Jecca Mehlota (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
jecca_mehlota) wrote2008-04-28 10:22 pm
jecca_mehlota) wrote2008-04-28 10:22 pm
Entry tags:
I'm protected by Plot Convenience!
I survived! YAY!
Pictures are grouped together at the bottom of the second cut, near the end of the post.
Thursday was fun.
By which I mean, no, it was not. Haa...
Yes! I went to bed much later than I'd planned to, and then I was stuck wide awake until at least 4. I'm not sure about after that because I stopped checking the clock. I know I must have passed out briefly, because otherwise I wouldn't have been woken up by...
...the smoke alarm. 5:30, and the smoke alarm starts blaring.
Five seconds later, it shuts off, but everyone's awake by that point.
But, hey, it beats sleeping through the alarm and missing my flight, which I was worried about (was there anything I wasn't worried about by that point?). I get up, get dressed, eat something despite knowing I'd probably get ill later because of it (I can't eat until after my brain wakes up or I get queasy, and my brain doesn't wake up until around 10), and we load the car and I get thrown out at the airport.
Security doesn't give me too many problems. My carry on set off something and they wiped it for residue. This happened to my camera once, years ago, and the guy testing it explained to me that dirt can contain traces of elements used in explosives, and the scanners will pick up even those minuscule amounts. My bag was pronounced clean, though, and I got to wait around for ever for my flight. Mostly I watched the air guard fly around and take off and land (Burlington "International" shares runways with the VT Air National Guard, because, yes, we really are that small of a state). Finally, though, my flight boards! We all get on, the plane crawls along to its designated launch and...
We sit there.
And we sit there.
And finally the captain comes on to tell us they've got a warning light and are going to do a systems reboot, and that'll clear it up. Okay.
So they reboot and we still don't move, and they end up having to do a deeper systems reboot and then they get mechanics out and the crew are very apologetic and finally someone puts on The Waterhorse to appease people, I guess.
TWO HOURS LATER.
I've missed my connecting flight, so I pull out the phone and call Mom to tell her, "Hi! Lovely weather we're having, isn't it? How do I know? BECAUSE WE ARE STILL ON THE TARMAC."
Ugh. They set up new connecting flights for those of us who missed our original flights (that would be most of us). But we've finally lifted off, and we land in Chicago and, hey, surprise. My flight takes off in, you know, fifteen minutes. We all rush off the plane, and I have to dash through Ohare (which is huge, okay, it's a very pretty airport, but it is massive). I'm on the far end of concourse B. I need to get to the far end of concourse C. Oh, and I need to stop and get a new boarding pass, along with everyone else on the plane.
But that flight was uneventful. And there was a taxi service desk at baggage claim (I don't really know how my luggage made it. I was amazed to see it actually turn up). I was able to pay for a trip to my hotel and back, including a tip. Awesome! (The taxi ride was not a near-death experience, though it did consist largely of the cab driving on the shoulder which is, you know, not even remotely legal. He was doing it to avoid the stopped traffic from an accident - the sign said a thirty minute delay, but we avoided it and made it through in 20. The driver didn't speak to me once, except when I thanked him after he dropped me off - he was on his phone the whole time.) Check-in went smoothly, too. I was on the 21st floor. There was a skywalk to the convention center next door on the second floor. I poked around the convention center, mostly familiarizing myself with it. Then, because at this point it was only 5 or so, I sat in my room and ended up taking a nap by accident. I woke up at 6 and sought dinner. After wandering a lot, I ended up at some place called Skyline Chili. I didn't eat chili, but the food was pretty good. It was around 7:30 when I left, and, er. Exhaustion beat me. I usually have a pretty good mental mapping system. I can retrace my steps well.
I became completely lost on my way back to the hotel and convention center. I did see lots of interesting stuff in my completely disoriented meanders, at least. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me at the time. (There was a really awesome fountain. Oh, look. Wiki has a page.)
Fortunately! When I'd been in my room earlier, before passing out, I'd found that the little slip my roomkey came in had a fold out map of town included. So, after I finally remembered that, I oriented myself and made it back in time to stand in line (at 8, of course), and that took a while... Line just didn't move for close to half an hour. So I called my brother and asked about my chocobo... And okay, now things get slightly more interesting, depending on your definition of interesting.
Finally made it! Got my box and freebie and badge and folder and, you know, everything, around 9. As I waited for the guy to find my papers to mark me off as present, I looked across at the other lines (we were clumped by out last names, A-L and M-R and S-Z or somesuch) and saw a man and his son that I'd hung out with during 2007's awards dinner. We nodded at each other.
The shop line was ridiculously long. I eyed it a moment and one of the convention staff asked if I needed help. I said no, was just considering the length. There was no way even half of the people in line would be out before things closed up at 10. He agreed, then handed me a copy of the merchandise list and told me I could fill it out tonight and not have to worry about it when I got in line some other day.
Back to the hotel! Because MSTF wasn't until 10. Remembering the Dirge missile-launcher drama from last year, I opened my set and looked everyone over. No problems! (For anyone who doesn't know, the vast majority of the Dirges only had one of the two sides for missile launchers. Two left ones or two right ones, but not a left and a right. People were swapping all weekend. I was one of the lucky few who didn't have any problems.)
(From the hotel window looking down, I saw a big white van with the Decepticon logo over the engine. On the window they'd written, AUTOBOTS SUCK. I giggled.)
Wait, did I check the accessories? Extras are stored under the foam insert. OPEN THE BOX AGAIN. Okay, everything's here. Hm. Instructions. Here'sMotormaster's Prime's. Here's Starscream and Grimlock. And, yep, here's Starscream and Gri--
No Jazz and Goldbug. AACK! Cue myself fleeing back to check-in. There's a help desk, so I talked to Pete and said I had two of the Screamer and Grimlock instructions. He gave me Jazz's, and, again, the braindeath hurt me. I wandered off to get in line for MSTF and didn't realize until I was back in my room much, much later that I didn't get Goldbug's, too. (Then, later, I checked the bio cards and found I had two Starscreams there, too, so I went and traded the extra Starscream card for Goldbug's instructions, and then we were all set, finally.)
After getting Jazz's instructions, though, as I said, I went and got in line for MSTF. I ended up right in front of a woman and her kid who, ha, I ended up in line next to a lot last year. I spoke with her a bit, but we were mostly too tired to converse.
