Botcon 2009

[The Doctor]

Jun 1, 2009 8:32:09 GMT Bogatan said:

And right this moment the other member rose zombie like from the bed and lurched to the bathroom. Right this moment I and Matt sit listening to the sounds of vomit hitting water.

Andy

Brilliant!!!

-Ralph

[Gav]

Glad you guys had a good time. Thanks for picking me up Shockers and 'Bee Nick! It's very much appreciated.

[Nigel]

I'm glad you all had fun. Left cheek! I shall cross my fingers now to make it next year.

I just realised I had my own little mini Botcon this weekend, buying Transformers on both Saturday and Sunday, seeing Transformers things I hadn't seen before, visiting the airport and attending a collector event, where the guests included a comic artist and people from films and where I talked to people about Transformers. Nigelcon rules!

[The Doctor]

Good for you, Nigel.

I've been trying to get to Botcon two years running now but been foiled by Real Life. Hopefully 2010 will be the year. Something I've wanted to do once for the experience, so long as I could combine it with a long-ish break in the states.

Glad everyone had a good time!

-Ralph

[kayevcee]

Andy, I can confirm that you did not in fact shout at Brian Savage. 'Rant' would be a more appropriate descriptor.

No problem, Gav! It was only 18 bucks and I managed to pick one up for myself as well, along with a blue Ultra Magnus! So much artillery on one figure! Find of the convention has to be Omega Sentinel, who BBTS were selling off for $150 (about £99). Several of us picked one up. The legions of Aquafresh Omega Supreme are heading for Britain. Huzzah.

Anyway, we're packing up to head out. Marc, Tony and Gareth are leaving for the airport, and Andy, Matt, Other Andy and myself are teaming up for parts unknown for the remainder of our stay. Whoop whoop.

-Nick

[The Doctor]

May 31, 2009 20:29:33 GMT kayevcee said:

some other light yet annoyingly bulky stuff that Mr. Burns might thank me for even though it's not for him...
-Nick

If it's what I think it is, and part of the discussed masterplan, then I am indeed very happy.

-Ralph

[grahamthomson]

I hope everyone has a safe and uneventful flight back home!

[The Doctor]

Who is Brian Savage and why was he being ranted at?

-Ralph

[KoshNaranek]

Brian Savage is the director of the Transformers and GI Joe Collector's Club's. There were a few reasons that he could have been ranted at on Saturday, although to be fair it wasn't all necessarily his fault. Andy felt that there wasn't sufficient time to take the Paramount tour as we had been brought in to the theatre too late. Brian for his part explained that it was luck of the draw as it just came down to who arrived for the busses first. Andy pointed out that we had all paid the $50 for the Paramout party and therefore should all have been entitled to the tour and not just the "lucky" ones. A big part of the problem stemmed from the fact that all the busses arrived late thereby leaving everyone behind schedule. I have to say that I agree with Andy as he, Gareth, Nick and I had been queing for the tour only to be told we couldn't get on so we were a bit annoyed.

Anyway, just want to let everyone know that the Irish contingent arrived home safely last night. I would have posted then if I hadn't conked out from exhaustion! Hope Andy, Nick, Matt and other Andy all have a pleasant onward journey and stay.

- Tony

[Nigel]

I agree, you should have had what you'd paid for. You should send a written complaint (a letter, not an email), both to Botcon and to Hasbro.

Anyhoo, were the important issues raised, i.e. Nexus Maximus' name and Blueshift's free Hot Shot?

[grahamthomson]

You should certainly make a formal complaint.

[KoshNaranek]

I'm not aware if Blueshift's Hot Shot was raised, but Nexus Maximus definitely was in the Club Roundtable panel. I didn't catch it all but from what I'm aware there were a few different name suggestions that went to Hasbro for approval. Neither Nexus nor Maximus were together in any of them but Hasbro put them together from the other suggestions and okayed it.

- Tony

[Nigel]

Somewhere in there is a joke about two joining together. Or even the two coming together. Ahem.

