BotCon Storylines

For those of you who aren't aware, I've finally been fleshing out my Transformers Fan-Fiction to tie together G1 with BW (it can be found HERE! for those interested)

With no real hope of it going any furhter, I sent copies of some of my work to both IDW and to the organisers of BotCon. IDW pointed out that Hasbro weren't interested in producing another BW comic at this time, but BotCon's response was very interesting, in regards to outside offers of a storyline...

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The story is developed after we know what toys we want to use. We have a general theme when we start picking toys but not an exact story. Because our tool selection is limited, we don't really have a way to work the other direction.

Thanks for the offer though. And I'll copy your email to our editor in case he ever has need of another writer.

Brian

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What an interesting way to operate! "We can get this toy, and this toy, and this toy.... Hmmm.... How can we make that work..."

No wonder BotCon stories are bollocks, they're given no prior thought it seems.

This comes as no surprise. Of course the BotCon comics revolve around their exclusive toys... that's the whole point! Exclusive comic sold to market the exclusive toys that are sold at the same convention. Happens every year. And I think for the most part they're pretty well written considering.

Also... this is Transformers. It is principally a toy franchise... the bulk of canon ever written for Transformers was done so to promote the toys. Besides... if you don't like their stories, don't get their comics (which you can only do so by either attending the convention or obtaining them from an attendee). A lot of the more "awkward" moments in TF canon occur because of Hasbro's push to promote their toys. It's only when Hasbro's not pushing product that gives writers more creative freedom -- so I personally have greater admiration for writers who can produce decent to good stories under the constraints of having to promote products (e.g. Simon Furman, Larry DiTillio, Bob Forward etc.) as opposed to people who produce mediocre stories without that level of constraint (*cough*MichaelBay*cough*)

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Originally Posted by Verno

No wonder BotCon stories are bollocks, they're given no prior thought it seems.

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I quite like most BotCon stories actually. :)

But they don't just revolve around the toys, the story is dictated by them! For me, that's putting the cart before the horse.

So what you're saying Verno is that while a lot of the media surrounding Transformers could be viewed as an extended commercial with a story line, the BotCon comics are nothing more then a commercial. I think.
That actually made more sense in my head.
I've only read 1 BotCon comic and that was the Animated one from this (last?) year and I didn't mind it.
Most of the shows are based around what Toys they want to promote and a story written from there. The only instanse (that I know of) where this didn't happen was the Bay movies. And look how well that worked.

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Originally Posted by LordCyrusOmega

So what you're saying Verno is that while a lot of the media surrounding Transformers could be viewed as an extended commercial with a story line, the BotCon comics are nothing more then a commercial. I think.

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I don't know what I'm saying :p I was just suprised how much of an influence the selection of toy, not a character, but a toy, had over the storyline.

It happens with all the shows. I did think that the comics weren't as influenced but I'm not surprised that the BotCon stuff is.

Shows, sure. But they're promoting a larger line of 30-40 figures. The storyline isn't influenced by wanting to sell only 4-5 of those 40-odd figures.

The creative process in writing the BotCon stories just seems a little backwards to me.

Why not write a great story, and then make do with what they can get? That's what Bob and Larry did with BW. Evidence of this? Wolfang. He was originally slated to be in the show, but due to constraints, not from Hasbro, but from Mainframe, the character had to be rethought and eventually it was filled by Tigatron instead.

I don't have so much of a problem with Funpub's choice in how they write their comics, but I have a massive issue with some of the choices of figures they utilise for characters... Botcon '06 Dinobot anyone? :rolleyes:
Generally, I think they do an ok job with their comics but it is just a pity that some of the figures they choose to represent the character's in said stories don't reflect the same level of quality and/or thought. :o

I wouldn't worry about Funpub or Botcon too much Verno, they know how to run a convention but handling a franchise's narrative is a different matter. :cool:
(Again though, it's nice that they at least gave you a response :))

The Botcon comics are done exclusively for the toys. As far as they know there is no other purpose. Granted I've only read 1 so don't have enough information to stand either side of the line.

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Originally Posted by Hursticon

I wouldn't worry about Funpub or Botcon too much Verno, they know how to run make a lot of money from a convention but handling a franchise's narrative is a different matter. :cool:

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Fixed?

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Originally Posted by Paulbot

Fixed?

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:D Hypothetically? :p

From sitting in on all but one of their Presentations at BotCon, it isn't possible for them to plan too much in advance of knowing what toys they are given approval to do. And since each toy mould they request to use usually only has one (maybe two) character options in their plans for that year's theme, a mould & character are usually tied together with no room to move on applying that character to another mould available to them.
The whole plot could need to be entirely re-written or heavily reworked if they didn't get a character/mould that that story needed. Since they only have about 5-10 of their BotCon characters featuring in the annual comic, I think it would look out of place to have one or more of the "main characters" not be toys for that year.


Not that it really matters though, as they sell out of the box-set character toys before the convention, preventing any walk-in fan or kid from being able to buy up the "main characters" when they get the program guide/comic. Instead, they're stuck with only being able to buy 4 or 5 toys that often aren't even all in the comic.


While I think of it... if FunPub did the 3H way of just producing 2 toys (quality instead of profiteering quantity), they could do up a whole comic in advance with all their toy options included... like 3H did with their Wreckers comic story. In the end, we got most of the wreckers as toys, but it was certainly a tease and disappointment seeing BotCon characters that were never made as toys. And I think that's something FunPub want to avoid... they'll include background characters, but will try to avoid featuring a character/mould that they couldn't get from Hasbro.