The MSTF crew pretended to be doing the 2007 movie again (they did that last year, as well), then stopped out of fear of being sued and threatened us with the 1986 movie (again). Instead, they did War Dawn (featuring the "aggressively stupid" - it's so true - Aerialbots and TIME TRAVEL and, you know, it's a G1 episode, you can't expect that much, The post title is taken from their commentary on that episode, by the way). Then they went after the opening of Animated ("Transform and Roll Out"), and in general much hilarity was had all around.
Then, sleep. Blessed, blessed sleep.
Friday! I meant to get up around 8 so I could be up and moving and in line before 9, but that completely didn't happen. I slept through my alarm and then woke up at 8:50, threw clothing on, threw myself out the door, and then threw myself into the shop line for the at-con exclusives. I'd done all the cost calculating up the night before, so I gave the guy exact change (the cash line moves so much faster than the credit card line) and was out before 10. Not... not much before 10, but I was still extremely surprised. I went and picked up Goldbug's instructions (as mentioned above), brought them back to my room, then wasted time for a while before coming back in time for the 11 o'clock panel featuring the Cartoon Network guests, part of the Animated team - Marty Isenberg, Matt Youngberg, and Derrick Wyatt . They talked about Animated, and it was all very interesting, but asking me to recall details right now probably won't get much. I'm pretty out of it. I remember it was interesting!
Stayed there for the next panel, which was the voice actors. David Kaye, who's currently voicing Animated Optimus Prime (and used to voice Beast Wars/Machines/almost every series since Megatron, as well as lots of other people), Tara Strong who's voicing Sari (and who was Rikku in Final Fantasy X and X-2, and lots of other people), and Bumper Robinson (Animated Bumblebee, though he's also done lots of stuff, including, apparently, Damas from Jak 3! I hadn't known that - he actually mentioned it in Saturday's panel and did the voice, and I was made to be happy - but that was definitely awesome). Lots of the usual VA panel questions - how can I get into voice acting? Can you do [insert character here]? David Kaye did most of the talking, and I was left wondering how much convention experience Tara Strong and Bumper Robinson (edit: he's had none, apparently) had, just based off how they reacted to some of the fans.
For lunch, at 1, I went back to my room and finished off the remains of Thursday's dinner. At 2, the dealer's room opened for the "private sales room experience," as the schedule calls it. There was a line. I saw a Perceptor and Emirate Xaaron towards the front, but more on them later.
I actually did most of my buying on Friday. I bought Mike's, Aniko's, and Serenity's stuff then, as well as the majority of my stuff.
I ran into Rebecca Hb (who I spent some time with last year on Sunday when we ended up taking the elevator down to the Hasbro panel together) and we said hi to each other.
Can I say? This is bizarre for me. Half the time I can't recognize my own coworkers outside of the work environment, and it's been close to a year since last BotCon, but I had absolutely no problems recognizing people, and they all recognized me, as well. That was... really nice, actually. I've never had that at other conventions I've been to.
(And I'm going to tack on that I appear to have an uncanny ability to identify people despite having never seen them - or even pictures of them - before in my life. I noticed this last year, too.)
There were autograph sessions in the afternoon, but at that point I had no plans for getting anything signed by anyone, so I wasted a whole lot of time wandering the dealer's room and finding things at really good prices (I may as well have stolen a few items. I think prices were a little lower in general this year, as well. Or maybe last year they were just high). There were, unsurprisingly, a fair amount of Animated toys in there, all for about double retail price. Cincinnati was a "test market" on account of BotCon being held there, so all the dealers arrived early and bought everything up. I didn't pick up any Animated toys, though they all look fantastic and I was tempted. I just couldn't justify paying 20 for a toy I can get from the local stores in a month and a half for 10.But you can justify paying over 300 for a box full of - SHUT UP, YOU
The dealer's room closed at 5. At that point, I was sitting outside on one of the little chair-things and wondering what I was going to do with myself until 7, when the Battle of the Boards started up. Rebecca came over and asked what I was doing, and I admitted I was hanging out with myself for lack of anything better to do, so I was invited to come along with her group of people, which apparently included the Perceptor (Ravyn, who I'm pretty sure is on the Padded Cell, but I can't be bothered to check right now) and Xaaron (Kai, no idea) from before, as well as Heather (who I recognized from the Allspark forums), Luna/tron (I recognized this name, too, but I cannot recall from where I AM TIRED LEAVE ME ALONE), and Cyn/Syn (short for Cynthia)? I can't remember how she spelled her naaaame, I fail.
Ravyn gave everyone peacock feathers. Mine is now hanging off my stereo. It is very pretty! (My cat destroys peacock feathers for a living, but I am hiding this one from her. She has the ones from the pet store, anyway.) She gave other people other stuff, which included some Alternators Mirages, and Rebecca apparently wanted one, too, so I was able to promise off one of my extras. ONE DOWN. ONE TO GO.
(What's going to happen is, I'll finally find a good home for that other one, and then mine will break, and I will cry for ever.)
We ended up going out to dinner at a German restaurant over the river called Hofhräuhaus, which was loud, but fun. Heather drew on the table (it had a lot of graffiti on it already). (EDIT: See the table art here!) And I didn't have any cash so I had to borrow money, but I found a working ATM the next morning and paid back in full and then some.
After dinner, we went back to their room and wasted time some more, then I left to toss my leftovers in my room. I caught the last ten-or-so seconds of the Animated preview, then watched the 2007 film with the Hasbro team running their (informational and not comedic, for the most part) commentary on it. Was interesting, so I ended up staying for the entire movie. Was exhausted by the time I crawled back to my room, so I collapsed into bed and passed out again.
I didn't need to be at the convention until 11 on Saturday, so I slept in until 9 and then took a shower. The shower head wasn't so great, but, hey, I got clean. Then I waited for my hair to dry and checked if we got Cartoon Network. We did! Of course, the Animated episode was "Return of the Headmaster" which aired in Canada the weekend previous, so I'd seen it on YouTube... but I watched a little of it while I ate a bit and brushed out my hair before I headed out for the convention again.
The 11 o'clock panel I wanted to attend was another voice actor's panel, but they were late, so the three guys from the Animated team came in to entertain us for a while. The VAs did come in eventually (they'd had an autograph session right beforehand, poor planning because the signings always go late because the line is always too long), and were again entertaining, but I felt pretty bad for them after a while. People kept asking them to "do your characters doing [something - golfing, arguing, ordering at a drive-through]" and they really didn't seem to be into it after the ninehundredth time around. Not that I can blame them in the slightest.
