BotCon 2014 news bits (and some photos)

[griffin]

From my own notes and camera, here is the more interesting news and photos from this year's convention.

Since my full report will take a couple weeks, I wanted this posted up while the convention is still fresh in peoples minds... and maybe include some things you didn't see/read on the global fansites.

I will be adding posts for each panel and event which might take a few hours, so keep coming back and scroll through the topic.

(I'll update this first post with any new News posts)

[griffin]

Wednesday 18th June.

Custom Class - Primal Prime.

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z30.jpg
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http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z31.jpg

Package pickup.

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z72.jpg

Outside the convention centre...
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Thursday 19th June.

LA tour.

Disney Hall
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z34.jpg

Hollywood sign.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z35.jpg

Griffith Observatory
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z36.jpg

Santa Monica Pier
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z38.jpg

Club Store queue
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z37.jpg

Exclusives.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z39.jpg
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http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z88.jpg

[griffin]

Friday 20th June,

9am - James Roberts Panel (IDW SPOILERS)

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z40.jpg

Started out doing fanfics with the UK Transmasters club, that continued the Gen1 story.
Worked on Last Stand of the Wreckers and Chaos, before the current ongoing.

RID & MTMTE titles were originally the other way around, but were swapped so that MTMTE better matched the mystery themes of the series set on the Lost Light.

(some of this could be slightly off, as I am a bit behind on the comics, so was just writing down what I could work out from his answers)

A third part to Chaos Theory and Shadow Play is coming soon, featuring the "Functionists".

Quintessons - in the mix, but not being featured.
Unicron - no plans, but can exist in this universe.
Xaaron - James wanted him in the story since the beginning.
DJD - a season 2 over-arching plot
Rung's alt-mode - the plot was more important than allowing for the potential for a toy.
Rodimus - is dead
Drift - will return
Tyrest - was originally planned to have two faces on the front of his head, but they couldn't get it to work.
Brainstorm's briefcase - will be opened in issue 34.
The coffin - was always intended to contain Rodimus from Issue 1... it was not something they did to make room for Megatron.
Fort Max - currently on Lunar 1 with the Circle of Light, will return soon.
Grimlock - with the Scavengers, returning soon in a 2-part story

Favourite characters - Pharma & Tarn.

His advice on MTMTE - be apprehensive... every page your favourite character survives is a bonus.


2pm - Dealer Room opens.
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http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z43.jpg
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http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z44.jpg
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Stan Bush.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z45.jpg

3pm - Universal Studios Fan Experience.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z47.jpg
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http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z53.jpg
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Hasbro's Dinobots presentation.
Started off with announcing this year's Hall of Fame inductees - Arcee, Rodimus, Stan Bush.
Then featured the different eras of Dinobots.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z55.jpg
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http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z56.jpg
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Stan Bush's concert (about an hour, performing 7 songs).
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z57.jpg
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Merchandise from Universal Studios, including the exclusive T-shirt, poster and plastic cup. (other items I bought from the gift shop)
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z54.jpg

Still to come - Saturday panels and events, Sunday panels, and some of the non-BotCon stuff I did, including the toys I bought.

[DELTAprime]

LA tour.

Disney Hall
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z34.jpg

Hollywood sign.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z35.jpg

Griffith Observatory
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z36.jpg

Santa Monica Pier
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z38.jpg


I love that you visited a bunch of Grand Theft Auto V locations.:p

[MayzaPrime]

Looks like a good trip Grif...

Cant wait to see the rest :D

[Mythirax]

I love that you visited a bunch of Grand Theft Auto V locations.:p

That's exactly what I was thinking :D

How did you get everything home Griff, heaps of suitcases?

[griffin]

Saturday 21st June.

10am - Rescue Bots

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z58.jpg

Brian (Producer) - Gregg (story Editor) - Nicole (story editor) - Jason Marsden (Cade)- Elan Garfias (Cody) - Shannon McKain (Graham) - Parvesh Cheena (Blades) - Steve Blum (Heatwave) - Imari Williams (Boulder).

Imari was a last minute addition, who wasn't even included in the program guide.

In terms of timing, Season 1 and half of Season 2 fit within Season 1 of TFPrime. The latter half of Season 2 would correlate with the start of Season 2 of TFPrime... which may or may not be relevant, as Rescue Bots will NEVER have Decepticons, and will not play a part in the TFPrime universe.
Other TFPrime Autobots/characters may appear in Rescue Bots, but we have to wait and see.
Same answer to the question of Female Bots... so maybe the next crossover character is Arcee.

No plans for a Rescue Bots Art book.

Hoist & Medix were never intended to be in the show.

Mark Hamill will return as a guest, as will others that they didn't want to announce.

Virgil was designed to homage the robot from "Lost in Space", and was even voiced by the actor who played Will Robinson.

Season Boxsets are unlikely, due to the demographic of the cartoon.

Season 3 is currently in production... and we saw a sneak peek B&W "animatic" of the first episode, with Heatwave transforming into a boat (like the new toy) and the appearance of a pterodactyl from a volcano.
The next season should start in the Fall (our spring-time)... which isn't far away.


11am - Hasbro

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z59.jpg

John - Bill - Mark - Lenny - Ben - Mark Weber
(some are designers, one is a colourist, and one is product marketing)

2014 overview, similar to the Hasbro Toyfair presentation, which showed the different demographics they are targeting.
Preschool - Simple steps - Rescue Bots
Boys/girls - 1-10 steps - TF4
Fan - puzzle play - TF4 & Generations

Complexity graph showed the peak in 2012, which was preventing repeat customers, so are now trying to find a balance between play and puzzle.

Generations numbers for older collectors...
2012 - 9
2013 - 54
2014 - 73

Rescue Bots - nothing new shown (Mini Dinos, "Rescan" bots, Electronic Optimus)

Heero Mashers - Wave 1 we've seen before.
Wave 2 Basic - Rodimus Jetfire
Wave 2 Deluxe - Soundwave, Slug

Kreo
Custom Wave 3 - Strafe, Slug, Scorn, Grimlock
Dinobot Ride freebie pack (small Grimlock w/ mini-Optimus Kreon - 46 pieces) - June 24th at US ToysRUs for some promotion.