The timeline sucks though, making them rush out a story, but since they plan ahead for a theme (like Animated Stunticons, or Beast Wars), they do have story concepts thrown up to aim for with their submitted toy/character requests to Hasbro, but don't want to lock themselves into a 'lets have X doing this" scenario before they know if they can get X from Hasbro.
I may not be a fan of their mass of toys, aimed at dealers... but when it comes to their comic & storyline, I can understand completely the limitations they have, based on how long it takes to get Hasbro approval on the toys and the comic itself.

I personally don't like it when characters appear in any TF story that aren't available as toys... no matter how awesome that character is... in fact, it's more frustrating when it's a cool character because it makes you WANT that character as a toy more!!

I much prefer stories where I can reenact them with available toys. Impactor, Rack 'N' Ruin, Xaaron, Alpha Trion, G1 Arcee, Botanica, Animated Constructicons & Omega Supreme, Reedman, Alice, et al. -- all fairly prominent characters in TF lore for whom we DON'T have toys for! ... it's freakin' frustrating!! :eek:

How awesome did it feel to _finally_ get a Straxus toy when Hasbro released Generations Darkmount? I'm still over the moon about it! :D I hope HasTak continue to use CHUGUR to release more previously unreleased major characters from Transformers as toys (give us a G1 Arcee already!). So yeah, I'm all for having stories being based on toys - and besides...

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Originally Posted by LordCyrusOmega

Most of the shows are based around what Toys they want to promote and a story written from there. The only instanse (that I know of) where this didn't happen was the Bay movies. And look how well that worked.

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+1! :D

Is there something in their policy though that they can only use moulds from that year?

All I'm saying, is that with a bit of planning, they could produce a great story, that adds to the over-all sstoryline of Transformers (something previous BotCon comics I've read haven't done), and uses suitable moulds from any line in the past decade that fits the bill.

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Originally Posted by Verno

Is there something in their policy though that they can only use moulds from that year?

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I believe so. Hasbro can offer them a limited range of moulds to use. They're not allowed to choose any mould that's still in current use, so they tend to choose moulds that were recently disused. Hence why BotCon exclusive toys are usually used from moulds that are not current but not too old.

e.g.
+ BotCon 97: Packrat & Fractyl, repaints of 1996's Rattrap and Terrorsaur
+ BotCon 98: Antagony & Vice Grip, repaints of 1997's Inferno & Powerpinch
+ BotCon Japan 98: Double Punch & Grizzly-1, repaints of 1996/97's Scorponok (actually his prototype colours) & Polar Claw
+ BotCon 99: Sandstorm & Windrazor, repaints of BW Scorponok & 1998's Fuzor Silverbolt
+ BotCon 00: Apelinq & Shokaract, repaints of 1998's TM Optimus Primal & Rampage ("Rampy" to his friends (if he had any :p))
+ BotCon 01: Tigatron & Arcee, repaints of 1999's BW Ravage & TM2 Blackarachnia
...and so on and so on... and of course this year's Stunticons were all repaints/redecos of Animated moulds (2008-10)

It's uncommon for current moulds to be allowed for convention exclusive toys (although it does sometimes happen, e.g. Onyx Primal, JafCon reissue Convoy etc.) -- but either way, it's HasTak who decides or approves which moulds are allowed to be used.

For example when I was planning the Sabretron 2004 convention in Sydney, I contacted Hasbro Australia to see what mould(s) we could use as exclusive toys... and the proposal was to use RiD Spychangers. Hasbro approved of the idea, but in the end I didn't accept their offer because they wanted me to order a production run of no less than 1000 figures (and considering that we had approx. 200 attendees, it just wasn't worth it).

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Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime

For example when I was planning the Sabretron 2004 convention in Sydney, I contacted Hasbro Australia to see what mould(s) we could use as exclusive toys... and the proposal was to use RiD Spychangers. Hasbro approved of the idea, but in the end I didn't accept their offer because they wanted me to order a production run of no less than 1000 figures (and considering that we had approx. 200 attendees, it just wasn't worth it).

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Well there is a fantastic busniess opportunity if ever I've heard one!

Get the 1000 toys produced, then flog them off at $250 a piece to all the 'completists' around the world who 'have' to get it. Mwaa haa haaa!

Men in Black had the same idea when they did BotCon 96... and the fans revolted to the extent that it was deemed one of the worst BotCons, and their 1997 convention was a failure. (and it took them about 6 or 7 years to sell all their Onyx Primals)

These days though, yeah, 1000 figures of any size could command huge prices with the number of dedicated & completist collectors out there (with scalpers jumping on board as well to dry up numbers even more)

Lets make it happen! Time to enact some revenge!

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Originally Posted by griffin

Men in Black had the same idea when they did BotCon 96... and the fans revolted to the extent that it was deemed one of the worst BotCons, and their 1997 convention was a failure. (and it took them about 6 or 7 years to sell all their Onyx Primals)

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Urgh... I hate hearing stories like this. :(
(Coz now they cost a mint! :rolleyes:)

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Originally Posted by Verno

Lets make it happen! Time to enact some revenge!

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LOL :p:D

I vote repainting the BW Snarl/Tasmania Kid mold into actual Tasmanian Devil colours and calling him BW Outback! :D