25 YEARS AGO IN SUMMER VACATIONS: Welcome to Botcon 1985

I grew up in El Paso, Texas during the Great Toy Robots Wars of the 1980s but I had family in Los Angeles. Occasionally I'd get to go spend a few weeks of my summer vacation with them and 1985 was the greatest of those trips. I was eleven years old and at the peak of my Transfornerddom and Los Angeles was just an awesome place to be for me that summer. That's the vacation I spent in L.A. buying buttloads of Transformer Action Cards and begging my aunt to buy me all of the Constructicons and just generally robotarding it up. But most of all, that was the year I went to Universal Studios with my uncle. Universal back then had some awesome attractions for a kid my age, like the live action A-Team stunt show, a chance to talk to K.I.T.T. from Knight Rider, the famed Universal Studios backlot tour and of course the greatest theme park attraction ever-the Transformers Base Camp (or as I like to call it-Botcon 1985).

PRIME TOLD ME THERE'D BE UNIVERSAL STUDIOS LIKE THIS

I was at the library the other day looking through old newspapers (as I am wont to do) and I found out that the Base Camp Universal held during my summer vacation was not the first time they did a Transformers promotion. It turns out that in February 1985 over the course of three weekends they ran newspaper ads promoting their "Transformers Days", which were pretty much the Base Camp idea with a different name. I never went to Transformer Days but from the sound of the ads they were awesome. The first Transformers Days ad I found ran February 3rd and was repeated on February 10th. This ad promoted the then upcoming Transformers Days happening on the weekends of February 9th and 10th, and the 16th through the 18th. The itinerary of events and attractions reads like a Transformer convention-heck, these may as well have been the first Transformers conventions:

IT'S A BIRD! IT'S A PLANE! IT'S FREE!

03 February 1985 (also ran 10 February)

"It's The Transformers! February 9, 10, 16,17 and 18th.

And we're giving away 2,000 Transformers at Universal Studios. Each day, for the next two weekends, the first 400 kids age 5-11 will get a free Transformers and all other kids 3-11 will get a special Transformers gift. And that's not all they'll get. They'll get to meet and talk to two real live Transformers-Jazz and Thundercracker. Get to see the Transformers cartoons. And they'll get to compete for exciting Transformers prizes.

All for the price of their ticket. Which includes, of course, the Train Tour and all the unique shows and attractions.

So bring the whole family in for one of our Transformers Days. Everyone will have a great time, and the kids will go home with a great toy."

I find it absolutely incredible that Universal had 2,000 Transformers to give away in February of 1985. The 1984 holiday season was brutal and Transformers were really hard to find so for them to have stock and to be giving it away so soon after the Christmas season is nothing short of amazing. Of course I have no idea just which Transformers those were but I suspect it was probably buttloads of minicars. It would also be cool to figure out which cartoons were shown and what the competitions were but I doubt anybody remembered to write that stuff down. At least the mystery of the "special Transformers gift" was cleared up a little when Universal ran this slightly reworded ad with the same Thundercracker graphics to promote the following weekend's Transformer Days:

IT'S THAT FREE BIRD PLANE AGAIN!

17 February 1985

"It's The Transformers! February 16,17 and 18th.

And we're giving away 1,200 Transformers at Universal Studios. Each day, during Presidents' Day weekend, the first 400 kids age 5-11 will get a free Transformers and all other kids 3-11 will get a special Transformers poster. And that's not all they'll get. They'll get to meet and talk to two real live Transformers-Jazz and Thundercracker. Get to see the Transformers cartoons. And they'll get to compete for exciting Transformers prizes.

All for the price of their ticket. Which includes, of course, the Train Tour and all the unique shows and attractions.

So bring the whole family in for one of our Transformers Days. Everyone will have a great time, and the kids will go home with a great toy."

This was pretty much the same ad as the one that ran on the 3rd and 10th, but the text changed a bit to omit the Transformers Days dates that had already passed. Also it was revealed that anyone not lucky enough to be among the first 400 kids at least got a poster. I've never looked up what that poster was so I don't know what it looked like. I suspect it was the same "Optimus standing in front of the Decepticon insignia" that can be seen in the dressing room photo at theStudioTour.com. I'm not sure if Universal kept the Transformers themed attraction going after the Presidents' Day weekend but I did find this next ad they ran a month later on March 31st (which repeated the week of April 5th as well):

SOOTHE JAZZ

31 March 1985 (also ran 05 April)

"THE TRANSFORMERS AND THE SMURFS. NOW-APRIL 7.
If your kids crave adventure and excitement, bring them to Universal Studios now thru April 7.