That went until 12 (most panels run an hour), and on the way out I saw Rebecca, so I caught up with her and gave her the Mirage. Then I remembered I had her money and chased her to around dealer's room.
At 1 was the Hasbro toy panel, so I headed down early to try and get a seat. Success was had! And then there was JOY.
SO MUCH JOY.
They showed us some Animated figures that hadn't been revealed yet, as well as some more of the upcoming Robot Heroes (yay, Robot Heroes! They are so adorable!), and Classics 2.0!
We're getting a new Ironhide! An Ironhide with a head! YAY! And a Springer, a Ratbat, Sideswipe of course (we've known about him since last BotCon, but this time they had pictures! Though he had Sunstreaker's head, haha), and some Legends figures. Also, Beachcomber and Brawn, Cyclonus with Nightstick, Cheetor (because Classics 2.0 is officially called Universe and is a tribute to the entire Transformers history, not just G1), and Hound! He comes with Ravage. The jokes towards the younger audience members all weekend about them not knowing what a tape deck is were hilarious, and maybe that's a little mean of me to find that so funny, but it was.
Then they moved to talk about exclusives. We knew that San Diego Comic Con was getting Classics Nemesis Prime (who looks fantastic, but do I really want a fourth Classics Prime?) and...
I think I made an unhappy post when they announced they were canceling the 6" Titaniums line without releasing the final three figures.
But they're giving us Skywarp for SDCC! And they've increased the production run for that con again, so hopefully I'll be able to get him! (Hey, I got Alternators Rodimus...) AND. Toys "R" Us is getting some exclusives, which makes me happy, because we have one of those and they're really good about stocking their store exclusives (we don't have a Target, so seeing the Target exclusives makes me sad. We have a WalMart, but everyone knows they don't stock even half-decently and no one, self included, can ever find the WalMart exclusives except on eBay and sometimes their store site). Toys "R" Us is getting the two remaining 6" Titaniums - War Within Prowl and Grimlock.
I had held out hope for an eventual release, because we knew they'd finished the molds. We'd seen pictures of the actual finished products.
I hadn't even dared to dream they'd be store-exclusive, and certainly not to the one store around here that actually STOCKS them! I nearly died for glee.
That panel went until 3, and then I wandered the dealer's room again, stopping for a while to talk with some of the people from the night before. I also picked up a few more things for myself, and![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
aerinity's thing. Then I checked the toy display (I'd looked earlier, but hadn't really seen anything I hadn't found pictures of online yet), because during the toy panel, they'd mentioned they were putting in some new stuff. They had! Some of it was Universe and, and! One of them - for those who don't know, they'd already revealed a new Prowl. In G1, Prowl shared a vehicle mode with two other characters, Bluestreak and Smokescreen. I adore both characters, but Smokey's got the more interesting paint scheme, so I'd figured we could at least expect a repaint to him for Universe, and maybe Blue'd be an exclusive somewhere, but there in the display! Bluestreak! I'm so happy!
There were some people in costumes again, too. I took pictures! Also, I feel a bit of a dunce, because I have a Jazz in these pictures, but I don't remember seeing that person. Clearly I was a zombie Saturday midafternoonish, when I took those... though I remember seeing the Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. Weird.
There was an Elita wandering around, as well. She had a cube container full of yellow... juice or something. ENERGON CUBE. Hooray!
Things closed down at 5 again, but I think I'd gone back to my room my that point. I unloaded my larger bag, which had been my only one on the way in.
See, I packed a folding suitcase, because I was pretty sure I'd need a second bag on the way home, and I don't care if my clothing gets mauled up. It's clothing. It goes through the washer and dryer. It can handle being in a soft-sided bag.
I spent a bit of time arranging everything into the big suitcase and packed up whatever I wouldn't need either that night or the next morning, since I had to check out before leaving for the convention.
Then I changed into my nicer outfit (it might've been a little too "fancy" but I only have one nice shirt, and it's too thin to be worn without a jacket. (It was my choir shirt, so I wore it in a massive crowd, so its thinness was a benefit at the time.)
Dinner was more substantial that last year's, but even less organized. While I was waiting in line, I saw --the rat sitting at a table waiting for the line in to go down, and we chatted a bit before things moved and I got to go in. Then I stood in line for what I assumed to be dinner but was, in fact, not. Some guy came down the line saying it was the salad line, but it was actually dessert. So I ate peach cobbler/crumble/something for dinner, then had a selection of vegetables, meat, a roll, and pasta for dessert. Whatever works, I suppose.
It was Casino Night again (last year they just had a concert), but I don't know much about casino games and care even less. Saw the people from the night before and said hi again, then ended up giving Rebecca my 25k fake money ticket, then stood out by the windows and watching kids coming in to attend their prom and talked around a whole random selection of things with Luna.
Then they had a script reading, which was hilarious and featured Beast Wars Megatron (though he was calling himself "Joe") and two fandom members provided voices as well. Marty Isenberg subbed in as Isaac Sumdac, and because there's not really any fourth wall here, characters commented that his voice sounded different today.
After that, they announced the winners of all the awards they had (Battle of the Boards winners, convention art contest awards, et cetera), then explained how to use the fake money you'd won gambling to participate in their auction.
I left around then, because I didn't have any fake money and didn't really care one way or another who got what. And because I was tired.
I woke up Sunday to find check-out papers shoved under my door, so I signed them and took them down to the desk, handed one in, and asked where I could leave my luggage. This was all before 9:30, because at 10 there was an Animated panel that I wanted to attend. I arrived quite early, grabbed a really great seat, and waited. Rebecca ended up coming in and sitting next to me. They showed us some of their plans for the toyline and upcoming characters in the show. We're getting an Arcee, yay! And a Swindle, and a Blurr... and lots of other neat things! And Prowl apparently changes careers and goes samurai, at least toy-wise. They premiered a second episode for us near the end of that panel, too, which was fun.
That panel went two hours, and we left after that. There was another Hasbro toy panel at 1, but I didn't want to sit through IDW's "All Hail!" panel. I read and enjoy the comics, I just... am not interested in the panels relating to any of it, apparently. I don't think I attended any IDW panels last year, either.
I'd actually planned on going to the Hasbro panel again, but I got sidetracked in the dealer's room. I stood around stupidly by the entrance for a while, trying to decide how to entertain myself for an hour and debating if I should call home to let Mom know I'd managed to get out of the hotel fine, spaced out, and eventually decided I was just going to wander through for forty minutes or so to see if there was anything I wanted to buy at the last minute or so.
