BotCon 2007
From Transformers Wiki
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 Who could this mysterious black figure be? | |||||||
| Date | June 27, 2007 | ||||||
| City | Providence, RI | ||||||
| Venue | Rhode Island Convention Center | ||||||
BotCon 2007: 'Til All Are One was the Official Transformers Convention in 2007, run by Fun Publications. It was held in Providence, Rhode Island from June 27 to July 1, although only the last two days were open to the general public.
Fun Publications had previously held its conventions in the early fall; however, the date was moved up to coincide with the release of the live-action Transformers movie.
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Venue
Botcon 2007 was held at the Rhode Island Convention Center in Providence, Rhode Island, from June 28 through July 1. The RICC is attached to a Westin hotel, the first of four downtown Providence hotels to have blocks booked for the convention by Fun Publications. Convenient sky bridges connect the hotel to the convention center, ensuring that attendees never had to actually set foot outside during the weekend. Granted, doing so risked instant death beneath the wheels of rushing cars on the freeway-like street crossed by the sky bridge.
The convention center is also attached to Providence Place Mall, which features a sixteen screen multiplex theatre and a Hot Topic that was totally sold out of Barricade clothing by Friday morning.
The mall's slogan is "DEFINING YOU". Up yours, Providence Place Mall.
Merchandise
Convention-exclusive toys
| Convention Box Set ($279, bagged $179) | Attendee-Only Bonus Toy | Convention Souvenir 2-Packs
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Other Merchandise
- A pitcher bearing the BotCon 2007 logo with a light-up (red) base.
- A mug bearing the same logo and light-up base.
- A ball cap bearing the same logo.
- A T-shirt with the "Games of Deception" box graphics.
- A Classics-themed lithograph by Don Figueroa.
- A fan-produced Vector Sigma set including stand and Key by the Lukis Bros at Unicron.com
- Four different keycards were given out to those staying in one of the four official hotels. Each bore an image of a different Movie character: Optimus Prime (Biltmore), Megatron (Marriot Courtyard), Starscream (Hilton), or Bumblebee (Westin). Although not sold at the convention itself, each card was available as a "bonus" with specific convention packages available through the Club Store. Remaining cards were sold as a set for $5 at BotCon 2008 at the Club table.
Fiction
- Convention Comic: "Games of Deception" - A comic drawn by Alex Milne and written by Forest Lee, set in the Club Comic Classics universe. The comic was also available with an alternate cover and several pages of bonus content at the Club table.
Guests
Hasbro employees
Because of the convention's intentional proximity to Hasbro's corporate headquarters in Pawtucket, RI, almost all current Hasbro employees that work on the Transformers brand made an appearance at the convention.
- Brian Goldner, Chief Operating Officer
- Vickie Stratford, Sr. Design Project Manager (Boy's Toys)
- Joe Kyde, Designer (Boy's Toys, Exclusive Division)
Transformers brand
- Greg Lombardo, Sr.Director of Marketing
- Aaron Archer, Sr. Design Director
- Eric Siebenaler, Lead Designer
- Jared Wade, Design Director
- William Rawley, Sr. Designer
Movie staff
- Peter Cullen, voice of characters including Optimus Prime & Ironhide in the original The Transformers cartoon and Optimus Prime in the upcoming film, made an appearance at the convention, signing autographs and hosting a panel.
- Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, the writers of the screenplay for the movie, had several panels over the course of the weekend.
- Rachael Taylor and Tyrese Gibson made an appearance at the movie screening. They and Brian Goldner were actually attending a charity screening of the movie next door to benefit the Rhode Island Community Food Bank, the Autism Project of Rhode Island, Adoption Rhode Island, and Hasbro Children's Hospital.[1]
Other actors
- David Kaye, recently announced as the voice of Optimus Prime for Transformers Animated. Yessss...
- Daniel Ross, voice of Starscream in all versions of Transformers The Game and Mixmaster and Hound in the PSP version of Transformers The Game.
Musicians
- Stan Bush, performer of 'Dare', 'The Touch', 'Ground Zero', and 'Till All Are One (Transformers Theme)' (BotCon 2007's theme song), attended the con, performing a concert at the Saturday dinner, giving a panel, and playing Guitar Hero for the first time at an attendee's party.
- Ernie Petrangelo, lead songwriter of N.R.G. (the performers of 'Instruments of Destruction' from the 1986 animated film's soundtrack. Petrangelo was scheduled to be at the convention to sign autographs, but did not show as he was informed of the wrong day and actually turned up on the Wednesday pre-registration, spending the day trying to find Brian Savage).
Comics and art
- IDW Publishing editor Dan Taylor
- IDW artist/writer Nick Roche
- IDW artist Alex Milne
- IDW artist Robby Musso
Government
Some representatives of Sector Seven were in attendance at the convention, attempting to dispel the notion of the existence of NBEs through presentations in the Sector Seven Mobile Command Unit.
Events
Wednesday
The only two events on Wednesday were open to a limited (first-come, first-served) number of pre-registrants.
- A customization class featuring the creation of Overkill from the Classics Grimlock mold.
- A tour of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Cape Cod followed by a whale-watching cruise in Hyannis, MA.
Thursday
Thursday was the day when the majority of preregistrants arrived. Events on Thursday included...
- A second customization class nearly identical to the Wednesday class.
- A 3D Display class.
- The Newport Tour.
- A special early screening of the 2007 Transformers movie. Hasbro alpha dog and executive producer Brian Goldner brought two stars of the film, but was unable to introduce Rachel Taylor before the audience started screaming for Tyrese to bring something.
Friday
Friday was the first full day of the convention for most participants.
Major events included...
- Hasbro Tour.
- Several David Kaye panels.
- A Stan Bush panel.
- A panel with the screenwriters of the movie.
- The Board Wars preliminary round.
- Autograph sessions.
- MSTF.
In addition, the sales room was open from 4 to 7 PM.
Saturday
A big day. Events included...
- An Attacktix Tournament.
- The Board Wars finals, which Team Transformers Wiki won.
- Autograph sessions, including Peter Cullen this time.
- Another panel with the movie screenwriters.
- A panel where Hasbro discussed their involvement with the development of the movie and accompanying merchandise.
- Lessons on how to draw Transformers.
- A panel with Activision, publishers of Transformers The Game.
- A panel with IDW Publishing.
- A panel with Peter Cullen.
- Another panel with David Kaye.
- A collector's club roundtable.
- An awards show dinner/Stan Bush concert.
- Optimus Prime showed up and hung out next to the Sector Seven Mobile Command Unit.
Additionally, the dealer's room was open until 5PM.
Sunday
All of the panels on this final day of BotCon were repeats of those held earlier in the weekend, with one significant exception:
- Hasbro upcoming product panel, which premiered both the AllSpark Power wave of movie toys, and the character designs, animation clips, and toys of the Transformers Animated series.
The dealer room was open until 3:30PM.
