Comparing the 2004 Conventions Sooo...let's get the inevitable out of the way. People seem to expect this. Keep in-mind, this is mere observation; if you think you somehow read an opinion of mine in here, then you are sadly mistaken. :-) I don't do opinions. This review will be broken down into 4 parts: 1) comparison of facilities, 2) things to do at the conventions, 3) at the organiser panels, and 4) the future of our conventions.

Botcon vs OTFCC

1) On the facilities: - The facilities of Botcon were top-notch. The dealer room was in a nice carpeted building, soft lighting, and sound buffered. It was like walking through a grand ballroom of old. It felt...cultured and refined. - OTFCC was held in a pole-shed. Cement floor, harsh lighting, and surly setup people. If I were to hose the cobwebs out of the barn, I could have held OTFCC at home. Granted, they did try to dress it up with curtains. It felt like I was at a county fair flea market. - The walk between each convention's dealer room and hotel space was equal. My feet hurt either way. - I was able to drive to OTFCC, but I had to fly to Botcon. I prefer a location that I can get to with my own wheels. I understand the reasoning behind a west coast location, but no matter who has the convention next year, I don't plan to fly again. - No McDonald's near by. Having a very specific nutritional requirement, I prefer McDonalds. While at Botcon, I dined on good food that cost me a lot of money. While at OTFCC, I was able to walk to a Denny's, and White Hen Pantry (ghetto version of 7-11). Either way (cheap or expensive) I still suffer from a case of the trots. All in all, I'd have to give the edge to the Hartmans on the facilities, and the geographical location to Glen.

2) Things to do at the convention: - Panels, etc: I enjoyed the art contest, and the panels at Botcon. I was able to get to everything I wanted because there was an announcer all weekend telling me what was going on. I'm a verbal kind of guy, so this was a *great* reminder. Plus, everything was well-layed out in the facility; it was literally a straight line walk from the dealer room to the panel rooms. - At OTFCC, nothing went right. No one met the voice actor, so he was lost getting to the convention (Dan Gilvezan). No one told me what was going on (no announcer). The art room was shut down and cleared out because they didn't book the room for long enough. There was confusion because the building had weddings, and a video game show going on at the same time. - When I asked a Botcon staffer what was going on, they all knew, and were helpful. They had walkie-talkees. When I asked an OTFCC member, they didn't know, and would send me to another staffer, who also didn't know, and would send me to yet another staffer, who would send me to the one who sent me on this wild goose chase in the first place. - Finding Stuff: While the amount of things (by volume) was comparable between the conventions, I found a slightly different stuff (that I was looking for) at OTFCC than I did at Botcon. As a researcher of sorts, this thrilled me. I filled up two boxes worth of stuff at Botcon, one box of that being knockoffs. I also filled up 2 boxes of stuff at OTFCC, with things like 'a long beveled peg thundercracker wing'. The space where KO's would have gone filled up with broken dollar-bin G1 TFs. - Getting Stuff: Similar to the finding stuff catagory above, this dealt with getting stuff that was promised to me at each convention. While I was promised (and got) my Breakdown at Botcon (along with permission to pick up my friend's Breakdown) I did not get everything promised to me at OTFCC. I only got one of the original 3 toys promised me (the Megazarak; Sentinal Maximus isn't ready, and may go the route of the mia plates, while The Last Autobot was cancelled completely). I was also not allowed to pick up any of my friend's stuff for him. If he couldn't attend, he was out of luck. I did, however, finally get some of the comics that were supposed to be mailed to me. I got a t-shirt at both conventions. So, while I had a more fufilling time at Botcon (in terms of things to do other than the dealer room), I found equal (but different) research material between the two conventions. I also had closer contact with more of my local friends at OTFCC than I did at Botcon, as more of them could attend (ie, drive down) for OTFCC. Oddly, I could have talked to some of them at Botcon too, but they were busy (as was I) doing other things. ;-) Which was ok, as more of my out-of-town friends were able to hand out at Botcon. So I don't know how to rate that one.

3) At the organiser panel: - Jon and Karl were very polite, and so were the attendees. Questions were answered, and it was a low-key approach. Did I mention no bad-mouthing, and polite? As I said, this applied to both the fans, and the convention runners. - Glen attacked the fans, blamed them for what was going wrong ("you are all mean people"). The attendees at this panel were a bunch of violent posturing types who, having nothing useful to say, would shout out violently and shake their fists, at which point their little friends would clap. When people asked questions, the answer Glen gave was "none of your business". Glen let his anger get the better of him. Understandable, but unprofessional. All getting angry does is give your attackers more ammunition. Malin was not able to salvage things this go-round. All in all, while Glen has passion, I give definate politeness points to Jon and Karl. You cannot attack the very people you rely upon to pay your bills; if you plan to do this for a living, and you're biting the hand that feeds you, you're in a bind. I recommend getting a job outside of convention organiser. Maybe prison guard, or something. They always have room for jack-booted thugs. *A note on the fandom that voices themselves at these conventions: While I try to get along with all the parties involved, it pains me to see that certain people pile behind specific conventions without a rational analysis of the facts. It's quite political in nature, really. If it comes down to a choice between conventions, choose which one works best for you, not which one your group-think provides. I've got friends on both sides of the coin; the only advice I can give is, support whichever convention is the best for you. The 'follow the leader' game just isn't appropriate for this kind of situation. Let's be professional about this. Break the situation down for yourself (as I have above) and perhaps you will find the combination that works best for you. (Begin Test Sequence): In other words, grow up children. Learn to act like adults. This goes for the old-schoolers, and the newbies. I've observed all of you for years. Your behavior sickens me. You're damn lucky I don't catch you in a dark alley somewhere. I would pound the snot out of you. And you *know* I can. It would be worth the suspension and subsequent investigation. And best part is, I get paid time off for it. Let the Captain keep my badge. I don't care. Do you have any idea how this bullcrap of yours looks to everyone else? Oh, I know, wrap yourself up in whatever little platitudes make you feel better. Would you like to suck on your thumb, and cuddle your blankie while you're at it? Gods, I wish I could name names. But I *won't*. Just remember; if you can get this kind of reaction out of *me*, of all people, you *know* you must be doing something wrong. (End test sequence.) ...you see what I mean? Or, more accurately, how did that last paragraph make you feel? Which do you prefer, the nice polite neutral breakdown I usually do, or are you more enthralled by the passionate 'speech' I just gave? Your answer says a lot about you as a person. If I need to explain further why I just interrupted the report to conduct this little exercise, then please let me know. I'm happy to be even wordier. ;-) But I suspect you all got it.

4) The future of our conventions: Yes, the license is up for grabs. This has now become common knowledge. As stated in the previous paragraphs, go for whichever one suits your needs the best. I don't have a better answer for you than that. But I do ask you to consider the following points. - Which convention was better for you, personally? In other words, which was worth a week's vacation? - Which convention delivered on all it's promises, in-terms of product, facilities, etc? - Which convention were you most comfortable at? There were both good and bad points to each show, and one could hope that a future convention would combine the best of them. All we really can do is support whichever team has the best chance of providing me with what I want. :-) Who will that be? Only time will tell...