BotCon 2013 toy reveals

[griffin]

The first of the toy reveals occurred today at the BotCon website (http://www.botcon.com/BotCon2013/bc13hoist.cfm), which will show off the five Boxset figures (and suggests that pre-registration is very soon, as it often starts during or just after the five toys are revealed on their site).

The first one is Hoist, which is the robot mode they featured on their site as part of the Machine Wars Theme/Logo of the convention this year.
And as people have already worked out, it is a black and brown redeco of Generations Kup, with a new head.

As the other four are revealed, they'll be added to this topic (and to this first post so that they don't get buried in pages of comments).

Toy 1 - Deluxe Hoist (redeco classicverse Kup - new head)
Toy 2 - Deluxe Skywarp (redeco movie Dirge - new head)
Toy 3 - Dexluxe Strika (redeco classicverse Warpath - new head)
Toy 4 - Voyager Obsidian (redeco movie Highbrow - new head)
Toy 5 - Voyager Megaplex (redeco TFPrime Dreadwing)

[Autocon]

I think its silly, its not a tow truck and they still have towing on it :/

[UltraMarginal]

It's the most tow truck like vehicle from the Generations line, certainly a better mold than the movie tow truck that has already had a green hoist repaint.

it is a bit silly that it doesn't have a tow line on it, but otherwise it looks nice.

[Omega Metro]

That's an easy pass for me. Sick of that Kup mould.

[i_amtrunks]

That's an easy pass for me. Sick of that Kup mould.

I'm not sick of the mold perse, but I would have liked for them to have made some alterations/fixes, especially to the rifle. I hate that it does not sit right in robot mode.

[griffin]

I was actually expecting them to sculpt out a new weapon that has a hook on the end, so that when it clipped on the back, it looked like a tow-truck (like on those American shows that is just a Ute/pickup with a crane attachment in the back tray).
Very disappointed about that, as the expected yellow version (for Hubcap) will also look wrong without it being a towtruck homage.

For Prowl and Mirage, I'm beginning to think they will have to resort to using the Classic-verse Mirage mould, with the disclaimer that it wasn't a boxset toy in 2006, so could be re-used.
(or, maybe they won't have those two, and just focus on the other characters from that "huge" series of 12 toys)

I just had a sad thought - Funpub spits out so many toys now with their BotCons, that they could homage the entire Machine Wars toyline and still have one or two toy slots to spare.
But based on past Funpub BotCons, I'd imagine that they'd be roping in other Gen1 characters into the "Machine Wars deco/mould" theme, or just create some new characters.

[Paulbot]

Maybe there's still a new weapon coming? This is only an artist impression of the figure.

Or maybe the additional weapon/tow-line will be available to purchase at BotCon separately like Soundwave's headband.

[griffin]

Of course... the extra items to purchase, to make more money off the fans. :rolleyes:

[UltraMarginal]

attaching a hook/tow system to the roof via the 3mm pegs is a brilliant idea!!

[fatbot]

http://sphotos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/s480x480/542662_10151257980951711_1314269347_n.jpg

MACHINE WARS SKYWARP

[Krayt]

very happy with this mould choice....

also, is this a new head?

[fatbot]

very happy with this mould choice....

also, is this a new head?

yeah, the body is either ROTF or DOTM Dirge

[Omega Metro]

very happy with this mould choice....

So am I. It means I don't need to buy this figure.;)

[CHILENO20]

hmmmmm, Movierverse Dirge mold huh? I guess we now know what Thundercracker will look like, not feeling it:confused:

[Paulbot]

So far I prefer Skywarp to Hoist, probably because I bought MW Skywarp back in the day and not Hoist.

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

I just had a sad thought - Funpub spits out so many toys now with their BotCons, that they could homage the entire Machine Wars toyline and still have one or two toy slots to spare.
But based on past Funpub BotCons, I'd imagine that they'd be roping in other Gen1 characters into the "Machine Wars deco/mould" theme, or just create some new characters.
Wait for it ladies and Gents, MW Sky Byte, coming got a Botcon nowwhere near you!