I was poking around at one of the tables in the back and glancing at name tags whenever one dropped into my vision - it's a habit of mine, reading whatever gets tossed in front of me, and maybe I'd know or at least recognize the name of whoever I'm standing next to. And at BotCon, your badge has your real name, your hometown, and then your screen name in smaller print in the corner (I understand why the put your real name where they do, but I keep thinking it'd be easier if they put your screen name in the center in large print, because we all know each other by our screen names) - and, surprise, it'swyntir_rose! So I managed to kick myself into saying hello, and was introduced to BitterEloquence, who won't kill me for leaving comments on her stuff (a-apparently I leave really nice comments. Warm fuzzies all over. Though I should get over my "augh, I took too long, it has been a week, clearly the only remaining option is to NOT SAY ANYTHING AT ALL" thing). Then I was invited to go to lunch with a group of people - I remembered Mommimus from Sunday last year, though I don't think she remembered me, but I only knew Rotty from seeing his name on the forums, and I fail utterly at remembering who the last person was.
... So, uh, I found (by which I mean, was shown) the rumored mall and its foodcourt for my last meal in Cincinnati, ha. Oh, well. Lunch was fun! I missed the afternoon Hasbro panel, but I don't really think I missed much, and summaries are up all over the place online, anyway. We actually came back during that panel, and then we ended up in line for the voice actors. I had them sign my badge, for lack of anything else. (If I'd known Robinson did Damas, I'd totally have brought the cover art for the game, but, alas, no, I do not check voice actors much at all. My loss.) There was another run through the dealer's room after that, then I took a photo of the costumed people as well as a bunch of others from the Cell with Bumper Robinson (they'd bought him a Bulkhead toy and had everyone - or very nearly - sign the packaging). And somewhere in here I helped move luggage from one room to another.
You know, I saw both the Millenium (where I ended up) and the Hyatt (the official hotel), and... the Millenium was much nicer. I liked the fountain-thing in the Hyatt, but the rooms themselves? Millenium. My single room was larger than the doubles I saw. Also, the Millenium's elevators didn't make noises like they wanted to eat you. (I was actually a bit disappointed in both hotels. But the one last year was extremely fancy and nice, so maybe I was subconsciously comparing them?)
It was almost 3 by then, so I went to hand in my survey-thing to get my name in the drawing for the Primus package give-away. I didn't win! Unsurprising!
AND THEN I HUNG AROUND BOTHERING PEOPLE UNTIL 3:50! When I had to go collect my bags and try to find my taxi. Actually - haha - right before I entered the Millenium, some random guy asked me the time. As I was getting my luggage and digging out my receipt, he came into the hotel, paused, and asked if I was being picked up at 4 by the Community Cab service, and, yeah, so apparently he was the guy picking me up. Only it was a van, which they were supposed to write on the paper but didn't, so he was parked out the other door.
He was friendly and talkative, so I attempted to keep up with the small talk for the very, very short ride to the airport (seriously, it was only about ten minutes)...
Again, no problems with security, though they put my bag through the scanner twice. Dirt residue. I should just try and wash it. I had a bagel for a snack and then wandered around until around 6, when I finally headed for my gate. Flights were boring. In D.C. they made us get off using stairs and walk into the airport using the Employees Only area, and then my flight to Burlington was a little early. Also, we had to walk out to plane. ...Also, it was raining.
I fought valiantly to stay awake on that last flight, and I succeeded, though just barely. Mom and Dad kept trying to talk to me after the picked me up, and I just kind of mumbled incoherently at them, then went mostly straight to bed after we got back. That was around 1 am this morning.
AND THEN I SLEPT UNTIL 1 PM THIS AFTERNOON. ugh.
Oh! No one confused me for Wayward this time. Yay!
Purchases:
BotCon "Shattered Glass" boxed set with free Ricochet figure (well, obviously)
"Shattered Glass" Megatron, Rodimus, and Divebomb three-pack
"Shattered Glass" Blurr, Sideswipe, and Rampage three pack
Both BotCon 2008 t-shirts, though one I had to get in Large
Both 2008 lithographs because I'm horrifically indecisive sometimes
Universe Silverbolt (he's Beast Machines colored!)
Beast Machines Megatron
Beast Machines Obsidian (almost got Strika, but the guy at the booth wasn't the dealer and didn't know the price, so I'm still two generals away from a complete show-cast collection there)
6" Titanium Fallen
Smallest TF Red Alert
Revoltech Rodimus
BotCon 2005 "Descent into Evil" Chromia, but I'm calling her Moonracer
Energon Arcee (shut up I like the motorcycle mold)
Alternators Silverstreak, with box! Yes, I have him already, but this one hasn't had faction stickers stuck all over him by his previous owner. Actually, I think his steering wheel is on the other side, too.
- Beast Wars Silverbolt, complete but out of packaging, for Serenity
- Beast Wars Inferno, complete in box though it's been opened, for Mike
- WST Red Alert for Aniko, who refused to be online all weekend, so my brother couldn't give her the message to call me
- Robot Replicas (2007 movie) Bumblebee for Aerinity
And here are some of the pictures I took!
Animated stand-up they had right inside the dealer's room
The Animated crew, blurry. I just could not get a decent shot of them.
The voice actors - from left to right: Bumper Robinson, David Kaye, Tara Strong
Costumes - Perceptor, Wheeljack, and Ratchet, as well as a random kid holding Wheeljack's bomb
Perceptor, Dinobot, Xaaron, and Ratchet, with Spike and Sparkplug in front
Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, and Jazz
Human!Female!Barricade, Wheeljack, Ratchet, and Wheeljack again (That Barricade got kicked out of the dealer's room on account of her outfit-or-lack-thereof, apparently.)
Elita - not a good shot at all, only one I have
You can find more, better images in this thread.
These were all taken through the glass display case, and some at awkward angles, but it's the best I managed.
Legends Universe Jazz for Aniko
Universe Silverbolt
Springer and Ratbat
Universe toys, mostly Sideswipe, with Bluestreak, Ironhide, and then Galvatron behind him
Mostly Universe Ironhide
This post holds some videos from the convention.
And that... should be everything? Yay!
Though I will add that today has definitely been less fun than the weekend. I sat funny on the plane, or I did something trying to get my luggage moved around, or I don't know what, but my neck and right shoulder are blindingly painful. It hurts to move. Too bad for me, I had to go to class and take an exam.