[kayevcee]

Well, the first leg of my homeward journey was due to take off about now, but for a faulty bog. The repairs cause the flight to be delayed for an hour, meaning I wouls have 30 minutes at the ther end to claim my luggage and make the 20 minute journey on foot to my connection. Thee dude at th desk reckoned thiis was too slim a window and swappedme to a BA flight. I'm now 10 hours to Heahrow and 1 hour to Glasgow. Great! Except the flight doesn't leavefor 7 hours. I can't even check my bags so I'm sitting at a really expensive terminal in the food court laden down like hermit crab typing on a really shit keyboad to pass the time. The Scots transport curse strikes agaiin.

-Nick

[The Doctor]

Nick: good journey.

All: yeah, if you paid $50 for an event you couldn't access I would send a strongly worded (but polite) letter asking for a refund or club credit or summat.

Irish boys: glad you got back ok.

Banzia-Tron: Sooooooooooooooooon, soooooooooooooooooon.

-Ralph

[kayevcee]

Still in LAX. New flight also delayed. 3 hour stopover trimmed to a lean 1. Back to square 1 but Heathrow - Glasgow at lest more commn than Philadelphia - Glasgow so connection options hopefully still open. May yet be home for Christmas.

4 bucks for a luggage trolley. 2 .50 for a bottle of water. I fucking love this place.

Shared a lunch table with Korean girl called Hyuna (spellig unknown). Going home after couple of years in States. Brother is heavily into TF. She was well impressed by one of the things I bought on Ralph's behalf that aren't for him. No, I didn't get her number.

Off tocheck in now. Fingers crossed.

-Nick

[legios]

Glad to hear that the Irish lot are home safely.

Good luck with the next leg of thy mighty journey Nick.

Karl

[The Doctor]

For Nick, it never ends!

-Ralph

[jameso]

Jun 1, 2009 8:10:40 GMT @grahamthomson said:

And had he?

He didn't answer, I don't think he understood the question.

Sorry to hear Nick is having problems getting back.

[Bogatan]

I considered writing something but to be honest I can't pretend I didn't get my monies worth. Besides on Sunday I complained to him again on another subject, no security on the contest entries and so no checks on what was being taken. Some of my photos had been taken, it wasnt major but I was still enough to annoy me after the night before.

I was a bit more rational and acceptted a bribe of an extra Leozack to stop talking.

Hope you've home soon Nick.

Im feeling sad about missing the Cullen panel now, I expected the same old, but this one sounds good. The G1 cartoon writers panel did prove to be good though.

Andy

[charlesrocketboy]

I just heard Forest Lee stated at Botcon that the "multiversal singularities" wank still exists. NOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Save us, Revenge of the Fallen! Save us with an origin that pees on this!

[legios]

Jun 4, 2009 9:17:51 GMT charlesrocketboy said:

I just heard Forest Lee stated at Botcon that the "multiversal singularities" wank still exists. NOOOOOOOOOOOO!

On the bright side, for those of us on the _outside_ of the Multiversal Singularities whatever is happening within them is fairly academic as, by definition, we cannot ever percieve it..........

Karl

[kayevcee]

I eventually got home after 14 hours, 3 airlines and 5 inter-terminal buses in LAX alone. Tomorrow is officially Jetlag Day during which I expect to sleep till 3 in the afternoon. Expect a full like-Punk'd-but-not-a-set-up-and-actually-funny rundown of my adventures tomorrow.

*looks at clock* Er... later today.

-Nick

[KoshNaranek]

Good to hear Nick and Andy got back OK.

- Tony

[The Doctor]

Well done, Sir Nick. I shall now return all the toys I stole from your vast collection while you were away. Grand Max says hi.

-Ralph

[kayevcee]

Really? When I brought my purchases into my room he just said "so where's all that going to go?". He has a point.

Let me see if I can break down what happened yester- in the period during which I attempted to get home from LA.

12.30 a.m. (+8h from GMT) Reluctanctly turn off Ghostbusters 2 and go to sleep.

4.30 a.m. Woken by multiple alarms. Shuttle to airport is due at 5.15.

5.00 a.m. Take luggage down in the lift to foyer with help from Andy (Bogatan). Shuttle is already there.

5.40 a.m. Arrive at LAX with three other chaps picked up either before or after me.