Age of Extinction

Power Battlers Wave 3 - Grimlock Galvatron, Slug, Snarl, Lockdown.
(Snarl confirmed to be an "off screen" character, so is not in the movie)
Power Battlers Wave 4 - Vehicon, High Octane Bumblebee, Junkheap ("off screen" garbage truck - can use chomp gimmick in both modes)

One Step Basic Wave 3 - Drift (Helicopter), Galvatron, Slug, Steeljaw (blue wolf), High Octane Bumblebee
One Step Basic Wave 4 - Strafe, Rollbar (off screen white/purple car), Prowl (off screen police car), ROTF Megatron.

Deluxe wave 2.5 - Lockdown
Deluxe wave 3 - Bumblebee, Snarl, Hot Shot (blue Crosshairs?)

Exclusives
Leader 2-pack - Optimus & Grimlock
Autobots United - Drift, Hound, Optimus, Bumblebee, Crosshairs (slight redecos)
Breakout scene - white VOY Optimus, Rollbar (redeco GEN Skids), Crankcase (redeco TF3 DLX)
(they wanted to call the set "Farmageddon", but were content with having it mentioned on the back of the box)

SDCC Dinobots shown - a matching Gen1 Sludge is possible later in the year, to complete the set.
The Ark was designed by the same guy who did the Pop-up book from last year.

SDCC Rock Band Tour pack shown.


Generations 2014.

Legends Wave 4 - Nemesis Prime w/ Spinister, Cliffjumper w/ Suppressor

Deluxe Wave 5 - Chromia (new blue cycle), Arcee (new pink car)

Voyager Wave 4 - Brainstorm w/ Arcana (head)
(Arcana fits in cockpit, and activates stats when plugged in as a head)


Generations 2015.
New packaging style for Generations to differentiate it a little more from the Movie toys.
Will include a character card, and Deluxes will continue to have comics.

Legends Wave 1 - Powerglide, Thundercracker, Windcharger, Bombshell (they got the name back).
(no "Targetmasters" in 2015 to keep the price-point down)

Voyager Wave 1 - Optimus Prime (new - not based on anything)

Leader Wave 1 - Megatron (Gen1-ish tank from Legends game)
Leader Wave 1.5 - Megatron (Armada tank - redeco with new head).
Working Treads on tanks. Gen1 Megatron will come with an Autobot Sticker for those wanting to replicate the IDW comic.
Gen1 Megatron was originally meant to come out with Jetfire in 2014, but was pushed back to early 2015.

Stats for 2015
Legends - 11 (shown 4)
Deluxe - 16 (shown 0)
Voyager - 6 (shown 1)
Leader - unknown (shown 2)

Theme for 2015.... Combiners. (silhouette of Superion shown)

Masterpiece.
Sideswipe
Bluestreak (black top version)

And yes, there are still more plans for the Titan class.

[reillyd]

That custom class photo of the parts on mold sprues looks just awesome!
I wonder if this is what all TF toys look like before they're assembled?
I'd be kind of curious to hear how difficult it was to put together, and whether you painted any parts before finally assembling?

By the way, if anyone would like to hear James talk, I have the link here to Shout factor's broadcast (http://youtu.be/ilqkUQYTyUc).
James starts at 1 hour 35 mins. For some reason, it isn't listed under Shout's channel anymore, but I bookmarked it. Hasbro's panel is at 6 hours 28 mins.
Feel free to modify the post Griffin to remove, if you think we shouldn't link to it. :)

[griffin]

(squeezing in a post to push the last post of photos onto a new page, so it doesn't take as long for people to see each page of posts & photos)

For those interested, some details I refer to are from my own BotCon archive here (http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon.html).

[griffin]

(ignore this post too, for the same reason)

[griffin]

That custom class photo of the parts on mold sprues looks just awesome!
I wonder if this is what all TF toys look like before they're assembled?
I'd be kind of curious to hear how difficult it was to put together, and whether you painted any parts before finally assembling?


There are more photos from the custom class that will be in my full report... but yes, that's how the Transformers toys come out of their separate moulds, and people have to cut them up and assemble them all day long in factories.

Difficultly depends on your experience with building models, as it's the same process, except you use screws and pins instead of glue... and similarly with the painting process - some people paint the parts before construction, while others build then paint.

[griffin]

I posted these images in a different news topic so wasn't planning to post them here, but figured that all of these can go in the one topic for now.

(these may be temporary images - when the full report is up, I may delete these "z" images from the server as they will be redundant)

Knight/Autobot 3-pack
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http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z02.jpg
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Pirate/Decepticon 2-pack
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Clone 2-pack
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Kreon 6-pack
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Unpainted custom class figure
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Comic cover
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Autograph cards
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Oversized cards (about A4 size) for the main guests
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Litho poster
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Chase autograph cards - 1 of 4 randomly inserted with a set of 9 Autograph cards.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z11.jpg

(I still need to ask the reasoning behind those four images)

[Omega Metro]

Great photos there Griffin. look forward to the full report.;)

[griffin]

Saturday (continued)

1PM - "Fembots" (female voice actors in Transformers)

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z90.jpg

Morgan Lofting (Moonracer, Firestar) - Samantha Newark (Aerial) - Sue Blu (Arcee & Animate Arcee, and voice director since Beast Wars)

Samantha Newark - also voiced Jem, which was her first animated role
Morgan Lofting - also voiced the Baroness. She wanted to voice something deep and gritty in Transformers but there were no female characters like that.
Sue Blu - also voiced a Misfit in Jem

All spoke highly of Director Wally Burr, but also noted that he was good at his job by getting his Voice Actors "throats to bleed" (figuratively speaking of course).

At that time there were very few Female roles in animation, but a lot of Execs and creative team are women.
Jem was the first cartoon to have a lead cast of females. (I guess She-Ra would have been the first if the main villain was female)

Favourite characters they voiced...
Morgan - Baroness, and a Ben10 character
Sam - Jem, and the evil crazy Jem
Sue - Arcee & Animated Arcee

Sue mentions a funny moment from the recording days of Beast Wars - Garry Chalk volunteered to record a big burp (probably for the Low Road), and proceeded to drink a can of cola for extra fizz... then when he did the burp, cola froth came up and sprayed the booth, leaving everyone laughing hysterically.

