attack of the word vomit
I messed with Texas. NOW IT HAS VERMONT COOTIES. Also now I have Texas cooties. I suppose some things simply can't be avoided.
Now, though, it is finally time for me to post my write-up! It took me a week because I got back home to both peak allergies and insane work scheduling, so I have been very busy trying to not pass out everywhere. And also watching The Avengers repeatedly because oh shit how awesome is that movie? PLEASE TAKE MY MONEY.
ANYWAY. If you just want the photo dump, it can be found here on Facebook. Elsewise, read on for entirely too much blathering on my part.
First, of course, I must detail my ordeals of actually arriving at the convention. You all ready for this round of maddening plane mishaps?
WELL TOO BAD because there weren't any.
I know.
So yeah maybe I need to be flying Delta more. Or maybe I got lucky. Ooor maybe Flit the mouse was some kind of horrid blood sacrifice to ensure good travels for me (Flit, the grey mouse, randomly died at some point on Wednesday. Mom is unsure what to do with Trill now). No hassle at all! We even made great airtime and landed early, though then the shuttle from the airport to the hotel took an inexplicably long time (also I saw no less than five things with the word "Freedom" somewhere in their name wow), so I arrived at the hotel shortly before when I needed to go stand in line. So I got to haul my suitcase along with me, that was fun and stupid.
ALSO I discovered that there is, like, no phone service! Which was, uh. Something. The opposite of awesome, mostly. I tried to call Wyntir, but that totally failed. Phone couldn't hold a signal long enough to place a call... I did manage to eventually contact Becca via text message, though! (We were sharing a room. There were supposed to be 4 of us, but, well, things happen. Hey! This way we both got our own bed?), and then we managed to wave hello to each other once I made it into the room with lines-by-last-name. I honest to god do not understand why those lines move so slowly. GET BOX. GET OTHER THINGS. SIGN THING TO PROVE SAID ITEMS WERE RECEIVED. MOVE ALONG. And yet. So yeah, I finally escaped that line - mostly by giving up and digging out my DS to grind my Pokémon - and ran upstairs to throw my stuff down because SICK OF CARRYING IT and then, excitement of excitements, I went downstairs to stand in line for the at-con exclusives (after standing around awkwardly trying to magic my phone into getting a signal so I could ask people if they wanted anything)… and then realized I really, really, really really really did not want to wait in the unmoving line of death. Becca had already escaped, and she was not interested in her Shattered Glass Optimus, so I just bought him off her and begged Okami and Oasis (who were standing in the card line) to please, please pick up a thing or two for me HERE I HAVE CASH?? And, hooray, they were willing to do that! (Thank you, thank you, thank you again!)
So I got to go eat dinner. Yay! Also, we picked up a Luna and an Aka, and we just ate at an Italian restaurant right there in the hotel because fuck going anywhere, it's late and we're tired and hungry. And the food was actually perfectly decent, much to our surprise. It was a fairly fancy-looking hotel, though (here are a few shots of the interior), so maybe it should not have been so weird. Anyway, yeah, fried calamari and… cheesy bread that has a proper name and pizza. Very delicious pizza, with olives and goat cheese and arugula and other stuff. And amazing dessert. Caramel something. Mmmm. Luna declared Becca and I to be alternate universe versions of the same person (one of us might be shattered glass, we are not sure). Also, Luna and I are also alternate versions of the same person on account of our eating tastes and habits, since the two of us shared both dinner and dessert and both drank only water. Also I can't understand the English language for shit (which makes no sense, what with it being my native and only real language…), and this lead to me mishearing "Ravyn" as "rabies" and hilarity ensued, or somesuch. Also I think we hit one of the "parts parties" going on all over the hotel after dinner? (Since Hasbro put their foot down on third party stuff in the dealers room, los of vendors were selling things out of their hotel rooms.) Seriously, I was out of it, I am not entirely sure what all went down Thursday night, and since I was super brain-fried, my notes are kind of unintelligible. I just know I was up way later than I should have been, considering I had to be back down in the convention area by 9 am. Also, Perceptor is an archangel and I cannot for the life of me remember how that one came about. It is just written as a note at the bottom of the page. (Also Drift broke up with him for Ratchet.)
But yeah, sleep! And then Friday morning! I got up way too early (considering I didn't get to bed until, like, 2 am), because I had to be downstairs before 9am, because, yes! MSTF was back after a few years away. They riffed some G1 episodes (as always. We had "Masquerade" and then "The Return of Optimus Prime" parts 1 and 2, though those two were actually the "Season 5" ones with that weird Tommy kid "interviewing" Powermaster Optimus). AND THEN a truly bewildering episode of the Singaporean dub of a Headmasters episode titled "Birth of the Fantastic Double Prime" wherein everyone was hunting for the Power Pack, which is apparently what we're calling the Matrix of Leadership now? I don't know. It made my head hurt. Also, there were muppets. THINGS HAPPENED. Also, "you know it's bad when your imaginary friend is hearing voices." Anyway, they ran over (what a shocker), and it was followed by the film festival, which was not very exciting, and, predictably, the video with some guy's 2 year old reciting Transformers stuff was the winner, bah, no one cares. There was some much better stuff. I much preferred the third place and second place entries. Also, I can’t find the one about Thundercracker and his outrageous action master colours because I cannot remember the title ARGH. It was beautiful. And painful. ANYWAY, Becca texted me (she'd done the wiser thing and slept in a bit more) at some point, letting me know she and Luna sorry, Swoop, were sitting in the back, so between MSTF and the film fest, I hopped to the back of the room.
Also, everyone spotted Swoop between panels. Some people go to conventions and take pictures of people in costume. …Some people go to conventions and take pictures of people taking pictures of people in costume. (… actually, I do both. But my first several shots on the trip were indeed of folks snapping shots of Swoop.)
After the largely underwhelming film fest, we made a less-than-hasty retreat to a makeshift repair bay, because Swoop had a damaged wing. Alas, though, it is not always easy to maneuver an awesome dinosaur around. Once we finally arrived, Aka worked some medic magic to get Swoop back up and flying again. And then we went and took a bunch of photos, because that's what you do when partying with a dinobot.
But yes. Crisis resolved, we headed back down to get in the line for the dealers room. People who are more in the know than I am made it known that the Puggle girl was going to be present, and we needed to find her table quickly so as to BUY THEM ALL. But, naturally, we stopped several times for more photo ops. Also, we ran across some … clothformers? Is that what we're calling them? People wearing outfits themed from characters, rather than a full costume. There was an Animated Jazz, Sir Soundwave, and some other girl all in blue who turned out to be Animated's Sentinal Prime (it was obviously once you saw the brand on her back) and who Becca made the mistake of identifying- first person! - and then there was tackle-glomping, and it was kind of terrifying. If anyone literally jumped on me like that, we'd both end up on the ground. Anyway, here are a few shots of that group.
We all went down and got in line together, so there was quite a lot of, "hey, can I get some pictures?" Though we did the same to others. Look, it is Vector Prime (concept art edition)! With a freaking awesome hoodie, holy shit, I want it. As well as Ironhide, Blaster (with Steeljaw!) and another TF:A Jazz. Here Vector watches as Sir Soundwave and a fan strike poses. Also, while we were waiting in line, Swoop's wing broke again. doh!
