BotCon 2002
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{{#if: July 26, 2002 |
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{{#if: Fort Wayne, IN |
{{#if: Grand Wayne Convention Center |
Because they'll never make another Cyclonus toy. 
Wait, this isn't the dinner exclusive? 
Hey, Arby's, guess what convention's back in town! 
We couldn't wait to have these sitting in a box in our attic. 
You would never see these three together again.
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| Date | July 26, 2002}} | ||||||
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| City | Fort Wayne, IN}} | ||||||
| Venue | Grand Wayne Convention Center}} | ||||||
BotCon 2002 was the Official Transformers Convention in 2002, run by 3H. It was held in Fort Wayne, Indiana, from July 26 to 28.
Venue
BotCon 2002 was held at the Grand Wayne Convention Center in downtown Fort Wayne.
Merchandise
Convention-exclusive toys
- Cyclonus, a redeco of Beast Machines Ultra-class Jetstorm
- CatSCAN, a redeco of Beast Machines Night Slash Cheetor
- Glyph, a redeco of the Generation 1 Mini Vehicle Bumblebee keychain
- Tap-Out, a redeco of the Generation 1 Mini Vehicle Cliffjumper keychain. FREE to pre-registrants.
- An Optimus Prime lollipop (White Grape) made by "Pop Art" (Heh.) courtesy of Rhino Home Video.
Fiction
Other merchandise
- Two t-shirts were available, one depicting Optimus Prime and the other depicting Megatron. The Robots In Disguise version of said character was depicted on front, while on back was a row of images depicting all incarnations from G1 to Armada.
- Collector plate
- Each numbered plate (1 - 385) depicted Andrew Wildman artwork of Robots in Disguise Optimus vs. Robots in Disguise Megatron and contained a ring of 24k gold on the edge.
Guests
Hasbro employees
- Aaron Archer, Snr. Design Director
- Michelle Field
- Andrew Frankel
- Joe Mattiko
Takara employees
- ?
- ?
Voice actors
- Richard Epcar
- Dick Gautier
- Neil Kaplan
- Steve Kramer
- Michael McConnohie
- Peter Spellos
- Wayne "Wankus" Lewis
- Tom Wyner
Comics and animation
- Derek Choo-Wing
- Richard Epcar
- Adam Fortier
- Simon Furman
- Bob Forward
- Steve Kramer
- Pat Lee
- Chris Sarracini
- Tom Wyner
Events
Friday
- Pre-registrant semi-formal dinner, starring Seafood Louis. Highlights included:
- A screening of "First Encounter", the first episode of the upcoming Armada cartoon. The audience was highly enthusiastic about the episode, bursting into cheers when Optimus Prime first appeared (and spoke, revealing Garry Chalk's voice). Little did they realize what they were setting themselves up for...
- Unfortunately, this screening was also the precise moment that the cast of Robots in Disguise, members of which made up nearly the entire voice actor guest list for this year, discovered that they wouldn't be coming back to voice the next series. Ouch.
- Dinner attendees received a bonus gift of one Deluxe size-class Armada toy and one Mini-Con 3-pack. This was supposed to be a great treat, as the Armada toyline was just beginning, and these would have been as-yet unreleased toys. However, the first Armada toys had unexpectedly hit stores a few weeks early, just before the convention, and thus many of the hardcore fans present at the dinner already owned them.
Saturday
- 8:00 Botcon 2002 Begins! (in theory. In practice, probably closer to 8:30.)
- 9:00 Video Room Opens: Robots in Disguise episode 1 begins
- 10:00 Autographs: Epcar, Forward, Kramer, Wyner
- 11:00 - 1:00 Autographs: Gautier, Kaplan, McConnohie, Spellos, Wankus
- 12:00 Botcon Merchandise Area closes for inventory check
- 12:00 Editor/Writer/Director Panel: Richard Epcar, Bob Forward, Simon Furman, Steve Kramer, and Tom Wyner
- 12:00 Robots in Disguise episode 9 begins
- 1:00 Botcon Merchandise Area reopens
- 1:00 Autographs: Epcar, Forward, Kramer, Wyner
- 2:00 Hasbro Presentation: The brand team offers unique insights into the development of our favorite toyline. Previews of upcoming toys covered later-run Armada redecos and Generation 1 reissues. A Hasbro rep comment offered the first faint teasing hint that a toy for Unicron might be under development. The original Generation 1 gun-mode Megatron toy was infamously shown in a hideously bright blue-and-orange color scheme, which still wasn't enough to get it past child safety laws.
- 2:00 - 4:00 Autographs: Gautier, Kaplan, McConnohie, Spellos, Wankus
- 3:00 Robots in Disguise episode 17 begins
- 4:00 Voice Actor Panel: Dick Gautier, Neil Kaplan, Michael McConnohie, Peter Speollos, and Wankus
- 4:00 - 6:00 Autographs: Epcar, Forward, Kramer, Wyner
- 6:00 Botcon 2002 ends for the day
Sunday
- 9:00 Botcon 2002 Day Two Begins!
- 9:00 Video Room Opens: Robots in Disguise episode 25 begins
- 10:00 - 11:30 Autographs: Gautier Kaplan McConnohie, Spellos, Wankus
- 10:00 - 11:30 Autographs: Epcar, Forward, Kramer, Wyner
- 12:00 Preregistration toy merchandise becomes available to the public
- 12:00 Dreamwave Comic Book Panel: Pat Lee, Chris Sarracini, James Raiz, and Simon Furman talk about the new comics
- 12:00 Robots in Disguise episode 33 begins
- 2:00 Charity Auction: An assortment of unique items will be auctioned off to benefit Make-a-Wish
- 2:00 Autographs: Simon Furman and Titan Books
- 3:00 Convention Organizers Panel: Glen Hallit and Jon and Karl Hartman will field questions about this and next year's shows
- 3:00 Robots in disguise episode 39 begins
- 6:00 Botcon 2002 ends