Sue - first Voice Directing role was with TMNT, and it took a lot of time and effort to be allowed to do it (being female). Once she went into directing she avoided doing voice roles, so that it allowed more women into the industry.
She has even appeared on-screen, with her last on-screen role in Friday the 13th Part 7.

Characters they wished they could have voiced...
Morgan - none
Sam - Jedda (from Jem) because she was British, and she was from England.
Sue - Sari (from Animated) and Blackarachnia (not sure if she was referring to a particular one)

Favourite people to work with...
Morgan - Gregg Berger (Grimlock)
Sue - Charlie Adler (Gen1 Silverbolt), Frank Welker (the rest of the cast)


2pm - Transformers Art (IDW artists)

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z61.jpg

Josh Burcham - Robby Musso - Marcelo Matere - Matt Frank - Josh Perez

Freelance artists & colourists, that mostly work for IDW or Hasbro at the moment.
Each started out as fan-artists and got picked up for official work.

Favourite works (mostly recent stuff, as they mentioned that they get better over time)
JB - BotCon 2013 Machine Wars
RM - BotCon 2014 Box art
MM - BotCon 2011 art
JP - BotCon 2008 boxset and Dark Cybertron


MF - tries to sneak in Transformers references and images in the current Godzilla comic.
MM - put Nemo in the ROTF comic (the revival of Megatron on the ocean floor) but was made to take it out.
JP - always sneaks in colours and characters on background characters to resemble obscure or cultish figures.
MF - tried to get some Animated characters (Lockdown, Lugnut) in the background of the Trailcutter spotlight, but had to take them out to avoid confusion.

MM - Japanese art inspired him, particularly the Visual Works book from about 10 years ago.

Colourists are given a fair bit of freedom when it comes to colouring the backgrounds to set the mood (like dark or bright colours).

Like to draw...
MF - Beasts, Dinobots, Dezarus
MM - Animated
RS - Megatron
JB - Optimus Prime

Drawing the first movie comics in 2007 was difficult to get used to, since the design and detailing was so much different to what they had been doing, or used to up until that point.


3pm - Collector Club
(only one panel this year)

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z60.jpg

Lanny - Pete - Brian

Showed us slides on the art process for this year's boxset cover, plus toy colouring layouts (pics will be in my full report).

Scorponok's head was originally planned to have a swivel joint, but after a few prototypes, it was just not going to look good sticking up too high.
The face-flap was also intended to work like Gen1 toys (covering up the robot face when the Nebulan was in humanoid mode), but the new sculpting of the face prevented it... and it was more important to get a good face than a gimmick (and we all hate how mainline toys have things sacrificed for gimmicks).

There were lots of issues with colours this year, from when the samples were sent, to the final products.
Also, there were a number of construction issues... which you have to realise that the factory workers usually construct tens or hundreds of thousands of the same toy parts, and are given just a thousand to learn and construct for toys that they are not likely to have been building in the past (and even if a worker has been there long enough to have done a particular toy before, they would have been constructing hundreds of different toys since then).
Cannonballs thighs were swapped over on all figures, making it look knock-kneed, but still transforms. To fix it you would need to remove two pins.
Scorponok apparently has shoulder pieces swapped over, but I can't tell which shoulder piece, as it doesn't look obvious that there is anything wrong (or the transformation is affected).
Some people also had some Clones with bad insertion of pins in the legs, missing the hole, making the figure loose or unable to completely line up in car mode.

The Membership 2-pack box concept (Transmutate box with room for Rampage) will be back next year (which allows them to sell another toy product to their growing line-up).
The two toys were just approved last week, but no slides were ready for the reveal... which they will do on the website soon.

The third subscription series...
Actionmaster Krok with Gatoraider - Generations Megatron (new head) & Micron gater.
Nacelle - Classicverse seeker looking like an early 80s catalogue (Blue Thrust with wings coloured like Starscream)... the 30th use of the mould, for the 30th Anniversary.
Serpent O.R. (name subject to approval, but unlikely to remain) - green/gold/purple JP Generations Ratbat.
ZAP - red/white/purple Generations Bumblebee/Nightbeat, with Kreon GB Blackrock & Kreo station (homaging the unreleased Japanese Blocktown series).
Gen2 Starscream - redeco of Classic-verse Starscream to go with G2 Ramjet.
Tarantulas - redeco of Generations Junkheap/Scrapheap, with 2 Micron beetles.
Plus a 7th bonus figure again

Again, they will try to get ahead with the Membership and Subscription orders, to offset the factory delays... so that they can have things in hand by January, to send out on schedule.

Some FunPub figures are thought up a number of years before they are used, so that they have a decent fit... but the Subscription series is now allowing them to use up ideas that were not suitable in a BotCon or Club comic themed set.

The Beast Wars comic this year (last year?) in the Club Magazine was a testing of the waters for more Beast-themed toys in future... if feedback is positive enough.

Rules are always changing when it comes to the toys they can use, but at this time, they can't touch any mainline figures, or anything Dinobot related, or licensed cars.

[griffin]

Saturday (continued)

4pm - script reading

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z62.jpg

(characters they played in the script reading)
Samantha Newark - BW Sonar, Armada Sureshock
Parvesh Cheena - Rescue Bots Blades, RID Windsheer
Morgan Lofting - Shattered Glass Ravage
Michael McConnohie - RiD Hotshot, RiD Ironhide
Hal Rayle - Gen1 Snarl, Mystery Abductor's voice (Gen1 season 3 Skuxxoid)
Jack Angel - IDW Ultra Magnus
Sue Blu - IDW Tailgate, Animated Arcee

The script was about different characters from different series being abducted to fight each other, but end up teaming up to defeat the Skuxxoid.


7.30pm - Golden Ticket Reception

The signed souvenir card we got.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z63.jpg

And mingling with the guests...

Animated Optimus feeding his "creator".
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z99.jpg


9PM - BotCon 20 year Retrospective

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z71.jpg

Karl Hartman - Pete Sinclair

Started with a montage video of the various BotCon exclusive toys, then called out for those who still have a perfect attendance of American BotCons (not counting the one in 2003, which dropped the name before the convention started).
There were 13 at the 10th Anniversary, and there are still 7 who have not missed an official American BotCon since it started in 1994. (and I thought I was bad for attending 14-15, depending on the count... then again, these 7 all appear to be Americans now - a couple were foreigners at the 10th Anniversary)
Pete and Karl are two of the remaining seven, and I recognised 3 of the other five.

