BotCon guests and event details (not toy reveals)

[UltraMarginal]

today another 2 guests have been revealed on the Botcon Website

Derrick J. Wyatt and Marty Isenberg!

This is cool, DJW was at botcon 2011 and is a cool guy, Marty Isenberg is known for writing some of the better animated episodes. I would like to hear what he has to say about TF Prime.

[griffin]

David Kaye is this week's announced guest.
For those unfamiliar, he is best known for voicing Beast Wars Megatron, but also Animated Optimus and Armada/Energon/Cybertron Megatron, as well as a small role on TFPrime (as Hardshell).

This is one guest that helps FunPub get a "30 years of (Voice Actor) guests", if they were aiming to have at least one "30th Anniversary" element to the convention this year.

Let's see...
1984-1995 (Gen1/Gen2 cartoons) - Susan Blu, Michael McConnahie, Hal Rayle, Jack Angel, Samantha Newark
1996-2000 (BW/BMac) - David Kaye, Susan Blu (voice and director)
2001-2002 (RiD) - Michael McConnahie
2003-2006 (Unicron Trilogy) - David Kaye
2007-2010 (Animated) - David Kaye (plus Derrick J. Wyatt & Marty Isenberg)
2011-2013 (TFPrime) - David Kaye

EDIT (After seeing that David Kaye did a role on TFPrime)

I will be very impressed if they are intentionally aiming to get a full 30-year representation of Voice Actors (or guests).

[griffin]

It would appear that those are all the Voice Actor Guests, as FunPub are now starting their Comic and artist guests.... which has been their way of padding out the guest roster in the last couple years.

First one is IDW writer James Roberts, and since we are back in California, expect most of IDW's writers, artists and editors to be at BotCon... but a fan convention is where you'd want to meet them, so it is a good idea to have as many as they can get.
The question will be if they have an IDW tour again this year, being three hours from Pasadena.

[griffin]

The cast of Rescue Bots is returning this year... which was probably the most entertaining panel last year, with the VAs playing off each other.
Not surprising, since the show is in LA and many of them probably live there to do their recording work... and since they were so entertaining (and I think Rescue Bots should be checked out by older fans), I'm not complaining about the recycling of them two years in a row.

The only problem is that they were treated as an ensemble, instead of as individual VA guests for the convention. So, they weren't part of the Golden Ticket reception, and weren't promoted individually like the other VA guests.

[griffin]

(waited for tfw to work out all the twitter handles for me. )

Steve Blum (Voice of Heatwave in Rescue Bots, TFPrime Starscream, RiD Dark Scream, Fortress Maximus and W.A.R.S),
Parvesh Cheena (Rescue Bots Blades),
Jason Marsden (Kade Burns),
Shannon McKain (Graham Burns),
Elan Garfias (Cody Burns),
Nicole Dubuc (Bumblebee and CAT, and writer for several Rescue Bots and Prime episodes),
Greg Johnson Writer (also worked on Beast Wars) and
Brian Hohlfeld Writer (also co-created the series with Dubuc and Jeff Kline.)

[griffin]

FunPub have released their preliminary list of people who have bought Artists tables for the Dealer Room's "Artist Alley", which includes a number of people who have worked on official projects, but some regular big names are missing (Khanna & Milne).

Since the Artist Tables are open to anyone, many are also just regular people trying to sell their creative drawings and customs (like in recent years).
(as long as it isn't anything mass-produced, it looks to be okay by Hasbro for people to sell one-off commission productions)

I think the current & recent IDW artists included in the list are - Josh Burcham, Ken Christiansen, Casey Coller, Bill Forster, Matt Frank, Andrew Griffith, Marcelo Matere, Robby Musso, Joshua Perez, Livio Ramondelli, Sarah Stone.


I like the idea of the Artist Alley, but maybe they should start noting the ones who have worked on official projects (maybe have them note their resume on their registration form), so that it is easy to recognise who the lesser known ones are, or even be enlightened as to who worked on fan-favourite projects that are not as obvious.
It's not to put down the amateurs at Artist Alley, as many of the "professionals" often aren't working on anything official anymore... but it would be nice to see if any of the unknowns have a resume of anything official (to have autographed or commissioned).

[griffin]

Looks like the Hall of Fame concept is continuing this year, as a number of American sites have apparently been invited to participate.
At the convention, it is likely to be something similar to last year, with just a simple announcement of the winner at the Hasbro panel.

[UltraMarginal]

Looks like the Hall of Fame concept is continuing this year, as a number of American sites have apparently been invited to participate.
At the convention, it is likely to be something similar to last year, with just a simple announcement of the winner at the Hasbro panel.

Announcement at the Hasbro panel is what Seibertron are saying, it's a bummer that OTCA don't get asked to participate.
And a shame that they're not making as big a deal about it as they did in the first few years.

I wonder if they'll ever release a DVD with all the nominations videos, I'd buy that.

[griffin]

It seems that the Universal Studios event on June 20th is not just for BotCon attendees... as tickets will be on sale for anyone to attend the after-hours events and activities. (it doesn't make it as special if the general public can attend, but could be necessary to keep the cost down for FunPub, especially if they aren't able to sell out attendee packages)
The program is said to have a Hasbro panel and a Stan Bush concert, along with some of the rides staying open for those extra 3 hours, but no mention of a sample or advance screening of the Movie.
(but we will get an exclusive poster... so that makes it worth it )

I'm happy to have Stan Bush back, as it has been a while.
(and I can harass him about some questions that have been bugging me for a while now)

[griffin]

Another guest has signed up at the last minute - Morgan Lofting, who voiced Firestar and Moonracer in the Gen1.

Looks to be a number of minor-role VAs this year from the original series... due to many of the big name VAs being guests at another convention that weekend.