The glasses people called. I can pick my new frames with lenses now tomorrow.
But for now, I am going to go try to beg a shoulder massage from Mom and then I might go to bed, because this took a few hours to write up and I'm tired.
Pictures are grouped together at the bottom of the second cut, near the end of the post.
Thursday was fun.
By which I mean, no, it was not. Haa...
Yes! I went to bed much later than I'd planned to, and then I was stuck wide awake until at least 4. I'm not sure about after that because I stopped checking the clock. I know I must have passed out briefly, because otherwise I wouldn't have been woken up by...
...the smoke alarm. 5:30, and the smoke alarm starts blaring.
Five seconds later, it shuts off, but everyone's awake by that point.
But, hey, it beats sleeping through the alarm and missing my flight, which I was worried about (was there anything I wasn't worried about by that point?). I get up, get dressed, eat something despite knowing I'd probably get ill later because of it (I can't eat until after my brain wakes up or I get queasy, and my brain doesn't wake up until around 10), and we load the car and I get thrown out at the airport.
Security doesn't give me too many problems. My carry on set off something and they wiped it for residue. This happened to my camera once, years ago, and the guy testing it explained to me that dirt can contain traces of elements used in explosives, and the scanners will pick up even those minuscule amounts. My bag was pronounced clean, though, and I got to wait around for ever for my flight. Mostly I watched the air guard fly around and take off and land (Burlington "International" shares runways with the VT Air National Guard, because, yes, we really are that small of a state). Finally, though, my flight boards! We all get on, the plane crawls along to its designated launch and...
We sit there.
And we sit there.
And finally the captain comes on to tell us they've got a warning light and are going to do a systems reboot, and that'll clear it up. Okay.
So they reboot and we still don't move, and they end up having to do a deeper systems reboot and then they get mechanics out and the crew are very apologetic and finally someone puts on The Waterhorse to appease people, I guess.
TWO HOURS LATER.
I've missed my connecting flight, so I pull out the phone and call Mom to tell her, "Hi! Lovely weather we're having, isn't it? How do I know? BECAUSE WE ARE STILL ON THE TARMAC."
Ugh. They set up new connecting flights for those of us who missed our original flights (that would be most of us). But we've finally lifted off, and we land in Chicago and, hey, surprise. My flight takes off in, you know, fifteen minutes. We all rush off the plane, and I have to dash through Ohare (which is huge, okay, it's a very pretty airport, but it is massive). I'm on the far end of concourse B. I need to get to the far end of concourse C. Oh, and I need to stop and get a new boarding pass, along with everyone else on the plane.
But that flight was uneventful. And there was a taxi service desk at baggage claim (I don't really know how my luggage made it. I was amazed to see it actually turn up). I was able to pay for a trip to my hotel and back, including a tip. Awesome! (The taxi ride was not a near-death experience, though it did consist largely of the cab driving on the shoulder which is, you know, not even remotely legal. He was doing it to avoid the stopped traffic from an accident - the sign said a thirty minute delay, but we avoided it and made it through in 20. The driver didn't speak to me once, except when I thanked him after he dropped me off - he was on his phone the whole time.) Check-in went smoothly, too. I was on the 21st floor. There was a skywalk to the convention center next door on the second floor. I poked around the convention center, mostly familiarizing myself with it. Then, because at this point it was only 5 or so, I sat in my room and ended up taking a nap by accident. I woke up at 6 and sought dinner. After wandering a lot, I ended up at some place called Skyline Chili. I didn't eat chili, but the food was pretty good. It was around 7:30 when I left, and, er. Exhaustion beat me. I usually have a pretty good mental mapping system. I can retrace my steps well.
I became completely lost on my way back to the hotel and convention center. I did see lots of interesting stuff in my completely disoriented meanders, at least. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me at the time. (There was a really awesome fountain. Oh, look. Wiki has a page.)
Fortunately! When I'd been in my room earlier, before passing out, I'd found that the little slip my roomkey came in had a fold out map of town included. So, after I finally remembered that, I oriented myself and made it back in time to stand in line (at 8, of course), and that took a while... Line just didn't move for close to half an hour. So I called my brother and asked about my chocobo... And okay, now things get slightly more interesting, depending on your definition of interesting.
Finally made it! Got my box and freebie and badge and folder and, you know, everything, around 9. As I waited for the guy to find my papers to mark me off as present, I looked across at the other lines (we were clumped by out last names, A-L and M-R and S-Z or somesuch) and saw a man and his son that I'd hung out with during 2007's awards dinner. We nodded at each other.
The shop line was ridiculously long. I eyed it a moment and one of the convention staff asked if I needed help. I said no, was just considering the length. There was no way even half of the people in line would be out before things closed up at 10. He agreed, then handed me a copy of the merchandise list and told me I could fill it out tonight and not have to worry about it when I got in line some other day.
Back to the hotel! Because MSTF wasn't until 10. Remembering the Dirge missile-launcher drama from last year, I opened my set and looked everyone over. No problems! (For anyone who doesn't know, the vast majority of the Dirges only had one of the two sides for missile launchers. Two left ones or two right ones, but not a left and a right. People were swapping all weekend. I was one of the lucky few who didn't have any problems.)
(From the hotel window looking down, I saw a big white van with the Decepticon logo over the engine. On the window they'd written, AUTOBOTS SUCK. I giggled.)
Wait, did I check the accessories? Extras are stored under the foam insert. OPEN THE BOX AGAIN. Okay, everything's here. Hm. Instructions. Here's
No Jazz and Goldbug. AACK! Cue myself fleeing back to check-in. There's a help desk, so I talked to Pete and said I had two of the Screamer and Grimlock instructions. He gave me Jazz's, and, again, the braindeath hurt me. I wandered off to get in line for MSTF and didn't realize until I was back in my room much, much later that I didn't get Goldbug's, too. (Then, later, I checked the bio cards and found I had two Starscreams there, too, so I went and traded the extra Starscream card for Goldbug's instructions, and then we were all set, finally.)
After getting Jazz's instructions, though, as I said, I went and got in line for MSTF. I ended up right in front of a woman and her kid who, ha, I ended up in line next to a lot last year. I spoke with her a bit, but we were mostly too tired to converse.