Next was a slide show of SOME of the scrapped concepts and ideas over the years.
(no pics allowed)

The "Never was gonna happen" category...
Gen1 Hardshell/Bombshell - Classics Straxus
JP Megabolt/Overlord - VOY TF2 Mindwipe
Animated Hubcap - Animated Soundwave
Gen1 Predaking - TM2 Tigerhawk
Pre-TFs Marlboro - Anim/TF2? Lockdown
Femme Fatale (female Cykill) - TFPrime Arcee (not First Edition)
Shattered Glass Stranglehold - Anim/TF2? Lockdown (with moustache)
Scrash/Euro Skyquake & King Atlas & Dai Atlas - all from 2008 Universe Silverbolt
Turbomasters Boxset (Scorch/yellow, Boss/blue, Hurricane/white, Flash/red, Thunderclash/truck) - TFPrime moulds Ironhide/yellow, Wheeljack/blue, Smokescreen/white, Bumblebee/red, Ultra Magnus/truck.
My Little Pony Twilight Sparkle Prime - purple Beast Machines Battle Unicorn

In the "Almost happened" category...
Gen1 Ransack - FOC Kickback (almost was a Pirate this year)
Pirate Cannonball - TFPrime Wheeljack
Pirate Megabolt - TFPrime Skyquake (probably good that it didn't, as it was used in last year's set)
2014 Gen1 Bumper - TFPrime Rumble
Crosshairs & Pinpointer - Generations Kup w/ Micron
Strika - Animated VOY Bulkhead
Bruton (from Gen1 3D comics) - FOC VOY Grimlock or TFPrime? Bulkhead
2013 Machine Wars Prowl - Classics Mirage
2013 Machine Wars Hubcap - Classics Kup

2011 Boxset went through a lot of changes before they ended up doing the Animated Stunticons...
First - Shattered Glass Beast Wars
Then - Classics Stunticons
Then - Animated (see below)
Then - Animated Stunticons

The "Animated" set would have had Gen2 Sideswipe (which we got that year), Jackpot (a subscription figure the next year), and three unknowns - a lime/white Megatron, cream coloured Ratchet, & something I didn't get to write down.
The at-show figures would have been - Bugbite (JP Hydrodive Bumblebee), Toxitron (JP Wingblade Optimus), Kup (DLX Cybertron Optimus), "Armada" Wheeljack (Rodimus), Tigatron (also from Rodimus), Shokaract (JP VOY Blackout), Springer (Swindle)... and a 3-pack of Flamewar, Atagony & Nightracer from Arcee mould.

In 2007 they were given the slight possibility that Alternators were on the table, so came up with a 4-pack boxset proposal... which didn't end up happening.
Galvatron (from Wheeljack), Cyclonus (from Mirage), Ultra Magnus (from Optimus) and Rodimus (from something he couldn't remember... probably the Rodimus mould).

The final figure reveal was... Rodimouse - Transmetal Rattrap coloured like Rodimus Prime.

Doing a Season 4 of Animated is something they'd like to do, but no new moulds would limit its potential and possibly spoil it.

[griffin]

Sunday 22nd June

10am - Transformers Animated

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z65.jpg

Marty Isenberg (Producer) - Derek Wyatt (Art director) - David Kaye (Optimus) - Susan Blu (Voice Director)

Season 4 was fully mapped out before the series was axed, and the Animated Almanac covers most of it.
The series would have started out being on Cybertron, with Megatron escaping to Earth, and the Autobots going after him.
Jazz & Ironhide would have become part of the regular team, as Bulkhead would have stayed on Cybertron with Sari and Arcee.
Blurr was not planned to return, while Prowl would hang around as a ghost that could possess others.

Optimus was planned to be a Junior officer in Animated by the Executive Producers, to be something different to other series that had him as the prime leader. (they obviously didn't realise that the same thing was done in Beast Wars...)

David showed us how he had to squeeze his face from both sides to voice the Insecticons in TFPrime, which he regretted doing in the audition, as it was quite painful after a while.
He said it was great to be in the same room as Peter Cullen and Frank Welker during TFPrime.

Favourite guest voices
- Weird Al. Tom Kenny even snuck in with his kid to meet him, despite not being required to record lines that day.
- Lance Henrikson
- Judd Nelson
- Fred Willard
- John Moshitta

Corey Burton was agreed to be one of the best Megatron voices in Transformers.
David Kay wanted to do an evil Optimus, to sound like the BW Megatron.

Sue was a stutterer as a child and mistakenly put into the special-ed class at school, so got into voices to pass the time (her IQ was above average).
David got into voice acting from mimicking Teachers at school, and then got a job as a Radio DJ.

The Season 2 finale credit scene of the two heads floating in space was not originally scripted, but as the pair were ad-libbing, it was animated and added in.

Porter C Powell was not planned to be in more than one episode, but after seeing how he was drawn and voiced, they kept bringing back the character.

David Kaye mentioned that he's got a small part in the next cartoon series, and that Marty almost got to write an episode for it.


11am - IDW comics

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z66.jpg

Livio - Sarah - Mairghread - Andrew - James - John Barber

(some of my details may be off, as I'm behind on IDW comics... photos will be included in the full report)

Covers shown for MTMTE 30, 31, 32
RID 30, 31, 32

MTMTE 30 is the end of 3-part Megatron trial
MTMTE 31 sees the return of Drift (in time for cashing in on the Movie) after his exile in #15 or #16.
MTMTE will soon have a multi-part story on the "Senator Era" and the Functionists.
RID 31 features Jazz.
RID 32 end of 5-part story
RID 33 & 34 features Galvatron in a stand-alone 2-part story
RID 35 starts the second story arc, with some old humans returning

Windblade 3 & 4 shown.
#4 will be her back story.
The makeup & jewellery on her has a purpose... apparently.

