Botcon 2015 - Chicago June 18-21

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Originally Posted by fatbot

I was hoping for Flywheels,

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I'm not surprised about Flywheels, as it could have gone either way. We already look to have 3 Voyagers this year, so any more would really push up the price of the at-show toys. I think Flywheels is guaranteed eventually, and maybe it will be in next year's subscription set, or BotCon... or as a Store exclusive which would be their only real money-maker for the year (everyone with Battletrap is going to want one, and the scalpers will know it to buy up extras).

I'm surprised about the Waspinators being a 4-pack, as if they couldn't decide which three made the most sense to produce as toys, or at least, having one as an attendee or Custom Class toy. (I'm not surprised about the cash-grab though, as they keep expanding their number of toys every year)

The Black Skids is pretty much confirmed then, as part of the "Diaclone" 2-pack. Now to wonder what the other one might be. A Red Trailbreaker perhaps.

I don't mind Kreo... but when it comes to FunPub, that's one thing I will be happy to see go when Kreo is finally wrapped up. At least this year's set of Kreons is promised to be cheaper because they are the non-convertible kind. (like the 2013 Machine Wars Kreons)


I wonder if they've finally been taking some of my advice about not keeping all of their at-show toys secret (to help convince the fence-sitters to attend just to make sure they don't miss out), or they are just so desperate with the sluggish sales that they "thought of this themselves" out of panic. :rolleyes:
(sure, keep a couple secret for that fun element, but why keep 10 of the 15 toys secret when you get the same "surprise" element from 2 toys, and only end up preventing (mostly American) people from attending who would have gone just to secure certain toys before they sell out, that they really really want)

As noted by Fatbot in the meet topic, the Schedule for this year has been released.

As I had expected, the Saturday VIP sessions, which includes all of the VIPs for photos, would mean missing panels, including the Saturday panel that looks to feature the other two Gen1 guests (Sue & John).
A lot of fan-related panels this year that aren't news or feature guests... which is nice to have included, but it's taken them 10 years, and of all the years that they finally include them, this year will have the least amount of fans attending who would be interested in supporting these panels.

And what is with nothing on Friday night for non-GT attendees. They always have something on Friday night (except 2012, which was their first year with the GT reception, so probably didn't want to stretch their resources if they didn't know how long it would go for). Even 2010 was only empty of items because they wanted to allow people to use the Disney park for its night-time events.
I think this will be a point of contention for the non-GT people not having any evening events, which includes the non-GT VIP people. I know that there is room-to-room trading that will happen, but that can happen on other nights as well, so they don't need a night completely free of events to allow for it... and the GT dinner/reception is usually only about 90 minutes, meaning that attendees have from 9pm to amuse themselves.


I wonder who Frank Todaro is... and why he and his "friends" have been called in to fill spots on the Script Reading on the Sunday.

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Originally Posted by griffin

I wonder who Frank Todaro is... and why he and his "friends" have been called in to fill spots on the Script Reading on the Sunday.

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Google says he is a voice actor, I could only find him in this from an old botcon

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Originally Posted by griffin

I wonder who Frank Todaro is... and why he and his "friends" have been called in to fill spots on the Script Reading on the Sunday.

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perhaps a pseudonym for Frank Welker, rather than advertise him at that panel they are avoiding massive crowd control issues. which hopefully they're set up for everything else he's related to.

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Originally Posted by UltraMarginal

perhaps a pseudonym for Frank Welker, rather than advertise him at that panel they are avoiding massive crowd control issues. which hopefully they're set up for everything else he's related to.

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I thought it might have had something to do with Welker (and I wish he would have been involved in the script reading), but Todaro is listed on IMDB as a voice actor, and from Krayt's post, it sounds like he has done some work for FunPub before as well.

When there is only 2 voice actor guests, plus a couple spots filled by fans in an Auditions process at the Convention, I guess they need to more "professionals" on stage.

Apparently IDW are not at this BotCon because they are currently moving offices.
I'm surprised that they couldn't send at least one person for a presentation or manning of a table in the Dealer Room... as those two things will be missed by me (their panel is news-worthy, and their presence in the Dealer Room allows me to catch up on all their comics without paying for postage from an online source).

Another update - the Trivia contest that was noted in the Brochure for Saturday has been cancelled, and they have planned something "exciting" in its place, that they may not reveal until the Convention starts.


Something with Frank Welker perhaps? :D

With the Registrations being so last minute, all their usual updates of minor elements are now all being crammed into the last two weeks.

Today we get two more updates...