The MSTF crew pretended to be doing the 2007 movie again (they did that last year, as well), then stopped out of fear of being sued and threatened us with the 1986 movie (again). Instead, they did War Dawn (featuring the "aggressively stupid" - it's so true - Aerialbots and TIME TRAVEL and, you know, it's a G1 episode, you can't expect that much, The post title is taken from their commentary on that episode, by the way). Then they went after the opening of Animated ("Transform and Roll Out"), and in general much hilarity was had all around.
Then, sleep. Blessed, blessed sleep.
Friday! I meant to get up around 8 so I could be up and moving and in line before 9, but that completely didn't happen. I slept through my alarm and then woke up at 8:50, threw clothing on, threw myself out the door, and then threw myself into the shop line for the at-con exclusives. I'd done all the cost calculating up the night before, so I gave the guy exact change (the cash line moves so much faster than the credit card line) and was out before 10. Not... not much before 10, but I was still extremely surprised. I went and picked up Goldbug's instructions (as mentioned above), brought them back to my room, then wasted time for a while before coming back in time for the 11 o'clock panel featuring the Cartoon Network guests, part of the Animated team - Marty Isenberg, Matt Youngberg, and Derrick Wyatt . They talked about Animated, and it was all very interesting, but asking me to recall details right now probably won't get much. I'm pretty out of it. I remember it was interesting!
Stayed there for the next panel, which was the voice actors. David Kaye, who's currently voicing Animated Optimus Prime (and used to voice Beast Wars/Machines/almost every series since Megatron, as well as lots of other people), Tara Strong who's voicing Sari (and who was Rikku in Final Fantasy X and X-2, and lots of other people), and Bumper Robinson (Animated Bumblebee, though he's also done lots of stuff, including, apparently, Damas from Jak 3! I hadn't known that - he actually mentioned it in Saturday's panel and did the voice, and I was made to be happy - but that was definitely awesome). Lots of the usual VA panel questions - how can I get into voice acting? Can you do [insert character here]? David Kaye did most of the talking, and I was left wondering how much convention experience Tara Strong and Bumper Robinson (edit: he's had none, apparently) had, just based off how they reacted to some of the fans.
For lunch, at 1, I went back to my room and finished off the remains of Thursday's dinner. At 2, the dealer's room opened for the "private sales room experience," as the schedule calls it. There was a line. I saw a Perceptor and Emirate Xaaron towards the front, but more on them later.
I actually did most of my buying on Friday. I bought Mike's, Aniko's, and Serenity's stuff then, as well as the majority of my stuff.
I ran into Rebecca Hb (who I spent some time with last year on Sunday when we ended up taking the elevator down to the Hasbro panel together) and we said hi to each other.
Can I say? This is bizarre for me. Half the time I can't recognize my own coworkers outside of the work environment, and it's been close to a year since last BotCon, but I had absolutely no problems recognizing people, and they all recognized me, as well. That was... really nice, actually. I've never had that at other conventions I've been to.
(And I'm going to tack on that I appear to have an uncanny ability to identify people despite having never seen them - or even pictures of them - before in my life. I noticed this last year, too.)
There were autograph sessions in the afternoon, but at that point I had no plans for getting anything signed by anyone, so I wasted a whole lot of time wandering the dealer's room and finding things at really good prices (I may as well have stolen a few items. I think prices were a little lower in general this year, as well. Or maybe last year they were just high). There were, unsurprisingly, a fair amount of Animated toys in there, all for about double retail price. Cincinnati was a "test market" on account of BotCon being held there, so all the dealers arrived early and bought everything up. I didn't pick up any Animated toys, though they all look fantastic and I was tempted. I just couldn't justify paying 20 for a toy I can get from the local stores in a month and a half for 10.
The dealer's room closed at 5. At that point, I was sitting outside on one of the little chair-things and wondering what I was going to do with myself until 7, when the Battle of the Boards started up. Rebecca came over and asked what I was doing, and I admitted I was hanging out with myself for lack of anything better to do, so I was invited to come along with her group of people, which apparently included the Perceptor (Ravyn, who I'm pretty sure is on the Padded Cell, but I can't be bothered to check right now) and Xaaron (Kai, no idea) from before, as well as Heather (who I recognized from the Allspark forums), Luna/tron (I recognized this name, too, but I cannot recall from where I AM TIRED LEAVE ME ALONE), and Cyn/Syn (short for Cynthia)? I can't remember how she spelled her naaaame, I fail.
Ravyn gave everyone peacock feathers. Mine is now hanging off my stereo. It is very pretty! (My cat destroys peacock feathers for a living, but I am hiding this one from her. She has the ones from the pet store, anyway.) She gave other people other stuff, which included some Alternators Mirages, and Rebecca apparently wanted one, too, so I was able to promise off one of my extras. ONE DOWN. ONE TO GO.
(What's going to happen is, I'll finally find a good home for that other one, and then mine will break, and I will cry for ever.)
We ended up going out to dinner at a German restaurant over the river called Hofhräuhaus, which was loud, but fun. Heather drew on the table (it had a lot of graffiti on it already). (EDIT: See the table art here!) And I didn't have any cash so I had to borrow money, but I found a working ATM the next morning and paid back in full and then some.
After dinner, we went back to their room and wasted time some more, then I left to toss my leftovers in my room. I caught the last ten-or-so seconds of the Animated preview, then watched the 2007 film with the Hasbro team running their (informational and not comedic, for the most part) commentary on it. Was interesting, so I ended up staying for the entire movie. Was exhausted by the time I crawled back to my room, so I collapsed into bed and passed out again.
I didn't need to be at the convention until 11 on Saturday, so I slept in until 9 and then took a shower. The shower head wasn't so great, but, hey, I got clean. Then I waited for my hair to dry and checked if we got Cartoon Network. We did! Of course, the Animated episode was "Return of the Headmaster" which aired in Canada the weekend previous, so I'd seen it on YouTube... but I watched a little of it while I ate a bit and brushed out my hair before I headed out for the convention again.
The 11 o'clock panel I wanted to attend was another voice actor's panel, but they were late, so the three guys from the Animated team came in to entertain us for a while. The VAs did come in eventually (they'd had an autograph session right beforehand, poor planning because the signings always go late because the line is always too long), and were again entertaining, but I felt pretty bad for them after a while. People kept asking them to "do your characters doing [something - golfing, arguing, ordering at a drive-through]" and they really didn't seem to be into it after the ninehundredth time around. Not that I can blame them in the slightest.
That went until 12 (most panels run an hour), and on the way out I saw Rebecca, so I caught up with her and gave her the Mirage. Then I remembered I had her money and chased her to around dealer's room.
