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Posts tagged Florida
The Silence Before The Storm (@Dragon_Con, @AWAcon & @FLSuperCon)
Aug 20th
The beginning of August was pretty damn busy. Wasabi Anime made an amazing appearance at Gen Con in Indianapolis, Indiana. The rest of the month, though, has been (happily) convention free.
Sometimes staying at home CAN be a vacation.
Next month seems to be stacking up fairly fast. My weekends in September are starting look like this:
- Atlanta
- home
- Atlanta
- Miami
October may be limited to a weekend in Miami… November might be Las Vegas… and after that? Who knows.
In other news, the Bot-tards are still stalking my blog. Check it out here. Joey Snackpants and I are discussing the possibility of going back to BotFAIL next year in California to write a follow up for You Bent My Wookie. We’re even talking about spending the money on the insane top tier level tickets JUST to do a complete comparison and between how people are treated at the show when they are considered the “1337″ and how people are treated as general attendees (which we learned the hard way in Orlando.)
Thoughts?
Living in an Amish Paradise…
Jul 28th
Is it Wednesday already?
Last weekend, I went and saw Weird Al Yankovic perform in concert in Boca Raton, Florida with my friends Lyn and Ryan. Our seats were pretty good – and you can see in this video:
The concert was AWESOME (to say the least.)
Afterwards, we went to Boomers in South Florida. There – Lyn and I tried to kill ourselves.
See?
Since I’m writing this it’s safe to assume I am dead and blogging from the grave. BOO.
Right now I’m SWAMPED with prepping for Anime Festival Orlando and Gen Con… so expect some erratic posts over the next week.
The Battle of BotCon 2010 (Continued)
Jul 13th
For those of you just joining us, read this – and then pick up with the conversation here.
For everyone else, I took the time this morning to read the flood of replies from yesterday. I will give BotCon’s supporters some credit; they are VERY passionate about their event… which usually means that there must be some merit to the success of the show. The problem, though, is that the BotCon Joey Snackpants and I attended in Orlando, Florida didn’t seem to live up what people keep presenting the event as. Early on (when these discussions started) I kept deflecting comments about how great the other BotCon years were by pointing out that we had reviewed 2010 and, as a result, we began seeing comments that others also felt that 2010 was (in fact) weak.
Regarding the last post, though…
Richard
- You made the strongest point in the discussion regarding the BotCon opinions… how many people posting replies and “fighting the fight” were NOT staff and/or only paid for a General Admission package?
TrentTroop
- While I don’t agree with all of your counterpoints – you did address them in an effective way. I replied back to your comment and welcome your replies… and I am genuinely curious to see you explain some of what I have presented.
Pete
- Your comment “FACT: BotCon is a convention that caters to both the hardcore collectors, diehard fans and the casual fan” is your opinion and could never qualify as a fact. I, Joey Snackpants and a number of my friends that were at BotCon 2010 all fit into the categories of casual fans and diehard fans… and the show did not cater to us.
- I assume you are also the person commenting on the You Bent My Wookie article. I have replied to you there this morning, too.
- Pete, if you are truly an employee and/or staff for Fun Publications and/or BotCon – then I would question how you are presenting yourself in the midst of the OMGDRAMAZ of the Internet. A solid debate is one thing (refer to Trent’s statements) but some of what I’ve read in yesterdays thread comes off as unprofessional for someone representing a company.
Suspy
- Here’s the most interesting comment you posted… “Also, it bears noting that a number of these panels REPEATED the very next day, just in case you missed them the first time.” THANK YOU. You have helped prove how much MORE limited the entertainment BotCon provided was! So if a DID stay for two days, then my second day’s already limited entertainment would have been minimized even more by reruns.
Mike
- You made the comment “The first four facts aren’t really in dispute. However, I will say that there used to be other rooms at some of the earlier BotCons such as video rooms and con suites but these have proven much less popular in recent years.” This draws back to something I have been stating for a while… we reviewed BotCon 2010. BotCon 2010 had a limited amount of entertainment. As a first year attendee of BotCon, I felt I wasn’t offered as much as I should have been at a “convention” – but the programming was adequate for a “trade show.”
