[BC99][Review] Art room; Fanzine, Actor, 3H panels (long)
Phillip Thorne
or the Display Room, or the 3H Panel. Goody, I still have
contributions to make! I *tried* posting a review of Day 1 on Saturday
night, via DejaNews on a CyberBooth in the Mall of America (what? the
St.Paul public library had free access? shoulda examined the place
more closely), but it seems not to have made it to rttm.
Note that I use David Brin's "Uplift" abbreviations for male and
female, "mel" and "fem." No discourtesy or derision is implied. My
apologies that I didn't catch all the names, or distinctions between
names-of-organizations and titles-of-zines. Zathras not good with
names -- or I might have been distracted by the hobby knife being
wielded by the guy next to me, trimming the moldflash from the parts
of his OpPrime-with-Matrix model.
Alright now, from my handwritten notes (not as fancy as Chris "Mako"
"Robotech_Master" Meadow's recorder -- yeah, we're all *sure* those
are just *perfectly normal* Terran-manufactured plastic
*non*transforming microcassettes in there, mm-hmm -- but they
serve)...
SCHEDULE
Saturday
10:00 - Panel room mistakenly screens BW "Master Blaster" to
"Nemesis 2" rather than "Agenda 1" etc.
12:00 - Panel, fan #1
13:00 - Panel, Hasbro (?)
and Mainframe (Asaph "Ace" Fipke)
plus "Beast Machines" ep1
15:00 - Misc Video Showcase of works by JB and SM
17:00 - Panel, fan #2
Sunday
10:00 - MST3K with BW:"Dark Voyage", "Fire on the Mountain",
"The God Gambit" and "Carnage in C-Minor"
12:00 - Panel, Jim Byrnes (Inferno)
and Scott McNeil (Dinobot,Rattrap,Silverbolt,Waspinator)
13:00 - TFTM
14:30 - Panel, 3H/debrief/gripes
16:00 - Music videos (4)
DISPLAY ROOM
This served for both fan art (contest and auction) and toys. It was
two segments of the windowside of RiverCentre, with lots of natural
light. The folding partitions were carpeted, but not padded; no good
for thumbtacks. (One enterprising fem managed to hang a quilt/tapestry
by weaving paperclips into the pile, however.) Display space consisted
of folding tables and a few easels; thus, most of the 2D art was lying
flat, with the name/title tags especially difficult to read. (Warning
to future artists: bring your own self-supporting display devices.)
A partial list of entries:
Dioramas: Blackarachnia in a box. Polar Claw buried in the sand being
menaced by Megarex.
3D: Some repaints of oversized Aerialbot knockoffs. Repainted
Powerpinch. An original non-transforming horseshoe crab figure.
"Yarnmasters" of Skyfire, Blitzwing, Chromia/car. Omnicrom and that
huge blue Scorponok kitbash from Rugby's Starbase. My own papier-mache
_Nemesis_. Some candles with 'Bot and 'Con sigils. Some female
Autobots rendered in lumpy plasticine.
2D color: Depthcharge as "Holy Diver" (winner). Illustrations for the
fanfic "Maelstrom." "Megatron Technical Readout" (Megarex
cross-section) Various comic covers and SD (superdeformed, i.e.
big-headed) figures. Scourge and Cillacon's Jettara-the-female-Sweep.
2D B&W: "Surrounded" (winner). A bunch of fanfic illos for some
crossover involving Disney's "Gargoyles" and a cat.
Computer-generated or -aided: "Decepticon Group shot" and several fan
characters, all by someone - X? Xiphos?
The boxed/blistered toys included:
* 23 boxed Japanese BW items (including the penguin and ammonite)
* 4 TM2s (Scarem, Sonar, Optimus Minor, Nightglider)
* 7 deluxe TM2s (Iguanus, Scourge, Cheetor, Dinobot, Ramulus,
Jawbreaker, Prowl)
* 5 boxed TM2s (Stinkbomb, Spittor, Cybershark, Megatron(dragon),
Tigerhawk)
* Deluxe Rhinox and Cheetor
* Walmart blue TM Rattrap
FAN PANEL #1: FANZINES
The panel consisted of eight publishers (5 mel, 3 fem) of hardcopy
fanzines. Like 3H, these people do it as a labor of love, and even
with the seemingly-steep cover prices they often publish at a loss.
