The Great TFcon Write-Up: House O' Bots Edition

2019-03-25T00:19:30Z

And now [drumroll]
the Great TFcon Adventure Recap --
This time, with the whole family!

I can’t begin to tell you how great it was to have everybody there. To get to introduce The House O’ Bots to all my favorite TF People. And everyone HAD FUN. Nobody wigged or whinged! (OK, Seth kinda collapsed at 11:30pm on the final night, but that’s completely forgiveable!)

OK. The fun details. Here goes!

Friday night: The House O’ Bots Arrives

We actually left Utah on Thursday after the kids finished school, and stayed in a budget hotel in Saint George. It’s been funny to watch the kids react to hotels. They think they are The Most Amazing Thing, and have no filter for fanciness. So while I was like, “...I hope this place got cleaned…” they were like, “IT HAS A KITCHEN!11!” because the room we’d booked could not be opened even by the maintenance master-key! There was also a pool. With, in fairness, tiles that were very pretty. I am grateful that budget hotels exist, despite the sketchiness. Because 50 bucks for all 6 of us plus free breakfast? Noice.

Anyway, we drove most of Friday and got to the TFcon hotel around 4:00. This was a whole new world of fancy, with baggage-carts and valets who were genuinely helpful. I still get imposter syndrome whenever I have to Adult in a fancy place, like they will kick us out if they get a good look at us. But I checked in, and was not denied entry! Bless the hotel -- we asked not just for extra blankets and pillows for two kids to sleep on the floor, but also for more extra pillows so Lance could sleep with his feet propped up for CPAP purposes. And we’d often need things late at night. Bless them forever. Also, we did verily eat much food in the room and make messes. And I forgot to leave the housekeepers a tip! Totally spaced it. Sorry!!!!!

We’d rented a monster-huge SUV-truck because they were out of minivans at the lot. I’m still in awe of things like GPS navigation. But it was so awesome to be tired and starving and able to get led by the nice GPS-voice to Costco for hot pizzas! (And to find a Target on the way to get the underwear and socks that Magnus had forgotten to pack -- the ONE CHILD whose packing I only verbally checked, not physically went through beforehand. Oh well. Also, both Eve and I forgot to bring a hairbrush. So… Target. Aimee joined us for pizza, which was fun. :D She slots into our crazy family very well!

We ran into pals Razzie and Den and played with Questionable Balloons in their room, ftw. Watching them realize to their horrified amusement that the kids totally got the joke was very funny. I stress out when the kids are around people who aren’t used to them, but nobody broke anything. Eve adopted her “Razzleberry” forever, and they later had a mini-Art-Night together. Razz drew a sketch of Megs wearing slippers based on this great Prime-flavored Easter Egg box -- you’ll have to trust me on this one; it was perfect.

Liam went to Flint Dille’s Five Faces of Darkness commentary and even asked a question, which I happened to be present to witness: something about what TF-faces might be made of to give them that flexibility. Hooray for Liam’s nerdiness!

Saturday: We PWN

We all woke up and went down to the fanfic panel together, because we all care. I mean, we spent the whole trip there and back from Utah listening to my recordings of astolat fanfiction, which the whole family now loves intensely. (You shoulda seen how Disappointed Magnus was that he would not be able to meet great fanfic-author astolat at TFcon!!) It was a small panel, and because it was open-discussion-based, it got sidetracked on Mary Sues for too long IMO. But Magnus was right up in things, offering his opinions and telling everyone about my stories till I gently reminded him this was not the right place for plot synopses. I hope they have more fanfic panels in the future.
Later, the gal who had run the panel told me she really enjoyed having our family there, which made me happy because I always have this voice telling me people are annoyed by us. And another gal gave me a Rodimus Star sticker for being part of the panel. :) So, good times! I was invited to attend a slashfiction convention in LA, but LTUE has spoiled me so rotten in terms of a USEFUL writing con. And I’m not really a slashfic writer [so she tells herself repeatedly...]