So am I. It means I don't need to buy this figure.;)
This :D

2 outta 2 not interested. That's gotta be a record for me!

[Paul Agnew]

Griffin, is it feasable to move all the BotCon 2013 toys/news/info into a single unified thread, rather than clutter up the news board?

Not that I'm modding or swiping you, merely suggesting the pair (which are still active) are merged, and makes looking for convention info a bit easier.

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

This thread is concerned about the unveiling of the new toys. The other Botcon thread doesn't seem to have been touched since the 2nd feb.

All new toys as they show their faces make their way into here. 1 thread, as opposed to other years where iirc a thread was made for each figure or something.

[griffin]

We usually have about two active threads before BotCon - one for the toy reveals (that more people are interested in), and one for the convention details like events, panels and guests (which less people are interested in).

And as it has been shown time and again by people asking about things already posted in a news topic, if we post too many news updates in an active topic, the updates get missed.

Which is why I try to balance inactive news topics (by pairing up the more related updates later so that the news section doesn't have a lot of news topics with no replies or interest), with active news topics (which I would look to see if a later relate update can be posted as a new news topic, if it is going to be missed in the existing one).
Most people don't read every post in a topic, mostly just the first one, and maybe the first few replies... so if a news update is posted on page 7, who's going to be re-checking a topic that often.
(if something really really needs to be in the same topic, like a prolonged set of releases like this one, or the Facebook page reveals, I'll try to keep the first post updated as much as I can)

[Quickstrike]

Wait for it ladies and Gents, MW Sky Byte, coming got a Botcon nowwhere near you!

I'd be ok with this.

Also, Skywarp looks really good. I forgot that mold even existed.

[i_amtrunks]

Not liking the mould choice for Skywarp. Colours look alright, very similar to the original if memory serves, but movieverse Dirge was a piece of poo as a figure. Guess it is better than the movie versions of Fearswoop or Thrust...

With another of each of the two (so far) revealed figures to be released as repaints (Hubcap and TC) this is looking to be a very weak set except for the MW diehards.

Personally i dislike the idea of movie figures being used again as they were so poor the first time around, but if its on a weak botcon series, I guess that's better than on something interesting, with previous fiction based on it !

[Paul Agnew]

This thread is concerned about the unveiling of the new toys. The other Botcon thread doesn't seem to have been touched since the 2nd feb.

If it were the second of February in 2012, then I would gladly agree with you regarding it being inactive. However, the February in question is 2013, the same February we are currently inhabiting.

Furthermore, the other thread indeed has not been touched since the second (and having a second thread doesn't help, mind). This new thread was made on the eighth. Five days passed. Not too sure about anyone else, but a thread does not become 'inactive' after five days. Five month, sure, but five days? Really?

To top it off, sure this thread is for unveiling new toys, but so did the first; as a number of comments were made over there concerning the unveiling of Hoist, a BotCon 2013 toy.


All new toys as they show their faces make their way into here. 1 thread, as opposed to other years where iirc a thread was made for each figure or something.

Except for Hoist, which I put over into the original BotCon thread, for the sole purpose as to not create a second discussion atop of the first, and hopefully avoid a situation like this.

[griffin]

If it were the second of February in 2012, then I would gladly agree with you regarding it being inactive. However, the February in question is 2013, the same February we are currently inhabiting.

Furthermore, the other thread indeed has not been touched since the second (and having a second thread doesn't help, mind). This new thread was made on the eighth. Five days passed. Not too sure about anyone else, but a thread does not become 'inactive' after five days. Five month, sure, but five days? Really?

To top it off, sure this thread is for unveiling new toys, but so did the first; as a number of comments were made over there concerning the unveiling of Hoist, a BotCon 2013 toy.



Except for Hoist, which I put over into the original BotCon thread, for the sole purpose as to not create a second discussion atop of the first, and hopefully avoid a situation like this.

