Boston Transformers fans show up; cosplayers do not

About 400 Transformers fans made a lackluster appearance at yesterday’s “Transformers” screening in Boston at the Boston Common Loews.

Fans had been encouraged to dress as their favorite Transformer for a chance to win a trip to Los Angeles for the “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” premiere. Krystal Calarese from Marlboro was the only screening attendee to come in full costume.

Krystal Calarese

Calarese said she had made the costume for Transformers convention BotCon a year before, and would be adding speakers to the ensemble for an appearance at Anime Boston’s Masquerade next month.

Loving Transformers since she was young, Calarese expressed her excitement about the new movie.

“I’d just give anything to see my ‘bots on the screen,” she said.

Calarese was greeted with cheers by the screening audience as she walked in full costume into the theater.

In addition to seeing a screening of Michael Bay’s 2007 hit “Transformers,” accumulated fans were some of the first in the country to see the newest full-length “Revenge of the Fallen” trailer from Paramount.

The trailer revealed a lot more about the plot of the film: Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) goes to college, leaving behind transforming friend Bumblebee and girlfriend Mikaela (Megan Fox). He comes across a small rock fragment with strange symbols engraved on it, which embed themselves in his mind. Amidst epic shots of battling robots and images of the symbols in pyramids and etched on the ground are hints from Optimus Prime of this being Sam’s destiny – and of Megatron wanting the secrets Sam knows about the symbols.

Yahoo debuted the trailer at noon today.

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“Perfect honesty: I don’t care what [the movie]’s about. I just want to watch giant robots on the screen,” said Mike Avagianos, who traveled from Providence, RI in a Trax t-shirt to attend the screening. “I mean, what more can you expect?”

Fans young and old turned up for the event. Peter Boccelli from Stoneham showed up with an Optimus Prime helmet under his arm and his young daughter Brianna Briana in tow. He said to her he has always been “Daddy Prime” and she has been “Briannabee.”

“She’s Bumblebee, that’s her boy. Throughout the house, about 400 [toys] in the house,” Boccelli said of her fandom.

Entertainment Tonight is hosting the “Ultimate Transformers Fan” contest. From yesterdays nationwide submissions, 20 finalists will be chosen. The public can vote on which fan is their favorite from May 25 to June 10 on www.etonline.com.

“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” hits theaters June 24, 2009.

Did any Blast readers attend the screenings or enter Entertainment Tonight’s contest? What did you think of the new trailer? Let us know your thoughts!

By the way: Because of a reporting error, we spelled the name of Briana Boccelli incorrectly.