Another weekend, another convention.  This time it was for BotCon 09, the official Transformers convention held in Pasadena, CA.  This was my first BotCon experience and I really enjoyed it.

John Spartan assembling Optimus in the car.

Saturday:

We arrived at the Pasadena Convention Center around 1:30 and grabbed a quick bite at Rubio’s Mexican Grill across the street (the taco burger was great). As we were heading back to the convention, we noticed several Transformer’s standees in the shopping center. We took a picture with the standees and a Hasbro employee gave us a Decepticon promo piece that we can trade for a toy inside the convention. The line for the tickets was about an hour long, but one guy sold us his tickets since his friends didn’t arrive.  That saved us time.

We got inside the exhibit hall around 2:30. First thing I noticed was the amount of people inside.  It was really crowded and every time you took a step, you bumped shoulders with your fellow nerds. It took us about an hour to go through the hall.  Hasbro’s booth was the highlight. They displayed the current Transformer line, as well as some figures that will be released soon. They also had activities for kids including Transformers tattoos and a play area complete with dioramas from the movies.

Our free toys!

We exchanged our Decepticon papers and got a couple of Robot Heroes figure. I got the last two-pack. Afterwards, they were giving the figures away individually. Hasbro was nice and even let us exchanged a figure since we got a duplicate. They did an amazing job with the event.

Devastator

Jetfire

We go outside the hall and check out the program for the rest of the day. We were still in time for Peter Cullen (voice of Optimus Prime) at 4pm but we needed a special ticket so we couldn’t get in.  We went back to the exhibit room and walked some more. John Spartan bought a couple of Transformers shirts, while I got a Mighty Muggs Starscream for $15.

Lolita Bot

Jordan as Optimus

We encountered plenty of hardcore fans, some dressed up as lolita Transformers.  Kind of weird but creative at the same time, I like it.  The best costume was a Bumblebee and it looked like some parts were real metal.  Kind of dangerous for a con but it looked cool. There were several G.I. Joe cosplayers as well.

One of the G.I. Joe cosplayers

Checked out some custom figures and the Optimus Prime by Daisuke impressed the hell out of us.  It must have been at least 2 feet tall and it can fully transform. It also has functional lights. It took him 5 months building the figure.

Daisuke with Prime

Sunday:

Hoping to get some good deals, we come back to the last day of the convention. Nothing much happened, except the fact that we met Stan “You Got The Touch” Bush. Very nice guy and we thanked him for making the Transformers Animated Movie soundtrack so memorable.  He also said he performed at the Paramount Studios Party the previous night. I  also overheard some people say that Michael Bay, Tyrese, Weird Al, Peter Cullen and other celebs were there. For an extra $50, that would have been worth it. We also found out that Daisuke won 1st place for his Optimus. Well deserved!

Stan Bush!

Bought a couple of Revoltech figs, Starscream for $15 and Evangelion for $10.  None of the sellers wanted to get rid of their items for a discount so I didn’t spend too much. As we were leaving, we got our bad ass tattoos from the Hasbro booth. Took a couple more pics in the lobby and called it  a day.

Shades and fake tattoos = Cool!

With our tattoo artists

Now I’m more hyped up for Transformers 2!

You can check more pictures in our photo gallery.

We come in peace!

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