Finally the doors opened and we all plowed in. Some people maybe want to rush the dealers room for the best finds. Some of us just want to revel in the 30 seconds of non-overwhelming crowds. Anyway, I stayed back with Swoop while Becca ran off to find the Puggles, and once she had a location secured, we all made for the table as fast as we could. Because eeee Puggles!! It was probably the most popular table there, haha. We were only behind a few people, but a pretty good line formed behind us. JUST IN TIME! I bought Rodimus, while Becca bought Actionmaster Thundercracker and Swoop picked up a … leopard print, was it? Puggle Seeker named Jeffrey. Also, there were little grab-bag eggs, and Swoop also picked up one of those, which hatched to reveal a cute little green Seeker named Winterfresh.
…Somewhere in here I began referring to myself as "me pack mule" but I couldn't tell you exactly when that happened. (Me pack mule carried her Swoop's backpack.) (Also I was bribed with jam. Except it totally wasn't bribing, because I cannot be bought! Or something.)
Also, there were cowboy Datsuns behind us at the Puggle table, and they cracked me up.
After obtaining Puggle friends, we wandered about the dealers room. The night previous, Luna and Becca had made a good argument for why I should be reading one of IDW's ongoing Transformers series - More Than Meets the Eye. Also, Becca'd been flipping through the hardcover edition of Last Stand of the Wreckers, and I needed that, and IDW's booth had both that and all issues of MTMTE to date (four of them!), AND SO I dropped another wad of cash there. As I was picking up my awesome comics featuring hijinks in space, the guy running the both asked me if I also wanted Robots in Disguise, which I had not heard good things about (rather the opposite, really), and I said, eh, not really, this is the series everyone's told me I should be reading, and he was like, "oh, well, I write RiD, so." So I was glad I had not repeated outright what I had been told, haha. Also they were handing out postcards if you spent more than $30, so I got a pack of those and also some temporary tattoos of the Autobot and Decepticon symbols. And Swoop had her picture taken with a teeny, adorable Optimus Prime.
AND THEN MORE WANDERING, which took us past the Transformers: Universe booth! Swoop posed with a bunch of cardboard guys (or, uh, cardbots, as I originally typed), including Megatron, Barricade, and Prowl (henceforth referred to as Table-Flippah). There was an Optimus, too, but we didn't bother with him, he's boring. We also wandered through the Hall of Fame and took pictures of the humans and robots, as well as the collection of the five bots we had to vote between. This was all near the toy displays, which I did not actually take pictures of, but here is a poster with Kre-O Optimus and Megatron!
Our wanderings eventually led us to where Hasbro's guys were doing their sketching thing. There was another table next to them with a couple other Hasbro guys sitting around looking bored, so I asked them what their story was, apparently they'd been handing out Kre-o sets earlier, but they'd run out and would I like a poster? So I got a poster, and then we all stood around and watched people get sketches, and then we all got sketches, too. The best one went to Vector Prime (also known as Artoni), who got a picture of Scourge looking baffled (it is to accompany her sketch of Galvatron pouting, haha), but Becca got a really awesome Nightbeat (with fancy colouring!), Swoop got Animated Skrika, and I ended up with Mirage (who is easy YOU HEARD IT HERE, FOLKS). While that was going on, M_Sipher / Greg S(-sssomething) came by with one of the puppets they'd used as props during MSTF and harassed the Hasbro guys. They didn't really seem to mind. Also there was a conversation I overheard about how awesome
musha168 and her plushes are.
While I was lagging behind at the sketch table, Swoop and Becca both wandered off a bit (fortunately, they are easy to keep track of). I caught Becca near the fanwork displays, and we looked at those before chasing Swoop down. Here are some of the (in my opinion) highlights: Shattered Glass Omega Supreme and Constructicons, VERY angry birds, Classics Barricade (HASBRO, MAKE THIS HAPPEN), and Cosmic Rust Ironhide (whyyyyyyy). Then we caught Swoop and posed at the Fall of Cybertron booth (holy crap that game is going to be awesome). HIM GRIMLOCK. Also, planet go boom. Then we bought some scripts from Simon Furman and called it a day.
Sort of. Becca and I went on a grand adventure to find a bank and then grabbed dinner at the nearby Subway, while Luna went to the Golden Ticket Reception, and Aka… I don't know, actually. Okami sent me a text asking if we had plans for the evening, but because cell service in the center was goddamn abysmal, I didn't get it until late and she didn't get my reply until way late, so. That was a bust. (We'd bumped into her and Oasis a time or two during the day, but they were always the quick, "Hi! Bye!" sort of thing.
Here are some pictures from the grand adventure outside: 1 (little biiiird!), 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 (look at that weird building in the background!), 7. And now back in the hotel waiting for the elevator! And now we are upstairs looking out a window, probably while waiting for another elevator (or possibly we just got off it). Though mostly I guess it is of my torso reflecting in the window, whoops.
We all gathered back together and were joined by Antepathy and led by Ravyn as we wandered all about the hotel exploring all the parts parties going on. I mostly drooled over everything, because most of it I didn't really want and the stuff I did want is expensive and I can't really justify the cost. (I want that not-Springer like you would not believe, but I didn't have $100 cash and, fortunately for my bank account, no one who had him accepted cards.) I did buy a red Beast Machines Rav, because BIRD and also pretty (… I have a thing about birds. Maybe my totem animal is somehow a bird, I have no idea). Also, Aka and Luna set about repairing the wings again (they'd both broken by the end of the day, nooo…). Restringing them was a bit of a pain, but Ravyn had supplies on hand, as well, so she lent materials to the cause. She also gave us all little vials of gold. PRESENTS! :D (Also Puggle Roddy was on hand, getting into trouble and watching. Though Ravyn took him for safekeeping for a while after he ran into the ceiling and across the floor and… all over the place, really.) Also she - Ravyn - protested the declaration that Aka was Ratchet, because she is Ratchet! I asked her why, then, is it that Aka is the one repairing the dinobot? Aka (who is also Shockwave, by the way) announced I was about to be murdered, but no, it was just that my logic had stumped Ravyn. There was truly no countering it.
Ravyn also told us the sad and tragic story of one of the boothwatchers in the dealers room. Apparently at the Rancor booth, uh. Well, it used to be run by some guy, but he died a while back and now his wife, who runs an anime booth, is trying to just clear it all out. So she hired some kid to stand around for her! Yaaay! ONLY. Instead of doing the awesome thing, which a lot of dealers do, and buying him, you know, worthwhile convention admittance (with the figures and the ability to get in autograph lines and whatall), she just got him general admission. So the poor guy got nothing. And because we are bleeding heart saps, we were all, oooh that is so sad! And hey, I had already made clear my desire to lose the toys somewhere - Soundwave was spoken for and Ravyn was more than happy to take Tracks off my hands, but that still left me with four other guys and a box… So we took down the guy's name and booth location so we could speak to him once the dealers room opened again in the morning.
Also she told us the sad and tragic story - which we'd actually witnessed, because we loitered around the Puggle booth forever, but it was sad and tragic and bore repeating! - about how the girl in front of her in the line had bought the Wheeljack Puggle, and since we were planning on storming the table again in the morning, anyway, we offered to grab him if there was another one available.
Anyway, we all hung out a while, but then it was late and we were all tired, so we went back to our rooms to nap for a bit. Also, I took pictures of my stuff. The whole lot, then a few close-up shots. Also my pins.
...SO YEAH SATURDAY, we got up early (again) because we had to rush the dealers room. There was a girl with the driller from Dark of the Moon and it was awesome. Also it had a teeny Shockwave riding it, haha.
Anyway, Luna was Barricade that morning, and she shanked Becca's backpack while Becca was off getting the above photo - oh, yes. Becca hoarded all the cameras, because she is both Reflector (since there were three of us, there were three cameras, and, well…) and the Camera Goddess. We were left with instructions to hold the backpack and it tried to escape. It was the only course of action, really. Backpack had it coming.
