BotCon 2016 news and reveals

[Krayt]

Custom class Ratchet (Or Medix) confirmed here! (http://www.seibertron.com/transformers/news/botcon-2016-custom-class-figure-revealed-to-be-ratchet-and-medix/35075/)

I wonder what head they will send for those non-attending who bought a made version...

[Krayt]

Apparantly Terrorsaur is missing his HFG in pack... so the piece is handed out seperate...

ANd the GT exclusive is CW Shockwave as Reflector

(Source FB...)

Edit... instructions for GT Figure say Reflector, Bio Card calls him "Slash Sentry"....

An all translucent Blue(ish) shockwave, new head.... imagine it like an old flash to go on top of a camera

[Paulbot]

There's art of a Tigatron, using the same Ravage head. And Airazor (which toy?). and someone(?) Yellow (Off Road mold I think)

https://twitter.com/saralepew/status/717875511704358912

[Paulbot]

And here. Yellow guy looks like Hot Shot more than anyone else right?

https://twitter.com/botcon/status/717874435689156610

[Krayt]

Ravages HFG is not in the box... that's the extra handed out....

So Terrorsaur has no HFG...

[Krayt]

There's art of a Tigatron, using the same Ravage head. And Airazor (which toy?). and someone(?) Yellow (Off Road mold I think)

https://twitter.com/saralepew/status/717875511704358912

Airrazor looks like Wingblade to me....

[Krayt]

More FB users saying (no proof) that there is a 3 pack of shockwaves in addition to:

CR/RID Megatron repaint,
Yellow CW Limb
Airrazor (Wingblade?)
Tigatron (CW Ravage repaint)

GT exclusive Transparent Flash Sentry (CW Shockwave)
Attendee Exc Terrorsaur

[griffin]

The Terrorsaur does indeed have no foot/fist accessory, which is stupid, because we have four Deluxe combiners this year for BotCon, which could go with one of the spare Retail Voyagers.
The suggestion from one of the staff is to have him as an arm and stick a blade weapon out the end.

Ravage is indeed missing its foot/fist accessory in BOTH the boxsets and loose sets, so were handed out separately.

The Golden Ticket toy is called Flash Sentry, a redeco of Legends Shockwave (wiith a new head), which should also be a Reflector 3-pack for sale tomorrow (probably in proper cartoon purple and green). The GT figure is done in all purple, with half being translucent purple (no green on the chest).

The at-show toys & merchandise this year are...
Megatron (RID-2001 Megatron) - $89 (sold separately) 850 units.
Airazor (GEN-14 DLX Windblade) - $49 (sold separately) 750 units.
Tigatron (CW Ravage) - $49 (sold separately) 1200 units.
Unit 3 (CW Streetwise - looks like the same head) - $49 (sold separately) 1200 units
Reflector 3-pack (Legends Shockwave) - $59 - 1300 units.
Megatron's Rubber ducky
Pint Glass
Shot Glasses
Key Chains
Sunglasses

[CHILENO20]

Tigatron (CW Ravage) - $49 (sold separately) 1200 units.
Unit 3 (CW Streetwise - looks like the same head) - $49 (sold separately) 1200 units
Reflector 3-pack (Legends Shockwave) - $59 - 1300 units.


These sound a bit tempting, hmmm, hopefully eBay sellers wont jack up their prices too much.

[Raider]

Airazor (GEN-14 DLX Windblade) - $49 (sold separately) 750 units.
Tigatron (CW Ravage) - $49 (sold separately) 1200 units.
Unit 3 (CW Streetwise - looks like the same head) - $49 (sold separately) 1200 units
Reflector 3-pack (Legends Shockwave) - $59 - 1300 units.


See now if I had have known these in advance I definitely would have taken you up on your offer Griffin. Such a pain that they don't release these details in advance. I guess they want you to come and find out which is unrealistic for most international fans. Now to source these 4 through other means (hopes they won't be ridiculous in price).

[Paul Agnew]

Airazor (GEN-14 DLX Windblade)

With the Slipstream head. ;)

[griffin]

Ooops,... I don't like the Windblade mould so much I didn't look enough to even notice the head.

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z18.jpg

[reillyd]

I'll definitely track down Airrazor and by either the Renderform upgrade or inevitable Shapeways head.. Looked at the toy, and the head looks a new one. I thought it was just a repaint windblade from the comic cover.

Tigatron looks awesome, must buy.

[griffin]

The non-toy items for sale this year...

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z19.jpg

[Paulbot]

For those like me that didn't get the joke, Unit 3 is "Under-3 (http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Under-3)", a Beast Wars Happy Meal toy.

[griffin]

Introducing the BotCon class of 2016...
At the back - Terrorsaur, Seaclamp, Megatron
Mid-back - Cicadacon, Tarantulas, Ramhorn, Ravage, Ratchet (no stickers yet), Medix (no stickers yet).
Mid front - Megatron's rubber ducky, Flash Sentry, Reflector (x 3), Airazor.
Front - Unit 3, Enigma of Combination, Tigatron.

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z20.jpg

I am mostly free now for the evening (when Andy comes back we might check out some in-room trading, but he has package pickup at 9pm, which will tie him up until at least midnight), so I'll see how much I can catch up on with pics and details so far (it's Thursday evening, and the Club Store is now open, while the regular pre-registered people are picking up their packages as well).

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

That Red Megatron looks really nice.

I'll give them that one ;)

[Raider]

That is a very expensive array of bots you have there mate! Very very nice though. Hopefully a certain someone can come through for me and pick a few of them up ;)

[MayzaPrime]

Damn I want that Terrorsaur to go with my dawn of futures past set... :(

I might end up getting that Tigatron and Megatron... plus the others that come with it :p

[reillyd]

Is the Enigma of Combination an attendee bonus, or does it come with a souviner set?

[griffin]

Is the Enigma of Combination an attendee bonus, or does it come with a souviner set?

It was a bonus item at the custom class, done by some Japanese fans apparently... just like with past Class bonus items, it was not endorsed by Hasbro.

So technically, FunPub are selling 3rd party items (you have to pay for the class to get it), but are banning anyone found to be selling 3rd party items in the dealer rooms or in hotel rooms... or even advertising a venue at a nearby location.

[fatbot]

http://www.seibertron.com/transformers/news/botcon16-hasbro-confirmation-last-botcon-with-fun-publications/35097/

[i_amtrunks]

A lot of red in them there bots.

Some nice homages and re-imaginings.

[griffin]

Some news photos and (very very) brief details from the first two days of Botcon.
(photos are temporary until the full adventure write-up is done, but it will be a few weeks before that happens)

Wednesday night package pickup - Boxset, t-shirt, Custom Class toy (Ratchet), Golden Ticket toy (Flash Sentry), Attendee toy (Terrorsaur),
first day pin, golden ticket pin, namebadge, comic/program guide, and folder of vouchers and certificate (no feedback form this year... because
there isn't any more BotCons for them to need feedback for).
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z26.jpg

The toys in alt-mode with all their accessories (except Ravage's sword, which I didn't notice was somewhere else until later).
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z27.jpg

Robot modes.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z28.jpg

Thursday Custom Class.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z29.jpg

The five example versions - Gen1 comic, Gen1 cartoon, Gen2 (no actual Gen2 toy so I'm not sure if this is based off anything official), Mirrorverse, Medix (Rescue Bot colours).
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z30.jpg
.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z31.jpg

There was also a sixth option - a Gen2 Ratchet that would be like Inferno, which was the Gen1 toy version, but with the "Gen2 Autobot" sticker on the roof.
I think the Gen2 version above would be if Ratchet was like Gen2 Jazz, with different stickers and paint apps.

The parts before construction started.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z32.jpg

Thursday afternoon - Club Store open.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z37.jpg

Display case of this year's toys and merchandise...
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z38.jpg

...including a regular retail release of Silverbolt, Prowl and Ironhide, in combined mode with Tigatron & Unit 3, with exclusive stickers to turn them
into the Magnaboss trio to look like them in the Convention comic.
(yes, that's a sticker for a face)
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z39.jpg

And the five Autobots as individuals, with the 3 retail toys stickered up.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z40.jpg

Reflector 3-pack in a "combined" form, by joining up the arms of the toys like a circular chain.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z41.jpg

The products and price list for this year.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z42.jpg

Items I bought for myself.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z43.jpg

I found a box of these welcome letters on a table in the main hallway and took one, thinking that it was just something to be handed out to walk-ins
on the weekend (because I stopped reading at the middle bit that sounded like a promo press release for upcoming official projects). It wasn't until
several hours later that I heard about the last paragraph making news... and dug out my copy to read.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z45.jpg

One of the room traders Thursday night. I couldn't see the noticeboard on Wednesday night in the lobby, so didn't think it was officially permitted
until the next night, as it was in a corner of the Lobby that was on the opposite side to the two official BotCon noticeboards (usually the three are
next to each other).
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z46.jpg

At the end of the night (10pm), the dealer room was already being set up for the 2pm opening on Friday.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z47.jpg

And in a separate room is the Hasbro exhibit, also ready for tomorrow.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z48.jpg

It's just past 3am Friday here in Kentucky, and I have to be up at 7am to get a few other things done before leaving at about 8.45 for the first panel of the day.

I will try to post up more during the weekend, but as past BotCons have shown me, I don't get much spare time between Friday morning to Sunday night.