I’d hoped to bring everyone around to meet all of my favorite Art Gods and Voice Actors together, but that’s just too much to ask of 6 distractable people. So I mostly ended up bringing a few family members around with me. Liam and Eve were most interested. I was surprised that Liam wanted to meet everyone, though looking back, I guess I shouldn’t have been. I’m so used to thinking of him as my non-engaged son, and have not fully realized the great improvements he has made over the last year. ALL HAIL DnD for helping kids learn social skills!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The best thing, though, was going to see David Kaye with Magnus. Sadly, Seth missed out on this bit. But Aimee got to be there! Magnus had been excited for this for ages. I took him with me to my first TF convention when he was just a few months old, and for a joke, asked David Kaye to sign him. It became this great shared joke of the whole con, and Magnus has lorded his travels and con-experience over his older siblings ever since. So on Saturday, he sauntered up to Mr. Kaye and demanded, “Do you know who I am?”
Lance hinted, “It’s been ten years.”
“Did I sign you?” David Kaye asked, and then proceeded to BW Megs-voice when the kids asked [Awfully nice of him -- I’d forgotten to teach the kids the gentle etiquette of not making people always do the voice. I’ll always remember the great Scottish brogue he did for Baby Magnus back in the day, as he crouched to play with him and sign his ankle with a sharpie for the glee of it ten years ago. Hooray for all the great people in the world!!!] <3 <3 <3 :D :D :D :D
We recounted unto him the family legends, including how Magnus claimed to “recognize that tree!” when we entered California on a family trip two years ago because he’d been to the state as a baby. Hee hee! Great stuff. He asked to get a picture with us, and if he could share it. Sure! Eve was gobsmacked that “A CELEBRITY wanted to take a picture with US!!”
“They’re just people,” I reminded her. But it meant a lot to all of us. <3 <3 <3 Thanks for your continued part in family lore, Mr. Kaye!

Like I mentioned, Liam went around with me to meet my beloved people, which was awesome. Then he went to attend panels, and Eve came along with me to visit Art Gods. She has been doing a lot of coloring, and making up dragon OC’s. It was so great to show her the inked pages of some of the comics we have read together, to let her meet Art Gods she’s only known as faceless objects of praise from me before this. Sadly, everything’s blurred together, so I have a hard time remembering who came with me to talk with whom, but it was all great.

Here are some highlights:

--Voice Actors--

I realized to my own surprise that after recording 6+ audiobooks, I had specific things to discuss with voice actors. I asked Michael Bell if he’d ever run into the problem I had recording Victory Condition, where the voices I had done for Megs and Screamer in other stories were too much for that one, and I had to dial them way, way back. He said no, but he had recorded an audiobook, and lo and behold, he ALSO falls asleep talking if he records for too long! I thought it was just me! Ha ha! Great stuff -- falling asleep while reading aloud is hilarious to me. The things we humans are capable of!
I asked David Sobolov about the thing he does where he cups one hand against his cheek to direct sound back toward his ear. Apparently it does not change the sound, but helps him hear it better. I asked if it ever messed the recording up, because I’ve had hand movements around my face mess the sound up -- and I’m experimenting with using that to simulate radio transmissions. Anyway… useful convos with very fun voice-actors ftw!!! Huzzah!

I thanked the Orion Pax voice-guy.

And I got to tell Elita-One’s voice actress how the voice she had given to that character is what made her important to me, because she gave her an inner assurance and power that transcended Girl-in-80’s-cartoon (the thing I always describe as “old-Hollywood” grace and power). While in line, I also got to hang and chat with Firestar/Moonracer/Baroness’s voice-actor, who is a hoot and great in every way. The two ladies were rushing to snatch lunch and a quick break, but Elita’s actor did receive my thanks, and gave me a poem she’d written! It was her first-ever convention. I hope she felt very loved!!!

Eve and I chatted with machinima-series Megatron and Starscream voices Jason Marnocha (who is livin’ the life of an Evil Dude with such pure glee!) and Frank Todaro, who also embodies his wicked schemer-role with great gusto. :) ) As they bantered back and forth in their Voices, I have to admit that that Megs-voice Did Things to my insides. I was not prepared. Heh -- and then the magnificent TFP Soundwave cosplay group [someone wearing a perfectly-made robot-form, with people puppeting the tentacles and one flying the attachable laserbeak: it was Phenomenal!] came in, and the two of them went into full-squee-mode, and I was just glad I was there to witness it!!!

