(I got a reply to my email from here.  Here’s the reply with my reply.  Enjoy.)

Pete,

Since you’re writing from a business email address I assumed it was public knowledge.  That said, contrary to the negative image your convention works to paint of me – I’m not a dick.  Per your request, I’ve removed the address from my previous blog post.

That said, Botcon put on a dreadful show in Orlando. I called them out on a poor presentation in a review online and even brought to light their failure to disclose all ticket prices… a mistake that can understandably be made by a freshman or even sophomore year convention.

You have pointed out, though, that Fun Publications has been doing Botcon since 2005. The ticket issue alone makes the failures in Orlando even worse. You realize that, right?

You can claim that your customer base’s requests drove the selection of the location for Botcon 2012. I can also state that (by strange coincidence) I predicted the Botcon 2011 and 2012 locations in 2010 based on the need for Fun Publications to do easier shows after the Orlando catastrophe.

I (along with my friend Joey Snackpants) have been promoting a love for the Transformers franchise at panels in front of (literally) thousands of fans at conventions in Atlanta, Miami, Orlando, Indianapolis and other smaller towns here and there since 2002. We came to Botcon with high hopes for a Transformers celebration that creates excitement about the fandom.

Instead, we were lied to about ticket fees and offered an average trade show.

All I’ve done is call out your convention to step up their game. Botcon, though, seems to have trouble with feedback that critiques them. Instead of working to improve – well, your PR team flippantly tries to pick fights with me on Twitter and you’re emailing me about posts on my personal blog. Hasbro must be proud.

*shrug*

For claiming not to pay attention to me (http://twitter.com/#!/BotCon/status/141892993228611584) you all sure seem to pay a lot of attention to me.

Best luck with Dallas. I guess we’ll wait to see how 2013 fares in one of the two locations I didn’t predict.

Tom Croom
www.TomCroom.com

—–Original Message—–
From: Pete Sinclair [mailto:pete@[FROM FUN PUBLICATIONS].com]
Sent: Tuesday, December 06, 2011 9:07 PM
To: Me
Subject: Fwd: RE: Misinformed

—————- Begin Forwarded Message —————-
Subject: RE: Misinformed
Date Sent: Tuesday, December 6, 2011 8:32 PM
From: Tom Croom
To: ‘Pete Sinclair’

I will be happy to clarify and state again.

* BotCon has been held in several different cities, no where near Ft. Worth. BotCon was around for a long time before you made your first visit in 2010. Please reference the list in the prior email.

* The way we approach each show is the same, whether it is an hour away or 18 hours away.

* I work out of state and handle most of the things you stated would be to our advantage by being so close. So again, not really an advantage.

Finally, why would it matter if it is? In this competitive con market, why would you blame any business for working the best advantages for themselves, which in return, only benefits the consumer.

However, and please do not gloss over this point, our customer base really wanted a central location this year, and Dallas had an amazing offer and location for us. We would have chosen it if we were based out of South Dakota.

BotCon has grown by leaps and bounds since Fun Pub acquired the license, and judging by the number of hotel rooms we have already booked and how quickly we sell out of Primus packages every year, no reason to think that fans won’t once again be thrilled with BotCon. We put everything we have in to each show, and that can be seen each year.

Thanks again for your interest in our convention. Hope you can join the thousands of other Transformers fans at BotCon 2012!