[Raider]

Thanks for the update mate. So many goodies in that pic of the trader room. Wish I was there!

[TAAUBlaster]

Looks like it will be pretty fun. I'd love to go just so I could hit the Dealer room :p
One of the dealer's has a fresh case find of G1 Jetfire (and possibly others - going by his FB message the other day) that he is selling at this year's Botcon :eek:

[CHILENO20]

Hehehe, those stickers for Magnaboss look funky :D Not a bad idea. Any chance you can pick a set up bossbot?

[griffin]

I won't have time to post up my photos of the Hasbro exhibit, so here are some on TFW...

RID display (http://news.tfw2005.com/2016/04/08/botcon-2016-robots-disguise-display-images-312888).

Titans Return display. (http://news.tfw2005.com/2016/04/08/botcon-2016-hasbro-titans-return-display-images-312762)

Platinum Editions & Combiner Wars display (http://news.tfw2005.com/2016/04/08/botcon-2016-hasbro-display-platinum-combiner-wars-images-312763).

No real news panels today (Friday here), so tomorrow will have news from Hasbro and the Collector Club.

[griffin]

Some more sample photos of mine from Friday at BotCon.

The second room that had the Hasbro exhibit, the artists, and the Club store.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z52.jpg

The main dealer room, from one end...
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z53.jpg

...and the other end, with the autograph corner.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z54.jpg

The script reading panel.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z55.jpg

David Kaye with his Hall of Fame trophy.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z56.jpg

Judd Nelson with his trophy.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z57.jpg

The open air stage.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z58.jpg

Vince DiCola, who played first.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z59.jpg

And Stan Bush who played second. (they played Dare together, but all other songs were separate)
The concert only lasted about an hour, with just 10 songs between them.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z60.jpg

While I was waiting in the hotel lobby for board member Sinnertwin to arrive, Dispensor was off stalking the feature guests, looking to recruit new slaves... um, loyal followers of the great Dispensor.
(he made me say that)
Venus Terzo (with white sleeves).
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z61.jpg

And Gregg Berger (in red).
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z62.jpg

[griffin]

Only the custom class toy sold out on Friday... and it only took 30 minutes of free-for-all access to the club store this morning for Megatron, Airazor, ducky, and stickers to sell out.

[Other]

Apparently a guy from BBTS brought up the entirety of what stock was left of the Megatron stock
Also, TFSource got their booth closed down for selling 3rd Party stuff, pretty dumb on their part if true.

[griffin]

Tfsource were still there.

CW Liokaiser now confirmed, on the back of an upcoming box as a co-sell. Photo on global sites.

[Sinnertwin]

I had a chat with the boys from BBTS & they also heard the story about them buying out all of the Megatrons. Who knows?

TFSource was shut down for a while- they just had black cloth over their merchandise with an officer standing behind the counter. They were, as Griffin said, back to operating normally

[griffin]

Some news postings for today's items.

Collector Club panel (http://news.tfw2005.com/2016/04/09/botcon-2015-tcc-figure-subscription-service-5-0-club-roundtable-panel-313833).

Liokaiser (http://news.tfw2005.com/2016/04/09/combiner-wars-liokaiser-toy-image-313573).

Platinum Editions (http://news.tfw2005.com/2016/04/09/botcon-2016-platinum-sdcc-exclusives-display-images-313532).

Computron (http://news.tfw2005.com/2016/04/09/botcon-2016-computron-display-images-313488).

Hasbro display (http://news.tfw2005.com/2016/04/09/botcon-2016-saturday-hasbro-display-images-313279).

Hasbro panel (http://news.tfw2005.com/2016/04/09/botcon-2016-hasbro-transformers-panel-live-ish-313168).

[Ploughmans Lunch]

Put the original skyfire/whatever cockpit on CW Strafe and you've basically got CW Ramjet?

[Paulbot]

Seems like they spoilt a good chunk of their CW reveals by the packaging cross sells on day one, followed up by another on day two!

Like that all seven "regular" Headmasters are coming, but two triple changer Voyager Horrorcons would finish the set nicely.

[Bidoofdude]

Wolfwire and Highbrow look great, and they've wiped out the major Headmasters in a couple wave, so that's cool. Shame there were no Legends reveals (Kickback please) and the Headmaster Brawn is kind of disapponting, since it probably means no Legends figure, at least for a while.

I like that a lot of the Platinum sets have a bunch of classics characters for those who missed out, who can now get the full 86 Autobot crew, Junkions, Sweeps and Megatron and Prime. Hoping that a Platinum Unicron comes to light.

[DELTAprime]

I hope Hasbro hasn't lost the Grimlock name. They have called the Grimlock head "Clobber".

[Verno]

I hope Hasbro hasn't lost the Grimlock name. They have called the Grimlock head "Clobber".
Isn't that how these Headmaster work? The head is the little bot with another name. The body is the main character, IE Grimlock.

[reillyd]

Can anyone work out who the photo is (in shadow) in the very last photo on tfw2005's Hasbro Panel? Kinda looked like Overlord, or am I mistaken?
http://news.tfw2005.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/04/06-Botcon-201600023.jpg

[griffin]

Can anyone work out who the photo is (in shadow) in the very last photo on tfw2005's Hasbro Panel? Kinda looked like Overlord, or am I mistaken?
http://news.tfw2005.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/04/06-Botcon-201600023.jpg

That's what some are saying... but won't be out until 2017.

[Paulbot]

Can anyone work out who the photo is (in shadow) in the very last photo on tfw2005's Hasbro Panel? Kinda looked like Overlord, or am I mistaken?
http://news.tfw2005.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/04/06-Botcon-201600023.jpg

Flywheels!

People are saying Overlord (which is best guess) but I don't know if Hasbro actually said that and until then: it could be Flywheels.

:)

[BigTransformerTrev]

Flywheels!

People are saying Overlord (which is best guess) but I don't know if Hasbro actually said that and until then: it could be Flywheels.

:)

You know what Hasbro is like for reusing molds - very possible we will get both Overlord AND Flywheels :D

[griffin]

Some of my photos from Saturday over here...

Venus Terzo on her panel.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z63.jpg

The Hasbro team on their panel.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z64.jpg

Not a lot of new reveals this year, and these were the more interesting ones (there are some other new items further down this posting, of the actual toys in the display case.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z65.jpg
.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z66.jpg
.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z67.jpg

The teaser silhouette, of a jet and tank coming together.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z68.jpg

Gregg Berger on his panel.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z69.jpg

The best costume I found today (and so far this BotCon)... and it wasn't even in the costume contest being held at the Cosplay panel.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z70.jpg

New items in the display case after today's presentation.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z71.jpg
.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z72.jpg

SDCC set.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z73.jpg

Target America exclusive 5-pack.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z74.jpg

Another unintentional reveal at BotCon (last year it was the Titans Return wallpaper).
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z75.jpg
.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z76.jpg

Aaron Archer on his panel.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z77.jpg

TM2 Dinobot and Armada Megatron.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z78.jpg

Collector Club exclusives for the rest of the year.
A new GIJoe crossover set, based on the old Marvel GIJoe comic introduction of the Gen2 TFs comic.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z80.jpg

And the fifth Subscription series - Counterpunch, Scorponok & Fractyl, Toxitron, double pretender Megatron with the original Grand Mazimus pretender shell, Paradron medic and double pretender Optimus Prime.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z81.jpg

Saturday night casino, Awards Dinner and Charity Auction.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z79.jpg

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

Aaron Archer is back at Hasbro? After his Play with this too bizzo? He must know how to market himself, or be very, VERY good at his job!

That scrounge looks very well done too. No name for the little shuttle gun? Just a shame he's limited to the computron pack, I'd like one to hang with TW Blaster.

And wow! That Soundwave cosplayer is AWESOME! Even has a nice shine to it!

Bring on Overlord, my lips are ready!

[DELTAprime]

Isn't that how these Headmaster work? The head is the little bot with another name. The body is the main character, IE Grimlock.

But Brawn and Apeface don't have name changes, that's why Clobber seems odd for Grimlock. Not sure who Skytread is.

[Bladestorm]

Thanks for the photos. Great to see what is going on.

That Soundwave cosplay looks amazing.

They're really pushing a lot of these moulds to maximum utilisation aren't they?
Windblade and Arcee in particular seem to be getting a hammering.

Someone on the HK groups mentioned how much Alpha Trion looks like the HSBC lion's and seeing this pic I can see many photos in front of said lions with this figure taking place. ;)

It is exciting to see all these new releases, but also a relief as there isn't a lot there I am after. My daughter might have different plans though if she catches wind of some of these figures since there are a few fembots in the mix. If anyone gets a Paradron medic they don't want I'd be interested in a chat. ;)

[Verno]

But Brawn and Apeface don't have name changes, that's why Clobber seems odd for Grimlock. Not sure who Skytread is.
Well, Alpha Trion is now a unicorn/dog/lion so all bets about just what Hasbro are doing are off :p

That pic of TM2 Dinobot is... intriguing. I've read a summary of his panel and he said TransTech was a little too 'out there'. Transformers were 'out there' from TM2s and right through Beast Machines. TransTech may well have brought it back into something resembling normality. But alas, it got cancelled :(

[reillyd]

Aaron Archer is back at Hasbro? After his Play with this too bizzo? He must know how to market himself, or be very, VERY good at his job!