Also, I declared that Barricade suffers some kind of identity crisis problem and occasionally believes himself to be a dinosaur, much to the bewilderment of his therapist, hence explaining why Luna could be both Swoop and Barricade.
There was a Breakdown at some point, too. Becca has a pillow of his face, and we got pictures of Breakdown holding Breakdown, but mine is full of people cramming the shot (taking turns is for sissies), so instead here is Breakdown handing himself back to Becca, and also then them both posing.
We managed to be the first people to reach the Puggle table and, huzzah! There was another Wheeljack. So we grabbed him up - Luna ended up buying him, since Becca and I both grabbed two and dude they're not cheap okay. Becca grabbed Swerve and G2 Breakdown (NEEDS MOAR EYEBLEEDS!) as well as an egg, which had teeny Ravage (though she ended up trading Ravage with the … Rumble? In line behind us, who'd ended up with teeny Frenzy). I picked up Mirage and also found myself unable to not buy Table-Flippah (Table-Flippah is the Best Thing Ever at this point in my life, because, let's face it, there is absolutely nothing not hilarious about The Autobot Formerly Known as Prowl losing his shit and flipping tables). Barricade got Acid Storm and a teeny Bumblebee (who turned out to be very important later) and, of course, the aforementioned Wheeljack. (Good thing we were so fast! The person in line behind us had wanted him, as well!) Here is a picture of the Rumble Becca traded with, by the way. Also the massive line. Then, since the Rancor booth was right near the Puggle table, we went and talked to Redd and asked him if he would be interested in a mostly complete box set for cheap, and he was all over that, so we promised to be back with it (it was my box, Ultra Magnus, Metalhawk, and Gigatron, with Becca's Soundwave. We were both keeping Treadshot, she wanted Tracks, and I'd sold mine, but apparently he already had a lead on those two figures, so, hey! Good deal).
Then we headed to the back, where Hasbro was again handing out Kre-o sets and silly Rescue Bots books. I picked up a Mirage (the other choice was Jazz, and I had him already) (my stuff). Also, we then encountered Antepathy dressed as Goth/Lolita Drift. The Camera Goddess (minus one, there, since I am obviously taking a picture) posed with her. More wanderings led to me picking up a Hubcap for my coworker (she likes Bumblebee, but all G1 BB stuff is $$$, especially since Dan was in attendance, and I was certain she wouldn't care, since yellow car = yellow car, and indeed, I was right! She did not care that he was actually Hubcap. She has redubbed him Honey Badger Car, anyway, so it really, really didn't matter, haha) and then Barricade looking at socks while Becca and I dug through a bin looking for Needlenose's tailfin. It was, naturally, at the veeeeery bottom. BUT WE FOUND IT! And it was more expensive than the actual toy had been, but so it goes…
Shortly after this, I think Barricade wandered off (probably to become Swoop) and Becca went to commission Walky (of Shortpaked! and Dumbing of Age) to draw Macabre, because he has a cool hat (which momentarily caused confusion - he has a hat? No, no, I mean his helmet is cool). Also, Walky was apparently the only person in the convention hall to have reception on his phone? (Also a bunch of people confused me for Luna. I guess they forgot that I was hanging around Swoop the day before or something? It was a bit awkward.) And then I split off because I wanted to go to the voice actor panel at 10. BUT FIRST SOME RANDOM PICTURES.
Giant Kre-o Bumblebee and Optimus Prime.
One of those Decepticons from the movies… You know, the ones with no personality who existed solely as cannon fodder? (It was a cool costume, though!)
Barricade and TF:A Jazz (who was pictured earlier. I think she was one of the winners of the drawing for next year's convention).
ALSO LOOK A TRAIN!
Anyway, the first VA panel was with Dan Gilvezan (Bumblebee and others, on the left) and Buster Jones (Blaster and others, on the right). Nothing really of note happened, aside from when one person asked what was the more unique or strangest thing a fan had ever given them and Dan responded with "Chlamydia" (and then promptly disappeared under the table as his wife evil-eyed him). Buster seemed pretty out of his depth, which, you know, isn't that uncommon for first-time convention guests. (Why are these people asking me about a show I haven’t thought about since it ended back in the 80s?? oh god)
Wait, also, at one point, Dan said, "Now, some of you I remember very well because you bug the shit outta me." And then he did that horrified hand to mouth thing. I was amused.
I didn’t want to hang around for the IDW panel on account of Not Caring, and I knew the Animated panel with Derrick Wyatt would only make me sad, so after the VA panel, I beat a retreat to the dealers room, where I found Sari at the booth with the mildly alarming Starscream pillows. I saw TF:A Blitzwing (more on him later)! And some other guys. I ended up bumping into Okami and we decided to go grab some lunch - but not immediately, because the Fall of Cybertron booth was going to present their demo soon and I hadn't yet caught it. And also because they had a thing where if you Liked them on Facebook and preordered the game, you could get posters! (Do both for the set of three, or do only one and get just one poster. I ended up doing both, and then I went back Sunday and Liked them with one of my FFXI Facebook accounts to grab a second one of the posters for a friend.) Also, they gave away posters for watching the demo, so we both got a Starscream poster. They said they were giving away Jazz next and I was all AUGH because I wanted to be in a panel when the next demo was (but this ended up working out, because Becca and Luna were nice and got me one, yay!). Also we played around at the TF:Universe booth and registered there. I went Autobot because I am predictable, and the woman who handed me my paper said she was a Decepticon. I told her, that's okay, all my friends are Decepticons, and she said that would make a great book title. ALSO we stormed Dan Gilvezan's booth and Okami bought the last book he had, but he signed my G1 DVD booklet, anyway, because he is nice. And then we went and had lunch. Of course, it was noon and we both wanted to attend the VA panel at 1 (with Gary Chalk and David Kaye), so we had to eat fast… so we hit the little restaurant-thing upstairs (not the Italian place, the other one - yeah, multiple restaurants). Okami went for the buffet and I opted for a BLTA (bacon, lettuce, tomato, avocado. It was delicious!), and our server sucked so we tipped poorly. Also we were sitting near the river (picture earlier, but here it is again! DEAL WITH IT) that ran through the hotel (it ended in a waterfall into a pool, seriously what the hell).
AND THEN BACK DOWNSTAIRS FOR THE VA PANEL, only I got distracted by some folk hanging around outside the panel room - the Blitzwing from before and hey wait, wasn't he Random before? YES HE WAS! Because the faces could actually spin, haha, it was fantastic! So he had all three. Also the movie Constructicon was there, too (in pieces!). So I took their pictures and then went to the panel, which was funny and enjoyable, yay! I mean, really, Chalk + Kaye. How could it not be fantastic? Someone asked them to act out Primal and Megatron dividing the planet up in some kind of peace treaty and Primal made out like a bandit because Megatron had a headache and wasn't paying attention.
Also, we caught back up with Barri-Swoop and Becca during this panel.
Next was the TCC Roundtable, which was actually really, really exciting. They announced their free figure for next year, as well as plans for a figure-subscription thing, and omgggg. We get Depth Charge for being a member in 2013, I am all over that. And the figures they announced, eee! Some are very exciting! Others meh who cares. BUT AAAA WE GET A SLIPSTREAM! And also Breakdown (BEAUTIFUL), Jackpot, RID Scourge (I am sick of black Primes, I admit it), Circuit (…who?), and Ultra Mammoth (from the Beast Wars mold hahaha I think it is hilarious. Not everyone agrees). And then the Hasbro panel which was… really not exciting at all. Seriously, I didn't even write anything down from it, though we will be getting a Generations Soundwave, which is pretty cool. AND THEN THE CULLEN PANEL my god does that man know how to work a crowd, but it is okay because he is adorable.