Primacy images shown

TFGIJoe 1 in July, written by Barber.
#0 was more GIJoe focused, but #2 will be Transformers heavy.
(they mentioned at their Dealer Room table that pre-orders for the crossover are higher than some of their ongoing lines... so someone liked Issue zero)

"Punishment" is a motion comic, now available through a Windows 8 app, for free. A print version will come later.
It is set on Cybertron, post-Dark Cybertron, with Optimus and Dinobots hunting down someone or something killing Decepticons.

November sees a new mini-series called, Drift - Empire of Stone.
Written by Shane McCarthy & drawn by Guido.
I think they mentioned that it was set at the end of Primacy... a pre-history story perhaps (depending on how long ago Drift became an Autobot I guess, or a story of flashbacks).

2015 - Windblade returns in a new mini-series, by the same team, Scott & Stone.

Q&A...

Movie comics - not likely to do any ever again. (I looked up the sales stats a few months back, and they did worse each series, to the point of selling almost half of the number of ongoing issues).

Where are the Dinobots at the moment? - four will be featured in "Punishment" on Cybertron, while Grimlock is currently with the Scavengers and will feature in an upcoming 2-part MTMTE story.

Fortress Maximus? - soon to return in a story called Sword of the Solo.
Overlord - dead
Galvatron & Megatron - Furman's idea to have them as separate characters in IDW, for more creative freedom.
RID timing on Earth - currently a couple years ahead of us (about 2016 I guess).
Sixshot - not on the horizon
Springer & Wreckers - currently in a holding pattern (so not likely to see again for a while)
Spotlights - not on the horizon
stories by Furman - not on the horizon
First 13 and Alpha Trion to be revisited? - keep an eye on Windblade comic.

More Crossovers are coming, but can't make announcements yet.

The appearance of odd (non-Gen1 series) characters that have Generations toys is not from Hasbro demanding it, but Hasbro showing IDW upcoming toys and the editors choosing to include ones that inspire them or can fit in the story.


Noon - Gen1 Retrospective.

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z67.jpg

Jack Angel - Astrotrain, Omega Supreme, Ramjet, Ultra Magnus (post movie)
Hal Rayle - Pipes, Shrapnel, Snarl
Samantha Newark - Aerial
Michael McConnohie - Tracks, Cosmos

Jack Angel couldn't remember how to do Astrotrain's voice, but did remember that they had to computerise it to sound like two voices at once.

They commented on Casey Kasem, who recently died, saying that he was a great man.

According to a website called "The Numbers (http://www.the-numbers.com/new/people/records/)" the Actors/Voice Actors who have been in movies that have earned the most in total, Frank Welker was number one for a long time... beating out people like Samuel L Jackson, Morgan Freeman, Harrison Ford and Tom Hanks. Since the Avengers movies, Samuel L Jackson has now just hit the lead.
And Jack Angel was number four for a while, who mentioned that Samuel L Jackson once said on the Howard Stern Radio show that Frank and Jack were "not real actors".

They talked about how Frank Welker would have fun with making sounds in the recording booth. Like, a sliding door noise, which would have people looking to see who was entering the room... and doing a "white noise" hum that would keep frustrating Wally Burr, who would try to work out where the noise was coming from.


Samantha Newark mentioned a time while doing Jem, that had the storyboard artists do a prank, by drawing up joke storyboards that had everyone nude (nothing graphic, just no obvious clothing).

Jack Angel mentioned that Wally Burr was so difficult to please, that he just started imitating him, and ultimately got him off his back.
He was both praised and feared as a Voice Director. (a common theme from the Voice Actors)

The reason why Jem was apparently cancelled, despite being popular...
The advertising rules that prevented toy companies advertising their own products in their cartoons, allowed for their competitors to target those cartoons with their toys, so Jem was a popular cartoon with girls, but all the ads were for Barbie, which meant they got better exposure for less investment.
Hasbro axed a number of cartoons at that time, which Jack said almost killed Marvel.

Jack Angel is 83 years old... so was already in his 50s when voicing Transformers.

They all agreed that recording voices for computer/console games is the worst job, as it is very long and repetitive.

[griffin]

One more panel to go... but first, welcome to intermission. (as the Offspring once said :p )

From the Hasbro display, some of the newer items added on the Saturday.

Deluxe Lockdown, Hotshot (redeco Crosshairs).
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z91.jpg

The back of Hot Shot, showing the alternate hood deco - not sure which one we are getting, or if it is a sticker option to give it a Tracks look. Also a closer look at the next DLX Bumblebee.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z92.jpg

Generations Brainstorm, Arcee, Chromia.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z93.jpg

Generations Nemesis Prime w/ Spinister, Cliffjumper w/ Suppressor.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z94.jpg

Movie Boxsets - Breakout Battle & Autobots United.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z95.jpg

Platinum Leader 2-pack
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z96.jpg

(Heaps more photos of the display in the full report)

But here's something from the Dealer Room... some of the regular/repeat appearances of Lucky Draw toys that never sell. (I blew it up enough to see the prices)
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z97.jpg

And a couple photos of the many Costumes there this year...
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z70.jpg
.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z73.jpg

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

Cool report Griff!



Doing a Season 4 of Animated is something they'd like to do, but no new moulds would limit its potential and possibly spoil it.

I think the thing that would spoil it the most would be the collector's club more than no new moulds. I hope they keep their dirty hands off of a season 4 Animated!:mad:

[griffin]

And to wrap things up on this brief coverage of the more interesting news/fan bits of BotCon 2014...

Sunday 1pm - Japanese Transformers Art

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z68.jpg

Jesse Wittenrich (BotCon comics)
Sakamoto (JP Kreo comic, BC14 comic, new Legends comic, Cloud Concept art, Gobots comic soon)
Maki (interpretor)
Tsushima (The Cool, Star Gate Battles, Alone Together - club comic)
Andrew Hall (at Ehobby for a while)

Mostly a slide show, explaining thoughts and inspirations behind each (photos in full report).
Including the pencils and line art process for some of the BC14 comic. Colours done by Josh Bircham.
They noted some of the background characters they threw in for a bit of random, obscure fun... like the 3rd Dorvak toy (Whirl & Roadbuster were Dorvak) called Bonapart Tarcass (?).
The setting/timing of the comic is post Beast Machines.

The "castle" at the bottom of page 10 was meant to be coloured like Dai Atlas, but wasn't fixed up before going to print.