1 - Artists in the Dealer Room.
Even though IDW isn't an official guest this year (due to them moving offices this month), some of their free-lance artists will still be attending, for fans to buy artworks off them or just meet up with their favourite official artists. (and some fan-favourite non-official artists too)
There are 13 listed so far, including...
Casey Coller - various IDW
Matt Frank - various IDW
Alex Milne - various IDW
Robby Musso - various IDW
Josh Burcham - various IDW
Dan Khanna - official character art used on licensed products
John-Paul Bove - various IDW
Thomas Deer - various IDW
Livio Ramondelli - various IDW
Brendan Cahill - various IDW


2 - Update of Registration packs and Welker VIP passes
They must be really struggling to sell out this year, as they are now offering Welker VIP passes to Protoforms and Minicons (both of which don't pay as much as they don't get a boxset). Too bad for anyone forced to buy a US$409 Primus pack in the first week because it was the only way to get the $200 Welker VIP pass.

The email from FunPub had a few people worried, because the title sounded like Welker was not attending anymore... but it was just noting the two elements of the email - Welker AND non-attending (boxsets).

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BotCon Registration update: Welker - Non-attending

We have shuffled around the inventory for attending and non-attending packages. There is now more stock for non-attending (Iacon) packages and additional loose sets.

We also have a few Frank Welker VIP passes available for Friday and we are opening these passes to Mini-Con and Protoform packages as well. If you want to add this to your registration, you will need to call the office at 817-448-9863 between now and noon Friday. These are on a first come, first served basis.

If you have not registered, these are still available through the online system for Golden Ticket and Primus packages. Primus and Golden Ticket packages can also have the Frank Welker VIP pass added to your existing registration by calling.

If you still need to do your initial registration, please use the link at BotCon.com and do it from a computer not running IE. We have seen issues with mobile registrations and IE browsers. If you need to add something to your registration, you will need to contact the office.

Registration closes on Friday at 5 pm Central Time.

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Just noting that if anyone attending still wants to add anything to their registration, you MUST do it before about 8am Saturday East Australia time (I think that's 5pm Central time in America). But you need to phone them up, to add on items, so have your credit card handy.

Last chance for anyone in Brisbane wanting me to buy an extra boxset to bring back with me, and you get the attendee figure with it for free.

The lateness of registration only allowed people 10 days to register to attend... that's really short, but not as short as the JoeCon this year, who only had about a week.

Registration has now closed for attendees.
Non-attendees can continue to buy Boxsets AND loose sets (still not sold out), but they will be done through the club store. Other BotCon items will be available after the convention, if they are not yet sold out.

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Today is the last day for BotCon registration for ATTENDING packages.

Registration closes at 5 pm Central Time.

If you need an ATTENDING package and you are still getting non-member pricing (limited number of accounts), go ahead and process your package and send us an email so we know to process a credit. The credits won't be processed until next week.

Some of our NON-ATTENDING members are also having an issue getting the member pricing. For you, after we close ATTENDING registration today, we will move the NON-ATTENDING packages to the club store. If you are getting non-member pricing and need a NON-ATTENDING package, check the Club store tomorrow and you can order the NON-ATTENDING sets there.

PLEASE note that the store has no way to limit the loose sets to a 1:1 (must purchase box set to get loose set), but every order will be reviewed by admin for compliance.

All remaining T-shirts, assembled unpainted class figures and hats will go to the show. If there are any left, we will put them in the store after BotCon.

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They have also updated the details of the Saturday night events, letting us know that the surprise element isn't something new, but just a fourth inductee to the HOF this year... which should be Frank Welker.
Hyping this up just 5 hours before Registration closes, as if such last minute news is going to suddenly draw in the masses...

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We are excited to announce that at the BotCon 2015 Saturday Night Awards Dinner and Auction, the Transformers 2015 Hall of Fame induction ceremony will also be included in the nights festivities. Fans at BotCon will be first to see which character, combiner and musical act will be added to the Transformers Hall of Fame. And as a VERY special treat, Hasbro will also be inducting a human to the Hall of Fame for 2015. This legendary actor has been part of the Transformers brand since the very start. You will NOT want to miss this event!

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So Saturday night will start with a dinner, then the Hall of Fame presentation, and then the Auction, which is usually done a little later as the main room/hall gets reverted back to a panel room format (from a dining room layout).
If it is Welker (it should be), then that will be another chance to see and here him over the weekend. :)

Also, there must have been some cancellations at the Resort since Registration started, as there seem to be some extra rooms now available... if anyone still needs one.

I'm not sure if I should be worried (because I'm staying there) or find it funny (that most of the fandom is now finding anything they can against FunPub), but, two of the major fansites have now posted up warnings about the Resort being listed on a bed-bug registry and having review sites mention them... plus other issues with the site.