- Regarding your rebuttal to my fifth point, I can see your point and addressed it in my reply to Trent.
Estaban
- I’ll accept all of your labels except the “immature” one. I reply to individuals based on how they speak – and some of the comments I have read in all of this have merited some less than eloquent replies. Keep that in mind when addressing my writing style.
Dave
- Hey word-nazi – the grammar-nazi in me would like to point out that you forgot the letter ‘s’ in your comment “(Word-nazi pick: it consecutive not concurrent. Consecutive is one after the other. Concurrent is at the same time.)”
- Also, I am guessing you wrote your reply in Notepad before posting it… I know that because I do the same. Turn off “word wrap” before you copypasta and you won’t get those odd formatting issues.
- Other than that, your key disagreement with me is #5 – which I addressed in my reply to Trent.
Alan Ladd
- Thank you for commenting. We almost made it through the whole argument without the stereotypical douchebaggery that phrases like “BITCHPANTSES” and “GEEWUNNERS” bring to the table. Epic. Now go back to your mom’s basement and kindly STFU.
Rob
- As you are busy doing your best trying not to look down your nose at me, can I ask you one simple question? Did you pay for the General Admission OR were you a Registered Attendee at BotCon 2010? I need your help to reinforce the “elitism” stereotype that the BotCon hardcore attendees have been working to perpetuate for me. Thanks
That all said, I’d like to clarify a comment I made in my reply to the last post…
I challenge you and your team to do better in 2012.
I said 2012 because 2011 will be in California riding the coat tails of the TF3 movie release. I’m interested to see how a BotCon convention strives to improve in 2012 pending the event isn’t near the “home base” in Texas or back in Southern California with Hasbro able to pull from Hollywood’s resources and staggering local population for the show.
The BotCon Chronicles…
Jul 11th
The story to far…
1. Around the end of last year, I got word that BotCon, the Hasbro sponsored official Transformers convention, would be coming to Orlando, Florida. My friend Joey Snackpants and I became as giddy as schoolgirls at a Twilight movie premiere.
2. We contacted the convention offering to bring a “local flavor” to the show with the copyrighted trademarked patent pending universal awesomeness of “DARE! The Transformers Panel Ultimate”… our uniquely unique Transformers fan panel that has been featured at dozens of conventions in the Florida/Georgia area.
3. After a number of “please stand by” emails – we finally heard back with “no thank you” less than six weeks before the show.
4. Since we weren’t performing at BotCon, we took up an offer from the pop culture website You Bent My Wookie to go as press and write a review of our experience.
5. Joey Snackpants drove south. I drove north. We went to BotCon. We wrote this.
6. Not happy with our less than stellar review of thier show, BotCon fans found the YBMW review AND my original post criticizing BotCon regarding #4 (above.) Arguments ensued on my blog in this post.
7. Using the power of the Interwebz, I found the source of people finding my old blog post… it seems it was born out of this thread on the All Spark forums. (subsequent digging have also tracked that the blog post has been linked in member messages to and from folks at TransformersClub.com)
So there we are. I took some time to read some of the forum posts on the All Spark forums – and I found this gem from a BotCon STAFF member:
Pete@BotCon
Registered attendees always will take priority. It is all of you who support the convention, the local hotels, the eateries and so on and thus help us continue to churn out conventions and toys.
It reminds me of a scene from The Wedding Singer…
Billy Idol
One of our first class passengers would like to sing you a song inspired by one of our coach passengers. And since we let our first class passengers do, pretty much whatever they want, here he is…
A lot of the BotCon attendees have started to freak out and take offense to my insinuation that there is an air of elitism in the BotCon ranks and that the show doesn’t really cater to the “off the street” casual Transformers non-toy collecting fans. HELLO. (See above quotes.)
