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At 2:30 pm we got
our pictures taken, while the 3 voice actors were signing out Program Guides.
I stared at my program guide for a couple minutes then we were off again! We
went back to Dealer Room 1 and got one of the BotCon Exclusive Figures. It was
$46.00 (not including the sales tax). It was a repaint of Ravage and/or Transmetal
Cheetor from Beast Wars Transformers. The name on the Tech Species read “Tigertron”.
At this point I only had $1.50 left.
The figure had
an Arctic color scheme; it had white and sky blue colors. The body looked like
Cheetor’s, but the head, and the robot arms were different. The head was
cool, for you can open and close the mouth in beast AND robot mode. The actually
head, that was connected to his neck, can actually bend up and down, pretty
cool huh? His arms were pretty flexible, and attached to the palms of his hands,
were the triggers of two guns. It was similar as Night Slash Cheetor’s
weapons, only the gadget was under his upper arm and hand. His weapons, were
his tail (same weapon as Transmetal Cheetor, only in blue), and the two front
pieces (that connect to the two triggers) to form twin pistols (similar to Ravage’s
twin guns in Beast Wars)! All I can say is, this figure was one of the coolest
Transformer figures I’ve seen in my life. This
figure also came with “The Wreckers No .1” Comic! I’ve read it
about 2 times already, and boy, that’s an awesome comic!
There was also
another BotCon Exclusive figure I didn’t get, it was a repaint of the Transmetal
II Blackarachnia, the Tech Species said the name was “Arcee!?” I was
totally amazed, I didn’t understand why they picked a name for her, and
for that ravage looking toy. But the comic explains it all. Tigertron and Arcee
are part of “The Wreckers”, it’s a very interesting and great
story line.
At 2:50 pm, we
got in line waiting to enter to the Conference Room again to attend the “BW
Voice Actors Q&A”. The doors opened, we didn’t get front row seats,
but we got some that were a little farther back. It’s 3:00pm, and Garry
Chalk (Optimus Primal) comes in, and has a camera with him. He gets on stage,
and yells out “This is for my photo album, say CHEESE!” We all shouted
“Cheese”, and he thanked the crowd, and got to his seat. Then a minute
later, Scott McNeil (Rattrap, Dinobot, Waspinator, Silverbolt) comes in, and
takes his seat as well. The event begins!
It was much funnier
then the last Q&A, for Scott and Garry constantly were goofy, there was
never a boring moment at all, through out the event. People got turns, to answer
a question. It was Justin’s turn, he asked Scott McNeil if he can do his
Duo Maxwell voice (A character from Gundam Wing show), saying “The great
destroyer is back again!” Scott comments “It figures, I was in full
Beast Wars mode.”
He then yelled
out with his Dou Maxwell voice “The great destroyer is back again! But
for now, I need to get some sleep.” People were asking question after question.
Some were funny, some were serious.
Now Joshua got
a turn, he asked Scott if he can do the “Wazzup” line with all his
voices. Scott’s response was “All of them!?”, for a few seconds
he adjusts, then shouts “Wazzup” with Waspinator, Rattrap, Dinobot,
Silverbolt (from Beast Wars) and Wolverine (from X-men). Everyone cheered, it
was amazing and funny.
It was my turn.
I got up, and did my excellent Waspinator voice. I said “Waspinator say
to two flesh-bots, what do you think of Transformers?” Sorry to say, Scott
McNeil misunderstood, and thought I said “Do you like Transformers?”
So his response was “Of course we like Transformers” with a goofy/serious
tone.
There was numerous
of subjects the two voice actors were discussing. The “Coca-Cola Incident”,
a very funny and true story. It was about a incident where Garry Chalk drank
a whole can of Coke during a break and was about to do a roar sound effect.
“Instead of becoming a burp bubble, it became a foam bubble” he announced.
He described how it happened. While doing his “roar” effect, a big
thing of foam came out of his mouth, and splatter all over his microphone and
script. Then, he mistakenly breathed back in really fast, sucking all the foam
back into his mouth. Which was covered in foam. At that point his script only
had a drop of Coke on it. There was also 2 other voice actors next to him, and
he said “And all you can hear over the microphone was…EW! AAHH! Did
you see that!? Oh God! What the hell!? Yuck” and etc. Everyone cried in
laughter, including me!
At 4:00pm, time
was up. Garry and Scott left, disappointed for they were having a fun time with
the crowd, and headed towards the Autograph room. But before they left, they
did a funny routine, Scott got out a lighter, and switched it on, and used his
other hand to do the “Peace” symbol. Garry roared and yelled “We
Rule” something similar like that.
I asked Justin
if he can loan me $25, to buy this Transmetal Wal-Mart Rattrap. He agreed, and
I went to the dealer table where I spotted it. And Justin brought it for me,
how nice of him. He also got himself a Transmetal Optimus Primal as well.
We waited in line
to get into theAutograph room that was supposed to open at 4:00pm EST, but didn’t
open until 4:40 pm. We got in, and waited in line, around the same spot! Everyone
was exhausted and tired. People around us were making jokes on how tired and
how slow the line was moving, I have to admit, we weren’t very patient
either (including my brothers and my dad). But we stood in line, promising we
will get an autograph.
About 2 hours later,
we were half way down the line. The main reason behind the wait, was the people
takingpictures with Scott McNeil and Garry Chalk. Scott was very kind, he talked
to each person for about a minute or two. He isn't one of those people, who
sign your autograph and make you go. He was interested in everyone and enjoyed
chatting with his fans.
Garry was the same
way, but he did not chat as much as Scott. So from time to time, Garry got up,
and went down the line, signing people’s program guides, toys, and etc.
It was funny, seeing a big guy running up and down, signing autographs and talking
at the same time. Luckily, we got him to sign our program guides, including
Justin’s Transmetal Optimus Prime. Then we all huddled together, to get
a picture with Garry Chalk. He was a nice and cool guy to talk too.
About onehour later,
we got our program guides autographed by Scott McNeil. He was very nice and
talked to us a bit. I also got my Transmetal Wal-Mart Rattrap signed by Scott
with gold marker! We all 3 got next to Scott and got a picture taken with him.
Scott then insisted to take another one just in case the last one didn’t
come out. So we got another picture with him. We thanked him, and left the room.
It’s around
7:30 pm, we planned to go into the video room earlier that day, and watch a
few episodes of Beast Wars Transformers on the big screen. But our feet were
aching and we were all tired waiting in line for 3 hours for the “BW Voice
Actors” Autograph Session. So we just walked around a little more, and
left the Civic Center.
This was certainly
without a doubt, an awesome experience! I got to meet 3 G1 and 2 BW voice actors.
I admired and had always wanted to meet them in person. I got some classic Transformers,
autographs, and was to talk to the voice actors. I also conversed with other
Transformers fans. I had wonderful time.
BotCon, a Transformer’s
Paradise or Trans-Topia. A place where you do not feel alone, a place where
you feel like ONE with everyone. When you enter the doors of BotCon, you get
an exciting, Transformer sensation that will stay within you through out your
entire life. Like they say “Till All Are One”!"
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