…Although things got awkward real fast when someone compared him to JFK. (Hey, did I mention that this convention was in Dallas and that the convention hall was less than a mile from the location of Dealey Plaza?) Holy shit, dude. (THIS IS A REAL THING THAT REALLY HAPPENED I DO NOT EVEN.) That mess aside, it was the usual fare of Cullen saying nice things to us and members of the fanbase being either delightful in return or… kinda creepy.
AND THEN THE SHOW CLOSED FOR THE DAY AND I FLED BACK TO MY ROOM (but not before snapping a quick photo of Pinkie Pie) because aaaaugh people need a break before the Hall of Fame thing.
So then we got dressed nice-ish and went back downstairs for the cocktail reception, which was mostly just a lot of people standing around. I suffered a minor CROWD. PANIC. crisis, but managed to get myself back under control without making a scene or fleeing or anything, and they finally let us in for the Hall of Fame dinner. They fed us salad (and also cheesecake, which was dessert, and quite tasty)! And it was tasty, but I am a slow eater and they took it away from me before I could finish it and replaced it will a less-delicious … meat-thing stuffed with vegetables and cheese and …stuff. Here is the table from above, and here is the group minus me. (Becca, Luna, Aka, Ravyn, invisi-Jecca, and Kenya Starflight) Other people joined us later, Ravyn knew one of them. The other two were a mother and son combo and I have seen them at every convention and all they do is go round and round the autograph lines getting the voice actors to sign random shit so they can turn around and sell it, and they kinda piss me off, which is totally irrational, but seriously get a life and leave spots for people who actually want to meet them?
ANYWAY WE COULDN'T HEAR A DAMN THING during the entire event because REALLY SHITTY SET UP, but I guess Wheeljack won the fan vote, which, actually, I was a bit disappointed by that, since, being a G1 season 1 character, he'd probably have been auto-inducted in a year or two. Oh, well. There's always next year.
Also Chris Latta's daughter gave a speech I guess? I don't know, man, I couldn't hear anything. I made annoyed comments about it on the survey, but all I remember about it is ending with "and it is near-impossible to lip-read at that distance"… Anyway, there was one extra slice of cheesecake (our table had an open sear), and when Simon Furman got up to yammer, a couple of us cried FURMAN!! >:| and then split the cheesecake of rage.
It really was delicious cheesecake, especially when eaten in annoyance.
Don't get me wrong, I do really appreciate a lot of what Furman's contributed to the fandom, just I do not like how he handles female Transformers. Also at this point we were all just really pissed off at not being able to hear anything.
So then that was over and it was casino time, but fuck that, so we all threw our fake money at Ravyn and ran the heck away. (She ended up winning the cardboard Optimus Prime standee from the Universe booth, so, hey! Good show!)
… at this point things for a bit odd, okay? That is your only warning. Luna and Becca and I were hanging around filling out the surveys with snarky commentary (and requests for kitchen supplies) and tossing Puggles around and talking about the current IDW comics (though I think Luna was the only one familiar with the Robots in Disguise comics? But we could all squee about MTMTE, and squee we did) and generally being amused, and also at some point Puggle Roddy ended up on Table Flippah's head? I don't remember why that happened.
AND THEN TABLE FLIPPAH STRUCK AGAIN. TABLE FLIPPAH, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE? So Mirage got involved and the tables were turned… meanwhile, we're declaring that Starscream, Metalhawk, Table Flippah, and Bumblebee are all totally together in the comics, since they're the four basically in charge, I guess?
So then this happened.
Bumblebee is, obviously, the groom, while Table Flippah is his lovely bride with a pretty tiara (which is: borrowed from me, blue - obviously, new to Table Flippah, and old to me, and WE DON'T CARE IF THAT'S NOT HOW IT WORKS). Jeffrey, Acid Storm, and Winterfresh are the groomsmen. Mirage is the best man. Rumble is the maid of honour, and Breakdown, Thundercracker, and Swerve are the bridesmaids. The Stunticons are providing the music. Rodimus is both officiating and keeping Table Flippah from running away. They ate jam and honey. Ratchet was horrified (and also a representation of Table Flippah's thoughts on the matter). It was hilarious and also terrible.
Also then the wedding was over so we banished the newlyweds behind the pillow that was serving as a stageprop so they could enjoy their honeymood (with no effort or intent on our part - they were actually thrown back there separately - that is how they landed…).
AND THEN IT WAS SUNDAY and I still hadn't figured out what that white structure in the background out the window was… (Here, have another random shot of the outside.)
Everyone was up early today, because the first panel of the day was BEE IN THE CITY 2! yee! But first Swoop posed with Miko. Then the voice actors all lined up and IT BEGAN!
And it was plagued with technical difficulties, and the guy trying to fix it kept sticking his head in front of the camera, which was really funny when he finally noticed. They said they were going to post this online, but I have not found it yet. I'll not spoil anything, though. JUST IT WAS FANTASTIC.
AND THEN more running to the dealers room because damn it I was going to get my shiny new Beast Wars DVD set's booklet signed!! So Swoop and I got in line and Becca, um. Waited. ALSO GUESS WHO WE SPOTTED. That's right. Table Flippah! And oh-so-conveniently next to the abandoned Puggle table (she sold out Saturday afternoon, haha), at that! I'm sure you all see where this is going and, yes, yes, we did. (Poor thing seemed a bit confused. Must not be IDW's Table Flippah, I guess. That, or trying to keep up appearances.) (My money's on G1 cartoon, though.)
Autographs were obtained and then Becca picked a fight with Ravage while Redd - the guy who got most of my box set - watched. Also there was Transformers pinball and Swoop got into a fight with Breakdown. Then I went to get back in the autographs line 'cause I wanted to get Buster Jones to sign my G1 booklet thingy, and that line moved… very slowly.
I think after that we all ended up meeting up at the Universe booth registering things, haha. (Yes, yes, I already registered on Saturday. I was registering someone else this time!) And then we gathered in the panel room one last time for the costume panel, which was BORING AS HELL. Though I got to see Blitzwing and Prowl have it out before entering, so that was something. And after the people running the panel were done listening to themselves talk, everyone in costume went up front for a dance party, so I took some pictures. (At one point, we had Blitzwing doing his little cha-cha-cha~ dance.)
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
After the dance break, they announced the winners of the costume contest. It was a three-way tie between Swoop, Breakdown, and Blitzwing. Good job, guys!
Then we all mobbed the dealers room to wait for the winners for the trip to next year's convention to be drawn and announced. Though I took the time to run around the room again, including one last stop at the Fall of Cybertron booth to both grab another character poster and to like it on Facebook again to get another awesome poster (which I believe I mentioned I did earlier? This was when I did it). None of us won (unsurprising), and then we hung around watching the Hasbro guys sketching until they kicked us out. :(
Becca and I had checked out that morning, but Luna had graciously allowed us to stash our stuff in her room, so we shuffled upstairs and I grabbed my stuff (Becca was staying the night) and said goodbye, Luna, goodbye! And wandered downstairs again. AND THAT WAS THE END OF THE CONVENTION but not of the adventures, but holy shit this entry is terrifyingly long, so I'll save the dinner theater adventure for later.
WORDS. WORDS EVERYWHERE. I will have an update on my life later, because shit done gone down or... something (it is nothing so dramatic as that implies).