People keep resorting to diversionary Internet argument styles reminiscent of LiveJournal circa 2004… that is, they are trying to hinge their “argument” off of opinions OR facts that have nothing to do with what is presented while AVOIDING the key things that were brought up. Or they just post idiotic shit like this loser so his Twitter so his five followers can read it. FAIL.
So for all of you posting in this thread on my blog and visiting lurkers from AllSpark.com and TransformersClub.com… this is for you.
FACT: In the YBMW review (and related blog posts) we are talking about BotCon 2010. A number of you keep telling me how great the other BotCon conventions have been for years and (quite bluntly) I DON’T GIVE A SHIT. I reviewed BotCon 2010… not 2009, not 2008, and none of the years previous. The more you tell me how great the other years truly were, the more you are helping justify my opinion that this year’s show was WEAK.
FACT: BotCon only provided two rooms of entertainment for attendees – a dealers room and a panels room. This is BELOW AVERAGE for a fandom convention, thus the formultion of my opinion that BotCon presents itself as more of a TRADE SHOW.
FACT: BotCon did not have tickets on sale for their event online until (approximately) May 18th – which is barely a month out from June 24th (the start of BotCon) – a mere 36 days from the show… and not ALL the tickets. General admission was only available at the door. BotCon has been doing conventions for YEARS and yet the local “mom and pop” amateur shows seem to be able to get their act together sooner than that.
FACT: Speaking of tickets online, BotCon failed to disclose ALL of their pricing information in advance. Nowhere on the site did it state that there is an additional fee of $25 for an autograph AFTER paying $50 for an early admission ticket. Hence the perception of gouging attendees for money!
FACT: Speaking of information in advance, the BotCon schedule of events wasn’t announced until less than an month from the show. (See my comment a couple of facts back about the whole “amateur shows in Florida have been doing it better for years!” comments.) BotCon isn’t San Diego Comic Con; they’re not juggling 125,000 people – thus a schedule in advance shouldn’t be this hard!
FACT: Approximately 35% of the event schedule posted by BotCon was merely “autograph sessions.” Add in the fact that they list the load in times for dealers and related non-attendee useful information and it is EASY to come to the conclusion that the schedule is PADDED to look busier that it was.
Face it folks… those of you who spend the money you do on the BotCon trade show do so for collecting toys – NOT for a convention experience. I don’t know who is to blame in the end: Hasbro, the Convention promotors, or the complacency of the fans who keep handing over their money year after year.
In the end, though, Joey said it right: BotCon was BotFAIL this year.
I’m in Jacksonville, Florida…
Jul 10th
I’m here with the Wasabi Anime team to run events for this year’s Ancient City Con. Even though we’ll be in the thick of things running convention events – I will do my best to continue the discussion regarding a Bot-tacular trade show sometime tomorrow. A lot of folks sharing a lot of opinions, but sadly a number of them are still missing the point.
That’s why we have the Interwebz, though: free expression and the right to argue like geeks about events surrounding popular toys from our adolescence.
Have Wasabi, Will Travel.
Jul 7th
Just a short note to update the world to my well being and the amount of things that keep me busy in life. Last weekend (the 4th of July) was my first weekend staying home in over a month – and things are picking up again. Here is, in no particular order, things of interest in and around my life right now…
- It seems that the discussion regarding my comments about the BotCon “Trade Show” is still alive and kicking. You can read it here.
- Next weekend I will be at Ancient City Con with the team from Wasabi Anime.
- The weekend after that, I am going white water rafting in Colorado. I also plan on making some Man vs. Food meal stops.
- The weekend after that: Weird Al Yankovic concert in South Florida.
- Wasabi Anime has announced Orlandia’s Got Talent for Anime Festival Orlando.
- I’m loving watching season 4 of Magnum P.I. on DVD. Just sayin’
CRAZY BotCon 2010 Photo Coincidence…
Jul 1st
Hey look… here’s this photo (taken by Joey Snackpants)
Taken from the other side (note Joey in the photo!)
(Photo from YouBentMyWookie.com)
