Con-Man: 2014 Wrap Up

It was a fun year of attending conventions this 2014 as we hit up no less than 9 shows in California, Utah, Washington and Calgary.  It will be pretty quiet around Southern California until February when the Long Beach Comic Expo returns for their one of two annual shows.  Let's take a look back at the year shall we?

March. Emerald City Comicon - This was our first year attending but I enjoy Seattle so it was nice to hit the town, see some friends and check out the show.  It's a big one, encapsulating nearly every floor and cranny of the giant downtown convention center on two sides of the street.  A huge exhibition floor along with a media area for panels and autographs, Lego display, Game of Thrones art gallery and much more kept us busy even if it was a little confusing to get around.  Off site theaters hosted podcasts and special screenings of fan favorites with cast in attendance.  People were very nice and our hotel rate was very swank with a nice con discount too boot.  A little sight seeing at the Pike, some sky high drinks at Rview (since closed) and lots and lots of rain.  We're going back in 2015 so that about sums it up.  Oh yeah, Michael Biehn and his wife Jennifer Blanc were on our flight up so that was cool.

April. Wonder Con - San Diego's sister show in Anaheim is always a blast, tickets are easy to come by and it's a large event stacked with programming.  We opted for a different hotel this year to ensure we had a refrigerator but boy was it not worth it as the place was kind of a dump. Better to stay at the connected Hilton and bring a cooler.  Unlike Emerald City, lots of great panels here about comics, writing, art, movie and television with guests like Bill Paxton and Jim Lee charming and educating the pants off us.  Really looking forward to this one again.

April. Calgary Expo - Another first for us and our inaugural trip outside the country for a convention.  Our plane was filled with guests for the show including Ricco Ross from Aliens.  Calgary was super weird in the sense that I had no idea it was so into oil and cowboy stuff so stetsons and big trucks were everywhere.  A beautiful city filled with polite folks, I was surprised at how bland the food was in Chinatown, at pubs and high end restaurants.  The show was held at a giant rodeo complex and was spread out over several structures of essentially a fairgrounds.  Access was not easy in and out so we stayed the entire day before going to a nighttime panel.  CE corralled cast and crew of The Hobbit films for a night of improv, story telling and demonstrations of fight choreography and make up.  The next night the entire main cast of Aliens was reunited on stage to discuss making a classic and reminding us that Michael Biehn and Bill Paxton should have a sitcom together.  A fun show but we don't have plans to return this year.  If you go, send me some dark chocolate Kit Kats because they are amazing and made from real chocolate.

June. BotCon - Held in gorgeous and idyllic downtown Pasadena, BotCon was one of the most interesting shows we attended this year as it wasn't about the all encompassing Popular/Nerd Culture but simply about The Transformers and their legacy of toys, comics, art and cartoons.  Just crowded enough with lots of exhibitors with all kinds of goodies for sale as well as voice actors from the shows and mother fucking rock and roller Stan Bush.  I actually kind of froze up when I saw him as his music has influenced my life for about 20 years.  Since BotCon changes locations every year, organizers set up tours of Los Angeles attendees could go on culminating in an awards show and concert.  The panel featuring voice actors was hilarious and inspirational.  I'd love to attend again if they come back to Southern California.

July. Anime Expo - Our first introduction to the wild and wooly world of Japanese animation was a doozy as the show packed in over 100,000 attendees in Downtown Los Angeles on a sweltering weekend.  Tickets sold out but there was free admission to the exhibit hall nightly.  It wasn't that different than a comic-con as anime is always a big factor at shows.  It was a nice warm up for San Diego as the place was so packed and B.O. was in the air.  A photographer friend took us around and showed us the cosplay backdrop area where costumed folks could pose in pre-made environments which was a unique touch.  Would definitely like to attend this year.  Better get back to Samurai Champloo and Attack on Titan...