[Crossposted from DW. Comments:
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Now, though, it is finally time for me to post my write-up! It took me a week because I got back home to both peak allergies and insane work scheduling, so I have been very busy trying to not pass out everywhere. And also watching The Avengers repeatedly because oh shit how awesome is that movie? PLEASE TAKE MY MONEY.
ANYWAY. If you just want the photo dump, it can be found here on Facebook. Elsewise, read on for entirely too much blathering on my part.
First, of course, I must detail my ordeals of actually arriving at the convention. You all ready for this round of maddening plane mishaps?
WELL TOO BAD because there weren't any.
I know.
So yeah maybe I need to be flying Delta more. Or maybe I got lucky. Ooor maybe Flit the mouse was some kind of horrid blood sacrifice to ensure good travels for me (Flit, the grey mouse, randomly died at some point on Wednesday. Mom is unsure what to do with Trill now). No hassle at all! We even made great airtime and landed early, though then the shuttle from the airport to the hotel took an inexplicably long time (also I saw no less than five things with the word "Freedom" somewhere in their name wow), so I arrived at the hotel shortly before when I needed to go stand in line. So I got to haul my suitcase along with me, that was fun and stupid.
ALSO I discovered that there is, like, no phone service! Which was, uh. Something. The opposite of awesome, mostly. I tried to call Wyntir, but that totally failed. Phone couldn't hold a signal long enough to place a call... I did manage to eventually contact Becca via text message, though! (We were sharing a room. There were supposed to be 4 of us, but, well, things happen. Hey! This way we both got our own bed?), and then we managed to wave hello to each other once I made it into the room with lines-by-last-name. I honest to god do not understand why those lines move so slowly. GET BOX. GET OTHER THINGS. SIGN THING TO PROVE SAID ITEMS WERE RECEIVED. MOVE ALONG. And yet. So yeah, I finally escaped that line - mostly by giving up and digging out my DS to grind my Pokémon - and ran upstairs to throw my stuff down because SICK OF CARRYING IT and then, excitement of excitements, I went downstairs to stand in line for the at-con exclusives (after standing around awkwardly trying to magic my phone into getting a signal so I could ask people if they wanted anything)… and then realized I really, really, really really really did not want to wait in the unmoving line of death. Becca had already escaped, and she was not interested in her Shattered Glass Optimus, so I just bought him off her and begged Okami and Oasis (who were standing in the card line) to please, please pick up a thing or two for me HERE I HAVE CASH?? And, hooray, they were willing to do that! (Thank you, thank you, thank you again!)
So I got to go eat dinner. Yay! Also, we picked up a Luna and an Aka, and we just ate at an Italian restaurant right there in the hotel because fuck going anywhere, it's late and we're tired and hungry. And the food was actually perfectly decent, much to our surprise. It was a fairly fancy-looking hotel, though (here are a few shots of the interior), so maybe it should not have been so weird. Anyway, yeah, fried calamari and… cheesy bread that has a proper name and pizza. Very delicious pizza, with olives and goat cheese and arugula and other stuff. And amazing dessert. Caramel something. Mmmm. Luna declared Becca and I to be alternate universe versions of the same person (one of us might be shattered glass, we are not sure). Also, Luna and I are also alternate versions of the same person on account of our eating tastes and habits, since the two of us shared both dinner and dessert and both drank only water. Also I can't understand the English language for shit (which makes no sense, what with it being my native and only real language…), and this lead to me mishearing "Ravyn" as "rabies" and hilarity ensued, or somesuch. Also I think we hit one of the "parts parties" going on all over the hotel after dinner? (Since Hasbro put their foot down on third party stuff in the dealers room, los of vendors were selling things out of their hotel rooms.) Seriously, I was out of it, I am not entirely sure what all went down Thursday night, and since I was super brain-fried, my notes are kind of unintelligible. I just know I was up way later than I should have been, considering I had to be back down in the convention area by 9 am. Also, Perceptor is an archangel and I cannot for the life of me remember how that one came about. It is just written as a note at the bottom of the page. (Also Drift broke up with him for Ratchet.)
But yeah, sleep! And then Friday morning! I got up way too early (considering I didn't get to bed until, like, 2 am), because I had to be downstairs before 9am, because, yes! MSTF was back after a few years away. They riffed some G1 episodes (as always. We had "Masquerade" and then "The Return of Optimus Prime" parts 1 and 2, though those two were actually the "Season 5" ones with that weird Tommy kid "interviewing" Powermaster Optimus). AND THEN a truly bewildering episode of the Singaporean dub of a Headmasters episode titled "Birth of the Fantastic Double Prime" wherein everyone was hunting for the Power Pack, which is apparently what we're calling the Matrix of Leadership now? I don't know. It made my head hurt. Also, there were muppets. THINGS HAPPENED. Also, "you know it's bad when your imaginary friend is hearing voices." Anyway, they ran over (what a shocker), and it was followed by the film festival, which was not very exciting, and, predictably, the video with some guy's 2 year old reciting Transformers stuff was the winner, bah, no one cares. There was some much better stuff. I much preferred the third place and second place entries. Also, I can’t find the one about Thundercracker and his outrageous action master colours because I cannot remember the title ARGH. It was beautiful. And painful. ANYWAY, Becca texted me (she'd done the wiser thing and slept in a bit more) at some point, letting me know she and Luna sorry, Swoop, were sitting in the back, so between MSTF and the film fest, I hopped to the back of the room.
Also, everyone spotted Swoop between panels. Some people go to conventions and take pictures of people in costume. …Some people go to conventions and take pictures of people taking pictures of people in costume. (… actually, I do both. But my first several shots on the trip were indeed of folks snapping shots of Swoop.)
After the largely underwhelming film fest, we made a less-than-hasty retreat to a makeshift repair bay, because Swoop had a damaged wing. Alas, though, it is not always easy to maneuver an awesome dinosaur around. Once we finally arrived, Aka worked some medic magic to get Swoop back up and flying again. And then we went and took a bunch of photos, because that's what you do when partying with a dinobot.
But yes. Crisis resolved, we headed back down to get in the line for the dealers room. People who are more in the know than I am made it known that the Puggle girl was going to be present, and we needed to find her table quickly so as to BUY THEM ALL. But, naturally, we stopped several times for more photo ops. Also, we ran across some … clothformers? Is that what we're calling them? People wearing outfits themed from characters, rather than a full costume. There was an Animated Jazz, Sir Soundwave, and some other girl all in blue who turned out to be Animated's Sentinal Prime (it was obviously once you saw the brand on her back) and who Becca made the mistake of identifying- first person! - and then there was tackle-glomping, and it was kind of terrifying. If anyone literally jumped on me like that, we'd both end up on the ground. Anyway, here are a few shots of that group.
We all went down and got in line together, so there was quite a lot of, "hey, can I get some pictures?" Though we did the same to others. Look, it is Vector Prime (concept art edition)! With a freaking awesome hoodie, holy shit, I want it. As well as Ironhide, Blaster (with Steeljaw!) and another TF:A Jazz. Here Vector watches as Sir Soundwave and a fan strike poses. Also, while we were waiting in line, Swoop's wing broke again. doh!
Finally the doors opened and we all plowed in. Some people maybe want to rush the dealers room for the best finds. Some of us just want to revel in the 30 seconds of non-overwhelming crowds. Anyway, I stayed back with Swoop while Becca ran off to find the Puggles, and once she had a location secured, we all made for the table as fast as we could. Because eeee Puggles!! It was probably the most popular table there, haha. We were only behind a few people, but a pretty good line formed behind us. JUST IN TIME! I bought Rodimus, while Becca bought Actionmaster Thundercracker and Swoop picked up a … leopard print, was it? Puggle Seeker named Jeffrey. Also, there were little grab-bag eggs, and Swoop also picked up one of those, which hatched to reveal a cute little green Seeker named Winterfresh.
