Raksha's Botcon Europe 99 Report

Better late than never ... here's my version of the promised "report", as much as my BotCon ramblings ever come to resemble a report, that is.... :)

Due to a fortunate set of circumstances, I was able to attend the first-ever BotCon Europe in London this year. The convention took place on August 13-14, and was held in, of all things, a beautiful ornate old English church -- which I thought was highly appropriate and amusing in light of the occasional claims that some TransFans are so into it that they've elevated their fandom to the status of a "religion." The main room where services are normally held, became the panel room and video room, seeing as seats were already provided; and off to one side there was room to put up artwork along the wall. The entrance hall just outside was one of the dealer areas, with another two dealers' rooms upstairs. Altogether there were perhaps five dealers, who between them took up the entire space, and, I must say, had very rare and excellent merchandise for sale. (For those who are wondering - yes, I did get all that loot safely home, even the lampshades.... :) )

The convention got underway Friday night for those who had pre-registered, and consisted mostly of meeting up with people and circling the dealer tables like vultures. :) After things shut down, I somehow ended up in a pub discussing the merits of the cartoon universe vs. the comics universe; in fact, I'd have been disappointed if I had *not* had such a discussion while in England, because I know the UK fans are majorly into the comics universe, while I felt a bit like the lone ambassador from the cartoon continuity. Likewise the nature of the Decepticons came up, which ties into the previous subject somewhat -- because the Decepticons in the cartoon universe are in many cases totally different beings than they are in the comics. It was enjoyable and amicable, though ... I'm well aware of *why* each of our viewpoints has shaped itself the way it has, and I maintain it has a lot to do with which universe one was first exposed to. There were 332 issues of the comic in England, as well as assorted annuals and specials, and they had Simon Furman's writing from very early on -- while the cartoon was only shown a lot later and, from what I'm told, chopped up into bits and pieces and shown in between other programming. It's hard to get into a continuity that way. Conversely I encountered the cartoons first and loved that universe and its inhabitants from the start ... so any other universe, no matter how extensively detailed and well-written, will always be a secondary one to my mind. It was, as I said, amicable, a sharing of viewpoints. Toward the end the conversation shifted to gun control laws and whether people were for or against them ... though don't ask me how we came to *that* topic....

Saturday's big event was Simon Furman's arrival. He patiently answered all manner of questions (for the record, my question about the comics continuity in BW was not an "accusation" as someone later claimed, but

merely a question out of curiosity, since the episode does not match the G1 cartoon continuity either...) and thereafter signed items for a long line of fans. I got my Death's Head novel "The Body in Question" signed, and expressed my hope that Furman and Geoff Senior both would make it to BotCon 2000 in the U.S. next year. This was the only real "panel" at BotCon Europe, but it was more than sufficient - if we were to have a single guest at a TF convention, then second only to Frank Welker it should be Simon Furman. And truthfully, for a convention the size of BotCon Europe (basically one day and I'd estimate perhaps 200 people), one major panel is enough. That way there was opportunity to browse the tables, and for that most precious of all commodities at a fan convention, *time* to actually chat with friends for longer than 30 seconds at a stretch! In this regard, the pacing of the whole event couldn't have been better.

Although relatively small by recent BotCon U.S. standards, BotCon Europe was truly an international convention. I think I was the only person from the U.S., and Magic, who traveled with me, was the only person from Germany (she had to make BotCon Europe to make up for missing BotCon '98 last year... :) ), but I know there was also at least one person from Canada, at least one person from Israel, and I could swear that I heard French spoken at one point too. And of course people from all over the UK. Still it was a small enough gathering that the BotCon crew was able to feed us noodles and tea throughout the convention, seeing as there was a small kitchen available right in the church. That was really excellent ... I can certainly live on noodles for most of a weekend.... :)

Speaking of the BotCon crew, my commendations to George and her team for pulling it off despite a number of obstacles which I know they faced - everything from getting the registration computer to work to being ill with colds throughout the weekend. You guys did a great job! I just wish I could have been of more assistance ... though I think we did all manage to get the church back into order on Saturday night. Special thanks also to Brian Doyle for meeting us at the airport and preventing that we got lost somewhere in the back alleys of London.

It was excellent to meet everyone - those I'd met before as well as those I'd known for some time and just never had the opportunity to meet in person before. Hopefully our paths will cross again at some future BotCon on some continent.

--Raksha