Yes, he really is. We would have had the resurgence of Transformers post Armada without him

[Deonasis]

When your convention product would fill at least half a Detolf you are selling far to much stuff for people to afford (especially if you do not advertise it beforehand).

[GoktimusPrime]

Not sure who Skytread is.
Perhaps Hasbro lost the trademark for Flywheels.

[griffin]

But Brawn and Apeface don't have name changes, that's why Clobber seems odd for Grimlock. Not sure who Skytread is.

Skytread is meant to be Flywheels.

And any Titan Master head that has the name of a pre-existing robot (or meant to be an existing robot but had to have a new name), there are no plans for a full size robot with that name.
It's not ruled out, but for now, they are not on the horizon, but they wanted to use up as many classic names/characters, so that they could still be homaged in some way or keep the name in their possession.

So that means no new Flywheels, Grimlock, Apeface or Brawn toy for the TR toyline, at this time... which would rule out Flywheels as the silhouette image.

[Raptormesh]

Interesting, can anyone identify liokaiser's limbs and body? Surely they are just a recolour of existing combiners if I'm allowed be pessimistic.

[Sinnertwin]

Interesting, can anyone identify liokaiser's limbs and body? Surely they are just a recolour of existing combiners if I'm allowed be pessimistic.

Sky Linx, 2 Aerialbots & 2 Brawn remoulds from the looks of it

[Borgeman]

A new GIJoe crossover set, based on the old Marvel GIJoe comic introduction of the Gen2 TFs comic.Great, just what I needed in my life - wanting 1/5th of a club exlusive...

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z80.jpg

[Fungal Infection]

So Groove is being released as a regular release or limited release? Anytime soon?

[GoktimusPrime]

Interesting, can anyone identify liokaiser's limbs and body? Surely they are just a recolour of existing combiners if I'm allowed be pessimistic.
To me it appears to be:
Sky Lynx → Leozak/Jallguar
Skydive → Hellbat
Air Raid → Guyhawk
Brawl → Killbison
Nosecone → Drillhorn

[Krayt]

Great, just what I needed in my life - wanting 1/5th of a club exlusive...

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z80.jpg

Well i don't want any of the gijoe figures... so lets split the set....

:p:p:p:p:p:p:p:p







(Yes, i know you prob want one of the bots... but you didnt say that :-P

[llamatron]

saw some display photos looks like the G2 Megatron is cast in translucent green?!?!

[Raptormesh]

Sky Linx, 2 Aerialbots & 2 Brawn remoulds from the looks of it


To me it appears to be:
Sky Lynx → Leozak/Jallguar
Skydive → Hellbat
Air Raid → Guyhawk
Brawl → Killbison
Nosecone → Drillhorn

Thanks very much guys! :)

[griffin]

saw some display photos looks like the G2 Megatron is cast in translucent green?!?!

Yes, with the camo deco print on the surface... but the load-bearing parts are solid grey plastic. It has the really nice bright blue face from the comic
though, so if the green plastic had been solid green instead of translucent, it would have looked really nice as a comic version.
(it's supposed to be a holographic version)


Here are my sample photos from the final day of the final BotCon (Sunday).
Since there were no news panels or guest panels, there isn't really
anything significant to report... other than the revel of a lost concept design from Gen1, and some Hasbro exhibit toys being transformed to show their other modes.

The first panel of the day was the Artists panel, which like last year, was just a Q&A session.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z82.jpg

The next panel was the Japanese artist panel, featuring Hayato Sakamoto (with Andrew Hall and Ken the interpreter).
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z83.jpg

From working on the MTMTE comic, he showed us some concept design drawings of some non-toy characters used in the comic.
This one was Agent 1-13 from Issue 44 (apparently - I haven't read it yet).
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z84.jpg

This one is Sunder, who was given the description of a creature from horror movies like Freddy Krueger (hence the claws).
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z85.jpg

This was an early idea for the Unite Warriors Constructicons mini-comic, which has them building a candy house, and have the humans in a cage,
ready to eat... which was why it was rejected in favour of the Crystal City version.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z86.jpg

And this was a lost concept design that was apparently patented, but never got past design stage.... a version of Powermaster Optimus that has
the cab being able to turn into a jet as well.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z87.jpg

The last panel on the last day of the last BotCon... was about people reflecting on the history of the event over the last 22-23 years.
Plus there was acknowledgement of the remaining seven people who have maintained a perfect attendance of all 22 BotCons, earning a
commemorative shirt that has 22 on the back.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z95.jpg

My friend Tim Finn, who shared his story about attending the very first BotCon in 1994 as a teenager.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z96.jpg

And finishing up with some words from the joint founding father of BotCon - Jon Hartman - who came this year because it was the last one.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z97.jpg

Back at the Dealer Room and Hasbro Exhibit for the final hour or so, some of the toys that Hasbro put in the display case on Saturday that only had
one set in one mode, were transformed into the other mode for today.
So we have the Technobots in their robot modes...
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z88.jpg

...and the SDCC 3-pack in vehicle mode.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z89.jpg
.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z90.jpg

Then in the very last minutes of the very last day of the very... well, you get the idea... some of the 2016 Club exclusive toys were put into the
BotCon display case - Skywarp, Ramjet, Megatron & Ratbat.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z92.jpg
.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z93.jpg
.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z94.jpg

The items sold out by the end of the Convention, which actually sold out during Saturday, so they didn't sell out of anything else on Sunday.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z91.jpg

That's it from me for now. Soon I will be on my way back, and then there will start getting onto posting up all of the info and photos I have to share.
Since it was a short adventure for me this year, there are "only" about 1600 photos this time, so should hopefully no take as long to start posting
up the transcripts from the panels and the various photos.

[GoktimusPrime]

So is this actually the last BotCon ever, or just the last one run under the current format by FunPub? If it's the latter, then it's obviously not the first time that BotCon has undergone a "change of management." If this really is the last one ever, then that is sad. :(

[DELTAprime]

I want a whole 3 figures from this year club lineup. The two Armada Starscream remoulds and G2 MP Ratbat. This really seems like a bad final lineup for Funpub.

Any word on if Hasbro is bringing the convention toy production in house? I bet they get one of their new partners with exhibition experience to take over the convention part.

[reillyd]

I'm pretty thrilled to get a brand new Pretender Shell from the club, which I didn't expect (Optimus is a recolor of Oilmaster, but Megatron is new tooling and they won't be able to repaint and spread the cost). I hope it's proof of concept, because I love the Pretender concept

[Verno]

David Kaye was wearing a very sharp purple shirt at his panel with Venus. A great little nod by him.

[Krayt]

I'm pretty thrilled to get a brand new Pretender Shell from the club, which I didn't expect (Optimus is a recolor of Oilmaster, but Megatron is new tooling and they won't be able to repaint and spread the cost). I hope it's proof of concept, because I love the Pretender concept

Not a new shell.... It's the Grand shell from Grand Maximus (Masterforce Fort Max repaint

[Deonasis]

I do like this little space generations is occupying right now. Combiners, citybots, and headmasters were the toys that grabbed my attention the most growing up.

My thoughts are that the BotCon name will be retired. I expect a Hasbro (not transformers specifically) convention will replace it but i do not know this.

Sunder could be scary if it had a "Sunshine" (scify all alone movie) vibe going on. But generally a moon buggy in any Transformers universe is not fear inducing.

Is the casino night a great event?
And what sort of things are for sale at the charity auction?

[Verno]

What was The Art of Transformers panel?

[griffin]

What was The Art of Transformers panel?

Four random comic artists just doing Q&A - no reveals or news.
They had one like this last year as well, probably because IDW wasn't at BotCon either.

[griffin]

Some sample scans of this year's BotCon comic to tide you over until I start getting some Panel Images and Info done...

The "Unit 3" character...
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/za05.jpg

The new Megatron with his Predacons...
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/za06.jpg

A nicely drawn panel of Unicron's head, which stood out among the many other panels that looked rushed and 2-dimensional.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/za07.jpg

Magnaboss, with Tigatron and Unit-3 as the legs (Silverbolt as the core, Prowl & Ironhide as the arms).
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/za08.jpg

Tripredacus...
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/za09.jpg

And the penultimate moment, talked about throughout the Beast Wars cartoon - the final, absolute surrendering of the Decepticons after the "Great War" of Generation One.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/za00.jpg

I will do up a review of the comic later, to explain the events leading up to that moment... and the epilogues that followed.

I was also able to make time to put stickers on my (Custom Class) Ratchet and Medix toys on Sunday night, but was left with three stickers that weren't noted on any of the guides or displays in the Custom Class (the three black ones in the middle of the top sheet for Ratchet).
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z34.jpg
(ignore the separate hood to my Ratchet, as I messed up the assembly in the Class, and haven't been able to fix it yet)

I had a suspicion that those three black stickers were related to the toy face of Gen1 Ratchet (the one in the windshield of the toy, and was an Easter Egg of the Masterpiece Ironhide toy)... but couldn't figure out where they go on the toy.
Andy (my room-mate) was able to figure it out and showed me where they go, giving the toy an alternate head (like the Beast Wars Beast Heads).
To me, the square angry head makes me think of the robots from Futurama, but ends up being a bonus Easter Egg for the Custom Class Ratchet toy.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/z00.jpg

(looking right now, I see that someone on TFW2005 figured it out as well over the weekend)

[MEEEGGGAAATTTRRROOONNN!!!]

