June 2009 Archives
It just kind of went on and on and on and then just rather abruptly ended like with unfulfilling orgasm.
And the thing is... through it all... I can never ever shake the feeling of the director's contempt for his audience and the subject matter.
I met Paul, aka diablien, briefly outside of the hotel at Botcon 2008 in Cincinnati last year.
His company, RIPT Apparel, is doing a bunch of robot shirts next week.
Starting at 12:01 a.m. C.S.T. on Monday June 22nd and ending at midnight on Friday night June 25th, RIPT Apparel will feature five days of robot-themed graphic tees forged by some of today's most followed t-shirt artists on the internet. Robot Week will kick off with Robot Week's first shirt, created by TeeInvaders.com curator Wotto.
Check 'em out tomorrow!
Um... so according to Michael Bay she'll appear quickly and get killed off.
Anybody wanna wager she's got less then 3 lines of dialog in the whole thing?
So over dinner last night Jay mentioned that he never saw the first Transformers movie.
We ended up putting it in when we got back to the house and suffered through it once again.
Yup. I do believe it actually gets worse upon repeated viewing.
However, I did realize I'd rather have had a lot more of a drunk and buzzed Mrs. Witwicky than anything else.
I do believe that this may be the most mediocre Botcon set I've had the unfortunate displeasure in buying.
I don't care about a single figure here at all.
I've always hated G1 Scourge so even birthing this one... even with a new head... means nothing to me.
Back in the box they go.
Thankfully, Evebird bought the loose set I accidentally ordered. That's primer and paint for the garage repairs I'm doing.
So yeah.
If you hadn't noticed I acquired 4 more Holy Grail pieces at Botcon.
The Jusco Spychangers have been on my wish list for close to 7 or so years now.
Kinda blows my mind that I got Eagle Killer way back in October 2006 and yet it has taken me so many years to get the others.
And yet... I still need one more... Counter Arrow... to complete the set.
And some how I ended up buying two Artfires from the one guy.
I totally did not know they remolded Leobreaker's head for this exclusive until I opened him.
Damn! I love it!
I had already bought the Hasbro one but man... I'm loving this one a lot better.
The colors are more intense.
I have never found the Hasbro individually packed Beachcomber. I'm kinda glad I didn't.
He came in a Henkei Legends 3-pack and his colors just "pop".
He's an awesome little figure!
While I thought it was kind of cute when I saw it in German and didn't know what was being said I can't say the same thing now that I see it in English.
Does he really have to throw out the "bitches"?
I mean... yeah... I know... big summer movie and all... but it is still a children's property and it is aimed at kids.
I was kind of shocked at the Joe Pesci knock-off voice too.
I wish Wheelie had called Carly Mikaela a hot piece of ass or something. That would have been about right for a Bay film.
Now I mentioned before I was smoking cigars on Friday.
Ugh!
Being nicotine free for so many years and then deluging myself, even with cigars, make Saturday morning a horrid thing.
It wasn't that I was hung over or anything but I had inhaled a bit more than I planned it just ripped up my guts. (My lungs seemed to be ok... well... except for the future cancer and all.)
Giga was out doing all kinds of alumni stuff on Friday and Saturday so I was solo.
Paul and Rob (I think I got that right) came into the Camille's where I was recovering and I ended up walking back to the con with them.
Let's just say the walk-in traffic was massive. It was a steamy room of geeks, nerds, kids, nerd girls, and all other kinds of bad crazy shit.
Honestly, it was great to see so many kids there! So many TF geeks forget that these are toys for kids. And to see kids totally going apeshit over people in costume was just great.
Friday morning was spent driving out of Pasadena to nearby Monrovia (I think) for breakfast with Teresa and Colin. Teresa grew up in these haunts and took us to Mimi's Cafe, and odd mix of upscale restaurant, diner, and Denny's.
No doubt she'd have been a far better tour guide of the area than Captain Obvious from the previous day.
Friday was pretty much the day I did most Botconny things.
Waited in line with Woozy and sorta kinda met a few new people. I hate the fact that my intrinsic Polish introversion prevents me from introducing myself to more people. Now I'm fairly certain Joevill was sitting next to me assisting in picking on Woozles. And I think the other guy was Demonicfly from the TFClub boards. (Picking on Woozy is also an enjoyable waiting-in-line Botcon past time.)
I spent a couple of hours wandering the Room Of Money Wasting.
Tom's awesome Optimus Presley should have won in the one art contest. My photos don't do the center Optimus justice.
The LED sign also took it too 11.
It was great to finally have new dealers. There were a ton of dealers that I've never seen before. Yeah, there's only so many people into this thing of ours but it gets old and somewhat predictable with many of the others. Especially if you are a major online robot crack store. I mean, for my own problem, I'd likely have already bought from them online.
If you want to see why he's the greatest Transformers blogger of all-time, and if you want to get a completely different and original take on Botcon from what you'll find in my experience or with the Message Board peoples, please visit the Roboplastic Apocalypse.
He has actual real toy robot related content that is always of the highest calibre!
He's good people.
Day 1 - Italian and Line Waiting
So I arrived in Pasadena on Wednesday afternoon. One of Giga's radio peeps was nice enough to pick us up from the Bob Hope Airport.
We had quite a decent Italian dinner with SpectroScott and NeoSpark.
Thankfully, we were able to register that night and grab our shit. Why they can't even reduce the next day's lines even more by letting us by the add-ons right then and there is utterly beyond me.
Then again... nothing really ever improves with Botcon. The same old problems are carried over from year to year. FP doesn't sink any extra money into infrastructure or anything. At least if they do, it sure isn't noticeable. Could a couple of extra phone lines for credit cards really hurt your bottom line that much?!?!
Back from Pasadena.
Not much in the way of photos. Why take photos of the same old shit a thousand other people are taking photos of and posting on the internets.
And honestly, seeing my friends was the only great thing and pretty much the only reason I come to this any more.
Briefly spoke with the Crazy Steve one day.
Met a great couple from northern California.
Met and briefly hung out with some Non-Greater Cowland Yet Still Cowlanders from Indianer.
Suffered through a Hollywood tour that was just plain boring and awful.
Ate great sushi.
Had a great time at the Paramount Party with everybody but had to deal with the dated melodic stylings of Stan Bush. I think he played the same song like 10 times.
Based on the fact that nobody I know, including myself, could sell off our Botcon 09 sets, I'd have to say that the generally feeling I got was that it was a massive dud. Some of the add-ons being the only thing of real value and want.
All I really bought was the Henkei Thrust and Dirge since I got 'em both for $120. I managed to find a few of the JUSCO exclusive candy-colored Car Robots Spychangers.
That's about it.
If anybody wants a 2009 Boxed Set for $295 + shipping let me know. That's what I paid for it. And also, I sent in the wrong form and it was the one with the f'n loose set on it. If anybody wants a loose set I have one for $190 + shipping.
I had to ship all the shit to Cowtown so it will be here later this week.