Got to bring Lance to chat with “Cheetor” (thanks for playing Cards Against Cybertron with us last TFcon!!) and Sobolov (who was handing out little Bumblebee toys to all the kids because he is great) It was fun to have my Ironhide with me to play with voice actors!

--Art Gods--

I got a marker-lesson from senpai and #1 Art God Alex Milne. [!!] I told him about Eve coming up with a marker technique I had not thought of, but that used up tons of ink, and he showed me how to do it more easily/with less ink. We also discussed different shadow methods, and he showed me the gray-underpainting way, but both of us are not total fans of that one. He also shared a funny drawing story. You know I’m always trying to blinking just be pals with Alex, because I admire his work so much and like being pals with people I admire. So I was grateful that he was willing to joke around with me and talk shop and stuff.
I bought a Prime print from him. “You don’t have Prime yet?” he asked, surprised. “Alex, the last two cons I’ve come with basically no money. I bring enough for food, but mostly I’m just here to hang out with you guys.” I like to think he got the weight of that. He and the rest of the Art Gods, fellow-fans, actors and TF-makers of all stripes are IMPORTANT to me. More important than toys. More important (just barely!) than art prints!
It was very cool to say to my family, “Behold, Alex the Art God!” Heh -- he did ask Lance if he knew how crazy I was at conventions. Poor Lance probably knows better than most anyone -- I go off to him about all this stuff!
Oh -- we somehow found out that we were hotel neighbors with him and Josh Perez, which made the kids go absolutely nuts with star-struck excitement. (“No, you may NOT knock on their door and ask if they want to play Cards Against Cybertron! They are BUSY!!”)

I got to talk with Casey Coller about inking Kei Zama’s pages, and about his epic Lost Light issue, all while showing Eve the actual pages. Talking art with Eve and Art Gods is so great! It makes me happy just to think about it. But yeah, seeing those pages in the flesh = amazing!
I am an absolute addict when it comes to graphic design, so when I saw his “Tea Rex” print, I had to have it!

I was in the area when Josh Perez and another gal started squeebling about Into the Spiderverse, at which point I was incapable of not jumping into the conversation to squeeble too. It was really fun to talk animation and just all enjoy good art together! I also got to meet Josh’s brother, who brings just as much joy to the world as he does. The only thing I failed to do was buy the “Elita: Battle Ariel” print he had on offer. I blinking loved it; it was perfect. But… I just didn’t buy it? Sometimes I randomly freak out about spending money.

I introduced Ultimate God Of Color Josh Burcham to the clan, and told Liam which of his sketches were hanging on his bedroom wall. :) Eve fell in love with his Soundwave print, so we bought it. And I got the Optimus Prime finale print he’d done with Kei, because it’s epic. Burcham’s just the best and I love him to bits, though I’m always shy around ‘im for some reason.

Jack Lawrence had a table, and it was the first chance I had to meet him. I asked him to sign LL #25, and the inner panel in LL #6 where Megatron gets a call from Orion and gives that precious little smile, the one I also asked James to sign because it was “all I had ever wanted for those two!” In Lance’s favorite story from the con, Jack shocked the life out of me by asking, “Should I make this out to Heather, or…?” “I can’t believe you know my name!!” I burst out. Seriously, that is an amazing talent. Both he and James have it -- that ability to remember people as individuals. It’s… so gosh-darn amazing-kind!!! Anyway, I did get to own up to my FB biff-moment of How-Not-To-Human re: Jack’s art, which was a relief to me.
We also (because Liam insisted on seeing what was up) got to see the most creepy commission he’d been given for the con. Let’s just reiterate that Getaway is a Very Bad Man!
Later on I went back and hung around for a while, and learned how he and James were part of the British TF fandom from way, way back, and had been friends and co-creators then. I had not known that; that’s cool! Also got to watch him work, and talk about how things have shifted from people never daring to ask Art Gods for shippy commissions, to now it being smooches everywhere because people feel safe asking, which I’m grateful for. Feeling safe to ask for what you want is SUCH A GIFT. I mean, I was nervous asking Nick and Alex for my Prime and Megs portrait commissions a few years back, because _I_ knew they were from my fanfic, even though the requests themselves were pretty basic (OK, not so much Prime sans mask with his Till All Are One symbol; but still, no snogging or anything). So the fact that now people can jusgt ask and receive anything the artist is willing to draw, and the fear is receding -- that is important stuff. A pal of mine just posted a list of “most sexist fandoms” and put comics near the top; but I think TF comics are just about the least sexist, most-welcoming community around. So thank you to EVERYONE who’s made it that way!!!!!