Cheers Griffin for the coverage! :)

[TAAUBlaster]

Thanks for all the news and updates while at Botcon Griffin.
Looking forward to this year's writeup :D

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

Wow, some nice stuff there. Not from Funpub though :p

That TM Brainstorm looks awful.

Shame they didn't plug the comic as telling the story of the Decepticons surrendering, I might have been more interested in looking at it in that case. But I had no idea what they had planned. Aside from an ugly combiner.

Seeya Botcon, I look forward to seeing what will happen in the future to it.

[griffin]

Working through my images and notes, tonight I'll have the first couple of panels posted up, but first, the biocards of the Convention toys...

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/m19.jpg
.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/m20.jpg
.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/m21.jpg
.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/m22.jpg
.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/m23.jpg
.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/m24.jpg
.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/m25.jpg
.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/ma42.jpg
.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/ma43.jpg
.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/ma44.jpg
.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/ma45.jpg
.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/ma46.jpg

[griffin]

Friday 9am - Club Magazine.

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/p34.jpg

Hosted by Jesse Wittenrich and Pete Sinclair.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/p35.jpg

The Slideshow was incomplete, as there were some slides missing or had glitches, so the full slideshow might be posted online (maybe).
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/p36.jpg
.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/p37.jpg

(supposed to have artwork by Dan on this slide)
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/p38.jpg

Issue 69 will have big reveals, while issue 72 wraps up everything.

Gaea is the sister of Primus and Unicron.
Gaea transported all six billion humans to another planet (with some Pretenders) before transforming.
The story takes place five years after "Another Light".

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/p39.jpg

Issue 68 (April/May) is being shipped late so that it didn't show up before BotCon, so that the reveals tomorrow at the Club panel weren't spoiled. Because all of the fifth Subscription toys will be in this final comic story, and some would show up in Issue 68.

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/p40.jpg

And the bad news...
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/p41.jpg
.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/p42.jpg

The relationship with IDW was set up for this year, to be an ongoing partnership, but will now only last for one year.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/p43.jpg

The Paradron Medic from the fifth Subscription series has been given the name "Lifeline".

Two covers to the BotCon comic this year, with this being the one sold at the Club Store...
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/p44.jpg
.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/p45.jpg
.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/p46.jpg

John-Paul was supposed to be at the Convention on this panel, but last minute issues prevented him from leaving the UK to get to BotCon... so we had a live skype chat with him to talk about the BotCon comic that he wrote this year.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/p47.jpg

The story was to cover the event that we all knew about from the Beast Wars cartoon, but was never actually seen before. They didn't want to re-write anything in Beast Wars, so it should work with what is officially known. The mass downsizing occurs after this story, as we are shown it happening at the end of the comic. The Script Reading later today will follow the comic and feature the downsizing concept.

They also had planned to do a more expansive story, spanning more of the time between Season 4 and Beast Wars, but had to cut it back when they found out that there would be no more BotCons or Club comics beyond this year.
.
.
.
Friday 10am - Stan Bush & Vince DiCola (with Kenny Meriedeth).

Kenny works with Vince on current projects.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/p51.jpg

Stan first worked with Vince in 1985 while writing "The Touch" for the 1986 Transformers movie.
He was inspired by a Louis Gossett Jr movie at the time, which had a line in it, "you've got the touch kid". The song has the message of believing in yourself.
The song was written before the movie was produced/drawn, and was originally going to be pitched for the Silvester Stallone movie "Cobra", but he's now happy that it was instead picked up for the Transformers movie.
Stan said that he's never met Mark Wahlberg, but thought the movie Boogie Nights (with his song in it) was hilarious.
Apparently the song is also in the TV show "Chuck".

Both Stan and Vince noted that their involvement with the 1986 Transformers Movie is like a gift that keeps on giving, as they have been able to get a number of jobs since then because of it.
They thanked the fandom for that, and reflected on their first BotCon in 1997, as their first contact with the fandom, almost 20 years ago now.

Vince noted that when he was asked to do the Angry Birds game soundtrack, he had to make it sound very 80s.

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/p52.jpg

Vince composed the music score for the 1986 Transformers movie from the Storyboards, but had no experience at doing that, so lied when asked before he got the job. He noted that a lot of his music (which he wrote for specific scenes on the storyboards) was moved around by the music editor, but still liked how it turned out.

He had some of the songs beforehand too, so that he could write lead-in music to them if necessary, or reprisals.

Stan had songs featured on the movies Kickboxer and Bloodsport, while Vince had music done for Rocky 4.

Their original music inspirations...
Stan - the Beatles when he was 10, and his older brother gave him a guitar.
Vince - Keith Emerson (who only just died last month), went to his first rock concert with his brother when he was 14.

Stan's first record was in 1979, while his second record (Barrage) was in 1986 with his Transformers songs.

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/p56.jpg

Just like all rockers, they have their groupies too...
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/p57.jpg

[griffin]

Fans in the UK who attend the GIJoe/Transformers convention Roll Out Roll Call in July, can get the BotCon attendee figure Terrorsaur (http://www.seibertron.com/transformers/news/roll-out-roll-call-2016-exclusive-botcon-terrorsaur-announced/35164/) if they buy an Energon or Crossover admission to the event.


That event in the UK was certainly developing a close relationship with FunPublications in the last couple of years, with news and toys, so it will be a hit to both companies from next year.

[griffin]

Some youtube videos from BotCon (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYb-KvhRv_CxCKBcwmz2p0A/videos) posted up by Benson Yee, including...
- Judd Nelson Q&A panel.
- Friday Hall of Fame (human) awards.
- Judd Nelson thankyou speech at the Saturday Dinner (he didn't say much on Friday).
- Three Concert videos.
- Hasbro product display.
- A Dealer Room video.

While looking for photos of things I missed (like the Friday Hall of Fame presentation), I found a photo of the lucky draw green Unicron toy (https://www.facebook.com/bensworldtf/photos/pb.194338453947199.-2207520000.1460877032./1032019353512434/?type=3&theater) which I had heard someone mention later in the weekend, as it was only in the dealer room on the Friday (https://www.facebook.com/bensworldtf/photos/pb.194338453947199.-2207520000.1460877032./1032019346845768/?type=3&theater).
I didn't find this dealer until the Saturday, so didn't get a photo of this myself, as it was gone by Saturday (it wasn't in my Saturday photo of this Dealer's table... but the back of the box is in my Friday photo of Stan Bush's booth, which backs onto this one).
That Japanese dealer is a regular at BotCon, and is one that I've always recommended to others, as his prices are usually pretty good for recent items, and he often slashes prices significantly on Sunday afternoon so that he doesn't have to take back as much with him. After the Dealer Room closed on Sunday he still had about a dozen people crowded around his table looking for bargains.

[griffin]

Spent half of today taking toy photos, so didn't get to do up any more panels... and I still have a couple of toy photos I need to take (like the combined forms of Predacus and Magnaboss).

These are comparisons of this year's BotCon toys with previous versions...

Seaclamp - Hasbro BW, BotCon, Takara. (as we know, the BotCon Tripredacus trio are coloured like the cartoon rather than the toys... Seaclamp is just coincidently the same colour as the Japanese toy)
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/ma62.jpg

Cicadacon - Hasbro BW, BotCon, Takara.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/ma63.jpg

Ramhorn - Hasbro BW, BotCon, Takara.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/ma64.jpg

Transmetal Tarantulas - Hasbro BW, BotCon.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/ma65.jpg

Ravage - Hasbro G1, Takara BW, BotCon.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/ma66.jpg

Terrorsaur - Hasbro BW, BotCon. (colours based on the cartoon, rather the toy)
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/ma67.jpg

Ratchet - Hasbro G1, BotCon 2016, BotCon 2005, Hasbro 2009 Universe.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/ma68.jpg

Medix - Rescue Bots, BotCon. (I need to retake this photo, with the new Rescue Bots Medix toy, which has green like this BotCon toy.)
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/ma69.jpg

Transmetal Megatron - Hasbro BW, BotCon.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/ma70.jpg

Airazor - Hasbro BW, BotCon, Collector Club.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/ma71.jpg

BotCon Airazor with Collector Club BAT, to show it has similar colours to the BAT rather than to the BW Airazor toy or cartoon character.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/ma72.jpg

Tigatron - Takara BW, BotCon 2016, BotCon 2001, BotCon 2006. (there seems to be more BotCon Tigatron toys than regular release ones)
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/ma73.jpg

Reflector - Gen1, GEN-14, BotCon (plus Flash Sentry).
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/ma74.jpg
.

[Lord_Zed]

Thanks for the report Griffin.

Man, Ravage and Tigagtron's tiny heads did not work out well at all.

[MEEEGGGAAATTTRRROOONNN!!!]

Great comparison pics Griffin! :)

Man, the original BW toys still look pretty good!


Man, Ravage and Tigagtron's tiny heads did not work out well at all.

Dem shrunken heads!:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbVi1UsNhJ8

[griffin]

The rest of Friday's panels.

11am - Filmfest.

This year we actually had some entries (last year there were no entries).
After a number of technical glitches, we had five entries... with one that had to be fetched as the person sent in a blank DVD. During that pause,
we had people doing character impressions to fill in the time, including Paul Agnew doing Cykill.

The five videos were...
- Beast Wars clips done to the Japanese credits song.
- Animated Hot Rod doing the opening credits to Magnum PI.
- Peter Cullen's Dreams, with clips of his various characters meeting each other.
- The Sunbow cartoon intro done with MTMTE comic characters in some places.
- Kreons Vs zombie Cliffjumper.