…Somewhere in here I began referring to myself as "me pack mule" but I couldn't tell you exactly when that happened. (Me pack mule carried her Swoop's backpack.) (Also I was bribed with jam. Except it totally wasn't bribing, because I cannot be bought! Or something.)
Also, there were cowboy Datsuns behind us at the Puggle table, and they cracked me up.
After obtaining Puggle friends, we wandered about the dealers room. The night previous, Luna and Becca had made a good argument for why I should be reading one of IDW's ongoing Transformers series - More Than Meets the Eye. Also, Becca'd been flipping through the hardcover edition of Last Stand of the Wreckers, and I needed that, and IDW's booth had both that and all issues of MTMTE to date (four of them!), AND SO I dropped another wad of cash there. As I was picking up my awesome comics featuring hijinks in space, the guy running the both asked me if I also wanted Robots in Disguise, which I had not heard good things about (rather the opposite, really), and I said, eh, not really, this is the series everyone's told me I should be reading, and he was like, "oh, well, I write RiD, so." So I was glad I had not repeated outright what I had been told, haha. Also they were handing out postcards if you spent more than $30, so I got a pack of those and also some temporary tattoos of the Autobot and Decepticon symbols. And Swoop had her picture taken with a teeny, adorable Optimus Prime.
AND THEN MORE WANDERING, which took us past the Transformers: Universe booth! Swoop posed with a bunch of cardboard guys (or, uh, cardbots, as I originally typed), including Megatron, Barricade, and Prowl (henceforth referred to as Table-Flippah). There was an Optimus, too, but we didn't bother with him, he's boring. We also wandered through the Hall of Fame and took pictures of the humans and robots, as well as the collection of the five bots we had to vote between. This was all near the toy displays, which I did not actually take pictures of, but here is a poster with Kre-O Optimus and Megatron!
Our wanderings eventually led us to where Hasbro's guys were doing their sketching thing. There was another table next to them with a couple other Hasbro guys sitting around looking bored, so I asked them what their story was, apparently they'd been handing out Kre-o sets earlier, but they'd run out and would I like a poster? So I got a poster, and then we all stood around and watched people get sketches, and then we all got sketches, too. The best one went to Vector Prime (also known as Artoni), who got a picture of Scourge looking baffled (it is to accompany her sketch of Galvatron pouting, haha), but Becca got a really awesome Nightbeat (with fancy colouring!), Swoop got Animated Skrika, and I ended up with Mirage (who is easy YOU HEARD IT HERE, FOLKS). While that was going on, M_Sipher / Greg S(-sssomething) came by with one of the puppets they'd used as props during MSTF and harassed the Hasbro guys. They didn't really seem to mind. Also there was a conversation I overheard about how awesome
musha168 and her plushes are.
While I was lagging behind at the sketch table, Swoop and Becca both wandered off a bit (fortunately, they are easy to keep track of). I caught Becca near the fanwork displays, and we looked at those before chasing Swoop down. Here are some of the (in my opinion) highlights: Shattered Glass Omega Supreme and Constructicons, VERY angry birds, Classics Barricade (HASBRO, MAKE THIS HAPPEN), and Cosmic Rust Ironhide (whyyyyyyy). Then we caught Swoop and posed at the Fall of Cybertron booth (holy crap that game is going to be awesome). HIM GRIMLOCK. Also, planet go boom. Then we bought some scripts from Simon Furman and called it a day.
Sort of. Becca and I went on a grand adventure to find a bank and then grabbed dinner at the nearby Subway, while Luna went to the Golden Ticket Reception, and Aka… I don't know, actually. Okami sent me a text asking if we had plans for the evening, but because cell service in the center was goddamn abysmal, I didn't get it until late and she didn't get my reply until way late, so. That was a bust. (We'd bumped into her and Oasis a time or two during the day, but they were always the quick, "Hi! Bye!" sort of thing.
Here are some pictures from the grand adventure outside: 1 (little biiiird!), 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 (look at that weird building in the background!), 7. And now back in the hotel waiting for the elevator! And now we are upstairs looking out a window, probably while waiting for another elevator (or possibly we just got off it). Though mostly I guess it is of my torso reflecting in the window, whoops.
We all gathered back together and were joined by Antepathy and led by Ravyn as we wandered all about the hotel exploring all the parts parties going on. I mostly drooled over everything, because most of it I didn't really want and the stuff I did want is expensive and I can't really justify the cost. (I want that not-Springer like you would not believe, but I didn't have $100 cash and, fortunately for my bank account, no one who had him accepted cards.) I did buy a red Beast Machines Rav, because BIRD and also pretty (… I have a thing about birds. Maybe my totem animal is somehow a bird, I have no idea). Also, Aka and Luna set about repairing the wings again (they'd both broken by the end of the day, nooo…). Restringing them was a bit of a pain, but Ravyn had supplies on hand, as well, so she lent materials to the cause. She also gave us all little vials of gold. PRESENTS! :D (Also Puggle Roddy was on hand, getting into trouble and watching. Though Ravyn took him for safekeeping for a while after he ran into the ceiling and across the floor and… all over the place, really.) Also she - Ravyn - protested the declaration that Aka was Ratchet, because she is Ratchet! I asked her why, then, is it that Aka is the one repairing the dinobot? Aka (who is also Shockwave, by the way) announced I was about to be murdered, but no, it was just that my logic had stumped Ravyn. There was truly no countering it.
Ravyn also told us the sad and tragic story of one of the boothwatchers in the dealers room. Apparently at the Rancor booth, uh. Well, it used to be run by some guy, but he died a while back and now his wife, who runs an anime booth, is trying to just clear it all out. So she hired some kid to stand around for her! Yaaay! ONLY. Instead of doing the awesome thing, which a lot of dealers do, and buying him, you know, worthwhile convention admittance (with the figures and the ability to get in autograph lines and whatall), she just got him general admission. So the poor guy got nothing. And because we are bleeding heart saps, we were all, oooh that is so sad! And hey, I had already made clear my desire to lose the toys somewhere - Soundwave was spoken for and Ravyn was more than happy to take Tracks off my hands, but that still left me with four other guys and a box… So we took down the guy's name and booth location so we could speak to him once the dealers room opened again in the morning.
Also she told us the sad and tragic story - which we'd actually witnessed, because we loitered around the Puggle booth forever, but it was sad and tragic and bore repeating! - about how the girl in front of her in the line had bought the Wheeljack Puggle, and since we were planning on storming the table again in the morning, anyway, we offered to grab him if there was another one available.
Anyway, we all hung out a while, but then it was late and we were all tired, so we went back to our rooms to nap for a bit. Also, I took pictures of my stuff. The whole lot, then a few close-up shots. Also my pins.
...SO YEAH SATURDAY, we got up early (again) because we had to rush the dealers room. There was a girl with the driller from Dark of the Moon and it was awesome. Also it had a teeny Shockwave riding it, haha.
Anyway, Luna was Barricade that morning, and she shanked Becca's backpack while Becca was off getting the above photo - oh, yes. Becca hoarded all the cameras, because she is both Reflector (since there were three of us, there were three cameras, and, well…) and the Camera Goddess. We were left with instructions to hold the backpack and it tried to escape. It was the only course of action, really. Backpack had it coming.