July. San Diego Comic Con - The mother lode.  The mecca.  The place you lose yourself and find yourself, Patrick Swayze style.  From rooftop parties, reconnecting with old colleagues, walking the gigantic floor, hunting down exclusive swag (hello Expendables 3 poster and Batman Animated Series vinyl!), checking out six panels in a row, meeting Ernie Reyes, Jr., eating crappy convention center pizza and hot dogs, walking straight into Hall H and not camping out like a loon, volunteering at 6:00 AM, meeting a future moviebro, sky high dranking, it's just the best way to spend a few days.  Tickets and condo for next year already secured.

September. Salt Lake Comic Con.  Another first for a show and city.  Lines were out the door and just picking up badges was a fucking fiasco.  Really unimpressed with their organization after touting themselves as a challenger to San Diego, etc.  The actual show was fun, not a huge exhibition floor but big and varied enough to make for a nice half day of checking out.  Lots and lots of money gouging I mean autographs and photo opportunities for sale at this one so programming was pretty light.  Arcade set up was a nice touch and we met Danny Glover, who was awesome.  Salt Lake itself was quaint but weird, surprising amount of people living on the streets, built up and fancy one block, falling apart the next, bland food from a couple spots, we checked out a state liquor store and the surrounding area really seemed to be supporting the con which was cool.  They think they're as good a show as San Diego, they're not.  Would maybe come back in a few years once it builds up and gets organized.

September. Long Beach Comic Con -  Always a nice day out in Long Beach with easy access, a decent floor, okay programming and places to hang and check out across the street.  Feels like it used to be bigger with more going on but perhaps has plateaued and maybe on it's way down?  I hope I'm wrong and we'll be there for the next show.

November. Comikaze - Like Salt Lake, flaunts it's celebrity guests and show for fans by fans, grassroots sensibility.  Also like SL, feels the need to compare themselves to San Diego when they're not even in the same league.  Regressed from last year as entry took way longer than it should have considering it wasn't that crowded.  But as usual a nice sized floor, fun guests and light on programming. 

Sadly, we missed out on this year's inaugural Comics Arts Los Angeles show, hopefully it went well and a future event is in the works.  Also sad was He-Man and She-Ra centric attraction Power-Con attempted to move to New York from Torrance in an effort to expand it's audience but failed to sell enough tickets and had to cancel...This year sees Star Wars Celebration hitting Anaheim in April, a first for me and another notch on the ol' convention belt.  See ya at the show!

Con-Man: BotCon

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of The Transformers, BotCon and Hasbro put on one heck of a show.  Starting on Friday with a group outing to the Transformers Experience at Universal Studios followed by a live performance by Stan Bush (!), the three day extravaganza was live streamed via Shout! Factory's booth from the lovely Pasadena Civic Auditorium and Conference Center.  Being a smaller show, there weren't tons of people walking around outside letting you know you were in the right place but a few strategically placed signs got us to where we needed to go.  Surprisingly, the show didn't offer programs.  At least I didn't see any or see anyone carrying one around.  Instead, there were blown up schedule of events around the area and staff members told you where to go for panels.

The exhibition hall boasted over 200 dealer tables in a decent sized room with oh so many toys from the various lines over the years.  Starting with the original metal figures all the way to the cheap, kiddy looking new series, there was about every kind of toy, model, figurine and statue a Transformers fan could want.  I was snooping around for something Hot Rod or Jazz related but at $60 bucks a pop for a loose figure, it just wasn't my day.  Many fans had armloads of boxed figures and many booths had spare parts for sale.  Hearing some die hard fans speak about variants, international versions and custom figures made me realize how much of a creative culture Transformers can be.  Not only do you have cartoons and comics but the toys are there for you to collect, play with and make your own versions of.  BotCon hosted a build your own Transformer contest which saw entrants designing their own characters or staging scenes with dioramas.  There were prints, buttons, postcards and posters galore from various Transformers artists as well as t-shirts, hoodies, hats and the like.  Besides Transformers, several booths were selling fellow Hasbro product G.I. Joe while I read a blurb about Bronies being present at the show as Hasbro also produces My Little Pony.  Suffice to say I did not see much My Little Pony merchandise for sale or a Brony.  While walking the floor I stumbled upon Stan Bush's booth and nearly seized up as the guy's music is literally the soundtrack of my life.  Dare and The Touch from Transformers: The Movie, Streets of Siam and Never Surrender from Kickboxer, Fight to Survive and On My Own from Bloodsport?  I thought I should just throw money at him to say thanks for making such honest, upbeat and rocking tunes that have kept me going for decades.