See my post above as to why we need different topics for the more active news items like BotCon.
The toys topic generates the most interest, so needs its own.
The theme topic is a short-lived one that deals more with speculation than news, so is likely to remain dormant, now that everyone has had their say.
The Events/Guests topic will be ongoing from when the brochure is released, right up until the convention (for all the last-minute guests they announce).
Having one topic would have hundreds of comments posts, making it impossible to find the news updates buried in dozens and dozens of pages.
But having three topics means that we won't have the news section padded out with dozens of topics that may only get a couple comments.

This is the best balance - few enough to keep all the current news items on the first News page, while not having so few that we have to keep answering people who ask something that has already been posted.
Yes, there will be an overlap on occasions with news topics, but the main focus is there for other people to target later. (the example you used only occurred because the unveiling of the theme involved showing off a toy before the actual toy reveals occurred, which needed its own topic, but hadn't been created yet)

[Paul Agnew]

See my post above as to why we need different topics for the more active news items like BotCon.

For the record, I did read your post and reasoning, and was going to make a comment along the lines of "What, because people don't have the attention span to read a topic more than five pages long?" (and that was not a swipe at anyone, more a comment on how society wants everything fast these days, nor have a website hold their attention for more than a few seconds), followed up by "Why not make a new post in the thread, and then go back and update the very first one?". As it can be seen, one of the above was already answered by the time I had finished reading, so I didn't reply.


Having one topic would have hundreds of comments posts, making it impossible to find the news updates buried in dozens and dozens of pages.

A little off-topic, but there are other discussions on this Forum which run for 'hundreds of comments' and 'dozens of pages' (Transformers Questions By Fans, Action Pose Thread, etc.). Wouldn't this also pose a similar problem, but on a more personal scale (i.e. updates from other members)?


Yes, there will be an overlap on occasions with news topics

Had a quick look at the Global News page a few minutes ago, and I cannot dignify it with a reponse. ;)

[griffin]

A little off-topic, but there are other discussions on this Forum which run for 'hundreds of comments' and 'dozens of pages' (Transformers Questions By Fans, Action Pose Thread, etc.). Wouldn't this also pose a similar problem, but on a more personal scale (i.e. updates from other members)?

Yes it happens, and people miss stuff... but non-news topics are often less active, making it less of an occurrence for people to miss a non-comment posting.
It's confusing, but statistically, this has worked to satisfy most (not all... but most).

[griffin]

Jet mode of Skywarp has now been revealed by FunPub. (http://www.botcon.com/BotCon2013/bc13skywarp.cfm)

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

Jet mode of Skywarp has now been revealed by FunPub. (http://www.botcon.com/BotCon2013/bc13skywarp.cfm)

Hmm, judging by the lines and that purple bit, I suspect Translucent parts to indicate a warp effect. THAT I find interesting. the rest, not very much at all.

[Paulbot]

Machine Wars Strika (http://www.botcon.com/BotCon2013/bc13strika.cfm) revealed. A Warpath repaint with new head.

Fair to say no one was expecting her!

[Sharky]

Fair to say no one was expecting her!

because really she has nothing to do with machine wars.....unless they are incorporating vehicons to fil out the cons....

[CHILENO20]

Fair to say no one was expecting her!

My exact thoughts, the limit on characters I guess has forced them to think outside the box. Finally an excuse to make a toy out of her I suppose.

[Gouki]

Okay, that Strika is actually pretty cool.

[UltraMarginal]

Machine Wars Strika (http://www.botcon.com/BotCon2013/bc13strika.cfm) revealed. A Warpath repaint with new head.

Fair to say no one was expecting her!

not expected, eye watering to look at with the colours, but a great idea too. One of my favorite molds of all time.

Also the MW Skywarp, I didn't mind the mold, it was a very novel approach to a jet former, I really like that paint apps on this, with the digitized warping effect.

Thats 3 new heads out of 3. looks like it probably won't be long till they release the brochure.

doubt I'll be going this year though. maybe next year.

[1orion2many]

Machine Wars Strika (http://www.botcon.com/BotCon2013/bc13strika.cfm) revealed. A Warpath repaint with new head.

Fair to say no one was expecting her!

