That's what some are saying... but won't be out until 2017.Quote:
Originally Posted by reillyd
Printable View
That's what some are saying... but won't be out until 2017.Quote:
Originally Posted by reillyd
Flywheels!Quote:
Originally Posted by reillyd
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 :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Paulbot
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
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!
But Brawn and Apeface don't have name changes, that's why Clobber seems odd for Grimlock. Not sure who Skytread is.Quote:
Originally Posted by Verno
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. ;)
Well, Alpha Trion is now a unicorn/dog/lion so all bets about just what Hasbro are doing are off :pQuote:
Originally Posted by DELTAprime
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 :(
Yes, he really is. We would have had the resurgence of Transformers post Armada without himQuote:
Originally Posted by Tetsuwan Convoy
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).
Perhaps Hasbro lost the trademark for Flywheels.Quote:
Originally Posted by DELTAprime
Skytread is meant to be Flywheels.Quote:
Originally Posted by DELTAprime
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.
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 itQuote:
Originally Posted by Raptormesh
Great, just what I needed in my life - wanting 1/5th of a club exlusive...Quote:
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
So Groove is being released as a regular release or limited release? Anytime soon?
To me it appears to be:Quote:
Originally Posted by Raptormesh
Sky Lynx → Leozak/Jallguar
Skydive → Hellbat
Air Raid → Guyhawk
Brawl → Killbison
Nosecone → Drillhorn
Well i don't want any of the gijoe figures... so lets split the set....Quote:
Originally Posted by Borgeman
:p:p:p:p:p:p:p:p
(Yes, i know you prob want one of the bots... but you didnt say that :-P
saw some display photos looks like the G2 Megatron is cast in translucent green?!?!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sinnertwin
Thanks very much guys! :)Quote:
Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime
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 comicQuote:
Originally Posted by llamatron
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.
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. :(
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.
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
David Kaye was wearing a very sharp purple shirt at his panel with Venus. A great little nod by him.
Not a new shell.... It's the Grand shell from Grand Maximus (Masterforce Fort Max repaintQuote:
Originally Posted by reillyd
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?
What was The Art of Transformers panel?
Four random comic artists just doing Q&A - no reveals or news.Quote:
Originally Posted by Verno
They had one like this last year as well, probably because IDW wasn't at BotCon either.
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)
Cheers Griffin for the coverage! :)
Thanks for all the news and updates while at Botcon Griffin.
Looking forward to this year's writeup :D
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.
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
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
Fans in the UK who attend the GIJoe/Transformers convention Roll Out Roll Call in July, can get the BotCon attendee figure Terrorsaur 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.
Some youtube videos from BotCon 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 which I had heard someone mention later in the weekend, as it was only in the dealer room on the Friday.
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.
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
.
Thanks for the report Griffin.
Man, Ravage and Tigagtron's tiny heads did not work out well at all.
Great comparison pics Griffin! :)
Man, the original BW toys still look pretty good!
Dem shrunken heads!:Quote:
Originally Posted by Lord_Zed
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbVi1UsNhJ8