There was one room designated for panels in another wing of the center so we checked out a G1 Retrospective, G1 for Generation One, the original cartoon series from 1984.  To little fanfare or set up, our panel was trotted out:  Hal Rayle from Transformers, G.I. Joe, Bionic Six and The Visionaries.  Jem of And the Holograms fame herself, Samantha Newark.  From Robotech, Transformers and G.I. Joe, Michael McConnohie and lastly, totally awesome old guy Jack Angel from Joe, Transformers and Voltron.  There was no moderation, at all, and the panel started taking questions from the audience.  I must say, I've seen a lot of panels but this one was a keeper.  Without prodding each guest had plenty to say answering questions and telling stories about the good ol' days of voicing animation in the 80's.  Angel was the diamond today and told many great stories, one of them concerning his ranking in the world's most popular actors.  Along with Tom Cruise, Hanks and Samuel L. Jackson, Jack Angel has appeared in so many films that he was number 4 on the list at one point.  In an interview, Jackson stated Angel and fellow voice over actor Frank Welker weren't "real" actors but Angel says he'd meet Jackson anytime in a studio to see who could do some real acting.

Many of their shows' voice direction was done by former World War II tank commander Wally Burr who had a studio all of the actors would perform from in the same room.  That way they could feed off each others energy, mannerisms and camaraderie.  Writers and animators present would take note of actors' physicality and traits then use them to flesh out their characters.  These days, much of voice over work is done alone in a booth with a director or engineer outside which just doesn't deliver the same level of performance.  The panel told fun stories about Muppet Babies, Real Ghost Busters, Duck Tales, Transformers and G.I. Joe vet Frank Welker who could produce white noise and drive engineers crazy in a studio or imitate the sound of a door opening to make people look up.  The panel joked that they figured Burr could have done their job since everything was run through a synthesizer for Transformers.

The panel was hilarious, gracious and even inspiring as Angel told the crowd that life is a game so play it fast and if you're not having fun, you're not doing it right.  After being discharged from the Army, Angel never had a real job as he was a disk jockey for 18 years where he would have to work 3 hours without lunch before segueing into the voice over business.  Each panel member seemed very pleased and happy to be there as none of them expected to be talking about cartoons 30 years on and thanked the crowed for being so passionate and crazy.  They also provided an inside glimpse into the business of all of these syndicated cartoons as Sunbow and Marvel Productions canceled several shows and regrouped after fighting a losing battle with Barbie.  Jem and The Holograms was a number one rated show for several years but government regulations stipulate that a show cannot advertise for itself, thus risking a 30 minute commercial.  This opened the door for competitor Mattel to use the popularity of Jem to advertise it's Barbie line and come Christmas, the blonde doll flew off the shelves in comparison to the pink haired Jem. 

All in, BotCon was a fantastic day.  It was great to see so many dedicated fans show up for something not movie or celebrity related and the surrounding area was excellent for a show as several restaurants were right across the street.  Parking was a little frustrating as the door we came out of, we couldn't get back in and elevators didn't lead back to the structure, etc.  But now we know, and knowing is half the battle...oh wait, wrong show...I hope BotCon stays on the west coast next year but if it moves back east, maybe we'll go check out G.I. Joe con.  Now Transform and roll out!