Two weeks ago, I went to Wisconsin for Dairycon 2017.  This is only the second Transformers convention I have been to in the last eight years, the other being Dairycon 2013 after going to them every year from 1995 to 2007.  (And people wonder why I hate Fun Pub.)  Hopefully it will not be four years before I get back Dairycon.

This is not going to be a moment by moment recounting of my trip.  It’s not going to be close to in order.  It will be more like a random collection of thoughts, and a whole lot about the two suitcases worth of toys I came back with.  I’m a collector, it’s what I do.  Just be warned, this will be very boring.  Some of the review links may not be live yet, but they will be soon.

My morning started off at 3:50 AM when I had to get up to get to the airport.  That’s 2:50 AM in Wisconsin and was the beginning of a 19 hour day.  I’ve been back for nine days and I’m still exhausted, but it is the good kind of exhausted.

I don’t fly that often.  In fact, the last time I flew was to Dairycon four years ago.  There was a lot of turbulence, and I quickly regretted watching all those episodes of Air Disasters on Smithsonian Channel.

My friend Fred and his friend Brian picked me up at the airport and went we went toy shopping.

I found some Star Wars Legos at Toys R Us and Target.

I picked up a Nomar Garciaparra action figure (which I didn’t take a picture of) and a Rob Murphy autographed baseball card at a collectibles store.  Only I would go to Wisconsin to buy Red Sox cards.  The Murphy wasn’t the last Red Sox card I’d find.  Don’t worry.  I’ll get back to toys shortly, since that’s probably why you’re reading this.

I really wasn’t expecting a lot in the way of Red Sox cards in Wisconsin, but the first two sports card stores we went to yielded exactly zero cards.  Not all sports cards stores are true sports card stores.  If they are more interested in selling you a $150 jersey or a $40 hat, then the cards are an probably an afterthought.  Then we went to “Name That Card” on West Bluemound Road in Milwaukee.  Now that is a true sports card store.  All the card stores I used to go to where I live in Massachusetts when I was a kid are gone, and even the few that I went to in the last fifteen years are gone too.  I buy 99% of my cards on eBay and at big box stores now.  I forgot how much I enjoy going to a real sports card stores and talking to someone who loves sports cards the way I do.  The owner of the store went through a bunch of boxes of cards with me not wanting me to leave empty handed.  We found a couple of Red Sox autographs I didn’t have and he gave me a great deal.  I will definitely be going back there on my next trip to Wisconsin.

Thanks to Fred’s friend Brian, I now have Marvel Legends Deadpool, which I had just about given up any hope of finding.  I also picked up an X-23 Wolverine from him at Dairycon.  I didn’t even know that one was out.

I made a friend in Wisconsin.  This is Obi-Pom-Kenobi.  (He’s the cute one.)

A stop at Party City yielded a pile of Transformers items I didn’t have.

At Dairycon learned that Hasbro has reissued a third series of Kre-O Micro-Changers at discount stores.  Between Dairycon and a Walgreens I managed to track down the whole series and pick up a display box.  Yes, it is different than the original.  They changed Guzzle’s name to Fuel Line.  They also released another brick box.

Stops at a couple of Walmart’s yielded a gift bag and a couple of Transformers Birthday cards with a puzzle included.  (I got an extra one to open.)

Fred had a few items for me that he hadn’t bothered to mail to me since I was coming to visit, a pair of Transformers shorts and a Titans Return Chromedome with the Japanese head.  He also had the empty box from a Transformers Age of Extinction promotional kit.  We conveniently used it to mail a bunch of my stuff home to me.  (I could only fit so much into my suitcases.)

And now for Dairycon!

Dairycon was held at the Cow Palace for the first time this year and it was a blast.  I picked up a ton of cool stuff.  Let’s start with the convention items.

The Dairycon 2017 badges.  I’m still trying to track down a walk-in badge.

The Dairycon 2017 posters.  Would you like to guess this year’s theme?  These are so cool.  I love the art.