:confused:In that mould I wouldn't call it a her unless she has hit the Steroids:rolleyes::p:D

[Paulbot]

The bio art looks great as posted on Twitter (http://twitter.com/botcon) as Valentines Cards. Hope Josh Burchman draws the comic too.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BDFlZs0CMAEf7uF.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BDFo3X-CEAAQYys.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BDF5kw5CUAAAI3o.jpg

[Sky Shadow]

The bio art looks great as posted on Twitter (http://twitter.com/botcon) as Valentines Cards.

That's so #%@*ing cool. :cool:

[Starscream77]

That's so #%@*ing cool. :cool:

+1

[i_amtrunks]

Valentines cards better than the toys.

So machine wars already borrowing from Beast machines in only the third toy... anyone surprised?

[Quickstrike]

That Strika is fantastic! I really want one. Damn box sets.

Ohhh, Machine Wars and (future) Vehicons. I GET IT.


:confused:In that mould I wouldn't call it a her unless she has hit the Steroids:rolleyes::p:D

Are you not familiar with Strika? (http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Strika_%28BM%29)




So machine wars already borrowing from Beast machines in only the third toy... anyone surprised?

Y... yes?

[Omega Metro]

Strika looks ok. Think I must get her.... Just her.

[Bidoofdude]

Love the Skywarp message.:p;)

[griffin]

A heavily photoshopped image of the Vehicle mode of Strika has been released by FunPub (http://www.botcon.com/BotCon2013/bc13strika.cfm).
The Autobot symbol on the side means that this Machine Wars story of theirs is either set before Beast Machines, or is in an alternate dimension (which is the main theme of their Club/BotCon story universe).

[Paulbot]

Pretty sure the tweets suggest it's Pre-Beast Machines. Kind of makes sense of you think of it as there was Beast Wars and Machine Wars and then the sequel to both was Beast Machines.

Anyway, another Beast Machines character has been added to the box set: Obsidian (http://www.botcon.com/BotCon2013/bc13obsidian.cfm).

[swoop]

Kinda figures that obsidian would be following strika, and now I have a fair idea what the story is going to be. I don't like the green I would of prefered the show colours. And I don't like that obsidian is now bigger than strika but the only alternative that I can think of at the moment would be the tomahawk or pcc searchlight molds. Out of them I think searchlight would of worked better than this one.

That leaves only one spot in the set if they continue with the four deluxe and one voyager trend, I think it'll be sandstorm using tomahawks mold

[Quickstrike]

Oh wow, that works really well as Obsidian. I'm not sure if I like or dislike that they're using the toy colours over the cartoon colours, but he looks really nice either way.

[Paulbot]

The last figure is "Clone Army Commander Megaplex" but no picture yet.

The description from the BotCon brochure suggests there will not be an Optimus Prime toy, and that there's an army of Skywarp clones. (I'd expect the troop builder then to be that toy mold.)

[1orion2many]

That Strika is fantastic! I really want one. Damn box sets.

Ohhh, Machine Wars and (future) Vehicons. I GET IT.



Are you not familiar with Strika? (http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Strika_%28BM%29)



Y... yes?

I'm familiar with Strika not being overly feminine but she had her own design so I could accept that, I just don't think the Warpath mold works for her but I must admit I haven't been impressed with any of the Botcon offerings this year:(

[griffin]

The overly bright Obsidian alt-mode has now been put up on the BotCon site (http://www.botcon.com/BotCon2013/bc13obsidian.cfm).

I've updated the first post with the five toys, for easy reference later.

[CHILENO20]

http://www.botcon.com/BotCon2013/bc13megaplex.cfm

Dreadwing mould for Mrgaplex. Must admit, did not see that coming. Thoughts anyone??

[UltraMarginal]

http://www.botcon.com/BotCon2013/bc13megaplex.cfm

Dreadwing mould for Mrgaplex. Must admit, did not see that coming. Thoughts anyone??

That's beautiful.:eek:

[SharkyMcShark]

Interesting choice - the jet mode is largely the same as the original Megaplex (based off an F-22 Raptor)

[CHILENO20]

Was thinking about not getting it this year but now.......