I don't think I've ever come across a place with bed bugs before, but I think this could be an issue with any hotel, as long as it is an isolated incident and not ongoing.
On the one hand, there are only 2 or 3 reports of bedbugs in a year of thousands of guests, but on the other hand, how many other people affected would know about those reporting sites or be motivated enough to find one to report it.

It also sounds like the older parts of this Resort (the non-Tower rooms), have reviews noting that the rooms are noticeably run-down and not very well cleaned or ventilated, so when I check-in I might see if a Tower room is covered by my reservation/rate.
The reviews on the tripadvisor and yelp (at the Tformers link) were interesting reading, with a fair few rating the staff and administration as very poor, and gave the resort an overall rating of barely average... which isn't a good sign.
The San Diego hotel had a bit of a resort nature to it, and was similarly looking a bit old and run-down, but ended up being acceptable. I guess since fans have been giving feedback of preferring "cheaper" hotels, we get what we pay for. (and goes with the saying of be careful with what you wish for)

I forgot to copy over the details of the Panels that they released, to explain the vague titles...

Below is a short version, but the full descriptions can be seen here.

FRIDAY 19/6
10am - PANEL Club Magazine - Pete Sinclair hosting
11am - PANEL Filmfest - fan film submissions
noon - PANEL Behind the Characters - Derrick Wyatt talks about Animated
1pm - PANEL Birth of Transformers - Kojin Ono's 30+ years designing Transformers in Japan

SATURDAY 20/6
10am - PANEL Gen1 Retrospective - Susan Blu & John Moschitta
11am - PANEL Online Fandom - hosted by Seibertron's owner
noon - PANEL Hasbro Product Preview - Hasbro's new toys
1pm - PANEL Cosplay - all about fan costuming for Transformers fans
2pm - PANEL The Japanese Perspective - Andrew Hall hosting again about contemporary Transformers in Japan
3pm - PANEL Collector Club - by FunPub
4pm - PANEL Frank Welker

SUNDAY 21/6
10am - PANEL Script Reading Auditions - to select two participants for the Script Reading later in the day.
11am - PANEL The Art of Transformers - a variety of official (comic) artists talk about their recent works.
noon - PANEL Script Reading - The Return of Blur - Sue, John, and others.
1pm - PANEL MegaToyCast BotCon Podcast - A live broadcast by a group of fans.

FunPub have posted up the prices of the at-show toys for this year, for people to plan ahead with.

Souvenir Set 1 (2 pack) - $89 (should be the Gen2 pair as one is a Voyager)
Souvenir Set 2 (2 pack) - $79 (should be the Diaclone pair as both should be Deluxes)
Souvenir Set 3 (4 pack) - $169 (the four Deluxe Waspinators)
Kre-O Souvenir Set (6 pack) - $29

I find it strange that the 2-packs are both cheaper than the last four years, while on the other hand, the 4-pack is a lot more than all previous 3-pack deluxes (at price per deluxe).

In recent years, prices of 2-packs have been pretty stationary at 80-something and 90-something since 2011...
2015 - $79 (2 DLX), $89 (VOY, DLX)
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2014 - $82 (2 DLX), $95 (2 DLX)
2013 - $87 (2 DLX), $92 (VOY, DLX)
2012 - $89 (VOY, DLX), $95 (2 DLX)
2011 - $89 (VOY, DLX), $92 (VOY, DLX)

And as for the 3-packs that have been 3 Deluxes, the price per Deluxe used to be about $30...
2015 - $42.25
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2014 - (not 3 DLX)
2013 - $33 (Seekers)
2012 - $33 (Junkions)
2011 - $29.67 (Auto-troopers - all the same)
(2009 & 2010 were a lot cheaper as they were all the same)

So it ends up balancing out this year.

For those following BotCon by twitter, they've closed their regular account and set up a new one here as BotCon_2015.


Starting fresh for their public image I guess, so that it looks like they haven't had any issues and don't need to resolve anything now. Another question that won't be asked at BotCon.
I wonder if they will do the same with facebook.

Prices for at show figures have been released

Pack 1) $79 (2 pack)
Pack 2) $89 ( 2 pack)
Pack 3) $169 (4 pack)
Kreo 6 pack $29

Looks like Frank Welker is hitting the convention scene in a big way this year, as a third one (in Rhode Island in November) has just been announced, paired with Peter Cullen (like the Texas one in August).
Kind of a shame that FunPub were the only ones who couldn't get both, or be able to afford both, as each of those other two locations are charging well over $100 just for access to those two guests (in addition to the admission price).


