Current mood:	sleepy
Current music:	Apollo 9 - Adam & the Ants
Entry tags:	conventions

Botcon 2008 - the report
So there was this little convention down in Cincinnati over the weekend. More of a small social gathering, really - nothing too exciting. I probably won't even do a post about it.

...I'm kidding. I'm kidding! Please don't lynch me. XD

Sadly, I don't have pictures at the moment - something about wearing cardboard boxes all weekend kinda makes it awkward to carry a camera. oasis_pink_peng has lots, I believe, so I'll mooch them off her. *...waves at Oasis* ^_^;;; Also, lunatron has a few pictures here.

Friday
Friday after school I picked up some supplies and the last couple of things I needed for my plushie project (more on that later) and headed up to Poptart's apartment. ...Which, apparently, was a bit of a communication snafu. When we agreed that I'd come up and meet her after school, she thought I meant "at the convention." XD Anyway, after she finally picked up her phone she gave me directions and off I went. And wonder of wonders, I didn't get lost.

They weren't letting us oil-stained General Admission peasants into the dealers' room until Saturday. Poptart came out and met with me, but she had her duties as Wayward's booth slave, so I hung out with oasis_pink_peng, mommimus_prime and Prizm (sorry, don't know if you have an LJ) at the VA line. All three are super nice, by the way. ^_^ When Oasis got to David Kaye, she gave him a button that said "Glomp me!" and he actually got up and hugged her! I thought she was going to asplode from squee right there. It was massively adorable. (And she didn't stop bragging about it all weekend, not that I blame her. XD) ravynfyre was there for the glomping as well, along with her friend who dressed up as Emirate Xaaron (can't remember her name, argh, so henceforth she is Emirate Xaaron. Because really, that's just awesome.)

We hung around (with a brief food break, since all I'd had for lunch was a Lunchable) until the dealers' room closed at five, and Wayward emerged with her Art and her Awesomeness and we all went to... er, dinner. XD I was still full from the Chinese-food carbo-loading, so I had a salad and some Waywardsnark (;P) and then we went to Toys R' Us because like a bubblehead, I had forgotten Ratchet's box o' tools. Poptart found a toy for Ravyn, and Poptart's roommate tried to pretend she didn't know the lot of us. XD Then it was home tiem!

We were so close to done with our costumes at that point, and with another two pairs of hands to help (Oasis and Wayward), the work went much faster despite the occasional impromptu karaoke. We finished about two AM, exhausted but flush with victory.

Saturday
French toast for breakfast, zomg. ^______^

Ratchet and Wheeljack made their Botcon debut about eleven AM, and with all the posing for photos, we didn't actually get into the dealers' room until about, oh, noon-thirty. XD But I enjoyed myself. The little kids who didn't run away screaming at the sight of us were really excited to see robots walking around, and it was cute to watch Poptart play around with them - she's really good with kids, whereas I pretty much hid behind her. ^_^;;; The crocheted bomb also seemed to be a big hit, to no one's surprise. Maybe I should make more heavy ordinance out of yarn.

Things got to a fever pitch when Ravyn showed up as Perceptor and got her costume signed by Perce's original designer. 'Migoodness was she afflicted with the Vapors. XD There was also a group of girls in Transformers-themed dresses who were incredibly adorable. IIRC, there was a Megatron, Starscream, Ratchet, and Bumblebee. I posed with my Doppelganger of Adorability and had a lot of fun. ^_^ Other cosplayers included Starscream (played by the only guy cosplayer XD), Blaster, Soundwave, Baroness, an Autobot cheerleader (those last three were the same person), another Wheeljack, Elita-1, Dinobot and a movie!'Con holoform police lady (both played by Luna, who looked awesome), another Wheeljack, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker (why yes, Ratchet did put the fear of Primus into them, why do you ask?) and skank!Barricade, who got tossed out for prancing around in next to nothing and is apparently rather huffy about it. *eyeroll*

The dealer room was awesome, and not only because I never paid to get in on Saturday. (the Official People were too impressed by the insane fangirlishness of our costumes to do the 'halt! who goes there' thing, and I took shameless advantage of that. I'm a bad, evil fangirl. ^_^;;;; ) Really, most of it is a glorified toymall, but there were some really awesome art contest entries and the toy preview section made me squee like a madwoman. (Universe Galvatron! Robot Heroes Galvatron! Robot Heroes Beast Wars! Lady Decepticon repaint of Classics Mirage! OMG! *flaaaaiiiil*)

Tromping down to the mall to get foods was... interesting. XD Thank goodness for our pit crew (Oasis and Prizm) or we never would've made it! We got a lot of stares, and advertised to the con to a guy and wound up exasperating his girlfriend. ("Why'd you have to tell him!?") I called my mom at one point, who sternly told us all to Stop Having So Much Fun. Suuure, mom. ;D

There was another round of pictures after we got back from lunch, and a third with absolutely everybody a bit later, which was totally worth all the work we put into our costumes even if the rest of the accolades hadn't been. XD

Saturday night
By the time we got back to Casa de Poptart, I was so exhausted, so I crashed out on the couch while Oasis and Poptart went out to do Things That Are Rather Unclear in my little moogly head. A couple hours later I was woken up by the phone ringing. I was still a little groggy, so I lay there and listened to Poptart saying "hey, we're at Supercool Restaurant if you wanna come join us." Why should everyone else have all the fun while I sit here all lonely? I thought. So I called her back to get directions. ...No answer.