Who is going this year? Can I order with anyone? I dont mind about the box.

[Quickstrike]

http://www.botcon.com/BotCon2013/bc13megaplex.cfm

Dreadwing mould for Mrgaplex. Must admit, did not see that coming. Thoughts anyone??

Well that's weird. There are Megaplex-y things about him but just not enough for me to actually see him as Megaplex.

All up, it's not a bad set. I do still really like Strika and Obsidian.

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

Hm, about the only ones that I would be even remotely interested in would be Strika, and well that's it really. I like the warp paintjob that skywarp has, whether they manage to pull it off nicely on the actual toy though is another matter.

Megaplex? interesting, but I think it should have had a new head, that head isn't anyway Megatron-esque in the slightest.

[BigTransformerTrev]

movieverse Dirge was a piece of poo as a figure.

I actually didn't mind the ROTF version of Dirge - but then G1 Dirge was my first ever TF back in the day so I may be somewhat biased :)

[Lord_Zed]

I actually didn't mind the ROTF version of Dirge - but then G1 Dirge was my first ever TF back in the day so I may be somewhat biased :)

+1 on the first part, as a transformer who turns into a fairly realistic looking Harrier jet (as opposed to another Eagle or Raptor, I found ROTF Dirge a quite reasonable and enjoyable mold all things considered.

[griffin]

The last of the Boxset toy images has been posted up - Megaplex in jet mode. (http://www.botcon.com/BotCon2013/bc13megaplex.cfm)

[Bidoofdude]

I was hoping for a redeco of a certain Screamer, but he's... ok. Not interested this time.:(;)

[Paul Agnew]

Anyone seen the mock-up box art for the set?

http://www.botcon.com/BotCon2013/bc13box.cfm

Waaaaant! Want now! :eek:

[griffin]

The first box-set with a window. Not sure how that will work out since they use very thick cardboard for the boxes (so a window would have a fairly deep depression, unless they are using thinner cardboard for the lids this year).
It looks lazier to me... having just a single character art on the box with a window, eliminating the need for a good bit of artwork (and only featuring just one of the 12 toys for this year).
And what's the point of having a window that only ends up showing off one and a half toys inside.


FunPub have updated their site with new Obsidian images, with the darker colour scheme (http://www.seibertron.com/transformers/news/updated-botcon-2013-machine-wars-obsidian-images/27049/) featured on that box mock-up. The colours are more cartoon accurate, compared to the toy colours the original images were based on.

[Gouki]

I like the look of the box, enough. But I prefer Obisidan's original colour reveal.

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

Well, the artwork is ok, but what a boring setup. you'd think if they want to show the toys off a bit they'd have the window showing a few more off. You get all of Obsidian, a bit of Strika and a wing of Skywarp?

It's apparently mimicking the Machine Wars box style, but well, it just looks boring. I think you see more foam than toys there as well.

Lol, on the side of the box they have "Hi tech battle machines convert to giant robots." And the main "Hi tech battle machine" is based on a WW2 aeroplane.:rolleyes:

[Sinnertwin]

Via TFCC we have production sample image of Strika (http://tformers.com/transformers-botcon-2013-new-image-of/20265/news.html)

[Sinnertwin]

And another featuring Skywarp (http://tformers.com/transformers-botcon-2013-production-images-of/20275/news.html)

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

I think the white paint on the wing tips ruin the warp effect of skywarps wings...

Strika looks nice, but I really like Warpath, so they con't go very wrong there.

[Sinnertwin]

And one of Obsidian (http://tformers.com/)

[griffin]

Finished samples of the remaining pair - Hoist (http://www.seibertron.com/transformers/news/botcon-2013-machine-wars-termination-hoist-production-sample-images/27516/) and Megaplex (http://www.seibertron.com/transformers/news/botcon-2013-machine-wars-termination-megaplex-production-sample/27500/)... and a group shot (http://www.seibertron.com/transformers/news/botcon-2013-machine-wars-termination-production-sample-group-shot-registration-ends-tonight/27519/), with a reminder that today is/was the last day for pre-registering.
All remaining sets will be available at the convention.