Caution: This was TC’s first convention, hence crappy writing. Proceed at your own risk and she Actually just put up some pics!. Now you realize that it's almost time for OTFCC 04, TC is horrible at developing pics in a decent frame of time.
***STUPID PICS AT THE BOTTOM!***
Friday:
Woke up, hopped into my sweet baby 1995 Mustang that I love as an extension to myself and drove through 6 hours of corn and the shittiest radio stations from the Misissip to Aurora. Good thing: Had the POWER OF PETE (Peter Gabriel) to keep me going. Bad thing: It was on a shitty portable CD player (one in me baby not working--*sigh*) that skipped every time I hit a slight bump. ARR! Tried it with Nashville Pussy, (kick-ass Southern rock band, think Lynyrd Skynyrd on goofballs with strippers) same thing. Hmph. Finally hit the Burbs just as rush hour was starting. Haven’t driven in big-city traffic in a VERY long time, things were…nerve-wracking. Miss the fucking off-ramp to the Hyatt and took the scenic tour of O’Hare. Arrived at the hotel on a last fried nerve and a jumpy stomach.
While proceeding to find my room I happened to see who I thought was Outtsyder, turns out he was. After a HUGE hug, I found out he was with the rest of the Cellmates. Joy! I met Wayward, Mr. Wayward, Kevona, SkipChat, SwitchPoint, Chaser, Rain, HorseTechie, Leta, Mike, Skyblaze, and probably a few others. (Sorry if I forgot your name) I made some small chat while trying to regain my composure, (damn traffic) then it was time to get ready for dinner!
FOOD!
Meeting up with Leta, Mike and Outtie in the lobby we queued for what seemed like an hour while taking in all the sights and sounds of my first geek fan convention. I met Liana Bluestar and a couple of her friends as well. (We all sat at the same table) I chatted with Leta and Mike while Outtie and Li talked up a storm. One of Li’s friends brought her 2-year old sprog. O…K…not that I have anything against them but bringing them to a formal dinner? The kid lived up to expectations, noisy. Fortunately he wasn’t too much of a pain. Was shown the toys for next year--funky yellow Seeker! WOO-HOO! The 3 Stooges with Seeker clones! Woo-Hoo!
After da food, we went to the table where the exclusives were displayed and drooled like a bunch of bitches. OK, I did on the funky yellow Seeker. Leta, Mike and Outtie ended up chatting with the voice actors while I listened a respectful distance away, lest I go all girly in front of Gregg Berger and beg him to do a Cornfed Pig voice. (Duckman, biatch!) Considering he was gonna be asked to do Grimlock all weekend I let him be. For some reason I just can’t go up and talk to celebs. I think it has to do with the fact they’ve heard the same fucking questions 500 squillion times. (I noticed Gary Chalk, I believe it was, having a jaded look on his face while talking to Outtie.) Eh… Hung out in Wind and Frosty’s room for awhile until Leta kicked us out. (Chaser and Rain having to get up early for the dealer stuff.) Off to my king-sized bed in my room cut off from the rest of the Con lot. (Didn’t reserve with the Con block)
Saturday:
Got my ass outta bed around 10. Ordered a continental breakfast that turned out to be 2 croissants, a glass of orange juice and a small pot of coffee for $9. NINE BUCKS?! MOTHERFUCKER! GODDAM RIPOFF! I considered telling the guy to kiss my fucking ass but I thought live and let live, there were toys to buy, dammit!
After a detour through the art room I finally stumbled upon the main floor. Toys…wow…I found Li’s table and saw a shitty-looking Reflector set for $15. I thought about buying it but decided to hold off for a bit. And then, Li took a picture of me, which I was not too thrilled about. (camera-shy) Wandered around the room in a daze, first-time jitters and all those toys calling out to me: “TC…TC…you know you want meeeeeee…” ARR! Ran into Outtie and met Sciz, time for the MSTF! Myself, Outtie and Sciz sitting somewhat in the back.
MSTF was all right, some of the remarks were so-so, but a good lot of them made me laugh out loud. Afterwards, while wandering the hallways I saw THE SKANKIEST looking chick there in a pink napkin blouse that barely covered her and jeans so low they looked like they were gonna fall down any minute! Never thought there would be hookers at the convention! Considering that the clientele would be ugly geek boys (Cell guys and mates/SO’s of Cell mates excluded.) waving wads of cash around and 98% of them still virgins she probably had the right idea. Too bad the geek boys probably only use their stuff for waste removal…
Anyway, I was wandering around, taking it all in, and at some table saw the 3 Secties for a nice price of $12 all together. While I was considering that proposal, the forces of Primus told me to shift my eyes to the right…and I saw IT…
*cue Handle’s “Messiah”*
Reflector…still in the box in DAMN FINE condition. FUCK YEAH. Saw the price tag, didn’t take Credit cards. D’OH! I sweet-talked the guy into holding it for me while I dashed to my room to get the cash. Returning 3 seconds later, I bought my love. DOUBLE FUCK YEAH. Talked to the guy later and said he had another set that wasn’t in as good condition for $35 more. FUCK YEAH TO THE INFINITE POWER! I rule.
