So after finishing dinner at Pinks, we headed back to the hotel and then over to the convention center. On that Wednesday evening, we had the privilege of getting in line for BotCon early registration. Since I had a customizing class the next day, we were able to get registered and pick up my box set before the regular attendees.

We got in line around 7pm for when they opened the doors at 9pm. The convention as a whole was being held at the the Exhibition Hall and Ballroom portion of the Pasadena Convention Center. Although the line outside was fairly short, it was foreshadowing what was to come.

Once inside, they split us up by last name. Dealers received special treatment and got their own instant service line. It seemed that lots of these folks had purchased multiple sets, and many small groups were walking out with 4-5 of the Wings of Honor boxes. Some fans also decided to open their toys right there in the center immediately after obtaining them.

After about 45 minutes, it was my chance to go up and claim my first convention exclusives.

We were greeted by a very enthused convention worker who pulled together everything that I got with my Primus Package. Included with my whole package was:

• Wings of Honor box set which included
  • Kup
  • Flak
  • Landshark
  • Scourge
  • Thunderclash
  • Tech specs for the figures
  • Certificate of Authenticity
• The free attendee exclusive figure: Leozack.
• Convention exclusive Wings of Honor comic
• Our badges with Transformers lanyards
• 2 tickets to the Party at Paramount
• Voting and raffle tickets
• A folder with convention schedules and other information

The final item I received was the very limited lapel pin of the Elite Guard faction symbol. I was able to be one of first 100 people to order a Primus or Iacon Package, and for doing so I received this pin. It was an unexpected benefit of faxing in my registration on the first day several months ago, and it is nice little unique trinket that I ended up pinning to my badge’s lanyard.

Having finally completing the registration for my first convention, let alone a BotCon; we took at my new toys in hand and walked back to our hotel.

Once back in the room, I quickly opened the Wings of Honor boxed set to get a look at all the figures. Now these figures were somewhat rare in that you couldn’t get them in stores, but I open and play with my toys. This box was not going to remain untouched.

Each one was carefully taken out of the foam box and transformed. Only one of the toys (Scourge) was from a mold that I previously owned, and so each toy initially dumbfounded me as I attempted to transform them. At first I wondered where all the tech specs / instructions were at. How was I supposed to correctly transform these guys?

Luckily underneath the foam inset were the instructions and all the remaining pieces of the boxed set including several cyber-planet keys, weapons, and missiles. I also opened up the bagged Leozack and transformed him.

By this time it was roughly midnight and we very tired after a long day of driving. This constant tired feeling ended up being a common theme across all the days of the convention with the long, late nights.

Needless to say after having these items in hand I was getting stoked for the convention. I finally had my first exclusives and was convention ready. The next stop was some sleep and then my customizing class early the next day.

You can see more detailed photos of each toy and item of the Wings of Honor / Primus Package by visiting this Flickr gallery.

BotCon toy count to date: 20