Several of them seek to heal the rift between hardcopy/snailmail and
'net fandom (netsplit!)
Mel (Tony? Tim?), _Transmasters_ (6th year) and _Teletran_ (50pp story
zine). $1 us, $1.25 ca, $1.75 else. Communicated with Hasbro in 1991
about copyright permissions, which they were happy to grant because
he's nonprofit; however, recent contacts indicate whoever's in Legal
now hasn't heard of him or the issue. Related to the UK Transmasters
group, which has its own post-G2 continuity.
Fem (Jettara? Marg Davis?) from Ontario: "Silicon Graphics," a
nonprofit org dedicated to saving Transformers. _Silicon_ -- no, wait,
it's spelled _Cillacon_ -- has been published since 1992 from a
*typewriter*. _Cillacon #15_ was published 6 months ago. Contains
stories from all continuities. $6 with B&W cover, $8 with color. Also
published _Beastwars Bloodlines_, a timeline for BW. Spoke with Venus
Terzo, who agreed the series needed more fem characters. See
www.geocities.com/Area51/Shadowlands/2487/.
Mel: Third editor of _Balance of Power_, fanfic set subsequent to the
US comic continuity. Free copies in dealers' room; otherwise bimonthly
$3.25 us, $4.00 else. Also tries to track all the TF-related print
media, past and present.
Heather Feldman -- produces a B&W comic based on a 3000-page,
3-megayear plotline that is her attempt to resolve the plotholes of
the G1 cartoon (post-"Return of Optimus Prime", sans "Rebirth"). The
fixes often require graphic violence, so it's an "18+" title. Some
examples in the display room. Price varies with size of issue.
Austin Welch of southern California, for 7-8 years publishing
_Somewhere in Time_, a "Back to the Future"/TF crossover featuring the
DeLorean as a TF. Continuity is cartoon, post-"Rebirth", but with
elemnts of the comic plus own innovations. Is assembling a comic
version now (B&W, maybe some comic inserts). He writes the story, and
two Texan fems help; one as copyeditor, the other as artist (Sarah
Tannenbaum, now at artschool and rapidly improving). He tries for the
feel of the early episodes and metal toys, but has added various
*masters. The tone is lighter than other zines; he looks for the humor
amidst the violence of war. Has taken the advice of H.Feldman, so his
comic layout is rather like hers. Plans to eventually have a website
and perhaps an interactive forum. Has planned a 2-hour soundtrack, is
working on lyrics. First/teaser issue is free+postage, but future
issues will be $3-4.
Matt Swenson, _TransNet_. Collects/summarizes info from the 'net for
the 'netless. Bimonthly. $1.50 us, $1.75 ca, $1.95 else. Also
_TransSpoof_, a $2 B&W comic published annually for BotCon.
Sharon and Darren. _Voices of Cybertron_, a one-shot >60pp (30 as
graphic novel) full of interviews and details. Interviewed Robert
Stack (now >80y old) and reproduced his signature. Got Leonard Nimoy
to admit at a Trek convention his TFTM role. 4pp interview with Ed
Fruge, music supervisor for TFTM, who's still in contact with Vince
DiCola; he thinks BotCon is neat but has never had the time to attend,
and approves of S&D's work. Complete voicelist for TFTM. Should be
available around 1 September, $13-$16 including postage.
FAN PANEL #2: MUSHES AND DECEPTICONS
I skipped the afternoon in favor of visiting the Mall of America, with
Rainforest Cafe (too noisy; I prefer Cafe Odyssey) and Underwater
World.
GUEST PANEL #2: JIM BYRNE AND SCOTT McNEIL
Due to the vagaries and conflicts in actors' schedules, the entire
cast is rarely in the recording booth at once. But when they are, look
out. "Recording sessions are a lot like being in the third and fourth
grade," says JB. "It's the creme-de-la-creme of the class clown
crowd," adds SM.
With four characters, does SM ever get confused in the morning?
"All... the... time." he agrees. "The other actors are going, 'Oh god,
it's one of those long Rattrap-Dinobot scenes. We're outta here'."