Tsushima was approached by Andrew to work on the Club Comics, who was apprehensive because he had no idea who he was.

The new JP Legends toy series comic will mainly be Beast Wars, and very simplistic.


That's about it people.
There might be a few minor things I remember for the full report, but that's about all the news from this year's convention.

Next up are some photos of things outside of the Convention, as a taste of what else to expect from the full report... whenever it gets done. (it will be a while, as there are about 800 photos this year)

Any questions? Dispensor's panel is about to begin...
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z89.jpg

[Mythirax]

Any questions? Dispensor's panel is about to begin...

That gave me one heck of a good giggle :D

[griffin]

Starting from the beginning, some samples of what else we got up to this year... Ultra Marginal, Dispensor and myself.

Monday 16th June.

The ToysRUs display at the store near the airport.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z12.jpg

The NASA Jet Propulsion Labs tour...
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z13.jpg
.
Replica Voyager golden disk.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z14.jpg
.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z15.jpg
.
Flight Operations, which showed us that they have a relay station in Canberra.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z16.jpg

The hotel we stayed at this year... cheaper, with free Internet, parking and breakfast.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z21.jpg

The Convention Centre.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z17.jpg

My first-day haul from a Target, ToysRUs and Walmart. That ended up being the bulk of my toys for this year, as very little was found in the Dealer Room or in stores later.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z18.jpg
.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z20.jpg

Yes, those are mini plushies at the front.

Some of the snack food I bought on the first day to sample.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z19.jpg

Tuesday 17th June.

Warner Bros tour in the morning.

A nice clear, pollution-filled day in LA, with the CBD barely visible through the haze...
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z22.jpg

The lookout on Mulholland Drive, which we could see the City and the Hollywood sign.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z25.jpg
.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z23.jpg
.
And a building covered in Transformers banners some distance away.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z24.jpg

Afternoon - TMZ tour.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z26.jpg

Believe it or not, this is Cuba Gooding Junior trying to get our attention to say hello.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z27.jpg

After the tour, at the Chinese Theatre, which had a premiere screening of some TV show.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z28.jpg

Something I saw three times on three different tours in three days - a multi-million dollar Bugatti. (belongs to the owner of the clothing store, to attract people's attention)
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z29.jpg

Wednesday 18th June

After the Custom Class, Ultra Marginal and I checked out some stores... including a Walmart that had over 30 different flavours of Pringles.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z32.jpg

Thursday 18th June.

On the LA Pre-Con tour during our lunch break at Santa Monica... I turned my back for a second, and Dispensor runs off to the sort of place that Rattrap would hang out at...
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z98.jpg

Friday 19th June.

My small Dealer Room purchases (usually I come back with a lot more than this... this was all I could find that I wanted or willing to pay). :(
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z46.jpg

I saw a dealer with four South American Mini-bots in ziplock bags, but he wanted US$250 for each!!!

My purchases for other people... which I have to process next.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z64.jpg





Sunday 22nd June

After not finding anything to buy on Saturday in the Dealer Room, I found these few items on Sunday.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z74.jpg

Just before the packing began in the evening... this was most of what I brought back (some extra items found the next day).
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z69.jpg

My return luggage... and I only went over there with the black bag and backpack.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z75.jpg

The Sunday night Ozformers BotCon meet at IHOP that we proposed in the Meets topic a month or so ago... only ended up being Ultra Marginal and myself.
More for us to eat... :p
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z76.jpg
IHOP is "International House of Pancakes", but obviously offers a lot more than just pancakes. Very nice, and very filling.

Monday 23rd June.
Paramount Studios tour.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z77.jpg

One of the guides told us that they are setting up a Transformers Props exhibit, which will be open in a few months time (probably for the tour),
but we still managed to find some props scattered around the place...

Barricades lights and claws.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z78.jpg

The Allspark cube that Sam carries around at the end of the movie.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z79.jpg

Pieces from the TF2 Tomb of the Primes (made of styrofoam... and we were able to touch these things, carefully).
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z80.jpg

Chicago rubble from TF3.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z81.jpg

Plus there was also the motorcycle helmet that Mikaela used in TF2.

In one of their Print vaults of movies they send out to Theatres and TV stations (in many different formats), I found TF2 on cassette.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z82.jpg

Dr Phil's studio set.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z83.jpg

Dispensor sitting on Dr Phil's wife's seat (she is at every episode in this seat).
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z84.jpg

And at The Doctors studio set.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z85.jpg

Looks like Universal wasn't the only Studio backlot to lose a large part of their city sets to fire... Paramount lost their City backlot about 25 years earlier.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z86.jpg


In the afternoon, on the way back to the Airport, Ultra Marginal and I checked out a Target and the ToysRUs we visited on the first day, and now I had these toys to fit into my luggage.
Fortunately my black bag and backpack had enough room.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z87.jpg

A long week with little sleep required a bit of caffeine by the end... not that I was able to get to any...
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z00.jpg

[Mythirax]

Those are some awesome pictures and a great read in that last post. It looks like you must of had a lot of fun. In the picture of the Rover, I was looking to see if you managed to get Dispenser on there somewhere :D

I can't wait to go out to one of these some year in the near future.

[griffin]

Dispensor got up to a lot more mischief than just those photos... and there is a lot more commentary to come with the photos above in the full report, to explain him being in some of them. :p

I think Ultra Marginal found it a bit amusing too, with some of the antics Dispensor was getting up to.


I also wanted to note that we crossed paths with Paul Agnew during the Convention, but mostly just the first few days like the Custom Classes.
I don't think any other Australians ended up going this year... if they did, none of us three saw or met them.

[Mythirax]

Dispensor got up to a lot more mischief than just those photos... and there is a lot more commentary to come with the photos above in the full report, to explain him being in some of them. :p

I think Ultra Marginal found it a bit amusing too, with some of the antics Dispensor was getting up to.


I also wanted to note that we crossed paths with Paul Agnew during the Convention, but mostly just the first few days like the Custom Classes.
I don't think any other Australians ended up going this year... if they did, none of us three saw or met them.

I look forward to seeing some more commentary :D - So you didn't see many Australians in general at the con?

[Blink90210]

Awesome stuff man, this has made me more hungry to do a BotCon or at least TF Con next year.