Americans are so lucky, as I'd travel interstate to see him at least once or twice, even at those prices... and I hope this isn't a sign of Welker suddenly doing conventions because he's retiring or has a terminal illness.

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Originally Posted by griffin

Americans are so lucky, as I'd travel interstate to see him at least once or twice, even at those prices... and I hope this isn't a sign of Welker suddenly doing conventions because he's retiring or has a terminal illness.

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DARK, SO DARK:eek:

Some details about the "Transformers in Japan" Sunday panel, which is being hosted by Andrew Hall/Hydra...

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I’d like to tell everyone a little about what we’ve got in store for the Japan Perspective panel, held on Saturday afternoon from 2:00 to 2:50.

The always prolific, sometimes controversial manga artist Hayato Sakamoto and I will be joined by our longtime friend Jim Sorenson. We’ll begin by talking about the interesting things going on in the Japanese Transformers scene right now, and introduce the works of some of our favorite artists. Some you may have heard of, some probably not, but all awesome!

For the remainder of the panel, I’ll interpret as Hayato discusses his experiences drawing and writing Transformers, from assisting on Kissplay (everyone’s favorite, right?) to creating Kreo and Legends, to filling in for Alex on More Than Meets The Eye... We’ll show you plenty of design work and cool things that have never seen the light of day.

For the last few minutes, we’ll take Q&A from the audience. Hayato and Jim are two of the most (if not the most) crazily TF-literate creators out there, and I’m no slouch myself, so we welcome tough or critical questions!

For the rest of the weekend, I will be hanging out at Hayato’s table, where I’ll be interpreting and chatting with you guys. Hayato will be selling some prints, and doing commissions all weekend, so feel free to come take a look (or even better, inquire in advance). This guy can draw ANYTHING. Rorza, the Rocket-cycle Racer from Rigel III? Pfft, give us a challenge! (Of course, requests for characters people actually care about are welcome, too. Especially Nickel, who he designed!) Those with questions can contact me at andrew@phase6.jp

Although I will likely be in Artist Alley for most of the weekend, for probably the last time ever, I’ve registered a dealer table with the self-explanatory name of “Hydra’s Wedding Sale.” I’ll be tying the knot this very weekend next year, so I’ve decided to let some of the crazy TF stuff from out of my closets go to free up space. A few rare things, and lots of weird junk! Even I can’t remember what’s in there, but check it out!

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Looks like some people have been sent or emailed pickup session times...

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Package Pick up Dates & Times:

Golden Ticket package holders*************** Wednesday 8:30pm Mega Center

Tour or Class Participants********************** Wednesday 9:30pm Mega Center

ALL Other Attendees**************************** Thursday Night: *St. Charles Ballroom

4-5 pm: Golden Ticket package holders

6 pm:* Invoice #148 - 348

7 pm:* Invoice #349 - 549

8 pm:* Invoice #550 - 750

9 pm:* Invoice #751 –

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If they were emailed out, I didn't get it, but I already know when my pickup is.

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Originally Posted by griffin

Some details



Looks like some people have been sent or emailed pickup session times...



If they were emailed out, I didn't get it, but I already know when my pickup is.

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I didn't get any email either, seeing as how I got the GT, does this mean Wednesday night?

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Originally Posted by fatbot

I didn't get any email either, seeing as how I got the GT, does this mean Wednesday night?

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Yes.
Technically it's any time you want really, as you can go during the first session which is on Wednesday, and anytime after that.

Going back over this year's BotCon news today, this made me laugh...

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Originally Posted by griffin

Pete has posted this on TFW2005, to let us know, to not be too complacent if we want any of the BotCon toys this year...

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We tweaked quantities on the souvies as well so don't expect to see extra's in the store.

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Hehehe.... yeah, not even close.

It's unfortunate that they seem to be struggling, the brand itself is booming they should be too. This should be the decade of the epic botcons.

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Originally Posted by UltraMarginal

It's unfortunate that they seem to be struggling, the brand itself is booming they should be too. This should be the decade of the epic botcons.

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That's what is so annoying... the last 3-4 years of BotCons should have been epic and huge for those of us who spend a lot of money going to it, but instead it is like the peak was 2011 and they've been going downhill since then... leaving us with no sense of assurance that "next year will be better".
:(

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Originally Posted by griffin

That's what is so annoying... the last 3-4 years of BotCons should have been epic and huge for those of us who spend a lot of money going to it, but instead it is like the peak was 2011 and they've been going downhill since then... leaving us with no sense of assurance that "next year will be better".
:(

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Their habit of leaving bookings and various details to the very last minute doesn' exactly convey an image that they are well organised, that's for sure.