BotCon 2007
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| Date | June 27, 2007}} | ||||||
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| City | Providence, RI}} | ||||||
| Venue | Rhode Island Convention Center}} | ||||||
BotCon 2007: 'Til All Are One was the Official Transformers Convention in 2007, run by Fun Publications. It was held in Providence, Rhode Island from June 27 to July 1, although only the last two days were open to the general public.
Fun Publications had previously held its conventions in the early fall; however, the date was moved up to coincide with the release of the live-action Transformers movie.
Venue
Botcon 2007 was held at the Rhode Island Convention Center in Providence, Rhode Island, from June 28 through July 1. The RICC is attached to a Westin hotel, the first of four downtown Providence hotels to have blocks booked for the convention by Fun Publications. Convenient sky bridges connect the hotel to the convention center, ensuring that attendees never had to actually set foot outside during the weekend. Granted, doing so risked instant death beneath the wheels of rushing cars on the freeway-like street crossed by the sky bridge.
The convention center is also attached to Providence Place Mall, which features a sixteen screen multiplex theatre and a Hot Topic that was totally sold out of Barricade clothing by Friday morning.
The mall's slogan is "DEFINING YOU". Up yours, Providence Place Mall.
Merchandise
Convention-exclusive toys
- Convention Box Set ($279, bagged $179) - This set of five toys was only available to those who registered for either the 'Primus Package' or the non-attendee 'Iacon Package.' The set also included a badge, the Convention Comic, bio cards, and for the first 300 registrants, an exclusive Bug Bite pin. This set sold out (both boxed and bagged versions) well in advance of the convention.
- Bug Bite - A Black and white redeco of Classics Bumblebee with a purple tribal tattoo-style design on it.
- Dreadwind - A white and purple redeco of Classics Jetfire with a remolded head.
- Thundercracker - A redeco of Classics Starscream that replicates Generation 1 Thundercracker's deco.
- Dirge - A redeco of Classics Ramjet that replicates Generation 1 Dirge's deco.
- Thrust - A retool of both sets of wings on the Classics Seeker mold, with the rest of the mold's configuration retaining elements from both Starscream and Ramjet. The deco replicates Generation 1 Thrust's deco.
- Attendee-Only Bonus Toy - Mirage, an unpainted version of Classics Mirage with mostly translucent blue plastic, was provided as a bonus to those who picked up their 'Primus Package' box set in person.
- Convention Souvenir 2-Packs - Two sets of two bagged toys, with only 1,400 produced of each set.
- Alpha Trion and Weirdwolf - A purple, red, and white redeco of Cybertron Vector Prime with a remolded head, and Cybertron Snarl redecoed to look like Weirdwolf.
- Springer and Huffer - Redecoes of Cybertron Defense Hot Shot and Cybertron Armorhide, done to look like Springer and Huffer, respectively. Springer was singled out by Fun Publications owner Brian Savage for having an unusually high number of paint apps, even for a convention exclusive.
Comics
- Convention Comic: "Games of Deception" - A comic drawn by Alex Milne and written by Forest Lee, set in the Club Comic Classics universe. The comic was also available with an alternate cover and several pages of bonus content at the Club table.
Other items
- A pitcher bearing the BotCon 2007 logo with a light-up (red) base.
- A mug bearing the same logo and light-up base.
- A ball cap bearing the same logo.
- A T-shirt with the "Games of Deception" box graphics.
- A Classics-themed lithograph by Don Figueroa.
- A fan-produced Vector Sigma set including stand and Key by the Lukis Bros at Unicron.com
- Four different keycards were given out to those staying in one of the four official hotels. Each bore an image of a different Movie character: Optimus Prime (Biltmore), Megatron (Marriot Courtyard), Starscream (Hilton), or Bumblebee (Westin). Although not sold at the convention itself, each card was available as a "bonus" with specific convention packages available through the Club Store. Remaining cards were sold as a set for $5 at BotCon 2008 at the Club table.
Guests
Hasbro employees
Because of the convention's intentional proximity to Hasbro's corporate headquarters in Pawtucket, RI, almost all current Hasbro employees that work on the Transformers brand made an appearance at the convention.