At 1 was the Hasbro toy panel, so I headed down early to try and get a seat. Success was had! And then there was JOY.
SO MUCH JOY.
They showed us some Animated figures that hadn't been revealed yet, as well as some more of the upcoming Robot Heroes (yay, Robot Heroes! They are so adorable!), and Classics 2.0!
We're getting a new Ironhide! An Ironhide with a head! YAY! And a Springer, a Ratbat, Sideswipe of course (we've known about him since last BotCon, but this time they had pictures! Though he had Sunstreaker's head, haha), and some Legends figures. Also, Beachcomber and Brawn, Cyclonus with Nightstick, Cheetor (because Classics 2.0 is officially called Universe and is a tribute to the entire Transformers history, not just G1), and Hound! He comes with Ravage. The jokes towards the younger audience members all weekend about them not knowing what a tape deck is were hilarious, and maybe that's a little mean of me to find that so funny, but it was.
Then they moved to talk about exclusives. We knew that San Diego Comic Con was getting Classics Nemesis Prime (who looks fantastic, but do I really want a fourth Classics Prime?) and...
I think I made an unhappy post when they announced they were canceling the 6" Titaniums line without releasing the final three figures.
But they're giving us Skywarp for SDCC! And they've increased the production run for that con again, so hopefully I'll be able to get him! (Hey, I got Alternators Rodimus...) AND. Toys "R" Us is getting some exclusives, which makes me happy, because we have one of those and they're really good about stocking their store exclusives (we don't have a Target, so seeing the Target exclusives makes me sad. We have a WalMart, but everyone knows they don't stock even half-decently and no one, self included, can ever find the WalMart exclusives except on eBay and sometimes their store site). Toys "R" Us is getting the two remaining 6" Titaniums - War Within Prowl and Grimlock.
I had held out hope for an eventual release, because we knew they'd finished the molds. We'd seen pictures of the actual finished products.
I hadn't even dared to dream they'd be store-exclusive, and certainly not to the one store around here that actually STOCKS them! I nearly died for glee.
That panel went until 3, and then I wandered the dealer's room again, stopping for a while to talk with some of the people from the night before. I also picked up a few more things for myself, and
aerinity's thing. Then I checked the toy display (I'd looked earlier, but hadn't really seen anything I hadn't found pictures of online yet), because during the toy panel, they'd mentioned they were putting in some new stuff. They had! Some of it was Universe and, and! One of them - for those who don't know, they'd already revealed a new Prowl. In G1, Prowl shared a vehicle mode with two other characters, Bluestreak and Smokescreen. I adore both characters, but Smokey's got the more interesting paint scheme, so I'd figured we could at least expect a repaint to him for Universe, and maybe Blue'd be an exclusive somewhere, but there in the display! Bluestreak! I'm so happy!There were some people in costumes again, too. I took pictures! Also, I feel a bit of a dunce, because I have a Jazz in these pictures, but I don't remember seeing that person. Clearly I was a zombie Saturday midafternoonish, when I took those... though I remember seeing the Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. Weird.
There was an Elita wandering around, as well. She had a cube container full of yellow... juice or something. ENERGON CUBE. Hooray!
Things closed down at 5 again, but I think I'd gone back to my room my that point. I unloaded my larger bag, which had been my only one on the way in.
See, I packed a folding suitcase, because I was pretty sure I'd need a second bag on the way home, and I don't care if my clothing gets mauled up. It's clothing. It goes through the washer and dryer. It can handle being in a soft-sided bag.
I spent a bit of time arranging everything into the big suitcase and packed up whatever I wouldn't need either that night or the next morning, since I had to check out before leaving for the convention.
Then I changed into my nicer outfit (it might've been a little too "fancy" but I only have one nice shirt, and it's too thin to be worn without a jacket. (It was my choir shirt, so I wore it in a massive crowd, so its thinness was a benefit at the time.)
Dinner was more substantial that last year's, but even less organized. While I was waiting in line, I saw --the rat sitting at a table waiting for the line in to go down, and we chatted a bit before things moved and I got to go in. Then I stood in line for what I assumed to be dinner but was, in fact, not. Some guy came down the line saying it was the salad line, but it was actually dessert. So I ate peach cobbler/crumble/something for dinner, then had a selection of vegetables, meat, a roll, and pasta for dessert. Whatever works, I suppose.
It was Casino Night again (last year they just had a concert), but I don't know much about casino games and care even less. Saw the people from the night before and said hi again, then ended up giving Rebecca my 25k fake money ticket, then stood out by the windows and watching kids coming in to attend their prom and talked around a whole random selection of things with Luna.
Then they had a script reading, which was hilarious and featured Beast Wars Megatron (though he was calling himself "Joe") and two fandom members provided voices as well. Marty Isenberg subbed in as Isaac Sumdac, and because there's not really any fourth wall here, characters commented that his voice sounded different today.
After that, they announced the winners of all the awards they had (Battle of the Boards winners, convention art contest awards, et cetera), then explained how to use the fake money you'd won gambling to participate in their auction.
I left around then, because I didn't have any fake money and didn't really care one way or another who got what. And because I was tired.
I woke up Sunday to find check-out papers shoved under my door, so I signed them and took them down to the desk, handed one in, and asked where I could leave my luggage. This was all before 9:30, because at 10 there was an Animated panel that I wanted to attend. I arrived quite early, grabbed a really great seat, and waited. Rebecca ended up coming in and sitting next to me. They showed us some of their plans for the toyline and upcoming characters in the show. We're getting an Arcee, yay! And a Swindle, and a Blurr... and lots of other neat things! And Prowl apparently changes careers and goes samurai, at least toy-wise. They premiered a second episode for us near the end of that panel, too, which was fun.
That panel went two hours, and we left after that. There was another Hasbro toy panel at 1, but I didn't want to sit through IDW's "All Hail!" panel. I read and enjoy the comics, I just... am not interested in the panels relating to any of it, apparently. I don't think I attended any IDW panels last year, either.
I'd actually planned on going to the Hasbro panel again, but I got sidetracked in the dealer's room. I stood around stupidly by the entrance for a while, trying to decide how to entertain myself for an hour and debating if I should call home to let Mom know I'd managed to get out of the hotel fine, spaced out, and eventually decided I was just going to wander through for forty minutes or so to see if there was anything I wanted to buy at the last minute or so.