Also, I declared that Barricade suffers some kind of identity crisis problem and occasionally believes himself to be a dinosaur, much to the bewilderment of his therapist, hence explaining why Luna could be both Swoop and Barricade.
There was a Breakdown at some point, too. Becca has a pillow of his face, and we got pictures of Breakdown holding Breakdown, but mine is full of people cramming the shot (taking turns is for sissies), so instead here is Breakdown handing himself back to Becca, and also then them both posing.
We managed to be the first people to reach the Puggle table and, huzzah! There was another Wheeljack. So we grabbed him up - Luna ended up buying him, since Becca and I both grabbed two and dude they're not cheap okay. Becca grabbed Swerve and G2 Breakdown (NEEDS MOAR EYEBLEEDS!) as well as an egg, which had teeny Ravage (though she ended up trading Ravage with the … Rumble? In line behind us, who'd ended up with teeny Frenzy). I picked up Mirage and also found myself unable to not buy Table-Flippah (Table-Flippah is the Best Thing Ever at this point in my life, because, let's face it, there is absolutely nothing not hilarious about The Autobot Formerly Known as Prowl losing his shit and flipping tables). Barricade got Acid Storm and a teeny Bumblebee (who turned out to be very important later) and, of course, the aforementioned Wheeljack. (Good thing we were so fast! The person in line behind us had wanted him, as well!) Here is a picture of the Rumble Becca traded with, by the way. Also the massive line. Then, since the Rancor booth was right near the Puggle table, we went and talked to Redd and asked him if he would be interested in a mostly complete box set for cheap, and he was all over that, so we promised to be back with it (it was my box, Ultra Magnus, Metalhawk, and Gigatron, with Becca's Soundwave. We were both keeping Treadshot, she wanted Tracks, and I'd sold mine, but apparently he already had a lead on those two figures, so, hey! Good deal).
Then we headed to the back, where Hasbro was again handing out Kre-o sets and silly Rescue Bots books. I picked up a Mirage (the other choice was Jazz, and I had him already) (my stuff). Also, we then encountered Antepathy dressed as Goth/Lolita Drift. The Camera Goddess (minus one, there, since I am obviously taking a picture) posed with her. More wanderings led to me picking up a Hubcap for my coworker (she likes Bumblebee, but all G1 BB stuff is $$$, especially since Dan was in attendance, and I was certain she wouldn't care, since yellow car = yellow car, and indeed, I was right! She did not care that he was actually Hubcap. She has redubbed him Honey Badger Car, anyway, so it really, really didn't matter, haha) and then Barricade looking at socks while Becca and I dug through a bin looking for Needlenose's tailfin. It was, naturally, at the veeeeery bottom. BUT WE FOUND IT! And it was more expensive than the actual toy had been, but so it goes…
Shortly after this, I think Barricade wandered off (probably to become Swoop) and Becca went to commission Walky (of Shortpaked! and Dumbing of Age) to draw Macabre, because he has a cool hat (which momentarily caused confusion - he has a hat? No, no, I mean his helmet is cool). Also, Walky was apparently the only person in the convention hall to have reception on his phone? (Also a bunch of people confused me for Luna. I guess they forgot that I was hanging around Swoop the day before or something? It was a bit awkward.) And then I split off because I wanted to go to the voice actor panel at 10. BUT FIRST SOME RANDOM PICTURES.
Giant Kre-o Bumblebee and Optimus Prime.
One of those Decepticons from the movies… You know, the ones with no personality who existed solely as cannon fodder? (It was a cool costume, though!)
Barricade and TF:A Jazz (who was pictured earlier. I think she was one of the winners of the drawing for next year's convention).
ALSO LOOK A TRAIN!
Anyway, the first VA panel was with Dan Gilvezan (Bumblebee and others, on the left) and Buster Jones (Blaster and others, on the right). Nothing really of note happened, aside from when one person asked what was the more unique or strangest thing a fan had ever given them and Dan responded with "Chlamydia" (and then promptly disappeared under the table as his wife evil-eyed him). Buster seemed pretty out of his depth, which, you know, isn't that uncommon for first-time convention guests. (Why are these people asking me about a show I haven’t thought about since it ended back in the 80s?? oh god)
Wait, also, at one point, Dan said, "Now, some of you I remember very well because you bug the shit outta me." And then he did that horrified hand to mouth thing. I was amused.
I didn’t want to hang around for the IDW panel on account of Not Caring, and I knew the Animated panel with Derrick Wyatt would only make me sad, so after the VA panel, I beat a retreat to the dealers room, where I found Sari at the booth with the mildly alarming Starscream pillows. I saw TF:A Blitzwing (more on him later)! And some other guys. I ended up bumping into Okami and we decided to go grab some lunch - but not immediately, because the Fall of Cybertron booth was going to present their demo soon and I hadn't yet caught it. And also because they had a thing where if you Liked them on Facebook and preordered the game, you could get posters! (Do both for the set of three, or do only one and get just one poster. I ended up doing both, and then I went back Sunday and Liked them with one of my FFXI Facebook accounts to grab a second one of the posters for a friend.) Also, they gave away posters for watching the demo, so we both got a Starscream poster. They said they were giving away Jazz next and I was all AUGH because I wanted to be in a panel when the next demo was (but this ended up working out, because Becca and Luna were nice and got me one, yay!). Also we played around at the TF:Universe booth and registered there. I went Autobot because I am predictable, and the woman who handed me my paper said she was a Decepticon. I told her, that's okay, all my friends are Decepticons, and she said that would make a great book title. ALSO we stormed Dan Gilvezan's booth and Okami bought the last book he had, but he signed my G1 DVD booklet, anyway, because he is nice. And then we went and had lunch. Of course, it was noon and we both wanted to attend the VA panel at 1 (with Gary Chalk and David Kaye), so we had to eat fast… so we hit the little restaurant-thing upstairs (not the Italian place, the other one - yeah, multiple restaurants). Okami went for the buffet and I opted for a BLTA (bacon, lettuce, tomato, avocado. It was delicious!), and our server sucked so we tipped poorly. Also we were sitting near the river (picture earlier, but here it is again! DEAL WITH IT) that ran through the hotel (it ended in a waterfall into a pool, seriously what the hell).
AND THEN BACK DOWNSTAIRS FOR THE VA PANEL, only I got distracted by some folk hanging around outside the panel room - the Blitzwing from before and hey wait, wasn't he Random before? YES HE WAS! Because the faces could actually spin, haha, it was fantastic! So he had all three. Also the movie Constructicon was there, too (in pieces!). So I took their pictures and then went to the panel, which was funny and enjoyable, yay! I mean, really, Chalk + Kaye. How could it not be fantastic? Someone asked them to act out Primal and Megatron dividing the planet up in some kind of peace treaty and Primal made out like a bandit because Megatron had a headache and wasn't paying attention.
Also, we caught back up with Barri-Swoop and Becca during this panel.
Next was the TCC Roundtable, which was actually really, really exciting. They announced their free figure for next year, as well as plans for a figure-subscription thing, and omgggg. We get Depth Charge for being a member in 2013, I am all over that. And the figures they announced, eee! Some are very exciting! Others meh who cares. BUT AAAA WE GET A SLIPSTREAM! And also Breakdown (BEAUTIFUL), Jackpot, RID Scourge (I am sick of black Primes, I admit it), Circuit (…who?), and Ultra Mammoth (from the Beast Wars mold hahaha I think it is hilarious. Not everyone agrees). And then the Hasbro panel which was… really not exciting at all. Seriously, I didn't even write anything down from it, though we will be getting a Generations Soundwave, which is pretty cool. AND THEN THE CULLEN PANEL my god does that man know how to work a crowd, but it is okay because he is adorable.