How might you become a voice actor? SM is adamant that *acting* is
primary; his own training was in theatre. "Fundamentally, it's all
about the acting [...] if you can't create a real character, all
you've got is a funny voice." He also insists that a car is essential.
It doesn't have to *run*; but he invents all *his* voice effects while
sitting in it. You can imagine how this might look, thus: "I *always*
get to use the carpool lane, whether I have passengers or not."
Voiceacting is also about combinatorics: two pitches, plus two
orthogonal effects, make eight voices.
Both are very complimentary of Susan Blu's skills as voice director,
and of the maturity (not written just for kids, respect the audience)
of the BW scripts. JB reluctantly admits he's never seen an episode of
BW, and only two of "Highlander" (on which he plays Joe Dawson,
Watcher of Duncan MacLeod). SM follows up: "It's confession time - I
have never seen the original Transformers [...] well, our stock just
went down."
How'd JB get into acting? The day before he started highschool, he
broke his arm playing football. Since he couldn't engage in sports, he
joined the theatre club. "That's when he discovered," jokes SM, "there
were a lot more girls in the drama club."
Alas, no; it was an all-boy Jesuit highschool. After that was summer
theatre and so forth. One year the class was taken to Broadway to see
"Dylan," which featured Alec Guiness (old Obi-Wan Kenobi) saying "I
want to be the drunkest man in the world!" It was than that JB turned
to his teacher and said, "This is what I want to do for a living."
"You want to be the drunkest man in the world?" asks SM innocently.
Both have several funny stories about the industry. One day, SM was
called in to voiceover a TV ad for a major brand of jeans. They wanted
a "Jim Byrne" voice. He walks into the outer office, the door to the
studio opens, and out walks... Jim Byrnes. Punchline: neither got the
job.
They mention that the voice of Tankorr on "Beast Machines" will be
Paul Dobson, Graveheart from "War Planets."
PANEL #5: BOTCON AND 3H
(I use the term "3H" to refer to any-or-all of Glen Hallit and Jon and
Karl Hartman.)
1. How does the site of a BotCon get chosen? It's a combination of
who's available when, with how much program space, for what price. BC
has the problem that the dealers' room puts it into the "exhibition"
category, and some convention centers will thus insist the con occupy
the gigantic, high-priced exhibition room -- even though a smaller,
cheaper one would work fine.
2. Why do some BotCon's have fewer events than prior years? Because a
monotonic increase would rapidly lead to burnout, jaded appetites and
the depletion of the guest base. 3H has opted to shrink alternate
years to keep things fresh. They admit they goofed with big BC97 and
98 and small 99. A second strategy to keep fans returning is the
"Omega Point" story: part zero in BC98, one-three in 99, to be
concluded in 00.
3. Why are there preregistration exclusives, like BC99's Friday night
pizza party? To *encourage* preregistration, which makes planning a
lot easier. 3H plans other benefits for preregistrants; Part Two of
Furman's "Omega Point" appeared first in the confirmation letter.
(This is part of the strategy to keep interest periodically buoyed
during the long months between announcement, prereg and con.)
4. How does the recolored toy get chosen? One, the molds/dies/tooling
have to exist. Two, those molds must be in use -- Hasbro's producing
the toy for sale *somewhere*. Third, the mechanics of plastic and
paint colors limit the choices. In former years, 3H negotiated the
colors over the phone, over the course of a month; this year 3H got to
visit Hasbro and physically played with paint chips, reaching a
satisfactory decision in a day.
5. When Hasbro produces a packaged toy, the packaging (cardboard,
printing, blisterpack) can cost as much as the toy itself. With its
lower print runs, 3H pays *six times* as much for packaging (design
services plus printing) as the toy.
6. Why can't a fan artist do the package art? BC97's packaing was by
comic artist Andrew Wildman and BC99's by Mainframe. 3H *has* thought
of asking certain artists whose work they admire, but then to be fair
*everyone* would have to be allowed in subsequent years. It's too much
hassle.
7. Why can't we get more support from Hasbro? Because there are
exactly *six* people assigned full-time to the Transformers line --
design, legal, liasing with Mainframe and Takara, etc. (There are
others, but they're shared across lines.) They're frequently forced to
hangup in the middle of phone conversations with 3H.
