OTFCC 2004
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| Date | July 31, 2004}} | ||||||
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| City | Rosemont, IL}} | ||||||
| Venue | Donald E. Stephens Convention Center}} | ||||||
OTFCC 2004 was the Official Transformers Collectors Convention in 2004, run by 3H Enterprises.
Venue
It was held in the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, IL, July 31 through August 1.
Merchandise
Exclusive merchandise included a Dreamwave Productions "20th Anniversary Mega-Litho" poster, a Palisades Toys 6" Ultra Magnus Statue, and a Devil's Due Publishing's GI Joe vs Transformers Volume II Preview Edition. (At least that's what my convention souvenir booklet thing says. Anyone actually see/remember this stuff?)
Convention-exclusive toys
- Universe Megazarak - A purple, light blue, red, and black repaint of Armada Megatron with no electronics and one of the pins in the hinge of the capture-mini-cons-thing on his leg missing. Surprisingly, nobody seemed to complain too terribly much about the lack of electronics, which is odd.
- Universe Sentinel Maximus - A blue and red repaint of Armada Overload. This toy was never actually made in time for the show, only to arrive through the mail to pre-registrants months later, sent by Hasbro after 3H's collapse. Some who pre-ordered it ended up never receiving this toy at all due to outdated mailing lists.
- A pair of Skyblast's Energon Spears (as well as Energon Stars) cast in blue ('Alpha') and purple ('Omega') plastic were given away at the Hasbro booth after completing a survey.
Fiction
The Convention Guide had a five-page teaser story, "Shell Game", featuring the exclusive toy character Megazarak. Written by Simon Furman, with art by Andrew Froedge, colors by Joe Givens, and letters by Simon Bowland, it was notable for Ultra Trion and his nifty, dashing cape.
Multiple 3H comics were also first sold at this convention:
- The Director's Cut of Wreckers #2, with all-new coloring and additional character bios.
- Wreckers #3
- Universe #2
- Universe #3
A live-action voice actor play was performed Saturday night.
Guests
Hasbro employees
- Greg Lombardo, Director of Marketing
- Aaron Archer, Design Director
- Eric Siebenaler, Designer
- Tony Beard, painter for Hasbro Toy Group -- Cincinnati (formerly Kenner).
Voice actors
- Michael McConnohie -- Voice of Tracks, Cosmos, and Hot Shot.
- Dan Gilvezan -- Voice of Bumblebee and Hot Spot.
- Scott McNeil -- Voice of Dinobot, Rattrap, Waspinator, Jetfire, Omega Supreme and Strongarm.
Comics and art
- Bob Budiansky -- Editor of the first four issues of the Marvel Comic, writer of the next 50 or so. Writer of bios, creator of mythos. Scrounge sprung fully formed from his very cranium. 'Nuff said.
- Simon Furman -- The guy who wrote the other half of the Marvel Comics. Writer of other bios, creator of other mythos. 'Nuff said.
- Andrew Wildman -- Artist for several issues of the Marvel Comic.
- Guido Guidi, freelance illustrator for various companies handling TF licensed work; some box art as well.
Musician
- Vince DiCola -- composer the musical score for The Transformers: The Movie and Rocky IV.
Events
The highlight of the weekend was DEATH BY CHOCOLATE. It was originally billed as a Transformers-themed murder-mystery dinner complete with Nightbeat art, but whether due to sluggish approval by Hasbro or copyright problems, the Transformers theme was dropped and it became a standard murder-mystery dinner based around a bunch of people named after brands of candy. We had lots of fun filling out the forms and playing with the pencils there on the group W bench there; then Bob Budiansky showed up and everybody got lithographs signed by Peter Cullen and Frank Welker.
Panels included:
- Generation 1 Creators Retrospective, with Bob Budiansky, Simon Furman, and Andrew Wildman.
- MSTF: The Musical
- Hasbro Development Team
- Dreamwave's Future Plans
- Devil's Due's Future Plans
- Furman, Glen Hallit, Dan Khanna, and Guido Guidi discuss the Wreckers and Universe comics.
- Pat Lee Teaches You How to Draw Like Pat Lee
- Voice Actor Panel
- Painting Workshop with Tony Beard
- Aspiring Voice Actor Contest - A Tribute to Crappy Scott McNeil Impressions
- Live-Action Script Reading - a Simon Furman script featuring the guest voice actors and winners of the Aspiring Voice Actor Contest
Current and upcoming toys displayed by Hasbro included the Energon combiner teams and Mega-Dinobot, and numerous Alternators, including Tracks, Jazz, Dead End, Hound, and Swindle.