Botcon 2016 Coverage: A Funny Thing Happened On Social Media

Greetings, dear reader. Here begins a series of articles on Botcon 2016, the last convention to bear the name. I personally had a time about as good as my jet lag on return has been terrible. Louisville is a nice place, the atmosphere in the convention was good, and I spent an embarrassing pile of money on plastic. What's to come? Well, there's going to be a photodump, youtube video, commentary on the exclusives, and probably several months of reviews. But probably what was the best moment when I went mildly viral. As regular readers may recall, I'd decided to live tweet from the event. I proceeding to share this image.

Then this happened.

And then my phone was buzzing with notifications for hours.

So, some context. The two characters pictured are Chromedome (center) and Rewind (on shoulder). While having origins in the 80's, they weren't really fan favourites until very recently. Appearing in the comic More Than Meet The Eye, this pair are best known for being happily married. Yes, two characters coded as male, in a brand that allows Michael Bay repeat work, are in stable relationship. And this is not considered noteworthy in fiction. Hasbro has reportedly been cool with this, as evidenced by the fact these toys exist. Gender and sexuality in a brand aimed at children is a potentially touchy subject for some, but this counts as a progressive form of Fandom Nod. And there was James Roberts, the writer responsible for the comic, sharing the image.

It made my day.


EDIT: I have since been made aware of the following tweet.

Its got to be a huge validation and source of pride for the man. Seems my photo was the first he shared too :)