With my holy grail safe and sound in a plastic sack, the Secties were calling for me to buy them. Found all three and plunked down some more cash for a damn fine G1 Grimlock. No weapons, though, don’t know how to transform it. Wayward was ambling around in her Kickback costume; got a picture of her, as did everybody else. ;) Stopped by Chaser’s table from time to time, chatted with whoever happened to be there. Plunked down a load of cash for Wayward art. Bombshell and I harassed Wayward for pudding later on.
As the dealer room was closing, I took my haul up to my room and proceeded to take stupid pictures of them getting acquainted with Thundercracker. He was not amused.
PADDED CELL PARTY! Lessee…about 10 or so of us crammed into one room snarfing Papa John’s. Met kidu and Mr. kidu. Kewl. We made silly poses with Thundercracker and other TFs. Frosty told us a story of what has to be THE WORST FANFIC I have ever heard. Too bad that fucker wasn’t on any web page, it is SCREAMING to be linked to my collection. ;p During that, Syder and I took a powder and hung out for a while. After a while, we parted ways at the dance pah-tee that was hosted by Hasbro, Syder went to have a looksee, I went back to Wind and Frosty’s room for more bad fics, shits and giggles. In my absence the Cell wrote their own bad fic, mocking the shit out of Con-Quest and Leta jumping around chanting "SPARK!" :D Hehehehehehehehe...
Sunday:
Already sadness, Wayward and Knave left in the AM back to the Great White North.
Voice Actor Panel! Gregg Berger and two other fellas. ;p (TC G1 girl, sorry) The questions lived up to my expectations. Reading others previous BC reports I expected stupid shit, got it in the buttload. Personal highlights involved people asking about celebrities. (“Well, I saw Orson Welles’ car…”) Also, the fella asking for a moment of silence for Robert Stack. Dude, he said a few lines in TF:TM, that’s it! Hooper X put it best, that moment of silence was longer than Stack’s contribution to TF, moving on. Fucktard. Last and certainly least was the chick who asked about GoBots. (“In blahblahblah, when Leader was supposed to say yada, he said bite me. Was that supposed to happen?”) Chica, these are busy men. They have done hundreds, maybe thousands of voice acting jobs over the years. Are you honestly that stupid as to believe that these people can remember EVERY SINGLE GODDAM MINUTE of their TF/BW/BM experience? Gregg Berger said he could hardly remember what he had for breakfast that morning, what makes you think he remembers everything Grimlock (and Skyfire) ever said and did?
After listening to all that bullshit I wanted to bang my head against a wall but decided to look at toys some more. Chatted with more Cell mates, found a stand that was selling bootleg stuff like the uncensored Beavis and Butt-Head tapes. Saw Dungeons and Dragons DVDs, although they were taped when originally aired, hence shitty-looking condition, I bought 3 of them. Woo. I was also looking for a Japanese Retrax that was blue colour (Blinky the huggiest pillbug for you Cell folk) but could only find them in dark green. Ugly. Alas, the Con winded down and became a memory, time to say bye-byes.
We trooped over to the local Denny’s and chatted for a while, showing off our wares on the table and chowing on greasy, yet reasonably priced food. Afterward, we stood outside and took a wad of pics with each others cams. Said bye-bye to Outtsyder as Leta and Mike drove him to the bus station. Wind, Frosty and Skyblaze squished themselves in my baby as we drove back to the hotel. Got a nice pic of Blaze with my girl to make her boyfriend jealous. (huge car fan from what I’ve been told) Hung out again in Wind and Frosty’s room and made official hugs and bye-byes.
Monday:
Bid farewell to OTFCC and Chicago. Once again, took the wrong turn on the freeway and ended up in downtown Chicago. Fuck-a-duck. Managed to get the crap outta there and was on my way back. Notice: There are NO fucking cops on I-88 from Shytown to the I-80 interchange, which enabled me to keep my speed at a nice conservative 80 mph. Back to the monotony that is my home and life. Finis.
Da Haul:
Reflector (tee-hee!)
Shrapnel
Bombshell
Kickback
G1 Grimlock
a fuckload of Wayward art