6.00 a.m. Receive boarding pass at US Airways counter.

6.20 a.m. Jump through security hoops and hit Starbucks. They sell croissants, but not butter.

7.00 a.m. Flight switches from "ON TIME" to "DELAYED". I remain unconcerned.

7.30 a.m. I am called to the desk and told that due to a fault in the aircraft's toilet the flight will be delayed 1 hour. This would leave me only 55 minutes to reach my connection upon landing at Philadelphia, and as international flights apparently lock their doors 30 minutes before take-off I would have only 25 minutes to recover up my luggage and run about a mile between terminals to catch said connection, assuming nothing else goes wrong. Since this is a rather tight timeframe and assuming things will not go wrong in an airport is a crazy thing to do, I am offered a replacement. US Airways bloke says I am now confirmed for a seat on a British Airways flight to Heathrow and connection to Glasgow, leaving from terminal 3. I thank him for his help and grab my bag and poster tube.

7.45 a.m. Arrive in US Airways baggage hall to find my luggage being returned.

8.10 a.m. Inter-terminal shuttle bus arrives. It's only maybe four blocks between terminal buildings, but you have to take the bus as there is no walkway. Plenty of traffic, though.

8.20 a.m. Arrive at terminal 3. Struggle off bus with luggage. Pull out printout of my new flight info. Discover that said flight doesn't leave for another 7 hours.

8.25 a.m. Helpful lady in terminal 3 informs me that there is no British Airways desk at the moment because none of their flights are currently checking in.

8.30 a.m. I wonder how I'm going to fit a large suitcase, a jammed-full backpack, an oversized carrier bag and a 3ft poster tube into a toilet cubicle.

8.40 a.m. I buy my mum a Los Angeles mug and somehow fit it into my backpack.

8.45 a.m. Phone home. No answer.

8.50 a.m. Despite assurances from Starbucks staff that there are no internet terminals in this area, I find two internet terminals. $1 for four minutes. Okay. Keyboard similar to a payphone keypad with large spaces and small, sticky buttons. Hmm.

8.54 a.m. Update Hub of trials and tribulations.

9.00 a.m. Park myself in the food court next to a gargantuan departure board and pull out a Doc Savage book I picked up the previous day.

10.20 a.m. A bloke passes out pens and US flag pin badges. Strapped to these items with elastic bands are a short text explaining that he is deaf and selling this crap to feed his family. I don't believe him as I have seen this hustle in Glasgow but I give him a couple of bucks when he comes back anyway, along with his stuff. I bet the badge would have cost me more than $2.

10.40 a.m. Discover that the 'supersize' cubicle at the end of the men's room has enough room to bring all my luggage in, close the door and still be able to pee. Return to find my table has been nabbed.

11.00 a.m. Another table frees up. I drag my mountain of baggage to it.

12.30 p.m. Decide to find some more snackage. Find a $2 chocolate bar and $4 tube of Pringles from a shop downstairs. Decide to blow $4 more on a luggage cart.

12.35 p.m. Realise that cart means I can no longer use the escalators and must wait for the lift. Give a dollar to a wee nun collecting for the missions by the lift. In the lift I notice that I only have $14 left to my name.

12.40 p.m. Notice that BA flight, originally scheduled for 3.40 p.m. now departs at 5.10 p.m., although it still reads 'ON TIME' and the position of the flight relative to earlier/later ones has not changed.

12.45 p.m. Arrive at information desk to discover that time is correct, while 'ON TIME' statement is not. Re-examine flight details and realise how little time I will have to make my new connection. Wonder idly if Heathrow is more efficient/easier to nagivate than Philadelphia.

13.00 p.m. Acquire a drink the size of a man's head from a Japanese fast food unit.

13.10 p.m. Find table and eat entire tube of Pringles. 900 calories, the tube says. Should keep me going a while.

13.20 p.m. See young woman looking for table. Offer her my one remaining seat, the rest having been claimed by large nearby parties. She eats about 10% of her soup while watching bizarre Korean TV on her laptop.