Luckily, Randmcnally.com gives pretty good directions, and I'd already driven in the area a little bit on Friday when I went down to the convention. Working against me: a) it was past sunset, b) it was still downtown in an unfamiliar city filled with one-way streets, c) I had no idea where to park. I called twice more to say "hey, I'm coming, don't leave the restaurant plz" and "hey, where the hell do I park", respectively, before finding a near-empty lot after much driving around in circles. (Stupid one-way streets. What is the point of one-way streets? You're liable to wind up in Timbuktu if you can't turn the hell around without having to go to a completely different street!)

I hadn't actually spotted the restaurant where it was supposed to be when I was driving past, so I was fully prepared to have to wander around lost for a little bit longer ("Hey," I said to Poptart's voicemail for the fourth time, "check your phone. Also, I'm probably going to get lost before finding someone Official to tell me where the heck Supercool Restaurant is.") Luckily, I found it right where it was supposed to be, if a bit hidden behind foliage. I toddled right up to my dear, lovely, best friend Poptart and propped my arm on her shoulder. "Dear," I said, "check your phone."

"I'm sorry!" she wailed.

I forgave her, of course. But only because she bought me cheesecake. ;P

So that was my little Adventure that evening. Topped off with triple chocolate cheesecake (omnomnom *_*) and going back to Wayward's to have a group MST3King of Beast Machines. ("They're falling, take a shot!" "Running, take a shot!" "Running and falling, finish your drink and get another one!") We didn't finish until midnight, and even then we had to stop by Walmart to get a Bulkhead toy for Bumper Robinson (Ani!Bee's VA). And, uh, I had to stop by an ATM. ^_^;;;

And there was evening, and there was morning: the second day.

Sunday
Cinnamon rolls. More omnomnom. Poptart takes good care of her houseguests. ^_^

I actually did pay the ten bucks to get in today, as security was a bit tighter. As soon as I got in I hightailed it to the Japanese exclusives booth, where I acquired a Music Label Soundwave (black version) for sixty bucks. Omg score! The other places had it for ninety-something. ^_^ They also had Black Arcee and G1-theme Arcee for something like eighty bucks apiece, and though G1-theme Arcee was adorable I couldn't justify that much. *sigh* In between impromptu photo shoots and hanging out at Wayward's booth I also got a Transmetal 2 Airazor (yes, I like the chickbots, lemme 'lone). So those were my toys for the weekend, although since Soundwave needs a miniSD card and a card reader, I still need to spend a bit more monies. (I'm thinking of getting several cards for different music mixes. 'Workout mix,' 'cheer-up mix,' 'porn mix,' that sort of thing.) Most of the rest of the morning was spent at Wayward's booth, where I talked with people and was silly and got fangirled at. *waves at psychokitty13* ^_^ Nowhere near the fangirling Wayward was getting, much to her bewilderment. XD (I also got hit on. Some guy I'm calling Mr. Skeeve offered to help me take off my costume. My wrench was not to hand, or I would have thrown it at him. -_-)

I got in line for the VAs about half an hour early, after a snack break with Oasis. (While she was off doing Other Things, I got accosted by Mr. Skeeve again. "Are you over eighteen?" he asked. "If I say no, will you stop hitting me?" quoth I. And he kinda deflated, and I never saw him again, thank goodness.) I wasn't really interested in autographs, as I never am, but I had a Little Something for Mr. Kaye to kind of thank him for fueling my fantasies for the past twelve years. ^_^;;; The other VAs got hugs (rather awkward hugs, as I was still In Costume), but David got... (drumroll please)... Bitty Megatron. Yes, my friends, my geekery is such that I crocheted a little purple T. Rex, complete with bitty evil smirk, ribbon around his neck, and a bitty ducky bell that was Poptart's contribution to the adorable little destroyer of worlds. Before you ask, yes, he liked it. He was sitting there playing with it while all us fangirls were getting a picture with Bumper, which made me squee like the shameless little fangirl I am. ^_^ So that was probably one of my favorite moments out of the whole weekend.

After the festivities officially closed, we all went back to Wayward's room for one last Fangirl Hurrah, but I couldn't stay 'til all hours. So when Poptart and Oasis went back to Poptart's place to change for dinner, I said my goodbyes and headed back to Dayton, exhausted and a hundred bucks poorer, but happy.

To sum up: awesome convention was awesome. Awesome friends are even more awesome and make me squee. Got shinies, gave shinies. I adore cosplay, and am seriously considering going as Galvatron next time I do one of these little shindigs. ...I'm probably insane.