I snagged one of the Dairycon advertisement signs.  I will literally collect anything Transformers or Transformers convention related.  (If that wasn’t obvious.)

The Dairycon 2017 T-Shirt.  Cow-A-Bunga!

This was in my packet.  I don’t know where it came from, but if anyone deserves to be on money, it’s Optimus Prime.

Dairycon 2017 exclusive accessory Hand.  Read more about Hand on Dairycon.com.

Dairycon 2017 exclusive toys Buffer, Gripes with Cane of Courage, and their ninja mask accessory.  Read more about them on Dairycon.com.  You can read my review of them here.

Dairycon 2017 exclusive toys Hangry, Sin-Dersore, Foot, and April.  Read more about them on Dairycon.com.  You can read my review of them here.

I picked up this cool Optimus Prime shirt.  I also got one to wear.

This is cool.  It’s a custom pillowcase made from G1 Transformers sheets.  It was worth it for $10.  However, until I looked at my own web site, I forgot that they actually did make pillowcases to go with the G1 sheet set, both in regular and in flannel.

This is one of those things I never thought I’d find.  A few months back I started going through all my boxed Transformers Valentines cards so I could track down a second box of each to open for the individual cards.  (You know, because I’m ridiculous.)  I never expected to find another box of these given it contains candy and it’s now eight years old, but there it was in a box of miscellaneous items under a table for $3.

I was pretty sure I already had a 2007 Movie play shave set, but when I checked my site I found that the one I had was a six piece set and this one was a seven piece set.  Score!

The last non toy item I got was a 2007 Movie popcorn tin.  It is regrettably empty.  I have another tin for the 2007 movie, but I’ve never seen this one before.

Shuffler was not the only Titans Return wave 4 toy at Dairycon, but he was the only one that was reasonably priced.  I’m still hunting for a Repugnus.

I have been resisting buying any of these Masterpiece style Machine Robot toys, but once I saw it in person, I couldn’t pass on the Blackbird.  Hasbro completely screwed up Revenge of the Fallen Jetfire, so I had to have a transforming Blackbird.  You can read my review here.

Iron Factory Evil Lord, AKA Overlord is only about 5 inches tall.  I don’t buy a lot of third party toys, but I will pick up the really cool cheap ones and at $38, I couldn’t resist.  You can read my review of Evil Lord here.

X-Transbots Ollie, AKA Masterpiece scale Wheelie was not a toy I had planned to buy.  At about $60, that’s more than I want to spend on a Masterpiece scale Min-Bot.  This one however was opened and transformed once, so he was cheap enough that I talked myself in it.  You can read my review of Ollie here.

I do not typically buy Japanese repaints unless they have mold changes, but I love the paint job on Deadlock.  You can read my review of Deadlock here.

Like Deadlock, Megatronia does not have any mold changes from Victorion.  However, Victorion is one of the worst toys Hasbro has produced in years.  (Red my review of that steaming pile here.)  When I finally saw her in person, Megatronia looked too amazing not to add to my collection.  Incredibly, repainting her even fixed one of Victorion’s design flaws, which I never expected.  You can read my review of Megatronia here.

So, you remember when I said I don’t buy the expensive third party toys?  Well, I got amazing deals on both of these for way under retail.  I couldn’t pass on them.  Read my reviews of Giant Type-61 and Quantron.

This was my find of the con.  Last year I was reorganizing my collection and unaware that Beast Wars Transmetal Megatron’s brown plastic had not aged well.  Two of my three (purple, pink, and blue) disintegrated in my hands.  (It was very traumatic.  I’m nowhere near over it.)  This one is open but never removed from the box replacing my broken purple one, and it was way less than they are on eBay.  I picked up a couple of Transmetal Megatron bodies cheap and a friend of mine was able to restore my pink Megatron, and my set of Megatrons is once again complete.  Thank god for Dairycon.

Well, that about does it.  I had a great time at Dairycon, and hope to be back again next year.

Thanks for reading!