Fans voted by applauding, and Peter Cullen's Dreams came first, followed by Animated Hot Rod, and the Kreons.

Brian and Lanny both sporting new looks this year in the head follicle department.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/ma83.jpg

Noon - Beast Wars Voice Actors (David Kaye & Venus Terzo)

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/p58.jpg

David Kaye was only here on the Friday, because he had a family commitment to fly out to in the evening... so his panel and Script Reading
had to be on the Friday.
He told us that as of two months ago, he became a US citizen. (he used to be Canadian)

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/p59.jpg

The pair reflected on their first BotCon in 1997, some 19 years ago now... and Venus still looks the same.
It was noted that they were the first guests at a BotCon (the first three years didn't have anyone other than Hasbro), and could possibly be the
last guests at a BotCon (if this year is indeed the last BotCon).

There were comments about other Beast Wars voice actors, like the Chalkster (Gary Chalk), Scott McNeil, Jim Byrnes and Alec Willows.

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/p60.jpg

They told us that the Voice Actor work in Canada has completely dried up now, and that the Pinewood studios that they recorded Beast Wars in back
in the 1990s, is now gone... with condos (apartments) in their place.

They mentioned that their character voices came from the descriptions and artwork given to them when they auditioned.

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/p61.jpg

1pm - Script Reading.

Starting late, like most of the panels this year.
Following on from the events of this years BotCon comic, we have the following characters...
Frank Totaro - Computer and pre-BW Dinobot.
Gregg Berger - Grimlock and Big Convoy.
David Kaye - Lioconvoy and BW Megatron.
Venus Terzo - Blackarachnia and Legend Convoy.
Judd Nelson - Hot Rod/Rodimus.

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/p66.jpg

The story was very confusing, as it involved the "playback" of several recordings, during the time just after the Decepticon Surrender.
As such, I have to listen to my audio recording, and will include the plot (as best as I can work it out), on my BotCon 2016 webpage (link to come later).

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/p68.jpg
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http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/p70.jpg
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http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/p72.jpg

Judd Nelson... I hope he is preparing for TV/Movie role of a homeless guy.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/p74.jpg


The rest of my BotCon toy photos....

Medix - First year Rescue Bot, BotCon, Fourth year Rescue Bot.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/ma69.jpg

A group shot of the toys this year's BotCon Toys were based on...
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/ma75.jpg

And Predacus in combined mode, with Magnaboss (without the BotCon stickers, as I want to get a second set of Silverbolt, Prowl and Ironhide first).
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/ma76.jpg
.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/ma77.jpg
.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/ma78.jpg

[griffin]

Lost the most important comparison photo, so had to redo it - Unit 3/Under 3.

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/ma86.jpg

[Megatran]

Venus Terzo looks absolutely photogenic in those pics!

Judd Nelson, well ... as long as he's comfortable. :p

[CHILENO20]

Venus Terzo looks absolutely photogenic in those pics!

Judd Nelson, well ... as long as he's comfortable. :p

Right on both counts! Venus living up to her name :D

[griffin]

A small tribute to the "1986 Hot Rod era" Judd Nelson, from the Breakfast Club movie (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HND8ywYcC0), which was done at about the same time as the Transformers movie.


Is he still wearing that same overcoat, which he had on all weekend at BotCon??? :p

[griffin]

The Saturday Panels...

Saturday 10am - Venus Terzo.

This was another "hosted" panel, with Frank Totaro, but with the audience asking the questions.

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pa29.jpg
.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pa30.jpg

Wanted to be an actor when she was young, against her father's wishes.

There was not much competition in the industry when she first started as there weren't too many female voice actors... nor were there many primary characters who were girls in "boys" shows.
Now there are a lot more roles, but a lot more female voice actors... and a lot less voicing work in Canada.

She loved playing the scenes with Silverbolt, and has 3 Blackarachnia toys (probably given to her at previous BotCons).

She has never seen the Animated cartoon to see how the other version of Blackarachnia was done.

They recorded two episodes of Beast Wars per day. They would all be in the one room (whoever was in the scene), in a horse-shoe around microphones, in front of the glass window of the control booth.

Loves working with Susan Blu (as a Voice Director), and loved playing the character Ranma (female half)... as well as the New Adventures of He-Man, because she had 3 character roles.
Also played Jean Grey in one of the animated Xmen cartoons.

Recently, she has done 3 episodes on Arrow, another episode on Supernatural, and a Hallmark channel movie. (she does a lot of live roles as well as voice roles - with a face like hers, who wouldn't?)

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pa31.jpg
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http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pa32.jpg
.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pa34.jpg

[griffin]

Saturday 11am - Hasbro products.

This is the one that fills out the panel room each year, and this year was no exception (especially with it being a smaller panel room than recently years).

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pa35.jpg

Since this is now two weeks old, there won't be anything surprising here, and I haven't posted up all of the images... the full set of images will be on my BotCon archive page, and I will post up the links to that when they are done.

The Hasbro people hosting the panel this year, with Ben Montano doing all of the talking...
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pa37.jpg

A very small presentation of RID toys (same as in their dealer room exhibit, despite it being their primary product line - it seems they were focussing more on the collector demographic this year and giving less time on the main "kid" demographic... and no time or product displays on the "preschool" Rescue Bots demographic)

RID toys revealed...
- Warrior Bisk, Scatterspike, Ratchet
- Minicons Windstrike, Sawtooth, Lancelon, Dragonus.
(and that was it)

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pa41.jpg
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http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pa42.jpg
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http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pa43.jpg

Generations - Prime Wars Trilogy.

A very very brief mention of the Combiner Wars project by Machinima.
Then onto the Titans Return toyline.

Titan Master wave 2 - Skytread (based on Flywheels), Apeface, Clobber (based on Grimlock), Brawn.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pa61.jpg

Deluxe wave 2 - Wolfwire (Weirdwolf) with Monxo (Monzo), and Highbrow with Xort (Gort).
(not sure why the Nebulan names had to change, as the original ones surely couldn't have been toy trademarks to someone else)
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pa63.jpg
.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pa64.jpg

Voyager wave 2 - Alpha Trion with Autobot Sovereign, and Astrotrain with Darkmoon.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pa66.jpg
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http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pa67.jpg
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http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pa68.jpg
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http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pa69.jpg

And that was it for Titans Return reveals as well (very little of everything this year).

May Mayhem - a promotion started last year as online product exclusives, with the sale of the Combiner Wars Quickslinger and Brakeneck (probably as part of a bigger toy promotion like the Black Friday promotion in November).
This year it will be Groove.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pa71.jpg

The next Combiner Wars boxset - Computrton.
With unique feet and hands, and Scrounge.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pa72.jpg
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http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pa73.jpg
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http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pa74.jpg
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http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pa75.jpg
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They mentioned their "Alt-Modes" toyline, which are those oversized heads on a one-step changer, due out later in the year...
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pa80.jpg
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http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pa82.jpg

Platinum Edition - 1986 Movie 20th annivesary 5-pack.
US Target exclusive, with poster and metallised deco.

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http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pa90.jpg

SDCC exclusive 3-pack - Titan Force (Brainstorm, Windblade, Sentinel Prime).
(the toys were not shown here, but they were on display in the dealer room)
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pa92.jpg

The upcoming Earth Wars mobile device game was mentioned, along with pre-registering for it.
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http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pa95.jpg

They mentioned the "Transformers inspired" music album that came out last week.
And how to find their new locations online...
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pa97.jpg

A quick tease of something that could be Overlord, for 2017, before audience questions...
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pa98.jpg
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http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pa99.jpg

Q&A.

Some Hasbro Masterpiece toys could be coming out this year, but too early to say.

Will there be bodies for Titan Master heads that are Gen1 characters - the bodies aren't planned, but could be later. It just gives them more opportunities to homage more characters in a small toyline.

Beast Wars Anniversary - too much happening this year for Hasbro, but TakaraTomy are doing some things.


------------

The rest of the Saturday photos are done and on the server, but I will have to post up the rest of the Saturday panel info when I get home from work.

[CBratron]

I know everyone is hoping for Overlord at that last pic. And with good reason. The whole Titans Return thing suggests large robots.

But I can't help thinking of Flywheels (Duocon) when I see it.

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

Beast Wars Anniversary - too much happening this year for Hasbro, but TakaraTomy are doing some things.


Too much happening this year for some Beast Wars Anniversary....

You'd think they would plan something so that it ISN'T too busy. Or will they just make a big 30th anniversary celebration? (It'll be too busy for that year too, or Tfs will be dead in the water.)

[philby]

thanks for the info and photos :)

[griffin]

Just like last year there were very few costumes and few of those were really good. In 2014 we had dozens of costumes and many looked to have taken days or weeks to complete. Now we get some people in coloured clothing to match a character and call it a costume.

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[Megatran]

Awesome cosplay. :)



http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/a52.jpg

Optimus Prime & the Seekers in that pic remind me of the super cute D-style models from Kotobukiya. Optimus must be a reissue ... short smoke stacks. ;)

[griffin]

I missed the third page of my notes on the Hasbro panel... which were more Q&A.

Releasing Figure Stands (like the recent MP one)? - looking at them, but nothing in the future, as they need to be at the right place and price.

No plans for CW Blast Off at this time.

