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BotCon Europe MMII

By Matt Marshall, Guest Writer

This year marked what can only be described as the dawning of a new age of Transfandom in the UK, with two major conventions - Transforce, held in the Summer, and Botcon MMII in November, otherwise known as Botcon Europe. Expectations were high, and the eyes of the worldwide community were on the event, especially since it boasted both an expansion of Botcon as a whole, but also an exclusive toy. But did it live up to the hype?

The event took place in Wolsey Hall, Cheshunt, around thirty minutes from London via train, though it seems that British Rail were doing everything in their power to stop anyone getting there. Pre-Registrants were allowed in at 11:00am, although non-registrants who were queuing in the cold were allowed in at the same time, albeit in a different queue. The organizers even played games of scissor-paper-stone with those queuing, free Armada toys being the prizes.

The first disappointment of course, was that the exclusive toy, a silver/grey and blue Windcharger called 'Rook', wasn't ready in time. In conversation with a member of Offworld (joint organizers with 3H) it seemed that this was due to Hasbro UK for some reason. All preregistrants who ordered the toys were given Tap-Out, as well as a coupon which meant that the Rooks would be sent to them, within a few weeks or at least by Christmas.

The art print, a preview from the Genesis Art book, was limited to 600, and depicted Mirage and Jazz, though there were still quite a few by the end of the Convention. The attendance seemed pretty good though, more than Transforce at a glance, with two rooms and the main hall for dealers.

Hasbro UK failed to attend. Given the problems with Rook, and their poor handling of the RiD line in the UK, this could be seen as an attempt to evade the harsh criticism which a great percentage of the UK fandom was looking forward to leveling at them, or perhaps just a lack of interest. This was a shame, since the sheer energy of this convention showed a massive support for the brand.

A lot of this energy came from Wankus and Neil Kaplan, voices of Transformers: Robots in Disguise ("RiD") Prowl and Prime respectively. They mingled with the crowd as much as possible, making friendly conversation, and when it was time for their panel, they had great fun with the audience (who took a bit of time to warm up to the idea of 'asking questions'), relating anecdotes about voice-acting in general, as well as their views on Armada. (Neil even admitting the series was becoming better, though still not as good as RiD, to the general consensus of the audience). They also spent a great deal of time with each person in the autograph queue, showing them to be guests who truly care about the fans.

The dealers were plentiful, with cheap Japanese items and the McDonalds Armada figures being some of the highlights. Though there was a massive volume of attendees, some dealers were complaining of low sales. Some rare items and prototypes were also on display. And some Gobots.

The second and last panel of the day was with Simon Furman, mainstay of any Transformers convention. One of the first questions put to him was whether Ramjet would appear in the Transformers: The War Within comic, to which the answer was "No." An angry Ramjet then marched up to the aisle and shook his fist at the writer. Silly Ramjet. Furman did, however hint that later issues of The War Within would make some references to Head/Targetmasters.

Details on the new UK Transformers: Armada comic were kept mostly under wraps for legal reasons, although he was able to reveal that he had already written the first script for the first comic, which will be 14 pages long. The first two issues will be a retelling of the basic premise with it then taking a different direction to the US comic and cartoon. Perhaps surprisingly, reflecting the format of the later UK comics, the 14 pages will be split into a lead and backing story, and will concentrate on smaller characters as well as the main ones. No artists have yet been confirmed, although old UK favorites have been talked to.

Forthcoming Titan TPBs were also discussed. Transformers: Fallen Angel is to be released this month, with Legacy of Unicron (containing "Headhunt", "Legacy of Unicron", and the two-part Seacon tale that directly follows included). Then comes Space Pirates, and Time Wars. The last one to be planned so far is City of Fear, which will include that story, as well as other Cybertron-themed tales.

Glen Hallit was also on hand to talk about Botcon related issues. Next year's Botcon Europe will be a weekend affair, with its own comic and toy. The toy is said to be a 'proper' (ie non-keychain) one and will tie into the comic, which will be a spin-off of the Botcon US story. Those in the UK will also be able to buy Botcon US exclusives in much the same way that those in America were able to buy the UK exclusives. The idea of holding the convention in a country in mainland Europe, such as Germany, was one Glen was considering.

The "Cryotek Chronicles" were also mentioned, possibly as the UK serial-fiction, with ideas such as an online audio journal.

He also talked about the future of Botcon US, and some innovative ideas being tried out, namely a convention within the convention especially for families and children. He also wanted to 'nail the G1 cult' with future exclusives, catering more for hardcore G1 fans, with a focus on the hardcore collector, but not wanting to forget any other aspect - indeed, he stated that each era should be represented by at least one exclusive or guest (and don't worry kids, he expressed his wish to focus on Beast Wars, too).

After a charity auction in which even the name holders of the guests were auctioned off (Wankus' came with a piece of toilet paper on which he had scrawled a slightly insulting note to Simon Furman), the convention came to a close, which was a shame, since it had honestly been a great experience. Neil and Wankus did everything they could to help out, taking time to have photos taken with those leaving, and going along with all sorts of requests. Though there wasn't a massive amount to do, those two helped the convention immensely. One hopes that next convention will have more time for more events and hopefully more guests.

Botcon Europe has proved that the future of the convention is in steady hands, and with things moving to a weekend next year, a move that will surely encourage more to make the effort to turn up, it can only get better.

Want even more pictures? Check out ASM's BotCon Europe Gallery.

Matt Marshall is the genius (or crackpot) behind Hot Shot's fascination with jAm. Read all about it at http://www.jagaroth.freeserve.co.uk. (Warning! Slight mature content. ASM is not responsible for content of offsite websites.) He also invites you to visit Transmasters UK at http://www.warwithoutend.com.

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