This is the first year BotCon has been in Rhode Island. And for that Joseph Igo is grateful. The 22-year-old East Providence man didn’t have to travel far. He just had to arrange his work schedule, months in advance.

Maybe you wouldn’t understand.

“Most people remember Transformers from watching the cartoon one day. Or they just nod and smile. They don’t get it, but they try to be polite.”

Transformers are robots that can convert into cars, trucks, planes, animals, you name it. They were first introduced in 1984, and there have been hundreds, even thousands of variations on the theme since.

Igo, who “lost count at 900” for his collection, recalls the draw of Transformers as a child.

“It was like getting two toys in one. You get a robot and you can transform it into another toy.”

However, toys tend not to be sought by adults, which is most of the BotCon crowd. And most Transformers come packaged with the words: For ages 4 and up.

“Well, we were 4 and up when the Transformers first came out,” says Stephan
Bibeault, 30, of Montreal, Canada. “That got us hooked.”

“Us,” in this case, refers to Bibeault and his companion Heather Chase, 28, also of Montreal.

“I’m the addict,” she says. “He’s the follower.”

Chase says that as an adult she “respects Transformers as an art form,” and marvels at their engineering, and their potential for intrigue. Her follower agrees.

“It’s like a Rubik’s Cube with a purpose,” Bibeault says. “At the end, you get more than just colors.”

All these people at the convention can see Transformers characters online, on TV, on videos and on display in their homes. They come to BotCon for many reasons, which include dozens of forums with, among others, the writers, actors and designers involved in various Transformers projects. They also shop. They get exclusive access to Transformers not yet released to the public, and the opportunity to purchase replacements.

“They’ll have parts I’m missing,” says Evan Brown, 30, of San Francisco. “The guns are always gone.”

You’ve got to understand, Transformers fans say, there’s a huge range of
Transformers in varying degrees of complexity, from something simple a young child can understand and manipulate to something large and complex an adult can appreciate. Or maybe you won’t understand, which is why all these people are at BotCon.

“We’re on the fringe,” says Mary Rogers, 27, of Washington D.C. “There is a feeling of solidarity here.”

That, in part, is why De Jong, the Dutchman, has traveled so far: to be part of the Transformers community. He’s wearing a black T-shirt and a dark brown pair of pants, the only clothes that successfully made the trip with him.

And he’s standing in a long line, waiting to buy new Transformers merchandise. And he has a brilliant thought.

“I’m going to buy a T-shirt!”

BotCon continues tomorrow, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., in the Convention Center, 1 Sabin St., Providence. Admission is $10, $5 for children 5-12.

-- Journal staff writer Bryan Rourke