BotCon from Down Under
(griffin's 2007 BotCon report)
This was the queue to Dealer room an hour before it opened on the Friday
'Pre-reg only' day.
Entrance to Dealer room.
Optimus Statue in front of the Hasbro exhibit and display.
Stan Bush's table.
IDW comics table.
Activision game station.
Gamer Graffix - sells themed skins for a select number of game consoles
and gamepads.
DK Books Table. (mountains of toys in the background)
Club Store inside the Dealer room.
Dealer room from the back corner.
Looking across from the Art Contest end.
Another shot from nearby, with the giant Optimus looming over all.
Looking across from the other side.
Takara Hot Rod Statue (someone brought to display in the dealer room)
This was the first year since I took a camera to BotCon that I didn't get time to take a 'panoramic' montage of the Dealer Room. It's something I like to do for other fans to get a better idea of the sheer size of the Dealer Room and all the stuff being sold. (yes, I was really annoyed that I forgot)
The Hasbro shop was selling it's exclusive of the Pepsi Prime (previously
was an exclusive to the US Pepsi competition), and in the photo below,
you can see they had hundreds piled up out the front, and behind the curtains
were hundreds more. I would have checked on the Sunday how many they
ended up selling, but was too busy. And yes, Pepsi Prime was neutered.
The smoke stacks were cut to the height of the cab.
The view of Optimus Prime facing off with Sector 7. Photo is from TFW2005
website.
This photo is also from the TFW2005 website. The Sector 7 Truck
was a mobile promotional tour of the Movie around America, stopping in
cities all over the place in the weeks leading up to the movie. It
was basically a performance put on by some people dressed as Sector 7 agents,
who lead a group of 10-20 people at a time, inside the truck. Once inside,
they start to talk about Sector 7 but are quickly interrupted by an 'emergency
transmission'. The transmission itself (shown on a couple of screens)
is the entire 10 odd minute scene from the movie which has Scorponok attacking
the soldiers, and then defeated by the airstrikes. I was surprised
that they showed so much as a 'teaser'.
And Optimus Prime himself, or at least as real as a Transformers character
will ever get for us transfans. The two photos below of Optimus is
from Legham. My photos were taken on the Friday (less people), and
I went back on the Sunday to get a really close look and feel of Optimus
Prime. I can't explain how it felt, to be able to feel the texture
of what is essentially one of only a few physically existing Transformers.
This was like when you're a kid during Gen1, and you dream about meeting
real Transformers. For me, this felt like that dream. It might only
be a truck, but it is the essense and icon of a Transformer - The Optimus
Prime.
Me in front of Optimus.
And Ian sitting on Optimus.
These were two mini-posters given out by the Sector 7 people on the
2nd level, and at the Saturday Night Party.
Below is a photo of Legham/Liam getting his Optimus Prime Toy signed by Peter Cullen. Photo is his.
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