[nexusnixx]

Love these reports/ pictures Bossbot. Always makes me feel that I am there.

[griffin]

A group shot of this year's BotCon toys...

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/ma07.jpg


No wait... that's not right. :p

Some comparison photos of this years toys, with earlier versions. (poses courtesy of Christalcase)

Scorponok
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/m53.jpg

Brimstone
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/ma05.jpg

Pounce & Wingspan
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/m99.jpg

(Fire Guts God) Ginrai
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/ma05.jpg

Cannonball
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/m55.jpg

Shokaract
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/ma04.jpg

Apelinq
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/ma08.jpg

Flare-up & Flamewar
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/ma09.jpg

Primal Prime
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/ma10.jpg

Alpha Trion/Trizer
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/ma11.jpg

No photo of Ferak and Devcon, since they weren't homaging previous toys.

[MayzaPrime]

Awesome pics Grif!

[Omega Metro]

Amazing comparison pics, Griffin. Almost had a heart attack when I saw that 1st photo. I thought......they are not what I bought.:D

[Paulbot]

Cool comparisons.

So Scorponok's purple and green are both not quite a match, but Ginrai and Shokaract look really close.

Brimstone is quite effective and not a character/toy match I'd ever had thought of. Pounce and Wingspan are the two to get. Cannonball's good too, shame about the leg problems - getting a MISB one would be a bit of a lucky dip.. Wouldn't mind Flamewar if I was going to get a repaint of Arcee.

[Sky Shadow]

The 2014 BotCon toys look great beside their ancestors. Griffin, I was wondering, do you have Movie Advanced AD11 Dispensor yet? :) (And if so, what does your long-term travelling companion think of it?)

[Mythirax]

Amazing comparison pics, Griffin. Almost had a heart attack when I saw that 1st photo. I thought......they are not what I bought.:D

My heart dropped for a second. I was just looking at the first photo so confused.


Griffin, I was wondering, do you have Movie Advanced AD11 Dispensor yet? :) (And if so, what does your long-term travelling companion think of it?)

I think we all need to know what Dispensor thinks of this :D

[griffin]

The 2014 BotCon toys look great beside their ancestors. Griffin, I was wondering, do you have Movie Advanced AD11 Dispensor yet? :) (And if so, what does your long-term travelling companion think of it?)

He wasn't impressed... they even had the "stare down" in the comparison photos (http://www.otca.com.au/boards/showthread.php?p=417505#post417505).
But ultimately, only one gets to travel around the world and terrorise foreigners, so that keeps him happy. :p

[Omega Metro]

I generally don't read movie reviews. But get some idea of what's 'good' and what's not. But I do find the movies that are generally rated badly are the best and ones rated best are boring. It's like the first 3 (old ones) Star Wars movies. For the life of me I cannot understand what the fuss is with these. I think they are sooooo boring to watch.

[Krayt]

(Fire Guts God) Ginrai



Can I special request a shot with just Ginrai, not God Ginrai? (meaning just cab bot.... but if you want trailer bot too that's fine by me :-P)

[dirge]

It's like the first 3 (old ones) Star Wars movies. For the life of me I cannot understand what the fuss is with these. I think they are sooooo boring to watch.

Half the internet just swore at you :p

[Sky Shadow]

But I do find the movies that are generally rated badly are the best and ones rated best are boring.

I'm suddenly not surprised that you liked Revenge of The Fallen and Age of Extinction...

[Alpha Supreme]

Half the internet just swore at you :p

HAHAHA!

It’s as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced…

[Alpha Supreme]

Griffin thank you for the Botcon recap, it was awesome and I have had to ignore the giant plate of green jelly in the fridge. BotCon and ComicCon are on my wish list to attend. I'm heading to LA in a week with my partner and I cant wait to ride the Transformers ride at Universal!!!! So excited!!! ps Cant believe I have just missed BotCon!!! Badly timed!!!

[Krayt]

Can I special request a shot with just Ginrai, not God Ginrai? (meaning just cab bot.... but if you want trailer bot too that's fine by me :-P)

Shortpacked kinda came to the party for me here...

http://www.shortpacked.com/image/Ginrais.jpg

[griffin]

Ah, beat me to it... and a better photo too.
When I took out the toy yesterday to photograph it, I realised that I never put stickers on mine... to keep it looking "Firey" in God Ginrai mode,
but never expected to ever have just the Ginrai cab in robot mode.

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/m56.jpg

And just to wrap it up... the class of BotCon 2014, including both painted and unpainted custom class toy. (but not including the Kreons)
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/ma06.jpg

[Caffinetron]

Thanks so much for your photos and commentary on the photos. I really want to go and after getting back into the TF world after many years i kick myself everyday that i never thought to check out the convention scene when i lived in the US for 3 years back in 2002.
I would love to just roam around the dealer room for a few hours and see what's there. The wife says we should go next year and do a little cross country tour with our 2 girls, but no matter how much i think about it it just wouldn't be the same. I'd want to set it up to go over there with a bunch of like minded people like yourselves.
Thanks again for the photos.

[griffin]

I do try to encourage people to go, but the last three years have had such a poor turnout, and those three were some of the closest/cheaper ones to get to (LA & Texas - both have direct flights from Australia with QANTAS).
The last two years I only found two Australians at BotCon, and the year before (2012) I only found one other Australian at the convention.

I guess I got spoilt after 2009 & 2011, which had 10-12 Australians attending, bringing a whole new level of fun to the event when you don't have to break the ice with people you don't know. (admittedly, it is quite easy to just start talking to random strangers at BotCon, because you are all there for a common reason)

[Gouki]

I'm not surprised you don't see more Aussies at Botcon. The pricing is so so stupid it borders on offensive.

[Sky Shadow]

Movie Boxsets - Breakout Battle & Autobots United.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/z95.jpg

I'm waiting for that Autobots United set - it seems like the best way to get those toys.

http://s22.postimg.org/szekdosn5/27452510d1405177209_transformers_aoe_autobots_un.p ng

[Bidoofdude]

I'm waiting for that Autobots United set - it seems like the best way to get those toys.

http://s22.postimg.org/szekdosn5/27452510d1405177209_transformers_aoe_autobots_un.p ng

Agreed. The paint apps look great, especially on Bulkhead and Optimus. Even the shellforming Bee looks pretty good. Gonna wait for a G1 set of dinobots, don't want to get more than one of each mould.