What is the deal with Scattershot? - The single release version was done before Computron was planned, as they needed another Voyager for retail.

A hint that Combiners are coming back in 2018.

BotCon's future? - "not walking away from the fans". Expect something, but it is too early to detail it though. Stay tuned, soon.
(they mentioned convention and club)


Awesome cosplay. :)

Optimus Prime & the Seekers in that pic remind me of the super cute D-style models from Kotobukiya. Optimus must be a reissue ... short smoke stacks. ;)

That was actually a very funny moment.
The two seekers were there posing for photos (there were several people there with cameras, some with kids), and Optimus shows up in the background and starts walking over to join in for photos... and a couple of the kids started yelling out, "Optimus is behind you" and, "look out behind you"... and it took a moment for the two people in seeker costumes to understand what all the commotion was about, but just as Optimus had snuck up to where they were, they started doing fighting poses against each other for the camera-wielding audience...

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/a59.jpg
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http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/a60.jpg

[griffin]

Saturday Noon - Gregg Berger.
(hosted by Frank Todaro again, who started off with his own questions, and then went into the audience with a microphone for their questions)

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pb03.jpg
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http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pb04.jpg

Apparently Gregg is a teacher.
He gives all to his character of Grimlock because he says that it is the gift that keeps on giving, after all these years, getting voice work 30 years later because of Transformers.

When he got the role with Transformers in the mid 1980s, he was very new to Voice Acting, so was still learning, and was in awe of the other voice actors he was working with on Transformers who were heroes of his.

He does Odie on the current Garfield cartoon, and Frank Welker does Garfield.
Also does K in Men In Black cartoon.
He did the voice of Niles Crane's cockatoo in Frasier for three seasons, and a Parrot in Hot in Cleveland.

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pb05.jpg

He spoke about seeing Mel Blanc (a VA legend), as well as working with Chris Latta (Starscream) and Scatman Crothers (Jazz).

Recent Roles - the latest Final Fantasy game, and Eeyore in Kingdom Hearts.

Gen1 & FOC Grimlock are his favourite versions.

He commented on the new movies, and noted that there was no Voice Actor for the beast noises done by Grimlock (I think he said that it was artificially generated).


Just like at the end of most panels, people go up to confront the guests while they have the chance... and my room-mate Andy managed to get a minute with Gregg, and had me take a photo of the pair of them.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pb11.jpg

[griffin]

Saturday 1pm - Costuming and Cosplay.

As usual I didn't sit in on this because I had other things I needed to do, even though I had wanted to, in case it was the last one... and I have
been saying every year that I would make sure I sit through at least one of them.

All I managed to see was the judging part of the panel, of the people in the room who were in costume... which didn't include the best I saw at the
Convention (FOC Soundwave and the Starscream & Thundercracker duo).

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pb12.jpg
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http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pb13.jpg

[griffin]

Saturday 2pm - Aaron Archer.

For those who don't know of him, Aaron Archer (http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Aaron_Archer) was one of the longest running Hasbro employees working on the Transformers Brand, starting out as an artistic designer around 1997 on the Transmetal 2 toys, climbing up the corporate ladder to make it all the way to a Vice President role in Marketing when he left during the great purge of 2013.

After a year away from Hasbro and Rhode Island trying other ventures, it seems that he is back there on a consultancy basis for Hasbro.

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http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pb15.jpg

Aaron started out at Kenner after Hasbro had acquired them, working on Batman first, then Alien, and Star Wars.
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He noted that when he was called on to help with the Star Wars toyline for Episode one, he was like a fill-in designer, picking up the slack on the projects that everyone on the main design team were unable to finish by their deadlines... which meant doing most of the Jar Jar Binks toys, because it was the one character that each designer would offload first.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pb23.jpg

After doing a few Transmetal 2 toys and probably some Beast Machines toys, Aaron was tasked to work on the Transtech toyline, which was meant to be a sequel to Beast Machines... but a change of Management at Hasbro saw a direction shift to go back to the core elements of Transformers (vehicles).
He said that he ended up doing about 6-7 designs for Transtech, with some getting to various stages of prototype stage.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pb24.jpg

Transmetal 2 Megatron (dragon) is one of his favourites that he worked on.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pb25.jpg

Some reflections on his time at BotCon, as he attended quite a few over his 16(ish) years working on Transformers. His favourite was 2006 (the one I missed), as the convention apparently had the entire hotel to themselves.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pb29.jpg

Now, he is a freelance artist.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pb30.jpg

Where to find Aaron Archer and his art online...
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pb32.jpg

He couldn't tell us what the Transtech story was going to be, as he was only an artist at this time.

He's been to Japan over 30 times because of Transformers, working with designers including the famous Hidea Yoki.
On that note, he mentioned that the Energon Dreadwing/Mirage boat toy, had a Gundam influence in the design, especially with the boat halves in robot mode.

Beasts are a lot harder to design as Transformers than vehicles.

He told us how he got onto Transformers full-time for Armada. Walmart were looking to drop Transformers after Beast Machines, so the brand was not going to be prioritised by Hasbro. A new CEO stepped in to make it a feature toyline for Hasbro, and at the same time the Kenner offices in Cincinatti was finally being closed down, which opened up a spot on the Transformers design team because someone wasn't wanting to move to Rhode Island (the Hasbro offices). Aaron applied for the position and thinks that getting it was the best thing (next to getting married) ever to happen to him.

He noted the changing of the times in just the last 20 years since he started with Kenner/Hasbro. When he started in the mid-90s, it was two years before he got a computer as everything was hand-drawn... now it is all digital.

Naming the Minicon faction (with the "con" at the end) - he was really early to Transformers, so didn't know what mattered to fans when it came to factions... but he wasn't able to use the name Minibot or Micron due to trademark issues.

The Armada Unicron toy was one that they didn't think would ever be a toy, even just a couple years before it came out as a toy. He noted that one of the Masterpiece designers helped work on the Unicron.

Orson's World on TFW2005 about 10 years ago (which was Aaron interacting with fans under the name of Orson), was the Brand team recognising that the fan community was now huge, and needed issues clarified quickly.

Alternators - one of his favourite lines. It was during the upswing of the Brand, so he wanted licensed, detailed items as collector grade "toys".

The TF-Cybertron keys - Takara wanted them to be unique to each toy, but Hasbro wanted them to be universal in case kids lost some.

He was finally talked into publicly telling us the story behind the SD74 tampo on the Armada Hoist toy... which he confirmed to be a nod to the rumoured story, that involved a drunken night in San Diego, and a crane on a construction site. He noted that the font colour of the lettering was even chosen to match the colour of the keys to the crane.
(he assures us that there wasn't anything significantly damaged that night on the commandeered crane)

He said that Transformers has been a very special and unique toy Brand, with its exclusively-Transformers conventions and the fans & feedback.

[griffin]

Saturday 3pm - Collector Club.

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pb35.jpg

The panel was started by Lanny and Brian.
Before they started their slide show, they warned us that a number of the slides were not working, similar to yesterday's Club Magazine technical issues.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pb36.jpg

As per usual, they went through the colour charts of this year's BotCon toys.
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Note the preliminary name for the Unit-3 toy, confirming that it was indeed based on the 1996 Under-3 Happy Meal toy.
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The translucent green on Airazor is so bright here, but the actual toy is very dull, almost clear.
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FunPub changed to a new company this year for their exclusive heads, called Digital Designs, who 3-D print the heads from computer renders, for the factory to then use.
The first ones shown were actually from the 4th Subscription set and the Ramjet membership toy, but the slide says BotCon at the top.
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These were the heads for the BotCon toys.
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For the Predacus head, they had to make a separate second piece for the horn on the top.
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Next up they rushed through (almost) every BotCon toy done by FunPub, from 2005 to 2015.
I took photos of them all, but decided to only do up a collage of the first three years, with the first year (2005) included below.
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After that, they then tried to show us the various Membership and Club exclusive toys during that time as well (several slides were blank or had the wrong toy).
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My camera ran out of power at this time, and both of my spare batteries decided that now would be a good time to not work, so I had to take the rest of the photos with my phone's camera... which isn't very good as a camera.
As such, I have included 8 photos from another source (Seibertron) of the new reveals at the end of the slide-show.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pb69.jpg

Pete had joined the panel by now as well.
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2016 Membership toy Ramjet, and Club store exclusive Skywarp. Due to an issue with the head's ball joint, the toy had to be retooled and missed the shipment with BotCon & Subscription toys... so will be coming later.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pb71.jpg

The second Transformers/GIJoe crossover - Gen2 comic 5-pack.
With Scarlet, Cobra Commander, Dr Biggles-Jones, Ratbat (from the Masterpiece toy) and Megatron (from the GEN-13 Legends toy).
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pb72.jpg

The 3rd crossover exclusive should be Arcee & Rodimus as humans (revealed at last year's BotCon), but will depend on timings with the factory.
The other pair (Springer and Ultra Magnus) are not likely to happen now.

