Bot Con 2011 took place on June 3 – 5, 2011 at the Pasadena Convention Center in downtown Pasadena, CA. Bot Con celebrates over 20 years of Transformers fandom. Ticket packages could go over $100 depending if you wanted to also purchase exclusive figures. Like any other convention, Bot Con also had a decent guest of honor line up. This included voice actors from the original generation one television series. The convention is spearheaded by Hasbro. Bot Con had plenty of things to check out. If you are a huge Transformers fan, this would be instant paradise for you. Scarlet Rhapsody and Plastic Joint checked out Bot Con for Saturday. Tickets for one day admission were about $20. Because we were always curious about Bot Con, we decided to check it out.

Bot Con Image Gallery

Bot Con usually switches locations every year. The Pasadena location made it easier for us to check out. Most of the attendees were older fans of the series who brought their children to check out what was there. For the most part, Deb and I checked out the exhibit hall. There were plenty of Transformers toys to check out – old and new. Toy collectors will love the array of merchandise and paraphernalia that was sold at the exhibit hall.

For any toy collector, they also had preview and prototypes of upcoming Transformers toys from Hasbro. This included toys from the upcoming Dark of the Moon and Transformers Prime television series.

The other nice thing about the exhibit hall is that there were props and pieces from the Dark of the Moon movie. While we still felt burned from the second movie, it was still nice to see set pieces from the upcoming Transformers movie. Deb and I wandered to the Hub booth and we won a few prizes by spinning a wheel. I got a magnet and Deb got a keychain.

What Deb and I thought was really cute was that there was a play area for kids to take their toys and play with them. There were a few sets based off the movies where kids can use them as play sets for their toys.

In addition to toys, we checked out the Dark of the Moon video game. It reminded us of War for Cybertron. While we were oblivious to the plot of Dark of the Moon, we enjoyed the graphics and game play. In this video clip, Stan shows Deb the controls at the demo.

 

Another fun thing about the exhibit hall is that there was an art show that had displays, dioramas, and fan made art work based around the Transformers franchise.

In addition to the Dark of the Moon game, we also checked out the booth for the Transformers MMORPG, Transformers Universe.

We also discovered that Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg were being honored by Bot Con by inducting them into the Transformers Hall of Fame because of their work on the recent live action movies. Whether or not they deserve to be a part of Transformers Hall of Fame history is up for debate. A ceremony for VIP members would be held later in the evening.

Another fun thing about the convention was seeing the various cosplayers either dressed up as Autobots or Decepticons.

Deb and I did hit a few panels later in the day. We attended the Transformers Collectables Round Table where Hasbro representatives talked about upcoming toys for the exclusive collectors club. We got front row seats for the Transformers: The Movie 25 th Anniversary Voice Actors panel. Though a few of the questions were of the standard, “Can you do this voice?” type of fare, there were plenty of questions based around breaking into the voice acting business. The panelists talked about the recording sessions from 25 years ago as well as their utter disappointment and depression when Optimus Prime was killed off.

Here are a few clips from the panel.

 

After the voice actors panel, there was a brief meet and greet. Deb got her copy of Final Fantasy X signed by Gregg Berger (Jhett). For us regular attendees, the convention was shutting down at 5PM. The later festivities were for the VIP attendees. Sadly, we could only be there for one day. However, the four of us really enjoyed ourselves. The boys took home a few exclusive toys. Deb and I took home the memories and connections we made at Bot Con.

If you are a fan of Transformers and if it was a huge part of your childhood, Scarlet Rhapsody suggests to check it out for a day. The event is very family friendly. There are kids (and 80s kids at heart) all over the place. It was very nice to see two different generations share together in their love of Transformers. This is also a great con to check out if you are a toy collector. The exhibit hall also had toys from the Macross / Robotech franchise. If you are one of the die hard fans who has to have every single piece of Megatron merchindise and you are still rocking out to Stan Bush, Scarlet Rhapsody suggests to go for the pricier fan packages which include show exclusives. There is something for everyone!

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