[Megatran]

Dispensor got up to a lot more mischief than just those photos... and there is a lot more commentary to come with the photos above in the full report, to explain him being in some of them. :p

I think Ultra Marginal found it a bit amusing too, with some of the antics Dispensor was getting up to.

Dispensor must be hard at work putting together the Botcon 2014 full report. All work and no news of mischief behaviour lately has me a little concerned. :p

[griffin]

Sorry... I had a little over 2,000 photos to sort through this year, and ended up needing about 1500 of them. I still have about 600 left to crop and upload... and then, write up the descriptions on the pages.
Actually, I've got enough photos done now, to be able to start on some of the pages and release them, without the worry of having to go back and fix or add to those first few pages.
Expect quite a few posted up tomorrow... as long as I don't get any sicker.

Unfortunately, most of the three weeks since I've been back, I've caught a couple viruses and a head cold... spending about 10 days over that time in bed or too tired to do much at all (including the last three days). :(

Last year I got the flu shot and forgot about it this year... so it does have me thinking, what if one of the ones I caught in the last month was covered in the flu shot. Or, going two years without a virus made the symptoms even worse.
Either way, the flu shot is something I'm going to have to remember each year.

[Megatran]

I said I was concerned for Dispensor, not his travelling companions. :p

No rush. It'll be great reading & viewing.

[griffin]

A lot later than I was planning, but I wanted to get enough finished before releasing parts of it... otherwise it gets confusing, and I wanted the Introduction done up first (which I couldn't do until I had completed most of the BotCon part of the report.

The main index and introduction is here (http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/bc14intro.html).
(NOTE - links won't work on items that are listed as not yet done)

These pages that are completed and now up...
FRI 20/6
9-10 - PANEL - James Roberts (http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/bc14jr.html) (Conference Center room 104) - COMPLETED JULY 26TH
.
SAT 21/6
10-11 - PANEL - Rescue Bots Cast (http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/bc14rb.html) - COMPLETED JULY 26TH
11-12 - PANEL - Hasbro Toys (http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/bc14ht.html) - COMPLETED JULY 26TH
1-2 - PANEL - Gen1 Female Voice Actors (Newark, Blu, Lofting) (http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/bc14wa.html) - COMPLETED JULY 26TH
2-3 - PANEL - Transformers Artists (http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/bc14at.html) - COMPLETED JULY 26TH
3-4 - PANEL - Collector Club (http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/bc14cc.html) - COMPLETED JULY 26TH
4-5 - PANEL - Script Reading & Contest Winners announced (http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/bc14sr.html) - COMPLETED JULY 26TH
9.00pm - PANEL - BotCon 20 years retrospective (http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/bc14br.html) - COMPLETED JULY 26TH
9.45pm - PANEL - MSTF (http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/bc14br.html#mstf) - COMPLETED JULY 26TH
.
SUN 22/6
10-11 - PANEL - Transformers Animated (http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/bc14tfa.html) - COMPLETED JULY 26TH
11-12 - PANEL - IDW Comics (http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/bc14idw.html) - COMPLETED JULY 26TH
12-1 - PANEL - Gen1 Voice Actors (http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/bc14gr.html) - COMPLETED JULY 26TH
1-2 - PANEL - Transformers Japan (http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/bc14jtf.html) - COMPLETED JULY 26TH

Some (not all) of the other pages are already on the server, but have no text yet. I've just put them up as a sneak peak for anyone who finds them.
As soon as they are done up with text, I will note it here in a group lot of several pages, but will update the main index page of the report with each new page on the server.

PLEASE let me know if any photos don't load up, as they might be missing or corrupted. And let me know if a page doesn't load up that is noted as "completed".

[griffin]

All of the BotCon parts are now done (http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/bc14intro.html), from Wednesday custom class to Sunday closing.
(the Friday night Universal event took longer to do than I thought, as I later found an audio file and some video clips I took, that I had to take notes and screen-shots from)

For those wanting to go through everything chronologically, start from Wednesday...
Wednesday 18th June (http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/bc14jun18.html) - Custom Class & Package pickup
Thursday 19th June (http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/bc14jun19.html) - Los Angeles Tour & Club Store
Friday 20th June (http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/bc14jun20.html) - BotCon day 1 & Universal Studios Fan Event (http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/bc14us1.html)
Saturday 21st June (http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/bc14jun21.html) - BotCon day 2 & Golden Ticket dinner
Sunday 22nd June (http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/bc14jun22.html) - BotCon day 3


For those wanting to read everything I did from the first day of the trip, that will be a couple more days.

[Zippo]

Woohoo, looking forward to reading
Many thanks griffin for these detailed reports. Every time I read it makes me wish I had gone

[reillyd]

They're great, and I was really fascinated by the custom class photos. Its a lot more involved to put a toy together than I realised, and it seemed really to see the torso of the toy without the legs.

[lancalot]

Always love reading your report ! .... just like being there with you .

[griffin]

There... finally... after 6 weeks... all done.
(I want to redo the group photo of the original toys (http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/ma07.jpg), to replace God Ginrai with just Ginrai, but will get around to that later)

The Intro page is here (http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/bc14intro.html), for going to specific pages or events.
If you want to go through everything in chronological order, click on the "Before Departure" link near the top of the Intro page, and follow each day from there.

(corrections, like grammar and spelling are welcome)

I had about as much fun doing the report (researching a lot of stuff from details mentioned on the Tours) as I did on the adventure itself. But boy, did I go overboard on photos and notes this year.
Each year I say the same thing after spending so much time on the write-up - I'm not going to do that again, but knowing me, I will be just as comprehensive next year. :p

Now... where are the write-ups, photos or commentary from the other people who went this year? ;)
There were either 2 or 4 of you there... pics or it didn't happen. :p

[Raptormesh]

Another awesome read! Thanks Griffin. :)

[griffin]

I fixed Scorponok today (they have a minor construction error), and added the photos to the Wednesday pick-up page (http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/bc14jun18.html#pu) for future reference.

I have also posted up the images in our Repairs section (http://www.otca.com.au/boards/showthread.php?t=19191) for anyone who got one (or is getting a non-attendee set).