…Although things got awkward real fast when someone compared him to JFK. (Hey, did I mention that this convention was in Dallas and that the convention hall was less than a mile from the location of Dealey Plaza?) Holy shit, dude. (THIS IS A REAL THING THAT REALLY HAPPENED I DO NOT EVEN.) That mess aside, it was the usual fare of Cullen saying nice things to us and members of the fanbase being either delightful in return or… kinda creepy.
AND THEN THE SHOW CLOSED FOR THE DAY AND I FLED BACK TO MY ROOM (but not before snapping a quick photo of Pinkie Pie) because aaaaugh people need a break before the Hall of Fame thing.
So then we got dressed nice-ish and went back downstairs for the cocktail reception, which was mostly just a lot of people standing around. I suffered a minor CROWD. PANIC. crisis, but managed to get myself back under control without making a scene or fleeing or anything, and they finally let us in for the Hall of Fame dinner. They fed us salad (and also cheesecake, which was dessert, and quite tasty)! And it was tasty, but I am a slow eater and they took it away from me before I could finish it and replaced it will a less-delicious … meat-thing stuffed with vegetables and cheese and …stuff. Here is the table from above, and here is the group minus me. (Becca, Luna, Aka, Ravyn, invisi-Jecca, and Kenya Starflight) Other people joined us later, Ravyn knew one of them. The other two were a mother and son combo and I have seen them at every convention and all they do is go round and round the autograph lines getting the voice actors to sign random shit so they can turn around and sell it, and they kinda piss me off, which is totally irrational, but seriously get a life and leave spots for people who actually want to meet them?
ANYWAY WE COULDN'T HEAR A DAMN THING during the entire event because REALLY SHITTY SET UP, but I guess Wheeljack won the fan vote, which, actually, I was a bit disappointed by that, since, being a G1 season 1 character, he'd probably have been auto-inducted in a year or two. Oh, well. There's always next year.
Also Chris Latta's daughter gave a speech I guess? I don't know, man, I couldn't hear anything. I made annoyed comments about it on the survey, but all I remember about it is ending with "and it is near-impossible to lip-read at that distance"… Anyway, there was one extra slice of cheesecake (our table had an open sear), and when Simon Furman got up to yammer, a couple of us cried FURMAN!! >:| and then split the cheesecake of rage.
It really was delicious cheesecake, especially when eaten in annoyance.
Don't get me wrong, I do really appreciate a lot of what Furman's contributed to the fandom, just I do not like how he handles female Transformers. Also at this point we were all just really pissed off at not being able to hear anything.
So then that was over and it was casino time, but fuck that, so we all threw our fake money at Ravyn and ran the heck away. (She ended up winning the cardboard Optimus Prime standee from the Universe booth, so, hey! Good show!)
… at this point things for a bit odd, okay? That is your only warning. Luna and Becca and I were hanging around filling out the surveys with snarky commentary (and requests for kitchen supplies) and tossing Puggles around and talking about the current IDW comics (though I think Luna was the only one familiar with the Robots in Disguise comics? But we could all squee about MTMTE, and squee we did) and generally being amused, and also at some point Puggle Roddy ended up on Table Flippah's head? I don't remember why that happened.
AND THEN TABLE FLIPPAH STRUCK AGAIN. TABLE FLIPPAH, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE? So Mirage got involved and the tables were turned… meanwhile, we're declaring that Starscream, Metalhawk, Table Flippah, and Bumblebee are all totally together in the comics, since they're the four basically in charge, I guess?
So then this happened.
Bumblebee is, obviously, the groom, while Table Flippah is his lovely bride with a pretty tiara (which is: borrowed from me, blue - obviously, new to Table Flippah, and old to me, and WE DON'T CARE IF THAT'S NOT HOW IT WORKS). Jeffrey, Acid Storm, and Winterfresh are the groomsmen. Mirage is the best man. Rumble is the maid of honour, and Breakdown, Thundercracker, and Swerve are the bridesmaids. The Stunticons are providing the music. Rodimus is both officiating and keeping Table Flippah from running away. They ate jam and honey. Ratchet was horrified (and also a representation of Table Flippah's thoughts on the matter). It was hilarious and also terrible.
Also then the wedding was over so we banished the newlyweds behind the pillow that was serving as a stageprop so they could enjoy their honeymood (with no effort or intent on our part - they were actually thrown back there separately - that is how they landed…).
AND THEN IT WAS SUNDAY and I still hadn't figured out what that white structure in the background out the window was… (Here, have another random shot of the outside.)
Everyone was up early today, because the first panel of the day was BEE IN THE CITY 2! yee! But first Swoop posed with Miko. Then the voice actors all lined up and IT BEGAN!
And it was plagued with technical difficulties, and the guy trying to fix it kept sticking his head in front of the camera, which was really funny when he finally noticed. They said they were going to post this online, but I have not found it yet. I'll not spoil anything, though. JUST IT WAS FANTASTIC.
AND THEN more running to the dealers room because damn it I was going to get my shiny new Beast Wars DVD set's booklet signed!! So Swoop and I got in line and Becca, um. Waited. ALSO GUESS WHO WE SPOTTED. That's right. Table Flippah! And oh-so-conveniently next to the abandoned Puggle table (she sold out Saturday afternoon, haha), at that! I'm sure you all see where this is going and, yes, yes, we did. (Poor thing seemed a bit confused. Must not be IDW's Table Flippah, I guess. That, or trying to keep up appearances.) (My money's on G1 cartoon, though.)
Autographs were obtained and then Becca picked a fight with Ravage while Redd - the guy who got most of my box set - watched. Also there was Transformers pinball and Swoop got into a fight with Breakdown. Then I went to get back in the autographs line 'cause I wanted to get Buster Jones to sign my G1 booklet thingy, and that line moved… very slowly.
I think after that we all ended up meeting up at the Universe booth registering things, haha. (Yes, yes, I already registered on Saturday. I was registering someone else this time!) And then we gathered in the panel room one last time for the costume panel, which was BORING AS HELL. Though I got to see Blitzwing and Prowl have it out before entering, so that was something. And after the people running the panel were done listening to themselves talk, everyone in costume went up front for a dance party, so I took some pictures. (At one point, we had Blitzwing doing his little cha-cha-cha~ dance.)
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
After the dance break, they announced the winners of the costume contest. It was a three-way tie between Swoop, Breakdown, and Blitzwing. Good job, guys!
Then we all mobbed the dealers room to wait for the winners for the trip to next year's convention to be drawn and announced. Though I took the time to run around the room again, including one last stop at the Fall of Cybertron booth to both grab another character poster and to like it on Facebook again to get another awesome poster (which I believe I mentioned I did earlier? This was when I did it). None of us won (unsurprising), and then we hung around watching the Hasbro guys sketching until they kicked us out. :(
Becca and I had checked out that morning, but Luna had graciously allowed us to stash our stuff in her room, so we shuffled upstairs and I grabbed my stuff (Becca was staying the night) and said goodbye, Luna, goodbye! And wandered downstairs again. AND THAT WAS THE END OF THE CONVENTION but not of the adventures, but holy shit this entry is terrifyingly long, so I'll save the dinner theater adventure for later.
WORDS. WORDS EVERYWHERE. I will have an update on my life later, because shit done gone down or... something (it is nothing so dramatic as that implies).
[Crossposted from DW. Comments:
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