / Beast Machines Voice Actor Panel
• 3:00pm: Fan Panel #2 (a presentation of the Transformers PSAs by Tim Finn)
• 4:00pm: Hasbro presentation
• 5:00pm: Charity Auction benefiting the Make-a-Wish Foundation
• 6:00pm: Dealer room and display room close
• 8:00pm: Theatrical showing of The Transformers: The Movie in Fort Wayne's Embassy Theater, an ornate 1928 movie palace. Audience participation during this event was considerable and impassioned.

Sunday

• 9:00am: Dealer room opens. MSTF panel.
• 11:00am: Fan Panel #3
• 12:00pm: Vince DiCola panel and performance
• 1:30pm: BotCon organizers panel
• 3:00pm: Dealer room closes
• 6:00pm: Video Room closes. Convention ends. But... it never ends!

Autograph/photograph sessions with Vince and the voice actors were scheduled across Saturday and Sunday.

Various contests were also slated to happen throughout the weekend:

• Trivia contest. Prize: set of Convention Exclusive toys.
• Toy Assembly contest. Prize: complete set of carded Beast Machines Dinobots.
• Quick-Change Time Trials. Prize: Transmetal Rattrap, Airazor, and Mutant Icebird. Man, no love for the time trials.
• Art contest. 1st place prize: $50; 2nd place, $25; 3rd place, convention t-shirt.

Notes

• Bob Skir had been an invited guest but cancelled due to "other commitments". Many fans immediately jumped to the (wrong) conclusion that this was largely because of the disappointment of Beast Machines and the resulting online hostility.
• Once again 3H was "this close" to getting Frank Welker as a guest - albeit only for Friday's dinner.
• One fan bid over $600 for a Primal Prime during the Charity Auction. He won, of course.
• At the movie theatre, 3H honored a handful of fans with a plaque and a special dinner for being the only ones to attend every BotCon for the last seven years. The plaque featured both Autobot and Decepticon symbols although they made it a huge deal to point out that Raksha's was the only one with the Decepticon symbol above the Autobot one.
• A popular auction seller known as "SPQQKY" put up a Shokaract on eBay a day before 3H officially revealed it at BotCon. Sadly, this would become a trend in the future.

External links

• BotCon 2000 in the BotCon archives

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