I was poking around at one of the tables in the back and glancing at name tags whenever one dropped into my vision - it's a habit of mine, reading whatever gets tossed in front of me, and maybe I'd know or at least recognize the name of whoever I'm standing next to. And at BotCon, your badge has your real name, your hometown, and then your screen name in smaller print in the corner (I understand why the put your real name where they do, but I keep thinking it'd be easier if they put your screen name in the center in large print, because we all know each other by our screen names) - and, surprise, it's
wyntir_rose! So I managed to kick myself into saying hello, and was introduced to BitterEloquence, who won't kill me for leaving comments on her stuff (a-apparently I leave really nice comments. Warm fuzzies all over. Though I should get over my "augh, I took too long, it has been a week, clearly the only remaining option is to NOT SAY ANYTHING AT ALL" thing). Then I was invited to go to lunch with a group of people - I remembered Mommimus from Sunday last year, though I don't think she remembered me, but I only knew Rotty from seeing his name on the forums, and I fail utterly at remembering who the last person was.... So, uh, I found (by which I mean, was shown) the rumored mall and its foodcourt for my last meal in Cincinnati, ha. Oh, well. Lunch was fun! I missed the afternoon Hasbro panel, but I don't really think I missed much, and summaries are up all over the place online, anyway. We actually came back during that panel, and then we ended up in line for the voice actors. I had them sign my badge, for lack of anything else. (If I'd known Robinson did Damas, I'd totally have brought the cover art for the game, but, alas, no, I do not check voice actors much at all. My loss.) There was another run through the dealer's room after that, then I took a photo of the costumed people as well as a bunch of others from the Cell with Bumper Robinson (they'd bought him a Bulkhead toy and had everyone - or very nearly - sign the packaging). And somewhere in here I helped move luggage from one room to another.
You know, I saw both the Millenium (where I ended up) and the Hyatt (the official hotel), and... the Millenium was much nicer. I liked the fountain-thing in the Hyatt, but the rooms themselves? Millenium. My single room was larger than the doubles I saw. Also, the Millenium's elevators didn't make noises like they wanted to eat you. (I was actually a bit disappointed in both hotels. But the one last year was extremely fancy and nice, so maybe I was subconsciously comparing them?)
It was almost 3 by then, so I went to hand in my survey-thing to get my name in the drawing for the Primus package give-away. I didn't win! Unsurprising!
AND THEN I HUNG AROUND BOTHERING PEOPLE UNTIL 3:50! When I had to go collect my bags and try to find my taxi. Actually - haha - right before I entered the Millenium, some random guy asked me the time. As I was getting my luggage and digging out my receipt, he came into the hotel, paused, and asked if I was being picked up at 4 by the Community Cab service, and, yeah, so apparently he was the guy picking me up. Only it was a van, which they were supposed to write on the paper but didn't, so he was parked out the other door.
He was friendly and talkative, so I attempted to keep up with the small talk for the very, very short ride to the airport (seriously, it was only about ten minutes)...
Again, no problems with security, though they put my bag through the scanner twice. Dirt residue. I should just try and wash it. I had a bagel for a snack and then wandered around until around 6, when I finally headed for my gate. Flights were boring. In D.C. they made us get off using stairs and walk into the airport using the Employees Only area, and then my flight to Burlington was a little early. Also, we had to walk out to plane. ...Also, it was raining.
I fought valiantly to stay awake on that last flight, and I succeeded, though just barely. Mom and Dad kept trying to talk to me after the picked me up, and I just kind of mumbled incoherently at them, then went mostly straight to bed after we got back. That was around 1 am this morning.
AND THEN I SLEPT UNTIL 1 PM THIS AFTERNOON. ugh.
Oh! No one confused me for Wayward this time. Yay!
Purchases:
BotCon "Shattered Glass" boxed set with free Ricochet figure (well, obviously)
"Shattered Glass" Megatron, Rodimus, and Divebomb three-pack
"Shattered Glass" Blurr, Sideswipe, and Rampage three pack
Both BotCon 2008 t-shirts, though one I had to get in Large
Both 2008 lithographs because I'm horrifically indecisive sometimes
Universe Silverbolt (he's Beast Machines colored!)
Beast Machines Megatron
Beast Machines Obsidian (almost got Strika, but the guy at the booth wasn't the dealer and didn't know the price, so I'm still two generals away from a complete show-cast collection there)
6" Titanium Fallen
Smallest TF Red Alert
Revoltech Rodimus
BotCon 2005 "Descent into Evil" Chromia, but I'm calling her Moonracer
Energon Arcee (shut up I like the motorcycle mold)
Alternators Silverstreak, with box! Yes, I have him already, but this one hasn't had faction stickers stuck all over him by his previous owner. Actually, I think his steering wheel is on the other side, too.
- Beast Wars Silverbolt, complete but out of packaging, for Serenity
- Beast Wars Inferno, complete in box though it's been opened, for Mike
- WST Red Alert for Aniko, who refused to be online all weekend, so my brother couldn't give her the message to call me
- Robot Replicas (2007 movie) Bumblebee for Aerinity
And here are some of the pictures I took!
Animated stand-up they had right inside the dealer's room
The Animated crew, blurry. I just could not get a decent shot of them.
The voice actors - from left to right: Bumper Robinson, David Kaye, Tara Strong
Costumes - Perceptor, Wheeljack, and Ratchet, as well as a random kid holding Wheeljack's bomb
Perceptor, Dinobot, Xaaron, and Ratchet, with Spike and Sparkplug in front
Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, and Jazz
Human!Female!Barricade, Wheeljack, Ratchet, and Wheeljack again (That Barricade got kicked out of the dealer's room on account of her outfit-or-lack-thereof, apparently.)
Elita - not a good shot at all, only one I have
You can find more, better images in this thread.
These were all taken through the glass display case, and some at awkward angles, but it's the best I managed.
Legends Universe Jazz for Aniko
Universe Silverbolt
Springer and Ratbat
Universe toys, mostly Sideswipe, with Bluestreak, Ironhide, and then Galvatron behind him
Mostly Universe Ironhide
This post holds some videos from the convention.
And that... should be everything? Yay!
Though I will add that today has definitely been less fun than the weekend. I sat funny on the plane, or I did something trying to get my luggage moved around, or I don't know what, but my neck and right shoulder are blindingly painful. It hurts to move. Too bad for me, I had to go to class and take an exam.
The glasses people called. I can pick my new frames with lenses now tomorrow.
But for now, I am going to go try to beg a shoulder massage from Mom and then I might go to bed, because this took a few hours to write up and I'm tired.