BotCon 2007

BotCon 2007 was the Official Transformers Convention in 2007, run by Fun Publications. It was held in Providence, Rhode Island from June 27 to July 1, though only the last two days were open to the general public.

Venue

Providence Place mall

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. The Westin is 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

No, seriously.

Vast quantities of exclusive merchandise was debuted at BotCon 2007, in addition to "exclusive" merchandise from previous Transformers conventions and FunPub-run G.I. Joe conventions.

Convention-exclusive toys

• Convention Box Set - This set of five toys was only available to those who registered for either the 'Primus Package' or the non-attendee 'Iacon Package.' The set also included a badge, the Convention Comic, bio cards, and for the first 300 registrants, an exclusive Bug Bite pin. This set sold out (both boxed and bagged versions) well in advance of the convention.

• Bug Bite - A Black and white redeco of Classics Bumblebee with a purple tribal tattoo-style design on it.

• Dreadwind - A white and purple redeco of Classics Jetfire with a remolded head.

• Thundercracker - A redeco of Classics Starscream that replicates G1 Thundercracker's deco.

• Dirge - A redeco of Classics Ramjet that replicates G1 Dirge's deco.

• Thrust - A retool of both sets of wings on the Classics Seeker mold, with the rest of the mold's configuration retaining elements from both Starscream and Ramjet. The deco replicates G1 Thrust's deco.

• Attendee-Only Bonus Toy - Mirage, an unpainted version of Classics Mirage with mostly translucent blue plastic, was provided as a bonus to those who picked up their 'Primus Package' box set in person.

• Convention Souvenir 2-Packs - Two sets of two bagged toys, with only 1,400 produced of each set.

• Alpha Trion and Weirdwolf - A purple, red, and white redeco of Vector Prime with a remolded head, and Cybertron Snarl redecoed to look like Weirdwolf.

• Springer and Huffer - Redecoes of Cybertron Defense Hot Shot and Armorhide, done to look like Springer and Huffer, respectively. Springer was singled out by Brian Savage for having an unusually high number of paint apps, even for a convention exclusive.

Comics

• Convention Comic: Games of Deception - A comic drawn by Alex Milne and written by Forest Lee, set in the Club Comic Classics universe.

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, President Toy
• Vickie Stratford, Design Project Manager (Boy's Toys)
• Joe Kyde, Designer (Boy's Toys, Exclusive Division)

Transformers

• Greg Lombardo, Director of Marketing
• Aaron Archer, Design Director
• Eric Siebenaler, Lead Designer
• Jared Wade, Designer
• William Rawley, Designer

Movie Staff

• Peter Cullen, voice of Optimus Prime both in the G1 Cartoon and the upcoming film, made an appearance at the convention, signing autographs and hosting a panel.

• Bob 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

Additionally, Daniel Ross, long-time fan and voice of Starscream in all version of Transformers The Game and as Mixmaster and Hound in the PSP version of Transformers The Game was there.

Other Actors

• David Kaye, recently announced as the voice of Optimus Prime for Transformers Animated. Yessss...

Musicians

• Stan Bush, performer of 'Dare', 'The Touch', 'Ground Zero', and 'Till All Are One', 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 editor Dan Taylor.
• IDW artist/writer Nick Roche.
• IDW artist Alex Milne.
• IDW artist Robby Musso.

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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

FunPub scheduled a large number of events to take place over the course of the convention to keep attendees entertained and informed.

Thursday

Thursday was the day when the majority of preregistrants arrived. Events on Thursday included...

• A customization class featuring the creation of Overkill from the Classics Grimlock mold.

• A 3D Display class.

• The Newport Tour.

• A special early screening of the Transformers 2007 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, makers 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.