When my long-time friend Jason invited me to tag along with him and his son, Luke, at BotCon, I gladly accepted the offer. It was a great chance to spend time with them and to experience my first BotCon with two huge fans of the Transformers franchise.

I completely enjoyed the experience. BotCon was extremely well-run from every aspect. The check-in was smooth. The convention floor was organized. The staffers were always available and very helpful. The highlight for me, though, was seeing the interaction between father and son as they explored all the convention had to offer. From here, I turn this over to Jason for his recap.

In 1984 the world was seized in the grasps of robots who could turn into cars, planes, tape recorders and big rig trucks, all hiding in plain sight! No, your memory is not faulty, Armageddon did not fall upon the Earth. Instead, the Transformers fell upon the Earth, and the way children played with toys changed forever.

Over four decades later, the appeal of Transformers remains strong for both young and old. This year, my son, Luke (7), and I celebrated one of our favorite genres by attending BotCon, the world’s first and longest-running Transformers fan convention. Starting in 1994, Transformers aficionados from around the United States and Canada gathered for the first BotCon in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Since then, the annual BotCon event has been hosted in 11 states as well as the United Kingdom and Japan. This year’s show was hosted for the third time in Chicagoland, at Schaumburg Renaissance Convention Center.

From Friday, July 10, to Sunday, July 12, the event opened to exhibitors and attendees who have planned all year to share their Transformers experience through panel discussions, art projects, costume contests and vibrant displays of Transformers toys and paraphernalia. Packed into multiple rooms, attendees from across the country could find generations-worth of Transformers items, from the vintage realm of the 1980s through the live action film boom of the 2000s, all the way to the designs of today. Walking through the aisles, you would swear you were really on the Transformers’ home planet of Cybertron!

Throughout the weekend there were many activities to join or just observe. Convention sponsor Blokees ran a custom figure contest which Luke and I were disappointed we just missed, though the results were fantastic. There was so much more though to get involved in: a bag toss tournament, a cosplay fashion show, a Seekers pin scavenger hunt and viewings of the original animated movie for its 40^th anniversary. We had a lot of fun doing the scavenger hunt and came home with five of the nine pins!

There were beautiful art displays of all shapes and sizes representing the thousands of different Transformer designs. The Stern Pinball company brought in several of their new Transformers Generation One pinball machines — a hit with everyone at the show. Voice actors from the more than a dozen animated TV shows and films were also signing autographs when not talking about their work on the various panels that were held throughout the weekend. Luke and I met the voice actors for two of our favorite bots from the most recent animated show, Cyberverse — Jeremy Levy (Bumblebee) and Travis Artz (Hot Rod). Luke got a thrill out of hearing the robot voices coming from real live people!

© Photo by Jason Fleigel

And, of course, what convention would be complete without dealers selling their wares? Numerous booths were filled with Transformers old and new, ready to go home with a lucky kid and parent. Dealers from across the world attended the show, providing fans with the opportunity to purchase or at least view seemingly every type of Transformers toy ever made. Amazing rare pieces were available, as were items I never even heard of before. I was fortunate enough to go home with one such item, a three-piece Fortress Maximus Japanese model kit. That wasn’t all, though, as Luke and I scoured the booths looking to fill in the gaps of our Blokees Galaxy/Shining collection. Our list of 30 needed figures was reduced to 10 by the end of the weekend. Success all around!

© Photo by Jason Fleigel

© Photo by Jason Fleigel

© Photo by Jason Fleigel

© Photo by Jason Fleigel

And that’s what BotCon is, a success! From its humble beginnings more than 30 years ago to a successfully run nationwide convention, BotCon is a prime example of how a pop culture icon such as Transformers should be celebrated.

— John Wroblewski, online writer; Jason and Luke Fleigel, GT subscribers and guest bloggers