Finally, the fifth subscription set were shown to us.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pb73.jpg

Counterpunch - apparently using an alternate head that Hasbro had created for Counterpunch, but didn't end up using it (like Ratchet).
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Scorponok & Fractyl. The Scorponok was probably done to complete the set of FunPub pre-Beast Wars toys, but I think Scamper was a poor choice just to complete the set before they run out of time to do one. That doesn't make me think of Scorponok, nor is such a tiny toy worthy of being a homage to the Voyager class toy from Beast Wars.
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Toxitron, again. We still don't have the original Toxitron mould (the Gen2 Laser Rod Optimus toy), but keep getting substitutes from FunPub.
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The coup of the set, is the original Japanese Gen1 pretender shell from Grand Maximus, which was released way back in 1988. To go with the already revealed Optimus double pretender, this was a Megatron double pretender, with a targetmaster gun based on the unreleased Spacewarp toy (the redeco Armada Jetfire toy coloured like Astrotrain, and then released with a slightly altered colour scheme by FunPub in 2006).
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A Paradron Medic, called Lifeline, with a targetmaster gun.
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And the previously revealed Optimus double pretender, reusing the BotCon 2015 pretender shell that FunPub had created, based on an unreleased prototype shell.
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Plus noting the secret incentive 7th figure, to keep people paying all three instalment payments (if not paying all at once at the beginning).
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pb80.jpg

Pre-orders were meant to begin in two weeks, but they've missed that time... and whenever it does start, it should be open for about 4 weeks.

Q&A from the audience.

Terrorsaur missing the giant foot/fist - the factory failed to produce it.

Membership renewals were not permitted after March 31st, so they will try to alter the system to allow past members to access anything being sold later this year (Subscription set, Skywarp, and the 5-pack).

Everything has to be sent out by December 31st, as that's when their license ends.

The BotCon name stays with Fun Publications, but don't have any plans to use it.
They will still exist as a business beyond this year, and are already exploring other ventures.

Lanny and Brian both got a bit teary when reflecting on their time with Transformers since 2005, and got a standing ovation from the audience.

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pb81.jpg

[griffin]

Saturday 4pm - Judd Nelson.

The last of the Saturday panels was with the VIP guest, hosted by Frank Todaro again, after a very last minute gathering of questions from half a dozen fans sitting near the side door where Judd was going to come through.

(I think Judd Nelson was wearing the same clothes all weekend)
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The 1986 Transformers Movie was his first role as a Voice Actor.

He's since been doing a fair bit of VA work, and enjoys doing it.

Best known for his roles on the Movie The Breakfast Club, and TV series Suddenly Susan.

The favourite actor he's worked with is John Hurt. (who played the War Doctor)

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Recent two films - Creep and Stagecoach.

Childhood favourites - Rocky & Bullwinkle, and Speedracer.

Had/has a crush on Sofia Loren and Rachel Welch.

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Likes doing stage productions.

Favourite Voice Actor when doing the 1986 Transformers Movie - Lionel Stander (Kup). (he would have spent a lot of time recording with Lionel since their two characters spent a fair bit of time together)

Due to the last minute nature of gather the questions for Frank to ask Judd, we got quite a few rubbish questions, like what his favourite pizza is (which is cheese or pepperoni).

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[Verno]

Did you see anyone walking around with one of these t-shirts on?

http://pre15.deviantart.net/4e0d/th/pre/f/2016/117/c/b/shirt_by_rh1n0x-da0htpj.jpg

[griffin]

Blue Steel... :p

I didn't pick up on if anyone was wearing Beast Wars t-shirts... but I have a lot of Dealer Room photos with people in them to get an idea of what people were wearing this year.


Okay, 10 of the 38 pages are now up, and they are the biggest ones....

SAT 11am - PANEL - Hasbro Products (http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/bc16hp.html)

Dealer Room (http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/bc16dr.html) (WARNING - Big page of photos)

Art Contest Display & Costumes (http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/bc16art.html)

Hasbro display
Display Case 1 (http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/bc16hd1.html) (Titans Return Fortress Maximus)
Display Case 2 (http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/bc16hd2.html) (Titans Return - Deluxe, Legends, Titan Masters)
Display Case 3 (http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/bc16hd3.html) (CW Computron & Titans Return - Leader, Voyager)
Display Case 4 (http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/bc16hd4.html) (Platinum Edition, SDCC & Combiner Wars boxsets)
Display Case 5 (http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/bc16hd5.html) (CW Victorion & RID - Power Surge, new Warriors, Legion, Minicons)
Display Case 6 (http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/bc16hd6.html) (CW Gen2 Bruticus & RID - Platinum Edition, old Warriors, Battle Packs)
Display Case 7 (http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/bc16hd7.html) (Merchandise & Alt-Modes)

And for future reference, the main intro/index page can be found here (http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/bc16intro.html), for links to the other pages as they are done.

[griffin]

All of the images for my 2016 archive are now done (there were 939 this year, a lot les than recent years), and are all inserted into web pages for the write-up... and I'm just going through them to add in the text (most of it has been posted here).

But for here, these are the final three panels from the Sunday.


Sunday 10am - (Western) Artists

With IDW not attending again this year, we had a repeat of last year's Artist panel, with several volunteers who have worked for IDW and had tables in the Dealer Room, get up on stage and answer questions... with no images on the screen or news reveals.

Since I came in late to this panel and I'm not too familiar with the various comic artists currently working for IDW, I only recognise three of the four on the panel - Matt Frank, Josh Burcham and Derrick Wyatt.
I think the one on the left is Thomas Deer, but I could be wrong.

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http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pc18.jpg

Some of this panel, which I only ended up seeing 25 minutes...

Talking about how they decide on colour schemes (probably from characters that aren't based on a toy), from initial designs... and have to be exact with the colours, while being careful or mindful about how they will end up when processed digitally.

One of them talked about how they love drawing Beast Wars, especially LioConvoy, but I don't know who it is, as I didn't take notes (this is from an audio recording).
There is then discussion about how much more difficult it is to draw Beast Wars characters over non-BW characters... probably by someone else.

Talking about having some artistic freedom, and how much they are required to stick to the look of the official images or toy designs in the comic. Noting they also have their own art styles that readers expect from them when they see their name in the comics credits.

They always have characters they hate to draw, or dread when they see it in the story.

They mentioned the 2007 movie prequel comic had to have Bumblebee redrawn throughout the entire comic, and coloured, because it's design had changed from when they had started drawing it.

They ended with comments on how much they love coming to BotCon, meeting and hanging out with the fans and other artists (for the first time or even in person), and how sad it is that it is ending.

Next, Japanese Artist Hayato Sakamoto.

[griffin]

Sunday 11am - Japanese Artist Hayato Sakamoto.
(with a translator on the left and Andrew Hall on the right)

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pc22.jpg

From his work on MTMTE...
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pc26.jpg

Sunder - wanted it to be a horror character, like Freddy Krueger (with the hands). Turns into a lunar vehicle.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pc27.jpg

Kindle and Furver(?).
Only appeared in a single issue (48), but still put in the effort to create detailed characters with alt-modes.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pc28.jpg

Another of his creations - Agent 1-13(?) (I'm not too familiar with the recent IDW comics, so am just going by what I think they said)
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pc29.jpg

And in one issue, he had a whole page of obscure characters (most from the back of the original Generations book), just to kill them off. There was only one character here who ever had a toy (Drillbuster from Zone).
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pc32.jpg
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http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pc33.jpg

Next he talked about the Unite Warriors Offshoot universe and artwork.
What happens to these characters after the Gen1 stories, or giving a nod to Gen1 elements and characters (like Hasan from the cartoon, driving his Rolls Royce).
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pc34.jpg

The Stunticons with Auggie Cahnay's son running after Dead End.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pc35.jpg

He makes sure the mini stories fit in somewhere in the existing universe.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pc36.jpg

The Protectobots, using the combiner hands as gloves for their ball game.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pc37.jpg

The Constructicons, rebuilding Crystal City, with Road Hauler and Chip.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pc38.jpg

The original plan for the Constructicons was going to have them preparing a meal of Humans, with a candy house... but it was rejected for being a bit too creepy.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pc39.jpg

For Grand Convoy Prime set, a number of the Human females from Kiss Play and Binaltech.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pc40.jpg

The artwork for the unreleased (at the time of BotCon) Grand Galvatron. Galvatron as a ghost possesses Cyclonus, which ends up with him having a Galvatron head inside him.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pc41.jpg

He noted that Bruticus was also coming and he was currently working on the artwork for it.

He mentions the Legends stories, which is a universe he created that blends together others into it... but also explains elements (loose ends) from existing stories, including how Ultra Magnus is alive again in Generation 2 (he died in the Japanese Gen1 cartoon), and the new Matrix (created from Alpha Trion in the cartoon, and represented in the Japanese toy that has Alpha Trion instead of Minimus Ambus).
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pc42.jpg
.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pc43.jpg
.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pc44.jpg
.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pc45.jpg

As the next phase of Legends will cover the new Headmasters (Titans Return toys), he's already been working on explaining new bodies and any Headmasters who weren't Headmasters in Gen1.

At the end of the panel Hayato showed us an unused concept design he found at Takara from the Powermaster era, of a triple-changing Optimus, with the cab being able to turn into a jet as well. Apparently it was patented, but never developed.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pc46.jpg

After finding that unused triplechanger Autobot leader concept, he did up this idea for a triplechanger Decepticon leader to go with it...
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pc47.jpg

[griffin]

Sunday noon - Podcast.

I didn't sit in on this one, as I had something important to do for Pete, but at least this year I know that it happened...

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pc48.jpg

Sunday 1pm - BotCon Reflections.

The final panel on the final day of the final BotCon... hosted mostly by Pete, who showed us photos from a shoebox (yes, the non-digital kind of photos) taken during the first 10 years of BotCon.
Since most of them have him in them I haven't included them all... just the ones with important people or events in them.

