BotCon 1997

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Transformers...the Convention!
Date	July 18 - July 20, 1997
City	Rochester, NY
Venue	Rochester Riverside Convention Center

BotCon 1997 was held on July 18-20, 1997, in Rochester, New York. It was the first convention organized by 3H Productions.

Merchandise

Convention exclusive toys

This awesome packaging is 2/3 the cost of this set but who cares? It's awesome!

• Fractyl
• Packrat

The two were only sold as a set, although numbers released for the figures confusingly state that there were 600 Packrats and 570 Fractyls produced. After the convention, 3H sold "box sets" through their website that included only Packrat, with nothing in the empty space where Fractyl should be.

Simon and Andrew stayed up all night signing these just for you.

Other merchandise

• BotCon 1997 Mural Print - a print featuring Fractyl and Packrat's back-of-package mural art.^{[citation needed]}
• 'Til All Are One: Featuring Stan Bush and Vince DiCola

Dave stayed up many nights painting these just for you.

• Convention T-shirt.
• Namebadge.
• Program guide.

Additionally, the first 100 attendees who paid for the pre-convention dinner were given a Decoy hand-painted by Dave Van Domelen, a wooden stand with an engraved plaque, and a laminated copy of a storyboard panel from The Transformers: The Movie. However, 3H continued to take seating reservations after announcing that there were no more dinner exclusives left.

Fiction

• Ground Zero - standalone comic story included with Fractyl/Packrat.

Guests

Voice actors

• Peter Cullen
• David Kaye
• Venus Terzo

Hasbro employees

• Dawn Berryman, marketing
• George Boznos, designer
• Jerry Palmer, engineer

Beast Wars Story Editor

• Bob Forward

Marvel Comics

• Simon Furman
• Andrew Wildman

Music

• Stan Bush
• Vince DiCola

Events

Friday

• Dinner/Opening Ceremonies

Saturday

• Peter Cullen panel
• Bob Forward panel
• Simon Furman/Andrew Wildman panel
• Stan Bush/Vince DiCola concert (evening event)

Sunday

• Beast Wars Video Game Presentation
• Beast Wars Voice Actor Panel
• Stan Bush/Vince DiCola Panel
• Hasbro Presentation
• MSTF
• Quiz show
• Charity auction
• Convention Organizers' Panel/closing ceremonies

Notes

• According to a magazine advertisement for the convention, story editor Larry DiTillio, Hasbro representatives Vinnie D'Alleva and Todd Wise, and voice actors Susan Blu, Garry Chalk, Frank Welker were originally scheduled to attend. None of them ended up making the convention, but Welker sent an audiotaped message to the attending fans.
• The same advertisement put the convention in Kendallville, Indiana rather than Rochester, New York.
• Until he was invited to BotCon 1997, Simon Furman was unaware there was a Transformers fandom! As a result, he allowed himself to forget everything he'd done and was unprepared for an in-depth Q&A session: "I was floundering, and often had to resort to a lame ‘sorry, I don’t remember.’ It was a nightmare... I made damn sure that by the time the 1998 Botcon rolled around I’d re-read/revisited practically everything I’d ever written."^[1]
• Vince DiCola also had a hard time believing that there was still a continued interest of the brand when he was invited as a special guest by Glen Hallit the previous year, and only accepted out of curiosity. Once he arrived he became amazed of the large interest in not only the brand, but the movie, and his score!^[2]
• This year marked the first time a professional comic artist was commissioned to provide original promotional art for BotCon as well as the publishing of an exclusive comic. Both would continue to remain staples of BotCon.

References

External links

• BotCon 1997 in the BotCon archives