- Brian Goldner, Chief Operating Officer
- Vickie Stratford, Sr. Design Project Manager (Boy's Toys)
- Joe Kyde, Designer (Boy's Toys, Exclusive Division)
Transformers brand
- Greg Lombardo, Sr.Director of Marketing
- Aaron Archer, Sr. Design Director
- Eric Siebenaler, Lead Designer
- Jared Wade, Design Director
- William Rawley, Sr. Designer
Movie staff
- Peter Cullen, voice of characters including Optimus Prime & Ironhide in the original The Transformers cartoon and Optimus Prime in the upcoming film, made an appearance at the convention, signing autographs and hosting a panel.
- Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, the writers of the screenplay for the movie, had several panels over the course of the weekend.
- Rachael Taylor and Tyrese Gibson made an appearance at the movie screening. They and Brian Goldner were actually attending a charity screening of the movie next door to benefit the Rhode Island Community Food Bank, the Autism Project of Rhode Island, Adoption Rhode Island, and Hasbro Children's Hospital.<ref>Business Wire. 2007-05-01</ref>
Other actors
- David Kaye, recently announced as the voice of Optimus Prime for Transformers Animated. Yessss...
- Daniel Ross, voice of Starscream in all versions of Transformers The Game and Mixmaster and Hound in the PSP version of Transformers The Game.
Musicians
- Stan Bush, performer of 'Dare', 'The Touch', 'Ground Zero', and 'Till All Are One (Transformers Theme)' (BotCon 2007's theme song), attended the con, performing a concert at the Saturday dinner, giving a panel, and playing [[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}Guitar Hero|{{#if:||Guitar Hero}}]] for the first time at an attendee's party.
- Ernie Petrangelo, lead songwriter of N.R.G. (the performers of 'Instruments of Destruction' from the 1986 animated film's soundtrack. Petrangelo was scheduled to be at the convention to sign autographs, but did not show as he was informed of the wrong day and actually turned up on the Wednesday pre-registration, spending the day trying to find Brian Savage).
Comics and art
- IDW Publishing editor Dan Taylor
- IDW artist/writer Nick Roche
- IDW artist Alex Milne
- IDW artist Robby Musso
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Government
Some representatives of Sector Seven were in attendance at the convention, attempting to dispel the notion of the existence of NBEs through presentations in the Sector Seven Mobile Command Unit.
Events
Wednesday
The only two events on Wednesday were open to a limited (first-come, first-served) number of pre-registrants only.
- A customization class featuring the creation of Overkill from the Classics Grimlock mold.
- A tour of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Cape Cod followed by a whale-watching cruise in Hyannis, MA.
Thursday
Thursday was the day when the majority of preregistrants arrived. Events on Thursday included...
- A second customization class nearly identical to the Wednesday class.
- A 3D Display class.
- The Newport Tour.
- A special early screening of the 2007 Transformers movie. Hasbro alpha dog and executive producer Brian Goldner brought two stars of the film, but was unable to introduce Rachel Taylor before the audience started screaming for Tyrese to bring something.
Friday
Friday was the first full day of the convention for most participants.
Major events included...
- Hasbro Tour.
- Several David Kaye panels.
- A Stan Bush panel.
- A panel with the screenwriters of the movie.
- The Board Wars preliminary round.
- Autograph sessions.
- MSTF.
In addition, the sales room was open from 4 to 7 PM.
Saturday
A big day. Events included...
- An Attacktix Tournament.
- The Board Wars finals, which Team Transformers Wiki won.
- Autograph sessions, including Peter Cullen this time.
- Another panel with the movie screenwriters.
- A panel where Hasbro discussed their involvement with the development of the movie and accompanying merchandise.
- Lessons on how to draw Transformers.
- A panel with Activision, publishers of Transformers The Game.
- A panel with IDW Publishing.
- A panel with Peter Cullen.
- Another panel with David Kaye.
- A collector's club roundtable.
- An awards show dinner/Stan Bush concert.
- Optimus Prime showed up and hung out next to the Sector Seven Mobile Command Unit.
Additionally, the dealer's room was open until 5PM.
Sunday
All of the panels on this final day of BotCon were repeats of those held earlier in the weekend, with one significant exception:
- Hasbro upcoming product panel, which premiered both the AllSpark Power wave of movie toys, and the character designs, animation clips, and toys of the Transformers Animated series.
The dealer room was open until 3:30PM.
References
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