I had some wonderful conversation with Sara Pitre-Durocher… but I want to go into that more when I’m talking about panels, because it feeds off of something begun there. Suffice it to say, I got a print from her, am so happy to have been able to introduce some of the family to her, and as always, love her to bits!!!

Best-Art-Pal Thomas Deer was so kind, as always. He wanted to meet the whole family. But by then they had scattered so far as to be irretrievable, so I only got to bring a few kids over. I did snatch up his great Galvatron print (though the Twitter vote I’d missed had nixed the quote he’d thought of putting onto it, alas! Darn you, Twitterverse! You were incorrect as far as I’m concerned!) And I FINALLY got the Stunticon Job comic I put down and lost back in whatever Botcon it came out for… an old wound finally healed! (Also, he signed it, ftw!)

I worshipped at the table of the great and glorious Mairghread Scott. I got her to sign comics, and gabbled my eternal thanks for TAAO #12. Lance got to watch the fireworks as we squeebled about Shakespeare together. I told her about reading her Christmas-issue story to all and sundry; she told us how it had originally been a completely different story, till the Grinch idea hit her. :) She had boxes of back-issues, and I was able to get a couple covers that I wanted but did not have. (Including the Transmissions one -- I still feel bad for ordering one and not picking it up at the con a few years back!! Sorry, guys!!)
I just-- I just love Mairghread so darn much!!! Again, more about her in the Panels section of this record…

It’s late; I’ll finish this tomorrow.

[One Week Later…]

OK, sometimes I am too tired for writing. This happened a lot in the past several days. But! It’s Sunday morning, and I’m snatching a few minutes of relative calm and mental clarity. Let’s see how much I can get done before church…

Some random things that happened:

I saw Lindsay Ellis walking from the hotel to the dealer room, and did my little shy smile-wave that happens whenever I see someone that I know who has no earthly clue who I am. I then became weirdly the most star-struck I’ve ever been; I don’t know why. (I don’t usually get star-struck much at all; I’m very into treating everyone like a person because it’s what I would want.) When I found one of my kids, I told them, so they could laugh at Mom dorking out over a YouTube person. (They’re more into Dan TDM and have no clue who Lindsay Ellis is.)

Lance picked up a complete shiny G1 gun-mode Megatron that was on display at one of the booths, and in doing so knocked over a shiny complete G1 Devastator onto the floor, and everyone around including me about had a heart attack while he very slowly realized this was not like dropping one of our toys on the floor... Luckily, no breaks. Whew!! The perils and pitfalls of collectible plastic bits, yo!

Liam, Magnus, and I all got picked to play a round of TFcon Jeopardy. I was in the first round, and only lost in the end because I bet 500 instead of all my points on the final answer. I wish I had known better, but I’ve never played before, and had no idea you could do that or how much I had accumulated (could not see the screen from my seat) So I both won and lost, because till then I had had the most points. I am extremely proud of how well I did. I jumped in and guessed fearlessly, and got Mirage’s tech-specs right! (Alas, no IDW comics category for me -- I woulda PWNd on that one!!)
Liam was chosen to be a contestant in the second round. He came in second as well... and then did the thing I am most proud of him all blinkin’ year for -- he smiled and shook hand hands with the winner. Social Skills!!!!! Interaction!! Awareness!! This is SUCH huge improvement for a kid on the Spectrum! I’ve told him how proud I was of him then like a million times.
Magnus, a confident 10-year-old kid with dyed neon-green hair so of course people picked him for stuff because he is delightful, was chosen for Round 3. That round, the computer’s questions were plain murder. Nobody did very well. But Magnus felt bad for not getting many points, which is too bad. He gets down on himself quite easily. I hugged him a lot.
I do love that they had a real jeopardy game, and hope they do it again! Props to the people who put it together and ran the game (yes, even you, Joshua, and your Lost Light Legal Affairs Committee question!! [insert a bunch of irritated emoji here]).