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pc61.jpg

The Generation 2 toys at BotCon 94, which never ended up being produced.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pc52.jpg

BotCon 97, with Vince Dicola and Stan Bush... with some very 80s hair going on there.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pc53.jpg

Scott McNeill, just sitting on the floor chilling with fans.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pc54.jpg

The Hasbro product display for Beast Wars (probably BotCon 98 as I can see Transmetals there).
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pc55.jpg

With Garry Chalk.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pc56.jpg

Raksha's snake, who was a regular feature at the early BotCons.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pc57.jpg

Jim Byrnes (BotCon 99 - which was my first BotCon).
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pc58.jpg

Beast Wars Voice Actors at BotCon 2000 - Ian Corlett, Alec Willows, Venus Terzo.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pc59.jpg

Scott McNeil and Garry Chalk (probably BotCon 2001).
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pc60.jpg

Dan Gilverzan and Wally Burr at BotCon 2004.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pc62.jpg

Script reading rehearsal at BotCon 2004.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pc63.jpg

With Peter Cullen at BotCon 2004.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pc64.jpg

The massive toy display of almost every Transformers toy at that point, at BotCon 2004.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pc65.jpg

From BotCon 2005 - Brian and Lanny.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pc68.jpg

Then a few people told of their first experiences with BotCon, including Tim Finn, who attended the first 15 or so BotCons, and was one of my first American friends at BotCon.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pc67.jpg

Then Pete called up those who had a perfect attendance at all 22 BotCons, which were six others (and him), and gave each a special commemorative baseball shirt with the number on the back.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pc69.jpg
.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pc70.jpg
.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pc71.jpg

The panel ended with one last person getting up to speak about their experience with BotCon... the co-founder of the event - Jon Hartman, who had come back because it was the last one.
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pc72.jpg

The panel ran about 15 minutes over, but it was the last one, so it didn't matter... but it was a fitting end to have Jon Hartman speak to wrap it up.


As noted a few posts back, my coverage is at this link (http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/bc16intro.html), and with any luck, I will have it completed by the end of this long weekend, as most of the work has been done now... I just have to put it all together.

Thanks for reading.

[Megatran]

That concept looks more like a Disney Mickey Mouse crossover.


After finding that unused triplechanger Autobot leader concept, he did up this idea for a triplechanger Decepticon leader to go with it...
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/pc47.jpg

[Paulbot]

That concept looks more like a Disney Mickey Mouse crossover.

When I saw that I thought it was being revealed that Doubledealer had originally been designed as Megatron which would have been a great long lost secret origin.

[griffin]

For anyone wanting to relive or remember any of the pre-BotCon news announcements, the timeline page is finally done (http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/bc16bf.html) (it takes the longest out of all the pages, so it has held up everything else... but most of the rest is mostly done anyway).

There isn't really any other news elements now left that hasn't already been posted here, or done on my archive. This should be the last news posting here from me for BotCon 2016.


(I only just found out today that the Golden Ticket dinner had an autograph print (http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/mb28.jpg) like previous years, with signatures from the four main voice actors, including Judd Nelson... and I missed getting it, thinking that the GT toy was the exclusive item, and I left for the Concert without thinking to ask if there were any other freebie items at the dinner. :( )

[griffin]

(I only just found out today that the Golden Ticket dinner had an autograph print (http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc16/mb28.jpg) like previous years, with signatures from the four main voice actors, including Judd Nelson... and I missed getting it, thinking that the GT toy was the exclusive item, and I left for the Concert without thinking to ask if there were any other freebie items at the dinner. :( )

Credit where credit is due...

In the mail yesterday I got an orange envelope from FunPublications, that was larger than their white club magazine envelopes (which was in my mailbox at the same time)... and it was stamped with "do not bend" (which the post office actually adhered to).
Inside was the signed Golden Ticket print, which I was actually going to email them this week (after I finished my BotCon write-up) to see if I could get one posted out to me and I'd pay for postage (because they should have had a few left over from people who didn't go to the dinner, and those like me who left early for the Concert).

I looked online to see if they were all being posted out (if they just weren't ready for the dinner), and nope, two were sold on ebay on the weekend of the convention... so someone at FunPublications posted this out to me without any warning (they must have been getting people to sign for them this year, which they didn't do a couple of previous times).

I am really impressed. I seriously would not have expected them to do that voluntarily without being chased up for it (and then be told, too bad, all the spares were gone).

I also just found out who the fifth signature is supposed to be in the bottom right corner - Aaron Archer.

(I couldn't find anything about this item on the major fansites... only on the half a dozen listed on ebay, with one selling for US$95.)

[Megatran]

^ Sounds like you need to start a 'FunPub Appreciation' thread. :)

[griffin]

An upcoming UK GIJoe/TFs convention that has a working relationship with FunPublications, will be selling the BotCon 2016 Megatron and Airazor toys (http://news.tfw2005.com/2016/05/09/roll-roll-call-2016-offer-botcon-2016-terrorsaur-megatron-airazor-315259), at about double the price they were at BotCon.
Even though the UK convention is scalping them off at double the price, I looked on ebay and saw that the Megatron toys are SELLING for US$500-800.
Finally after many years, a BotCon toy has become an investment again, costing just US$89 (plus tax) to buy, and most are making at least $500 profit.
If only we had a crystal ball to know that there would be a BotCon toy worth buying spares of again, as all the spares I ended up with since 2010 required heavy discounting and losses just to sell them.

(not sure where this UK stock has come from though, as Megatron and Airazor were the only ones to sell out at BotCon so FuNPub must have set aside some for the UK convention... instead of sending over the two toys they didn't sell out)

[Metallikato]

An upcoming UK GIJoe/TFs convention that has a working relationship with FunPublications, will be selling the BotCon 2016 Megatron and Airazor toys (http://news.tfw2005.com/2016/05/09/roll-roll-call-2016-offer-botcon-2016-terrorsaur-megatron-airazor-315259), at about double the price they were at BotCon.
Even though the UK convention is scalping them off at double the price, I looked on ebay and saw that the Megatron toys are SELLING for US$500-800.
Finally after many years, a BotCon toy has become an investment again, costing just US$89 (plus tax) to buy, and most are making at least $500 profit.
If only we had a crystal ball to know that there would be a BotCon toy worth buying spares of again, as all the spares I ended up with since 2010 required heavy discounting and losses just to sell them.

(not sure where this UK stock has come from though, as Megatron and Airazor were the only ones to sell out at BotCon so FuNPub must have set aside some for the UK convention... instead of sending over the two toys they didn't sell out)

Hmmmmm. Just looked this convention up out of minor interest and it turns out I'm in the UK when it's on. Spanner in the ointment.....

[griffin]

Here's something I only just found on youtube, the winning fan film video for this year - Inside Peter's Dreams (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMx4D7mqHt8)... featuring various characters that Peter Cullen has voiced over the years.

[MayzaPrime]

Here's something I only just found on youtube, the winning fan film video for this year - Inside Peter's Dreams (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMx4D7mqHt8)... featuring various characters that Peter Cullen has voiced over the years.

Haha... that was cool :)

[Krayt]

Iacon sets are inbound!! Shipping notification arrived in the night!

[MayzaPrime]

Iacon sets are inbound!! Shipping notification arrived in the night!

Cool, cant wait to get my notification :D

[Krayt]

Cool, cant wait to get my notification :D

It's funny.... I only sent a q about it last night.... Today it ships

[Krayt]

The club just posted an update regarding leftover of Megs, Airrazor and Terrorsaur, looks like the UK con is selling the leftovers directly

[MayzaPrime]

The club just posted an update regarding leftover of Megs, Airrazor and Terrorsaur, looks like the UK con is selling the leftovers directly

220 pound for Megatron... :eek: I want it, but not that badly. I guess I will just have to be happy with Botcon Darksyde Megatron :rolleyes:;)

[Krayt]

220 pound for Megatron... :eek: I want it, but not that badly. I guess I will just have to be happy with Botcon Darksyde Megatron :rolleyes:;)

Bloody hell! I didn't even look at the price...

Buying as an attendee with ticket cost 225 pounds total! What a rip off!!!

Edit

Megs was 110
Airrazor 55
Both 150
Ticket with terrorsaur 75

Now...

Megs 220 (sold out)
Airrazor 80
Terror 100

[CHILENO20]

Bloody hell! I didn't even look at the price...

Buying as an attendee with ticket cost 225 pounds total! What a rip off!!!

Edit

Megs was 110
Airrazor 55
Both 150
Ticket with terrorsaur 75

Now...

Megs 220 (sold out)
Airrazor 80
Terror 100

Is this on the club website? Kinda interested in Terrasaur

[reillyd]

Is this on the club website? Kinda interested in Terrasaur

Finally tracked it down here
http://www.allthecoolstuff.co.uk/#!transformers-1/tysbd

Remember thoug it's POUNDS, and so with shipping it came to one fifty for Airrazor, and would be more for terrasaur

[CHILENO20]

Finally tracked it down here
http://www.allthecoolstuff.co.uk/#!transformers-1/tysbd

Remember thoug it's POUNDS, and so with shipping it came to one fifty for Airrazor, and would be more for terrasaur

OUCH! :eek:

[Krayt]

if that 150 is AUD, thats only about 6 pounds of shipping.....