8. Why does BotCon Japan have different kinds of exclusives, like
T-shirts patterned with Optimus Prime's torso? Because in Japan,
*Takara* is in charge, and their licensing policies differ from
Hasbro's.
9. Why were there only two fan panels? 3H *asked* for
suggestions/volunteers, but those were the only two that happened.
10. Why can't we get certain guests? Sometimes they're busy. Sometimes
3H can't advertise them. For instance, Frank Welker (who was scheduled
but couldn't quite make it to BC97) now requires that his attendance
not be advertised until *two weeks* prior to the con. (Ed.note: this
is probably because of his volatile schedule, but might also IMHO
discourage hordes of Welker-but-not-TF-fans from clogging the con.)
11. How many people attended BC99? 1050 total, 750 of them
preregistrants. 1000 of each of the photomontage posters were
produced, and 1000 of each toy. (But 1200 of each *package*, if I
understood correctly.) This is the biggest BC yet (BC94 has 175/125),
and this year, for the first time, IT MADE A PROFIT. Which isn't
really a profit; any black ink is rolled into paying off prior BCs or
planning future ones.
12. Where's BC00? In Fort Wayne, Indiana, where It All Began. But
whereas BC94 occupied only the top floor of the Grand Wayne Center,
next year it will occupy *the whole thing.* However, there are few
hotels in the city, so make your reservations early. (Another poster
has provided this url: www.fwcvb.org.)
.-- Phillip Thorne, RPI CSCI '98 ----------------------------------.
| peth...@earthlink.net It's the boundary |
| home.earthlink.net/~pethorne/ conditions that get you |
\__ RHI Consulting/SB PharmR&D Bioinformatics _____________________/
Douglas W. Dlin
substantial commentary. I would like to say that the previous post,
or at least its latter half, should be SAVED by Steve Stonebraker
and/or 3H as a FAQ--as good a ready-made FAQ as ever I've
seen--detailing the hows and whys of BotCon. Nearly every whiny
question (as well as many non-whiny ones) relating to BotCon is
answered clearly, calmly and informatively. Cutting and pasting from
this post would do wonders in timesaving to answer such questions,
which will inevitably pop up again from those who tune in late, have
poor newsfeeds, etc. (Well, there's a reason for that "F" in FAQ...)
Now, as to the parts I wanted to quote...
> 1. How does the site of a BotCon get chosen? It's a combination of
> who's available when, with how much program space, for what price.
BC
> has the problem that the dealers' room puts it into the "exhibition"
> category, and some convention centers will thus insist the con
occupy
> the gigantic, high-priced exhibition room -- even though a smaller,
> cheaper one would work fine.
This, of course, is the biggie for answering the whines. :-) I was
quite disappointed to hear that Dallas and Houston, the two most
likely convention sites among the cities near where I live (San
Antonio), fell under the "ineligible" description for the above
reasons. I don't blame 3H, of course. I WOULD like to have a talk
with one or more of the convention center heads in those towns,
though... :-)
> 11. How many people attended BC99? 1050 total, 750 of them
> preregistrants.
That pre-reg number is approximate. The exact number is 729. I know,
because I was first in line for door-reg, and I was #730. :-) Felt
weird to start that line on my own, as I was sure there'd be plenty of
others in it before me, but apparently everyone who got there sooner
than I was a pre-reg hoping to get a good position for the toys. I
wasn't complaining. ;-)
Doug Dlin
ap...@hotmail.com
Phillip Thorne
>>On 24 Jul 1999 Phillip Thorne <peth...@earthlink.net> wrote:
>I would like to say that the previous post,
>or at least its latter half, should be SAVED by Steve Stonebraker
>and/or 3H as a FAQ--as good a ready-made FAQ as ever I've
>seen--detailing the hows and whys of BotCon.
Oooooh, I'm blushing -- a notable TransFan *liked* my post. Thank you
very much, Doug. I'm glad my lifelong habit of taking detailed notes
on virtually everything that passes in my vicinity has finally proven
to be useful to another human.
I *do* try to put more-than-average effort into my Usenet posts (to
avoid the infamous "me too" pit by as wide a margin as possible) and
if anyone else thinks any of my rttm posts have been
useful/informative/enlightening, I'm going to be posting them on my
website (homes.earthlink.net/~pethorne/) soon. Sometime. Really.