13.20 p.m. Hyuna leaves to board her flight. She left most of her soup. I decide I'm not quite desperate enough to finish it, and go instead to update the Hub on my trials and tribulations.

13.30 p.m. I phone home and my mum picks up. Though the line quality is terrible and frequently cuts out, I eventually communicate that I was getting a later flight and would hopefully be landing at Heathrow at around 10 a.m. tomorrow (GMT) and would be able to update them then about my final arrival time at Glasgow.

14.05 p.m. Figure BA desk must be open by now.

14.15 p.m. Reach end of 200+ passenger queue for BA desk. A BA rep is checking tickets and directs me to the 'ticketing' desk because I'm a transfer.

14.30 p.m. My turn at the ticketing desk. Bloke at desk reacts with confusion followed by despair when he checks my situation. Bloke says BA have no record of me as US Airways failed to contact them to tell them I was coming, not that they would have taken me on anyway as they have no seats left on their flight. I ask what will happen if I can't get a flight home. Bloke says, basically, that that is US Airways' problem and suggests I should go and see them.

14.40 p.m. Realise I can't take my $4 luggage cart on the inter-terminal bus and there is no walkway. Reluctantly I jam my trolley back into the automated rental rack thingie and drag my cases with me to the bus stop. Looking back I now realise I could have given my trolley to the family struggling to comprehend the rental machine at the far end. It concerns me that such minor inconvenience on my part could blind me so to the needs of others. Perhaps sleep deprivation can shoulder part of the blame.

14.55 p.m. Drag my luggage into terminal 1 for the second time. Find myself at the baggage area which I was sure used to be a check-in desk.

15.00 p.m. Realise that there are actually two levels of roadways outside and that the check-in desk is upstairs. The lift has buttons marked B,C,T and M. No other information is given. I assume C stands for check-in and hit it. Bingo.

15.05 p.m. After talking to a rep about my plight I am directed to the 'full service' queue. There is only one woman working three desks, periodically answering all three phones and dealing with people. She looks more tired than me.

15.10 p.m. Rep comes over to see how we're all doing. Australian couple behind me reckon that Indian couple ahead of me have cut in line. I don't think they have but I'm honestly not sure, which sort of supports my earlier sleep deprivation theory.

15.15 p.m. Indian couple get redirected to another desk. I begin to explain my plight to exhausted US Airways woman. She interrupts midway to ask what I'm doing here if my flight leaves in 25 minutes. I explain that it's okay because it's delayed and that they won't let me on anyway. US Airways woman gets on the blower to someone who can presumably help.

15.25 p.m. Some bloke comes over and says he wants a ticket to Portland. US Airways woman (currently on hold) politely tells him to fuck off* as she's still dealing with me. He does. I like this woman.

15.30 p.m. US Airways woman writes a password and 13 digit code on my printout and explains that BA are being prissy little bitches* and are upset that they didn't phone to confirm-confirm after confirming that I was on their flight at 7.30 this morning, and that this should sort things out. I thank her and head for the lift.

15.40 p.m. I get off the inter-terminal bus at terminal 3 and realise that I've been in LAX for 10 hours. I head up the escalator to the check-in desks and head for the BA ticketing queue. EVERYONE who was there an hour and a half ago is still there. The queue is the same length, if not slightly longer. There are few, if any, happy faces. At least they're getting their money's worth out of the carts.

15.55 p.m. I reach the front of the ticketing queue again. Same bloke looks at my printout, checks his data, and reveals that the code and password are meaningless to them and, as he said, there are no seats on the flight anyway. He says that US Airways are a bunch of furrow-browed fuckwits* and are messing me around by their own incompetence, and writes his own note on my printout that their flight has no seats and to try someone else. Taking pity on me, he says he will put me on the 'reserve list', so if somebody doesn't show up I might get their seat. He also says that I am not at the top of the list and it looks like a full house anyway. He also recommends that US Airways contact American Airways or Virgin Atlantic, as they both have flights to Heathrow leaving today and that BA have already funnelled some of their excess passengers onto their services.

16.05 p.m. Back on the fucking bus to terminal 1 via terminals 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8. Did I mention that the road only runs one-way?