That's when the Transformers (Jazz and Thundercracker) will be clomping, stomping and spreading thrills and chills all over the park. And when the Smurfs (Papa, Vanity, Clumsy and Smurfette) will be putting on the singingest, dancingest, Smurfiest show your kids have ever seen.

What's more, we'll be giving free Transformers posters to all kids 3-11. And radio station KIQQ will be giving listeners free Universal Studios Tour tickets and free Smurfs toys as part of a special call-in on-air promotion.

So whether you've got a savage six year old, a ferocious five year old or even a terrible ten year old, bring them to Universal Studios and let the Transformers and the Smurfs soothe all your little beasts."

The ad looks kind of scary with Papa Smurf and Jazz about to tear the little kid's arms off like bloodthirsty cannibals but that's how theme park mascots rolled when I was 11 years old. I'm not sure if Universal was inviting you to bring your family and have a good time or if they were running some sort of child harvesting operation where they fed bad kids to hungry cartoon characters. Whatever the case, it looks like Universal was all out of Transformer toys to give away by this point and they weren't calling it "Transformers Days" anymore but they did still have a lot of posters for Jazz and Thundercracker to hand out when they weren't ripping the bad kids' arms off. Which brings us to the next ad-the most iconic of all Universal Studios Transformers Base Camp ads!

I DON'T THINK IT'S VERY SAFE TO PUT

30 June 1985


MEET THE TRANSFORMERS
"Imagine the look on your children's faces as they meet real, live Transformers in our new base camp. Or their wide-eyed amazement as they're floating through space in our new, out-of-this-world 2010 special effects spectacular. Picture their laughter and excitement at seeing the A-Team Live Action Show, sitting inside K.I.T.T. the Knight Rider car, and discovering a whole day of fun and surprises. It's all waiting for them right here at Universal Studios. And it's sure to put smiles on their faces you'll never forget."

Boy what I would have given to be torn in half by Jazz and Thundercracker like that kid. This was the ad that ran around the time that I went. I don't know if all the props like the giant Megatron statue and the stage were there since Transformer Days in February. I do remember that stuff and also people in Jazz and Starscream costumes when I went in the summer. You can see more pictures of the costumes at the website of the people who built them, but oddly enough Thundercracker doesn't appear in any of those shots. I wonder if it was Starscream all along and the ads just named the wrong guy. I don't remember a Thundercracker or a Grimlock being there but I may just have forgotten seeing them. I do certainly remember Jazz because I got to get in line and talk to him/it. It was sort of funny being able to see through the blue tinted visor of the Jazz costume and I could tell it was a long haired teenage person in there because their blond hair was getting in their face. It may have been a girl. But I was so willing to suspend my disbelief even in the literal face of the truth that I would let nothing get in the way of pretending for a moment that a little part of Cybertron had landed in Los Angeles.


DO IT LENTICULAR OR DON'T BOTHER WEARING IT

I don't remember much else of my visit there and my uncle either lost or didn't take any pictures of that day. So all I have is some faded 25 year old memories. I do recall there was a Transformers themed section of the gift shop with toys and other merchandise and of course souvenir shirts and all of it was outrageously priced. I guess Universal was trying to recoup the cost of giving away 2,000 Transformers earlier in the year! I remember going through a giant tub of Autobot minicars and gulping really hard when I saw how expensive they were. I think they were like 8 bucks each but I got a Brawn anyways. Everything else was out of the question because of the cost but man I should have gotten a shirt. I don't remember getting a poster and I also don't remember if the 3 inch in diameter lenticular Jazz pin was a giveaway or if it cost money but I had one so it might have been free. The funny thing is I don't think we went there because of the Transformers at all. We might have just gone to go see K.I.T.T. and stumbled upon the Base Camp. However it happened I am glad to have my faded 25 year old memories of my first may-as-well-have-been a Transformers convention.

[UPDATE! And here's another one...]