OK! [Afternoon now, and I’m jumping back into this!] Let’s talk about the Panels!

...Of which I attended few this year, but will still claim that Mairghread, Sara, and Mae Catt’s was The Best One. Sunday morning, when every con-goer was sleep-deprived/hung-over, the first panel of the morning was TAAO and Cyberverse. And let me tell you, I was THERE FOR IT. Because, as every friend and family member I have ever had -- and several strangers -- can attest, TAAO #12 is “SCRIPTURE TO ME!!1!” and TAAO #10 was the most challenging comic I ever read.
So. Yeah, I was blinking There. (5 minutes late, because, well, I am still me and being on time is a Struggle!)
I got to ask Sara about how she came up with the [PERFECT! TRUE!] design for Starscream’s forged-self, and was super-grateful to hear about her process. (She had only a few hours, so she just jumped in and went… and got it goshdarnslagging RIGHT.) Later on, at her table, she said she was glad I’d asked the question and given her a chance to talk about it, which was a relief to me because it felt like such a personal question in some ways, yanno? We got to just talk art and panels and glee together, which was really cool. I love that she was able to look at her art as art, and not feel weird about it like I often do with mine. That’s experience and professionalism for ya. <3 Sara. <3 Sara forever!
The most deep and interesting topic of the panel was when the three ladies answered a question about “why Starscream appeals to women and queer people,” and dug into their own theories. (Funniest you-had-to-be-there moment was when they all took in the question, but nobody wanted to go first; so Mairghread shoved the mic at Sara and went, “You’re gay…” You gotta trust me on the fact that it did not feel mean. Everybody up there and a lot of the audience was in the LGBTQIA alphabet somewhere.) Sara said that for her, Starscream is “The woman working at the office who feels like she always has to scream in order to be listened to, or get a man to say it.” [Hooooooo-boy!] They also mentioned body dysmorphia, relating to his ever-changing looks [Yup! I felt that one!]. They called him “Someone who’s just gotten out of a long-term abusive relationship,” who is still using old tools to get what he wants because he’s so stuck in those destructive, antisocial, distrusting habits he relied on for survival. [Yup. Also: Dang!] Mairghread also said, “I’ve never thought of Starscream as a fool. He’s smart. A manipulator.” [#10 Much?!?]
Other funny Mairghread comment on writing an ongoing story: “The TFWiki is the best. But have you ever messed up on a school paper? [groans from audience] Have you ever had an entire wiki article cataloguing your mistakes?” [more groans and sympathetic laughter]
Anyway, not to discount Mae because she too was smart and funny; I just haven’t watched much Cyberverse yet so did not have as much connection to her work. But hearing about behind-the-scenes writers’-room stuff was cool. And hooray for smart, talented women to look up to -- and occasionally, on the very best days, hang out with just a little at their tables. <3 <3 <3

The Script-Reading is always a highlight of TFcon. Some glorious person may-they-live-forever writes a script including all the characters whose voice-actors are visiting for the convention. So it’s always a cross-universes mashup glee-parade. They audition people from the audience to read a few smaller roles. And more often than not, Chromie and/or Hound get picked because they’re good. (I thought about auditioning for Jazz -- everyone was doing Scatman Crothers impressions, but I have a smooth-Jazz TFA-like read on him that might have been a good contrast… I wimped out though. Darn. Next time.) Anyway, through some last-minute substitutions, Chromie ended up reading [Blam! Zowie!] Warpath. And I wish you could’ve seen her -- her entire tooth was falling apart in her mouth, yet there she was, emoting those lines with her Whole Body. It was The Absolute Best Thing.
The best thing until Cheetor voice-actor Ian James Corlett walked in and crossed the front of the room, and some blessed genius ad-libbed, “This is usually the point where some darn Maximal shows up in the story…” HILARITY. UPROARIOUS APPLAUSE. I suppose it *could* have been scripted, but if so, I will eat my hat!