16.20 p.m. Return to the 'full service' desk at US Airways. A new woman at the desk this time, the previous one presumably having collapsed and been carried off by baggage handlers to the break room. I show her BA-bloke's additions to my now fairly ragged printout and mention in passing that I have run out of food and almost out of money. She offers to find me a flight where I'll get fed and finds an American Airways 777 leaving for Heathrow at 7.50. I ask if I'll be compensated in any way for getting the run-around for coming up on 11 hours. She offers me a $10 food voucher that the vendors in the airport 'should' accept. It'll do.

16.45 p.m. Back on the fucking bus. Terminal 4 this time.

17.00 p.m. Reach surprisingly dingy American Airways check-in area. The 24ft US flags behind the desks and on the wall above are a bit of a giveaway.

17.10 p.m. Check in at 'full service' desk. Get handed boarding passes. So far so good.

17.15 p.m. Since my luggage has the 'wrong' or non-certified padlocks fitted to them, they have to go through the x-ray scanner so I bring them over to the bloke next to it. The woman at the desk said he'd give me them back (I think) but after about ten minutes the bloke looks over and says my cases have gone through and I can head on to the terminal.

17.30 p.m. Security bloke decides that my reissues and Ralph's Things That I Bought For Him Though They Aren't For Him Per Se look sufficiently bomb-like that I have to go with another security bloke to a table while he goes through the contents of my bag. He was pretty impressed by the boxed Misfire I had picked up from the TFW2005 'parts party' Bogatan took me to. Anyway, I put all my stuff back in the bag and departed, leaving my poster tube at the desk.

17.45 p.m. 2 dry croissants (no butter again, and I was looked upon with utter confusion for asking for it), a muffin and a cup of coffee from a nearby bakery wipe out my food voucher.

17.50 p.m. Run back to security desk. Poster tube is still there. Has an A2-size Jungle Book cell printout in it for my dad. Spiffy.

18.20 p.m. After long reconnaisance I discover that the shop assistant I asked this time was correct, and there were no internet terminals in terminal 4. I asked a lady at the info desk who said that the 1st class lounge had free internet access. Very helpful. It was nearly 2 a.m. in Britain by now and I was expecting to arrive 4 hours later than I had told my mum and dad I was arriving, but phoning to tell them seemed a bit mad. With no net access I couldn't even email a friend and ask them to call and let my folks know. Defeated, I returned to the departure lounge.

19.00 p.m. Shakira in concert on TV at the other end of the lounge, between adverts. Wondered how much of a perv I would look if I went and sat closer.

19.05 p.m. Shakira concert finishes. Bah. Back to Doc Savage.

19.15 p.m. TV appears to be looping. Shakira returns! Woohoo! Still on the other side of the room. Still, look at her go.

19.30 p.m. Call for boarding. Something about oversized hand luggage and fitting in a frame. I am concerned.

19.45 p.m. Enter plane and find my seat, next to a half-asleep Israeli woman with a nose-ring. I discover the reasoning behind the hand luggage size checky-thing when I can barely stuff my bag into the awkwardly-shaped overhead compartment. For about the sixth time today I regret not being able to roll up my Botcon lithos and put them in a tube, owing to the bundle being too thick to roll tight enough.

20.00 p.m. The pilot announces that there will be a slight delay in departing.

20.10 p.m. The plane takes off with me, the sole remaining live passenger, aboard.

So that's my tale of woe. 14 and a half hours. 14 and a half hours later I was touching down in Glasgow. Someday I'll look back on this and laugh. But not today.

-Nick

*This is not exactly what they said.

[The Doctor]

I'm disappointed by the lack of violence in your story.

-Ralph

[kayevcee]

Did you not notice that between 20.00 and 20.10 I murder 227 fellow passengers using only a boxed Misfire and a rolled up Disney cell?

-Nick

[blueshift]

My god

I hope you didn't harm the Misfire box.

[Nigel]

Sorry, Nick, shoudn't laugh, but.....


Hey, is this a good time to mention that when I flew out to Botcon OTFCC 2003, United Airlines bumped me up to business class? Or that when I went to New York and Washington three years ago, they were able to put me on an earlier flight between the two cities?