Looks like Vince DiCola is still around doing the convention scene, as he's another guest at next month's Florida TFCon.
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Looks like Vince DiCola is still around doing the convention scene, as he's another guest at next month's Florida TFCon.
Despite all of the rapidly increasing number of announcements of cancelled events around the world, this one still surprised me for some reason - the Florida TFCon next weekend has been cancelled.
Just like other events that have been cancelled at the last minute, there will be a lot of people losing money over this. People will be getting refunds of any packages or dealer tables they pre-paid, but those who pre-paid any of their trip or paid for cheap non-refundable tickets, lose out... as do all of those vendors and dealers who need these events to earn a living or pay staff. Not to mention dealers who would have bought up extra stock, to sell at the event, now have to move that extra stock some other way.
And this was one that I almost went to as well, if certain things had gone my way last year. Glad I didn't, as I probably would have been flying over this weekend, to spend the week at the themeparks before the convention next weekend. There were a number of guests I wanted to meet, and it was in the city that I've been to twice before, and would love to go back again for Disneyworld and Universal Studios.
I hope they try to do it again there next year, as I should be more able to go next year.
It was interesting reading the time-line of live cancellations of the guests over a matter of hours before the official cancellation of the Florida TFCon, suggesting that it was just the lack of guests forcing the decision as it was before the virus had become a serious concern in America.
And it looks like the organisers of TFCon must be believing what the White House is telling the public, in that the virus will be eradicated very quickly, because they have announced a new American TFCon in October, in Chicago.
There is no way this will go ahead. The virus will still be around in October, and government restrictions on how many people can be allowed to be in a group will prevent all conventions until next year.
It makes you wonder what is going to happen with SDCC this year. July is still a little over 3 months away, and the extravagant exhibits and exclusives take months to prepare and produce, so I think there would be a lot of companies already deciding that they will not be able to be involved, particularly if the virus may not have reached its peak by then.
Hasbro always sells their extras on their website, so if there is no SDCC, they will just sell all of their exclusives on their site... and us non-Americans just have the usual hassle of going through a secondary source (or get them from an Asian source).
With month passing since I made this comment, the rapid recovery of Australia and the fact that New York was past its own peak, had me thinking that October is still so far off, that this could still be a possibility.
However, in recent days I've been keeping an eye on the infection rates in America, and even though numbers are dropping in New York, just about every other state is still climbing, particularly the middle states, which are only now getting their first surges of virus cases. Five months is still a long way off, but my money is that the October event will be cancelled due to ongoing restrictions, even if the state is "re-opened", as people will still be afraid of going (and the organisors would be forced to take measures to limit the number of people in rooms, which could make it impossible for it to be financially viable).
Meanwhile, their Canadian TFCon for 2020 has been postponed from July to September... but I'd say wait and see if it goes ahead, closer to its date.
The UK TFNation fan convention scheduled for August has now been cancelled.
TFNation will be doing an online "convention", with seven of their guests being signed up to do something online during that weekend of August 14th & 15th (probably an online interview/panel for fans, which might be free). Details at the link, for those interested in being part of the audience of a foreign Transformers fan convention, from the comfort of your own home.
Both of the TFCons for this year (Canada and US) are now officially cancelled for this year.
TFCon have bravely announced a date and location for their 2021 American convention - October 22-24 in Baltimore Hilton, at Baltimore, Maryland.
Following the trend of others, the American TFCon that was planned for the last weekend of October, is having an online event.
TFCon America has announced their 2021 dates and location - Hilton Baltimore (Maryland), October 22-24 2021.
Pete's Robocon has recently announced that it is still going ahead this year, on June 18-19, at the location they had planned for last year (which was cancelled) of Louisville Kentucky (same hotel as the final BotCon in 2016).
Pre-registration packages can be found on the Night Shining website.
Doing some research on this, I noticed that Night Shining have two websites... without anything obvious between the two other than the logo.
There is an "inc" website that features their 2020 Robocon info and non-Transformers things, while the "llc" website features their 2021 Robocon (and lists a third cover version of their BotCon Toy/Product guide - the first two had either Gen2 Breakdown or Apelinq on the cover, while this one has Mirrorverse Optimus on the cover).
Still no word on if and when a BotCon will be happening this year as they had planned (their website still not updated from last year), but the 2021 Robocon is still promoting itself as a BotCon preview.
The annual UK fan convention TFNation is still some 5 months away, but is going to be an online event again this year.
The West Coast American TFCon for early 2022 has been announced - March 11-13, at the Marriot at Burbank Airport, Los Angeles. (the north side of the city, like Pasadena and Hollywood)
The first guest to be announced is David Kaye (best known for his voicing of Beast Wars Megatron).