And now, some random tidbits:

Lance “bonding with a guy in the hot tub”: We get a kick out of starting the story that way. There were two nights when we went to melt in the hot tub and met fun people: first the Guy From New York whom Lance really did make friends with and who told us stories of what it was like to be there for the big blackout, and for 9/11. And to whom Lance gave my fanfiction account with sincere recommendations, which is both awesome and terrifying.
Second night was the Ladies With the Gig: two ladies tired after an intense day of getting the young singer they represented to a -- get this -- red carpet event, all in spanish, held at the Church of Scientology. [!!!] It was the kind of story that got more and more fun to tell as we amplified their reactions to it all. Then the young singer-gal joined them, and shared her passionate feelings on how America is failing/needs to do better, and a few things that sounded conspiracy-theoryish to me -- but since Lance and I are also passionate, we had a lot of fun and as she left she thanked us for a “dope-[aft] conversation!” It was great.

I gave all the kids $10 to spend on whatever toy they liked. I was prepared to have at least Seth come up to me several times in full-on life-or-death “But We NEEEEEEEEED It!!” mode after the kids had spend their budget. So I figured I’d start out low, and leave room for the inevitable secondary purchase. But -- get this now -- NO ONE EVEN ASKED FOR MORE. Not. Once. They each got something that they really like, played with it (or in Eve’s case, wore it -- she scored a great Soundwave DJing t-shirt) and were perfectly content. This is a HUGE IMPROVEMENT. I have been trying to teach them to look at cool things and enjoy them without going into a panicked must-have frenzy. Seth did spend the Entire con with his hands elbow-deep in old used toy boxes -- and came home after learning how to bargain with several transformers needing glue whom he had promised to love and care for (and he is) as well as a bunch of Bionicle parts. Magnus bought three of those new BotBots, and loves them. And Liam and Seth pooled resources and got WFC Grimlock, who is an incredible toy. Because in our home we religiously watch Thew’s Awesome Toy Reviews, they decided his red glow-light was “Bite-Piping” (T-Rex mode) and “Might-Piping” (robot mode). We went to several room parties the first night, and I wish I’d sprung for the mini G1 gun-Megs and a few Robot Heroes we don’t have… (It would have been a grand total of like 12 bucks) but as Eve eerily-accurately imitated, I think for a while before buying things, and this time, I did not go back. Lance brought his TFC cards so he could join in the games, and purchased some uncommons from a guy selling his extras. I bought only art and comics, to no one’s surprise at all.

A few final highlights from the trip:

We stopped in the middle of the desert at “The World’s Biggest Chevron” -- where the kids found a barrel of those internet-meme yelling chickens, and an employee thanked me for stopping them from squeezing them after [probably too long] a while…

After listening to our third story of hers, Lance asked me to google where astolat lives, because he so wished he could talk to her about how she invented her schools of philosophy. (Manhattan is far. But not so far from the upcoming DC TFcon….. Alas, we will not be there.)

We found out that, while some Dramamine is vital to Magnus (and sometimes Seth) not throwing up on long car trips, a full pill is too much for a small 10 year old boy. He passed OUT, and was all weird for the first leg of the journey. It was funny but also concerning…
The next morning, I asked my fellow bleary-eyed travellers in the hotel’s free breakfast area if they had a pocket knife to cut the pill in half with. Someone finally volunteered… and when I demonstrated what I needed, I accidentally broke the pill in half. DERP!
(Do You Know How Many Pills I Have Been Manually Cutting In Half That I Could Have Broken By Hand?!?!?)

Eve’s memorable line from the final drive home: “I want chips, but not Sun Chips.” The kids had worked their way through a Costco giant box of Sun Chip bags -- like 40 of them -- over the course of the weekend. Somehow, Doritos and potato chips still sounded tempting?

If you’ve made it this far, I hope you had a fun read. Thanks for coming along with us on this journey. A Million Gazillion thanks to everyone who interacted with us, ever.
We had an amazing time. And you were part of making it amazing. We love you. I’ve been whinging to my poor family for years about how not even the great Salt Lake FanX convention can hold a candle to the camaraderie of TFcon or TFN. So thanks to TFcon for being, as Magnus finally can attest with his own knowledge, “WAY better than ComicCon.”

--The End--

comments

haheeprime

The Great TFcon Write-Up: House O' Bots Edition

Soundtracks for Fanfics