Another big guest for the October TFCon - Bob Budiansky (writer & bio creator).
Garry Chalk (voice of the original BW Optimus Primal) will also be at the October TFCon.
An interesting guest for the December Canadian TFCon event - Lee Tockar, who voiced Ravage in the Beast Wars cartoon.
With the PulseCon Ravage 2-pack out this year, I think a lot of people will be wanting him to autograph the pack... and do a lot of retelling of his more memorable lines from the cartoon.
The return of the main UK convention (TFNation) has been announced for the second weekend of August 2022, after it was cancelled for 2021.
If only covid didn't exist... I would have been seriously considering hopping over for the Los Angeles TFCon on the second weekend of March, as they have a massive line-up of Transformers guests (it is easier to do in Hollywood-land, but it still takes money to book them).
The guests listed so far (which depends on their covid status on the actual weekend), and more could still be announced with four more weeks to go...
Quote:
Alan Oppenheimer the voices of Warpath, Beachcomber, Breakdown, and Seaspray in Transformers Generation 1
Dan Gilvezan the voices of Bumblebee, Goldbug, Hot Spot, Outback, Rollbar, Scamper, Skids, and Snapdragon in Transformers Generation 1
Gregg Berger the voices of Grimlock, Skyfire, Long Haul, and Outback in the Transformers Generation 1
Michael Bell the voices of Prowl, Sideswipe, Bombshell, Brainstorm, First Aid, Scrapper, and Swoop in Transformers Generation 1
Paul Eiding the voices of Perceptor and Quintesson in Transformers Generation 1
Neil Ross the voices of Bonecrusher, Hook, Sixshot, Slag, Pointblank, and Springer in the Transformers Generation 1 cartoon
Morgan Lofting the voice of Firestar and Moonracer in Transformers Generation 1
Jerry Houser the voices of Sandstorm, Junkyard, and a Sweep in Transformers Generation 1
Ian James Corlett the voice of Cheetor in Beast Wars and Beast Machines
David Kaye to TFcon Los Angeles 2021. Transformers fans will recognize him as the voice of Megatron in Beast Wars, Beast Machines, Armada, Energon, and Cybertron, as well as Optimus Prime in Transformers Animated.
Grey DeLisle the voice of Arcee in the Bumblebee Movie as well as Arcee, Chromia and Elita-One in Revenge of the Fallen, and Glowstrike in Robots in Disguise
André Sogliuzzo the voices of Sideswipe in Transformers Revenge of the Fallen and Clawtrap in Transformers Robots in Disguise (2015)
Daniel Riordan the voice of Megatron, Galvatron, and Omega Prime in Robots in Disguise (2001)
Jeff Bennett the voices of Angry Archer, Captain Fanzone, Grandus, Mixmaster, Prowl, Soundwave and Ultra Magnus in Transformers Animated, as well as Axiom and Theorem on Transformers: Robots in Disguise (2015)
Robin Atkin Downes the voices of Jacknab, Pilfer and Flamesnort on Transformers: Robots in Disguise (2015) as well as Prime #3 in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Sandy Fox the voice of T-AI in Robots in Disguise (2001)
Dan Woren the voice of Crosswise in Robots in Disguise (2001)
Brook Chalmers the voice of Impactor, Comms Officer and Sparkless bot in the Netflix Transformers War for Cybertron Trilogy
Jon Bailey the voices of Soundwave and Shockwave in the Bumblebee Movie, and Optimus Prime in Combiner Wars
Greg Berg the voice of Igor in Transformers Dark of the Moon
Melendy Britt the voice of Alana in Transformers Generation 1
.
rock musician Stan Bush
composer Vince Dicola
Jim Sorenson writer of The Ark, The AllSpark Almanacs and The Art of Transformers Packaging book
The Transformers: The Movie (1986) writer Ron Friedman
(and a number of comic book writers and artists)
I would love to go to that too. Always wanted to meet Michael Bell, not just because of Transformers, but also he was a lead voice in one of my all time favourite games series.
Less than a week away and they are still adding more guests....
John Moschitta Jr - Gen1 Blurr
Josh Keaton - TFPrime Jack & Tailgate
Ed Bosco - WFC Ultra Magnus
Bill Rogers - WFC Wheeljack
The second TFCon for the year is at Chicago in October, and they have announced their next big guest - Peter Cullen.
Other guests so far announced include David Kaye, Paul Eiding (Perceptor) and Ron Friedman (wrote 1986 Movie).
Next year's West Coast TFCon has been announced, for March 10-12, in Los Angeles (Burbank Airport Marriott).
Next year's East Coast American TFCon has been announced - Orlando Florida (Seaworld), October 20-22 2023.